<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811</id><updated>2011-07-29T00:11:30.219+12:00</updated><category term='PIF'/><category term='Free gift'/><title type='text'>Stitching by the Sea</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>23</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-9024147694786189191</id><published>2010-07-09T17:19:00.004+12:00</published><updated>2010-07-09T17:32:53.582+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Whew ... Block 6 on Time</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Well what a few days I have had catching up. Of course, I still have lots of hand stitching to do but at least I can do that next week.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So here is Block 6 of Pond House that I am doing with &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://jellybeanangel2.blogspot.com"&gt;Melanie&lt;/a&gt; &lt;i&gt;(thank you for being so patient with me ladies, I really appreciated it)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDaxdKRKWwI/AAAAAAAAAOc/O_GCZAi9DeA/s1600/Block+6.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 92px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDaxdKRKWwI/AAAAAAAAAOc/O_GCZAi9DeA/s200/Block+6.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491771910155557634" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Now I did have intentions to put the 6 blocks together and show the completed panel but when I started to do that today, I revealed a terrible mistake. Block 2  was made a little too big. I must have got carried away with my measurements because when I double checked them today, &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"&gt;I WAS WRONG!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Now don't tell hubby I said that or he will take it as evidence that I am sometimes wrong. And I wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea about me&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So this weekend, I will be unpicking Blocks 2 and 3 and the little checkered strip above it, &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;re-doing the sizing on Block 2 and then putting in all back together again.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Should be fun ......&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;After the weekend, I will show you the completed panel&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Till then,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Happy Stitching&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-9024147694786189191?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/9024147694786189191/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/whew-block-6-on-time.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/9024147694786189191'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/9024147694786189191'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/whew-block-6-on-time.html' title='Whew ... Block 6 on Time'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDaxdKRKWwI/AAAAAAAAAOc/O_GCZAi9DeA/s72-c/Block+6.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-2159462801272036616</id><published>2010-07-08T16:54:00.002+12:00</published><updated>2010-07-08T17:07:24.664+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Mission 2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Well here is Block 5 &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDVaVJ-hO3I/AAAAAAAAAOU/njjQILOPe1s/s1600/Block+5.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 116px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDVaVJ-hO3I/AAAAAAAAAOU/njjQILOPe1s/s200/Block+5.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491394640150084466" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Who said bias was fun???? you have got to be kidding. But thanks to Clover they have made my life today so much easier. When I did Block 1, I spent 3 hours making bias for the vines. When I saw the bias on this one, I have to say I did have a wee tantrum. (&lt;i&gt;who am I kidding -  I had a huge one) &lt;/i&gt;But thanks to the lovely &lt;a href="http://kiwifruit-shiree.blogspot.com"&gt;Shiree&lt;/a&gt; who sent &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; out on a mission a wee while ago looking for Clover adhesive bias, there was a different option for me. So &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; told me where to go (&lt;i&gt;in a nice way) &lt;/i&gt;and I came home with some pre made bias made in green. It may not have been the right shade, but I wasn't worried. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Now I haven't stitched it down as yet, that may take me a while but at least I can show you Block 5 of Pond House that I am doing with &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://jellybeanangel2.blogspot.com"&gt;Melanie&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Till tomorrow,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Keep stitching, &lt;i&gt;I know I will be&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-2159462801272036616?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/2159462801272036616/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/mission-2.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2159462801272036616'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2159462801272036616'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/mission-2.html' title='Mission 2'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDVaVJ-hO3I/AAAAAAAAAOU/njjQILOPe1s/s72-c/Block+5.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-9008323773478577736</id><published>2010-07-07T16:07:00.003+12:00</published><updated>2010-07-07T16:22:40.987+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Can't talk, Stitching to save myself</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;No, sorry I really don't have time to talk at the moment. As you may have noticed I have been missing for a few months and yes a lot has happened.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;My job has been re-structured, my eye sight started to tell me I was getting old. DD3 has completed her European school trip and watched the terrible happenings in Greece (bombing and riots) and much much more has been going on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;But during all this time, the lovely &lt;a href="http://jellybeanangel2.blogspot.com"&gt;Melanie&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; have been very patient with me and gave me time to deal with my issues. So now I am on a 2 week break from work and I am making the effort to get back on track. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Today's mission was to complete Block 4 of Pond House - Ta Da&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDP9osggGcI/AAAAAAAAAOM/sqMePU6LS9M/s1600/Block+4.JPG"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDP9osggGcI/AAAAAAAAAOM/sqMePU6LS9M/s1600/Block+4.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 96px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDP9osggGcI/AAAAAAAAAOM/sqMePU6LS9M/s200/Block+4.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491011246278842818" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDP9osggGcI/AAAAAAAAAOM/sqMePU6LS9M/s1600/Block+4.JPG"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Tomorrows mission is to complete Block 5&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;And on Friday, the mission will be to complete Block 6 and be on track with &lt;a href="http://jellybeanangel2.blogspot.com/"&gt;Melanie&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; again&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Till tomorrow,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Happy Stitching&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-9008323773478577736?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/9008323773478577736/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/cant-talk-stitching-to-save-myself.html#comment-form' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/9008323773478577736'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/9008323773478577736'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/cant-talk-stitching-to-save-myself.html' title='Can&apos;t talk, Stitching to save myself'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/TDP9osggGcI/AAAAAAAAAOM/sqMePU6LS9M/s72-c/Block+4.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-4202523141455700707</id><published>2010-04-19T18:49:00.004+12:00</published><updated>2010-04-19T19:17:41.101+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Yes it's back ....</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;The power that is...and no it has not been off that long. LOL&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So this was my power pole&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-tevq28I/AAAAAAAAANk/0-sQ1FI2dlw/s200/100_0362.JPG" /&gt;         &lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-twmBa9I/AAAAAAAAANs/CVEFe7wuD4o/s200/100_0363.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Such a lovely power pole. It had been doing its job for so many years, now it was going to be replaced by a better pole, a younger pole, a better looking pole (you know how it goes when you get a little old)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So one minute (or a few) it was there, THEN...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-uA2X7_I/AAAAAAAAAN0/bUzfSDhftbc/s200/100_0370.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;It was time to say goodbye. So I was thinking that this new pole was not quite right. It didn't look like it would do the job well, or will it?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-uoXvMGI/AAAAAAAAAN8/_NYU95KgsM4/s200/100_0371.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;It is red, so maybe a good colour? And very useful for hanging my quilts on. Yes I can see it now, quilts hanging on the ladder. How lovely. But hang on, I noticed that this ladder/pole is being supported by a rope from my tree. Hmmm .... nope, I am not thinking this is good and all those wires hanging down over my gate. How am I suppose to get out to go fabric shopping? Yip, I am thinking the hubby had something to do with this.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;No wait ... ... there is a new pole and here it is.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-zrArXKI/AAAAAAAAAOE/RRCkH28bNAQ/s200/100_0382.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Can you see the difference? Go on, have another look. I'll wait while you look back at the first 2 photos of the old pole.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;This is Chloe and Max, they are checking out the new pole too from the back of hubby's 4x4&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-tF4XtQI/AAAAAAAAANc/mwNTRRa9w0M/s200/100_0338.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;No, you don't see anything different? Did you have a good look?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Still see nothing? Neither did I. So I had to ask that lovely man as to what was new and all it was, was the porcelain needed to be replaced for the wiring to go around the top of the pole. Yip, even Chloe and Max was stunned  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;See, I have such an exciting life.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Maybe I could share another one of my stories with you again soon&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Till next time,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Happy stitching&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-4202523141455700707?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/4202523141455700707/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/04/yes-its-back.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/4202523141455700707'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/4202523141455700707'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/04/yes-its-back.html' title='Yes it&apos;s back ....'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S8v-tevq28I/AAAAAAAAANk/0-sQ1FI2dlw/s72-c/100_0362.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-1260341755839928862</id><published>2010-04-09T07:40:00.006+12:00</published><updated>2010-04-09T07:54:20.109+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Cutting Off the Power</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;How rude, I have been given less than 20mins to do this. I have been told that they are cutting off my power in 20mins. No it is not because I have not paid my power bill!! They are digging up our street to put in new sewer pipes in and the power company thought it was a great time to up date our power system. So power off today and tomorrow. Back on for Sunday and off again on Monday. What's a girl to do? GO SHOPPING YEAH......&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Any way, DD3 left last Sunday for her school European trip. She is having a lovely time and today leaves Florance and heads to Rome where she will be for 4 days. Lucky girl. But of course I had to make her a bag big enough for all her shopping. What do you think? Yes the only photo I could get was after she had packed it to take it on the plane as her carry on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S74zZ9lzRII/AAAAAAAAANM/FCX0MhTUoEY/s200/100_0343.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;And of course today is the 9th so I must very quickly show you my next block for Pond House&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S74z0oW2YFI/AAAAAAAAANU/rg7hPyGlL0c/s200/100_0361.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Got to go, the power guy is wagging his finger at me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Till next time, &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Happy Stitiching&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S74ygvSiPbI/AAAAAAAAAM8/BgLa4y3m6pI/s1600/100_0343.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-1260341755839928862?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/1260341755839928862/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/04/cutting-off-power.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/1260341755839928862'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/1260341755839928862'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/04/cutting-off-power.html' title='Cutting Off the Power'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S74zZ9lzRII/AAAAAAAAANM/FCX0MhTUoEY/s72-c/100_0343.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-6125574170922035768</id><published>2010-03-19T13:06:00.006+13:00</published><updated>2010-03-19T13:27:43.065+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Visits and Painting</title><content type='html'>During the weekend I took another trip to the other side of NZ. Yes to Hokitika to visit &lt;a href="http://byhokiquilts.blogspot.com/"&gt;Miche'le&lt;/a&gt; again. Oh course I did pop into the &lt;a href="http://www.wildfoods.co.nz/"&gt;Wildfoods&lt;/a&gt; festival while I was there, had to make the most of the trip across the island. So up at 5am on a Saturday morning and look what I got from Miche'le shop while I was there ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LAr90oFII/AAAAAAAAAMU/3bjozhC5TJ0/s1600-h/100_0334.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LAr90oFII/AAAAAAAAAMU/3bjozhC5TJ0/s200/100_0334.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450130360633922690" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;        &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LAsPX7LCI/AAAAAAAAAMc/J_ptrzrtoys/s1600-h/100_0335.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LAsPX7LCI/AAAAAAAAAMc/J_ptrzrtoys/s200/100_0335.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450130365345377314" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The pretty flora's just because I had to have them&lt;br /&gt;And the soft pink backgrounds for the &lt;a href="http://rosaliequinlandesigns.typepad.com/rosaliequinlandesigns/"&gt;Joy of Life&lt;/a&gt; quilt that I hope to start later this year&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While I was there, Miche'le gave me this beautiful mini cushion. Remember how there is a few of us here in NZ that decided to do a Mini Cushion swap, while we are continuing to do this and as there is no set time to send we just do it when we have the time. Of course Miche'le must have more time than me at the moment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LBi44UfeI/AAAAAAAAAMk/yaZKdMTgN-U/s1600-h/Michele.jpeg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LBi44UfeI/AAAAAAAAAMk/yaZKdMTgN-U/s200/Michele.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450131304200044002" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Isn't it lovely? Miche'le does the most beautiful work and I am so happy to now have 2 of her pieces in my home.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--oo0oo--&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have been attending a painting class on a Tuesday night and during the last 4 weeks I have been making this.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LCnGF-bqI/AAAAAAAAAMs/RVWWzmVzYeg/s1600-h/art.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LCnGF-bqI/AAAAAAAAAMs/RVWWzmVzYeg/s200/art.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450132475978084002" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do you think? I am very pleased with it. DD1 tried to steal it last night but I am happy to say, I still have it. Maybe I could make her one, one day&lt;br /&gt;And I made this for DD3 as she loves black and white. I have been asked to make a couple more but we will see&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LCnbqgHfI/AAAAAAAAAM0/yK3hYnS6SWE/s1600-h/art1.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 104px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LCnbqgHfI/AAAAAAAAAM0/yK3hYnS6SWE/s200/art1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450132481768431090" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I hand stamped the ribbon on this one. It was so much fun and so quick to do.&lt;br /&gt;Yes I think I will whip up a few more&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now off to do some sewing, DD3 leaves for her School Classics trip in 2 weeks,&lt;br /&gt;Italy and Greece for a month. And I still have to make her a day bag.&lt;br /&gt;So down with the paint brush and up with the needle&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Til next time,&lt;br /&gt;Happy stitching&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-6125574170922035768?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/6125574170922035768/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/03/visits-and-painting.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/6125574170922035768'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/6125574170922035768'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/03/visits-and-painting.html' title='Visits and Painting'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S6LAr90oFII/AAAAAAAAAMU/3bjozhC5TJ0/s72-c/100_0334.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-3405195500127414234</id><published>2010-03-09T12:02:00.005+13:00</published><updated>2010-03-09T12:42:52.412+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Presents &amp; Block 2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Last week it was my birthday. I was given some lovely gifts. First, DH gave me some new rulers for my quilting. They were just what I needed but they were given to me at 5am. That was my other present, he was heading away for the weekend to spend time with his parents. Not sure if that was what I wanted, but I did get a good nights sleep. (He's a snorer)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;DD3 gave me the first season of Bewitched, something from my child hood that she knew I would love. Seeing that I have already watch 10 of the episodes, I guess I had better start looking for the next season.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The family (minus DH) asked me what did I want to do for my birthday. I wanted to go to the &lt;a href="http://www.oranawildlifepark.co.nz/about.htm"&gt;zoo&lt;/a&gt; and have a picnic. So off we went. All my daughters, their partners and the grandchildren.&lt;br /&gt;I have to say, I like the idea of putting live food in a cage for the lions, don't you?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJOeq6b0I/AAAAAAAAAMM/nQ-HyoX4RvI/s1600-h/conference.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 135px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJOeq6b0I/AAAAAAAAAMM/nQ-HyoX4RvI/s200/conference.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446410206218710850" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJN4HglrI/AAAAAAAAAME/HSkSQdukv08/s1600-h/tigerenc1.jpg"&gt;    &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJN4HglrI/AAAAAAAAAME/HSkSQdukv08/s1600-h/tigerenc1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJN4HglrI/AAAAAAAAAME/HSkSQdukv08/s200/tigerenc1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446410195869669042" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;    &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJNawNi_I/AAAAAAAAAL8/47px6MLLU-4/s1600-h/lions1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJNawNi_I/AAAAAAAAAL8/47px6MLLU-4/s200/lions1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446410187987323890" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By the end of the day, they had all enjoyed themselves and we had all shared some lovely quality time together&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJNFrT9AI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Ipt2oPbxsrk/s1600-h/index2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 55px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJNFrT9AI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Ipt2oPbxsrk/s200/index2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446410182329627650" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJMpNfuUI/AAAAAAAAALs/WjZf5yHUmn4/s1600-h/index1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 55px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJMpNfuUI/AAAAAAAAALs/WjZf5yHUmn4/s200/index1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446410174688377154" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some of the staff at work got together to give me this lovely handmade felted bag&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WDeVUIidI/AAAAAAAAALc/dihZpEl0WUM/s1600-h/100_0324.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WDeVUIidI/AAAAAAAAALc/dihZpEl0WUM/s200/100_0324.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446403881515387346" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;On Friday, I popped into &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb's&lt;/a&gt; and she had made me the most beautiful candlewick bolster cushion. Isn't just beautiful? The hand work is so lovely. I have it sitting in my chair at the moment. Deb filled it with Lavender so I am feeling rather relaxed (and sleepy). Thank you so much Deb, you are such a wonderful friend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WCg6IaXFI/AAAAAAAAALM/D4M2NI_BLJQ/s1600-h/100_0322.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 118px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WCg6IaXFI/AAAAAAAAALM/D4M2NI_BLJQ/s200/100_0322.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446402826246446162" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;     &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WChS2GnvI/AAAAAAAAALU/QGBV4rQ83EE/s1600-h/100_0323.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WChS2GnvI/AAAAAAAAALU/QGBV4rQ83EE/s200/100_0323.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446402832880541426" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;     &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WCgaTz3CI/AAAAAAAAALE/m_Sg3WlGDmc/s1600-h/100_0321.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 129px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WCgaTz3CI/AAAAAAAAALE/m_Sg3WlGDmc/s200/100_0321.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446402817704320034" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;--00O00--&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So today is the 9th, and I have to show my block 2 of Pond House.&lt;br /&gt;Not quite finished but nearly there and should be completed before I go to bed tonight so that would mean that my block is completed on the 9th. Hooray&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WCgOgcFrI/AAAAAAAAAK8/nMyUSS42608/s1600-h/100_0320.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WCgOgcFrI/AAAAAAAAAK8/nMyUSS42608/s200/100_0320.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446402814536062642" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now I just have to wait for &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://jellybeanangel2.blogspot.com/"&gt;Melanie&lt;/a&gt; to show theirs. Then it is off to start block 3. I had better get it done early as I will be away for the 9th April so I will have to show it before I go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Til next time, happy stitching&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-3405195500127414234?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/3405195500127414234/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/03/presents-block-2.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/3405195500127414234'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/3405195500127414234'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/03/presents-block-2.html' title='Presents &amp; Block 2'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S5WJOeq6b0I/AAAAAAAAAMM/nQ-HyoX4RvI/s72-c/conference.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-6331684243082376931</id><published>2010-02-21T14:25:00.003+13:00</published><updated>2010-02-21T14:51:00.356+13:00</updated><title type='text'>I'm late, I'm late .....</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Yes, I am so late for a very important date or 2 or 3, I have lost count of where I am at or where I should be. At this stage, a nice island far away sounds good.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So first up, on the 1st February I sent away 3 of these little cushions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMNziTdaI/AAAAAAAAAKU/OdpucPp4Vyw/s1600-h/100_0298.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMNziTdaI/AAAAAAAAAKU/OdpucPp4Vyw/s200/100_0298.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440502518663837090" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One went over the hill to Christchurch, another went over the mountains and the other one went south for the winter. In return, I got 3 back. Well I think that was a fair swap, don't you?&lt;br /&gt;So from over the hill came this wee delight from &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMOXD8uVI/AAAAAAAAAKk/m5KtNoNVDCE/s1600-h/100_0316.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMOXD8uVI/AAAAAAAAAKk/m5KtNoNVDCE/s200/100_0316.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440502528200194386" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From over the mountains came this vision of beauty from &lt;a href="http://byhokiquilts.blogspot.com/"&gt;Miche'le&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMOCtn7wI/AAAAAAAAAKc/N4hYD1V8nbc/s1600-h/100_0315.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMOCtn7wI/AAAAAAAAAKc/N4hYD1V8nbc/s200/100_0315.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440502522737848066" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And it came from the south was this wee cutie from &lt;a href="http://kiwifruit-shiree.blogspot.com/"&gt;Shiree&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMO3uMysI/AAAAAAAAAKs/9jUIaIpYN7s/s1600-h/100_0317.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMO3uMysI/AAAAAAAAAKs/9jUIaIpYN7s/s200/100_0317.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440502536967342786" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wasn't I lucky? And to think we are going to do it again during the year (3 or 4 more times I think). So if you live in any of those areas, look out for low flying tuffets.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--oo0oo--&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And then on the 9th February I was suppose to show my first block of Pond House. I am doing this with &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://jellybeanangel2.blogspot.com/"&gt;Melanie&lt;/a&gt;. Well I have to confess that I was ready to go and complete it by that date but I didn't. So much got in the way, I was thinking it was never going to happen. Well the stitching is not completed (just a little more to go) but I thought that seeing the next block is due in 2 weeks, I had better show this block.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMPBjrEVI/AAAAAAAAAK0/QzDRWXddOao/s1600-h/100_0318.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 92px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMPBjrEVI/AAAAAAAAAK0/QzDRWXddOao/s200/100_0318.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440502539607544146" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I promise to have it all stitched real soon and block 2 will be started in the next day or 2 and will be ready to show on the 9th March. I have a sneaky feeling that Melanie has already done block 2 and maybe a few more as well. I don't think that girl sleeps.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Till next time, happy stitching&lt;br /&gt;(I will keep stitching, I promise)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-6331684243082376931?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/6331684243082376931/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/02/im-late-im-late.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/6331684243082376931'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/6331684243082376931'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/02/im-late-im-late.html' title='I&apos;m late, I&apos;m late .....'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S4CMNziTdaI/AAAAAAAAAKU/OdpucPp4Vyw/s72-c/100_0298.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-3484753914452938383</id><published>2010-02-05T20:57:00.009+13:00</published><updated>2010-02-05T22:25:53.314+13:00</updated><title type='text'>I do ...</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vaxoCqzlI/AAAAAAAAAIs/X5eEHJPUCf0/s1600-h/1.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vaxoCqzlI/AAAAAAAAAIs/X5eEHJPUCf0/s200/1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434677921449692754" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Yes the wedding has occurred and it was just lovely. DD2 had big plans but as we all know, sometimes things just do not work out that way. So the simple easy wedding plan came together and this is how it went.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;        &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vax7knfTI/AAAAAAAAAI0/dMPhtPWzqik/s1600-h/2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vax7knfTI/AAAAAAAAAI0/dMPhtPWzqik/s200/2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434677926692355378" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;On the river bank it was going to be. And as it is the middle of summer, it will be a lovely day. Hmmm .... rain clouds every where and umbrella's popping up fast. So what's with a little rain?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vgaafcDkI/AAAAAAAAAJk/PETvqsFJBX8/s1600-h/3.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vgaafcDkI/AAAAAAAAAJk/PETvqsFJBX8/s200/3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434684119745039938" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;         &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vgtjd91jI/AAAAAAAAAJs/NnK7CT5BOlE/s1600-h/3a.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vgtjd91jI/AAAAAAAAAJs/NnK7CT5BOlE/s200/3a.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434684448572298802" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Not fun for everyone, if only they would let her play with the ducks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vhMB8Dz5I/AAAAAAAAAJ0/WZzYVhKWLiQ/s1600-h/4.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vhMB8Dz5I/AAAAAAAAAJ0/WZzYVhKWLiQ/s200/4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434684972147658642" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;DD1 and DD2 smiling for the cameras&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vhcp9jYHI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/VpKERbGMKII/s1600-h/5.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vhcp9jYHI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/VpKERbGMKII/s200/5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434685257769246834" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;And didn't she make a lovely job of the cake. Yes DD2 did everything herself. She made a beautiful Strawberry mousse and White Chocolate cake. Enough for 3 weddings I think.&lt;br /&gt;There was a wee story with the cake. Someone had to go stealing out of someones garden in the middle of the night to get the right shade of flowers for the top. The things one does for their wedding day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vhrlWhDdI/AAAAAAAAAKE/EXVsT7ARxy0/s1600-h/6.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 184px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vhrlWhDdI/AAAAAAAAAKE/EXVsT7ARxy0/s200/6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434685514229812690" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course the day would not be complete without the family photos. Here is the prize family shot for the day. They told her it was a party and this is how she paid them back. The more she looked for presents and balloons, the more unhappier she became. But I will treasure this photo and save it for her 21st&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2viDEmTl6I/AAAAAAAAAKM/UPPdiWrayD8/s1600-h/7.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2viDEmTl6I/AAAAAAAAAKM/UPPdiWrayD8/s200/7.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434685917754529698" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And to finish it off, here is DD3, DD2 and DD1&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-3484753914452938383?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/3484753914452938383/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-do.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/3484753914452938383'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/3484753914452938383'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-do.html' title='I do ...'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/S2vaxoCqzlI/AAAAAAAAAIs/X5eEHJPUCf0/s72-c/1.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-5633319449956583464</id><published>2010-01-18T21:52:00.002+13:00</published><updated>2010-01-18T21:55:15.249+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Still here</title><content type='html'>Yes I am still here, just been so busy reading everyone else's blogs.&lt;br /&gt;For those who have been emailing me asking when am I going to be updating, the answer is soon. I just have to get a few things sorted first.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Catch you all soon&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-5633319449956583464?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/5633319449956583464/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/01/still-here.html#comment-form' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/5633319449956583464'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/5633319449956583464'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/01/still-here.html' title='Still here'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-4200938492516143162</id><published>2009-07-02T12:27:00.003+12:00</published><updated>2009-07-02T12:43:17.218+12:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Well, what a month it has been.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Bella has grown considerably but she has had a rotten time. After we sent her in for a simple girlie op, she had a reaction to the pain killers they put her on. The long weekend turned into hell for her as she had difficulty breathing and was not able to eat or drink. We thought she was a goner at the emergency vets and so did they but come Tuesday morning, she was handed back to our vet and her life became so much better. He noted the problem, and she was leaping around the lounge again with full energy by the end of the week. Here she is in her relaxed mode. I so wish I could sleep like that …&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Skv_iMPrBbI/AAAAAAAAAHk/X4P0ZzAEhpg/s200/BOOK+002.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353653544927561138" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;And here is my big boy Raoul.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Skv_i3e8SOI/AAAAAAAAAHs/zDyosQZsJ7o/s200/BOOK+004.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353653556534331618" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;He is not happy having a kitten in the house at all but he is not the brightest either. Have a close look to see who is sleeping on the other side of the heater. Can you see the white paws?&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Skv_jKb_X5I/AAAAAAAAAH0/-MBtdAfSV7o/s200/BOOK+005.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353653561622224786" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Yip, he never noticed that Bella had claimed the other side.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;And why were they hugging the heater? Well it might have something to do with the snow.&lt;img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Skv_jYvl3pI/AAAAAAAAAH8/etFptxtDPYs/s200/BOOK+006.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353653565462535826" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Well I have been busy with a little sewing here and there. First, I am involved with a Row Robin. There is 6 of us from around the world and we have just started on our rows. Mine is somewhere in the &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;USA&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; at the moment and I get to see it again sometime around Christmas after everyone has made a row to go with it. I made this row for one of the Marty who is creating a Butterfly Garden Row quilt. Sorry, but the camera couldn't get the whole row, but I think you get the idea&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SkwAidHOCbI/AAAAAAAAAIM/f2-EFNuIpsE/s200/BOOK+003.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353654648967137714" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I am now waiting for the next row to arrive so I can make something to go with it. I think it is the Wizard of Oz.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I was involved with &lt;st1:personname st="on"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mrsmartinsquiltshop.typepad.com"&gt;Karen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/st1:personname&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mrsmartinsquiltshop.typepad.com"&gt;’s&lt;/a&gt; Christmas in July swap. I had a special friend deliver it for me as I was a little busy with other things. If you pop over to &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com"&gt;Deb’s&lt;/a&gt; blog and have a look at what she got and who delivered the present for me.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"&gt;Well it was the wedding anniversary and DH and I decided a wee while ago that it was not necessary to buy a gift for this occasion. Instead, we disappear for the weekend. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SkwAiuWvqQI/AAAAAAAAAIU/TbX6m6tCa6c/s200/header.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 66px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353654653595658498" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"&gt;We take off to here and as you can see, there is no one else around. It is a quite little bay and there is only 4 people living there. Complete quite. No TV, No internet,&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;No cell phone coverage, just bliss&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Skv_jsvtXOI/AAAAAAAAAIE/BSASpjZViCc/s200/bachandbeach.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 125px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353653570831736034" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The only problem with this weekend was I arrived with the flu. Oh bother. So I sat on top of the fire all wrapped up with blankets and waited until it was time to go home on Sunday. I spent the rest of the week at home in bed. Not a stitch was stitched.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So I am now back at work for this week and then I am on holiday for 2 weeks for school break. I have a lot of stitching to do.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;DD1 went to &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Thailand&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; with her partner for a lovely holiday. They did there own travel arrangements and decided to book accommodation when they were there. They had a wonderful time and I think they are planning on doing again soon.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;DD2 had her birthday. It was a quite day as she is pregnant with grand daughter number 2. She has had a few worries. They have found 3 tumors on her uterus. At the moment they do not appear to be interfering with bubs but it did slow down her progress. She was rather tiny and was reading 9 weeks behind on development but with a good midwife and a specialist involved, she is catching up and should be with us on time. August 17th is the planned date&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;DD3 has been competing in the regional Big Sing competitions. She is in a school choir called Bel Canto from &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:placename st="on"&gt;Burnside&lt;/st1:placename&gt; &lt;st1:placetype st="on"&gt;High School&lt;/st1:placetype&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;. She is in this photo somewhere on the right but this is all the choirs that were competing for this region and as you can see, there was many beautiful voices&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SkwAi3PXsSI/AAAAAAAAAIc/lil-4a3Cs2Q/s200/chch-gala09.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 76px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353654655980646690" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Last week, she was told they have made it into the Nationals and will be competing in &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Dunedin&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; at the end of August. The good thing is, that the cost is only $300 for her travel, accommodation and food for 4 days. A great bargain I am thinking. But of course last month she was told that she had been accepted for School tip to &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Greece&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Italy&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; next year. Well the cost for that one is nearer the $9,000 mark. Still a bargain she is telling me but I see that my fabric days are over for a while. Oh well, I guess that is why we have fabric stashes.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So if you have any fundraising ideas out there, let me know. The sooner I get the money for her trips, the sooner I can buy new fabric&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Till next time, happy stitching&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-4200938492516143162?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/4200938492516143162/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/07/well-what-month-it-has-been.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/4200938492516143162'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/4200938492516143162'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/07/well-what-month-it-has-been.html' title=''/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Skv_iMPrBbI/AAAAAAAAAHk/X4P0ZzAEhpg/s72-c/BOOK+002.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-5956330506891585616</id><published>2009-06-04T12:39:00.003+12:00</published><updated>2009-06-04T12:51:14.372+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Birthday Girl</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;During the weekend, it was my granddaughter’s birthday. She is now the big old age of 2.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;We had a wonderful day. Here she is with the quilt I made her to keep her warm this winter. If the autumn was anything to go by, it is going to me an icy cold winter this year.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SicYvR8GkRI/AAAAAAAAAG4/Apph1AwYOls/s200/100_0161.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343266683446792466" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SicYvh2tRPI/AAAAAAAAAHA/4A2NGxEI3gs/s200/100_0165.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343266687719130354" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;Blowing out the candles was no effort at all for her; I think her mother has been making her practice the week before hand.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SicYvyAJ7jI/AAAAAAAAAHI/1Qj-hF7gGMw/s200/100_0167.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343266692053724722" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;We even had cupcakes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SicYwMGfElI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/C_nqARwnLVA/s200/100_0185.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343266699059597906" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;At the end of the day, you could tell she had had enough&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SicYwXGmDOI/AAAAAAAAAHY/O2RdXdzh7Uw/s200/100_0171.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343266702012845282" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:x-large;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);"&gt;Happy Birthday Ava&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-5956330506891585616?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/5956330506891585616/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/06/birthday-girl.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/5956330506891585616'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/5956330506891585616'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/06/birthday-girl.html' title='Birthday Girl'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SicYvR8GkRI/AAAAAAAAAG4/Apph1AwYOls/s72-c/100_0161.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-6761264754985970071</id><published>2009-05-11T16:40:00.004+12:00</published><updated>2009-05-11T17:36:37.994+12:00</updated><title type='text'>Now, where was I</title><content type='html'>Yes, where was I before I was rudely interrupted by life?&lt;br /&gt;First things first, here is a few snips of the swaps I have sent away during the last month.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is the lovely rabbit I made for someone who will not let me know if she has received her or not, and as I read her blog comments, lots of people have sent her things that she is not claiming she has so I wont tell you who she is as that would be rude but I can show you the lovely rabbit I spent hours making for her.&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevRSpwQQI/AAAAAAAAAF8/JQriirMreQE/s1600-h/IMG_0142.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevRSpwQQI/AAAAAAAAAF8/JQriirMreQE/s200/IMG_0142.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334424995243245826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is a the Spring swap I sent away but I have just found out that it never arrived, so I am putting together another to put in the post so I am only showing a sneak peek so as not to spoil the surprise&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevQiwaTQI/AAAAAAAAAFs/qQbzHSgQrek/s1600-h/100_0150.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevQiwaTQI/AAAAAAAAAFs/qQbzHSgQrek/s200/100_0150.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334424982386265346" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is a bag I sent for a bag swap I was involved with through Snickerdoodles. It was full of little surprises. Just as all bags should be&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevQz1zEOI/AAAAAAAAAF0/VnAKoH-EzFg/s1600-h/100_0156.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevQz1zEOI/AAAAAAAAAF0/VnAKoH-EzFg/s200/100_0156.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334424986972262626" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Here is a sneak peek of a Redwork cushion I made for another swap. I can't show you the whole thing yet as I have not been told if it has been received&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Sgewb-C2fXI/AAAAAAAAAGE/sY1FtLtQbVQ/s1600-h/100_0155.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/Sgewb-C2fXI/AAAAAAAAAGE/sY1FtLtQbVQ/s200/100_0155.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334426278201556338" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"&gt;&lt;meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"&gt;&lt;meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"&gt;&lt;meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"&gt;&lt;link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CEducator%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt;  &lt;w:worddocument&gt;   &lt;w:view&gt;Normal&lt;/w:View&gt;   &lt;w:zoom&gt;0&lt;/w:Zoom&gt;   &lt;w:punctuationkerning/&gt;   &lt;w:validateagainstschemas/&gt;   &lt;w:saveifxmlinvalid&gt;false&lt;/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid&gt;   &lt;w:ignoremixedcontent&gt;false&lt;/w:IgnoreMixedContent&gt;   &lt;w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext&gt;false&lt;/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText&gt;   &lt;w:compatibility&gt;    &lt;w:breakwrappedtables/&gt;    &lt;w:snaptogridincell/&gt;    &lt;w:wraptextwithpunct/&gt;    &lt;w:useasianbreakrules/&gt;    &lt;w:dontgrowautofit/&gt;   &lt;/w:Compatibility&gt;   &lt;w:browserlevel&gt;MicrosoftInternetExplorer4&lt;/w:BrowserLevel&gt;  &lt;/w:WordDocument&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;&lt;xml&gt;  &lt;w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"&gt;  &lt;/w:LatentStyles&gt; &lt;/xml&gt;&lt;![endif]--&gt;&lt;style&gt; &lt;!--  /* Style Definitions */  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal 	{mso-style-parent:""; 	margin:0cm; 	margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:12.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 	{size:595.3pt 841.9pt; 	margin:72.0pt 89.85pt 72.0pt 89.85pt; 	mso-header-margin:35.45pt; 	mso-footer-margin:35.45pt; 	mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 	{page:Section1;} --&gt; &lt;/style&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 10]&gt; &lt;style&gt;  /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:10.0pt; 	font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-ansi-language:#0400; 	mso-fareast-language:#0400; 	mso-bidi-language:#0400;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;So as you can see, I have been rather busy stitching getting my swaps completed and sent on their long journeys.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Which brings me to a little something that upset me in the weekend. I received an email telling me that as I had not updated my blog in a while, I was being pulled from a swap that I had joined that is happening in a couple of months. As you could imagine, I was blown away. To think that I have been black listed because I am so busy with my life and family that I can not be trusted to do a swap. What really got me was the person who wanted me removed was the person who was sending to me, not the same person that I was sending too. When I commit to something – I do it, no matter what is going on. Stitching fits in the handbag but the PC, well it just won’t. So when I am sitting at the doctors waiting to hear the news of the problems my daughter has medically with her pregnancy, or while I have my 30 minute lunch break at work, or while I am concerned about my daughters wedding being cancelled because a richer person wants the venue we booked for that day and they get it, I still continue to stitch to complete my projects.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;I am flabbergasted with how people believe they no what is going on with me and assume they have the right to change things on me. If only they asked?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;So I apologize to you all for not updating you all with my life and I am sorry to the lovely lady I had started making the swap gift for. I am sure you will get something nice from someone, just not me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Please note that due to the privacy act here in NZ, I have not mentioned the swap or the names of the people involved. Now that would be bad of me!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Sorry if this appears to be a little negative but I needed to get it of my chest. Next posting will be a happier one as I am getting together some photos of the lovely swaps I have received. And then I will show you what I made at the Symposium&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Til next time, Happy Stitching (and less bitching)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-6761264754985970071?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/6761264754985970071/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/05/now-where-was-i.html#comment-form' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/6761264754985970071'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/6761264754985970071'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/05/now-where-was-i.html' title='Now, where was I'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgevRSpwQQI/AAAAAAAAAF8/JQriirMreQE/s72-c/IMG_0142.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-1537077167837647581</id><published>2009-02-23T17:20:00.003+13:00</published><updated>2009-02-23T17:41:04.276+13:00</updated><title type='text'>New people, New friends</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Well I said earlier today that I had someone new to introduce you to but now I have 2. And just to make it clear, I only had to pay cash to one of them to be my friend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First, let me introduce you to &lt;a href="http://chicletsmom-sherry.blogspot.com/"&gt;Sherry&lt;/a&gt;. She just joined Blog land today so she could join my PIF. Isn't she wonderful. She is a manicurist my day and a quilter by night. I wonder how much she would charge me to do my nails? It's only a 17 hour flight. I'm sure it will be worth the trip. Pop over and welcome her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now for the friend I did have to pay cash for. Well DD has been asking for a puppy for quite some time and we managed to tame that want of a puppy to a canary in a cage. Well that worked for awhile but the want came back. But this time it wasn't for a puppy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Let me introduce you to Bella&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaIoGpmvVjI/AAAAAAAAAFk/4q3pWMhJrss/s1600-h/100_0075.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaIoGpmvVjI/AAAAAAAAAFk/4q3pWMhJrss/s200/100_0075.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305847405708531250" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She is 12 weeks old, and as loopy as they come. She has found spaces around the house that even I didn't know about. However, Raoul our 4yr old cat, is a little put out. He is not that thrilled about having an excitable kitten in the house who wants to sleep in his spot, eat his food and try to disturb his peace and quite. Poor Raoul, I am sure he will get over it. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-1537077167837647581?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/1537077167837647581/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-people-new-friends.html#comment-form' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/1537077167837647581'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/1537077167837647581'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-people-new-friends.html' title='New people, New friends'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaIoGpmvVjI/AAAAAAAAAFk/4q3pWMhJrss/s72-c/100_0075.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-468619186948148966</id><published>2009-02-23T07:00:00.002+13:00</published><updated>2009-02-23T07:19:16.062+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Busy Weekend</title><content type='html'>What a busy weekend of loud music and entertainment. On Saturday, DH and I packed a picnic and our chairs and headed of to Waipara (about an hour from home) to the Pegasus Winery&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUezyHlvI/AAAAAAAAAE0/zg3nWVGLIKM/s1600-h/pegasus-bay-winery.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUezyHlvI/AAAAAAAAAE0/zg3nWVGLIKM/s200/pegasus-bay-winery.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305685093036562162" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;to attend the Main Divide Concert. It was an 10 hour outdoor concert. The grounds were fantastic. But don't you feel sorry for the opening act? She was great but as you can see by the crowd, there were very few of us there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUfhj05XI/AAAAAAAAAE8/DW-a-y4VmHg/s1600-h/100_0081.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUfhj05XI/AAAAAAAAAE8/DW-a-y4VmHg/s200/100_0081.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305685105324647794" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But as the day went on, the crowds arrived and by night fall, the place was packed&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUga6W0MI/AAAAAAAAAFE/1zscsU7KNXE/s1600-h/100_0083.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUga6W0MI/AAAAAAAAAFE/1zscsU7KNXE/s200/100_0083.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305685120719966402" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then on Sunday, we had our annual Street Party here in Lyttelton.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUhMH_9wI/AAAAAAAAAFU/vqmpmW6jGts/s1600-h/crowd.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 82px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUhMH_9wI/AAAAAAAAAFU/vqmpmW6jGts/s200/crowd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305685133930526466" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They close of the main street and set up a stage were there is live music all day and stall holders selling everything from food to woolen socks. I don't think many socks got sold, it was a stinking hot day&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUgnWWsAI/AAAAAAAAAFM/_zTKjYXhSls/s1600-h/st+party.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUgnWWsAI/AAAAAAAAAFM/_zTKjYXhSls/s200/st+party.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305685124058624002" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;   &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well back to work to have a rest I guess. Hopefully a little stitching during the lunch break &lt;br /&gt;Later today, I will have a new friend to introduce you to. Any ideas as to who she is?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-468619186948148966?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/468619186948148966/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/02/busy-weekend.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/468619186948148966'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/468619186948148966'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/02/busy-weekend.html' title='Busy Weekend'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SaGUezyHlvI/AAAAAAAAAE0/zg3nWVGLIKM/s72-c/pegasus-bay-winery.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-7876601524719191231</id><published>2009-02-20T09:07:00.003+13:00</published><updated>2009-02-20T09:42:30.095+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Missing in Action</title><content type='html'>I am so sorry for the delay in updating my blog. No I haven't really been missing, but I have returned to work. After a wonderful 6 weeks holiday (can you guess what my career place is?) I had to return to work. I thought I would still have plenty of time for everything, but the start of a new school year is always messy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, I have got myself sorted out and I think I am back to normal, well as normal as one can be. Over the next few days, I will be doing some house cleaning on the blog and bring you up to date with my going ons. eg, stitching projects on the go, purchases of new quilting items, my daughters wedding coming up, a new grand child on the way and presents received in the mail. Yes, it has been busy and I do have a lot of thanking to do&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well &lt;a href="http://www.willowberrydesigns.typepad.com/"&gt;Cheryl&lt;/a&gt; wanted to know what does the harbour look like today compared with my header of years gone by, well I have taken some photos of something you would not have seen in the harbour all those years ago.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is the Regent, she was in port for 24hrs. Normally the cruise boats only stay for 12hrs. She looked lovely during the night with all her fairy lights on. She was in the Inner Harbour.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BmIZWSfI/AAAAAAAAAEk/jkQKvYQk6mE/s1600-h/100_0069.jpg"&gt;                            &lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BmIZWSfI/AAAAAAAAAEk/jkQKvYQk6mE/s200/100_0069.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304608796945304050" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;          &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BmfcgYJI/AAAAAAAAAEs/EA0NSAeDh2A/s1600-h/100_0073.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BmfcgYJI/AAAAAAAAAEs/EA0NSAeDh2A/s200/100_0073.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304608803132563602" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;And on one of the outer wharfs, we had the Dawn Princess&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BlxymK6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/s0gyL9uHVKU/s1600-h/100_0065.jpg"&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BlxymK6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/s0gyL9uHVKU/s1600-h/100_0065.jpg"&gt;                                                           &lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BlxymK6I/AAAAAAAAAEc/s0gyL9uHVKU/s200/100_0065.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304608790877186978" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;During the summer season, we have on average, a cruise boat a day. Sometime 2 or as we had the other day 3 in at a time. The sight of watching them come in at 6am is just so lovely.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Till next time,&lt;br /&gt;Happy Stitching&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-7876601524719191231?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/7876601524719191231/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/02/missing-in-action.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/7876601524719191231'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/7876601524719191231'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/02/missing-in-action.html' title='Missing in Action'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SZ3BmIZWSfI/AAAAAAAAAEk/jkQKvYQk6mE/s72-c/100_0069.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-2516199300017970636</id><published>2009-01-25T07:02:00.004+13:00</published><updated>2009-02-20T09:06:39.797+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='PIF'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Free gift'/><title type='text'>I'm making a Free Gift for you</title><content type='html'>So now I have your attention, don't run away. I am serious, I am going to make you a gift and post it to you to enjoy. I promise it's a nice gift and all you have to do is join my PIF by leaving a comment or emailing me. See really simple.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh you saw through that? Ok, so here are the rules. I joined &lt;a href="http://makinquilts.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt;'s PIF and now I need you to join my PIF and I will post you a lovely handmade gift. In return, all you have to do is place the PIF logo on your blog and get 3 people to join you. You have 365 days inwhich to make the gift and send it on. Now that is a whole year to think about what you want to make and get it to your players. Thats not bad and this is very easy to do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So show me that you want to play and I will throw in a little something special just for you as well as the handmade gift all the way from New Zealand&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-2516199300017970636?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/2516199300017970636/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/im-making-free-gift-for-you.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2516199300017970636'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2516199300017970636'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/im-making-free-gift-for-you.html' title='I&apos;m making a Free Gift for you'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-2689604176287164800</id><published>2009-01-24T07:07:00.001+13:00</published><updated>2009-01-24T07:11:06.509+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Rag Doll Giveaway</title><content type='html'>De from &lt;a href="http://itsaboutannie.blogspot.com/"&gt;Its About Annie&lt;/a&gt; is having a giveaway for a beautiful Annie.&lt;br /&gt;Pop over and have a look&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-2689604176287164800?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/2689604176287164800/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/rag-doll-giveaway.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2689604176287164800'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2689604176287164800'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/rag-doll-giveaway.html' title='Rag Doll Giveaway'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-3403923386470586208</id><published>2009-01-23T11:08:00.002+13:00</published><updated>2009-01-23T11:16:28.098+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Swaps and More BOM's</title><content type='html'>Just a quickie today to let you know that there is an Easter Swap on. It closes on the 13th Feb so you have plenty of time to sign up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bushbabyjag.blogspot.com"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 93px; height: 138px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXjvDWfwJVI/AAAAAAAAAD0/RU1aJqRTbs8/s200/easter+bunny.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294244202831422802" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;                     And yes, there is another free BOM&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;          &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://quilthoekje.blogspot.com/"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 123px; height: 123px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXjvDsV6EhI/AAAAAAAAAD8/ZaQah55EgoI/s200/mysteriequilt_2009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294244208695710226" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-3403923386470586208?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/3403923386470586208/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/swaps-and-more-boms.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/3403923386470586208'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/3403923386470586208'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/swaps-and-more-boms.html' title='Swaps and More BOM&apos;s'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXjvDWfwJVI/AAAAAAAAAD0/RU1aJqRTbs8/s72-c/easter+bunny.png' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-2924287040966626851</id><published>2009-01-22T10:40:00.005+13:00</published><updated>2009-01-22T12:23:04.827+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Another week gone, and what have I done? NOTHING</title><content type='html'>I think I have been a little side tracked this week but I can not remember much of what I have been up to but it must have been necessary for me to do what ever it was that I was doing. I do recall going for a lovely walk with DH on Sunday morning and getting coffee after wards.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;But I have been able to find the time to do &lt;a href="http://gailpandesigns.typepad.com/"&gt;Gail P&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://gailpandesigns.typepad.com/"&gt;an's&lt;/a&gt; block&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXemwTyVgJI/AAAAAAAAACk/3QpFs-5RfYc/s1600-h/100_0059.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXemwTyVgJI/AAAAAAAAACk/3QpFs-5RfYc/s200/100_0059.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293883235872637074" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;and &lt;a href="http://www.willowberrydesigns.typepad.com/"&gt;Willowberry's&lt;/a&gt; block&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXemwAZDO_I/AAAAAAAAACc/xYO-EVLwaE8/s1600-h/100_0058.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXemwAZDO_I/AAAAAAAAACc/xYO-EVLwaE8/s200/100_0058.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293883230666308594" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No borders as yet, but why hurry these things?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Guess where I will be going for Easter this year?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetFzqhdZI/AAAAAAAAACs/MneHuztbSFQ/s1600-h/100_0060.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetFzqhdZI/AAAAAAAAACs/MneHuztbSFQ/s200/100_0060.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293890202276820370" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Yes, I am of to Wellington for the National Quilters Symposium which runs for 5 days. This happens every 2 years and is always in a different location around New Zealand. My flights are booked as well as my accommodation. The only thing I have left to do now, is to collect the items I need for my classes and find the spending money for the Market Place. Only 31 merchants this year but for us NZ's, it is great to have them all in one place.&lt;br /&gt;So what classes am I taking? I think I am going to be very busy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First, I am attending a 1 day class with Gloria Loughman from Australia. I am going to attempt to achieve this wonderful Nature Landscape by just using thread. This should be fun, don't you think so too?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetGzciyMI/AAAAAAAAAC8/zwJBxvQpmnw/s1600-h/100_0062.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetGzciyMI/AAAAAAAAAC8/zwJBxvQpmnw/s200/100_0062.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293890219398056130" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Second, is a 2 day class with Jenny Bowker also from Australia. Gee, if you thought Gloria's class was going to be fun, just look at this little beauty. Yes, another landscape created from a photo that I will be taking with me. I might have to do a little bit of traveling around the shore lines to get the right photo for this quilt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetGDn8KdI/AAAAAAAAAC0/AR7K1pzrfaM/s1600-h/100_0061.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetGDn8KdI/AAAAAAAAAC0/AR7K1pzrfaM/s200/100_0061.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293890206560954834" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Third class is also a 2 day class with Mary Transom from NZ. Mary is based in the top of the North Island and is one of the tutors I have always wanted to attend a class with but it is just such a long way to go for one of her classes. I chose this one as I have a little love of wine myself and this seems to be just a wonderful design. When I got the needs list for this one, I was a little shocked. I have to make up the background of the quilt before I get to the class and I have to have 120 grapes cut out and a little more. Oh well, nothing like a little challenge every now and again in one's life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetHFwlOQI/AAAAAAAAADE/eGRbtwCJlKE/s1600-h/100_0064.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXetHFwlOQI/AAAAAAAAADE/eGRbtwCJlKE/s200/100_0064.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293890224313940226" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Is anyone else out there going to the Symposium or even attending one of these classes?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well that's me for the moment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Till next time,&lt;br /&gt;Happy Stitching&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-2924287040966626851?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/2924287040966626851/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-week-gone-and-what-have-i-done.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2924287040966626851'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2924287040966626851'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-week-gone-and-what-have-i-done.html' title='Another week gone, and what have I done? NOTHING'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SXemwTyVgJI/AAAAAAAAACk/3QpFs-5RfYc/s72-c/100_0059.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-7789893987270535592</id><published>2009-01-15T08:57:00.002+13:00</published><updated>2009-01-15T09:20:30.314+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Pressies for Me?  Yahoo</title><content type='html'>A got a little gift from &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; from her travels to Australia to visit the family. Look what I got&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FvtUDgzI/AAAAAAAAABk/VPF-bymWY3A/s1600-h/100_0055.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FvtUDgzI/AAAAAAAAABk/VPF-bymWY3A/s200/100_0055.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291243298126791474" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Well for me, the bag is enough. It is a long standing joke with us. Many years ago we attended a stitching group. If someone had issues, we would respond with "It's not all about you" and everyone would laugh. During this time, Deb and I would search for items that reminded everyone that it wasn't always about them. We went away for a weekend with these wonderful ladies and Deb and I came out of our bunk room wearing slippers that read "It's all about me"&lt;br /&gt;Well you could imagine the fun we had with those slippers. I now have a keyring with that saying on it and there are other items around the house just to remind me that &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;it is all about me&lt;/span&gt; ... Yeah right, LOL&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;So lets have a look in the bag shall we?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FyczpmrI/AAAAAAAAAB0/gNnIVGirPrY/s1600-h/100_0057.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FyczpmrI/AAAAAAAAAB0/gNnIVGirPrY/s200/100_0057.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291243345235516082" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;         &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FwL8RBaI/AAAAAAAAABs/itLPErEaFBU/s1600-h/100_0056.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FwL8RBaI/AAAAAAAAABs/itLPErEaFBU/s200/100_0056.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291243306348512674" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;A beautiful piece of lace and 2 Christmas fat quarters. I am so lucky. Thank you Deb.&lt;br /&gt;I am a little concerned as she told me I was not allowed to cut up the lace for my craft work.&lt;br /&gt;She knows how much I like using bits of old lace and doilies in my work. But I promise not to cut this one up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Til next time,&lt;br /&gt;Happy stitching&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-7789893987270535592?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/7789893987270535592/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/pressies-for-me-yahoo.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/7789893987270535592'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/7789893987270535592'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/pressies-for-me-yahoo.html' title='Pressies for Me?  Yahoo'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW5FvtUDgzI/AAAAAAAAABk/VPF-bymWY3A/s72-c/100_0055.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-2916050577820540447</id><published>2009-01-14T09:34:00.007+13:00</published><updated>2009-01-14T10:51:43.507+13:00</updated><title type='text'>Projects This Week</title><content type='html'>Firstly, I wish to thank you all for the welcoming comments and emails I have received since joining Blog Land. You have all made me feel very welcomed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I did get a wee reminder today from &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;someone&lt;/a&gt;, telling me that "one post, does not make a blog". Well that does put the pressure on, doesn't it?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;today I thought I would show you some of the projects I started on last week while on a 3 day retreat in &lt;a href="http://www.hanmersprings.co.nz/"&gt;Hanmer&lt;/a&gt; with a friend. It was lovely and a lot of stitching was done. Firstly I thought it was about time to start block one of the &lt;a href="http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/"&gt;Red &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="caption"&gt;&lt;a href="http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/"&gt;Delicious BOM &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0AMgRn8CI/AAAAAAAAAAc/aTV2cUsbJvo/s1600-h/100_0044.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0AMgRn8CI/AAAAAAAAAAc/aTV2cUsbJvo/s200/100_0044.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290885352052486178" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="caption"&gt;                            But why stop there when I have Block 2 as well                             &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJDi772I/AAAAAAAAAAk/XijbkuROpds/s1600-h/100_0042.jpg"&gt;                                                           &lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJDi772I/AAAAAAAAAAk/XijbkuROpds/s1600-h/100_0042.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJDi772I/AAAAAAAAAAk/XijbkuROpds/s200/100_0042.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290889690847375202" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Well what was I going to do on Day 2? Simple really, I was asked by my daughter Samantha (aged 15) to make her a quilt. I was over the moon with this, as Sam has never wanted a quilt before except when she was 2yrs old and I have to admit, it is still sitting in the back room waiting to be finished. Oh well, that will be finished at some stage. So I was told the requirements, and here they are - brown fabrics only, and it has to be scrappy. Only BROWN? Yes she is not the usual teenager. So I had been spending the last few months hunting down brown fabrics. Not an easy task I can tell you.&lt;br /&gt;So Day 2, I have the fabrics on the cutting board and away I go. Threads everywhere on the floor, blocks laid on the floor, my poor friend Cathy had to sit on her chair and hand stitch all day so she didn't get in the way. Evening comes, and I am not in any mood to put the rows together so of to bed and that will be tomorrow task I said.&lt;br /&gt;Day 3, up early and ready to go again and this is the result I got&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;         &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0I3ZgQWHI/AAAAAAAAABM/2Gy4Lx7P6Sc/s1600-h/100_0052.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0I3ZgQWHI/AAAAAAAAABM/2Gy4Lx7P6Sc/s200/100_0052.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290894885062203506" border="0" /&gt;         &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0I3yahrzI/AAAAAAAAABU/pM3a6e1QRow/s1600-h/100_0053.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0I3yahrzI/AAAAAAAAABU/pM3a6e1QRow/s200/100_0053.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290894891749060402" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;I have to tell you, I was very happy with the result. However, Sam was not. Firstly, it was to big. Sam has a queen size bed so I made one to fit. You should have seen her face when I told her that it still needed borders yet. Then she said it had orange in it. What? No honey, it is autumn brown. But no, she said is orange. Oh well, teenagers ahh? I will still finish it and it will be given to her. Hopefully when winter gets here, she will grow to love its warmth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Right, now for the rest of Day 3. Yes I too did sign up for the Designer Mystery BOM from the &lt;a href="http://www.fatquartershop.com/"&gt;Fat Quarter Shop&lt;/a&gt; And like everyone else, my BOMs sit here waiting to be done. Lucky for me I decided to take all 7 blocks with me. However, I only got 4 done.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EKzEfBHI/AAAAAAAAABE/aIJwEUE5hT8/s1600-h/100_0048.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 116px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EKzEfBHI/AAAAAAAAABE/aIJwEUE5hT8/s200/100_0048.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290889720784422002" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EKER0ssI/AAAAAAAAAA8/e6x_sB7mAIc/s1600-h/100_0047.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 116px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EKER0ssI/AAAAAAAAAA8/e6x_sB7mAIc/s200/100_0047.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290889708223902402" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJtDbLUI/AAAAAAAAAA0/bp-m4TvnTew/s1600-h/100_0046.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 116px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJtDbLUI/AAAAAAAAAA0/bp-m4TvnTew/s200/100_0046.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290889701989494082" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJR7IHsI/AAAAAAAAAAs/4zUKaLYNZns/s1600-h/100_0045.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 115px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0EJR7IHsI/AAAAAAAAAAs/4zUKaLYNZns/s200/100_0045.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290889694706933442" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0I3ZgQWHI/AAAAAAAAABM/2Gy4Lx7P6Sc/s1600-h/100_0052.jpg"&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Well, thats me for today. Now I am off to paint the room that will be my new craft room. Having 2 daughters move out over the last few years, has allowed me to spread myself around the house. This is not a good look so a craft room with everything in one place is being created.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Till next time,&lt;br /&gt;Happy stitching&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-2916050577820540447?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/2916050577820540447/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/projects-this-week.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2916050577820540447'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/2916050577820540447'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/projects-this-week.html' title='Projects This Week'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SW0AMgRn8CI/AAAAAAAAAAc/aTV2cUsbJvo/s72-c/100_0044.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130885506465507811.post-8011416569972127205</id><published>2009-01-10T16:44:00.000+13:00</published><updated>2009-01-10T16:55:03.137+13:00</updated><title type='text'>The starting of a New Year and a Blog</title><content type='html'>Well, I have finally done it. I have a very good friend &lt;a href="http://theangelandthepukeko.blogspot.com/"&gt;Deb&lt;/a&gt; who has been trying so hard to get me to start a blog. Well Deb, it is a new year and I have made the big decision to start a blog. I am hoping to use this as a way to allow me to get more stitching done and keep a diary of what I have been doing. So here's hoping it works.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My header is a photo taken in the early 1900's. It was taken at the bottom of the street that I live in. In the background is the harbour that I look at every day.  Isn't beautiful? I will admit that it is very peaceful. But more about that another time&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1130885506465507811-8011416569972127205?l=stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/feeds/8011416569972127205/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/starting-of-new-year-and-blog.html#comment-form' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/8011416569972127205'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1130885506465507811/posts/default/8011416569972127205'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://stitchingbythesea.blogspot.com/2009/01/starting-of-new-year-and-blog.html' title='The starting of a New Year and a Blog'/><author><name>Darlene</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/16361894393248795413</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='29' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-r-k939ntXc/SgfP5zbqiLI/AAAAAAAAAGY/uku9xmmyzqw/S220/100_0009.jpg'/></author><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry></feed>
