~Hello, It's Me, ~

Ben, (aka here as Shadow ~ mum's shadow that is!!) ..... Just dropping by to say hello as our friend Mimi mentioned to my mum that I hadn't made an appearance here in a while. Mummy said she was right that I hadn't and so yesterday, mum and I did a bit of a photo shoot.

I don't know if you realise this but it actually takes a fair amount of sleeping and lying around to look this good so that is probably why most of the photos mummy takes of me are when I am working on doing that. Anyway, it was a lovely winter's day here in the sub-tropics yesterday and so I made the most of my 'work' outside in the sun. Here are a few shots to show you just how hard this is. Mum said she liked how the shadows from the Frangipani tree are over me. The tree of course has no leaves on it just now and I think it just looks like a big monster.

You can see in these photos that I got sick of 'posing' and needed another little nap.

Mum said, to tell you that I do like to be active sometimes and recently when we had our friend to stay, they took me to the beach and I had a really good run and a swim. I like the water.

That same day, mum and her friend decided they were going to have a coffee at a cafe that was near the water and to test me out to see if I could be a good boy and behave while they did it. The coffee place allows doggies to be there if they can behave. Well, I am sure mummy didn't think I would but she kept giving me little treats which kept me happy and I was good (wasn't I mum???) Well, there was one incident that mum said reminded her a bit of "Marley and Me", I didn't take off with the table like Marley did but I did almost pull mum off her chair when I wanted to greet another dog that I saw there. Anyway, we had a lovely time at the beach and cafe.

Just to finish off, I want to show you what I have to endure sometimes and let me know what you think.....


This is me last night when mum thought I might be feeling the cold a bit. She tucked me up with a blankie. I didn't really like to say anything as I didn't want to seem ungrateful so I just let her do it. Us Labradors like to please you know.
So thanks for visiting our blog. Mum and me love to have visitors so drop by anytime.

Bye for now.

"Labradors [are] lousy watchdogs. They usually bark when there is a stranger about, but it is an expression of unmitigated joy at the chance to meet somebody new, not a warning."

~Norman Strung

~ Christmas in July?? ~

Hello, I am still around but have been a tad busy recently. Not too much to show in the way of my stitching although I am still plugging away on my current SAL which I have to say has got a little behind recently as I have had a friend visiting and we have had lots to catch up on and by the time evening came around - well, I only seemed to be able to managed a few stitches before I could feel my eyes becoming heavy!! Oh well, I will be racing to catch up this week. Can't have Sandra getting way ahead now can I LOL!!

I have something very beautiful to show you though. My visiting friend was asked to bring me a gift from our mutual very dear and long time friend, Wendy (NZ). Now you may remember me showing you back last year of the beautiful Christmas stocking Wendy had quilted and beaded. Well look who was the lucky recipient of one of these masterpieces.

Not only did I receive the stocking, Wendy also made me the beautiful wine bottle cover as well. My photos just don't do these justice as the hand quilting and beading is just superb. The Poinsettias and Holly berries are so real looking. The stocking is lined with gorgeous green and gold Christmas themed fabric and the back of the stocking is corduroy velvet. I hope you can click to enlarge and see the detail. I love them dear friend and feel so special that you made these for me. Thank you!!

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

~ Spot the Difference ~

For our third stitch~along for 2009, Sandra and I have just completed "Fancy Work - Whitman's Wynnewood Tin sewing set".

This is mine..... the pincushion has different patterns on each side....

Sandra sent me this perfect match piece of fabric which lines the bottom and sides of the tins and for a little bit of individuality I had enough fabric left to make the thimble pouch to which I added the tiny thimble charm and enclosed a little thimble inside.

This is Sandra's.....

As her little piece of individuality, Sandra made a tiny thread keeper using the same design that is used on one side of the pin cushion.

I really enjoyed this as it was a quick stitch and the assembly was quite simple. Now, I am quite keen to do this type of finishing on my other Whitman's tins but have a few more projects that are more urgent at this point so that won't be in the immediate future.

Number four project is about to be started and here are the threads with the fabric I have chosen to use as a lining.

That could in fact change though as I have found in the past that although a fabric seems to suit a project well when you lay the threads you are planning to use on it, once it has been stitched, the fabric sometimes just doesn't seem so perfect any more. So with that in mind, I will need to get it all stitched before that final decision is made. I am really quite looking forward to this project as it is quite a bright cheery one but I am not going to tell you what it is yet :))))

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments you left about my La D Da Hearts.:))))

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies".
~Author Unknown

~ Ta Da.... 'La D Da' ~

Bbbbbrrrrrr!! it's getting cold here in sub -tropical Queensland. OK, not quite as cold as some people experience during winter but nevertheless cold!! Cold enough for me to have the heater on. Ben is curled up in what I call 'a little ball of dog' these nights. It amazes me just how small a big dog can curl up into!!

I mentioned some stitching I was doing a while back which I couldn't reveal at the time, well since it has now reached it's destination, I can finally show you what I was working on. Here is my La D Da ~"Three Sweet Hearts" ~ (left to right) Autumn Heart, Winter Heart, Daisy Daisy. I stitched these on 35ct linen with silk threads.

Hee hee, just a joke...no it wasn't snowing when I took this photograph (probably not very likely either here) but I found this cool trick on my photo editing programme that allows me to make snow (or should that be ...fake snow)

Anyway, they were a birthday gift for a special friend and I have heard today that she liked them.

Happy birthday dear friend!!

Sandra and I are working on our SAL and have nearly completed our third project for the year which I will be able to show you soon.

Thank you for all the comments left on my blog.

'Winter dies into the spring, to be born again in the autumn'.
~Marche Blumenberg

~ We Have Finished ~

Yes, Sandra and I have finally completed our second SAL for this year, With My Needle 'Flowers For Lily'. This sweet little sewing case is only quite small and will make another nice addition to the 'cake stand'. We each chose our own threads, linen, lining fabric and ribbon and it is always interesting to see how the two different combinations work out when we have finished.
Sandra is a hard act to follow when it comes to finishing and her pictures shows once again the perfection I always know she will produce in her version. I feel a little intimidated by her level of finishing but lucky at the same time to be stitching along side her as it spurs me on to try and finish mine as best I can and she is always happy to help me out with ideas and hints when I don't really know what I am doing. So thanks again Sandra for sharing in this SAL with me.

This was my first ever attempt at making a mattress pincushion and the first time I have ever done nuns stitch too. We both added coins to the fob to give it some weight. Mine has an Aussie 10 cent coin which only just fitted inside and Sandra's an English penny. The scissors tuck neatly in underneath the mattress pincushion.

Now look at Sandra's version...

I just love how she has added the name of the project into the side of the mattress. Also, check out her Picasa album to see photos of her version of the scissor weight and her gorgeous butterfly scissors.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~Irish Blessing

~Monday, Beautiful Monday ~

It is a dull, kind of dark day here on the Sunshine Coast today and I said to Ben this afternoon ~ 'Do you want to hang out with Mum and listen to some music?' To which he immediately replied he thought that was a great idea!! So what nicer way to spend this kind of an afternoon than stitching (and yes, Sandra, it is the assembling of FFL I am working on) with your faithful friend at your feet and listening to your favourite music....... I LOVE that!!

Thank you so much for your kind wishes last week. My cold is much better now and I love those aloe vera Kleenex, much kinder to the nose :)

'Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.'
~Berthold Auerbach

~Monday, Beautiful Monday ~