~ Doctor Ben ~

Dogs are so intuitive......

Last weekend, my daughter visited with her little dog Indy. Ben hadn't seen Indy in a while but he would not leave her alone.  He followed her everywhere sniffing at a particular part of her anatomy.  Nothing too unusual probably but he was very insistent.  He just wouldn't leave her following her everywhere sniffing, sniffing, sniffing.. Finally,  I suggested to my daughter to just check there and see what might be going on.  She did.....and found a TICK!  Yikes...we removed that thing quick.  I was very proud of my Dr Ben!!

Here is the very nose that detected that nasty Tick!!!

And here is that same handsome fella resting ofter a hard days 'doctoring'

I love that guy!!

"Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out."  

~Michael Burke

~ Anybody seen my Blogging Mojo?? ~

Yes, it has been a while since I dropped in to say hi  hasn't it.  Time flies.  To be truthful though - I really lost my blogging mojo somewhere along the way.  I hope I can find it again as it is always so lovely to keep in touch with fellow stitchers via our blogs.   Sometimes though, other things become a priority.  I have been stitching all  the while but haven't had a finish as such to show this year.

I've been doing two different SAL's this year with my friends Sandra, Diane and Mary and admit to being way behind with both!!

With Mary, who earlier this year started her own lovely blog Meakly Mine  I am stitching the Blessings Sampler by Wild-Heart designs.  It is a gorgeous sampler with a beautiful sentiment about being a Grandmother. Mary has finished hers which you can see on her blog whilst mine sits in my stitching bag waiting to be picked up to be finished.  I am on the last band though and here is a picture of it so far.

I haven't actually forgotten that flower at the top but decided on changing the colour and still have to adjust that row.  Actually, there has been quite a lot of adjustments with this one as I have changed most of the colours and messed around a lot with it. I am looking forward to finishing it and having it framed though as I really like it.

Sandra, Diane and I have been stitching Abigail Colby's Workbasket this year which for me is a big one.  I am clearly a slow stitcher as some of the motifs on the basket top I am about to show you took me 10 hours to finish!!

Yes, that is 10 hours just for one motif!! I have also finished the scissor fob and Cartouche for inside the basket which if you are interested in seeing are in my album. There are quite a few accessories that go inside the basket so at my rate of stitching I can see this project continuing for a long time yet. I had chosen a beautiful William Morris fabric to line my basket but since stitching this much I have decided the lining might look better in a less fussy design. However, I still have a way to go before I need to decide. I am enjoying this project which is stitched on 40ct Sand linen with lovely Belle Soie silk thread.

I recently had a lovely day out with Diane, the other friend who is stitching Abigail Colby (lovingly re-named Abby) with Sandra and me, whilst she was holidaying in my neck of the woods. We did the stitching shops, had a show and tell of our two 'Abbys' and enjoyed a lovely lunch. Diane is much further ahead with hers as well and it was interesting to see her version which is very different to mine as she is using different threads and a larger count linen. It is looking beautiful.

I couldn't finish this post without showing you a photo of my beautiful boy shadow - Ben.  He turned 5 year old earlier this month and I just took this photo of him enjoying the Autumn sunshine coming in through the door whilst 'meditating' on his old bean bag bed.  He actually gathers the bean bag up between his front paws and sucks on it kind of like a baby with a comforter blankie.  I always say he is meditating when he does it as he will lie there for quite sometime almost in a little trance like state.  I think it looks very cute and often wonder if it stems back to his puppyhood when he suckled from his mother.  I wish I knew :))

Well, that's about it from me for now.  Hope you are all well out there in blogland and happy stitching!!

"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language."
  ~Martin Buber

~ Remember this?? ~

In an earlier post I showed you this tiny oil can that Sandra had sent me and mentioned that we had a purpose in mind for it.

Well here is how it ended up. This is the fifth project in our SAL this year

With thy Needle and Thread ~ ABC Pinkeep.

Sandra and I both found this tiny project to be rather fiddly. Mine is stitched on 27ct linen which being quite a large weave is prone to fraying so when it came to turning him inside out that became a bit of a problem. However, he survived and is happily sitting on his perch now with his strawberry in his mouth after a 'cook' on the microwave after I sprayed some Parisienne essence on him to age him a bit. I also added a rusty pin.

Here is Sandra's version.......

I recently was able to spend a day with my friend Mary (Melbourne) who I have often spoken about and shown some of the beautiful gifts and cards she has made for me. We enjoyed a day visiting my LNS and had a lovely lunch although silly me forgot to take a photo. Thanks for taking time out to spend the day with me Mary :) Now I am counting down the days until I get to meet my other Internet stitching friend Sandra (UK). How wonderful it will be to finally meet the person face to face with whom I have become such good friends. We will have so much to talk about.

I will remember the camera this time.

I recently came across this sweet video on YouTube so if you have a chance take a look. You may need to pause my Playlist so you can hear it. Thankfully, my canine buddy continues to be well with no more 'brain tinkles' which is so good.

"Being in a good frame of mind helps keep one in the picture of health."

~ Author Unknown

~ Special Times ~

Those of you who read my blog may have noticed I always like to add a quote at the end. Well this time I thought I might change things around and start with a quote as well.......

"One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything."
~ Oscar Wilde. 1854- 1900

I just love this quote but sorry Oscar, I am not listening to you today and as I remember those known to me (and those I don't know) who haven't reached it , I feel very glad to be able to say I have turned 60.:)))) I am very blessed with the best family, good health and great friends.


My two stitching buddies, Mary and Sandra, both whom I meet through our mutual love of stitching via the Internet, have once again given me the most wonderful stitching treasures which I really want to show you. These two dear friends always put so much effort into wrapping my gifts in the loveliest way which always makes opening them such a joy. Look at this....



Mary chose a bird theme for her wrapping and even made the little box the packages came in. She also makes the most beautiful cards and the detail in this card is amazing. The hummingbirds go with the bird theme.

This is what was in these little delights.

Don't you just love this tiny oil can and Sandra and I do have a purpose in mind for it so 'watch this space' to see how it might end up. Also those old wooden spools, so nice to have. As well as all these treasures Sandra included two pieces of fabric which we are planning to use for a couple of our future SAL's ~we plan ahead :))) and even have next years SAL planned and as if all that wasn't enough, look what else was in the gift.....
As always Sandra's stitching is utter perfection and I can tell you this needlebook is no exception.

Now look what was in Mary's treasure chest.

I love the bird fabric and that little bird button is so precious. Thank you so much dear friends for making my birthday special.

To celebrate our joint birthday's (DH's is five days after mine) our family gave us a weekend away at the Gold Coast with tickets to see the "Australian Outback Spectacular" and what a spectacular show it was.

This is the view of Broad Beach from our 11th floor room.

Don't you just love the blue sky in the middle of winter.

I am a little bit behind again with my SAL but hopefully will catch up and have something to show in my next post.

I am going to end with another quote as well....

"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many."
~ Author Unknown

Oh Yes, just one more thing..... Ben asked me to says thank you so much for your kind comments.

~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