First OPAM Report For 2017

 I've signed up with Peg and Kris for OPAM again this year.

 My first (and only) finish for January 

was Mel's Tree of Friendship.

For February I've just managed to sneak in with these two bunny rugs for a special little person who is on his way!

Thanks to Peg and Kris for keeping us inspired.

Sydney - Before And After Our Cruise

 Our cruise left from Sydney. 

We flew up early Sunday morning, checked our bags in 

and then had a few hours free to look around.

My brother Neville came down to Circular Quay to spend time with us until we had to board the ship.

 

 Nelson having fun.

We looked around the harbour, the Rocks, Botanical Gardens. I think Noel's pedometer read about 25,000 steps that day, not including up and down the stairs on the ship when they did the safetly drill before we left.

 We went to look at Government House and it turned 

out to be open to the public that day which was a bonus.

 Mrs MacQuarie's Chair.

 Returning to Sydney.

 Unfortunately, it was raining when we got back. It turned out to be the wettest day in Sydney for six months!

We headed off to the Barracks Museum but as the rain started again, we went into the State Library of NSW.

 What an amazing place.

The rain had eased so we headed off again. Only for the skies to open up again and it poured, along with thunder and lightning. There was a coffee shop across the road so we headed there for a cuppa to wait for the rain to ease. In fact, it only got worse!

Nelson had a little doze. He had been partying late each night on the ship. They have Club 02 which is for 15-17 age group. That is why we hardly saw him! After about an hour we decided we would just have to go. The thunder and lightning had stopped. We found a chemist a couple of doors up and bought some souvenirs, umbrellas!

Finally made it to the Barracks Museum. 

This was wonderful and so interesting. I think we spent about two and a half hours here.

 

 Nelson listening to the audio commentary.

We also went to the Queen Victoria Building. It was then time to start heading back to the airport to fly home.

Well, that's our holiday. I hope you've enjoyed seeing what we got up to. Now to dream about the next cruise!

A Win!

My lovely friend, Gail from Gail Pan Designs, recently had a giveaway following the release of the 100th and final block in The Splendid Sampler and I was the lucky winner.

Gail sent me these nine patterns. I have quite a few of 

Gail's patterns and not one was doubled up!

Thank you so much Gail.

These will keep me busy!

Our Wonderful Cruise (Part 3)

Each day when we came back to our room, Dewa 

our Cabin Steward, would have a towel animal 

waiting for us on our bed.

A pig.

Dog.

Frog.

Dinosaur.

Elephant.

Rabbit.

One day we came into the room and was very disappointed that no animal was waiting for us. Then I turned around and found this monkey hanging from the ceiling!

These are some of the animals by the Serenity pool. Aardvarks.

Cat.

Dinosaurs.

Not sure if this is a swan or a turtle.

So a little bit of towel fun!

I hope you've enjoyed a little snapshot of our cruise. We had so much fun and I'm sure we'll be going again some time.

Our Wonderful Cruise (Part 2)

Food! 

That was something we didn't go short of.

We could eat 24 hours a day if we wanted to!

 This is the Empire Dining Room. 

We had our dinner here each night.

Dinner time was lots of fun! 

I posted this to my Facebook page and then got a 

message from FB that they had blocked the audio. 

So the effect wasn't as good without sound.

Here were are at the Nouveau Restaurant. This restaurant had an additional cost as it is a five star dining restaurant. We were fortunate to receive two prepaid meal vouchers from our travel agent. The food was amazing.

Nelson and I had the Surf and Turf. It was delicious. 

Nelson had never had lobster before and he loved it.

This was my dessert. Chocolate four ways. 

There was tempered chocolate which I'd never had before. 

I couldn't eat it all!

This was Noel's cheesecake. 

Even he struggled to get through it!

There were French pastries in Noumea.

Champagne and nibbles on our balcony as we sailed from Noumea into the sunset to start sailing back to Australia.

Fun fruit carvings.

A Chocolate Indulgence. Melody, you would have loved it!

Drinks by the pool.

Twenty-four hour pizza and ice cream. There was also Guy's Burger Joint, a Mexican cantina, Fat Jimmy's C-side BBQ and Bonsai Sushi. So as you can see, we never went hungry.

I am pleased to say we didn't come home 

any heavier than we left either!

Friday Night Sew-In

These were the projects I took with me to stitch on 

our cruise. I did manage to get some stitching in 

while we were just relaxing by the pool.

 Finished my little bird by Gail Pan.

Also finished up my Splendid Sampler block "Blossoming" by Jenny Reynolds. This is the first Splendid Sampler 

block I have stitched. Bit behind aren't I! I'm going to look 

for a sweet little button for the heart.

Oh, I've just noticed a stray thread there.

 I started my second Splendid Sampler block. This one 

is "Stitch In The Garden" by Gail Pan.

I got a late start to Friday Night Sew-In and just stitched the little blue bird and started on the left flower.

Thank you to Wendy for hosting us. 

It was a lovely night of stitching along with friends. 

You can see what everyone got up to here.