Stitching sisters

She thought I was sitting in a lounge chair stitching, but I was quietly taking this photo. If you're wondering, that little white box has a tiny teddy bear in it, a gift from my other sister, Kathleen.

We've had some good times together these past few days. Nothing too exciting, as is fitting for two old ducks, but good, nonetheless. We've talked and remembered, laughed, had tea and fruit cake and talked some more. Tricia arrived on Sunday night, went to work with me on Monday and to the beach on Tuesday. On Wednesday we finally got the go ahead from the insurance company for the repairs to the kitchen so the three of us went to the builder's showroom to choose a new benchtop and then to the shops nearby to look at some new kitchen appliances. We've decided to replace the cooktop and oven while we have the chance (with the new benchtop) but we're not sure yet if we'll be able to afford what we want. We can afford to replace these things now if we buy lower quality, but we don't want that. We want these things to last a long time so they need to be the absolute best we can afford. Hanno and I will go into Brisbane tomorrow to a scratch and dent sale at Kleenmaid and hopefully pick up some good quality bargains. Some of their stoves are 60% off. If we can't get what we want for a good price, we won't replace anything now.

The flash alerted her there was a photographer lurking, but I couldn't get her to smile.

Yesterday Tricia made the red and white gingham curtains while I started on the kitchen curtains. Tricia bought the gingham for me in Sydney as I couldn't find anyone with it up here. The fabric cost $140. I'm using the lining from the old curtains. I bought two metres of a 60% linen/40% cotton fabric for the kitchen curtains, which cost $8.95 a metre. I've drawn my own design and I'm stitching them before making a simple half window double curtain with a valance. They will be similar to Debbie's gorgeous curtains here.

I think it will take about a week to stitch them. It's a simple pattern of flowers in a tea cup and I have the two sides to do. The red gingham curtains are hanging now and they make such a difference to the look of the kitchen. They're fresh and clean looking and they contrast nicely with the pale butter colour of the walls. I'll take a photo of them later.

Tricia is going to visit friends in Brisbane today and will return on Sunday when we plan on having afternoon tea with Susie and her family; Susie is our cousin who lives near here. I'll catch up on some housework today and tomorrow and hopefully have time to do some work on my ebooks and the kitchen curtains.

I've had a few emails from readers asking about the ebooks. I hope to have the first available for sale in November. There will probably be four or five of them from me and Bel will do one on simple living with a young family. They will be in PDF format and will cost $10 each.

Thank you for stopping by today. I want you all to know that even if I don't have the time everyday to respond to your comments, I read everyone of them and appreciate your loving thoughts and the time you take to make contact. I know many of the readers love reading the comments too and I think they add a lot to my blog. So thanks to everyone who taps away in that little comment box. Oh, and I will catch up with the remaining emails today too. : )