Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Not much stitching going on

In fact, not much of anything going on!! I’m on my final shift today of 4 weeks of late shifts (6pms, overnights, 4pms, etc) – and as usual in this part of the roster I’m fighting a migraine and feeling quite generally like death warmed up, and have been all week 😦

Even though I haven’t been online too much, I haven’t been stitching a great deal over the last few days either – I do, however, have a stitching progress piccie from the other day that I can post … I was hoping it would be a finish I would be posting by now, but this will have to do. This is the infamous plastic canvas project – and I have to admit I’ve hated every single stitch I’ve put into this damned thing! After getting RSI years ago, I’ve found if I hold a hoop etc in my hand for very long, my hand cramps up (I now stitch using a lap or floor frame with scroll bars) … well, holding plastic canvas is worse for me. Even though I got suckered into stitching this one for my friend, I did say I’d do it, so here I am finally getting it out of the way – I have a day off work tomorrow, so I think I might just stay in my PJ’s all day and sit and get it finished. Then I just have to stitch her Winnie the Pooh bookmark (which isn’t even started yet) then my commitment is all over red rover … phew! (Mind you, I have to pick up some more DMC 702 to finish this one off – because I’m stitching it all with a tent stitch type stitch, I’m using more thread – but it’s the only way I can get my needle under the back of the threads without having a temper tantrum!!)

christmas welcome wip

Emails have still been arriving, though, while I’ve been offline – which is making my wishlist grow ever longer haha. Here’s some more enabling for you {{insert evil laugh here}}. Here’s the latest collaboration piece from The Cat’s Whiskers & Dinky Dyes – I love it!

happyhols

Also for those that I’m starting to enable towards the Group Correspondence Courses at the Embroiderers Guild of America, here’s the link to the entire education page of GCC’s {{insert second evil laugh}}. I’ve just succumbed to getting one more project (yeah, as if I need any more!!) – this one has been on my wishlist for a few years now, and it’s finally retiring at the end of December to make way for new classes starting up … well, I could hardly NOT sign up for it now it’s my final chance ever, right? Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! ;P

GCC Florentine Christmas Ornaments

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I’m actually a member of the Cyberstitchers Chapter of EGA, and because we’re a very spread out group, we get many many opportunities to sign up for GCC’s throughout the year (everything is mailed out, and a Yahoo group set up to chat about the project and discuss any problems etc) – as well as a chatty Yahoo group to keep in contact with everyone in general. If you don’t have an EGA Chapter near you to attend face-to-face meetings, I’d highly recommend it – and they take PayPal for the membership dues and course fees, which is awesome for those of us “across the pond” 🙂

I’ll finish off my quick post with a shot of Ally cat (she’s a real lady, too, Ally just like you! – definitely a perfect housemate!!). Ally doesn’t even meeow, never mind hiss … and she enjoys a quiet cuddle every now and then, but mostly she’s left to her own devices and spends most of the time dozing around the house. The house is a beautiful villa, and I spent a lovely morning at the start of the week sitting on the front porch in the sun with my stitching before I went to work … sheer heaven.

ally cat

And on that note, I’d better start making tracks ready for today’s day at work. I need to drive by my storage unit to pick up some DMC that the local store didn’t have (for the infamous plastic canvas) – luckily it just means driving a bit of a roundabout way to work, it’s not majorly out of the way. I’m also dumping my duvet inner back into storage for a wee while too ‘cos it fills my car boot up and I end up having to put my suitcase etc on the back seat … I should actually take a photo of my travelling kit … I always feel quite sad when I look at it and think about all my lovely stuff in storage – but it’s a means to an end, I guess, and I just have to keep remembering that!

Rightio, onward and upward – into the shower I go then off to work … did I mention, it’s the LAST ONE??  WOOHOO!!!!  Apart from the 4 hours overnight on Sunday night, of course, but that’s my own doing … I’ll be kicking myself later, I’m sure, but at the moment I’m putting my name down for overtime left right and centre to try to give the finances an extra kick (buying all these GCC’s aren’t really helping the cause – thanks overtime for giving me the option though!).

Cross Stitch

World Trade Center Quilt

We just heard word via the WTC Quilt Yahoo group, that the quilt has been travelling around, and has been visited by a number of relatives of the deceased, as well as visiting the US President. Mary, our leader and coordinator, wrote a very touching tale of these events – and I have to say I feel very proud and blessed to have been part of this project. While the tragedy took place on US soil, it’s effects were felt right around the world, and still are today.

The quilt was taken to the White House on 16 April 2007 to visit with President George W. Bush where both of the Kentucky Senators, Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell, were present. Everyone loved it, and the President wanted it to hang in the Presidential Library – before this could happen, though, it was taken back to visit the families. The quilt is 15ft wide by 26ft long, and travelled by train on 7 September to NYC. There was a forum held on 10 September, but because the quilt is so large there was no way to hang it properly – instead it was partially hung, with the rest of the quilt laid on tabletops. Family members were able to find their loved ones name and touch it, and have photos taken with it.

Soon the quilt will be heading back to the Presidential Library, where it will have a permanent home. While I’m not a religious person, I have to say Mary’s final words in her post touched me very much …

The Lord gave me the scripture verse before I spoke to the family members: Matthew 5:4: Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted. Through God’s mercy and grace we comforted those family members. God bless each one of you. It’s not how many panel’s you stitched that counts. It’s how many hearts you touched.”

Bless you, Mary, for organising this memorial – I, for one, am supremely proud to have been part of this experience! Here’s a photo taken at the White House.

wtc quilt 1

Cross Stitch

CA Wells & Embroiderers Guild of America

I forgot to say the other day that my first CA Wells kit arrived, along with the latest two of my Group Correspondence Courses from the EGA. Here is the kit for CA Wells’ Sailor’s Valentine:

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The latest projects to arrive from the Embroiderers Guild are as follows:

GCC To the Acorn by Pat Krahn

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GCC Winterspring by Judith D Gulick

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I must say these Group Correspondence Classes through the EGA are really good value for money – as well as being some exquisite projects, they are a perfect addition to any library, as the instructions are really useful (and extremely thorough) for other projects. I have two more yet to arrive later in the year, which are:

GCC Swiss Sampler by Ilse Altherr
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GCC More Options in Hardanger by Dale Sokolow
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And I’ve got numerous projects in the wings from previous years … I really must pull my finger out and get cracking on some of these! As well as the following, I also have a class on Schwalmwork and one on Ukrainian Whitework (which are both retired now, so I can’t find a piccie to share).

GCC Beginner’s Hardanger by Marion Scoular
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GCC Options in Hardanger by Dale Sokolow

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GCC Casalguidi & Lavender by Barbara Kershaw

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GCC Crewel Confidence by Judy Jeroy

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GCC Finishing with Flair by Marion Scoular

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GCC Gracie by Ganet Burr
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These next three are the only ones I’ve completed to date:

GCC Lace Ribbons by Dakota Rogers
GCC Lace Ribbons by Dakota Rogers

GCC Blackwork in Red and Green by Ginger Gouger Miller
Blackwork in Red and Green, by Ginger Gouger Miller

and my absolute favourite to date:

GCC Chess Anyone? by Dale Sokolow
(I really do need to try and take a better photo of this one as the piccie does no justice to it whatsoever)
Chess Anyone? - class by Dale Sokolow

As you can see, there’s still no stitching progress to be had … I’ve been spending the day cuddled up in my PJ’s in front of the computer screen, preparing the next round of Photo Hunt posts – apart from two weeks, I’m now totally prepared right up until the end of February, yippee.

Stitching-wise, I just put the final stitches into outside border of the French Monogram Collection III biscornu by Judith Tuttle (Twisted Oaks designs) last night at work … only to find out I’m out somewhere and the final corner doesn’t line up – let’s just say I’m going to ignore it for a short while, ‘cos I hate to think how much frogging that’s going to entail … especially as I’m stitching in DMC 115 and the colour seems to stick to the fabric a wee bit ho-hum. Note to self, when doing a design like this, stitch a grid from all four sides and all four corners to save your sanity!! 😦

Oh well, at least I still have plenty of projects on hand to choose from instead … I was about to say I might head of now and put a few stitches in, but it’s now well after midnight … the joys of coming off of nightshifts, trying to get settled back into a ‘normal’ routine hmmm. Mind you, I’m on 4pm-midnight shifts all next week as well, so perhaps it’s a good thing to keep in ‘evening’ mode …

Rightio, on that note I’m off to play for an hour with a needle and thread … and dratted plastic canvas!

Cross Stitch

Le Plateau de la Brodeuse – ordering details

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It seems there’s a wee bit of interest out there for Maryse’s new design. I managed to find the French instructions for mail order at the bottom of her website, then did a translation through AltaVista/Babelfish, and found out that you can send an order via PayPal, and the design will be sent back to you via email as a .pdf file. Following is what AltaVista threw back at me (although some of it doesn’t make sense, as normal!!):

“Conditions of sale. This is a workshop of independent artist. Thank you to respect my creations. The name of the workshop and the models which are presented there are deposited, it is interdict to copy them or to sell them. To acquire one of these models, two possibilities: – is a direct payment on my account Paypal maryse0558@hotmail.com, while not forgetting to mention of which grid it acts. – if you do not have a Paypal account, send to me a mall. You will receive a Paypal request that it is possible for you to regulate by credit card Visa or Mastercard, without you soyiez obliged to open an account paypal. The Paypal invoice holds place of proof of purchase. As of reception of réglement, the grids are sent immediately by e-mail, in files pdf. Thank you. Maryse Dupont. Contact: maryse0558@hotmail.com”

Haha, gotta love those translation sites, for a good giggle if nothing else. Anyway, I sent through a PayPal order to Maryse today and literally received my email back within the hour along with the chart attachments. Now I can’t wait to get cracking on it, although I’m thinking of finding some nice blue fabric first, then colour-matching my threads afterwards (yes, I’ve decided to go ahead with a blue conversion – surprise, surprise!) … which means I’ll have to hold off for a short while until I can go fabric shopping.

Anyway, if you want to order this design, feel free to make a PayPal payment to Maryse using her Hotmail email address above – the cost is EUR10.00 for the design. No affiliation, just an ecstatic customer today! 😀

Cross Stitch

But wait, there’s more! …

I’ve managed to get my unread blog feeds down to just under 600 today … but during the process managed to find out that some of the coffee series charts have been released by Little House Needleworks – so off to the wishlist they go … haha. Can’t wait for the tea ones to come out as well!! 😀

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214_1frappuccino

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And I’m being really REALLY bad … I’m sending off for Maryse’s design today via Paypal … it’s futile to resist, so I’m just going to bite the bullet and order it!  Sorry, what was that I just heard??  A what???  Oh!  What happened to my 50 Project Challenge??  Oh well, I guess I’m just taking another project onto the end of it again … haha.  Hey, this whole process is supposed to be fun, right?  Well, this most definitely IS fun – and this project is a definite “must have”!! ;P

(Updated to add:  I now have Maryse’s chart in my hot little hands … how’s THAT for service???) 😀

Cross Stitch

Enabling post

Oh boy, if you haven’t seen this before, check this design out here! If you’re into stitching accessories, I’m sure you’ll love this one!!! I’d even consider doing this one in the pinks … although I can definitely see that replacing for equivalent shadings of blues would work very nicely too (dunno why that idea popped into my head! LOL).

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Also, this is yet another design I’ve fallen in love with, hook line and sinker!! I’d better start getting some overtime in soon! haha.  It’s only available through The Silver Needle.

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And on that note I’m heading off for an hour’s kip before work … halfway through my nightshifts now yippee! 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Stitching Smalls

Two more small “finishes”

I managed to get a couple more small finishes done last night – as well as taking a better photo of my finished needleroll today (so I’ll replace the photo in yesterday’s post). I’m finally trying to make up a close pal’s gift that is months overdue, so I did this as a trial run first – definitely not my finest finishing ever done, but it’ll do …

christmas heart finished

Then I sat and finished off my Pansy Magnet Pillow into a finished pillow. I just adore this piece – it’s a shame to see it go into storage now it’s finished, as I just want to sit and admire it … I just love looking and playing with all the beads in the fringe! 🙂

pansy magnet pillow

pansy magnet pillow 2

Lucky last, I used the sewing machine to stitch the binding on my oldest quilting UFO, and it’s all pinned ready to do the hand-stitching on the back of the binding – I’m coming up to almost 4 weeks of late shifts, so I thought it could be the perfect project for the office on the overnight shift. Mind you, one week will be spent training a new person on the Hotline, so I might not get quite as much done as expected hmmm. No piccies yet until the whole thing is finished anyway … I have no idea what I’ll do with it when it’s finished!

Rightio, back to packing up … so far I’ve cleaned out my car boot ready for loading everything into it again – done the laundry washing for the week, all apart from my bedding which I’ll probably do next week in Seaford, and most of my stitching is put away again. My sewing machine will be packed away tonight, in readiness to going back into storage again either tomorrow or Saturday before work. Only two more sleeps left before I head back to Seaford again for another week, then off to Edithvale for 3 weeks.

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Needlerolls

A tiny spot of finishing

Today I started putting together a needleroll tutorial for use later next year on the Focus on Finishing blog – and managed to get the following needleroll completely finished (excuse the very poor photo, it was getting dark and I couldn’t get a decent shot without flooding the whole stitching with the flash), plus one more to the stage where I just need to add the ribbon and stuff it (this was actually my subject for the photos, but I realised when I got to the ribbon stage that all my ribbons are in the storage unit, except for the one I kept out for the Planted Hearts one ho-hum).  Anyway, it means this one is finally completed and can be sent on its way to a new home somewhere 😀

planted hearts needleroll finished

While I was at it, I also decided to keep going with the hemstitching, and finally put together my Thistle Bag that Tobie kindly sent me the kit for ages ago.  It’s about time I pulled my finger out and got this bag made up – and once I put my mind to it, it didn’t take too long whatsoever! 😀

Thistle Bag by M Designs

That means I can finally say I’ve contributed to the monthly Finish-a-Long on the Focus on Finishing blog, instead of just being on the sidelines cheering everyone else along 😀

I may try and squeak in one more quick ‘finish’ tonight … something that will be super quick to finish off and won’t take up much room in storage (that’s something I started taking into consideration today – I was going to make a tie-on pillow using KarenV’s tutorial, but I decided I’m probably better off leaving everything ‘flat’ rather than stuffed, as I just don’t have space for it at the moment).

Lastly here is my latest stitching finish – I completed this yesterday afternoon … and I just love the colours and shimmering gold metallic thread – the photo doesn’t do it justice whatsoever.  The red is deeper and richer, and the metallic just glistens and twinkles 🙂

christmas heart

Christmas Heart by Birds of a Feather
Stitched on 32ct white Lugana
with WDW and RG gold Petite Treasure Braid
(instead of Kreinik #4 gold braid)

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Small finish and lovely visit

Just a really quick post to show my latest small finish – I’m thinking of picking up a bigger project next, so it may be a while before there’s another finish … as well as the fact that I’ll be losing my internet connection again in a few days time.  I’ve just spent a couple of hours uploading piccies for the next couple of months for the Photo Hunts, for that exact reason – I’m not sure when I’ll be up and running for the internet again, and uploading and downloading is a tad harder at an internet cafe than it is at home … anyway, if you don’t see me online for a while soon, you’ll at least see one post a week, as I’ve uploaded posts for the Photo Hunt right up until 3 November – I know I’ve said it before, but I seriously LOVE that functionality of WordPress!!

Anyway, onto the piccie – here is my latest finish:

christmas bellpull 1

Miniature Bellpull Ornament by The Drawn Thread
from 1999 JCS Christmas ornie magazine or 10th Anniversary issue (which is where I got mine from – the 1999 JCS ornie mag is the only one I don’t own … {pout})
Stitched on 36ct summer khaki Edinborough linen
using DMC and Needle Necessities threads as recommended

In other news – my foot is perfectly fine … I had a lot of stiffness and pain in it on Saturday, and went to see a GP as I felt quite worried about it – but she said I hadn’t done any major damage and I still had relatively good mobility, so just to keep applying the ice packs.  Well, you’d never believe it, I woke up on Sunday and hardly had a twinge!!  It feels fantastic! 😀

The other great news from Sunday is that I caught up with Tannia and had a lovely relaxing stitching day (hence the reason my Drawn Thread ornie got finished – I just did a couple more hours when I got home and finished it up).  As always, Tannia is wonderful company, and it was great to just kick back and relax with needle in hand, and old movies on TV, without a care in the world.  There’s also a treat in store for you, Mum, next time you come over – Tannia has very kindly given me some Christmas ornie magazines for you 😀

Not much else to report apart from that … I’m now off to the lounge room to watch a couple more episodes of series 3 of Moonlighting while I put a few more stitches into another ornie, then tomorrow is “clean up” day when I start packing my things away again in preparation of moving out.  I have another week out in Seaford, then I’m looking after a place in Edithvale for 3 weeks with an elderly (and apparently well behaved – that’ll be a nice change) kitty.

 Rightio, time to get cracking again …

(Updated to add:)  Forgot to say, I finished reading Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows yesterday morning – couldn’t put it down in the end!  Even though I haven’t read any of the others yet, I have no regrets whatsoever for reading it.  It’s unlikely I’ll sit down and read the other books yet, and I wanted to read it before I knew what the ending was.  I’ve seen all the movies to date, so at least I knew all the characters and the terminology … although after seeing the movies, I have to say all the characters in the book were now ingrained in my head as the actors who played them … much less imagination needed haha.  Anyway, I have to say I loved it! 😀

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Evil kitty … and squishy mail (picture heavy!)

I’m sure no-one will be greatly surprised when I recite the story of my morning yesterday … it pretty much follows the vein of the rest of the year, and if I could have seen my own face yesterday it would have had me in fits of giggles for weeks on end, I’m sure!!

So, what happened to bring all this mirth on … well, to be honest I didn’t find it particularly funny at the time – and if my day tomorrow is not pain-free I may not see the funny side yet again … but I’m getting ahead of myself already …

Yesterday was like any other day this week, except that I had a slight sleep-in – the alarm went off at 4.30am instead of 3.30am like the other days this week (thanks to Lucien swapping his 6am shift for my 5am one so he could go and play golf after work).  As per usual when I got up it was a hot and humid 4 degrees Celsius (aaarghhh), and the country was in darkness.  Being a lazy so-and-so for the first time all week I decided I couldn’t be bothered walking up to the end of the hallway to put that light on, then come back halfway up the hall to switch the other one off, I decided to just brace myself, study the layout of the hallway, and memorise the lightswitch location in my brain … considering it’s only a few steps away, it wasn’t too difficult to do … or do I thought …

Someone else had other things on his mind, though … “evil kitty” all of a sudden appeared out of nowhere – I assume it was him, but I have to say I couldn’t actually see him, and it could have been Satan himself for all I knew … all I could hear was a whole heap of meeowing going on from the area somewhere near my feet.  Now I was worried I was going to stand on the stupid cat in the middle of the hallway, so I started swinging my feet out with my footsteps … the only problem was that now I’d been distracted by trying to find the cat in the dark with my less-than-nocturnal eyesight, I also couldn’t work out where in the damned hallway I now was!  Aha, I thought – there is a grey patch over on the wall to the left, of course that must be the laundry, as the light will be reflecting through the door … let me just walk out and reach out to switch on that light which is closer than the other one … let me just take one more step and reach ……………

The next thing I know I’m stepping out into mid-air, then with a comical expression of total surprise I find myself tumbling down the couple of steps at the end of the hallway … ’twas not the laundry light at all, it was the kitchen!!  My mobile phone went crashing off across the wooden floor, but the final Harry Potter book decided to just sit crying in a heap as it wasn’t in a bouncing mood … me, I just sat there in a heap trying to work out which part hurt most, and which part of my anatomy I should try to move first … crikey, it would have been a picture and a half with that stunned look on my face!!

Luckily, though, nothing was majorly damaged – I felt a bit shaken up and a bit queasy, which I’m sure was from the shock rather than anything else.  Because I was on such an early shift I didn’t want to let my colleagues down at work, and seemed OK to drive, so I went into work – by the time I arrived, though, my right foot was throbbing like hell.  I ended up tipping a recycling box upside down and elevating my leg under the desk for a few hours, and Lucien got a great deal of mirth out of watching me get up to answer a phone call at another desk when my legs nearly buckled from underneath me … glad I could put a smile on your face Lucifer! 😉

Anyway, today I woke up feeling as though I’ve been run over by a Mack truck – the muscles in my left leg, especially my thigh, feel as though I’ve done 3 hours hard work-out at a gym and are very strained and uncomfortable.  My right foot also started really throbbing again after about 6 hours, but luckily today we were working with Bernie who’s a Nurse in her other role (she does a few hours after work to keep her qualifications current) – she had an ice pack put on it, then strapped it up for me.  I’ve been given orders, though, that if I get any more discomfort from it tomorrow I’ve got to go to the doctors as she thinks there’s a possibility of it being a hairline fracture – so far there’s only a little bit of swelling and no bruising yet … fingers crossed it doesn’t turn to anything more sinister!  I’m currently sitting here with another ice pack on, so hopefully that will help 🙂

So, that’s been the last couple of days for you … on a good note, though, I’ve had some exceptionally gorgeous gifties over the last week that I can finally share with you as I’ve sent off all my thank you emails.  I’ll show them in the order that they were received – and I have to say I love every single one of them, thank you ladies!! 😀

First up is an exquisite parcel I received from Isabelle – I must say I tried to help Isabelle and Seb out by buying one of Isabelle’s beautiful bags from her Etsy shop (I fell in love with this one hook line and sinker), after finding out what the proceeds were going towards … and Isabelle said she wanted to send something extra with it when it came time to post it out.  Here are all my goodies – am I spoilt or what??!  These were actually posted quite a while ago, and I started wondering if they’d gone missing … it turns out they had – they were found at the East Camberwell post office, after I queried it!  They’d been having a lovely quiet holiday over there, with no-one any the wiser!  No doubt Isabelle will be pleased to know they finally turned up safe and sound.  The blue bag with white lace on the left is the one I chose to buy, and the other bag is an extra one made especially for me.  Aren’t they beautiful?  Not only that, but I now have my very own French XS magazine that I’ve been spreading drool over for days – I think I could quite easily become addicted to these!  But the piece de resistance for me would have to be the little bourse at the back – this has extra special sentimental value for me, as this was made from the fabric from Isabelle’s wedding dress … I had a serious lump in my throat when I read that!  I’m going to use it as a jewellery pouch for my favourite pieces of jewellery.  Thanks again Isabelle – everything will be treasured always, my dear friend – I feel truly honoured to own some of your masterpieces!

gift from isabelle aug 07

Next up is something totally different … while Tessa was away in the UK she found this adorable, gorgeous duck and thought of me when she saw it!  I don’t know why?!! haha.  Doesn’t it have the most awesome character??  I just love it to death, and it will be a most prized possession in my collection.  In fact the day it arrived it spent all day sitting on my desk atop my computer base – it put a smile on my face every time I looked at it.  Thanks so much again Tessa – I really love it to pieces … it’s so sweet of you to think of me while you were away, especially knowing the reason you were there {{hugs}}.

gift from tessa aug07

Now last, but by no means least … I received an absolutely exquisite RAK from Dawn in the mail today!  After tumbling down the stairs yesterday, and feeling crappy for two days, this did an exceptional job of cheering me up today!  Isn’t it gorgeous?  And the colour is so scrummy, and my fave … BLUE!  Thanks again Dawn, for a wonderful RAK – I truly do feel thoroughly spoilt, and really appreciate your gift.  I can’t wait to get it on a pair of scissors!  I love the postcard too! 😀

gift from dawn townsend aug07a

Talking of work (well, I was earlier in the post anyway) … I cashed in my bonus payment this week – and bought my GPS/iPaq.  I decided to go without the WiFi and extra 1GB of memory and bought the HP iPaq 5765, and spent the extra $180 on something different … I spent the rest of the bonus money on upgrading my compact digital camera.  I’ve had my old Canon PowerShot for about 6-7 years now, and while it’s been an awesome camera, technology had most definitely improved over the years and my 3 megapixels are a bit lacking these days.  I wanted something with a better macro capability, and I considered getting a macro lens for my Nikon digital SLR, but it was out of my price range … but I got something even better – in fact it’s seems clearer than my SLR lenses, which is amazing!  Hopefully it’ll be better for taking shots of my needlework once I get my head around all the settings.  The camera make I got was a Panasonic Lumix which has a Leica lens and a 10x optical zoom … I shall say no more!! 😉

Here’s a couple of shots taken on it by Lucien … he spent more time playing with it today than I did!!  Here’s one of our office desks in the area I work in … plus one of me actually doing work while Lucien goofs off!! As you can see, it’s casual dress day today yippee!

work1 aug07

work2 aug07

Then there are a couple of shots I took on arrival home in Daniel’s garden – the close-up views when you zoom in are exceptional on the flower stamens in the 2nd photo … wow!!  So much so that Lucien is thinking of buying one now too 😉

daniels flowers 3

daniels flowers 2

daniels flowers 1

So now it’s back on the wagon again spending-wise … time to pull the horns in again and get some $ back into the bank once more.  Bless you, though, work management for giving us a wonderful gift of cash … I, for one, wholeheartedly appreciate the thought! I thought of being very responsible and putting it towards bills, but then thought “sod it” and went spending haha.  As Mum always says, “it’s money you never had, so treat yourself” 😀

Rightio, time to remove the ice pack for 20 minutes … then it’ll be time to sit back down again with it back on again – if this keeps up you might even see another stitching finish soon … I’m halfway through a Christmas ornie, so you never know your luck in a raffle! 😉