Charity Stitching, Finishes

Nearly there … (updated)

Anne S

Managed to get a reasonable amount of my Batman square stitched last night, and more tonight, so I think my deadline will easily be reached to have it in the mail on Wednesday … I’m starting to get a bit goggle-eyed tonight, after my early shift (it’s amazing how quickly you get out of the habit!!), so I don’t know how much more I’ll get done tonight – I was originally hoping to finish it off, but I don’t think my energy levels are going to stand up to the pressure LOL.

Tomorrow after work I intend to find a button or something to finish off my biscornu, then it can get posted on Wednesday too – it feels sooooo0 good to have those commitments off my shoulders. I still feel really bad about not reading blogs, but I’m glad I made that decision, or I’d still be struggling with the first deadline! Hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll be back to normal again, and my deadline stitching will be easily fitted around my normal routine 🙂 I look forward to seeing what you’ve all been up to while I’ve been “M.I.A.” 😀

UPDATED!!! OK, I don’t know what happened, but I got a second wind and managed to find the energy to finish my Batman logo – woohoo!! What a relief to finally get that out of the way … I think I’ll be sleeping soundly tonight! LOL. Now I just have my scissor fob exchange and mail art exchange pieces to get done … 😀

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Batman outline – free to use

Anne S

I’ve been as busy as a beaver today, after wasting almost the entirety of yesterday! I spent almost the entire day searching for a round robin choice for my upcoming RR, and have got a couple of options, but nothing that jumps out and says “stitch me!”. It was nice to chat to Mum for a couple of hours as well, too, yesterday – I have to admit that because I spend the entire working day chained to a headset/phone, I abhor spending time on it when I get home … Mum’s pretty much the only exception to that – and she usually works out pretty quickly when I’m not in a chatty mood haha ;P

I managed to fit in a bit of laundry yesterday, but really did waste the entire day with nothing to show for it … so today I tried to make up for lost time! I spent the morning putting out my clothes on the clotheshorse, then sat down to chart out my Batman logo etc for my quilt block, and starting the stitching – didn’t get too far, but I’ll do a bit more tonight, and hope to have it finished and in the post for Wed/Thu this week. I also made a big saucepan full of stew, so that’ll keep me in evening meals for a couple of nights, and no more cooking needed for a while yippee!! I also popped up the road and bought some groceries, and did some photocopying at Officeworks. Now I’m back home again, and just waiting for the stew to finish off, then I’ll be back in the recliner again snuggled under a lap blanket, doing some more Batman stitching, and watching TV. Because my Batman logo is quite narrow, I decided to pad out the block slightly, and designed my own Batman outline in backstitching. I doubt that any of you will have any use for it, but feel free to use at your will – this was purely out of my own head, so there’s no breach of copyright etc 🙂

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Rightio, off to get set up for stitching for the night – as you can see, I didn’t get much achieved this morning, so I need to get a bit more done tonight – mind you, I’m on 6am shifts all week this week, so I need to have an early night … perhaps 2 more hours of stitching will be it today …

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One deadline met!

Anne S

Yep, today has been a great day for me, and the result is that one parcel is sitting in my work bag ready to go to the Post Office tomorrow – my Melanie’s Exchange from the SBEBB is going to be winging it’s way to it’s new home tomorrow … it has a fair way to travel, so I thought I’d send it straightaway. It feels great to have one of my deadlines met … the other one is “almost” there, but I forgot to buy the buttons for my biscornu (8-cornered tuffet pincushion), so I couldn’t put the finishing touches on it. I have to say it’s turned out to be HUGE … oops! Definitely bigger than I anticipated it would be, but it looks OK – hopefully the recipient won’t mind it being so huge! I certainly don’t have time to stitch another one! That means it will only take about 10 minutes to finish off once the buttons are bought, so that will be another parcel that can go out in the post probably on Monday – yippee!!

So, this weekend I’ll be concentrating on my Batman logo – with any luck I’ll get the whole thing finished over the weekend, as I have no other commitments for a change. That will be a huge sigh of relief you’ll be hearing when that final stitch goes into that quilt block! Anyway, it’s now after midnight, so time to call it a night … thanks for your quick responses on my decision about the Bordeaux Sampler fabric – I think you’ve all talked me into it, and I’m going to use what I already have. I think it helped to have the vote of confidence from you that it was a good decision 😀 Thanks heaps & heaps for that 😀

Hope you’re all having a good week … I managed to read a couple of blogs today, but haven’t been commenting – I refuse to mark any feeds as read until I’ve read them, though … and hopefully after this weekend and having the pressure taken off from my deadlines, I’ll be able to get back to blogging daily again 🙂

SBQ

Help requested

Anne S

It’s been a while since I posted (and even longer since I read anyone’s blogs), and I still have no stitching to share, but I’d like to ask your advice about something, if that’s OK …

I’m almost ready to start the Bordeaux Sampler with Carol – I’ve been drooling over this one ever since she mentioned it, and finally succumbed to the arm-twisting I’d been giving myself … the VC silks have arrived, but now I’m struggling over my fabric choices. The chart calls for 36ct Magnolia Lakeside Linens, which according to the LL website is equivalent to DMC 3865 … which according to another webside is also the equivalent to 36ct Antique White Edinborough linen. Aside from the fact I would have to buy a huge piece, and it’s incredibly expensive, I’m also eager to start working on this very very soon, and don’t want to wait for months for a hand-dyed fabbie to arrive (and the LL would be over US$40 plus postage!). The design is 131 stitches wide x 394 stitches high – if I include a 4″ margin on each side, this makes the fabric needed to be 16″ x 30″ … the stitching itself measures 8″ x 22″ … hence my dilemma – I have sitting in my stash a piece of Edinburgh antique white linen that is 18″ x 27″ – if I use that it will mean a margin of only 2.5″ on the top and bottom … do you think that would be OK?? I really don’t want to have to buy more if I can get away with it – and I was thinking I could add a small strip of calico to both ends, to help give more space for lacing/framing … anyway, I’d love to know what you all think, before I commit myself to buying more fabbie 😀

With actual stitching, I’m almost finished with both my exchange pieces, so that’s my priority this week and weekend, along with my Batman logo for the charity quilt block, as the deadlines are next week for all of them! Hence part of the reason I’ve been avoiding blog reading etc – I’m trying to devote all my free time now to getting those finished. I thought I had plenty of time, but all of a sudden the deadline is around the corner without me realising it had snuck up on me! After those commitments are out the way, I still have two more exchanges to finish (scissors fob and mail art) – then I’d really love to catch up on my Bunnies in my Garden SAL piece, and was thinking I could take that with me to NZ during my visit in case I get chance to have some quiet stitching time in the evenings. All this talk of commitment stitching brings me to the SBQ’s, as I forgot I hadn’t answered the last one yet …

19 April’s SBQ was suggested by Jenna and is:

“Do you do obligation or deadline-based stitching? Why or why not? If you do, do you tend to get in over your head and why?”

I’ve only just started doing deadline-based stitching – by joining the SBEBB I thought it was a good chance to increase my confidence in stitching ‘smalls’, and a wonderful way to exchange stitched gifts with others. To say I’ve stitched a number of gifts for other people, my close friends don’t stitch, so I’ve never received a stitched gift especially with me in mind in return – the first thing I’ve ever received that someone else has made was the Christmas ornie from Jenna last year, so it will always be treasured 🙂 I’ve also been stitching my first charity quilt blocks for Quilts4Kids this year (3 finished and posted so far, with another one due this month, and two more I’ve signed up for over the next couple of months), as well as the panel of names for the World Trade Center charity quilt. I think in my enthusiasm for joining in with everything, I’ve definitely bitten off a bit more than I should have done in one hit – I’m dying to get back to my rotation, and find I can’t until I’ve finished my deadlines. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying doing my commitment stitching, it’s just that I’ve found it hard juggling that and my own stitching mainly because everything seems to be due around the same time. With the next two charity quilt blocks, I’ve chosen projects more around the stitching deadline than around the actual theme, to give me a break. I’ve also added a charity block “slot” into my rotation for when I get back into it, so that I can stitch a block as part of my normal rotation – much easier to stick to the deadline that way. I’m also supposed to be doing a number of SAL’s with the Yahoo Stitching Smalls group, but with all the other commitments happening, I’ve had to put my participation to one side, which is disappointing – hence in future I’ll be more limited in what I sign up for! My problem at the moment is that I want to join in with everything, so I keep signing up … then struggling to meet the deadlines ‘cos I want to do everything else as well!!

Now I want to make a list of my actual commitment deadlines coming up – this is more for my own use and memory than anything else … and it seems like the perfect place to jot it down – and that’s not including the SAL’s that I’ve committed myself to (at least one a month yikes!!):

* 12 May – Melanie’s Exchange (SBEBB)
* 15 May – Biscornu Exchange (SBEBB)
* 15 May – Batman logo quilt block (Jordan B)
* 25 May – Scissors fob exchange (StitchNZ)
* 5 June – Mail Art Exchange (SBEBB)
* 22 June – final Christmas RR ornie (Ornaments RRBB)
* 1 July – Round Robin first posting (my first real RR)
* 15 July – Racing cars quilt block (Jay B)
* 15 August – Dragon quilt block (Caitlin R)

3 May’s SBQ is:

“Do you or have you stitched with over-dyed threads? (Weeks Dye Works, The Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Six Strand Sweets, etc.) If so, what is your opinion concerning them? If not, why not?”

Yes, I’ve stitched with a number of overdyed threads, especially WDW, GAST, Needle Necessities and more recently Carrie’s Threads – I love the look of overdyed threads in stitching, but I have to admit to not enjoying doing the actual stitching … I don’t like stitching every XS cross individually, as I find it slows me down considerably, but that’s the only downside. It’s interesting how each thread feels so different – I love the feel of Carrie’s Threads and NN more than the WDW/GAST when I’m stitching with them. I’ve been using them quite a bit just lately with exchanges etc, and just love them to bits! 😀

And just a little photo from my collection from a friend’s wedding out by Bethell’s Beach in the countryside of Auckland, New Zealand (seeing as I have no stitching piccies to share yet again – geez I’m getting boring LOL). Actually the weather in this photo matches our Melbourne weather today – grey, overcast and drizzly!

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Back to normal again

Anne S

My last lot of visitors have moved on, and I have my wee flat to myself again – it was a wonderful wonderful visit with them, and so nice to see them again. If I wasn’t going back home again next month for a visit, I would have been extremely upset to see them go last night – they’re some of the closest family friends we have, and I’ve known Tracey since she was a toddler … it almost feels surreal that they were actually here in Melbourne, though. We ate waaaaay too much over the last two days, and managed to help keep the St Kilda cafe economy afloat, having breakfast and coffees out etc. I tuckered the poor things out on Friday, as we enjoyed our time in St Kilda then Queen Victoria Markets – we were supposed to go out for dinner to Lygon Street (the Italian quarter) at their request, but by the time dinner came they were too exhausted, which I totally understand … so we just ordered pizza and pasta for home delivery, and sat and had a couple of drinks and caught up.

Yesterday we indulged ourselves in an antipasto feast with items we’d bought from the markets – hummus, tzatziki, spiced capsicum dips, three different pesto/nut dips, Turkish pide breads and crackers, semi-dried tomatoes, caperberries, artichoke hearts, dolmades, and bell peppers stuffed with fetta cheese … it was glorious! Only 3 weeks to go, and I’ll be seeing them again, which will be wonderful.

They kindly brought my L&L charts over with them, so I can sort through them and work out which ones I want to put up for trade etc – I’ve decided I need to be realistic and get rid of those ones that I know I’ll never ever stitch, and most of the angels come into that category now.

I stayed away last night up the coast at a suburb/town called Seaford – where I enjoyed the company of friends Bernie and Ali from work … Ali out-did herself with dinner and we had cheese and crackers, salami and olives while supping white wine, then we had braised lamb shanks and mash for dinner, followed by a fresh plum tart, all washed down with a couple of bottles of red wine … we could hardly move after all of it, but it was a wonderful night of girlie chat and work gossip 🙂

I’ve come home to seeing 412 unread posts in my blog subscription list – I may have to just gloss over some posts and not comment on everything in order to catch up … I hate doing that, though. I do have to admit to reading everything, even if I won’t be commenting, but hopefully I’ll be able to catch up during the week by doing a bit each day. In the meantime, though, it’s time to get my laundry etc done – the weather is very wintry today with a lot of rain and grey cloud, and the clothes will take quite some time to dry, I think, so better hurry up and get cracking.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend 😀

Melbourne

It’s the weekend again … for me anyway!

Anne S

Yup, today is Thursday officially, but for me it’s Friday, as I have the next three days off. I’m up early tomorrow morning to head off to the airport, then off socialising for the weekend. Tonight I’ll be having an early night due to only getting 4 hours sleep last night … oops. Fraze came over to stay last night, and we headed off out to dinner to a new place that was recommended to me quite some time ago – it has a special “steak night” Tue/Wed each week, and their scotch fillet steaks sell for AU$12, where it’s usually AU$18, and it’s a great meal … well worth the drive, we thought, anyway. The venue is The Grace Darling hotel, 114 Smith Street, Collingwood – nice atmosphere, and pretty good tucker (crikey, I sound more like an Aussie every year I live here! haha). We enjoyed it so much, we’re thinking of making a repeat performance next Tuesday before I go back to shift work.

We cracked open a bottle of red wine when we got home, and made a ceremonial toast before doing “the deed” … the “deed” in this case was to cut up my gold Amex card into itty bitty little pieces – that gave me such an amazing amount of pleasure, it was awesome! I’ve had nothing but grief from them since I moved to Aussie (it was a NZ credit card), but one of my key reasons for getting debt consolidation was to pay the sucker off, and cut it up – and boy, oh boy, it felt good! 😀

Unfortunately no stitching done yet again, as I was out all day/night, and tonight I’m a bit overtired to stitch (we sat up watching TV and chatting until 2am … not clever when the alarm is due to go off at 6.30am!) The great news, though, is that my batman chart arrived in the post yesterday, so I can stitch that quilt block next week 🙂 I also now have one more exchange that’s been added to my May stitching calendar – a scissors fob for an exchange on the StitchNZ Yahoo group. I’ll start thinking about what to stitch next week some time.

Thanks for your suggestions on my biscornu exchange – I have to admit, I’d already decided to add the initials etc to the bottom, but I was hoping to include a border or something … I had one idea at the start, that I’ll probably end up doing, and hope it won’t take me too long to stitch. Mind you, with luck if I get home early enough on Sunday I could get a bit of stitching done then, which would be great.

Thanks also for your lovely comments on the frangipani … I think it’s one of the most beautiful flowers in the world – but apart from looking beautiful, the scent is amazing! It’s very heady, and very tropical. I didn’t have any luck growing one in Auckland – unfortunately frangipani don’t like frosts, and we used to have a lot of quite harsh frosts turning the entire garden white … it might be OK here in Melbourne, but I have nowhere to grow one … bummer! The weather in Melbourne at the moment is far from tropical – but very very stunning! It’s been a glorious couple of days with blue skies, moderate temperatures, and the autumn leaves giving a wonderful display of reds, bronzes and golds while driving around the streets. I went for a wander at lunchtime today with my camera to try and capture a couple of shots before all the leaves fall off (unfortunately a lot have already disappeared since last week), and thought I’d share a couple with you. It seems strange to think most of you are in the northern hemisphere and enjoying the throes of Spring as we speak, whereas those of us down under are batting down the hatches for the arrival of winter weather … 🙂 The bottom photo I’ve posted is the street I’ve been parking my car in for work – I love scrunching through the leaves in the mornings … makes my heart sing! 😀

If I don’t get chance to blog again over the next few days, I wish each and every one of you a wonderful weekend 🙂

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Another great day of stitching

Anne S

I managed to stitch for an entire day again today, and got the front of my biscornu completed … I’m struggling with what to do on the back – I was originally going to echo a lot of the front design, but it’s taken me two days to get the front finished – and literally all day today – so I’m starting to change my mind, or I’ll never get it finished. Today is my last free day for stitching for a while, so I might have to leave it plain just to meet the deadline 😦

Back to work again tomorrow (it was a public holiday today for ANZAC Day), but it’s only a two-day week for me this week, as I’m taking Friday off work to pick Glenn & Tracey up from the airport – then on Saturday they head off somewhere else, and I head up the coast for the night … hence no stitching planned for the weekend. Then next week I only have Mon/Tue to work as a day shift worker, then it’s back to real shift work again. I have to admit, my body has loved having the regular bedtimes and hours, and mealtimes, but it won’t be long before it’s getting assaulted by weird hours again … my bank balance will be happy, though haha.

Seeing as I still haven’t got stitching piccies to share again, I’ll post yet another photo from my collection … there aren’t many left to share now, as my photo collection is back in NZ – it would be nice to have some of them here … perhaps I’ll have to pick up some more on my visit home next month 🙂 This photo is of one of my favourite flowers – frangipani, taken in Fiji a few years ago 🙂 This flower will always bring back special memories of my time in Fiji – I have a silk version of frangipani flowers on a tall stem in a glass vase here, as well as a painted plaster of paris type ornament (just one big flower) … one day I’ll eventually get around to stitching my Just Jude XS kit too … one day ;P

Finishes

A small happy dance & an apology

Anne S

Firstly I want to apologise that I haven’t been reading blogs for a few days – well, since Easter in fact … truth is, I really want to make the most of my stitching time at the moment to get my deadlines met – and I know when I sit in front of this PC I’m here for hours, and my stitching time goes out the window! So, I’m make a real effort to start stitching pretty much as soon as I get up, after I’ve had brekkie … I feel bad, as it’s been a voluntary decision, and not circumstances that have stopped me reading – but I hope to catch up on Wed/Thu after work before I start socialising for the weekend 🙂

I managed to get a few more stitches into my ‘trial run’ biscornu … which might end up being the ‘real thing’ for my exchange if my other idea doesn’t translate well in the stitching. The trial run one is from a chart I bought a while ago, and really wanted to stitch, so I thought it was a good opportunity. The exchange one, fingers crossed, is a collaboration effort from about 3 different charts … I’m just not 100% how it’s going to work out – it looks great on paper, but it’s always a different story when it’s stitched! Anyway, hopefully today I’ll get a good amount of stitching done on both … and tomorrow is a public holiday, so one more chance for stitching before I have to put the needles down the for the week.

Gina, now I’m on a permanent roster, and I know exactly what shifts I’m doing until approx November, I can work out which Sundays I can get to the Guild – it would be lovely to see you there too 🙂 I’ll send you an email once I’ve sorted it out, if you like, and we can go from there 🙂 Have to admit, I thought of ringing you yesterday morning, but it wasn’t much notice to give you … plus I have to admit, I only really bit the bullet at 10.08am and got moving (I’d been um-ing and ah-ing for 2 whole hours!!).

After coming home from the Guild, I managed to finish my ornie last night while watching The Biggest Loser (Australian one) – it’s the Golden Garland design by Paw Printings from the 2005 JCS ornie issue. This might end up being my ornament for the ornie SAL on the FGBB as well … I’m not sure if I’m going to get time to stitch my Noel one as well – but I’ve said that before, and still managed to meet the deadline, so who knows? haha.

Rightio, now I’m off to put in a book on tape, grab some brekkie, and make a start on the day … I’m currently ‘reading’ H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton, which will be closely followed by Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs – makes a change from DVD’s ;P

Finishes

2nd post today …

Anne S

Well, I did it!! I’m no longer a Guild Guidance Group Virgin!!! Yup, I bit the bullet and dragged myself along today to the Blackwork/Counted Thread group, and I’m very glad that I did. As well as other reasons, one of the ladies brought in her finished Mermaid Treasure Box (Chatelaine design) – wow, what a stunning piece, and incredible to see it in person!! There were about two ladies there similar to my own age, with the others a lot older, which is pretty standard for most Guild groups, I know – and I love listening to the older ladies discussing embroidery, as they have so much experience to share 🙂 Anyway, I was made extremely welcome, and actually managed to get some stitching done … managed to do a LOT of frog-stitching on my Marine Elegance piece – so I gave that up as a bad job, and put it away again.

Luckily I also took some other pieces along to stitch ‘just in case’, and popped across the road to Spotlight at lunchtime for some ribbon that looks OK, so I could finish my pinkeep – I just ADORE the colours of this pinkeep, and now I’m thinking of using the same design to make a needlebook or a pincushion to go with it. It’s an online freebie chart by Indigo Rose that I downloaded ages ago, with some modifications of my own … and I’m pretty pleased with it – especially since this is the first pinkeep I’ve ever tried to make. It’s stitched with Jewel of the Nile Needle Necessities thread, which is so so scrummy 🙂 I wasn’t sure how to finish the top of the pinkeep off, so I may end up changing it a bit, but that’s all I could think of while I was out …

Aside from that, I also managed to get a bit more stitching done on my Christmas ornament RR piece – I figured I might as well try and get some more of my ‘commitment’ stitching pieces done so I can tick one more thing off my list for this month, and this one was nice and portable. Only one more project to go after this one, and I get to receive my leftover threads etc … which is great, because I need the red Kreinik braid for another ornie. For once I haven’t got my Christmas ornie stitched for the FGBB … I have everything more or less kitted up ready to go, just haven’t gotten around to stitching it – I think the exchange pieces have taken up every priority at the moment.

Anyway, I’m now going to sit down and do a few more stitches while I’m in the mood – I might try and get the Christmas ornie finished, so I can get back to starting my next exchange piece 🙂 I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow to post my piccies ;P

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Yippee – part 1 all finished!

Anne S

(Updated to add this comment for Jenn … just noticed your comment about the PINN chart – if you click on the link here, you can see a clearer piccie of it. I’m happy to send you the chart once I’ve finished with it – but it might take a while before I get around to stitching it as it’s for a charity block that I might want to stitch in the future, ie no deadline as yet. Anyway, let me know, and I’ll put it to one side for you.)

I managed to get all the stitching done on my Melanie’s Exchange piece yesterday … with just a few toilet and sustenance breaks – the finishing won’t take very long, so the pressure’s off a little bit now. I just have my biscornu exchange to stitch now, then my first ever exchanges are up-to-date. Sorry but no piccies for a while 😦

Unfortunately not quite all my commitment stitching is finished, though – I still have my Batman logo to stitch for my final charity block that needs to be received by 15 May … hopefully the chart I’m going to be using isn’t far away from arriving from the good ol’ US of A – I just didn’t get around to charting it myself, and found it easier to buy one off Ebay (due to lack of time and lack of motivation) – fingers crossed it arrives this week so I can get cracking on it. Then my next charity blocks aren’t due until 15 July and 15 August, so I have a bit of a breathing space before then.

Once my Batman logo’s stitched, my main focus is on starting my Bunnies in my Garden SAL – we’re already into week 3 and I haven’t even started yet (partly because my threads didn’t arrive until last week). I know it won’t take me long to catch up, though, as I can be a speedy stitcher when it’s needed (and when I have the time available) – then I want to get back into stitching my Marine Elegance. After that it’s back to my rotation again, and starting a new SAL with Carol – the Mystery Bordeaux Sampler … she’s tempted me with her progress piccies, and I finally broke down and decided to join in.

On a different note, my debt consolidation came through officially during the week, so yesterday I spent the day paying off various debts to cut down my monthly repayments – it’s still not going to be ‘easy street’, but it will be a lot less stressful each payday, especially when I’m back on shift allowances again 🙂 I’m hoping now that I can actually put a bit of money away every month that can go towards having a holiday or something … it would be so nice being able to make more use of my 4-day breaks etc by popping off for a night or two and seeing some more of this beautiful country. But it’s early days yet, and I need to work out how much difference it’s going to make to my monthly budget, and I guess it’ll take a couple of months to work that out yet. I’ve told Mum if it all works out OK, I’m going to treat her to a holiday for her 70th birthday – and we’re going to pop off to Singapore for a couple of nights if I can afford it … otherwise we’ll pop off somewhere locally, as there are a few places on my list … Coffs Harbour, Mildura, Perth, Darwin, Port Douglas etc. She’s said if we go overseas she needs to know for her travel insurance, but if we’re staying locally she’d rather not know where we’re going, and that it be a surprise. We wouldn’t be going until Jul/Aug so there’s plenty of time to work that out …

Anyway, nothing else to report today … and no progress piccies … so, rather than waffling on about nothing, here’s another old photo I took of some gannets during a visit to Napier, New Zealand – just to add a bit of colour to my post ;P