Tag: Uncategorized

Yup, that time has come that I hit the new age bracket … no longer can I tick the “30-39” age bracket in surveys etc – I’m now in the “40-49” bracket as from today. Have to admit, the day has started off eventfully in two different ways … I don’t know why, but I’ve been having a serious lapse of memory this week (and I’d better hurry up and snap out of it, ‘cos I’ve got an exam next week for work, then hopefully an interview again … but I don’t have my hopes up this time – but that’s another story). Anyway, where was I? See, I think early senility has kicked in! That’s what happens when you jump up a decade – that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it!!

Right, back to the story (I’m starting to feel like Billy Connolly!!) … Last night I went supermarket shopping after work (didn’t finish work until 8pm) – bought some lollies (aka candies for my US readers; aka sweets for my UK readers LOL) to hand out at work today, as well as buying the ingredients to bake a birthday cake to take to work, and the ingredients to make Mars Bar Slice … or so I thought! What did I do? Managed to remember I needed 7 eggs for the cake (tick), cooking chocolate for the cake (tick), rice bubbles for the Mars bar slice (tick), milk chocolate for the Mars bar slice (tick), butter for both (tick) … and off to the checkout I went and came home. Put the oven on at 10pm to start baking … started getting the ingredients out for the cake … first one – 1/2 cup of cocoa … um, cocoa … cocoa … !!! – hmm, that’s right Anne, you threw out what was left when you moved flats in August and didn’t replace it … Never mind, I can make the Mars bar slice in the morning … Yeah, right! I get ready to start ‘cooking’ my Mars bar slice this morning – the one thing missing from my shopping list … yup, MARS BARS!!!!! and yet again, a double . Luckily I bought the lollies to hand out, or I would be going in empty-handed! Oh well, looks like my cake and slice will be going in a day late – at least I’m on a 2pm start tomorrow, so I’ll have more time to get it ready as well. What a blonde!!!

An interesting start to the day … but before I realised the Mars Bars were AWOL, I checked my emails – and what did I find? A comment in my blog saying Silkweaver had sent me a postcard and ‘click on this link’ to get it – I have to admit, I originally thought it was spam and nearly deleted it, then realised that I have word verification on, and Silkweaver was reputable … so I crossed my fingers it wasn’t a virus or something awful and clicked on the link … WOW, was I surprised?!!! I was truly spoilt by my great online pal, Jenna, for my birthday – with a $40 gift voucher from Silkweaver … I’m truly speechless at the awesome generosity – and have to admit to shedding a tear or two this morning. Thank you Jenna from the bottom of my heart – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you’re a true sweetheart and I feel blessed to call you ‘my friend’.

In fact I want to say a huge heart-felt thanks to all my online pals – I feel truly blessed to have met you all (thanks Blogger!!). I have appreciated every comment left, and the support given at times when I’ve needed it, and have been humbled by the gifts that have been sent. I really do feel blessed today … {{{Hugs}}} to you all

And my pals have been so generous with their gifts with charts, and now fabric, I’ve decided not to spend Mum & Dad’s birthday money on stash – I discussed it with her, and we agree it’s a good idea … I’m going to use the money towards getting one of my XS pieces framed (either my Graham Ross Tiger, or Thea Dueck’s Gold) – it’s something I never have spare cash for anymore, and I’d dearly love those two pieces framed up and on the walls somewhere … Thanks to Mum & Dad for your generous gift as well – love you both!

Right, off to work I go … I think I’d better go to work early today and buy Mars Bars before I forget!! It’s the one thing I make that always gets someone asking for the recipe – it’s disgusting just how much fat content is in it (it’s pretty much just chocolate, butter and rice bubbles), but crikey it’s delicious!! Fraze isn’t a huge ‘sweet’ fan, but even he goes mad for Mars Bar slice … I made him some last year as his birthday ‘cake’.

And three more birthdays coming up over the next week – tomorrow it’s Karen’s, followed on the 18th by Becky’s, then last but not least it’s Jenn’s on the 23rd … Happy Birthday to all in advance!! (but I’ll try to pop over in ‘person’ on the actual day)

Thanks for everyone’s comments on my scrapbook page – I have to admit, Jenna, this really was my very first attempt … and I can’t say it’s something I’ll be continuing – I think it could be a very expensive hobby, and stitching’s enough for me for the time being. It was fun putting that page together, though – and it was nice to be ‘creative’ for a change :))

Well, this is very very brief, as I’ve been laid up with a throw-up migraine most of the day. I’ve only been out of bed for 4 hours today, and thought I’d try to catch up on blogs, but managed to get through about 4 of them, and gave up. So, I’m about to switch the PC off again, and have a quiet night – I’m hoping to start stitching a small project, but not sure how my head is going to take it just yet …

Anyway, I’m going to stitch the Thistle Treasure Bag by M Designs – those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while may recognise the design … it’s what the lovely angel Tobie sent me for a gift. You may also not know, but Tobie has apparently been very ill, and it felt appropriate for me to stitch this piece while I’m thinking of her at the moment – I know you won’t be reading this, Tobie, but my thoughts are with you at this time, and hope your recovery is a quick one {{hugs}}. If anyone has some prayers spare, I’m sure they’d be appreciated 🙂

Fingers crossed I’ll be fighting fit again tomorrow, so I can clear that backlog of blog posts … I thought there were only about 200 to read, but I was wrong – as at this afternoon there were 318! Yikes!!

Just trying out some smileys from Smiley Central … 😀

Rightio, well that works a treat! LOL. All I need to do now is to work out how to take the black lines from around the clips – but I think that’s part of my template that Design-a-Blog set up … hmmm …

What a wonderful day yesterday was – and in not one but two different ways. The first one was due to the weather … I actually sat at the computer on Monday night/Tuesday morning in 3/4 pants and singlet top and felt a bit goosebumpy due to the cold draft from the windows … you have no idea just how amazing that felt after the oppressive heat we’ve been having! I absolutely refused to put more clothes on, and succumbed to the blissful chill … heavenly? You betcha it was! 😉 (and it’s OK, Bea, I really was joking about the snow LOL).

The drop in temperature made it a bit more conducive to stitching, and I finally pulled my needles out of storage and put them to good use – managed to get a start made into my very first charity quilt square for Emily … even though I haven’t heard back from the organisation yet, I’m still going ahead and starting it – if it doesn’t get used for Emily, it’ll be used for someone else 🙂 With Emily in mind I’ve changed the flower colours on this first one as she loves pinks/purples – I also figure if I’m going to stitch both flowers/butterflies for her quilt, at least changing the colours around will make them look quite different. Sorry for the appalling scan, but I can’t be bothered unrolling the scroll bars, and the fabric isn’t sitting flat on the scanner – I’ll post a piccie properly when it’s finished … you’ll just have a short wait before that happens LOL.

What was the other reason for a heavenly day, I hear you ask? Well, even if you’re not asking, I’m going to share it anyway 😉 Yesterday was the day I got to meet some fellow bloggers … in the flesh, so to speak! You have no idea how wonderful it was to meet two lovely ladies who share the same love of stitching and crafts! I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, blogging has been a real life line to me in a lot of ways – it’s helped make me more open to starting new friendships, and becoming passionate about my craft again. To say I’ve lived in Melbourne for 2 1/2 years now, this is the first time I’ve got to ‘know’ some fellow stitchers – and they couldn’t be nicer! So, I’d like to personally thank Sharon and Gina for being such wonderful company, and making it a day to treasure 🙂

Sharon very gracefully invited us to her home, where I immediately felt comfortable – we were then treated to a scrummy lunch, and wonderful conversation, and we got to play ‘show and tell’ a little bit with pieces both Sharon and Gina were working on (including the infamous CQ square from Sharon’s blog), which was a highlight for me, as I love to see other stitchers pieces (plus I took my wee basket of pincushions etc and a couple of other finished pieces to share). You never know when you ‘meet’ people on the internet, what they’re really like … and although the ladies probably wouldn’t have guessed, I’m really really shy so it takes a lot of plucking up courage to go out and meet people – but I felt at ease straight away, and I hope this will be the start of a regular catch up 🙂

Another highlight for me was poring through the wonderful Australian XS books they’d put to one side for me, knowing I’d been searching for Aussie animals for a charity quilt square I’d like to stitch – it was better than going to the local library … that was sheer joy in itself. Anyway, I want to say thanks ladies from the bottom of my heart – it was a wonderful day!! :))) I loved seeing your stitching, hearing your stories, and sharing a little bit of you both (as well as meeting DH and E).

I also got treated by Sharon to a wee birthday gift as well, but I’ve been very very good and haven’t opened it yet (although it smells scrummy!) … I told Mum she has to hide it in her bedroom until she flies home so it will remain a nice surprise on the day itself. At least there’s only two weeks left before I can rip it open :)) I think self-discipline must come with age, as it’s only now that I’m starting to be able to follow it haha (Mum wanted to give me my birthday $ last week, but I said I wanted it closer to my birthday so it has more meaning … crikey, I really MUST be getting old – when I was ‘young’ I would’ve had it spent in 5 minutes flat LOL).

The funny thing is that for 1 1/2 years Sharon and I lived in the same neighbourhood … in fact, within walking distance … and we didn’t know it! And it took a blog with some ‘local’ photos to strike a chord of familiarity, and the rest is history 🙂 And Gina is a member of the Embroiderers Guild, so hopefully we’ll be able to hook up for some guidance group meetings at the same time – it will be wonderful having a “friendly face” to help me meet my goal of attending some groups in 2006 :))

As for today, I had another 6am start, so a bit tired seeing as I got to bed a bit later than normal last night … so tonight, while it’s still nice and cool, I hope to get a bit more of the charity square stitched – then we have to get ready for Fraze’s visit and sleep over tomorrow night … along with another friend who’s popping by as well – what a wonderful social week this is turning out to be! 🙂

I’m starting to forget what a size 26 Piecemaker tapestry needle is – or in fact any needle! Yet another non-stitching day … although I did end up finishing up some more kitting up small projects for ‘down the track’. Hallelujah it’s my final 6am shift tomorrow, then two days off again so I can go to bed at a ‘normal’ time again yay.

Spent the night in tears tonight … finally got around to watching The Notebook tonight (can’t remember what it was that stopped us watching it the other night) – oh crikey, what a chick flick that is! So I couldn’t help but shed a bit of wet stuff at the very end, even though I’d guessed what was going to happen … what a lovely movie – and makes a nice change from the psycho thrillers and action movies/comedies that I usually watch LOL.

Rightio, off to bed again – and only 2 more sleeps before I get to finally meet some fellow bloggers here in Melbourne … yippee 🙂

I just made an offer to Bine in Germany, if I pay for the courier cost, would she be willing to send me some snow? And I’m not joking … apparently the hottest January in Melbourne’s history, quite frankly I can’t wait until this heatwave is over!! Last night I got about 3 hours sleep compliments of the humidity and heat, and the heavy storms – it’s very draining on the energy levels, that’s for sure! Mind you, it gave me an excuse to sit for almost 7 hours on the computer yesterday, in front of the electric fan, catching up on all my blog feeds … always a silver lining somewhere 😉 Mum got a chicken breast out of the freezer and chucked it on the back of my neck on the way past … it was sheer heaven! I suggested turfing all the frozen food out on the floor so we could roll around on it to cool down, but she didn’t think it was a good idea LOLOL.

No stitching progress, as it’s been too hot, but I accidentally found out today that the girls at work are having a ‘whip-round’ (ie collection) between them for my birthday, seeing it’s a ‘big one’. Ali asked where you buy “that stuff that you do” (she’s miming a sewing motion with her hands as she’s asking haha) – I reply, it depends what you’re looking for. She repeated the same question – to which I once again reply, if you want just basic cheap stuff you can go to Spotlight, or if you want more specialised stuff you can go to a LNS … she then wanted to know which one I went to blah blah blah. Anyway, she finally blurted out why she was asking – then said if I prefer she can give me the money collected, rather than getting a gift voucher, so I can get what I want. I thought that was a wonderful idea, as I could do a splurge online at Stitching Bits & Bobs – I’m in heaven already, just thinking about it (especially when I assume there will be a 25% sale around Valentine’s Day or some time soon). And Mum wanted to give me my birthday money the other day too, when I was trying to find my pearl cotton for “Marine Elegance” (yes, Isabelle, you have started a trend, and blue/apricot elegance has now been officially renamed LOL). So I’ll be able to combine the two amounts and hopefully get some of my prized Gingher’s scissors again 🙂

As for my birthday ‘bash’, Dracula’s has been cancelled due to grape grazing being on the next day – and I’m not sure whether I’ll wait until closer to the other guy’s birthday date, and still have a dinner combined, or whether I’ll just organise a dinner closer to my date … I suppose I’d better hurry up and decide seeing as there are only a couple of weeks left – yikes!! LOL.

Well, off to contemplate picking a needle up, although it’s still stinking hot, so I doubt that’s going to happen. Over the last couple of days we kitted up some small projects from my stash, reading for taking to Embroiderers Guild meetings – that’s my only resolution for 2006, getting along to the meetings for stitching company and camaraderie 🙂 I can say, though, I managed to stay on top of all my blogs today and cleared all posts as soon as I walked in … woohoo!! 😉

Today was a very productive day in some ways – I had my hair cut over at my old neighbourhood, so it’s exciting that I can actually see again from behind my fringe! Then I made the effort to finally get my eyes tested, which was really worthwhile – I had PRK laser surgery on both eyes ab0ut 10 years ago (wouldn’t recommend it to anyone in many ways, but now it’s out-dated technology anyway), and it seems my shortsightedness is returning … I’ve been having difficulty seeing for night driving, and with my ‘odd’ shifts, this has probably been causing me some stress, and I wonder if it’s been contributing to all those headaches I have been plagued with before Christmas. Anyway, my ‘script is pretty mild – I think only .5 in my left eye, and .75 in my right, and I don’t have to have glasses, but boy oh boy what a difference it made to reading the charts back … so that 4 hours overtime I did yesterday will likely go towards buying some glasses for driving/long distance.

Then Mum and I spent three hours combing the streets and shopping malls of Melbourne for electric fans! You’d think we’d been trying to find gold bullion!!! With this intense heatwave, all the shops have sold out, literally, not even an empty box anywhere to be had! We finally took a punt, and went to The Warehouse (which is huge in NZ, but not so well-known in Australia) at Moorabbin, and found a huge display area for fans … with only about 6 small ones left for sale, and about the same number of stand-up ones … as Steve Irwin would say – “Crikey!!”. There actually weren’t any left on display when we first walked in, but we saw a staff member carrying one and asked if it was already taken … I could have screamed with delight when he answered no! Then as we were walking back to the till we noticed he’d brought another 1/2 dozen out, so we snapped another one up too. So, we’re totally over the whole shopping experience today – but very VERY happy that we managed to get not one but two desktop fans, one for each bedroom.

The heat has been so bad there have been bush fires here in Victoria, not too far away, with 1500 fire fighters apparently on duty fighting fires last night. And with temperatures set to soar again by the end of this week, the worst may not be over yet … yikes! I’d better hurry up and get some stitching done tonight while I can!!

I haven’t been blogging for a few days – to be honest, I haven’t been in the mood … just been chatting to Mum after work, and getting a bit of stitching time in. I’ve managed to get over halfway on the And Many More needlecase by Just Nan. I’m loving stitching this one, but Mum reckons it should be her initial in the centre of the circle instead of mine … hmmm looks like I might have lost my new needlecase already! The only thing that really annoyed me when I bought this kit, is that there are no finishing instructions whatsoever in it … mutter mutter mutter. You have to buy the instructions and finishing kit from another source – considering I don’t want to have prissy pink flowers on the inside of my needlecase (you may get the impression that I’m not overly keen on pink, and you’d be right LOL), I don’t want to go to the expense of getting the kit just to find out how to finish it. I’m not worried about finishing the needlepages like the petals of a flower, so I’m hoping I’ve got it worked out OK – if anyone can make a better suggestion for finishing, I’d really love to hear your suggestions! I figure I’ll finish it something like a bellpull, in that I’ll place the lining fabric on it (right sides facing), stitch around the outsides up both long sides and around the ‘point’, and leave the bottom short edge partly open – then I’ll turn it back the right way, finish off the bottom edge, then stitch oblong needle pages (made from wool flannel) along the edge where it will be folded … does that make sense? That’s my first attempt at working out how to do it.

I also forgot to post a piccie of another Lorri Birmingham needleroll I started in the last few days of December – I didn’t get very far, but it’ll go into the pile for finishing in 2006 (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

I also finally decided on my fabric and threads (well, most of them anyway) for my Apricot Elegance SAL on the StitchingSmalls Yahoo group – just for a change, I’m stitching mine in blues … still have to do a test stitch to see which will work out better on the fabric for the main satin motifs, either the Caron Collection Watercolours (my preference) or Wildflowers, both in Blueberry. The contrast is an overdyed perle cotton #8 by The Dyepot in NZ – I’ll either order a #12 skein from them for the weaving, or find a ‘normal’ thread in a turquoise to match (can’t find a PC anywhere that is just a nice turquoise colour boohoo). You probably can’t tell from the photo, but the perle cotton has a lovely mix of mauve, purple, turquoise etc – it’s really pretty. Just have to do the gridline basting this week, before the stitching begins next week – looking forward to seeing this one stitched up 🙂

Am on the ‘doggo’ shifts after tomorrow so my routine will be out the window again – just love those shifts from 9pm-5am … not. Oh well, if nothing else, it means I have a full day to myself on Friday to stitch my little heart out. Hopefully after this weekend I can get back to my blogging habits too 🙂

Happy New Year everyone!! Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful 2006 – hope your dreams are fulfilled, your stitching stash runs to overflowing, and your floss never tangles! Hope you enjoy/enjoyed your celebrations for New Year, in whatever way you chose to celebrate 🙂

We had a quiet New Year with just Mum and I – I’m not really into celebrating at New Year, so it was nice to kick back and just do some stitching while watching DVD’s … although with our temperatures hitting 42 deg C it was a bit sticky to be stitching – but then again that’s what a wet facecloth and electric fan are for … essential summer stitching accessories LOL.

Managed to put the final stitches into my Spring needleroll by Lorri Birmingham – not too happy with the chart, as there are a couple of errors in it … as I was only stitching this at work inbetween calls, my concentration wasn’t there enough to pick it up while I was stitching. But if anyone else is thinking of stitching this, make sure you check the chart first – the two errors I had on my chart were that the border of leaves around the word “Spring” had a slight error on the left hand side (didn’t pick this up until I had almost finished the back stitching … and I don’t love this piece enough to go back and unpick it all hmmm) – the second one is that the arrow that shows the centre is in the wrong place … I stitched assuming the placement was correct, but when I stitched the borders, I noticed the top border is a lot lower than the bottom one, so I ended up adding an extra row of pink XS’s to even it out … which also means the row for my ribbon will now be quite close to the edging, so it won’t look as nice finished – oh well, c’est la vie. It still needs the little bee charms adding, but that was my final ‘finish’ for the year 2005, and I’ll be finishing it into a needleroll next weekend as part of the ‘finishing weekend’ on the Welcome Friends Bulletin Board.

Then last night I was still itching to stitch something else – I’d started the smaller canvaswork piece by Jen’s Jems a couple of nights ago, but realised that I’m missing a couple of the DMC metallic threads I needed almost immediately, so it got put to one side again … so last night I started stitching “And Many More” needlecase by Just Nan – and I’m going to continue with that today while I’m washing my linen ready to start stitching “Le Jardin Silk Sampler” from the JCS 1998 magazines. I bought all the silks I needed for this years ago, but pilfered one of the greens for another project, so that’s the only thing I’m missing to make a start … trust me to choose yet another BAP to start stitching, as if I don’t have enough on the go already! 😉

So, I guess it is time to ‘officially’ look back at what I’ve achieved in 2005 – it was the best year in ages for my stitching, and I was pleasantly surprised when I looked back at all the finishes and happy dances … there were also a few ‘firsts’ for me too, which is wonderful – learning new techniques and stitches keeps stitching new and vibrant for me 🙂 I also started my blog in 2005, which has opened up new doors in many different ways – especially in making new valued friendships online and sharing in others trials, tribulations and celebrations, and sharing our passion in stitching 🙂 My official stitching list is: (I’ve put links to the photos in my Webshots album if you want to see the actual finished piece itself)

Stitching finishes:

1. Gifts of the Magi #1 – Gold (one of my fave stitched pieces of all-time)
2. Blackwork in Red & Green correspondence course through EGA (UFO) (mostly stitched in 2003 – then realised this year the pins weren’t stitched!)
3. Garden Mischief XS (cat with geraniums kit)
4. 2003 freebie angel by L&L
5. Magic Square (project 1 of 3 for a correspondence course in canvaswork ornaments through EGA) (stitching only)
6. Lemons XS
7. Harmony canvaswork pincushion from Inspirations magazine
8. Jungle Tiger XS (old UFO)
9. Small Iris tapestry cushion (stitching only)
10. Pansy Cameo by Just Nan (for Mum)
11. Chess Anyone? correspondence course through EGA (another favourite)
12. Ever So Little #8 Zebra
13. Bone Carving on Woven Flax tapestry
14. Hardanger pincushion from beginners class (old UFO)
15. Rose Arbour needlebook by Textile Heritage Collection (for Mum)
16. Mill Hill beginners basic bead sampler
17. Dena canvaswork by Orna Willis (love this one) (UFO)
18. Folded ribbon roses class project (UFO)
19. Lace Ribbons correspondence class through EGA (UFO) (dated 2004 ‘cos I thought it was going to be finished … oops!)
20. Summer into Autumn by The Drawn Thread (photo is missing the MH maple leaf treasure, which is now stitched on) (stitching only – needs to be finished into a bellpull)
21. Merry Christmas by Bent Creek
22. Pansy pinkeep by Mill Hill (stitching only)
23. Mill Hill beaded ornament (stitching only)
24. Woodland Noel ornament (stitching only – photo is missing the charm, which is now stitched on)
25. The Stars are Brightly Shining ornament (stitching only – photo is missing his nose, which is now stitched on)
26. No Humbugs Allowed ornament (stitched & finished)
27. Christmas Memories ornament (stitched & finished)
28. Queen of Bumblebees by Dimples Designs (for BeckySC)
29. Spring needleroll by Lorri Birmingham (stitching only)

Finishing finishes:

1. Hardanger pincushion from beginners class (UFO)
2. Another 5 pincushions (stitching completed in 2004)
3. Violet needleroll by The Sweetheart Tree (stitched years and years ago, but finally finished as my first ever needleroll)
4. Scissors fob by Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches (stitched in 1999 but finally finished!)
5. Rose Arbour needlebook for Mum (first ever needlebook finished)
6. Ancient Thistle needlebook by Textile Heritage Collection (also stitched in 1999 but finally finished)
7. No Humbugs Allowed Christmas ornament
8. Christmas Memories Christmas ornament (first ever ornament)
9. Queen of Bumblebees into a little pillow

Other stitching/non-stitching events:

1. Managed to get a huge amount of stitching done on Dolphins Domain, very very old UFO … piccies before and after
2. Got a few stitches into Nature’s Rest by Stoney Creek, my oldest UFO from when I first started XSing
3. Started stitching Winter Queen by Mirabilia
4. Started stitching Egyptian Garden Mandala by Martina Weber (to be continued as a SAL later in 2006 with Carol)
5. Started stitching Love needleroll from JCS 2005 ornie issue (just waiting for beads to arrive in the mail so it can be finished)
6. Started stitching a plastic canvas kit ornament for a work colleague
7. Having the confidence to move out of an emotionally destructive living situation to live on my own
8. Opening my heart to allow new friendships to start and grow
9. Joining online communities to share my love of stitching and learn new things
10. Starting a stitching rotation – which I’m absolutely loving!

All-in-all a good year overall – now I’m looking forward to whatever 2006 will bring.

Well, life is resuming its normality after the Christmas festivities – thanks for all your comments over the last few days 🙂 Poor Len cops it from me every year with the “bah, humbug” stuff … last year I wore my Christmas tree outfit round there for Christmas Day which was a hoot – and this year he actually liked his little ornament (which was more for Carole’s sake though). Before I gave it to them I told him he’s not allowed to throw it out, stamp on it, set fire to it, or curse it … he guessed it had something to do with humbugs, and got a laugh out of it haha. Now I have to make one for me too, as I ordered enough of the little lightbulb buttons to make two ornaments.

Christmas Day was relatively quiet for us, especially due to the fact I had just finished 7 days straight of 5am starts, and it had taken it out of me – Mum and I had our own little Christmas dinner with turkey breast and ham on the bone with a nice salad, followed by champers and panettone – it was lovely. We popped round to Fraze’s parents for about an hour in the early evening just to say hi and drop presents off, then gave Fraze a lift home. They’ve been really good to me when I moved here on my own, and have semi-adopted me into their family … Len says I’m the daughter that Carole never had 🙂

As for Christmas prezzies, due to finances this year my gifts were a lot more meagre than they’ve been in the past, but I’ve always said the thought behind the gift means more than the gift itself … I just had to keep reminding myself of that as I felt a bit awful not being able to be as open with my gift-giving as normal. I gave Mum a Christmas stocking full of choccies and sweets that I know she loves – as well as a can of Guinness LOL (the other 3 were hiding in the fridge). Growing up my absolute favourite thing at Christmas was my stocking – it never had expensive things in it, just a few nuts in their shells, an orange, a little bottle of Babycham, and some little gifts like a pair of earrings/junk jewellery etc … I moaned my head off the first year I didn’t get one ‘cos I was getting too old for it … and to this day I still miss it … mutter mutter mutter LOL. It’s still my favourite Christmas memory/tradition – and the last two years it’s been me giving the stockings instead to try and keep a bit of tradition in my Christmas Day. I also got Mum the latest Diana Gabaldon book (as we both adore that series), and gave her the needlebook I’d stitched for her. We both received a knitted scarf from my cousin’s new girlfriend posted from my aunt in England (she lives in Thailand), which was very thoughtful. I got a DVD from Fraze, and something else is still to come but it’d sold out in the shops, a latch-hook Santa kit, and some hand-towels with ducks printed on the band (love them!!) with a small coffee plunger – all very useful gifts 🙂 As for the Christmas money, I’ve made a dent in it already with a mix of items – a pair of Klasse scissors, Thread Heaven, plus 2 packets of MH beads and 2 skeins of thread from Dragonfly Dreams; a packet of undies; a 1/2 Christmas tree (for my hand-made ornies next year) and a stand-up Santa in the post-Christmas sales ; and the rest is being used to pay for my Embroiderers Guild membership, and a new iron – there you go, a happy mix of ‘needed’, ‘stash’ and ‘frivolity’ 🙂

I was back at work on Boxing Day, the joy of a 24-hour call centre, but took a small stitching project in with me so I could at least get a few stitches done inbetween calls – I’m on 3-11pm this week, and the evenings have been a bit quieter. I haven’t made great inroads into any stitching at all, but I’ve started two needlerolls – Spring needleroll by Lorri Birmingham and Love needleroll ornament by Jeannette Douglas Designs in the 2005 JCS ornie mag. Just waiting for the Holo Fyre Werks thread and MH beads to arrive before I can finish the Love one, and the Spring one is being stitched on in the evening hours at work this week. Only managed to get another 5 hours into the Dratted Dolphins, but at least I got to roll up the scrollbars and I can get cracking on the final half – yippee!

My next rotation segment was for Egyptian Garden, but I’m replacing that for the time being with something else until Carol and I do a SAL for EG later in the year – only problem is I can’t decide which to start first … Le Jardin Silk Sampler from a 1998 issue of JCS magazine (which I’m definitely starting in January), or one of the bright canvaswork pieces by Jen’s Jems now I have my black canvas here … hmmm, I think the canvaswork piece might win out – it’s a quicker finish … and there’s still plenty of January left to start the other one LOL.