Since nic said I could ….
Here is her gorgeous cushion that she donated to the Big morning tea cancer fundraiser last week. It was very popular especially with the host who declared quite emphatically that if anyone out bid her for it they were to look out

Design is TWs The Castle. I am not sure of any other specs though will have to check with Nic. I know the cushion was completely hand sewn though and it was in like a green homespun.

The charity morning tea auction was today, and morning tea is a term I use loosely for an event that went from 10am until around 3pm this afternoon. It was quite a fun day all told though and I have managed to come home with four bottles of wine at last count mmmmm. I also lucked out in the bidding and got a lovely embroidery book which has victorian pillows and some very nice ribbon embroidery etc. It has me all inspired to go out buying pretty silks and ribbons now, which is challenging my latest urge to start knitting again.

I have way too many hobbies and not enough time :p

Funnily enough Nic ended up with my little spot, still feels odd to have a stitchy friend bidding and winning my stitching. I wasn’t lucky enough to get her wonderful pillow that she did using TWs “The Castle” but Lesley was making death threats to people that even thought about outbidding her on it. I have piccies of it that I will share here if Nic says it is okay, or she can put them up and I will link to them. It was very lovely and all hand stitched too.

Spot (as in spot of tea) was finished up like an ornament late last night and I was quite happy with the results. I even managed to make the cording and tassel. All in all I was quite impressed at the way the finished project looked even if there were a few things I may try and do differently if I finish a piece that way again. He was all bundles up with a selection of teas in a little box and will hopefully go to someone who “really” likes tea. hehe

The auction was a big success making over $900 for the day for the Cancer Foundation and somewhere along the lines Nicole and I have volunteered ourselves to make a candlewicked single quilt in celtic designs for next years raffle…. did I mention I have too many hobbies?

Well I have been informed hat I will be holding a party at my house for my fathers 80th birthday later this year.

This in and of itself is not a problem, I just take umbrage to the way I was told. His partner and I do not get along very well at all… never have. It is not explosive it is all jsut very very cival and no more. Generally this just washes off my back but I had already told her that I was planning to do something special for him and now ti turns out I get to great.. but I have been told when where and who. The who is good all three of my half sisters, Three yes three! This is somewhat of a surprise as I have only even met two of them and one of them just the once. The party bit I am looking forward to it was just the way I was told and the tone that put me off. I have never been close to my father in fact for a number of years there (can we say teenager and onwards) we were down right hostile toward each other when in the same room.
Things have changed a bit over the past few years though and we have come to an easy understanding. I just don’t like being talked to like I am the evil ungrateful daughter, All her children will be here too, with collected children of thier own. Seems like it will be a big event filled with people who do not think much of me because they never bothered to understand the situation. blah oh well I still get to hold the party I wanted even if they will hate it.
I have *big* dinner plans to make and photos to find.
After losing my mother last year ( who I had been out of contact with for many years) I feel this is something I need to do….

I am sure anyone who comes to my house now for dinner between now and november will be getting experimented on…. Must find good dishes for the dinner. And time to pull out my pld scrapbooking stuff to do up some frames of images for around the house.

Did I ever mention I am a compulsive entertainer.

All this and it will be barely a month after the Halloween Extravaganza we are already planning for this year.

But I promised a pic of fire and here she is. I filled some more holes on page one but you may notice I broke with tradition bd have headed down to page two!. Almost at her hair line which means, almost at her face. Next week I am sure I will get some face done which should make Sue and Fudgey happy.

I haev been all busy tonight getting ready for the Cancer Big morning tea fundraiser tomorrow morning. I have been making little mini quiches and thai chiken balls (hence why I am still up after midnight and yes I am still cooking). nI got my little spot of tea all finished too. I made some twisted cord and a tassle for it too I’m very chuffed

I will be sure to post piccies tomorrow when I get back and know how much he goes for in the bidding. I think Nic has done something for the auction tomorrow too. Should be great fun, they usually are.

I have had an attack of the frogs… or will once I get around to ripping out all the stitching I got done on Rose of Sharon recently. I picked her up again last weekend as I still intend to finish this as a gift before the end of the year (hehe). I hadn’t looked at ther since I last stitched on her which was in New Zealand when I was there briefly in November last year.

I should have looked closer at where I was before starting stitching… If I had I may of noticed that the greenery on the top of the arch was out by one stitch so when I went and started the stonework face etc I have come to realise I am out. I have given a piccie close up of the section I need to frog.
It could be worse though at least this is over two and really shouldn’t take me long to re-stitch once I get into the groove. I am thinking of perhaps concentrating on this for a while to get it finished. It shouldn’t take too long if it is my only wip for a while. I am torn though I’ve never really been good at the one wip thing. I get bored too quickly.
In other news, I don’t think I will make my goal for St nick this month either. The bottom half of page one just seems to be taking me for ever. Mostly I think because it is not getting any ‘dedicated’ stitching time and I am just trying to squeeze in bits here and there around work commitments.

I have managed to participate in the SAL again this week though and will post a new piccie of fire once I get home tonight.

Finally my fit of domestic blindness is over. I finally found my camera cable. It has only taken me a week to find something that was not more then two feet away from where I do all my stitching. (Did I warn people how vague I can be?)

So in celebration of my great find I bring to you a shiny happy update on my Fire-ACEO. I got a substantial amount done yesterday for the QS-SAL and combined with last weeks 200+ stitches I am getting close to being done with page one. My original intention was to the move across to the right before heading for the face. I seem to have this strange desire to deprive myself of the “good” bits when I stich, it is really quite odd. So now that I have recognised this law I intend to rebel against myself and head down to her face once this page is done.

After having spent my morning marking student assignments (groan) I logged on to the BB to find that the new Stephanie Pui-Man Law Tarot have already been released! The wait is over *boogie*. So of course while I am still undecided about the next book (I really wasn’t going to buy all the minor arcana) I have already ordered the 4 of pentacles and the 3 of cups , and of course I am stalking my inbox. Need to update my wishlist too, Pentacles 3 and cups 4 are going on for sure as are wands 3. Still undecided about the swords suit. It is actually my corresponding suit but there are aspects abotu it that aren’t grabbing me. Pretty vague I know but I can’t be more speciic yet, I really don’t know what it is…

Anyway I am one happy little kid in the candy shop… eyes bigger than my stomach but who cares!

Ok I am afraid I may have caused some upset and that was not my intention. My last post was ne just feeling all blerghy and looking at it I really shoudl have kept quiet. I am so sorry for any upset I caused and thanks go to Bob and Fudgey for messages of concern about sorting things out. I am sorry if I caused either of you distress but I have emailed you both about that. *hugs*

In a much cheerier frame of mind bthere is news on the new Tarot charts by Stephanie *bounce* I am sure there are many happy smiley people around … can’t wait to getr my hands on that gargeous little dragon and the cups charts etc. Wheeee not that I am ever a victim of retail therapy.

I have managed to get access to the Japanese Garden group. Martina had had problems with an ISP changeover or some such. now I just need to sort out fabric and whether or not I want to use NPIs and then find more time in each day so I can stitch it hehe

This weekend saw no stitching getting done, mothers day festivities and other family commitments ment little to no time at home. Had great fun at a friends 30th birthday on saturday though. It was a 1980s theme so we got all dressed up in cheesy 80s clothes and bounced around to some favourite old music. It was meant to be a prom theme but it looked more like all the 80s highschool misfits going to prom. LOts of 80s style gear but mostly in black. Was very funny.

I even managed to pull the seeds out of the pumpkin we got off our vine last year in an attempt to grow pumpkins for halloween again. Think we have left it too late again this year and will probably be harvesting any pumpkins we get around christmas again lol. Guess I coudl always decorate the house in a nightmare before chrsitmas style for the holidays… it’s not like it will be hard.

(oh I promise there will be a fire update but I am still looking for my camera cable. I must have left it at work… or at least I hope I did as I can’t seem to find it at home)

Ok I didn’t want to complain, I have been good for months but now, well I have been saving up my little dollars waiting for new HAED releases for what seems like ever.

Yes I know there have been new releases… but well to be perfectly honest I don’t like Bernadette Lusks work, or the cats or many of the new artists at all and really that is all that is being released lately. I emailed Michele months ago about new Daniels releases , The rest of the Law Tarots (I think there are 8 now that are not released) or even the rumoured Parkes releases … so I saved and waited and another sale has pretty much come and gone and still no new charts that I can buy. Please don’t take me too seriously… I realise that the new artists and charts are highly popular they are just not my thing, The Vinsons are adorable but just not something I would stitch (quite surprising really given my obsession with corsetry and stripey stockings).

Occasionally I worry if Michele will continue with charting the Tarot though. I know the intention is there but it will be 76 charts all up and that is a lot, and now 8 behind…. I can keep hoping though, she is a very busy lady and it will be a long time before all the artwork is even completed. I just need to be patient hehe.
I have still been buying charts and sending to them to other people ( though I suspect one never made it to its destination but thats’s ok). It seems charts hate me in general at the moment anyway. I took the plunge with Chatelaine recently and signed up for Japanese Garden (eep!) but I haven’t seen the chart yet. I am hoping that Martina has just been busy and there isn’t a problem with the order. It seems to have all gone through ok from this end… patient I must be patient. It is all rather odd seeing as most of my purchases for stitching stuff are all impulsive.. it’s not like I *need* new stash.

Speaking of stash, still hehe I did put an order in to Stitching bits and Bobs for a bunch of charts while the were having thier big 25% off sale. Finally got those Stitch’Inspiration charts (Simplicity and all tangled up). I had been drooling over those for ages thanks to Fudgey. I love blackwork and celtic knots so really how could I resist. There are a few silkies lying around in my stash but I doubt it will be enough to stitch one of these… hmnmmm I wonder if there is any floss usage info on them, I would prefer to buy all the skeins at once of the colour I chooseto avoid dyelot changes. Will have to check with the fudgester on that I think. There is plenty of time though as orders from stitching bits and bobs always take quite a while to get to oz.

I’ll stop rambling and complaining now. Sorry all just feeling deprived, guess I will just have to go reduce my wishlist some instead of getting new charts :p There is always hope with new Character Creations releases due out soon too
Oh and as for stitching updates… I can’t find my camera cable to upload the pic of fire as soon as I do I will upload a new piccie, although I only got just over 200 stitches done this week.

It is 2:30am … I should go find sleep but there is updating to be done. I was slack on Thursday morning and didn’t add my SAL update of fire. This week I actually got a little time to work on her (331 stitches bringing the total to 5341 which is a grand 16.57%). Fudgey has moved down to the face on hers and it is looking amazing. I can only imagine how beautiful and shiny it looks in the silks …. mmmmm.

In other news … one of my goals for may was to choose a small design to stitch for a charity auction that a dear friend of mine holds every year for the Cancer Society Big morning tea. I chose “A spot of tea” which is an adorable little freebie from Dragon dreams. Surprisingly I made my decsion , found some fabric and got started on thursday night. It turns out I even had all the threads so he was finished up earlier tonight *bounce* He is so cute the piccie doesn’t show the sparklies that well though. He is stitched on Opalescent Antique White Lugana from silkweaver (32ct) and was so incredibly quick to stich.

Now I just need to owrk out how to finish him for the auction … any ideas?