I guess it has been longer than that since I updated but still it has been an exciting time around here.

My laptop dies taking my thesis draft with me…. yes I had backups.. of sorts at least they were just older than I thought

I had spent the week battling the latest version of Microsoft word for mac (office 2008) and while I think the office software itself is a great improvement on usability over the previous version it currently does not mesh with the citation software I use. Which with over 200 references is somewhat of a problem.

I did manage to find a solution (Using paper and bookends) but jsut as I was setting it all up and busily writing a draft of a major chapter my hard drive died. *sob* I lost alot of application setup and more concerning than that I lost about 20 pages of work.
Many many hours later and some help from my northern hemisphere tech support ( *hugs* to Mr Adma) I managed to get my document files for my thesis back and my chem schemes. However, up until yesterday I was without my trusty little laptop.

As you can expect there hasn’t been a lot of stitching going on around here but today I have run away from work and I’m hitting the Stitching show for some retail therapy.
Nic and I are bound to get ourselves in trouble and bring back way too much stuff so I thought I best get an update in before I have all that new stash to show off
So… stitching updates, I have a couple the first of which is my progress on the HAED BB sampler SAL. A few weeks late in updating for this but better late than never. I am stitching on Cirques Des Circles by Ink Circles on Atlantic Storm 40ct Linen 1×2 using Caron Waterlillies silks in plum. I am officially over half way in this now and should see it finished before the end of the year I hope.

Last but by no means least is my little Draggie - Lost
I tray and pick away at him when I can but it is not very often. All the same I have managed a fair bit since the last update and I am about half way through page 3 now I think.

Ok I best run off don’t want to be late for the show

Well thanks to the wonderful Adma things are all settled again with my blog.

There were host problems… or something like that and now my little blog has a new host to call home. Hopefully that means it will be a little more stable and not act like it hates me for ignoring it for so long.

I have another stitching pic! I have been trying to get one day a week in on St Nick every week this year. For the most part it is working out even if a lot of the time it may only be twenty stitches. Every stitch counts though and I thought I would share a picture of how it is coming along, this is about half way through page two. With only a year and a half left to complete it I need to focus on this some more, but not until after the dreaded PhD thing is in the bag. I think I will be able to make it by my deadline if I focus on it form the end of this year.

My next update will probably be caupcake related rather than stitching… I have set myself the challenge of baking werewolf cupcakes for a friends birthday later this week I have some ideas floating around so we shall see how they turn out

I may not have been updating my blog for the past six months or so but I have been keeping up with the SALs I signed on for

I decided to stick with Return of Spring (by Ian Daniels) again this year. All in all this is one of my favourite pieces and I would love to see her finished one day, even if I am only working on her once a month she is still slowly coming to life and the shading detail is just breathtaking. One moment it just looks like a bunch of haphazard dots then that final stitch goes into an area and magically it just all comes together.

The light colours around her face are so similar to the fabric colour that I find them hard to stitch for long periods, especially at night as I don’t have a decent lamp so I try to break the up with going back and working on the top corner page… the holes are steadily fading away as I hunt and peck those last few details stitches.

Well in the spirit of actively maintaining my blog again I have a stitching update
Inbetween bouts of all too much WoW (World of Warcraft) I managed to finish off page teo of Violet Sometimes.

I love how she is turning out … well all except the very white accent stitches on the tip of the curl on the central swirly bit. You only really have to look at the picture and see the spot that looks like I missed two stitches. I am thinking of swapping those two stitches out for one of the greys often used on the other accents but will leave it for now. Maybe they won’t be so obvious once the surrounding pages are done.

This is now 7.6% done one more page and I will break the 10% mark

…that may seem like an extreme statement but really I am quite shocked I managed this at all.

This morning marks my first adventure to work by scooter and I made it! Through peak hour traffic along a major road I am here at work in one piece. The whole trip into work on the scooter has been a bit daunting to day the least, around our little quiet streets no problem but out onto the big scary main road at the end of my street and past all those traffic lights through two lanes of traffic… where I would actually have to change lanes! Well you get the idea I have only been on the scooter a half dozen times at most with no formal lessons.

Having made it in here with no casualties other than my still racing heartbeat I think I will manage to do this more often… though I will leave my final decision until after the ride home tonight. That will add all ne dimensions to the ride as it is likely to be well after sunset before I am anywhere near ready to make that trek….

Wish me luck

I’m alive and promise to update my poor neglected blog very soon.
If you’re interested in catching up on what I’ve been doing other than screaming at my PhD a picture tells a thousand words and I have at least been updating those over at my flickr account which you can find here.

www.flickr.com Cynthaea’s Cupcakes 2008 photoset