An update...

Life, lately has been very busy - I feel like I hit the floor running when I wake up in the morning... I scan the blogs in the morning as I eat my breakfast and that is about as far as it goes for my blogging life - except at the weekends when I d try to fit some time in...

Work has been busy with the stocktake and the sale as well. N has gone down with the flu - only K has managed to 'forgo the pleasure' so far - both their boys are down with it too... Both N and K are the owners and work pretty much full time at the shop so you can imagine that things can go awry when one of them is 'missing in action' for an extended time... It appears to be a nasty strain of virus and I am keeping well clear of anyone that looks remotely off colour... On the home front P too has had some cold/flu type thing and had a couple of days off work... Me - I am just bumping up the dose of vit C keeping warm and hoping for the best...

Yesterday I bought some wool ( see previous post) and last night I sat and 'played' - there is something very comfting about the process of knitting... I am not a very good knitter - scarves are about as complicated as I can do - but I am content to do just that...

J's block is coming along nicely in as much at last I have settled on a theme which I would like to pursue - now down to the real work - putting those ideas onto her block... The trouble is though I get all these ideas I would like to experiment with further - but as usual - not enough hours in the day... After work and once we have eaten and I have done a couple of things I am too tired to think about anything other than my bed. And the weekends seem to be an endless marathon of 'doing'...

The idea of studying this half year has been shelved - I am having trouble just reading what I do so I can not begin to imagine reading anything else re study...

Although on a more positive note I have nearly weaned myself off those dreaded tablets - only two more weeks to go - three at the outside... I have felt quite weird at times as I have lowered the dose - I can understand why one cannot just give them up cold turkey... At times I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and I appreciate being able to breathe again although my asthma has worsened a little as I have come down off the tablet - but the doctor warned me this may happen... Once I am off the tablets completely my weight need to be addressed as it has ballooned while I have been taking the tablets - the added weight makes me feel quite unwell at times - if that makes sense.. And while I am certainly no athlete I would like to be able to gain some strength and wellness in my body again... Perhaps I have really begun to see the sense in looking after one's self properly and keeping as fit as one can... Just walking to work everyday ( about a 20/25 minute walk) has given me a sense of wellbeing - I arrive at work ready to start the day... Plus there are the added bonus of perhaps seeing things others don't... The other morning I was lucky enough to see three hot air balloons making their way across to the landing point about 2 kilometres further away... As I walked the second ballon decended slightly as it moved overhead - I stopped to watch and as I did someone from the balloon waved to me... That thrilled me as I have a bit of a thing about hot air balloons - I waved back and they waved again... Just that small incident kept me smiling for the rest of the day and I am so glad that I had the opportunity of adding to some unknown person's day as they did mine... I guess life throws us curve balls at times - and to a degree it is what we chose to do next with them that can make all the difference... I am endeavouring to stay positive and enjoy those little things in life that count for me... Of late I have started to see the world a little differently - perhaps that comes with age or just experience I don't know which - but it has certainly made a difference to the way I have previously thought...

E has her interview for her course this Wednesday so we all have our fingers crossed for a positive outcome....

Well that is about all I can think of at this point... Take care all where ever you are and I hope that whatever you are doing you enjoy it...

And...

... I have been bitten by the knitting bug again... This is fairly true to the colour of E's new winter scarf... I have the idea I might knit in my lunch break... Well - that is the plan anyway...

Yep...

You guessed it - another book... This one I am buying as a bit of a mystery... I haven't actually seen the book but it was on the book rep's list and I just couldn't resist... I have read a little about it on the net and it sounds pretty good... And it will fit nicely into my bookshelf - with a bit of a shove...

CQO6...

This is a hint for you J... This is my contribution to your CQO6 block... Of course it is in keeping with your 'white on white' theme.... Can you guess J????

Yet another new book..

added to the bookshelf... I found this one in a second hand bookshop... It has quite a few projects to create... But I must admit ( as always) it is the illustrations which get me... Well. at least I know my weakness...

I won't bore you...

but here is one more.... In the little time I have played with this I have learnt lots... Yep definitely heaps of potential - now I just need some time...

More Flower Power...

I could find this very addictive... Plus it has re generated my interest in mandalas... This one - which I have called Purple Haze - yes, I know, more lame names, reminds me of Judith Cornell's Mandala book. I bought this book years ago with the idea of creating mandalas os my own... I did 'play' for quite sometime and I can understand why and how creating mandalas can make an impact of the person who is creating them... My interest lay more in how I could translate mandalas into other mediums eg. stitching and/or fabric... I guess I put it in the 'too hard basket' but since I have 'played' over on this site the original ideas have risen to the fore again... There is something very pleasing about creating these flower images...

Flower Power...

I found this link over on sharonb's blog... Of course it isn't a time waster for someone like me... No - NEVER!!!!! LOL - but it is a lot of fun and I can see that it has a great deal of potential... I created this one and called it Passionate - I know - feeble name - but I have run out of 'instant' interesting names... I could imagine all sorts of applications - printing, painting, stitching and a combination of a few others... Now when I have more time...

H's block Mk2...

After an overnight pause and then viewing the block via the scanned image I decided that it needed some 'tweaking'... Firstly, I felt that the first wing 'disappeared' when compared to the second larger wing and because of the stitching lines the stitched wing made the crown also disappear - the eye followed all the lines and saw them all as the same if you can follow my drift... So to remedy both 'problems' I created another tulle wing -only smaller- the same as the larger one... I then double threaded the crown to give it more definenition... I also added some french knots in the variegated thread on the stomach to give eye interest and a 'challenge' ... I felt that the area behind the seahorse was a little empty and that the bubbles were just 'floating' without 'an anchor'... I added a single thread feather stitch seaweed trail to bring that portion of the block together... I am still unsure whether to add another starfish to the top of the block so that the eye is 'caught' on the colour and 'observes' and moves around the block rather than just gliding down the seaweed to the seahorse...

I made the choice not to add a seam treatment as I didn't want to separate the seahorse section from the rest of the block... I felt that if any of the other stitchers involved wanted to continue on with the scene then it would give some sort of continuation... Perhaps even roaming over the seam line would keep it all together - but of course it is up to each individual to make their own choices and stitch their bits... I only hope that the rest of the stitchers have as much fun as I have had... :-)))

H's underwater block...

My part of H's block completed... I really had fun doing this - and while I wouldn't strictly call it crazy quilting - more texttile art perhaps it has opened up all sorts of possibilities for me...