What a week!!!!!

This last week has been a mixed bag of events -

• The start of the week have a work colleague announce that he was leaving - like right away - the boss had left for a month off so we were already one person down and had Father Day approaching at a rapid rate - a busy day in the book trade - less people to cover more shifts.
• I then 'drowned' my phone - which I was three months from owning outright - it is now deceased.
• My elderly father announces he is not only selling his house but he is contemplating marriage - he is in his 90's.
• Discovered that the pain I have been experiencing could be a cracked rib from all the coughing I have done in the last few weeks.
• And to top it all off I worked a six day week.

I am feeling mentally and physically done - it is my birthday in a couple of weeks and I feel like I am older than my father - everything is an ask - even blogging...

But I shall persevere...

Birth - Rebirth...

There is at last movement over at my other blog -http://stitchtodayresttomorrow.blogspot.com/ I hope to use this blog to once again to record my stitching and other creative endeavours... Feel free to wander that way...

Image courtesy: 'Wisdom of Avalon' oracle cards - Colette Baron-Reid

:( :( :(

I finally succumbed to a bronchial infection and have been home since Tuesday afternoon - I tried to 'brazen it out' so to speak but by Tuesday afternoon I was dragging my feet...I knew I must have sounded bad when one of the customers ferreted in her bag and handed a cough lozenge across the counter to me and the woman on the other end of the phone told me I needed to make some garlic tea - I wasn't sure that she thought perhaps I might have had a vampire problem rather than a chest infection...

Anyway I finally admitted defeat and came home and here I have been ever since apart from a visit to the Dr's today after which I came home and went to bed... I have coughed and coughed until I have made my myself dry retch.. I went to the Dr.'s today and he put me on some very strong antibiotics and gave me a two day medical certificate... I have felt miserable even my stitching has had no appeal - checking my email and a quick whip around the blogs was about all I could muster as far as computing was concerned...

Tomorrow will be much the same as today and I will decide how I feel tomorrow night before I make a descision about Friday - the boss goes away next week so it will be "all hands on deck" for the following four weeks and I want to be in tip top condition - especially as I am working a couple of six day weeks...

Well I am going to head off to bed now and hopefully get a better nights sleep than I have been having..

Feelings & emotions

This weekend has been one of those weekends... This oracle card says it all...

Image: 'Wisdom of Avalon' oracle cards - Colette Baron-Reid

My BIG day out...

I arrived by train to Southern Cross station - a city train station at the top of the CBD of Melbourne...

...and crossed the river...

...taking the scenery as I walked...

... this view down the Yarra always sends shivers down my spine...

arriving at my 'heaven for a day'...

Yesterday I went to the Craft Fair here in Melbourne - it is the first time I have been to this particular event in a couple of years. I arrived an hour after it opened at 9am and I was still there at 7.30pm - half an hour before it closed. I had a wonderful day looking, admiring, learning and meeting up with old friends with a couple of coffee hot chocolate stops in between...

Usually I am quite restrained money wise - yesterday I was like a mad woman - and I must admit I spent more than I anticipated - and that was being fairly restrained. I did two workshops and sat in on a couple of freebies - one was a woman who does scrumbling or free form knitting as it is better known - she opened up a new horizon for me!!!!! Her jackets just took my breath away and sent my imagination racing - but luckily by then I had run out of money to do anything about it!!!!!!

Here was my day in pictures...

These two photos are of the workshops I did...

Wilma is a crazy patchwork chook - it was a different method of applying crazy patchwork and one that I might have a go at when next doing a block it seemed an easier way although its application takes a little longer...

This workshop was how to apply a soft paint wash to a design and then embroidering and embellishing over the wash.. I could see this could really be part of my repertoire.. I have done fabric painting before but never using it as a wash... This class I did last thing in the evening so there was a certain amount of pressure to at least get the painting done.

This little girl I fell in love with although there is a method in my madness - E has created a character that she would like to see developed as a softie or doll. This little doll design from Melly and me will help understand doll design and give me a practical place in which to start... Once upon a time I would have just passed her by - but she really caught my eye. I chose the fabric while I was there as I was determined that I would come home with the whole lot ready to start - someday!!!

This fabric was an impulse stash buy. The little clasps,beads, do-da's were from a beading stand - I thought they would be perfect 'crazy' embellishments...

This cross stitch pattern and indeed the next were... well, they simply were!!!! These are listed on my 'to do' for my next life...

...and this one - well I have always loved this image - the look of the baby and it gazes at its mother. I have always loved Mermaids as does my eldest daughter M - so imagine my surprise and delight when I saw it as a cross stitch pattern - a must have!!!! You wouldn't think to look at it that it has 39 colours all subtle blends - very subtle... The woman who sold it to me wished me luck with this one - I could understand what she meant when I opened the chart... It is the stuff that cross stitching nightmares are made of!!!!!!!! Nearly each square a different colour!!!!!

I just love this - I think something to do with my garden theme that I seem to be enveloped in lately...

... my excuse for this one is that I have been eyeing this kit off for about a year in the Fox Collection catalogue I receive every few months

So there ends my day of stash building - a good effort if I do say so....

The following photos are of a very, very small selection of wonderful quilts - some photos are a little dodgey so to see some better ones try Patra's Place blog...

Here is G - Patra's Place - at the chook crazy patchwork workshop - a study of concentration... Now where does that patch go?????

Three modern quilts...

...this twee one was beautifully stitched - patience beyond the call ...

...and one that has stood the test and rigors of time...

...unlike me who is shattered today after my big day out.

Only Time...

I came across Enya's 'Only Time' in my blog travels - I had forgotten how beautiful it was... It certainly took me by the hand for a stroll down memory lane...

I have found that music is the most evocative way of recalling a time, a place, an event, or even a person - either another or yourself as you were then..

My first recollection of Enya was 'Orionoco Flow' which I just loved - both the music and lyrics. From there I think I collected just about all her albums and each one holds a special memory for me...

Years ago - in another life, in this life time - I remember when I was in the creating zone I would put one of her albums on and allow the music to wash over me it seemed to unlock that part of myself that needed to be expressed at that time. Her music never failed to inspire me. Enya's work has always given me a sense of adventure -but also a sense of peace...

It has been a while since I have either listened to Enya or used her music as part of a creating tool - perhaps when I have more time I might have another go...

** Speaking of time - I have been offered extra hours at work - unfortunately I have had to let go my Thursdays off to accomodate them...

The Best News...

My friend L who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer has been declared cancer free!!!!!!!! The second attempt surgery went like a dream and the tumour was removed intact... She is to have some follow up chemo - but her surgeon in his words "believes she is now free of this disease"...

This has been the best news I have had all year...

Image - Healing Cards - Caroline Myss & Peter Occhiogrosso