Butterfly dreaming...

The strange looking structure in the background of my butterfly heart is the gate which I mentioned a entry or so ago. All of a sudden this piece has come together - although it looks far from finished - but in actual fact it is well within sight of the final stitch. While I have been 'playing' around with this heart there has been an elusive 'something' buzzing around in my brain which I couldn't quite catch it was always just out of reach. Then last night it 'happened' - my daughters were looking through photos from a few years ago - when out from one I saw myself and a very dear friend who has since passed away. It was one of those moments that one can't predict and I felt my breath catch in my throat and tears not far from the surface. While K has been gone now for over four years the grief was just as sharp seeing her smiling out from that photo. She was a beautiful person who whose warmth and generosity of spirit made you feel blessed to have her as a friend. I had also mentioned that this piece had made me think of the word 'freedom' and there had been another word which I think had been prompted by my 'leafy' thing in the foreground. It was the word 'remembrance' which I think had come to me as had been watering my rosemary plant the other afternoon and I was looking at its foliage - rosemary for remembrance. I couldn't for the life of me think why I kept putting the two words 'freedom' and 'remembrance' together but after last night it became clear. I had always seen K as free - like a butterfly and that I remembered her as that beautiful person whose life I had the priviledge of being a part of. And yes, she has gone through a gate I haven't come to yet. I know that she would be more than happy to see where I have come to in my life - we had shared many things in the eight years I knew her - and had planned to share many, many more. I have always seen the butterfly as a symbol of 'transistion' and of the soul - so perhaps it is fitting that is how I chose to remember my very dear friend.

As I write this I feel a sense of wonder - that stitch by stitch this piece has come to life and by its creation I have come to make something that has meaning for me and in its own way been part of a grieving process which I have been able to 'ground'.

As I began the gate I felt that I wanted to add some little bees buzzing overhead - perhaps to symbolise 'that life goes' on and also the word 'remembrance' to indicate that one doesn't 'just forget' no matter how much time passes. My heart will be complete then...

Wednesday warbles...

I have been known to read a blog or two or three or four - well, I guess you get the general drift. What else does one do when one has a hour or so to kill (or the vacuming, dishes or washing to avoid!!!!) and a hot cup of tea, but blog surf. As I skip from blog to blog I often click onto other blogs which take my interest from sidebars. I enjoy reading about what other peole do both stitching wise and lifewise. In my 'travels' I came across a blog called Stitching Shack What made this blog interesting was that the author lives here in Melbourne. As I read I had the distinct impression that she might have lived on my side of the city at some stage... After leaving her a message I received a very nice email and discovered that she had until very recently lived about a 10 minute walk from me and that she had shopped quite often at the supermarket in which I had worked for 18 months. She now lives in an area not far from where I was living about four years ago. A had even gone to the Embroidery Guild's exhibition which G and I had attended earlier last week... I think what I find a little spooky about all this 'blog travel' is that the person you could pass in the street could be in fact the person whose blog you read or internet group you belong to... A has a wonderful array of stitching to look at and already I have seen a couple of designs which I have 'designs on' - only kidding!!!!

No stitching from me last night - too tired... I did my usual night activity - falling asleep in front of the telly... The weather in Melbourne today is threatening to be thundery and windy... Perhaps a nice day to stay inside and stitch, read or do something cozy...

Yep, I couldn't resist it...

Your Hidden Talent

You are both very knowledgeable and creative. You tend to be full of new ideas and potential - big potential. Ideas like yours could change the world, if you build them. As long as you don't stop working on your dreams, you'll get there.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Tuesdays titters...

Today looked like it was going to be a great day weather wise - however in the last half an hour it has clouded over and become quite chilly... I decided last night that I was going to 'get all domestic' - I do hate the monotony of housework - but I can see some serious spring cleaning needing to happen here soon. As I got out of bed this morning I dragged the bed linen behind me as it looked like it was that sort of 'sheets stirring in the sunny breeze' kinda day - but the way it is getting greyer and greyer by the minute it could be a 'hanging forlornly in the drizzle' instead...

I am still in good spirits and have thought while I am on 'forced leave' I will try and make some impact around here - believe you me it could do with some impact... Although there is a part of me that wouldn't mind a cafe latte in some warm little nook reading my book either... Choices, choices, choices...

Last night I decided to grid the material for my petal fairy (photo in sidebar under WIP'S )... I am a little disappointed that she has ended up on 18 count white aida - but on the realistic side she is more likely to be stitched if I can actually see what I am doing.... P had an interesting suggestion which was to try a very slight water colour wash fading to white behind her. Still thinking on that one. While gridding this piece is going to be time consuming it will be worth it in the long run... I will be able to keep 'on track' at a glance - well that is the theory anyway... I have never attempted such a large piece of work before so I am a being a bit of a 'nervous nelly'... I suggested to P that he might like to have it framed for me for my next birthday... That gives me 51 weeks... Quick, I had better thread my needle NOW!!!!!!!

M's mermaid came to an abrupt halt yesterday when I realised I had made a glaring mistake with the bird's wing... This one I couldn't fudge and it was only seven rows to pull out and re stitch so not too bad really... But nevertheless it has put me behind with it... I have pre warned my sister that I will be over next week finished piece in had to begin beading... She does wonderful beading and is going to assist me in the 'sparkly' bits then it is off to the framers... I have enjoyed stitching her but I am 'over it' and want to move onto something new...

Speaking of new - I have the latest copy of 'Stitch' in hand and it has some lovely bits and pieces in it - there is a little bird sitting in a tree - done in traditional crewel work... for some reason this little fellow has captured my interest and I am looking for something to put him on... LOL - at the end of my days will my daughters find these pieces of material with a few stitches here and there or more aptly put - a mermaid here, a bird in a tree there...

Well another load of washing out on the line with the first load dry and ready to bring in... The sun is still shining brightly but the cloudy bits are becoming more 'together'

Since I wrote the passage about 'Stitch' magazine I have had two phone calls - one to tell me that the store I work at is NOT closing and a new manager has been appointed - she is the person who has been manager at the other store I was working at - so she is the 'known'... Interesting days ahead... The other was a return call from a friend who I haven't spoken to in nearly 12 months... M and I always have great indepth conversations and speaking to him is always worthwhile and valuable... M and his wife J are part of my life I refer fondly to as 'my past life in this lifetime'... I lead a very different life in those days - doing very different things with very different people... When I think about those days I feel like I am looking back through a dream sequence and parts of it just don't seem real...

The mail has arrived and apart from bringing the inevitable bills which it does I have also received my next Leanne's House BOM - #6(photo in sidebar under QUILTS). Another project that hasn't been started but it will make a great addition to my stash... I have no shame :) Did I say that - not me!!!!!

I have had another go at my calico butterfly heart - I pulled off the beads and gave it a wash to remove all the 'guidelines' - ironed, it then sat on top of 'the pile'. I wanted to do something else with it but didn't know what... Last night I pulled out a couple of my other stitching books and flicked through them. There it was the answer - a stitched gate... So I sat until about 2am stitching... This is becoming a 'feel as I go' piece - I will post a picture when I have done a little more... Everytime I look at this heart I get the word 'freedom' - and perhaps it will have that stitched there too... Interesting - this stitching business and the places it takes one...

I feel good as I have achieved some bits this morning... I have even had a brief 'play' in the garden...

Glass Half Full...

To-day is a good day... I am choosing to see 'the glass half full instead of half empty'... Last week was not a good week with my shifts at work a little on the thin side and me feeling low and woe begone... To day I thought about the good aspects in my life and some of my 'hidden treasures'... I think from time to time I do tend to allow those aspects to become 'clouded'... Perhaps I am not the richest woman in the world regarding material possessions and countable wealth - but I have the love of a good man and two wonderful daughters and SIL... I have a solid, respectful and happy relationship with my ex husband... I have some wonderful and diverse friendships which keeps life interesting... All our bills are manageable and we have plentiful food on the table... My job, while it is at the moment unpredictable it is something I have always longed to do and is giving me valuable skills which will 'transition' should I have to do something else. My health well, it is really in my hands to take the bull by the horns and fix what I can... Eat a little better, stress a little less and think of my body as a temple rather than reproach it for getting old... Yes I have 'texture' and not the flawless skin of youth nor the 'elastic' body I used to have - but I have some of the 'treasures' of age. Instead of me looking back and lamenting what I have 'lost' I need to look forward - in all senses of the word... Forward both in direction and in anticipation... To-day is a good day...

Yesterday after my shift at work P and I went out to the mega *Spotlight store in Bayswater... P was as ever patient, as I like a dog which has been let off its lead, ran from one spot to another trying to see it all. I bought some bits and pieces which I have never seen at my local Spotlight store and for the princely sum of $24.00 came away very satisfied with my lot

(*Spotlight is a craft, fabric, homeware and manchester store. The one I am referring to at Bayswater - an outer suburb of Melbourne - is considered a 'mega' store which indeed it is. About 4 times the size to out local store which are quite big on their own.)

After that we cruised past home picked up E and went for a drive ending up in G's - Patra's Place - suburb after buying some afternoon tea we presented ourselves unannouced on she and K's doorstep. What a nice way to end the week-end having a relaxed cuppa with friends. Perhaps this kind of activity could become 'a rule and not an exception'. Home again to one of P wonderful curries for tea - I felt blessed...

More mermaid tails...

I have done some more on M's mermaid... I am determined to have it completed and framed for her birthday in early Nov. I do enjoy stitching this but just seem to lack the drive to finish it. I think that it has been 'hanging around' far too long and like all good things can, has gone 'off the boil'... I really want to get on with other things but I refuse to start anything else until this is finished.

Although one good thing about it I now have a better idea where I want the beading to go. There is a bird slowly 'evolving' up in the corner and I can 'see' a beady eye in both senses of the word keeping an eye on things... Beading wasn't included in the original pattern but as I proceeded to stitch this little lady I just felt that she needed just a touch of 'glitz' - as all self respecting mermaids do... I am hoping to bead the 'skirt' of her tail and add a 'jewel' to her little bottle that she is holding... I don't want to over do it - just enough 'sparkle' to keep the eye interested and travelling around the piece and the light to 'catch'...

I sat up in bed this morning in the best light of the morning sun and did about an hour's worth... I have realised that I have made a slight mistake but I refuse to unpick it at this stage... I can't see that it is going to make that much difference - my 'perfectionist side' has kicked in but I am ignoring it... Unless it looks woeful - who is going to know - I have only told half the world... :)

Bustle & Bows...

Good news for all we Melbourne stitchers... Despite the rumours - I have it on very good authority - the store owner - that Bustle & Bows - Surrey Hills - is still very much alive and stitching... The sister store in East Malvern - which was also called Bustle & Bows has been sold and has a new owner and name - The Needle Point but is still trading as before...

They are both beautiful stores which cover a range of stitching needs for the discerning stitcher - I sound like an ad here - Surrey Hills caters for the heirloom stitcher and has an array of wonderfully fine fabrics, silks, ribbons, etc. East Malvern is for the more general stitcher with lots of wonderful 'goodies' to feast the eye on kits, patterns, threads, and stitching needs. When I lived locally to East Malvern I could be found 'feasting' my mind on the many things which it offered. I believe that it is still the same. One thing both shops have in common is the 'up close and personal' customer service - these people know their stitching and can give you helpful and constructive advice on your projects...

I hope both shops prosper for many years to come...

Another day...

I would like to express my appreciation firstly to G from Patra's Place, but then also to all those others who 'visited' and wished me well for my surgery and in general boosted my flagging spirits. I was touched by all the messages I received. The date for the surgery has not been finalised but there was a suggestion that it will be before Christmas. While I am not looking forward to it I can see the sense in having it 'over and done' and now I am endeavouring to prepare myself for it by staying as well as I can both physically and mentally.

Reading the messages put me in touch with other blogs I haven't visited before and it was great discovering new 'neighbours'...

Unfortunately Life has a way of demanding attention and between my health, employment and family matters, my stitching has taken 'the last cab off the rank' position. The only contact I seem to have with my needles and threads is when I move them from one place to another across the table. However that hasn't stopped me adding to my stash with a little cross stitch kit which I have admired for some time. There is something about these two little birds that has bought a smile to my face so I splurged out yet again.

Speaking about recent purchases has led me to a bit of a dilemma which I am not sure what to do about - if anything. I, from time to time purchase things from ebay and for the most part I have been more than happy at what I have received. A message here two or three back suggested that I had found a cross stitch design on ebay which I had seen stitched over on another blog I frequent. I was really happy to see the it was in kit form and went ahead with the bidding. It seemed very cheap but because I had some months ago been lucky enough to 'win' two other kits and which had been also very expensive retail price I was not unduly concerned that this kit was any different. People often buy kits with the best of intentions and then for what ever reason get sell them again. I won the auction which by the time postage and handling were involved came to just over $25.00 - not a huge amount. My first 'tinkling bell' was the fact that every email I received about it had a different name attached, then the bell got a little louder when a futher email suggested that it would take up tp 14 days delivery - this was from Queensland. I had my suspicions thinking that it might be an overseas import. It arrived a little under the time it specified, registered mail, well packed - from China. Once opened and the contents revealed it was a reasonable well presented and organised kit which included all that it specified with the original auction blurb. The threads are abundant and pre sorted onto a card, there are two small packets of beads, two needles and white 14 ct aida. What is my dilemma?? The kit is a 'look alike' Nora Corbett aka Mirabella Designs - a bit like a cheaper version of a Barbie doll. As I have opened the kit it is unlikely I can return it and I guess for a beginner stitcher such as myself it is not a bad deal as it includes everything. The threads are not DMC but a cheaper version as are the beads - the aida is pretty terrible and it would be something I would change mainly because I don't really like stark white 14ct. Now I wasn't 'offay' with the name Nora Corbett but her name and a photo of the Petal Fairy which I now know had obviously been taken from the Mirabilia site, appeared on the outside of the packaging. I 'googled' it and realised then that I had a reproduction work. I am concerned that if she has not given her permission for these cheaper reproductions then is she missing out on royalties etc. I have looked at the other kits this group is selling and they are all the same - cheaper reproductions of other designers. The group selling these may not be doing anything wrong, the only piece of misleading advertising is that the photo shown suggests that it is stitched on linen and the blurb says that it is 'stitchable cross stitch material' - one could assume that what is in the photo is what is in the kit - but everything else is what is states.

Perhaps I am just nit picking here - thinking logically about it there must be 'copycat' kits in needlework just like in any other form of industry - for want of a better word. Had I been aware it was a Mirabilia look alike would I have purchased it - not likely. There is also a mermaid which I have loved for ages but I would not buy that on principle now. I have wondered whether to inform the Mirabilia site that this is happening or whether just to put the whole thing down to experience. Any suggestions????

Yesterday G, E and I went out for the day. We went firstly to the Embroider's Guild Exhibition in Malvern. G and I walked around admiring all the wonderful and creative stitching and lamenting that we neither had the time nor at times the inclination to do any more than we both did - I hasten to add, that G is the far mor prolific stitcher out of the two of us. We then met up with E again and had a pleasant lunch and then did some serious op shop browsing. I took G back to a op-shop where I had once worked... It is still one of the more traditional op shops - stuffed full of an eclectic range of bits and pieces. We both did well here. I bought two small embroidered cloths - one pretty with a pale pink floral design and the other with a more oriental design - both these came to $13.00. I am looking forward to using them both. E found a couple of books and G, well I will let her tell you about her 'finds'. Thanks for the great day G - it seemed to take our minds off both our concerns - with good company and a few laughs.

LOL - I meant to add that at the Embroiderer's Guild shop I bought a glasses chain. Since having to wear glasses more often than not, I have the dreadful habit of putting them down only not being able to find them again. This was driving me nuts. I finally realised that I needed a chain to wear them on, but vowed that I would have a ritzy looking attachment to match my glasses - and yesterday I found it -very cool... Never let it be said I didn't go down without a fight!!!!!!

I am off in a couple of hours to have a CT scan of my nose - this is the second one - all in preparation for the surgery I am to have. This scan will up date the last one as well as providing 'a map' for the surgeon.

Sadly, I have come to admit to myself that my 'bags of fun' challenge will remain just that - a challenge. I just don't seem to have enough of the creative juices flowing to continue. I have lots of ideas, but little, or no physical inclination to get it moving. I have 'lurked' on the flickr site and marvel at the work that has been done there - I only wish I was more motivated. A very narrow squeak for a pair of jeans which will probably go back to the op shop legs intact...

I am excited about one of the new releases at the bookshop where I work. It is called 'The Book Thief' and is written by Marcus Zusak. He is a young Australian writer who has picked up an old theme and given it a new twist. I have a feeling that this might be 'my book' for the year. Last year it was 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafron and so far this year I have not found a title to supass it. I loved the whole concept of 'Shadow' and it fulfilled all my expctations of a good read and I was both elated and saddened when I turned the last page. 'Shadow' took me on a wonderful adventure starting in 1945 Barcelona and a visit to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books. I have recommnded it to many people and those who have read it get that glazed 'a feast of a read' look when 'Shadow' is mentioned. I hope I am not stacking too much expectation on 'The Book Thief'. I have already began a relationship with this title starting with some background reading about it and by handling a copy and looking at the text type, cover illustation and reading the back blurb. I have lifted a copy off the shelf and flicked through the pages and savoured the smell and feel of a new book with the antisipated adventure hidden within its pages. It calls to me unrelentingly - like a new lover I feel the excitement mounting until we are at last together. Next payday it will be mine - my precious - my lovely!!!! Am I obsessed - very!!!!!