November 9, 2009
Don’t get too excited, this is a second hand book. But it is beautiful. The Anchor Book of Crewelwork Embroidery Stitches. It has a bunch of stunning patterns at the back to practise your new stitches on and I can say from experience that these Anchor books are tiny but awesome. I love how little they are so you can take it to the park or the cafe or wherever you usually find yourself with time to learn. I used to get them out of the library all the time for their stitch explanations and when I saw it at the thrift store in such good condition my first thought was I bet you guys would like it. If you’d like to win it then leave me a comment telling me your favourite embroidery stitch whether it’s one you know or one you want to learn. I’ll draw a winner On Monday the 16th NZ time (next Sunday night US time).
November 5, 2009
I fell down some stairs on Sunday night (while holding the cat), I went down like a ton of bricks (lets face it, I’m no pixie) as I fell and landed on my left kneecap. Oh the pain. Agony. The really annoying thing is it only looks like a grazed knee. You look at it and think surely I must be the worlds biggest wuss. But even today, 4 days later, I knocked it at the library and nearly screamed an expletive. It feels absolutely fine to walk on but touch it and I’ll bite your hand off. I am beyond clumsy and far too embarassed to fess up to how I fell but needless to say it’s not the first or last time stairs have proved too much for me. Oh yes and the cat is fine. I did however finally start my weight loss exercise on Sunday afternoon. The spring rains seem to have finally stopped (the words Noahs Ark come to mind) so we walked around the block. Well Dave walked and I complained. But what a view from the lookout over Welllington Harbour.
The local Waldorf school is having their annual toy, food and craft fair this weekend and I have waited all year for it so hopefully I will be back in a few days with some great photos to share.
November 3, 2009
The newsreaders are currently frightening me with a countdown to Christmas and the first ads have started playing in high rotation on TV. $320+ for a tree and thats without decorations? Yeah right. Not even if I had that sort of money. Anyway here’s a freebie for anyone who has more free time to stitch than I do. I intend to ask Santa for a little more free time.
As usual click on the picture to go through to my flickr and get the big version.
October 24, 2009
Well wordpress ate my blog for the second timein as many days. The fair was today and it was a lot of fun. I was across from alison of agnes coy and her stuff is always extremely tempting – and her husband is gorgeous. Oh my he is yum – please don’t tell him I said that Alison!!
I swapped for this doll from stitchpixie:
I splurged on the worlds yummiest cupcakes and this handdyed sock yarn from needlefood beecause I am easily swayed by pretty colours – thank goodness I set a 2 skein limit!
I tried to blog last week but wordpress ate it. I have had a physical breakdown of some sort similar to a stroke so my typing is shit, I am slurring like a drunk and am very frustrated. I saw the infertility doctor the day it happened and he was not concerned and it seems to just be a physical reaction to the stress so I just need to cancel all commitments I can and relax – if it doesn’t clear up by Tuesday will do to the doctor though! Oh and specialist said I don’t ovulate – so the problem isnt just Dave like we thought. It’s me too which means a double hurdle. Am giving it a year to try fertility treatments (we only get too funded tries which is not much really) then back to adoption . Only so much heartache I can handle.
By the way (typing dependent) I will be listing the soft toys over the next few days in my shop if you want any. Hobby horses are available for locals betweeen here and masterton. I have all of them left 
October 19, 2009
Today is the first day in too many days that the sun is out. The wind is also out but oh the joy of having a break in the torrential rain….I can literally feel the sun recharging my batteries. I spent the rainy weekend sewing for the craft fairs. The first one is in FIVE days now and I am finally beginning to freak out. Far too much still to do. If last night is an indication it will be a week of 4am bedtimes and a very grumpy Steph. Poor Dave! But without being too arrogant I think it will be totally worth it when I set up my stall with things like this:
I am inappropriately proud of this thing. It’s entirely handstitched because apparently I am that crazy. Needlefelted vegetable garden and rainbow rocks down the path. It’s backed with a layer of grey felt to hide the stitching and I am going to price it at around a million dollars. Seriously though, I tend to price my stuff far too low and this is definitely going to be priced more appropriately because if someone looks at it and doesn’t see all the effort and hours of my life poured into it then I don’t think they deserve to own it. Rude but you know what I mean? I have another one half made and then I would love to make a couple for etsy for Christmas but then I am absolutely making myself one.
