What better friend can you have !!!!

Claire sent me a RAK today with charts called Believe, Cherish and The Phoenix.

What more appropriate sentiments could you get to say "good luck my friend on the new job, I know you'll do well" ???

Thank you so much Claire! So so so very much !!!!

{Oh and thanks for the hint to add the Dracolair charts to my Lust List}

Hugs
Mel.

RAK from Paula

Well while I was sending out RAKs a little while ago, someone sent a RAK to me - THANK YOU PAULA!

Paula sent me a gorgeous card to say congratulations on my new job.  She also sent me "Wildberries" colour in Caron Wildflowers *and* Caron Watercolours and "Jealousy" from Weeks Dye Works.

Is there some reason you sent a colour called Jealousy ??? {grin}

Earlier this year Paula RAKed me with Tracey's chart This Heart of Mine.  I was thinking of using all three threads on different sections of the chart - for a change in texture in parts .... hope the threee skeins would be enough .......

Soaping

Evening all, Seeing as my sinus' are still playing up, I can't stitch, can't concentrate enough to read, forget about picking up knitting needles or trying something new, so .....

I made soap.

My usual basic skin-softening recipe, tweaked with the addition of some caster oil for bigger bubbles.  The caster means it will take a lot longer to cure 3-4 months instead of 3-4 weeks - but it is a fabulous bar when cured.

Recipe:
250 gm lard
250 gm tallow
250 gm coconut oil
30 ml caster oil
220 ml rice bran oil
138 gm lye
210 ml water
25 ml Fragrance
touch of gold and chocolate micas

I trialled a new fragrance - Brambleberry's Mayan Gold.  The blurb on the website says:
This luxurious fragrance is a mix of rare woods, spices and amber. It is considered an oriental fragrance with a very unique note: chocolate Our blend contains a large amount of Essential Oils Sandalwood, Patchouli, Clary Sage, Vetiver, Mandarin, Lemon, Grapefruit, Neroli) along with synthetic notes of Vanilla, Chocolate and Musk.

As I can't smell a thing with my sinusitis, I was conservative with the fragrance - so it will be a subtle scent.

I'll take piccies when the soaps come out of the moulds.  Basic moulds today - not fancy ones.  Just wanted a basic simple recipe and procedure to get me back into the swing of things.

One Giant Leap

Well I have an amazingly intense bout of sinusitis, and very cleverly left my pseudoephadrine tablets at work .... so I will make this brief and then run away before the last dose wears off.

I HANDED IN MY RESIGNATION TODAY  !!!!!

I finish at my current job COB Wednesday 11 July and start the new one the following Monday.

It felt soooo damn good to personally hand deliver that piece of paper to my cruddy boss this afternoon !!!!  So good !!!!!

And because I'm taking pseudoephadrine, I can't have any alcohol tonight to celebrate.  Oh well, dinner followed by sinus migraine and sleep it is :) :)

I suspect once that word gets out I will taken out to a number of dinners, lunches and coffees to celebrate over the next few weeks !!!!!

Mel's Sunday Update

I have the flu and I have a migraine and I'm shaking with a fever and I feel awful so I'll keep this brief before my head explodes ...

I have loaded pics of Teegs lovely RAK of book, card and floss in my RAKS album.  I adore the personalised signing and the book is fabulous.  If you haven't read this series yet - you must !!!

I've also loaded a WIP pic of the Party Cat I've been working on.  Its in its own album.

  Debbie so kindly RAKed me with this one, and seeing my good news a little while ago, I thought a simple bright boldly coloured stitch was the way to go.   As you know I still had the flu (which is *why* I'm stitching it on cardboard Aida - well that's *my* story). I then lost power and telephone for a while, so I was dark and cold for another six nights.  I can't stitch by torchlight when its too cold to feel my fingers.  So most of this progress was done in the past few days.  And of course getting caught out in the rain again in the past few days (and getting soaked to the skin) and losing my electricity again last night (it came back on around lunchtime today) means that the flu/cold has come back with a vengeance.  I'm shortly having some dinner and going straight to bed. 

What a RAK !!!!!!!

Like others I received a card and floss from Teegs today.  Lovely card and the floss is a skein of Crescent Colours Tangerine (or as I see it, Tigger Orange!)

Also in this parcel I received a SIGNED COPY OF WHITE KNIGHT BY JIM BUTCHER !!!!!!!!

{squeal !!!!!!!!!!}

I have been hanging out for this book, its book nine and the latest in the Dresden Files series.

AND SHE GOT IT AUTOGRAPHED !!!!!!  AND ITS ADDRESSED TO ME !!!!!!  She got Jim to sign it for ME !!!!!!!

I've been dancing around all day !!! This is the most amazing gift !!!!!!

This is only the second ever autographed book I've ever received !!!!!  And the first was a gift from the author herself after staying at my house over an SCA weekend.

OH WOW !!  I am just sooo over the moon !!!!!  No stitching for the rest of the week - I am reading by torchlight !!!!

Post edited to include pictures 17 June 2007.

I'm back .... kinda ....

Hi all, well I'm back kinda ... I still don't have any electricity but I *do* have my phone line back.

So I'm sitting here absolutely freezing in the dark with nothing but the PC, monitor and modem connected to the extension cord from the neighbours place.

I've uploaded pics of the storm damage into a new album called appropriately (but unimaginatively) Storm Damage.

The other main news is that I GOT THE JOB  !!!!!!!!  The last interview I went to (last Thursday in the middle of the first day of the storm, with the flu) was a fantastic job, right in the area that I want to work in, and its a promotion in responsibility and salary and I got on very well in the interview with the guy who will be the supervisor for the position. Well he contacted my referees today and then rung me tonight and offered me the position !!!!

I am sooooo happy !!!!!!  Freezing but happy !!!!!!  I'm going to wait until I get the official letter in the mail before I submit my resignation though.  Going to be a tough few days wearing a huge grin to work and not explaining why I'm smiling .....

In stitching related news, I put the obligatory 10 stitches in Faïence (The Castle) and I started on Party Cat before the power went out.  I'll post pics of both projects when the power comes back on and I can use my scanner.

Off to scamper into bed to warm up now.  I've finally run out of hot water, so no warming shower before bed.  Thank goodness I have such a huge feather doona on the bed !!!!!

Storm Damage

As seen from the balcony that Saturday morning

The storm that hit my home on the June Long Weekend 2007

Presents from Debbie

Hi all,

Once again its been a while between posts.  Work is, shall we say, back to its cruddy political normal self {sigh}.  I worked really hard last week defending myself and my staff from my boss and in the evenings working late into the night to finish off Dogwood Square.

So ... surprise surprise ... this week I've come down with a really really bad viral flu!  So I've been off work since Monday night coughing and hacking and mucus-ing the world. 

I also got rung up and offered a job interview tomorrow morning.  I am sooo sooo crossing my fingers that I get this job.  I'm also sooo sooo crossing my fingers that I am well enough to actually get to the interview tomorrow and can answer their questions with something approaching coherence!

Well in amongst getting ready for that, I dragged my sorry arse off to the post office for the first time this week and in amongst all the bills I found a RAK from Debbie.  She sent me three cat charts from Kappie Redeux that I absolutely adore !!!!!

THANK YOU SOOOO SOOOO MUCH DEBBIE !!!!!!!!

{I wonder if I could justify starting Party Cat after my job interview tomorrow - it *is* supposed to be The Castle week this week}

Dogwood Square is finished !!!!

Well this is my Sunday update.  I worked six very very long days in a row (instead of taking Friday and Saturday off as planned) so I spent each night stitching until my eyes gave out.  Finally just past 11am this morning, I finished Dogwood Square.

I wash and iron most pieces before putting away. This time one of the colours bled.  Nothing major, the water was pink for almost a minute.  I just kept the blood-temp water running over it until the water ran clear.  Then ironed it dry.

I used Carrie's threads for this project and I advise everyone to learn from my mistake and follow Carrie's directions of rinsing the threads before use!

Pics in my Dogwood Square album and my Finished album.

The pics in Dogwood Square album shows a finished picture and a ready for framing picture - to show that there was no colour loss due to the bleeding.

OK off to breakfast, shower and get dressed for the day ..... and eventually dig out Faience to resume work on tomorrow ....

Aren't these gorgeous?

They are the latest releases from Brittercup designs.  I love this style!  These are already added to my Lust list 

Sorry I've been quiet this week - I've actually spent every spare minute stitching!  Stitching stitching stitching the background colours to Dogwood Square.  I expected a three day weekend this weekend, but I had my flex day denied so I had to work all day Friday and then I was offered an overtime shift today (of course I've taken it - off to work in 20 minutes for the whole day).  So although I've been stitching my heart out I don't think now that I will have it finished in time for tomorrow's weekly update ....