New Project - help with choices please .....

Evening all,

I thought a Long Dog would be a good project for the train, and I also thought I'd start to use some of the fabric from my Silkweaver FOTM and also some of the threads that I've been gifted with over the past few months.

Like Mariann, I'm usually a green person, but I wanted to do a blue or purple themed one, to branch out so to speak.  I've put two different floss tosses in my multiply site.

The names of the floss tosses are the names of the fabric and you can imagine that the flosses are numbered 1 to 9 from the top of the page (1) to the bottom of the page (9).

Could you please all have a look (especially of you are a blue/purple lover) and let me know which one floss you would prefer on your favourite fabrics. 

I'd just like a few other opinions .....

Hugs
Mel.
http://gothtigger.multiply.com/photos/album/50

Tales of Commuting Stitcher: Part the First

Well I discovered late this week, that yes I actually can stitch on the train on the way to and from work each day.  There are some limitations to be taken into account. Take small projects, on large stitch counts with lots of blocks of single colours. 

Don't even *think* about a BAP size or even a small TW!

I took Party Cat with me this week on the train - it is on 14 ct Aida and does indeed have large blocks of single colours.  You can see how much progress I did on Thursday and Friday in my blog.

Things I learned late this week:

• Progress is much slower than normal - but hey its progress right.
• Stitches aren't quite as even as usual -but well I'm not sure anyone else will notice.
• You can only stitch during the country part of the trip - once you hit the city limits, there are too many people.
• If you have a seat on your own and stitch with long threads, people tend to find other seats wherever possible before sitting next to you.
• Embroidery scissors fit well in an inside pocket of your overcoat.
• Don't drop your orts while wearing a black woollen overcoat.  The bright reds and blues stick to the coat and are very obvious when you get into work.
• You can sometimes attract nutters - one person sat next to me Thursday afternoon and started reading his bible, glancing across at my stitching and muttered about "heathen images" for the rest of the trip.  Or maybe that's just because it was psychedelic ...
• Always take spare needles - I've lost two this week already. Train lurches as I'm threading the needle and out it flies .... free, free at last .... wonder where they'll be found...

In other news I actually did some normal stitching at nights - not much some nights I fell asleep with the needle in hand without a single stitch being done - but I did manage to finish another motif on Hanky Psanky for Tracy.  I'll post a pic when I get the go-ahead from Tracy.

Well its almost bedtime - ready for a 5am start again tomorrow morning ....

{Post edited to include a reference to Hanky Pysanky now that Tracy has given permission for the pic to me shown .....}

Daisy Dragon

Yes Kustom Krafts has done it again.  For those of us who loved Little Snapdragon, they've just put out a companion piece called Daisy Dragon.

KK doesn't have it on their website yet, but it was in this week's new listing from Hoffmans.

Shame about the backgrounds .... need to find some had dyed fabric fort his one.   Oh well added the chart to my Lust List ....

New Address

I should have just done this in the first place instead of sending emails.....

Melissa Hicks
PO Box 6040
UNSW  
SYDNEY   NSW   1466
Australia

All post to the old box is redirected while I'm working.  I wont be checking this address through the holidays (xmas etc) so still send to the old box by preference ......

edited to fix up post code {sigh}

First week over

Well its come and gone - and all over. Its Friday 5:30pm and I am home!  I have accomplished my first week's worth of work!!!

I laid awake from 2:45am this morning just thinking of things and plans and projects etc for my new work so I got into work early this morning.  I caught the 6am train which got me to my desk before 7:40am.  We can start any time between 7:30 and 10:00am and we can finish anywhere between 3:00pm and 6:00pm.  I finished at 3:10pm this afternoon after being awake most of the night.

I'm getting a fast handle on the technicalities of the job.  too fast of a handle for some of them - they refused to train me further today - decided to put off my questions until next week - very irksome!

The staff and the bosses will take a lot more to get used to especially as I often lack necessary diplomacy skills.  My supervisor has already apparently gotten upset a few times because he's perceived my questions of "why do you do it that way" as a personal attack....

Oh well we'll get used to each other. I've already decided I'm going to give this job three years. Made a little compact with myself to treat this job like a three-year contract.  That will help me when things don't go to my liking I think - hopefully I wont get as too depressed about old stick in the muds in the job as I did in the last one!

Decided to spend tonight doing a little bit of tidying and cleaning and washing and then probably fall asleep on the lounge before 8pm :)

Tomorrow its shopping - I need a warmer coat, a air of gloves and a cordless phone - so I can talk to people *while* getting things done each night.  I no longer have the time during the weeknights to spend hours on the phone without making dinner or ironing clothes or other necessities at the same time.

And of course HP is out tomorrow - and I must see how it ends .......

Mel's Sunday Update

Wow! What a week!  I worked right up until 5pm Wednesday!  I am technically now unemployed until tomorrow.

Wednesday night was celebrating with P as was Thursday.  Thurs night was more celebrating with workmate A.  Friday morning was domestic duties followed by lunch out "with the girls".  During lunch I started to feel prickles all over my skin, and hot and cold at the same time, and a headache was starting so I left the rest of the days activities and just came straight on home.

By the time I got here I have a raging fever, pounding headache and barking cough so I took some aspirin for the fever and went to bed.  Got up sometime later, had some leftovers out of the fridge, some more aspirin and went back to bed.  I didn't sleep at all that night.  The fever wouldn't break and I was in a half asleep half awake dozing dreaming hallucinating state - like a daydream but filled with nightmares ...

When I awoke properly on Saturday morning I was in agony.  The skin prickles had turned into a raging horde of thousands of fairies pounding needles into every inch of my skin.  My skin was hot enough to fry an egg on, but I was still raked with shivering and chills at the same time.  Everything hurt.  All of my joints hurt, and all of my muscles ached.  An unremitting ache. All my muscles were tensed up,  I couldn't force my body to relax.  My eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, my eyelids blackened like I'd been in a fight.  My lips were puffy and chapped.  And the pain in my head was indescribable. Even my hair follicles hurt! I had a huge knot of pain at the top of my spine, base of my skull.  To move was agony, and I still had the barking cough.  I just laid there and cried tears of self pity for over an hour.

I eventually dragged myself out of bed and cried down the phone to workmate A who stopped by the chemist before work and got me some sinusitis and other tablets.  She brought me in some water, made me a cup of tea, offered to change my sheets etc - she was sooo sweet!  I just took the tablets and went to sleep.  Proper sleep for the first time.  I woke again when workmate A came back after work.  She bought me some fruit and some milk and made me another cup of tea.  And made me promise to eat some fruit every time I woke up and to keep my fluids up.  Which is basically what I did.

Its now Sunday morning, I still ache all over, though it is not as debilitating. Most of the pain seems to centre around my lower back / kidney area.  I have huge sinusitis problems all throughout my skull and it still threatens to explode every time I move.  The fever has subsided but not fully gone away yet. The skin prickles are still there. As is the barking cough.

I'm about to attempt a shower and some real breakfast and then its back off to bed with me for the day.  If the muscles aches continue to subside, and I can then actually drive, I'll go down to the chemist myself and get something stronger for the sinusitis.  I just hope it keeps getting better or I wont be signing up for my new job tomorrow....

Stitching wise I spent nine-ish hours on Archway, and nothing on Tracy's model job.  Have done no stitching since Tuesday night.

Mel's Sunday Update

Well - what a busy week !!!!!

I got barely any stitching done.  A little on a little model stitch for Tracy (still no pics).  And about five hours on Faience (TW's The Castle SAL).

I also picked up two pieces from the framers.  Stellar from Moonflower designs.  And Catlover which my mum stitched for me as a present earlier this year.

The rest of my time was spent opening and drooling over RAKs and doing work-related stuff. Only three more days to go (well four including today) and then I've left my crappy job.  This afternoon is my last real workday!  Mon-Wed are basically chair-warming.  I've completed all reports, got the handover ready and completed my exit interview and submitted all correct forms.

Although a very very productive week, not much stitching ..... or reading {pout}  But lots of drooling - thanks to Karen, Natalie, Anita and Chele who all RAked me this week!

Many hugs to everyone
Mel.

Back from the Framers

Well it was an extremely busy morning with seeing HR for my exit interview from this organisation, then getting Karen's RAK in the mail (thank you) and then finally picking up two small pieces from the framers on the way home.

Stellar is by Patti of Moonflower Designs and is in my finished album.

Cat Lover was a present stitched by my mum and is in my presents album.

RAKed again

This time by Karen !!!!!

Karen sent me some of the new DMC Variations threads, and a pattern to use them on, *and* the other threads required to finish the pattern!

Pics in my RAKs album.

Thank you so much Karen!!!!  I haven't seen these in our stores yet so this is a real treasure! Thank you !!!!!

And doesn't she wrap well !!! Not a single piece of sticky tape in sight !!!!!

RAKed by Anita and Chele !!!!

Ooooh more pressies - I feel so pampered and honoured right now!  Thank you Anita and Chele!

Anita sent me three small pieces of fabric:
Silkweaver 32ct Classics Periwinkle Mist 9x13
R&R Reproductions 28ct Wintergreen 8x10
Silkweaver 28ct Classics Dark Tan 9x13

Chele sent me three charts:
Cat's Whiskers Peacock Stitching Chair
Dimples Designs chart Wee Beasties Part 3
Dimples Designs chart Wee Beasties Part 4

The Peacock Stitching Chair - is all kitted up !!!  Fabric, floss, templates, the works !!!!!  Oh I have to stitch this now and hope someone (Sisu?) can be bribed to actually construct the chair for me !!!!!!

Now where's that Time Spinner - I have to learn to stitch faster !!!!!!

I am soo honoured in my friends - thank you sooo much for the presents ladies !!!!!

Mel's Sunday Update

Well this is the second non-update week in a row.  Only started stitching again for the first time in two weeks yesterday.  Finally over the flu and sinusitis enough to pick up a needle again.

Well the ten stitches I put in yesterday weren't worth a photo, and it is a small model stitch for Tracy of Inkcircles anyway - so you'll have to wait :) :)

However I do have photos of the previous little object I made for Tracy.  Its a biscornu using motifs and the second colourway for an upcoming design Hanky Psanky. I can't wait for this whole design to be released!  I adore it!

Transformers

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

OK the original Gen 1 cartoons were pretty lame especially when compared to contemporaries such as Voltron and He-Man. I didn't really get into this show. I will admit I only went to see the movie because this is P's favourite children's cartoon and as a child he had the action figures etc etc. Oh and he offered to pay for my ticket.

Well I can honestly say this was the best action film I have seen in ages !!!!! Fantastic! Loved the transformers, loved the battle scenes, loved the plot line (mostly).

Apparently it is pretty true to the original in terms of continuity according to P. As a non-Transformers fan, I didn't lose anything from the experience. Everything is explained well enough for me. And it is completely updated for a 2007 audience - for example when Sam first sees his car moving about on his own, he immediately thinks of Stephen King's Christine! I love it !!!!!

If I had to pick faults:
1. the cringeworthy 80s music Bumblebee plays when Sam is trying to get the girl in the beginning of the movie

2. The overuse of the hand-held cam. Some fantastic transforming and action shots were blurred or out of shot because we are seeing them as though through a particular spectators point of view instead of an all-encompassing aerial view.

3. In what's becoming the American standard - the bad guys are spiky and the good guys are more rounded and soft-lined. I think some of the depetacons were tooo spiky and away from their original designs ..... i.e. the CD player turns into something made from mechano and has no resemblance to a CD player left on him ....

4. The movie is slow to get going. We see a deceptacon fighting right at the beginning of the movie and then its all human interaction and plot development for what feels like hours before the action scenes really start up again.

The ending was worth the wait! Fabulous fight scenes! The human reactions were real, the transformers themselves had believable personalities! And (something that is important to me) the two main females (human - no Arcee!) in the movie are strong and stand up for themselves rather than being helpless heroines in distress!

In summary: If you love action movies - go see this one! Immediately !!!!!