Livres Chat Rouge - Anagram Diffusion

I first saw and fell in love with this design during the May 2006 Online Needlework Show. I had to have it, so I ordered it !!!

Long story short version, my entire order finally came into my hands on 15 Dec 2006. Yep last Friday, seven months after it was ordered !!!!

I still felt a love for this design - after all it does combine my two favourite elements - cats and books :) and I love the elegant simplicity of it. I'm sure there's a technical art term for this style - but I can't recall it off the top of my head right now.

Anyway I collected the floss (DMC 498) and the white 32 ct Belfast linen both from Spotlight over the weekend. Due to ill health today I sat down tonight and just stitched for fur hours straight. Here's my first pic :)

Also noticed the border pattern on the front cover is *not* charted properly on the inside - the corner treatments are *not* included int he chart at all!!!! Should be pretty simple to chart myself - but it will add time.

My brand new stitching rotation experiment (I've never had a rotation before) is due to start on 1 January and this is not included int he first month's worth of stitching, so I want to get as much done as possible between now and then - I've got a few evenings to myself so I should go close to getting it done by the end of the year ....

What a tiring day

Well what can I say - today was supposed to be my last day of work before the holidays. Woke up feeling blah from my "monthlies" God I hate euphemisms. Felt really off-colour and called in sick to work and made a doctors appointment. Had breakfast, showered and got stuck into the craft room. Spent the next 5 or so hours curled up on the lounge in a fetal position wishing I could vomit. Thinking Oh God do I have appendicitis!

Nope. According to the doc I have either a viral intestinal bug that's going around or a mild case of food poisoning. But the symptoms of course were exacerbated by similar symptoms occurring simply because I am of the female gender - coincidence - just very very bad timing.

I hate it when Loki laughs at me !!!!

All in all not a good day. Oh late this afternoon after the docs appointment, I went to get Meowy Christmas back from the framers but they had screwed it up. didn't use a spacer and the fabric was pressed against the glass with the area with the beads dimpled inwards crushing the backing board. I explained what I wanted and they promised to fix it. Surprised me that they didn't automatically understand this as they assured me they regularly frame lots of cross stitch and tapestries! We will see - its a new framer for me and I think I might be continuing to go to my current one even though he's now a pain to get to and slow !!!

Tonight I gave up on the world and sat and stitched. Started Lives Chat Rouge - details in next blog post. Its now 11:30pm and the very old Invaders From Mars movie has just started - I soooo *love* old 1940s and 50s sci-fi and horror movies !!! But I'm tired - going to bed and sleeping off today's illness as soon as these pics load up.

Oh other news I learned today:
Definitely no broadband! None - never. The cable coming out from the exchange is substandard. And Telstra does not have it on their list of priorities - General feeling is that they will never upgrade the line until they are forced to by an act of nature (ie earthquake).

Went past the post office today .... it was empty :( :( Well at least there were no bills - that's a good thing).. I already know exactly how much I have to pay out of tomorrows pay packet on bills. Its going to be a tight budget between now and late January ....

hugs all and goodnight shortly

OH MY GOD !!!!! I am sooo spoiled !!!!!

Oh my - I was actually speechless for a good 10 minutes, just looking and fondling with my jaw dropped on the ground !!!!

I think my first coherent thought was: "Look at all this stuff - I don't deserve all of this - oh my god !!!!!!!!"

I received a Christmas present from our very own Natalie! Not an exchange, or anything organised - simply a present.

As you can see in the pics she sent me:

4 large pieces of Silkweaver fabric (Terra Cotta, Starquest, Wandering Ivy and a pink limited edition)
1 Blue Wing 28 ct Jobelan
1 14 ct Clay/Bark aida fabric

2 absolutely gorgeous Gloriana threads (I love Monet's Pond and Bellagio has been my absolute favourite since Midi 1)

4 beautiful Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors (Windwhistle Cottage, Autumn on the Cape, Autumn Twilight and Acorn Woods)

and 16 DMC threads !!!!!!!!!!


I love it all !!!!!!

I'm just utterly completely gobsmacked !!!!!

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you ??

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you? Cupid Like Cupid you know how to spread love. You have a place in your heart for everyone and are always there with a hug or a kiss Find out which of Santa's Reindeer you are at Quizopolis.com

Well so much for my bah humbug-ism this year - its been shot *RIGHT* out the window!

Tee Hee

Just have to show off the new background - one more day of work and then I'm off on holidays for three weeks - yayyyy!

One of my favourite comics

Catharsis gets it right sometimes ....

Its getting closer

And I'm running out of time ....

OK lets see have all the bookshelves together now (I hate buying flat pack furniture). BOught one more this morning and that's up now too. Still need to go and un box the fiction - will get to that after I rest and blog for a bit.

Shopping:

all present shopping now done except for mum's. Will order her animal over the phone on Monday morning - she was too late in getting her list to me yesterday and they only work Mon-Fri in the adoptananimal section. Oh I don't have Jenna's either. Figured mum can help me out with that next week.

To get to this stage I did a marathon shop Thursday night. Met some friends from work for coffee after 4pm and chatted and ate and drank coffee for a couple of hours before we went our separate ways and shopping. during the evening I had my wallet pinched. I deliberately did not take a bag with me, but instead had my wallet in one trouser pocket and my mobile and car keys in the other. I still got pick-pocketed in the crowd between one shop and the next. Didn't feel a thing! Did *not* feel it happen.

I felt sooo sick. While I was backtracking through the shops I had browsed in - someone had handed it in at Muffin-break (I had bought two gluten free muffins). I got my wallet back! Intact - except for a $20 that was pinched. I had $35 in notes and when I got it back there was only $15 in it. I suppose they thought it was a finders fee ??? No idea.

I'm keeping a very close eye on all of my bank accounts in case they took the numbers. I don't want to cancel and get new cards reissued as I have too many purchases outstanding still - I internet shopped quite a few presents this year :)

Cleaning:

Ooh lots still to do. I've put together all bookcases, purchased another one this morning and put it together too. all the DVDs are now up in a case. I've un-boxed what non-fiction will fit in the three cases I have up. I'm about to un-box what fiction will fit in their three cases I have up now. I'll still be able to store the excess boxes full until after Xmas and buy a few more bookcases in January sometime.

Hector has a home and he's looking quite good - not out of place or in the way. All other standard domestic cleaning is being kept up with - kitchen, bathroom, washing etc. I hope to have the spare bedroom/fiction library usable by tonight and I'll get stuck into my craft room tomorrow.

Still no sign of Dragski.

Hugs all - I'd better get back to it :)