Before I say what I want to say, I`ve just got to say this: I won again!! Same as with buses and hedgehogs: now two wins come along at once (of course, entering competitions helps). Last night I got an email from Celtic Rose Needlecraft, with 4 PDF patterns attached - Dartmoor Heather, Moonlight On The Shore, Cottage Garden Pond and Daffodil Wood. I`m so chuffed! I just wish I had more time... or more hands... or both... I think if I ever get round to do it, I`ll start with Moonlight On The Shore. (Note to self: Don`t forget to write Thank You email to CRN!).
And now, what I originally wanted to write about: visiting other blogs. The other day my dear friend Katya (http://astitchingtime.blogspot.com) has already touched on this topic when she apologised, unnecessarily, for leaving a longer-than-usual comment after one of my posts. Unnecessarily, because - don`t get me wrong, I`m, like everybody else, glad to receive any signs of appreciation, even if it`s just a four-letter word (I meant `Nice!`, naughty!) but I simply LOVE long, personal comments where we can engage in a friendly conversation. At the same time, I realise that that`s what emails and personal FB messages are for, and maybe not everyone`s interested in the above-mentioned conversation... luckily, this blog is MINE so I can do whatever I want with it, so here`s what I didn`t want to clog my friend`s comments with about her book review:
I`ve been meaning to read J. K Rowling`s `next book`, i.e. the one that came after Harry Potter for ages, just like one day I intend to read The Host by Stephanie Meyer, her `next book` after the Twilight Saga, because I`m always curious how an author is trying to break down the fences their epic first work has built around them. But I have to be honest, after reading Katya`s review of The Casual Vacancy, I might not rush too hurriedly into this novel - I tell you why. Because with every year passing, I notice that I`m less and less tolerant towards sad things. At the moment, I can (just) cope with watching the news every night but I can see a future where even that`ll be too much for me - if I picture my supersensitive, weepy future self, then look back at my Dostoevsky and Camus reading, Goddard and Becket watching teenage self, I guess I`m about halfway through the scale. The little time I have for guilty pleasures like reading, I try to fill with happy and easy stuff, so apart from perennial favourites, like Pride and Prejudice, I read a lot of historical novels - do you think it`s cowardice that I seem to escape to bygone ages, when the world seemed a less complicated, nicer place? (I know it wasn`t, not really, but you still get the illusion).
Anyway, enough of the heavy stuff, back to other people`s blogs. If you haven`t visited Minnie`s blog (http://minnie-allxxs.blogspot.com) yet, do it now... I mean, after you finished reading this! You know how sometimes you regularly check out a blog and the person`s WIP photo never seems to change? (Like my DaVinci, lol!). Not Minnie`s, uh-huh. She must be stitching 20 hours a day and I love ALL her WIPs, which is rare but I guess we have a very similar taste, I`d gladly take on any of the patterns she`s working on. The other day she shared photos of some of her finishes and I cheekily tried to get her to give me her African ladies cushion (my attempts failed miserably, btw). Shame, it`d have looked so neat with my Joan Elliott design, which I managed to frame since I posted that picture:
And so as not to leave you without news of La Scapigliata: although I haven`t worked on it since last Friday (on the upside, though, I finished Santa so I only have a robin and a snowman to stitch - oh, that reminds me! Now that the weather`s getting summery and I`m stitching Santas, the Fathers` Day hot air balloon cards I stitched last Christmas are in the shops! Sorry for digressing but I have to quickly add a photo here):
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| Cross Stitch Card Shop issue 90 |
Where was I? Yes, La Scapigliata. The good news is, I had another look and I hope I was panicking for nothing because the way I calculate it, there should be at least a 2" border so that`s fine. And the teaser from my last post: once I finish this, I shall stitch another version of the same painting, this time designed by one of my fellow model stitchers, Pippa Slack from Stitching Dreams. Her chart contains 22 colours as opposed to Maria Diaz`s 8 - I can`t wait to see the difference between the two! It`s quite a while away yet but rest assured, there will be plenty of progress photos - I`m going to enjoy that, a nice change from all this super-secretive magazine stitching! Obviously, I have to finish the commission works first, then my own 1-year-old DaVinci - but after that I hope not to have too many distractions (luckily, I got a fairly lax deadline from Pippa: "sometime within the next couple of years", lol!). And talking about distractions: have a look at this!!! I can`t believe they didn`t give her a name, she`s OBVIOUSLY a Gloria?!? Can`t wait to knit her!!
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| Alan Dart`s Heatwave Hippo from Simply Knitting Magazine Issue 107 |
Beautiful stitching and little hippo is so cute x
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cucki, I simply fell in love with her! She jumped to the first place on my to-do list :)
DeleteGreat stitching ! The Father's Day balloons are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Barb, I enjoyed working on them, sitting under the Christmas tree, stitching in-between mince pies... Hmmm, mince pie *starts to drool with glazed-over eyes*
DeleteBeautiful stitching! Gloria is gorgeous. :) As for reading habits - I understand totally; I used to love reading Dostoevsky, but as my life got more "interesting" (hm-hmm), worrying about fictional characters' problems, even serious ones, became taxing. Reading about the past is less stressful because it is, well... the past. :) We already know what happened. Oh, and thank you for mentioning me and my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Katya. I guess that`s what it is, our lives changing, etc. - you know, I was never big on e.g. soaps, either, but I used to watch Coronation Street regularly, until Gregory was born. Then, from one day to the other, I completely lost interest in it (well, obviously, as a busy new mum) but it hasn`t returned later, either. So I don`t watch any soaps, but I do watch a lot of series - not once a week, though, but as box sets (growing impatience must be another sign of me getting older: I don`t want to wait to find out how the story ends, lol!).
ReplyDeleteSomebody stop me before I start yet another paragraph!!!!!!
Laura you are totally refreshing. Thank you for mentioning my blog too. I promise if I ever decide to give away that pillow, you will be first on my list. I love the JE design "To Market" it's beautiful. I have it all kitted up and ready to go as soon as I can deduce my long list of wips. The balloons are gorgeous I especially like the soccer-ball and beer mug.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Minnie, and you`re welcome :) I do think that people should see all the beautiful things you`re working on. The other day a friend of mine thought that my Lady was in 3D (well, it IS but you know what I mean), it`s such a clever design. Unfortunately, I put her (the picture, not my friend!) in a darkish corner so the beads on her necklace and bracelets can`t reflect light - but I know they`re there.
ReplyDeleteThe beer mug/football balloon was my favourite one, too, not only because it was different from the other 5 but also because it`s funny, Jenny Barton at her best.
Wait, before you go, I have to try something! *dangles Grandpa`s old gold watch in front of laptop*