Ursh

sandra and dawn

Kam Tong Garden

For Saturday's evening meal we went to the Kam Tong Garden Chinese Restaurant in Milton Keynes. Our journey there was somewhat eventful - or at least catching a ride there.

Jayne had booked an 16-seater mini bus to take us to the Restaurant from the Hotel - but the first transport to arrive was an 8-seater taxi - there were nine of us - but we started to cram in anyway. Then Jayne said to the aisan driver "I don't believe that you are insured to carry 9 people in there" so we all started to pile out. Then it turned out that this taxi guy wasn't the guy that she had booked after all, so some other guests took this taxi instead.

Then another multi-seater taxi showed up and the driver says 6 in here and another 3 in the car following. But Jayne was insistent that she had booked a mini bus so everyone got in and out of the cars again.

Then finally the mini bus turned up and we all got in and were off. Why all the other taxis and the mess? Well these other taxi companies were companies that Jayne had contacted for quotes, but they had never got back and confirmed the details with her. Their loss I guess - but as they weren't able to supply our exact requirements, then fool on them.

Our Menu:

Hors D'oeuvres

Satay Chicken
Tiger King Prawns
Capital Ribs
Prawn Toast
Spring Roll
Seaweed
Squid

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Szechuan Aromatic Duck with Mongolian Lamb served with salad, pancakes and Hoi-Sin Sauce

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Baked Lobster and King Prawns (in shell) in peppercorn salt

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The Main Course:

Yum Yum Bird's Nest (stir-fried spicy beef with vegetables)
Steamed Sea Bass with Spring Onion and Ginger
Chili Pork Peking Style
Sizzling Beef and Chicken fillet in Black Bean Sauce
Sweet and Sour King Prawns
Special Lotus Leaf wrapped Rice
Fillet Chicken with Lemon Sauce

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Ice cream or fresh fruit salad

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Coffee and mints

PHEW!!!!!

Jayne serving up our first course:

The Country Cross Stitcher - Stash Experience

Just down the road from the hotel was a needlework shop called The Country Cross Stitcher.


Jayne had given us all tempting £7.50 vouchers to spend in the shop and also had arranged late opening and a 10% discount with the owners. I was very good. I only bought what I needed, a packet of needles (I can't believe that I'd only brought one needle with me on this trip) a new pair or scissors (the kitchen scissors I were using didn't have a fine enough point for cutting the embroidery threads), a daylight bulb (I've lost my own lamp), a square clasp frame and my only little excess and a treat I allowed myself was a Mirabilia Chart of The Mermaid Queen (left).

I was mildly amused by watching the staff in the shop - the poor lady was literally run off her feet - kitting up this design for one person - kitting up that design for another person, and her husband just stood there watching, unable to help. He said he helped out in the shop by doing a little hoovering and cleaning - but he was a complete novice to cross stitch and stitching so didn't know what any of the stocks were or were located. After admiring all the stitched models hanging on the walls of the shop, I left the shop early with my new stash to give the others a little more space.

Lavender Spray (c) Judy Dixon

This is called Lavender Spray and it was the design that we worked on during the first masterclass:

It was the first time I've attempted anything like this. I was a complete newbie to Hardanger work and this type of embroidery as well. Judy Dixon and all the other's scoffed because I was going to use a wooden hoop to hold my stitching taught, claiming it marks the material - and they quickly lent me a square plastic frame instead - but just what is wrong with the hoops, I've used them all my stitching life!

I had to be shown the basics, like even how to cast on - only one thread so can't use the loop method. It was very strange stitching will all the different kinds of threads. Some of the variegated ones were quite nice and produced a neat effect, but I don't think they liked me calling them "wool", but that's what they looked like. lol

Anyway after a day's worth of stitching, and my first attempt at Hardanger, my Lavender Spay looks like this:

Haven't found time to work on it since. I probably wouldn't ever have tried stitching anything like this on my own, so it was good to try new things in a supportive teaching environment.

I really don't want it to become another UFO or WIP but I have other stitching that I want to finish first.

Masterclass 1: Lavender Spray

Saturday Morning - and we made our way to MK station in a convoy to pick up Jane Fielding who had come from Manchester on the train. From the station we all followed Jayne and Ursh to Judy Dixon's house in Mursley for the first of our weekend stitching classes.....

And then 40 minutes later and ... we are all still following Jayne and Ursh on a magical mystery tour, of the outskirts of Milton Keynes. It's supposed to take about 15 minutes to Judy's house from the station, but we saw lots of dual carriageways, roundabouts and country lanes. I think the biggest problem with MK is that it all looks the same - it's really easy to get lost there. Housing estates interspersed with retail parks followed by more housing estates... it was most disconcerting. Sandra - who was driving me and Jayne remarked that she felt that she'd driven half way back home again - (she lives in Wales). lol

Here's a picture of the girls on the other table who are just to undertake the first of the classes - Lavender Spray.


From left to Right: Gina, Rebecca, Sandra, Dawn, Jane (F) and Debbie

Jayne, Ursh and I were sitting on another table.

Breakfast in Bed

Well, I had to order Breakfast in Bed - didn't I? What's the point of spoiling yourself if you can't partake in everything?

The breakfast was lovely, and before you ask, no - I couldn't eat it all. It was delicious though. The sausage was strange. It has been years since I had a sausage that tasted like that - halfway through the sausage I worked out why - it was a real "meaty sausage" and made with proper meat, not all the fat and fillers and goodness knows what fills most modern supermarket-bought sausages.

Friday Evening

After meeting up with Jayne, Ursh and Sandra in Jayne and Ursh's room, I learned what had happened with the phones. The Inn at Woburn has no mobile phone reception. It's a complete dead zone. Messages that I sent hours ago were gradually creeping through one by one. In fact, one message that I sent from MK station saying that I was waiting in the coffee shop only came through at about 6:30 - two hours late! lol. Just as well I had got that taxi or I would still have been sitting there. Jayne gave me loads of stick about all the text's that I had sent her! lol

Jayne ordered some coffee from Room Service and we sat to have a good natter. It's really strange meeting people who you've known online for several years for the first time. They are never how you imagine them to be.

I've known Jayne from the groups for a few years and I've spoken to her on the phone a few times about ordering stuff from her online shop - but she was not quite what I was expecting in the flesh, I'd seen pictures of her online, but she was a blonde in those pictures. Apparently she's been a red head for over a year now, so those photos are now well out of date. I didn't imagine that she was shorter than me either, she's such a petite lady. When we "met" she remarked that she was pleased that I didn't tower over her too much .

Urszula was probably the biggest shock though, I've known Urszula for about 2 and a half years on the groups and she's also a member of the Cattitudes RR - in fact she passed Nicole's fabric to me when we met! On the groups, Urszula comes across as being quite quiet and reserved, I didn't expect her to form the second half of the Jayne Hall/Urszula Pitt double act comedy routine! ;-)

Sandra was also very nice, she comes across as being quite empowered in emails, but after meeting her in the flesh, I think that she's quite quiet - like me - when she's surrounded by groups of strange people.

Debbie was dropped off by her husband at the hotel earlier in the evening. I've read some of her postings on the groups, and remember her talking about her daughter's illness, but I've not really had any private correspondence with her, so I didn't know her very well, so I didn't really have any preconceptions about her.

I'm amazed at how much I have in common with these women. That's the beauty of the internet - it pulls together groups of people with similar interest who would otherwise never have met.

Jayne did the fateful thing then and got her stitching out - so everybody retreated to their rooms to get their to stitching too, bring out all their latest projects, have them admired and then chat, stitch and watch Comic Relief.

We had a table booked at the hotel's restauant for 8 - so we went down there and ordered our evening meals. I chose Venison steak. The food took a long time to come - over half an hour -but it gave us a chance to have a real good chin-wag. Although it took such a long time - the food was really worth the wait - it really tasted good - I didn't even think of putting ketchup or horseradish on my venison steak! And for people who know me well - you know how much I love my condiments ;-)

My Room

After having worked in a hotel myself (when I first got to Cornwall last year) I could really appreciate staying somewhere this luxurious. It was a question of having the tables turned! From making up the beds in someone else's posh hotel room and cleaning their loos, here I was in a posh room of my own. ;-)

Jayne's idea of having a weekend when we really spoiled ourselves paid off big time with this choice of venue.

The Inn at Woburn

This is a postcard which I picked up in my hotel room's welcome book. It shows the hotel that we all stayed at. The hotel has a website http://www.theinnatwoburn.co.uk.

It's a very posh hotel, there was a wedding being held there when I arrived on Friday Night, that explained the lady walking around in a wedding dress at 5:30 in the evening. I telephoned Jayne's room from reception - she was there!! - and checked into my room.

The Journey out of Cornwall - Devon to Milton Keynes

I stopped taking pics after Dawlish. The train line leaves the sea there and becomes a lot less interesting. Considering how far it travels, the train stops at very few places, I think there's only about 15 stops. After it leaves Devon it's basically an express service that only stops at the main city stations like Exeter, Taunton and Reading. From Reading it doesn't stop until it reaches Paddington Station, which this train did at 14:20. Yes 2:20, it left Penzance at 9:04 - what a long journey, but great if you are a stitcher. I always make a bee-line for the seats with the tables so I can spread out all my stitching, project folders etc.

At Paddington, I made my way via the underground to Euston to catch the Milton Keynes train. I got on the Circle Line - (well thought I'd got on a Circle Line train - but it was actually a District Line train - so I had to get off again at Notting Hill Gate and wait for the next Circle Line train to show up - which took quite a few minutes to come in - I toyed with the idea of leaving the underground and going up to Notting Hill market to see if I could find that house with the Blue door and see if Hugh Grant was home, LOL), and then the Victoria line to Euston.

According to the timetables I printed off the First Great Western website there should have been a Virgin train at 3:18 - there was no listing for this on the station boards, the next Milton Keynes train left at 3:34, so I had just enough time to pop to the loo in the station - 20 PENCE FOR A PEE!!! WHAT A CHEEK! - and get a Texan Whopper Meal from the Burger King in the station before getting on the Milton Keynes train. It wasn't a Virgin train - the Milton Keynes train service was being run by a company called Silverlink. That was a contrast from the First Great Western trains - quite a comedown. Reminds me of the shoddy Connex South East service that I used to put up with back in Kent.

I sat down on the train to eat my Whopper - two women sitting opposite me looked at me with disgust. I didn't care, it was 3:30 in the afternoon and apart from half a tube of pringles which I'd munched on the journey to Paddington, this was the first real food (if you could call Burger King real food?) I'd had that day. Thinking that the journey to Milton Keynes (hereafter referred to a MK) would take the same duration as on the Virgin Train, I sent a text to Jayne saying I'd arrive about 4:10.

But this Silverlink train was no Virgin train, in fact, a superfast modern Virgin train capable of 125 mile an hour travel actually cruised past the one I was on while my train was going flat out. It was also stopping at every station, so instead of the 4:10 eta I'd sent Jayne, it was actually more like 4:40 when it arrived at MK. I texted Jayne with an updated ETA, but still received no response - so I tried calling her a few times because she was going to arrange a lift from the Station to the Hotel that we were staying. I couldn't get through on the phone, it was either coming up as busy or going straight to voicemail. Very strange.

I arrived at the station and sent Jayne another message saying I was going to wait in a cafe until I heard from her. I sat for about 20 minutes, but still not a word. In the end, I jumped into a taxi and went to the Inn at Woburn by myself. £16 later I arrived.

The Journey out of Cornwall: Dawlish

My last en route picture: Dawlish (just over 2 hours into the journey)

The first time I left Cornwall on the train, I was amazed when I went on this section of the line, the line runs parallel to the sea for several miles. The sand is red here - I think it comes from the red rock cliffs.

The Journey out of Cornwall: Teignmouth

The Journey out of Cornwall: Over two and a half hours en route.Teignmouth in Devon.

I just love all those little multi-coloured cottages. ;-)

I actually drove across this causeway when I first came down here. Would have loved to have stopped and taken a picture from the bridge of the pretty houses, but

1. I couldn't stop on the bridge, and
2. I hadn't taken my camera with me.

Plymouth pub - photo taken from Tamar Bridge.

I don't know what this pub is called - but you've got to admit it's quite distinctive. The wall on the right of the pub has a two story high piece of artwork on it.

All the white things on the ground next to the boat are Geese! I tried to take a picture earlier - when I was closer to the geese, but a strut of the bridge got in the way.

The Journey out of Cornwall: Tamar Bridge

Nearly 2 hours en route: The Tamar Bridge marks the county's boundary with neighbouring Devon.

The Journey out of Cornwall: Bodmin

The journey out of Cornwall: 1 hour en route: Bodmin

Cornwall has some of the most amazing geography, from long clean empty beaches, to the desolate moors and cliffs of the Pendeen Peninsular to the amazing landscapes (and treescapes) around Bodmin.

Here's a picture that I took from the train of some of the depth of the geography in the Bodmin area. I'm always amazed at the tree-filled valleys and grass covered fields. It doesn't look as if it belongs to a part of the UK at all.... maybe somewhere like Switzerland or Austria, lol. There's supposed to be a big cat (black panther) lurking somewhere around in this area. You must have heard of the notorious "beast of Bodmin" news reports. Well, these wooods and hills and could hide just about anything.....

Exeter

Went up to Exeter on the train on Monday night. There was a training course which started at 9:30 in the morning which I needed to attend for work. It was a choice of either going up the night before, or getting up at silly-o-clock in the morning to catch the 5:10 train out of Penzance in the morning. I chose the former.

I left work early to catch the train to Exeter, even though Exeter is just over in the neighbouring county of Devon, it's still nearly three hours away on the train. Unbelieveable! I did intend to do a bit of stitching on the train on the journey up there, but I felt really tired (cold was still getting me down) and not at all up to the concentration needed. I had woken up at 2:00 am the night before and didn't get back to sleep till about 6:00 am so I really didn't want to get up on Monday morning. By the evening I was feeling the effects of the lack of sleep, so I just sat through the journey and tried to relax.

I was a little nervous about leaving Cornwall. I've not been anywhere since I returned last August with Jade and after what I went through back then, I had vowed never to leave it again. Would I have a panic-attack crossing the Tamar Bridge? Well I didn't. I guess it was reassuring in some ways as it was a dry run of this weekend's travels to the Stitching Retreat Weekend in Milton Keynes. I was getting nervous about being so far away from home and leaving Jade even though it was only for 2/3 days.

I arrived at Exeter about 8:30 pm and dropped off my bag at the hotel. Well, I say Hotel, it was only a B&B in reality but it was clean and warm and that's just about all you need for an overnight stay. I went into the town centre of Exeter to find something to eat. I spotted a Burger King and headed to it (my nearest Burger King in Penzance is 20 miles away in Truro) and was most disconcerted to find that it had closed over 2 hours ago. Similarly I missed the closing of Macdonalds by 10 minutes. I walked past a closed M&S and made lost puppy noises because I couldn't go in and buy anything as it was shut (again, the nearest Marks and Spencers to Penzance is Truro!).

In the end I gave up and walked back to the hotel, stopping at the fish and chip shop on the corner and getting a portion of overcooked plaice and undercooked chips. Hmmmm not that appetising - but I had no choice. I decided to look forward to my breakfast instead.

The next morning, I got up and went down to breakfast and found that I wasn't really hungry!! What a shame. I consoled myself by reading the paper instead. At 9:10 I got a taxi to the Buckerell Lodge where the training was being held. I was really shocked by the amount of traffic in Exeter. The traffic jams, the queues..... the night before I was standing at a pedestrian crossing on a corner waiting to cross the road and this guy on a bicycle nearly knocked me over! Can 11 months of being in Cornwall change me so much that I view a big city with the eyes of a country bumpkin?

The training course was good. It was definitely worth me attending, I learned what I was doing wrong with our database software, and also more importantly how to fix my errors. I also learned how the reporting side of it works. Which will be very useful.

The course finished really early, so I went back to Exeter St David's Station to get the train back. I did toy with the idea of doing a little shopping (Marks and Spencers was still calling to me), but I had a heavy overnight bag to lug around the town center, and there was no left luggace facility at Exeter Station. So I got my stitching out to while away the hour till the next train. The next train only went as far as Plymouth, so I caught that and again was faced with another hours wait to get the train back to Penzance. I walked outside Plymouth Station to see if there was any shops or any pubs worth exploring, but all there seemed to be within easy reach was a bus station and taxi rank, so I gave up and went back and sat in the Station Buffet for the next hour. One of the Buffet staff admired the stitching that I was doing (Sparkling Waters).

The train came on time and I got on the crowded commuter train back to Penzance. I stitched Sparkling Waters all the way home.

Here's the progress I made on it:

Click the Image (left) to View it properly in my Webshots

The train soon emptied enough to give me elbow room. That's the good thing about living all the way down at the ass end of nowhere in Penzance, you know that practically everyone is going to get off the train before you. I do think that it is a relaxing journey, though. I got home about 7:00.

The Cat who has the Cream

Jade is definitely one spoilt pet: I treated myself to some cream over a sticky toffee pudding for lunch. There was some cream left over so I decided to give Jade a little treat.

This is the picture I took of him after he'd drank his fill. Look at the little drip on his chin! lol

Future Publishing - Not a Good Advert!

I blogged back on the 28th January about the Cross Stitcher Margaret Sherry Subscription Offer. Anyway, the new issue was going to be in the shops about 2 weeks ago, so I emailed Future Publishing's subscription department to find out what was happening with the subscription:

----- Original Message -----
From: vash@knownspace.co.uk
Date: 23 February 2005
Subject: Cross Stitcher Subscription

Hi,
I completed a form out of your magazine to subscribe and get the free hedgehog kit as a free gift. This was several weeks ago, and I've not heard anything yet. The new Cross Stitcher is out in the shops tomorrow. So, should I buy it, or will you be able to sort my subscription out?

~ Melanie ~ Gandalf, trying to light his pipe in Moria: "Naur an adriat ammin! Naur an adriat ammin! Oh, damn it, _that_ spell is for waking Balrogs. Now, for the pipe..."

Last week, they finally answered with:

From: Future Publishing [mailto:future@subscription.co.uk]
Sent: 02 March 2005 14:20
To: vash@knownspace.co.uk
Subject: Future Publishing - Subscriber Number: Em Ref: TPS373439A

Thank you for your recent email.

Unfortunately I have been unable to locate your subscription from the information provided. May I request you please provide as much information as possible on the following to enable me to investigate further:

Your subscription number (if known)
Name and address of the Payer:
Name and address of the Recipient: (if a gift subscription)

INSTANT ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE Should you require any further assistance, to check the status of a subscription or amend your details, simply go to www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/youraccount You may also contact us at future@subscription.co.uk quoting email reference TPS373439A.
For and on behalf of Future Publishing.

Angela Sturgess
Email Customer Services

Should you require any further assistance, to check the status of a subscription or amend your details, simply go to www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/youraccount You may also contact us at future@subscription.co.uk quoting email reference TPS373439A.
For and on behalf of Future Publishing.

I love the "INSTANT ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE" bit!!

So yesterday I answered with:

Well, it took you a week to answer that query.

I've since bought the next issue of Cross Stitcher, with customer service
that poor, I guess you can forget about the subscription.

~ Melanie ~
Gandalf, trying to light his pipe in Moria: "Naur an adriat ammin! Naur
an adriat ammin! Oh, damn it, _that_ spell is for waking Balrogs. Now,
for the pipe..."

Watermelon Carvings

Interesting water melon carving of a dragon:

Here's More: http://www.americade.info/melons.htm

Obnoxious Children: The Family from Hell?

I went out this morning and got breakfast in Littlewoods. I thought I would treat myself to a leisurely breakfast while I sat looking out over at St Michael's Mount in the Bay while reading the paper. It is a little treat for me, primarily because I've not been out of the house since I finished work on Wednesday due to this damn cold - unless you count a 10 minute outing to the local Co-op in a quest for butter!

Anyway, I'm sitting there starting to enjoy my breakfast, when I happen to glance up at the family sprawled across the next table. There's a father sitting there along with 5 kids, all the kids seem to be aged between 7 and 10. Anyway, the father tell's off the daughter sitting next to him, and what does the little cow do? Sits there slapping her father back at the breakfast table, and having a major tantrum and paddy. I couldn't believe it - slapping her father back in public???

Then the mother returns, I return to my breakfast and the paper and try to ignore the bespeckled 7 year old boy, who now decides it's his turn to act up, and gets into a shouting match with his brother.

In about 20 minutes, most of the children have finished, but the mother is still eating toast, so instead of sitting at the table like a nice little girl, the obnoxious child gets up, gets behind my chair and starts climbing on the chair and table behind me, leaning over the balcony and watching the escalator going up below her. I was going to say something about her sitting down like a nice little girl and waiting politely at the table until her mother had finished eathing.... but in the end I just really wished she'd just lean a little too far over and plop down on the stairs below. Then all the other kids get up and start occupying all the other free tables near their own instead of sitting there nicely!

By this time the mother has eventually finished her toast; the family get up to leave and half of them are already half out the shop and heading for the stairs - I look up to study the ruinous mess that was once their table and I'm shocked to see they've left one of the kids behind. Yes, the poor little tike is hurriedly finishing off his last couple of mouthfuls, which he abandons in the end for fear of being left behind in Littlewoods.

What a family!!!

Stitching Bloggers Question of the Week: Charts

Which do you prefer and why? "Old-fashioned" black and white symbol-only charts, charts with colored blocks, or charts with a combination of colored blocks and symbols?

I like the coloured charts with the embedded symbols which most magazines seem to favour now. I still can make working copies of these using a combination of scanner and coloured printer.

In fact, I really like making duplicates of charts because you can do enlarged sections of portions of the chart where needed - like in areas of fine detail like the face.

With Paradise Island, I'm working from scanned chart sections, which is why my work is building up in a series of blocks - this is not to do with the gridding, although I'm finding this a real help with avoiding mistakes.

Stitching Update

I posted some pictures today of what I've been stitching lately.

Made some progress on Venice today while I watched the Special Features disk of X Files Series 4 and also made some progress on the Island the other day when I was off sick from work.

Paradise Island WIP 10

Sparkling Waters

Stitching Bloggers Question of the Week: Round Robins

Do you participate in round robins? If so, how many have you participated in? Do you participate in more than one at a time? Summarize your experiences (good and/or bad).

If not, have you thought about it?

I've been involved in five Round Robins so far:

The first was organised by the A Noble Needle Yahoo Group. It's theme was a beginners RR - but as it was leading up to Christmas - the other three members picked a Christmas theme for their designs. I stuck to the Bears from Around the World. If you look back at my Completed in 2001 page, there's some images there from it. My own piece of material can be seen on my Yahoo Photo Pages, it's Theme was Teddy Bears. This robin ran smoothly without a hitch.

The second RR was also through ANN. It was called Fantasy 4. It's theme was Fantasy and we stitched dragons and fantastic creatures. This robin also ran smoothly without a hitch, although some of the fabric did take a while to make it home. I met my friend Piwi though this Robin. I picked fairies as theme for my robin. Here's a picture of the finished piece (although I still have to add a few more embelishments and frame it. There are other pictures of the pieces I stitched for Jennifer, Katt and Piwi here. On Piwi's piece, I did Teresa Wenzler's Tempest in a Teacup. Loved stitching him, may do him again at some point in the future - he turned me into a real TW fan.

The third RR actually completed before the second one - it was a Christmas themed RR which I stitched with My Mother, My Aunt and my aunt's friend Karen. You can see this in my 2002 Finishes.

The fourth RR is the Cattitudes RR and this is still ongoing. This has become quite a saga, people have left, new members have joined to replace them and at the moment were still at about 8 members (we started off with about 14 at one point) the intention was to stitch all 12 cats from the November 2002 Margaret Sherry Catalog. The last cat I stitched was Cautious. I dropped out of this myself for about 6 months while I tried to sort out my life down here in Cornwall.

The fifth RR was an Easter Themed RR which I organised myself on my UKCSF Yahoo Group. The RR went OK to start with until all the problems happened with Sean! Curse him! So I sort of missed the end of it, only stitched 3 designs. Petra was OK about it though (I still had to stitch on her piece when I dropped out), which was a real shame because her ring of dancing bunnies looked like a fun stitch. I got my fabric back from Sandra, who was looking after it for me. The fabric turned out really good. It makes it all the more poingnant now because the design I stitched of the RSPCA bunny looked I lot like my old bunny Jessica. I still don't know what Sean did with her.

The Mapping of the Cat Brain

Borrowed from: http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/mapping.htm

Who's Your Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick?

Tinkerbell


Who 's Your Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick ?
brought to you by Quizilla

Stitching Bloggers Question of the Week: Favourite Fabrics

What is your favourite fabric to stitch on?

Silkweaver's 28 Count reflection range.

I hardly ever stitch on Aida now, any new projects that I start which I kit up from scratch are all done on evenweave by choice.

Not a Litterbox!

Jade...... as much as I love you - the gravel path is not a litter box.

You know the landlady has been moaning about finding cat crap on the path, and now I know it's you cause I saw you digging in the path this morning!!!!

B3ta Link Roundup

More of those bizarre, interesting and funny links:

• Scared of Santa - pictures of screaming todlers who really didn't want to be sitting on some stranger's knee.
• Foreign Chicken Mince Advert - at least I think that's what it is - completely bizarre!
• This is actually part of a promo for a new game - but it does make you think: http://www.how-safe-are-we.com/
• Ever bought stuff from Tesco's Value range? I used to buy their cheap baked beans all the time 9p a tin they were. How much does other stuff cost though - here's a little game to play if you're bored. Tesco Guess the Price Game

And now for some funny videos:

• Not My Phone
• The Running of the Squirrels
• Singing in the Rain Remix

Dirty Den in Venice

Anyone remember that old episode of Eastenders?

Anyway, stayed in last night watching the demise of Dirty Den on Eastenders (I just just imagine the cluedo version now - "...and it was Miss Scarlet in the Pub with the stone dog!..." ) while I prepped and gridded the fabric that I'm going to stitch the Sheila Hudson Venice project on.

I do confess to shedding a tear when Sharon came in and heard just how dispicable her adopted father was - and while he did deserve what he got in the end - I also felt some remorse, because whatever bad deeds Dirty Den did throughout his life and the women who's lives that he destroyed - he did have some redeeming things about him - quirky sense of humour and of course his idolisation of Sharon above all else. I know for a fact that he still didn't treat half of the women in his life as bad as Sean treated me. I guess that shows you the sort of man that Sean truly was. The very sad fact that that realisation hit me about a year ago, back in January/February 2004 - before any of the real troubles started in March. It just went downhill from there.

Anyway..... I had car troubles today - flat battery!! I haven't used it for over a month, so yesterday when I went to get in it it was totally dead - even the central locking wasn't working. I got some friends to help me jump-start it and then took it on a 40-mile jolt to the Truro roundabout and back - that should have given it a little charge or so!

I did a little food shopping - and after I got back I started stitching on the bottom of the design which is the bottom of one of the gondolas. 5 lines of black isn't much of a start - but it's a start nevertheless.

As I stitched I watched "Two Brothers" it's a film about Tigers in the vein of Born Free. Quite a good film. I still remember Guy Pearce (who starred in it) from Neighbours, his career certainly went up in the world. Probably the only one of the cast who is now internationally known - with the exception of Miss Minogue of course. Those Tigers were so cute though - and when they got older, beautiful too - they stole the show - fortunately I had my own "Tiger Cub", Jade to cuddle during most of the film - he's about the same size!!

My Next Project: Venice

I printed off a copy of the chart of my next project today. It is called "Sparkling Waters" and it is a design picturing the Venice canals. It is the next in the series after the Amalfi Coast and Mount Fuji designed by Sheila Hudson and printed in Cross Stitch Collection.

I sorted out my threads for the project because I need to do an order for some extra threads for Paradise Island as I'm running out of a couple, I also need DMC 920 for this Venice design too.

Craftaholics Anonymous

Craftaholics Anonymous
12 Step Program
Newly Revised to 13 Steps

1. I will not stuff craft supplies in every corner of my house.
2. I will not keep nine projects going at one time.
3. I will not pick up more buttons, lace or fabric when I have a ton at home.
4. I will not let my crafting area look like a condemned area.
5. I will not relegate the kitchen table to crafts.
6. I will not attend craft shows just to pick up more ideas.
7. I will not stock up on more craft supplies just because they are on sale.
8. I will not go off on a tangent when anyone mentions that little word "import ".
9. I will not let my crafting distract me from fixing dinner.
10. I will not stay up all night crafting.
11. I will not save dryer lint, empty cereal boxes, detergent scoops, etc.
12. I will not buy every craft magazine I see.
13. I will not make promises I cannot keep. See you at the craft show.

Don't think it's gonna work though - do you?

Stitching Bloggers Question of the Week: Crafty Hobbies

Is cross stitch your only crafty hobby or do you have others?

When I was younger I used to like doing art, occasionally knitting (but I wasn't very good at it because I couldn't cast on) but at the moment Cross Stitch is all I have time for.

Windswept Mount

I took this while I was waiting for the bus back into Penzance, I didn't fancy the three mile hike back along the coast in the wind.

A very windswept view of the Mount, there's a virtual sandstorm blowing all over the beach and you can see the waves whipping up over the causeway path to the Mount, but then, it is Freezing February.

My Grassy Knoll

St Michael's Mount from my grassy knoll. This is where I sat in the sand dunes, admiring the view during the early summer months last year and got quite a reasonable tan.

Penzance Prom in February

Went for a walk today. took my camera with me. Here's Penzance Promenade at low tide. Even though it's February - look how blue the water is!

Weird Wax

Put my lava lamp on last night, and after about 15 minutes, the ghostly figure below appeared in the melting hot wax. lol

Paradise Progress

Stitched some of Paradise Island during my afternoon off, and now I have - a leaf!

What Age Do You Act?

You Are 20 Years Old

20 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

A Fairy Finish

Finished my Flower Fairies Canterbury Bell Fairy today.

I've been working on this since September as my purse project - but I was approaching the point where a couple of hours stitching would see it done, so this morning I went hell for leather and stitched it to completion while I was listening to the commentary on Armageddon.

It was supposed to be stitched in one stand, but I didn't read the instructions to start with and used two. In fact I only realised what I'd done when I started running out of pink. lol. Still one strand on 16 count doesn't provide enough coverage.

This design was a freebie giveaway cover kit on the World of Cross Stitching. I always loved Flower Fairies as a child - I had intricate colouring books full of them. I quite like this design, except the fairies face, fortunately you can't really see the odd expression from this picture.

The Cream Dusters

It's 4:00 am, woke up at 2:30, couldn't sleep again because of this damn blocked nose and sore throat. It's generally ok during the day - not really a cold at all - hardly produces a sniffle, but overnight the catarrah sort of builds up in my nose then trickles down the back into my throat and then I wake up all bunged up. Hate that sort of feeling.

Anyway, gave up trying to sleep about half an hour ago and put this on instead - at least doing something productive is better than just laying there tossing and turning? Is blogging productive?

Oh well - I'm going to go to work tomorrow with a confession: I did a good deed on Wednesday and took all the towels and tea towels home from the office to wash them. They sure needed it, talk about grease - I blame Norm (single guy from the office - needs a lesson or two in personal hygiene.... I'm not going any further with this - he might read it! But you get the idea!) for most of the filfth, so I made sure I put them all on a boil wash..... but I also stuck a couple of the office's dusters in there as well and well... the formerly bright yellow dusters are now cream and the towels are a sort of yelllowy cream too.... ooops!

Stitching Bloggers Question of the Week: Colour Changing

On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, how comfortable do you feel changing a design's colors or the entire color scheme? Elaborate if you wish.

I think I'm about a 2. I've not tried changing colours on any project I've yet stitched. I seem to be to regimented in following the instructions to experiment!! But I think I might like to try doing this sometime.

Although, I have seen that some people change the colours on Teresa Wentzler projects - I really admire them for having the courage for doing that. TW designs are usually very difficult anyway - why make the project harder by changing the colours. Lorna (I follow her stitching blog quite a bit) is stitching Tempest in a Teacup in green and purple, he looks really good. I stitched my Tempest for a Fantasy RR in his boring straight old salmon pink colour.

What Planet Are You From?

You Are From Neptune

You are dreamy and mystical, with a natural psychic ability. You love music, poetry, dance, and (most of all) the open sea. Your soul is filled with possibilities, and your heart overflows with compassion. You can be in a room full of friendly people and feel all alone. If you don't get carried away with one idea, your spiritual nature will see you through anything.

What Planet Are You From?

Paradise Island Progress

While Hayley slept in on Saturday and during yesterday afternoon I got some stitching in on Paradise Island.


This design comes from a book called Cross Stitch Pictures by Jill Gordon (and was also in an early edition of The World of Cross Stitching). It is supposed to be a scene from a real island atol somewhere in the Indian Ocean. I think it might be one of the Maldives. With the Tsunami that hit last month - makes me wonder if the real scene is still there?

I started stitching this in October 2002. I'm still only about halfway there with it. Previous progress pics can be seen in my Webshots.

More Strange B3ta Links

Ever heard of the slice of toast with an Elvis imprint in it? These are more along the same lines:

The Museum of Food Anomolies

Cat lovers will love this one:

http://www.clean-your-screen-for-free-now.com/

Cute pic of the week:

Fame!

Went out last night, had a really good night in St Ives. My friend Hayley is still sleeping it off as I write this - she still for the life of her doesn't know why she smoked that cigar!

Went to a nightclub after a pub crawl of St Ives, and there on the dance floor was a 70+ yr old pensioner raving it up! I watched him for quite a bit of the evening, he'd have a couple of dances, sit down - have a rest - and then he'd be up for a rave to a few more songs. I think he left the night club at about 12:30, but you've got to admire him for his stamina. A raving pensioner: How cool is that?

By 1:30 there was me trying to jump up and do the splits in mid-air to the tune of Fame! Quite a few people fell about laughing watching me do that - but by that point in the evening I was past caring how silly I looked. ;-)

Margaret Sherry Cross Stitcher Subscription Offer

Got the February issue of Cross Stitcher today. There's a really nice oriental design in it that I must stitch. When I started reading the article associated with it I realised why - it's another Sheila Hudson design (Mt Fuji, Amalfi Coast) and that's probably why I like it as it reminds me of the others. Definitely going on my "to be stitched" list.

Cross Stitcher are also offering a decent free gift if you subscribe now - I've been wanting to sub to this magazine for years - but have been waiting for a decent free gift for the subscription, and now there's one I want: a kit of Margaret Sherry's Catterflies, or her Hedgehog in a plant pot.

Problem is, to get the kits you have to subscribe by DD - but I don't want to sub by DD. I just really hate giving my bank DD authority over the account. I hate the toy shop bank! So what I did was splice two subscription application forms together. I stapled the credit card section from one leaflet to the Margaret Sherry subscription sheet. I wonder if that is going to work? We'll see. I've opted for the Hedgehog design because I already have a chart of Catterflies in my stash.

Webshots Picture of the Day: Playful Kittens

Isn't this entirely too precious? It's now gracing my desktop. All together now Awww!

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: Framing

Do you frame your cross stitch yourself or do you take it to a professional
framer? Why?

I usually frame my work myself. However I have used a professional framer
for one project that was especially previous to me, and that was my late
Aunt's Elephants which I finished off for her after she died. I was too
scared of making a mess of it myself.

In the past, I did get my cousin to build a frame for the Cats in the Hats.
He used to do technical drawing so he was the ideal person to cut out mounts
as well. He cut the mount for Mount Fuji - at the end of last year, I had
to cut the matching mount for the Amalfi Coast project and I realised then
what a difficult thing it was to get the curve right.

In your opinion, what are the advantages and/or disadvantages of putting
your work behind glass when you frame it?

The advantages of framing, is that it keeps the work clean, gives you an
excuse to display it and if you use coloured mounts you can really set it
off well. I think the only disadvantage of framing is squishing beads or
charms if you've attached them.

Nerd Alert

About what I expected really.

A Cornish Winter

I took this picture on Sunday morning when I was walking along the promenade in Penzance.

Would you believe it was about 16 degrees C on Sunday? It was a lovely day - not a cloud in the sky, and yes, there are palm trees in that picture. I post this picture today just as the first snows of the year are forecast to hit my former home in Kent. ;-)

Cautious Complete

As promised yesterday, I stayed in stitching all day and now Cautious is complete.


I think the next round of the robin is going to get delayed again because at least two people still didn't receive the fabric they were supposed to get at the end of November.

Cautious Cattitude

Here's my progress on Cautious Cat for the Cattitudes Round Robin

The weather's going to be pretty crap today - the rain doesn't look as if it's going to let up - and besides the fact that I need to go shopping, I think I'll stay at home and finish him off by doing all the backstitch. The backstitch is my favourite part!

The mailing date for the Round Robin is the end of the month, so I'm set to meet this goal if I finish him today.

Canterbury Fairies

The latest WIP shot of the Canterbury Bell Fairy

I've been stitching this in my lunch hour at work, I usually am only able to get it out once or twice a week for about 20 minutes at a time, but the slow way is the sure way of getting it done.

Stitching Bloggers Question of the Week: Anchor vs DMC

Do you see a difference between Anchor and DMC floss? If so, what do you think the difference is? Do you have a preference between the two?

I think Anchor floss may be of a little better quality - but I prefer DMC because I've got the whole set now. The only Anchor floss I've bought has been in an emergency because I've needed a DMC colour, and a shop was able to provide it's Anchor equivalent (some times they match - sometimes they don't) and couldn't find one at short notice.

The only stitching shop in Penzance (well - I say only - there's one down near the harbour "Cornish Stitch Designs" - but they only sell kits and they were quite horrified when I asked them if they would sell me one of their DMC spools - they are only allowed to buy these because they use them to make up their kits, and the thought of selling one of these to a member of the public was more than they could take!!! They seemed quite shocked when I showed them my silkweaver reflections fabric - and a bit snooty too: they only sell kits, nearly all of which use Aida - shudder!!! despite the fact that some of their local designs of the landscape and landmarks are really rather good - ok better stop ranting here.... just as well I can buy online really ;-)... ), up in Chapell Street sells only Anchor - so I can quite easily see me buying more Anchor threads in the future in those future stitching emergencies.

The Smell of Wet Cat

The smell of wet cat is what greeted me at 5:00 am this morning. Jade came back into my bedroom and jumped up onto his brand new pillow on my bed sopping wet - so of course I had to get up and dry him off! Why do cat's insist on going out in the rain?

Anyway it's Wednesday and it's my afternoon off again and I've achieved something - I got the wireless network working on my laptop. Hurray!!

I took it to an Internet Cafe that has a wireless network and let them have a fiddle to see if they could get it connected. The guy behind the counter seemed to have as much luck as I did - but at least he knew more about what he was doing - but he still drew a blank.

Then their 18 yr old trainee arrives back with everyones rolls and sandwiches and finds out the missing key - there's a function button on the keyboard which activates the WAN function! Now why couldn't we see that? DOH! Well I did see the symbol which is (((O))) but I thought it meant speakers or surround sound or something - dopey or what? So now I can turn it the WAN on at home too! ;-)

Pet Pillow

We love to spoil our pets, don't we?

This Weeks Interesting BT3A Links

Bt3a is an online magazine of strangeness - they swear far too much and post quite a few naughty links, but also some strangely bizarre and interesting ones:

• The Japanese Blog of Cute
• Supper with the Stars
• Rupert on Coon Island
• Bt3a Question of the Week: Pure Ignorance

I think this should have won the Action Granny Photo Competition:

Cornish Stitchers

I love the support of the online stitching community, but I do admit to missing the feel of a real life sewing circle, and as of yet - I've not been able to find any local stitchers. I've even asked in some of the few stitching shops in the area - but they don't know of anyone who is running a local club - so..... with a view to hopefully meeting up with some local cornish stitchers I've created this group:

Click to join cornish_stitchers

What's your outlook on life?

What's Your Outlook on Life?
brought to you by Quizilla

First Finish of "O" Five and it's a Fairy

Mirabilia Angel is finished. I started her in the middle of November and I just finished her off tonight.

She is stitched on a piece of Silkweavers' 32 count Reflections fabric called Coral Crystals.

This was my first attempt at beading a major project. I had not realised how fiddly it was or of the need for a beading needle.

The Angel has definitely given me a taste for more Mirabilia Designs, this was the first free Mirabilia chart that I've seen printed in a cross stitch mag - it was in The World of Cross Stitching issue number 91 - which was the Christmas 04 edition [someone's bound to ask ;-)]. The magazine said it would take about 6 weeks of stitching time - I think it took me closer to 8 weeks, but then I've had a lot going on in my life.

Karen F recently finished her Angel off too - we have sort of been stitching them in tandem - but Karen beat me to the finish by 4 days - well done!! And I started long before her.

I think Karen stitched hers on 14 count aida, and I think Karen's looks a little better than mine because of it - my opinion is that the beads seem a little bulky on 32 count - anyone else had the same problem with beading?

Stash from the Attic

Still not quite finished the beading on the Mirabilia Angel - the blue beads seem to be quite a bit smaller than the silver ones I've stitched on already and more are being rejected by my size 26 needle. This size 26 needle isn't ideal for beading - you should really do it with a size 28 which is smaller, and I can't find my 28's at the moment.

I ordered some beading needles from Jayne's Attic yesterday via a IM chat window with Jayne and they arrived today. I might actually be able to get the Angel Finished tomorrow afternoon now during my half day off!

Jayne is talking about arranging and indulgent stitching weekend in Milton Keynes in March. It would be great to be able to go, and to meet some of the ladies I've known from the groups over the last couple of years.

I need to check to see if Sam will look after Jade for the weekend - but all he really needs is a few extra biscuits put in his bowls once a day, and the odd cuddle - if only children were so easy to take care of!

A New Breed of Jaffa

Only fans of stargate SG-1 will appreciate this.

Here's Keith - Jaffa to the great god Vodka VK Blue!

Only in Cornwall...

Only in cornwall would they sell hot pasties in a nightclub...... the mind boggles.

I still can't get my head around the concept of eating these pastry pies. Every morning on my way to work I have to walk past 3-4 shops cooking them and the smell wafting out makes my stomach turn at that time in the morning, every lunchtime I walk past half the population of cornwall standing outside shops and munching them.

I've got the distinction of only eating about 4 pasties in the whole time I've been here, quite a feat really considering their readily availability - I just wish there were more sandwich and/or burger bars.

The lost or abandoned bike

The Abandoned Bike

Ever since Sunday evening there's been a bike chained to the railings in the alley near where I live. It's even still got a saddlebag attached. I can't think why the bike is still chained up there after all that time - maybe it's owner forgot where he left it?

I guess it's a testiment to Cornwall and the honesty of people down here that the bike has been left untouched for as long as it has. It's even still got the saddlebag attached. Back in Kent, the chain would have been broken and the bike stolen within hours, the saddlebag would have been opened within an hour, even if the chain wouldn't break the bike would have been wheeless within a day. If it's still there tomorrow, I may see if I can get a picture of it on my way to work.

Should Have Stayed At Work

I should have stayed at work this afternoon - my only afternoon off in the week - for instead of doing the sensible thing of going home and doing housework I bought a new laptop to replace the one that died a couple of months ago.

I was forced in the end to get one from Dixon's (I really hate that company), but there really isn't that much other choice shopping wise down here - so Dixon's it was. I was served by the Manager and I asked him to chuck in The Sims 2 as a freebie - and he did! Well, you have to ask these things - don't you?

Anyway, got it home this afternoon and spent several hours fiddling around trying to get the wireless network card to detect my wireless router. I admit failure - in the end I trotted out and bought another ethernet cable - but at least I got it working which is how I'm posting this now.

The Geek Corner

It's the last day of freedom today (Bank Holiday Monday) before I'm back to work tomorrow. I felt a bit hungover for most of the day after last night's drinking session with some friends. I had too much to drink as usual - so much that I was singing Madonna's Beautiful Stranger on the Kareoke! Well I was singing, but no one could hear me because I've got a really quiet voice and they never turn the microphones up load enough.

I watched Alien Vs Predator in the morning (on a dodgy Div-x CD) which I've posted a review of on my other blog and settled in to watch Van Helsig in the afternoon. I'm not sure whether I liked that film or not - a lot of it seemed to have been done before in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but Hugh Jackman did look quite good at the end of the movie with his shirt off! The vampires were pretty cool though, but that Dracula character was crap, I could sense no real sense of malevolance coming from him at all. I was stitching my Mirabillia Angel while I watched - maybe that's why I couldn't really get into the film. I suppose I'll have to watch it again properly when I'm not being distracted by something else.

I'm almost done with the Mirabilia Angel now. Just a few stitches of metallic green left and then I'm on to the beading. I'll have to dig out my beading needle and find my beading instructions as I've not attempted this properly before.

One word of note though - the chart says use two strands of the Kreinik threads, I tried this and after having a nightmare trying to thread the needle, the stitches turned out to look way too bulky on my delicate 32 count Coral Crystals Reflections fabric (from Silkweaver) - so if you are stitching this too [big tip for Karen F], ignore the instructions and just use one thread instead.

I went out again tonight with some friends. One of them said that he was going to be having food in the Weatherspoons first so I thought that I'd better eat something first too and not repeat last night's experience, and ordered a steak. Weatherspoons are doing this Jim Bean Bourban Glaze at the moment, it's really delicious - yum!!

My other friend turned up about 7:00 and we all got on quite well. We got a bit loud towards the end of the evening, talking about Star Trek, Enterprise, Deep Space Nine and Voyager and it amused me to turn around and see half the pub looking with disgust at the sci fi geeks sitting in the corner.

Armed for 2005

Armed for 2005.

Well at least my Mirabillia Angel is. Here's the progress I made on stitching her yesterday (New Year's Eve).

Happy New Year to all my blog readers.