Monday 14 January 2008

Miserable Monday

No, I'm not referring to me........ it's the weather, which is totally mucky at the moment. How much rain have we had? Too flippin' much: there's a paddling pool in my front drive again and the lawn is so waterlogged the poor worms are gonna need resuscitating if they don't develop gills soon! What with that and the cold, gusty wind I'm far from tempted to go out in it - but what a great excuse to stop in and stitch, eh? ;0)

Here's one of the things I got up to on Saturday whilst DH worked on the Mini: A birthday card for my DSis. Her birthday isn't until the 28th but I wanted to make sure she had her goodies in plenty of time, so made the card and wrapped the pressies and took them with us when we went to visit yesterday. We had a good day but we didn't get back until late, so I didn't make it onto the computer at all. DH did a couple of electrical jobs for her while we went through all the paperwork generated by the legal stuff we've sorted since our Dad passed away and got it all organised, filed and put away. That's every single thing finally finished and the difference in my DSis is great to see. :0)

DH got the new handbrake & bulb fitted to the Mini on Saturday. There wasn't much difference between him and one of those ice sculptures by the time he'd done and it took him a while to defrost but he'd obviously enjoyed himself because he didn't moan once. Julie: we know all about subframes - DH once owned a Mini that seemed to eat them! DS's baby is now back on the road - hope your DD's B/F's baby is too. :0) As well as keeping DH supplied with tea and doing a few jobs I finally made a start on the Challenge piece stitching. Boy, is 1 over 1 on 32ct fine! Am currently doing some research into light/magnifier combinations so I shall be aiming to buy one very soon. Am a little disappointed with one choice of thread I'm using, as a couple of sections of the colourway doesn't show as well on the fabric as I'd have liked it to, but the overall effect is very pretty and is spot on for the look I wanted. BTW, thanks for the offer of help with ideas Karen - I shall probably take you up on it at some stage during these Challenges.

As promised, here are some pics of the lovely gifts I received for Christmas. The purpley Old Willow threads were from Jayne, accompanied by some Rocky Road Choccie that is now looong gone (wow, is that stuff MMMMMMmmmmmmmm!!! Never thought I'd ever say this but it was even better than Thornton's Alpini choccies!). The WDW threads and Mill Hill beads were from Elaine H:
There were some Pol's threads and a lovely pewter charm inside this wonderful hand embroidered bag which were all from Helen I've put a lovely scented soap inside the bag and hung it on the wardrobe door handle in my bedroom, so it smells just as good as it looks. :0)
Thank you again for my lovely gifts ladies - it really is very kind of you and very much appreciated. :0)

My PenPal Maggie, who I started writing to when I responded to her appeal for some charts in one of the cross stitch magazines more years ago than I care to think about, sent me these lovely goodies:

The one that's in the middle at the bottom of the page is a must stitch for my niece Erin.
I haven't stitched any of the Flower Fairies before, so this one will be a first for me. :0)

Thanks Dawn for the website address re: the Udder cream with aloe vera. I shall be checking that out soon.......... if it gets expensive I know who to blame. LOL ;0)

DS is going out tonight to an "all you can eat" Chinese Buffet at a local restaurant for a friends' birthday. His idea of heaven, methinks, but I keep telling him that it shouldn't be seen as a challenge. LOL. Quiet night in for us oldies with, hopefully, DH putting the boxes of decorations back up in the loft out of the way. I reckon I'll get a bit more stitching done at some stage.

Hope you've all had a good weekend and an easy start to the week. :0)

8 comments:

Julie said...

Your monthly challenge has got me all intrigued now .... roll on 26th LOL

Lovely pressies you received and a beautiful card you made for your DSis

Enjoy your quiet night

Mylene said...

Great goodies you received lately. Enjoy!!
That is a lovely card for your Dsis.

jane said...

lovely card Karan - and some very nice Christmas goodies. I agree about the weather - it's just so miserable and depressing isn't it

Stitchingranny said...

Love the card, and some lovely pressies there too Karan.

Glad everything is sorted now and you and your sis can start to slowly heal. Nothing like legal wrangling for keeping the wounds open.

Anonymous said...

LOVE the card you made for your DSis!!!

You got some wonderful pressies there.

Don't blame me if you spend too much - you asked! LOL Although it is a site aimed mainly at quilters so wasn't my cup of tea just ordered the udder cream and a wire hanger so was very restrained, they were very good with shipping etc though :)

Lynn said...

I do like the card Karan, well done :)
Lovely lot of stash you got too, if only there was enough hours in the day to use it all lol
I'm glad you and your DSis have got every thing sorted at last, now you can all move on with your loving memories of your dad ((((hugs))))

Karen said...

lovely pressents well done the card is super

Sally said...

Lovely card Karan:)

I can't wait to see how your monthly challenge piece. I'm not even attempting it over 1 on 32 count! I had a bit of a failed attempt with something last week and had to throw it away so lesson learnt!! LOL!