Seeing Stars?

No, not quite......... but you can see my first Thursday Night SAL WIP pic of Sea Stars by Ink Circles:

The colour isn't quite right but it will give you the general idea. Unfortunately the scanner has come out in sympathy with the printer....... it's also gone on the blink (it makes a couple of crunching noises and I get a pretty rainbow band across the middle of everything that is scanned) so I had to take a pic with the digicam in the evening with poor lighting and the flash going off.

The fabric is one of Jayne's own hand dyes (like a tropical sea) and is from one of my favourite colour ranges (the other being autumnal colours). Jayne also did all of the hard work by converting the colours to Carrie's Creations for me: the one I'm currently using is Antique Slate and that's the motif in the top left corner of the design.
Barb and Rosanne have made good starts too: all three of us are using quite different colours, so it's going to be fascinating watching the pieces develop each week. :0)

Last night was the first of a three night Most Haunted Live event which gave me a perfect excuse to sit and stitch in front of the TV for much of the evening (yeah, like I need an excuse! LOL). The project receiving some attention was the Ozark Mystery SAL. I started the first band a little earlier in the week, so completed that and went on to stitch all of the second band:

Again we could choose two out of six different band patterns to stitch with the two threads from the pack: Blueberry and Spring Green. I opted for the ribbon band, to slightly echo the scrolls in the border, and hoping it wouldn't end up looking like an epileptic tapeworm..... think it's avoided that. The top band was a no brainer: a thread with the name of Spring Green meant it had to be the leaves border. LOL I like how it's worked out to having alternate bands of nature motifs - that's happened more by pure luck than actual design. :0)

MH Live is on again tonight, so that'll be another evening of stitching, but am not sure yet which project to do. It's tempting to carry on with Sea Stars because it's a lovely stitch but, as it's a once-a-week SAL, it's a no-no. As I didn't do lots on Night Watchman earlier in the week that should probably be my focus......... another stitching session should make it worth doing a pic then. Guess I'll see what mood takes me later. LOL

Helen asked to see the crystal wand I mentioned in my previous post. I'll just point out that a crystal wand in no way resembles anything as seen in any of the Harry Potter movies, so I hope you're not going to be disappointed. ;0) Crystal wands are generally worked and polished lengths of crystal, usually no more than 6" long, which can have pointed ends (for focused use) or rounded ends (gentler). Some Pagans and Wiccans do use such crystals as wands, charging them with their intention so it enhances their spells, assisting them in achieving what they wish for, but I'm not into spellwork or heavy rituals and prefer to use mine for healing......... and sometimes just for pure decoration because they are naturally beautiful. :0)

The large piece at the top is a rose quartz point which I keep on my bedside cabinet - a gentle, loving, soothing crystal that helps with sleep (it's also the best crystal for soothing babies and children). Below that is a rutilated quartz point and to the right of that is (if I remember rightly) a smokey citrine (a bit of an unusual one that I can't find a listing for, but it's popular with healers) and both of those sit on my bedroom altar - I haven't worked properly with these yet, I mostly just enjoy looking at them. The rose quartz and fluorite wand is bottom right: not only has it the rounded ends but it also has a worked twist along it's length - this I have used and it worked wonders on my neck and shoulder and sleep! :0) The bottom left piece is a kyanite blade that is useful in meditation and is another piece I seem to have an instant reaction to when handling - sort of a quick swirling sensation, mildly disorientating, similar to what you get when you stand up too quickly. I guess it's a sign they are working. :0)

Apologies for the not very good pic - it's hard to catch the inner look of a crystal on a camera that isn't that great, especially when it's being used by an inexperienced photographer. Guess I could do better if I actually knew what I was doing, for a change! LOL

DS was up and out first thing this morning to take Alex to a hospital appointment and he hasn't put in an appearance since, so she must have fed him afterwards. DH and I were going to go out to a garden centre for dinner but changed our minds when we realised how warm it was today. Staying in has it's benefits: the lawn has been mown and the edges strimmed and a little weeding has been done and I've had time to blog. If he feels really enthusiastic we may even get a bit of conifer trimming done too. Tomorrow we are off to visit my DSis as I haven't seen her since about a week before we went on holiday......... it's been a while so there'll be loads to catch up on. :0)

Thank you for the kind comments on Guen. :0) It will be good to have her as my first HD in September............ the HD's have been few and far between in 2008, due to having quite a few BAP's on the go, so it's been nice to spread them through the year. ;0)

Many thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you are all enjoying a happy weekend. :0)