Mystery Over

The Ozark Mystery that is. The last part of the Sampler was finally completed on Saturday night and yes, those bellydancing CD's got an outing for another Happy Dance. It was lovely to take this off the scroll frame and see it in it's entirety for the first time:

Ozark Mystery Sampler 2008

Designer: Debbie Draper

Fabric: 28ct hand dyed evenweave - Polstitches?

Ozark Threads: Blue Ivy; Mountain Violet; Mimosa; Blue Jeans; Emerald; Rose of Sharon; Spring Grass; Blueberry; Teal Kiss and four unnamed colours.

I still wonder if I did the right thing stitching those numbers in that thread - although they do show up better IRL. I think I'm about the third to finish this on the JA/S&S Forum. The other ladies have posted their pics and it's lovely to see the different choices that were made by each stitcher - although we have all opted to stitch the central heart motif, rather than the bird, rabbit or squirrel that were the alternatives to choose from. Although I liked the rabbit motif I really didn't fancy seeing a purple one - it would be almost as bad as seeing pink elephants! LOL

I picked up Night Watchman again last night but there's not enough progress to make another pic worthwhile yet. I may just do more on him tonight - although I now have a large scroll frame that's sat empty and is begging for a new start....... ;0)

On the reading front: I finished The Champion by Elizabeth Chadwick last night, the book that Karen very kindly sent to me. There are more details in the side bar and on The Reading Corner blog about the book, if you're interested. I've registered this with the Book Crossing site and it's now available, so please shout if you would like it. My next book is one by Barbara Erskine, which has the historical figure of Cartimandua in it, a contemporary of Boudicca - this will be my first BE book, so am looking forward to seeing what I've been missing out on. This is already spoken for by Julie and I'll be sending it to her as soon as it's finished. :0)

Sunday was a horrible day weatherwise but we popped to the Silica Lodge garden centre for dinner anyway. Good move - there weren't many brave (or should that be foolhardy?) souls about, so it was pretty quiet. After eating we had a look round their Christmas and gifts display - glad we did, as I found the first item for my Exchange partner in the No Stash For Christmas Exchange. No, I don't know who my partner is yet, but it's a universal/useful item that will suit anyone so I couldn't resist getting it - once I know who my partner is, and their likes/dislikes, I shall concentrate on finding specific things for them.
Next stop was Wilkinson's for a look round and we scored again: as well as the toiletries and household goods we wanted, I finally found somewhere that sells decorative Crimbo card holders that are of a suitable size to hang on the hall doors - they'll save having to damage anything by using drawing pins. Yay! Now I know they are the right size I shall go back for a couple more and we're all set to go when the festive season arrives.

We got back home in time to watch the final Grand Prix race of the season and what a race it was! Yes, it even had me watching some of it - something of a rarity. A shame for Massa, who was obviously gutted, but it was fantastic to have Lewis Hamilton, a British driver, win the Championship - that's one in the eye for all his detractors, especially those negative beggars in the media. Well done Lewis! :0)

Today has been my usual jobs day. Half term is over and Alex is back at work now, though she didn't visit today because of that. Roll on next week and a mega news catch-up! LOL

DH is off to Italy with two colleagues tomorrow. The regular flight they've been taking from East Midlands is no longer running, due to them changing to their winter timetable, so they have a very early start, due to having to travel down to Stansted instead. It's going to be a long week........ I expect I shall be doing my usual sleep-deprived zombie impression for much of it. Roll on the weekend! As he's not back until Friday I guess it'll give me more time this week to have a blog reading/commenting catch up, as I seem to have got behind again - so if you've nt heard from me lately, I will be by soon.

Many thanks for visiting and for all the kind comments. Hope you all had a good weekend and an easy start to the week. :0)