Auctions

There's still a lack of any stitching progress to show here just yet..... that holidaying mojo has finally turned up again but only after being forced to. LOL What prompted things is the sudden realisation that those cancer charity ornies I stitched whilst on holiday in the Lake District (waaay back in July) now need to be fully completed and posted off over the pond to Donna very soon if they're going to make the deadline. Yikes! That sort of crept up and surprised me so, as I hate letting anyone down, some serious stitching is going on - despite the mojo regularly whining: but I don't want to. I'll post some pics when they're done............................. yes, some proper stitching pictures at long last., won't that be something to look forward to? ;0) ROFL

Whilst the mojo was missing I made several attempts to kickstart it again by having a nosey around blogs and stitching sites.... but that didn't work. OK, time to bring in the big guns and go have a trawl on that well known auction site (Clue: it begins with e and ends with Y...... as if that's needed - bet you've all got mega feedbacks on your ID's from all those goodies you've won on there. LMAO). I didn't really expect to see anything that would appeal but duly started trawling through the cross stitch section anyway - well, it would be a pleasant way of spending an hour or two, wouldn't it? So I almost spilt my herbal tea when I spotted a floorstanding fluorescent magnifying lamp - just the type I'd been thinking of splashing out on if I could find one to try before I buy and get my head around spending that amount on - on there with a starting price of....... wait for it.............. £20.00. That's right, just £20.00 - though it was a Pick Up Only auction. Well nothing ventured, nothing gained so I went for a closer look-see. Jaw drop moment - it was only over in Lincoln, a half hour car trip, if that, depending on where in the city the seller was based and though it had a little damage to the base was in otherwise good and full working condition........ and it was a No Reserve auction. OK, the angels had to have guided me to this little beauty so I slapped it on watch and shouted DH to come have a look (it was the Bank Holiday Monday, so he had the day off) - he thought it looked OK and said he didn't mind driving me over there if I won. So I kept checking it out during the remaining time it had to run (only about 30 minutes, if that) whilst having a look round at some other auctions, then went back and bid on it during the remaining few minutes. I couldn't believe it when no one else bid and I actually got it for the basic asking price. WhoooHooo - that's what you call a result! We arranged to go over and pick it up the following day and had a pleasant run..... though the heavens opened just as we pulled up, so I got a dousing going to the door but I didn't mind, it was well worth it to get my hands on this:


I still have to give it a better clean up (it was stored in a shed for a while) and repair the damage to the base - otherwise it is ready to go. :0)

Mind you that didn't really kickstart the old mojo but what it did do was kickstart the old auction bargain hunting bug again instead. The next goodies were from a good seller I've bought from many times over the years:

Some black and coffee coloured fabrics for my stash; I want to stitch the blackwork cushion design and the Bless the Seeds kit for the sunlounge (when it's finished); the fob kit will make a nice gift and the peg angel I wanted to do for my Aunty D, as she loves rocking horses.

Then I came across these goodies:

The thread bobbins, especially the coloured ones, will be good for adding to floss tags; the thread rippers are always useful and the bag was a real bargain (£1.50 or £2.00, would you believe!) and is just the right size for my smallest scroll frame, plus the attendant threads for whatever project I have on it - spot on for grabbing to pop in the car to take with me when I go to my DSis's or on holiday. Am now looking for just the right design to stitch on it - any ideas? :0)

Another day I had a look-see and came across this delightful little batch of cuties:

Aren't they adorable? Well I couldn't resist them - certainly not at 99p + p&p (which was at cost). I thought they might just help me get a wiggle on with the Christmas Ornie SAL....... the last one I did was June's. Oops!

Then I came across someone called thredfairy selling lots of silk threads. Now most of them were for the serious embroiderers, as they were all different kinds and thicknesses, but this little lot were suitable for cross stitch:

The thicker skeins are Italian silks and the thin ones (in bags to left and right) are Chinese but all were really reasonable prices. I've been wanting to do a monochrome piece in silk for quite a while and I thought these would be a nice way of achieving that without the cost being exorbitant. I shall check back at some point and see if she's got some reds too - might be good if I decide to stitch Quaker Christmas at some point. :0)

The haul isn't quite over yet though...... I found someone selling some pieces of hand dyed felt on Buy It Now. I occasionally like to use hand dyed felt for backing ornies, as well as them being good for pages in needlecases, but since Kate of Kate's Kloths shut up shop my stock has been slowly dwindling - so I thought these were a good chance of giving it a little boost.

Am not quite sure what happened though, as the fabrics just seemed to jump into the basket too. ;0) The one on the left shouted mermaid and the one on the right fairy or angel so I really couldn't resist. LOL DH and the CC were glad that was the last of them - though he was pleasantly surprised at just how much I'd got for the amount I'd spent.

DS, on the other hand, could regularly be heard muttering something about supposed to be decluttering, not fetching more in. Sorry kid but I'm looking at it this way: if DH does decide to opt for redundancy then I won't be splurging on stash for a long time.......... so I'd better stock up now, hadn't I? Eheheh

The decluttering has still been ongoing though and a bag full of ornaments and various other things went down to Help the Aged last weekend. Then DH chucked out his old wellies (they were rotting - eeeeeuuuww! Doesn't say much for his feet, does it? LOL) and the new ones he'd left hanging around in the kitchen are now out where the old ones used to be. I found a couple of bits of rubbish in the garden that went in the bin as well, to keep them company. The past couple of days I've been finishing off sorting out my wardrobe.......... I think I should have tied a safety line on today though, as I seemed to have lost most of the morning in there. LOL It was a voyage of discovery though, with regular cries of: Aaaahhhh, so that's where that went! and Oooooo, I'd forgotten I'd got that!

Result of all that: 6 handbags waiting to go to the charity shop and 7 pairs of shoes bagged and going into the charity collection box thing around the corner. Some of them were my Mum's that I knew I wouldn't use/wear but hung on to anyway - it's now time to let go - and some of the shoes were from my younger days....... in fact I took one look at the heels on one pair and not only wondered how on earth I didn't break my neck but also about my sanity at that time. ROFL The shoe boxes are in the red recycling bin, which is getting a bit full, but the space that ousting those generated meant I could rearrange the things on the shelves and accommodate some of the stuff that's been stacked in the bedroom. My half of the room is starting to look a lot less cluttered now.

Oh, and the pile of feral coathangers, generated when I ousted all the too big clothes, that mugged me every time I opened the wardrobe door are now nicely tamed and contained in a carrier bag, ready for use. Sorted! LOL

Many thanks to Nicola for clarifying: it was Michael Miles on a programme called Take Your Pick that the "Open the box!" catchphrase comes from. Wonder why Hughey Green came to mind? I didn't like watching him on TV at all. LOL

Right, those ornies are calling so I'd best listen and go work on them.

Many thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit, it's greatly appreciated. Hope you've been having a good day too. :0)