Uh Oh

Well the story goes like this----I was cooking dinner tonight and I had some vegetables in a plastic bowl which was sitting on another oven plate waiting to be added to the steaming pot.
I then turned on another plate to cook the chicken strips that were going into a small frying pan.
I then noticed smoke coming from the plate--------------------





which had the bowl sitting on top of it------------
You don't have to be a genius to guess that I had turned on the wrong plate.
Uh oh one holey mess you could say.






The bowl --minus it's bottom with the coil plate showing through the bottom of it.
I will be trying to get the pieces of gunk out of the coils for ages not to mention the smell.

For my next trick---you'll just have to keep on waiting I suppose.

Who's a Lucky Girl ?

Recently I won this absolutely beautiful piece of embroidery in a giveaway on Karen's blog Contempory Embroidery
Karen works these amazing pieces on watercolour paper and they include Straight Stitch-French Knots and pin pricks.
This piece measures 6 inches by 3 inches (you work it out in centimetres) and is so delicate and white that I could not get a decent scan or photo of it so I asked Karen to e-mail the photos that she took.
Her photography skills are as good as her stitching.
The first one is a full view------------



And the second one is a close up of the top section.

Karen also has an Etsy shop here

and a Facebook site here --------
so please go visit her and see what she has to offer---- you won't regret it.

New Glasses

I have new glasses (and a new haircut)so I thought that I would show you---please ignore all the skin blemishes-the doctor told me that it happens when you get older-what about the double chin as well.

Ah well that's me anyway.

Dying Day

Early this week I went to my friend Suzannes place and we did some more dying in preparation for selling at the Guilds annual exhibition.
After we had all the important fabrics-threads-and laced dyed we had some dyes left and I decided to cram jar a few bits and pieces to see what the outcome would be.
Among what I shoved into the jar were these paper napkins.
They are not like the ordinary thin napkins that you see in some restaurants --these are large and thick and they feel like they are made of cotton.
I discovered them a few years back when I was taken to a posh restaurant by a friend and I kept mine and while playing with inks at home one day I discovered that they held the dye brilliantly and I decided to make some paper beads with them.
Until recently I had not seen them anywhere else-but I went out to lunch with a friend after attending the Guild and lo and behold this place had these napkins.
I instructed my friend not to make a mess on her napkin and I neatly folded up mine and put it in my bag as well as taking the other two which were also on the table-(cheeky).
Now I had 4 pristine white napkins to play with.
Back to the dying---I didn't know if they would fall to pieces or not but I poked them in the jar with the dye and soda ash and waited to see what would happen.
The dyes were procion in magenta-sun yellow and intense blue.
As you can see they all have a strong magenta colour --------the first one was on the top and the yellow and blue colours are visable.

This one was in the middle and only the yellow got through to it---------------------

The final one was on the bottom and is only pink and it is half the size of the others.

I think I will stitch on them and make book covers out of them.

Another Bargain

I hadn't realised that it has been 2 weeks since I have posted anything here but I have had an excuse---honestly---because we have had the pesky flu running rampant through our family and I am fed up with it.
All is back to normal now thank goodness but I haven't any stitching to show because I haven't finished anything.
But I do have another Op-Shop find.
Yesterday I had to work at our church Op-Shop because the lady who is in charge on Thursdays has taken 3 weeks leave and I am the person who fills in for her.
Now it turns out that the other lady who was working yesterday is the "bag lady"--she is in charge of pricing the bags and putting them in the shop.
My lucky day-------so look what she was putting out---this fabulous black leather shoulder bag and it only cost me $5.
It was shouting at me "Don't let her put me out there Doreen--I want to come home with you".
Well what was I to do?
This is the front that has a pocket------------------------------


And the back which has a zip---------------


And the inside that has two sections---one section also has a zippered pocket in it and the other has a place for my mobile.

I have two more Thursdays to work this month so who knows what I will come home with next time.

Op-Shop Find

Today I went down to our church op-shop (thrift shop-charity shop) because I had taken home last week 14 Barbie and Ken dolls to wash and also wash their clothes.
I spent ages washing Barbies hair and coming it and if you have ever spent time doing that for your little ones you will understand it when I say what a time wasting job it is.
Anyway I digress--while I was there I noticed this wooden sewing box that had just been donated.
The stars sparkled in my eyes when I was told it was only $5 and my hand was in my purse quicker than a rabbit down a hole.
It is missing the handle that goes up and over the centre section but I can understand why it has been removed because I think it would have gotten in the way.
The man of the house said he could put new handles on it but I think I will decline the offer.

The lid on the top opens up and then----------

The centre section concertinas out and has all these little compartments.

What a treasure.