I've Finished Something

I hope you are sitting down because I would hate to be the cause of someone injuring themselves when the faint with shock.
Now as you can see I have been stitching again --no I didn't do all of this but I have finished them off.
In November last year I did a workshop at the guild with Effie Mitrofanis and then I took them on the cruise with me and did a little bit more to them.
Since then they have been hiding in a box with all the threads, beads etc until several weeks ago.
I had been feeling guilty because our annual Guild exhibition was fast approaching and I had not stitched anything for at least 7 months which meant I had nothing to exhibit.
I decided to open the box and finish the two samples that were almost finished.
I then mounted each one on an artists box frame canvas which I painted black.
I must apologise for the poor photo but this was the best that I could do--but you can get the idea as to how they look.
I feel like I have conquered Mount Everest--I am so happy.
More stitching days ahead for me I am sure.

An Update on what's Happening

I am just dropping in to let people know how I am gettin along.
I haven't posted since April for many reasons.
I have not been well--and if I were to list all my ailments you would just give up reading.
It is strange that when one reaches my age the wheels seem to fall off -health wise.
I have been healthy all my life-only the odd cases of flu and other minor things,but this year it seems that everything that could go wrong-did go wrong.
The worst thing though is that I have been suffering with depression.
Last year if someone told me I was going to have depression I would have told them that couldn't happen to me.
But it did and it left me in a very sad state.
I suppose when one considers all the pills that I have been taking something had to give and then there were the family dramas that seemed to be larger than life itself.
But with the help of a very good psycologist and me realising that I can't solve all the problems of the world on my own I am now in a good head space at last.
In fact I have even started crafting again.
It has been 8 months since I have made anything but I now feel the need to create something-anything in fact.
So what I am saying is this sad-lonely blog may get a bit of attention in the near future if I keep improving as I have been in the last few weeks.

Doreen

Taking a break

I have been procrastinating for a few months now about closing down my blog-but I just can't bring myself to do it.
I haven't been a very good blogger for the last 12 months and I kept thinking why do I bother.
I have not been doing much of anything that would excite me let alone any of you and as you know I have not been well either.
I still can't bring myself to close the blog down so what I am going to do is just take a break and see what happens.
I will still visit you-I may not leave a comment but I will think about you.
I just hope that this break will help me get my act together.
Take care everyone.

What every teenage girl wants

A cake filled with cream and 13 candles on top.

And a pair of black Patent Leather Dr Martens from her Dad.

My how times have changed.

Easter Wishes

Firstly I want to let you know that I have seen the specialist and I am now on medication which seems to be helping me but I won't know for sure until I go back to see him at the beginning of May.
I do have to have a blood test and another MRI scan so that they can compare the before and afters.
Anyway if the way I feel after only a week is any indication then I should be ok.
Secondly Ebony will be 13 in Easter Sunday--my how time flies--I still think about all the funny little things she used to say and do when she was little and I have a chuckle to myself.
Lastly I would like to wish you all a happy Easter.
May you have a special time with your loved ones and remember what this time of the year is all about.

No More Curls

For ages now Ebony has been saying that she wanted to have her hair straightened--heaven forbid I would kill to have curls like she has-(had).
Before Christmas she got herself a fancy hair straightener and proceeded to do it herself, much to my annoyance but as she said it was her hair.
Anyway she has a birthday coming up at the end of this month so we all chipped in and let her have it done professionally at my hairdressers.
I could have supported 3 needy children is some war torn country for what it cost  but after all she is my grand daughter so what could I say.

I took this photo of her on Saturday morning when she woke up and like my DIL said "Tina Turner paid a fortune to get a style like that.
This is the first time she has ever had her hair cut in any style because before her hair had such tight curls, the hairdresser could not get a comb through it, but since she had been straightening it herself it was easier this time.
This is what she looks like now.

The style that the hairdresser cut had more of a wispy fringe over her face which I thought was beautiful but she likes it more this way..
Anyway she is the one who has to wear it and if she is happy then so am I.
They said if she looks after it the way that they instructed her to then it should last her six month--I do hope so otherwise we may have to hock the house to do it again,

I'm Feeling much Better

At last I am feeling a lot better health wise.
I have seen a specialist regarding my Pituarity gland and I will see an Endocronogist in two weeks who will let me know what the treatment will be and then things will be better hopefully.
To add to my woes of being unwell I have had a reaction to some medication that my doctor prescribed for me but since being taken off the medication I am feeling so much better.
And guess what I have made something.
We are having a small challenge at the guild arranged by me in conjunction with the Recycle Table.
Members have to buy something off the Recycle Table and create something with it.
The idea is that they will create something different-it doesn't matter what it is and it doesn't have to have embroidery on it.
At the annual exhibition these creations  will be on display and if the member wants to it can be sold to raise money for the guild.
Today I made a 3D  "thing" from a book to give people an idea as to what they can do.
The book is small-about A5 size.

The pages are folded in a certain way as indicated below----

And this is what I ended up with.
The white pages are the end covers of the book which has a hard cover that enables it to stand up easily.

I had seen something like this on a larger scale last year at an exhibition and I thought that it would be a very hard project-but it wasn't.

Yesterday a friend  gave me a pile of old paperarts magazines for the Recycle Table and what do you know one of them had the instructions on how to make this little gem.
It only took me about an hour and a half as well.
I think my Mojo is back--maybe.

Catching up

Almost a month has slipped by and I fanally have something to show.
It's not finished and heaven only knows when it will be but it is finally a piece of work with stitching on it.
Early in January I went to Melbourne for a few days with my daughter and I purchased several pieces of hand made felt-each were 25cm square.
I wanted to make some needle cases-so I had to cut them  in half but then I had three sides that were very organic shapes and one side that was straight.
I decided to spray the straight edge with warm water and added a few drops of dishwashing liquid and then proceeded to rub the edge between my hands--bingo I had the fourth edge felted just like the other three.
The first two photos show the qsuare cut in half and you can see the piece on the left has a straight edge and the other has the new felted edge

I have to finish the needlecase by putting the Doctor Flannel inside for the needles to slip into and also add the ties to close it (whatever that will be)
I also had a few covered buttons that I received (2 years ago) from my friend Kate who owns Buttonmania in Melbourne..
They were ones that were faulty and could not be used by her so she gave them to me.
I have been looking at them for ages and I finally decided to make them into a brooch.

This is the back of the buttons and as you can see there are no attachment bits which rendered them useless.

What I intend to do is attach the little red button onto the large button--but I will add some small green running stitches before that to look like the stem of the flower.

Don't hold your breath waiting to see these items finished as at the rate I have been performing lately it could be Christmas time before they are done.

I've done it again

For the second year in a row I have forgotten the anniversary of my first blog post.
It all began on January the 5th 2007. and I was terrified.
I only knew how to send and receive e-mails and I would read blogs and other stuff.
I didn't know much about computers-Ebony had to teach me how to cut and paste when she was only seven and she is still teaching me stuff even now.
I only started a blog because I wanted to be part of Sharon Boggan's "Take a Stitch Tuesday" challenge and like the song says "From little things big things grow" and it sure did.
In the beginning I would be posting about all the creative things I was making and there were lots of different things being produced,but I have been very naughty of late and I just can't seem to get started on anything.
I am going to try and slow down on a lot of the voluntary work that I do so that I can get back into stitching etc.
I  love the volunteer work that I do, but I really need some "me" time--time to stitch and create--time to stretch my wings again and see if I can still fly--so to speak.
Stephen and I have been going to the movies (once a fortnight) this year and have seen the movie "Quartet" which we both enjoyed and I loved Maggi Smith and Billy Connolly.
Next was "Gangster Squad"--good but a lot of load noise with guns etc.
Today we are off to see "The Guilt Trip" with Seth Rogen and Barbara Striesand.
We are slowly working down the list.
When we were on the cruise before Christmas we saw "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and we absolutely loved it.
Enough of this rambling on--I'm off to hang out some washing.

Storms in Canberra

Last night (Saturday 26th) we had the biggest storm that I can ever remember since we have lived here in the ACT

I had gone to pick up Ebony at around 5.30pm and as we were driving home we were confronted by a fierce electrical storm with lightning zapping down in forks all over the sky and then the rain started as well as the wind.
It was very scary to be out in it.
The rain was falling in sheets straight down-Ebony and I sat in the car under the carport for ages but eventually we had to make a run for it and ended up looking like two drowned rats.
There has been a lot of damage with trees being uprooted or split in half.
The creek near our place was flooded in a very short time.
When I went to Church this morning we discovered a lot of damage when the drain pipes and gutters couldn't cope with all the water causing it to overflow into the ceilings causing them to collapse and flood the carpets.
Our Op-Shop which is in part of the building also leaked causing damage to several racks of clothes.
We lost the power at about 6.30pm (hadn't had our dinner) but managed to rake up a good salad and we were able to find some candles which gave us some light as it got darker.
At around 11pm we heard the refridgerator click back on and we found everything that was connected to the powerpoints was working (fridge-freezer-oven-microwave-bedside lamps-TV) but we didn't have any lights.
We went to bed by torch light and I got up at around 4am to go to the loo (still in darkness.)
There I was sitting on the loo minding my own business when suddenly all the light came on---it scared the living daylights out of me.
Anyway we are all back to square one now but the weather gods tell us we are in for another one tonight.
I have enclosed a photo that was on the Canberra Times and the ABC websites which shows the rain dropping straight down from the clouds.
I think this was taken as the storm approached because as it hit the suburbs it became very dark.
You will notice the dry grass in the foreground caused by the lack of water.

Parts of Australia are experiencing bush fires-other parts are having cyclones and floods.
But it is still a great country to live in.

I'm still alive--just.

As most of you are aware we in Australia are having the summer from hell.
The eastern side of Australia is under seige from bushfires but we in Canberra are not in any danger so far.
It is hard to believe how much of our countryside has been ravaged by this fury that has taken over and the devestation that it has left behind.
In Tasmania (my home state where I was born) towns have been destroyed and my heart aches for them.
We in Canberra woke up this morning to the smell of bushfires and smoke haze all over the place and I think we will be smelling it for a while yet.
ALTHOUGH ---we are having some light rain tonight which has cooled thing down a lot-we are now only 14 degrees Celsius)
We have had continual temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius up as high as 38 (almost 100 F) and the overnight temperature one night was 23 degrees Celsius.
How is one supposed to sleep in that heat.
We do manage because we have an airconditioner in the lounge room(on during the day) and ceiling fans in each bedroom(for the night time) but is is still hot.
But the people whom I really feel sorry for are the ones who live in Birdsville which is in outback Queensland---today they reached 49 degrees Celsius (120 F).
The manager of the Birdsville Hotel said it was 50 degrees under her verandar today- now that's what I call hot.
I read somewhere tonight that there were only 120 people who live in Birdville.
I reckon they deserve a medal.
The town is famous for the "Birdsville Races"---"The Birdsville Hotel"--and "The Birdsville Track"--
If you click on the link it will take you to the races site--then click on the gallery and you will see something that is unbelieveable---no tuxedoes and top hats for these folks.
OK so that is all I have to tell you because I have not done any stitching--well it really is hard to stitch when you are stretched out on your back on the bed with the cieling fan circling above you trying to stay cool.
I'll be back soon--sometime-hopefully.
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Hmm-- I was going to digitally sign my name as I usually do but Blogger has decided not to let me so I will just type it in--I'll show him he can't mess with me.
Doreen