Sunday, July 27th, 2008

I was surprised and pleased to receive this nomination
from Andrea at The Craft Room. Thank you so much
Andrea. You've already been nominated for this by a
half dozen or more people, otherwise I'd send one right
back to you. And if you want to see my nominees then
look at the Cross Stitcher's blog roll at the side of my blog.
Everyone listed there has a blog well worth exploring
and reading.


The fence is in!! Well, a good portion of it anyways. Still
have to back stitch the grid on the bottom, but at least now
it looks more like a gate. I'm pretty close to being half way
done on this piece now, and am sort of in the "mid project
slump" period. Neither nearly done, nor just getting
started so am slowing down a wee bit. But I won't quit on
this, else it'll never get done. I know me.


I've been trying to organize my stash in the limited space
that I have (at the moment) for it. I've been picking up
various types of drawers for threads and for fabrics,
seeing which ones work the best. I have two of the
above units now, and they seem to work great for either
threads or fabric. This is the newest, and since it
doesn't fit in my cupboard, because theres no room,
I've got it on top of the cupboard, for now.


In this picture you can see the two bottom shelves of my
stitching cupboard. Thread has to be kept secure thanks
to Rupert, who'll go into the cupboard when my back is
turned to grab whatever might be there to take. The
wire basket holds big charts, and the dark blue tin/box
on the bottom shelf holds small charts. But it's full. So
really tiny charts have gone into one of the plastic baskets.
For now.


And the top shelf holds more fabric, threads, accessories
and my binder of freebees. Charts seem to be the hardest
things to store, but have them in a way that's its easy to pull
out what I want without causing an avalanche. I guess it's
all a work in progress.

You want to see a craft/stitching room to die for?? Go
to Coni's blog - Spinster Stitcher and search out the
pictures of her incredible room. It is a room to die for!!
Wonder if she designs libraries?? Hmmm...


After finishing Shadow's Return mid week I picked out
another favourite author's newest book to read. This is
book three in Jacqueline Carey's second trilogy about
the land of Terre d'Ange.

The first series featured Phedre no Delaunay, courtesan and
spy, and Joscelin Verreuil, master swordsman, former
Cassiline brother, and Phedre's lover. The second series
features Phedre and Joscelin's foster son Imriel, who's
mother and father were traitors to their country, and who's
love for the heir to the d'Angeline throne threatens to
tear the country apart.

Jacqueline Carey writes books that are rich in detail.
She has taken our world and recreated it in a new and
unique and fascinating way. Not just the countries, but
their histories, their religions and their traditions. And
there is romance and passion in abundance. When I
read these books I really lose myself in them.

I will be sorry to reach the end of this series, but I understand
that Carey intends to write more books about Terre
d'Ange, although setting them in different eras from the
first two trilogies.


And a couple of graphic books/comic books came out that I
was delighted to find. I'm a huge fan of Lynn Johnson's and
I didn't know these two in the series were out until I found
them in the bookstore yesterday. I have pretty much all of
her books and am always reading through them and getting
involved in the lives of the Patterson family. The early
books were about Elly and John, and their young family. Just
short strips with funny anecdotes about raising a family.
But then the strips evolved into longer story lines, with
serious real life events mixed in with the humor. And the
artwork evolved too, becoming more detailed and real.
This is the only comic that has makes me laugh out loud,
and that I've also been moved to tears over.


Rain. Thunderstorms. More rain. For a summer that
experts were predicting was going to be hot and dry,
it's sure been a wet and somewhat cool one. Even when
it's humid theres been a breeze to keep things from
getting too unbearable. So the grass is still green, even
in those areas that are the first to turn brown and
brittle after a few days of heat and sun. And DH hasn't
had to water the grass at all yet this summer!!


I love coleus and always plant a few in the garden, under
our big shade tree. And I put some in this planter which
we put at the side of the house, just at the gate leading
into our yard. This spot gets some sun for a couple of
hours a day, but otherwise is in shade for the rest of the
day. The variegated leaves add colour to the spot and
visual interest. The flowers are negligible, and not the
main focus of this plant. These aren't as tall as they
usually get by this time of year because of the weather
I think, but they're coming along nicely all the same.

***************************************************

This 'n That.....

My mouth and tongue are pretty much back to
normal now, although it was Wednesday of this
week before I could say that. What a relief!!

DH had the old car appraised yesterday, since
it's been almost 25 years since the last time he
had it done. We took her out for a short drive
yesterday again, and maybe will do so again
today. Promised the neighbourhood kids a
ride too sometime. And ..er..their parents too!

DH's company move is just about over, and now
comes the fun part. Unpacking and settling in.
And the necessary renovations to adapt the
new building to the needs of their work. It's
been a rough and exhausting few weeks for
him and he's covered in nicks, cuts and bruises
from all the lifting and packing. We've got
two weeks of vacation coming up soon, and
he's going to need it.

I guess that's about all the news for this week. It's been
awhile since I posted any cat pictures so here's Rupert
sprawled in one of the tub chairs enjoying his afternoon
siesta! What a life.

Have a great week everyone!! Cheers!!