Birds, Flowers and Zombies

At last something creative, it's been a while.....

I'm still struggling to get myself out of the doldrums but have been trying to get back to some of the things that I have always enjoyed, some of the things that have distracted my from difficult times in the past.

So for the last few weeks I have been working on a cross stitch post card that I owed for a swap which ended back in January. Thankfully my swap partner has been very patient with me.I picked a pattern from a magazine that I bought a while back. I didn't have the colours required to follow the chart exactly so I just used some left overs from a couple of my Mum's projects that I finished up last year. I don't know why but the colours and the background reminded me of twilight so I finished the card off with a piece of blue dotty ribbon which I thought could be representative of a starry sky.

I have enjoyed getting back to stitching but I don't have the same passion for it as I had before, but that can be said for pretty much everything in my life at the moment. I'm hoping it will come back in time and meanwhile I am determined to keep using needle and thread. So I have started on a small kit I bought on Ebay a while back.I do a lot of driving round for my work and at the moment there are lots of wonderful wild poppies all over the place growing magnificent red by the roadsides. I'm so out of practise with my stitching I don't think I will be quite able to do justice to their wild beauty but I will carry on regardless and hopefully my enjoyment of the process will shine through enough to redeem the finished picture.

I couldn't leave today without changing the subject wildly. I just had to tell you about this fabulous, funny book I am reading at the moment. Well worth buying for the cover alone, never mind the imagery of the Bennet sisters being commanded to form a 'pentagram of death' by Mr Bennet in the pursuit of a bit of zombie slaying, love it!

Creative Paper Quilts

What a perfect way to start my week off, the perfect little package in the post on Saturday.

Inside was this beautiful ATC

and Terri's wonderful new book

not only that but a wonderful message inside, just for me :)

I have been following Terri's blog ever since I discovered blogland. If you haven't visited yet your really should she makes such wonderful pieces. I'm looking forward to having a good read of the book and picking out some projects and techniques to try, there is certainly plenty in there to inspire.

I could start a library ...

I can't sleep so instead I thought I'd blog. I found out last night that I'm on the verge of a potential family crisis, pow it just came flying at us right out of the blue. This thing might not come to pass but if it does the way I live right now will be turned upside down, there will likely be no time for blogging or stitching, so if I suddenly disappear for a while don't worry I'm ok, just riding out a storm.

In the meantime I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible so back to usual content :) I love this time of the year, dark, cold evenings which provide the perfect excuse to sit and stitch in front of the TV. The down side is that as I am at work during all of the daylight hours, it's difficult to get decent photos of anything. So even though there has been stitching I don't have pictures to share yet.

Instead I thought I'd share the results of the Amazon spending spree I went on while without machine.

I thought these would keep me company until the machine was fixed, sadly they all turned up the same day the machine was returned so plan foiled. So far I have only found time for a quick flick through them but I can't wait to have a proper read.

Sex, Lies and Embroidery

Today I had hoped to spend mostly hanging out soaking up the atmosphere of the folk festival but sadly the weather had other ideas. It's been raining all day. We did take a walk into town and there were still a few hardy dancers battling the rain but it just wasn't the same as yesterday.

Instead we spent some time wandering round the shops. I'm not usually an impulse buyer but we were in the book store and for the first time ever I bought a book on a total whim. I didn't even read the blurb on the back to find out what it was all about!

The tag line at the top reads 'A Powerful tale of sex, lies and embroidery' Who could resist, lol! It turns out to be an historical novel about the bishop who commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry. Anyone read it? I guess only time will tell whether it's as exciting as the tag leads you to believe.