Saturday smiles...

No offense meant to any blonde!! :)

Paquôswap received!

For the French-challenged, this is a word play on the theme of Easter and exchange (Pâques and swap).

See that beautiful cartonnage album Isabelle sent me, it includes a stitched piece on the cover and it's all been done by herself! Isabelle also sent me a super lovely notebook with my name (how did she find it? :) and a beautiful pink card with flowers. I am so appreciative of the work involved to create a photo album out of pieces of cardboard and paper!! She must have spent many hours working on it. See for yourself!

Catwalk over the Grand Canyon

Just saw this - yikes, not for the heart-fainted! ;-)

added:

Much better photos here.

What a busy week

Yes, I remember I've been tagged by Michele, yes, I have many emails to answer to... I've you're reading this - I *will* write! Just need to find a moment. So much work, so little time. And I try to use that little free time in the evening to stitch fast, fast, fast :)
I've stitched the ornie for Mary K., will attempt to do the finishing part tonight as well. It's soon 9 pm here and I need to get up at 5 am to do the text for 10 am. I don't complain though, this money will help a lot, also to pay for the March stash craziness, heh. ;-)

Last year in March we did a wonderful trip far north in Norway, to Tromso and its surroundings. We hired a small car and spent all the 4 days discovering The Wild Cold Norwegian North at its best. Now I'm thinking of a summer trip when the sun is up all day, all night... that's something to plan for May or June 2008, we'll probably go even more north, to the Nordkapp and Kirkenes. I'm already dreaming :)

Here are a few pictures from that trip:

First day of spring!

And I am a really happy bunny! Unexpectedly and despite money being tough this spring on both sides due to house and car repairs and and and and, you know the story, H. will be here for Easter! Yoooplaaa!! I can't say enough how much I'm happy. Because I didn't hope he could come. Because I didn't expect it. Because we will be spending it at my Aunt, a whole week in my life's paradise! I've written many times how much I love going there. It's a place that gives me back all lost energy and loads my internal batteries for some time. My aunt is the rare type of woman everybody loves because of the way she spreads love and care and laughter all around, to everybody. Everybody feels at easy at her house and wants to spend a long time :). This is probably a special place to me because the house, the garden have remained almost exactly the way they were when I was born, the only place I consider "mine" on Earth. Granted, houses have grown around and woods have been cut down, my uncle died over a year ago, but till there is my 99 years old grandma and my aunt, it will remain unchanged for me... I fear things will change from A to Z when grandma leaves, but till then... And H. LOVES going there too! He enjoys stays at my father as well, but somehow this is not the same. My father loves to organize everyone's day while my aunt lets you relax so completely mentally. She creates such an atmosphere that I just *love* working with her in the kitchen for hours, days in a row and preparing a traditional Polish Easter together with her is an exceptional joy for me. She's so happy that we'll both be there for Easter! There will be both my cousins with wifes and kids and my cousin's wife's mother, my aunt, my grandma, me and Hakon, I just caaaaan't wait!!!

Because plane tickets prices are extremely high to Warsaw now (sigh... why can't men react earlier...), H. will fly to Berlin which is just a 2,5 h drive from my Aunt, maybe more because of the queues at the German/Polish border just before Easter. My cousin offered himself to pick him up at Berlin Schoenefelf airport which has developped into a small family trip, me included :) Funnily, Germany is not a country I ever visited much despite it being relatively close.

The picture above is a hand made Easter beauty I picked at my fav' shop for my Aunt, too bad the photo doesn't show how lovely it is :)

Due to the changes I've had to make to partners in the PS exchanges (big hugs to you ladies reading that for the kind way you accepted them!) I need to stitch and finish two spring exchanges : a stand-up for Kim and a winter/Santa ornament for Mary Kathryn - and though I am very upset [...] about the way the person who dropped off the exchange, sorry, FOUR exchanges two less than 2 weeks from the deadling set for sending the finished pieces, I am delighted to be partnered with these both lovely ladies, so no harm done. I can just hope that there will be no more bad surprises.

I stitched quite long yesterday on the ornie for MK, but this is all I will show:

I am stitching in with WDW/GAST threads on a lovely Silkweaver Desert Sky fabric.

Work awaits...

For all feline fans....

You just have to see this - it made my day!

I am a personal fan of Yo and Screamin' Stevin :)

My Tuesday is awfully busy, just got work enough to keep me even more busy for a week, so I'll write more when I can, soon :)

Tonight I put the last stitches on LHN's Cherries. What a joy to stitch, I loved working on it! I have never bought any from this series before and I got Cherries and Berries with a recent order, just to see, because I loved the design. Lovely, lovely, lovely!! I'll get the other ones when I am rich. One day! LOL



Design: Little House Needleworks "Cherries"


Fabric: Cream 28ct Cashel


Threads: Crescent Colors

You Are 28% Girly

You are a pretty hardcore tomboy, and a very free spirit. Gender roles be dammed, you like to do things your way.

How Girly Are You?

Eyes and money....

Yikes! I finally went to see an eye doctor after several weeks of wondering what's wrong with them and a serious panick moment yesterday when I had another episod of blurry vision while I was looking at some DVDs in town. I had gradually come to the conclusion that I see much worse far away than I did, and I never had eye problems. However these episods of blurriness worried me. Also when I try to thread my needle, everything becomes mixed up. The doc says it doesn't make sense since I can see perfectly well very close. She is suspecting sugar problems, in any case an "internal" problem or simply a case of eyes being tired after much too many hours of working at the computer and stitching. I have conjunctivitis as well, so I got eye drops and I must do sugar blood tests. I have perfect sight on one eye and +0,75 on the other one, but she said the eyes compensate and that I would probably feel discomfort if I wore correction glasses for that eye. Also, she said I will need correction glasses much later than other people. Good. However, this sugar thing worries me so I'll do the tests soon, just to be on the sure side. The most important event of the visit was that she prescribed "zero" glasses, a special multi-filter type for working at the computer. Let me repeat, yikes! I didn't realize that glasses and frames are sooooo expensive! I resisted Givenchy and Dior models for 400 usd (though they suited me best) and chose a type for about 130 usd, then the glasses will cost about the same but the lady recommended them, they have a new super type. That will put me in even deeper poo financially, but what has to be done has to be done. I don't dare thinking how much such things cost in Norway.

I finished, ironed and packed several projects. First, the Easter napkin for my Aunt. It is traditional enough and I know she will love it.

I passed by my favorite handcrafts/art gallery and picked a few hand-made cards to send out for Easter. The person who makes them is sooooo talented! I commented that I wish I could buy them all and send them to myself! LOL

That one has real "tatting" inside the egg...That one is soooo lovely as well...That one even has beads...

That one is hand-painted on silk (the camera distorted the colors, what is violet is more pink-purple in real)...And that one, well I love it so much so I'll send it to...

That'll be all for today, thanks for visiting my blog! :)

I'm back....

And happy to be home :). The week at my father was both lovely and stressing, but we both did our best to cope with small conflicts ;-). When two strong personalities meet and on top of that they are both so similar (after all, I'm my father's daughter, no doubt about that LOL!)... He expects me to obey to all his request right now, on the spot, and I resist... especially when each of the things he asks me for can be done in a little while. I really don't have to walk the dog when I'm cooking lunch or bring wood for the fireplace when I fix stuff on his computer etc. etc. Sounds like I am socially difficult but really not LOL! My father is so used to giving orders and being obeyed... He knows he can be difficult and he has a fantastic sense of humor so all is fine in the end but yes, sometimes I felt I wanted to strangle the first living creature I see! ;-)

Unexpectedly he said he would like to have a serious talk with me, it was about how money/material things are to be dealt with after he leaves one day and this stuff wasn't easy for me. Not because of having to listen to his will, because I strongly believe that if someone (of whatever age) feels for saying something of that type at any moment in life, this should be listened to with respect. It's just that these are very sad, annoying, disturbing things for me related to dividing stuff once he's not there, because his wife, well, has decided to make it difficult for me and my brother. I won't say more in this public space but it is beyond me how people can be greedy, greedy, greedy. And it is somehow beyond me why despite all this greediness and [...], my father chooses not to fight for mine and my brother's rights and prefers peace... What he asks me to do is so beyond my ethical rules and what I am as a person. And how his wife can pretend to be family and be all smiles while doing so much behind our backs... Anyway, I was careful not to say anything that could hurt my father and I am very proud of the friendship and trust he puts in me, of the mature way we talk about all this stuff. It's weird but I am so happy about the way we talk about uneasy aspects of life. Oh well, I won't treat his wife differently since she doesn't know I know anything, but I told my father I won't have any more "family" emotions to her - and he said he doesn't ask me to. Phew. Anyway, the most important is that she takes good care of him and that he has a happy life, that's all I care about.
We went to the movies, had two good meals out, I cooked a couple of my favorite lunches/dinners too, such as a Chinese chicken curry wok or caramel dessert. He loved it :)

Back home, I found two envelopes waiting for me: one with older leaflets I got on ebay and one bigger order from Amy . Plenty of goodies to stitch for the next months. I am awaiting another order from Theresa with threads and then I hope I will resist the urge to buy stash till after the summer :). I certainly need fabric and threads though.

Soooooo. Cross-stitch... where am I at?

I finished my Prairie Schooler Spring exchange for Susan S.
Just need to wash it and iron and pack goodies into an envelope. This is all you'll see from it till Susan receives it :)

I need to do the needle case now. I want it to be super nice so it'll take time :). This will be the first I will make and the first I will receive. I really have only a few stitched gifts and I cherish them...

I also stitched the Easter piece for the French swap. Again, I can only show a tiny bit:

... but I am sure some of you will recognize it, or at least the designer :)
Then... I also finished the Easter yellow eggs napkin for my Aunt. Will post a photo when it's ironed.
Among the older leaflets I got, there is an old one with birds of all kinds... which I loved! See the two little cuties below. And an older sampler that won't be prioritary, but will be stitched, for sure. And an older Cricket Collection with this adorable spring pillow :)



While in a bookstore last week, I couldn't resist buying Ricamare, an Italian cross-stitch magazine, only for these charming pillows... I immediately fell in love with them, aren't they lovely?! The bad quality of the photo doesn't show how cute they are :)

I'll end here (time to work!) with a photo of the supplies I got yesterday to do the finishing part on the French Easter piece. No, I won't use all of them LOL! but I wasn't sure which ones will be the right color or even structure once I have the piece mounted on styrofoam (most probably), so I prefered to buy enough of different ones to have a choice at the right moment. All or mostly pink... my favorite color... not baby pink, pastel pink, but a nicely intense pink, raspberry pink, indian pink... :)

Easter rabbit freebie

Ursulasherz has issued the March freebie, a cute little rabit :)

The link on the page doesn't work, the correct one is click here.

I might stitch it because it is so adorable :)

Friday busy busy busy

Isn't that photo funny? I took it this morning. Devil queen was deep asleep, I wanted to cuddle her and then WANG! BANG! here she turns towards me, belly up, ready to scratch..... see close-up below... LOL!

I worked all night, sent out one job, accepted 3 more for Monday (gulp!) on top of what I already have. Then drove to the new shopping center to buy a Samsonite travel bag - but the shop in there only had the exclusive models - 300 usd for a bag, not even a suitcase, thanks but no thanks, then landed in the enormous Marks&Spencer, the biggest of the 4 existing in Warsaw... and almost forgot to go out LOL! Got a new bra, 2 comfy pants for use at home, one elegant pair of black trousers - short and funny though still very elegant, and 2 super cheap white t-shirts. Now I landed home, will take a nap and continue working.... till Monday... (sigh). I rarely have that much work and rarely am soooooo terribly tired.
Talked to my father, he said he's inviting me for dinner to a good restaurant, to cinema++, he's really so happy that I'm coming. I might be happy once I'm there on Monday, but till Monday, it's Hiroshima here! ;-)
I stitched more eggs on the Easter napkin for my aunt. Who knows, I might finish it this w/e and post a photo! :)
Otherwise, all the other spring projects are exchanges so I can't say much but I'll maybe post a mystery picture once I finally start working on them :)
Happy Friday, everyone - enjoy it while I work... boooooohhhh.....

Corrections for CHS Molly!

I just saw that a list of corrections has been posted http://www.carriagehousesamplings.com/news.htm
for Molly's chart, so go have a look if you plan to start stitching one of these four beauties soon :)
Scroll down to see the relevant post.

I am sooo in love with the 4 notebooks they published to match the 4 girls.... but there is no way I can squeeze my credit card more this spring! LOL

Tonight I can head to bed, it's 3 am and sleep till 8 or 9. I worked all last night till 1pm... yup. I have so much work till Monday that it's insane, with subjects running as wide as homeopathy, legal contracts and a 58 pages PPoint marketing presentation. That will help forget the 2 invoices I had to pay this week for stash orders from the US. The final sum was terryifing but I comfort myself with the thought I probably can remain on a stash diet for some long weeks - and I'll have to. I'm also preparing to the trip to my father on Monday. I am not sure when we last spent 6 full days together, must have been almost 20 years ago... how time flies...! His wife will be away and I know it will be difficult to stand my father's small "orders" which he gives happily to everyone in sight from the moment he wakes up till he goes to bed! LOL He is a very lovely person with a huge sense of humor but when it comes to having others do something instead of him... he drives me nuts! Of course he does plenty of things himself as well but he's sooooo used to organizing everyone's time :) I have a very similar character to him and that's maybe why we get into small conflicts permanently, but we love each other to death - of course :) The usual day looks this way: can you bring me that - please I let it fall - now you can wash the dishes (hah! like if I wouldn't do it anyway) - can you prepare tea - doggie needs a walk I'm so tired - why are you up, go to bed - whaaaat, you're still in bed, get up, life's waiting etc. etc. etc. Of course I am exaggerating, of course I am LOL! And he *does* his best to make it super lovely when I'm there - it's just that I hate receiving orders. One childhood was enough :). One more reason why I am so happy with H. - he doesn't give orders. Never. But you know what? He showed me some time ago how similar I am to my father. I give orders to HIM! :) I need to work on that... and remember, don't do to others what you don't like yourself etc... :)
Would you believe that at my age, my father still tells me to wash hands when I arrive and to wash my teeth before breakfast... LOL!
In the short moments between work and short sleep, I was able to add a few eggs more to the Easter napkin to my aunt. Two days more and that project will be over. My stash orders won't arrive from the US until I'm back from my father and I need them to do 1) one of the Prairie Schooler exchanges 2) Paquoswap -the French Easter exchange. So I need to think of something easy to stitch while at my father's. Will go through my stash and think. I don't think I have a very long, narrow piece of fabric for the second sampler from the French magazine so it'll be something else. In my head I've been planning my needlecase for Nancy K. for the other Prairie Schooler exchange I'm in.... It will be my first one and this first one will be rather ambitious for my skills, but I'm eager to try :) I already have the fabric I plan to use to [....] ;-) Hush, Nancy might be reading! :)

Busy Monday

I spent most of Sunday preparing for assigning the partners for the four Spring Exchanges in our Prairie Schooler group. I watched the Oscars ceremony which ended past 6 am here (gulp!) and stitched one of the eggs for my aunt's napkin. I chose something suitable for Easter, and bright and traditional at the same time. Here is the first one :)

And when you think you've seen it all...

A driver lost control of his car, left the right lane and entered the stairs leading to one of Warsaw's metro stations... with his car! The good thing is that it's not one of the busy ones and only one person was there at that moment and got injured. The police say they've never heard of such a thing.

French Noel Sampler finished!

Tra-la-la! I finished the French sampler last night. I must tell you this was one of the most pleasurable pieces to stitch in my whole stitching life. Why? Hard to describe. It's just that it was an easy work that was enjoyable, easy while extremely rewarding. Now that it is finished, I have a hard time deciding, should I frame it or just make a wall-hanging? I absolutely love that design. I will take a better picture tomorrow in daylight and after it's ironed - my furry kids made a plastic bag fall onto the iron and well, I have to try to rescue it - the plastic is firmy glued to the base! LOL That's the reason why I am showing it still wrinkled today. I couldn't wait to show it off! :)
I substituted Isa V's initial with my darling's (HK) but I left the first AB letters at the top. I know it doesn't make much sense but I'd have to rework the whole alphabet as the letters were of varying width etc. Seeing IV daily makes no sense to me so at least I changed that :)

Back to blogging

It's been a while since I last wrote here, but it's been very busy. I've gradually reduced participation in groups to just a couple, and I've even hit the "delete" button for one more group last week. Some time ago I realized how much time I spend on the computer daily - partly because of work, partly because of cross stitch and other browsing, but I felt it was insane. I decided to keep a better contact with persons I like and want to keep contact with, be it just by reading their blogs, instead of reading xxxx messages without much content, and wow! It worked. I feel I've never feel inspired more by other people's finishes, I learn a lot, some blogs are inspiring in other ways, and I went back to other passions such as cooking. Ah yes, I checked descriptions of needle felting on the web. No, it doesn't sound like something I would like to master. The result is awesome, but the technique doesn't appeal very much to me, I mean, this is not something I would like to do all day LOL!
Anyway, work slowed down to zero yesterday so I have no excuse not to write :)
H. flew in from Norway last Wednesday and left Sunday evening. Relationship-wise, this was not the best stay. We kept mini-quarelling all the time. I was nervous during all his stay for reasons related to myself, something I haven't done and which was very important to me before he came. I know, what I write doesn't make sense but I won't say more in this blog ;-). The second reason was that my devil cat queen decided to show H. a small sample of her capacities. I can't count how many times he got scratched or bitten without any reason (seen from a human's side). What can I say, he continually moved his fingers in front of her head when he reached for things around, and that is a big no-no in Toska's life. She hates that and attacks. Well, she has changed a bit - she doesn't use nails anymore and her biting is not very serious, but once in a while, when she is very angry, she uses all her weapons in ways only cat have mastered :). I remember once H. was just sitting on the couch and working on his laptop and Toska attacked out of the blue. So, the conflict between us is about her. He said I didn't consult him when I took her from the shelter (not true, I did) and that she gives nothing out of herself. Well, yes, she doesn't. But for zillions reasons only real cat and dog lovers understand, I love her and she's not moving out, no way. He did not suggest that at all, but the problem we're facing is my 2 months summer stay in Norway this year. Last year I flew there only with Happy (our lovely dog), but this time Toska can't stay at my aunt because she's made a hard life to the other cats there, plus my aunt now has two more rescued young cats and she can't expose them to Toskas's bad behavior. I know she would take her if I ask, but I know how hard it was last summer and I don't want to expose her to that. One of her cats even stopped coming home for the period my devil cat was there. And no, I won't put her to pension for 2 months, that's much too long for a cat, and especially for her. Problem: so far H. says he doesn't want her at his home. He says he sees no good in her. And she really didn't make it easy for him to love her this time :). She even attacked his feet under the bed cover at night! LOL In one word, I am unsure what to do. Probably - I know my man, he has a golden heart and this is the first time he says a firm No to something, but that will pass - he will accept her. I did all the expensive blood tests for Happy last year so I don't have to repeat it this year, but I have to pay for Toska's. She is already chipped. However, bringing them both for just two months is a costly experience. I know I love animals too much. I often say I hope a poor homeless doggie doesn't cross my way in the streets, I would have to take care of her. I say "her", because Happy wouldn't accept any male dog in here, so at least that reduces possibilities by 50%.
Otherwise we did a lot while H. was here. At home we installed a new Microsoft ergonomic keyboard and it's taken me several days to get accustomed to the new model, and H. spent long hours changing things in my computer network and the configuration of my computers/laptop. He gave me a better videco card, new hard drives and external boxes, all that was a lot to do. We had a lovely Mexican dinner out in our favorite restaurant, two dinners in our fav' Chinese place, went twice shopping to the new center that's been opened downtown only last week, bought a card for the laptop so I can have a 3G/EDGE/GPRS connection while traveling, etc. On Sunday, just before lunch and leaving for the airport, we took Happy for a long walk in town and I showed H. some streets he hasn't seen before, of historical interest. It was an extremely lovely walk in winter sun. Snow has melted but it wasn't very cold and sunny at the same time.
I am planning to visit my father, not sure when exactly, possibly in a week or two. His wife will be away the first part of March, she loves to go to the mountains in Zakopane with a friend at this time of the year. I believe it's a tradition they both had since 30 years at least, or maybe more, since I remember they studied medicine together :). If I visit my father while she's away, he'll feel less lonely :) and we have a job to do: he found more family pictures we need to go through together (he describes them to me and I note it down) so he can add some of them to the memories book he's writing and I can take the photos. I'm sort of the family repository for photos. I usually scan a big part and send a CD with them to my brother and other interested persons.
No stitching news really. I haven't picked up my needle since a week. I couldn't resist and ordered several charts from the Market. Sorry, dear credit card, but you'll have to starve! LOL Especially when I saw the new Carriage House Samplings charts, I knew I have to stitch them right away. I won't receive my orders before 10 days at least because the store owners will only receive some charts later this week.
Tomorrow, I'll put the last stitches on the french Christmas sampler and start stitching the French Easter swap for my partner, maybe. Or something totally else! LOL because there is still time :)
I also spent time updating my wishlist. I took off dozens of older charts I'll maybe find cheap one day on ebay and uploaded newer ones. I don't think I'll ever be able to get all of them but at least I can dream away! :)

I've uploaded some pictures here from H's stay. Most show the new shopping center opened last week. It is an amazing structure which the photos don't show. The roof is made of millions of glass prisms and it looks like a moving wave seen from the exterior. I read this is the first structure of this type in the world. A similar one exists in the British museum but only consists of one dome, here there are seven interconnected. It looks amazing from the outside. I found two pictures here and here. Mine only show it from the inside and don't show the structure well anyway. And we were stopped by a guard who said it's forbidden to take photos (heavens know why!) so I can't show the funny, modern stairs and other parts of the place.

Just a few days more...

H. will be here next Wednesday night for four days, I can't wait :). Already planning how to use that time in a lovely way.

To the persons I haven't replied to - I spent a big part of the day in bed with a stomach bug (ouch!) which ruined my plans, I will do my best to reply to late emails this week-end.

In the world of cross-stitch, I finished my first Pay it Forward to a secret person (for the moment), but I can't show it before that person receives it. I *think* she will like it and I *think* she will be very surprised. Plus, the giftie is not cross-stitched but ------ed, and has been chosen so it matches her love for ---- :)

Second, I'm coming close to an idea about what to stitch for the French blogger's Easter exchange (Paquoswap) and I should start working on it this week-end. I still can't decide between two very different projects. I checked my partner's blog every days and it's not easy to know what might suit her tastes, really. I can't even see any cross-stitch on her blog, but a different craft (don't want to reveal more so she can't recognize herself - just in case, because I don't think she'll read this - the person we send to is not the person who sends to us).

Third, my French Christmas is almost, almost half way done but I was too sick today to take a good shot. Tomorrow is also a day ;-)

Fourth, the new spring exchanges in our Prairie Schooler group. We're working on them with Linda and I hope to announce them very soon. I look forward to participating myself!

And fifth, the Prairie Schooler stocking contest -one more person signed in the database, so maybe the contest will be organized, after all. I'll wait to know before I start designing the stocking myself, I have tons to stitch this spring!

Lastly, sixth, I decided to stitch a little Easter napkin for my aunt (I'll be spending Easter with them). She loves my work and I know it's in good hands each time I offer her a cross-stitched something :)

I read about yesterday's Japanese tradition, the Hariukuyo. Some sites call it the Festival of Broken Needles, others the Memorial for Used needles. What a lovely tradition! You can read more about it here . And here, you can see some pictures: http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/51,60153,3905918.html?i=1 and http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/51,60153,3905918.html?i=0

Still thinking about that... shouldn't we all feel thankful to our scissors, needles and other tools for all the work they delivered? Hah! :)

I felt for reorganizing my kitchen and deep cleaning (or spring cleaning or whatever we can call it LOL). Looks like new again! :)

Needle felting

I was just mentioning to someone that I need to get hold soon of a book about needle felting. I have no idea how hard or easy that technique is, but after seing the little jewels this French stitcher (yes!) makes, I can't resist it long.
See for yourself on her blog, and be sure to scroll back in time...
Wow is all I'll say!