Wednesday 28 February 2007

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?

You scored as Hermione Granger (why am I not surprised?). You're extremely hard-working and will not feel satisfied with yourself unless you've given everything your all. You're very intelligent and make good use of your witty remarks and astounding ability to insult people. You tend to be a stickler for the rules but are smart enough to know that rules sometimes need to be broken. Your major downfall, however, is your fear of failure, which you should have no reason to fear. You love your friends but also like to keep them in line.

Hermione Granger

75%

Luna Lovegood

72%

Neville Longbottom

66%

Sirius Black

66%

Albus Dumbledore

66%

Harry Potter

63%

Severus Snape

56%

Remus Lupin

56%

Lord Voldemort

56%

Ron Weasley

53%

Oliver Wood

53%

Bellatrix Lestrange

44%

Percy Weasley

34%

Draco Malfoy

16%


Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test
created with QuizFarm.com

Sunday 25 February 2007

Love With a Capital L - Papillon Creations

I'm working on a list of projects for the house that I bought with my DH in 2005, so there is a tie-in between all the projects I'm currently working on.

I get the impression that I'm an odd bod for a cross stitcher because I seriously work on only one project at a time with another longterm UFO for diversion therapy (at the moment, I have two UFOs, but one has been put away for the duration - I've lost interest). Most people I know have at least half a dozen projects going!

Therefore, having finished my friendship sampler, it's time to announce my next project. Have a look to the left. It's the 'Love with a Capital L' by Papillon Creations. I have yet to grid my fabric before I start, and being so busy with work to be done before I go to Perth, WA, with my DH in mid-March, it might be a while before you get an update.

I'm going to use the same kind of evenweave fabric (Linda white 25count over 2 stitches) & the colours from Amitie & I've picked out a pink from 'Oriental Splendour' (my next project) to do this this project. I think it's going to be beautiful.

I hope you enjoy the progress reports once they start coming in. In the meantime, look for updates of my Tuesday SAL of 'Frederick the Literate'. He's a gem!

Happy stitching to everyone.

Bliss

Last weekend of summer

©2006, Sergio Gargiulo


Wow, time has flown! I've been leading a blissful but busy life with lots happening in my world but not much of which has been worth writing home about. Some good news, though, is that my frozen shoulder is finally gaining back a little movement & the pain levels have significantly diminished in the last few weeks. Yee ha!

Weatherwise, it has been a strange Summer. Apart from two super hot days in November, we've had no hot weather at all. The rain has come and gone so the garden is green, the swimming pool full of water & my roses blooming, but sadly, the city's dams are still nowhere near full. Water restrictions prevail & probably will continue so for another few years.

Paul is enjoying the challenges of his not-so-new-job & the kids are well & busy doing their thing. Paul's doing significant travelling again & the offsprings' academic year has begun again. I'm gradually getting used to not being the hands-on mother I was even a year or two ago. The reality is that the 18 to 25 year olds don't want that kind of mother, so I'm going with the flow. Let me tell you that it takes a while to get used to (yet none of my older & wiser female family members have ever mentioned this phase in life).

I'm gradually forging my own pathway. To be honest, having become a mother so young (I was barely 21 years old), it's taking a while to work out what to do with myself now that the acute mothering phase is over. I'm a bit lost but not at all unhappy. I've had a great 12 months working on the house, travelling with Paul & stitching various cross stitching projects that I have wanted to do for so long. I'm also now working on some further studies at uni, but I've still a way to go until I've marked out where to go & what to do with the next 40 years of my life. I like the idea of five year plans. No doubt that with a wee bit more planning, all will be revealed.

In the meantime, let's look at the end of Summer with some poetry found on the net. It's sort of appropriate to think of Autumn at this time (but not yet in terms of my Autumn years - LOL) ...

Summer's End

Goodbye summer, Goodbye summer
Robins migrate, Roses die.
Goodbye summer, Goodbye summer
Colorful leaves fly through the sky.
Goodbye summer, Goodbye summer
And now in the depths of fall we lie.

Erikah Sei

Happiness & laughter always,

Bliss

Tuesday 20 February 2007

AmitiƩ


Finally, a photo of my current wip! I've been working on it for about two weeks. Gorgeous, isn't it? Like Frederick, this is an easy one to stitch.

While I modified the pattern's colours to suit, I decided not to translate the French into English. This will be a lasting symbol to the year I spent in France & the wonderful people I met.

Happy stitching everyone!

Bliss

Wednesday 14 February 2007

St Valentine's Day

I hope you all have a wonderful day of friendship & / romance.

Funny story. Most of my off-spring went to a family wedding with their father on the weekend (one of the sadest things about divorce is that you lose half the family you love along with it - I'd have given my eye teeth to be there too).

Eldest Princess, aged 25 years, is mortified! She caught the 20 year old bride's bouquet after her grandmother shoved her to the front of a crowd of girls. Miranda told me that it was a gut reaction. LOL

"Something came flying at me, Mum. I simply put out my hands to catch it, just as I would have done on the basketball court."

Having caught this gorgeous bunch of flowers & recognising the significance of the act, what did my darling girl do? She batted it away as fast as she could & burst into tears. LMAO!

Twenty-eight year old partner, Duncan's, response at having caught the bouquet at all? "What did you have to do that for?"

He's getting plenty of flack as it is from his parents to make the Princess an honest woman without Grandma's efforts.

Grandma's more desperate than I am to see her eldest granddaughter married (I remember in 1978 her wanting to send 24-yo William to Hong Kong to find himself a nice wife - I should have taken that as an omen considering I was sitting on the bench seat in the car with the two of them as they had the conversation). I'm laid back enough to know that if there's to be a wedding between Miranda & Duncan it will happen in its own sweet time.

Happiness & laughter always,

Bliss

Tuesday 13 February 2007

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.

“If you have the time” I said.

God smiled. “My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?”

God answered...

“That they get bored with childhood,they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money...and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future.”

"That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mineand we were silent for a while.

And then I asked...

“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”

“To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved.”

“To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn to forgiveby practicing forgiveness.”

“To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them.”

“To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most,but is one who needs the least.”

“To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings.”

“To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently.”

“To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said,

“Just know that I am here... always.”

-author unknown

Wednesday 7 February 2007

What Tarot Card are You?


You are The Star


Hope, expectation, Bright promises.


The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised


The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.


What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Friendship Sampler - a new project

Take a look at the lovely blue heart sampler to the left. Isn't it beautiful? I'm not using the exact recommended colours, though they are still blues (I tried dyeing fabric & matching it with pinks & plums, but it looked less classy so scrapped that idea). Instead, I matched it to some colours in another project I have already completed & one I have in the stash pile still to do. This one hasn't appeared on any list but it has been in the stash pile as a downloaded file from Carinne for a while.


Um ...? Good thing I didn't put up a date for my quitting cross stitch thoughts I had before Christmas, huh? LOL

Frederick is still going - it's a simple stitch job - but he's been put to the side as my Tuesday SAL for the moment so that I can work on the new project.

I tried some more fabric dyeing last week. The real aim of the dyeing wasn't that I was keen to start MORE stitching/floss collecting but simply that I bought the wrong material for my Mirabilia 'Mermaids of the Deep Blue' project & I didn't want to buy yet another piece of fabric. So for all you people who want to know, Zweigart's Pastel Linen in Amsterdam Blue looks glorious with an over-dye of Dylon #6. They are going to be pretty mermaids when they are done.

Blissful cross stitching everyone!

Bliss

Tuesday 6 February 2007

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've been so busy lately, I hardly know myself!

First of all, it's hot, hot, humid & sticky here in Brisbane at the moment. I feel like I'm wading through a fog like you get in the bathroom after a hot shower, one that lasts the whole day through - most unpleasant. It makes me feel lethargic when the air-co isn't rattling away.

Last Saturday, Paul & I went to a lovely little BYO restaurant in Auchenflower called Sprout. The food was really good (particularly the bitter chocolate & hazelnut tart served with home made vanilla icecream)& the chef & his staff very attentive. I recommend it.

On Sunday we dined out again, this time lunch at a cafe on the south side of town called Eleven 17. The food was nice & the company spectacular. Whilst there, we helped my long term friend, Anne, celebrate her birthday.

Paul's away again, this time in Perth. It's a quick trip (Monday to Thursday).

We are having dinner on Thursday night (about an hour after Paul flies back in) with my children & William, their father. Will's passing through town on his way south to a family wedding. There are many people who think it odd that we are all fairly comfortable in sitting down to a meal together (Paul, William & I), but that's us. We don't really care what others think, except for the off-spring, & they love it.

School's back in for both the kids & me this semester. Yes, folks, I'm back at supply teaching AND hitting the books for some serious study - Master Applied Science here I come! What exactly does that entail? Well now, please don't laugh but it means that I have to do senior high school maths again because (woe is me) though I passed last time (circa 1977), I wagged too many classes way back then to remember anything now. Sigh!

This year, I'm also doing IT, psychology, statistics, & reasoning subjects - not only will I be able to work out what the kids collectively might be asking for, it's also not going to be a good year to argue the case for more pocket money (not that they do, to be honest).

I'm off to bed. It's late.

Love, happiness & laughter always,

Bliss