finally back at it

Yep, I have found my needle again, after about 1 year away... nothing specific happened ', just life I suppose. I have made some changes recently - don't go to the gym any more (too expensive, found it so stressful having to go there after work etc) I feel so much more relaxed now that I can spend time with the things I love doing rather than force myself to do things I don't enjoy.

Here is my work from the last two weeks:
New starter: Mirabilia 'Autumn Queen'

I did count my way up to the top of the design, so that the head will emerge first. It's nice putting a face on her first I suppose and than add the body.

And from last week's rotation: Egyptian King

Doesn't look like much of progess on it, but I did actually work quite a lot on it over the Easter Weekend. It's quite a limited range of colours, and reasonable block of colours, so it is acutally fun to do. 

Another Rainy Bank Holiday Monday

Here is my progress from the Egyptian picture. I'm doing this as a SAL with my friend Jo, and she is sooo much more faster than I am.... never mind. I love stitching on 16ct Aida.

We didn't really do a lot during the Bank Holiday - mainly due to lack of finances LOL. Went to a car boot sale today and got myself a big loot of books. 11 books actually, each one not more than 10 or 20 pence. And I got a nice selection from chick lit to fantasy, crime, vampires to biography. And my 'to be read' pile gets ever bigger ;-))

Tonight it's Britain got Talent - compulsive viewing for me. We all here love this show for the variety of it. Yes, I do now it's probably all pre-selected etc, but we still enjoy it enourmously. As for today's vote -- well, I hope Tobias Mead gets through, he was by far the best I think. Spelbound are unbelievable good acrobats, but in my opinion they are 'too professional' for this show.

Clematis update and new start Egyptian

Ok, I have to admit again that I haven't been a very good blogger. Since going back to work.... yep, there never seems to be enough time at the end of the day to go on the laptop. To be fair on me, we did have an awful connection, and I was hardly able to get wifi connection here upstairs in 'my' room. the connctions is forever breaking up, this is soooo annoying.

Anyway, this is the Clematis update from 2 weeks ago. I actually do start enjoying this piece.

And .... here is the new start:

It will be an a big Egyptian design which I'm stitching as a SAL with my friend Jo. Ever since we went to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin I am really fascinated by all stuff Egyptian, Jo has been for many years.The design is by Anchor and was published in British Cross Stitch Collection Magazine February 2007. We are stitching on 16 ct. Rustico Aida which I think sets it off beautifully. 16ct is one of my favourite counts anyway. The face is stitched with quite a lot of Anchor Marlitt thread (shiny thread) which is not too bad to stitch with actually. I expected it to be very slippery, but it is not half as bad as some metallic threads.  This is how the design will look like when finished: