T'eyla Minh

I have no idea why I delayed so long in getting back to this, as I was literally only a few stitches away from it being HALF DONE!

That being said:

( Pics 18-19/?? )

Nothing else to report.

Embroidery first...

( Pics 12-16/?? )

Now for work stuff. ( In Which Everyone Is Stressed )

So, there's that.

I have quite a busy weekend ahead, and given I spent the entire frelling Bank Holiday weekend with a migraine, hopefully this one won't be a bloody write-off as well. Because work being stressful is one thing; losing out on what little free time I do have thanks to my body being obnoxious is simpy not on. :P

The new one is growing a bit quicker than I thought it would...

( Pics 2-3/?? )

Any guesses to what it is?

I finally managed to finish the fan this morning (and make a start on a new project), so here are the final two pics. :D

( Pics 28-29 )

Off and on this took about 2.5 years to finish (mostly because I don't tend to do embroidery in winter as my hands are too cold, and also partially thanks to that stupid border being so bloody tedious) but it was definitely worth the effort.

I need to get this one and my unicorn framed at some point...

I also started my next one today as well...

( Pic 1 / ?? )

Nothing else to report.

Now that it's warmed up a bit, here are some embroidery pics. One of these is actually from around Christmas...

( Scans 18-20 / ?? )

Nothing else to report. Updates may be a bit more regular depending on how much embroidery I get done over the next few weeks. ;)

I added loads of embroidery kits to my Amazon wishlist recently (despite having two lined up to do when I've finished this one) and looking at all the pretty designs just made me want to start sewing again, so here's a couple of pictures of the most recent progress...

( Pics 15-16/?? )

I had intended to make Christmas cards this weekend, now that I have a vague idea of what I'm doing and what I want them to look like, but unfortunately Saturday was eaten up by Stupid Drama and today we had to go to an emergency dentist because Paul's infected tooth is giving him grief again (he was supposed to get the bloody thing taken out months ago).

I should probably update about aforesaid Stupid Drama but at this point it would be nothing except an incoherent outpouring of Thoughts, so I may wait until it's blown over a bit...

Paul and I went to Stratford-upon-Avon for our anniversary (9 years!). Initially this was because I realised we could get there from Langley Green and I thought it would be cheaper than going from Birmingham, then it transpired we would have to go through Birmingham on the train anyway so it wasn't. :P

That worked out quite well, as it transpired; I had intended to get my hair cut before going to Denise's on Saturday but I was too knackered, so I got it cut on Wednesday morning instead. Supercuts advised there would be a 45 minute wait but I was in and out within 20 minutes!

The farmers market was on New Street that day, so I had a very nice pulled pork bap for my lunch. Also there were owls! The photographs can be viewed here. :)

We finally managed to get to Stratford for about 2.30 (about an hour later than we initially thought due to doing washing up / laundry and other stuff before leaving the house) and found our B&B with no trouble whatsoever, as it was very close to the station. The landlady (Christine) was very accommodating - if you are ever in Stratford I can recommend Cherry Blossom House. We booked via Hotels.Com and it was £60 for one night in an en-suite double room, with a very nice breakfast in the morning.

( Adventures in the Land of the Bard )

Overall it was a lovely couple of days - a bit tiring but nice to get away for a bit nonetheless.

As for Easter... on Good Friday we did barely anything, then on Saturday we popped into Birmingham to go to the markets for stuff for our Easter Sunday dinner of rolled pork loin (plus some additional bits for a stir-fry). For future reference, the Chinese grocer in the food market sells lots of interesting things (fennel and celeriac and reasonably-priced jars of spices, including about five whole nutmegs).

I also got some stuffing as I intended to make cushions, but then spent Easter Sunday mostly reading POTO fanfiction before cooking dinner, and then on Monday suffered with a persistent migraine.

Oh, and on the Sunday before I did a bit more on my embroidery:

( Pic 12/?? )

Apologies if that picture is still showing up massive; it takes a while for Photobucket to react sometimes.

Anyway, I think that's everything. My next leave is on 6th May (the week after the bank holiday), following which I will hopefully be sharing before/after pictures of our newly-decorated lounge. :)

I kept glancing at this today and thought I should really get cracking with it again. So here are a couple more pics from today...

( Pics 5&6/?? )

Nowt else to report. :)

...here are three shots of the new embroidery showing progress so far.

( Photos 1-3/?? )

Anyway, I need to go bed in about half an hour to try and gain four hours' kip before we have to get up at 3.00am. Not sure how successful that will be, but it's a two-hour flight anyway. :P

HOLIDAY!!!

Pics when I return. I have my phone with me so there might be some Instagram-spam if my international roaming actually works... in any event, we get back on 15th September (horrendously early in the morning), at which point I will update and post photos and probably do more embroidery. :P

Soooo yeah. I had a week off and did bugger all really. SO TIRED. Hardly surprising as it seemed to comprise a lot of walking - walked to the allotment and back on the Saturday (in heatwave), walked to Oldbury on Sunday (in heatwave), walked to allotment and back again on Monday (in heatwave - a pattern is forming), walked back from allotment on Thursday (got bus there from town), and then again there and back on Sunday (in downpour - got drenched), and then we walked into Bearwood on Monday.

The walking to Oldbury and Bearwood was because our bus is rubbish on Sunday service and in both cases we'd just missed one.

We have a half-strimmed lawn because our 10m extension lead wasn't long enough, and now we have a 30m lead of course it's been raining. The heatwave made me dehydrated, the walk in the rain made me cold. I can't win.

Also today at work it's been frigging freezing because the heating is off (because it's June, duh) and someone left a window open over the course of the bank holiday weekend. Cheers for that!

Anyway, Friday to Tuesday have basically been spent watching Paul play Red Dead Redemption on the X-Box and yesterday I did some embroidery, so here are some pictures.

( Scans 60-62/?? )

So that's that.

Also yesterday I made blueberry muffins out of boredom. I was going to make patriotic Jubilee biscuits with Union Jacks and crowns and stuff on them, but couldn't be arsed. The muffins were sort of doomed, really: I ran out of plain flour so about a third of it was self-raising (they flattened like cupcakes instead of retaining their shape), and I'd literally just sifted the dry ingredients when I realised we'd run out of eggs, so I had to sent Paul out for some. Still, they taste okay.

Actually, we've done quite a bit of Proper Cooking this long weekend. On Friday we went to the fish market to fill a freezer drawer - £40 spent on mackerel, sea bream, some frozen queen scallops and king prawns, three chilli-flavoured lobster tails, two swordfish steaks and a bit of monkfish (the latter two are for special occasions). Saturday we did paprika beef in the slow cooker, which was very nice, with leftovers on Sunday with baked potatoes. On Monday I did a Goan fish curry (leftovers for lunch today), which was a bit too hot for Paul but very tasty indeed, and then yesterday Paul did a cottage pie. Tonight we're having lamb koftas with tzatziki to go with some mini pittas in the fridge, assuming I don't pass out from exhaustion first. :P

Last week my intention was to do a bit of work on my latest Pirates-fic, "Oranges to Florida" (songfic), as I'd done about 600 words at work on Friday. Of course, I didn't even look at it. Now watch it eat my sleep because I'm back at work.

I now have no more leave until September (excluding 17th August for Richie's wedding) unless I can sneak in a day or so in July. We're going away at the start of September and then I have a week off in October for my birthday, so I suspect the next two months are going to be long and arduous. :(

This was supposed to be a short entry so I'll sign off now. :P