more stuff

Just as well I got all the other stuff tidy and away because the Quilting Arts Gift Issue arrived this afternoon so that has put us behind the 8 ball very quickly. I only ordered 300 and there is no possibility of ordering any more so once they have gone, that is it. I had better keep one for myself this time round. I am expecting Cloth Paper Scissors any day too - it may be a little late because of the gift issue but preparing ourselves......

Even more exciting though was the fact that all the London boxes turned up this morning and all the lovely goodies I bought - mostly books - have been lovingly unpacked. We hardly had any stock left which is what we always aim for - silly to take stuff over and bring it back again. I try to offload anything onto Sarah..... So a few excitements to share before too long. I had forgotten about this book 'Just Stitch' by Lesley and Nikki - lots of people in Australia will know Lesley as she has taught here quite often - I seem to have run into her over the years. It's a really lovely book - she and Nikki were at Ally Pally and whenever I felt sorry for my lower legs and feet I thought of the pain she was in.. Her words inside read 'to all who enjoy the inspiration of antiquity and the pleasure of stitching'. Isn't that all of us?

I also brought back a heap of new Indian printing blocks. We have a few of the old ones left - about 15 or so which we are selling at a good price. See the web. Then we will load some of these - there are lots of different designs - big and little. And I also have these wonderful long silk ends - super for dyeing and everything else. In pastel colours - I will try to get Ian to load them for Nov special. We hope to get our specials up as fast as possible for Nov since we were away for October and we have all sorts of good things. As soon as the QA Gift mag has gone out. I am sure everyone knows it's more exciting to wait a few days rather than be up on day 1 of the month - too predicatble for words.


Last night we went to a concert - not sure why really - large orchestral works from the Romantic period are not our thing. Anyway we got home about 10pm and ate very late with a nice red wine and slept right through until 7am so jet lag is over.... yeah! I have been ready to get up at 4am this week. I have stitched one of my 3 postcards knitting the sari ribbon but will wait until they are all finished and joined up before I post pics. Not sure where Ian has all the pics from Marrakech but wait patiently.

Managed a little exploration today - this is one for my rust book - I embellished wool roving - nice thick ones - onto some kunin felt and over the top some hand stitching and a layer of instant silk paper sprayed with Glitz Spritz - wanted to see how it went - and then chiffon (incidentally we brought back 100s of scarves and so full stocks again), and then attacked it with the heat gun. When you heat gun acrylic and wool you do of course get holes and burning cream wool. It's interesting though.

Daylight saving has arrived - yeah - so the evenings are lovely and long and light. And the fence between our property and next door is all slatted up now so nobody can get in. Considering some new chairs for outside. And Maggie - yes I think Contemporary Knitting is superb. Very inspiring indeed. My copy has already got smeary fingerprints all over it.