First Plane Ride

First Plane Ride
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

First Plane Ride

Journalling ~
12th August, 2004
Packing for your first plane ride was rather like trying to provision an army. We had your carseat, our suitcase, Mummy's TARDIS-like nappy bag that had just about everything imaginable in it, and you riding in the Baby Bjorn. I was rather nervous, as it was the first time I had taken you away by myself, but it all went well and we had a lovely time visiting all your grandparents.

Credits~
Background Paper, plane and arrow cutouts from A is for Airplane Sampler by Jan Hosford; staples by Kim Hill; paint from Brush Strokes by Kim Hill; chipboard action from Atomic Cupcake; font is Accent.

I've made the change

I have, reluctantly, made the change to Beta Blogger. I did it now as otherwise I couldn't get Flickr to post pictures for me. (Of course, it still may not as I haven't tried again yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.)

So here's hoping everything doesn't go totally whacky on me - and you.

Be afraid

Just a warning that I've finally uploaded a whole bunch of recent scrapbooking layouts and they'll start appearing very soon.

You have been warned. :-)

Quick note to Erin

Yes, I read fifteen books in October, but I didn't do much else. I certainly didn't stitch much.

I spent most of the month working on decreasing my antidepressant dose so that I could shift to a different drug (started the new one yesterday and so far I've got the queasiness side effect) so reading books was a good way to hide from reality but still pretend I was paying attention.

I suddenly got the urge to go back to stitching Alpine Seasons yesterday and so far I've finished the inner border for part 8 and started on the mountains outside it. If this continues I suspect my reading for November will be severely curtailed.

Nut Brown Hares

Nut Brown Hares
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Nut Brown Hares
Art by Anita Jeram
Stitched on 32-ct Glacier Lugana from Countrystitch

I first saw this while I was in delivery at the hospital, in labour with Marcus. One of the midwives (I went through a number as I was there for about 40 hours) was stitching it. I loved it and asked her where she got the pattern. A couple of weeks later it arrived in the post for me.

I initially thought I would stitch it for Marcus, but there was too much going on to take anything else on stitching wise. When I heard my SIL was pregnant, I decided to stitch it for her and my brother's baby.

I finished it about a week after Emma was born, which wasn't too bad considering my health was all over the place at the time.

I still love it and I hope Emma will too when she grows up.

Celtic Horse

Celtic Horse
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Celtic Horse by Textile Heritage
Stitched on 32-ct Marine Belfast from Silkweaver
A gift from my sister
Completed 6th November, 2006

Hooray!

After nothing all year, I now have two finishes for 2006.

Baby Emma's gift has arrived safely and I just finished off the Celtic Horse. I need to take some pictures of the horse and then process and upload the images for both.

Once that's done, there will be some pictures on my blog for a change.

Hooray.

My October Reads

As always, ratings reflect my enjoyment rather than a carefully thought out analysis of the integral quality of the book.

1. Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey (2/10)
Fantasy. One of her Elemental Masters series and a retelling of
Cinderella. Read it for the Fairy Tales theme and didn't finish it
as I just didn't care about the characters.

2. Webmage by Kelly McCullough (7/10)
SF/Fantasy. Clever idea that the Fates use a computer network to do
their jobs. Protaganist is a descendant and hacker who is trying to
stop the destruction of free will. The execution was solid but not
spectacular.

3. Moon Flash by Patricia A. McKillip (8/10)
YA SF. I've been meaning to reread this since it was rereleased and
finally got around to it. I last read it at 16 and I really liked it
all over again now, although there was one major world building issue
I never saw before that kept bugging me as an adult reader.

4. The Moon and the Face by Patricia A. McKillip (7/10)
YA SF. Sequel to Moon Flash and published as a single edition.
Again I enjoyed the reread, but the world building issue remained and
I think the first book had a stronger story. McKillip's strength
lies in fantasy more than SF I think, although these are still well
worth a read.

5. Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale (10/10)
Romance. I tend to read reveiws and commentary *about* romance than
romance itself, and this book is always well received. When a friend
asked me to get it from the library for her because hers didn't have
it, I decided to read it first. I was surprised by just how much I
loved it and found it a really good love story. (That said, the
friend said she ended up skimming it.)

6. Apocalypse Array by Lyda Morehouse (8/10)
SF. Conclusion to Morehouse's AngeLINK series, all of which I've
loved. I thought this was actually the weakest of the lot as the
resolution felt very anticlimatic. That said, I think I can see why
she did it that way, but I'm not convinced she pulled it off. Still
a good book.

7. Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud (8/10)
Fantasy. Solid conclusion to a solid series.

8. Remember When by J. D. Robb (8/10)
Romantic Suspense/Futuristic Suspense. This was the start of some
holiday reading, so I decided to take some of the J. D. Robb books
and a romance series for nice, uncomplicated reading. This one had a
modern first half and a second half with Eve and Roarke. It was a
clever idea and an okay story, but it meant neither story got the
full detail it deserved.

9. Rising Tides by Nora Roberts (8/10)
Romance. I found I really liked this series. This was probably my
least favourite and I'm not sure why as it was still a lovely story.

10. Divided in Death by J. D. Rovb (8/10)
Futuristic Crime/Romance. This was a very solid entry in Robb's
series, with Eve and Roarke facing the most difficult difference of
values yet.

11. Inner Harbour by Nora Roberts (9/10)
Romance. Again, lovely entry in a lovely series.

12. Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs (7/10)
Crime. Good story with solid characters and appropriate rough edges.
A few disturbing moments here and there.

13. Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts (10/10)
Romance. This was my favourite of the whole series. I just wish I
had a more visual imagination so I could picture Seth's paintings.

14. Visions in Death by J. D. Robb (8/10)
Futuristic Crime/Romance. More Eve and Roarke. Yay!

15. Survivor in Death by J. D. Robb (8/10)
Futuristic Crime/Romance. Ditto.

Updating my gallery

I'm in the process of updating my stitching gallery.

Originally I had one that required me to fully html code it. I have accepted that I can't keep up with that sort of thing these days, so started using Flickr, but I still liked the gallery set up and the fact it has most of my finished projects in it.

So I've compromised. Clicking on one of the WIP thumbnails will now take you to a Flickr photo set that has all my progress pictures for that project in it. I've also updated the WIP thumbnails in the sidebar here to like to those photo sets.

But I'm going to keep the gallery for finished projects. That means I'll only need to update the html when I have a finish, but the gallery can be used at any time to find current WIP pics as well.

www.forty-two.co.nz/corner/gallery

Finish and Stash

I did it! I've finished my gift! No pictures until it has been received I'm afraid, but I promise to post once as soon as I can. I'm going to wash and press it tomorrow and then I'll take some photos.

I had a "loyal customer" voucher to spend at my old LNS here in Palmerston North (I'm down visiting my parents at the moment) so I went in today to see what I could find. They don't carry a lot of stock - certainly not of the kind I really like - so I didn't know what might be there, but since this was indulgence shopping I could pick something "pretty" that I wouldn't usually buy.

I came home with Victoria Sampler's Summer Garden Sampler which I think is lovely. The colours are beautifully bright without being in your face and I really like the whole "feel" of it. (It also reminds me to the tone of some books I'm currently reading - Nora Roberts' Chesapeake Bay Saga - which is the kind of thing that influences me to spend money.)

The only catch to this is that if I want it to look this pretty, I'll need to buy the Accessory Pack in from the States to get all the silks and special threads and that'll be more expensive than the chart.

Since I had some of my "free" money left over, I also ordered Mirabilia's Stargazer. I hadn't been sure if I liked it when it first came out, but now that I've seen some people's finished projects I find I want it for myself.

So all in all, a good crafty day.

A lovely afternoon

I spent a wonderful afternoon today, visiting Nicki. We caught up with each other and I got to check out all her lovely recent exchanges - I've even seen one that hasn't been posted yet - and we chatted about stash and stitching and cats and all those sorts of things.

Then we settled in to stitch. I worked on my baby gift - and made a nice amount of progress too - while Nicki started on a baby blanket. Nicki's husband settled down at the table behind us painting model soldiers (they are so tiny, I don't know how he has the patience, but I was very impressed). We put an episode of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes on the TV and did crafty things for a very companionable few hours before I needed to leave to pick Marcus up from daycare.

It was fantastic, and we have good intentions to do it again. I hope we do, as it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Encouragement please

My niece was born today. Her name is Emma and I can't wait to see a photo of her.

The only down side to this is that I'm nowhere near finishing her birth gift. I started it in what I thought was plenty of time, but my health has been so yuckky lately that I've done much less than I hoped.

I know I can't push myself too hard or I'll just make myself sicker, but I'd appreciate all and any encouragement anyone can provide to help me balance my health and working on it so she isn't too old before I send it to her.

Thanks.

Sleeping

Sleeping
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Sleeping

Journalling ~
My sleeping boy
Heading for Palmerston North ~ 5.53am Saturday 20th May, 2006

Credits~
Photo frame is from Deckled Frames 2 by Katie Pertiet; background paper is from Lucky Star by Gina Cabrera; shell and M alpha from Blue Water by Lynn Grieveson; BOY wordart from All Natural by Melany Violette; flower from Sorbet Blossoms by Melany Violette; stamp from Timeless by Melany Violette; pin from Chelsea’s Dream by Michelle Coleman; seal from Olde Worlde Charm by Michelle Coleman; starfish from Joshua’s Day in the Sun by Michelle Coleman and Diane Rigdon; font is FG Lova

Google Doodle Petition

On November 14th March of Dimes celebrates Prematurity Awareness Day.

If we can persuade Google to create a doodle for us on November 14th, we can potentially be seen by millions of internet users.

Please help us spread the word, and sign the petition for the top spot on Google!

Sign the petition

No QS Wednesday for me this week

I haven't felt well enough to stitch at all for the last week, so while I'm hoping to do a bit today, I really need to work on the present that has a deadline - of this weekend!

I know I'm not going to have it done by then, but I'd like it to be as little late as I can manage, so while I feel up to it, it's more important for me to stitch on that.

I'll get back to Aries as soon as I can.

My September Reads

I had another good reading month this month, although once again I suspect it was beacause I'm not feeling well enough to do anything much more energetic than reading. Still, it's great to be reading.

1. Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear (10/10)
Fantasy based on Celtic myth. Brilliant. Go and read it.

2. Imitation in Death by J. D. Robb (8/10)
Romantic Suspense. Spending more time with Eve and Roarke.

3. Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip (8/10)
Fantasy. Reread before reading Solstice Wood. I'm sure I picked up more this time that I did the first time around.

4. Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip (9/10)
Fantasy. In the modern world which is unusual for McKillip but worked very well.

5. Lover Awakened by J. R. Ward (10/10)
Paranormal Romance. So it's smart-mouthed vampires but I loved it. You need to read the series in order though, I think.

6. Dark Dreamers by Christine Feehan and Marjorie M. Liu
Paranormal Romance. I bought it for the Liu story, which I gave 9/10. It was kind of dark in places, but very well done.

7. Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh (9/10)
Paranormal Romance. Quite different from a lot of other paranormal romance and she's a New Zealander.

8. Black Powder War by Namoi Novik (9/10)
Fantasy. I love this series, I love Temeraire and Laurence and I hope Peter Jackson does turn it into a movie.

9. The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud (8/10)
Fantasy. A solid read, but Nathaniel is still a little sh*t and it suffers from book 2 in a trilogy syndrome.

10. Body Work by Fiona Brand (5/10)
Romantic Suspense. Not quite a waste of my time, but close. I'm glad I didn't pay good money for it.

11. Earth by David Brin (10/10)
SF. This was a brilliant book 15 years ago and it still is today. It's hardly dated and is being discussed on [Beyond_Reality] this month. David Brin will comment.

12. The Last Mortal Man by Syne Mitchell (8/10)
SF. A bit slow to start because she needed to build up herfuture before she could start tearing it down, but a good story and a good start to a trilogy.

13. Sea Swept by Nora Roberts (9/10)
Romance. I was surprised how much I liked this. It's about home and family and loyalty as much as, if not more than, how boy meets girl. I'll be reading the rest of the series.

14. Alpha by Catherine Asaro (9/10)
SF with a good touch of romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but I'm biased to like Asaro and this didn't disappoint, although it took a while to get moving.

15. Heart Quest by Robin D. Owens (8/10)
Paranormal Romance. Another thorougly enjoyable addition to Owens' Celta series and I look forward to the next one.

Note, I tend to be generous with ratings. I don't seem to be able to help myself.

Character Creations October Update

Seven Ravens - Abranda Sisson

Owl Woman - Nicole Cadet

Brigit - Pamela Matthews (both standard and deluxe editions available)

The Hermit Macro Edition - Lisa Hunt

As always, details are on the news page.

Good grief

Last night I started reading Mercedes Lackey's Phoenix and Ashes for this month's Fantasy Favorites group read. We usually vote on a book for everyone to read, but this time chose to do a theme. "Fairy Tale Retellings" won and I chose to read Phoenix and Ashes.

I have to admit to a fundamental liking for the Cinderella story and there aren't many retellings of it - Beauty and the Beast seems to be the favourite and appears often, but not Cinderella.

I read and enjoyed the first in Lackey's Elemental Masters series, The Serpent's Shadow, which is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, although I've tried a couple of times, I never got into the second one, The Gates of Sleep (Sleeping Beauty). So I'd decided to leave Phoenix and Ashes alone rather than have two unread books in the same series sitting on my shelf. This month's theme gave me a good excuse to buy the book after all.

So far (probably about 1/3 through) I'm enjoying the story but good grief, the editing is apalling.

There are words left out, misspellings, extra words and other fundamental errors, so that I have several times been tossed out of the story because I need to reread a sentence several times until I figure out what it is supposed to say, as opposed to what's on the page.

Probably the best one so far was "the sun shown through the window". I puzzled on that for a bit until I worked out that the sun actually shone through the window, which makes much more sense.

I don't know if the problem here is Lackey, the editor, or a combination of both. I am more inclined to blame the editor as, while I'm no long the Lackey fangirl I used to be, she can still tell a good story when she leaves her soap box at home, and I assume she has way too much experience for these kind of basic mistakes to be anything other than minor slip ups from the typing and creation process. Surely it's the editor who should be noticing missing letters and missing words as that's what he/she is being paid for.

I'm finding it highly annoying. This is basic suff that shouldn't be in a novel published by a big publishing house (Daw). Come one guys, maintain some standards please.

Aries #002

Aries #002
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

My stitching after my second Wednesday working on Aries.

I stitched 408 stitches this week, which gives me a total of 689 stitches, which is 2.2%.

There's going to be a lot of scattered stitches, but I'm still enjoying myself.

The Boy Has Persistence

The Boy Has Persistence
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

The Boy Has Persistence

Journalling ~
Sunday, 21st May, 2006

Marcus and the Gumball Machine outside KMart, The Plaza, Palmerston North

I thought you might like to watch one of the gumballs going around in the machine while we waited for Daddy to finish some shopping. Boy was I right. You loved it. You loved it so much you did everything you could to get it to happen again. You tried to get the gumball back up inside the machine from the bottom and the top and the side, but nothing worked. Luckily, when Daddy arrived he had another coin and he made another gumball spein around inside for you to watch. You didn't care about the candy, just watching it go.

Credits ~
Sketch from Baby Love by Traci Reed; papers, including brackets, from Artlines 4—Kallista by Tracy Robinson; ribbon from The Photo Shoot in Expecting Sweet Stuff by Christy Lyle and Robin Carlton; metal flower from Bloom of the Week Club by Amanda Lacey; alpha is Hand Stamped Brushes by Michelle Coleman; fonts are Pea XOXO from Karen and OCRB