More Angels

Another 31 angels beaded for Christmas 2010. The larger ones and some of the others will be in my Christmas display this year, and the others will go in the take-home gift basket for Christmas visitors.

I'll be packing away the beads now. That's all the angels I plan to make this year. I'll be stocking my stitching basket tomorrow and bringing it down to my stitching corner. I'm thinking of bringing down my HAED Jolly Old Fellow - it's due for some attention, and I had planned to start on it in the first week of July, so I may get an early start.

A batch of Angels

I've been playing with my beads in the past few days, making angels. There are 8 prs earings (for Christmas gifts), and 25 Christmas angels - some will be gifts, and some (well, OK - quite a lot of them) will be part of my Christmas decorating.

I'll probably keep making angels for another day or so - unless I run out of beadcaps, which is on the cards.

Another little finish

I stitched this for a Half-way to Christmas SAL on the Life's A Stitch Board. The stocking is adapted from LA's Christmas Caboodle leaflet (1986).

Front:

Back:

My Angel is home from the framer

and now she is hanging on the wall of my study, next to my Angel of Hope. She is, of course, Lavender & Lace's Angel of Grace, the third (and last!) of the L&L Angels I've stitched. At first I was disappointed when I saw her framed, as the framer didn't follow my instructions. I wanted her mounts to be arched at the top, like the ones on the Angel of Hope, and also on my Angel of Love. As you can see, the framer cut the mounts straight across rather than arching the top. The framer did offer to re-frame her, but after really thinking about it, I decided this mount does suit her, so I accepted her as she was.

I'm quite bonded to her now, and think that she may have looked a little unbalanced if she was in an arched mount.

Home again ... and here's where I've been

I really did enjoy my trip to Broome and The Kimberley. Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I came home with. The first one is of one of my favourite places - the bungle Bungle ranges in Purnululu Natinonal Park. This photo was taken from a helicopter.

This one is Chamberlain Gorge, taken from aboard the boat.

This one is from another cruuise - this time on the Ord River, near Kunnanurra.

This one shows the bus crossing theKing Edward River.

This one shows me swimming in the swimming hole at Mitchell Plateau.

I really wasn't ready to come home - I could have stayed in Broome and The Kimberley for much longer. We travelled 35oo km in the 'bus' (actually a specially converted Isuzu truck) on the trip, mostly on unsealed and very rough roads, and also had three long river cruises. Some of it was hard work - long treks over large rocks to get into some of the gorges, for example - but all of it was so much fun. I learned so much about the indigenous and European history of the area, and also about the geological features of the region. It is truly spectacular country.

I'm still on a 'high' from my trip. I'm sure I'll come back to reality sooner or later. I've not picked up a needle at all in the past 3 weeks, and for once I really haven't missed my stitching. I need to stitch a Christmas ornament for a SAL, so I'll have to get moving on that sometime in the near future.

Two little finishes

My last two finishes before I leave on my big adventure - I just managed to finish them up in time. The smaller one is finished as a fridge magnet; the larger one is in a 13cm x 10cm ornate gold frame. These are both original designs.

I won't be stitching at all in the next month. Conditions will be too hot and primitive for needlework, so I'm leaving all my stitching supplies at home. I don't think I've had a stitching-free month in the past 25 years, so I'm not sure how that will go! But I may just get some reading done while I'm not stitching, so I will enjoy that. I love reading, but I get so engrossed in books that I get nothing else done - and I mean nothing , no sleep till the book is read, and no-one even gets fed in my house if I have a book in my hands. So I limit my reading to my holidays. I have packed in my on-flight bag two 'disposable' books (ie ones I don't have to bring home) so that should keep me entertained en route to Broome. The three friends I'm travelling with are all readers, so I'm sure we'll get a book-exchange going before too long.

This is where I will be while I'm MIA

Kimberley Trip
click on the video link half-way down the page

I am so excited! and a trifle scared as well. The trip I'm going on is rated 'challenging' and involves a fair bit of bushwalking in rugged country. I've been in training for a year now, but I was very unfit to start with, so I'm hoping I can make the pace. I've wanted to travel to this area for so long - the far north of Western Australia is the only corner of Australia I've never visited. This trip covers a large area of land - around the size of California, a bit bigger than Germany and Japan, almost twice the size of Britain and New Zealand.

So - see you when I return.