The Secret Works For Work

You know how I have been using The Secret for thrift shopping? Well I have been using it to look for more work. And it is working almost too well! I found a new job in a cool homewares shop with all the brands I like including Robert Gordon. I accepted the job and the very next day I got an offer from a famous art glass company (Madonna has a lot of it in her home.) Then my current job, Villeroy & Boch, rings up with more hours!
So I must do a leap of faith and hope I make the right choice. I was very good at doing this when I was younger. Of course, I didn't have so much to lose then!
I just have to trust that there will always be something else out there for me if I make the wrong choice.
Anyways, when I painted the TV cabinet recently I also painted the drawer on my Bakers Stand which was previously pooh brown.
I have also been busy buying more bits of china and glass so I included some close ups. Hope you like! (Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.)

Hot off the Q Snaps!

I just got done with Shepherd's Bush "Fright." I stitched most of it on the train and the specialty stitches I did at home yesterday and today. I didn't expect it to be so small but it is. The plan is to get it framed the same way it's framed on the chart. The bottom of the picture is a bit blurry, I don't know why but once I get it back from the framer's I'll share a better picture. I also want to take Trick or Treat and another SB Halloween pattern I stitched a few years ago to get framed, but we all know that framing one piece alone is pricey - imagine 3 of them.

The following finish I finished last week and it's Brightneedle's Hatz Bootique, I love this little witch. I thought of giving it away and restitching it again on pink for myself but I haven't really decided 100% on it. If I do stitch it on the pink that I have here I'd have to change the colors of the bag and french knots on the tree.

Don't know what I'm stitching on next. I wanted to do so many things today (go to the quilting store to get some fabric) but ended up staying home in bed all day. I was just so tired that I couldn't get up and now it's too late. I have next week off (courtesy of taking my emergency day) so I'm pretty sure I'll have some time to go then. Until next time! Thanks for stopping by :-) TTFN

Ebay Auctions 28/8

I am feeling as sick as a dog today so I don't know if I will get around to listing everything I wanted to this week. I do have six auctions already listed on turbo lister which I will be uploading tomorrow on ebay.


Crystal napkin rings. These are quite old, from the 1940's.


Exquisite Murano mirror tray. The twisted rail is actually real glass, not the usual lucite. I think the gold flecks running through it are real gold.


Vintage cake tin from England. I can just picture this in a country cottage or retro kitchen.


Sweet little piece of Australian china. By iconic female potter, Brownie Downing. Features an Aboriginal child and a kangaroo boxing with a koala as the referee!


"Bathing Beauties" wall hook in one of my favourite colours, aqua. Just love the 1940's pinup girls!

Some stitchy gift pics, a finish, and an almost finish

I don't know why but it's felt like all I've been doing is working and I know that's not the case because I've just been doing my regular nights, anyway I have some pictures I want to share. There's a lot of them so sorry if I slow down your computer!

In my CSF Yahoo Group I joined the Summer Secret Sister round, it was fun. My SS sent me lots of nursing paraphernalia which I loved! The ones that I'm going to share on my blog are the two angels she sent me. The one in the box is my favorite. I have the suncatcher one by my desktop on my bulletin board.



Kathy was my SS and she makes Snip-It Jars. I loved her packages because she titled them "Pretty In Pink" packages and the last one in which she revealed herself she sent me one of her Snip-It Jars in a pretty pink. Here's a picture of my jar :-) For those that don't know what a Snip-It jar is used for it's for the small snips of thread that you have left over. Ana was my Snip-It dog since I just use to throw them on her (it made her look pretty but she hated it - she would shake them off and get them all over the place) but now I have a nice little jar to throw them in.


I've been doing a pleasing amount of stitching. I finished Amitie - it looks so NICE! I'm thinking of stitching some companion pieces by taking little motifs from the pattern and making a pin keep and scissor fob. I haven't decided if I'm going to give it away, most likely I am. The way I want to finish it I have no space for to display in my house and the person I want to give it to would appreciate it, which is important since we've all had the horror of stitching something for someone only to never see or hear about it again. My next topic was going to be my almost finish *but* I have another stitchy gift to share, so here's Amitie done 2 over 2 on 28ct Silver Ice linen with Vintage Violets by Silk n Colours.

Now when I graduated from Nursing School many moons ago (4 years to be exact hehe) I received the nicest gift. This gift, I know, was a real labor of love because I've tried to stitch these before and every time they've become UFOs, I must of had like 3 of them LOL. Well the following pictures are of this quilt that my stitchy friends made for me. Every once in a while I take it out and look at it. I don't like to keep it out because of Ana and I don't want it to get dirty. I never posted any pictures of it because when I first received it I didn't have a camera, but now I do and it's long overdue that I share pictures of it!





As I've mentioned before I'm a Halloween fanatic so I've started my Halloween stitching already. Next year I'm going to join my friend Petra on a Halloween Stitching EXTRAVAGANZA aka Halloween Stitching Marathon :) We're going to stitch Halloween pieces exclusively for 2008, I have lots in my stash but recently bought some more to make sure I have enough. She's not the only one stitching, I believe it's a group thing but it should be fun and enabling! Here's my new WIP :)

It's Hatz Bootique by Brightneedle. If I BS'd less and stitched more it would have been done by now but alas it's not. It's very close to being done though, just have to stitch her little coat and the floor and it's done! I like this witch, she looks like she has a snooty 'tude. I believe she's suppose to be Ezmeralda (it's a companion piece to Ezmeralda's House) but I think I'm going to rename her Bettina LOL.

They opened a new stitchy store around here, well not around here but close enough that I can drive to. Barb told me about it (Thanks Barb!) and it's called The Lazy Daisy Stitchery. It's about 30 minutes away from me by car and the area is nice. Afterwards we went to eat lunch at this Mexican restaurant across the street and peaked into this paint your own ceramics store which we plan on going to sometime in the near future. My heart still belongs to WVAS because that's where my friends are at, but this place is close enough that if I need something quick I can get it there. She had a few Halloween displays that I went crazy over and I picked up a few goodies (pic down below!) I went to WVAS this past Tuesday for a stitchy date and of course had fun. I really don't know how I ever survived without them. I think this was our 3rd date and I'm so glad that we have them! I was so stressed that I felt like I was going to suffocate before the day came LOL. Well I think that's all, my cousin is over and later on a few more are coming over so I'm going to try to get some stitching in before I can't. TTFN and thanks for reading this far down! Here's my new stash!

Happy Birthday To Me!

It is my birthday today! My friend Jules sent me the cute cartoon girl above.


Here are two of the presents I got from Jon and the kids. A gorgeous, HUGE, venetian mirror for my mirror wall. And some roses fairy lights which I have wanted for ages.


We had a birthday breakfast at my parents house with my brothers and Jon and the kids. Bacon, eggs, croissants, all very delish!


And look! I finally got around to painting the tv cabinet! Jon got a new face plate for the x-box which is the most hideous orange patterned thing. And that huge, ugly tv is still dominating my living space. Note to self; new house must have male retreat type room with a door I can firmly close.

Prettiest Tablecloth EVA!

I think this is the prettiest tablecloth I have ever seen. It is vintage of course and luckily I found TWO of them - so I have listed one on ebay. The roses all over it are to die for!


Got these house socks the other day. I just loved that they are Mary-Jane style! I have a "thing" for Mary-Jane shoes and have quite a few pairs.


Had to take down the shower curtain and wash it the other day so when I put it back up I finally got around to using these vintage shower curtain rings. This curtain is from the range designed for Ikea by Cath Kidston a few years ago. How I wish they still carried it!


Shell girl in my bathroom, bath salts canister and old Avon stoppered jug and bowl. Not a great photo, my camera is on it's last legs.

New Cath Kidston!

Cath Kidston has new stuff out for fall including some new fabric designs! Love the washed rose pattern. Go check it out!

Canister Ladies & A Small Preview

Jon, the kids and I went looking at blocks of land today. We found a gorgeous one in a semi rural area that I fell in love with. Jon went for a walk in the bush and nearly stepped on a tiger snake which are extremely venomous!
If you live in this country and live near any type of bushland at all you get used to looking out for snakes. I stay away from leaf litter and tall grass!

I have a small preview of some of my ebay auctions this week. I hope to list some of my larger items such as a popcorn chenille bedspread and a retro patchwork quilt to make a bit of room in my bulging cupboards!


Pretty "Mayfair" bone china cup and saucer, made in England.



This is so cool - a cocktail swizzle stick and drink measure set from the 1960's.



A sign for the French inspired kitchen.



These Lady Canisters are not for sale.
Some of my Enesco "Prayer Lady" canisters. They are all sitting on top of the microwave. The microwave is new and I hate it. It is stainless steel and shows every finger mark. Remind me to slap myself if I ever buy another stainless steel appliance.


Below is the corner the microwave sits in. I hung some pretty saucers on the wall and I love this tiny lamp. It was brass but I painted it a very pale pink.

No Title

I want to start off by writing about Kelly...what I'll say I don't really know but I feel that I need to write about him. I met him 8 years ago while I was with another guy. I actually ignored him the first day we met since I was preoccupied with some problems I was having with the other guy. The next time we met I was sort of single and he ignored me! He totally denies it but I know the truth LOL. Kelly's a great guy, I think I'm lucky to have him although sometimes he drives me insane! Yesterday he registered for college, he hasn't been to school since high school. He doesn't really know what he wants to do (I'm pushing him to do Nursing.) He's scared but I think he'll do ok once he gets use to the busy-ness of it all. I'm excited for him and proud of him, I'm already thinking of graduation and what an accomplishment it will be for him. He sometimes reads my blog so Good Luck Kelly! I'll be here for you when you need me :-)

Now onto some stitching news! I haven't been stitching much. That Lizzie Kate really put me into a funk. First, I hated the border. Then, once I got into the border I saw that I miscounted somewhere (probably while on the train because I was off by a thread!) and my border doesn't match up. I could frog it but I hate to frog and well I just didn't feel like stitching it anymore so I declared it a UFO. Then, I had a bad case of startitis. I wanted to start everything in my stash - I didn't but did find something that would satisfy me. It's taking longer than I thought it would and it has a border *ugh* but I love it so much that the border doesn't bother me too much. Hopefully by next week it will be done! Here's a WIP picture: It's an ex-freebie that I just fell in love with. I wanted to stitch it in green but didn't have a nice green in my stash. Then I remembered that I bought this beautiful purple silk floss the last time I went my LNS and thought it would be PERFECT for it! The fabric is something I had in my stash. I packed everything away when I stopped stitching but on Saturday I unpacked my fabric stash and this one complimented the floss so well that I had to use it. It hurt to cut it since the company who dyed it is now out of business but I just had to use it. Now here are the details: the floss is Vintage Violets by Thread Gatherer Silk n' Colors and the fabric is 28ct Cashel Linen Thunder Sky (or something like that) by Dyeing 4 U. It's really sad that they went out of business, I think they had the BEST fabric, BEST FOTM, and BEST TOTM. I'm going to start my Halloween stitching after I'm done with this - I CAN NOT WAIT! I already have 2 Halloween trees to decorate, one won't be ready this year since I don't think I can stitch and finish 8 ornaments and a tree skirt and gravestones, but there's a 6 month Halloween SAL starting next year in my yahoo groups so by next year it should be done!

I'm going to sleep now. I don't want to, lately I've been having a REALLY hard time staying up at work since I've been going to bed so early and waking up even earlier but I just can't take it anymore and need to sleep. I'll just deal with it tomorrow at work. TTFN!

Auction Previews 13/8

Here is a preview of some of the things I will be selling this week on ebay. I am listing ten items and I will be uploading all of them tomorrow.



This vintage manicure set was a fantastic find! From what I can surmise, it is from the 1930's and quite rare.


Why am I selling this gorgeous German porcelain plate that is in my two fave colours with my fave flower? Because I managed to score TWO of them, that's why!


Another pretty set of light shades for a chandelier. These ones are a raw silk.


I love linens with embroidery. This hand towel has "Le Bain" on it, meaning "bathroom" in French.

Cats, Christmas & Collecting

Tom getting chummy with his little friend, he looks a little peeved don't you think?
Why do so many people hate cats? I just don't get it. I was talking to an older lady who I always thought was a lovely person. We were talking about cats and she said she left milk out with aspirin in to poison any cats that should venture on her property. Aspirin doesn't actually work, it is safe to use aspirin thank goodness. I know what does work but I am not going to mention it for fear of any cat haters reading this.
As you can imagine I now think this women is the Devil incarnate!



A recent ebay win. I now have three Christmas trees! This little pink feather, fibre optic one. A huge lilac one. And a medium sized pink tinsel one. Note to self - need to move house ASAP to fit in all my Christmas decorations this year!


My new hot pink mobile phone.


As I have mentioned before, I collect vintage flasks. I have lots of reproduction ones like the green one in the photo but hardly any genuine vintage ones.
Well, I found this red one at a Anglicare shop the other day for $2! Isn't it a beauty?


Then I had to rearrange my shelves of course!