To here – http://berkanafairy.blogspot.com/

Also you can find my new online bookstore here – http://www.berkanabooks.webs.com/

I hope you will come visit me

Just thought I would share a pic of the beautiful amaryllis I grew. I’ve never grown one before so I’m really pleased. It is now starting to flower for the second time.

And here is a narcissus that DD2 planted at Brownies.

 

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad Read more about this book…

The Farmer Wants a Wife by Maeve Haran Read more about this book…

What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal: A Novel by Zoe Heller Read more about this book…

Druidcraft: The Magic of Wicca and Druidry by Philip Carr-Gomm Read more about this book…

I’ve devoured two books recently, both very enjoyable. Both from the library as my pocket and my bookshelf are groaning under the weight of my literature consumption.

Little Face by Sophie Hannah Read more about this book…

How to Kill Your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints) by Kathy Lette Read more about this book…

 

Currently I’m about halfway through this one, hopefully should finish it tonight. So far I’m really enjoying it, it is very well written and has some wonderful quirky humour, although I expect the end to be predicatable – girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, boy doesn’t notice, an unusual event occurs, girl finds out boy fancied her the whole time, live happily ever after. I’ll let you know if it turns out differently.

Okay, my Amazon book lookup can’t find it so here’s a homemade linky    Heaven Sent by Christina Jones

Here is a progress pic of TW’s LoS after SAL weekend. I’m quite pleased with myself as I actually enjoyed working on her and got more done than I’d expected. I have run out of one of the threads so I have started a list. I still need more threads for Pompeji Garden and Witchy Eve. Hopefully I can buy these in a couple of weeks after DH gets paid.

Quote of the Day:
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.
–Anonymous

Well, not so much goals as good intentions. I am sticking with my current 10 hour rotation and I’m gonna add in a new start every month. 2008 is the year of starting stuff,  lol. My first is a Chatelaine – Pompeji Garden.

This is what I managed last night. I have swapped a lot of the threads for Six Strand Sweet equivalents. I have a stack of these I want to get rid of, or at least make a big dent in this year. The only original threads I shall use are the Petite Treasure braid and the Needlepoint Inc silks. The fabric has a gold shimmer that you can’t see in the picture.

My other new starts will be:

Feb – Sampler for Crafty Coven SAL

March – L&L Celtic Christmas

April – Michael Powell Tuscan Church

May – Mirabilia Faerie Treasures

June – Michael Powell Spanish Church

July – Passione Ricamo Winter Fairy

August – Michael Powell Lighthouse

September – No starts

October – Michael Powell Gothic Cottage

November – Michael Powell Chapel

December – Michael Powell Venice Palace

 

The Michael Powell’s are all small starts, they are the freebies from the website. I have wanted to do these for a while and if I don’t schedule them in I probably never will. I have left September free for two reasons. One is because I shall have two new January starts (more about that in a minute) and the other is because we are hoping to move house this year so I may need to jiggle the start list later in the year.

My goals on the HAED BB for this year are:

1. Complete 2 full pages of Queen of Annwyn. This is my piece for the SAL challenge so that should help.

2. Finish the first page of Untold Story.

3. Start and finish QS Witchy Eve. This shall be my second January start so I can get going on it as soon as possible.

I have decided that 2008 is going to be the year when I achieve some of those things I’ve wanted to do for a while. I gave up smoking on the 4th and am now addicted to Nicotinell lozenges instead. I also want to try to lose 2 stone in weight, but I’ll tackle that in a few months when I’m definitely off the ciggies for good. I also want to do some major stash reduction and declutter the house a bit so hopefully when we find our dream home there won’t be as much packing to do. It’s good to be optimistic.

Technorati Tags: goals, cross stitch, chatelaine, smoking

I’ve started a new list for 2008 on my virtual bookshelf. I’ve managed to read two books since New Years Eve already. The first was a library book called

The Shadow of the Wind

and the second was a xmas gift from my cousins:

I Did a Bad Thing: Books: Linda Green

You can view the rest of my bookshelf here

Quote of the Day:
Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They’re there every night, they see it done every night, they see how it should be done every night, but they can’t do it themselves
–Brendan Behan–Quoted by Gyles Brandreth in *Theatrical Disasters*

moar funny pictures

For my first month on the new SAL I have joined I finally decided to work on an afghan I’ve had lying around in my stash for a while. I’m using freebies from the Mosey ‘n’ Me website, plus one from an old copy of Stitchery magazine. I also have a lot of odd skeins of hand-dyed thread that I want to use up. This square is called Travelling Companions. I had already done a couple of rows of blue a while back but hadn’t got much further. Didn’t get a great deal done, hopefully I’ll get more time next month.

Here’s my progress on Josephine Wall’s The Untold Story to date. Its been real slow so far, I’m finding all the navy blues a bit dull, plus its on 27ct which I can only stitch on for short periods of time before my eyes hurt, so I’m quite pleased at the progress I made this month during the HAED Halloween SAL. I managed about 500 stitches.