Happy as a pig in mud :)

It was an interesting night last night, in that I was very sleepy very early, so hit the hay just before 11pm, only to wake up again at 2am with my body thinking "that was a nice nap, time to get up now" hmmm. I got up and wandered around for half an hour before going back to bed - took me a while to get back to sleep, but eventually I dozed off and didn't get up until 9am woohoo :)

Last night I managed to do some of the slowest stitching in history (for me), and still haven't managed to get that Snowman Needleroll finished yet ... but I guess it's a bit closer to finishing than it was before, so that's all good :)

Today has been a very productive day for me, although no stitching done as yet. I popped out and filled the car up with petrol (how wonderful to see it at $1.13 a litre woohoo), then went on a stitching adventure ... I finally went to Centre Road in East Bentleigh to visit Amitie (downstairs - quilting) and Broderie (upstairs - embroidery), and really enjoyed it. The quilting part is quite large, with a reasonable selection of fabrics ... and I've asked about classes there to teach me how to do applique and learn the quilting basics so I can complete my block of the month quilt I have sitting here doing nothing (complete with all the fabrics for it). Because of my shift work hours it's really difficult to commit to a lot of classes because they're usually spread over say 4 weeks, and I'd only end up being able to attend 2-3 of the classes. At Amitie, though, they have 'casual' classes each week, and you just pay for the class you attend and the instructors just help you with your queries ... I'd definitely keen to do that, and it's only 15-20 minutes drive from where I live yippee :D I can't remember if I've posted info on my quilt yet, but this is the design I have sitting here (and yes, for a change, it's blue!! LOL). Sorry but Blogger is being a dog again, and won't upload piccies, so no clickable links again ... if anyone knows how to make Photobucket piccies clickable, I'd love to know how! Actually, if you click here, you can see a clearer picture of it on the designer's website :)

Upstairs from Amitie is Broderie - I have to admit the space is quite small (just one medium room really), but Elizabeth has a decent range of threads etc in there, and she can order in most things they don't have. The owner is the Elizabeth that used to be at Bustle & Bows Malvern - I really liked her, and glad she's managed to set up her own business. It was really lovely to get out there and see a new LNS, as well as picking up a couple of items I needed to finish kitting up two new gift projects. I also managed to pick up a copy of the 2005 JCS ornie issue for Mum at half price, which was fantastic ... and I was very very good and didn't walk out with anything extra, only those items I specifically needed (pearl cottons and fabric), so I'm still working within the 50 Project Challenge guidelines. Unfortunately Broderie didn't have everything I needed, so I had to call into The Embroidery Den in Brighton on the way home, where I managed to find everything else ... even the 3mm satin ribbon in the perfect shade yippee :D

My last trip on the way home was to Officeworks where I did some photocopying I needed to do for some working copies of charts etc, and picked up a 2007 filler for my diary. And my final purchase (yes, I FINALLY bought one, Mum) was from Autobarn ... a dashboard cover for my car!! I have a Nissan Pulsar sedan, and the dashboard is the most horrendous thing I've ever had in a car, as it reflects the sun badly onto the window and makes it hard to see. When I first bought it I bought a piece of black felt and sat that on the dashboard to block out the reflections, but three years later the felt is well as truly dead (and brown!), and with summer here I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet ... I'm so happy!!! :D (Actually I'll be even happier when it arrives, 'cos I've had to order it in haha.)

Tomorrow I'm heading into the city to meet my pal Fraze for dinner, so I might go in earlier and have a look around. Then Thursday I'm off to Box Hill to get my hair cut/coloured ... I have to decide whether to have a dark colour put back in again (I had a semi-permanent put in before Katrina came here to visit), or whether to get the blonde back again until after summer ... oh decisions decisions haha. I might just have to buy some dinner to take home from there, too, from my fave Vietnamese eating place yummo :D

And with no further ado, I'm off to sort out my working copies to settle in for the evening ... I may even get that needleroll finished tonight ... maybe ;)