The following items are forbidden to be carried in the passenger cabin of an aircraft...

...under European Union directives:

--- Scissors with blades more than 6 cm in length

...but scissors I got from Yuko have blade of 4 cm, so I'm one happy stitcher.

Any guesses?

Yes! We have a date! Actually... We have tickets!

[Short intermission from our sponsors while blogger jumps on walls]

I'll leave Finland Thursday afternoon and will be in Thailand in Friday. One stop in Amsterdam (KLM).
Return date is 16th of July (so, I leave Thailand 15th).

Nervous? Just ask how much! Happy? Yes!

Wish me luck!

Comments on comments

Jenna, I'm not sure will my Electron do as plastic in Thailand, even it's supposed to be global, so I wont melt it. I'll take some cash.*grin*
But I wont promise not setting anything on fire while I'm in there... (And it seems to me that Wolfie may have a break, at least somethingone to distract his mind from work *ahem*.)

Time for ooohs and aaahs!

Let me introduce you... Biscornu (from exchange at SBEBB), and all the goodies, from Yuko!
I've been drooling and ooohing here quite some time. ^^

      

Isn't it beautiful?! And that button is cute as a button! (Pun intended.) ^^
But wait, there's more!

   

Japanese print fabrics! Those are just so beautiful. I don't know am I able to use them. Maybe I should frame them? And floss! And scissors (just suitable ones to take with me in plane, don't you think?)!

I'm one happy camper here!

24

There is friends only entry before this considering my 24 hour challenge.
In general my 24h went like this: 'Depending on the definition I made it and didn't made it.'

I'd have succeeded if I hadn't got that cleaning spree, and if I hadn't got problems to wake up yesterday.
Then for something, if not completely at least slightly different....

Can you believe? I stitch two over two on 36 count!
I was sure one strand would be enough and two'd look bulky, but no. Two is just correct amount for this... and I still remember the days when I stitched one over two on 32 count because two over two looked so bulky.

24 h Challenge; friends only ;)

As I promised, here comes private show to people on my friends list.

Depending on the definition I made it and didn't made it.
My goal was to 'stitch the cup', but I actually forgot that there's steam in this design, and that I'm intending to stitch couple of biscuits to go with the cup... I guess that reason for my dementia was mainly this being my little puzzle: it contains parts from three different designs (when finished).
Anyhow, here it is:

Remember, it's an exchange item so shhhh.

And before anyone asks... yes, it's waste canvas. It's that dreaded piece which caused me dreadful allergic symptoms (as my latex allergy is very cross reactive one it dislikes starch plants like potato, corn and wheat) last summer. I've washed the starch off (last summer actually), so I can use the rest of it.

Cats will go to my mom's tomorrow.
No, there aren't tickets, yet, but after tomorrow I'm ready to roll asap.

Btw, have I mentioned something I found out? There's PINN store in Bangkok! (Well, duh, PINN is Thai company.) Now, will I visit there or will I visit there?

Merna's quilt, SWC and 24 hours

^^

My first two squares for SOLAK have been used to quilt they were meant to.
Finished quilt

(Those squares I made are in lowest row, in corners.)
As you may deduce theme was Japan...

World Cup and 24 Hour Challenge

Poor AE is still awaiting for it's first stitches as I decided to participate 24 hour challenge and stitch one of my Recipe Exchange item(s) - or actually 1/4 of designs needed. No public pictures, but as none of RE participants, in addition to me, is LJ user I can give picture in friends only entry (Hmph, how about only LJ friends entry?).

But, AE fabric is gridded, washed (there was something similar to chocolate (which is odd as I haven't been eating chocolate lately (ok, before today)) in the fabric so I decided to give it a wash), zig-zagged and ironed. Though it'll get wrinkly again in one of these days as I decided not to use my frame for it. Why? Because my frame is too long to fit in my rucksack...
(Yes, I made one man happy today (actually I told it right after I found it out yesterday, but being as clear as I am... *giggles*). I'm free to travel now as my things are (mostly) cleared up. Now we just have to see when...)

And something, well, funny, in it's own way, happened yesterday.
We (snowprincipessa and bits_2_whole) came back from our aunt's 50th birthday by train and... Conductor glanced few times to my direction during that trip while passing by... because I was gridding AE fabric. Maybe you don't expect someone like me to like embroidery?

I could also give little rant about my father and his opinions, but I try not to think about that, as it just gives me another day with migraine... He just knows how to hurt me.

Links, topic for the day and music

Hih, useful link for me (found from english): Dictionary of English slang and colloquialisms of the U.K..
Useful? Yes, I just can't understand slang even my English is somewhat tolerable. But then, I try to avoid using slang anyway.
Ok, I admit using slang when talking in Finnish (well, and in IRC, but it's almost talking *ahem*), but otherwise I more or less dislike it. (Though there are exceptions. If person's language is mostly 'pure' and one's able to produce beautiful language I don't mind some slang.)
Hypocrite opinion from non-native English speaker? Maybe, but then, I'm consistent. I also dislike slang in written form of communication in Finnish. (And then... I have bad habit of using dialects when writing (in forums) in Finnish...)

Language/grammar nazi in person here. Nice to meet you all.

Our topic for the day is...

Why it seems to me that about half of the blogging society (at least this seems to be trend in stitching bloggers) has huge amounts of stress at the moment? Or do I notice it easier just because stress is very much there in my life at this moment? (Having issues with my own economic crisis and Wolfie is dead tired/stressed out because of the project he's working in (not to mention that I might be there already without these problems *sigh*) - or more like because of his boss... It breaks your heart, really, to see his that exhausted and not being able to to anything, anything else than give my words to him. To tell how dear he is to me. To listen. (Yes, I know these are the basics, and I couldn't do more from afar etc., but I'd really like to be able to do more. To be there.))

And if I'm not seeing things why now? So many people at the same time? As it seems to be thing on this side of the equator, and we're supposed to have a summer here. Summer should be happy time, time of leisure, shouldn't it?

And then for something completely different...

Police is your friend (It's *.pdf file so be forewarned - and free ad: FoxIt Pro, for senile old computers like mine is (it's really good software, btw)).

Music

I've blogged about music quite much lately (I do know why it's so - very easy to deduce if you know thing or two). Only little notions, but anyway... It's interesting how certain songs represent certain people or certain times.
Mandalay's Beautiful was echoing in my head last night, because it was last song I listened before going to bed, and because (you all know where this is leading to) it reminds me of certain someone. *coughs*

"Do you know you're beautiful/ You are, yes you are."

Those lyrics are very simple (try to google them), but it's very beautiful song for reason or another. And it reminds me of Wolfie, for a reason.

Btw

Money, money, money... Part one in my fight with the welfare and SII is over, I've money on my account again. Now I can almost breathe.

SBQ; Pictures!

This week's

Stitching Bloggers Question

contains two questions. This is direct quote from SBQ weekly email:

Over the past couple of weeks I received two SBQ suggestions that request pictures so I decided to put them together for an SBQ picture day. Feel free to post pictures concerning either or both requests. :)

The first request comes from Vash who is requesting pictures of the back of your stitching… are you brave enough to give this one a shot?

The second request comes from Singular Stitches, and she is asking for "a pictorial tour of [the] special place that you go to create your wonderful stitched creations."

I fulfill only the first one, reason being not having decent camera. And backsides are important. *grin*

That's all folks.

Rant

How difficult it can be to be at your desk that 45 minutes your calling time is?! (Maybe being welfare official gives one false feeling of superiority...)

Meme; Five things...

Christine tagged everyone so, here's my share:

5 things in my fridge
1. Coffee
2. Milk
3. Light
4. Almost empty margarine box
5. Chilies in oil

5 items in my closet (In which of them?)

1. Painting which should be reframed (thanks to Dan...)
2. Old paperbacks (I'm intending to do something with them, I just don't know what)
3. Electric grill (...yup.)
4. Rodent travel box (I used to have rats)
5. Ermm.... skeletons?

5 items in my purse (Shoulder bag... when I'm using one.)

1. Cell
2. Keys
3. Wallet
4. Lip balm
5. Palm

5 items in my car

1.-5. I have no car.

5 people to tag

Feel free to tag yourself.

SBQ will follow tomorrow, I've to mature it a bit - and I need decent daylight to even try to take pictures (just hope it'll be sunny tomorrow).

Preparation for SWC

Stitchers' World Cup Times, Issue 1 at cross_stitch

Project: Alter Echo
Materials: 36 count Zweigart natural linen and DMC floss (815, 841 and 902).
Goal: To finish at least half of AE.
Preparations made to-date:
Fabric
Floss
Gridding

I've about half of the fabric gridded, and if I don't do it today/tomorrow I'll take it with me in Friday when we go to my aunt's birthday. I'll have plenty of time to grid during the trips there and back ([rant]...in case I get rid of this throbbing sensation behind my eyes. This migraine is completely stress based. It was already fading, but then I confronted one more barrier... ngh, I just so love it when officials have calling times, but you can't know about them before you call and get a bucket ("It's pronounced Bouquet." *giggle*) full of ice cold water on your face...[/rant]).

Recipe Exchange

I know what I do (hint: it's a freebie), on what and with what colours/flosses (stash is your friend), and how I'll finish it. Now I need to create pattern for the finish...

And we have a lift off!

...for Recipe Exchange, that is.

We got out partners yesterday, and now I'm maturing certain idea in my head. Though it'll demand some thinking and maybe a prototype of a kind, because I've never ever done such things before - and I've to google a bit to find out is there any suitable finishing instructions around.
Actually I got that idea when I saw certain freebie, it kind of jumped into my face, but technical part of it needs some work.

To be continued...

Btw

Thank you for all for the exorcism. Migraine is still around, though not as bad it was in Sunday and Monday. And cold is there too... *sighs*

S.E.X., music and ngh

I found saviour in my dark path of not having good Finnish ONS: Kirjokas.
First of all, DMC 0,80€/ skein (which is real bargain in this part of the World), no postages, fast and good customer service and good storage (just because they carry Dragon floss)... They also have English version of the store, so do pop by. (Like Moomins? Click.)

So, I spent few euros and got flosses for Alter Echo. It turned out that I want to do it with three colours, instead of two. I'll use those given 815 and 841, but I'll stitch text with 902.
309 is nice colour, but I was unable to find anything suitable to go with it, so I let it be.

...and as Kirjokas has minimum order of 10 euros I purchased some Dragon Floss to fill the gap...

      

I placed an order in Thursday, she got payment and posted them in Friday. They came today.

More chocolaty music...

Flying Carpet has a new buddy: Desire.

"...I desire you more than food or drink.
My body, my senses, my mind,
Hunger for your taste.
I can sense your presence in my heart.
Although you belong to all the world,
I wait in silent passion,
For one gesture, one glance."

This is chocolate to your ears, and other senses.

In other news

I don't feel good at all. Migraine, yes, but why are my muscles etc. aching? I'd almost live with exploding head, nausea, upset stomach, dizziness and tiredness, but sore muscles/ throat/ joints and unstable body temperature make it odd and really annoying.
With some luck I found summer cold in Saturday in my trip to grocery... it rained, and even I used umbrella I was soaking wet when I got back home. And first muscle aches came during that night...
Anyway, not my usual migraine. Usually I can at least stitch or write emails, but no... Wrote one email yesterday for about 12 hours as I lost my skills to understand what I had wrote (I do excessive amounts of proof reading, see), not to mention that half an hour writing three sentences took today (you don't want to know how long it took write this entry)... And can't even think of stitching. Or coffee.

Ngh.

Search!

my journalmy friends

Neat, huh? Type a word, hit enter. It does magic.

Need a laugh?

The Daily WTF: June Bugs, and there's more, just click away... for example Tax Time Edition...

Which Classic Female Literature Character Am I?

Snatched from Bea.

(...from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.)

Click.

Yup, that's me.

In other news I think I know what causes loss of appetite in my case: stress.
Economy crisis in other words. I've been quite a mess couple of days, and forgetting to eat hasn't improved my general feeling at all (yesterday would have been really bad day without certain news I heard from Wolfie, or without him in general).
Haven't been that cranky actually, but very tired and withdrawn.

I hate it when bureaucrats have control over my life, and I've no money. Had to borrow money from my father to pay my rent...
And no light in the end of the tunnel before next week. Keep your thumbs up that instance A processes my 'application' fast - though person who's job it is wont be at work before Tuesday...

And in addition to that I think I had one of my premonitions last night. It wasn't bad dream in that sense, or foreseeing destruction or anything like that (like they have used to be), but it was annoying.
I'll tell more about it in case one person contacts me in near future. Just to say 'did I say something about this?'.

SBQ; Collecting

Today's

Stitching Bloggers Question

is suggested by Carol and is:

"Do you collect charts by one particular designer, yet have never stitched anything by that designer? If so, which designer and why do you collect the charts but have not yet stitched any of them?"

Collecting being I'd-give-my-first-born-to-get-all-that-designer's-designs or just shopping what you like?

Anyhow, I'm dead-broke most of the time so I couldn't even afford to do so. And no designer is consistent enough to produce only designs I love. There are always those I just pass because they don't have nothing which would spark my interest, no matter how much I may like designer's general style.

But... if we think it a bit, I do 'collect' magazines which have several designs from several designers from whom I have never stitched anything yet (or will ever stitch). So, I can't say yes or no.
At this point it'd be wisest to quote something from one Finnish group of comedians and answer Kanada! (which is, as many of you guess, Canada in Finnish. Doesn't sound funny out of context, I know.)

Otherwise...

My gout (oh, yes, I'm old (almost 27 anyway ) and suffer from it) gone wild today and my left hand was so sore (should I mention that certain someone made part of the pain go away? All the way from *.th. ^^). Silly thing in it was that I don't get attacks from diet I should get them from (in other words: lots of protein), but from 'recommended' diet which contains carbohydrates.
Gout sufferer should avoid 'white' carbohydrates, but in my case it was more or less full-grain which caused this pain (haven't used sugar at all in days (I usually use it only in coffee))... so, they say low-carb diet is bad for you and high-carb is good..?

Anyway, this means that I haven't gridded my AE fabric yet (...I intended to do it tonight) because my hand has been too sore to do anything with it. Now it's fit enough to type, but I wouldn't strain it more than this.

666; Neighbourly love; whining

How suitable entry for little whining...

Why don't parents raise their kids? Back in stone age when I was kid (in eighties, that is) we were taught to behave in front of people. To respect others even they were different than we are. Or at least keep our mouths shut if it wasn't so.
Though, I think I shouldn't blame those kids, I should blame their parents who believe in hands-off parenting. Freedom just doesn't bring happiness. And children don't born fully programmed, they're tabula rasas when they born. Human beings need social programming, and I don't even dare to think how those kids will be when they grow up... if they're verbally abusive against others in mature age of ~5-7.

Yes, I know, it's easy for me to say as I don't have any of my own. But I have had time to think how I want to raise my future children. And my way is to love them and give them borders, not abandon them.

Ok, to sound completely paranoid, I've knew it long time that there are gossips about me in this neighbourhood, I know that some of my neighbours can't tolerate me as I'm so... me. (I could use word different, but I'm not. I'm just me. Though comparing...) I don't drink with them, I'm not social (yes, I admit I'm not. Should I change against my own will? Exactly), and apparently some of them are bit bitter that it was Dan who moved out two years ago, and not me. They liked him, see. (He knows how to smile, and be nice, to people he don't care that much or who he may even despise. It's a talent I admire in certain sense, I have to admit.)
Introverted little me is not suitable for a drinking buddy or good conspirator.

And maybe I'm dangerous, only Heaven knows why, as I've survived alone, without man by my side.
Only man they've seen with me, after Dan moved away, has been Abhi and it's ancient history. (Not to mention how they behaved when I was with him. They made it very clear that we're purely Finnish here (for clarity, A. is NRI). I've to admit their skill though, they never said it directly, but let us notice it. (One reason why we concentrated to meet at his place when we were together))
Actually one possibility is that hey think that I'm just too [something negative] to be good enough to any man in his right mind (So, this means that Wolfie is man in his left mind? If so, he has great left-mind.)... Which suits me very well, thank you very much.

Though I don't understand why I'm so intimidating. I'm quiet, well-behaving person. I don't harass anyone, I mind my own business and let people mind their own businesses...

I don't fit in here - but then, home is where the heart is and my heart is in Bangkok.

665

It's odd. 13th day of my cycle and my ovaries are pinching. Which could mean... yes, little egg cell leaving home. Though I don't believe in it, even I'd like to. Or more like, part of me believes in it, but part of me doesn't want to live in possible false hopes.
It's not first time in past few months, but it's still as odd phenomenon. Could it really be so? Am I really becoming more fertile? If so, I'm not complaining.

Fact is that my cycle has never been this normal... and according to one gynecologist I met few years back there's no hope for ovulation in case your cycle isn't ~28-33 days. Which wasn't the case back then (it was more like what cycle?). And back then the obvious reason for my inability to conceive was lack of ovulation.
I'm just wondering why my body is acting nicely nowadays? I'm not that old, even PCOs should get easier with age 26 isn't that old yet, I haven't lost any weight in... ermmm... long time. Though I haven't gained any either.
Wolfie? He came into my life after my cycle begun to normalize. Though happiness is good for my PCOs, so he has some effect on my health. ^^
Low-carb diet? That's only thing which can explain it by itself, even it's not recommended by nutritionists... but hey, if I can keep this syndrome behaving with it guess do I believe them?

One good thing in this syndrome: never a dull moment.

Snaps from blogs

Do you love quotes? Check Frances' 13 quotes for Thursday Thirteen. After it, check Undercover Angel's Thirteen Reasons Why Blog Friends Are Better Than Real Life Friends, also for Thursday Thirteen.

Naah, goal check

I know it's not end of the month yet, but changes in routines can be refreshing. (And anyway, insecurity attacks need some cross stitching to be cured - though those I love yous helped a lot, actually very much (Needy? Me?) - even it's not actually cross stitching, just gridding.)

First, what did I say about May?

• Actually I think it's better for me not to have any for this month. You all know why. (And those non-stitching goals for Jenna. )

Well, it was good not to have more goals, though my non-stitching goals have been moved to be June goals.
So, what I intend to do?

June goals

1. One medal from Stitching World Cup with Alter Echo (though AE will be part of July goals also).
2. Stitch Recipe Exchange item.
3. Fulfill my non-stitching goals.

   And in case I've time/ inspiration

4. Jaffa from Silhouettes
5. The Greatest Treasure

Music, anyone?

Miasmah.com, music under Creative Commons License.

MAB; Sunny Delight

mondaysabitch

1. Do you concentrate more on fitness around summertime in hopes of looking more attractive in less clothing?

   No. First of all I'm not driven by looking good to occasional bystander. I want to like myself, and I want that my loved one likes how I look like.
   Though, I also happen to be person who likes to have company when exercising so at this moment my share of it is mostly based on walking (saves money and keeps my butt in shape) because my inspiration (in other words: one who goes to gym with me) is on other side of the globe.
   Other problems in my case are:

   1. High insulin and testosterone levels (for 46 XX) which means that my muscles tend to grow too easily when I exercise in any way (for example I've bigger biceps than many males who do weight-training in some extent... and I don't. They just are like that. *sigh*)
   2. Sensitive heart combined with muscles who want to be tortured with exercise... My heart can't take it if my body enjoys straining itself.
   
   In general my reason to exercise is firstly my health, and then my looks. You should also notice that I don't want to look muscular or be very skinny. I've my own views of how women look like and they're far away from beauty ideal of this day. (Someone very dear said to me: Women are build for comfort, not for speed. )

2. Tanning:Necessary and beautiful, or unattractive and potentially cancerous?

   I see it like this: if you're born pink/ white it's best skin tone for you. If you're born with darker tone, it's best for you.
   Therefore, I don't believe in tanning. I don't find tanned skin beautiful if it's made. If you're naturally tanned then tanned skin is beautiful.
   Sunbathing is health risk and melanoma is not nicest cancer to cope with, I've heard. Though sun is also good thing sometimes. I should sunbathe because of my atopic skin (it'd make it smoother and less dry for a while), but I love my paleness, and I tend to burn easily (red-haired genes). Therefore I protect my skin from sun. (That's also why I wear black: creates lovely contrast with my skin, and makes me look paler. )

3. You're lying on a beautiful, sandy beach. What drink do you picture in your hand?

   See previous answer. I don't lay on sandy beaches. Next!

4. Do you have a cabin you go to every year, or a regular campsite perhaps? Do you love the outdoors, or does summer for you involve a close personal relationship with an air conditioner?

   No, I don't have. And I'd love outdoors without gnats (I'm 'allergic' to gnat bites) and all that pollen out there. Finnish summer is beautiful season, even it may be bit cold sometimes.

5. Were your childhood summers full of memorable family vacations? Was this a good thing or a bad thing? Describe your most interesting one.

   Noup. So, I wont answer to two other subquestions...