It's been a while!!

I don't know where the time has gone but I have been very slack with regards to my blog over the past few months! It might have had something to do with the fact that I joined the newly formed Parent's Association at the kids' school and was volunteered to be the Class Mum for my daughter's class and the Class Mum's Assistant for my son's class! That's what I get for lurking too long in the corridors at drop off and pick up times !

Of course I've also made a couple of friends and have found it is much nicer exploring a new city when you have company :) It also helps that a couple of these wonderful ladies know their way around and are great navigators - LOL. We found a terrific bead store one day - three floors of wall to wall beads. I kept going "Oh wow" every five minutes when I'd discover something new much to the amusement of my new friends :) There are treasures for crafters to be unearthed in this city - you just have to dig around a little to find them.

The lead up to Christmas was hectic - there were loads of activities happening at school plus we were heading back to Australia for Christmas and New Year so there was Christmas shopping to be done as well.

My stitching has suffered too with not a lot of progress being made on any of my WIPs and I am so far behind on Medieval Town Mandala!! I also failed to meet my goal of finishing Merrick by the end of the year too. Probably would have made it with flying colours had I not been distracted by other designs (namely Heaven & Earth Designs!). Oh well, there's always this year :)

My rotation has fallen in a heap as well but now that I'm back home I'm hoping to find the right balance of WIPs in a new rotation. Just haven't had much of a chance to sit down and work it out yet ... something to do with the piles of washing and ironing that suddenly appear after you've been on holidays!! Was the push I needed to finally organise a part-time maid this afternoon. I don't know why but I had been resisting the normal practice of having home help but I've had an upside slap to the head and have come to my senses. So, in theory, there should now be no excuse in me now not finding time to stitch.

Our trip back home was good - lots of socialising, eating and drinking ... too much eating and drinking really!! It was mine and DD's birthday while we were home and my mum organised a surprise lunch with a lot of family and friends I didn't expect to see - it was a real treat! Also managed to go stash shopping - mostly threads, a bit of fabric, lots of beads, some yarn to knit a poncho, and various other bits and pieces that I haven't seen here yet, oh and a portable Ott-Lite so now I can stitch finer stuff at night. I also raided my stash back home in Adelaide and bought loads of fabric back here with me plus my overdyed silks and more beads! I think I'm going to have to buy myself another cupboard to store it all :) I also had to borrow a suitcase from mum and dad - knew I should have bought an empty one out with me! They are coming out here for a visit in just over a week's time so no doubt they will need the extra suitcase to go back with after they've hit the sales here!

We also caught up with our best man from our wedding - I don't think I've seen him for about 10 years! He's a country boy so we flew him over to spend a few days with us in Adelaide. It was really nice catching up with him and I think he enjoyed his time in the city :) He had barely changed at all - maybe just a little greyer around the temples :)

Dubai has been very dusty and windy today so I haven't ventured very far outside the house - just the school run. I did plan to go to one of the shopping malls nearby but I only got as far as the exit out of our neighbourhood when I turned around and headed back home. The dust had made visibility rather poor on the roads so I figured whatever I needed could wait another day. I came home and in between bouts of ironing I stitched on my Snowflake QS - she has been seriously neglected in recent weeks. I will work on her for a few more days before posting an updated progress pic and then I will put her aside to catch up on MTM. I have a little of Part 2 to complete and then all of Parts 3 and 4. No doubt Part 5 will be out before I'm done with that lot!

Now to respond to some kind comments! Sorry it's been so long :)

Yes, Anne, online shopping is fun - haven't done much lately though - give me a few days to settle back into Dubai and I'm sure I'll be back in form - LOL!

Hi Sandra! Nice to meet you and thank you for your lovely comments :) Have you joined MTM yet? As you can see from my comments above I am very behind and poor Egyptian Garden hasn't seen a stitch in ages! I hope you've had better luck than me in catching up on your projects :)

I don't think I had a blog when I made my first comment on yours, Carol :) I finally received An Open Heart just before I left for holidays so I will be starting it and joining in on the SAL soon. Just need to decide on a fabric for it - don't have a shortage of that around here any more - LOL!

VirginiaNZ, has your niece lived in Dubai long? I have not come across her but then it depends what part of Dubai she lives - you are welcome to pass on my email address to her. I haven't come across many stitchers here yet - couple of quilters though :)

Hi Keryn, nice of you to say hello :) You'd love An Open Heart - it's a Drawn Thread design. I got mine from Wyndham Needleworks because I wanted a couple of Long Dog Samplers as well, but Karen from Dragonfly Dreams has it I think :)

Well, this has turned into a bit of a novel so I think I shall end the chapter here for now, go and make myself a cup of tea and settle into some more stitching for a couple of hours.

Till next time, Happy Stitching!