nishatalitha

Work is rather busy at the moment; I could have easily worked overtime by an hour or two each day this week, but haven't (got other things to do with my life), which makes me busier still. Spent all day working on this one matter which has six settlements tomorrow. I want it over and done with. Currently I hate residential conveyancing. Bloody subdivision!

Also, I want to get off an hour early tomorrow. Fortunately you can't do anything in Landonline after 4:00pm, so I might make it, depending on when the funds come in and when we get the instructions to discharge the mortgage from the mortgage holder. Worked for too long before lunch; I should know better than to go at 1.45pm because that's just too late for me and I almost always feel like crying at my desk for the half hour beforehand, particularly if I'm doing anything to do with numbers.

If I'd wanted to be an accountant, I would've done bloody accounting.

On the other hand Digger archives went live late last night or today, so I can reread those at my leisure. If you haven't already read Digger, you should do so.

And good news about the Kakapo!. One of my favourite birds and the population has finally reached triple figures!

Have to work out the easiest place to get the gas bottle for the bbq filled before Saturday afternoon. I keep meaning to call places from and keep forgetting.

Bah. Am debating posting anything at all, since my throat really hurts and I'm not sure how long I can refrain from complaining about it. I'm reduced to liquids, since it hurts to swallow. Since I like tomato soup, and I had a tin in the cupboard, this isn't too much of a problem at the moment. It becomes more of a problem when I run out of the tomato soup, and have to see what sort of packet mixes I have in my cupboard. *sighs* It just aches constantly, and looks (and feels) swollen to me. Thank God, I already have a doctors appointment on Tuesday.

I should really be studying just now. However, I find studying on how to make (and put into formula) experiemental designs (be they true or quasi or false) rather boring, and thus will not ramble on about them here, unless I am specifically requested to do so. And no, that is not intended as a cue for everyone to suddenly want copies of my lecture notes!

It is my brother's birthday today. He is now seventeen. I called him today, not long after I'd just woken up. Apparently the Warehouse gives employees the day off on their birthday. Since most of his age mates are still in the middle of exams, he's going to see The Matrix: Reloaded this afternoon with only a few friends and will do something in a couple of weeks. Jacqui's birthday is next Saturday. I will have to call her then.

I'm still tired today. I'm not entirely sure what time M. and I left the QGVN last night (I think it was around 1am), and we chatted for a while. Then, once at home, I got distracted with a book while I was waiting for my bed to warm up, and just about the next thing I know is that it's 6am. I go to sleep then, sleep right through my alarm and don't wake up until middy. And I still have to study. I wish my throat wasn't hurting like this.

I'll try and be bouncy and bubbly, manic_subbie, but I don't know how well it'll work.

I'm bored. I can't concentrate enough to write anything, and if I could I doubt it would be Freedom but Chimes. It's awkward enough to concentrate on reading anything, and I suspect there is a reason that I'm not looking at anything emotionally heavy or angsty. Of course, I can't concentrate on anything with bad paragraphing, punctuation or grammer, but that's usual.

I would like to be starting the sampler that I'm doing for my mum, for her birthday, but I rather think I need to finish planning it out before I do anything of the sort. Hopefully I won't need to write it all out - particularly the border. Each repeated section is 7 (high) by 10 (wide) stitches. And I know the lettering is about 185 stitches wide.

No, I didn't count them. The graph paper I'm using has thicker lines every five squares. I counted those.

I haven't worked out how high it will be yet. I can't do that until I work out what picture I want to put with it. I can either do blue pansies, which fit around the lettering and only add 5 stitches to the width, or I can do a longer thing of violets underneath the lettering. I don't think both will work.

I was planning on doing a blue and bronze metallic base for the lettering, but that will only work with the pansies, since violets aren't blue (that I know of), and I'd really rather not put any biological inaccuracies in the sampler. *mutters* And I swore I'd never do a sampler!

If I do the violets, I think the lettering will become a purple - probably DMC 550, since that's the darkest one in the violets - and gold metallic. I have grand ideas about what to do for the capital letters (and thank God, I've settled on the lettering), and they involve things like do the letter itself in the base dark colour, and then do pretty patterns overtop with the metallic in backstitch. It should be fun experimenting.

I just want to be able to start it... But I don't have the linen, and I'm none too sure whether I have all the colours I need, and enough of them. I know I won't have enough gold metallic (shame I can't use the copper with the purple) and I doubt I'll have enough 550 left, but I don't know what else on the list I need.

A good thing is that the smaller capitals (which I'm not using in the sampler itself) and the lowercase letters are about the same height as the border so I have grand plans to do my name, the date and a dedication of sorts in the bottom border instead of the border pattern.

I never really realised how much work went into planning out a crossstitch before. I mean, you can see it in the big ones that I do - http://www.mirabilia.com (have done Garden Verses, The Dreamer, Titania, Queen of the Fairies and A Midsummer's Night Fairy) - but realising the amount of work that goes into a sampler is something entirely different.

And once you've worked out what lettering to use, you need to work out spacing and colours and pictures and borders. I need to do some photocopying so I can return the books to the library and still have a copy of the patterns that I need. The violets and the pansies both come from a library book.

But it should be pretty, and with a border, hopefully it won't need a matt when/if I get it framed. And mum should like it, which is a good thing. But metallics... why do I have to go for prettiness over ease of doing?

Just answered my own question there. Ignore it.

Babble. Isn't it fun?

Oh, and for people who do crossstitch, how far out from the lettering do you think I should put the border? I'm thinking about 10 stitches, but I'm open to suggestion. And is anyone any good at calculating where I should start it and how many sections should fit onto an edge?

*considers eating in order to take painkillers*