maroyau

October 24 2011. Well I am making a slow return. The kids are settled, wish I could say the same about me, but we're getting there. Feeling so ratty without all my crafting stuff. No idea when we will be able to afford to get it sent over. On the plus side I started a part time job last week - in a craft shop!!

Thank you so much for all the lovely messages I have received over the last 3 months. It has meant a lot to me :-) Now it's time to get our alphabet series ATC's back up and running. I still have an E to send out. It never arrived, I made one then forgot all about it - so to my patient partner - it is coming!!

June 28 2011 My partner of 6 yrs walked out on us last week so I am having to take a break from Swap-Bot while we make our move back to be closer to family. We are devastated. We were supposed to be getting married and this came out of the blue. He left us in the middle of our block living in a caravan with no amenities and has been looking for a replacement for me for a number of weeks apparently.

Apologies for the break in the alphabet series but I will start them again hopefully in a few weeks. So keep an eye out!!

I have dabbled in a lot of crafts over the years. My passion is cross stitch though, I particularly like stitching 'smalls' - scissor fobs, biscornus, needlebooks etc.

My favourite colour is purple, but I love any of the deep tones like the deep pinks, turquoise/aqua and peacock blues.

I also love collecting anything that could come in handy one day

Buttons (novelty - esp halloween or Christmas or antique)

Charms

Glass beads for making scissor fobs

6 inch squares for backing ornaments, pinkeeps etc. especially novelty fabrics such as - halloween fabric -witches, black cats, owls, frogs bats etc

• christmas fabric

• sweet things - chocolate, candy, cupcakes et

lengths of braid or narrow ribbon

overdyed embroidery floss - espec the newer Weeks Dye Works. Also Caron waterlillies or Crescent Colors Pansy Purple

DMC floss

Cross stitch fabric - linen or evenweave, I hate using aida though

Stickers (I am becoming addicted to ATCs)

Gel or glitter pens

Decorative paper

Pins - either glass head or decorative for using on my pinkeeps and biscornus

Embroidery scissors (3 - 4 inch) for the scissor fobs I make

Kreinik #4 braid

Cross Stitch wishlist

Serenity - Erica Michaels

For Rudolph - Helga Mandl

Bootscornu, black sheep biscornu or halloween ornaments - Barbara Ana

2009 Scissor fob - Shepherd's Bush

Feed My Sheep - Shepherd's Bush

My Pins - Shepherd's Bush

Our bedroom will be purple green and pale blue - sort of soft florals though.

Our kitchen iwill be red and white wood, very country style. A bit of a chicken theme has also evolved - I collect them for the kitchen, or post boxes (in honour of the house) lol.

I have also started collecting an owl or 2 lol

The lounge will be red also.

My daughter's room is bright pink & purple. She has now outgrown the fairy and disney princess stage. She loves Hannah Montana and horses, any animals at all in fact.

My teenage son's room is a bright blue. He is into anything boyish!! Loves cars, planes, trains, you know - any mode of transport or anything mechanical lol.

I am a definate chocoholic. Love trying chocolate from different places.

Likes: Vanilla, peanut butter, mint, white chocolate (heck ANY choclate lol), jelly beans (especially jelly belly), hershey's kisses and their hugs as well. Prefer soft centres when it comes to chocolates, not hard ones - I have to give them to hubby lol

Dislikes Aniseed

I have quite a few favourite authors but the list is topped by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, Lee Childs, Jeffrey Deaver, Jonathon Kellerman. I love thrillers, crime and horror although I will read almost anything - I hate not having a book 'on the go'.

I'm afraid I am a reality showaholic these days lol. Love Masterchef and some of the other Aussie cooking shows that have been on, Changing Rooms, Hot Property and others like that, The Amazing Race, Survivor, The Biggest Loser (I guess cos of my own weight battle I had for many years). I also have similar tastes to my reading material - so Buffy, NCIS, CSI etc, & Without A Trace are all up there. I love older TV as well - Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, MASH, Hogans Heroes, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched lol, yeah I know - I'm hopeless. We just finished watching The Gilmore Girls - I never saw it when it was new! Of course I cannot survive without Packed To The Rafters and I'm going to miss All Saints!

Very average tastes I think - I particularly like the 60's, 70's and 80's. I love our home grown talent, especially John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Human Nature, Tina Arena, Natalie Imbruglia. I also like Pink, Shania Twain, Tina Turner - to name a few, quite a variation I guess lol

My Son is 15. He loves WWE Wrestling, V8 Supercars (Holdens Rule lol), any other sort of motor racing or motorbikes, cycling, most ball sports but most particularly AFL (West Coast Eagles), Soccer (Liverpool) & Gridiron (Buffalo Bills). He still loves collecting Hot Wheels - although these days they stay in their packaging for looking at only. He likes 80's music.

My Daughter is 12. She loves Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus of course lol. She loves Horses, Cats, Unicorns, Pegasus. She plays Netball. Her favourite colour is purple. She adores Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate She loves anything crafty and creative, as well as drawing. She also loves stickers, stationery, gel pens and anything else similar.