A New Light Box, A Dust Storm & A Flower

I've always used a window as a light box, but as I am doing some more stitcheries now I decided to use some Christmas money and treat myself to a light box. I ordered one early in January from Leanne and was told at the time it wouldn't be in until February as the warehouse was out of stock. Not a problem.

Mid February I made a little follow up call, only to be advised there are still none in the country, but would I like to borrow hers for the weekend. This kind offer was gratefully accepted and I traced what I needed. What a difference it makes working on a horizontal surface. No, my fine brown pigma pen is not running out as I had thought. Light box, please hurry up and arrive.

Well, today the latest Verandah Views block was released and I wanted to trace it straight away, but didn't want to go back to the window option......so..... a little Aussie ingenuity came into play.


An old towel, 2 bricks, a sheet of glass I found in Mick's shed and our camping light and ta da!! Meet my new (but temporary) light box.

It is not ideal, but will do for the moment. The new one will be much more convenient to set up and store, but I can wait patiently for it to arrive. In the mean time I have the stitchery ready to start. Mind you, I don't intend starting this yet. It will be a nice portable project to take with me to the Isle of Man in May.

Now to the dust storm. We only rarely get dust storms, but there was a beauty yesterday. The wind blew all day from the west, not really strong, but constant and this is what our place looked like yesterday afternoon. (That's our house tucked away down in the hollow.) Normally you look onto the western side of the blue mountains, but not yesterday.

I haven't been very creative through the week, but last night I whipped up a little crochet flower. It was quick and easy to do. The pattern is on Attic 24's blog. She has the most colourful, cheerful blog around.

I took the photo with my embroidery scissors to show how small it is. The pattern uses 8-ply, but I used 4-ply cotton. This was my colour selection, as it is the only colours I have. I will buy a clip to put on the back and should then have a cheeful brooch.

Mick is working this weekend, which is a pity, but this afternoon I hope to get a bit of sewing done. That was also the plan yesterday, but you know how it is, I got sidetracked :o)