all I ever wanted was a house by the sea …

… with a window looking out, so I could watch the ships sailing by.

Look at that!  There was no room to do anything elaborate atop my lighthouse - instead, it disappears out of view so that you may make it up for yourself :-)

I’m very pleased with my sea - It really does seem to be gently rolling up and down.  It’s Julian’s favourite bit. I like my boat and seagulls too - despite the fact that sailor boy Julian tells me my sails are completely illogical.  Ah well.  They look pretty!

That strange bridge like thing on the right is the rising sun - remember, I’m on the east coast of Australia so the sun rises from the sea each morning before climbing over the Great Dividing Range to set in the west each evening.

And here’s the whale’s new tail …

… with opposite headland, rocks - both improvised as I stitched - and the beginings of a rail fence.  Put in place by a doting grandad who knew the children loved to slide down the steep grass slope on pieces of cardboard, but didn’t want them scooting off the edge!  They’d just get a good bump instead!

And at last, my house by the sea.  Ahhhh ….  maybe …. one day ….

For Seven Stitches Amy - here’s my “pattern”.  I start with a piece of graph paper that I print out from the internet.  Then I just mark the size of my dish cloth on the paper - which, I must add, I like the confines of.  Instead of just getting bigger and bigger (as my quilts do), I am limited to how far I may go.  This makes for a cross stitch that will be done in a timely and thus enjoyable manner!  And means I get to move on to the next design in my head asap!

I draw my picture with a pencil.  Just roughly, without detail.  Then, I turn the drawn line into a dotted one, one bit at a time.  Sometimes, when I stitch what I’ve drawn, it looks rubbish, so I rub out, pull out and start again.  Same with the colours - the rising sun did have some yellow in the middle but it was way too pastelly and had to go.  But I don’t mind undoing the work - it’s very satisfying to get it right (saying that always makes me think of Sleepless in Seattle and the lady with the entertaining platters!) And then, when the outline is stitched, I start adding the detail and shades.  Actually, I’m not big on shading  Probably a result of failing long and short shading in crewel class.  So frustrating.  I’m much more into lines and patterns.  Adds to the naive look I like.

Now, I’d better go and check on my mermaid.  She’s having time out in a bubble bath after returning from a day at the water park with Nan, Peter and several boarding schools worth of teenagers.  She’s exhausted.  Julian hung lanterns all around the bathroom to help with the unwind.  I wish he’d do that for me!