Hi there everyone. life in 2023 is certainly different to what I imagined as i am home with covid again for the second time. this is a bit worse but hoping it will be fine and recovery will have not too much effect on my asthma. I have been way more tired this time around and needing rest more (just having lunch and going to bed as I type this). I hope that I will get back to swapping this year but be assured that I am still stitching and making stuff.

2019 christmas note: i will be travelling for the next month so will not be accessing any swaps at this time. have a merry christmas everyone.

I have been beading since 1991 when i did a beaded embroidery and tassel class with the Victorian Embroiderer's Guild. I enjoy making christmas decorations and also am trying to be more creative with the beaded embroidery but it is slow.

My favourite colours are blue and yellow but I have been diversifying and wearing lots of grape/aubergine and lime (dull) greens. I do not wear black - reminds me of a depressing time in my life but I do use it in my beadwork. Every time I do a piece of embroidery where I can choose the colour palette I come back to mauve/grey/light pink or else blue-greens. I have done a couple of smaller pieces in purple and dark green and they look good too.

April 2018: still going to books after five and enjoy8ng our group. We have a new librarian and timing but it’s all good. Think we will keep going. Enjoying diverse range of books and seem to have been reading lots of books about cafes, cupcakes and tea shops. Really fun to read a little bit lighter fiction. March 2013: The after 5 book group is fun and I have discovered crime writers - JD Robb, Lee Childs and Anne Perry. Nearly at the end of hte Robb series and dipping into Lee Childs but prefer the abridged books on CD. finding the actual books a bit hard to read. Also read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown which was good. Great movie I would think. March 2012: I joined the local library after 5 book group and we have interesting discussions. Theme this week is biographies which we have read and New Zealand authors. I have just read Johnny Depp and Helen Mirren both which were fascinating but still think that Andre Agassi's bio is amazing - so talented, just amazing what a great love will do and how he has turned his life around.

apr6, 11- I read the first three chapters of the latest Jean Auel. I love her books and have read the first four about 20 times. I am looking forward to the whole book from the library and may have to download it onto my ereader. also I have been reading Sherrilyn kenyon - dark hunter series and Christine Feehan, drake sisters, Carpathian and Game series.

2009: Some of my favourite books are: all Anne McCaffrey, I have a large collection. I am enjoying MaryJanice Davidson at the moment.

Pride and Prejudice and also some of the spinoffs written by other authors about the family. I loved Georgette Heyer, Ellis Peters, Brother Cadfael novels and Baroness Orzcy when I was younger. Enjoyed Harry Potter and some other novels for teens, being in a school I have access to them.

Mar 2012 - BJP 2012 is all about a beaded item every month. Jan and Feb were beaded balls, hopefully March will be my bracelet for the holiday. My beading is a great pasttime. I joined the beaded journal project in August 2008 and completed 11 of the 12 months. This year I have been slow off the mark and am behind before I start. See my blog[http:\didi-beadwork.blogspot.com]

I make decorated christmas balls which I am going to put some for sale this year. Some are patterns that we have and others (at least one new one a year) are our own designs.

My beading always starts with blue iris and gold beads or else christmas colours but i try to use different ones so the members of my class can see options. I love using opaque beads and use more of them now than in the past. They make the silver lined / shiny beads pop.

November 2014: I love being in tea swaps but finding it difficult to get individually wrapped bags unless they are twinings. I visited Wellington with a couple of friends recently and went to a new tea shop T2 to taste and got some lovely relaxing tea. Also at T-Leaf i got liquorice tea which i love for the sweet boost without adding sugar. I still love kawakawa tea and have found some tea bags that you can make up with your own leaves. March 2013 - been trying tea swaps and love the pomegranate tea. Also have some NZ teas from a supplier in Northland which I will start trying - using NZ herbal ingredients. I really like trying new herbal teas and regularly have green tea (gunpowder) or nilgiri (black) as my everyday tea. I fell in love with tea when I was not travelling in India but actually working along the road from the Twinings tea shop on the Strand in London and we used to go and try their teas. My first favourite was Lapsang Souchan but now I prefer more green / herbal teas. My sister in law gave me some great pear tea for xmas in 2008.

March 2013 - getting items ready for the next arts festival so busy with knitting and sewing. May 2010 I joined the NZ Woman's Institute with my mother. She has belonged for over 60 years. I find it intersting and getting to know new people. I recently won a certificate for the most points in the annual arts festival national section.

Things that inspire me are: authors that give back. Art especially Monet, and other impressionists. Architecture that has stood the test of time especially ancient times eg; Petra, the coliseum, Westminster abbey. Quotes: anything can be inspiring depending on the timing and state of mind.

Hi there everyone. life in 2023 is certainly different to what I imagined as i am home with covid again for the second time. this is a bit worse but hoping it will be fine and recovery will have not too much effect on my asthma. I have been way more tired this time around and needing rest more (just having lunch and going to bed as I type this). I hope that I will get back to swapping this year but be assured that I am still stitching and making stuff.