Month: April 2006

Just a quick note to welcome my latest commenters – nice to see you, Artstitches and Judith … thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂

Going by my stat counter, there are a lot of people reading but not commenting – I’d really love to know who you are, and perhaps find some new blogs I’m not aware of … if you have time, I’d LOVE it if you could make a quick comment just to say “hi”, and perhaps where you’re from 🙂 … um, pretty please? 😀

Judith, I’m happy to help you with the progress bars in your sidebar – if you’re familiar with adding things to your sidebars, I can tell you where to find the progress bars for downloading … and if you need more help with laying out your template, I’m happy to copy mine for you to explain how it’s done 🙂 If you drop me an email, I’ll help you out as much as I’m able to (my email is shakatak at iinet dot net dot au – obviously just replace the “at” and “dot”s etc with real dots). I’m not an IT person or anything, so it would be very basic 🙂

Well, I said there would be stitching progress today … not much to show for it, though (mind you, it is only morning here yet, so I have a whole day ahead of me LOL). I thought I’d do some stitching after dinner, but had a glass of red wine, and had the exact same reaction as I did the other night … feeling really squiffy and dizzy, and I ended up going to bed at 8.30pm! There’s something in that red wine that’s not agreeing with me, so the last glassful is going down the sink today hmmm. I’ll just have to open a bottle of chardonnay instead ;P haha. Or perhaps I should just stick to the orange juice in the fridge … it might be more conducive to stitching! 😀

Hopefully I’ll have another piccie to show by the end of the day … but in the meantime here’s the sum total I got stitched last night – impressive huh? haha. This is the latest ornament I received in my Ornament Round Robin with the Ornament RR BB. If nothing else, it probably won’t take too long to stitch up …

We’ve had torrential downpours for the last 48 hours here in Melbourne (well, in my neck of the woods, anyway), and a definite drop in temperature again. It would be very conducive to stitching, except the light in my flat is appalling when the weather’s like that … but at least it’s helped give me an excuse to continue kitting a few projects up from my stash, as well as getting some housework done, like stripping my bedding etc and getting my laundry washing done. I also got a leg of lamp all de-boned and chopped up and marinating in yoghurt overnight yesterday – so tonight I have to cook it all up, for my new favourite curry recipe … this version of Rogan Josh became an absolute fave in our old flat when I made it for a dinner party for friends … just divine, and the meat just melts in your mouth! In fact, seeing as I don’t have any stitching progress to post yet again (but hopefully that’ll be changed tomorrow, as that’s going to be my main stitching day!), I think I’ll share the recipe here … rightio, here goes:

ROGAN JOSH

1kg diced lamb
1 cup (250ml) yogurt
1 tablespoon malt vinegar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons ghee
4 cardamom pods, bruised
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 medium onions (300g), finely chopped
3 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 cup (125ml) chicken stock
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves

1) Combine lamb, yogurt, vinegar, half the garlic and half the ginger in large bowl; mix well. Cover, refrigerate 3 hours or overnight (I always do it overnight).
2) Heat ghee in large pan, add whole spices; cook, stirring, until fragrant.
3) Add onions and remaining garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until onions are browned lightly.
4) Add ground spices; cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add lamb mixture, stir to coat in spice mixture.
5) Add stock; simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Remove cover; simmer about 30 minutes or until lamb is tender. Just before serving, stir in garam masala and fresh herbs; heat through.
Serves 6 to 8

Actually, I think that’ll be perfect for dinner tonight – something warm and hearty to fight the winter chills that are in this flat! Unfortunately the ducted heating flame has gone out, and I need the landlord to come and fix it (gas heating scares the hell out of me, and I don’t know what I’m doing, so I’m not touching it!) – so my flat is like an icebox today, and I’m wrapped up in my trackpants and warmest sweatshirt and furry slippers … definitely won’t be winning any fashion awards today, but it’s comfy ;P

And the finish the post, here’s another travel piccie – this time of Government Gardens, Rotorua, New Zealand. Hope you’re all having a lovely Easter 🙂

Can’t begin to tell you how I feel tonight … I got told today that the Supervisor job had been officially announced, so I could move back to shift work as from their starting date, which is 3 May – I hadn’t realised how much the uncertainty of dates had been weighing down on me until I got given the news … I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders – a weight I hadn’t realised was there! I am incredibly happy and just about giggling like a schoolgirl … it feels as though I’m finally “there”, wherever “there” is 🙂 I am sat here supping red wine at 5.30pm in celebration – so it might end up being an early night for me as I haven’t eaten anything except muesli and yoghurt and it’s going straight to my head haha. I’ve always been happy about the promotion, but there was always this niggle at the back of my mind about the loss of money etc being on day work, that I’d been trying to ignore … but at least now I know I’ll only have two pay-days coming up where the money is appalling compared to normal, then it’s back to the real world again. There’s no other way to describe it … I feel ecstatic!!! The other great news, is that I can now definitely travel to NZ for my Mum’s 70th birthday – I would have been soooo disappointed if I had to miss out on it … if I was on day shift then I would have had to stay home … I’m still going ahead with the debt consolidation, as it will give me so much more freedom to do as I please, and not have to penny-pinch day to day … it’s hard to explain, but I feel as though life is for “living” right now.

I’ve thought a few times of telling the blogging world about my earlier days in moving to Australia, which was a bit soul-destroying and emotional for me, and I may one day feel it’s the right time to talk about it, but right now it just seems as if my world is finally coming together for me … even Fraze said the same thing in an email today, that everything is really happy for me at the moment – and he’s right! Life is GOOD!! 😀

It’s funny … as I was driving to work the other morning, I was reflecting on something that my Mum said to me years ago … that in the short time of my life so far, I’ve done and achieved so many things – I’m never one to sit still and let life pass me by. In 30 years I’d done so many more things that she had done in her lifetime twice that age … and it got me thinking about it – I really do feel truly blessed in so many ways. I’ve had so many opportunities to try and experience new things – I’ve travelled quite a lot, I’ve done a few adventurous things that have pushed me as a person, and I’ve had some interesting jobs that have helped shape the person I am today … I’ve also been very blessed with the people I’ve met along life’s highway – admittedly, not every one of these relationships has ended pleasantly, but it’s all taught me something along life’s journey, and brought me to where I am today.

I’ve always been a very shy and private person … I don’t know what made me do it, but I got a part-time job as a barmaid at a rugby club at a young age, where I stayed for 3 years – Mum reckons that’s when I finally came out of my shell (and also what formed the basis for learning my very foul language haha), and I began to open up and stand up for myself. Even though I’m rather large in size, I have an adventurous spirit, and it hasn’t stopped me doing some extreme adventure activities, such as white water rafting (on a grade 5 river, but I didn’t know that at the time!), tandem parapenting (jumping off a cliff with a parachute – don’t want to do that again, as the ‘chute collapsed hmmm), jetboating, gliding, and my favourite tandem hang-gliding (which I ended up doing twice ‘cos I loved the rush so much). I still have some ‘wishes’ for the future, the main one being hot-air ballooning – my ultimate would be to do that in France somewhere, sheer heaven.

Heck, I hadn’t expected this to be a waffly post, and I’m obviously getting side-tracked, so I think I’ll stop there – I’ll just summarise saying “I feel good (na na na na na na na…..)” 😀 If I feel like continuing rambling about my life story, I’ll post about it later ;P

I’ll leave you with a photo not of Greece this time, but of me hang-gliding at Queenstown, New Zealand 😀 I got some stitching-related squishy mail today, but I’ll leave that until tomorrow when I can take some piccies 🙂

I’ve been looking at all the projects I want to start, and struggling how to include them in a rotation … I think I could just about have a separate section in my rotation and have enough rotation slots to fill an entire year, without having to start from the top of the list again! So, I’ve been trying to work out which rotation slots I should work with, and which projects I’ve got in the wings for each slot … there are probably too many at this stage, but I guess it’s all a work in progress and it gives me somewhere to start. So, here goes:

FULL ROTATION:
* Focus piece – currently Dolphins Domain
* Smalls/Ornaments/SAL’s
* Charity blocks
* Canvaswork/Hardanger/Specialty embroidery & new techniques
* Focus piece
* UFO’s (selected at random)
* Smalls/Ornaments/SAL’s
* Mirabilia/L&L – currently Winter Queen (then Angel of Love)
* Focus piece
* Band samplers – currently Le Jardin Silk Sampler
* Finishing items (putting needlebooks together etc)
* Smalls/Ornaments/SAL’s
* Focus piece
* Kits & class projects
* UFO’s (free choice) – currently Nature’s Resting Place
* Quilting/Stumpwork
* Free choice

OK, I have to admit, there are a heck of a lot of slots in there, and it might not pan out to be viable – but I figure if I include regular slots for stumpwork, for example, I might actually get some of my old UFO’s finished (rather than just having them in the UFO slots). I also have a block of the month quilt that I need to stitch, but I’ve never really tried quilting before, so not sure how quickly I’ll start working on that one … probably after I’ve finished all the stumpwork haha. As for the different slots, following are some of the projects I feel will fit into the various areas – there are LOADS of projects on my wishlist, so it might take me 5 years of this rotation to actually see some get finished LOL. Here goes:

Focus Piece: Egyptian Garden Mandala, TW Noah’s Ark, TW English Garden Sampler (pretty much any of my ‘larger’ projects)

Smalls/Ornaments/SAL’s: There are loads that fall into this category, hence I’ve allocated every 5th slot to these to give me plenty of stitching time – my monthly ornament SAL with Friends Gather BB; SAL’s with Stitching Smalls Yahoo group (Folding Cross Needlebook by Indigo Rose, Bunnies in the Garden and Strawberries so Faire by With My Needle, Lavender Thistle Collection by Twisted Oaks Designs, A December Box by Cherished Stitches, Secret Garden by FMNIS); my new needleroll SAL with Katrina and ‘the gang’; plus my own personal projects, of which there are too many to mention.

Charity Blocks: I’ll look a couple of days before I’m due to start this slot to see what designs are required by Quilts4Kids, then I’ll get stitching it straightaway.

Canvaswork/Hardanger/Specialty embroidery: Canvaswork pieces by both Jen’s Jems and Orna Willis; Garden Sweet Bag by FMNIS; plus I want to start trying hardanger again, especially Walk the Gentle Path by Cross ‘n Patch. There are also some projects from Inspirations and Embroidery & XS magazines that I’d like to try out. I could probably include beading in this category too, as there are a couple of Mill Hill samplers I want to stitch.

Mirabilia/L&L: Angel of Love, Titania Queen of the Fairies, Enchanted Mermaid, Queen Mermaid, Royal Holiday, Deco Spirits.

Band Samplers: Bordeaux Mystery Sampler, Crimson Fire sampler by Victoria Sampler, Lily Pond sampler by Just Nan.

Finishing Items: Christmas ornaments, Summer into Autumn into a bellpull, Stars are Shining Brightly into a flat-fold, Pansy pillow into its little magnetic pillow, Merry Christmas by Bent Creek into a quilted wallhanging, hardanger needlecase, towel borders to be stitched onto towels, And Many More into a needlecase, Apricot Elegance (once stitched) into its needlecase and scissors fob, Dena into a cushion, tapestry irises into a cushion.

Kits & Class Projects: Class projects from Embroiderers Guid of America – Beginners Hardanger, Options in Hardanger (coming in a couple of months), Schwalm, Gracie (stumpwork), Casalguidi & Lavender, Ukrainian Whitework; From Heart of XS, Sacramento – class projects by Jodi Merusi, Martha Beth Lewis, Moss Creek Designs, Martha Schmidt, plus one more whose name escapes me right now. Add to that a huge list of kits that I’ve bought over the years from various holidays and locally (too many to list).

Quilting/Stumpwork: Block of the month “The Blue Collection” (quilting); Stumpwork all by Jane Nicholas – Needlework accessories (thimble pip, scissor keeper, bag, pincushion wheel, needlebook), Honesty & Heartsease, Oriental Poppy, Dragonfly, Pomegranates & Beetle.

UFO’s: Considering when I first started my list of UFO’s a few years ago there were 44 projects on the list … as of right now there are now 30 – including the Jane Nicholas stumpwork projects above. I won’t bother listing the other UFO’s here, as there are way too many.

So, quite a challenge ahead to get all these projects stitched! Perhaps it will help me to fill the need for more challenging/varied stitching projects, though, and stopping me from going off the rails from my rotation. I guess time will tell. As for the moment, I still have a couple of commitments to go before I start my rotation for ‘real’ – my two SBEBB exchanges (due 12 & 15 May), Batman logo charity block (due 15 May) … the other commitments are more relaxed timeframes, ie Bunnies in the Garden SAL is happening as we speak, but I can easily slot that into the Smalls/Ornaments/SAL’s slot, the same with my monthly ornament SAL …
Actually, it really helps just putting it all down on ‘paper’ 😀 I now just have to make sure I’ve got enough scroll bars etc for each slot … thank goodness I have some little Q-snaps coming soon, which will help out 😀

And just ‘cos there are no piccies this post again, here’s another fave piccie from Santorini, Greece (Oia village, to be exact) 🙂

A very juvenile thing to say, but pretty much how I feel right about now. I just drove 1/2 hour away to my not-so-local GP for a doctors certificate for work, and to get checked out, only to see a different GP I’ve never seen before. When I called up to make an appointment the Receptionist seemed reluctant to make an appointment with him … now I know why! What a jerk!! The last thing I felt like doing was jumping in my car and driving for 1/2 hour just to be told I should get back to work tomorrow (it’s my last working day before my ‘weekend’, which is Mon/Tue this week), as I should at least work for one day … then if I still don’t feel well I’ll apparently have to take some more time off work and I have to go back again and get some blood tests done, because “we’ve had to rush you through tonight” … what the?!!! I just drove all that way just to be told the equivalent of ‘take an aspirin and call me in the morning’ – I’m disgusted! The whole time I was talking to him about what my symptoms have been he barely looked at me. My mutterings to myself on the way home weren’t particularly complimentary! Can’t say I’m looking forward to my 6am shift tomorrow … Oh well, only one more then two days off again, I guess. I do have to admit, my muscle aches are a lot better than they were – but I haven’t eaten properly for two days, so I’ll try to get some proper food into myself tomorrow.

But today hasn’t been all bad – I still have my coat on from walking in the door, as I had to reply straightaway … I just came home to find an email from SB&B saying my pal Nicki has sent me a gift certificate in celebration of my job promotion – wow!! You could knock me over with a feather! What a wonderful email to come home to – I’ve sent you a personal email, Nicki, but thank you thank you thank you once again for such a generous gift – you’re a real sweetheart! And it really cheered me up after my GP visit 😀 And there just so happens to be a sale on at the moment … 😀 I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again … blogging has really introduced me to some of the nicest people in the world! Thanks Nicki! 😀

On the blogging front I managed to catch up on about 60 blog feeds today, but got fed up sitting in front of the PC, so tried to get some more stitching done ready to get my exchanges finished … but I found my stitching last night was out by one thread on the border – I couldn’t bear ripping it all out (over half of it!), so I just found a different thread and started a new one … this time I’m 3/4 of the way finished so I can try the finishing method I have in mind – and also see if the design will work OK with the thread I’ll be using for the ‘official’ exchange piece … have to admit, I love it in this new thread, it’s definitely very “me” – can’t show and tell yet, though, so it won’t ruin the surprise for the recipient … I’ll show you later, though.

Well, it’s soon going to be bed time for me if I’m going to have a 5am wake-up call, so I’d better start getting things ready for the morning. At least I can be comfy in my jeans at work tomorrow … ;P

Hope you’re all having a lovely weekend so far 😀

The feedback on my echidna is very much appreciated. It’s amazing how many wonderful creatures are only in Australia – when I first started looking for XS charts to stitch, I was astounded at all the weird and wonderful critters out there in this huge land.

Well, today was a very challenging day in more ways than one … in sympathy with Isabelle with her migraine, I started to get one too – thankfully a few tablets knocked it on the head, and it didn’t worsen to a full-blown migraine. It did keep me off work, though, which gave me chance to eventually get quite a few things done … especially two chores I hadn’t been looking forward to. I managed to put Mum out of a job, and got about 4 weeks worth of ironing done – I absolutely detest ironing with a passion … and the only reason it got done tonight, is because I was running out of clothes for work! LOL. I was joking to Mum on the phone yesterday that it was time she came back over ‘cos I was running out of clothes … Mum adores ironing, and it’s definitely one thing that didn’t get passed down the gene pool!

The second onerous chore was to apply for debt consolidation – I really hate discussing finances etc, but found out I could apply online, and got the response back immediately. Turns out I have ‘preliminary’ approval for a personal loan, so I could pay a few things off and just have to make one payment – which will make things a LOT better for me financially … I’ll probably end up paying more in the long run, but at least it won’t be as crippling in the short term. I’ve had to ‘make do’ for so long now, it will be nice not to have the same constraints around my shoulders … but I shouldn’t be counting my chickens before they’re hatched, as I still haven’t go the ‘official’ approval yet. Fingers crossed I’ll find out in about two weeks time …

I was going to drag out an old UFO tonight, but it’s 9pm already, and I’m pretty wrecked, so will have an early night so I can try to keep this headache at bay. I think perhaps I may have overdone it with stitching that echidna yesterday hmmm.