Author: Anne S

Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Still here …

Anne S

Lisa is stuck in Hong Kong (the joys of staff travel when you work for an airline, you have to travel standby everywhere!) – she’s missed out on two flights today, but hoping to get on the final one tonight … or she’ll have to try again tomorrow. Which means I’m housesitting here for one more night – if she doesn’t get here tomorrow, then I’ll have to work out how to get Ally into her cat basket and take her to the local vets until Lisa can get home (I have a dog to look after tomorrow night, so it isn’t an option to stay on longer here).

Because I had the day off today (I swapped with a girl at work, so now I’m working her Sunday instead), I had a lovely relaxed day washing the bedding and headed off for a quick drive to the Edithvale Wetlands & Bird Hide. Unfortunately the Bird Hide was closed, and it was blowing a gale, so there wasn’t too much to see. I then drove down to the beach and sat in relative shelter and spoilt myself with a big cooked breakfast … even more special because they had HP Sauce!!! haha. You can take the girl out of Britain, but you can’t take Britain out of the girl! LOL. That’s about the only thing about me that’s British (aside from the pale freckly complexion maybe) … I’ve been brought up on HP sauce, Bovril, and Yorkshire puddings – and to me a cooked breakfast is without a doubt the best with HP sauce!! 😀

The main BIG news is that today after stuffing myself with breakfast, I went shopping … and I surprised myself by coming home with a wireless internet modem! One of the girls at work yesterday was telling me about an offer for existing 3 customers that gives half price internet access for the first 6 months, with a free modem (worth $299-$399) – while it means having to sign up for a 24 month contract, I chatted with the guy today about the price of cancelling out earlier than that – and as long as I stay for 9 months, even with having to buy out the contract, I’ll have recouped the cost of the modem etc, so it works out quite do-able. The offer ends this Sunday, so it was a make-or-break decision today, as I’m working all weekend. While I still won’t have the same amount of uploads/downloads as I used to have with iinet, at least it means I can access my own emails and check the internet occasionally without having to go to a cafe etc on a regular basis. And the best thing about the modem (as opposed to using my mobile phone, which I was originally planning to do), aside from the fact that it’s super fast, is that it’s automatically set not to pick up roaming signals – meaning there’s no chance of accidentally slipping into roaming and getting charged big bucks for the access (which you can’t do with the phone option) … that in itself could potentially save heaps of money anyway! I’m basically getting 3GB for an extra $5 a month I was thinking of paying with my mobile phone for only 1GB … at least it means I’m more portable, and contactable wherever I go now!!  And the USB modem I opted to get (as opposed to the PCI card) is minute compared to the stupid brick Unwired give you!  It truly IS portable!! 😀

I’m also considering checking out the possibility of a secondment to Sydney with work for 12 months – it’s a more senior appointment, although it’s pretty hard and gruelling work, but would give me the opportunity to work in the main ‘hub’ of the business which would give me a great grounding if I wanted to go further within the company down the track … and it almost makes sense to try it while my household items are in storage. Anyway, I might check it out tomorrow to see if I’ve missed the deadline yet and see if it would be an option … hmmm …

Rightio, time to get back to packing the place up … I’m going to try to squeeze some more winter clothes into my storage locker on the way to work tomorrow, as well as some items I haven’t touched over the last 3 months, which will hopefully free up some space in the car boot/trunk. Then I might be able to squeeze in those extra stitching projects I brought from the storage unit last week when I was craving a new project! 😉

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to keep in regular contact again now … yippee!! 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Going offline for about a month

Anne S

This is just a really rushed post before I lost access either tonight or tomorrow.  Depending on what the flights are looking like, Lisa will be returning home either late tonight or tomorrow.  I went out to meet the dog and house I’ll be looking after next last night, and I won’t have internet access there – I’m there for two nights Fri/Sat this weekend, then back out to Seaford for 4 nights, then back out to the same house again for 3 weeks.  It turns out it’s not in Balwyn, but in Pascoe Vale South … groan … will be a pain in the neck getting to work ho-hum.  Oh well, c’est la vie …

Hopefully by the time I get back online again I’ll have another finish (or two) – if anyone needs to contact me, just drop me an email to work if you need a relatively quick response … otherwise I might see about hitting an internet cafe in a fortnight to clear out emails (or borrow a supervisor’s internet access at work to sneak a peek via the webmail page).  If you want my work email address, try contacting Carol (Garden of Stitches blog), Nicki (Plush blog) or Barbara (Mainely Stitching blog), as they have it handy (I’d rather not post it on here for privacy reasons).  Sorry, but I don’t have time to add the links, as I’m racing to get this done, get ready for work, and do a quick spot of packing/cleaning all in half an hour!

Rightio, off I go again – it’s gonna be a loooooong day today with yet more overtime and sitting next to my buddy in training – she’s struggling a bit with her confidence, so I’ve asked them to let me have another day sitting with her … hopefully it’ll help …

Have a great few weeks … 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Just a quickie …

Anne S

To say I’m going to sign up for housesitting with a proper agency until February (if I can find somewhere) … if I could find something more long-term it would be absolutely perfect, but in the meantime I’m on the hunt for more housesitting jobs again. It’ll cost me about $200 to sign up, but hopefully it’ll be worth it in the long run …

On another note, I’ve got my fingers crossed that I can get some annual leave approved – if that all pans out, I’ll be heading back over the pond to have a visit home to see Mum & Dad, and my closest family friends, in November. With any luck I’ll get the chance to have a full two weeks over there, which would be great (even though Dad will probably have me going through my stuff in the garage for a full week … groan … LOL). Just imagine, two whole weeks of being pampered at home, with no pets to look after, or driving to be done … two weeks with plenty of time to stitch, and stitch, and stitch … of course, I just have to get the leave approved first! 😉

At work I’ve been asked to be a ‘mentor’ to new people wanting to do relief Hotline work, and take another 4 people under my wing as a kind of buddy/trainer … plus another big project I’ve taken on for 3 months … who says life is boring? LOL.

Talking of which … time to see if that darned cat has returned home to roost yet, as she’s been out for ages, and I’m soooooo keen to get into bed before midnight for a change – it’ll be a welcome change to the 3am’s I’ve been doing so far for the last week or so! 😀

See, I told ya it was just a quickie!! 😉

Cross Stitch

Oops, I forgot … more enabling! (updated)

Anne S

You can blame this little bit of enabling on Cindy – thanks for bringing it to my attention, Cindy … one more for the wishlist!! 😉

This is actually a slightly different design than the previous one by Maryse – and I have to say I think it would look exquisite in other monochrome colours as well (DMC 115 would be especially gorgeous in that rich red) … me thinks I’m going to have to cave in for this one at some stage as well – even though I’ve already bought the first one! One can never have too many trays, right?? LOL 😀

le plateau de la brodeuse monochrome

 

(Updated to add:)

*** Amy if you want to order it, there is a previous post I made about her last design, that has the ordering info on it here.
(https://shakatak66.wordpress.com/2007/09/14/le-plateau
-de-la-brodeuse-ordering-details/)
You just send a PayPal payment to Maryse (I think this one is also EUR10.00) and she emails you the chart .pdf files (they’re in French, but easy to follow).  Just don’t forget to tell her exactly which chart it is you’re wanting, as they’re both a “plateau de la brodeuse” chart … this one is the monochrome one.
Cheers,
Anne ***

Cross Stitch, Finishes

One down, one to go!

Anne S

I’m referring to my revolting commitment stitching … yes, that does indeed mean that poxy plastic canvas piece is finished, done and dusted, and out of my hair forever – woohoo!!! I’ve decided that Lisa can make it up herself into the little hanger, I’ve done the stitching on it and that will suffice … if you want to see what it will look like when finished, I’ve taken a photo of the kit cover for you. The only scissors I have on me are my Gingher’s and they sure as heck aren’t going to be used to cut plastic canvas!

Wire Welcome by Dimensions
Wire Welcome by Dimensions

welcome 1

I finished it quite late last night, and didn’t have the energy to start stitching the Winnie the Pooh bookmark straightaway – instead I figured if I’m already stitching projects I hate, I might as well keep the ball rolling … and put the final touches into a wee kit project that I started when I went into hospital to have my gallbladder removed two years ago. I only managed to stitch just under 1/2 of it at the hospital, and I finished it off in a couple of hours last night while sat up watching The Incredibles and Wallace & Gromit movies on DVD. The colours on this are quite odd, and I’m sure they put the wrong dark blue in the kit – which is one reason it’s taken so long for me to finish this … the blended stitches are really ‘obvious’.  Goodness knows what I’ll do with it … make it into a pinkeep maybe?

Morning Glory by Serendipity Designs

Morning Glory – Carolyn’s Garden, by Serendipity Designs

Today I picked up the final piece of revolting commitment stitching, and have stitched about 1/4 of the Winnie the Pooh bookmark – the shifts I’m working this week won’t give me much free time so I won’t have chance to get it stitched before I leave here in a couple of days, but at least it will go nicely into an envelope so it can be posted to Lisa down the track if necessary … no piccies of that one until it’s all finished.

Then I can move onto some “fun” commitment stitching – next up is Nicki’s Quaker Friendship RR piece … plus I’m going to start a new project to cheer me up after doing a few projects that certainly were not fun … the only question is “which one will it be??” 😉

And that’s pretty much all I have for you tonight – only two more nights left before I lose my internet access again … I still have over 600 unread feeds to plough through, but unfortunately that won’t be happening either – every time I catch up on some reading, another 50+ feeds update again 😉

Hopefully I’ll get chance for one final post before I head off into the wide blue yonder … although I’ll have to do all the housework over the next two nights quite late, as I have overtime both days for 2 hours.

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Not much stitching going on

Anne S

In fact, not much of anything going on!! I’m on my final shift today of 4 weeks of late shifts (6pms, overnights, 4pms, etc) – and as usual in this part of the roster I’m fighting a migraine and feeling quite generally like death warmed up, and have been all week 😦

Even though I haven’t been online too much, I haven’t been stitching a great deal over the last few days either – I do, however, have a stitching progress piccie from the other day that I can post … I was hoping it would be a finish I would be posting by now, but this will have to do. This is the infamous plastic canvas project – and I have to admit I’ve hated every single stitch I’ve put into this damned thing! After getting RSI years ago, I’ve found if I hold a hoop etc in my hand for very long, my hand cramps up (I now stitch using a lap or floor frame with scroll bars) … well, holding plastic canvas is worse for me. Even though I got suckered into stitching this one for my friend, I did say I’d do it, so here I am finally getting it out of the way – I have a day off work tomorrow, so I think I might just stay in my PJ’s all day and sit and get it finished. Then I just have to stitch her Winnie the Pooh bookmark (which isn’t even started yet) then my commitment is all over red rover … phew! (Mind you, I have to pick up some more DMC 702 to finish this one off – because I’m stitching it all with a tent stitch type stitch, I’m using more thread – but it’s the only way I can get my needle under the back of the threads without having a temper tantrum!!)

christmas welcome wip

Emails have still been arriving, though, while I’ve been offline – which is making my wishlist grow ever longer haha. Here’s some more enabling for you {{insert evil laugh here}}. Here’s the latest collaboration piece from The Cat’s Whiskers & Dinky Dyes – I love it!

happyhols

Also for those that I’m starting to enable towards the Group Correspondence Courses at the Embroiderers Guild of America, here’s the link to the entire education page of GCC’s {{insert second evil laugh}}. I’ve just succumbed to getting one more project (yeah, as if I need any more!!) – this one has been on my wishlist for a few years now, and it’s finally retiring at the end of December to make way for new classes starting up … well, I could hardly NOT sign up for it now it’s my final chance ever, right? Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! ;P

GCC Florentine Christmas Ornaments

gcc_florentinexmass_lg

I’m actually a member of the Cyberstitchers Chapter of EGA, and because we’re a very spread out group, we get many many opportunities to sign up for GCC’s throughout the year (everything is mailed out, and a Yahoo group set up to chat about the project and discuss any problems etc) – as well as a chatty Yahoo group to keep in contact with everyone in general. If you don’t have an EGA Chapter near you to attend face-to-face meetings, I’d highly recommend it – and they take PayPal for the membership dues and course fees, which is awesome for those of us “across the pond” 🙂

I’ll finish off my quick post with a shot of Ally cat (she’s a real lady, too, Ally just like you! – definitely a perfect housemate!!). Ally doesn’t even meeow, never mind hiss … and she enjoys a quiet cuddle every now and then, but mostly she’s left to her own devices and spends most of the time dozing around the house. The house is a beautiful villa, and I spent a lovely morning at the start of the week sitting on the front porch in the sun with my stitching before I went to work … sheer heaven.

ally cat

And on that note, I’d better start making tracks ready for today’s day at work. I need to drive by my storage unit to pick up some DMC that the local store didn’t have (for the infamous plastic canvas) – luckily it just means driving a bit of a roundabout way to work, it’s not majorly out of the way. I’m also dumping my duvet inner back into storage for a wee while too ‘cos it fills my car boot up and I end up having to put my suitcase etc on the back seat … I should actually take a photo of my travelling kit … I always feel quite sad when I look at it and think about all my lovely stuff in storage – but it’s a means to an end, I guess, and I just have to keep remembering that!

Rightio, onward and upward – into the shower I go then off to work … did I mention, it’s the LAST ONE??  WOOHOO!!!!  Apart from the 4 hours overnight on Sunday night, of course, but that’s my own doing … I’ll be kicking myself later, I’m sure, but at the moment I’m putting my name down for overtime left right and centre to try to give the finances an extra kick (buying all these GCC’s aren’t really helping the cause – thanks overtime for giving me the option though!).

Cross Stitch

World Trade Center Quilt

Anne S

We just heard word via the WTC Quilt Yahoo group, that the quilt has been travelling around, and has been visited by a number of relatives of the deceased, as well as visiting the US President. Mary, our leader and coordinator, wrote a very touching tale of these events – and I have to say I feel very proud and blessed to have been part of this project. While the tragedy took place on US soil, it’s effects were felt right around the world, and still are today.

The quilt was taken to the White House on 16 April 2007 to visit with President George W. Bush where both of the Kentucky Senators, Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell, were present. Everyone loved it, and the President wanted it to hang in the Presidential Library – before this could happen, though, it was taken back to visit the families. The quilt is 15ft wide by 26ft long, and travelled by train on 7 September to NYC. There was a forum held on 10 September, but because the quilt is so large there was no way to hang it properly – instead it was partially hung, with the rest of the quilt laid on tabletops. Family members were able to find their loved ones name and touch it, and have photos taken with it.

Soon the quilt will be heading back to the Presidential Library, where it will have a permanent home. While I’m not a religious person, I have to say Mary’s final words in her post touched me very much …

“The Lord gave me the scripture verse before I spoke to the family members: Matthew 5:4: Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted. Through God’s mercy and grace we comforted those family members. God bless each one of you. It’s not how many panel’s you stitched that counts. It’s how many hearts you touched.”

Bless you, Mary, for organising this memorial – I, for one, am supremely proud to have been part of this experience! Here’s a photo taken at the White House.

wtc quilt 1

Cross Stitch

CA Wells & Embroiderers Guild of America

Anne S

I forgot to say the other day that my first CA Wells kit arrived, along with the latest two of my Group Correspondence Courses from the EGA. Here is the kit for CA Wells’ Sailor’s Valentine:

p1000128

The latest projects to arrive from the Embroiderers Guild are as follows:

GCC To the Acorn by Pat Krahn

gcc_totheacorn_lg

GCC Winterspring by Judith D Gulick

gcc_winterspring_lg

I must say these Group Correspondence Classes through the EGA are really good value for money – as well as being some exquisite projects, they are a perfect addition to any library, as the instructions are really useful (and extremely thorough) for other projects. I have two more yet to arrive later in the year, which are:

GCC Swiss Sampler by Ilse Altherr
gcc_swiss_sampler

GCC More Options in Hardanger by Dale Sokolow
gcc_more_options_hard

And I’ve got numerous projects in the wings from previous years … I really must pull my finger out and get cracking on some of these! As well as the following, I also have a class on Schwalmwork and one on Ukrainian Whitework (which are both retired now, so I can’t find a piccie to share).

GCC Beginner’s Hardanger by Marion Scoular
gcc_beginhardanger_lg

GCC Options in Hardanger by Dale Sokolow

gcc_optionshardanger_lg

GCC Casalguidi & Lavender by Barbara Kershaw

gcc_casalguidelavender

GCC Crewel Confidence by Judy Jeroy

gcc_crewelconf_lg

GCC Finishing with Flair by Marion Scoular

gcc_finishingwithflair

GCC Gracie by Ganet Burr
gcc_gracie_lg

These next three are the only ones I’ve completed to date:

GCC Lace Ribbons by Dakota Rogers
GCC Lace Ribbons by Dakota Rogers

GCC Blackwork in Red and Green by Ginger Gouger Miller
Blackwork in Red and Green, by Ginger Gouger Miller

and my absolute favourite to date:

GCC Chess Anyone? by Dale Sokolow
(I really do need to try and take a better photo of this one as the piccie does no justice to it whatsoever)
Chess Anyone? - class by Dale Sokolow

As you can see, there’s still no stitching progress to be had … I’ve been spending the day cuddled up in my PJ’s in front of the computer screen, preparing the next round of Photo Hunt posts – apart from two weeks, I’m now totally prepared right up until the end of February, yippee.

Stitching-wise, I just put the final stitches into outside border of the French Monogram Collection III biscornu by Judith Tuttle (Twisted Oaks designs) last night at work … only to find out I’m out somewhere and the final corner doesn’t line up – let’s just say I’m going to ignore it for a short while, ‘cos I hate to think how much frogging that’s going to entail … especially as I’m stitching in DMC 115 and the colour seems to stick to the fabric a wee bit ho-hum. Note to self, when doing a design like this, stitch a grid from all four sides and all four corners to save your sanity!! 😦

Oh well, at least I still have plenty of projects on hand to choose from instead … I was about to say I might head of now and put a few stitches in, but it’s now well after midnight … the joys of coming off of nightshifts, trying to get settled back into a ‘normal’ routine hmmm. Mind you, I’m on 4pm-midnight shifts all next week as well, so perhaps it’s a good thing to keep in ‘evening’ mode …

Rightio, on that note I’m off to play for an hour with a needle and thread … and dratted plastic canvas!