Cross Stitch

2nd note to self …

Note to self:

“It doesn’t matter that your back is aching, do NOT lay down on the bed to catch up on emails and blogs in the afternoon when you’ve just finished day 4 of 5am shifts … your eyes will close involuntarily and you will wake up 3 hours later in a pool of drool feeling as though you’ve just consumed 2 bottles of red wine, and making it harder to sleep later … next time do what you normally do, and get your stitching out!!  It doesn’t matter if you need to use matchsticks to prop your eyes open, just remain vertical at all times!!”

One other thing I forgot to mention the other week too (I’m sooooo behind on things at the moment, and very very forgetful), is that I have a space confirmed for next year’s classes in Perth with CA Wells … I’m very excited! 😀  We’ll be stitching the Sailor’s Valentine, and a Cottage Etui (which is mainly in blues apparently, woohoo! – I think it may be the project pictured here).  My annual leave form is in already for April … yippee 😀  All I need to do now is pay for the classes, and as soon as the kits are received I’ll be on my way with more stitching projects to be completed (I think the SV kits are coming first ahead of the other ones).

Right, off to do some of my final packing, and get my load of washing in the machine …  With any luck I’ll have a better internet reception at the next place, in a lounge or something, so I can catch up with what’s been happening in the blogging world 🙂

PhotoHunt

PhotoHunt – Tiny


|

This week’s theme is “Tiny” – most people who have been reading my blog for a while now know I have a serious passion for ducks … this one is the tiniest one in my collection – it is made from Greenstone (which is NZ Jade), with cute little etched wings and details. Mum very kindly modelled this wee fella on the end of her index finger to show the scale of how little he really is.

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash

Note to self … and oops … Stash!!

Note to self …

“Do NOT watch Big Brother again this week until their weekly task is completed, finished, done and dusted, all over red rover!! If you DO watch Big Brother your heart will begin pounding as though it will burst out of your chest, and you will have cold sweats, crawling skin, and general heeby-jeebies for hours afterwards … just like you did last night!!!”

What am I waffling on about??  Well, I switched the TV on for the first time this week last night to watch Big Brother … only to be confronted by bl**dy great visions of arachnids (ie Huntsman and wolf spiders etc … and if you feel keen please go Google their names yourself, ‘cos I don’t feel like having their piccies sitting on my computer screen right now) as full as life filling the TV screen – I nearly died there and then on the spot!  It’s been a long time since I had to put my hands up to cover my face from what is on TV, but I just couldn’t bear to watch it anymore.  I ended up turning away and just listening to it … their task this week is to enter the ‘spider enclosure’ of which they reckon there are at least 50 bl**dy great spiders in there, and they have to catch some as part of their task.  I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it again!!  Aaaaarghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, that brings me to something else I’ve been meaning to blog about, and keep forgetting – the good news is that I’ve finally booked in to see a therapist towards the end of August (a hypnotherapy doctor) about my severe arachnaphobia.  It sounds like I may need more than one session, and at $230 a pop that’s not great, but if it works it’ll be worth every red cent!!  The great thing about not paying rent right now is that it’s giving me chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and just couldn’t afford it … this is going to be soooooo worth it if it works!!!

That’s all I wanted to say really … still not really in blogging mood yet – and still have more packing up to do, so time to go do it before I settle in for the night.  At least it was my final 5am shift today so I get an extra 2 hours sleep in tomorrow woohoo!!  I only have 4 sleeps left here, so I also need to start thinking of getting the bedding etc washed and ironed and all the rest of the housework done.  I only have my 8am shift tomorrow, then an overnight shift on Sunday (9pm-5am), then I’m on days off for 4 days yippee 😀

*******************************

Updated to add … I also forgot to mention that I got stash in the mail today!!  Yes, that’s right I’m on the 50 project challenge, and I’m not allowed to buy any charts … if you don’t tell anyone, I won’t! Well, I was rebellious two weeks ago and ordered a couple of things before I go back on my stash diet again.  The only thing that made me do it is that I was really keen to get Just Nan’s Queen’s Bluebird Box, and I saw it was out of stock already at one of the ONS’s … I figure if I was ever going to get it, now was the time.  As it is I’ve missed out on my all-time favourite Au Fil de Reves designs because they’re no longer in print after dickering for a couple of years whether to fork out and buy the kits … so I wasn’t gonna do the same thing this time!  (In actual fact I splurged and ordered two of the AFDR kits from Criss Cross Row in a panic as soon as I heard the news they were going out of print, but they’ve never sent the goods, and are not replying to my emails – and my order went through in February hmmm.) I’ve only bought the chart and finishing kit for the Bluebird box (doncha just LUV that little blue bird?? LOL), ‘cos I couldn’t justify the extra money to buy the silk kit … I may just have to see which colours are needed and buy a few at a time, as well as raiding my existing stash … I have to say I think US$75 for the silk kit that is just “cut to the correct length” is pretty exorbitant … it’d be interesting to see how much it would work out to buy a full skein of each hmmm…

queens-bluebird-box-cover 5-29-05c-0109-combo

Of course I had to justify the cost of postage for the Just Nan box, and also bought the Trick or Treat Box by Just Nan as well … won’t they look cute in a cabinet together??  Yeah, yeah, OK, I’m just justifying to myself it was a good buy! haha.  Oops I just remembered the Just Nan Octagonal Peacock needlecase is also on back order, so I’d better go add another 4 (not 3) charts to my 50 project challenge.  Hmmm, maybe I should just give up now!! 😉

jn100lg

The 4th thing I bought was something I’ve been yearning for dearly for a few years as well – I ordered it two years ago from SB&B, but they refunded my money for that chart, and I assumed it was because it was no longer available or in print (they never contact me and let me know why … I just got a PayPal receipt saying you’ve been given money back!) – I’ve been searching Ebay for a while to no avail … and one day recently I stumbled across their website, and saw they take orders directly … and I’m now the very proud owner of this chart, Gazelle, by Simply Old-Fashioned.  I also received a 15% off voucher for the next 10 purchases from them, and a very personalised packaging and note … I have to say I was very very impressed with their service!  I can now stitch this one to be a matching pair with my ‘giraffe’ that I’ve already stitched (it’s actually the Zebra chart, but for some reason I always thought it was a giraffe … can you say blonde and mentally challenged?? LOL).  Here’s the new chart, and my stitched ‘giraffe’:

gazelle Zebra - Ever So Little #8 chart

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

The Walls of Jericho came tumbling down…

Well, maybe not the Walls of Jericho, but definitely a dining chair!  I took the first load of boxes etc over to the storage unit, only to put one box into the space and have a dining chair come flying down from above!!  B*gger!!  I didn’t get hurt at all, and it seems that the chair is still in one piece, but it poses a bit more of a challenge now to get everything into storage.  While I had everything neatly laid out, I’ve now had to balance the dining chair in a space where there should be NO dining chair … that space was nicely allocated to about 4 more storage boxes … mutter mutter mutter.  Unfortunately I can’t reach to put the stupid chair back where it was before (although if there’s any possibility of it moving again, it probably isn’t wise anyway).  It will be interesting to see how I manage to get the rest of the goodies into that tiny wee gap that’s left, ‘cos there’s still my computer to go in, 4-5 boxes of stitching stuff, my sewing machine, and duvet inners … haha, I’m laughing out loud just thinking about how it’s all going to fit it!  If I wasn’t so delirious with sleep deprivation I’d probably be quite miffed 😉

Anyway, time to head out into the bitter cold again … I very stupidly left my shopping bag with my wallet in it at work (duh!!), and I asked a lady who lives about 10 minutes drive away to bring it home with her – I’ll just have time to pop round and pick it up, come home and jump in the shower, and get tucked up in bed.  The ducted heated has been cranked up all afternoon to soothe the chills (6C yesterday during the day … woohoo LOL) so the room will be lovely and warm when I get home again {{sigh of contentment}}.  Talking of which, I’d better run …

Cross Stitch, Finishes

Just a quickie …

No time to really chat – just a brief update to show my latest finish … after posting that pitiful progress report the other day, I pulled my finger out and went out to pick up some cheap DVD’s to watch (namely the first season of Medium, and the films Music & Lyrics, Invincible, The Guardian and another one whose name escapes me that I can’t be bothered getting up to check).  Anyway, the result is this:

mini rose garden mandala 2

mini rose garden mandala 1
A Tiny Rose Garden Mandala – freebie by Chatelaine
Stitched on white linen with recommended threads

I also started a needleroll, seeing as it was the Needleroll SAL weekend this weekend just passed, although I don’t have too much to show for it.  I’ll keep stitching on it until it’s finished, though, even if it means getting it finished after I move out from this housesitting job.  I only have one more week left, and all my stash will be going into storage some time over the next couple of days boohoo.  I haven’t joined in with any of the needleroll SAL weekends to date this year, so it was nice to start it up again now.  I’m making sure I have at least one more needleroll within access from the storage container door, along with a couple of Christmas ornies to try to keep a couple of smaller projects on the go throughout the next few months.

Rightio, back to it again … no time to chat – time to get a few more chores done, and watch two of those movies before it’s bedtime.  And seeing as I bought the missing 2 DMC threads at lunchtime today, I can get back to finishing off the top half of my needleroll …

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

My body clock needs replacing!

Geez, I wish there was a shop where you could take your body clock in for fine tining … or a complete overhaul!  I dunno what’s wrong with me at the moment, but I just can’t sleep ‘normally’.  I haven’t been able to sleep before midnight (and generally 2am) over the last few nights, with plenty of tossing and turning happening.  Tonight I was supposed to be going out after work and felt really shattered, so decided to have ‘an hour’ laying down as soon as I got in at 6.30pm before I got up to get ready … only to wake up at 11.30pm!  Yikes!!  So what does that mean?  Yep, you guessed it … it’s now 3.30am and I’m struggling to get back into the swing of sleep mode again … b*gger!  I’m also working for 4 hours overtime tomorrow (actually, I guess that’s now “today”) … it’s gonna be a fun shift, I can tell already 😉

As for other things, life has been exceptionally calm and boring, which is a nice change.  I have hardly lifted a needle since I finished Bordeaux, and this is the sum total of my stitching efforts over the last few weeks … compared to what I normally achieve, this is quite a pitiful sight!  Eventually it will be a finished Mini Garden Mandala freebie by Chatelaine.

mini garden mandala 12jul07

Never mind … life goes on – I’ve been having more fun kitting up my stash in recent weeks than actually stitching, so at least I’m still keeping myself busy by immersing myself up to the elbows in threads and fabrics 🙂

Rightio, time to go back and try to sleep again … ho-hum …

Gifts TO BE FIXED

Gifts in the mail

I can finally show you a piccie of the wonderful gifts I received in the mail yesterday.  Aside from my big selection of pins that arrived, there was also a bag full of threads that are to be RAK’s in the coming months to those in the RAK Registry (it’s the first time I’ve been able to splurge on the non-essential items for quite some time, and I couldn’t help but splurge somewhat on my stitching pals – even if it’s just a small token) … I didn’t bother taking a photo though sorry.

Anyway, enough rambling … on to the awesome mail … Mel kindly sent me a scissor fob she made, along with some of her famous threads that she dyes herself – isn’t this the most divine fob?  I just adore the design and finishing of this – I haven’t seen anything finished in this style before, and I really love it!  And how scrummy are those threads?  Those of you that know me well enough by now know I don’t “do” pink … except I really love cerise pinks, it’s so luscious.  Thank you again Mel for your generous gifts … I adore everything 😀  Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do the fob or the threads justice – they’re much more scrummy in real life!!

gift from mel jul07

I have to say thanks again to all of you who continue to visit regularly – and especially those who have sent gifts over recent times.  Before I started blogging I never ever received anything hand-made, and that’s the sort of gift I treasure the most, those that are homemade in whatever shape or form – everything I’ve received over the last couple of years I will seriously treasure always … I love everything, and all the love, care and warm thoughts that are conveyed in their giving – every time I think of the wonderful gifts of friendship (not just the physical gifts), it gives me the warm fuzzies inside!  You all make the world a warmer place to live in! {{hugs}}

Now, time to head off to bed … I was awake half the night last night (from 2.30am anyway) as I just couldn’t get warm in bed … tonight I’m fore-armed with a hotwater bottle warming up the bottom of the bed … I’m looking forward to stretching out and planting my fat feet smack down on top of it! 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Finishing, Gifts TO BE FIXED

Quick update

Not much time to blog, as I need to get dinner cracking (aka defrosting and reheating in the microwave LOL) … after having a really horrendous time over the weekend, I’m taking it easy this week.  I spent almost the entire day in bed again yesterday, only surfacing at about 7.30pm hmmm.  Today, though, I feel quite a bit better – and definitely better tonight than I did this morning!

I received some more yummy mail today, but I haven’t had chance to email a thank you yet, so the piccie will have to wait for that … what I do want to post is that FINALLY my gift for Tessa is ready to go in the mail!  Only a couple of months after meeting each other, and I can get it mailed out.  You see, my original drama had to do with not being able to find any suitable pins …

First of all, I thought I had some at home already – when I proved myself wrong, I went out and bought some …

These turned out to be waaaaay too small head-wise, although the colour was pretty good (but they’re incredibly sharp and the small container now fits perfectly in my stitching bag as a handy tool).

red pins 1

Back to the drawing board, and I bought 4 wheels of pins so I could pull the red ones out … well, don’t ask me what the heck I did with them, ‘cos they disappeared from sight until I was packing up the flat last month – but the colour turned out to be wrong (ie too pale for the ribbon, and a totally different shade to the stitching) …

Another shopping trip and two more packets later, and the colour STILL isn’t right …

red pins 2

BUT today the mailman brought me some pins I ordered online (thanks Andrea for advertising that shop on Ebay!) … and FINALLY the pins are just perfect!!  If anyone local needs any pins at any time, scream out, ‘cos I bought a bucketload of different colours (blue, red, purple, beige, and white, from memory – I haven’t opened the box up properly yet) ;P

red pins 3

Here’s the final version of Tessa’s pinkeep … and believe it or not I finally managed to upload the photos off my phone of our meeting in Acland Street – my old PC would never acknowledge the upload cable, but my new laptop seems to play nicely and they’re finally off the phone and into the computer memory woohoo!!  (Thanks to my housesitting job for the lovely interesting backdrop!)

pinkeep for tessa 1

pinkeep for tessa 2

image007

Anyway, my sincere apologies, Tessa for the delay, but it will be winging its way to you some time this week! 😀

Rightio, off to the lounge for dinner and a bit of a tidy-up ‘cos there’s packing stuff all over the place and I need to get everything into storage again this weekend …  It’s getting closer to moving day, and I’d like a week of rest beforehand, if I can.  Plus I need to do all the housework too, of course, and next week I’m on overnight shifts yucky 😦

Food, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Where did the weekend go??

I actually started posting yesterday, and managed to write the following, before falling asleep at the computer:

“I didn’t think this day would ever arrive … boy oh boy it’s been an interesting week.  Work has really kept me on my toes this week, and I’ve hardly had time to breathe inbetween  shifts 😦

Karma jumped up and bit me last night … I was joking that I would have a migraine starting at 9pm (it was 6.30pm when I was joking), as the one person I detest working with started at 9pm – he drives everyone on the Hotline crazy, and having to work with him up until 2am is seriously insane 😦  Anyway, it was a pretty stressful night with yet more dramas with people stuck at overseas airports … and by the time 9pm came I did indeed have a splitting headache – yep, karma’s a bitch! 😉

Today I’ve felt so grotty I didn’t get out of bed until 6.30pm (I actually woke up at 2pm yikes) – I just lay in bed with the laptop and fixing up my Outlook contacts and RAK Registry information.  I finally surfaced to reheat some of the Thai Green Curry I made yesterday, ‘cos my headache was returning … and I still feel like death warmed up.  I think it’ll be an early night for me – especially as I have 4 hours overtime at 5pm tomorrow as well (sucker for punishment, I know).

I’ve just managed to take some piccies on the camera of the goodies I received this week – unfortunately it’s night-time so the piccies didn’t come out too great, but they’ll have to do for now.”

So much for seeing much of the day yesterday!  While I was in the middle of typing up my post, I fell asleep!  Today was as bad, because I woke up again at midnight last night, and couldn’t get back to sleep until almost 5am again hmmm.  I surfaced from sleep at noon today, only to doze off again until 2pm, and have the most dreadful headache that just won’t shift 😦  It means I’ve called in to cancel my overtime, which I’m very unhappy about 😦

I also had big plans to join in with the Xmas ornie FAL this weekend, and had my ornies out ready to go … only to realise my batting is in storage, and it’s now too late to pop up the road to buy some more.  Oh well, I may sit and cut up the matboard instead in readiness for finishing them off.  Mind you, it probably doesn’t make that much sense finishing them yet, while I’m housesitting, as they’ll take up more room in storage in their finished state than if they’re nice and flat and unfinished … hmmm, that’s food for thought!

Anyway, without further ado, as I don’t want to spend much time on the PC as it’s not helping my headache at all, I want to show you the well overdue piccies from my mailbox during the last week.

First up is the most amazing parcel of goodies from my northern twin, Jenna – she really outdid herself this time!  Not only did she send my first ever LHN/CC thread pack (which I’ve been dying to try – and the thread colours really don’t show up well in their online advertising – they’re scrummy in real life) … this one is the Blueberries one … but Jenna also sent a hardanger suncatcher she made herself.  Isn’t it the most gorgeous, exquisite thing? – and so perfectly stitched.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get a really good photo of it in the dark surroundings.  Not only that, though, but she also sent a wooden needlecase – how awesome is that too?  And it fits perfectly on a keyring, so it will be a case of “have needles, will travel”.  Thanks so much again Jenna for your wonderful, perfect gifts – I adore everything, my friend {{hugs}}.

rak from jenna jul07

rak from jenna jul07 suncatcher

rak from jenna jul07 needlecase

Next up I need to thank Karen for sending along her Moon Watchers chart that she recently stitched.  I loved watching this one being stitched, and now it will be getting kitted up ready for a future stitching session of my own.  Thanks again Karen for sharing this chart – you’re a real sweetie!  How could I resist stitching blue birds?? 😀

gift from karen connor jul07

Last, but not least, here is a piccie of something I gifted myself compliments of the Bay of Evil … I’ve been avoiding Ebay like the plague since my financial downturn prior to Christmas, but I let myself loose on it again a couple of weeks ago when I needed to buy some Christmas fabric for a prize pool we’re offering over on the Focus on Finishing blog this weekend (Spotlight and other stores here don’t have any in stock until later in the year boohoo).  Anyway, these are the pieces I managed to pick up …

christmas fabrics from ebay

For Mum:  Llet me know if you want 1/2 of the Snowman one (that’s the one I was telling you about) – and I also bought you one of the green one with stockings etc on the bottom left, and the middle one at the bottom with the wee cardinals on it. 

The fabric on the far left is to finally do the backing of Vicki’s cot quilt I found as a UFO recently – I thought the bright colours would make a nice backing, as the colours match the main part of the quilt.  Unfortunately there wasn’t enough fabric for sale to fit the entire back, so I might have to find some plain blue to do a border around the edges.  I’ll have to wait and see once I’ve put the quilt back together again to see how it all measures up.  Although now I’ve gone back to look at the quilt photo, I’m having second thoughts … and think maybe I should buy some plain homespun cotton instead for the backing … oh b*gger …

Rightio, time to put the PC away for the night I think – Mum’s about to phone for a catch-up, so I’ll go and put the heating on and settle down for the night.  Not sure if my head will manage a bit of stitching tonight … I always know it’s a bad headache when it stops me from stitching! 😉

Ooh, before I forget, though, this photo is for Mum as well … this is the poster they’ve got of me in the main office – see what I mean when I say it’s almost life size??  I’ve finally got used to seeing it now … only 6 more months left and it’ll hopefully be taken down … phew! If I had $1 for every time I’ve heard “gee, Anne, you’re a STAR!”, I could retire early!! 😉

excel-photo-1