Author: Anne S

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

SBQ & blogging in general

Anne S

Still no news on my car – I spoke to the mechanic while I was sitting at the train station on the way to work yesterday, and they’re still waiting on the new clutch pedal to arrive.  Apparently there was a cock-up at wherever they get their parts from … so still no idea when it will be fixed.  I still don’t have my airline tickets booked for Perth yet until I at least know what the bill is going to be.  By hook or by crook I’ll get myself to Perth for the class, as otherwise it’ll be such a waste of time and money, but I guess there’s only so much money in the bank, and if it reaches my limits then I’ll have no choice … at this stage, though, I’m still being hopeful.  

One of the problems in Perth, though, is that the friend I’m staying with has now moved, and lives out in Merriwa near South Geraldton, and the public transport options for getting to where the class is being held is appalling.  On Saturday alone the trip will take me (according to the Transperth trip planner) 2.51 hours … departing at 5.55am I would arrive at 8.46am, and the journey will have taken me on two trains, two buses, and included a walking distance of approx 2034 metres … bloody hell, I’m exhausted even just thinking about it!  And I daren’t even look at the Sunday schedules, as they’re usually worse.  So I’ve opted to hire a car instead, as even driving it will take me 1 1/4 hours according to the driving maps (and seeing as I’ll be on my own trying to follow the map, I’d better add on an extra 1/2 hour just in case) … of course that means an extra $120 expense without petrol costs, so one of the reasons I’m being cautious about booking my airline ticket yet until I know what money I’ve got leftover to play with.  Oh well, I’ve still got about 70 hours before the class starts … no need to panic! 😉

Anyway, on to the latest SBQ … Today’s SBQ was suggested by Heather and is:

“How do you decide which stitching blogs are worth repeat and/or regular viewings? Are there certain things you look for in particular? Are there things you wish there were more of? Less of? Is your blog a good example of what you like to read?”

As for deciding which blogs are worth repeat/regular viewing – piccies for me are probably first and foremost … I love to see stitching WIP’s and finishes, and piccies of stash bought – it’s definitely true to say a visually appealing blog makes me more likely to come back for more.  Then of course there has to be a good writing style to accompany the piccies – I like to read a mix of stitching stuff, with enough personal info that lets you get a glimpse into the blogger’s personal life and a feel for who you are as a person.  First and foremost it is the stitching content, though, that will grab me.  I suppose my own blog is a sort of example – I usually have a mix, although there hasn’t been too much in the way of stitching of late hmmm.

I have to say that it’s quite funny to have this question now, as it’s something I’ve been pondering myself over the last few weeks.  To be brutally honest I’m finding blogging to be a bit of a chore at the moment … I’m not entirely sure why, but I’m finding it difficult to both write my own blog and read other blogs at the moment, and wondering whether I need to take a small mini-break for a while.  One of the problems is that I have so many blogs on my reading list if I don’t check them daily the unread feeds just snowball out of control – even though I’ve been trying to read a few over the last week since my return from Sydney (and since Mum’s gone home), I still have over 500 unread feeds, and that starts to weigh on me a little bit, and makes it feel like a chore. But then again I don’t want to “mark all feeds as read” as I don’t like missing out on anything … it’s a catch-22 haha.  But the SBQ has made me consolidate my thoughts a wee bit, and I know a couple of blogging friends have been doing the same thing, in that I think I need to cull my reading list slightly.  There are some blogs I’ve been reading for a while that no longer, or rarely, have stitching content so I don’t get as much enjoyment from them as I used to.  It’s a difficult decision to make, as I don’t want to hurt any feelings in removing blogs from my blogroll, but I have to be aware there are only so many hours in a day, and there’s no point doing things out of a sense of duty if you no longer derive pleasure from the task.  What I’ll likely do instead is retain a list of all these blogs and make a once-a-month visit instead of trying to keep up-to-date with everyone together.

On that same theme, I’m also in the middle of rearranging my blogroll into folders – allocated as “daily”, then Monday to Sunday … we all have our favourite blogs (for whatever reason, be it that we’ve been reading them the longest, have made closer friendships with the blogger, or just that they’re so incredibly inspirational), so I thought of putting those top 10-15 blogs in my ‘daily’ folder … then I’ll divide the remaining blogs into days of the week, at least that way I can catch up on blogs once a week when I’m having a busy week, rather than having hundreds and hundreds to plough through – if I’m having a good week, I can read two days worth together.  I’ve been pondering this for quite a while now … and it’s harder and harder finding the time to keep on top of things as more new and wonderful blogs become known to me.  It also means I’m finding it more and more difficult to find time to comment on blogs, and that disappoints me because that’s the greatest part of blogging – giving and receiving support.

Anyway, I want to apologise in advance for anyone who gets removed from my blogroll when I start whittling it down – it’s certainly nothing personal, I just have to rationalise my online blogging time and try to make this enjoyable again.  Phew, that’s almost a relief saying it out loud and committing myself to actually doing something about it …

Actually, another thing I was thinking about the other day as well has just popped into my head … and while I’m on the theme of ‘blogs’ it’s probably a good time to bring up the question …

I use Newsgator for my blog reading, and just go into the blog itself when I want to make a comment.  A few of you have your blog settings to just show ‘partial’ feeds, so in my news reader I only get to see the first three lines of text, then I have to click on each post heading to read the full post … this really slows down proceedings as well, and I have to admit when I’m trying to catch up, I’ll leave those blogs until last because it’s so much slower to read – I was just wondering why some of you have your settings like that?  Anyway, that was just something that was running through my head … I have to admit I hadn’t even thought about my own settings, except I put my own blog into my feeds to see how it looks.

And I’ll leave it there for the day … there’s way too much thinking going on by this blog reader at the moment, and it’s hurting my brain 😉

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Peacock needlecase happy dance

Anne S

Aside from the satin/buttonhole stitches for the scissor sheath (which gets done last after the stiffening is ironed on), the stitching for the Peacock Needlecase for the CA Wells class is all done – yippee! 😀 

I had a slight distraction by a phone call this arvo, which took me a while to get back into stitching mode afterwards, but I managed to squeak in with the stitching just before midnight 😀

Sorry about the poor photography, but I can’t be bothered playing with my editing software much more tonight.  At least now I have enough stitched of both projects to at least get some of the finishing done during the class next weekend).

peacock-08apr07

Cross Stitch

Charts for sale/trade

Anne S

I’m slowly working through my piles of charts that I know I’ll never stitch in this lifetime, so I’ll be gradually adding them to my list for sale or trade.  I’ve set up a new page on this blog here (you can also see the new tab at the top of the screen), where I’ll be adding new items as I come to them.  I’m also adding them to my Webshots for sale/trade album as well, where you can see a full piccie of the chart.

I’d prefer to trade for items off my wishlist, or happy to trade for DMC/Mill Hill beads, fat quarters of fabric (either stitching or quilting fabrics).  If you prefer to buy anything, I’d be asking 1/2 of what the normal retail price is – just drop me a line and we can work something out.  Depending on the item, I may also request coverage of the postage costs as well, particularly if the item is not being traded for another chart (for example the E&XS and Inspirations magazines are costly to post, so I’d need to factor that in for any sales).

Rightio, now that’s given me chance to wake up, it’s time to get back to some stitching … 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Round Robins

Peaks and troughs (aka highs and lows)

Anne S

It’s been a week of differing emotions – and challenges – but also also of some extreme highs.

First up I had an emotional low dealing with public transport for my night shifts … it wasn’t much fun leaving home at 7.15pm for a 9pm start (I’d usually leave just before 8.30pm in my car), and sitting around the ‘transfer’ train station for 20 minutes in the cold and dark … crikey, it’s only been a couple of days, and I miss my car dearly already!  It actually wouldn’t normally be too bad, but the shifts I’m on at the moment make it a pain in the a***.  Thankfully I managed to get a lift to work and home and again for last night’s shift, which was a blessing.

I arrived at work on Wednesday night feeling very flat (the first full day without my car) … but I arrived 1/2 hour early for work, so I walked down to the PO Box to check the mail.  There’s a ‘parcel slip’ in there, but I can’t get that until Tuesday when I will be back at work during their opening hours, so I just have to sit patiently until then when I can find out what’s hiding in there.  There was, however, a wonderful surprise sitting in there, and the contents put a huge smile on my face all the way back to work!

Virpi very kindly sent me some feathered friends through the mail, along with some stationery items, in thanks for a chart I sent her as a RAK last month.  Talk about arriving at the perfect time!  I sat the wee ducks on my desk and they kept my spirits up throughout the whole night 🙂  Aren’t they the cutest things?  I just adore them!  Thank you so much Virpi for a wonderful gift … they’re definitely in a loving home, and they seem to be getting on very well with all their extended family 😉

RAK-from-Virpi

Unfortunately after that shift I had a crappy complaint call before I left work, and it was almost 8am before I got to sleep … that was really bad timing as I’d agreed to meet up with Tessa, so the poor thing had to put up with me looking like Frankenstein’s bride after only getting about 5 hours sleep before meeting.  I have to say, though, after a coffee and some wonderful conversation I felt fantastic … and it was a real pleasure to meet up – I certainly hope it won’t be the last time, as Tessa is a gorgeous person and wonderful to spend time with.  It’s always a good sign when the time passes so quickly, and there was never a lull in the conversation.  Unfortunately I’d had a minor catastrophe with part of Tessa’s gift – the stitching had been finished ready to be made into a pinkeep, but on coming home from Sydney I realised I didn’t have any pins that actually matched in colour … no problem, I think to myself, I can pick some up during the day while I’m on overnight shifts … hmmm, that was good in theory, but of course then my car broke down and I wasn’t able to pick any up – so my gift will now have to be posted … I did, however, take it to show Tessa a quick sneak peek.

Quaker for Tessa

My gift, though, totally pales in comparison to the treasures that Tessa gave me … I was absolutely floored by Tessa’s generosity, and the amazing gifts.  First of all I received some beautiful lilies (which I haven’t taken a photo of yet – I’ll try to remember to take one when they’re all open), and some Haig’s choccies … I’d only tried Haig’s chocolate once before when Mum and I visited Adelaide two years ago, and it’s totally divine!  Then there was a box wrapped in the most scrummy blue and white fabric – what a fantastic wrapping idea, and the fabric is just awesome!  As Tessa said, it’s very “me” 🙂  The piece de la resistance, though, was the amazing bourse Tessa stitched for me … my jaw nearly hit the floor when I opened the box and saw what was inside – I absolutely adore it!  I had to have a lesson how to re-close it, though, as I’d never seen one before in real life … isn’t it amazing?  I just love and treasure everything – you have spoilt me rotten Tessa, and I truly love it all – they’re very special gifts 😀  Neither of us brought a camera, so we’ve taken photos on our phones … unfortunately, though, I have no idea how to upload it to my PC, but once I find my cable and work it out, I’ll post a piccie of the two of us 😀

gift-from-tessa-05apr07

gift-from-Tessa-05Apr07-bou

I have to say that I’ve been really amazed how comfortable I’ve felt meeting up with my fellow bloggers.  Usually I’m incredibly shy, and hardly say a word around strangers (especially in large group settings), but when I meet my fellow bloggers I can’t shut up! haha.  Perhaps it’s having the common thread of stitching to chat about, or the fact that we’ve already started to get to know each other through our blogs, I’m not sure … but I must say blogging for me really is making the world a smaller, kinder and warmer place 😀

During the night shift this week I forced myself to pick up a needle and put a few stitches into a freebie – something quick that I didn’t have to think too much about.  I chose the Quaker Hedgehog freebie from The Workbasket – in hindsight I wish I’d used a different thread, as this one turned out quite streaky, but it did the trick and got me stitching again.

quaker hedgehog

I continued with my stitching trend last night at work and started Becky’s part of our Friendship Quaker Round Robin – I got almost all of one motif stitched last night, then sat all day today in my PJ’s and finished the rest (mind you, I got a pretty good sleep today … I was in bed at 6.30am, and after waking up occasionally I finally woke up enough to actually get out of bed at 2.30pm – woohoo!! – that sounds really lazy, but actually it just meant I managed to get 8 hours sleep for a change).

becky's-RR

I’m not sure what’s on the cards for tomorrow – I need to work on my Peacock Needlecase, though, so I think that’ll be my priority.  Until then, I’m just happy I’ve managed to get a few stitches into ‘something’ this week after a couple of weeks of no stitching 🙂

Blogging Memes

Meme 10-1

Anne S

I just found this in my drafts as I was cleaning out my files, and thought I might as well post it (after I updated a few things) … my apologies, as I can’t remember whose blog I pinched it from in the first place!

10 Firsts
1. First best friend – Vicki (don’t remember my childhood before I was 10, and Vicki and I have been best friends since we were 10 when I moved to NZ)
2. First car – Austin A35 (in fact that’s apparently the car Wallis drives in the Wallis & Gromit movie!) … mine was painted green, and had the unoriginal nickname of ‘Kermit’
3. First love – Alan
4. First vacation – As kids it would have to be Great Yarmouth, I guess
5. First job – Shop assistant at the local “dairy” (aka Milk Bar, aka corner shop!)
6. First piercing – my ears (and they will be the only things ever pierced!)
7. First concert – When I was a kid, it would have been the Bay City Rollers haha
8. First record/cd bought – Probably a 45 of the Bay City Rollers, or it could have been Gary Glitter … LP’s/albums would have been The Police
9. First real love – Glen
10. First screen name – AnneS (not very original!)

9 Latest
1. Latest alcoholic beverage – A glass of Chardonnay last night
2. Latest car ride – Today, in the front of a tow-truck or last night, halfway to work
3. Latest movie watched – School of Rock
4. Latest phone call made – Mum
5. Latest jacuzzi bath – YEARS ago, in Auckland
6. Latest played cd – The Christmas Collection – blasting “Snoopy’s Christmas” at Christmas (I’ve been using my PC files for music since then)
7. Latest time you cried – before Christmas (the next time might be when I get my car repair bill!)
8. Latest meal – Beef in red wine casserole – yummo!
9. Latest curse – Um, pass … of course if you mean “latest CUSS”, then there’d be plenty to choose from … especially last night when my car broke down!!! LOL

8 Have You Ever
1. Dated one of your best friends – Nope
2. Been arrested – Nope
3. Fallen in love at first sight – Yes
4. Been in a TV program – Yes, if you call a Telethon a TV program …
5. Had your heart broken – Who hasn’t?
6. Said you love someone without meaning it – Nope, I’m not hypocritical and don’t say things I don’t mean … if you don’t want an honest answer, then I’m not the person to ask
7. Made a prank phone call – Nope, can’t keep a straight face, and hate prank calls 

7 Things You Wear
1. Jeans
2. Skechers sneakers
3. Glasses for driving/distance
4. Mum’s gold bracelet
5. Gold watch
6. Oscar de la Renta or Opium perfume
7. A smile … usually

6 Things You’ve Done Today
1. Thought about stitching … just didn’t get any actually done!
2. Had my car towed to a mechanic
3. Treated myself to a cappuccino at Elwood shops
4. Posted to my blog
5. Checked out new rental properties online
6. Checked out public transport options online to get to/from work

5 Favorite Things
1. My stitching stash
2. My jeans
3. My cameras
4. My computer
5. Cappuccinos

4 People I Can Tell Anything
1. Frazier
2. Hayley
3. Jenna
4. Carol

3 Choices
1. Black or white? Black
2. Summer or winter? Summer
3. Chocolate or chips? Chocolate (unless, of course, the chips/crisps are salt & vinegar flavoured, then the S&V wins hands down!)

2 Things to do Before You Die
1. Go hot air ballooning
2. Travel the world to new places, meeting my favourite bloggers along the way!

1 Thing You Regret
1. Spending $15,000 on a 3-month worldwide trip instead of on a deposit for a house

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, SBQ

A couple of answers

Anne S

I just realised I hadn’t answered Heather’s previous query/comment about Kangaroo loin … yes, I have to say Kangaroo loin is just that … kangaroo meat!! It’s incredibly low in fat, and just like steak, best served medium-rare, and personally I think it’s very scrummy … if you want to read more about it check out this article here (I just found it via Google, and it’s quite interesting, especially as it has some recipes that I just might have to check out – mmmm note to self, add to bookmarks to check out later!).

Next up is last week’s SBQ … I should almost wait for another day or so as I’m sure the next one will turn up just as soon as I post this, but here goes:

Today’s SBQ was suggested Cindy and is:

“Do you have a system for organizing freebie charts in your stash? If so, what is it? Do you print out copies of all of the freebies that you find on the web (that you think you might actually stitch) or do you maintain electronic copies of them until you are ready to stitch them?”

I used to print off everything I could lay my hands on (that I could see myself stitching ‘one day’), place them into plastic sleeves, then into ringbinders sorted by theme … as space has eventually become an issue (especially moving countries when freight was an issue as well), I’ve now started saving electronic copies instead and just printing a chart off when I actually want to stitch it.  I have them organised in electronic folders also in themes.
 

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Bye-bye car…

Anne S

Today my car is getting towed to a local garage (it’s about a 30-40 minute walk from home … which is of course what I’ll be doing once the tow-truck drops my car off there today).  They can’t get it back to me before Easter, which means they’ll likely have my car for at least a week … guess I’d better start checking out public transport options for the next two nights and Easter Monday … oh heck, I also just realised I finish work at 5am Good Friday, which means I’ll have to wait forever for a train home as well (updated to add:  I’ve just checked and the first train leaves at 7.41am on Good Friday – and I haven’t even checked the connection at Richmond … oh boy, I hope I can get a lift home!!) … oh joy of joys! 😦  Maybe I’ll ask around at work tonight to see if anyone is coming from my side of town so I could get a lift … aside from anything else I don’t enjoy walking the streets alone at either of those times now daylight savings has ended, as I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark – and my home is about a 20 minute walk away from the station, down backstreets hmmm.

If nothing else, maybe I’ll get more stitching done while I’m waiting for trains – I need to do something to get my mojo back … before my work on Bordeaux yesterday, it’s actually been two whole weeks since I touched a needle, and I only did that because I knew I ‘had to’ for the Peacock needlecase.  I still look at my stitching corner and go ‘blah’ … which is totally unlike me … Perhaps it’s other things on my mind that keep distracting me, like knowing I should actually be sorting things out ready for packing up when I move (we’re still doing inspections and househunting the ads every week).  Anyway, I hope I can shake it soon, as there’s too much to be done!

Rightio, time to call a tow-truck then enjoy the walk home – if nothing else it will get me into a bit more exercise again, which I dearly need – and at least it’s not raining 😉  In fact I think I’ll have a small treat on the way home and sit and have a cappuccino at the Elwood shops on the way past … anything to make the day look a little brighter … 😀

Uncategorized

Ever had one of those days???

Anne S

I knew it was a crappy day when I only got 5 hours sleep … then driving to work tonight the clutch on my car broke … snapped … dead! 😦  It died at the traffic lights of Princess Highway (Dandenong Road) and Kooyong Road, unfortunately on a slight incline so I couldn’t push it … much to the annoyance of drivers behind me (and thanks again to all of you for not stopping to help whatsoever – have a lovely evening mutter mutter mutter), I had to roll it in reverse across the two lanes of traffic so I could park it on the side of the road.  Anyway, I’ve just walked in the door from being dropped off home by the tow truck (I had to wait for an hour on the side of the road) … and I’m taking a couple of minutes to chill out and decide on  my options.

The awful part is doing night shift right now, because it means option 1 is to catch a taxi to work (which will be approx $30 minimum), and lose at least 2 hours pay (depending on when the taxi arrives), then I’d have to catch two trains home in the morning and stay awake until the local garages open, and try to find one that can fit me in.  That also means I wouldn’t be getting to bed until at least 9am, and I wouldn’t be able to get much sleep because I’d then have to go back to pick the car up again by about 5pm.  Geez, that option 1 doesn’t sound fantastic, does it?

Option 2 is to just write off the night – I’ve checked with the Supervisor on duty and there’s a relieving Hotliner that could fill in for me tonight if necessary, in which case I could at least get a good night’s sleep before dealing with it tomorrow … and they’d probably let me take the time off as an RDO, which doesn’t cost me megabucks (especially as a new clutch is likely to set me back a few hundred, if not closer to $500).

I’m also starting to worry because I haven’t paid for my Perth airline ticket yet either, and I hope like heck I still have enough left over to go … oh bloody hell, I don’t want to think about that!

Rightio, off to call work …

I’ve just told the Supervisor I’m not going to come in for the night – I feel totally crappy letting them down, but I also know that if I don’t get some sleep tomorrow I’ll make myself really sick (I already had a couple of dizzy spells this arvo due to it) and I’ll be of no use to anyone.  I still feel really bad, though …

I think I’ll go crack open that bottle of Chardonnay chilling in the fridge … if nothing else, it might help me sleep, and relax a little! :/

Cross Stitch, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

Back on the wine … Bordeaux, that is!

Anne S

I feel as though my stitching mojo has disappeared … I think I got so burnt out just focusing on the CA Wells projects and ignoring everything else that it’s affected my motivation on the whole where stitching’s concerned. This week I’m on overnight shifts, and the first night is always the worst as you’ve almost been up for 24 hours by the time you get home.  To make things worse I only slept for 5 hours today as well, so my energy levels are pretty minimal today.

What to do with myself?  I know I should have been working on my CA Wells pieces, but to be honest my heart just wasn’t in it … instead I dragged out my Bordeaux Sampler and put a few stitches into it, so I’m almost at the same place as Carol – I’ve really missed stitching this over the last few weeks, and it felt really good to sit down and work on it again for a few hours.  Just a few more over-one grapes left to go and I’m finished with this band … but I think I’ll start the next band and do a few grapes at the start of each session so I don’t get too fed up with it.  And I think it’s important for me to get back into stitching on this each week … to make me feel more ‘normal’.