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Wagon detour …

Shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but I spent money on stitching stuff today … shhhh……………

Well, actually, it’s not technically correct that I fell off the Wagon, as this is a stitching accessory that’s not actually a stitching item ;P … I’ve been dying to ‘read’ Michael Connelly’s sequel to The Poet, and my priorities have been more with stitching than reading lately, so ………..

I succumbed to the temptation and bought it as an audiobook so I can finally sit and listen to it yippee!! The prices of audiobooks are certainly not cheap, are they? This might just be a one-off … unless there’s an Ebay sale on audiobooks haha … But I’m very very happy to finally get to read it πŸ˜€

I miss reading …

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Decision getting easier

I kept changing my mind all the way into work yesterday – on one stretch of road I was imagining sharing with Sheree and all was good, then on the next stretch I was loving my own space … I have to admit, my gut was telling me I’m not ready to move yet before I actually left home, and when I got to work Sheree didn’t even bring the topic up throughout the whole time. She has two weeks left before she has to move out, so I guess her needs are greater, as I’ve already said I won’t break my lease for it, and have two months left before my lease is up. So, to some extent, that made the decision for me – I’m staying where I am for now, in my beautiful and idyll location (if less than idyll flat LOL) … but I’m going to start getting “home alerts” via email with new flats as they come up so I can keep an eye on the market if something better comes up back in Box Hill/Doncaster that’s cheaper but still good quality accommodation, and we’ll see what happens. It means that way I can start getting the bond money etc together and putting it to one side ‘just in case’ – but in the meantime I’m going to continue enjoying my time here πŸ™‚ That was definitely an interesting exercise to go through though …

Today I start my overnight shifts, from 9pm to 5am so I’ll be less than sociable for a couple of days haha. Tonight I get my hair cut before work, though, and I can’t wait!! My hairdresser got married and took a month off work, so I had to wait for just over 8 weeks to get my hair cut again – it was due for a cut while I was in NZ – last week, the day before my hair was being cut, I find out she’s resigned and I don’t have a hairdresser anymore – would have been nice to know it was happening, as I could have got my old Auckland stylist to cut it hmmm. So now I’m getting another hairdresser in the same salon in Box Hill to cut it – I hate new hairdressers, it’s so hard to find a good one … it took me over a year to find Fiona hmmm. Oh well, it means I have about 1 1/2 hours to kill before I start work at 9pm, so I can have some dinner at Box Hill at one of my fave restaurants yippee … see, there’s always a silver lining! πŸ˜€

Rightio, I’m heading off to stitch like crazy to get my RR ducks worked on … that deadline is soooooo close – better get cracking!!

Thanks for all your comments of support – they’re much appreciated! πŸ˜€

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More thinking overnight …

… As I knew would happen, I had a broken sleep last night, and now feel like I haven’t slept – still mulling over all the pros and cons of moving vs staying etc. I have to admit, the main pros of sharing with Sheree is the financial differences – but then again, Sheree has a very high taste in accommodation, so the monthly rental overall will be higher (but of course split between the two of us, so still a general saving) … she was talking about paying $180 a week when she was looking at shared accom – and seeing as I’m paying $240 a week on my own, that’s a saving of $60 a week in rent on its own, and of course the phone etc would be halved too.

To be honest, though, my preference is still to live on my own – although with Sheree, she’s a shift worker at work as well, so you’d get a lot of time to yourself still. It would also be nice company occasionally … but in answer to your question, Heather, no she doesn’t XS and is a different personality, probably partly due to the age difference – there’s 10 years difference in our ages, and she’s a ‘party animal’ and out dating all the time – so I’d probably have to put up with having people over regularly … which isn’t necessarily all bad, but I’ve got used to having quiet time in my home hours, I guess.

I also think she wants an apartment building again, with security doors and secure parking – whereas there are some things about apartment living I like, I’ve recently been considering the cons about it as well … perhaps another reason why I was quick to start looking at options of moving as well. I love the security – especially on the 3rd floor, I have no problems with people breaking in through the windows etc. And while I have a parking spot at the back of the building, I have to admit I’m getting sick of having it covered in possum poo all the time! LOL. The main thing that I’ve been thinking about is that you’re at the mercy of other tenants … in that if someone leaves something electrical on by accident, the whole place goes up in flames, even if you’re always really careful. It’d also be quite nice to be able to do a huge pile of shopping and stock up, without having to take 50 trips up 4 flights of stairs …

If it was for the accommodation alone, I’d jump at the opportunity of moving to a single level unit. The thing that’s really tugging at me to stay (and the only thing) is the location, and how it makes me feel here. I love coming home – I love to see the lorikeets flying overhead every night when I’m home, and I love knowing I’m so close to the beach, even if I’m not spending time there. It’s also lovely knowing I’m so close to the cafe society at Acland Street … it’s awesome to wander up with visitors and spend the day – but then again, I don’t go there as often as I could on my own …

Then again, I miss being close to a really good supermarket – Coles at Elsternwick is appalling, so I end up buying most of my groceries at Safeway in Camberwell before driving home. I do miss some of the asian restaurants at Box Hill, though.

I’d already said to Mum etc earlier that I’d do my 12 months here, and then decide whether I should move back out east to save money … so I guess the time is up to start thinking about it … if I move out with Sheree, I don’t have much time to decide – but if I move out on my own, I have leisure on my side (as long as my agent doesn’t put the rent up … he originally wanted $265 a week for this place, but no-one was renting it – the owner took on a new agent, who got him to drop the price, and I was lucky enough to be the first to look at it and grabbed it rightaway).

Anyway, better start getting organised for the day … I’ll have my thoughts hopefully more in place after talking to Sheree … πŸ™‚

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Changes in the Wind …

… My mind is ticking over, and it has nothing to do with stitching … I’ve just spent the last 4 hours since coming in from work poring over rental accommodation website listings, and my mind is working overtime. The fact is one of the girls at work, who I like quite a lot, has had her flatmate move out, so she’s having to find somewhere else to live, and having a hard time finding a shared accommodation that she likes etc. Initially I thought “hmmm, perhaps an opportunity to share rent with someone” … then I dismissed it as I love living on my own most of the time. Anyway, I started reconsidering it again today, as there are many benefits, not only financial – that of extra company etc, and being able to afford a nicer place between the two of us etc. We haven’t had time to sit down and chat about it yet, but tomorrow we’ll take some time out and talk about it a bit, to see if it would be viable.

But it all got me thinking, and I’ve been online checking out 3-bedroom places that would be options for us … boy, oh boy, it beats my crummy little flat big time! Now don’t get me wrong – this place has served me well, but it’s far from being a perfect home … and I’m starting to think that I’d be better suited moving back to Box Hill again – I absolutely adore the location where I live, but that’s part of the reason I’m paying through the nose for a scummy little flat that’s had very little work done to it since the 1960’s hmmm. Well, I could actually pay the same amount of money and have a unit all to myself, where I could even have a little back yard or courtyard, as well as a kitchen that I’d actually like to cook in … and a separate laundry, rather than having the washing machine in the bathroom.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me – I’d really miss the beach etc here, and being a stone’s throw from Acland Street cafes etc, but then again I’d save in travelling costs, and I’d be closer to my new friends Sharon and Gina … tonight it all seems like a bloody good idea – I guess I’ll have to see what daylight brings haha.

Regardless, I have another two months left on my current lease, so I’ve got plenty of time to mull things over and see if I really want to go through all the moving again … plus I’ll see what Sheree has to say tomorrow … Don’t know if I’ll be getting too much sleep tonight mulling everything over … Plus I’d also have to come up with about $2,000 up front again, with the moving costs on top ho-hum …

Stash

More enabling …

After this week, my flat is an “enabling-free zone” … thanks to KarenV, I’ve fallen in love with yet another chart, and have had to place an order … for the Lavender Rose Sewing Case by Fancy Works. I have to admit I was umm-ing and ahh-ing until I saw these two latest releases today by Wendy Causer, of Wendy K C Designs – Bee’s Garden and Summer Hearts … well, that was the deciding factor, as I can now justify the postage cost. That means I’m officially back on the stash wagon again … unless I need a specific fabric or thread to complete a “must do” design, I’m not buying any more charts until my birthday … that’s right, no more charts until at least February. I’m getting the Mystery Bits each month now from SB&B, which are only for threads on my wishlist, so that’ll keep me in stash heaven every month until then πŸ™‚

Thanks to Nicki’s generosity, and a top up from myself (due to an extra fortnight’s pay yippee), I had a major Drawn Thread stash fest in the last SB&B back order, as well as receiving my Designing Ladies finishing instructions for the Stitching Leporello (thanks again Nicki!), TW’s Tropical Dream and Just Nan’s Beach Roses – lucky last, I also received LHN’s Coffee House Menu … not my usual style, but I just love this one stitched up πŸ™‚ So, finally two weeks after returning home, here’s the last stash photo, seeing as there are no stitching piccies again today (a whole lot of basting isn’t too exciting to show you, and that’s all I got done yesterday). The Drawn Thread charts are For the Birds, Sunflower Bellpull, Little Learning Band – The Acorn Sampler, Autumn Arbor, and It’s Halloween … now you can see why it’s easy to go on a stash diet! πŸ˜€
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“They’re baaaaack!!!”

No, it’s not yet another re-run of Poltergeist … but the return of the Dratteds πŸ˜€ I felt absolutely miserable and sorry for myself today, so I cheered myself up with starting my rotation again – I didn’t think I’d ever say the Dratteds would bring me so much joy, but it was definitely what the doctor ordered. I sat all day with my bung knee, bunged up and intermittently dripping nose, and heavy eyes due to lack of sleep (add to that a certain monthly visitor showing its head today hmmm) and stitched my little heart out … and I enjoyed every minute of it. My eyes are now like little squints, but fingers crossed I’ll sleep better tonight.

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I worked on the Dratteds (and any of my rotation, for that matter) – it was December last year since they saw daylight … so I’ve decided to do a ‘before and after’ shot to see the progress πŸ™‚ Basically the entire left hand side is now 100% finished yippee. I’d dearly love to see them finished before year end, even if none of my other goals are met … hopefully it will happen … As they say in Arabic, “imshallah” (God willing) πŸ™‚
Before

After

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, SBQ

SBQ … part two (3rd post today!)

OK, 2nd time lucky for my stitching nest piccies …

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting The second request comes from Singular Stitches, and she is asking for “a pictorial tour of [the] special place that you go to create your wonderful stitched creations.”

The first piccie is my permanent stitching area – only a few of my stitching folders are in the bookcase, with the rest of my stash in my bedroom closet, and spare bedroom (still unpacked since I freighted it over at the start of the month). The plastic tub holds my DMC collection, with my stitching tools etc in the basket. My essential tools are there – my floorstand and my OTTlite … as well as my cuddle blanket for my legs now the colder weather is here. Then I have a couple of WIP’s tucked in the corner on scroll bars, and my latest addition, a bin to hold my empty scrollbars (they won’t be empty for long once I get back to my rotation!). Lucky last is my little folding table with other essentials … my ort-bag from Toby, highlighter pens, Tacky Bob from Carol, tub of udder cream and wet facecloth for my hands. The great thing about living on my own is that I can have everything cluttered in the lounge without annoying anyone haha. (You should be able to click on each piccie for the up close and personal versions …)

Straight ahead of me is the other essential tool for stitching – my TV for watching DVD’s LOL. As you can see, one cover is missing from the furniture, as it’s still in NZ (I forgot to bring it home with me oops). My next spending when I have the money will be a new lounge suite and table – although, our $150 garage sale lounge suite has tided us over very well, and the sofa bed is very very comfy (shame the sofa itself isn’t the same!) – and I’m using the table that Frazier made at high school in woodwork class (his Dad sold it to me for $20 hmmm). As you can see, at the moment that little table is housing my basket of smalls.

From where I sit, off to the left is my little nest of tables, where my Melanie’s exchange from Jenna is currently residing happily πŸ™‚ It’s joined with a ‘seed’ picture I gave Grandy a few years before she passed away, so it’s now back with me again. I brought it back with me from NZ, so it will always remind me of her when I see it. I had a bit of difficulty getting it through Customs – but once I told them it was of sentimental value, and why, they let me through with it without any further problems – go Customs guys!! πŸ˜€ My poor sunflowers have seen better days, but I haven’t found any nice ones to replace them with yet.

Behind my stitching chair is my dining/balcony area – when it’s a nice day, I can pull my stitching chair right back in front of the windows to make the most of the daylight – but it’s usually where my laundry ends up drying every week πŸ˜‰ You can see my new ‘short’ curtains πŸ™‚ The colour’s really dark, though – the blue is a bit brighter than it looks. My computer desk sits here, directly off to the left of the photo – my chair is basically where I was standing to take the piccie … I get to look out the window and enjoy the view πŸ™‚

Lucky last, this is the view as you look back from my stitching chair … back to the dining table and the kitchen. See, I wasn’t joking when I said you’d get to see half of my entire flat!! The only thing you can’t see is the two bedrooms, the bathroom/laundry and toilet haha. As you can see throughout my piccies my theme of “blue” is definitely very present … and you have probably spotted the odd duck or two around as well LOL.

So, that’s it in a nutshell … end of tour πŸ˜€

SBQ

SBQ … part one

Well, I still haven’t picked up a needle today, but I’ve done really exciting things like scrubbing the toilet and unpotting 3 of my dead plants out on the balcony, and getting a load of washing done – after all that excitement I think I need a lie down ;P

I also finally managed to get a host of photos taken to show my ‘stitching nest’ … of course by doing that, you get to see half of my entire flat! LOL. So, here goes for the SBQ’s: (actually, it seems that Blogger is only being half accommodating tonight – it’s amazingly let me upload six stitching piccies, but no stitching NEST piccies, so I’ll try again in a separate post for them …

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting The first request comes from Vash who is requesting pictures of
the back of your stitching … are you brave enough to give this one a shot?

Here’s the front and back of one of my very first XS attempts years ago … um, things have improved just slightly since then ;P The Tiger design is by Ross Originals.

Here’s the front (on the left) and back (on the right) of one corner of my Chess Anyone piece … if you think they look similar, you’re right, as it’s stitched using reversible blackwork ;P

And my final ones – my Prairie Schooler ornament, and my Zebra (aka my Giraffe LOL).

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No stitching yesterday

I was in a bit of a ‘funk’ yesterday – spent some time catching up on three of my favourite blog archives, but I couldn’t really say what I did for the rest of the day – I think, though, that I got through the worst of my illness yesterday, and today I feel quite a bit better. My ears are still a bit ‘funny’, but my voice is coming back, and I’m not too bunged up. Saw a GP this morning and we agree I didn’t need antibiotics just yet, so we’re going to see if I can kick it in the butt naturally over the next couple of days – if not, we’ll take more action. So, I now have the next three days off yippee, so plenty of time to get over these nasty bugs πŸ™‚

I was just in the middle of reading Jenna’s archives, and came across details about the Stitcher’s Meme blog … I think that’s going to be a great thing to fill in the gaps when I don’t have any stitching progress to report – and it’s fun to read everyone’s answers. I love all the different memes – it makes things much more personal, and you get to find out so much about people. Anyway, I decided seeing as I’m going to try to get back into blogging more often again, this would be a good way to help start … by using some of the ‘archive’ questions each day, as well as answering the current ones … and seeing as I don’t have any stitching progress today, here’s my opportunity to start the ball rolling with the June memes …

Floss Storage meme:
1. How do you store your floss?
2. Do you keep a complete set of DMC?
3. Do you buy new floss to “kit” up new projects or do you use out of a master set?

1. In floss-away bags – I’ve tried just about every storage method, including bobbins, stitchbows, and plastic sleeves in ringbinders, and bags definitely work the best for me so far.
2. Yes, I have the complete set of DMC.
3. I use what I have on hand, and only replace when I run out. A lot of colours I have duplicates of, so I’ll only buy extras when I have a large project such as a Mirabilia, and I know I need multiple skeins of one colour.

Monthly goals:
1. How did you go with your May goals?
2. What are your June goals?

I don’t tend to make monthly goals, but perhaps if I did it would help me to get a few more things done, as it would help me to focus. So, even though it’s halfway through June, perhaps I’ll start and give it a try …

My June goals are:

  • Kit up my racing car charity quilt square
  • Ducks RR stitched up ready for posting on 1 July
  • Start Bordeaux Mystery Sampler SAL with Carol
  • Re-start my rotation again

And the last question from May:

1. Do you have an online gallery somewhere with your cross-stitch?
2. How often do you take WIP pics?
3. Do you ever spend time looking at other stitcher’s galleries? If so how often do you look at them?

1. Yes, I have a Webshots album here (there’s also a link in my sidebar).
2. I take WIP pics regularly – usually at the end of each stitching day if I’m blogging about it, otherwise I just wait until it’s finished (eg for exchanges, as I’m not posting progress piccies anywhere).
3. Yes, I enjoy looking at other stitchers online albums – it gives me great inspiration to see others finished works, and their WIP’s … I love to see other stitchers work πŸ™‚

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash, Works in Progress

Stitching update

I had to take a day off work yesterday just to get some stitching in … well, actually it was because I felt like cr*p, and couldn’t face work – my sore throat turned into a bit of laryngitis on Tuesday night, and I hardly slept at all. When I woke up yesterday morning I felt really groggy and as though I’d been run over. This morning I still feel pretty rough – I’m more blocked up in the nose, and my throat is sore again, but my voice isn’t quite as laryngitis-like. Fingers crossed I’ll be OK to get back to work again tomorrow. It does mean, though, that I managed to get a bit of stitching done – and a bit of frogging too ;P I still have two stitches to fix up in the vines that I noticed I managed to miss yesterday, and they’re easily added in – but I’m slowly catching up to you, Carol πŸ˜€ I’ll continue to get this panel finished (the whole of part 1), then I have to get my ducks RR done to get in the mail by 1 July … then it’s “Dratteds, here I come!!!” πŸ˜€

Just a quick post today, as my concentration at the computer isn’t great – I tried catching up on some more blog reading yesterday, but I ended up reading most things three times, and gave up. Off to have another Lemsip Cold & Flu, then cuddle up under my blanket again in my not-so-glamorous PJ’s for the day …

(Updated) Crikey, I just realised that I hadn’t posted piccies of my previous stash arrivals … for some reason I thought I’d already done it, but just checked back in my blog posts, and lo and behold nothing was there! Oops – I’d forget my head these days if it wasn’t permanently attached!! Anyway, here are the piccies of stash I received as gifts from some very generous ladies – thanks so much again Cathy and Nancy – your generosity is amazing, and I love everything (I know I’ve sent personal emails already, but just wanted to reiterate it now) πŸ˜€ Unfortunately blogger is, just for a change, having a hissy fit about adding more photos, so I’ve had to use Photobucket, which of course means you can’t click for a bigger piccie, sorry 😦

Here are my wonderful spoils from Cathy:
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And my wonderful spoils from Nancy:
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