Anne S

Ouch, my feet hurt!

19 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Not much of a stitchy post today, but I thought I’d take a few minutes to sit down and rest before picking up my needle for the afternoon … I’ve been tagged by Margaret, but I need to think about my anwers yet before I write them up, but watch this space 😉

Yesterday I enjoyed my walk a little ‘too much’, and came home with whopping great blisters under both feet oops – it made it a very uncomfortable trip into the city to catch up with Fraze for dinner, but it was lovely to catch up again after not seeing each other for a couple of months. We were going to the Rose Garden in Elizabeth Street, but opted instead to go to the Shanghai Dumpling & Noodle House in Chinatown, and I loved every single mouthful … we had prawn and chicken steamed dumplings, pork fried dumplings, spicy chicken noodle soup, Shanghai fried noodles and green vegetables with oyster sauce, and could barely walk afterwards … yummo 🙂 I was finally able to give to give him the potato crisps we bought him from Marks & Spencers in Hong Kong 😉

Then today popped in to clear my PO Box on the way to my hairdressers appointment (which is about 3/4 hour drive away from home), and found some wonderful things hiding in there – my order from Dragonfly Dreams, and Christmas came early with my parcel arriving from Jenna too. As I’d already said I was wrapping my scissors up for myself to go under the Christmas tree, the cheeky little monkey has already done it for me, so there’s no peeking allowed and it will be a REAL surprise on Christmas Day – you’re a real crack-up! My American twin also sent my Christmas prezzie from her at the same time too, so that means I have two prezzies under the tree this year woohoo 😀 Thanks again, sweetie, for getting my scissors for me, and thanks heaps in advance for my Christmas gift 😀 {{hugs}}

Aside from that, no stitching piccies to show – seeing as my stitching mojo had returned, and I got home so late from dinner last night, I decided to put the snowmen to one side and get cracking on my gift stitching … I was originally hoping to get these finished earlier, but I didn’t have the fabric for one, and I’m still awaiting the thread for the other with a back order from SB&B (which I’m also getting a bit antsy about, as there are items I need for the scissor fob exchange hmmm). Now it’s back to my stitching again – I managed to get 8 whole eyelets done at the hairdressers today (I had a bit of blonde put back in again, sorry Mum, but it’s pretty subtle!) so I really need to get the needle cracking again tonight! I’ll take piccies of my postal arrivals later … I can’t be bothered getting the camera out of my bag from yesterday, lazy sod that I am 😉 LOL.

Today will finish with Tom Yum soup I bought from my fave Vietnamese (and Thai) restaurant in Box Hill today … I love getting my hair done, if just for the fact it gives me an excuse to pick up some of my fave food 😉 And today there was an extra highlight to the day – I called in to say “howdy” to my fave Melbourne stitcher and friend, Sharon, and managed to catch up for a few minutes while she was at work. Unfortunately it wasn’t long enough, but still wonderful to catch up briefly and share a hug – she’s such good company 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

“I feel good! na-na na-na na-na na”

18 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Yep, the title is me singing that song … today is the first day I’ve felt ‘normal’ in a whole week, and I have a bit of energy back again woohoo!! For the first time in days I’ve got my stitching mojo back again, and look forward to a happy dance tonight with my needleroll. I only got as far as finishing the top band of smyrna crosses and seeing half the top row of snowflakes done last night, as my eyes were really really heavy. I was in bed by 10pm, and still kept waking up every 1-2 hours as seems to be the norm after night shifts for me, but for the first time I actually woke up feeling quite refreshed this morning yippee!

I’ve caught up on a few blogs … only 196 unread feeds left (it had got up to over 400 again from the other day yikes), done the dishes, and even started getting the urge to bake (and that NEVER happens LOL). For now, though, I’m going to don the walking shoes and get outside in the sunshine and go for a walk round the bays for an hour, then it’s off into the city to meet up with Fraze for dinner. Seeing as I’m going in by train (I never drive into the city ‘cos I have no idea where I’m going) I want to head in a bit early and do a spot of shopping at a discount store for some plastic folders for my WIPs – and at $2 a packet of 5 they’re just wonderful 😀 If the weather stays fine, I just might head up the Rialto tower as well for a spot of sightseeing and cross that off my 101 things list … although the weather forecast doesn’t sound too good.

And seeing as there’s no stitching update today (yet anyway), here’s a photo of me the midget (only compared to Fraze, though, as I’m actually an average size of 5’6″) and Fraze the 6’4″ giant from a couple of years ago (me less quite a few pounds from now, with a lot more blonde – probably one of my fave photos ever of me, which is why it’s on my profile haha … and Fraze will probably kill me for posting this one of him LOL).

Needlerolls, Quilting

Happy as a pig in mud :)

17 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

It was an interesting night last night, in that I was very sleepy very early, so hit the hay just before 11pm, only to wake up again at 2am with my body thinking “that was a nice nap, time to get up now” hmmm. I got up and wandered around for half an hour before going back to bed – took me a while to get back to sleep, but eventually I dozed off and didn’t get up until 9am woohoo 🙂

Last night I managed to do some of the slowest stitching in history (for me), and still haven’t managed to get that Snowman Needleroll finished yet … but I guess it’s a bit closer to finishing than it was before, so that’s all good 🙂

Today has been a very productive day for me, although no stitching done as yet. I popped out and filled the car up with petrol (how wonderful to see it at $1.13 a litre woohoo), then went on a stitching adventure … I finally went to Centre Road in East Bentleigh to visit Amitie (downstairs – quilting) and Broderie (upstairs – embroidery), and really enjoyed it. The quilting part is quite large, with a reasonable selection of fabrics … and I’ve asked about classes there to teach me how to do applique and learn the quilting basics so I can complete my block of the month quilt I have sitting here doing nothing (complete with all the fabrics for it). Because of my shift work hours it’s really difficult to commit to a lot of classes because they’re usually spread over say 4 weeks, and I’d only end up being able to attend 2-3 of the classes. At Amitie, though, they have ‘casual’ classes each week, and you just pay for the class you attend and the instructors just help you with your queries … I’d definitely keen to do that, and it’s only 15-20 minutes drive from where I live yippee 😀 I can’t remember if I’ve posted info on my quilt yet, but this is the design I have sitting here (and yes, for a change, it’s blue!! LOL). Sorry but Blogger is being a dog again, and won’t upload piccies, so no clickable links again … if anyone knows how to make Photobucket piccies clickable, I’d love to know how! Actually, if you click here, you can see a clearer picture of it on the designer’s website 🙂

Upstairs from Amitie is Broderie – I have to admit the space is quite small (just one medium room really), but Elizabeth has a decent range of threads etc in there, and she can order in most things they don’t have. The owner is the Elizabeth that used to be at Bustle & Bows Malvern – I really liked her, and glad she’s managed to set up her own business. It was really lovely to get out there and see a new LNS, as well as picking up a couple of items I needed to finish kitting up two new gift projects. I also managed to pick up a copy of the 2005 JCS ornie issue for Mum at half price, which was fantastic … and I was very very good and didn’t walk out with anything extra, only those items I specifically needed (pearl cottons and fabric), so I’m still working within the 50 Project Challenge guidelines. Unfortunately Broderie didn’t have everything I needed, so I had to call into The Embroidery Den in Brighton on the way home, where I managed to find everything else … even the 3mm satin ribbon in the perfect shade yippee 😀

My last trip on the way home was to Officeworks where I did some photocopying I needed to do for some working copies of charts etc, and picked up a 2007 filler for my diary. And my final purchase (yes, I FINALLY bought one, Mum) was from Autobarn … a dashboard cover for my car!! I have a Nissan Pulsar sedan, and the dashboard is the most horrendous thing I’ve ever had in a car, as it reflects the sun badly onto the window and makes it hard to see. When I first bought it I bought a piece of black felt and sat that on the dashboard to block out the reflections, but three years later the felt is well as truly dead (and brown!), and with summer here I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet … I’m so happy!!! 😀 (Actually I’ll be even happier when it arrives, ‘cos I’ve had to order it in haha.)

Tomorrow I’m heading into the city to meet my pal Fraze for dinner, so I might go in earlier and have a look around. Then Thursday I’m off to Box Hill to get my hair cut/coloured … I have to decide whether to have a dark colour put back in again (I had a semi-permanent put in before Katrina came here to visit), or whether to get the blonde back again until after summer … oh decisions decisions haha. I might just have to buy some dinner to take home from there, too, from my fave Vietnamese eating place yummo 😀

And with no further ado, I’m off to sort out my working copies to settle in for the evening … I may even get that needleroll finished tonight … maybe 😉

Uncategorized

It’s all Greek to me …

16 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I can finally say I’ve picked up one of my exemptions from the 50 Project Challenge – at last my local newsagent near work had the World of XSing magazine in stock with the Michael Powell Greek scene in it … I absolutely ADORE all things Greek with those beautiful blues in them, so this design is most definitely on the “must stitch” list. It will go well with the Greek paintings I bought in Greece that I have framed up (with some more still to be framed yet).

On the stitching front, I didn’t manage to get much done on my Snowman needleroll over the last two nights … on my 2nd night of doggoes it was a bit busier, so I only managed to get a tiny bit done – and I realised on adding the backstitching that the right-hand snowman is one stitch too far over on the right … seeing as I’d already had to frog-stitch that one twice already, and I’d already completed it, I’ve decided to just leave it where it is, and just have to adjust the lettering by one stitch above it. I bet if I didn’t say anything, no-one would notice 😉 Last night would have been a good stitching night again, but I was just too tired to concentrate on it, so gave stitching a miss. I’ve only been getting 5-6 hours sleep each time during the day (and waking up every 1-2 hours), so last night that caught up with me. Of course, as is always the case, today I manage to sleep a full 8 hours and didn’t get out of bed until 3pm, which means it’ll be hard to get back into the routine for sleeping tonight … that’s the only thing I hate about night shift, recovering after it – otherwise I could do that shift permanently, I really enjoy it 😀 (very sad, I know! LOL)

I think tonight I’ll try to get this little needleroll finished off, then tomorrow I need to pop out and buy some pearl cottons ready to start my gifts this week, before coming home to settle in and stitch up my scissor fob exchange piece. I’m a bit worried that the ‘extra’ I’ve ordered from SB&B isn’t going to arrive in time for posting, but I guess there’s still just over a week left (fingers crossed).

On the good note, though, Karen has shipped most of the threads I’ve been wanting for a canvaswork piece, so that’ll slot straight into my rotation as soon as Pacific Pohutukawa is finished woohoo 😀 These threads have been on order for quite some time now, as they had to be ordered in through the distributor – but as soon as I’ve finished that piece, the chart can head it’s way over to Tannia for her to stitch it 😀

And on that note I’ll sign off for the night and settle in with the Snowman needleroll for a few hours while listening to a new audiobook I’ve got – A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly. The reason I have this is Cathy’s fault … she mentioned Audible on her blog, and the price seemed very reasonable, so yesterday I thought I’d give it a trial run. They just so happened to have a 50% sale off Michael Connelly books, so I bought two (for the same it’d cost just for one normal paperback these days), as well as The Cold Moon by Jeffrey Deaver as my ‘free’ gift for joining up. That’ll keep me out of trouble this week on my days off 😉 It’ll be a nice change from DVD watching, and they have a wonderful selection of audiobooks to download (even for us Aussies) compared to what’s available at my local library 😀

Finishes, Needlerolls

Better Dratteds piccie

14 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments about my Dolphins Domain … I have to admit, I really out-did myself with the amount of stitching I crammed into the final couple of days – it’s amazing what sheer determination and bloody-mindedness can make you do! 😉 Mind you, the pile of dishes in the sink and general mess around here shows I really did do nothing else but stitch for every waking moment for a couple of days – and on my day off sick I literally sat down with needle in hand at about 9am and didn’t put it down again until almost midnight, and did the same thing yesterday until it was finished. And for those of you who’ve asked for it, here’s a much better photo of the Dratteds (and it’s clickable) – I think the colours are a bit more accurate too, as it was taken in front of the window with no flash this time (and with my good SLR camera).

I’d just downloaded an anti-phishing software that came with my renewal for SpyNet, and it was playing havoc with my PC, especially blogger … so today I uninstalled it and voila I have Blogger piccies again without crashing the entire system yippee!! 😀

Last night was my first night shift (affectionately known as the Doggoes – apparently this came from the old days when night shifts were known as the ‘dogwatch’), and I really loved it – I was wide awake all night, in that I didn’t feel tired once … although tonight may be a different story, as I never sleep properly during the day (and of course yesterday I was awake almost 24 hours by the time I got to bed). Anyway, the calls were a bit quiet for a few hours, so I managed to put in a few stitches for the Needleroll SAL with Katrina et al inbetween answering queries/calls – this month I’ve chosen the Snowman Needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush, and here’s my progress to date.

As for “what now?” after the Dratteds are finished … I’m debating between a couple of choices for my newly opened focus piece slot in my rotation – high up the list is Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine, or possibly one of my TW UFO’s (English Garden Sampler or Noah’s Ark). I have to say, due to the sheer size of it, that Egyptian Garden is likely to win out. Originally I was holding off doing this so I could SAL with Carol, but we agree that she’s pretty much Chatelained-out with her stitching in that area this year, so I’ve opted to pick it back up again and get cracking on it. In fact there you go, my decision has been made … EGM is my new focus piece! 😀 Seeing as I coughed up all that money for the kit, I really should get that beauty finished!

Next up, though, is my scissor fob exchange, as the deadline is drawing ever nearer – then a small gift for someone, and a couple of Christmas ornies … if nothing else, there’s always something in the pipelines waiting to be stitched, so I’ll never have a problem running out of a project! ;P

Have a great weekend everyone 😀

Finishes, Uncategorized

Farewell to the Dratteds!

13 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Yup, you read the title right … I haven’t been much online over the last couple of days, but rather I’ve been spending almost every waking moment with my needle in hand sat in front of the Dratteds. And compliments of having a day off work sick yesterday (with a splitting headache and the chills – just a cold thankfully), I managed to put the final stitches into them tonight (just in time for going to work on the overnight shift). After all these years, they’re finally done! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!

I feel very relieved to have them finished finally … but in some ways a bit sad that they’ll be leaving ‘home’ soon – even if I say it myself, they’re gorgeous in real life 😀 Hope you like them, John and Vicki, ‘cos your wedding present is finally stitched up for you. Now all I have to do is save up for the framing 😀

So, here they are in all their glory 😀 (Sorry, but the photo is from Photobucket as Blogger photos kept crashing my system, so you can’t click for a bigger piccie)

Dolphins Domain by Cross My Heart
(from Orcas and Dolphins leaflet)
Started in August 1999 – Completed 13 October 2006

Uncategorized

A small giggle

10 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

The sad thing is that I could probably add a few to this list as well from personal experience … haha. Nothing stitching-related to chat about, so you get some call centre enquiries (joke) that I got in an email … gave me a giggle! 😀

Thomas Cook Travel
Customer: “I’ve been ringing 0700 2300 for two days and can’t get through to enquiries, can you help?”.
Operator: “Where did you get that number from, sir?”.
Customer: “It was on the door to the Travel Centre”.
Operator: “Sir, they are our opening hours”.

Samsung Electronics
Caller: “Can you give me the telephone number for Jack?”
Operator: “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand who you are talking about”.
Caller: “On page 1, section 5, of the user guide it clearly states that I need to unplug the fax machine from the AC wall socket and telephone Jack before cleaning. Now, can you give me the number for Jack?”
Operator: “I think you mean the telephone point on the wall”.

Royal Automobile Club Motoring Services
Caller: “Does your European Breakdown Policy cover me when I am travelling in Australia?”
Operator: ” Doesn’t the product give you a clue?”

Directory Enquiries 1
Caller: “I’d like the number of the Argoed Fish Bar in Cardiff please”.
Operator: “I’m sorry, there’s no listing. Is the spelling correct?”
Caller: “Well, it used to be called the Bargoed Fish Bar but the ‘B’ fell off”.

Directory Enquiries 2
Then there was the caller who asked for a knitwear company in Woven.
Operator: “Woven? Are you sure?”
Caller: “Yes. That’s what it says on the label; Woven in Scotland “.

Technical support…. England
Caller: “I deleted a file from my PC last week and I have just realised that I need it. If I turn my system clock back two weeks will I have my file back again?”.

Uncategorized

The Dratteds are back

8 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve managed to do about 15 hours work on The Dratteds since I last took a progress piccie, and I’m starting to see the final deadline a lot closer now … I chopped off all of my highlighted parts of my working copy, and I’m surprised how little is now left. I think I’ll meet my self-imposed deadline and see this finished within the next two months 🙂 Here’s the progress to date, with a before and after piccie from when I last took a photo:
Before:

After:

When Sharon saw this piece in real life, she was surprised how big it was – it’s 234 stitches wide x 150 stitches high … I have to admit, though, it looks pretty gorgeous stitched up, even though it’s a nightmare to stitch with all those greys. I’ll be quite sad to eventually see these Dratteds leave home.

This week it isn’t a great stitching roster, so not much will be done until possibly next week, when I need to concentrate on my scissor fob exchange.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Round Robins

A small finish

7 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

By the following piccie you can no doubt guess what I did today on my first day off … stitched my little heart out! In fact, I stayed in my PJ’s all day too … such decadence! 😉 But it means Lynn’s RR block is all finished except for the one little Mill Hill bead that I can’t find right now (and after my last experience, I’m not in a major hurry to rush out just to buy one little packet LOL), and my name – other than that it’s all finished yippee 🙂 I’m not sure whether this counts towards my 50 Projects Challenge, as this wasn’t technically from my stash (apart from the DMC) …

Now I’m off to do a tiny bit of stitching on the Dratteds while watching Two Weeks Notice on TV, before heading off to bed for the night.

Uncategorized

T.G.I.F. … & a bit of snow

6 October, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

The snow has been falling on my little Winter RR block, and the trees have blossomed up out of the ground, despite the drop in wintry temperature 😉 As you can see, I’ve managed to get a few more stitches done on this piece before I head off to work (I’m about to leave any minute now). Today is Friday, and for me it actually IS Friday, which means my weekend off is a real weekend again for two weeks in a row yippee 🙂 My plans this weekend are to do absolutely nothing but relax with a needle in hand … I hope to get this Winter RR block finished, and anything other than that is a bonus.

Next week is a tough week for me, with a mix of shifts … starting with 11am-7pm for two days, I then move to 1pm-9pm for one day, then a 3pm-11pm for 1 day, finishing with 3 days of 9pm-5am … yep, another week of 7 days straight. I then have 4 days off, but I’m usually a zombie after my night shifts and don’t anticipate much happening those days except perhaps a bit of stitching … maybe 😉