Author: Anne S

Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
Finishes, SBQ

SBQ’s and small finishes

Anne S

Between Blogger and my stupid modem, it took me almost 5 hours to load up the Hong Kong photos and blog post yesterday … hopefully this post will be a bit quicker!! (And as it turns out, Blogger won’t upload piccies today, so I’m having to use Photobucket mutter mutter mutter …)

Firstly, here’s the little ornament I stitched while I was away – it’s Teddy Bear Stocking by Lorri Birmingham … just for a change there were errors on the chart, which drives me crazy, so a bit more frogging than normal while trying to fix it hmmm – but all-in-all, I think it’s quite cute, and I enjoyed stitching it. Mum’s decided she loves it so much she wants to stitch one for herself as well … way to go, Mum, you’re almost more addicted to stitching than I am now! 😀
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I also managed to finish one more ornament last night that I started while in HK … this is the first in the Beyond Cross Stitch series of Hardanger designs by The Victoria Sampler, “White Christmas” – the photo doesn’t do justice to all the sparkles of the metallic thread.
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Now on to the backlog of SBQ’s …

20 July – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Cathy and is:

“When you get a project professionally framed do you get glass inserted into the frame? Why or why not?”

I’ve always had my framing done professionally, and with glass – but to be honest, I prefer the look of embroidery without the glass. I left the glass off my “Waiting for Ships” mermaid to do more justice to the metallics and beads, and I’ll probably do the same with future pieces as well. Seeing as I don’t smoke, and hate smoking in the home, it’s not as much of an issue to leave the glass off. It’s also then less of an issue when moving house so things don’t get broken … I learnt that by personal experience very recently when my Wessex Sampler was sitting in the aircraft hold with fragile stickers all over it, and well packaged up … hmmm.

26 July – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Von and is:

“Many of us have a few pairs of embroidery scissors and some even have a “collection”. How many pairs of scissors do you have? Feel free to share a photo of your favourite pair or pairs with us!”

I don’t really have many scissors anymore (two pairs have mysteriously disappeared!!) – one pair is really half-dead, and I just use them for my metallic threads now (and an odd embroidery thread when I’m desperate to find another pair). My absolute favourites were my Gingher’s, which I’d ordered from the USA about 7-8 years ago, but very stupidly left them in my carry-on bag last year when I flew home, and they got confiscated 😦 (I didn’t realise I’d packed 2 pairs – very conscientiously popped my crappy pair into the suitcase, and left my good ones that were in hiding at the back of the needlework case boohoo). I bought a new pair about 6 months ago, but when Mum started stitching in May I gave them to her to start up her stitching kit. When I come to think about it, I really really need to get some more, as I only have one good sharp pair anymore – which is the one I’ve taken a piccie of 😦 The only other pair I have are more for ornamental purposes – they’re too small for me to use comfortably, but I love the little hanging sheath for them – too cute! I keep thinking about ordering another pair of Gingher’s from Nordic Needle (plus I really want some of the coloured scissors too), but their postage scares me too much haha. One day I’ll get around to it again … anyone know a good source for them that has reasonable postage?? 😉
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3 August – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

“Do you have a favourite needlework tool that you like to work with? What is it and why do you like using it?”

Only one??? Hmmm, that’s a hard call … personally I’ll be hard pushed to decide between my floorstand and my Ott-lite – both of which are almost essential for me. I have difficulty holding a hoop/Q-snap in hand, and can’t stitch in hand, as I get cramps, so anything that holds my scrollbars or Q-snaps is the most essential item for me (come to think about it, you’d better include those scrollbars as my favourites too!!). Coming up next are my Do-lolly for feeding in those tiny threads on the back (great for boo-boos when you don’t have much thread left on the back to play with!), and
my Tacky Bob which is wonderful for beading (thanks to Carol, who sent it as a birthday gift – I love it!).

9 August – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Ami and is:

“For those of you who use hand or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?”

I use Floss-away bags for my over-dyeds, with each type of thread (eg GAST, WDW, NN etc) on their own small metallic ring – then all the small rings are put onto a large ring so all my over-dyeds are grouped together … I do that with all my types of threads, including metallics, rayons etc – then all the rings are stored together in plastic tubs.

Travel

Back from Hong Kong (long post)

Anne S

And oh boy, was it a wonderful trip!! Wish we could have stayed longer, but it just gives me more incentive to go back again another time 🙂 Our trip started off with a bit of trepidation as our flight to Hong Kong was delayed by an hour – there was a typhoon hitting Hong Kong, and we weren’t sure whether we would be able to fly or not … but they found the typhoon was moving inland so they made the decision to take off and fly. It did mean we got a bit of stitching done at the airport for that extra hour or so 🙂 I’ll probably set up another blog eventually with extra info and photos of HK in it, rather than really cluttering up this one with “all” the photos, so if anyone wants to see them, you can 🙂 … but I’ll put a few selected ones here too.

Unfortunately on the day we arrived we’d both taken travel sickness tablets due to the impending rough weather, and they knock us both out, so we wasted a large part of the first day by sleeping them off … but we still managed to get moving a little bit at about 2-3pm and hit the streets. We walked to the local tram stop (just a block away) and had our first experience of local public transport – it’s absolutely fantastic!!! (I’ll write up more information on my new ‘holiday blog’ when I get chance.) We then went to the Western Market, which was a major disappointment as it was just two floors in a very small building – I did buy a 1/2 metre of some blue silk, but that’s it – and then we opted to walk up the back streets for a while back to the tram road, where we passed the dried fish shops … what a feast for the eyes!

The hotel we stayed at was ‘out of the way’, and not in a major tourist district – instead, it was in the middle of a traditional residential district (Western District, past Sheung Wan), and very Chinese … and we loved it! We ended up walking all the way back home to our hotel, instead of taking the tram, and soaked up all the sights and sounds on the way. We also managed to buy some fresh fruit from a local fruit vendor – no problems with language difficulties … she showed me the money owed on her calculator, so I could pay easily – we bought some nashi pears (Japanese apple pears I think they’re called in the USA etc), huge cherries, and the best thing of all for me … a bunch of bananas!!! The reason being, I haven’t eaten a banana in a number of months, since the Queensland crops in Aussie were affected by our recent cyclones – the last time I saw bananas for sale here was for about $15/kg (usually approx $2-3/kg) … I started drooling when I saw them so plentiful in HK 😀 That night we ate at a local restaurant in our street, which quickly turned into a favourite – the food was awesome! In fact we were very good while we were away, and didn’t eat Western food at all – for me, that’s all part of the holiday experience, trying everything from another culture … luckily I love Asian food, too, so I was in 7th heaven with everything! 😉

The next 12 hours were ‘interesting’ … when we got home we ate a couple of things we’d bought while out, and Mum pulled out half of her tooth in a macadamia lolly … and ended up with half a jagged tooth for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately that spoilt things a little bit, as she couldn’t eat a lot of what she would have liked – but she’s waited until we’ve got home to get it fixed. Then we had a fire alarm go off at the hotel at 11pm while we were in a majorly deep sleep (first and last time in the whole trip).

The next morning I checked with the front desk if they could recommend an optometrists to buy some glasses … and there was one right next door – woohoo!! So I spent about 1/3 of my total spending money in the first 1/2 hour of leaving the hotel room haha – yes, I am the proud owner of one pair of specs (which were ready for me to pick up close of business the very next day – gotta love HK!!!) … and for me that was my priority for spending while I was away – driving home from the airport last night after 10pm was sheer heaven. I spent less money on the frames, and got the top of the line lenses with all the bells and whistles (anti-glare and toughening etc), and they’re just wonderful (as well as being about 1/3 of the cost the same thing would have cost here!).

After the delirium of buying some specs, we went back to the tram to take us to Sheung Wan train station, where we began a continued love affair with HK public transport – I can’t begin to say how amazing their transport system is … it’s incredibly easy to use – especially thanks to the “Octopus card” system! Next we went to Mongkok Station and wandered to the flower markets and bird markets, which were wonderful to walk through – all the different flowers were amazing, and I especially loved the lotus flowers (even though they’re pink haha).

After that we walked to the goldfish markets, where we didn’t stay too long, and finished off with a walk through Ladies Market stalls (we didn’t realise until much later that all the side streets were part of it) – we got pretty fed up with being hassled by stallkeepers there calling out “hey, Missy” and grabbing you by the arm, trying to flog off cheap Gucci copies etc (especially as it’s not really what I’d buy) … I know most people love haggling etc, but I can’t stand it – that spoilt it for us, and we left at the end of running the gauntlet through four blocks of that, and didn’t look any further … then we went and had yum cha at a local restaurant for lunch, and caught the train to Tsim Sha Tsui, and the harbour – took in the sights of Avenue of the Stars, the Star Ferry terminal, and Harbour City shopping mall … by the time we left it was getting late, so we decided to stay by the waterfront to watch the Light Show – I’m so glad we did, as it was wonderful to watch! Then it was back home again on the train/tram, and dinner, before heading off to bed.

The next day we took a 5 hour ‘introductory tour’ of HK Island – we were taken to Aberdeen, where the infamous Jumbo floating restaurant is, and we took a sampan ride round the harbour, then off to a jewellery manufacturer for shopping (people were much richer than us … we bought a keyring and eyeglass case haha) – unfortunately we were held up by a group of women buying jewellery, and we were late heading to Stanley Market, and that was our favourite spot – we really enjoyed it there, and bought a couple of gifts for people, as well as a lovely turquoise pashmina for me (only HK$30 … AU$6 woohoo). I was also surprised to find a shop selling wider fitting leather sandals, and bought 3 pairs … I was amazed at this, as I hate shoe shopping due to my fat, broad, ugly feet – 7th heaven again! 😉

Our final port of call was driving up Victoria Peak for the view over HK harbour/skyline … unfortunately we had bad weather the whole time, and it was very overcast and rainy that day, so the photos are relatively poor – we came back down to street level by tram, then headed off home again … except we opted to find our own way from our drop-off point (we’d had to get there originally by taxi), had a late lunch at a Malaysian restaurant in Causeway Bay, followed by the infamous custard egg tarts from a street vendor that were totally to die for … it’s a good job I don’t live in HK or I’d be living on those every day!! LOL. We then found our way back home for a rest and a bit of stitching, before dinner.

On our 4th and final day we started off with a train trip to Wong Tai Sin station and visited the Sik Sik Yuen Temple – this turned out to be a highlight of our entire stay, and we ended up spending 2 hours there … even though the heavens opened up with a downpour, it didn’t manage to dampen our spirits at all – it was exceptional to walk through (we could tell it was a highlight for the number of photos we took).

After that we had lunch at a nearby shopping mall, before heading back to Ladies Market to look in the back streets … we ended up changing our original opinion of this market, as we managed to pick up some bargains on cheap shoes for us both, and ended up going home laden with shopping bags. I was originally going to price up an iPod there, but it’s no cheaper than buying at home with a full Aussie warranty, so didn’t see the point, and ended up getting better value with other items I bought with both gifts for myself and gifts for others 🙂 I’ve ended up coming home with no less than 7 pairs of shoes (4 sandals, 2 work shoes, and 1 sports) … crikey!! We returned to our hotel grinning but exhausted!

We flew home yesterday, and we managed to shop right up until the last minute … by buying a Chinese tea set at the airport using up both mine and Mum’s last bit of HK money … literally!! No worries about currency exchange rates when we got home last night – we had nothing left to change over teehee 😀

So, all-in-all a wonderful experience with a new country and culture explored – and it was a great way to thank Mum for everything she’s done for me over the years (her airline ticket was my 70th birthday present to her).

In stitching news I did manage to get one small piece finished (a Christmas ornie), but I’ll post about it tomorrow, as it’s still packed away in the boot (trunk) of the car … we were too exhausted to make more than one trip up the apartment stairs last night …

As for Hong Kong … I will definitely be back, as there’s so much more I want to explore – such as trips further abroad to Lantau Island, Macau and Shengzhen etc … one day … 😀

Works in Progress

Baggage disaster …

Anne S

Today I finally unpacked one of my favourite embroidery pieces that was professionally framed, that Mum brought with her on the plane … although well packaged with a couple of layers of foamcore and bubblewrap, the airline still managed to play football with it, and we heard the sickening sounds of tinkling glass as I started unpacking the wrapping today 😦 Yep, my glass is in shattered ruins … and it’s not covered by the airline, and Mum’s insurance excess would be $75, so probably not worth claiming it back … it’s quite fitting that the SBQ came out recently about framing with glass vs non-glass (which I still haven’t gotten around to answering … blogs have been a low priority over the last two weeks again due to visitors and shifts etc hmmm) – I have to admit, I prefer to see embroidery without glass, but I know there are pros for using glass (as well as pros for not using it). Both Mum and I sat looking at my Wessex piece and both thought the same thing at the same time … the embroidery looks so much better without the glass! So, thanks to the airline, my Wessex piece will likely no longer have glass covering it 🙂 I just hope by the time we clear all the glass away that it hasn’t damaged any of the embroidery itself …

As I mentioned earlier, Mum’s flight was delayed by 5 hours in total, so we had a quiet night in on Saturday night – then Sunday we went out shopping and bought all sorts of goodies … including a VERY big purchase, except I have 19 months to pay for it thanks to Harvey Norman’s 19 months interest free and no downpayments at the moment – Mum agreed it was a very worthwhile investment, and thanks to my debt consolidation I’ll be able to make regular monthly repayments so I don’t have a big outlay at the end of the 19 months … the big purchase was a new lounge suite!! I’m so excited about it!!! No need to guess what colour it is haha … the salesman said “you’d like the same colour as the floor model?” – a resounding “NO!” from both Mum and I, then we cracked up … yep, of course it’s coming in blue! Actually it’s a very close match to my el cheapo recliner I currently stitch in. You have no idea how good it feels to have this on order – it’s made in Aussie, so we have to wait approx 4-5 weeks for it to be made up, but it has a 2.5 seater sofa bed and two chairs … AND the best thing is that for an extra $249 you get a 5-year cover for damage … including pet damage and spills (woohoo!!), at which time they’ll recover it for free … considering the new inhabitant that will be joining this household soon, I thought it was a good option haha. My current lounge suite was bought for $150 at a garage sale, and Fraze managed to somehow rip one arm of the chairs while it was under his care, as well as the sofa being the most uncomfortable saggy thing to sit on, with the sofa bed bars digging into you … I can’t wait for my new one to arrive!!!

As for the rest of the week, I’ve been working late shifts, so not much happening – managed to get my week’s stitching into Bordeaux Sampler the night that Mum arrived, and I’ve decided to post my piccie two days early, as I’ll be heading off to Hong Kong tomorrow night, and might forget to do it before I fly out (we’re supposed to post progress piccies each Friday). I just have the little red ‘cluster’ to the left of the lettering to finish, then band one is all done for me – looking forward to seeing how Carol is coming along with hers 🙂


The remaining stitching time I’ve had this week has been very sporadic, but I’ve managed to get a few stitches into my last charity quilt square – it’s due 15 August, so I’d better get cracking when I get back home again (good job I’m still on annual leave for the next two weeks haha).


I’m thinking of packing a Shepherd’s Bush needleroll or two or a Christmas ornie to take with me to stitch at the airport etc – not sure whether we’ll get much time to stitch while we’re away, especially as it’s only for 4 nights … one always has to take something ‘just in case’ though, right? LOL. I was laughing today because the first thing I’ve thought about is what stitching to take – I haven’t even started thinking about clothes etc for packing … a girl has to have her priorities!!!

And on that note I’d better sign off … we’re meeting Fraze tonight for dinner then he’s staying here the night – and he’s due to finish work soon … better go chuck my jeans on and start getting ready – scotch fillet for dinner, yummo!! 😀

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Canvaswork rotation over

Anne S

I’ve been sat up since early this morning stitching the rest of my rotation slot for this piece – I was up early to drive out to the airport, but Mum’s flight has been delayed due to the late arrival into Auckland from Los Angeles, so she’s now approx 6 hours late leaving, and consquently arriving. Seeing as my plans have been upset for the day, I just decided to keep on stitching on Pacific Pohutukawa until my slot finished, or until I got fed up … which just so happens to be right at the same time! The main reason I’m feeling fed up is that the thumb on my right hand is quite red and sore from pulling that damned rayon through the threads on the back to hold it secure – so now it feels a bit uncomfortable to stitch with. Oh well, at least I got my rotation commitments finished for this piece, and now I can move on with the next thing on my agenda … Bordeaux Sampler, followed by my next (and final one with a deadline) charity block, which is due to be received 15 August. After that I have my redwork exchange, needleroll exchange, and round robin to complete … me thinks my rotation won’t be looked at for a while again now hmmm … 😉

Time to go check the arrivals info again, and see if it’s time to start driving to the airport 🙂

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Psychedelia is back …

Anne S

Yup, my canvaswork stitching has just got even more psychedelic – oh boy, those colours are bright!! The photo is very poor again, as it’s taken without the flash, just under my ott-lite … I’ll wait until it’s finished, then I’ll try taking a daylight shot to get the colours and stitches nice and crisp. I’ve managed to get a wee bit done tonight, to keep my awake after my 6am start this morning … Mum arrives tomorrow, but I’m hoping I’ll get more chance to finish my rotation slot for this piece before we go to ‘Honkers’ 🙂

This piece is definitely interesting with the threads used – there is Colour Streams silk (the variegated thread), pearl cotton #5, DMC metallics, rayons and cotton floss (all with 6 strands used of each) … the rayon is a challenge, that’s for sure!! There is a wonderful sheen that isn’t evident in the photo 🙂

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Glad my pal has just left …

Anne S

… Well, to be honest, I’m not “really” glad on the whole, but my liver certainly is! haha. We had a reasonable ‘session’ last night (and an inhouse session the previous night at home) and went into the city to the Transport bar and had drinks and dinner with another couple that used to work in Auckland with Jenny (and now in Melbourne with me) – had a great night out, with much laughter, then we got home at about 11.45pm, and had a ‘nightcap’ of Glayva for me and whisky for Jen that turned into a couple and we didn’t get to bed until 1.30am oops … we’re up early this morning for Jenny’s cab arriving to take her to the airport, and I’m trying hard to stay awake for another hour before I head off to work … perhaps I’ll go in early and get a very large cappuccino before I start haha. It’s been lovely having Jenny here for this short visit – and it was a great opportunity for her to spend the day in the office seeing our procedures etc, and catching up with news from people I used to work with and have high regard for.

The nice thing is that Jenny really likes my little flat … I don’t know why, but I do feel a bit self conscious about it, and it’s taking me some time to invite people back here from work – it’s not that it’s not ‘nice’, but it is very old, and certainly not ‘flash’ compared to where a lot of other people I know live, so I guess I’m a bit self-conscious about it … mind you, I have made an effort to make it a home, and the more people that have been coming and saying how lovely it is, is making me more comfortable about having other people here from work … and I’m even in the middle of organising a dinner and cocktail party for half a dozen of my absolutely favourite people from work over in September … a big step 🙂

As for stitching news, I only managed to get 2 hours done into my current rotation slot of canvaswork and specialty stitches on Monday night – I’m working on the Pacific Pohutukawa piece by Jen’s Jems (a NZ designer), and it looks like a relatively quick stitch overall. In fact, I think only two rotation slots will see it all finished woohoo! Then it’s a toss up between the Golden Garden Sweet Bag by FMNIS, Walk the Gentle Path by Cross ‘n Patch, and Onyx by Paw Printings to jump into that rotation slot … ooh, decisions decisions … Anyway, here’s my progress to date (excuse the threads showing through that are carried over on the back – they’re covered by other stitches that I haven’t put in yet!). The colours are extremely bright, and I just love them – unfortunately not a great photo due to the flash, but once it’s finished I’ll try to get a photo in daylight. Probably no stitching now until Friday afternoon, when it will be time to pick up Bordeaux Sampler for the week – then Mum arrives on Saturday, and we’re off to Hong Kong for a few days … we’ve agreed that even if we have to live on plain boiled rice every day due to no money, we’re still going! haha.

Finishes

Another rotation slot finished

Anne S

I finally put the final stitches into my 10-hour slot for smalls/ornaments etc today, and had two small finishes. First of all I finished the stitching of my ‘draft version’ of my Melanie’s Exchange stitched in April – it was already half-stitched, so I just had to finish it off … I just have to do the actual finishing yet. Secondly, I finished off the Christmas ornie I started during the week – I think I actually liked this one better without the beads, but I couldn’t be bothered frogging them off again – this design is Christmas Tree by Elizabeth’s Designs, from the 2005 JCS ornie issue. I’ll have an ornamentifying session next month with Mum to get some of our ornies “finished”.

Aside from that it was an uneventful day – I was very keen and made a big pan of pumpkin and potato soup, as well as a tuna pasta bake for dinner … finished by a total disaster – let’s just say it’s been such a loooooong time since I cracked open my breadmaker to make fresh bread, that I didn’t think to check the yeast expiry date etc … yep, you guessed it – my bread turned out to be a solid mass in the bottom of the breadmaker, and didn’t make my little flat too aromatic this afternoon haha. Oh well, I have to do a big lot of shopping this week, so I’ll have to pick up some more flour and yeast and try it again … oops.

Probably won’t get much chance for stitching this week, with Jenny arriving from NZ on Tuesday night for two nights visiting, then only a couple more nights before Mum arrives again on Saturday – yippee 😀

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Annemieke Mein … bliss!!

Anne S

I’ve just returned home from the most wonderful day out with a lady from work (Wendy) – we left my place just before 9am, and set off for Sale in the Gippsland area of Victoria. It was a gloriously sunny day, only marred by some heavy fog about an hour away from Sale. We met a close friend of Wendy’s called Deb there, with her 7 year old son Andrew, who’d driven down from Paynesville to join us. We had a toasted sandwich and coffee in a small coffee shop in town, before heading over to the Gippsland Art Gallery for “Annemieke Mein – Wildlife in Textiles Retrospective Exhibition” … oh boy, I can’t tell you how amazing it was to see almost an entire gallery filled with Annemieke Mein pieces!! Unfortunately photography wasn’t allowed, but I ended up buying her book from the Gallery before leaving … the book has a number of pieces in it that were on exhibit, so it will be a wonderful souvenir for years to come, and it will always make me relive my happy memories of the exhibit today. Here are a couple more of her pieces from a Gippsland tourism website that were on display:


My jaw was permanently dragging along the floor from one piece to the next – it’s a shame Mum couldn’t be here for it … just mind-blowing! Annemieke includes machine embroidery with textile painting, and her pieces are three-dimensional and exceptionally life-like. Some pieces on the walls are over 6ft tall, and it just blew me away … There were also some ‘samplers’ on display which showed step-by-step the designing process Annemieke follows, and it’s awesome to see the original black and white pencil drawings gradually coming to life as the “real thing”. Wendy doesn’t do embroidery at all, but was extremely enthusiastic about it all, and it was a joy to spend the day with her today – all in all, it was a wonderful day out, and I’m so glad I made an effort to go out of my way to get there. Admittedly, now I’m home again, I’m quite weary, as it’s about 3 hours each way driving, but I’ll be smiling sweetly in my sleep tonight 😀

I even managed to get one of my bedroom curtains fixed last night … I’m doing you out of a job, Mum haha. I’m too tired to do the second curtain tonight, so that’ll be a job for me tomorrow – tonight I might just kick back with a glass of port and ‘veg out’ for a bit 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Melbourne

Very contented …

Anne S

The title describes my mood today … I got up early and vacuumed most of the flat (still have to do the lounge, and that’s it), then mopped the kitchen, bathroom and toilet floors, cleaned the bath, and started a bit of a tidy-up effort in the spare bedroom – until I can afford a new bookcase and storage cabinets (my latest plan for the spare room … one day), I made use of the file boxes I freighted my last lot of books over in, and turned them into a makeshift book storage area – not very flash, but it’s a lot tidier than having them all piled up on the floor!

Today is a most glorious day in Melbourne – it’s still a bit nippy, but the sun is shining, and it feels good to be alive 🙂 After my morning housekeeping, I treated myself at lunchtime to a walk into St Kilda and a brunch of bacon, eggs, and mushrooms at a local cafe, plus a couple of lattes to wash it all down … it was glorious to sit outside in the sun, with a gas furnace heater taking the chill out of the day, and reading a book, sipping lattes without a care in the world (insert contented sigh here …) 😉
Then I took my time and strolled up the St Kilda Pier, which I’ve never done before, and dawdled off home again taking the beach route. I really do feel very much ‘at one with the world’ today – and it feels good 🙂 Catching the train this week has been very beneficial – it’s got me back into the mode of enjoying walking again, so I’ll have to keep it up … better bring your walking shoes, Mum, ‘cos you’re coming with me! haha (yeah, I know you love walking, which is a good thing!). The next photo is a street very typical of my area with elm trees lining each side of the street – they’re looking very bare at the moment, but it won’t be very long before they’re starting to sprout spring leaves again – I just love these avenues of trees, and they make me feel really peaceful to see them 🙂 (And with my flat being on the 3rd floor, I get a birds-eye view of the ones on my doorstep!)
Nothing else to report, really – just felt like blogging about what a wonderful day it is 🙂 I only managed an hour of stitching last night, so nothing new to report. I actually did 2 hours on a Christmas ornie a couple of nights ago, but decided not to post a piccie until it’s all finished … hopefully next weekend that’ll all be done (won’t have much stitching time this week due to visitors) – but then I have 2 1/2 weeks off work when Mum first arrives woohoo … just think, it’ll be stitching heaven at my place, now there are two of us stitching haha 😀 (we might be fighting over the Ott-lite, though haha).

Stash, Works in Progress

Bordeaux Sampler

Anne S

I’m supposed to post my update piccie on Fridays, along with Carol, but I’ve decided to cheat and put it up a day early, as I may be busy tomorrow. I managed to get a good night’s stitching (4 whole hours) into this last night, and I just have the over-one lettering and bottom band plus the rhodes grapes in the side borders to do, then part one is all finished yippee! 😀 I’m soooooo tempted to sit and do some more tonight, which would probably see part one finished, but I’m going to resist the temptation. For our SAL I said I’d stitch for one day/night or a total of 3 hours each week, depending what my shifts were like, so I guess I’ve already stitched my quota on it for this week … I have to admit, though, I really enjoyed stitching on it and I’m looking forward to finishing part one next week some time 😀 (mind you, I’m not a huge fan of over-one stitching, so that lettering band might be slow going).


I also have more stash to report – this is yet again from an order that was made a number of weeks ago, in a 30-75% off sale from Margaret Lee’s website … I never had confirmation of the final cost, or that the order was complete, so I totally forgot all about it … I was surprised to come home to a LARGE box with a postage cost of US$29 (ahem!!), just for a few charts, fabric and two pairs of scrollbar side frames – there was a long piece of ‘plastic bag’ stuff filled with air to fill out the box … would it not have been better to just parcel the damn stuff into a flatter box to save postage? It’s not as if a couple of charts etc are breakable! Oh well, the main reason I placed an order was because they had selected aida fabric on sale at 50-75% off, and I wanted to order some for Mum’s stitching stash, seeing as she’s still on a mad Christmas ornie stitching spree (go Mum!!). Still, that extra US$20 spent on postage costs has really marred the savings on the other items … oh well, c’est la vie! At least you have some more fabric, Mum 🙂

The charts in this haul were The Gathering Room by Little House Needleworks (not in the photo); Those Darn Accessories by Hillside Samplings; A Little Blackwork by Drawn Thread; Sitting Pretty by Valerie Pfeiffer; Birdie Holiday by Lizzie*Kate; Stitching Friends by Lizzie*Kate; Honey Bee by Elizabeth’s Designs; Life’s a Stitch by Lizzie*Kate; Bluebells and Violets by Shepherd’s Bush; and Teenie Hardanger III by The Sweetheart Tree.

For Mum … I also got the following aida for you – 14ct lambswool, 16ct antique ivory, and 16ct navy. This lot was all pre-Wagon spending 😉

Now it’s time to get the washing out of the machine and hang it out before settling down for the night – it’s day 6 of work today, and I feel pretty wrecked (especially as I was stitching until midnight last night oops haha), so I thought I’d give myself a good start to the weekend, by getting some housework out of the way quickly … now I’m going to be self-indulgent while watching Big Brother (sad, but true, I do enjoy it!), followed by Medium and Lost … ah, bliss! 😀