Anne S

I met the challenge!

14 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I was a bit slow off the mark, but today I took part in a 24-hour stitching challenge on the FGBB – we had from 7pm last night to 7pm tonight to stitch something small … I was so exhausted last night I didn’t even choose a project never mind stitch on it – so today I started a bit late at 2pm … and finished 5 minutes late at 7pm – I’m pretty amazed I actually met the deadline (well, pretty darned close anyway!). I decided to do my Xmas ornie that is due to be stitched ready for posting 16 Feb, so it was a good excuse to get a ‘commitment stitching’ project out of the way early I stitched “Merry Yule” by Erica Michaels designs from the 2005 JCS ornie magazine. As part of the same group, I’m committing to stitching one Xmas ornie every month, and we’ve allocated a different designer each month to give us a bit of flexibility of stitching designs for the SAL – the designs I’ve chosen for the year are as follows (all from JCS ornie issues):

Feb – With My Needle – Star of Wonder (2002)
Mar – Prairie Schooler – Herald Angels (2003)
Apr – Homespun Elegance – Holly Noel (2005)
May – Full Circle Designs – Perfect Gifts (2004)
Jun – The Workbasket – Quaker Christmas Bulb (2003)
Jul – Jeannette Douglas Designs – one of her needlerolls
Aug – Threads Through Time – Reindeer Garden (2000)
Sep – The Sweetheart Tree – Merry Christmas Bellpull (2004)

Works in Progress

‘Blue Elegance’ update

14 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I finally managed to finish this week’s stitching assignment for my Blue Elegance piece (officially “Apricot Elegance” by Cindy Valentine) – I’m using Blueberry Watercolors thread on 28ct Cashel linen in an unknown blue colour from my stash … I thought it was quite ‘chunky’ on the 28ct linen, but I’ll keep persevering with it as I think the colour really blends well with just a bit of subtle shading. I’ve really enjoyed stitching this piece so far – it’s a nice change to stitch with some chunky threads and having something that grows so quickly!

The rest of the week has gone in a bit of a blur really … I finished my night shifts at 5am Monday morning, but only managed to get 4-5 hours sleep again … and was back at work again for 11am Wednesday – feeling very tired and very cranky! LOL. The only way I can explain it is that it’s like going from Australia to London (totally opposite time zones) to work for 3 days, then flying home to Australia again and going straight to work off the plane! Usually we get 4 days off after the night shifts to recover, but because I was covering the Hotline for two separate staff members, I ended up with split shifts and only 1 1/2 days off to recover … never ever again! I’ve felt like death all week – then Fraze came to stay on Thursday night (which was lovely to have his company as usual) so I didn’t get quality sleep again – now it’s my weekend and I feel like a train wreck 😦

Mum made me laugh last night – she knows I hadn’t been feeling great, so I walked in the door to the following greetings – first of all a bourbon and L&P all ready to add ice (sheer nectar!) … and the 2nd thing is she’d lined up my ‘lounge ducks’ in a row on the floor along with Bukta in front of the TV, saying they’d been having a lovely time watching cricket with her as a family night in – she’s a crack up! I swear she’s going through her second childhood! LOL. Poor Bukta (on the left) belongs to Fraze … it’s his childhood toy that we’ve tormented dreadfully since I moved to Aussie. It’s a long story how it all happened (and it was initiated by his best friend Scott), but we decided Bukta was a closet transvestite and dressed him in a dress, made him boobs, and a wig and he feels so much happier … you had to be there at the time, but it was hysterical to see Fraze’s face when he saw him (we attacked Bukta while he was at work). When I moved out I told Fraze I’d really miss Bukta in his little pink outfit (it never got removed, ‘cos it made us laugh) … so Mum and I hijacked him to play a joke on Fraze – we took him for a walk up to the beach here and I made him a little hammock out of chopsticks and a handkerchief … then we took a photo of him and sent it to Fraze from Bukta saying he was having a lovely time on holiday at the beach with Auntie Anne … we howled ourselves silly! And to this day Bukta still resides happily here – I keep telling Fraze to take him home, but he says he likes it here! So he sits permanently on top of my computer desk keeping my printer company 😉Can you tell I haven’t done much stitching this week? Not much to show at all, really – hence the other pictures haha. I don’t have much energy today, so stitching will be the best thing for me to chill out, I think (actually, I was told by Mum that’s my best relief, so I have to put a DVD in and get stitching – gee, I’m gonna miss her when she goes back home!). Am trying to talk Mum into staying an extra couple of weeks to the middle of February so she will be here for my birthday. I wasn’t going to do anything this year, but seeing as it’s a “decade” birthday, we’re going to go out to Dracula’s for dinner – it a theatre restaurant, and is fantastically funny! It’s not cheap, but it’ll be a good way to say goodbye to the dirty-30’s and hello to the naughty-40’s 🙂 The food is usually pretty good, and the show is absolutely side-splitting … then there is a big group going “grape grazing” the next day, which is a wine tasting tour on buses – they’re trying to talk me into going to that as well, so it will be a very unforgettable weekend all round if that’s the case! haha. Anyway, enough driveling on about nothing – off to wake up and try stitching again …

But a quick reply for Cathy … yup, I really do work for an airline, and yup you guessed the airline correctly! 🙂 We’re apparently the ony airline worldwide that has a call centre open 24 hours a day/7 days a week – aren’t we lucky? LOL. I worked for them in Auckland for 3 years, then moved to the ‘mother country’ where I’ve continued to work with them for another 2 1/2 years so far … and most of the time love it! I’m an international consultant there, but also do relief cover on the Supervisor (staff assist) Hotline, where we help consultants out finding information when they get stuck, taking escalated calls (not my fave part of the job), and trouble shooting … it can be very interesting, to say the least! 🙂

Finishes

And Many More …

9 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Yippee, I put the final stitches into my Any Many More needlecase – an exclusive kit for Silver Needle by Just Nan. As you can see from the initial in the centre of the ‘back’, I’ve decided to give this to Mum so it carries her first initial of “J”. Don’t know if I’ll get the actual finishing done before she goes back home to NZ, but I’ll give it a shot 😉

The back is shown upside down, but of course when it gets folded up, it will all be the right way round 🙂

Finishes

Finishing weekend

9 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, I managed to survive my 3 days of ‘doggo’ shifts – but I don’t know how!! The night before I started my first one my adorable neighbour downstairs was playing his Rachmaninov (or other ‘heavy’ composer) orchestral music at full bore until after midnight – I just about sprained my shins from stomping on the lounge floor in fury … very very inconsiderate! When he plays it that loud you can feel the vibrations through the floor up here, and hear every note as if you were in the room with him. Then yesterday, while I was trying to sleep during the day, he cranked it up again – can’t blame him, though, as it was a Sunday afternoon after all … was still annoying to only get 5 hours sleep, as it made for a very very long night last night – then for some reason today I had the problem of not being able to sleep … I managed 4 hours sleep, and here I am – if nothing else, it’s given me chance to finally catch up on everyone’s blogs, and I’m up to date again … phew! Now thanks to Newsgator it will be really simple to keep track of blogs to read in the future 🙂 It’s probably a good thing I woke up so early today, as I should be so exhausted by tonight, that I’ll get back into a ‘normal’ sleeping routine again … well, that’s the plan anyway! Then I have tomorrow off before starting back at 11am again on Wednesday.

It was the designated ‘finishing’ weekend for the WFBB this weekend, concentrating on ‘smalls’ – in my hours before work I managed to frog out the wrong stitches in the border of the LB Spring needleroll (and found they had printed the whole leaf round the wrong way on the chart, not just printing it one space out!) … but now I have another needleroll for my smalls basket, as I did the finishing on it yay.

As for today, we were going to go out, but with me looking like Frankenstein’s Bride today I think the best thing is to just blob out in the front of the TV and stitch … I’ve been managing to get a few stitches done in the evenings of doggo shift (the only shift I can really stitch, as it’s much more casual with only about 12 of us in the office), inbetween fixing dramas with people calling from Vienna airport without tickets and quoting fares for travel out of London and a multitude of other problems … I actually do love my job on the Hotline 🙂 So, the plan is to get my Just Nan needlebook finished (it’s almost done already – just another couple of hours will see it completed in full).

Finishes, Stash

First small finish for 2006

7 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post as I’m feeling pretty wrecked today … pulled a 10-hour shift last night (9pm-7am), and energy levels are a bit lacking … oh well, 1 shift down, 2 to go, then next week I only work 3 days before having a 2 day break again (which I’ll need!).

Managed to finally get my Love needleroll ornament finished – so it’s now gracing my smalls basket along with Jenna’s Peace ornament 🙂 Will get one more ornament stitched this month as part of an ornament RR – wonder which one it will be?

Other news is that I splurged again – the final part of my Christmas money has gone … I replaced my copy of Janice Love’s “Basics and Beyond” hardanger book – an old work colleague stole my original copy along with over $200 of other books (embroidery ones and Lonely Planets) … she borrowed them and never returned them, even after many requests, then left work never to be heard from again boohoo. Oh well, I’m glad to have this book back in my library again – it’s the best hardanger book around for beginners, and I really want to pick up hardanger again this year.

That’s it for me – hopefully I’ll be back blogging soon … I can just imagine all the lovely projects you’ve been stitching while I’ve been gone – it’s gonna take me a full week to catch up! I’ve tried loading up Newsgator to try and help to keep on top of blogs, but for some reason it’ll only pick up about 1/3-1/2 of your blogs with the RSS feeds – and I don’t know why as most people use Blogger … not my area of expertise, that’s for sure!

SBQ

Stitching Bloggers Questions

5 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Oops, forgot last week’s question, so you get a 2-for-1 deal this week 😉

Image hosted by Photobucket.com The 28 December’s SBQ was suggested by Nancy and is:

“How do you balance your stitching time with your other obligations such as work, household chores, etc?”

What do you mean? Are we supposed to still do chores as WELL as stitching?? Oops … haha. I have to admit, work always comes first – but as a shift worker my hours are pretty erratic, and affects my energy levels (both mental and physical) which affects how much stitching I get done, which can be negative or positive depending on the shifts. As for housework etc, now I live on my own I’m much more lax with housework than I used to be – I don’t cook every night, and can easily ignore the dust, which helps to allow more free time haha. My biggest downfall for stitching time has, to be honest, been my blogging/computer time – I can lose track of hours at a time, and sometimes look at my stitching and think about how much progress I could have made if I hadn’t been looking at that computer screen 🙂 But if I hadn’t been blogging or sat here, I wouldn’t have met such wonderful online friends – so it all balances out :))

Image hosted by Photobucket.com The 4 January’s SBQ was suggested by Renee and is:

“Do you do your stash shopping at your LNS, ONS, or both? Which do you like better? Why?”

Aha, an easy one to answer – I shop from both, but predominantly from offshore ONS. The reason for both is easy – I prefer to shop from my LNS where I can see first-hand the colours of the threads etc before making a decision, but the only problem is for imported threads (which is 90% of them) we pay almost double what people pay in the US … so I tend to buy most of my supplies (except DMC, only because it’s easier, and I usually need that ‘now’ – DMC is still a lot more expensive too at up to AU$1.00 a skein) from ONS such as Stitching Bits & Bobs. I buy when they have their 25% off sales, which then offsets the postage costs, and I still save money overall. I would much rather support my LNS and keep them in business, but can’t justify the extra cost (especially now my finances have changed dramatically, and every cent saved is a good one!).

Uncategorized

Just a quick visit

4 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I haven’t been blogging for a few days – to be honest, I haven’t been in the mood … just been chatting to Mum after work, and getting a bit of stitching time in. I’ve managed to get over halfway on the And Many More needlecase by Just Nan. I’m loving stitching this one, but Mum reckons it should be her initial in the centre of the circle instead of mine … hmmm looks like I might have lost my new needlecase already! The only thing that really annoyed me when I bought this kit, is that there are no finishing instructions whatsoever in it … mutter mutter mutter. You have to buy the instructions and finishing kit from another source – considering I don’t want to have prissy pink flowers on the inside of my needlecase (you may get the impression that I’m not overly keen on pink, and you’d be right LOL), I don’t want to go to the expense of getting the kit just to find out how to finish it. I’m not worried about finishing the needlepages like the petals of a flower, so I’m hoping I’ve got it worked out OK – if anyone can make a better suggestion for finishing, I’d really love to hear your suggestions! I figure I’ll finish it something like a bellpull, in that I’ll place the lining fabric on it (right sides facing), stitch around the outsides up both long sides and around the ‘point’, and leave the bottom short edge partly open – then I’ll turn it back the right way, finish off the bottom edge, then stitch oblong needle pages (made from wool flannel) along the edge where it will be folded … does that make sense? That’s my first attempt at working out how to do it.

I also forgot to post a piccie of another Lorri Birmingham needleroll I started in the last few days of December – I didn’t get very far, but it’ll go into the pile for finishing in 2006 (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

I also finally decided on my fabric and threads (well, most of them anyway) for my Apricot Elegance SAL on the StitchingSmalls Yahoo group – just for a change, I’m stitching mine in blues … still have to do a test stitch to see which will work out better on the fabric for the main satin motifs, either the Caron Collection Watercolours (my preference) or Wildflowers, both in Blueberry. The contrast is an overdyed perle cotton #8 by The Dyepot in NZ – I’ll either order a #12 skein from them for the weaving, or find a ‘normal’ thread in a turquoise to match (can’t find a PC anywhere that is just a nice turquoise colour boohoo). You probably can’t tell from the photo, but the perle cotton has a lovely mix of mauve, purple, turquoise etc – it’s really pretty. Just have to do the gridline basting this week, before the stitching begins next week – looking forward to seeing this one stitched up 🙂

Am on the ‘doggo’ shifts after tomorrow so my routine will be out the window again – just love those shifts from 9pm-5am … not. Oh well, if nothing else, it means I have a full day to myself on Friday to stitch my little heart out. Hopefully after this weekend I can get back to my blogging habits too 🙂

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Goodbye 2005 & Welcome to 2006!!

1 January, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Happy New Year everyone!! Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful 2006 – hope your dreams are fulfilled, your stitching stash runs to overflowing, and your floss never tangles! Hope you enjoy/enjoyed your celebrations for New Year, in whatever way you chose to celebrate 🙂

We had a quiet New Year with just Mum and I – I’m not really into celebrating at New Year, so it was nice to kick back and just do some stitching while watching DVD’s … although with our temperatures hitting 42 deg C it was a bit sticky to be stitching – but then again that’s what a wet facecloth and electric fan are for … essential summer stitching accessories LOL.

Managed to put the final stitches into my Spring needleroll by Lorri Birmingham – not too happy with the chart, as there are a couple of errors in it … as I was only stitching this at work inbetween calls, my concentration wasn’t there enough to pick it up while I was stitching. But if anyone else is thinking of stitching this, make sure you check the chart first – the two errors I had on my chart were that the border of leaves around the word “Spring” had a slight error on the left hand side (didn’t pick this up until I had almost finished the back stitching … and I don’t love this piece enough to go back and unpick it all hmmm) – the second one is that the arrow that shows the centre is in the wrong place … I stitched assuming the placement was correct, but when I stitched the borders, I noticed the top border is a lot lower than the bottom one, so I ended up adding an extra row of pink XS’s to even it out … which also means the row for my ribbon will now be quite close to the edging, so it won’t look as nice finished – oh well, c’est la vie. It still needs the little bee charms adding, but that was my final ‘finish’ for the year 2005, and I’ll be finishing it into a needleroll next weekend as part of the ‘finishing weekend’ on the Welcome Friends Bulletin Board.

Then last night I was still itching to stitch something else – I’d started the smaller canvaswork piece by Jen’s Jems a couple of nights ago, but realised that I’m missing a couple of the DMC metallic threads I needed almost immediately, so it got put to one side again … so last night I started stitching “And Many More” needlecase by Just Nan – and I’m going to continue with that today while I’m washing my linen ready to start stitching “Le Jardin Silk Sampler” from the JCS 1998 magazines. I bought all the silks I needed for this years ago, but pilfered one of the greens for another project, so that’s the only thing I’m missing to make a start … trust me to choose yet another BAP to start stitching, as if I don’t have enough on the go already! 😉

So, I guess it is time to ‘officially’ look back at what I’ve achieved in 2005 – it was the best year in ages for my stitching, and I was pleasantly surprised when I looked back at all the finishes and happy dances … there were also a few ‘firsts’ for me too, which is wonderful – learning new techniques and stitches keeps stitching new and vibrant for me 🙂 I also started my blog in 2005, which has opened up new doors in many different ways – especially in making new valued friendships online and sharing in others trials, tribulations and celebrations, and sharing our passion in stitching 🙂 My official stitching list is: (I’ve put links to the photos in my Webshots album if you want to see the actual finished piece itself)

Stitching finishes:

Gifts of the Magi #1 – Gold (one of my fave stitched pieces of all-time)
Blackwork in Red & Green correspondence course through EGA (UFO) (mostly stitched in 2003 – then realised this year the pins weren’t stitched!)
Garden Mischief XS (cat with geraniums kit)
2003 freebie angel by L&L
Magic Square (project 1 of 3 for a correspondence course in canvaswork ornaments through EGA) (stitching only)
Lemons XS
Harmony canvaswork pincushion from Inspirations magazine
Jungle Tiger XS (old UFO)
Small Iris tapestry cushion (stitching only)
Pansy Cameo by Just Nan (for Mum)
Chess Anyone? correspondence course through EGA (another favourite)
Ever So Little #8 Zebra
Bone Carving on Woven Flax tapestry
Hardanger pincushion from beginners class (old UFO)
Rose Arbour needlebook by Textile Heritage Collection (for Mum)
Mill Hill beginners basic bead sampler
Dena canvaswork by Orna Willis (love this one) (UFO)
Folded ribbon roses class project (UFO)
Lace Ribbons correspondence class through EGA (UFO) (dated 2004 ‘cos I thought it was going to be finished … oops!)
Summer into Autumn by The Drawn Thread (photo is missing the MH maple leaf treasure, which is now stitched on) (stitching only – needs to be finished into a bellpull)
Merry Christmas by Bent Creek
Pansy pinkeep by Mill Hill (stitching only)
Mill Hill beaded ornament (stitching only)
Woodland Noel ornament (stitching only – photo is missing the charm, which is now stitched on)
The Stars are Brightly Shining ornament (stitching only – photo is missing his nose, which is now stitched on)
No Humbugs Allowed ornament (stitched & finished)
Christmas Memories ornament (stitched & finished)
Queen of Bumblebees by Dimples Designs (for BeckySC)
Spring needleroll by Lorri Birmingham (stitching only)

Finishing finishes:

Hardanger pincushion from beginners class (UFO)
Another 5 pincushions (stitching completed in 2004)
Violet needleroll by The Sweetheart Tree (stitched years and years ago, but finally finished as my first ever needleroll)
Scissors fob by Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches (stitched in 1999 but finally finished!)
Rose Arbour needlebook for Mum (first ever needlebook finished)
Ancient Thistle needlebook by Textile Heritage Collection (also stitched in 1999 but finally finished)
No Humbugs Allowed Christmas ornament
Christmas Memories Christmas ornament (first ever ornament)
Queen of Bumblebees into a little pillow

Other stitching/non-stitching events:

Managed to get a huge amount of stitching done on Dolphins Domain, very very old UFO … piccies before and after
Got a few stitches into Nature’s Rest by Stoney Creek, my oldest UFO from when I first started XSing
Started stitching Winter Queen by Mirabilia
Started stitching Egyptian Garden Mandala by Martina Weber (to be continued as a SAL later in 2006 with Carol)
Started stitching Love needleroll from JCS 2005 ornie issue (just waiting for beads to arrive in the mail so it can be finished)
Started stitching a plastic canvas kit ornament for a work colleague
Having the confidence to move out of an emotionally destructive living situation to live on my own
Opening my heart to allow new friendships to start and grow
Joining online communities to share my love of stitching and learn new things
Starting a stitching rotation – which I’m absolutely loving!

All-in-all a good year overall – now I’m looking forward to whatever 2006 will bring.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Gifts TO BE FIXED

The Secret can be shared!

29 December, 200525 February, 2012 Anne S

Yay, I received an email from the secret recipient of my gift piece to say it has finally arrived safely, so I can now reveal all! This little piece was meant as a cheer-up gift for our beloved BeckySC months ago – unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way, as I was trying to do it while I was really sick, and had a number of mishaps with it … when I ‘melted’ the blending filament on the wings, it was the final straw, and I couldn’t face it again for ages due to feeling so disappointed about it – but it finally got resurrected and fixed up, and got sent on its merry way to its intended recipient … I’m so so happy that it finally managed to reach Becky – better late than never 😉 Anyway, here is the piccie from the scanner – try as hard as I might, I couldn’t get a clear photo on the camera … perhaps Becky will manage a better one 🙂 It’s the first time I’ve ever sent a stitched gift to another stitcher, so I was a bit nervous – but pleased with the overall result 🙂

Lana, good luck with stitching Dolphins Domain – I have to admit, it’s lovely when it’s stitched, but it can be pretty hard going with all those greys … I’m finding the best way to stitch it is to mix it in as a rotation with other smaller/brighter/more fun pieces. Looking forward to seeing it totally finished, though – it will be hard to part with it once it’s done, I think, but hopefully Vicki and John will love it seeing as they chose it as their wedding present years ago 🙂

Sharon, if you want it, you’re more than welcome to my copy of Dolphins Domain when I’ve finished with it … hope you’re not in a huge hurry LOL. Seriously, though, I’m unlikely to ever stitch these critters again in this lifetime, even if I do think they’re lovely stitched.

For Cathy and Christine – “champers and panettone” is something new for us at Christmas this year … “champers” is just sparkling wine/champagne, and “panettone” is a traditional Italian Christmas cake – considering we have not a single ounce of Italian heritage in us, that was something new to try this year – it’s like the consistency of bread, with the fruit and peel in it, and is just lovely. We have a large Italian population in Melbourne, and I work with quite a few of them, and one of the guys at work said I had to try Panettone with Champagne, as that’s the best way to eat it … who was I to go against orders from an expert? LOL. I have to admit to disliking traditional fruit cake intensely, so I love the panettone!

Thanks everyone for your lovely and kind comments about my first ornaments. I have to admit, Bine, I did follow some instructions – I bought the Judy Odell/Just A Thought book, but didn’t find it as helpful without pictures (I’m a very visual person), so I backed her notes up with a trip to a website by CameoRoze as she has a step-by-step tutorial. It was pretty simple once I started the process. And I had so many wonderful examples that others had stitched for inspiration. At least next year I won’t be quite as phased by it all, and I’m going to try to stitch at least one ornament a month, so I’m ready for Christmas early in 2006 … well, that’s the plan anyway haha.

Mum’s hounding me to do the flat-fold finish of the Stars are Brightly Shining … we made some carrot noses out of Fimo before Christmas and she’s dying to see it made up! I decided I was too impatient to wait for ordering more buttons, and thought we’d give it a try in Fimo – looks pretty good, even if I say so myself … now I’m starting to think about trying other shapes with it too hmmm. Maybe on my next days off we’ll have another finishing session – but I need to buy some different batting first 🙂

Kali, I can’t wait to see your outfit when you’re all dressed up as Cindy Lou Who … that sounds like a real hoot and a half!!

Rightio, off to do a bit of stitching before I have to go to work – I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I’m up early … the bonus is that I have more play time before work yippee 🙂

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Good to be back

28 December, 200525 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, life is resuming its normality after the Christmas festivities – thanks for all your comments over the last few days 🙂 Poor Len cops it from me every year with the “bah, humbug” stuff … last year I wore my Christmas tree outfit round there for Christmas Day which was a hoot – and this year he actually liked his little ornament (which was more for Carole’s sake though). Before I gave it to them I told him he’s not allowed to throw it out, stamp on it, set fire to it, or curse it … he guessed it had something to do with humbugs, and got a laugh out of it haha. Now I have to make one for me too, as I ordered enough of the little lightbulb buttons to make two ornaments.

Christmas Day was relatively quiet for us, especially due to the fact I had just finished 7 days straight of 5am starts, and it had taken it out of me – Mum and I had our own little Christmas dinner with turkey breast and ham on the bone with a nice salad, followed by champers and panettone – it was lovely. We popped round to Fraze’s parents for about an hour in the early evening just to say hi and drop presents off, then gave Fraze a lift home. They’ve been really good to me when I moved here on my own, and have semi-adopted me into their family … Len says I’m the daughter that Carole never had 🙂

As for Christmas prezzies, due to finances this year my gifts were a lot more meagre than they’ve been in the past, but I’ve always said the thought behind the gift means more than the gift itself … I just had to keep reminding myself of that as I felt a bit awful not being able to be as open with my gift-giving as normal. I gave Mum a Christmas stocking full of choccies and sweets that I know she loves – as well as a can of Guinness LOL (the other 3 were hiding in the fridge). Growing up my absolute favourite thing at Christmas was my stocking – it never had expensive things in it, just a few nuts in their shells, an orange, a little bottle of Babycham, and some little gifts like a pair of earrings/junk jewellery etc … I moaned my head off the first year I didn’t get one ‘cos I was getting too old for it … and to this day I still miss it … mutter mutter mutter LOL. It’s still my favourite Christmas memory/tradition – and the last two years it’s been me giving the stockings instead to try and keep a bit of tradition in my Christmas Day. I also got Mum the latest Diana Gabaldon book (as we both adore that series), and gave her the needlebook I’d stitched for her. We both received a knitted scarf from my cousin’s new girlfriend posted from my aunt in England (she lives in Thailand), which was very thoughtful. I got a DVD from Fraze, and something else is still to come but it’d sold out in the shops, a latch-hook Santa kit, and some hand-towels with ducks printed on the band (love them!!) with a small coffee plunger – all very useful gifts 🙂 As for the Christmas money, I’ve made a dent in it already with a mix of items – a pair of Klasse scissors, Thread Heaven, plus 2 packets of MH beads and 2 skeins of thread from Dragonfly Dreams; a packet of undies; a 1/2 Christmas tree (for my hand-made ornies next year) and a stand-up Santa in the post-Christmas sales ; and the rest is being used to pay for my Embroiderers Guild membership, and a new iron – there you go, a happy mix of ‘needed’, ‘stash’ and ‘frivolity’ 🙂

I was back at work on Boxing Day, the joy of a 24-hour call centre, but took a small stitching project in with me so I could at least get a few stitches done inbetween calls – I’m on 3-11pm this week, and the evenings have been a bit quieter. I haven’t made great inroads into any stitching at all, but I’ve started two needlerolls – Spring needleroll by Lorri Birmingham and Love needleroll ornament by Jeannette Douglas Designs in the 2005 JCS ornie mag. Just waiting for the Holo Fyre Werks thread and MH beads to arrive before I can finish the Love one, and the Spring one is being stitched on in the evening hours at work this week. Only managed to get another 5 hours into the Dratted Dolphins, but at least I got to roll up the scrollbars and I can get cracking on the final half – yippee!

My next rotation segment was for Egyptian Garden, but I’m replacing that for the time being with something else until Carol and I do a SAL for EG later in the year – only problem is I can’t decide which to start first … Le Jardin Silk Sampler from a 1998 issue of JCS magazine (which I’m definitely starting in January), or one of the bright canvaswork pieces by Jen’s Jems now I have my black canvas here … hmmm, I think the canvaswork piece might win out – it’s a quicker finish … and there’s still plenty of January left to start the other one LOL.

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