Well, yesterday I got more bad news at work, that I didn’t get one of the upcoming 2-month secondments to the Hotline, and after feeling so incredibly positive about feeling more like myself over the last few days, I decided “Bugger you!” and opted to remove myself from the negativity and the office environment and take 3 days annual leave before I did or said something I might later regret … mutter mutter mutter. Anyway, enough said on that.
So, I blobbed out with Tomb Raider on DVD (first time viewing), 
and started stitching at 10.45pm, finishing at 2.15am … oops – but it sure got the anger out of my system. It also means I’m now nearing the end of the current rotation segment for those “Dratted Dolphins”, as they’re now officially termed in my eyes. Doesn’t seem to be showing much progress, but there’s still 2 1/2 hours to go, then I’ll compare with the last piccie and hopefully see the difference.
I also thought the day was exceptional here in Melbourne today weather-wise, and it would be a waste not to get my fat bum into gear, and get out there and do an hour’s walking round the bay … boy, oh boy, was I wrong!! It’s absolutely blue skies and scorching where I am – but the closer I got to the bay, the clouds were a bit in the background, and the wind was quite a bit stronger – well, in just the short time of 1/2 hour it felt like gail force winds coming in, which caused me a few difficulties staying stood up straight, along with the sand-blasting coming off the beach. But under all that the heat was tremendous … I’m sitting here in a big puddle of sweat – sorry, not a very delightful picture! I feel absolutely exhausted, but still glad I got moving and did it … it’s nice to just get out and get the fresh air. There’s a canal just a few metres away from my flat, which has got a park bench a short walk away – I’m thinking of taking some portable stitching when I can and just sit there for 1/2 hour in the fresh air and sunshine – ah, bliss!
Anyway, I thought I’d just touch base very quickly before I jump in the shower and head out the door. Catching up with friends from work today who are very sympathetic to my situation, and very supportive, so it will do me good to get my moans off my chest … aside from that, I’m looking forward to just catching up with ‘gal pals’, something it’s take me a long time to find since moving here – and this get-together has taken 3 months to finally pull together, seeing as two of us work shift work, so it’s hard to match up shifts – then tomorrow I will finally finish my rotation stitching on the Dratted’s, and start stitching a needlework ‘small’ – yippee … can’t wait! I’m really itching to start something little again 🙂
Author: Anne S
Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
Some Kiwi nostalgia
I rarely put the TV on these days – but over the course of the last week and a half, I’ve turned it on 3 times for ‘company’ while I’m doing housework … the last 2 times I’ve been pleasantly surprised, but the housework got ditched temporarily. The series of Billy Connolly’s Tour of New Zealand has returned – episode 3 was on at the end of last week, and episode 4 was on last night after Comic Relief … as they say in the UK, “it warmed the cockles of my heart!” Even though I was born in the UK, we emigrated to NZ when I was 6 years old – we survived 2 years there, because Dad hated NZ, then returned to the UK … only to find Dad hated the UK even more, and back we trotted to NZ again 2 years later, when I was 10 – I think the trauma at that age must have been pretty great for a shy quiet kid, and I have no real memory of my life in the UK, or pretty much any of my life prior to being 10! So, I’ve grown up loving the Kiwi country, and people, and culture … as far as I’m concerned, even though not by birthright, I AM a Kiwi (I became naturalised as soon as I was old enough to do it in my own right) …
Anyway, it was so nice to see on TV a lot of the places I’ve visited over the years, and I love Billy Connolly anyway … and I enjoyed the rendition of Pokarekare Ana at the end of the show – I’m not sure my neighbours loved it as much, ‘cos I was singing at the top of my lungs … I’m amazed I still remember the words! It is the most beautiful song in the world, in my eyes – and always reminds me of home … so, come on Kiwis, let’s have a karaoke session … ready? 1 – 2 – 3 …
Pokarekare ana
Nga wai o Rotorua
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e
E hine e
Hoki maira
Kamate au-i
te aroha e
OK, that’ll do for now – time to put my shoes on and get off to work … still on relatively civilised hours all week – a mix of 11am-7pm (4 days) then 10am-6pm (3 days) and then … shock, horror … a weekend off! I have friends I haven’t seen for at least 6 months coming to stay, hopefully, for the weekend, so can’t guarantee much stitching will be getting done this week! Have a great one everybody 🙂
For KarenV
Thanks Karen – I think maybe it’s just the photo on the chart … it just looks so ‘drab’, all grey/green – when I saw yours being stitched I remember all the lovely golden autumn colours predominantly – but then again, maybe that was my own brain’s reaction ‘cos I love those colours, and that’s what I mainly saw! I’ll start stitching it the way the chart intends it on a separate piece of fabric, I think – it’s the lettering that doesn’t really ‘gel’ with me, so I might change that to an overdyed as well, in more autumn tonings, and see what it looks like. Thanks for the offer of the silk overdyed – I have to admit, the colours look OK there, it’s just the lettering, I think. Mind you, now I’m having a closer look at the threads that came in the kit, it’s not as ‘grey’-looking as the photo, so maybe it’ll be OK as it is … I just looked at the photo when it arrived, and went “ooh, yuk!” Maybe that’s why I’ve not been a Drawn Thread fan before now – ‘cos the colours always look so drab … oh no, that could open up a whole new can of worms, that means I might have to get more to try them out LOLOL. Thanks for your advice, anyway – I’ll start stitching it and see how I go … Hugs 🙂
One day survived back at work…
…and it was quite nice in some ways to be back – I was put in charge of the ‘queues’ area today, so I didn’t feel under pressure on the phones etc. Queues are basically different messages generated in the computer reservations system, and has a huge range of jobs – including flight timing changes, credit card rejects for internet bookings, misquotes, other airlines sending confirmations etc etc … and I get to do the same thing tomorrow – it’s a nice way to ease back into work after my health issues, and boy it’s nice to both leave home and come back again in 
daylight!!
And my floss reorganising this week had an added bonus – now I don’t have my floss bobbins in the special little ‘box’, I now have a new container for all my different teas … so cute! OK, so it’s not as flash as those poofey wooden ones in hotels, but I love it 🙂
And I’ll finish for the night with photos of my fabric haul, seeing 
as my camera batteries are fully charged up again – and the latest version of my current UFO in progress at the end of the rotation … doesn’t seem to have too much to show for it after 8 hours, but them’s the breaks – every few stitches is a step closer to finally finishing the bl**dy thing! (This is one of the very very first pieces I started stitching, and my first effort on evenweave/linen after using aida, and boy can I tell!! LOL.
Silkweaver Fabrics: 
Country Stitch Fabrics:
Stitching Bits & Bobs Fabrics: 
Also, KarenV, hopefully you are reading … with your Drawn Thread Summer Into Autumn, did you use the threads exactly as shown in the kit? I seem to think your colours were a lot softer/autumny, which is what made me fall in love with it – the kit when it’s arrived seems a lot darker, but I could be wrong! If you’re reading, I’d love to know if you substituted any of the colours, as I’m quite tempted to do that …
The mailbox runneth over… VERY long post!
Not one parcel today … but four! Oh crikey, that’s what happens when you stay at home crook and don’t clear the mail! I have to say that today I really REALLY love my stash arrivals – this was the main (& biggest overall) order I placed from Stitching Bits & Bobs, as well as my Silkweaver and Country Stitch orders … and it’s all just too wonderful for words – I think it also helps that my health is coming back under control, and I had a good day out today too … really perked me up! My best friend here had really disappointed me and let me down a couple of weeks ago (3 things in a row), which probably didn’t help with the migraines on top of everything else – but last night he phoned and we chatted a little bit … turns out he’s had some health issues he’s been dealing with, and he’s finally come out with it – unfortunately it gave me the impression earlier that he was blowing me off a bit, which hurt and angered me at the time. He was supportive to me when I had my gallbladder removed earlier in the year, so now it’s my turn to return the favour – he’s just come back from having an ultrasound done – looks like a fatty liver, which thankfully isn’t too serious, and will likely be improved by a change of diet and cutting out the alcohol, which he’s prone to binge on a bit (which has worried me on occasion, but that’s another story). He’s had to drop urine samples and have blood tests, and then they find out if a biopsy is in order. Anyway, I drove out to meet up with him today on my last day off, seeing he was off work too, and his Mum drove from Mooroolbark (which they joke is Aboriginal for “Where the hell are we, we’re lost?” LOL) – and we had a lovely lunch at a favourite haunt of ours at Box Hill (Vietnamese restaurant), then we forced him to spend his $400 David Jones vouchers he’d won at his last job – trying to get him to walk into a shop and spend money is like trying to get blood out of a stone!! We ended up getting him an iPod (which means I score and get his old mp3 player – I told him to keep it and wrap it up for me for Xmas so he doesn’t have to buy anything) – and then had a lovely day wandering round Myer and David Jones department stores just to see their Christmas decorations, followed by a coffee and wine/port tasting at Chadstone shopping centre.
And on the way to picking them up early this afternoon, I called quickly into the Embroiderers Guild and grabbed a couple of SANQ magazines to drool over for the next couple of weeks before they’re due back, and picked up some Piecemakers #26 tapestry needles from the LNS (The Needlepoint, ex-Bustle & Bows) … and I did NOT even look at a chart or thread – just went straight to the needles, picked up 3 packets, walked to the counter, and straight out again … woohoo!!! Mind you, considering how much stash was sitting in my PO Box, I don’t need to buy anything for the next 20 years chart-wise etc LOL 🙂So, my anti-inflammatories and $40 nasal spray (!) seem to be doing the trick – I still have my headache, but it’s not as bad, and it’s back to work again tomorrow – it’s a 7-day week this week for me, but at least they’re ‘normal’ shifts, so I should be OK. Now, back to fondle the stash a bit, seeing as I didn’t have time to look properly when I picked it up …
Unfortunately my camera batteries have just packed up – probably ‘cos it knew I was going to make it work real hard – so I’ll just list my stash haul … I have to admit, this is the happiest I’ve been with all my arrivals of late – they’re the charts etc that I wanted the most, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed! So, here goes the entire list (it’s pretty lengthy, so you might want to grab a cup of coffee or something before you start LOL):
Charts/Books:
* The Flat-Fold instruction booklet – “Just a Thought”/Judy Odell (with plenty of step-by-step pictures … just what a finishing-phobe like me needs!!)
* Wanted! – Santa ’02 – Lizzie*Kate Snippet
* Here Comes Santa Claus – Santa ’05 – Lizzie*Kate Snippet
* Sweet Valentines Teenie Tweenie – The Sweetheart Tree
* Apricot Elegance – Cindy Valentine Designs (for a SAL early in the New Year – except mine will be “Blue Elegance” LOL)
* Bee Keeper – Cindy Valentine Designs
* Thistles Needleroll/Pinkeep/Scissor Minder – Calico Crossroads (just stunning!)
* Star Spangled Scissor Finder – Calico Crossroads
* Stitching Treasures Collection 2 – Twisted Oaks Designs
* French Monogram Collection III – Twisted Oaks Designs
* Lavender Thistles Collection – Twisted Oaks Designs
* Nightcap Pincushion – The Elizabethan Costume Collection – The Nostalgic Needle
* The Flame Stitch Huswif – Sampler Cove
* Summer Into Autumn kit – The Drawn Thread
* Raphael’s Raspberries – Forget-Me-Not-In-Stitches
* Priceless – Glory Bee
Fabrics: (will try to put photos up later)
Silkweaver:
* Solo Minis – 5 x hand-dyed 9″x13″ 28ct Cashel linens – purply/blue; aqua; vintage/rust; rose pink/lilac; blue/lilac.
* 2005 JCS Ornament cuts – 24ct white congress cloth (for Scot’s Bonnet); 40ct R&R antique cotton linen (for Christmas Heart – to be honest, don’t like the look of this fabric, it reminds me of muslin/cheesecloth); 28ct jubilee in Christmas Red (for The Gift of the Season).
* Spooktacular Sale – 32ct Belfast in both Bo-Peep Pink and Cream (9″x13″ I think); 28ct hand-dyed Cashel in Dark Tan (18″x26″ – will be VERY useful); 28ct hand-dyed Opalescent Lugana in Abracadabra (lilac colours); 32ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Jubilation (13″x18″ mint/seafoam greeny).
Stitching Bits & Bobs:
* 28ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Blueberry (fat 1/4)
* 28ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Thyme (fat 1/4)
* 28ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Bluebell (fat 1/4)
Country Stitch:
* Kiwi Illusions Grab-bag – a bit hard to describe the colours of these, but smaller (approx 9″x13″ pieces in a baby blue lugana; burgundy/olive green (reminds me of camouflage colours LOL); baby pink/blue; tan – plus 2 larger pieces of both a white/green mottled lugana (have no idea what I’ll use this for), and a stunning opalescent lugana blue/purple – very pretty!).
* Kiwi Pearls 32ct lugana in sage green sort of colour.
* My Fabric of the Month selection (all approx 9″x13″) – this month a nice mix of colours – Cashel 28ct linen in Ice Blue (although I’d actually ordered this in a larger piece for my Secret Garden SAL in the New Year – at least it’s BLUE so I’ll get plenty of use out of it LOL), and Lilac; Quaker 28ct linen in Light Mocha; Lugana 28ct in Miracle Mint; and Belfast 32ct in Platinum.
* Cashel 28ct in Ice Blue 50cm x 70cm.
Miscellaneous:
* 6 of the 12 ordered Xmas bulb buttons from Just Another Button Company – still waiting on 3 of the colours to arrive, so I can finish my Humbug ornament.
* Rajmahal art silk skein in black (freebie from Stitching Bits & Bobs)
Phew, that’s the entire haul – the other parcel contained my Casulguidi class booklet from the EGA.
Crikey, I’m just sitting here gob-smacked – I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven!!! Hmmm, might have to add in another segment into my rotation, and have two segments for stitching ‘smalls’ – I can’t wait to get started on some of these! Well, two more orders waiting to arrive – the remainder from Stitching Bits & Bobs, and from Nordic Needle, then I don’t leave the house for the next 12 months – and I am officially on The Wagon (yes, there is a Bulletin Board for just that, and I’m now officially a member!! LOL). I think I’m going to be grinning in my sleep all night – I feel shell-shocked, but in a nice way! :)))
2nd post today…
Cathy, the folded ribbon roses’ dimensions are 2 1/2″ wide by 4″ high – but they probably stand out from the fabric just fractionally over 1/2″ … definitely not an heirloom piece, but I suppose it’s quite pretty. I don’t want to go to the expense of framing it, and probably too small to make a flat-fold out of it … mind you, I don’t suppose flat-folds have limits in size … never thought about that before … hmmm 🙂
Today’s “Stitching Blogger’s Question” was suggested by Dianne and is:
If you have stitched for a while, can you usually pick out the DMC colors you need from memory when you go to your LNS? (For example, you know that 610 is a brown.)
I have to admit, I do remember quite a lot of the DMC numbers – mainly from using them so much in previous projects … and partly just from reorganising my DMC stash so many times into different storage systems haha …
In fact that’s what I ended up doing most of yesterday – reorganising my DMC skeins/bobbins all together into Floss Away bags (or whatever little plastic bags I could find at the time, as I ran out of FA bags quite quickly!) … it made me realise this is a much better way of storing my floss stash – I was stunned what on earth possessed me to end up with so many skeins of some of these colours … why on earth did I think I’d need about 6 skeins of 321 red?? Goodness knows!! Anyway, at least now I’ll know at a glance exactly how much of each colour I have on hand, rather than having my bobbins in one area, one skein of some in my folders, and the ‘excess’ skeins in separate baggies … now they’re all in one place, and hopefully will play nicely together! It now means I’m going to have go buy a bigger container to house all those baggies in, though – my current one that was being used for my ‘excess’ now runneth over!! LOL. Was great fun reorganising them all though 🙂
2nd small Happy Dance
Well, I decided not to bother finishing my 3rd tiny UFO with the re-beading – and thought I’d save it until my next UFO section on my rotation as a treat to get something finished early again. Instead I put my old “Nature’s Rest” in the Q-snaps, and I’m in the process of stitching my 10 hours into it before I move back to the Dolphins again. I figure I really do need to get this old UFO done before I do much else, as a lot of the threads that I used have since had colour changes – and without knowing, all those years ago, I was merrily using the same skeins for other projects, meaning I only have a little bit left of some of them … I think I’m safer getting this old thing done and finished, so I can then move on to something else. So that project is now officially taking residence in the UFO spot until it’s finished … at least I still have my ‘smalls’ and ‘free choice’ rotation spots to give me a break from all these big and boring projects 🙂
Anyway, here’s my other small happy dance reason – I finally put the last stitches into my folded ribbon rose class from some time in 2001 … the roses have gotten squished quite a bit during their time in storage/relocating to Aussie, but they’re passable – not a craft project I’m in a real hurry to repeat, but it’s nice to get it out of the UFO folder once and for all! I’m not entirely sure what to do with it now it’s finished, though – maybe just turn it into a pincushion … dunno, really … any suggestions would be greatly welcomed!Von, thanks for your lovely comments on my blog – do you have a blog yourself? I tried looking, and couldn’t find one … I’d love to return the favour 🙂
Thanks everyone as always for your welcomed comments – they really are appreciated and help to keep my spirits up when I’m a bit flat 🙂 You guys rock!
Another happy dance!
Well, I’m off work at GP’s orders again today, trying to get rid of these cluster migraines once and for all (apparently that’s what they are) – so now I’m doped up with anti-inflammatories etc, and I’ve been ordered to do no housework etc, just rest and relaxation … so on Dr’s orders, I’ve been sat stitching, watching the rest of the Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital series on DVD … soon to be followed by Girl with a Pearl Earring (talk about going from one end of the spectrum to the other – but that’s me to a tee!!). Anyway, I managed to force myself to complete a UFO from last year – a GCC (Group Correspondence Course) through the Embroiderers Guild of America, called “Lace & Ribbons” by Dakota Rogers. It only took 1 1/2 hours to finish it off, as I just had to do the filling stitches on the bottom band – and finally I have another set of scroll rods to use for another project ..
. yippee!!! I’m going to add fabric to the sides, and turn this into a folder cover for my stitching album, I think. You got to choose your own design for the ‘centre’ piece – I chose an autumn leaf, and in fact picked one up from the ground that I liked the look of on the way home from work one day while I was stitching it – it thought it would remind me of my first autumn in Melbourne, as the leaves were all falling from the trees at that time, which always makes me feel soppy – I just love the autumn colours on the trees.Now, before I forget, Cathy I do use polyfill for my pincushion stuffing – only because I use them for decoration only. When I was in NZ I used clean wool fleece, but I haven’t found a stockist for it here yet … but then again, I haven’t tried that hard either. The polyfill is not good if you want to actually use it, as I believe the pins may eventually rust in there. Another option is to cut up wool skeins (taught that by Martha Beth Lewis in a class once), eg tapestry wool.
Rightio, off to finish off another two UFO’s – the next two only have about 1/2 hour’s stitching to go on each one … one just has a few fly stitches to pop in, and the other one was finished, but it got caught on something, and I lost one of the heart beads, so I need to frog it back a bit, and restitch the beads back on again. So, fingers crossed, I’ll have another couple of happy dances by the end of the day 🙂
Half a Happy Dance…
Unfortunately I can’t post a piccie just yet, as it’s a gift for someone – but I finally managed to kick that frog in the ribs and get the stitching finished on my latest piece … I’ve had the hardest time stitching this thing, I don’t know why – and that darned frog has shown its head on 3 separate occasions today alone, never mind the last 2-3 days … I’m gonna fry its legs with butter if it comes back this week!!! Anyway, this piece has turned out a bit bigger than I expected, so I’m a bit unsure about how to finish it … might have to make a bit-bigger-than-normal pillow as opposed to a pincushion – have to hide the back somehow … unfortunately not my best stitching effort, but the overall piece looks OK – hopefully it will be accepted by its recipient in the way it was intended anyway 🙂 So, tomorrow I will make my decision on finishing – and hopefully in a couple of weeks I can post a piccie … At least now it no longer looks like a tarantula … as a major arachnaphobe, this was creeping me out stitching it! LOL.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Hope the ghoulies don’t getcha tonight … and that your Halloween celebrations in whatever form they take are enjoyable and fun. I’m off to work in costume tonight, seeing as I’m working 6pm to 2am, so we thought it would liven up the night a bit. Here’s a photo of what I’ll kinda be looking like … except I’ve put weight on and don’t fit the skirt anymore, so wearing black pants instead … and will have to ditch the wig, as the fringe gets in my eyes for typing 🙂 Have a great time all!!
(Edited to add about latest stash arrival …)
And another small happy dance – my S.E.X. order arrived from The Silver Needle today – which was 100 floss away bags (yippee – I’ve been hanging out for those), 3 spools of Kreinik threads, some DMC skeins, a few buttons from Just Another Button Company (for my Christmas ornies), Mill Hill treasures and a red cabochon heart (again, for ornies etc), some size 12 beading needles (just ‘cos I’d never seen that size before and wanted to see what they were like … TINY, is all I can say LOL), and 3 kits – “Needle Nick”, a special edition kit by Lizzie Kate; “And Many More” needlecase, an exclusive kit by Just Nan; and “Terri’s Needlecase”, by Lorri Birmingham. This is fun getting a treat box/bag every week – it’s like a having an early advent calendar, except it’s weekly, not daily ;-P I’m hoping the next one arrives from Stitching Bits & Bobs (which is the biggest haul) either by the end of this week, or early next week … Now I’m off to pore over the instructions of the kits and drool over the stash haul in general 🙂
Feather Stitching 