PhotoHuntThis week’s theme is ”Hands” and here are a couple of friends holding hands and being silly in the Hunter Valley on a girls’ weekend away.
Author: Anne S
Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
More Baby Bug Ball and squishy mail
I don’t know where the hold-ups have been, but Christmas mail this year has been absolutely shocking – this week I received an Air Mail Christmas card from the UK that was posted 18 December (!) … just crazy! Yesterday’s mail, though, brought lots of lovely squishy mail – my final outstanding order from SB&B, which left in early December – and a couple of wonderful fabrics from Sandra. The fabrics were totally unexpected, and I absolutely adore them! I can’t wait to find the perfect project to use these on! Thanks so much Sandra for really making my day yesterday! 😀
The expected mail contents were as follows – and this was in many ways a treat for me too, as I couldn’t remember what I’d ordered (I threw in some things in their sale bin that weren’t on my wishlist). It’s hard to see the contents in the photo, so I’ve broken it down underneath:
32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen (for Prairie Moon’s Christmas chart for Katie)
~ Halloween and Christmas buttons from JABC
~ Kreinik metallic threads mainly for canvaswork designs
~ Mill Hill beads so I can finish Bittersweet Season (yippee!!) + a packet of Treasures
~ A couple of WDW and GAST threads
~ 4 x Lizzie*Kate embellishment packs mainly for Christmas ornies
~ Whimzi frame for Just Nan’s Pretty Wicked (I stitched mine from a gifted used chart)
~ Ghosts and Goblins by Dinky-Dyes Designs
~ Heart In Hand wee birdies ~ Summer, Autumn, Spring, St Patrick, Halloween, Easter
and the final splurge that I just couldn’t resist……
~ Just Nan’s Spooky Spirits of Tombstone Hill
And lucky last, here’s the latest update piccie of the final pudgy bug in Baby Bug Ball – not much stitching left to go on this one now – not entirely sure I’ll get it finished this weekend, though, as it’s a busy one … thanks to Alison and Amanda for offering up their stash to help me out with the silk thread, that’s a fantastic help, thank you!!!
And now it’s time to get back to the grindstone and get off to work …
More Baby Bug Ball
Sorry, but this is probably all you’ll be seeing until it’s finished … although I’m very worried about one thread, as I have only one and a bit strands left, and I still have an entire wing done with a full XS in that thread (all the others are done with 1/2 XS), so I’m pretty positive I’m going to run out … ah, yes, I do so detest kits … but even that still can’t remove the positive feeling I feel about this piece – I’m still in love with it! 😀 (apologies for the handshake this morning – was obviously in a hurry to quickly take a happy snap before getting dressed for work – for which I’m now running late … oops)
Baby Bug Ball progress
Not quite as intended, I spent the entire day today stitching … oops, so much for the housework I had intended completing haha. I haven’t moved far from the front of the electric fan other than getting food and water throughout the day (more so the water than the food). I must say I didn’t want to put this one down today – I think if I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow I’d have been tempted to continue further into the night stitching (as it is I’ve already stitched a bit of the 3rd bug since taking this photo!). Hopefully I’ll get chance to finish this off this week some time, or if not this week, then next weekend 🙂
Photo Hunt – Shadow
Final Challenge days
I haven’t managed much stitching at all today as it’s been too stinking hot in the flat – I truly hate Sydney in summer, the humidity kills me, and it’s really not conducive to stitching (especially as we don’t have air-con). Oh well, even with sweat dripping off the brow, I still managed to put enough stitches into the final three pieces over the last couple of days to qualify as a “start”:
Shepherd’s Bush – Happy Pumpkin roll
Moss Creek Designs – Schwalmwork Pinkeep
(one round of broad chain stitch and one round of coral stitch completed)
Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches – Raphael’s Raspberries
(a handful of queen stitches completed and lots of basting)
As much as I’ve loved starting all the new projects, I’m definitely champing at the bit to go back to some of the earlier starts and spend some more quality time on each piece. I think the first one to be stitched will be Baby Bug Ball, followed by my canvaswork piece, then Autumn Harvest as that should be a relatively quick finish … plus I have one more Christmas ornie I want to complete by the end of the month.
Then next weekend I’ll be spending some time with the ‘old ducks’ downstairs (my elderly neighbours) – I spent some time today setting up Norma’s old sewing machine for her (it took me a while to work out where the heck the bobbin was hiding the machine is that old), then got suckered into potentially sewing Barbara a quilted toaster cover … I really should learn to keep my mouth shut and not discuss crafts down there haha.
And now it’s time to get back in front of the fan for another 1/2 hour or so watching the end of CSI 🙂
Day 13 & 14
I ended up chatting to my flatmate until almost 11pm last night, and felt too tired to start stitching at that point, so alas I didn’t complete my Day 13 challenge of a new start – I’ve got my substitute project all picked out, though, and ready to start tonight … I figure I’ll just start two different projects on Sunday and that’ll be OK for me to meet the challenge deadline of 15 projects in 15 days 😀
And I also have on my personal list of challenges this year a Schwalmwork or Hardanger project to be completed, so I’m thinking perhaps I should include one of those items into my final selection for the 15 Project Challenge, thereby offering great time management and hitting two birds with one stone! 😉
If I do decide to do that, then one of these projects may be my final project choice (unless I manage to pull my finger out on Saturday and sort out my fabric and threads for My Treasures Workstation of course … or choose Eiffel Quaker, which I’m very very tempted by!!!):
Anyway I just heard my flatmate walk in the door, so it’s time to hit the lounge for a DVD movie and some stitching! I won’t update again tonight with any progress, so I’ll do a post tomorrow with my final 3 project starts 😀
(PS: I had an informal follow-on chat to my boss this morning about the environment in the office – she is one of the very few people who don’t play the political card and is very trustworthy, I respect her a great deal – and we worked on some suggested strategies on how to handle the moaners, so we’ll see how that all goes … it helped me feel a bit more positive about it all though, so time will tell …)
In the meantime I MUST start organising a stitching day with my NSW pals (you know who you are!!) ‘cos that’ll help me to get my work-life-balance back again … they always cheer me up, and what’s better than a healthy dose of stitchy company?? 😀
January Challenge – Day 13 is a washout
I didn’t get to sleep until after 3am this morning, thanks to my mind tossing and turning with the work situation – I’m just so tired with dealing with the petty and power-hungry nature of some of the people I work with, that I think it’s time to start looking elsewhere … a job that I used to love is becoming an arduous one thanks to the political minefield that our department has become, and I don’t want to lose the thrill I have always had working for my employer. It may be a while before I find something within the same company, but it’s definitely time to start putting feelers out and keeping an eye on what’s on the radar …
To be honest I’m feeling a bit exhausted to start a new project today, finding scroll bars or Qsnaps that will fit, measuring the centre etc … so I may just flake on today’s challenge day – partly because the remaining designs are not entirely appealing to my mood:
- Raphael’s Raspberries – this one requires me to baste a heap of grid lines prior to commencing stitching, then the first stitches are queen stitches, so not exactly an ‘easy, make your mind relax’ kind of project, so not an option
- My Treasures Workstation – I still haven’t decided on my final thread choices for this one, plus I just remembered I haven’t pulled fabric for it yet as I was waiting to choose my threads then match a fabric afterwards … as I’m feeling particularly non-creative, not a good idea tonight!
- Christmas by Prairie Moon – my fabric still hasn’t arrived in the country (the parcel was sent at the beginning of December or late November some time), which means that’s not an option whatsoever
So, now I’m a bit stuck …
I do have a few other smaller projects already kitted up, so perhaps I’ll just grab some substitutes (they’re just small freebies and charts which is why I didn’t want to include them in the first place as I didn’t think they were significant enough) and start stitching as they’re ready to go and are real no-brainers challenge-wise. Then I can stitch Raphael’s Raspberries as my final project on Saturday when I have more mental space to think about it – and I’ll continue to stitch the other two throughout the year once I haven’t all the kit contents sorted out … oh, decisions decisions, what to do … 😉
January Challenge – Days 11 & 12
I had a huge post underway as a vent about work due to some very hurtful things that were said to me today, but I have decided to leave it sitting in draft and just use it as an unpublished venting platform. I am, however, in the process of removing pretty much all of my work colleagues from my FB friends list, with one particularly vindictive, childish, manipulative, power-hungry cow being the first one to be removed tonight … um, perhaps I should go back to the venting post, as there obviously appears to be more in here to unleash …
Anyway, after chatting to my flatmate and best mate here about everything for 4 hours, and mulling over how to handle the FB issue, I remembered that I was supposed to be stitching … so at 10.45pm I pulled one whole strand of thread out and put a few stitches into Bent Creek’s Winter Snapperland while K watched the final few overs of the cricket.
Plus I remembered to take a quick piccie of last night’s pitiful progress (although in hindsight nowhere near as pitiful as tonight’s haha).
And on that note I guess I really should hit the hay for the tonight – after I’ve culled a few more work colleagues from FB …
January Challenge – Day 11
Yesterday I spent most of the day doing household chores and pottering around (in particular cleaning out accumulated bags of crap in my bedroom) – that meant no stitching done until about 9pm … I managed to put a couple of lengths of thread into Jardin Prive’s Christmas, but just realised I didn’t take a progress piccie … as I’m now running late for work, I guess it’ll just have to wait until tonight (when I think Bent Creek’s Winter Snapperland will be on the stitching menu) 😀
