Anne S

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Halloween, Heartstrings, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Wishlist, Works in Progress

Humble apologies

3 November, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

The humble apologies in the subject line is for Clare, who sent me an absolutely exceptional package in the mail an entire year ago, and it seems it was never acknowledged. I feel absolutely mortified about this, as I’m usually really good about sending an email of thanks and posting piccies immediately on the blog. I do remember around that time that we were having computer problems at home, and I’d been really sick, but somehow I’d managed to convince myself that I’d sent the email etc and all I had to do now was to sit back and look lovingly at my gifts for the next 12 months (the gorgeous little Loon sits pride of place in my bedroom so I can see it every day, and the exquisitely stitched and finished hedgehog ornie sits on top of my basket of smalls in the lounge). So my sincerest apologies again to Clare, and I can now share the wonderful goodies that she sent me.

Well, it appears Halloween has been and gone, and alas, even with good intentions of lots of Halloween stitching being done this year, my Halloween table display has been pitiful. Thrown together really quickly late on Saturday night, this is the sum total of my Halloween decorations this year. One whole pinkeep completed, and what is destined to become a flat-fold on display with just it’s laced section propped up {sigh} (the backing sections all have their spooky cobweb fabric coverings, I just didn’t get as far as gluing or stitching the various sections together!). Alas I’ve been too tired after work the last week and a half to do much of anything – much less stitching, and even less finishing. I think I need to take a week off work just to focus on some finishing!!

Do you see my little Halloween tree that is just all bare branches above? It lights up with teeny tiny dark purple twinkly lights, it’s really cute! Of course the plan was to have it covered with teeny tiny stitched ornies, but that also didn’t happen! But hey, there’s another 12 months before Halloween 2011 so I’ve got time to change all that 😛

Even though Halloween is now technically over, I still have the urge to stitch Halloween designs … I don’t have the urge to stitch much at all these days, so I figure I should just stitch what interests me. Of course, even when I haven’t been stitching, I have been tempted big-time with some new designs out this year, so I’ve been filling my wishlist even higher even though the needles haven’t been flying … here are the latest trifles that are taking my interest and causing a little bit of drool here and there (as you can see Halloween is definitely still high in my sights!) 😛

Blackberry Lane Designs – Rest Ye Pins-The Pinkeeper

Just Nan – Hagatha’s Purple Hat

Just Nan – Hagatha’s Orange Hat

Just Nan – Spooky Spirits of Tombstone Hill

Just Nan – Tricky Tweets

The Victoria Sampler – Bargello Biscornu

The Victoria Sampler – Winter Box Finishing

I have some more stash coming through the mail, thanks to Ann having a de-stash sale containing some to-die-for items, so I’ll be fondling some more stash soon (I know, as if I NEED any more stash!).

I was also exceptionally lucky enough to win Marnie’s prize draw for a little halloween coffin (Vampire stitching case), which should be arriving shortly. Even if I don’t manage to get any of my own stitching finished next year, this already shows that my Halloween display is already greatly improved with Marnie’s stitching and finishing, and I just adore it already without even receiving it! If you haven’t seen it yet, pop over here and check it out – while you’re there make sure you take the time to admire her wonderfully exquisite stumpwork blog header, it’s superb!

And on that note I’d better sign off and get my A into G to get ready for work, then tonight I need to force myself to watch a bit more of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo … loved the book, but I hate subtitled movies so it’s been a real drag for me focusing on it (in all honesty if I’d known it was subtitled I wouldn’t have bothered hiring it from Quickflix) – even though I don’t have any particularly big desire to stitch, the biggest drag with subtitled movies is that you can’t stitch to them!

Actually, I forgot, I do have one final thing to share … the sum total of my stitching endeavours for the last two weeks … I started stitching this only to find straightaway that yet again I’m missing two of the key threads (GAST Forest Glade and Kreinik #4 braid in 027) … pfffft 😦 Probably not helping my urge to stitch this week, as I had my heart set on finishing this one quickly … which obviously now isn’t actually going to happen – see ya stitching mojo, please come back soon!

Cairns, Flowers Trees & Gardens, Queensland, Travel

Queensland capers continued

24 October, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Our next full day of sightseeing turned out to be a very full day indeed – driving a lot of the day on one-lane tracks through the countryside and gulping every time a car came from the opposite direction. A few times I thanked goodness we had taken out additional insurance on the rental car, then thanked goodness again when we didn’t need to use it!

Our day started off by retracing our steps south along the highway past Babinda (after stopping for a quick photo session of one of the local Sikh temples which I loved), then stopped at Crawfords Lookout for a quick peek – this provided a brief glimpse of the distant river, and provided a quick leg stretch for a brief moment.

Unfortunately not long afterwards we passed our first motorbike accident for the day, complete with ambulances etc on the scene … more unfortunately this wasn’t the last we experienced – only about 10km further up the road we came across a newly occurred accident with the biker sitting in the middle of the road, and his motorcycle strewn around the road. That certainly wasn’t a fun part of the trip, but we turned off the road shortly after that and put our morning back onto a more even and fun keel … we took a detour to the Mungalli Dairy, and we’re ever so glad we did! Aside from a small tasting plate of their local produced goodies (bio-organic yogurts and cheese), we opted to stay and have an early lunch … oh boy, was it good!!! The bottom right photo shows our lovely view in the middle of the countryside – sheer bliss 😀

After we returned back to the main highway again, we headed to a waterfall circuit about 20km away. Here there are three spectacular waterfalls all within a short driving distance of each other. Mum declined to walk to the first falls (Ellinjaa Falls) as the path was steep and a bit slippery due to the rainfall – I decided to still do the walk, and I have to admit I was panting and puffing for quite some time on my return back up to the top again … but it certainly was pretty!

Next up was Zillie Falls – the walk was thankfully very short and no sharp inclines, which was great, so Mum joined me for that one. The view wasn’t quite as spectacular with this one but it was incredibly peaceful standing there watching its awesome majesty. The final waterfall had a slightly steep incline on the walk, however there was a rail installed so once again Mum could enjoy the viewing experience – Millaa Millaa Falls were certainly spectacular, and a very pleasant ending point of our waterfall circuit.

In the photo below, the big waterfall on right right is Millaa Millaa Falls, top left is Ellinjaa Falls, then the walk to Zillie Falls, and finally at the bottom right is Zillie Falls.

Our next driving spree took us on a hideous one-tracked drive for well over an hour or so, and not something that I want to repeat again – unfortunately it was an ‘alternative route’, and I hadn’t realised, so next time I’ll wait for the official turn-off signs with the tourist signposts!! Anyway, in some ways it was better as we ended up at Ravenshoe just in time for the weekly train trip at Millstream Express Steam Railway. The train takes you on a 2-hour return trip, and we arrived just in time to see it off on its weekly journey – we didn’t have time to take the trip ourselves, but it gave us chance to appreciate some of the stunning jacaranda trees (love, love, LOVE jacaranda trees in bloom) and stretch our legs for a while.

Afterwards we dropped in to see the Windy Hill Wind Farm (I didn’t realise quite how BIG they are until you get close to them), then continued to our final leg of the journey, Herberton’s Heritage Village.

To be honest we were totally disappointed with the Heritage Village, especially because we couldn’t find it! There were a lot of older style buildings throughout the township, which were lovely, but it certainly wasn’t what we had expected so we just bought an icecream at the local shops and continued on our way to Atherton, where we had our final stop to see the Houwang Temple. This also wasn’t entirely thrilling to us, but the carvings were really pretty in the temple, and it was very unusual to see the temple made out of aluminium siding!

That saw the final sightseeing day for us in Cairns – but we did manage to have an hour at the Cairns Botanical Gardens on the way to the airport on our final morning. The gardens are quite lovely, although I’m really disappointed my memory card ate my photos as I took loads of detailed shots with my SLR boohoo. My absolutely favourite plant was the Beehive Plant … just stunning!!! If you want to see more you can Google Beehive Plant or its botanical name which appears to be “Zingiber spectabile” – I love it 😀

And that was our Cairns trip in a nutshell … then it was back to Sydney for a really brief stay before Mum was winging her way back home again to Auckland. And now, alas, it’s back to work again tomorrow and with some major project work coming to completion, I have a feeling there will be some late nights coming up this week … within 24 hours I will have forgotten I’ve been on holiday!

Cairns, Paronella Park, Queensland, Queenstown, Travel

Queensland capers (part 1)

24 October, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Last week Mum flew back to Australia with me, and after a 24-hour layover in Sydney we jumped on another plane and flew up to Cairns in Queensland. We had six nights in a two-bedroom apartment, and enjoyed some peaceful rest and relaxation … and even managed to do some sightseeing, regardless of the fact that it was raining and overcast most days.

On our first day we stocked up with wine at the local bottle shop and food from the local super-expensive (!) supermarket and had dinner in the apartment. The next day we wandered along the waterfront for a while then spent the rest of the day stitching.

On our 2nd full day in Cairns we wandered along the waterfront in the pouring rain and picked up a rental car before going shopping where I managed to add some new ‘fatty’ clothes to my suitcase, and was absolutely thrilled with my purchases, including some lovely 3/4 cotton pants that came in handy during the holiday. We also called into a proper supermarket and stocked up on the remaining items we needed for the week (at half the price of what we had been paying previously!). I was also really thrilled to see “real” Halloween pumpkins for sale over here for the first time ever (at least that I’ve seen).

After gaining our wheels, our first day of proper sightseeing saw us heading south to Babinda, where we went for a shortish wander through the bush to the Devils Pool Walk and then further on to the Babinda Boulders. It was lovely to stretch our legs in a natural setting, and the views were lovely.

We then headed further south and drove through Innisfail to Paronella Park. We started our visit off with a scrumptious devonshire tea (I’m sure those who know me well from previous posts will not be surprised by this!) – then joined a guided tour around the property. We were surprised to learn we had spent an entire 2 hours on the grounds by the time we left – and I have to say I think this day was the highlight of our trip for me. Unfortunately I lugged 3kg of SLR camera gear around Queensland to no avail, as it turns out that the memory card was corrupted, and I lost all my SLR photos (of which there were tons!) … thankfully, though, I managed to take a few photos on my Lumix point and shoot, so at least we have some photographic record of the week’s events 🙂

Paronella Park is alas just ruins these days after being destroyed by a couple of cyclones, but the history is wonderfully retold by the tourguides and your imagination fills in the details that are now missing in tangible form.

After Paronella Park it was time to return back to Cairns and another night of stitching in front of the goggle box.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, The Trilogy

Final (?) Halloween finish

24 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I really do think this will be the last Halloween stitching that will get completed, as I’d really like to finish up two of my previous stitched pieces into flat-folds in time for Halloween this year – I managed to cut up one set of matboards yesterday, but that’s as far as I got … this afternoon I’ll go ahead and glue the batting on and the backing fabrics, and with any luck by next weekend I’ll at least have one flat-fold finish-finished ready for display.

Rightio, on to my next finish – I started this when we were on holiday in Cairns last week, and put the final stitches into it on Friday night while Katie and I caught up on a couple of TV shows (the only thing that is missing is the little silver pumpkin charm, which I don’t have, and not sure I have anything suitable to sub for it just yet):

“Halloween Spots” by The Trilogy
stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended WDW threads, except Mascara (subbed DMC 310)

Mum flew home on Friday afternoon, but before she left she managed to stitch the backing fabrics and ribbon hangers onto the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments for me, which means I just have to trim the seam allowances, turn inside-out and stuff with polyfil. Thanks for your help Mum, it’s really appreciated!

We also frantically got 3 lengths of cording completed for Mum to take home with her … which she unfortunately left sitting on the chair arm when she left, along with her DMC. A quick trip to the Post Office just before they closed saw them winging their way home again to Mum in the post 😉

We did manage to get one more length of white cord completed for my ornaments – which means I can now get at least one ornie finish-finished very quickly … but the only problem is that a new start is diverting my attention from my finishing duties … a Halloweeny stitch that I’m finding really really hard to resist – hence the reason for the title of this post! The tempting design is “The Bittersweet Season” by Heartstrings. I’m soooo tempted to start stitching this one, as I don’t think it’d take that long to stitch being only 2″ wide (although in saying that, it would probably take a full weekend at least as it’s 11″ tall … hmmm). But I really would like to get at least one flat-fold finished this week … oh decisions, decisions, LOL.

One thing I did manage to do yesterday was to mend my beautiful Greek mug. I bought this little treasure on a trip to Greece about 11 years ago – due to a mix-up at airport check-in after being rebooked from a cancelled flight (after 7 hours waiting) I was told I had to pack some of my hand luggage into my suitcase (then got told oops I’ve made a mistake, you’re fine, you can go through now but you’d better hurry the flight is boarding) – this poor thing had its handle smashed into 3 pieces during the flight (it had to be put into the suitcase). I never did get around to fixing it, and it’s been languishing in a box in the Mum and Dad’s garage ever since – I rescued it on my recent trip home, and glued the handle together again yesterday with superglue. Unfortunately I’ll never be comfortable using it as an actual mug with hot liquids, but it is now happily holding pens and scissors on my computer desk so I can sit and appreciate its beauty every day! 😀

The other thing I haven’t done over the last month is to complete the Photo Hunt posts, so I’ll rectify that shortly and do a mammoth catch-up with those soon!

In the meantime I have some TV viewing I need to catch up on, and a million other things I should be doing rather than sitting on the PC, so I’ll leave it at that for the time being …

Ooh, before I forget, I had a number of questions about the designer for the 12 Days of Christmas ornies that Mum stitched – I’ve updated the previous post with the details in case you’re interested. If there are any others that you want to know about, don’t hesitate to drop me a comment/email and I’ll give you the details.

Cross Stitch, Finishing

Extreme finishing pile

20 October, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Today Mum and I got out my entire collection of finished projects that need to be “finish-finished” – a number of these need to be measured up for framing (to be framed by myself), and others need to be ornamentified or made into pinkeeps, quilted wallhangings, etc etc etc. Some fellow friends and bloggers started showing their own finishing piles, and I figured I’d do the same thing … partly for my own record to make me actually make an effort and get some of these finished/framed instead of being rolled up in a project roll where no-one can see them. Sooooo, here’s my pile of shame … settle in ‘cos it’s MAJORLY photo heavy!!!

Next up I’m going to number each one and make up a proper list and start deciding what to do with each item, so I’ll actually remember in a day’s/week’s time instead of looking at each one absently trying to remember what the hell I was going to make it into … and start tackling some of the list over time.

First up are Christmas ornaments that Mum has stitched for me, but still remain to be finished into pillow/felt-backed ornaments – I’ve told Mum she’s not allowed to leave until she finishes the 12 Days of Christmas ones for me, then I’ll finish off the remaining ones:

***UPDATED: In answer to questions received, Mum tells me the 12 Days of Christmas designs came from a magazine which might now be very hard to find – Better Homes & Gardens Cross Stitch Christmas 2002.***

Then there are the two snowflakes ornies that Mum also stitched for me – they have the finishing forms already set aside for them, and I’ve bought some white flannel fabric for padding, so these should be quick to complete once I pull my finger out!!:

Then there’s the pile of Christmas ornaments that I’ve stitched but still not finished off:

And yet more that I’ve pretty much finished except for adding the cording around the edges (we’re going to have a cording day tomorrow, because Mum wants me to make some for her ornies to take home, so perhaps these will shortly be moving out of the finishing pile … maybe …):

Then there is the quilted wallhanging that I started making before my sewing machine broke down the last time … and here is the state it’s remained in ever since … these Santas were stitched by Mum, but once again I get the job of finishing them (a pretty good trade, I think, and a good team effort):

Then there is the Quaker Round Robin – I haven’t been 100% happy with my fabric choice compliments of the crappy selection at Spotlight, so I’ve been waiting to make a trip out to Craft Depot at Pennant Hills before making a start on the finishing of this one:

Then there are the general mix of projects – with different finishing methods assigned to each – and some I have absolutely no idea what to do with them! I guess in good time I’ll make a decision and turn each one into ‘something’:

Plus of course I still have Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello which needs to be finished off – so far I’ve cut out the four backing boards for the large squares, and that’s as far as I’ve managed, but I still need to find some lining fabric for the inside, so I guess there’s no hurry on this one yet:

And perhaps a quick cord-making day might also see the end to this little treasure too – all it needs is some cord making/adding to the edges plus the needlepages added …

So, doesn’t this make you feel better about YOUR finishing piles?? And I didn’t even include the latest influx of pumpkin finishes … oh boy, I really need to get cracking on these things – perhaps I need to have a dedicated finishing weekend at least once a month, or just give up stitching for a while and concentrate on finishing … either that or clone myself so I can do both! 😀

One great thing is that I found a wonderful picture framing supplier at Silverdale Silverwater who has some awesome ready-made frames plus they do a chop service for my custom-framing to do myself, plus good quality matboards etc – in the past I’ve ordered my supplies by mail order, and it’s hard to match colours etc obviously … this will make it soooo much easier, I just have to measure up and decide on approximate colours of matboards using my current L-cut samples, then save up to pay for the actual frames – easy!! 😛

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Just Nan, Little House Needleworks, Lizzie Kate

More pumpkins … but no chatting time

19 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Sorry for the drive-by post, but here are my latest pumpkin finishes for the Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010 while spending a week away from the computer away from home … I’ll update the blog more later when I have time to sit down properly, in the meantime here are the latest round of teeny finishes:

“Boo Squared” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with recommended Weeks Dye Works thread (except for Lucky,
which was substituted with recommended DMC)

“Jinx ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

“Jack ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

“Jasper ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

“Pumpkins” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended Crescent Colours threads

Cross Stitch, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Prairie Schooler

Pumpkins Galore

7 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I have to say I’m really enjoying doing the Great Pumpkin Challenge – it’s getting many little designs stitched up that I’ve been wanting to stitch for ages … and just perfect little sizes to do while on holiday. This afternoon has been spent throwing more items into a box for the Salvo’s followed by a couple of DVD’s while doing a spot of stitching (The Bone Collector followed by Pirates of the Caribbean-Curse of the Black Pearl). Life is trotting along at a nice leisurely pace down here 🙂 This one will be made into a floss tag for projects. I absolutely adore the floss tag that Carol made for me, so much so that I’ve been meaning to make some more for myself for ages – and some of these designs are the perfect size for that! 😀

A snippet taken from the “October” design booklet by The Prairie Schooler
stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010

One more little pumpkin

6 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

As you can see I have been sat on my backside all afternoon, and have managed to start and finish another wee pumpkin for the Great Pumpkin Challenge 😀 This will probably get turned into a scissor fob, which is what it’s designed to be … either that or an ornie … I’ll decide when I get home and have my finishing fabrics etc within reach.

“Jack-O-Lantern Scissors Fob” freebie by Casey Buonaugurio Designs
stitched on 32ct dirty Belfast linen (from my mystery linen bag)
with recommended DMC threads

This was originally suggested to be stitched on light purple fabric … I think I may just have to restitch this one again as I think that would really make the colours pop even more than they do now! The threads are really bright in real life, so once again my late night photography efforts under the Ott-lite have washed the fabric and thread colours out.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Lizzie Kate, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Still in New Zealand

6 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I wish I could say I was here doing lots of stitching, but I can’t truthfully tell you what I’ve been doing other than sitting in front of the gogglebox and computer and just letting the hours of the day disappear before my very eyes. I’ve got the car boot filled with boxes of junk to take to the Salvation Army over the next few days, and some not-so-junk to be picked over by family friends – then the leftovers will also get taken to the Salvo’s.

The only stitching I’ve managed has taken place over the last 24 hours or so, and are as follows:

“Chatrouille” freebie by Nathalie
(the freebie is still available here)
Stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with DMC threads (except I messed up and used 310 instead of 3799
for the cat and lettering … oops)

“Welcome Baby” by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 28ct pink/white checked Graziano linen
with DMC threads
(have to say I MUCH prefer the boy’s version of this one!)
I still have to add the little rose button when I get home before framing

Here are a few piccies of Auckland from our first day of driving around after a visit to The Embroiderer … where we were VERY restrained and only bought two copies of this year’s JCS ornie magazine (Mum kindly treated me to my copy, as I’ve bought one for her the last few years). Rightio, here are some snippets from Auckland:

Auckland skyline from the harbour bridge (north side)

Kiwi (New Zealand) flag at Ponsonby

Art sculpture at a city park in Auckland – these ‘buried’ buildings have always intrigued me

Sidewalk mosaic with Polynesian style

Rangitoto Island – an Auckland icon that will always make me think of home

Auckland skyline from Doug Myer Robinson Park

And a couple of Kiwi foods that we don’t often see in Australia …
first Kumara (Kiwi sweet potato), and then Tamarillos (known as the Kiwi tree tomato)

Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

50th Wedding Anniversary Celebrations

2 October, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Last night we had a lovely dinner out at The Old Flame restaurant to celebrate Mum and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary. It was a dinner with our nearest and dearest, and it was wonderful to share the evening with all the generations together in one place. Not a single one of the people there are blood relatives, but closer to us than our own family in many cases, as we have all grown up together. Anyway, it was the most wonderful time – dinner was good, the company was even better, and we finished the night by going back to Heather and John’s for another coffee and many rounds of good-hearted laughter … which is always a guaranteed thing when we all get together. I love this group of people more than I can possibly put into words – life is so much richer having them in it!