Author: Anne S

Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
Cross Stitch, Elizabeth's Designs, Finishes, Needlebook, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Gifties received

Anne S

I heard from Becky today that the Postman worked overtime over the weekend, and my little gifties arrived safe and sound.  I’ve had the stitching done on these for 3 whole years (!!!) – the pinkeep has been sitting around finished ever since then, waiting for it’s companion needlebook to be finished.  As soon as they became a matching pair officially (finally!!!), they were parcelled up and sent over to the US to their new Mum.  Becky has a lovely photo on her blog, but here are a couple more from before they were made up into their finished versions (and these show the colours much more accurately):

As you can see, I had all intentions of getting them both finished the year they were stitched, so they still have 2007 stitched on the ‘backsides’ 😉  I have to agree I really love the little backstitched bees, but for the life of me I can’t remember which design I borrowed them from!  And here’s the finished duo together all finished, just before packaging them up:

Epidaurus, Ruby Tuesday, Travel, Travel - Greece

Ruby Tuesday – Epidaurus Theatre, Greece

Anne S

Here is my choice for this week’s Ruby Tuesday – the Epidaurus ampitheatre, Greece, getting ready for a concert.

Athens_0147

While we were visiting, the couple of guys that are in the middle of the shot starting singing when I was at the top of the ampitheatre, and I literally got goosebumps listening to them sing. The sound quality was truly incredible, and their voices hauntingly beautiful – there was no sound aside from these two gentlemen, everyone else was silent. That will remain one of my favourite memories of my visit to Athens (this was all part of a day-trip from Athens – the ampitheatre is apparently 2 1/2 hours drive away).  Further information can be found here, if you want to know more about the ampitheatre itself, or if you want to review a video clip you can click here (and fast forward to 4:45 as directed in the text) … a couple of borrowed facts, though, are as follows:

  • The World Heritage listed site was built 2,500 years ago in the 5th Century BC, and still hosts Greek dramas today.
  • According to Greek mythology Epidaurus was the birthplace of Asclepius, the God of Healing and son of Apollo.
  • The accoustics of the ampitheatre are renowned as being near perfect – you can drop a matchstick in the centre of the original beaten earth stage and it can be heard by people in the very top of the 55 tiers.
  • The theatre is one of the best preserved structures from Classical Greece.

Ruby Tuesday

Uncategorized

Oops, I forgot …

Anne S

… to add this photo … Katie and I popped into our local restaurant on the way home from work one night last week, and parked in the ‘angle parking’ outside the restaurant … please note that angle parking actually has lines painted on the road … the road rules dictate that you must park inside those lines … all very clear, right?  When we look up to check there is no time limit, we see the following sign …

Um, “front or rear to kerb” … WTF???  Geez, and I was looking forward to trying to park sideways in that little tight spot … and I’m not even going to touch the under 6m rule!!!  Oh well, gave us so much of a second-look and a giggle that Katie had to take a photo on her iPhone 😛

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Quick catch-up

Anne S

It was a busy weekend – started by Friday night’s shenanigans being dressed up as a nun for the Sound of Music Sing-a-long.  I only managed to get one paltry photo taken without the flash, while in the office, so it’s incredibly unflattering (like most photos of me) … anyway, it gives you an idea of how I wandered around Sydney train stations and streets for the evening.  We had a blast, and really enjoyed our meal at Retro Cafe next door to the theatre before the show.

Saturday I went with Katie to my hairdressers for a MUCH needed haircut!!  I had to cancel a couple of weeks ago due to my vertigo/virus.  I am now thrilled to be sporting a fringe once again, along with a couple of inches off the length … woohoo!!! 😀

While we were there we also decided to go the whole hog and had a beauty session while the other person was having a haircut.  I got my eyebrows shaped and had my … shock, horror … first EVER pedicure!!!  Oh boy, was it lovely – I enjoyed every minute of the pampering.  I’ve been a tad stressed at work fairly recently, so it was really good to chill out and do nothing for the morning.  Unfortunately, though, I was so exhausted afterwards (thanks to an early morning start) I ended up having a nana nap in the early evening … which didn’t help with the evening sleeping ritual … I ended up getting back up at 10pm and continued stitching my pin pillow exchange piece!

Sunday saw me getting up relatively late, but the entire day was spent in front of the gogglebox clearing up the hard-drive and watching Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Fringe and Good News Week episodes … but I DID manage to get the final stitches into my pin pillow exchange, and made it up in the little pillow … now it’s sitting in its padded envelope waiting for a visit to the Post Office during the week 😀

After finishing my exchange piece, I started a new Christmas ornament from an old JCS issue that I’d already got kitted up from a couple of years ago – I made an OK start into that one while watching TV last night … and I’ll put a few more stitches into it tonight.

Tomorrow I’m heading off to my GP to check a few things checked out – my lightheadedness continues, unfortunately, so I’m going to ask to get my blood pressure checked out.  I’ve also had really bad acid reflux over the last few months, so that’s also on the list … better to be safe than sorry, I guess!  And on that note, it’s time to go get some soup for dinner and settle in front of the TV for an hour or two 🙂

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash, Works in Progress

Nunning and … What, more stash????

Anne S

The parcels have been coming in thick and fast this week … from orders that were placed right after Christmas but finally arriving – these are all from big sales held from two separate stores … and I’m still awaiting for my recent order from SB&B with my missing thread so I can continue with Sapphire Star (gotta make the most of that postage – although I have already braced myself for a looooong wait!!!).  Let’s just say that these orders are what prompted me to declare I’m going on a stash diet … ‘cos when I have a splurge I don’t do it by halves (although I don’t have one that often these days, so perhaps it does me good to have a big blow-out once a year)!!!


Back row:  Heart in Hand-Snow; Imaginating-Seashell Silhouette; The Cat’s Whiskers-Queen Anne’s Lace; Laura J Perin-Halloween; M Designs-Miss Mary Mac’s Pins & Needles Pincushion
Centre row:  Heart in Hand-Wee Santa 2008; Erica Michaels-Random Thoughts of Spring; Cross-Stitch & Needlework Nov 07 & Jan 10; JABC button packs-Christmas wreath & lights, SB’s Be Attitudes, Bent Creek’s Autumn Snapperland
Bottom row:  Heart in Hand-Birds; LHN-Loving & Faithful; LHN-Gentle & Kind; LHN-Queen Bee; LHN-Pear Tree

Prairie Moon-Merry Xmas; Laura J Perin-Mallard Duck Collage; Shepherd’s Bush-Baby Bug Ball; Milady’s Needle-Peacocks Rule (and the ruler needed for it); GAST-Brethren Blue; JABC button pack-Waxing Moon’s Halloween Stack; WDW 30ct Guacamole linen; Shepherd’s Bush-Mummy button

The Prairie Moon design is for my friend/flatmate’s Christmas gift – she’s not quite a ‘goth’, but she loves Green Day and a LOT heavier music than I do, and she loves skulls and goth type stuff … and she joked that she really really wants to have a white Christmas tree with black ornaments on it, with a skull instead of a fairy/star on top of the tree … well, as soon as I saw the Merry Xmas chart, I just HAD to get it for her!!!  Hopefully she’ll like it 😀

One of the orders above, I placed it just so I could receive the Bent Creek snapperland border accessories (ie snaps and JABC buttons for both Summer and Winter Snapperlands) – these were ordered the same night I finished stitching Summer Snapperland … alas the order just arrived this week … withOUT the borders packs – they hadn’t been ordered right from the start, even though I’d sent clarifying emails with the product code etc … hmmm, oops 😦

I picked the second of these orders up a couple of days ago, and haven’t managed to get back to the PO Box since … I’ll now have to wait until Monday before I can go back there again, as Katie and I are taking a cab into work tomorrow … ‘cos it’s Sound of Music night tomorrow night!!! … and I’ll be dressing up as a Nun and getting a little bit tipsy (I wonder if I could hide a hipflask under those voluminous skirts?? LOL).  I’ll get Katie to take a photo tomorrow so I can share it with you all.  Alas Katie didn’t want to come to the store to try on the outfits tonight so I had to try it on and send her photos via the mobile camera – unfortunately she tried hers on tonight when we got home and she hates it, so she’s a bit unhappy about it.  I feel bad that she’s lost her $50 hire fee for nothing … but I’m really happy with my nun’s outfit (I had my heart set on going this year dressed as a nun, even if it meant getting dressed up on my own), and I’m looking forward to the night out 😀

We’ve been really tired this week, so haven’t really been online much at all – sorry Mum, I haven’t obviously uploaded the photo memes this week either – maybe over the next week I’ll load up a few advance ones so I won’t have to keep missing out 🙂

I have managed to get 2/3 of my exchange stitching completed this week, though, and hopefully should see the rest finished by the end of the weekend.  Alas I can’t share until it’s finished and the recipient receives it – fingers crossed she likes it … here’s a teeny tiny sneak peak … really teeny tiny! LOL 😉

And on that note, it’s time to hit the mattress, as my alarm will now be going off earlier than normal and it’s gonna be a really busy day  …

Bent Creek, Country Cottage Needleworks, Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Little House Needleworks, picture framing, samplers, Stash, The Drawn Thread, With My Needle

Shhhhh, don’t tell anyone…

Anne S

…but my trip off The Wagon seems to be continuing haha.  We drove up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains today so I could pick up my finished stitching from The Stitching Post, and two designs from my wishlist fell into my shopping bag … oops!  I’ve been drooling over Mrs Wadelow’s Hussif since I first saw it on Ellen’s blog, and as fate had it Karen had it in stock already … well, I figured it was right there on the counter, so it just HAD to come home with me! haha.  The other design was LHN’s Fa La La from the latest ornament series.  Going by what many others have said, these ornies are rather on the large side, so I think I’ll be stitching them with one thread on a 40ct fabric (as opposed to the other option of stitching them over-one on normal fabric … yucky!).

 

Anyway, aside from a number of designs on loan that Karen never got around to framing for display, I now have these four little beauties back at home again in their lovely framed state 🙂

Framed Samplers

It’s been a very tiring – although very awesome – weekend … Katie and I went to the movies yesterday and saw two movies back-to-back (Valentine’s Day and Wolfman) – then we finished off the evening with a trip to G.P.K. (Gourmet Pizza Kitchen) for pizza before heading home to retire in front of the TV for a couple of hours watching The Hangover.  Of course then today we head over to the Blue Mountains for the day, so all-in-all I’m ready to curl up and not move for a couple of hours before we have to go to sleep before work tomorrow … ready for 5 days of work before we head out to the Sing-along Sound of Music on Friday 😛

And now I’m heading off to find some fabric to start my exchange stitching on, so we can blob out in front of the gogglebox with Jethro and the gang of NCIS 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishing

A spot of Christmas ornie finishing

Anne S

At least I managed to stitch up 7 ornie sides before my sewing machine packed up … here are 6 I managed to fully complete last night – the last remaining one is for my tutorial, and I prefer to wait until the weekend when I’ll have better daylight for the photos … now I’m off to sit in front of the goggle box for an hour or two to chill out – TGIF tomorrow! 😀

PS: I should add that this isn’t all my handiwork – only the top left and top right ornaments were stitched by my own fair hand … the other four beauties were stitched by my Mum 😀