Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
Here is my choice for this week’s Scenic Sunday – Mossman Gorge, Queensland.
I was very lucky last week to receive a wonderful gift from Felicity in thanks for sending her a kit I had in my stash. It was a really generous gift that I was surprised and thrilled to receive. Thanks again Felicity! 🙂
Katie and I have been hitting the lounge chairs almost as soon as we’ve walked in home at the end of each day, as we’re both a bit under the weather and really tired this week – it means we’re also now keeping on top of our TV viewing as well, and watching all our favourite shows within 24 hours of taping them … I’ve got Katie into my mindset of taping everything then watching it the next day and forwarding through the adverts … ah, bliss!
Of course all this sitting on my bottom early has meant a bit more stitching time this week … which would be great if I was stitching to my normal levels, but I’ve been stitching like an old snail this week, and it’s taken me 4 nights to complete one little ornie! Oh well, it’s better than nothing, and I have to admit it feels good to see one more kitted up finish off the pile.
“Reindeer Garden” by Threads Through Time
from 2000 JCS Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 36ct cream Edinburgh linen with DMC
Once I’d finished Reindeer Garden, I also dragged out my Mosey n Me freebie “Love February” – I’ve never been happy with it ever since I stitched it back at the beginning of February … so I unpicked all the cream stitches and re-stitched in the pink colour, plus I was really unhappy with the green used for the rose’s stem, so out that went tonight as well, and I re-stitched the stem with a darker green. While the photo is really really washed out and bad, I’m a LOT happier with this version than the previous one, and really glad I opted to do some frog-stitching tonight! Now this one can officially join the “finished” list as well 😀
Before ……………………………………………. After
“Love February” by Mosey ‘n Me
stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen in DMC
with addition of small red heart button
As it was quite late by this stage, and I need to kit up some more charts/fabrics with their actual threads, I started stitching a simple JBW Designs Christmas ornie that was already kitted up tonight … I have a busy weekend planned, though, so no guarantees it’ll get finished until early next week … unless we have another DVD marathon tomorrow night 😉
With any luck my missing thread won’t be too far away now so I can get back to stitching my canvaswork Sapphire Star … I’ve also completed all the stitching of my Periwinkle Promises January Sampler Accent, but I’ve mislaid the teeny tiny bag of blue beads, and don’t seem to have the colour in my stash (Murphy’s Law!) … once I get a replacement packet, I just need to do the backstitching around the back piece of linen, make the corner tassels, and put it all together (I’ve obviously decided to use the linen backing instead of using the fabric for something else).
And on that note I’d better get my A into G and get some of those threads kitted up so I can jump into bed and get some shut-eye, so I’m a bit fresher for more stitching tomorrow night … and of course it’s a big day at work for a change, so I guess being fresh for work won’t go amiss either 😛
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:
Here is my choice for this week’s Ruby Tuesday – the Epidaurus ampitheatre, Greece, getting ready for a concert.
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:
… 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 😛
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 🙂
Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – one of the ‘rooms’ in the Children’s maze at the Enchanted Maze Garden, Melbourne (taken on a very wintry and rain-soaked day – little did we know that at that moment parts of the peninsula were being flooded out!).
Here is my choice for this week’s Scenic Sunday – Berrima, NSW.
PhotoHunt
Feather Stitching 