Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
This week’s theme is ”Triangle” and I struggled to find a photo choice before I headed off on leave (this is post-dated again, I love WordPress for that function!) … so I decided to use some famous triangles on the Sydney harbour landscape – a closer look at the Sydney Opera House.
One more sleep, until I’ll be winging my way across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa, aka New Zealand … where I’ll definitely be seeing this view again …
Auckland (Waitemata) Harbour from near the Harbour Bridge
Perhaps not this one this time around, but maybe there’ll be chance in Wellington …
Maori greeting, Rotorua (Whakarewarewa thermal park)
But most definitely this one, if he’s still there at Wellington Airport …
Gollum at Wellington Airport
This time round I’m only staying for 6 nights, and Mum and I are having a one-night stay away in Wellington just to go to Te Papa Museum. We were only going to go down or the day, but the flights home are shocking (and unfortunately on staff travel we have to travel on stand-by … no seats, no travel …) so we figure we’ll probably end up staying overnight anyway.
Not sure whether I’ll get online while I’m away, as I’m not taking the laptop this time.
I still haven’t packed properly yet, and we’re off to see Tim Minchin live tonight, so I’d better get my A into G!! Looking forward to seeing him perform live, as I think he’s absolutely hilarious – a very talented, if very quirky, comedian! 😀
Have a lovely week everyone – see you in less than 24 hours, Dragon!! 😀
One more small finish for me for the year – I really enjoyed stitching this one … I was craving some ‘specialty stitches’ and this fit the bill in a small way. Unfortunately they were stitches I’ve already done before, so I didn’t really learn anything new, but it made a nice change to doing all cross stitch! And I just LOVE the colours on this one. It took longer than expected to stitch the top part, but I did manage to put the final stitches into it before midnight last night, so the entire thing was stitched in one day 🙂
“Lavender Bag” by The Victoria Sampler
Stitched using kit fabric, threads and beads
I’m thinking of trying to finally get acquainted with my new sewing machine later this afternoon if I get time, or on my return from my visit home, so I’m looking forward to finally getting some actual ‘finishing’ done (including the quilted wallhanging of Just Nan’s Evening Star, so it can go to its new loving home).
Now I’m off into the office for an hour or two to check my emails, and make a quick phone call to Tucson and Los Angeles if I need to … fingers crossed, though, they’ve got things sorted in my absence now the Manager is back in the office!
I managed to put the final stitches into my Christmas ornie last night:
“Joy to the World” by Threads Through Time
from 2001 Just Cross Stitch ornie magazine
Stitched on 32ct white Lugana
using recommended DMC
And today started a new quick project – Lavender Bag by The Victoria Sampler (sorry, it’s a bad photo!):
Hopefully I’ll get chance to finish off the stitching tonight, as there isn’t a great deal more left to stitch, and no more bands with loads of colour changes 🙂
What a relief that is to finally have a car with locking functionality once again – my heart’s been skipping a beat every time I walk out of the apartment block and the work carpark to see if my car is still there!
Anyhoo, a bit of tweaking with the electrics, a major service overhaul with 2 new ‘belts’ and a CV cover, and 4 brand spanking new tyres … and $1100 later … and my car is like a new model all over again. I still think it’s a heap of scrap metal, but at least it’s more pleasurable to drive now! LOL.
The joy of being stuck at the mechanics 1 1/2 hours away from home, and being in the middle of an industrial area, means nothing to do but sit on a chair in the corner of a wee office, listen to an audiobook until the iPod battery runs out, and do a teensy bit of stitching … doesn’t get much better than that really (OK, if we’re to be totally truthful, I guess sitting in my own stitching recliner in front of Supernatural on TV with a glass of vino to help keep down the internal humidity would be better … but hey, beggars can’t be choosers!).
I managed to quickly dive into the Craft Depot at Pennant Hills seeing as I wasn’t very far away on the way home, and picked up a couple of fabrics … and lo and behold the weather may change tomorrow, so expect snow and blizzards … I came out with a couple of finishing fabrics and not a single ONE was blue!!! {{swoon}}
Anyway, enough waffling … time to go sit in front of the TV and catch up on this week’s programmes with that well-earned glass of vino … I’ll leave you with today’s tiny bit of stitching effort (sorry, I forgot to use the flash, so it’s a crappy dark photo that even the editing software doesn’t want to play with!).
In fact, before I sit in front of the TV I think I’ll drag out my EGA Correspondence class booklets – I’m getting a serious urge to start something that is “new” and that will teach me something … or perhaps I should drag out one of my old WIP’s with challenging stitches on them … hmmm, decisions, decisions … 😉
I walked in the door at 11.30pm tonight from work … I won’t get started with the story of that … let’s just say I’ve been taking on a lot more of the project I’ve been working on due to the absence of the Manager, and I’ll say no more than that!
Anyway, I’m now officially on annual leave (although I’ve said to one of the big, big managers during a 10pm phone call tonight (!!) that I’ll go in for a couple of hours on Saturday to deal with some outstanding issues from the USA) …
I may/may not be online after the weekend, as I’ll be leaving my flatmate to cope without me as I’ll be heading offshore for a week or so in sunny Auckland, New Zealand …
Right now, I’d better head off to bed as it’s after midnight now, and I have to be up at 6am to drive my car 1 1/2 hours away to my mechanic to spend some more money on that heap of scrap metal … ho-hum 😦
I just have to keep reminding myself, I’M ON HOLIDAY … WOOHOO!!! 😀
I finally managed to put the final stitches into Part 2 of my Quaker RR:
And here’s a comparison of mine and Nickis pieces hanging out together this evening – this photo is quite deceiving, as Nicki’s piece is quite a bit smaller than mine, I should take a photo of them side by side properly so you can see the difference, it’s awesome!:
Then I started part 3, which is part 1 of 2 that I’m stitching on Nicki’s RR. I have to admit I struggled a bit stitching this tonight, as the fabric’s high count is really hard to see … thank goodness for my Ott-Lite, or I don’t think I would be attempting it! It will look really pretty once it’s stitched, though … it just might take me a bit longer than normal to stitch it! 😉
The highlight for me this weekend was having my ex-flatmate up to stay for the night in Sydney. She flew off overseas this morning, but before she went we managed to have a great day out yesterday. We drove out to Bondi Junction, which is a first for me – the Westfield shopping centre out there is awesome! I totally fell in love with Norton St Grocers, and filled my basket up with wonderful fresh and healthy produce … thankfully my basket was too full by the time we came across the deli section, so I couldn’t stock up on non-healthy options … but, I’ll be back LOL.
Tonight I really enjoyed the fresh figs I’d bought yesterday … I can’t believe the difference between dried and fresh figs – fresh figs rock!!! 😀
Here’s my latest small finish … which has taken me the last two weeks to stitch …
“Let It Snow” by Country Cottage Needleworks
Stitched on 32ct Natural Belfast Linen
with DMC and Kreinik #4 metallic braid
(from 2008 JCS Christmas Ornie magazine)
PhotoHunt
Feather Stitching 