Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
Just in case any of my fellow Aussies are interested, Riot Art & Craft have DMC on sale this month – normally 99c a skein, it’s down to 69c a skein … stock up while you can!!! Here’s a link to the online ad.
Mum – let me know your list if you want me to pick some up for you 😀
And after that public service announcement, and staring at the computer screen for the entire day, I’m off to bed! 🙂
I’ve just posted on the Focus on Finishing blog, but thought I’d do a ‘cross post’ here as well … That’s one of the things I do LOVE about Blogger, the fact you can tweak your own template – this one is based on a free template from Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates. I absolutely ADORE this template, and had originally earmarked it for my own template, but it would take me forever to work out how to apply the various components to the WP template (and of course WP charge you an annual fee for customising any of their existing templates). Oh well, at least I can visit and smile at the new Focus on Finishing blog instead 🙂
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Hi everyone – it’s been a while since I announced the idea of moving the Focus on Finishing blog to the more popular Blogger platform. That idea has finally come to fruition, and the new site is ready to have all the posts copied over. Here is a preview of the new look:
Anyway, I hope you will enjoy the new home … I, for one, am quite thrilled with the clean, fresh new look of the blog (it’s been fun spending a few hours tweaking the HTML codes!). The new link is:
It would be wonderful if you would be willing to post photos of any items you have finished using our tutor’s classes, or any other finishing methods you would like to share. If there is enough interest, I would also be happy to reopen the idea of having a weekend set aside each month to focus on finishing our projects languishing in the finishing pile.
Please update your bookmarks so you don’t miss any new posts – these existing pages, however, will still be kept open as I will continue to maintain the classes schedule etc via WordPress as I find that easier.
Unfortunately each WP post has to be copied over individually into Blogger, so it is going to be a long and arduous task to copy over the old posts and classes, but they will gradually be added over time.
Thanks for your continued support of this blog 🙂
Kind regards,
New South Wales, unlike Victoria, actually knows what Rugby Union is … and apologies to my Aussie pals, but I just can’t bring myself to barrack for the Aussies tonight – GO THE ALL BLACKS!!! 😉
Tonight is the final game for the Bledisloe Cup – the annual challenge between the Kiwis and Aussies … time will tell whether I will be cheering or crying … but regardless, the best team will win, whichever one it is. As for me, I’m about to sit and get chills from watching the Haka 😀
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Updated to say: YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if you want to see the new Haka that the All Blacks now perform, you can check it out here (for those of you who are uninitiated, the Haka is a Maori war dance that the All Blacks perform before every match – it’s supposed to intimidate your enemy – there’s a great clip on You Tube here that tells you all about the Haka itself, and an example done in traditional Maori costume – it’s quite interesting) … hmmm, it appears WordPress doesn’t like embedded clips from YouTube – boohoo to you WordPress!! Sorry, but you’ll have to follow the LINK if you want to see it!
To be honest, though, I still love the ‘old’ Haka … although the new one is pretty passionate, and the coverage tonight was great! Here’s some great footage on You Tube of the ‘old’ Haka compliments of Adidas – I love this one that has intermingling shots of ‘real’ Maori warriors (not great quality though):
And if you thought that wasn’t enough, here’s another ad that’s got some great shots in it – very powerful graphics, and very well photographed in the studio!
I’m very happy about the win tonight, but I do have to say, though, I was very disappointed in the reporting coverage by Stu Wilson. The only thing I have against living in Aussie is that I find sports coverage here very one-sided and at many times unsportsmanly (one comment I heard on the radio during the Olympics is in Aussie a sport isn’t a sport until we’ve won it) … but I have to say that Stu tonight disgusted me. His comments at the end of the match were arrogant and uncalled-for … another reporter commented “the one thing I can’t stand is a smug Kiwi”, and I have to say I agreed with that comment … pull your head in Stu! We were lucky with the win … it was an awesome finish – I don’t think I have any fingernails left, and the neighbours are in no doubt of my allegiances (I sounded like you tonight, Mum!). Yes, I’m glad we won, but you don’t have to be cocky about it, Mr Wilson! mutter mutter mutter.
But I AM happy 😀
It’s funny, but I was actually singing a Maori song in the shower a few mornings ago … it’s one of the most well-known Maori songs, it should almost be the NZ anthem LOL. Anyway, if you’re interested you can check out this clip by Hayley Westenra – it actually has a very good Maori welcome and Haka at the front of the clip, and about 3 minutes in she sings Pokarekare Ana, which is a really beautiful Maori love song. Hope you enjoy it 🙂
And if you just want to go straight to the song itself, check out this version by Kiri Te Kanawa as part of an old Air New Zealand ad campaign … LOVE IT!!! And if you want to sing it yourself, here’s the Maori lyrics:
Pökarekare ana
ngä wai o Waiapu,
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.
E hine e
hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e.
Tuhituhi taku reta
tuku atu taku rïngi,
Kia kite tö iwi
raru raru ana e.
OK, that’s enough from me about NZ for now! 😉
This week’s theme is “Wild” and there are so many interpretations for this theme I thought I’d choose a couple of different ones.
First up is an aboriginal man who reminds me of an indigenous version of the “Wild Man” of Borneo 😉
Then we have a “wild-eyed” crazy man in the band at The Cuckoo in Melbourne.
And lucky last, we have a “wild ride” Egypt-style … trekking into the Valley of the Kings.
Yippee, I can finally post a “finished” piccie of this piece. This time the photos are crappy because they’re taken at night instead of early morning haha. I still remain very disappointed in the finished result purely because of the colours involved – I love some of the bands, but it just doesn’t “do it” for me.
“Evening Star” by Just Nan (class project)
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with recommended threads and beads (embellishment kit)
Going by some of the comments I’ve received during the stitching progress it appears there are a few people out there that do seem to like it, so I am pleased to finally be able make the “big announcement”…
This finished project is “free to a good home” – if anyone would like to go into a prize draw for this piece, please leave a comment stating this clearly, and at the end of September I will draw one name out of the hat to send this piece to.
I will finish it as a quilted wallhanging so it’s ready to hang in it’s new home (you will just need to provide the hanger itself). While it is quite lovely, I guess, I just don’t feel compelled to display it on my walls, and probably never will, so I’d rather it went to someone who would appreciate it 🙂
Now I guess it’s time to work out what to stitch next … I’m seriously considering going back to a mini-rotation, as I have some BAP’s that need to be worked on, so I’ll have to put some serious thought into that soon … for right now, I have no idea what I feel like stitching on next. Might have to sleep on it and see what the new day brings … 🙂
It seems I may be put out of my misery very soon – my boss replied to yesterday’s email asking me to give her a few days before she responds, but she should have an answer for me next week. At least then I will know what to plan for … and if necessary I can start putting job applications out if I need to 🙂
It will just be nice to know what I need to start planning for … and whether I need to give my old boss in Melbourne a courtesy call to let him know my intentions of not returning … but hey, a week more of not knowing I can handle … as long as it doesn’t keep getting extended …
I think a lot of the positive vibes in Sydney come from where I’m living, more so than the job itself, and my life outside work … I have a much more balanced life here than I did in Melbourne. A lot of that is probably due to working ‘normal hours’ instead of 24/7 shift work … but the proximity to work and being so close to the beach (and away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney itself) is just wonderful. Lisa is a pretty good flatmate and very laid back, and life is just very relaxed here. Perhaps that is a lot of it too – in Melbourne I had such a hard time for a while, that has perhaps coloured my view a little bit … here everything is, well, “positive” 😀
Anyway, enough of the reminiscing, off to bed I go … 7.30pm, but I’m off to bed already … not to sleep, but to stitch – I HAVE to stitch so I can make my announcement tomorrow, ‘cos I’m just about bursting at the seams wanting to blurt it out already! 😉
I was wandering through the lounge last night undoing my ‘chart holder’ of my floorstand to see if the screw would fit my lapstand, when I looked over to the clamp part … well, duh!!! The clamp part is identical to that of my lapframe, right down to the knob … do you think I could’ve perhaps worked that out on Monday night and not 4 nights later?? What a blonde!!!!
However, that means I did finally put needle to fabric last night after two weeks of doing nothing … and in the hour and a bit I stitched last night I managed to finish the beading of two more bands of Just Nan’s Evening Star. That means only one more band left and it’s all finished woohoo! Then it’s going to be finished into a quilted wallhanging. Here’s the bit I finished last night (sorry for the lousy photo but it’s taken in the wee small hours of the morning):
Once the finished piccie is up, there will be an announcement some of you might be interested in … 😉
Thanks so much to Alison, who kindly sent photos over to me last night – I’ve updated the previous post with some fun photos from Sunday. 🙂
Thanks again ladies for an awesome day out 😀
I sat down in bed for an hour’s stitching on Monday to commence a new routine for me … putting at least one strand of thread into my stitching on a daily basis … only to find my ‘knob’ dropped to bits on me! I am loving sitting up in bed and watching TV and stitching away to my heart’s content instead of sitting up in the freezing cold in the lounge, and was mortified to find my lapframe in pieces in front of my very eyes. Unfortunately the wooden part has come away from the screw part, but this part of the screw is actually the ‘top’ and doesn’t have a normal thread to it so I can’t just get away with whacking a lugnut or anything on the end. This is NOT what the knob should look like!!!
So for now, there is no stitching … zip … nada … I get cramp in my hand when I hold a Q-snap etc for more than a few minutes at a time hmmm. But the good news is that I contacted Artisan Designs straightaway, and it’s only going to cost me US$5 plus postage (I think), and they take PayPal, so hopefully it will only be a few weeks before I get a replacement in my hot little hands (once they finally give me a payment amount and place the order!).
Even though I have no stitching to share, I DID have some stitchy-related fun … on Sunday Alison kindly picked me up in her car along with her daughter, and chauffeured me to Amanda’s place where we had a hoot of a day drooling and fondling charts, kits, and threads … and “literally” rolling around in her stash of fabrics! I have never seen such a fabric collection in all my born days – she should charge admission fees to come and visit it 😉
Anyway, Alison kindly took a whole host of photos from the day, so I hope to be able to share with you the great time we had after pilfering some photos. Updated: Here are a couple of my favourites (thanks for the copies, Alison!!):
You have to imagine the Gollum voice impression, while playing in the “precious” – see what I mean about that fabric stash? LOL – You’re the QUEEN, Amanda, I tell ya! 😉
Probably my favourite photo of all – the looks on our faces just sums up the day – hilarious fun!
From left to right: Alison, Amanda, Anne (AAA packed full of fun)
And finally a “nice” shot of the three of us! Apart from the fact my Weight Watchers obviously isn’t working ‘cos I can’t fit in the photo haha
I haven’t laughed that much in ages … those two are the BEST company and an absolute riot! I’m looking forward to the next catch-up already, and we haven’t even planned anything yet! In fact after the weekend visit Amanda finally got coerced into starting her own blog (Confessions of a Fabric Floosy), so make sure you go pay her a visit … she does some beautiful stitching (as do both these two ladies)!
On the work front, today we had a ‘burning issues’ meeting, which is basically a get-together of the “team” without the boss being present … and we got to chatting about the secondments coming up to finishing deadline etc. It turns out that one of the ladies is thinking of giving up the whole job at the end of her secondment in January, which means it’s likely they’ll have to readvertise again later … but one of the reasons this lady put her had up to the boss officially today to tell her is so that it might make a difference to them extending the secondment for me (and Lisa if she’s interested). I only have about 8 weeks left to go but still have had no indication whether they will allow me to stay longer or whether I have to start thinking of uprooting myself again to go back to Melbourne … which is a bit stressful in the back of my mind all the time (especially after the debacle of moving up here with Dodgy Brothers R Us etc – I really don’t want to have to go through all that again). So if you can all stitch with your fingers crossed over the next couple of weeks, that’d be great! I’m hoping now that this lady has raised the issue with management they might finally start to discuss their options in earnest, and fingers crossed it goes in my favour (although there are never any guarantees!).
Rightio, time to go hit the hay and forget about work for the night … and pout at my Evening Star project … hmmm, maybe I should drag in my floorstand from the the lounge for tomorrow night … LOL. If not, I guess you won’t see any stitching again until after the weekend has been and gone, ‘cos I don’t want to sit out in the lounge all on my own in the cold … I must prefer my cozy beautiful bed! 😉
This week’s theme is “String(s)” and even though the photography isn’t great on this one, I thought this photo fitted the theme well. This is a scan of an old photo I took years ago on a visit to Paris on a point and shoot – I love all the ‘strings’ (wires) hanging in symmetry in this shot. I’d love to be able to take this photo again with a better camera and a different angle to crop out the background trees … maybe if I get keen I’ll attack it in Photostop Elements one day 😉
PhotoHunt
Feather Stitching 