Author: Anne S

Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Darling Harbour, Finishes, Finishing, Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Lizzie Kate, Stash, Sydney, Val's Stuff, Works in Progress

Ah, Bliss …

Anne S

Today I walked out from work at 5.10pm … and felt like a little kid skipping out of school early!  It feels really fantastic!  Helped that today was the first day that I haven’t been pulled in a million different directions due to urgent things being thrown at me, I managed to actually get some of my own work done for a change … serious bliss!

My rant did me good last night – on top of the productive day, and normal working hours, I feel much brighter today.  Apologies to Mum, as this is not how it sounds ‘cos I love having Mum visit, but it’s been really nice to come home to an empty place and not having to have a conversation – I have been anti-social for two days and have found it a great chance to unwind properly at the end of a stressful day without having to chat.  I’m hoping by the end of the week to be a bit more back to normal again 🙂

Mum returned home on Monday morning, but we had a wonderful weekend before she left.  On Friday we spent the afternoon visiting craft stores – although neither of the stores we visited were really ‘fantastic’ we did manage to find something at each one to spend a couple of dollars on.  At Lyn’s needlecraft I managed to buy some pink and cream fabric (yeah, me, pink!! LOL) … and a duck!! (I don’t have space for the ones I currently have, but that makes no difference LOL).  At Hobby Sew I bought a smaller version of the wire hanger I use for my embroidery scissors – this one is to hang my junk jewellery on, and was proudly hung on the side of my computer desk tonight.

Friday night saw us having dinner with Brenda and Nigel, and it was really wonderful to catch up with them again.  I’ve had to promise to visit again soon and stay the night – that’s no hardship, as I’m looking forward to it.

Saturday morning saw us up bright (OK maybe not) and early (most definitely) and driving into the city.  That’s my first attempt in driving into Sydney city itself, and I have to tip my hat to my TomTom GPS ‘cos he managed to instruct me perfectly and painlessly to the parking building I wanted.  We picked my friend Jason up at the airport then went to Darling Harbour in the freezing cold where we stuffed ourselves on a cooked breakfast, followed by the compulsory stop at the Lindt cafe for takeaway delices and a Mochaccino … yum!!  It was really nice to see Jason again, and I’m really glad we changed our plans to visit with him (he was transferring through Sydney on the way to Asia on holiday).

Anne and Jason

As soon as we showed Jason the way to the train station for his return to the airport we hot-footed it down the motorway to Rosehill Racecourse to the Stitches & Craft Show, where we met up with my good pals Alison and Amanda, and met some new ladies Karen and Rowena.  It was really awesome to catch up with these ladies again – they’re always such fun to spend time with.  I was pleasantly surprised with the contents of the show … we parted with a fair amount of cash, although when we got home we didn’t seem to have as much as we remembered 😉

My biggest splurges were two pieces of hand-dyed fabric – one from Peppermint Stitches (for Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid hopefully), and one from Stitches & Spice (36ct mottled/vintage neutral colour), plus a big Santa for my main Christmas display this year (thanks to Dodgey Brothers R Us removalists, I no longer have my beautiful ceramic Christmas tree centrepiece, as it arrived in a squillion pieces).  Here’s a photo of the full stash haul (combining both mine and Mum’s purchases).  I nearly squealed with delight when I saw a butterfly charm (Susan Clarke design) that will match my Just Nan Dragonfly scissor purse … I didn’t care about the $27 price tag, I HAD to have it!!! (The Christmas items aren’t in the photo as I can’t be bothered unpacking them from the box.)

Stitch and Craft stash

Other purchases were some metal charms for scissor fobs, some Dress It Up buttons (snowflakes and stars), cheapo scissors for travelling, and the most adorable metal hanger for my Christmas quilted wallhanging.  Doesn’t it look perfect?

Xmas wallhanging

Crikey, I barely blog for two weeks and now I can’t shut up!!!

I’ll finish for the night by showing my very minimal stitching from the last week or so – here is my latest finish:

LizzieKate-Lifes a Stitch
“Life’s a Stitch” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct natural Belfast linen
with recommended GAST threads

And here is my current work in progress – I’m trying to stitch predominantly those charts that I’ve bought special threads and embellishments for and are essentially kitted up.  Once I get through a few of them, I’ll add the designs to my trade list (I’d better hurry up and get stitching or you’ll be waiting for a while!).  This project is Just Nan’s “Evening Star” which is a retired class piece.  At my current stitching rate it should be finished some time in the middle of September haha.

Just Nan 1

Last night I was in such a cranky mood I vented my frustration by doing the finishing on my August Christmas ornie – if that’s the result of being angry with work, I should keep it going every night!! LOL.  I added a little white pom-pom-thing with glue once the pillow as finished 🙂

Kitty Klaus finished

And now it’s time to settle in and get some stitching in (after once again lugging up my next round of laundry washing – I figure the more I get done tonight, I won’t have much to do at the weekend).

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Still around …

Anne S

Just a quick post to say I’m still around, but not particularly stitching and certainly not doing anything exciting.  I’m still struggling to get over my bugs – as soon as I think I’m coming right they knock me back down again.  Monday saw my boss plus my other team member off sick so it was back to being just me in the department, which is definitely not conducive to getting my own work done … It would be lovely to get my head above water just for a short while workwise, as I’ve forgotten what that feels like!  Once Mum goes home I’ll probably go back to working a day over the weekends just to catch up a bit.

Unfortunately this all-work-no-play lark has affected my stitching mojo, and I’ve barely lifted a needle for the entire last week … and I have no desire to do so.  Instead I’ve been sat up in bed playing mindless computer games for a couple of days on the laptop, which has relaxed me more.  I have a small Lizzie*Kate project that would normally get finished in 1 or 2 nights, but it’s taken me all week so far, and still not finished ho-hum.

On Friday I’m taking the day off so Mum and I can visit some LNS’s in the northwest of Sydney that I haven’t been to before, then we’re having dinner with my old friends.  Saturday sees us up bright and early having breakfast at Darling Harbour, when we catch up with a friend from Melbourne who’s flying out to Saigon on holiday and organised a 5-hour layover in Sydney so we can catch up.  Once he heads back to the airport we’ll be rushing up north of the city to the Stitch & Craft show to meet up with Alison and Amanda and some other ladies I don’t know.  We may go to the Zoo on Sunday, depending on the weather, then the Dragon flies home on Monday. 

I feel bad because this visit hasn’t been a quality one for Mum – I haven’t wanted to do anything or go anywhere due to illness, and when I’m sick I don’t want to be around anyone, so that’s put on an added strain.  In the evenings I’ve just wanted to curl up in a little ball and pretend the world doesn’t exist.

I also feel bad because I’ve been nominated for some Awards by some beautiful, beautiful people, and haven’t had the energy to sit down and acknowledge them and pass them on.  I will rectify that in the near future, hopefully.

I have to admit, though, I’ve been having thoughts over the last few months whether to give up blogging for a while, as I’m not really getting any enjoyment out of it just lately and it’s starting to feel more like a duty rather than pleasure.  I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing, but it is likely that I won’t be posting as regularly as I have been (although I’ve already started posting less and less to when I lived in Melbourne).  I like the sentiments about “Blogging Without Obligation”, so I need to take that sentiment on board when I start feeling guilty about not posting.

Geez, I’m a real bundle of joy today!!!  I’ll sign off for now and jump in the shower before another looooong day of meetings and getting no work done (!) … I hope I can get the ringing out of my head while I’m in there (someone’s smoke alarm has been going for the last hour at least, which is seriously doing my head in – who needs an alarm clock??).

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Val's Stuff, Works in Progress

Is it snowing outside?

Anne S

Well, the weather will surely be changing because a miracle occurred in Chez Shackles over the last 24 hours!  I managed to get my August ornie completed before the middle of the month … now I KNOW I’m not feeling well!!

Val's Stuff-A Merry Kitty Klaus
“A Merry Kitty Klaus” by Val’s Stuff
from 2007 JCS Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
using Crescent Colours Sassy Brass and Cupid,
Olde Willow Shale, Wisper thread and DMC for the remainder

Went to the GP yesterday who confirmed my bugs are just a viral infection (which I’d already guessed) – I’m now loaded up with Buscopan for the griping stomach cramps and on orders for Panadol, fluids and rest … if that doesn’t work I have to go back to have blood tests, but I’m sure that’s all it is (which is the main reason I hadn’t bothered going to the GP before now).  I was still pretty crook throughout the weekend, and definitely not my perky self (commented on a lot by colleagues at work, which didn’t do anything to help my mood, especially when someone drew a smiley face on a piece of paper and wrote “SMILE” on top for me … made me want to throttle them instead of smile!  I’m terrible when I’m feeling ill, I just want to sit in a corner away from people until I get over it hmmm).

Still haven’t finished my needleroll, as I need to concentrate a bit on the buttonhole stitch banding etc, and don’t feel up to it yet … hopefully it won’t be long now before it is completed though.  Now it’s time for me to jump in the car for another thrilling day at work (can you tell I’m really not in the mood right now?)!

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Heart in Hand Needleart, Works in Progress

A WIP and a finish

Anne S

First up is my “In the Dark needleroll” – if I were to do this again (which I wouldn’t do) I would definitely make some changes!  Firstly I think I would squish the wording up closer together and have it more centred, then I’d bring in the stars closer to the moon.  The way this is designed when it is turned into a needleroll you won’t see the full wording and definitely won’t get to see the sparkly stars, which seems such a waste as they’re so lovely!  Unfortunately by the time I worked that out I was too far into the stitching to be bothered unpicking everything.  I think it would be much prettier that way, though (mind you, I haven’t done the finishing yet, so I could be wrong). 

One change I did make, however, was to leave off the ‘smiley faces’ on the stars so it didn’t look quite so ‘juvenile’, and because of that I left off the bead ‘nose’ on the stars and just used the metallic braid.  All-in-all not my most favourite piece to stitch, but I do like the finished product – the colours and the sparklies do look very very pretty in real life … my Mum kept ooh-ing and aah-ing over it throughout the stitching process 😉

Designs by Lena Rose-In the Dark needleroll 1

Designs by Lena Rose-In the Dark needleroll 2

It still isn’t finished, though – I need to find some beads to substitute for those listed in the chart, and I’ve decided to do the bargello and buttonstitch bands for the top and bottom hems … yesterday I’d decided to leave it and finish it with a normal hemstitched band, but today I’ve had a change of heart, so back on the Q-snaps it goes …

When I opted to leave the bead selection for the needleroll until today, I couldn’t just sit and do nothing, so here is a very quick ornie stitch that I managed to stitch up in a couple of hours last night.

Heart in Hand-Christmas Peace
“Christmas Peace” by Heart in Hand Needleart
stitched with recommended threads (GAST)
on 32ct opalescent Lugana by Silkweaver (the colour escapes me right now!)

This fabric is one of the worst fabrics I’ve ever stitched on in my life – I truly detest this fabric, both the colour and the feel of it. I bought this originally to stitch Chatelaine’s Egyptian Garden Mandala on it, and hated it, so unpicked what I’d done and started again on a hand-dyed linen instead. Unfortunately I was left with all this revolting fabric and I didn’t know what to do with it … my idea to use for ornies instead – truth is I still hate it, and think perhaps I should try dyeing it myself. The photo gives no idea of what the colour is actually like – it is almost peachy/apricot in colour, yuk!!

I have no idea what will be stitched next … nothing is screaming at me right now …  I had the day off yesterday due to feeling crappy, so Mum and I sat in my bedroom and stitched all day – today I woke up with my mind turning about work issues, so perhaps I’ll go in tomorrow and try to get some work done, as obviously it’s preying on my mind under the surface hmmm.  I’ll see how I feel when I wake up in the morning … in the meantime it’s time to go stash diving for a new project I guess … or perhaps I should have a day at the sewing machine … or perhaps I should just have a day off … oh, so many choices 😉

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

New WIP

Anne S

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my Lanarte finishes – they will eventually be framed with a mid-blue frame of some sort, but I’m not sure whether to frame them individually, or together in one frame …

My latest WIP is something I’ve had sitting kitted up in my stash for a long time – and seeing as I’d bought all the Kreiniks especially for this piece I thought I’d better justify the cost and hurry up and stitch it up.  I didn’t get too much done last night, but this is the result of 2 hours stitching and TV viewing with Mum:

In the Dark needleroll 6Aug08

The design is “In the Dark needleroll” by Designs by Lena Rose, and is being stitched on Abracadabra 28ct opalescent lugana by Silkweaver.  I really like the Silk n Colors used in the border – 977 Sherbert, it’s so delicate, pretty and girly (unlike me LOL).  Hopefully I’ll manage to get it finished by the end of this weekend, as there isn’t really a ‘huge’ amount of stitching to be done on it … but then again, that could be famous last words!!

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Lanarte, Sea Life

Lanarte – Sea Life finished

Anne S

I put the finishing touches to the final part of the Lanarte Small Sea Life series while Mum and I sat watching an hour of TV tonight.  I really love the colours of this series – and adore the little fishing net at the bottom of this piece.

Lanarte-Sea Life #1

“Small Sea Life #1” by Lanarte
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC cotton floss

Here’s a quick shot of all four together:

Seahorse Collage by Lanarte Fish Collage by Lanarte
Lanarte-Small Sea Life #2 Lanarte-Sea Life #1

Not entirely sure what I’ll start stitching next – it’s likely to be a needleroll that’s been kitted up for forever and a day …  I’ll be working late hours yet again this week, so will only get an hour in each night if I’m lucky (if I’m awake enough to concentrate on it when I get home!).

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Lanarte, Sea Life

Lanarte finish – part 3

Anne S

We had a stressful day on Saturday thanks to spending a couple of hours with a technician from Harvey Norman … during that time the internet also decided to spit the dummy and our wireless connection stopped working, which was necessary for the technician’s visit.  After a few frazzled hours we managed to send the technician on his way, and we settled down for a few hours stitching – then yesterday I spent the day in my PJ’s and we stitched all day. 

I managed to finish off the third part of my Lanarte Sea Life series, and decided I was so close to getting this set finished, I thought I might as well just keep on stitching the final part as well.  I just have 4 little backstitched seagulls left to stitch before the whole series is finished …  Here is the first one finished from the weekend:

Lanarte-Small Sea Life #2
“Small Sea Life #2” by Lanarte
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
using DMC cotton floss

Hopefully I can get the seagulls finished tonight, which means there will be another finish photo very very soon.