Category: Works in Progress

Today I finally unpacked one of my favourite embroidery pieces that was professionally framed, that Mum brought with her on the plane … although well packaged with a couple of layers of foamcore and bubblewrap, the airline still managed to play football with it, and we heard the sickening sounds of tinkling glass as I started unpacking the wrapping today 😦 Yep, my glass is in shattered ruins … and it’s not covered by the airline, and Mum’s insurance excess would be $75, so probably not worth claiming it back … it’s quite fitting that the SBQ came out recently about framing with glass vs non-glass (which I still haven’t gotten around to answering … blogs have been a low priority over the last two weeks again due to visitors and shifts etc hmmm) – I have to admit, I prefer to see embroidery without glass, but I know there are pros for using glass (as well as pros for not using it). Both Mum and I sat looking at my Wessex piece and both thought the same thing at the same time … the embroidery looks so much better without the glass! So, thanks to the airline, my Wessex piece will likely no longer have glass covering it 🙂 I just hope by the time we clear all the glass away that it hasn’t damaged any of the embroidery itself …

As I mentioned earlier, Mum’s flight was delayed by 5 hours in total, so we had a quiet night in on Saturday night – then Sunday we went out shopping and bought all sorts of goodies … including a VERY big purchase, except I have 19 months to pay for it thanks to Harvey Norman’s 19 months interest free and no downpayments at the moment – Mum agreed it was a very worthwhile investment, and thanks to my debt consolidation I’ll be able to make regular monthly repayments so I don’t have a big outlay at the end of the 19 months … the big purchase was a new lounge suite!! I’m so excited about it!!! No need to guess what colour it is haha … the salesman said “you’d like the same colour as the floor model?” – a resounding “NO!” from both Mum and I, then we cracked up … yep, of course it’s coming in blue! Actually it’s a very close match to my el cheapo recliner I currently stitch in. You have no idea how good it feels to have this on order – it’s made in Aussie, so we have to wait approx 4-5 weeks for it to be made up, but it has a 2.5 seater sofa bed and two chairs … AND the best thing is that for an extra $249 you get a 5-year cover for damage … including pet damage and spills (woohoo!!), at which time they’ll recover it for free … considering the new inhabitant that will be joining this household soon, I thought it was a good option haha. My current lounge suite was bought for $150 at a garage sale, and Fraze managed to somehow rip one arm of the chairs while it was under his care, as well as the sofa being the most uncomfortable saggy thing to sit on, with the sofa bed bars digging into you … I can’t wait for my new one to arrive!!!

As for the rest of the week, I’ve been working late shifts, so not much happening – managed to get my week’s stitching into Bordeaux Sampler the night that Mum arrived, and I’ve decided to post my piccie two days early, as I’ll be heading off to Hong Kong tomorrow night, and might forget to do it before I fly out (we’re supposed to post progress piccies each Friday). I just have the little red ‘cluster’ to the left of the lettering to finish, then band one is all done for me – looking forward to seeing how Carol is coming along with hers 🙂

The remaining stitching time I’ve had this week has been very sporadic, but I’ve managed to get a few stitches into my last charity quilt square – it’s due 15 August, so I’d better get cracking when I get back home again (good job I’m still on annual leave for the next two weeks haha).

I’m thinking of packing a Shepherd’s Bush needleroll or two or a Christmas ornie to take with me to stitch at the airport etc – not sure whether we’ll get much time to stitch while we’re away, especially as it’s only for 4 nights … one always has to take something ‘just in case’ though, right? LOL. I was laughing today because the first thing I’ve thought about is what stitching to take – I haven’t even started thinking about clothes etc for packing … a girl has to have her priorities!!!

And on that note I’d better sign off … we’re meeting Fraze tonight for dinner then he’s staying here the night – and he’s due to finish work soon … better go chuck my jeans on and start getting ready – scotch fillet for dinner, yummo!! 😀

I don’t really have anything to say … just wanted to try and get back into the habit of blogging more regularly. Managed to get some blog reading done over the last two days, but many many more to go yet – hopefully by the end of the week I’ll definitely be caught up. Apologies if I’m not leaving many comments, but I’m enjoying reading everything.

Even though the curtains don’t reach the floor, I’m loving them – even just having them up gives the place some more colour and warmth … and eventually I’ll just sew some more fabric on the bottoms to help keep the cold out. I also picked up the same curtains in the sales for the main lounge window, but it’s a lot wider and more awkward to get to, so I need to wait until I’ve got an accomplice to help me … hopefully they’ll be up on 20 June, ‘cos Fraze is visiting – yup, yet another job for you Fraggle! 😀

I did a dopey thing yesterday … went with my little parcels to the Post Office before work, only to find they were closed – it was a public holiday in Australia, and I didn’t know hmmm. So I rocked up to work in my business clothes, and everyone else was in jeans 😦 Good job I took a decent coat and scarf, though, as we had two separate fire alarms go off and we had to evacuate the building twice on a very cold day in Melbourne … brrrrrrrr. It’s funny, when I lived in Auckland I owned a full-length wool coat and scarf etc, but wore it about a dozen times … since moving to Melbourne I now have a nice selection of scarves, gloves and hats – and along with my coat I actually NEED them. It has looked quite miserable a few times over the last two weeks – very bleak looking and grey all day 😦 So my lovely blue curtains help to hide the bleakness, and I get to look at some beautiful colour instead 😀

Today I’ve decided I need to start my rotation again – I honestly have a tangible physical and mental URGE to pick it up and get back into my routine … so this morning I am putting my Bordeaux Mystery Sampler (which is no longer a mystery ‘cos we have all the parts haha) onto my scroll bars, and I’m putting a few stitches in before work … after 10 hours on that, I’ll be back to picking up the Dratteds (aka Dolphins Domain) and I honestly can’t wait!!

(Updated) And just to show I really did make an effort this morning, here’s the proof of my labour … not much to show for it, but it’s a start none-the-less 🙂 I’m on 3pm shift starts all week, so it gives me a bit of time in the mornings to get a few things done – today I decided to have some “me” time for stitching instead of housework 😀 Mind you, I’ve been struggling with a bad throat and chest the last three days, so perhaps it was also a bit of pampering needed to perk me up too … I have my fingers crossed it doesn’t escalate into a full-on cold 😦

Sorry if a couple of you have been worried that I haven’t been blogging, but I’m still around – this week’s shifts have taken its toll on me, and I haven’t had the time or energy to pick up a needle until briefly last night. I’m now off out to have brunch with a couple of girls from work, for one of their birthdays, then it’s an early night for me ready for my 6am shifts this week. Not sure how much time I’ll have for blogs or stitching this week, as Rox and her partner arrive from NZ on Tuesday for about 3 nights, and Fraze is here as well … I’m trying hard to catch up on blogs when I can – my apologies if it’s been a while since I’ve commented on your blogs, but I’m really behind since my last visitors were here, and I’m struggling to catch up again.

Anyway, I’ll sign off this brief post with my stitching progress from last night – I finally dragged out my Marine Elegance to work on. Unfortunately I got out of the rhythm of stitching this one while waiting for my PC#12 to arrive, and I’ve only just had the ‘head space’ for picking it up again. I only managed to get the four-sided stitches done between the sections, and just over a third of the buttonhole stitching on the edges … still have a long way to go yet to get this finished, but that’s my challenge before I touch anything else … the only exception to that is my charity quilt blocks which need to be done shortly. We’ll get there with this one, Cathy 🙂

I finally managed to finish this week’s stitching assignment for my Blue Elegance piece (officially “Apricot Elegance” by Cindy Valentine) – I’m using Blueberry Watercolors thread on 28ct Cashel linen in an unknown blue colour from my stash … I thought it was quite ‘chunky’ on the 28ct linen, but I’ll keep persevering with it as I think the colour really blends well with just a bit of subtle shading. I’ve really enjoyed stitching this piece so far – it’s a nice change to stitch with some chunky threads and having something that grows so quickly!

The rest of the week has gone in a bit of a blur really … I finished my night shifts at 5am Monday morning, but only managed to get 4-5 hours sleep again … and was back at work again for 11am Wednesday – feeling very tired and very cranky! LOL. The only way I can explain it is that it’s like going from Australia to London (totally opposite time zones) to work for 3 days, then flying home to Australia again and going straight to work off the plane! Usually we get 4 days off after the night shifts to recover, but because I was covering the Hotline for two separate staff members, I ended up with split shifts and only 1 1/2 days off to recover … never ever again! I’ve felt like death all week – then Fraze came to stay on Thursday night (which was lovely to have his company as usual) so I didn’t get quality sleep again – now it’s my weekend and I feel like a train wreck 😦

Mum made me laugh last night – she knows I hadn’t been feeling great, so I walked in the door to the following greetings – first of all a bourbon and L&P all ready to add ice (sheer nectar!) … and the 2nd thing is she’d lined up my ‘lounge ducks’ in a row on the floor along with Bukta in front of the TV, saying they’d been having a lovely time watching cricket with her as a family night in – she’s a crack up! I swear she’s going through her second childhood! LOL. Poor Bukta (on the left) belongs to Fraze … it’s his childhood toy that we’ve tormented dreadfully since I moved to Aussie. It’s a long story how it all happened (and it was initiated by his best friend Scott), but we decided Bukta was a closet transvestite and dressed him in a dress, made him boobs, and a wig and he feels so much happier … you had to be there at the time, but it was hysterical to see Fraze’s face when he saw him (we attacked Bukta while he was at work). When I moved out I told Fraze I’d really miss Bukta in his little pink outfit (it never got removed, ‘cos it made us laugh) … so Mum and I hijacked him to play a joke on Fraze – we took him for a walk up to the beach here and I made him a little hammock out of chopsticks and a handkerchief … then we took a photo of him and sent it to Fraze from Bukta saying he was having a lovely time on holiday at the beach with Auntie Anne … we howled ourselves silly! And to this day Bukta still resides happily here – I keep telling Fraze to take him home, but he says he likes it here! So he sits permanently on top of my computer desk keeping my printer company 😉Can you tell I haven’t done much stitching this week? Not much to show at all, really – hence the other pictures haha. I don’t have much energy today, so stitching will be the best thing for me to chill out, I think (actually, I was told by Mum that’s my best relief, so I have to put a DVD in and get stitching – gee, I’m gonna miss her when she goes back home!). Am trying to talk Mum into staying an extra couple of weeks to the middle of February so she will be here for my birthday. I wasn’t going to do anything this year, but seeing as it’s a “decade” birthday, we’re going to go out to Dracula’s for dinner – it a theatre restaurant, and is fantastically funny! It’s not cheap, but it’ll be a good way to say goodbye to the dirty-30’s and hello to the naughty-40’s 🙂 The food is usually pretty good, and the show is absolutely side-splitting … then there is a big group going “grape grazing” the next day, which is a wine tasting tour on buses – they’re trying to talk me into going to that as well, so it will be a very unforgettable weekend all round if that’s the case! haha. Anyway, enough driveling on about nothing – off to wake up and try stitching again …

But a quick reply for Cathy … yup, I really do work for an airline, and yup you guessed the airline correctly! 🙂 We’re apparently the ony airline worldwide that has a call centre open 24 hours a day/7 days a week – aren’t we lucky? LOL. I worked for them in Auckland for 3 years, then moved to the ‘mother country’ where I’ve continued to work with them for another 2 1/2 years so far … and most of the time love it! I’m an international consultant there, but also do relief cover on the Supervisor (staff assist) Hotline, where we help consultants out finding information when they get stuck, taking escalated calls (not my fave part of the job), and trouble shooting … it can be very interesting, to say the least! 🙂

What can I say? I don’t think I feel well at all … over the last two days I’ve been counting down the hours of my current rotation on Winter Queen, as I can’t wait for my next rotation slot – which is for those Dratted Dolphins! What the …??!!! That’s a first – me actually looking forward to stitching them … maybe that last migraine unsettled me more than I thought! 😉 Anyway, today I put the final stitches of my 10 hour rotation for WQ, and she’s about to be taken off the floor stand, to be replaced with the Dratteds for another 10 hours – I’m sure after 10 hours the novelty and joy of stitching them will have worn off LOL. Actually, I think I just really really want to get them finished so I can replace them with another piece on my rotation … and there are so MANY screaming to take their place (high up on the list is Angel of Love by L&L).

Sorry I’ve been a bit slack commenting on everyones blogs – I’ve been avoiding the computer a bit since Sunday, other than just checking emails every day, to try and make sure I helped to keep the migraines away. Hopefully now I’m all up to date with everyone again, and regular programming can be resumed!

I’ve also chased up some outstanding mail orders from months ago, when I had my huge stash-fest … there are still 3 orders yet to arrive 😦 It looks like my order from Wyndham Needleworks was mailed on 16 Nov, so hopefully it won’t be too far away from arriving. I’m still waiting for some needles to arrive for my Nordic Needle order, and a back-ordered chart and Gloriana silk from Stitching Bits & Bobs – I’ve asked them both if they could send what they have already and send the other items afterwards … I’m getting worried that closer to Christmas they’ll get lost in the postal system, and it’s too precious a cargo to go missing! Maybe I should just shove the parcels unopened under the Christmas tree this year for gifts to myself – what a treat … anybody want to take bets as to whether I’ll be able to keep from opening them? Nah, it’d never happen!! LOL.

And I can’t believe that Christmas is so close around the corner – this year for me will be an extra special one – my Mum is flying over to spend Christmas with me, for a 6-week holiday. It’ll be the first time since I moved here 2 1/2 years ago that I’ve had a family member to spend Christmas with, and I’m actually rostered off on Christmas Day too, for an even better bonus!! Mum gets to have a holiday here, and I get to have one too … Mum will not sit down for the life of her – or if she does, she’s usually doing something like knitting or mending something! She has the housework all done while I’m at work, so I don’t have to do anything when I come home … she’s the best! I wish sometimes she’d take the time to rest herself, but she’s happiest when she’s doing things for other people … she’s one of the most kind hearted and generous people I know!! And she’ll be here in only 3 weeks time – yippee!! I always joke I’ve saved a pile of ironing for her for when she comes, ‘cos I detest ironing with a passion – and she loves it! LOL.

Next week it’ll be time to start putting my little Christmas tree up – in our last flat I made sure we had a tree and trimmings up to make it feel like Christmas … Mum always had the best tree in the world (boy, I miss that tree!!!), and she’s instilled in me a love for Christmas with all its trimmings etc. It will be nice to share that joy with her again this year – and she’ll also be here in time to see the Christmas displays in the shops … she’ll be in her element!

Anyway, time to get ready for work, I guess – need to head off early to take library books (on tape) back … then only 3 days of work left (including today) before my next 2 days off. Really looking forward to 2 Dec, when I get 5 days off in a row … ah, heaven!!!

For those of you in the US … Happy Thanksgiving! :))