Books & Reading, Christmas, English Garden Sampler, Friends & Family, Photo Hunt, Teresa Wentzler, Works in Progress

Mixed bag of all sorts

I’ve been suffering from vertigo the last few weeks, so not a huge amount of stitching has been happening around here – I returned to work two weeks ago, and it really takes it out of me getting through the day, so I’ve been coming home and pretty much going straight to bed.  Last weekend, though, I managed to put a few stitches into my English Garden Sampler.  I managed to complete all the over-one stitching of the garden gate, and most of the foliage on the right-hand side of the gate … sadly it took the entire weekend last weekend to complete just those few stitches, so it’s going to take me quite some time to see an actual ‘finish’ of this one!  It’s one of my oldest UFOs, and I’m still in love with the design after all these years, so I’m still keen to see this one finished sooner rather than later 🙂

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I finally bit the bullet and ordered a skin for my Kindle … and it arrived this week.  Last night I ‘pimped’ my Kindle, and I totally adore it!  I can definitely recommend DecalGirl for their skins, that’s for sure, and it certainly won’t be the last I buy I’m sure … I’m starting to eye up laptop skins now too 😉

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Work-wise I had a really awesome chat with my team’s “Head of” yesterday … he told me how impressed he’s been with my work with the latest project I worked on and the responsibilities I took on, and he’s going to see if he can do something about my pay rate as he feels my pay doesn’t accurately reflect the type of work I’m now doing and what he will be asking me to do in the future … you could have knocked me over with a feather!  It’s really nice to be so recognised for the work you do.  Will have to see what comes of it over the coming year, I guess 🙂

And lucky last for this post is an update on Dad … sadly he’s severely depressed, but understandably so.  He never shows his emotions, but has been spending a lot of time sitting in his chair and crying, the poor thing.  When Mum raised the issue with his surgeon he just said he needs to speak to his own GP about it.  Unfortunately the surgeon also doesn’t know why he’s still oozing pus etc from his stomach … 7 months after his surgeries!!!  It’s no wonder the poor old thing is so miserable within himself!  The surgeon said the only thing they can do is to open him up again, reverse the ileostomy bag, and have a look around while they’re in there to see where it’s coming from.  He also said, though, that Dad is in such bad shape at the moment that it is unlikely he will survive another surgery … so it’s a catch 22 😦

I’m hoping to fly over in a couple of weeks to visit and see if I can drag him out of the house for a few hours – although that would take a miracle in itself!  He told me a couple of months ago on the phone that he missed us popping down to the cafe for a coffee and chat when he was in the hospital (I used to take him down in a wheelchair).  So what I thought of doing is driving him into Auckland city and perhaps taking to a beach-front cafe at Kohimarama or somewhere else to sit and have a coffee and chat with a nice view.  He’s a stubborn old bugger, though, so it will take some convincing to get him out of the house!  I also want to talk about Enduring Powers of Attorney for them both, and all those horrible talks that are really important but are really difficult to tackle … things like getting all the life insurance policy details etc and getting a few more ducks in a row … not expected to be the most fun trip, but it needs to be done, I think …

And on that note I guess I should get my A into G and get away from the PC keyboard … time to go do some grocery shopping and a few chores … it’s laundry day, so I’d best get cracking and get on with it!!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

This week’s theme is ”Silly” and this one is in honour of Dad from his better days.

dad the fairy

Brown House Studio, Christmas Ornaments, Crazy January 2013 Challenge, Finishes, Hillside Samplings

Another WIP bites the dust!

I managed to put the final stitches into another one of my challenge pieces for this year (although I’m no longer actively completing the challenge!) … this one has always put a smile on my face when I’ve seen it, and I was very lucky to be gifted with this chart from my wishlist some time ago – it’s great to see it finally stitched up, and still puts a smile on my face with the scrummy colours and delightful charm 🙂

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“Little Blue Potting Shed” by Brown House Studio
stitched on 32ct pewter Belfast linen
with recommended WDW/GAST threads

I also forgot that I haven’t shared another wee finish from a few days ago – this was my first attempt at getting back into stitching after being sick, and unbelievably took two whole days to stitch (yep, definitely feeling sick!).  This is supposed to be a Xmas ornie, but I’ve opted to leave off the border and remaining stitching and I’m going to turn it into a scissor fob instead 🙂

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“Star Topiary” by Hillside Samplings (2000 JCS ornie issue)
on 32ct mystery hand-dyed linen
with recommended threads (WDW & GAST)

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Shepherd's Bush

Halloween is on it’s way!

After hearing people talk about Halloween coming soon, I got a sudden urge to do a small bit of Halloween stitching … this little project has been sitting around for far too long in my ‘to be stitched’ pile, especially as the chart was on loan from a dear friend … so it finally got to see the light of day and I stitched it up over the last 2 days.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any of the green Fuzzy Stuff thread for the witch’s hair, and I’m too impatient to wait until I order some, so I just decided to use the green DMC that is used for Frankenstein’s face.  I also changed the fabric to something that I think suits it quite well 🙂

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“October” by Shepherd’s Bush
stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen
with recommended DMC threads, but using DMC instead of Fuzzy Stuff for witch’s hair

I managed to do quite a bit of stitching yesterday for the first time in weeks, and hope to have another happy dance in another day or two – a project I started in March this year when I was in NZ … and which was in my planned 2013 project stitching (Little Blue Potting Shed by Brown House Studio).

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Little House Needleworks

Peppermint ornament

After having an afternoon ‘nap’ of 4 hours, I decided to try finishing my Peppermint ornament by LHN and surprised myself by managing it 🙂  It’s supposed to have a JABC peppermint cane button attached, but when I placed it on my ornie it didn’t suit it at all (not to mention it seems I had bought the wrong size!).  Unfortunately I chose a fabric that was a bit too light so the DMC 3865 didn’t show up clearly – I had to sub it with DMC B5200 to allow it to show up at all.  But that also means the colour doesn’t match the button at all … never mind I think I prefer it without the button anyway, so this is how it will stay 😀

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“Peppermint Twist” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Lugana by Countrystitch ~ colour Pipi
with recommended threads (DMC, Crescent Colours, Weeks Dye Works)

I really need to stop being lazy and taking my photos on my iPhone late at night … note to self, start taking photos using your camera in the future!!!

Brown House Studio, Canvaswork, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Northern Pine Designs, Works in Progress

A touch of vertigo and stitching

Finally my work project launched recently, but not until I’d had a few weeks of really long hours – including a 2am finish and a few 10-11pm finishes in the final week.  To say I was a touch mentally and physically exhausted at the end of it all is definitely an understatement.  My boss very kindly offered for me to have a few days off work in lieu of all the extra hours I put in … so I decided to take 3 days off at the start of last week, 2 days of which were in lieu from the previous month’s project … only to fall ill on day 3.  I had a wonderful couple of days off where I managed to stitch up a Christmas ornament, and did a whole lot of cooking for the freezer … but then on day 3 I woke up with severe vertigo, and have been bed-bound for almost a week since then.  The last couple of days I’ve managed to sit up in bed and watch TV, but I have only managed to walk over to the doctor’s surgery once yesterday, and came straight back to bed again …  I did, however, manage to put a few stitches into a canvaswork project – it was a nice calming distraction, and didn’t tax the eyes too much with the nice large holes in the canvas etc.

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“Folk Art Topiary”  ornament by Brown House Studio (2004 JCS Xmas ornie issue)
stitched on 28ct Golden Needle Country French linen
with recommended Crescent Colours threads

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“Ebb Tide” by Northern Pine Designs (work in progress)

Today I’m going to attempt to try and finish off another ornament already started, but in truth the fabric holes are really hard to see, so I may give it up as a bad joke pretty quickly … but if nothing else I’ll be catching up with the final episodes of Season 3 of True Blood … I hadn’t watched any of them before, but they were ‘free’ to watch on Quickflix (as part of my monthly membership), so I’ve been glued to the gogglebox watching all 3 seasons over the last couple of days … it looks like seasons 4 and 5 are on there too, so I know what I’ll be doing for the next week or two … I knew there was a good reason to up my internet quota, I’ve certainly been making good use of it at the moment, that’s for sure!!

Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Glory Bee

Snow by Glory Bee

I just felt like doing a bit of stitching that didn’t tax the braincells too much yesterday – I’ve been working long hours again at work, and Dad’s back in hospital again, so I couldn’t handle doing the beading on my Enchanted Mermaid (which has sadly been languishing in the corner with all my other stitching in recent weeks).  So I decided to drag a partly kitted ornie out of the ‘kit box’ (these all have the fabric ready and cut to size, but don’t have the threads) … once I pulled the threads I had a very slow stitching session … it took me almost 6 hours to stitch this little ornie, but at least it’s better than no stitching at all, and I think it’s a cute little finish.  I was unsure of my fabric choice on this one as I was stitching, but kept plugging along anyway.  I guess it didn’t turn out too badly after all 🙂

Glory Bee-Snow

“Snow” by Glory Bee
Stitched on 28ct mystery hand-dyed linen (can’t even remember which company!)
with recommended GAST threads

Enchanted Mermaid, Mirabilia, Works in Progress

Let the beading marathon commence!

Thanks to a lazy weekend, along with a day of sickness at home I managed to put the final stitches into Enchanted Mermaid (inbetween bouts of sleeping) … which means the final phase of this project is ready to commence … the beading marathon.  I swear this gal is seriously drowning in shiny bling!  Aside from 33 packets of Mill Hill glass treasures, there are 3 packets of one colour of Mill Hill petite beads, and another 2 packets of another colour (plus a packet of a 3rd colour) … serious, serious bling!!!

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Let the bling begin!!!!! 😀

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I’m hoping to be able to afford to fly home to NZ to visit my parents over the next month or so, so this one will be going home to visit as well if I can get her finished in time … I think both Mum and Dad will go crazy over this one! 😀

 

Cross Stitch, Enchanted Mermaid, Mirabilia, Works in Progress

More Enchanted Mermaid

Been an interesting few weeks – I finally got to see a Rheumatologist about my back/foot/finger joint pains, and we think I probably have psoriatic arthritis – if it is, then it’s quite possible it is treatable with medication, which is wonderful.  It also seems that it can cause mood changes, so perhaps this has been behind my depressive episodes all this time?  The time-frame since my joint pains started getting really bad is probably around the same time, so it is quite possible I guess – I’ve had really bad pains for at least 3 years now.  Anyway I have an MRI booked in for the end of July, and then hopefully a week later I’ll get a formal diagnosis and I can start a treatment regime … I’m sick to death of feeling so crappy all the time, so anything that can improve my state of mind and pain levels would be just wonderful!!

In the meantime I’ve been spending a bit of time on the weekends stitching (no more time during the week now, seeing as I’m back to murderous commutes again) … I managed to put a pretty good dent into the stitching of one of the tail fins (or whatever the heck you call them).  Sadly I can see I’m going to run out of two of the Kreinik braids, so I have been “forced” to send away for a little order from 123stitch this week to get them replaced (which was shipped inside 24 hrs of ordering, bless them!).  I have to admit the main reason I put the order in straight-away was that I also noticed they had 25% off Christmas stocking kits and I’ve had one of those on my wishlist for months now … perfect time to suck it up and order it at the same time as my Kreiniks (plus a couple more threads off my wishlist).  I must say, though, I really wish they stocked Rainbow Gallery threads, as I have a bunch of those I need to order as well 😦

And just before I head back to bed for a Nana nap (I haven’t been feeling well this week, and my stupid flatmate woke me up when he came in last night then continued to talk loudly on the phone until 11.30pm!), I’ll show you a bad photo of my Enchanted Mermaid as she currently stands … I really need to find my camera cord so I can use my camera again instead of my iPhone, ‘cos I just can’t seem to manage a decent crisp photo on my iPhone (although that could also be because I’ve been uploading them to Facebook then downloading again to the PC hmmm)!!

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Enchanted Mermaid, English Garden Sampler, Mirabilia, Teresa Wentzler, Works in Progress

The UFO challenge continues

I don’t know what’s wrong with me at the moment, I just seem totally obsessed with getting some older pieces of stitching finished … and I can’t seem to put them down … goodness knows what will happen once these two are completed, whether I’ll feel at peace enough to pick up a new start or a newer WIP, or whether I will continue with the urge to finish older items … but either way, this is my stitching challenge to myself at the moment.  In truth I’ve been battling with depression on and off for months now, and this is what is bringing me ‘stitching peace’ for some reason … so I figure it’s best not to fight it and go with the flow for now …  I guess that also means that my 2013 Crazy January Challenge has pretty much gone out the window, but them’s the breaks!

Anyway, here is my latest progress with two of my old UFO’s – Teresa Wentzler’s English Garden Sampler, and Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid.

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Sadly my employer’s management team have decided in their ultimate wisdom to move our team back into the city once again, after moving us closer to home for the last 8 weeks (hence much more stitching being done that I’ve managed in a long time) … so it means no more 20-30 mins drive to work anymore, and back to 1 to 1 1/2 hr commutes each way … I guess if nothing else I’ll get more books read once again on the train, so perhaps I should focus on that silver lining, but all I can keep thinking of is the removal of my spare time during the week 😦  It’s going to feel a bloody long time until December comes and we can move back out to being near home once again 😦  So pffffft to you management team 😦

Cross Stitch, English Garden Sampler, Teresa Wentzler, Works in Progress

An old UFO sees the light of day

What can I say, except that having so many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) is actually starting to bother me … I feel surrounded by clutter both in my physical space and my mental one … so last weekend I decided to have a true ‘mental health’ weekend and didn’t budge out of my stitching chair (in this case, bed) for two whole days and watching Buffy DVDs and stitched my little heart out.  It was just what the doctor ordered for body and soul last week, and the result is putting one of my oldest UFOs onto my scroll-bars for a bit of a workout … and boy it felt good!

Here is how TW’s English Garden Sampler looked when I dragged it out of it’s hiding place …

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And after an entire weekend’s full-on beauty treatment, here’s how it looks now …

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Of course since then I’ve been full-on back at work and crazy hours again, so it’s not had any attention over the last week … but I’m still refusing to put it away until it has a teeny bit more love … perhaps once I get the border done for this section, and then two of the topiary tree sections underneath … only then perhaps I’ll put it aside for another project to get some love … perhaps …