Here is my choice for this week’s “ABC Wednesday” – brought to you a teeny bit late by the Letter “L” … Lake Barrine in Queensland:
And this week’s “one I prepared earlier, stitchy/crafty content” is “Life’s a Stitch” by Lizzie*Kate:
Category: Cross Stitch
Ladybug, Ladybug
A quick drive-by to show my latest finish – I put the final stitches into Ladybug, Ladybug while watching TV last night:
“Ladybug, Ladybug” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct natural Belfast linen
with recommended DMC threads
Back to commitment stitching again now …
Profitable day and gifts
I’ll start the post off by showing off some exquisite knitting that I received from my beautiful and talented friend Nicki as my birthday gift – and I totally adore it!! How could I not? The knitting is perfection itself, and the colour is so very “me” – it’ll be perfect for our Sydney winter for that extra bit of neck warmth. Thanks again Nicki 😀
Also, I just realised that I haven’t posted my earlier birthday gifts yet – they arrived while I was flat out at work in February, and didn’t realise I hadn’t uploaded the piccie yet! That doesn’t mean I love the gifts any less, ‘cos I absolutely adore everything … they’re all duckies!!! I can’t believe Tessa found all these little lovelies on her travels – they’re fantastic additions to my duck collection, and they really put a smile on my face. Thanks once again Tessa, for your beautiful and thoughtful gifts – I especially adore the framed duckie button, that’s an awesome idea, it’s just wonderful 😀
Both Nicki and Tessa were initially online friends, but then became real-life friends after meeting face-to-face (Nicki in Auckland, and Tessa in Melbourne) … life is a much brighter place with friends such as these lovely ladies 😀
Now, before I get on to today’s achievements, here’s the latest stitching update of Merry Xmas by Prairie Moon – not sure if they look more like aliens rather than skeletons with those big eye sockets haha … alas I need a skein of Old Crow before I can fill those eyes in, so I’ll have to continue sticking with the white, cream, pink and red for a while longer 🙂
After spending the day yesterday blobbing out playing computer games, watching TV and doing a little bit of stitching, today was a different story … partly helped by the extra hour in bed thanks to the clocks going back last night. Today there has been no stitching to be had, but instead plenty of time spent in the kitchen … baking of all things! Trying to use up some cupboard stocks (why on earth I have two big bags of coconut, etc I do not know!), I opted to bake items where I had to buy next-to-nothing and came up with the following (I know, Mum, this is ME … baking … whatever next?!!!):
Cinnamon Ginger Cake ready to go into the oven
Cinnamon Ginger Cake keeping company with Caramel Walnut Slice
The ultimate sin … cutting the cake before it’s 100% cold … but oh so scrummy!!! 😀
Another 1/4 of the cake went to my elderly downstairs neighbour as a treat
Then another quick trip over to the supermarket for some ‘odd’ items I didn’t have in stock, I sliced up some rump steak and whipped up some Asian-style marinade so it can stew in the fridge overnight … which means I’m having stir-fry tomorrow night – yum (admittedly the pre-mixed beef doesn’t quite look so yummy in the photo thanks to lumps of lemon grass and garlic LOL) 🙂
I can’t wait to cook this up tomorrow night!!! 😀
And to top the kitchen chores off, I pulled my finger out and prepared a couple of salad lunches for work Mon/Tue this week, and also chopped up some honeydew melon and rockmelon … hmmm, me thinks that a good start to eating more healthily this week! 😀
ABC Wednesday – K
Here is my choice for this week’s “ABC Wednesday” – brought to you by the Letter “K” … K is for the Old Village of Kakopetria in Cyprus:
And this week’s “one I prepared earlier, stitchy/crafty content” is “Kitty Klaus” ornament:
Quick drive-by posting
As normal, I’m running late this morning, so this is just a really quick posting with my latest WIP piccies – one a commitment piece for Katie’s Christmas gift (2010!), and another of my Crazy January Challenge pieces (LHN’s Ladybug Ladybug) – alas the LHN piece needs one of the small leaves to be frogged due to my own stupidity and stitching when I’m too tired … but that won’t take long. Mum’s been asking after my stitching, so I’ve made an effort to take a couple of quick piccies 🙂
I have more commitment stitching to do this weekend for gifts/exchanges, so alas I may not have much stitching to show for a while … and on that note, really gotta run … 🙂
Crazy January Challenge #4
I’ve been in a lot of physical pain with my leg this week, which has meant having to keep it elevated with an icepack on it … the perfect position being sat up in bed … which means the perfect position for stitching, and the chance to complete my canvaswork project. This also means finish #4 for my Crazy January Challenge for the year.
“Lavender Blue Celtic Knot Quilt” by From Nancy’s Needle
canvaswork stitched with recommended threads
(and the project uses almost ALL the thread skeins in total)
It also means plenty of TV viewing time so I’ve started watching season 1 of The Tudors today – along with a few other TV shows I’ve had taped from during the week … all-in-all a very lazy and relaxing couple of days! 😀
ABC Wednesday – I is for Iguana
Here is my choice for this week’s “ABC Wednesday” – brought to you by the Letter “I” … I is for Iguana:
And this week’s “one I prepared earlier, stitchy/crafty content” is “It’s Halloween” by The Drawn Thread (stitched back in 2007 when I was housesitting in Melbourne):
Stitching update
I’ve managed a tiny bit of stitching over the last few nights, including finishing all the actual stitching on Bittersweet Seasons – all I need now is to buy some little gold embellishments for it (a tiny gold star and bell) then it’s totally finished. It’s hard to pick up the little details such as the beads and metallics, but I’ve tried to capture it as well as I can in the below photos (although when I do compilations there is a lot of quality lost in the conversion).
Then, after a trip to Spotlight yesterday afternoon to pick up the DMC thread I have mislaid (so, what’s new??), I put the finishing stitches into the Autumn freebie that I started last year.
“Autumn” freebie by The Stitcherhood LLC
Stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch ~ colour Merino
with recommended DMC threads
(the chart is still available here)
I’m not sure what happened to the photo of this one – the fabric is a beautiful mottled creamy fabric, not the putty-like colour that is showing in the above photo!! I hope to turn this into a little pillow soon, which is timely considering we are now officially in the first week of Autumn here “down under” and it’ll be nice to have it on display (gee I’m so sorry to say farewell to Sydney’s summer … not …).
Now I guess it’s back to the Drawn Thread Joyeux Noel, although I have to admit I’m really not enjoying stitching that one in the slightest – which is disappointing, as I’ve had the urge to stitch this one for the longest time … I’m tempted, instead, to do an hour or so of one of my Crazy January Challenge projects, as unfortunately they’ve been taking a back seat just lately while I’ve been finishing up some older WIPs … I’m starting to think I have bitten off more than I can chew this year what with both the CJC and my personal challenge of two ornies per month ho-hum (not to mention some other commitment pieces that aren’t able to form part of my CJC!) 😦
Talking of which, I also need to kit up my two March Christmas ornies, and make a start on Katie’s Christmas gift from last year plus get cracking on my outstanding PIFs from last year.
In the meantime, though, it feels really good to finally get a couple of WIPs from last year into the finishing pile (even if one does still need its embellishments).
Quick drive-by posting
The last few weeks have been absolutely mental at work – another project that hasn’t gone as well as planned thanks to an unstable testing platform, code not delivered as planned, and another department totally not delivering their side of the requirements. Testing is supposed to take 2 weeks, this time it took the entire month of February … and I’m sure I don’t need to say how much I was “over it” by the end!! But thankfully March is now here, and testing is mostly behind me … except now I have to do more to help out the other department now they’re implementing their side of it … pfffft.
Alas that means there hasn’t been much motivation to do anything other than sleep in my spare time, and not much stitching. Then when I did do some stitching both my camera batteries died … and I lost my Lumix charger. The charger turned up a few days ago, then I lost my memory card … I decided to just buy a cheap replacement online (and found a store by doing so that offers really healthy discounts on top brand cards!!), then of course found the original one stuck in the front of the computer this morning … after I had checked there the other night! Oh well, I needed a spare anyway, and now I have loads and loads of memory on the cards for my next holidays 😀
That also means I’ve managed to take a couple of quick snaps this morning – even if they’re not great quality in the overcast morning light, here is my current stitching update … one finish and one work in progress:
“He’s a Flake” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch ~ colour Kina
with recommended threads (Crescent Colours and DMC)
WIP – “Joyeux Noel” by The Drawn Thread
(I’m using DMC 3865 instead of 739 for the snow etc for more contrast on the fabric)
I would have done more stitching on Wednesday night, but at 7pm I remembered I was supposed to bake for morning tea the next day, so chose something I’d never done before that was a bit of a challenge (including making my own pastry, which I haven’t done for years!). Alas it took me all night (literally) and 1 1/2 hours the next morning to get everything finished, but I was just ‘in the mood’ for kitchen time, and I enjoyed every minute of it. If I get chance, I’ll post the recipes later – the Orange Liqueur Chocolate Tartlets went down an absolute treat! Anyway, here are the results:
Cheese Crisps (with Havarti & Basil filling)
(these are only about 1.5cm in diameter … like little cheesy burgers
for Ken and Barbie! LOL – and for me very more-ish!!)
Orange Liqueur Chocolate Tartlets (simply divine!)
On a health side, I’ve been going to Physio twice a week since last week, and had my first hydrotherapy session on Wednesday – hopefully it will help to loosen up my lower back and stop the knee pains … when it gets really bad, unfortunately the pain keeps me awake at night – and it’s been the worst lately when spending long hours in the office 😦
And on that note I really should get my A into G and get my carcass into that office – today I have a meeting with our Occupational Health & Safety assessor to find out if my employer will cough up for a new chair for me … otherwise I’m going shopping to buy myself one. Not quite the most exciting of shopping, but a very worthwhile investment if I do have to do it myself! 🙂
ABC Wednesday – G
Here is my choice for this week’s “ABC Wednesday” – brought to you by the Letter “G” … Gannets from the colony at Cape Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand:
And this week’s “one I prepared earlier, stitchy/crafty content” is “Golden Garland” ornament from the 2005 JCS Christmas ornie issue:
Feather Stitching 