Category: Cross Stitch

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Stitch-alongs

Christmas Ornie SAL

Anne S

I finally put the last stitches into my Christmas ornie for this month’s SAL – I’m sorry to say for my recipient’s sake the bullion stitches aren’t exactly fantastic, but hopefully she won’t look too closely! 😉  I know I had a few of you stumped with the actual design, but I can finally reveal the details … I just have to find something to place in the ‘blank heart’ as I don’t have the button called for, then it’s ready to be officially ‘finished’ and sent off on it’s way … (I’ve removed the recipient’s initials for secrecy’s sake)


Christmas 2000 Sampler by Douglas Designs
from the 2000 JCS Christmas Ornie issue
using recommended threads, on a mystery 28ct linen

I also finally put the finishing touches into an ornie that Mum stitched for me – she just had the french knots left to do, and very kindly left me to do them, as she knows just how much I adore doing french knots! 😉  It’s supposed to have JABC star buttons, but I don’t have any left, and I think it looks just fine without it.  Thanks Mum, it looks just lovely! 😀


Rejoice by Lizzie*Kate
from the 2004 JCS Christmas Ornie issue
using 14ct red aida and recommended threads

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

The verdict is almost in …

Anne S

Within the next 12 hours I will find out if I can get to Perth for the CA Wells classes. That means one thing for sure … the iPod is put on hold! 😉 I’d previously requested a DVD (Mission Impossible 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean 2) or CD (Loreena McKennit’s latest one) for my birthday from Mum, but after chatting to her last night, she’s going to give me money instead if the class all goes ahead as planned. I received an email yesterday from the Perth organiser saying there are spaces in both the Pyramid Etui (only 2 left) and the Peacock Needle and Scissor Case (4 left) classes, so I jumped in and said a tentative “yes” to both, subject to getting annual leave approved from work.  You see we’re only allowed 2-3 people off at any one time on the Hotline, and if someone has already got those days off, I’m stuck!  But I’ll find out today what the leave register is looking like … I’ll be moving heaven and earth to get the days off, that’s for sure!  So my Christmas money from Mum & Dad and Heather are now put aside for the classes … sorry iPod, you’ll just have to wait a bit longer, you see I have changed my priorities!! 😉 Mind you, there is a helluva LOT of pre-work to be done for that Pyramid Etui, so my stitching priorities will also have to be jiggled quite a bit too … meaning my rotation will likely go out the door – talking of which, I’d better get cracking on a couple of gifts and my Quaker Sampler RR, ‘cos I soon won’t have much time for it (I hope!).

And the other great news is that I heard from Brenda today – she’s my best friend’s SIL, who is a good personal friend as well, and I was supposed to go to her 40th birthday bash in Sydney in November, but had to cancel due to finances … well, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to invite her as my partner to the eXcel award night in Sydney, giving me a fun companion for the night, and chance to have a girl’s night out and catch up – I’m really looking forward to it so much now!  I haven’t seen her for about 2 years, so I can’t wait! 😀  I’m also on days off just prior to the ceremony as well, so I might also try to wangle a flight up 1-2 nights early so I can catch up with Nigel as well, and actually see something of Sydney itself, as I’ve never really been there to visit 😀

Unfortunately no stitching updates today – I had hoped to finish my Christmas ornie for the weekend SAL, but the Dragon (aka Mum) decided to phone me for nearly 2 hours, and I didn’t get off the phone until 9.30pm … so no stitching done.  I just have the bottom band to finish, plus the bullion stitches (I have to admit, if I’d realised there were bullion knots on this thing I wouldn’t have been as excited to start it haha – but it’s intended as a gift for someone, so it has to be done!).  I should be able to finish it tomorrow, as I have a day off.

And a quick answer for Annemarie – yes, I do take a small stitching project with me on night shifts … that’s the only shift we can get away with it.  The only difficulty is that it depends on which staff are on for the night whether you get inundated with calls/questions, or if there are any dramas happening overseas.  One of the great tricks is for the UK to release sales fares over the weekends for example, when the UK call centre is closed – and we get all the calls here … but our guys aren’t supposed to quote fares ex other countries, it has to be quoted through the “Fares Desk” (ie me!), which means it could be a busy night.  Same thing if an airport gets closed due to fog etc … like the European weather last week, we got the call to help out Heathrow airport at 5am our time, with minimal staffing (although I got an official/personal thank you from the “big boss” in Sydney the other day, which is awesome). Between 11pm-2am there are just two of us on the fares/help desk (aka Senior Hotline), and between 2am-5am just one of us … so if you get stuck on a call everyone else gets backed up in the queue. 

Oops, sorry, that was supposed to be a QUICK answer … I must have mislaid my dictionary and forgot the true meaning of the word haha.  I usually just take small projects because I may only get one or two stitches in between the next call, and it’s really easy to lose your place etc – but then again I’ve also had a few nights when it’s been really experienced people on duty and no dramas happening and I’ve managed to get a fair bit done … but I’m also quite tired as well, and it’s easier to miscount and make mistakes, so I leave anything I have to ‘think about’ at home.  Funnily enough, I just started thinking about projects to kit up and take with me this week! 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Stitch-alongs

CA Wells in Melbourne

Anne S

I sent an email off to the Perth organiser this morning to find out whether any spots are available for the CA Wells classes over there in April … fingers crossed.  (I’d managed to get the wrong contact person previously, so hopefully it’s not too late.)

But there’s also a possibility of her coming to Melbourne for an additional class in April, date to be advised, if there is enough interest.  Georgie is organising this, so if you’re in the area and you’re interested, drop her a quick line and let her know – apparently we need 20 people in total to sign up so it can go ahead, and at this stage there are still a huge 16 spots left to fill.  It would definitely be a wonderful opportunity 🙂

Now, something else I’ve been thinking about for a wee while now … I want to try my hand at Cartonnage … for those of you who’ve never heard of it before, there is one blog that is the ‘ultimate’ reference for Cartonnage … Cartonnage et Compagnie!!  Some of the pieces presented are just magnificent – you definitely have to check out the archives to see some of the amazing projects.  The main thing I personally want to make is something that holds all of my Kreinik metallic threads … something like a bigger version of the teabag holder in this blog here, with little individual compartments.  At the moment I’ve been using my little Ikea drawers, but it’s a pain when you buy a new colour and have to rearrange every single row just to add one little spool into the mix!  Actually what would probably work is to have internal segments inside my longer Ikea drawer, which would allow me to utilise the entire space of the drawer, as well as the flexibility to add new colours as they’re needed (although these days there aren’t that many I still need!), as well as keeping most of my stitching stash in one place.

I’d also love to make a proper teabag holder (a bigger version), as at the moment I’m using my old stitching floss box that I no longer use, and it would be much better for the tea if it was closed in with a lid … perhaps that will be a challenge for 2008! 😉

And if that wasn’t enough, check out this gorgeous sewing caddy … just gorgeous! 😀

And on that note, I’m off to bed!  I still felt a bit squiffy earlier today, but tonight I feel a fair bit better, so I’m hoping to get to work tomorrow … It was supposed to be my weekend off, but I swapped with someone to help them out so they could get the day off, and I’ll be taking Tuesday off instead – just in time to start my overnight shifts yuk!  I didn’t quite get my Christmas ornie finished this weekend for the SAL, but I might try and add a few more stitches into it tomorrow night before the weekend is over …

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Long Live the Queen

Anne S

What happens when you finish the end of your 10-hour rotation and you don’t want to put it down?  You throw in the Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD, plonk yourself back down in the stitching chair, and just keep right on going 😀  I finally decided to bead as I go, as there some seriously large blank spaces where the beads go, so I couldn’t resist it before putting her away, and sat for a few hours tonight adding beads and that revolting Wisper thread.  At least now I’m filling in all the gaps, I can cut away the finished parts of my working copy to make it more manageable … and she really does look so much better with some of her white gaps all filled in!  Alas, though, now the scroll bar has been removed from the floor stand, to be replaced with something smaller – it’s the Christmas Ornie SAL weekend, so tomorrow I’ll be stitching a new ornie, or finishing some I’ve already started …

In the meantime, here’s the final shot of Winter Queen before she was removed … she looks even lovelier with her backstitched face and beads 😀

Cross Stitch, Rotation, SBQ, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

Bordeaux, Winter Queen and SBQ

Anne S

Australia Day logo

To my fellow Aussies, Happy Australia Day to you all – thanks for letting me stay in your beautiful country and letting me call it my new adopted home 😀

Australian flag

Here’s my latest progress piccie of Bordeaux Sampler – I’m loving stitching on this more regularly each week, and normally have difficulty putting it down after my two-hour stint working on it.  Yesterday, though, it was a bit easier due to the fact my concentration wasn’t really up to par.  Unfortunately I won’t be reaching the halfway mark by the end of the month like I’d hoped, as I’d forgotten this band has more of that wonderful over-one lettering … mind you, that’s not as bad as those darned over-one single grapes floating around in the middle of the band … grumble grumble 😉  Please note I still haven’t frogged those golden leaves from the previous band, either … that’s a chore for one day when I’m more in the mood … at some stage before I finish band 7 😀 (Sorry, but this photo is quite dark, as the flash wouldn’t work!)

Bordeaux at 25Jan07

I’ve also finally managed to finish my 10 hours rotation slot on Winter Queen.  Here’s the “before and after” shot – I did my first 10 hours on this back in November 2005, and it hasn’t been touched since, which is shocking … it’s nice to see her come back out of the woodwork again.

Before
 Winter Queen at 24Nov05

After
Winter Queen 26Jan07

I think the 10-hour rotation really works for me on the whole – I tried doing one project per night, and it just doesn’t work with my shifts, and I feel as if I’ve only just picked something up when I have to put it down again.  At least with 10 hours you can really see some progress at the end of it, and the 10 hours can be spread out over a weekend, or a full week, but you have time to get into a rhythm with the project.  I still give myself some flexibility with those 10 hours, and they’re not always 100% rigid at that mark – if I get close to the 10 hours and I’m still loving the project and don’t want to put it down, then I’ll keep doing an hour or so more before I move on to the next project.  Having my little ‘tub’ of WIPs next to my stitching area has also helped with that too, with everything ready to start again for the next rotation.

  Now, on to the SBQ’s that I’ve been seriously neglecting for the last 3 weeks:

“Do you dream of running your own LNS/ONS? If so, tell us about your dream. If not, tell us about your cross stitch dream … maybe you dream of designing, dyeing your own floss or fabric, etc.”

Nope, I can’t say I’ve ever had the desire of running my own LNS/ONS – working in one, perhaps, but not running it.  To be honest I figure running one would entail so much work that it would impact on my stitching time, and that’s more important to me.  I have to admit, though, that I was having a few ideas about designing my own needlerolls before Christmas, but if I ever do that I’ll offer it as a freebie online here instead of doing it ‘properly’ – but I’d love to learn how to dye my own fabric and floss one day, especially floss!  My main dream is to be able to give up work and still have an income and stitch to my heart’s content every day … hey, we can dream, can’t we? 😉

“Have you had a happy dance yet this year? If so, tell us about it! (Or just point to the entry that talks about it.) If not, when do you predict it will be?”

Yep, that was done on New Year’s Day … the post is here.

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:

“What company produces your favorite hand-dyed fabric? Are there any companies whose hand-dyed fabric you do not like? If so, why?”

I like Silkweaver fabrics, but the one I have for Egyptian Garden has quite a lot of fluff on it, and I’m forever having to pull off pils etc from it while I’m stitching, which is really frustrating.  The only other fabric I’ve tried is from Country Stitch, and I have to admit between the two I really love Linda’s fabric (Country Stitch) the most.  Her customer service is awesome, and she’s a sweetheart to deal with – it’s one of the few things I refused to give up during my penniless phase, my FOTM from Country Stitch.  Her fabrics have a lovely feel to them, and the colours aren’t blotchy but subtly blended … love them! 😀  Unfortunately I haven’t tried other products yet, so can’t compare.

And to finish, another quote I really like:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

Cross Stitch, Quilting, Stitch-alongs

Case of the Blah’s

Anne S

I managed to get 4-5 hours sleep last night (I didn’t get to sleep until nearly 3am thanks to my snoozing yesterday afternoon), and still feel like a train wreck. My ears are sore, and I still have the queasy feeling, as well as just wanting to sleep all day again, so I’m about to take myself off for a wander up to the local doctors. It annoys me having to go, because I know there’s nothing they can do about it if it’s a virus, but I need to get a doctors note for work, I guess. C’est la vie … another $30+ down the tubes ho-hum. At least the Woolworth’s bladder has eased off quite a bit, and it’s relatively cool in the flat, which makes it a bit more pleasant. 

I can’t wait until next week, though, when there’ll finally be something worth watching on TV … thank goodness for my DVD player and home library of cheap DVD’s, that’s all I can say!  Not being a sports fan, it kills me to look through the TV Guide to see the selection this week … at the moment one channel has the cricket, one has the tennis, and one I never watch anyway, leaving one channel to choose from – and because of the cricket/tennis my fave programs aren’t on … But as always there’s a silver lining – I’m getting to watch movies I haven’t seen in months, and I also have some audio books I haven’t listened to yet either (although I have a splitting headache at the moment, so that’s not a great option).  Actually, I’ve just remembered I’m on night shifts next week, so I’d better get ready to videotape all my fave shows that are coming back on again (House, Medium, and NCIS especially).

I’ve made a tiny bit of progress on Bordeaux today, by adding one golden ‘basket’ and about 6 Rhodes grapes, but that’s it – I’ll probably do the last Rhodes grape on the left-hand side, then call it a day … I’m trying to do about 2 hours work on it each week so I don’t jump too far ahead, and I’ve done those 2 hours today already … albeit very slow stitching!  I’ll post a progress piccie later on.

Something else I meant to show a few days ago, and that’s two new quilt designs that I really like … I’m seriously going to have to try doing one quilt at least this year, or at least start one anyway – I’ll have to look through my fabrics and see if I’ve got anything appropriate already, without having to buy too much more … but that’ll be another day when I feel more up to it.  I don’t need to tell you, I’m sure, that of course my quilt will be in blue fabrics 😉

December Rose quilt
December Rose quilt

Winter Carnival quilt
Winter Carnival quilt

Now it’s time to throw some clothes on and wander on over to the GP’s office … although the way I’m feeling, perhaps it’d be safer to drive hmmm …

(Updated to add GP results – I’m now off work until Sunday, and if I don’t feel OK on Sunday then I just go back to see him on Monday … also I may have an added bonus of a bladder or kidney infection, so I’ve done a mid-stream urine test as well – at least I can now relax and not think about having to go back to work for two days, and just focus on relaxing and chilling out.  Fingers crossed it’s nothing but a virus, although he also talked about diabetes as well hmmm.  time will tell, I guess.  I was very naughty and treated myself to hiring two new release DVD’s from the video store nextdoor to the GP’s – something I haven’t done for months and months … I thought it would a nice cheer-me-up to help with my stitching.  Even though I’m not getting too much done, a few stitches is better than nothing!)

Cross Stitch, Stitch-alongs

Macaw update

Anne S

Well, it wasn’t quite the night I had planned … I ended up getting halfway to work today and turning around and coming home again, as I got really queasy and wanted to throw up.  I went straight to bed and slept on-and-off for 3 1/2 hours.  I also had an entertaining dream where the cracks in the lounge got too big, and the front of the lounge collapsed … hmmm.

Anyway, after having a light supper of scrambled eggs on toast (which seems to be sitting quite nicely, thank goodness) I managed to put a few stitches into my Macaw, seeing as it’s my SAL night with Carina.  Here’s my progress today, and now it’s put back again until next week – the blue and dark grey blob is now a blue, dark grey and green blob! 🙂

Macaw at 25Jan07

Cross Stitch, Stitching Smalls

Enabling Post!! (updated)

Anne S

Oh my, for lovers of “stitching smalls” check out these beauties! Wow, I just love them all!!! They’re all from The Cat’s Whiskers … WOW!!! Click on the link for all the latest releases. Guess who’s wishlist is growing? LOL – more incentive to hurry up and get cracking on that 50 project challenge (although there was talk of increasing it to 100 … perhaps I could do 50, have a splurge, then do 50 more? LOLOL) These ones are my favourites:

The Peacock Stitching Chair (how cool is this??)
Stitching Chair closed Stitcing Chair open

Blessed with Happiness Embroidered Box
Happiness Box

Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag with Stitching Accessories
BOAF Dilly Bag

Grandma’s Cushions Thread Wallet
GC Thread Wallet

Alyssum Scissor Pocket (Limited Release 2007)
Alyssum scissor pocket

Phew, that excitement in my mailbox woke me up this morning! I felt so rough last night I ended up not stitching at all, and just went straight to bed, where I slept for almost 11 hours yikes! Hopefully I can get a few stitches in this morning before I go to work – I’ve already printed off a few more properties to take in to show Sheree (love the Domain’s house alerts by email!), and once I’ve stopped salivating over the new releases I’ll have a quick bite of brekkie and get motivated. I still feel slightly like a train wreck, but hopefully it’ll ease off before work 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the piccies! 😀

(Update) Oh man, my inbox is going to be the death of me today … I also just found out tha CA Wells is doing a class here in Perth in April – oh boy, would I LOVE to go to that?? I’ve sent a quick email to find out if there are any spaces left, and what the details are … it would be a very cheap holiday apart from the class cost, as I get a very good travel discount on the flights, and a close friend moved to Perth from here last year and is always hassling me to come visit, so I’d have free room and board – how cool would that be? Anyway, I’d better not get too excited, as I presume it’s all booked out, but it’s nice to dream! And when I move in with Sheree it’ll be approx $400 savings each month, which means these sorts of splurges are very ‘do-able’ in the future 😀 BTW, can you tell I’m still not stitching?? LOL.

Blogging Memes, Cross Stitch, Food, Works in Progress

Leporello update (updated)

Anne S

I managed to get a bit more stitching done last night, and finished my Smalls rotation slot with the Leporello. Now it’s back to Winter Queen, which I realised I haven’t touched since I started her back in November 2005 – yikes!! Anyway, I managed another hour on her as well, but I won’t bother posting any progress until I’m at least halfway through my rotation. Here’s the Leporello, though, before I put it aside.

Leporello 21Jan07

This week I’m on 3pm shifts all week, which is great if I can keep up the habit of getting up early, and going to bed as soon as I get home (which is a bit harder to manage), as it gives me the whole morning to get a few things done – I take a meal into work with me, and have a regular meal break, as technically lunch is at about 7-7.30pm, which is perfect!

BTW, I managed to change my internet settings to get rid of that annoying Blogger pop-up … I’ll also go back to my last post and remove the old piccie as it seems to be confusing and annoying a few people 😉 Oh boy, though, it’s good not getting those stupid prompts before and after commenting – makes the whole process so much more pleasant … and speedy! 😀

Rightio, time to go and do the week’s laundry (I forgot about it yesterday, oops), then I may bake a batch of biscuits again (the Honey Coconut ones – yummo). Then I want to make some banana muffins or banana cake with my manky bananas, but that may have to wait until tomorrow … how awful, I end up with yummy munchies to splurge on LOL 😉

Updated to add a biccie piccie 😛
Honey Coconut Biscuits

Also: Thutmosis, if you’re by any chance reading this – I can’t find the comments link on your blog for some reason, and can’t leave a comment … could just be me having a blonde moment, though!

Updated: Well, what do you know?? I guess some quizzes really ARE good 😉

You Should Paint Your Room Blue

Peaceful and soothing, blue rooms have been known to reduce blood pressure.
Your blue room will encourage deep rest and great sleep.
A blue room is the perfect oasis for a stressful life.
Blogging Memes, Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Annoying Blogger! (updated)

Anne S

I must say there is something about the new Blogger that annoys the hell out of me! I’m sick to death of getting the following prompt before and after trying to leave comments … does anyone out there know how to turn the stupid thing off? I don’t know whether it’s in my PC settings somewhere, but I do know “it has to go!”, as it’s driving me crazy!!! Angry emoticon [Updated to say I’ve managed to fix it – thanks for the help!!]

[Photo removed to save confusion and frustration 😉 ]

Not much to report today – I felt like death warmed up yesterday and just blobbed out – I can’t even tell you where the hours went yesterday … no stitching or TV watching, just vegetating and doing nothing … tidying up a few computer files and photos, and websurfing, and that’s about it! Mind you that seems to be pretty standard stuff after coming off 5am shifts, oh well … today’s another day!

Seeing as I didn’t get my full quota of Bordeaux stitching done last week, I’m going to sit for another hour or so today and finally put a few more stitches into it so I can show some progress. I’d love to be able to hit the true half-way mark by month’s end, but I might be pushing it hmmm. I’m going to sit and do that now, then it’s time to get motivated and get some housework done – I need to start allocating an hour every day to go through my things and see if I want to throw out any items to save lugging them around again in the next move, as well as starting to think about actually packing things away that I’m not currently using (ie kitchen things etc).

Updated to add my progress piccie after one more hour on Bordeaux – I’m happy now I’ve managed to complete two hours stitching on it, so it can wait until Thursday again for the next stitching session 🙂
Bordeaux Sampler at 21Jan07

Rightio, time to surgically remove myself from this computer chair and get moving! I’ll update with a piccie later when I have something to show 🙂 But here’s something else I just remembered I did yesterday … now I can close that screen down 😉 Perhaps this explains my affinity to ducks! LOL

Geb

Engaging personality, sensitive, modest, occasionally narcissistic, but can rise above vanity.
Colors: male: violet, female: rose
Compatible Signs:Set, Horus
Dates: Feb 12 – Feb 29, Aug 20 – Aug 31
Role: God of the earth
Appearance: Green-skinned man, with leaves all over his body and a goose on his head. Sometimes he was shown laying on his side under his wife, the sky goddess Nut.
Sacred animals: goose

What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign?
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