Category: Cross Stitch

Stash

Last day of freedom

Anne S

It’s back to work again tomorrow, but it’s only a 5-day week for a change, which is just wonderful – this week’s shifts are reasonable, with a mix of 3pm and 12 noon starts. Next week it’s back to 5am starts again hmmm, which means I should get loads of stitching done just to keep me awake in the afternoons!

Yesterday I promised piccies of my great mail day, and here they are – the first piccie is of course Jenna teasing me with my scissors … I’m still laughing my head off today over this little trick – I love it! As well as the beautiful wrapping, it also has a gift tag already made up on it … “To Anne, From Anne” – what a crack up!

The other goodies I received were my back-ordered threads from Karen at Dragonfly Dreams – this means Sapphire Star will be joining my rotation as the next project on my list for the canvaswork slot … although my rotation is a bit out the window at the moment to fit in some commitment and gift stitching. Here in the piccie is the latest issue of JCS (only bought for the ornies in it, and I have to admit there are probably only 2 of them I’d consider stitching up, oh well), some 16ct Bay Leaf Aida for Mum, my Rainbow Gallery back orderered threads, a packet of 40557 Mill Hill beads (seeing as I still can’t find my other ones, and I need one to finish Lynn’s RR, plus this colour always comes in handy), 2 WDW threads I needed for upcoming projects, and finally some little buttons and charms for Christmas ornies coming up.

As far as my gift stitching is concerned, I have one entirely finished and it’s winging its way across the Pacific as we speak, as I managed to get to the Post Office late this arvo. I’d offer a sneak preview, but it might give it away 😉 We’ll just have to wait a week or so until it arrives at its destination, then all can be unveiled 😀

Not entirely sure what I’ll sit and do tonight – possibly some kitting up of some Christmas ornies, or perhaps starting my next bit of gift stitching … I dunno yet, but no doubt whatever I do it will be stitching-related 😀

Needlerolls, Quilting

Happy as a pig in mud :)

Anne S

It was an interesting night last night, in that I was very sleepy very early, so hit the hay just before 11pm, only to wake up again at 2am with my body thinking “that was a nice nap, time to get up now” hmmm. I got up and wandered around for half an hour before going back to bed – took me a while to get back to sleep, but eventually I dozed off and didn’t get up until 9am woohoo 🙂

Last night I managed to do some of the slowest stitching in history (for me), and still haven’t managed to get that Snowman Needleroll finished yet … but I guess it’s a bit closer to finishing than it was before, so that’s all good 🙂
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Today has been a very productive day for me, although no stitching done as yet. I popped out and filled the car up with petrol (how wonderful to see it at $1.13 a litre woohoo), then went on a stitching adventure … I finally went to Centre Road in East Bentleigh to visit Amitie (downstairs – quilting) and Broderie (upstairs – embroidery), and really enjoyed it. The quilting part is quite large, with a reasonable selection of fabrics … and I’ve asked about classes there to teach me how to do applique and learn the quilting basics so I can complete my block of the month quilt I have sitting here doing nothing (complete with all the fabrics for it). Because of my shift work hours it’s really difficult to commit to a lot of classes because they’re usually spread over say 4 weeks, and I’d only end up being able to attend 2-3 of the classes. At Amitie, though, they have ‘casual’ classes each week, and you just pay for the class you attend and the instructors just help you with your queries … I’d definitely keen to do that, and it’s only 15-20 minutes drive from where I live yippee 😀 I can’t remember if I’ve posted info on my quilt yet, but this is the design I have sitting here (and yes, for a change, it’s blue!! LOL). Sorry but Blogger is being a dog again, and won’t upload piccies, so no clickable links again … if anyone knows how to make Photobucket piccies clickable, I’d love to know how! Actually, if you click here, you can see a clearer picture of it on the designer’s website 🙂
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Upstairs from Amitie is Broderie – I have to admit the space is quite small (just one medium room really), but Elizabeth has a decent range of threads etc in there, and she can order in most things they don’t have. The owner is the Elizabeth that used to be at Bustle & Bows Malvern – I really liked her, and glad she’s managed to set up her own business. It was really lovely to get out there and see a new LNS, as well as picking up a couple of items I needed to finish kitting up two new gift projects. I also managed to pick up a copy of the 2005 JCS ornie issue for Mum at half price, which was fantastic … and I was very very good and didn’t walk out with anything extra, only those items I specifically needed (pearl cottons and fabric), so I’m still working within the 50 Project Challenge guidelines. Unfortunately Broderie didn’t have everything I needed, so I had to call into The Embroidery Den in Brighton on the way home, where I managed to find everything else … even the 3mm satin ribbon in the perfect shade yippee 😀

My last trip on the way home was to Officeworks where I did some photocopying I needed to do for some working copies of charts etc, and picked up a 2007 filler for my diary. And my final purchase (yes, I FINALLY bought one, Mum) was from Autobarn … a dashboard cover for my car!! I have a Nissan Pulsar sedan, and the dashboard is the most horrendous thing I’ve ever had in a car, as it reflects the sun badly onto the window and makes it hard to see. When I first bought it I bought a piece of black felt and sat that on the dashboard to block out the reflections, but three years later the felt is well as truly dead (and brown!), and with summer here I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet … I’m so happy!!! 😀 (Actually I’ll be even happier when it arrives, ‘cos I’ve had to order it in haha.)

Tomorrow I’m heading into the city to meet my pal Fraze for dinner, so I might go in earlier and have a look around. Then Thursday I’m off to Box Hill to get my hair cut/coloured … I have to decide whether to have a dark colour put back in again (I had a semi-permanent put in before Katrina came here to visit), or whether to get the blonde back again until after summer … oh decisions decisions haha. I might just have to buy some dinner to take home from there, too, from my fave Vietnamese eating place yummo 😀

And with no further ado, I’m off to sort out my working copies to settle in for the evening … I may even get that needleroll finished tonight … maybe 😉

Finishes, Needlerolls

Better Dratteds piccie

Anne S

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments about my Dolphins Domain … I have to admit, I really out-did myself with the amount of stitching I crammed into the final couple of days – it’s amazing what sheer determination and bloody-mindedness can make you do! 😉 Mind you, the pile of dishes in the sink and general mess around here shows I really did do nothing else but stitch for every waking moment for a couple of days – and on my day off sick I literally sat down with needle in hand at about 9am and didn’t put it down again until almost midnight, and did the same thing yesterday until it was finished. And for those of you who’ve asked for it, here’s a much better photo of the Dratteds (and it’s clickable) – I think the colours are a bit more accurate too, as it was taken in front of the window with no flash this time (and with my good SLR camera).

I’d just downloaded an anti-phishing software that came with my renewal for SpyNet, and it was playing havoc with my PC, especially blogger … so today I uninstalled it and voila I have Blogger piccies again without crashing the entire system yippee!! 😀

Last night was my first night shift (affectionately known as the Doggoes – apparently this came from the old days when night shifts were known as the ‘dogwatch’), and I really loved it – I was wide awake all night, in that I didn’t feel tired once … although tonight may be a different story, as I never sleep properly during the day (and of course yesterday I was awake almost 24 hours by the time I got to bed). Anyway, the calls were a bit quiet for a few hours, so I managed to put in a few stitches for the Needleroll SAL with Katrina et al inbetween answering queries/calls – this month I’ve chosen the Snowman Needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush, and here’s my progress to date.

As for “what now?” after the Dratteds are finished … I’m debating between a couple of choices for my newly opened focus piece slot in my rotation – high up the list is Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine, or possibly one of my TW UFO’s (English Garden Sampler or Noah’s Ark). I have to say, due to the sheer size of it, that Egyptian Garden is likely to win out. Originally I was holding off doing this so I could SAL with Carol, but we agree that she’s pretty much Chatelained-out with her stitching in that area this year, so I’ve opted to pick it back up again and get cracking on it. In fact there you go, my decision has been made … EGM is my new focus piece! 😀 Seeing as I coughed up all that money for the kit, I really should get that beauty finished!

Next up, though, is my scissor fob exchange, as the deadline is drawing ever nearer – then a small gift for someone, and a couple of Christmas ornies … if nothing else, there’s always something in the pipelines waiting to be stitched, so I’ll never have a problem running out of a project! ;P

Have a great weekend everyone 😀

Finishes, Uncategorized

Farewell to the Dratteds!

Anne S

Yup, you read the title right … I haven’t been much online over the last couple of days, but rather I’ve been spending almost every waking moment with my needle in hand sat in front of the Dratteds. And compliments of having a day off work sick yesterday (with a splitting headache and the chills – just a cold thankfully), I managed to put the final stitches into them tonight (just in time for going to work on the overnight shift). After all these years, they’re finally done! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!

I feel very relieved to have them finished finally … but in some ways a bit sad that they’ll be leaving ‘home’ soon – even if I say it myself, they’re gorgeous in real life 😀 Hope you like them, John and Vicki, ‘cos your wedding present is finally stitched up for you. Now all I have to do is save up for the framing 😀

So, here they are in all their glory 😀 (Sorry, but the photo is from Photobucket as Blogger photos kept crashing my system, so you can’t click for a bigger piccie)
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Dolphins Domain by Cross My Heart
(from Orcas and Dolphins leaflet)
Started in August 1999 – Completed 13 October 2006

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Round Robins

A small finish

Anne S

By the following piccie you can no doubt guess what I did today on my first day off … stitched my little heart out! In fact, I stayed in my PJ’s all day too … such decadence! 😉 But it means Lynn’s RR block is all finished except for the one little Mill Hill bead that I can’t find right now (and after my last experience, I’m not in a major hurry to rush out just to buy one little packet LOL), and my name – other than that it’s all finished yippee 🙂 I’m not sure whether this counts towards my 50 Projects Challenge, as this wasn’t technically from my stash (apart from the DMC) …

Now I’m off to do a tiny bit of stitching on the Dratteds while watching Two Weeks Notice on TV, before heading off to bed for the night.

Food, SBQ

A little bit certifiable!

Anne S

Don’t ask me why, but last night I ended up staying up until 3.30am last night … reading blogs!!! That’s one reason I don’t have a sleep in the afternoons when I’m tired (especially on early shifts), as I can’t usually sleep in the evening, and I was just plain wide awake after 11pm. It’s strange too, that once I’d made the decision to wipe out all the unread feeds and start from scratch, that it felt like a burden had been taken off my shoulders … and I felt more relaxed and in the mood to tackle ‘a few’, which ended up being a few hundred!! I actually read through just over 650 unread feeds last night/this morning and pretty stunned I managed it. I’m left with just 89 left to go today (I’m not going into the archives), and it feels pretty darned good! That also means no stitching was done last night … oops …

Now it’s time to do the last two SBQ’s … I finally managed to do an approx count-up of finished pieces from over the years, so I can answer the questions …

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Elisabeth and is:

“How many pieces have you stitched? Out of these, how many have been for you? How many have had specialty stitches or other techniques besides cross stitch?”

According to my photo albums I’ve done about 142 pieces in total (finished ones, that is – and I might have missed a few earlier ones). Of these 89 have been either for me, or have yet to be allocated a recipient, and 53 have been gifts for others and already given away. Out of these about 70 have been pure XS, and the rest have included specialty stitches or are specific techniques such as stumpwork (4), canvaswork (8), silk ribbon embroidery (2), hardanger (6), blackwork (3), and almost entirely beaded (7).

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Sharon and is:

“When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take?”

That depends on how bad the errors are – if it’s something quick to fix, I’ll usually do it straightaway … if I keep doing it on the same piece time after time I’ll put it away for the rest of that day and come back to it the next day … if I’m still having a difficult time with it, and there’s no deadline, it gets thrown in a corner never to see light of day again. And that’s one great way UFO’s are born! haha. Actually my Waiting for Ships was one of those great examples … I’d frog-stitched the metallics on the tail a few times when I finally threw it in the corner and had a hissy fit with it … picked it up about 3-4 months alter, and fixed it in 10 minutes, then finished it off without any further mishaps 🙂 I have to admit, I’ve never taken an entire break from stitching for longer than a month, and always have oodles of projects on the go (also thanks to those dreaded UFO’s).

And for those of you who are curry hounds, I’ll share my new recipe with you from the weekend (and it’s not really hot, unlike normal vindaloos):

BEEF VINDALOO

1kg (2lb) chuck, blade or skirt steak (I used blade)
2 tablespoons ghee or oil
3 onions, sliced (but I ended up thinking it was too much, and halved it)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 cinnamon stick
3 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup (80ml/2 3/4 fl oz) brown vinegar
1/2 cup (125ml/4 fl oz) beef stock
1 teaspoon sugar

1) Cut the steak into bite-sized cubes. Heat the ghee or oil in a large pan and brown the meat in two batches. Transfer to a plate.
2) Add the onion to the pan; cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until very soft and lightly golden. Add the spices, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 more minute. Return the meat to the pan and stir until well coated in the spices.
3) Add the vinegar, stock, sugar, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring just to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Discard the cinnamon stick. Serve with plain or basmati rice. Garnish with a little finely grated fresh ginger.
Serves 4

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stitching Smalls

#3 of 50 and a Special Visit

Anne S

Two reasons to celebrate today (3 if you include the fact I only have one more 5am shift left this week woohoo) … I can cross off project #3 from my 50 Projects Challenge – and the final product (with those very very expensive beads LOL) went to the lovely Katrina today 😀 Yes, it’s true, we got to meet each other face to face today, and she’s even lovelier in person than on her blog, if that’s possible! 😀 It was awesome that we got to meet up and spend some time together before she flies home – and she says a big “hi” to everyone!! She sneaked in a quick blog reading session while visiting family at the weekend, but no doubt will be catching up properly when she gets home again 🙂

I had originally planned to stitch Katrina a self-designed needleroll, but my creative juices just didn’t come together in the end with my health issues etc, and the final design still needs a bit of tweaking … a quick glance over Katrina’s wishlist and I found the Cherry Blossoms Fob by The Sweetheart Tree hiding in there, which I had in my stash all kitted up for myself … it became the perfect solution. I’m still disappointed my needleroll didn’t come to fruition, but I liked how the little fob turned out, and will definitely stitch it again for myself (even with the pinks LOL).
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Unfortunately dopey me forgot to pack my camera to take with me today (my brain doesn’t really function at 4am – it’s even slower than it normally is, and that’s saying something), so I couldn’t take a photo myself, but Katrina had hers, as did her Mum, so you can look forward to one down the track when Katrina gets home hopefully 🙂

I couldn’t bring a photo home with me, but I did get spoilt rotten and given a beautiful gift from Katrina too … this is a design I’ve been ogling for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to stitching it for myself yet, and now I don’t need to – I now have a gorgeous pinkeep to have on display, and it will always remind me of our first meeting, so it will always be treasured … I just love it!! But that’s not all, I also got a needleroll chart by Forever In My Heart, who I’d never heard of before … this chart is so versatile as you could use just about any colour combination, and I’ll definitely be stitching one of these soon (in fact my mind was ticking over with the thread possibilities as soon as I had it in my grubby little hands). I just love everything, thank you so much, my friend – and it was such a wonderful treat to meet you! {{hugs}}
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Unfortunately it’s now onto very mundane stuff, after all that excitement, as I have to get all the housework done tonight ready for a workmate arriving tomorrow evening, then tomorrow a lot of the prep needs to be done ready for Saturday night’s dinner banquet here … can’t say I’ll be even looking at a needle, never mind using one, before Sunday (if that). When I do, though, I’m thinking of throwing my rotation out the window until I get the Dratteds done completely … I would dearly love to get the Dolphins stitched by year end, and my new idea is to stitch 10 hours on them, then stitch a Christmas ornie or needleroll (just something small and quick) or do a spot of finishing, then back to 10 hours of the Dratteds and so on, until they’re finished. If I do that, I’m hoping to have them finished by the end of October, especially if I can really put some serious work into them on my days off … well, that’s the plan anyway … but you know what they say about the plans of mice and men … 😉 LOL.

So in the words of Looney Tunes’ Porky Pig … for now, “th-th-th-th-th-th-that’s all folks!” 😉

Cross Stitch, Exchanges

Mail Art Exchange

Anne S

I know Zohrah hasn’t received this yet, seeing as it only got sent out last week, but as far as I know she doesn’t read my blog, and I’ve decided to post a piccie of it anyway while I’m waiting for my dinner to reheat. Here was my 2nd attempt at the same design thanks to Mr Postman … I made a pretty crappy attempt at the buttonhole closures, and definitely need a lot more practice, but it looks OK, I think. The buttons were bought in Auckland while I was visiting in May … funnily enough, I bought 4 of them at the time … perhaps I knew something way back then!!! The names have been taken out for privacy reasons. The design was from one of the XS magazines that I can’t put my hands on right at this minute (mainly ‘cos I can’t be bothered to go looking – if anyone is desperate to know leave me a comment and I’ll track it down for you later).

(the front)

(the back)

Stash

Bloody expensive beads!!

Anne S

I just managed to spend $110.50 for one packet of Mill Hill petite beads … woohoo, cheap huh? In my ultimate wisdom I decide to call into my semi-LNS on the way home ‘cos I can’t find my 40123 beads for love nor money, as the LNS is on the way home and it would save money on petrol rather than me driving out of my way to a Spotlight store … or so I thought! I parked in a 1-hour parking zone, right outside the store, and I swear the parking attendant must have been walking right up behind me … I was in there for no longer than 10 minutes (had to wait while another customer was served), and walked out to a parking ticket … for $107 – I hadn’t seen the “Clearway between 4-6pm” sign … bloody hell, I feel sick … think of all the stash I could have bought in there for that money!!! Oh well, it means the next month will be a lot tighter financially … I had a good pay week last week, ‘cos I had an extra Sunday shift than I should have normally, so feeling great I socked $200 away towards my sofa bed repayments while I had some ‘free cash’ … now I’m kicking myself for being so bloody organised for a change … especially because I’ve been bidding on a scissors set on the Bay of Evil that I am totally in love with, which of course if I win will be another outlay … that was expected and was still OK, but not with the new unexpected expense!! {heavy sigh}

Even though I’m on a stash diet until my 50 projects are over, that doesn’t affect these as they’re “tools” … how could I resist these?? I accidentally came across a piccie somewhere, and fell head over heels in love … just look at the colour of these!!! Gingher Alyssa designer series scissors … they’d keep me happy for the rest of my stitching days!!! 😀 I was moaning to Mum while she was here that my Fiskars dress-making shears just don’t cut all along the length of the blade, and it’s really annoying, so when I found out Ginghers do “big” scissors too, I was reeled in, hook, line and sinker 😉

I’ve been here 3 years and I’m STILL learning about the parking rules … I’ve only ever had one other parking ticket here, while flat-hunting in this area, as I didn’t realise there was such a thing as “permit parking” in residential areas … I soon found out $50 later that in fact yes there are … filed that one way for the future too …

Stitching-wise I’ve been trying to stitch a small gift for a friend, and had been creating something myself, but I decided the creative process just isn’t coming together for me right now, and I was best to just use an existing chart … hence the reason I needed the beads (perhaps if I’d stuck with my creative idea I’d be $100 better off right now … bugger!). I didn’t have one of the threads, so substituted with a Caron Collection Waterlilies silk instead, and I just have the centre bit of one side left, which is just tiny, and the beading, then it has to be put together … fingers crossed I manage to get most of that done tonight, as I’m on 5am shifts tomorrow and need an early night, but I really want to get this finished.

Aside from that nothing much else to report – I’m still having back/neck pain, and finally decided today to get an appointment (yay, more money going out!) with a sort of physio who specialises in muscular troubles like mine … she’s a nerve manipulator or something, but hopefully she’ll be able to provide some relief, or be able to recommend a physio or someone, as this pain is really getting me down.

Geez, I’m just a bundle of joviality tonight, aren’t I? Oh well, I’ll get over it I’m sure, and be back to normal by tomorrow hopefully. In the meantime I’m heading off to the fridge to make myself a nice long Jim Beam and L&P (I still have a small collection of L&P cans left … they only come out for special occasions, and I’ve just decided tonight is one of them as a cheer me up!).

Finishes, Needlerolls

Project #2 out of 50 totally finished

Anne S

This one is a bit of a cheat … the actual challenge started on 1 September, so I get to include my two needlerolls that I finished the stitching of last week. My personal criteria, though, is that I’m not allowed to include them as part of the 50 Project Challenge until they’re “finished” into needlerolls (seeing as I’d already done the stitching before I personally accepted the challenge) … and I’m pleased to say “1 down, 1 to go”. I just couldn’t get motivated in the afternoon to stitch, but rather my finishing pile screamed to me louder! I popped into Spotlight on the way back from the PO, and picked up some Christmas fabric for ornie backings – I might even get organised enough to get some finished off during the next two months 😉

I did my finishing while watching another DVD rental – Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School … it was a pretty good ‘chick flick’, and perfect for my equivalent of a Sunday afternoon (yeah, I know it’s only Friday, but it was the end of my personal weekend as I’m back to work again, hence my Sunday). Today was an interesting day, as I just wasn’t in the mood to be back there again – not helped by the fact that Sandra that I work with told me I looked awfully pale this morning hmmm 😦 Oh well, at least I survived the day in one piece 😉

Not sure what I’ll do tonight – I managed to get a couple of hours stitching into Dolphins Domain (aka The Dratteds) last night, which I have to admit I really enjoyed, even though it took me much longer to stitch than normal. I won’t bother posting a progress piccie until I’ve stitched a bit more on them. Once I’ve finished my 10 hours rotation I’ll get my current RR piece stitched, then I need to work on my final exchange for a while – the scissor fob exchange on the Robin’s Nest BB. Then in the New Year I’m committed to another Quaker RR with some close online buddies, so I won’t be taking on any other stitching commitments while that’s underway.

Rightio, off to get dinner cracking, then the dishes, then kitting up a new small project for a gift … the Dratteds can wait a day or so 😉