Category: Cross Stitch

OK, here’s the stash report from my Nordic Needle haul … have to admit, I wasn’t as thrilled as I thought I’d be when I opened it – I think I’ve just been waiting so long for it to arrive, it almost feels like an anti-climax … weird, I know – I’m such a strange creature! 😉 The one piece that kept taking my eye all night, though, was Thea’s “Close at Heart” chart – too beautiful!! Anyway, here’s the piccie, as well as a list of the charts:

• Onyx – Blackwork Beginnings Series by Paw Printings
• Orca Whales – Peter Underhill’s Marine Creatures
• Butterfly Garden Sampler by The Victoria Sampler
• Close At Heart by The Victoria Sampler
• Bruce (the Spruce) & Friends by Full Circle Designs
• Sapphire Star (canvaswork) by Laura J Perin Designs
• Spring Needle Roll kit by Lorri Birmingham
• Butterflies & Hearts Needle Roll kit by Lorri Birmingham
• Teddy Bear Santa mini stocking kit by Lorri Birmingham
• 18ct mono canvas in eggshell for Sapphire Star
• Piecemaker tapestry needles (2 x #26; 1 x #28)

And here’s today’s progress piccie for Summer into Autumn – thanks for everyone’s lovely comments on my progress so far … greatly appreciated :)) I had to frog stitch one strand of the overdyed silk due to a blonde stitching moment from reading the chart wrong … and I’m also thinking of unpicking the tree foliage, as I think I’d prefer to confetti stitch it, so it doesn’t have the really distinct lines. I’m a bit annoyed that the kit contents stated the MH glass treasure in the shape of a maple leaf was supposed to be included … it’s not to be seen! I mentioned this as soon as I received it to Stitching Bits & Bobs, and they’re going to send me one as part of my back-order when it comes in.

For me, I only have one more working day left tomorrow (Saturday), then I have two days off, and can’t wait! Been a so-so day today … didn’t get a great night’s sleep, which is mainly to do with me feeling a bit flat and very over-tired – we had yet another big thunderstorm during the night, so I had a pretty broken sleep. Mind you, I was still up at 7.30am and straight into work stitching on the Dratteds to make me feel more human – and loved it! Managed to get 2 hours stitching done on it … isn’t it amazing how much more quickly the needle flies when you’re really enjoying the stitching? Will be interesting to see if the enthusiasm continues for the next 8 hours of my rotation LOL. I’m now about to leave the ‘main’ dolphin behind, and head over to the right-hand side of the fabric – I want to finish all the top half of the chart before winding up the scroll bars, as I’ve got the sides laced, and I hate re-lacing them.

On a positive note I received the first of my long-overdue backorders today – from Wyndham Needleworks. I was very very disappointed to find out, though, that the 2001 JCS Christmas Ornament issue had sold out … wish I’d known that weeks ago when I ordered it – I was really disappointed when I opened the envelope, especially when no mention had been made of it in emails 😦 Oh well, the other charts etc were ones I needed for SAL’s etc, and the 2002 JCS Christmas ornie issue was there, and I have to say I love quite a few ornies in the 2002 one 🙂 The other charts I received were Strawberries So Faire and Quaker Needlework Treasures by With My Needle, and Quaker Swan Case by Fancy Work.
I also forgot to post I received my back-order from The Silver Needle at the start of the week too … I’d actually forgotten about my back order from them (!) – plus my back-ordered 32ct natural Belfast linen from Silkweaver, which also arrived earlier. Have to admit, I really love the colour of that linen … very very nice! The Silver Needle was just one JABC button for an ornament plus some MH crystal treasures and Kreinik braids for two projects I’m really keen to stitch – it now means I have everything in place for my MH stand-up Christmas tree woohoo!!!

And now it’s time to head off to bed again, after only being home an hour – want to try to wind down early, as they’ve just started up a party next door … at least my bedroom is on the opposite side of the apartment to the party … phew!

The weather today is stunning – beautiful blue skies, warm temperatures, and only a gentle breeze … it feels good to be alive today 🙂 I do feel very positive today. Only spent a couple of minutes talking to friends last night about the work situation – felt good to get it off my chest. The reason I’ve been taking it hard is that I used to be a Supervisor in the Auckland office for the same airline. When I moved to Melbourne, I had to resign and apply again, and accepted going back on the phones as a ‘normal’ consultant again – after 2 1/2 years, I’ve hit the wall as I just get so incredibly bored/braindead – the Hotline role is more a troubleshooting/coaching/challenging role. I received a ‘stock standard’ letter saying literally the person who got the job had more qualifications and experience (I wasn’t the only person angry about that!), and on top of that I was told about not getting the secondment in the middle of the office at my desk yesterday … very unprofessional. It’s just very hard at times being ‘back at the start’ again, when I’ve already done the same job plus a lot more – I worked hard to get there in the first place, and it’s frustrating being back at the start again – even though they know my history, I sometimes still feel like the ‘new kid on the block’ in the pecking order. BUT, the good thing about being away from work, is that I’m chilling out about it again … I love working for the company on the whole, and I love the industry – I just have to grin and bear it, and bide my time … and I really do feel OK about it all today :))

OK, that’s the last I’ll mention it – time to move on. One of my friends last night has just split up with her boyfriend of 5 months, and it was quite nice to have something ‘different’ to focus on. It was so nice to have a girlie night out for a few hours – very soothing for the soul 🙂 Gal pals are great!!

Before I forget – an answer to a couple of comments …
Nicola – I’m up for a rousing rendition of Ten Guitars if you are – that really IS a Kiwi tradition, isn’t it? haha.
Carol – you’re wonderful … never thought of the Dark Tan linen for Angel of Love – I grabbed my chart out double quick when I read your comment and I think you could be right! It would be so lovely to get this stitched, seeing as I have most of the beads already 🙂 I wonder if I could squeeze yet another space into my rotation to fit her in … LOL. Actually, a beaded piece could be a nice break from the other big stitching – yeah, OK, I can find a valid excuse in anything! LOL.

Well today I’m looking longingly at the dratted’s, but I’m not allowed to touch it until I’ve done my housework … friends from Geelong are coming to stay for the weekend, arriving tomorrow lunchtime, and staying in the spare bedroom – which currently has the bed etc piled high with unpacking that I never finished … so, I’ve got a lot to do today hmmm. Oh well, it needed to be done anyway – I’ve just always found an excuse not to do it … I’d usually prefer to be stitching haha.

I received my FOTM from Silkweaver yesterday – yuk, is all I’ll say … I’m so used to their beautiful hand-dyed fabrics, I was very disappointed with my selection – very very drab. Mind you, they’ll be easily used in projects because of their neutrality, I guess. I think I chose the wrong fabric selection, so I went online and changed it last night to the Expressions one instead. This FOTM and another one from Country Stitch are the only spending I’m doing now – fabric is the one thing I don’t have much of, so I figure this’ll help, even if I just do it for a couple of months then pull out. Anyway, we’ll see what fabbies arrive into the new year, then I’ll make that decision. The fabrics I got this time are:

• Ghostly Grey 28ct cashel linen (13″x18″)
• Maritime 32ct Lakeside Vintage linen (13″x18″)
• River Willow 28ct Lakeside Vintage linen (9″x13″)

…and it was quite nice in some ways to be back – I was put in charge of the ‘queues’ area today, so I didn’t feel under pressure on the phones etc. Queues are basically different messages generated in the computer reservations system, and has a huge range of jobs – including flight timing changes, credit card rejects for internet bookings, misquotes, other airlines sending confirmations etc etc … and I get to do the same thing tomorrow – it’s a nice way to ease back into work after my health issues, and boy it’s nice to both leave home and come back again in daylight!!

And my floss reorganising this week had an added bonus – now I don’t have my floss bobbins in the special little ‘box’, I now have a new container for all my different teas … so cute! OK, so it’s not as flash as those poofey wooden ones in hotels, but I love it 🙂

And I’ll finish for the night with photos of my fabric haul, seeing as my camera batteries are fully charged up again – and the latest version of my current UFO in progress at the end of the rotation … doesn’t seem to have too much to show for it after 8 hours, but them’s the breaks – every few stitches is a step closer to finally finishing the bl**dy thing! (This is one of the very very first pieces I started stitching, and my first effort on evenweave/linen after using aida, and boy can I tell!! LOL.

Silkweaver Fabrics:
Country Stitch Fabrics:

Stitching Bits & Bobs Fabrics:

Also, KarenV, hopefully you are reading … with your Drawn Thread Summer Into Autumn, did you use the threads exactly as shown in the kit? I seem to think your colours were a lot softer/autumny, which is what made me fall in love with it – the kit when it’s arrived seems a lot darker, but I could be wrong! If you’re reading, I’d love to know if you substituted any of the colours, as I’m quite tempted to do that …

Not one parcel today … but four! Oh crikey, that’s what happens when you stay at home crook and don’t clear the mail! I have to say that today I really REALLY love my stash arrivals – this was the main (& biggest overall) order I placed from Stitching Bits & Bobs, as well as my Silkweaver and Country Stitch orders … and it’s all just too wonderful for words – I think it also helps that my health is coming back under control, and I had a good day out today too … really perked me up! My best friend here had really disappointed me and let me down a couple of weeks ago (3 things in a row), which probably didn’t help with the migraines on top of everything else – but last night he phoned and we chatted a little bit … turns out he’s had some health issues he’s been dealing with, and he’s finally come out with it – unfortunately it gave me the impression earlier that he was blowing me off a bit, which hurt and angered me at the time. He was supportive to me when I had my gallbladder removed earlier in the year, so now it’s my turn to return the favour – he’s just come back from having an ultrasound done – looks like a fatty liver, which thankfully isn’t too serious, and will likely be improved by a change of diet and cutting out the alcohol, which he’s prone to binge on a bit (which has worried me on occasion, but that’s another story). He’s had to drop urine samples and have blood tests, and then they find out if a biopsy is in order. Anyway, I drove out to meet up with him today on my last day off, seeing he was off work too, and his Mum drove from Mooroolbark (which they joke is Aboriginal for “Where the hell are we, we’re lost?” LOL) – and we had a lovely lunch at a favourite haunt of ours at Box Hill (Vietnamese restaurant), then we forced him to spend his $400 David Jones vouchers he’d won at his last job – trying to get him to walk into a shop and spend money is like trying to get blood out of a stone!! We ended up getting him an iPod (which means I score and get his old mp3 player – I told him to keep it and wrap it up for me for Xmas so he doesn’t have to buy anything) – and then had a lovely day wandering round Myer and David Jones department stores just to see their Christmas decorations, followed by a coffee and wine/port tasting at Chadstone shopping centre.

And on the way to picking them up early this afternoon, I called quickly into the Embroiderers Guild and grabbed a couple of SANQ magazines to drool over for the next couple of weeks before they’re due back, and picked up some Piecemakers #26 tapestry needles from the LNS (The Needlepoint, ex-Bustle & Bows) … and I did NOT even look at a chart or thread – just went straight to the needles, picked up 3 packets, walked to the counter, and straight out again … woohoo!!! Mind you, considering how much stash was sitting in my PO Box, I don’t need to buy anything for the next 20 years chart-wise etc LOL 🙂So, my anti-inflammatories and $40 nasal spray (!) seem to be doing the trick – I still have my headache, but it’s not as bad, and it’s back to work again tomorrow – it’s a 7-day week this week for me, but at least they’re ‘normal’ shifts, so I should be OK. Now, back to fondle the stash a bit, seeing as I didn’t have time to look properly when I picked it up …

Unfortunately my camera batteries have just packed up – probably ‘cos it knew I was going to make it work real hard – so I’ll just list my stash haul … I have to admit, this is the happiest I’ve been with all my arrivals of late – they’re the charts etc that I wanted the most, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed! So, here goes the entire list (it’s pretty lengthy, so you might want to grab a cup of coffee or something before you start LOL):

Charts/Books:
* The Flat-Fold instruction booklet – “Just a Thought”/Judy Odell (with plenty of step-by-step pictures … just what a finishing-phobe like me needs!!)
* Wanted! – Santa ’02 – Lizzie*Kate Snippet
* Here Comes Santa Claus – Santa ’05 – Lizzie*Kate Snippet
* Sweet Valentines Teenie Tweenie – The Sweetheart Tree
* Apricot Elegance – Cindy Valentine Designs (for a SAL early in the New Year – except mine will be “Blue Elegance” LOL)
* Bee Keeper – Cindy Valentine Designs
* Thistles Needleroll/Pinkeep/Scissor Minder – Calico Crossroads (just stunning!)
* Star Spangled Scissor Finder – Calico Crossroads
* Stitching Treasures Collection 2 – Twisted Oaks Designs
* French Monogram Collection III – Twisted Oaks Designs
* Lavender Thistles Collection – Twisted Oaks Designs
* Nightcap Pincushion – The Elizabethan Costume Collection – The Nostalgic Needle
* The Flame Stitch Huswif – Sampler Cove
* Summer Into Autumn kit – The Drawn Thread
* Raphael’s Raspberries – Forget-Me-Not-In-Stitches
* Priceless – Glory Bee

Fabrics: (will try to put photos up later)
Silkweaver:
* Solo Minis – 5 x hand-dyed 9″x13″ 28ct Cashel linens – purply/blue; aqua; vintage/rust; rose pink/lilac; blue/lilac.
* 2005 JCS Ornament cuts – 24ct white congress cloth (for Scot’s Bonnet); 40ct R&R antique cotton linen (for Christmas Heart – to be honest, don’t like the look of this fabric, it reminds me of muslin/cheesecloth); 28ct jubilee in Christmas Red (for The Gift of the Season).
* Spooktacular Sale – 32ct Belfast in both Bo-Peep Pink and Cream (9″x13″ I think); 28ct hand-dyed Cashel in Dark Tan (18″x26″ – will be VERY useful); 28ct hand-dyed Opalescent Lugana in Abracadabra (lilac colours); 32ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Jubilation (13″x18″ mint/seafoam greeny).
Stitching Bits & Bobs:
* 28ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Blueberry (fat 1/4)
* 28ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Thyme (fat 1/4)
* 28ct hand-dyed Jobelan in Bluebell (fat 1/4)
Country Stitch:
* Kiwi Illusions Grab-bag – a bit hard to describe the colours of these, but smaller (approx 9″x13″ pieces in a baby blue lugana; burgundy/olive green (reminds me of camouflage colours LOL); baby pink/blue; tan – plus 2 larger pieces of both a white/green mottled lugana (have no idea what I’ll use this for), and a stunning opalescent lugana blue/purple – very pretty!).
* Kiwi Pearls 32ct lugana in sage green sort of colour.
* My Fabric of the Month selection (all approx 9″x13″) – this month a nice mix of colours – Cashel 28ct linen in Ice Blue (although I’d actually ordered this in a larger piece for my Secret Garden SAL in the New Year – at least it’s BLUE so I’ll get plenty of use out of it LOL), and Lilac; Quaker 28ct linen in Light Mocha; Lugana 28ct in Miracle Mint; and Belfast 32ct in Platinum.
* Cashel 28ct in Ice Blue 50cm x 70cm.

Miscellaneous:
* 6 of the 12 ordered Xmas bulb buttons from Just Another Button Company – still waiting on 3 of the colours to arrive, so I can finish my Humbug ornament.
* Rajmahal art silk skein in black (freebie from Stitching Bits & Bobs)

Phew, that’s the entire haul – the other parcel contained my Casulguidi class booklet from the EGA.

Crikey, I’m just sitting here gob-smacked – I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven!!! Hmmm, might have to add in another segment into my rotation, and have two segments for stitching ‘smalls’ – I can’t wait to get started on some of these! Well, two more orders waiting to arrive – the remainder from Stitching Bits & Bobs, and from Nordic Needle, then I don’t leave the house for the next 12 months – and I am officially on The Wagon (yes, there is a Bulletin Board for just that, and I’m now officially a member!! LOL). I think I’m going to be grinning in my sleep all night – I feel shell-shocked, but in a nice way! :)))