Category: Round Robins

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Round Robins

Round Robin idea

Anne S

I might be mad, but I’ve just added my name to the latest RR list on the Robin’s Nest BB – even though I haven’t received mine back yet, I’ve still really enjoyed joining in with our RR group and stitching some designs I never would have stitched before.  If I ended up joining the Seasonal RR I’ve chosen Passione Ricamo’s freebie topiaries … but if I end up in a ‘general’ RR I have this idea, and wonder if it would work as a RR choice?

I’ve got these four designs that I bought last year called “Who’s Hiding in the Garden?” by Patricia Ann Designs.  My idea is to have each of the designs stitched individually, with the MH button stitched onto the front of the ‘main’ design, rather than on the back, and having each stitcher add their name and location on the ‘back square’ instead.  Then I thought I’d finish each individual design into an ornie, and have them hanging in a row from a board that’s like a key/coathook kinda thing … what do you think?  The designs would be pretty quick to stitch up (which would make up for my last one!), and I think they might look quite cute that way 🙂

   

In other news I’ve found out at least three people are cancelling their annual leave in April for the three days prior to the CA Wells weekend, so I’m committing myself 100% now.  I’m off to organise a bank cheque today, and the kits are going to be winging their way across to me probably on Friday …

I’m almost feeling quite light-headed from all the excitement lately – heading off to Sydney for the Awards ceremony, and now Perth for CA Wells … not to mention the Little Britain show that I’m still on cloud 9 about (and close friends from work are going tonight, then Ali and I are working overnights together tomorrow night, so guess what we’ll be talking about all night? LOL) … then I receive an email saying a friend from work in Auckland is visiting this week and wants to catch up, and then catching up soon with Nicki before she crosses the Pacific back home again … “life is good” 😀

I have to admit, it will be nice to have some company when I start flatting with Sheree – obviously there are some things that will be a major adjustment for me after living on my own for 1 1/2 years, but I realised recently how much I miss having a chat at home, and more importantly having a laugh … deep down I’m quite a shy person and have definite hermit tendencies, and it’s very easy for me to just immerse myself in my stitching and ignore the outside world to some extent … and now I’m looking forward to being brought back out of my shell again and getting out to enjoy the world a bit more.  I do miss the fun Fraze and I used to have around the flat when we were living together – we’d be giggling with laughter teasing and joking with each other every night like a couple of kids, and it always kept me upbeat … and that only changed when “A” moved in with us.  “Why do you treat Fraze so differently to me, you’re always joking around with him, why don’t you joke like that with me, I feel like a third wheel sometimes …” hmmmm, because you don’t have a wacky sense of humour and I haven’t known you for more than 10 minutes … OK, let’s get back off that train of thought, back to my original thoughts … and I will finish there, ‘cos I’m starting to waffle!

In conclusion … “Life is Good” 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Round Robins

RR and Turbo Needles

Anne S

It’s been a very busy day in my household … for my needles! Absolutely nothing else has been done, but my needles have been flying since 8am until 10pm and I totally finished Wendy’s RR piece woohoo!! 😀 It means I should be able to get it in the post next week, well and truly before the Christmas rush. Here’s a scan of my winter block, as well as a very poor photo of the whole thing finished 🙂


I should have been stitching a needleroll for this weekend’s SAL, but I just couldn’t put the RR down until I’d got it all finished. Now I have to decide which needleroll to stitch tomorrow … it’s a choice between Summer Solstice by Eventide Designs, or a freebie on Classic Stitches website – ooh, decisions decisions.

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Round Robins

RR & Exchanges … and stuff

Anne S

Thanks for all your comments and emails of support – I’m still feeling a bit ‘blue’ (which I would normally be happy about haha), but I’m getting there slowly. Anyway, I won’t dwell on my current issues now, as I’m trying hard to keep them from my mind and not brood on things. I just wanted to post a few piccies of the fantastic exchange I just received today.

I received my scissor fob exchange from Cari, and I’m seriously blown away by her generosity … not only did I receive the most exquisite fob in my fave colours, but also a pair of “Julia” Gingher’s scissors, no less, and a VC silk in the most glorious blue … I’ve been shaking my head like a stunned mullet (there’s an Aussie saying for you) ever since I opened the envelope at lunchtime – and 6 hours later still feel gobsmacked by it all. The fob is absolutely gorgeous, and Cari’s stitching and finishing is awesome … I definitely don’t feel worthy … I just LOVE everything, and it will all be treasured for years to come – thanks again so much Cari!! 😀 I’ve taken piccies of the whole kit and caboodle, as well as trying to take a close-up shot of the front and back of the fob, so here goes:


On top of that I remembered to take a photo of the recent RR’s I’ve been participating in … this one is Lynn’s RR so far, with just one more stitcher left to go (I stitched the Winter square earlier – sorry for the out of focus photo).

And this one is the latest RR I’ve received – this is Wendy’s … and I just have to stitch the Winter square on this one before it gets returned home to Canada. I’m hoping to get some quality stitching time over the next weekend, so I’ll concentrate on getting some of this stitched up then (as well as finishing a gift piece now my missing Kreinik braid has arrived). Anyway, I thought Wendy might like to see how it’s looking so far – hopefully I can whip through the stitching quickly so it can be posted back before hitting the pre-Christmas rush.

Tomorrow is a public holiday here in Melbourne – the only city I know where the entire city has a holiday for a horse race! I loved the description I just found on this website (actually the rest of the page is quite a fun read – and some of the Aussie slang is great):

“Melbourne is famous for Australia’s premier horse race “The Melbourne Cup” held the first Tuesday in November at approximately 3pm at Flemington Racecourse. It is a public holiday in Melbourne, and in the rest of Australia and now in many parts of the world people stop work just to listen to this race. Horses from all over the world come here to participate.
The Queen entered a horse in this race a few years ago – it did not win. Generally it will be won by a horse that has been bred in New Zealand.”

Personally I won’t be having the day off, as I’m working (and I’ll be very grateful for it when payday comes, as it’s a double-time day which will be exceptionally handy this coming payday!!). I do have to admit to spending $2 on a non-essential item yesterday, which in 7 days isn’t bad going 🙂 It’s pretty compulsory that you get involved with this infamous horserace and I joined the throng for the work sweepstake … very high roller this betting chick 😉 Apparently the horse that got put against my name is a relatively good one, not that that will make much difference – but it’s all a bit of fun and the entire office gets behind it. My horse is called “Efficient”.

Anyway, that’s all from me tonight – just wanted to post those couple of piccies … and say thanks for all the support – it has really helped to keep my spirits up 🙂 {{hugs}}

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.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Round Robins

One commitment done

Anne S

I can cross one “must do” off my list for the next week or so – I just put the finishing stitches into Vash’s RR … this is using the freebie “Birds & Butterflies” on the Vermillion website. The main challenge for me was stitching my XS’es in the opposite direction – I’ve never frogged so much in my entire life in such a small design … it’s just 2nd nature for me to cross my crosses my old way! I think it turned out OK, though, and it’ll be winging its way across the oceans to Canada some time over the next week.

We had a surprise phone call yesterday saying my lounge suite is ready for delivery, so we’ll be home tomorrow for that … unfortunately, though, we still have our old one here, so it’s gonna be pretty cramped until we can get rid of it. I’ve offered it to Fraze, as he and his girlfriend have just moved in together two weeks ago, and he’s accepted it … he just has to work out how to pick it up as he doesn’t have a car or trailer … if that falls down, then I’ll donate it to the Salvation Army.

Aside from that, my health has been so-so over the last day or so – after being so ‘cocky’ that I felt good the other day, we popped out for an hour or so to Ikea getting ideas for storage, and I ended up coming home with a splitting headache, and even more splitting tummy pains … no stitching for me that night, and I just spent the rest of the night curled up on the sofa feeling like death warmed up. My tummy was still gurgling last night, but thankfully no pains this time … time will tell over the next day or so, I guess, whether I’ve managed to get rid of whatever it was for good!

Now a quick question for Jess., if you’re reading – thanks for your comment about Stitchery Blue in Williamstown … I have to admit, I took a train trip out there once when I was here visiting – but I haven’t been back since I’ve moved here. My absolute favourite would probably be Lazy Daisy in Heidelberg – I also really like Bustle & Bows in Malvern (and to a certain extent the one in Surrey Hills), but I find their prices quite steep … also the last time I went in the new manager followed me around the shop like a shadow and I felt really uncomfortable – I haven’t been back since hmmm. I also like The Embroiderer in Brighton for threads, but they lack greatly in charts – they’re pretty helpful to order in items if you need them, though. You mentioned “Broderie” in Bentleigh – do you know where it is?? I haven’t heard of it before, and I’d love to track it down, especially as it’s in my neck of the woods, and I couldn’t find it in the Yellow Pages online … 😀
Well, that’ll do for today, I guess – it’s blowing a gale outside today, but it’s beautiful and sunny, and I feel like blowing the cobwebs out by going for a short walk … then we need to get furniture moved around ready for the delivery tomorrow – I can’t wait to see my new lounge suite in here yippee! 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Round Robins

Happy Dance

Anne S

Yippee, I managed to get my ducks square complete for my round robin – they’re just gorgeous, if I say so myself … of course I have to say that, though, as they’re ducks!! (These ones are called Redheads) 😀 It’s stitched on 32ct ivory Lugana, and the way I envisage it all is framed, with the four squares with a darkish green matt so each individual square will be surrounded in the matt – does that make sense? The whole thing is square in size, with two ducks on the top, and two on the bottom. Unfortunately I didn’t have a piece of fabric the ideal size, so I’ve had to scrimp on the side edges of this – but I’m going to attach a strip of fabric to each side to allow the framing when it arrives home again. I hope everyone enjoys stitching on it as much as I have (but of course I’m biased, ‘cos I’m duck-mad!).

Aside from that, nothing to post about really … I’m a bit braindead today, after not getting much sleep last night. Fraze came over and I took him out for a belated birthday dinner, then we had a few drinks at home before hitting the hay at about 1am – I was awake at 5am, and took forever to get back to sleep again, then the alarm went off at 7am for Fraze to go to work. If nothing else, it’ll get me back into early bed mode tonight ready for my early start at work myself tomorrow 🙂

The next slot on my rotation is smalls/ornaments, so I think I’ll try to get an ornament stitched up, seeing as I haven’t met my monthly commitments yet with that. I was hoping to stitch the Quaker Christmas Bulb from a JCS ornie issue, but my three WDW threads still haven’t arrived in the mail (I still have a backorder from SB&B waiting for a French chart to arrive, along with some threads I’m desperate for), so that’s a no-go yet … I still have one ornament to stitch from my Ornament Round Robin group, so that’ll probably be what I’ll end up stitching next …

Thanks again for all your supportive comments about my privacy intrusion – I’ve managed to get over it, and don’t intend changing at all. I’m hoping it was just a once-off, and life will be back to its scheduled programming with no changes … after all, this is who I am and this is my private space 😀

Cross Stitch, Round Robins

Last night shift yippee!

Anne S

Can’t wait for tonight to all be over … it’s my final 9pm-5am shift, then I get three full days off to catch up on my sleep etc and get my body clock back into order (technically it’s 4 days off, but I won’t be out of bed until the afternoon tomorrow, so I don’t count that one). I haven’t had the energy to sit at my PC the last couple of days, so I’ve been sat working on my round robin piece. I haven’t been too stressed over the deadline for this one, as I knew I had this shift coming up, and I usually get plenty of stitching time in … so I can finally show a stitching piccie that’s worth seeing – with luck this will be ready to get in the mail by the middle of the week 🙂

Just a quick post before I head off to work again …

Exchanges, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Round Robins

A mixed bag of allsorts!

Anne S

Before I forget, for Myrna – the needleroll SAL is Katrina’s brainchild (and she is the QUEEN of Needlerolls LOL) … we’re doing this the 2nd weekend of every month – it’d be great if you could join us 😀

At the start of the month I posted what my commitment stitching deadlines were – I decided to post it again now, just for my own motivation, so I can see I’ve actually made some headway in meeting those goals, as well as seeing what’s left to meet … I feel as though I’ve still got huge weights hanging over me with stitching deadlines, so it helps for me to map it all out and see it’s really not as bad as I think …

* 12 May – Melanie’s Exchange (SBEBB)
* 15 May – Biscornu Exchange (SBEBB)
* 15 May – Batman logo quilt block (Jordan B)
* 25 May – Scissors fob exchange (StitchNZ)
* 5 June – Mail Art Exchange (SBEBB)
* 22 June – final Christmas RR ornie (Ornaments RRBB)
* 1 July – Round Robin first posting due (my first real RR)
* 1 July – Strawberries So Faire SAL
* 15 July – Racing cars quilt block (Jay B)
* 15 August – Dragon quilt block (Caitlin R)
* late Aug/early Sep – Needleroll exchange (Robin’s Nest BB)

The scissor fob is under control (meaning I’ve at least made a start on it – but my headache didn’t ease off, so not a great deal of progress yet), but I’ve decided to wait until I get to NZ to post it, as it’ll probably arrive more quickly at its destination that way. I still have no idea what to stitch for the mail art exchange – it might have been easier having a set theme … hopefully inspiration will hit soon hmmm. As for my own RR, I’ve decided to stick to my original plan of having four of the blocks from the Stoney Creek Wings of the Wild afghan series from way back in 1991 … I thought I’d send copies of all the charts I have with me (9 out of the 11), and the other three people can choose a duck square, so I still get a bit of a surprise when it’s stitched up 🙂 Being duck-mad, and owning loads of duck charts, it’s pretty bad that I’ve never actually stitched one for myself yet – having this theme will make this RR extra special for me, and will give me something to truly treasure every day I cast my eyes upon it. This is what the original afghan looks like:


On non-stitching news, I want to extend a HUGE congratulations to my Aunt and her partner in Canada – Monica and Norbert tied the knot (finally) in Las Vegas at the end of April … congratulations to Mr and Mrs Schwarzer! Norbert, it’s about time you made a decent woman out of her! teehee (running and ducking for cover …)

And continuing with non-stitching ‘stuff’ … I’m excited to be going home for many reasons this coming weekend – aside from catching up with people I haven’t seen for a couple of years, I’ll be going through all my stitching stash, and possibly parcelling everything up and freighting it over here … that would be wonderful! … but aside from all that, it’s FEIJOA SEASON!!!!! I nearly fell over when I saw a plastic bag filled with feijoas in our work kitchen last week, but they were so tiny they weren’t ripe yet and very sour (didn’t stop me from eating some though, just ‘cos I’d missed them so much! LOL). I intend stuffing myself silly with feijoas every day I’m over there … I just love them! I originally thought they were a NZ fruit, but according to Wikipedia, the Feijoa originated in the highlands of southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina, and is also known as the Pineapple Guava. Yummo!!!!!!!!! Mum and Dad have a tree in their garden, and we used to give bags and bags of them away … they won’t get chance while I’m over this time haha.

A reasonable week of work shifts this week – starting with 3 x 10am shifts, and finishing with 3 x 6am shifts. It’s amazing how quickly my body has become adjusted to not doing shift work – it’s a bit of a shock to the system to get back into it, but it’s just a case of getting into the routine again. Luckily while I’m way I’m getting out of my least favourite shift – 6pm to 2am … I hate those shifts, as I don’t start feeling tired until about 4am, so I might as well do a “doggo” (overnight) shift – unfortunately it means whoever is covering me while I’m on annual leave will have to do them … there are so many benefits to being a ‘permanent’ Hotliner – having a stable shift roster is without a doubt the best!! Forgot to say, I had a huge highlight in my job last week … after having a slight meltdown in my patience threshold, the next day (the mentally challenging one) the Consultant I was helping out with this horrible problem for almost 2 hours, came and gave me a “Luv Ya Work” award … I was so touched! We have a new programme at work to award your colleagues when they’ve done something exceptional – you fill out the award and the Supervisor keeps the details in a central register, and you can eventually cash them in – 2 awards gets you an hour off work before or after your shift starts, 4 awards gives you two hours off or a $10 voucher from stores like Myer, JB HiFi or a bookstore … it’s a really nice way to recognise internally that you’re doing a good job, and it was designed to lift morale – I think it works 🙂 I got another one last week, too, as I got a score of all 5’s for my evaluation (where they listen in to 6 of your phone calls, and make sure you’re giving the correct information, creating a rapport, etc etc) … which means I now have a sum total of 5 awards sitting in my folder since the programme started a couple of months ago – how wonderful! 😀

OK, enough rambling, time to get ready for work … Have a great week everyone – hope to catch up on all your blogs this week, as I doubt I’ll get chance in NZ (Mum has the worst dial-up connection in the world!).