Home & Family TO BE FIXED – Page 12

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Darling Harbour, Finishes, Finishing, Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Lizzie Kate, Stash, Sydney, Val's Stuff, Works in Progress

Ah, Bliss …

27 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Today I walked out from work at 5.10pm … and felt like a little kid skipping out of school early! It feels really fantastic! Helped that today was the first day that I haven’t been pulled in a million different directions due to urgent things being thrown at me, I managed to actually get some of my own work done for a change … serious bliss!

My rant did me good last night – on top of the productive day, and normal working hours, I feel much brighter today. Apologies to Mum, as this is not how it sounds ‘cos I love having Mum visit, but it’s been really nice to come home to an empty place and not having to have a conversation – I have been anti-social for two days and have found it a great chance to unwind properly at the end of a stressful day without having to chat. I’m hoping by the end of the week to be a bit more back to normal again 🙂

Mum returned home on Monday morning, but we had a wonderful weekend before she left. On Friday we spent the afternoon visiting craft stores – although neither of the stores we visited were really ‘fantastic’ we did manage to find something at each one to spend a couple of dollars on. At Lyn’s needlecraft I managed to buy some pink and cream fabric (yeah, me, pink!! LOL) … and a duck!! (I don’t have space for the ones I currently have, but that makes no difference LOL). At Hobby Sew I bought a smaller version of the wire hanger I use for my embroidery scissors – this one is to hang my junk jewellery on, and was proudly hung on the side of my computer desk tonight.

Friday night saw us having dinner with Brenda and Nigel, and it was really wonderful to catch up with them again. I’ve had to promise to visit again soon and stay the night – that’s no hardship, as I’m looking forward to it.

Saturday morning saw us up bright (OK maybe not) and early (most definitely) and driving into the city. That’s my first attempt in driving into Sydney city itself, and I have to tip my hat to my TomTom GPS ‘cos he managed to instruct me perfectly and painlessly to the parking building I wanted. We picked my friend Jason up at the airport then went to Darling Harbour in the freezing cold where we stuffed ourselves on a cooked breakfast, followed by the compulsory stop at the Lindt cafe for takeaway delices and a Mochaccino … yum!! It was really nice to see Jason again, and I’m really glad we changed our plans to visit with him (he was transferring through Sydney on the way to Asia on holiday).

As soon as we showed Jason the way to the train station for his return to the airport we hot-footed it down the motorway to Rosehill Racecourse to the Stitches & Craft Show, where we met up with my good pals Alison and Amanda, and met some new ladies Karen and Rowena. It was really awesome to catch up with these ladies again – they’re always such fun to spend time with. I was pleasantly surprised with the contents of the show … we parted with a fair amount of cash, although when we got home we didn’t seem to have as much as we remembered 😉

My biggest splurges were two pieces of hand-dyed fabric – one from Peppermint Stitches (for Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid hopefully), and one from Stitches & Spice (36ct mottled/vintage neutral colour), plus a big Santa for my main Christmas display this year (thanks to Dodgey Brothers R Us removalists, I no longer have my beautiful ceramic Christmas tree centrepiece, as it arrived in a squillion pieces). Here’s a photo of the full stash haul (combining both mine and Mum’s purchases). I nearly squealed with delight when I saw a butterfly charm (Susan Clarke design) that will match my Just Nan Dragonfly scissor purse … I didn’t care about the $27 price tag, I HAD to have it!!! (The Christmas items aren’t in the photo as I can’t be bothered unpacking them from the box.)

Other purchases were some metal charms for scissor fobs, some Dress It Up buttons (snowflakes and stars), cheapo scissors for travelling, and the most adorable metal hanger for my Christmas quilted wallhanging. Doesn’t it look perfect?

Crikey, I barely blog for two weeks and now I can’t shut up!!!

I’ll finish for the night by showing my very minimal stitching from the last week or so – here is my latest finish:

“Life’s a Stitch” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct natural Belfast linen
with recommended GAST threads

And here is my current work in progress – I’m trying to stitch predominantly those charts that I’ve bought special threads and embellishments for and are essentially kitted up. Once I get through a few of them, I’ll add the designs to my trade list (I’d better hurry up and get stitching or you’ll be waiting for a while!). This project is Just Nan’s “Evening Star” which is a retired class piece. At my current stitching rate it should be finished some time in the middle of September haha.

Last night I was in such a cranky mood I vented my frustration by doing the finishing on my August Christmas ornie – if that’s the result of being angry with work, I should keep it going every night!! LOL. I added a little white pom-pom-thing with glue once the pillow as finished 🙂

And now it’s time to settle in and get some stitching in (after once again lugging up my next round of laundry washing – I figure the more I get done tonight, I won’t have much to do at the weekend).

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Still around …

20 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick post to say I’m still around, but not particularly stitching and certainly not doing anything exciting. I’m still struggling to get over my bugs – as soon as I think I’m coming right they knock me back down again. Monday saw my boss plus my other team member off sick so it was back to being just me in the department, which is definitely not conducive to getting my own work done … It would be lovely to get my head above water just for a short while workwise, as I’ve forgotten what that feels like! Once Mum goes home I’ll probably go back to working a day over the weekends just to catch up a bit.

Unfortunately this all-work-no-play lark has affected my stitching mojo, and I’ve barely lifted a needle for the entire last week … and I have no desire to do so. Instead I’ve been sat up in bed playing mindless computer games for a couple of days on the laptop, which has relaxed me more. I have a small Lizzie*Kate project that would normally get finished in 1 or 2 nights, but it’s taken me all week so far, and still not finished ho-hum.

On Friday I’m taking the day off so Mum and I can visit some LNS’s in the northwest of Sydney that I haven’t been to before, then we’re having dinner with my old friends. Saturday sees us up bright and early having breakfast at Darling Harbour, when we catch up with a friend from Melbourne who’s flying out to Saigon on holiday and organised a 5-hour layover in Sydney so we can catch up. Once he heads back to the airport we’ll be rushing up north of the city to the Stitch & Craft show to meet up with Alison and Amanda and some other ladies I don’t know. We may go to the Zoo on Sunday, depending on the weather, then the Dragon flies home on Monday.

I feel bad because this visit hasn’t been a quality one for Mum – I haven’t wanted to do anything or go anywhere due to illness, and when I’m sick I don’t want to be around anyone, so that’s put on an added strain. In the evenings I’ve just wanted to curl up in a little ball and pretend the world doesn’t exist.

I also feel bad because I’ve been nominated for some Awards by some beautiful, beautiful people, and haven’t had the energy to sit down and acknowledge them and pass them on. I will rectify that in the near future, hopefully.

I have to admit, though, I’ve been having thoughts over the last few months whether to give up blogging for a while, as I’m not really getting any enjoyment out of it just lately and it’s starting to feel more like a duty rather than pleasure. I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing, but it is likely that I won’t be posting as regularly as I have been (although I’ve already started posting less and less to when I lived in Melbourne). I like the sentiments about “Blogging Without Obligation”, so I need to take that sentiment on board when I start feeling guilty about not posting.

Geez, I’m a real bundle of joy today!!! I’ll sign off for now and jump in the shower before another looooong day of meetings and getting no work done (!) … I hope I can get the ringing out of my head while I’m in there (someone’s smoke alarm has been going for the last hour at least, which is seriously doing my head in – who needs an alarm clock??).

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Val's Stuff, Works in Progress

Is it snowing outside?

13 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, the weather will surely be changing because a miracle occurred in Chez Shackles over the last 24 hours! I managed to get my August ornie completed before the middle of the month … now I KNOW I’m not feeling well!!

“A Merry Kitty Klaus” by Val’s Stuff
from 2007 JCS Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
using Crescent Colours Sassy Brass and Cupid,
Olde Willow Shale, Wisper thread and DMC for the remainder

Went to the GP yesterday who confirmed my bugs are just a viral infection (which I’d already guessed) – I’m now loaded up with Buscopan for the griping stomach cramps and on orders for Panadol, fluids and rest … if that doesn’t work I have to go back to have blood tests, but I’m sure that’s all it is (which is the main reason I hadn’t bothered going to the GP before now). I was still pretty crook throughout the weekend, and definitely not my perky self (commented on a lot by colleagues at work, which didn’t do anything to help my mood, especially when someone drew a smiley face on a piece of paper and wrote “SMILE” on top for me … made me want to throttle them instead of smile! I’m terrible when I’m feeling ill, I just want to sit in a corner away from people until I get over it hmmm).

Still haven’t finished my needleroll, as I need to concentrate a bit on the buttonhole stitch banding etc, and don’t feel up to it yet … hopefully it won’t be long now before it is completed though. Now it’s time for me to jump in the car for another thrilling day at work (can you tell I’m really not in the mood right now?)!

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Lack of posting

2 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Aside from work being manic as usual, there may be more of a lack of posting from me than usual over the next few weeks … ‘cos …

“She’s baaaaaaaaack … !!!”

Yep, the Dragon arrived safe and sound into Sydney Airport this morning, and we’ll be spending time over the next three weeks when I’m not slaving away at work, doing the mother-daughter bonding thing. Hopefully that’ll also mean my stitching mojo returning as there’s nothing more relaxing than sitting in front of the TV with a good DVD on with my Mum as my stitching partner. In fact I sat and put a few stitches into a new project today while Mum had a lengthy snooze on the sofa. It was very peaceful.

I’ve been feeling ever so slightly ‘flat’ of late due to work stresses, so it was a really nice pick-me-up to have Mum’s company today. Unfortunately I may end up going into work over the long weekend this weekend to try to bring some sanity to my working week next week, but the sooner I catch up at work the better for my future health and mental state!

If I’m not around, you’ll understand why – I’ll be hanging out in the Dragon’s Den! 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Party time in Sydney

9 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Yep, I actually did it! Ended up going to a meeting in the city just before drinkies time – we were invited by the group that were hosting the drinkies as an extra incentive to get us in there, I think … and I’m really glad we went. We had a cordoned off area set outside at the Cargo Bar at Darling Harbour for drinkies and nibbles … even though it was raining and freezing, we had outdoor gas heaters blowing and it was very social and very cozy. I had a WONDERFUL time. I only stayed for 2 hours, and opted to leave at that point while I was still OK to drive! I was sorely tempted to stay longer, but that would likely entail a $40 cab ride home then having to get a bus then a train into work tomorrow morning … so much better to leave with a clear head 😉

I must say something a bit soppy here … tonight at the celebrations I finally felt as though we had launched the project – it truly came at the right time for celebrations, and a lot of the members of the project team that we’d been meeting with from the myriad of different departments over the last six months were present. The only people invited from our department was myself and my boss, as we have been the only ones working on the project until the day of launch when it was “all hands on deck” to load the procedures etc in the database. It was great to meet the top tier executives from that department, and be invited to join the group. I have to say (here’s the soppy bit) I felt really proud to have been part of the whole project tonight and to see it launched very successfully … geez it felt good tonight to actually feel the positive emotions about the whole thing!

Anyway, that will see me hitting the hay with a smile on my face … now I’m off to drag out the winter-weight duvet inner to throw on the bed to keep that smile on my face during the night, ‘cos the temperature has plummeted today.

Tomorrow is now Friday for me, as I’ve been granted a day in lieu for all the additional hours I’ve been putting in lately … I figured Friday is as good a day as any to take off, as my flatmate is away that day too which means I can blob around and be lazy all day … so now I’m guaranteed to get the Sunflower Sampler finished this weekend 😀

And on that note, I’m off to bed 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

For Mum

9 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Nothing to show stitching-wise … I was still on my own in the office yesterday, so it was yet another full-on day. With any luck the ‘sick’ person will be back in today ‘cos it’s starting to get a bit draining. Have been invited to the official launch of ‘my’ project tonight in the city – not entirely sure I’ll go as it’s a major hassle to get into the city just for a quick drink to come home again … although it’s quite a big deal, I think, so perhaps it will be expected that I be there hmmm. I’m taking the makeup in in case I change my mind (I don’t normally wear makeup, unless it’s for site visits or special occasions etc).

Anyway, my real reason for posting is to announce to my Mum that my nail has finally grown out enough for me to soften it and cut it off. You have no idea how wonderful it is not to wander around with a bandaid on it every day and to have to be careful every time I touch something so it doesn’t catch on the nail. It’s sheer sheer bliss!!! It’s a bit of a weird shape at the moment until it grows a bit more, but “I feel good, na na na na na na na….”

And on that note there’s one quick way to stop feeling good … and that’s to get on my bike into work ‘cos I’m now running late! 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Lanarte, Sea Life, Wishlist

Exhausted … but still here!

4 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away for long … although the last two weeks have really taken it out of me energy-wise. Aside from working both days last weekend for various times, I’ve managed to have my working days this week range from 12 hours to 17 hours … today was my final 13 hour day for the week, and my intention for the entire weekend is to sit around in my PJ’s, watch DVD’s and stitch to my heart’s content. I don’t give a monkeys about housework chores (aside from a bit of laundry that I’ll need for next week) or cooking gourmet meals … it’s all about being bone idle and not having to think about anything for a second longer than absolutely necessary.

The product launch went pretty well (my 17 hour day was from flying to Hobart for the day – leaving home at 4.45am and getting home at 10.30pm … not fun!), although it’s been a rush of ongoing work since then due to some problems with the software that has caused some extra workload for my area … but I’m hoping that today will see the last of the long shifts, and next week things will return to normality once again. I have to admit that tonight arriving home I sang a little ditty to myself and did a bit of a dance coming into my bedroom … so I guess I’m excited that I survived the week and that it’s now the weekend! 😀

Inbetween work last weekend I did manage to fit in a tiny bit of stitching and got one project completed – eagle eyes may have spotted it sitting in my “finished” Flickr display in the sidebar here after last weekend, but I can now unveil it officially.

“Fish Collage” from Sea Life booklet by Lanarte
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen with DMC

I also have something else to ‘show and tell’, as I received a wonderful, wonderful gift yesterday from Susan. Unfortunately, though, I haven’t taken a photo yet, so that will have to wait until I do that this weekend. In the meantime if you want to see it more quickly you can have a peep over at Susan’s blog. I absolutely ADORE it, and you’ll understand exactly why when you see it!! 😀

One thing I did do, though, while cleaning up my photo files for half an hour the other night, is find another few designs that had to be put officially onto my wishlist, and I thought I’d share ‘just for the sake of it’ while they’re on the Webshots screen:

Golden Lotus by Art-Stitch

Home by the Sea by Designs by Pamela

I love, love LOVE these fellas!!!!!
Victorian Santas by Charlette’s Collectibles

With thread in hand by Lavender Wings

Rightio, it’s now 10.30pm, and I’m still sitting in my raincoat after just walking in the door, so time to undress and get into those PJ’s I’m gonna be wearing all weekend … I think tonight I’ll fall into bed and be asleep before my head hits the pillow. It’s such a good feeling to know “it’s all over” (well, the biggest part anyway).

Thanks, too, by the way for all the positive support from the incident last weekend, it was really appreciated – I’ve now moved on and decided not to address the issue further. It has still left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, for want of a better description, but it will not stop me from blogging or stitching … after all, that’s part of who I am! Thanks again for the support everyone {{hugs}}.

Rightio, it’s really time to hit the hay now, as my eyes are starting to close of their own volition haha.

Christmas Ornaments, Country Cottage Needleworks, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Travel - Fiji

A bit of a rant!

27 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

After posting a piccie of my stitching finish “Picanini Can Can”, someone ‘kindly’ left a link to Wikipedia in my comments area which essentially states the term “Pickaninny” is offensive and racist. Am I to interpret that link to insinuate either my stitching or myself is offensive and racist?? Who knows, as the person who left the link has not responded to my personal email to her. All I can say is, seriously, GET A GRIP!!!!!

Quite frankly it’s picking on one of the least racist ‘white chicks’ you can meet – I used to tell Fraze off all the time for his racist comments and actions against Asian races … and I have always had friends ‘of colour’ – Asian, Indian, Maori and Fijian … not to mention I was apparently the only kid in the street growing up in England who used to play with the ‘coloured children’ (the term I was taught to use growing up) – as far as I was concerned there was no colour difference … as someone once said, “we are the same people in different packaging – we all bleed the same blood”.

I’ll end with a photo of the last relationship I was in … racist? I think not! (by the way, it’s the guy on the right)

Mutter mutter mutter … 😦

I can only say one thing, in the form of my latest stitching finish – my Christmas ornie for June … “PEACE”!!! 🙂

“Peace” ornament by Country Cottage Needleworks
from 2007 JCS Christmas Ornament magazine
Stitched on 28ct Water Lily Jobelan
with recommended DMC (except substitute plain white for DMC 3865 which was AWOL)

Yet another crappy photo that doesn’t show the colours up too well – the fabric is a lovely soft green! Like others before me, I think this is way too big to be an ornie, so I’m keen to finish it as a flanged pillow … with a pastel pink fabric for the flange … yeah, I know, ME … PINK!!!!! 😛

PEACE !!!

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Wishlist

No stitching to show

16 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

And it might be a few days or so before there’s another update after my stitching weekend marathon 🙂

Instead, today I finally contacted the NSW Embroiderers Guild to talk about signing up for membership. The headquarters is in Concord West, so it’s a wee drive away from here, but they have stitching groups that meet one Saturday or one Sunday a month, which could be nice to join up with. Even though I’m not currently doing any stitching other than XS, it’s nice to see other techniques being done – and might even spur me back into action to work on some of the EGA class projects I haven’t even started yet!

I’ve also been increasing my wishlist (yet again!!) – here are the latest ones that have taken my fancy (thank goodness I don’t often search for new designs so I only find a few at a time haha)

Here’s My Stitching Treasures Accessories by Jeannette Douglas (I also now might have to add the original My Stitching Treasures to the list too LOL):

New 2008 double flip-its from Lizzie*Kate – I LOVE these big time!!! I have a funny feeling my Mum might love these too … I don’t normally ‘go for’ Lizzie’s flip-its, but these ones are a given 😉

Talking about Lizzie*Kate, this one I have definitely got a soft spot for after seeing it on Dawn’s blog – gotta love those sentiments haha:

And I’ll finish off with Mirabilia’s Letters from Nora – the letter A is just perfection in itself for moi … what more could I want than a beautiful pretty blue angel? OK, so she doesn’t have a duck by her side, but it’s close enough to perfection for me 😉

The only thing I had to add is that I finally have a better typing set-up at home for my laptop … just before Mum left I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I just LOVE it – especially the mouse! It’s amazing how much more quickly I’m getting things done on the computer.

I’m also starting to plough through my 3 months backlog of blog reading as from today – I’d love to get to the stage again when I just have ‘new’ feeds to check each day instead of the 1300+ I currently have to wade through! I’m tempted to ‘mark as read’ … sorely tempted … but I know I’ll regret missing out on news and stitching finishes, so I’ll keep going for a few days and see how I go 🙂

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Sydney, Travel, Uncategorized

Day out down south

9 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

As I mentioned yesterday, Mum and I drove down to Mittagong, Bowral and Berrima on Saturday, and had a really lovely day out. I wasn’t going to write this post just yet, but I’m up (not bright but) early thanks to Lisa coming home inebriated in the wee small hours and spending half the night in bed listening to her throwing up in the bathroom opposite … I figured now is as good a time as any to write it up!

Anyway, we started the day off by driving to Mittagong to Victoria House so Mum could see the stitched models. And we ended up coming out with a few charts from their bargain/sale bins … I didn’t take any photos of the stash, sorry, but basically Mum’s were all Christmas ornament charts, and I bought a couple of Hillside Sampling charts, a needleroll chart, and a wooden bellpull hanger for my Bent Creek Christmas wallhanging. It was nice to wander around and view the stitched models – always my favourite thing to do when visiting a new (or old) needlework shop 🙂

We then drove on a few km’s up the road to Bowral where we’d heard there was a Food & Wine Festival on … if there was, we didn’t find it, so ended up having a very non-Weight Watchers snack of meat pie and pastries from Gumnut Patisserie – this patisserie has won awards 4 years in a row, and it’s easy to see why, absolutely everything we tried from there was absolutely divine!! No piccies, unfortunately, as we scoffed them while on the road (very naughty, I know!).

From there we drove another short distance (about 8km) across country to Berrima, where I’d been recommended to visit – and we weren’t disappointed. What a lovely quaint village atmosphere – and not touristy at all, I thought. The buildings are just lovely, and we spent a couple of hours just wandering aimlessly in and out of all the shops … with the odd thing jumping into our bags every now and then 😉

A highlight for me was Mrs Oldbucks (they also have mail order from their website) – there is a room just filled with every sort of tea imaginable. I bought four as my treat for the day, then Mum bought me one more with a tea filter for my mug … I came home with Wild Berry, Raspberry & Lime, Chai Herbal Blend, Summer Blend, and Marsala Chai – I should take some photos of the teas themselves … just opening the shopping bag up to read the labels my senses are filled with an amazing smell … aaarghhhh 🙂

As well as the room full of teas, there is another long room at Mrs Oldbucks which is filled with all kinds of culinary goodies – lollies (sweets), jams, chutneys, honeys, mustards, etc etc etc … an absolute treasure trove of yummy goodies.

We also spent a little bit of time wandering through the local patchwork shop, and managed to find a fat 1/4 each of fabrics we just HAD to have … plus I bought a wire hanger with 7 hooks on it to use for hanging my scissors up (I’ll try to remember and take photos later when I unpack all my scissor fobs and scissors … yep, still unpacking! haha), plus a couple of small wire hangers that I’d been hunting for for months!

There were also a couple of lovely antique shops that we found in a side street later, but it was getting too late to call in – but I loved a few of the buildings in that wee street (I’m a sucker for old buildings).

When we turned out of the street to return home, we were greeted by the magnificent sight of loads and loads of cockatoos sitting up in the trees – I’ve seen this phenomenon before but Mum hasn’t … it was hard to take a photo, but you can see all the white specks in the trees, well they’re all cockatoos! It’s a glorious sight!! 😀

After we arrived home we decided to celebrate the end to some wonderful adventures, as we were unlikely to be tripping off again during this visit – I cooked a light chicken dinner (stir-though sauce compliments of Leggo’s haha) and we cracked open a bottle of bubbly and placed a hibiscus flower in syrup that I bought in Perth recently in the bottom of the glass (they’re so cool!! – their website has a much better photo and information if you want to check them out), and settled in for the night … a fitting end to a wonderful holiday (I’m just trying hard not to think about work tomorrow as I know I have a gruelling procedure writing session for my ‘huge project’ as soon as I walk in the door hmmm).