Well, true to form, I’ve been lounging around in my PJ equivalent all day – trackpants and PJ top … and I’ve been stitching merrily away on my Cottage Etui. Here’s a sneak preview of how far along I am so far … I’m pretty confident that I’ll get all the pieces finished by the end of tomorrow that I want to (I’m not bothering about getting the rooftop stitched yet – but if I get time before I fly out, I’ll try to start).
While stitching the Etui, it also reminded me that I haven’t shown you my latest stash purchases yet either – as soon as I took them out of the envelope, my Cottage Etui threads went straight onto one of them. Monique makes the most gorgeous threadholders, and I truly adore them! Small enough to be super portable, and no thread snags … plus they look so darned cute!!! 😀 What’s betting a certain senior citizen who will be visiting in May will try to snaffle one of them for herself??? haha.
I also forgot to show your healthy spoils from a morning trip to Paddy’s Market in Flemington last weekend (before my friends arrived). Lisa has bought a juicer and we’ve been having fresh fruit and vege juices every morning this last week … this is just a small sample of what is residing in our kitchen right now … boxes and boxes and lovely fruit and vege (some will be juiced and frozen).
Lovely peaches, with a tray of nectarines hiding underneath … plus boxes of pears, apples and oranges.
There is also a box full of Tahitian limes (just perfect for the bottles of Corona in the fridge), and melons galore, not to mention the pile of pumpkins and butternuts hiding underneath!
And this one is for Mum … a box of Australian feijoas (which I’m sorry to say are really tiny and picked well before they are ripe, so they’re a bit disappointing … I really miss our feijoa tree from home – poor Mum has so many she doesn’t know what to do with them, and she keeps making me jealous talking about them!).
Rightio, my dinner has finished nuking in the microwave, so it’s time to head back to my stitching position for the evening stitch-a-thon 🙂
What a great weekend socially, but now I need some serious recovery time as I feel very very seedy after living it up large all weekend! 😉
We had friends from Melbourne come up to visit this weekend (two girls that I became close friends with on the Hotline at work) – it was so lovely to spend time with them and catch up after not seeing them for almost 5 months.
They arrived Saturday lunchtime and we popped across the road to have a coffee and a chat, then picked up some deli nibbles such as turkish bread, dips, artichokes and olives, salamis, pate, etc etc – we then packed up some lovely chilled white wine and headed across the road to the beach with a couple of picnic blankets and blobbed out eating, drinking and chatting for a few hours … then returned back home to sit on the balcony with yet more wine, before the girls had a beer and I had a bourbon. Eventually we got changed and walked up the road to the local pub where we had a lovely meal and a number of Capriosca cocktails …
I didn’t feel too bad this morning apart from tired and dehyrated, but by now my head is suffering a tiny bit haha. Thankfully the clocks went back at 3am this morning so we got an extra hour in bed … considering we didn’t get home until 1am that was a true blessing!
We had a leisurely start to the morning today by having a coffee and tea with toast and fruit out on the balcony – then we took the train into the city to the Powerhouse Museum. We went specifically to see the Diana exhibit “Diana – a Celebration”, and we loved every bit of it! There were items from Diana’s childhood, and from her personal belongings, as well as home movie footage. Her wedding dress, shoes, etc were on display as well as footage of the royal wedding itself – and a number of her well-known outfits that she’s worn over the years. I do have to admit to being very choked up when reading her brother’s speech from her funeral, and seeing the ‘edited’ version with his own notes added to the page – it was interesting to see the parts of the speech that didn’t eventually get read out, and it was very moving to watch the film footage of the funeral and film clips of her life while listening to the Candle in the Wind being sung … my throat was getting a bit tender not just from the touch of laryngitis I picked up from too much drinking last night, but more from the emotions of it all. If anyone has an interest in Diana, it is well worth the visit, and I’m so glad we made the effort to go. Diana was such as exceptional person who touched so many lives in such a short time – it was an honour to be able to share in the celebration of her life.
I remember growing up as a young adult having a heated discussion with a high school friend of mine who was getting into journalism (and now works for a radio station here in Oz) at the time – I was angry at the paparazzi in those days climbing up trees to take photos through the windows of the Royals … my friend was of the opinion that they were in the public eye and that was alright, and that it was basically all down to the fact that people like ourselves went out to buy the magazines that provided those candid shots of the Royals, so the paparazzi were just catering to demand. I got angry then and vowed right then and there that to prove a point I would never give a red cent to those trashy mags again … and I haven’t! All these years later, I’m not into those magazines and will not buy them and still remember feeling strongly about that issue … and my feelings have never changed – they’re as strong today as they ever were!
Even 10 years on, you are remembered fondly by so many people Diana – your compassionate legacy continues in the charities still being supported.
After seeing the exhibit, we finished off the day by walking into Darling Harbour where we sat and had lunch (although I chose to have brekkie again with Eggs Benedict yummo), before making ourselves sick at the Lindt Chocolat Cafe for coffee and cake (perhaps that also has something to do with my late afternoon seediness as well!!!).
I’ve just returned home after dropping them off at the airport terminal for their return flight home … although it was just a flying visit, it was a wonderful visit that I enjoyed immensely – mind you my liver would be grateful if it’s not repeated again for at least another next month LOL. In fact, I hope there are NO more Melbourne work visitors for a month, ‘cos we always end up having a big session and my poor decrepid body isn’t used to it anymore 😉
I think I’ll be having a very very early night tonight … as it is, it’s only 5pm and I can barely keep my eyes open now!! In fact, perhaps I should just succumb to the temptation, and take a couple of Nurofen and settle in for the night 😛
I can’t believe how much I managed to cram into one day yesterday … it’s most unlike me, as I’m the Queen of time wasting at the weekends!! First up I decided to get the garage tidied up and out of the way, and I was surprised I managed to complete the entire thing in less than 2 hours woohoo (well, apart from Lisa’s futon mattress that I can’t move on my own)! That means we can finally park one of the cars in there, and we won’t get told off for hogging more than one carspace!
Next up, my downstairs neighbour (70 yr old Barbara) hollered out that she had finished with the laundry, so I could get my washing done early yay – once I’d filled the machine to capacity and set it going, I came back upstairs and spoke to Mum on the phone for 2 hours … minus 15 minutes when I ran back downstairs to put the washing out on the line and put the last few towels in to wash.
After chatting to Mum I cooked up a pot of Hearty Minestrone Soup from a recent Weight Watchers cookbook ready for lunches, followed by the making of a low-calorie orange and mango jelly, and a vanilla blancmange … just that word “blancmange” makes me go weak at the knees and start salivating!! You can tell I’m actually a Brit by birth, as you can’t buy blancmange over here (although come to think of it, you can probably get it in the UK import shops, I’ll have to check it out!) … this batch is from a previous donation from my Aunt in the UK, and I’ve never got around to making it. Well, yesterday I made my very first blancmange, and couldn’t wait to sink my spoon into it after it set … yummo! The great thing about WW is that I can still eat these things in moderation if I get the urge, and just work it into the daily points total … although that’s also one reason for making the soup, ‘cos it’s very very low in points but very filling – blancmange and soup, the perfect balance! As of yesterday it’s ‘that time of the month’ when I get some serious sweet cravings, so I also figure eating blancmange is better than eating a big block of chocolate or packet of Tim Tams!! 😉
Here’s a photo of the soup simmering (dunno why I took a photo really) – but no photo of the blancmange, as it didn’t sit still long enough in one piece to get one haha.
I can’t believe what a fantastic day I had yesterday – I’m LOVING this weekend, and LOVING having energy again after feeling so crappy for so long … I feel as though I had a new lease of life yesterday 🙂
The next job I tackled was to glue together 5 Christmas ornies just sitting ready to be finished (they were already laced onto the mattboard etc) – they’re currently sitting under a pile of books after drying overnight and just have to have cording added (which might be a while yet before I do that). Then I cut up strips of calico and neatened the edges with the overlocker, ready to stitch onto the edges of my CA Wells project (there is only about 1-2 cm space at each edge, and I can’t stitch in hand), plus I made quite a few more strips ready for other kitted up projects that I can’t wait to start.
Before I started my stitching for the night, though, I finally did the finishing of two needlerolls that were just waiting to be ribboned and stuffed … and they are now sitting here in all their finished glory 🙂
“Summer Solstice Needleroll” by Eventide Designs Stitched on 28ct hand-dyed Dried Thyme Jobelan with recommended threads but changed the months to be Dec-Jan-Feb to be in line with the southern hemisphere seasons
“Snow Fall Roll” by Shepherd’s Bush (kit)
Feeling the best I’ve felt in months, I also brought out a teeny tiny pinkeep (about 2″ in width) that I meant to finish for Becky last year (!!), and finally did the finishing … originally this was designed to be a scissor fob, but then I changed my mind once I read Becky adores pinkeeps. Even if I say so myself, it looks really cute! I still have a needlebook to finish yet to go with it, so it won’t be posted for a while yet … but at least I can see it happening this year!! 😉
After all that activity, I finally sat down in my stitching chair, switched off the goggle box, and cranked open a talking book for a couple of hours (The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver – love his books!) … and FINALLY put the first stitches into my Cottage Etui piece for the CA Wells class. OK, I have to admit, it’s not much so far, but at least I’ll have one thing that can be finish-finished in class if nothing else haha. This will eventually either be a scissor fob, or if I manage to get some more stitching done, it will be the pincushion/thimble pip ends. I must say I really do like the choice of Gloriana silk for this pice – very rich and scrummy colours in there, with even a hint of yummy blues 😉
And that concludes my wonderful day yesterday – today I’ve woken up quite tired, but still positive, and I’ve decided to sit and stitch a short while this morning on some more CA Wells before tackling any housework … on the first day of my cycle I always feel ‘blah’ so that seems like a perfect day to me yet again!
Well, in fact I can’t say my wishlist is growing much longer, as it’s rare that I find an “absolutely must have” design to add to my wishlist these days (probably more to do with the fact I’m not out looking anymore, rather than not actually liking many haha), but I have to say Sampler Cove have been tempting me more and more these days … I finally succumbed and added the following two goodies to my wishlist – aren’t they great? And the Rhapsody in Red designs still have a couple more goodies yet to come to make up a gorgeous set of stitching accessories (including a bag to carry them in) … cool, or what? And the design Spanish Bleu is just scrummy (perhaps more ‘cos it’s blue!!).
Of course I absolutely ADORE the new threadpack design “My Needle’s Work” from LHN that is an absolute MUST have
Not to mention the recent tea/coffee designs (already on the wishlist, but I felt like sharing)
Not to mention the new designs from With My Needle as well …
Plus I love this older design – which has been tentatively suggested for a friendship round robin at some stage
And talking of older designs, here are a couple more by With My Needle that I really like:
Hmmm, perhaps there is just no hope for me! 😉
* * * * * * * * * *
As for the non-stitching side of me, my latest challenge is to get fitter and lose weight, and 4 weeks ago I joined Weight Watchers again. The diet has been a bit tough while being so sick of late, but I had my weigh-in yesterday and over the last month I’ve lost a total of 2.4kg, so I’m pretty thrilled with that.
I’ve been getting up early every morning this week and walking on the beachfront for 30-40 minutes each day – this morning I reached the beach and the heavens started to open … my thought process was: hmmm, I have a couple of choices – 1) go home and pick up my raincoat, but then I know I’ll never leave home again, and by the time I get home I’ll be a drowned rat anyway … or 2) just keep on walking, come home like a drowned rat, but at least a drowned rat who’s had a good exercise session! Well, I chose the latter, and I have to admit I think I was a bit mental!!! haha. Drowned rat is a total understatement – I popped into Coles on the way home for some grocery items and left little puddles everywhere … I don’t remember ever being that drenched … but I have to admit I felt really good for doing it!! 😀
And on that note, it’s time to hit the hay as I have a big weekend on this weekend … housework and clearing out the garage so we can get the car in, plus starting my CA Wells pieces – not necessarily in that order! 😉
I managed to take a photo of the finished needleroll that I stitched for Karen at The Stitching Post as a model for display – here it is all finished up as an actual needleroll, before I drove it over to Karen on Saturday.
“Shepherd’s Roll” by Shepherd’s Bush (kit)
I had a good time visiting with my best friend yesterday … although I have to admit those kids are enough to make you want to get your tubes tied! If I was living with that day in/day out, I’d need to be admitted to a lunatic asylum after a week!! To say they’re a handful is a true understatement … even my Mum, who has the patience of a saint where kids are concerned, would be ready to throttle Orion by the end of the night! Brenda and Nigel are already at breaking point after Athena managed to slam the sliding door shut while in ‘locked’ mode and broke the lock, meaning they now have to replace the entire door and doorframe, as it’s an older model and the new locks don’t fit. Can everyone say “not happy, Jan!!!”? – that’s a much politer version of what actually was being said and thought last night haha.
Anyway, even with the stresses of the night, it was still nice to see them again, especially wee Jayden the youngest fella, he stole my heart with his big cheesy grin every time he saw me -then he came running up to me at full speed and flung his arms around my legs for a cuddle before heading off to bed. He’s a real sweetie! I must admit, though, it was nice to have some ‘adult time’ after 8pm as we settled down to relax in front of a DVD … which means I managed to get a reasonable amount of stitching done too! I also gave Vicki her stitched gift (you may remember the Calico Crossroads quilted wallhanging I finished before Christmas), and she really liked it a lot. I also got a belated birthday gift of some scrummy Nelson ice wine and local Extra Virgin olive oil from Nelson as well … all I need now is some Dukkah and I’m set! 😉
Here’s a very poor photo of the whole family as we were settling down to a yummy pork roast dinner – I couldn’t get a decent photo of everyone in the twilight, so I gave up and this was the best of a bad bunch!
As for the stitching, in the end I opted to take a project already started instead of starting yet another new one – I took Lanarte’s Seahorse Collage with me, and got quite a bit done. Then I sat in front of the goggle box again this morning while watching Series 3 of Black Adder followed by Dante’s Peak, and managed to put the final stitches into this piece.
“Seahorse Collage” by Lanarte (from Sea Life booklet)
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC threads
That might be the last finish for the month, although yesterday I also managed to finish the hemstitching on my Snow Fall needleroll, so there will be a photo of that showing very very soon – just need to whizz up the seam and stuff it! 🙂
Before I forget … I have to say I saw the largest spider I’ve ever seen in my entire life when I got home at midnight last night! No word of a lie, the leg span would have gone from the tips of my middle finger down the entire length to the base of my palm … I nearly died on the spot!! As I parked my car I started walking over the grass to the path, and it was sitting on the grass in all its ugly glory – it had a big sac body as well, and its legs could have been half the width of my little finger. I opted to turn around and move my car quick smart! But it was so big, I was too scared to get up close to spray it … instead I ran for the safety of my little flat very quickly!!! I just hope I don’t run into it again any time soon … either that or I hope like hell it’s a fake rubber one that the obnoxious kids downstairs left outside, and it’s not real at all – they’re always leaving bikes etc in the driveway where we’re supposed to be parking our cars 😦
Rightio, on that note, time to toddle off again and go food shopping ready for the upcoming week … time to get back into normal eating habits again! 🙂
As promised a few days ago, here are my photos of recent finishes:
Winter Wonderland by Little House Needleworks
Stitched on 32ct Golden Harvest linen by Silkweaver
with recommended threads
Blueberries by Little House Needleworks & Crescent Colours
Stitched on 32ct cream Belfast linen
with recommended threads
Also, here is LHN’s Sampler Lady in all her topless work-in-progress glory … she’s still waiting for her blouse to be finished, the poor love – it’s a good job the weather’s still warm down here in Sydney!!! 😉
Next up is a photo for Mum of my wee $9.95 Frangipani tree in its pot on the balcony – as you can see it has some company in the form of fresh herbs … I just adore those blue pots!! No flowers on the frangipani yet, but a new leaf has grown, plus it’s a wee bit taller than when we first arrived. My other (first) Frangipani plant isn’t doing too well since having its top knocked off by Nigel and Brenda’s dog, but I live in hope it might perk up a bit more by next summer before I replace it with something else.
Lucky last is my ‘new’ smalls display in the new flat – complete with my Wessex sampler on the wall – this place is fantastic for all the wall hooks!!
And I’ll finish my post there. Since being sick I haven’t had chance to do housework for two weeks, but once caught up I’ll take piccies of the new abode now we’re almost 100% unpacked (aside from the boxes in my bedroom of ‘unimportant stuff’).
Talking of which, I ended up leaving work early yesterday ‘cos I felt grotty (I survived an entire 1 1/2 hours!), and am now on antibiotics for about 13 days compliments of a local GP … fingers crossed it does the trick! 🙂
The other thing I haven’t spoken about is the excruciating heel pain I’ve been having over the last few months – it’s good to know my self-diagnosis was correct, and I have likely got plantar fascitis (spelling?). I’ve been applying ice packs and anti-inflammatories when it’s been really bad, and have since bought some orthotics for padding the heel that’ve been working a treat. Fingers crossed that my heel pains will soon be a thing of the past (or at least I won’t be woken up in the middle of the night from the throbbing pain!!).
Rightio, time to go chill out again … I’m doing my online things in short bursts …
I’m just posting this really quickly at work before I start … I need to let a few people know their birthday gifts arrived a while ago, but it seems no-one has received the thank you emails I sent via the internet mail gateway from work (I presume the firewall prevented it from sending). Anyway, I was hoping to post a full post complete with piccies of the gifts this last weekend, after popping out briefly in the morning to the ‘local’ shopping centre. Unfortunately plans didn’t quite work out, and I ended up getting a massive migraine while out, and had to pull the car over on the way home to throw up! Needless to say, I’ve been cocooned up in bed all weekend not achieving much of anything – I tried to jump online, but it made me feel worse so I gave up!
Anyway, I wanted to let the following people know their gifts have arrived safely – I’ll send proper thank you emails (again) as soon as I can. I love everything, and feel terrible now I know you didn’t receive my original email, as that was just over 2 weeks ago now!!!
So, thank you to NickiL, CarolS, SharonH, BarbaraCL, and KatrinaJ – I love everything and will post piccies as soon as I can.
I hope I haven’t missed anyone, but I’m still not feeling 100% today … time will tell whether I end up staying the full day at work today. I guess I pushed myself a bit hard too early, and I hadn’t gotten over my viral bugs yet! 😦
In better news, though, I’ve managed to finish LHN’s Winter Wonderland and Blueberries on Friday night! 🙂
Sorry I’ve been offline, but I literally haven’t opened up my laptop at home for just over a week and a half (a week last Saturday morning to be exact!). I’m currently posting this really quickly at work before I head off home. I’ve been flat out at work, then got a horrendous cold so I’ve been fighting that off over the last 4-5 days … I have, however, managed to get HEAPS of stitching done by starting and almost finishing LHN’s Winter Wonderland (just have one DMC colour that’s gone AWOL for now) and LHN’s Sampler Lady (just have the blue in the blouse left to stitch – and she’s so beautiful in real life!). I’ve also just started last night the LHN/CC Blueberries kit, so that should be finished over the next couple of days hopefully.
I intend to ignore my computer for a while longer, although I will jump in at some stage and check emails, but at the moment it’s been nice to get some selfish stitching in instead, especially while getting over my viral bugs!
If you see my Photo Hunt posts they’ve all been pre-prepared for weeks now to take me pretty much into April/May, so even though I’m not online you’ll see at least one post per week for a while!
OK, time to shut down and head off home … late, just for a change!! 😦
This always happens when I’m not looking forward to something … I had an absolute BLAST tonight!!! Dinner was scrummy … we went to the Retro Cafe right next door to the State Theatre, where I had lamb shanks, and the others had calamari salads … this was then followed by a Viennese coffee laced with Galliano or Kahlua … finally followed by, without a doubt, the BEST EVER sticky date pudding with caramel sauce … seriously, it is the best we’ve ALL tasted – I’d go back there just for the stick date pudding, it is seriously TO DIE FOR!!!!
The show itself was a real hoot, and when you go in there’s a goodie bag sitting on your chair with props in it for the audience participation … I think my voice will be non-existent when I get up in the morning after yelling out and cheering for Maria, doing wolf whistles at Captain Von Trapp and yelling out “he’s gorgeous!”, then hissing at the Baroness and booing the Nazis … not to mention all the singing we did to every single song (which is helped enormously by having the words to the songs at the bottom of the screen!). Loads and loads of people got dressed up – I’ve never seen so many nuns in one place … it reminded you of the casino scene in Sister Act!! haha.
CathyB would have felt right at home in her nun’s outfit!! 😉
I must say I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy that movie … which is the legacy my mother will leave with me – I’ve been brought up with musicals all my life, and as long as you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll admit on here that I do enjoy them too! 😉
Anyway, all-in-all it was a tremendously good night out, although it ran a LOT later than we expected, so I got a taxi home to the train station instead of taking the risk of travelling on my own at night ($34 later, but probably worth it for the feeling of security … then again, the train ride might have been quieter, as my taxi driver didn’t shut up the whole way haha – did you know that by calling the train station a “train station” I was actually offending the driver, and I was lectured about it for some considerable time, because it’s anti-Australian … however, I seemed to redeem myself by pronouncing his surname right (“it’s Larkin, without the R”, so pronounced Laykin … brownie points to Anne and no more lectures about offensing his poor Australian ears with my uncouth murdering of his language haha). I did, however, end up having a bit of a history lesson once he’d settled down … I now know all about the night rider buses and why they were introduced, along with landfills in Sydney, and shown the church that St Peters suburb was named after, not to mention the brickworks that used to make the bricks from the clay landfill, and I learnt about the trams that used to travel between Rockdale and Brighton-le-Sands, which were then replaced by the trolley buses … anything else you want to know about the area, I’m sure I can tell you something new now! teehee.
Another great thing about tonight is that Brenda and Kerrie have booked themselves a night at my place after Easter to come over and stay the night, which will be fun – plus we’re going to go away for a girlie weekend to their holiday home with a group of about 6 girls to watch chick flicks and chill out with a few drinks … I know I’ve said it before, but it’s so lovely to have people here that I know really well. As much as I miss people from Melbourne (hi Sharon and Tannia especially!!), it’s lovely to have Brenda and Nigel here, and it’s great that I get on so well with Brenda’s best friend Kerrie as well … life is pretty good, all-in-all 🙂
Now I guess I’d better get my A into G and get to bed, as it will soon be time to wake up again for a stitching day again tomorrow … yippee! 😀
OK, now I feel quite disappointed … I just jumped online to work out how to get to the State Theatre in the city, only to find out I’m actually going to a sing-along Sound of Music, not a live show! 😦
One of the guys at work laughed that that’s probably where I was going, but I’d never heard of the sing-along before … people go in dressed as nuns etc (which now explains why Brenda asked if I’d got my Nun’s outfit ready yesterday!!!). I must say I feel really really disappointed … I was looking forward to seeing a live show, not paying $50 to watch a movie on the big screen with people screaming their lungs out 😦
In my day I have paid on numerous occasions to get dressed up and go to a stage show of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but never in my wildest dreams would I have considered doing this to the Sound of Music … mutter mutter mutter.
Note to self … whenever Brenda invites you to anything, find out what it actually IS before coughing up the money!! As it is it took me ages to get the details of the show out of her, ie venue etc – I only found out on Thursday afternoon, after having the tickets booked since November … ho-hum … good thing I’m not going to be driving tonight, I think some serious drinking might be in order before the show!!! I am soooo not in the mood for this now … mind you, that normally means I’ll enjoy myself because I don’t have high expectations for the night! 😉
