Category: Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

A quick update before I fly out

Anne S

It’s been an interesting week in many ways – after the stresses of last week Mum and I cleared the air on Friday morning and went shopping … I found a top to wear to the eXcel function at Target of all places for a very cheap price, meaning I also didn’t have to undertake the lengthy drive to Dandenong.  We then had lunch with Fraze in the city before heading to Myer department store where I found a pair of black shoes for my outfit … I feel so much better now!  I’ll take photos later of the whole outfit if I get chance 🙂  It was a really lovely last day for Mum, and one that we enjoyed immensely.

Unfortunately the flight loadings weren’t looking too fantastic, so Mum had to be dropped off at the airport before work on Saturday – I could’ve cried when the alarm clock went off at 5.30am, and I have to say it was the longest shift in history to get through to my 5pm finish time … but poor Mum was sat at the airport for 4 hours before her flight – I’m not sure which was worse!!  Eventually, though, she got home OK … and I have to admit the flat felt very empty when I got home that evening – but I got busy and cooked up a beef in red wine casserole, did a load of laundry washing, and some parcelling up of RAK’s, and it helped to fill in the time.

 Talking of RAK’s, I was glad to hear over the last week or so that my last lot of post I sent to people have now all been received … I’ve been scouring wishlists and sending off charts from my “I no longer love it” pile and sending them off to someone else that will give it a more loving home 🙂  Some of the recipients have been on the blog-circuit, but others are from The Wagon BB – TW’s Lily Maiden and Spring Faerie are now being loved, as is HIH’s Steeple Sampler, and Barbara & Cheryl’s City Collection, plus Marbek’s Regency Angel … and there is a small pile of the next round ready to be posted out to new homes … plus a few others that yet have to be parcelled up.  I was originally thinking of putting them on Ebay or Trademe, but to be honest I can’t be bothered with the hassle of either (although the money would have been nice LOL) – it feels so much nicer to give them as a small RAK knowing that it will be well received 😀  Here’s the latest round ready to go … will one be coming to YOUR door? 😀

I’ll finish with a quick update piccie of my Peacock Needlecase … still nowhere near being finished, and unfortunately my hissy dramas over the evening outfit threw all my plans out the window, and I’m now waaaay behind schedule with this project as I haven’t touched a needle in just over a week.  But I still have two weeks to go before the class, and miracles do still happen … right? … OK, maybe not 😉 (sorry for the crappy photo … and for those of you with eagle eyes, yes I still have one row of chain stitches on the bottom right-hand side yet to complete)

Only one more day before I fly out to Sydney, then I’ll be out of blogging/email action until at least next weekend.  Tonight I had a phone call from the best friend in NZ – which was a wonderful pick-me-up, and definitely what the doctor ordered … and in two short days I’ll be living it up with her brother and beautiful SIL in Sydney – yippee!! 😀

Hope everyone is healthy and happy … I hope to get back to reading what you’ve all been up to when I get home 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Melbourne, Works in Progress

Now Mum’s cruel!

Anne S

After telling her this morning that some of you have been Googling for huntsman spiders, she said “ooh, do it for me too, I want to see them!” … seeing as Mum is computer illiterate I’ve had to sit here and Google it for her … the last thing I wanted was the damned things sitting on my computer screen, but she got to see them!  Funnily enough, Mum’s not overly fond of spiders either, especially those that size, so it was a big ask to get her to come to my rescue … she’s not terrfied of them, though, like I am.  Apparently I’ve been like it ever since I was small – I’d scream the place down to get them to remove a ‘money spider’ in my room (you’d be lucky if one of those is more than about 2mm in size!!).  I have to say I can deal with the little ones now as long as they’re not actually on me, but I reckon huntsman spiders are just hideous – you could put a saddle on and ride the damned things! LOL.  My apologies for not putting a hyperlink in here for you to the spiders … I only thought about that after I’d shut the site down again (very quickly after opening it, I might add!), and I really don’t want to go back in again – you’ll just have to Google it from scratch haha.  And I’m not posting a piccie here, otherwise I’ll freak every time I see my own blog 😉

Yesterday, before I went to work, I managed to get a few more stitches put into my Peacock needlecase while catching up on CSI episodes we’d been taping during the week … inbetween listening to the ‘zoom-zoom’ noises of the Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 cars zooming around the Albert Park circuit – I’m amazed how loud it sounded yesterday to say we live a couple of km away from the tracetrack!  It’s a busy week in Melbourne with the Grand Prix, the Melbourne 2007 FINA swimming championships, and (of more interest to us) the Stitches & Craft Show.  We’re sitting on the fence at the moment whether to go to the S&C Show on Sunday, but we’ll play that by ear on the day – neither of us have any money so we’re thinking perhaps it’s best to leave temptation out of it and stay home LOL.

Tonight is my last 6pm shift, thank goodness … next week it’s more civilised with a mix of 3pm and 12 noon shifts, yippee.  Only another week and a half before Mum heads back home again.  She actually offered today to fly back over while the builders are here fixing up the building if I pay for her ticket with my frequent flyer points … she’s a real sweetheart.

Well, I feel a bit more awake now so time to tackle my stitching for a bit … I got woken up from a deep sleep (no nightmares, thankfully) by fighter planes flying overhead, getting ready for the aerial display during the Grand Prix – that’ll be fun to watch over the weekend if we’re around – we were in Acland Street at St Kilda last year when it happened, and it was great to see the formations flying overhead 😀

I’ll finish with a small shot of one of the leaves right outside my lounge room window – as you can see autumn has arrived down under, and it’s awesome to sit and watch the leaves change colour each day … I’m actually thrilled I’m still here to see autumn arrive in Elwood, as my street is gorgeous with all the elm trees changing colour right up both sides of the street … very pretty 😀

I’m now backed-up with the SBQ’s from the last three weeks, so I’ll finish (I promise this is the last ‘finish’) by catching up on the questions:

28 Feb – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Danielle and is:

“Do you find yourself stitching faster when you are getting to the end of a design?”

I’d probably have to say that depends on the design itself, but generally I guess the answer would be “no” … when I get that close (for example, the Dratteds) I don’t stitch faster, but I do feel more motivated to stitch “more” on it … I just don’t want to put it down so I can get it finished in its entirety – but then when it’s finished I almost feel let down, expecting fireworks to go off in celebration, instead I feel “is that it?” LOL.

7 Mar – Today’s SBQ is: 

“Do you use your needle, a seam ripper, or something else when you have to frog stitches? Why do you use the method that you do?”

I mainly use my tapestry needle where possible, but I will use the tips of my Gingher’s to snip a few threads if it’s getting tangled etc, or just to speed up the process (I just snip the top cross of the stitch very very carefully).

15 Mar – Today’s SBQ was suggested Danielle and is:

“If you had $500 to spend on stitching-related items, what would you buy?”

Geez, there’s a loaded question … and funnily enough I would answer this one differently now then if I’d answered it a year ago.  Right now I’m relatively happy with the stash I already have, and I’m pretty well set up as far as stitching ‘equipment’ (ie ott-lite etc) – I’d probably rather spend it on a stitching retreat, or ordering the full chart and kit for another Chatelaine design or two (that’d kill most of the money in one hit anyway LOL).  The only other thing would be to buy the threads that I still don’t have to finish kitting up some of my existing stash.

Right, now I’m definitely off to stitch for an hour – then it’s off to work early to pick up my overlocker from the ‘doctors’ so Mum can sew me a top or two … she loves sewing clothes.  Dad’s Mum was a lady’s maid for Lady Winterton in Shropshire years ago, and did all the Lady’s sewing – she taught Mum how to sew … and years later Mum tried to teach me.  I used to enjoy sewing, then learnt embroidery and my passion for stitching started … I’m starting to get the urge to try clothes sewing again, but it might not be for a while yet, there’s too much stitching to be done in the meantime LOL.  Talking of which, I’m definitely outta here now – way too much yapping being done, and not enough stitching! haha.

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Melbourne, Stash, Works in Progress

Squishy mail & lovely visits

Anne S

Well, tonight I ended up having a reprieve from work … we had a wonderful visit out today, but driving home it took us over 1 1/2 hrs to get home from Eltham, and by the time I got home I was feeling decidedly squiffy again, so I called in work and said I’d be staying home for the night 😦  We even had to stop off at a local Dairy (stop giggling my fellow Aussies, that’s our Kiwi equivalent of your Milk Bar … I still can’t get used to calling it a Milk Bar – for you Brits out there, it’s the equivalent of the ‘corner shop’) so I could buy some ginger drink to try to quell the queasiness.  Anyway, that’s enough of me moaning … on to the brighter moments of the day 🙂

Before I do that, though, I just realised I haven’t written anything about our weekend social night out with Sharon and Pete … We went round there for dinner on Saturday night, and had the most wonderful time – dinner was divine and the company excellent.  I took my stitching with me but we were enjoying ourselves so much it came out briefly for a show-and-tell, but not a single stitch was done.  I also received a wonderful birthday gift voucher for Bustle & Bows from Sharon, and very touched with that generous gift … unfortunately the gift I gave Sharon wasn’t quite as good … unfortunately I’d chosen a chart I knew she loved, but she’d just bought it for herself as a kit … oops 😦  I already know what I’m doing next time, and think I’ll be safe with that choice 😉  Before we knew it it was almost midnight, and I felt like we’d just arrived – as always a definite pleasure and both Mum and I enjoyed ourselves immensely 😀

Back to today – we caught up with another fellow blogger and Melbournian for a beautiful lunch and stash drooling.  We drove over to visit Gina today, albeit half an hour later than we planned due to a visit from the real estate agent (which I’ll talk about soon), and then because I took a wrong turn and had to consult the Melways … because of supposedly going to work for 6pm we had to cut short the visit, as we knew the drive would take a while to get home – we would have loved to have stayed longer … next time we definitely have to choose a non-working day so we can have more time 🙂 Thank you again Gina for a lovely day out – it was great to finally visit and see that infamous collection of linens … and see your Indian first-hand 😀  Mind you, if I’d known I’d start feeling sick again on the way home, we wouldn’t have had to hurry off 😉

The other highlight of the day was the wonderful mail I received – firstly Becky’s piece for the Quaker Friendship RR … it looks gorgeous in real life, and I’m looking forward to adding my little bits to it in round 2 of this RR 🙂

Next up was my order from One Star’s Light – my Cat’s Whiskers charts and 17″ Q-snaps … and I have to agree with everyone else that Jenna’s extra attention to detail is lovely with everything individually wrapped in beautiful tissue paper and wax seals … even Mum’s drooling over the Alyssum scissor keeper, and I can see her extra birthday gift being something stitched this year (she already has the main part of her gift in some Gingher scissors etc).

Last, but certainly not least, is a wonderful RAK from Linda … she very generously sent me her copy of Just Nan’s Dragonfly Scissor Purse, and I’m just over the moon about that – I was seriously drooling over Linda’s blog every time she put a progress piccie up, and I’m thrilled that I now get chance to stitch one of these beauties!  That was enough on it’s own to have me grinning from ear to ear, but she also sent another chart from my wishlist, M Designs’ Snow Wonderful – I fell in love with this after seeing this on another blog, and yet again Mum’s eyeing it up too because of the snowmen and snowflake!  Linda also sent another chart which I hadn’t seen before – Winter Getaway, and I just love the little cabin scene, so it will definitely be stitched up as well.  Thanks again, Linda, I truly adore everything 😀

On a different note, we had a visit from the new real estate Property Manager, and she was dumb-founded by the cracks … I’m really impressed by her attitude – she took loads of photos and said she was calling the landlord immediately as the cracks were very serious.  As I said to her, I’m happy someone from the agency is finally taking me seriously, as my previous chasing phone calls were doing nothing at all.  Within an hour we had a phone call from her saying the landlord wants to visit tomorrow morning, and she’s trying to get someone from the Body Corporate out here immediately as well, because it’s that serious!  Hallelujah!!!  It will be interesting to hear what they have to say tomorrow! 😀

And to finish this very lengthy post, here’s the progress to date of my CA Wells’ Peacock Needlecase … not too much to show, but I’m not touching any other stitching until this one is finished in its entirety.  I’m feeling a bit brighter than when I first got home, so I just might be able to get a thread or two into this tonight … fingers crossed 🙂  Which is exactly where I’m heading now … off to watch House and Medium with Mum … aside from the squiffy tummy, it doesn’t get much better than this 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Melbourne

A Walk on the Wild Side & an unexpected gift

Anne S

Actually the title should probably be “Animal Quackers” ‘cos there are a few birds in these shots (surprise, surprise haha).  We survived a day at Healesville Sanctuary yesterday in the sweltering heat (38C), although we were exhausted by the end of the day.  We finished the day off with a quick stop at Emerald Lake Park, but we were so tired from the heat by then we just took a couple of duck photos and left again.  Anyway, we thought we’d share a couple of our favourite shots of the local wildlife from yesterday … makes a change from stitching 😉 (all the piccies are clickable for bigger versions)

 
An Aussie wildlife park just wouldn’t be the same without a Wallaby or two!


A Lace Monitor – he chose the time of our visit to clamber around, so it was hard to get a photo of him sitting still … but I love the pose in this one!


The pelicans reminded me of a holiday in Greece – two were casually walking among the visitors … I went a bit pelican-mad photo-wise, so I’ve just chosen one to share.


A male Lyrebird – first time I’ve managed to catch sight of one – the last time I visited I couldn’t find him in the aviary!


A Kookaburra taken through fine mesh wiring, so it came out really well considering … I really love this shot.


I’m not sure what type of duck this one is but she’s cute!


Awwww, I just love this one – my favourite type of all ducks, she’s just beautiful!!

Today we braved the elements outdoors for a shorter period of time and just walked up to the local Video Ezy store to pick up a few DVD’s to watch – even with just an hour in this heat and we were ready to retire in front of the electric fan for the afternoon.  I had an unexpected birthday gift left by my apartment on our return, though … it decided to give me a piece of the architraving – such a generous gift, but I really wish it hadn’t!  So tomorrow will be spent giving my real estate agent a kick in the pants, as well as phoning the landlord directly because the agent is doing sod all about these cracks … I took a few other piccies as well of cracks that are worsening, but I won’t bore you with those.  I will, however, share the lovely birthday gift we came home to … or at least where it “used to be” 😦

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Food, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

A sip of Bordeaux (updated with finish info)

Anne S

Seeing as Carol as published her progress piccie of Bordeaux, I can now show my week’s progress as well – it’s a good thing I did my night’s stitching a couple of days ago, as I’ve been too busy yapping to Mum to concentrate on much else 🙂  This week I just managed one more little ‘man’ and a few more Rhodes grapes to complete the hanging vines, plus a couple in the border … I’m now exceptionally close to being halfway, and hopefully in about 2 weeks I’ll have met that milestone!

Mum and I just popped over to The Needle Point (old Bustle & Bows in Malvern) to find a couple of buttons, seeing as they have probably the best selection I’ve seen in Melbourne to date … unfortunately they didn’t have what I had in mind, but I managed to find a couple of charms that fit the bill quite nicely, so now I can put the final touch to my best friend’s belated birthday gift, and the last ornie I stitched.  Vicki’s birthday was in November, but that was when I had my financial meltdown and couldn’t afford to buy bread and milk, never mind parcel postage costs, so I’ve been unable to think about mailing it until recent times.  I don’t know if she reads my blog regularly, but I don’t think she’ll mind a sneak preview anyway, as it’s been long overdue … I’ll post another piccie when it’s finished-finished, as I want to make it into a quilted wallhanging (which’ll be a first for me).  But here it is, with all the stitching completed … I ended up choosing a silver heart charm instead of the recommended button/bead, and it seems to compliment the design well (you can click for a bigger piccie on this one).  On the whole I enjoyed stitching this one, but it took a lot longer to stitch than expected … the only part I didn’t enjoy was the outside borders of smyrna crosses in #8 pearl cotton (yuk!).


Friendship by Calico Crossroads
Stitched on mystery 28ct linen with recommended threads
substituted silver heart charm for Mill Hill glass treasure

You can tell Mum’s in the country … from my meagre pantry offerings from the last few months, the following plate is definitely NOT the norm, and probably won’t be seen throughout the rest of Mum’s stay (after that, that is haha) – but it was a wonderful treat for our first night 😀  Yep, we’re both prawn MAD … don’t they look scrummy? 😀  That was our snack in the afternoon … then the rest of the prawns for dinner along with some Turkish bread and a selection of dips (Tzatziki, hummus, spicy capsicum), stuffed green olives, Kalamata olives, stuffed bell peppers, grilled mushrooms and artichokes … yummo!!!

 

Now on to the awesome gifties Mum brought with her … I received a lovely sarong from Auntie Trudy in Auckland – even though it’s not blue haha, I love bright colours, so the orange has gone down a treat, especially as I love all the Hawaiian/Fijian style prints like this. 

Then of course there was the usual ‘Red Cross parcel’ from Mum – this time she came loaded up with Twisties, Griffins Gingernuts (sorry, but they beat Arnott’s gingernuts hands down in my eyes), and Malaysian style noodles packet mix that you can’t buy here … and to top it all off some NZ Cadbury chocolate – believe it or not, it’s very different to the Aussie Cadbury chocolate, and is actually a bit creamier.  Bang goes any thoughts of a diet I might have been having! haha. 

Last, but certainly not least – this is my Christmas present from my very best friend Vicki … my jaw hit the floor when I opened up this gift, and I actually felt quite overcome.  I absolutely ADORE this photo of us at Vicki’s wedding – we just look so ‘in tune’ with one another and completely at ease and loving the moment … I have to say it has been my favourite wedding ever, and it brought some wonderful memories back.  I’d just become a poor student before she got married, so I never could afford to buy some of the official wedding photos from the photographer at the time – it’s just wonderful to have one to grace my walls now.  I have to say out of everything, I adore this gift the most … it has a very special place in my heart!  Thanks so much Vicki, with all my heart!!  (Sorry about the poor photo, with the reflections from the windows etc – but it should be clickable) This is also the wedding that I promised the “Dratteds” (Dolphins Domain) as a wedding gift 😀  Also very special is the necklace I’m wearing – Vicki made that herself … the dangling part is from an earring that was her very favourite pair she bought at the Vatican – she lost one of them, and chose to give me the remaining one as part of my necklace … something I’ll always treasure, as I know how much she loved them!

The last photo I’ll show is of a few of the small gifts I gave to Mum … a couple of Christmas XS mags full of ornies for her to stitch, plus a pair of Gingher’s shears for her dressmaking (an early birthday present, even though her birthday isn’t until May it’s unlikely I’ll be seeing her again before then), plus some small Gingher’s scissors for her embroidery.  I also had a pile of Christmas fabrics for us to share, but we haven’t divvied it up yet, so no piccies. 

And on that note I’d better sign off … I’ve managed to get tomorrow off work, thank goodness, as I’m still really struggling to get over my night shifts this week, even more so than normal.  Even Mum commented how dark the circles are under my eyes today, just to cheer me up haha.  Now we’re off up the road to pick up a few more fresh groceries ready to cook dinner … the final lot of prawns we bought (we’re making a Thai Green Curry from half of them, and Garlic Aioli Prawns from the other half).  Then we’re back to having cheap food like spaghetti bolognaise for the rest of the week LOL. I actually received two other birthday parcels, but I haven’t opened them yet … I think the temptation may finally break tomorrow though! LOL.

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

The Dragon has Landed …

Anne S

Mum’s flight arrived in good time this morning, and after we picked up some grocery shopping we headed home for the rest of the night. Not much else was done today except for an awful lot of show-and-tell with both of our stitching, and swapping of gifts … and lots and LOTS of talking! 😉

This is just a really short post to say that all-in-all this has been a wonderful day! 😀  I’ll post more later when I get chance, as I have some lovely gifties to share! 😀

Blogging Memes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

What am I doing here?

Anne S

It’s after midnight, and I’ve ended up getting out of bed to make a milky Milo drink … my eyeballs feel like someone’s rubbed sand in them and they smart like hell, I’m so over-tired.  I was so exhausted this afternoon I did very little, except for a few grapes and a bit more backstitching on Bordeaux – the only reason I did that was because it was still on the floor stand, and I didn’t have the mental get-up-and-go to choose something else – plus I may not get chance for the SAL properly when Mum arrives, so at least I’ll have some progress to share this week.

I made the mistake of laying down on the sofa at about 6.30pm, after getting a bit dizzy from lack of sleep … I kept waking up regularly, then dozing off again, until 10.30pm – I’m surprised I managed to sleep at all in the weird and uncomfortable position I found myself in, I’m amazed my neck didn’t snap!  Of course the problem since then is even though I’m still incredibly exhausted, and my eyes are literally burning, I can’t get back to sleep again – I’ve been tossing and turning in bed for over an hour now, and finally decided to get up and make a milky drink to see if that’ll help.  I have to admit I enjoy the night shifts themselves, in that it’s more challenging because you’re on your own a lot of the time, but it’s also relaxed because you can wear your trackpants/jeans etc … but I seriously hate the effect it has on my body.  I feel as though I’ve had a massive hangover all day, and I feel as though I’ve totally wasted the day itself, which of course I really have.

Oh well, I’m sure in a day or two I’ll be feeling a bit more human and ready to tackle a few projects I have planned …

Before I forget, for Carol – the Dragon’s nickname started at Mum’s work … one of her co-workers/friends starting calling her the Dragon, and even put a sign on her door saying “Dragon’s Den” in jest … and it’s just kinda stuck!  When Mum retired they had a HUGE collection for her at work (she was a factory supervisor), and this is what Mum chose:

 I also bought her a dragon figurine that is absolutely gorgeous, I just love it – I can’t find a piccie online, though, as I can’t remember the name of the makers, and I’ve given up trying to search for it.Anyway, I suppose it’s time for me to try and return to sleep again, seeing as it’s now 1.30am – here’s a quick couple of memes just for the sake of it to finish off …

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:You have low extroversion.
You are quiet and reserved in most social situations.
A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you.
You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people.Conscientiousness:

You have medium conscientiousness.
You’re generally good at balancing work and play.
When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.
But you’ve been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.

Agreeableness:

You have medium agreeableness.
You’re generally a friendly and trusting person.
But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism.
You get along well with others, as long as they play fair.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.
You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.
Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.
Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed – making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is medium.
You are generally broad minded when it come to new things.
But if something crosses a moral line, there’s no way you’ll approve of it.
You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

You Are a Prophet Soul

You are a gentle soul, with good intentions toward everyone.
Selfless and kind, you have great faith in people.
Sometimes this faith can lead to disappoinment in the long run.
No matter what, you deal with everything in a calm and balanced way.You are a good interpreter, very sensitive, intuitive, caring, and gentle.
Concerned about the world, you are good at predicting people’s feelings.
A seeker of wisdom, you are a life long learner looking for purpose and meaning.
You are a great thinker and communicator, but not necessarily a doer.

Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Two sleeps to go …

Anne S

… then this gorgeous person will be back in the country!

Mind you, I’ll probably be in the dog-box for posting this piccie! LOL.  I’ve always loved this one, though, as it really shows the Dragon’s character to a T.  One of the guys at work laughed when I called her a Dragon at work last night … it’s even funnier because Mum’s so far removed from being a dragon!

Today I’m finally on my ‘days off’ … yesterday I slept on and off until 1pm, then just vegetated for a couple of hours before going back to bed again, where I slept pretty solidly between 4-7pm.  This morning I’ve only had about 4 hours sleep, so I feel a bit like a train wreck and not in the mood to do much of anything.  Tomorrow I have to be up at semi-normal hours to go into the city to have my photo taken for the eXcel award publicity stuff … then I’ll have a couple of hours left to quickly make the flat semi-presentable (especially because the spare bedroom has stuff all over it while trying to have a ‘clear out’ that didn’t get finished) before Mum arrives on Wednesday morning.  Then I’m back to work on Friday, but only for 5 days – after that I’m off for 1 1/2 weeks, and I really can’t wait!!  I’m actually hoping that we haven’t found a new place to live during that time, ‘cos I could really do with some R&R time with Mum, especially getting some stitching done.

And on that note, I’ll sign off – just a quick one today to try and wake myself up … I think I’ll pop a DVD in and try to put a few stitches into something just to keep myself awake – if I go back to sleep again now, I know I won’t sleep tonight … oh boy, I hate night shifts for this reason – I love the actual shift itself, but I just hate getting over them!

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, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

The verdict is almost in …

Anne S

Within the next 12 hours I will find out if I can get to Perth for the CA Wells classes. That means one thing for sure … the iPod is put on hold! 😉 I’d previously requested a DVD (Mission Impossible 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean 2) or CD (Loreena McKennit’s latest one) for my birthday from Mum, but after chatting to her last night, she’s going to give me money instead if the class all goes ahead as planned. I received an email yesterday from the Perth organiser saying there are spaces in both the Pyramid Etui (only 2 left) and the Peacock Needle and Scissor Case (4 left) classes, so I jumped in and said a tentative “yes” to both, subject to getting annual leave approved from work.  You see we’re only allowed 2-3 people off at any one time on the Hotline, and if someone has already got those days off, I’m stuck!  But I’ll find out today what the leave register is looking like … I’ll be moving heaven and earth to get the days off, that’s for sure!  So my Christmas money from Mum & Dad and Heather are now put aside for the classes … sorry iPod, you’ll just have to wait a bit longer, you see I have changed my priorities!! 😉 Mind you, there is a helluva LOT of pre-work to be done for that Pyramid Etui, so my stitching priorities will also have to be jiggled quite a bit too … meaning my rotation will likely go out the door – talking of which, I’d better get cracking on a couple of gifts and my Quaker Sampler RR, ‘cos I soon won’t have much time for it (I hope!).

And the other great news is that I heard from Brenda today – she’s my best friend’s SIL, who is a good personal friend as well, and I was supposed to go to her 40th birthday bash in Sydney in November, but had to cancel due to finances … well, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to invite her as my partner to the eXcel award night in Sydney, giving me a fun companion for the night, and chance to have a girl’s night out and catch up – I’m really looking forward to it so much now!  I haven’t seen her for about 2 years, so I can’t wait! 😀  I’m also on days off just prior to the ceremony as well, so I might also try to wangle a flight up 1-2 nights early so I can catch up with Nigel as well, and actually see something of Sydney itself, as I’ve never really been there to visit 😀

Unfortunately no stitching updates today – I had hoped to finish my Christmas ornie for the weekend SAL, but the Dragon (aka Mum) decided to phone me for nearly 2 hours, and I didn’t get off the phone until 9.30pm … so no stitching done.  I just have the bottom band to finish, plus the bullion stitches (I have to admit, if I’d realised there were bullion knots on this thing I wouldn’t have been as excited to start it haha – but it’s intended as a gift for someone, so it has to be done!).  I should be able to finish it tomorrow, as I have a day off.

And a quick answer for Annemarie – yes, I do take a small stitching project with me on night shifts … that’s the only shift we can get away with it.  The only difficulty is that it depends on which staff are on for the night whether you get inundated with calls/questions, or if there are any dramas happening overseas.  One of the great tricks is for the UK to release sales fares over the weekends for example, when the UK call centre is closed – and we get all the calls here … but our guys aren’t supposed to quote fares ex other countries, it has to be quoted through the “Fares Desk” (ie me!), which means it could be a busy night.  Same thing if an airport gets closed due to fog etc … like the European weather last week, we got the call to help out Heathrow airport at 5am our time, with minimal staffing (although I got an official/personal thank you from the “big boss” in Sydney the other day, which is awesome). Between 11pm-2am there are just two of us on the fares/help desk (aka Senior Hotline), and between 2am-5am just one of us … so if you get stuck on a call everyone else gets backed up in the queue. 

Oops, sorry, that was supposed to be a QUICK answer … I must have mislaid my dictionary and forgot the true meaning of the word haha.  I usually just take small projects because I may only get one or two stitches in between the next call, and it’s really easy to lose your place etc – but then again I’ve also had a few nights when it’s been really experienced people on duty and no dramas happening and I’ve managed to get a fair bit done … but I’m also quite tired as well, and it’s easier to miscount and make mistakes, so I leave anything I have to ‘think about’ at home.  Funnily enough, I just started thinking about projects to kit up and take with me this week! 😀