Home & Family TO BE FIXED, PhotoHunt, Travel

PhotoHunt – Red (& Old)

Anne S


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This week’s theme is “RED” … going by the current festive season, I’m sure there will be a few Santa suits on the blogs, but I opted for something different. This is a friend ‘Sha’ at her wedding not long before I moved from Auckland – my first Indian wedding, it was a wonderful cultural experience and this photo in no way does her stunning outfit justice! 🙂

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My second choice for this week’s theme is a scene from outside the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tsai Temple in Hong Kong … I took this photo just because of all the red colour that was predominant 🙂

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And lucky last, here’s another archive theme – this one is “OLD” … again I had a few choices for this theme, but I opted to use this one, which is one of my all-time favourite photos I’ve taken … “keeping OLD traditions alive” – starting a fire in Fiji 🙂

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L&L conversions

Anne S
Just a quick post … for those of you who are lovers of the colour blue, and also of Lavender & Lace designs, check out some of the conversions for the Celtic Ladies … oh la la!!! Hmmm, I see another couple of additions to my stitching wishlist now … those charts sitting in my stash are offering a whole new dimension to me again!!

Celtic Noel
Celtic Winter
Celtic Winter (work in progress – page down for the latest piccie)
Celtic Autumn

Celtic Summer (edited to add this one – wow!)

And a link to the actual conversion process by Nathalie (from the WIP link above) – Celtic Winter.

As you can see, I’m wasting time today – I managed nearly 6 hours sleep, which is awesome, and now I’m pretending I’m an ostrich and burying my head in the sand for the rest of the day … my car issues can wait until tomorrow … I just don’t want to think about it any more today – there’s plenty of time to stress out tomorrow 😉

Alas today I also logged into Blogger, only to get the Dashboard notice saying my new ‘beta’ blogger is ready for me to move over … considering all the problems people still seem to be having, I think I might wait until they drag me by the hair kicking and screaming into the new blogger dimension … even though they say “all my layouts and contents will stay the same” … yeah, right! Time will tell … but that time’s not right now! 😉

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Downright fed up!

Anne S

The heading of this post really sums it up today … I was feeling quite good after completing my overnight shifts, and coming home for my days off work – even after only having 4 hours quality sleep each night (or ‘day’ to be more precise), I feel OK, and happy … then driving home that wonderful feeling disappeared.

After driving for a while with a slight knocking sound coming from the passenger side of the car, I drove to an open gas station that’s about halfway home and checked around the car, only to find a bloody great bolt head sticking out of the passenger side front tyre … here I was thinking my financial woes are finally going to be put to rest on Tuesday, my bills are all going to be paid, and I’m going to live it up with fresh veges on the dinner table and my stress levels will return to normal … well, so much for that idea! Now it’s likely I’m up for a brand new tyre on top of everything else … fed up? Too bloody right I am!! 😦

I did have an extra bit of excitement on the drive home, though … I saw black smoke billowing on the horizon, and thought it looked like fire smoke … sure enough, I drove past an art supply store that was billowing flames out the front – it was like being on the movie set of Ladder 49 or something, especially at 5.30am with the sky only just lightening up, the colour was quite vivid and very spectacular – I only wish I had my camera, as watching the fireman dealing with it with the flames pouring out the front was incredible!

Then to top it all off a stupid driver started reversing out really fast from his driveway, into the main road, right in front of me … I had to haul on the brakes to miss driving straight into him – between the tyre, the fire, and that moron my heartrate was definitely up by the time I got home … I was grateful just to pull into my driveway! Anyway, the bolt is still sitting in my tyre … I figured I’d drive home slowly and change the tyre etc when I can see it in daylight – and here I was thinking I’d have a relaxing day stitching on my day off … mutter mutter mutter.

Anyway, I have to say I’ve pretty much reached my limits … and can’t take much more testing of my inner strength … whoever’s doing the testing, could you just give me a passing grade, and let me get on with ‘life as I know it’ … enough already!!!!!

Sorry for the rant … it’s now 6am and I just wanted to get it off my chest before trying to get to sleep … ‘cos at the moment I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry, but I feel too tired to do either!

Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Picture heavy post!

Anne S

I remembered to take a piccie of my wee Christmas tree during the daylight yesterday – even though it’s only tiny (121cm/4ft tall), it really makes my place feel festive 🙂 My dream is to get a bigger tree, though, so perhaps next year I’ll be able to treat myself 😀 I love the LED lights I have on this tree, they really pack a punch at night!

This piccie is very very sad 😉 I bought this half tree last year in the sales when I decided to start making Christmas ornies myself … last year I just made the one, and it looks so lonely on there all by itself! LOL.

I figured the little half tree would be good just especially for my home made ornies, until I can get a bigger tree later (and I figured it would take me quite a while to stitch enough for a bigger tree). But because it looks so sad, I just HAD to put a couple of my ornies together yesterday to give that poor orphan ornie some family to play with! 😉 Not entirely thrilled with my choices of finishing, but they’ll do (I’m going to replace the white cording on the pinkeep one to a dark blue cording instead next year – hence the reason they’re just pinned instead of permanently attached, although I like the pinkeep look!). I’m stitching one each year for myself with the date on it, and this year that’s my Elizabeth’s Designs Christmas tree one.

Actually, these photos make it look like they’re all taken on different furniture! In fact the left one is hanging off my stitching recliner, but the other two are hanging off my lounge suite … the true colour of the suite is midway between the two piccies – I can’t get a true life piccie of that any time I try!

I have to admit, I really really miss our Christmas ornie SAL on the FGBB – it was a great motivator to get something stitched every month. As soon as the BB stopped, so did my ornie stitching 😦 Maybe I need to set myself a weekend every month and get back into it again next year! Hmmm …

The rest of the photos are for Mum’s sake … my little flat is coming apart at the seams – literally! The landlord is aware of the surface cracking, and he reported it to the Body Corporate months ago, but it’s got a lot worse recently, so a call to the landlord is in order again, me thinks. Apparently all those beautiful avenue of elm trees out the window are what’s causing the subsidence … thanks to their far-reaching and huge roots! Mum reckons I’m going to wake up one morning with the roof on my head LOL.

Rightio, back to it … I’m not sure what, but I know I should be doing ‘something’ – I had a shocking nights sleep last night, so I’m feeling a bit aimless today … fingers crossed I’ll be able to nap for an hour or so later on before work 🙂

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I don’t feel well ;)

Anne S

I really really can’t be feeling well … it’s now 6am and I’ve just walked in from work, after being up for almost 24 hours straight (the first night on doggo’s is a killer!) … anyway I’m driving home and thinking about a couple of XS charts I’d like to stitch. OK, so there’s nothing really unusual about that … BUT I’m envisaging how they’d be all stitched over-one … what the? I HATE over-one stitching – and only do it when I really really have to, so what on earth is possessing me to think I’d actually enjoy doing some of these BAP’s over-one?? If my head starts spinning around on my shoulders and spewing obscenities, at least I’ll then know I’m obviously and clearly possessed … right now I just think perhaps sleep deprivation has made me temporarily potty!

And what projects do I think would look great … I’ve already pretty much decided to stitch Graham Ross’ Rainbow Lorikeets that way, but on the way home I started thinking about By the Bay Needleart charts (such as this one), plus another Greek scene from an old magazine, and then a L&L design … crikey, I’d better get myself to bed quick smart and get some quality sleep before I do something really rash and actually start one of these things over-one!!! Someone bring me a cold compress and some Panadol, I’m obviously running a fever!!!

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Christmas in Elwood

Anne S

I’ve had a very lazy day today … but tonight I put a bit of effort into getting my Christmas decorating almost finished – I just have to stuff a Christmas tree Mum made for me, which will sit in the middle of my dining table, plus finish of a couple of Christmas ornies I stitched during the year for myself … the following photos are mainly for Isabelle who wanted to see my decorations once they were up 🙂

First of all my little flat’s lounge in all it’s glory … and the Christmas tree with it’s animal guardians – I couldn’t get a good photo tonight with the lights on (well, it’s actually just after 1am), so I’ll try to get a better photo tomorrow.



As you can see there are little bits of Christmas all over my small space – and here are some of the pieces in detail (this isn’t all of them, but I’m starting to get tired, and think I should hit the hay soon – I may put some more piccies up during the week).


And now “something I prepared earlier” …

Since stitching Coffee Menu I haven’t picked up a needle in this whole time – I’ve been having way too much fun getting the RAK Registry together. I spent 2 hours chatting to Mum today on the phone, and was telling her about it, and she rightly said it sounds “right up my alley” … any excuse to organise something and make lists haha.

Actually, Mum also told me I should share this little story with you as well … as you know I’ve been struggling a lot financially over the last 1-2 months, and haven’t been buying any groceries except for milk and the occasional few onions etc, but living out of my pantry and freezer. Well, the main contents of my freezer have been chicken breasts … about 3-4kg of chicken breasts, to be exact! Mum said to me a few weeks ago, “you must be sick to death of chicken by now!” … “you’re not kidding”, is my reply. Well, here my sick sense of humour kicks in …

My bathroom is a combined laundry/bathroom (typical apartment), and I have my cat basket and supplies sitting in the laundry tub while waiting to get a real life kitty to take up residence … anyway, as I’m climbing out of the shower a week or so ago, I look over at the pile of kitty stuff, and think to myself, smirking, “oh well, if I ever get desperate enough for food, there’s always that big bag of Hills Science kitty biscuits” (not that I would ever actually do that!!) … and I grinned a bit … then I read the label, and totally cracked myself up and howled with laughter … the flavour just HAD to be “Chicken and Rice”!!!!! You probably had to be there, but Mum and I shared yet another chuckle about it today – it’s true that things have to be really really bad for me to lose my sense of humour! I get that from my Mum, we can usually find something funny in most things 😉 And yes, my sense of humour is definitely starting to return, and things are brightening up 🙂

I must say though, a week on Tuesday I get paid, and I’m going to go mental shopping!! After finally paying Mr Tax-Man, I’m going to go crazy buying fruit and vegetables!!! That’s the one thing I’ve really REALLY missed – I’ve pretty much been living on protein and carbs for the last 1-2 months, with the occasional frozen vege and tinned tomatoes thrown in, and I am seriously craving salads! I could quite easily sit down right now with a whole head of lettuce and scoff the lot in one sitting!! I’ll still be frugal for quite some time, if not right throughout 2007, but I will definitely be having one huge salad for dinner a week on Tuesday! 😀

Anyway, I guess I’d better hit the hay and get some shut-eye … I’ve tried to keep myself awake really late tonight, to try and get myself into the right frame of mind for tomorrow, as I’m back on overnight shifts again – oh yippee :/ I start work at 9pm and finish at 5am for 4 nights … that should keep me out of mischief this week, and I might actually get caught up on those 600+ blog posts I’m still trying to read hmmm 😉 In the meantime I hope life is treating everyone well 😀

Gifts TO BE FIXED, RAK Registry, SBQ

SBQ & RAK photo

Anne S

I didn’t want to lose Isabelle’s gorgeous RAK photo among all the other photos yesterday, so waited until today to give it it’s own wee place – finally here is my RAK in all its glory … complete with open box on the choccie haha. Thanks again Isabelle, it’s so so sweet of you {{hugs}}.

And for this week’s SBQ, here goes …

“How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically,do you or have you ever used a waste knot?”

Yes, I use waste knots quite regularly when doing specialty stitches, as a lot of times there’s not much to anchor it on the back until you’ve worked a few stitches. Have to say I hate doing it, as it wastes thread and I hate having to cut off the knots and reweave the ends through at the end 😦 Unfortunately, though, it’s sometimes a necessary evil! If I’m using overdyed threads, and I have a solid line to stitch, I’ll put a small knot in the end of the thread, take the needle down into the fabric in the middle of the line, about an inch away from where I’m going to stitch, then back up at the beginning to start stitching – that way I’m stitching over the line and catching the ‘tail’ under my stitching as I go, and I cut the knot off at the back as I get closer and the tail is well anchored. If I’m using plain ol’ DMC I do a ‘loop start’ usually.

The RAK Registry is almost finished (just tidying up of the sidebars etc), and I’ve made a little ‘blinkie’ in my Links sidebar here which takes you straight to the RAK blog. Hopefully more people will join in and fill in those spaces in the alphabet, and this will be a good resource for the days to come. If you think you’d like to see someone’s details on there, either let them know about it, or drop me a line with their blog details and I’ll send them an email saying I’ve had a request to have them join in the fun 🙂 I’ve really enjoyed setting this up for us! 😀

Melbourne, PhotoHunt, Travel

PhotoHunt – Lights (& Round)

Anne S


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This week’s theme was a definite challenge for me while hunting through my minimal photo library (oh boy, I miss my huge pile of photos back in Auckland) … but I managed to find something that would fit the theme of “Lights“.

This photo is of a row of street lights illuminating the way down St Kilda Pier in Melbourne (well, they would be illuminating the way if it was dark LOL).

Next up are some lights illuminating the room at the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong (and a very difficult shot for me to get trying to reach up behind the barrier, and around a stone ‘dragon’, as well as missing the guard on duty 😉 Under the circumstances, it came out OK 🙂

Lucky last, here’s an archival theme – this one is “Round” … I had a few choices to use, but opted to do use this one – definitely not a great photographic shot, but I like it for the ’round theme’. Any LOTR fans will recognise this character – chasing the ring over the rooftop of Wellington Airport in New Zealand! 😀

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More RAK’s

Anne S

This time I was on the receiving end of a gorgeous RAK from sweet Auntie Isabelle, and what a wonderful pick-me-up it was after being so ‘down’! It was supposedly a “wee” treat, but I think it’s way bigger than “wee” 😉 I’m too lazy to get the camera out tonight, but I promise a piccie tomorrow – but I’ll try to describe my actual reaction to receiving this yesterday …

I opened up my PO Box to find Isabelle’s parcel hiding inside – I walked outside and saw the contents, and decided straightaway to treat myself … As you know I’ve been very VERY frugal over the last month or two, and haven’t been buying any coffees or non-essentials … well, I popped straight into the cafe next door and ordered a large cappuccino takeaway, propped myself on the brick wall/seating outside and broke off two pieces of the chocolate Isabelle had sent me … while reading the gorgeous words in the card, and drooling over the chart that was also in the parcel – one off my wishlist, a wonderful French design by Coleurs Croisees (there’s a link here to the chart, if you can’t wait until tomorrow’s piccie haha). What a wonderfully decadent and heavenly way to start the day (and in this case my working week) – thanks so much again, Isabelle, you’re a sweetheart and a wonderful friend … I feel very blessed to have ‘met’ you and it really did raise my spirits {{hugs}}.

And talking of RAK’s, as for the RAK Registry, it’s slowly getting underway. I’ve spent a fair bit of time starting up a new blog, and playing with the template layouts etc, and I’m now slowly entering in the data that I’ve received. If you want a sample look while it’s in the creating process, feel free to have a peek here. This is definitely a ‘work in progress’ at the moment, and it will take me some time to enter everything into it. In the meantime if you think there’s something else you’d like to see, or any improvements you can suggest, feel free to let me know. This is something to be used by all of us, so I want it to be as user-friendly as possible 🙂

A couple of people have also mentioned that they want my address details as well, so they don’t have to ask me for it and spoil any possible surprises down the track … oops, I hadn’t honestly thought about that side of it, I was too eager to get everybody else joined up. Not sure how I should tackle this one – either send my address to everyone that signs up (which feels a bit presumptuous), or I could list a couple of people that know my address details, along with their email addresses … not quite sure about that one! 🙂

Anyway, keep those emails coming in if you want to sign up – this is a continuing process, so there’s no deadline to joining up … it’s merely a ‘sharing of information’ among our caring stitching community 😀

RAK Registry

RAK Registry

Anne S

Thanks again for your support in the creation of our little list – hopefully it will be a useful tool when we want to send a small something to our fellow stitching bloggers … and a way I can give something back to my stitching pals 🙂

At this stage I have questionnaires filled out by Cindy, Wendy, Nicki, and Su … and emails have gone out today to those who are definitely keen to sign up, ie Melissa, CathyB, Cathy (mamacruz), Carina, Margaret, Carol, Christine and Isabelle. More emails have gone to those of you who think it’s a good idea, ie Von, Barbara, CathyMK, Karen, Judith, and Katrina.

Others who registered an interest, but I can’t locate your emails are Vonna, Annemiek, Sylvie, Meari, Tracy Baby, Coral and Michelle … if you could drop me a quick line to shakatak@iinet.net.au I’ll get the email questionnaire sent off to you to fill in 🙂

Now a couple of answers to recent questions:

For Whyme – the photo of the roses were taken in Hong Kong itself on a recent holiday there (in the flowers markets, not far from the bird market).

For Julie – the Pacific Pohutukawa is by a New Zealand designer, and can be bought through Nancy’s Embroidery in Wellington, New Zealand. They also sell the black canvas for it too, and they do mail order. Their website isn’t the best, but they’re great to deal with 🙂

Just a quick post this morning before I head off to work. Dinner was great last night, and very uplifting … it was nice to discuss ‘general stuff’ and have a moan about work issues and just generally hang out. That was followed by a phone call from Fraze wanting to catch up for dinner – the first date that was possible in the evenings during the week was 22 December! haha, the joys of shift work! 😉