Cross Stitch, Exchanges

Needleroll exchange from Sylvie

WOW!!!!! That’s what came out of my mouth as I stood on the pavement at the back of the Post Office today … I was too impatient to get home to open up my parcel, so Mum and I opened it up together there and then πŸ˜‰ Inside the parcel was my needleroll exchange from Sylvie, and I can honestly and truthfully say I am totally blown away by it all – I just adore everything! The needleroll is stitched and finished so beautifully, and the design and colours are incredible … I’m lost for words as to how beautiful I think it is πŸ˜€ And if that wasn’t enough, inside the gorgeous bag (that is going to be oh-so-useful for my stitching bits and bobs next to my chair) there were Gloriana silks in the most dreamy and heavenly colours for a blue girl like me … serious drool material – I adore Gloriana silks! But there was even more yet … a lovely little address book, and cute turquoise bracelet, and a postcard from Normandie … and I love it all!! I still can’t believe that I get to keep it all, that it’s all mine! I’ll say it again … “WOW”!! πŸ˜€ Thanks heaps and heaps Sylvie for an exceptional exchange πŸ˜€ {{hugs}}
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(I give up on Blogger tonight, so I’m using Photobucket mutter mutter mutter)

The other squishy mail I had today was my next round robin piece – this is Lynn’s seasonal round robin … I’m really enjoying stitching on these, and I’ve been looking forward to the next one arriving. Now I just have to decide which season to stitch, Winter or Spring … oh decisions, decisions … πŸ˜‰

Rightio, off to work I go again … but not ‘real’ work, though … Mum and I are going to try ornamentifying a few of her stitched ornies so she knows how to do it when she gets home. Which will be interesting, as I’ve only ever made the two square ones last year … we’ll be dragging out the magazines again to get some ideas, I think – mind you, seeing as Mum’s flying out tomorrow, I don’t think we’ll be getting too creative – nothing like leaving it until the last minute haha. We’re going to finish off her holiday tonight with king prawns (on sale at Safeway today), and breakfast out at St Kilda tomorrow morning and a trip into the city for some last-minute sightseeing/shopping … thank goodness for stitching, ‘cos I’ll be feeling a bit lost for a few days afterwards having the place to myself again … not for long, though, as I’ll be kept busy catching up on all the blogs!! πŸ˜€

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes

Redwork exchange

Just a quick note to say my redwork exchange on the SBEBB has been received by Nancy, so I can unveil it now … I used the Quaker Swan Case as my instructions, but used an online freebie as my basis for the stitching. As the stitching chart was wayyyyy too big, I deleted a few elements and played around with the flower leaves for a while until it fitted my measurements OK. It’s stitched with DMC 115, which I really love, on a 32ct hand-dyed Lugana from Country Stitch. I was really really disappointed with my finishing, as I found the ribbon ‘hinges’ too long, and it just flopped around when it was all put together, so I ended up putting a little line of backstitches on the two side hinges to keep it more ‘together’ – which also means now that you can hang it on a hanger on display … which I really love the idea of it, and may now do that with mine when I get around to stitching it too πŸ™‚ I also wasn’t too pleased with how the inside hearts are attached (the red ones), so when I do mine I think I’ll modify that a bit too. I’m really glad Nancy liked it, though, as I was a bit worried about it … I didn’t take a photo of it with the ‘tweaking’ of the hinges, or with the goodies I sent, and I don’t think Nancy updates her blog anymore, but at least you can see the needlecase πŸ˜€

Seeing as it’s Mum’s last full day here today, we’re off out shopping … so no stitching for me until tonight. I do have a progress piccie to share, but I’ll wait until tomorrow or Thursday, when it’ll be a finished piccie hopefully πŸ˜€

Finishes, Needlerolls

Needleroll SAL

Even though I worked all weekend, on Friday and today I was on a 6am shift, so got home early enough in the afternoon to get some decent stitching in (especially tonight) … I thought I’d get one Shepherd’s Bush needleroll finished (“Thisbe’s Needleroll”), but I ended up taking a Lorri Birmingham one into work as well (“A Stitcher’s Needleroll”), and managed to finish them both tonight – yippee!! As per usual, there was an error on the LB chart, and because I was distracted by calls etc, didn’t pick it up until it was all finished! I can’t be bothered unpicking it, so it will remain as it is … if anyone else is thinking of stitching this, check the chart, as the very top band only had one space below it and the first border, whereas the bottom band has two … I have decided I absolutely detest LB kits for that exact reason – I’ve stitched 3 different ones now, and every single one has had a major error … mutter mutter mutter. I’ll do the actual finishing another day.

Only 3 more days to go, and life will be back to normal here at home, as Mum will have headed back over the oceans where she’ll be staying until February, then I have the pleasure of her company again probably for another six weeks. I’ve told her I’m going to start charging her rent, as she’s here 1/4 of the year hahaha. I love having her here, though, and it’s really no hassle πŸ™‚ It means at the end of next week I can catch up with blog reading again without feeling guilty and self-conscious … I can’t wait to see what I’ve been missing out on! πŸ˜€

Rightio, that’s all for me tonight – just a quick post for the needleroll SAL piccies πŸ˜€

Exchanges, Finishes, Needlerolls

Needleroll exchange

Just a quick post before I head to work, as my needleroll exchange (on the Robin’s Nest BB) has been received by Nicki … as soon as I received Nicki’s name, I decided I now had two redwork exchanges to do, as I know Nicki loves red πŸ˜‰ And I also knew I wanted to have something about cats on it … after trawling my stitching stash, and a couple of online freebies, I sat down at the computer and cranked open the XS designing software, and came up with the following needleroll.

It’s a combination of loads of different bits and pieces – the top band came from a Just Nan chart “A Summer’s Day”, the little fish bone skeletons I designed myself, and just used a row of herringbone stitches next. The band above and below the cat band is from the “Peace needleroll ornament” by Jeannette Douglas Designs. The blackwork cats are from Just Nan’s “Catnip Tea”, the blackwork fishies are from an online freebie by Kristine Herber, and the row of watery waves are from “Summer at the Ocean” needleroll by Jeannette Douglas Designs. I’d worked 4 different versions online before I finally decided on this final one, and I was really really pleased with the result – and I’m glad to hear Nicki likes it πŸ˜€ It was stitched on 32ct Maritime by Lakeside Linens.

Uncategorized

R.I.P. Steve Irwin

I feel very saddened today to hear the news that Steve Irwin, that great Aussie icon, has been killed today while diving near Port Douglas – he was killed in a freak accident with a stingray. The “Crocodile Hunter” was one of those bigger than life characters that you either loved or hated … I was one of those that loved him, and he will be greatly missed by a large number of Aussies and Kiwis. Rest in peace, Steve Irwin – thanks for sharing your love of life and love of the natural world with everyone around the globe … “Crikey, you’ll be missed!”

Uncategorized

Redwork dilemmas

I’ve decided I really need more experience in doing finishing of items – I am so disappointed with my redwork piece, it’s not funny … I was so proud of it last night when it went under a pile of books to be pressed, but when I uncovered it at 3am when I came in from work my heart sank … and I have absolutely no time to stitch something else instead, so I’m going to have to send it as it is 😦 To be honest, it looks really nice, but it’s part of the functionality of it that I’m disappointed with. This is a finishing technique I’ve got the original design and everything all kitted up to do for myself, and I’ll be modifying a lot of their instructions for it next time. Time will tell if my recipient feels the same way as I do … I’m probably making it sound much worse than it actually is – it is basically just the ‘hinge’ that is too long so it flops around … I have a way to compensate for it, but I don’t know if I can find the hardware anywhere here, and it has to be in the mail straightaway.

I’m also miss cranky pants this morning, so that might be colouring my judgement as well, and perhaps I’m being overly critical of my efforts … I had a really rough night at work (on the 6pm-2am shift to help someone out) with some ‘interesting challenges’ and couldn’t get to sleep until almost 4am, then some kids playing soccer in the middle of the street and a noisy lorikeet sitting screeching in front of my bedroom window woke me up very early, so I’ve only had about 5-6 hours sleep. My eyes feel like little slits 😦 Hopefully that won’t mean me falling asleep in the movie theatre today, as I’m taking Mum to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 before she goes home … I’d better get running and get dressed, as it starts in an hours time for the session I want to go to …

Thanks for comments about the framing – I have to admit I bought a matcutter in the US years ago, and haven’t used it yet, and I brought that back with me with my last lot of freight, so I definitely do want to learn to do my own framing eventually, and I’ll start looking for some cheap frames to use (good suggestion from Gina to check out the op shops too!). I have to admit, I’ve laced a couple of things before, so that’s not too major … come to think of it, there’s really no excuse for those smaller jobs! πŸ˜‰

Rightio, the Pirates wait for no-one, so time to get a hurry on …

SBQ

Needleroll exchange on its way

Yippee, there was a cheer of relief today as I returned from the Post Office – into the mail went a chart I’d promised Katrina, as well as my first of two exchanges … my needleroll exchange is winging its way across the oceans. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to doing this one as I know the recipient quite well, but it took me a while to work out what I wanted to stitch. All-in-all, though, when it was finished I was pretty pleased with it – with any luck the recipient will like it too πŸ˜€

Nothing else to report, really … I still have to do the final touches to the finishing of my redwork exchange – after my 6am shifts last week I was too mentally exhausted to attempt it, but it should hit the mailbox by Monday afternoon as I’m working all day Saturday and from 6pm-2am on Sunday night … but that leaves me most of Sunday to put the final touches on it. I’ve never ever attempted this sort of finishing before, so I’m a teensy bit panicked about it, but hopefully I’m worrying for nothing!

I’ll finish this short post with the SBQ … Today’s SBQ was suggested by Anna M and is:

“What do you keep your WIPs and other stitching supplies in when traveling?”

I have some tote bags made out of calico that Mum made for me, or use a plastic folder either with a ‘zipper’ glider on the top or with a flap and press-stud closure. At the moment I’ve got a pile of the plastic folders on top of my books in my bookcase, which is right next to my stitching chair, and they house all my WIP’s I’m stitching on at home (I don’t honestly have travelling WIP’s that often as I drive to work, and don’t have the time to stitch at work that often).

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Carolyn and is:

“How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them, scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?”

I wish I could afford to get everything framed, but that’s just not an option – I am starting to think about finishing alternatives to framing, though, such as quilted wallhangings etc. I blog about any finishes I’ve had, and always scan them or take a photo and keep an electronic record. I keep a Webshots album that I keep relatively up-to-date, plus I keep a printed record in a ringbinder. I print a copy of the photo/scan plus info on the chart/designer, who it was stitched for, when it was started/completed, and any notes that might be of interest. In case you haven’t seen it before, here’s an example of one of the pages.

Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash

Another RAK … and stash …

(Updated to apologise for the piccies – Blogger won’t upload photos for some reason for a change hmmm, so I’ve had to use Photobucket, so no chance of enlarging…)

Further to my post yesterday, I have another lovely piccie to share of some goodies that Missy sent to me – she was going through her charts and found this one that was just perfect for me … I knew the chart was coming, but I didn’t expect the other goodies – stitchers are such generous souls! I have to admit I literally laughed out loud when I opened the envelope and saw the chart title … I just love it! And I adore the dishcloth that Melissa crocheted herself, as well as the yummy thread – I feel very very spoiled. I don’t want to use the dishcloth … I just want it to sit in the kitchen and not get used/soiled – I just adore hand-made gifts. Thanks again Missy for an awesome treat πŸ˜€ {{hugs}}
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And believe it or not, I had a 3rd arrival today as well … another expected parcel, with unexpected contents – this time from KarenV. I sent Karen the specialty threads for the Love needleroll ornament for her to stitch it, and had the threads returned with some added company across the oceans – not only did Karen send me some scrummy threads (unfortunately the Stef Francis thread is now unusable, as it’s totally covered in drool – that’s the prettiest colour I’ve ever seen in her threads … I almost don’t want to use it, but just to continue drooling over it for years to come), but there was also the sweetest little biscornu, all stitched by Karen … I was absolutely floored, and thrilled to have these little treats, and felt quite overcome by it all. Thanks Karen for your generous gift … and I will treasure the biscornu always πŸ˜€ {{hugs}}
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As the title states the word “stash”, you can correctly conclude that squishy mail has also been arriving in my PO Box from a spending spree … thanks very much to a generous gesture from my employers, we got given a wee bonus last week at work – not as generous as past years, which is understandable, but sufficient for me to have a little stash splurge on scissors! Thanks to the kind offers made by Jenna and Erin to help me procure some lovely Gingher’s, I’ve been thinking about this for a wee while now … and when my ‘crappy’ old scissors started having problems cutting a simple DMC thread early last week, I jumped on the internet as soon as I heard about the bonus and filled a shopping cart with shiny metallic things of different shapes and sizes πŸ˜‰ Seeing as I was paying all the money for postage, I added a couple of extra ‘cheapo’ pairs in there as well as a new pair of Gingher’s and Tres Claveles, so I can also make up a few small sewing kits that can sit with my WIP’s etc … I’ve already christened one of the el cheapo pair, but I’m waiting until I put a scissor fob onto my Gingher’s before they get christened, and they’re never going to leave the house again! Thanks again, ladies for your kind offer, but I ended up just biting the bullet and splurging (and thanks again to my lovely employers!!) πŸ˜€
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Also, today saw the arrival of even more stash … the last remaining items from a very old backorder from SB&B, plus some other charts that we added on when we returned from Hong Kong. Now you may remember I went on the wagon and said I wouldn’t be buying any more charts until at least my birthday … well, I have actually been sticking to it so far – you see, all these new charts are actually for Mum, not me (she’s paying for them). We bought her some more #26 Piecemaker needles (she’s already worked out how great they are haha), some Floss-Away bags, and some Kreinik braid for us both as I’d run out, and a few charts. The M Designs needlerolls (Butterfly, Rose Mosaic and Snowmen ones) were from my backorder, as were the two Victoria Sampler kits (that’s what was holding the whole process up – Level 3 #1, Whipped Spider Web Rose, and Level 4 #1, Four Sided Pulled Stitch & Four Sided Hemstitch). Mum went mad on Prairie Schooler Santas (Starry Night … which is a gift for me from Mum yippee … Redwork Santas, A Christmas Visit, Santa Collection 1996-99, and Santa Collection 1988-91), plus Lizzie*Kate snippets (2001 Ready or Not, and 2004 A Good Night). The last little goodies were some 32ct cream Belfast that I needed as I miscalculated a biscornu I started stitching before the biscornu exchange earlier in the year, and needed another piece so I could actually stitch the back (pretty important in the scheme of things LOL), and the Silk Bella needed for the Lavender Rose Sewing Case SAL (which is no longer a SAL, as I think everyone’s almost finished … oops … never fear, I am still committed to stitching it, and will be doing this before I stitch anything else … I just have to get my exchanges in the post first, and I’m getting VERY close to the wire with that!! Next week should see me finally starting this gorgeous new project).
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Now I’m going to finish my stash report with a hug for both Gina and Sharon, who always make such wonderful company to visit with. They kindly drove all the way to my little flat and spent their time fondling my stash and finished pieces/WIP’s, as well as sharing other items of interest – Gina brought some great books to flip through (and I seriously will have to get a copy of the Why am I tired? book … Sharon, if you see me coming in saying cheekily “I’ve seen a book, I think it’s blue, and it’s something to do with being tired”, you’ll know which one I mean, ‘cos I know nobody else that does such daft things teehee), and Sharon brought some wonderful CQ blocks to examine … I have to admit I harbour no desires to try a CQ myself, but I really do love to see them in real life – perhaps when I turn 80 I should be about 1/4 through my stash by then, I might consider it LOL. We had a lovely lunch, with much chatting, and then a great afternoon tea of goodies that they brought with them. I feel like I’ve known these lovely ladies for so much longer than I really have, and you’re welcome to visit at any time {{hugs}}.

I’ll leave you with a photo of one of three bulbs in flower – this is a hyacinth that Sharon brought with her as a gift for me, and it’s just stunning (every time I tried to get the whole pot in, they came out blurry, so it’s just one of three bulbs in the piccie) … thanks heaps Sharon, it’s gorgeous! Who would believe on Saturday it was all in bud!! (My blog will start having an identity crisis now … it’ll be thinking it’s actually Carol’s blog, with the flower piccie at the bottom … the photography’s not as good as Mike’s though LOL.)
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My apologies to anyone I’m owing an email to … I hope to catch up next week – I don’t tend to spend much time online while Mum’s here, after her making a comment about me “wasting” so much time on the computer during the last visit, which means that I get even further behind than I normally do … and I’ve been bad enough on my own just lately! LOL.

Gifts TO BE FIXED

Gobsmacked by Kindness

My apologies for not posting for a wee while, or for reading blogs, but I haven’t been spending much time online for the last week due to other commitments. I was supposed to be in bed 20 minutes ago, as I’m on 6am starts this week (and boy oh boy am I feeling it hmmm), but I wanted to post about some wonderful mail I’ve received after I got home from Hong Kong … unfortunately I had a major brain meltdown and forgot about posting about it – I picked it up from the PO Box and was very touched when I opened the envelope and saw all the goodies inside, but then got really sick on the way home and ended up spending the rest of the night laying down … then the parcel got moved by Mum and it didn’t jog a reminder. So, a huge apology to dear sweet Cathy, who not only sent me a piece of lining fabric for the Bee’s Garden chart (by Wendy KC Designs), but also a pile of DMC threads and a gorgeous chart by Glory Bee called Priceless – I knew the fabric was on its way, but the rest of the goodies were a total surprise … thanks from the bottom of my heart Cathy – you’re a total sweetheart, and I love everything! πŸ˜€

I also have one more parcel to post about, but I’ll leave that until tomorrow, so I can drag out sharing my wonderful spoils over two days … but what a lucky girl I’ve been! πŸ˜€

I also had a wonderful visit from Gina and Sharon on Saturday, that I’ll post about tomorrow as well … unfortunately I only had about 5 hours sleep on Sunday, and 6-7 hours last night, with the same happening tonight, so I really must get to bed now.

Finishes, Needlerolls

Not much to post about …

… but I finally managed to get 3 needlerolls in their finished stages – I started at just after 10pm tonight, and definitely need to get some sleep now! πŸ™‚ One of these will be winging their way across the oceans tomorrow … a very VERY belated gift I had meant to send an entire month ago – geez, I’m just shocking at the moment with a head like a sieve!! My sincere apologies, mystery recipient, but I hope you still like it! πŸ˜€