Cross Stitch, Heartstrings, Just Nan, Works in Progress

As slow as a wet week …

Anne S

That’s how my stitching has been going this week … very VERY slowly.  Last weekend I only had a couple of hours stitching left on Scream Girls, and it STILL isn’t finished an entire working week later … pffft!  Oh well, it’s the weekend, and I just cashed in some “time off work” certificates so I could leave an hour earlier than usual, so it’s time for some self-indulgent time spent in the lounge with stitching in one hand, and a glass of sparkling Shiraz in the other, and some not-necessarily-quality TV on the gogglebox 😛

The piece being worked on tonight, though, won’t be Scream Girls just yet, as I’m still working on Bittersweet Season as my lounge stitching project … by the time I finish this pumpkin my threads just may have arrived hahaha 😛  (Sorry about the fuzziness of the photo, in particular with the bottom section … and that’s even BEFORE the sparkling Shiraz!!)

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Needlerolls, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Travel - New Zealand

Photo Hunt – Stripes (9 October)

Anne S

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The theme on 9 October was ”Stripes” and here are some stripes on the skirts of a Maori cultural group in Rotorua, New Zealand.  The Maori name for the skirt is “piupiu”, and it is a traditional item of clothing made from flax leaves.  I love the swishing sound it makes when it swirls and the dried flax hit each other.  If you want to see some traditional piupiu, you can find some here on the Te Papa Museum website.

ROT-Maori Cultural group_0002

And in keeping with trying to find stitching/needlework examples of the weekly themes, here is the unmade needleroll that I stitched for an exchange years ago – it was a self-made design by using some elements from other designs and making some parts up … I was quite pleased with the end result.

Melanies Exchange for Paula

Cross Stitch, Entertainment & Activities, Mirabilia, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Winter Queen

Photo Hunt – Sparkle(s) (5 June)

Anne S

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On 5 June the theme was ”Sparkle(s)” and this ‘lady’ sure was covered in them!!  He/she was part of the evening’s entertainment at a work Christmas party that had a “Carnival” theme.

AKL-Carnival party_0005_edited-1

Then of course there is always those lovely stitching projects that have lots of sparkly beads and metallic braids offering extra sparkle 🙂

2009 04 28_3292

Food, Heartstrings, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Uncategorized

Photo Hunt – Half (15 May)

Anne S

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The theme for 15 May was ”Half” and here are a couple of crayfish cut in half and baking in the oven.  The dreadful thing is that there were only three of us for dinner, so we got an extra half to share (and mostly for the chef, me – yummo! 😀  I think this is my favourite way to cook crayfish (lobsters to you, up north), however at $50 each crayfish it’s definitely a real “treat” once in a decade! 😛

Farewell Dinner 2

Farewell Dinner 3

Then of course there is the Half a pumpkin that I’m still working on in the lounge … it’s almost growing at the same rate as a real pumpkin, very very slowly. Fingers crossed my threads arrive this year so I can get it finished sooner rather than later!

Bittersweet Season 12Nov10

Cross Stitch, Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Uncategorized

Photo Hunt – Miniature (16 October)

Anne S

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The theme for 16 October was ”Miniature” and here’s one of the smallest pieces of stitching I’ve completed – and most definitely the smallest I’ve ever had framed (and the smallest the framer had ever completed, they found it quite a challenge!). The stitching is just over an inch tall and just under 2 inches wide 🙂  (The bottom photo is the closest to the actual colour of the fabric etc.)

P1040349

P1040350

Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt

Photo Hunt – Mother/Mum (8 May)

Anne S

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The theme on 8 May was ”Mother/Mum” and for a change here’s a photo of my Mum’s Mum – Nannan herself.  The photo was taken in June 1956.

Nannan-Hilda Scott nee Crispin, 30Jun1956

And if that’s not enough, here’s a photo of my own dear Mum in her younger days 🙂  Unfortunately I don’t know how old Mum was in this photo – can you help me out with this one Mum??

IMG_0015 (2)

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Just Nan

More pumpkins

Anne S

Yesterday I had a productive day that started off with planting up some parsley, thyme and chives into pots, along with a stunning velvety red pelargonium, followed by 3 loads of laundry, and finishing with a few hours of quality stitching time while sitting in front of the goggle-box clearing out some taped movies and TV shows. This is the end result of my stitching efforts last night (plus the final 15 minutes of backstitching this morning):

Just Nan-Horrified
“Horrified!” by Just Nan
Stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads
(but used B5200 instead of Blanc)

Then this morning I started another Just Nan ornament, which I forgot to take a photo of … it will probably only take me a couple more hours to finish it off, so I might as well wait until it’s finished now before taking piccies.  That one is called “Scream Girls” – just perfect for my Sunday Halloween SAL with Shelleen 🙂

And on that note, I’m heading off to put the electric fan on, and put my feet up in bed and stitch for a couple more hours 🙂

Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt

Photo Hunt – Itchy

Anne S

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This week’s theme is ”Itchy” and quite frankly I’m at a bit of a loss for an appropriate photo for this theme. The only thing I can think of is a dog I had to look after during house-sitting in Melbourne – she had such a bad flea problem, we were both itchy for the entire time … until I finally got so fed up I went out and bought some flea treatment for her!!  Other than the flea problem and the incessant barking, she was a beautiful mild-mannered dog that was a pleasure to house-sit for 🙂

DSC_0401

I will look at posting photo choices for the themes I’ve missed over the next few weeks.

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Halloween, Stash, Stitching Smalls, The Drawn Thread

Awesome squishy mail day!!

Anne S

Today I braved the surface flash flooding and pelting rain of a late afternoon storm and cleared out the PO Box, and was thrilled to see a little card in the box – ‘cos that means there’s squishy mail waiting for me inside the building.  Sure enough, I was absolutely THRILLED to open the parcel sent from Marnie, as it contained my prize winnings from her recent prize draw.  Unfortunately the photos don’t do this little beauty justice – this little vampire stitching case is seriously awesome!  The finishing is absolutely stunning, and there is even the most perfect little pincushion and scissor fob tassel inside!  All I need to do now is decide on the perfect pair of scissors to live in this beauty permanently, and it’s going to be on display all year round … I mean, seriously, could you put this away until next Halloween?  I definitely can’t! 😀

Not only did Marnie provide the stitching case itself, but she also added a little vampire Pez dispenser (so I am no longer a “Pez virgin”) – alas, the pieces inside the dispenser didn’t survive the drive home, which was a marathon due to the surface flooding, as I scoffed the lot during the drive!  Also in the parcel was a few really cool Halloween freebies, that I can’t wait to stitch up.  I’ll be cutting up fabrics for them this weekend, and adding them to my Halloween “to-do-pile” for the coming weeks.  Thanks again Marnie for an AWESOME parcel of treats – I love, love, LOVE everything! 😀


The other mail was compliments of Ann in Scotland having a stash sale – I’m now the proud owner of 4 Drawn Thread charts (Toccata 1, 2, 3, and Chatelaine and Scissors Keeper), along with some of the threads needed (plus the chatelaine fabric).  I’m looking forward to starting at least one of these soon, once I’ve procured the remaining threads.  They look like they’ll be really fun stitching a motif or two each night/weekend 🙂

And on that note it’s time to switch off the “fun” side of the computer, and switch on to the “work mode” side … things are beyond hectic at work thanks to someone’s oversight in another department at the 11th hour, and having an unstable test system … I’m days behind in my own work, so I’ve brought it all home with me tonight to try and get at least 1-2 hours done at home.  I just have to force myself to keep away from the fun stuff on here, which is really really hard … 😛