Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Jane Nicholas, Stumpwork, Works in Progress

Back from a mini blog break

Anne S

Thanks to those of you (including Mum) who have enquired as to my whereabouts, and wondering why I’ve been absent for an entire week – and also where the photo posts have disappeared to.  To be honest I’ve just felt a bit burnt out computer-wise (and therefore blog-wise), and haven’t felt like sitting in front of the PC much over the last week or three … the Photo Hunt themes haven’t really inspired me much over the last couple of weeks, and I usually sit and post all my photo posts for the week at the same time as doing my Saturday Photo Hunt post … so therefore no other photo posts either.

Anyway, other than that life is OK – just very hectic at work, and there hasn’t been much energy left over at the end of the day to do much at all.  I can’t even say there has been screeds and screeds of stitching done … although I do have two small finishes – one that I can share, and one that I can’t … and one new start.

So, first up, here’s the one I can share:

Whispered by the Wind-Snow freebie
“Snow” freebie by Whispered by the Wind
(freebie is still available here)
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed opalescent lugana
with DMC B5200

Just love the sparkly blue fabric – the photo in no way does this one justice … although the opalescent fabric is a total b*tch to stitch on, and I’m not in a hurry to repeat the experience …

And here’s the one I can’t share:

Scissor Pocket Exchange
Mystery design by Mystery designer on Mystery fabric with Mystery thread … to a Mystery recipient …

Then I started a new project, trying to stitch up some of the projects that I’ve entirely kitted up with DMC, just so I can return all my skeins to my master collection … meaning I won’t be forever “losing” the colours I need to kit up a new start.  Here’s my very VERY minimal start on Mirabilia’s Trick or Treat Fairy (magazine version) … currently also known as “The Blob”.  I managed to add another three whole rows tonight, but didn’t think it would make much difference to the photo!

And lucky last, here is a very very VERY old UFO that hasn’t seen the light of day since, well quite frankly I can’t remember when … all of a sudden I started getting the urge to finish off one of my oldest UFOs, and choose a project to challenge myself, and this is probably the closest to an actual finish of any of my ‘big’ stumpwork pieces … so I’m thinking perhaps I should bite the bullet and finish this little baby off.  It will mean, though, getting my Jane Nicholas reference books out and jogging my memory on how to do all the stitches, but that’s what challenges are for right?  Here are how all the various components look at this stage … with many more little petals and insects yet to be stitched up and finished!  (Unfortunately the fluffed up bee body is looking a bit worse for wear after being in storage for months and in and out of boxes … but it should hopefully all work out once it gets trimmed back into the little bee body shape … fingers crossed anyway!)

So, be warned, and don’t expect too much progress too quickly … the one thing I find with stumpwork is that for me it seems to take an absolute aeon to finish one teeny tiny little piece of stitching, so this is one project that you won’t be seeing finished any time soon!

And on that note I think it’s time to bid you farewell again for the night – no guarantees when I’ll be back online again … but at least you know I’m still alive 🙂

Boo Club, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Lizzie Kate, Plum Pudding NeedleArt

A little touch of Love

Anne S

I didn’t end up getting much stitching done yesterday, and still haven’t finished my little snowflake ornie … I forgot I still had my Love freebie sitting on my bedroom lapframe, so rather than removing it, I decided to put the final stitches into that one instead … and now the snowflake ornie is in its place ready for finishing off this week (in fact I may try and put a few stitches into it tonight). Apologies for the poor piccie, but I threw it on the scanner instead of trying to take a photo in grim evening light.

Plum Pudding Needleart-Love freebie
“Love” freebie by Plum Pudding NeedleArt
Stitched on 32ct cream Belfast linen (I think) with DMC

Yesterday I tried to take some photos of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club all finished and in one piece … unfortunately I now notice that my “in one piece” photo is a bit blurry, so I’ve done a bit of a cut-and-paste job in three sections instead.  I didn’t have many of the recommended threads, as I don’t have a great stock of WDW or GAST threads to work from, and I wanted to stitch from my stash as much as possible, so I substituted quite a large number of threads in this piece.  The details are at the bottom of the photos.

LizzieKate-Boo Club
LizzieKate-Boo Club
LizzieKate-Boo Club
“Boo Club” by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed linen by Countrystitch
Using a mix of recommended and substitute threads as follows:

Recommended ~ My Choice
WDW Mascara ~ WDW Mascara (but DMC 310 in the border)
WDW Whitewash ~ WDW Whitewash (but DMC white in the border)
WDW Taffeta ~ DMC 3740
WDW Guacamole ~ Crescent Colours Eve’s Leaves
WDW Purple Majesty ~ Needle Necessities 195 Coronation
WDW Carrot ~ DMC 3853
WDW Havana ~ WDW Havana
WDW Ocean ~ DMC 3809
GAST Tomato ~ GAST Burnt Orange
GAST Butternut Squash ~ Crescent Colours Finley’s Gold
GAST Ohio Lemon Pie ~ GAST Ohio Lemon Pie
GAST Forest Glade ~ GAST Forest Glade

The rest of the weekend has been spent helping Katie to set up our new flat electronics, and putting a Beef and Red Wine casserole into the slow cooker – I love winter for ‘slow cooker season’ 😀

And now I think I’ll sign off, and jump into my PJs ready for an early night – time to catch up on a few taped Cold Case shows, and perhaps a few more stitches into that little snowflake ornie (although it’s very hard to see the holes in the fabric this time of night).

Finishes, Halloween, Just Nan, Works in Progress

Happy Dance

Anne S

Yay, I finally have a happy dance with my finish of Just Nan’s Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls. It’s taken me a while to finish this one, but it was fun stitching – and I ADORE the little coffin charm that opens up to show a little skeleton inside … too COOL 😀

Just Nan-Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls
“Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Cashel linen tea-dyed by myself
with DMC threads and Just Nan coffin embellishment

Just Nan-Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls

Seeing as we still had the double-banger finale of Dawson’s Creek to watch last night while I’d reached the happy dance part of my stitching, I ran into my room and grabbed a kitted up ornie that was within arm’s reach, so I made a small start into this one as well.  This is being stitched on a hand-dyed sparkly Lugana I got in a grab-bag from somewhere (had to be either Silkweaver or Countrystitch).  I may be anti-social in my bedroom today and catch up on a bit of ‘Anne TV’ (ie that Katie doesn’t watch), and get this one finished. Then I need to finish off my scissor pocket exchange ready for posting this week.

I need to remember to try and take some decent photos of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club this weekend so I can roll it away until I turn it into a quilted wallhanging.  I don’t have any fabric that’s suitable (Halloween fabric over here is pretty impossible to find in good prints), so that might take a while.  I may end up just giving in and using some complementary plain fabrics, but there’s no hurry for this one to be finished for a while yet.

The rest of the weekend will be spent taking Katie shopping to buy a TV and TiVo for her room, and just generally being lazy.  Work is so exhausting during the week I almost need boring mindless weekends to keep my sanity in check!

Cross Stitch

WIP

Anne S

Um, I think I miscalculated … I’m so tired tonight, I only managed to stitch one big spider and 3/4 of a pumpkin face on GGG … unless I’m back in the saddle big time on Friday night watching Dawson’s Creek (oh so close to the end of the series … finally …), there won’t be no happy dancin’ until the weekend.

Cross Stitch, Just Nan, Works in Progress

Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls

Anne S

Without further ado, here’s the latest WIP photo of Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls – it’s also likely to be the final work in progress photo, as the next time you see it it will hopefully be an actual finished project – I reckon just one more night, maximum two nights, in front of the gogglebox will see this finished off – there are just 3 froggies, a bunch of eyes and pumpkin backstitching, and 2 teeny ghost heads at the bottom plus 2 over-one kitty cats, and 4 yucky spiders in the corners … yeah, 2 nights should do it, easy!

Of course now I’m fantasising about which project to pick up next – while I still have a huge pile of UFO’s to work through, and some other projects I’m in the middle of, the call of the “new start” is screaming very very loudly in my ear!  I’m almost tempted to start stitching Just Nan’s “Witchy Way”, yet another Halloween project, because I’ve got a lot of the threads already out from GGG, but then again it’s perhaps time for a break from Halloween designs … I’m really not entirely sure where my stitching passion will lead me this time … there are so many wonderful projects in my stash, I’m truly spoilt for choice and right now nothing is screaming any louder than anything else! 😀

I do have to finish off my scissor pocket exchange ready for mailing this weekend, so I have some time available yet before I have to make the ultimate decision on what project to pick up next … and I still have Sapphire Star to finish yet as well – I kinda came unstuck a bit ‘cos I absolutely abhor one of the threads used in the final sections, and am thinking of replacing it with a standard pearl cotton instead … maybe …

Anyway, for now it’s time to hit the hay for the night – I’m off to read another few pages of JR Ward’s Dark Lover before I officially wilt … I managed a whole 10 pages last night before my eyelids were too heavy to keep open … at this rate I should be finished with the entire series in about 2018! 😛

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Just Nan, Lizzie Kate, Works in Progress

Where did the weekend go?

Anne S

Well, I guess I know where … I spent the entire day in my PJ’s on Saturday ‘cos I was just too tired to do anything else – I sat up in bed most of the day and watched DVDs while doing a teeny bit of stitching.  After playing in my stash for a little while (dragging out all the kitted up projects in my drawers) I managed to start and finish this little project (but couldn’t face leaving the American spelling of “favorite” so I added a little “U” to Aussie-fy it):

LizzieKate-My Favorite Time
“My Favorite Time” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 28ct mystery Cashel linen (probably Clay or something similar)
with recommended GAST threads except Oatmeal where I subbed with DMC B5200

Then I started on a freebie by Plum Pudding Needleart – which will only take one more bedroom stitching session to totally complete it.  In fact, I reckon about 2 hours of stitching will likely see it completed … but seeing as it’s now my ‘bedroom project’, and I don’t often stitch in my room, this may not see the finishing pile until next weekend again.

This morning Katie and I wandered over to the restaurant on ‘our’ beach where we had a leisurely brunch – I had the Eggs Benedict with a side of mushrooms, pineapple juice, and two skim cappuccinos … we were in heaven for a wee while.  On the way home we picked up a couple of bags each of groceries from the local supermarket, then came in to vege out in front of the gogglebox for a few hours watching Flash Forward and The Amazing Race while I did a bit of stitching.  After that Katie deserted me to go to her bedroom to read a book, while I cleaned up another episode of Good News Week, Fringe and Medium.

Thanks to our TV viewing session, the result is that Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls now looks like this:

I have to say I think the colour choices in particular for the two small pumpkins seem rather “odd” … but they’ll be staying as they are …

And now I’m going to open up Audible Manager and pop on an audiobook for an hour or two while I do some tidying up in my room, which is currently like a pigsty! 🙂

Boo Club, Cross Stitch, Just Nan, Lizzie Kate, Works in Progress

The end of the week…

Anne S

“TGIF” BIG time this week – Friday hasn’t come around quick enough, even though I’ve got massive amounts of work I haven’t managed to get through yet, I’m still grateful the weekend is looming closely ahead!

After my outburst on Monday things at work have felt a lot calmer, I guess.  The air has been cleared between “the guy” and myself, and even though I felt really cautious on Tuesday morning, by mid afternoon Tuesday I felt a lot perkier and even managed a joke with the man.  So all-in-all I guess it’s all good as far as we’re concerned … I’m sure we’ll never see eye to eye, but we’ll be more conscious of how the other is reacting I guess.  The frustrating thing on my behalf is that 9 out of 10 times I’ve been proven right in my viewpoint, but he still loves to argue for the sake of it.  Oh well, time to be more tolerant and not take things personally anymore 🙂

Unfortunately our team is made up of some VERY strong personalities and large egos – and there seem to be more clashes than enough … we’ve just had a new member join the team, and she’s already put people’s backs up in the sites and within our own team … oh joy of joys.  I’m regularly getting phone calls from people in the sites asking for advice on my interpretation of issues because they’ve found offence in the way a colleague has spoken to them – some days I feel like Dear Abby.  I guess I should see it as a real compliment that people feel comfortable and trust me enough to open enough, but truth is it can be really draining … give me a quiet job somewhere without any internal bickering and I’ll be blissfully happy!!!

Anyway, enough of this whining about my job … this is mainly a stitching blog not a moaning blog, and I finally have a Happy Dance to share!  Tonight, while watching a mini NCIS marathon, I managed to put the absolute final stitches into Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club … woohoo!!! 😀  Here are the final couple of bands on show … I’ll wait until decent daylight to take a photo of the entire finished piece, then I’ll share my fabric and thread details at that time.

Then I picked up Just Nan’s Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls and started the tree branches over on the left of the chart … I think I’ll keep going with this one now until it’s finished … although I do still have to finish Laura J Perin’s Sapphire Star yet … hmmm … 🙂

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Some days just suck…

Anne S

Today has been a mixed bag of emotions for me – and quite frankly a day I don’t ever want to repeat … ever!  I was going to put a ‘real’ mini-spit on my Facebook status, but remembered my boss and work colleagues are friends on there, so I thought better about giving any details … and I may remove this little vent in a day or two as well …

I had a major melt-down at work this morning, and have spent the day apologising for it.  I haven’t truly enjoyed my job for some time now … partly due to some of the larger than life personalities I have had to work with, and in some small part due to the job itself.  Anyway, one guy in particular I have major issues with … and this morning it came to a head in a major collision kinda way 😦

For about 1 1/2 years now I’ve put up with him arguing with everything I say – every time he’s asked me for work advice I’ve offered my opinion and he immediately starts arguing and questioning my response.  Initially it was just downright irritating, but over time I’ve started to take it personally … and every time I interract with him I brace myself for a confrontation, because 99% of the time he disagrees with everything I have to say – and I feel as though my opinion is of no value whatsoever.  Added to that fact is that I also know of an extra-marital affair he’s had – which hasn’t helped to garner any respect from me, as that’s something I’m incredibly against … but I haven’t addressed my concerns with his arguing with me, to ensure that my feelings against him haven’t been influenced by my issues with his personal affairs … even though I know it hasn’t been an influence, because I’ve been frustrated with his attitude since well before I knew about his affair.

Anyway, when I first arrived into the office this morning I was super perky and joking with my boss that I was in super early … I also found out that I’d got the secondment I’d applied for … I felt really good after my week off …

Then I had my first meeting of the day with my boss, the guy I have the issue with, and a new colleague.  My boss eventually left the room to allow us to discuss a plan of attack for some work we need to complete by the end of this week … as “the guy” never pipes up first, I offered a suggestion to start the ball rolling, using the experience I’d just gained on doing a similar job over the last month or so with my latest project – no sooner had I opened my mouth and completed my first proposal, he started up with an entirely opposite viewpoint and belittled my suggestion because he didn’t see the point … after trying to explain further, he just kept reiterating his standpoint … anyway, after 18 months of build-up I finally cracked under the pressure and told him he was the most argumentative and frustrating person I’ve ever had to deal with, and that I’d had enough … I was sick of arguing and no longer gave a sh*t – that he could just tell me how he wanted to do it and I’d follow his orders.  All I wanted to do was to get away from him … so I went fuming back to my desk …

Then I got called straight into another meeting with my boss, and blurted out to him that he’d best know I just spat the dummy with this guy with a few minor details of what went off.  He offered to follow-up, but I said it was my issue and I was a big girl and would deal with it … so I spent the next few hours building up the courage inbetween building up a migraine to go and apologise for my outburst …

Which I eventually did … after almost making myself throw up with the stress of it all (I soooo hate confrontation and addressing personal issues), I bit the bullet and called him into a meeting room, and apologised for my outburst, but then opened up and explained how he had made me feel for the last 18 months, and that I feel on defence as soon as I walk into a room with him because I know I’m going to be personally attacked within minutes.  Anyway, let’s just say we had a lengthy discussion … and I guess it’s helped to clear the air, and perhaps our communication will be more open in the future.  I need to stop letting my feelings about his personal issues impact on my handling of work issues so they don’t escalate like this again – and I need to say more quickly when things are impacting on me …

He did admit that sometimes my point is the right one – and that recently when I ignored his feedback and just went with my gut instinct and did what I wanted anyway, the outcome results were all positive …  (I do have to admit to driving home mentally thumbing my nose at him, because I was proven right … childish, but oh so satisfying at the time!)

I still think he’s a dick-head, and I have no respect for him personally, but I have to work with him closely even in my new role (although hopefully not as closely as we do now), and if nothing else today we accepted that we both view situations in a totally different perspective, and that I view the picture as a “whole”, and look at the larger sphere of the issue and “what could be”, whereas he looks at a tiny portion of the issue and keeps his focus there so doesn’t understand when I come to him from a whole different perspective.  So from that side of things, perhaps communication will improve dramatically from here on in … workwise …

I had to de-brief my boss at the end of the day with the outcome – and I was told that I was very courageous to handle it the way I had by taking ownership of the issue and making the first move … and that he was really proud of how I handled it.  I can’t say I felt particularly proud when I was losing my bottle first thing this morning, but I suppose I have learned some valuable life lessons … I know not to let emotions sit building up for 18 months, and explode in a heartbeat, but to walk away when we reach an impasse, and return to it once we’ve both calmed down …

Even as old as I am, life is all about learning, I guess … I can’t say I’m looking forward to work again tomorrow, but the weekend is only 4 days away …  And even though it’s probably been good to clear the air today …

The fact still remains that today has been a day that truly sucked!! 😦

Beading, Boo Club, Cross Stitch, Lizzie Kate, scissor fobs, Works in Progress

Sick flatmate

Anne S

Alas, since lunchtime I’d ‘had’ to keep my flatmate and best pal Katie company in the lounge while she’s been suffering from a dodgy tummy from Vanuatu – it was a major hardship having to sit in my stitching chair for 8 or so hours while we watched all the TV shows that have been taping in her absence … which means there’s finally a stitchy progress photo!  Only one more week and this little puppy will be finito!  As you can see from the bottom piccie, I’ve now turned the corner for the bottom band of the border 😀

On Saturday morning I managed to get a couple of items into the post – my first PIF on it’s way finally … and this little gift to someone else – fingers crossed the recipients like their gifts 🙂

Tomorrow I’ll find out whether I have got the new 12 month secondment position or not … after I drop off my 90+ year old neighbour off at the airport for her next Queensland holiday … that’ll keep me in the good books for a while longer LOL.  And seeing as I need to leave home an hour earlier than normal to do that, I’d better get my A into G and get into bed!!! 😀

Cross Stitch

Bad bad clicky finger…

Anne S

After drooling over Elizabethan Treasures for the last two days, I jumped online to check out prices of the Soie Cristale … turns out SB&B has a Mother’s Day sale at the moment, and the price is over AU$10 cheaper to buy it from there including the US$13 in postage costs!  Let’s just say that I was very very naughty and now have 5 skeins of Soie Cristale on its way, along with a couple of Crescent Colours, GAST and WDW I needed … so much for going on the Wagon!  Ahem …  Although, in my defence I’m not actually buying charts! 😛

And one of the other ways to fulfil my current desire to branch out beyond cross stitch again is to drag out my EGA correspondence course books … and I’m going to attempt to start the beginners Hardanger course … such a shame I have to go back to work, I’m soooo in the mood to start some serious stitching, and when I get home from work I’m so knackered I have no energy … oh well, that’s what the weekends are for, huh? 🙂