Cross Stitch, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

A bit more Boo!

Anne S

I managed a tiny bit of stitching again last night, and was able to add one little ghostie to my scissors purse.  I also managed to add a bit more to the fob by finishing the pumpkin vines and little black cat plus 2/3 of the wording – I’m hoping to have this one finished by the end of the weekend (stitching-wise anyway!).

Tonight I’d really like to see the scissor fob stitching finished – anything else is a bonus, although I should probably be able to get the back ‘panel’ finished on the purse as well … that just leaves the front panel to be stitched over the weekend … and the finishing – although I don’t know if I have any suitable fabric to use for the lining yet … will have to check the stash, but I’m pretty positive it’ll entail a trip to Spotlight or a quilting shop somewhere!  Yep, I’m pretty sure this one will have to sit in the finishing basket for a wee while yet!

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash, Sydney, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

Boo!

Anne S

Boo! Scissors Purse and Fob by The Drawn Thread is my current Work In Progress – so far I’ve managed to get almost halfway down the scissors purse, and about 1/4 of the scissor fob stitched.  I’m still really tired in the evenings, so my stitching is going r…e…a…l…l…y s…l…o…w…l…y.  Here’s my progress to date – once again, very washed out under the daylight bulb and even Photoshop Elements is struggling to get the colours right with a ton of manipulation!  I started this one in about the middle of last year, but hated the feel of one strand of silk, and just never found a rhythm … I stopped halfway through completing the little pumpkin on the ‘flap’, and it’s only this last week that I’ve pulled it from the depths of my WIP basket and decided to give it a little bit of love again.  And before you ask, yes, the “Boo” part at the top is supposed to be upside down … you see, it’ll fold over and then be the right way up again 😀

On Sunday I had a really lovely day out with my favourite Sydney ladies – Alison and Amanda … as always it was a riot, and much laughing and chattering was to be had.  We went to the new craft show that was held out at Homebush at Sydney Olympic Park.  I was on a stricter budget than normal, and there wasn’t too much to tempt me this time, but I still managed to come home with some great wee treasures … more in the shape of BIG floss rings for my threads (which are like hens teeth to find here!) and some more scissors (hey, a girl can NEVER have too many!!).  I also bought a strand of beads that I think will be awesome as a scissor fob for the Gingher Roberta scissors … plus some necklace ‘thongs’ to put together some chunky style necklaces for myself and Katie.  Hmmm, sorry about the green shopping bag that was used for the photography … not the best choice as a background to show off stitching scrummies! LOL.

And just LOOK at my favourite splurge of the day … I’ve been drooling over these Eiffel Tower scissors for the looooongest time, and that was my parting gesture to the show … and without doubt my very FAVOURITE purchase – I love, love, LOVE them, and don’t begrudge the AUD25.00 it took to procure them! 😀

Saturday was spent doing a bunch of tidying up in my pigsty of a bedroom, and tidying up my threads and stitching things – I finally grabbed a few of my kitted up projects that actually have DMC in the bags and entered all those threads into an Excel spreadsheet.  It seems that these days I’m constantly putting projects on hold part-way through stitching ‘cos I’m one or two threads short, so hopefully this will help me know where to start rummaging when I’m hunting for an elusive thread!  One other GREAT thing about tidying up my thread inventory is that I found the teeny tiny bag of embellishment beads for my January Accent Sampler by Periwinkle Promises … which also means I now have no excuse not to get it finished.  All I need to do is to add the little beads, and my initials/year, and stitch the back-stitch border on the backing linen, and I’m all set to do the finishing … not much, right? … well, let’s just say it’ll get done some time soon either before or after I finish Boo! 😛

I’m hoping to take Friday off this week so I can run a couple of errands like FINALLY picking up a bookcase from Officeworks that I bought late last year (they didn’t tell me it had arrived then shipped it back to their warehouse again … bless them!) … which also then means I get to play DIY with my power drill (LOVE that thing!), and I also just might FINALLY finish unpacking those final boxes in my bedroom that are full of embroidery books etc … which will then perhaps FINALLY lead me to putting a bunch of my books I no longer want on Ebay … perhaps 😛

Work has been ‘challenging’ over the last couple of weeks – just for a change LOL.  I’ve had it hinted from my boss that there could be a sort of new opportunity on the horizon that I should put my hand up for as it could be good for my career (and builds on the good relationship I already have with this group) … not really any different to what I’m doing now, just more focused on one area … time will tell if it actually pans out and goes ahead, and if so whether I get it or not, as there are obviously no guarantees.  I have already stated openly to him, though, that I would be interested if it went ahead.

Anyway, talking of work, I guess I should hurry up and post this and get into beddy-byes … an extra half hour of sleep just could make all the difference for me tomorrow 😉

The next finish you see will hopefully be my Pin Pillow exchange piece, which is hurrying across the oceans as we speak, and hopefully won’t be too far away from its destination … 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Mosey 'n Me, Threads Through Time

Little finishes

Anne S

Katie and I have been hitting the lounge chairs almost as soon as we’ve walked in home at the end of each day, as we’re both a bit under the weather and really tired this week – it means we’re also now keeping on top of our TV viewing as well, and watching all our favourite shows within 24 hours of taping them … I’ve got Katie into my mindset of taping everything then watching it the next day and forwarding through the adverts … ah, bliss!

Of course all this sitting on my bottom early has meant a bit more stitching time this week … which would be great if I was stitching to my normal levels, but I’ve been stitching like an old snail this week, and it’s taken me 4 nights to complete one little ornie!  Oh well, it’s better than nothing, and I have to admit it feels good to see one more kitted up finish off the pile.

Threads Through Time-Reindeer Garden
“Reindeer Garden” by Threads Through Time
from 2000 JCS Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 36ct cream Edinburgh linen with DMC

Once I’d finished Reindeer Garden, I also dragged out my Mosey n Me freebie “Love February” – I’ve never been happy with it ever since I stitched it back at the beginning of February … so I unpicked all the cream stitches and re-stitched in the pink colour, plus I was really unhappy with the green used for the rose’s stem, so out that went tonight as well, and I re-stitched the stem with a darker green.  While the photo is really really washed out and bad, I’m a LOT happier with this version than the previous one, and really glad I opted to do some frog-stitching tonight!  Now this one can officially join the “finished” list as well 😀

Before ……………………………………………. After
 Mosey 'n Me-Love February freebie

“Love February” by Mosey ‘n Me
stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen in DMC
with addition of small red heart button

As it was quite late by this stage, and I need to kit up some more charts/fabrics with their actual threads, I started stitching a simple JBW Designs Christmas ornie that was already kitted up tonight … I have a busy weekend planned, though, so no guarantees it’ll get finished until early next week … unless we have another DVD marathon tomorrow night 😉

With any luck my missing thread won’t be too far away now so I can get back to stitching my canvaswork Sapphire Star … I’ve also completed all the stitching of my Periwinkle Promises January Sampler Accent, but I’ve mislaid the teeny tiny bag of blue beads, and don’t seem to have the colour in my stash (Murphy’s Law!) … once I get a replacement packet, I just need to do the backstitching around the back piece of linen, make the corner tassels, and put it all together (I’ve obviously decided to use the linen backing instead of using the fabric for something else).

And on that note I’d better get my A into G and get some of those threads kitted up so I can jump into bed and get some shut-eye, so I’m a bit fresher for more stitching tomorrow night … and of course it’s a big day at work for a change, so I guess being fresh for work won’t go amiss either 😛

Cross Stitch, Elizabeth's Designs, Finishes, Needlebook, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Gifties received

Anne S

I heard from Becky today that the Postman worked overtime over the weekend, and my little gifties arrived safe and sound.  I’ve had the stitching done on these for 3 whole years (!!!) – the pinkeep has been sitting around finished ever since then, waiting for it’s companion needlebook to be finished.  As soon as they became a matching pair officially (finally!!!), they were parcelled up and sent over to the US to their new Mum.  Becky has a lovely photo on her blog, but here are a couple more from before they were made up into their finished versions (and these show the colours much more accurately):

As you can see, I had all intentions of getting them both finished the year they were stitched, so they still have 2007 stitched on the ‘backsides’ 😉  I have to agree I really love the little backstitched bees, but for the life of me I can’t remember which design I borrowed them from!  And here’s the finished duo together all finished, just before packaging them up:

Epidaurus, Ruby Tuesday, Travel, Travel - Greece

Ruby Tuesday – Epidaurus Theatre, Greece

Anne S

Here is my choice for this week’s Ruby Tuesday – the Epidaurus ampitheatre, Greece, getting ready for a concert.

Athens_0147

While we were visiting, the couple of guys that are in the middle of the shot starting singing when I was at the top of the ampitheatre, and I literally got goosebumps listening to them sing. The sound quality was truly incredible, and their voices hauntingly beautiful – there was no sound aside from these two gentlemen, everyone else was silent. That will remain one of my favourite memories of my visit to Athens (this was all part of a day-trip from Athens – the ampitheatre is apparently 2 1/2 hours drive away).  Further information can be found here, if you want to know more about the ampitheatre itself, or if you want to review a video clip you can click here (and fast forward to 4:45 as directed in the text) … a couple of borrowed facts, though, are as follows:

  • The World Heritage listed site was built 2,500 years ago in the 5th Century BC, and still hosts Greek dramas today.
  • According to Greek mythology Epidaurus was the birthplace of Asclepius, the God of Healing and son of Apollo.
  • The accoustics of the ampitheatre are renowned as being near perfect – you can drop a matchstick in the centre of the original beaten earth stage and it can be heard by people in the very top of the 55 tiers.
  • The theatre is one of the best preserved structures from Classical Greece.

Ruby Tuesday

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Oops, I forgot …

Anne S

… to add this photo … Katie and I popped into our local restaurant on the way home from work one night last week, and parked in the ‘angle parking’ outside the restaurant … please note that angle parking actually has lines painted on the road … the road rules dictate that you must park inside those lines … all very clear, right?  When we look up to check there is no time limit, we see the following sign …

Um, “front or rear to kerb” … WTF???  Geez, and I was looking forward to trying to park sideways in that little tight spot … and I’m not even going to touch the under 6m rule!!!  Oh well, gave us so much of a second-look and a giggle that Katie had to take a photo on her iPhone 😛