Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Brunette…

This is a really bad photo of me, but shows the “new brunette do” … I’m still a bit in shock, although it is a bit softer/lighter after its first wash this morning (sorry, no photo today to compare) … I’m sure I’ll get used to it! 😀

Brunette 1

Brunette 2

I’m still feeling really under the weather, and started a dose of antibiotics this morning … feeling crappy accounts for the dark circles and general crappy look 😦

Acorn Needlebook, Periwinkle Promises, Works in Progress

Why I don’t “do” Kits!

Here I have been merrily and happily stitching away on my Acorn Needlebook … on the homeward stretch, and completing the final centre block of stitches, and “wham!”, I am rudely reminded that on the whole “I really and truly hate kits!” … gotta love the convenience of having fabric, threads and embellishments all ready and prepared in the one place without requiring any effort … but by crikey it sucks when you don’t get enough threads to complete the project 😦

You may be able to tell which thread I’ve run out of … it’s not hard to work out … I guess it’s time to hunt down a new skein before I can get it finished … geez I hope someone local has it in stock!

Acorn Needlebook 02May09

I have to repeat … “geez, I hate kits!!!”

Then for something different I decided to turn into a brunette today … I have a head the colour of mahogany, and I feel shell-shocked 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Mirabilia, Winter Queen

Viruses can be good :D

I still feel a little bit stunned and shell-shocked, but having 3 entire days of uninterrupted stitching thanks to a poxy virus means putting the final stitches into my Winter Queen … I still can’t believe it!!!  The photo doesn’t do her justice!  And this is one piece that will definitely be getting framed for my walls 😀

Mirabilia-Winter Queen finished 28Apr09
“Winter Queen” by Mirabilia
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC, Mill Hill beads and Kreinik metallic braids
Started November 2005 – Finished 28 April 2009

Ackworth Friendship Book, Cross Stitch, Quaker, Round Robin, Round Robins, With My Needle, Works in Progress

Case of the Blahs

I’m just killing time for a few minutes before I head over to the local GP.  I’ve been suffering from the worst head cold I’ve had in years over the last week, which saw me staying in bed for the entire weekend.  I walked into work today, only to have my entire team tell me to go home, making me feel even worse … anyway, after an hour I’ve succumbed to the fact that I’m not welcome at work, and probably time I saw my GP for a quick check-up.  This is also the first time I’ve been online for days.

Over the weekend I did manage to get quite a lot of stitching in – both finishing up the 2nd part of Nicki’s Ackworth Friendship Book pages for our friendship RR, and getting a pretty decent chunk of stitching into Winter Queen.  By hook or by crook I’m going to have this old UFO finished by the end of May!

Here’s the final photos of Nicki’s finished piece – I tried to tweak the colouring in Photoshop Elements on the “whole fabric” photo, as the colour just doesn’t get captured at all with the camera … the colour is definitely more true to life in the 2nd photo 🙂

Nicki's Quaker RR 2

Nicki's Quaker RR

After stitching on hand-dyed 40ct linen, stitching on 32ct Belfast for Winter Queen was a breeze, and even felt like 28ct it seemed such large!  Anyway, here’s Winter Queen as I left her last, along with the progress up to last night … she doesn’t have too much more left on her to go, yippee 😀

Winter Queen 09Mar09a

Winter Queen 26Apr09

Once Winter Queen is finished, I need to decide which UFO to tackle next.  After joining a local UFO XS group online, I like the idea of having one UFO in my ‘rotation’ all the time, so I can finally get some of those pieces finished up.

I did manage to find a website that offers downloads of the Supernatural episodes, so I spent most of last week’s down-time downloading all those, and that gave me something to cheer me up over the weekend – an entire day watching Supernatural Season 4 (right up to episode 17 anyway – the others aren’t ready for downloading yet … and I can’t wait!!).  It’s been years since I’ve been so batty about a TV series, but I just can’t get enough of those boys!!! 😀

Anyway, time to get my A into G and head off to the GP.  Have to admit, if it wasn’t for having a public holiday on Saturday, I wouldn’t bother wasting the GP’s time, but alas coming home from work after a public holiday means I either get a GP’s note or lose a day’s pay … you know what I obviously chose!  But it means now I can get a few more stitches into Winter Queen … and where did I put my Supernatural Season 3 DVD’s??? 😀

Ackworth Friendship Book, Cross Stitch, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Quaker, Round Robin, Round Robins, supernatural, Sydney, With My Needle

Why does this perfect day have to end?

What a way to spend a Sunday … this evening I managed to put the final stitches into part 3 of our Ackworth Friendship Book which is being stitched as a round robin, which means I’ve now halfway through stitching on Nicki’s piece.

Quaker Friendship RR part 3 Nicki's

That in itself is a good achievement at the end of the day, but certainly not what all the excitement is about … Oh no, no, no, it was FAR more exciting than that!!!  No, today was the day that I spent in the company of Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins at the Supernatural Convention … and THAT is the reason I wish it didn’t have to end!!!  I’m still feeling a bit shell-shocked after the whole experience – in a good way! 😀

Supernatural Convention 3

I’ve got oodles of photos, but thought I’d share the experience with you with a select few … well, OK, about a dozen!! 😛

First of all, it was worth going just to get to watch about 5 of the upcoming episodes of Supernatural that haven’t been aired in Australia yet – how awesome to see them up on the huge big theatre screen above the stage!!  Apologies for most of these photos – they were taken in bad lighting from halfway back in the auditorium (although the photo of the big screen below came out suprisingly well!).

Supernatural Convention 1

Then we had chance to ask questions of Misha Collins for an hour – what a superb and fun speaker he is, and a great addition to the show.

Supernatural Convention 2

Afterwards it was time to start getting called for autograph sessions, and I took along my favourite computer wallpaper that I printed off at home, for Jensen Ackles to sign.  After just signing stock standard publicity photos he was apparently really impressed with my photo choice as he hadn’t seen it before, and had to pass it around to his offsiders before signing it … gave a great chance to have a quick chat with him {{insert heavy sigh of dreamy pleasure here}}.

Jensen autograph

After queueing up for an hour in the lunch queue, it was time to head back to the Auditorium where we signed up to buy a copy of the DVD covering the weekend’s events, and had chance to catch one final new episode of Supernatural before we were graced with the presence of Jared Padalecki … this was Katie’s chance to drool heavily, as Jared is her supreme favourite.

Jared 1

Supernatural Convention 4

Next up came my chance to drool and slobber, and I’m sure the reason I felt dehydrated coming home had nothing to do with the fact we hadn’t had a drink all day, but rather that I was sat with my mouth gaping open in awe at seeing Jensen Ackles in the flesh on stage!  {{insert another heavy sigh of dreamy delight}}  Yes, I know, I’m like a love-sick teenager, but I just can’t help myself 😉

Supernatural Convention 6

Supernatural Convention 11

Supernatural Convention 5

Jared and Jensen spoke individually on stage for 1/2 hour each, then we had the pleasure of having the two of them back on stage together, while Jared acted like a child with ADD and the two of them stuffed themselves with Fantales candies.  They did manage to field a few more questions from the audience inbetween clowning around and taking cracks at each other.

Supernatural Convention 8

Supernatural Convention 7

Supernatural Convention 12

The day finished with Misha Collins coming to join them on stage, and Jared and Jensen drew on T-shirts to auction off for charity … at $3,000 a pop I’d say the auction was a huge success, and the Starlight Foundation will be thrilled with the proceeds.

Supernatural Convention 9

Supernatural Convention 10

So, what can I say, aside from “WOW, what an awesome day!!!” – a perfect finish to my fortnight of annual leave … and I’ll definitely be having fun memories for years to come.  Now all we need now is for Channel Ten to pull their fingers out of their proverbial behinds and get Episode 9 onwards onto Australian TV – Misha Collins couldn’t believe we were only up to episode 8, to which he got a thunderous response in agreement from the audience … so, come on Channel Ten, come to the party!!!

Christmas Ornaments, Finishing, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls, tin topper

Final finishes for the day

It’s been a very productive day, finishing-wise – I’ve really enjoyed getting a few pieces into a finished state, and look forward to having a few more days like it in upcoming weeks.  Following are the final pieces (except for one ornie which is still drying, after gluing the cording on – I’ll take a photo over the weekend when I can):

First up are a couple more Christmas ornies finished off:

Christmas Peace ornie

Fill With Love ornie

Then another wee pinkeep:

Morning Glory pinkeep 1

Morning Glory pinkeep 2

Morning Glory pinkeep 3

And finally my first attempt at a tin topper – this is FAR from perfect, and there are many things I’d do differently next time, but it’s OK for a first attempt I guess.  It was supposed to be a gift for someone, but I’m not entirely sure it’s good enough for that … I’ll have to think that over, I think … In any case, I need to find my magnetic strips to add to the inside lid, but they have so far eluded me today!  I do like the little ‘bow’ on the front of the lid, made from two loops of velvet ribbon 🙂

Tin Topper 3

Tin Topper 2