PhotoHuntThis week’s theme is ”Purple”:
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:
Then another wee pinkeep:
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 🙂
Another finish-finish
Oh my goodness, I’ve had this piece of stitching sitting around for years and years … it was a Mill Hill kit that I bought back in the days when I used to stitch on Aida (shows you how long ago that was!) – it was also the first attempt I ever made at beading. Unfortunately the silver beads have discoloured somewhat, and there were grubby marks on the sides of the fabric from when I used to use a hoop that would never come out … I decided today to finally make something out of it and opted for a pinkeep. Who would’ve known such a scruffy piece of stitching would look so beautiful made up??! I was pleasantly surprised with the result – and knew that lovely ribbon trip would come in handy one day! 😀
Here are a few piccies of the resulting piece – I love this one!! 😀
Ornament time
Things have been quiet on the stitching front this week – instead I’ve been going to the gym and getting a program organised. I’ve now got both a cardiovascular program and strength program, and I have to say after doing my strength program yesterday I thought my arms were going to drop off!!!
Today, though, I’ve made a bit of an effort to try turning an ornie or two into an actual ornament – here is my April ornie challenge piece all finished up (I knew those sexy Gingher pinking shears would come in handy one day!!):
I really love the finished look of this style of finishing, and can definitely see more of these in the future! In fact, I got straight into it and finished off an ornie that Mum stitched and gave to me while I was home last week. Here’s that one all nicely finished up:
As for stitching itself, I only managed to get a tiny bit of stitching done on my Acorn Needlebook last night – the photo is terrible, as there’s no lighting on for it … Two more little bands of long-armed XS, and the start of the backstitched vines and leaves for the centre of the front cover of the needlbook:
I’m also putting Winter Queen back on her scroll bars today, and have managed to find and attach my magnifying lens for my Ott-Lite so I can make a second attempt at Nicki’s Quaker RR piece. Unfortunately with the hours I’d been working, my eyes are really tired in the evenings, so I was struggling to see clearly without straining on the 40ct hand-dyed linen … at least it means if my eyes are tired now, I can use the magnifying lens (never had to use it before, so it will be interesting to see how it works!).
Anyway, back I go to the creative corner … I’m hoping to at least get one more item started on the way to being “finish-finished”, as well as cranking my sewing machine up and learning to use it … 😀
Gotta make the most of it, ‘cos I’m back into work for 6 hours tomorrow, then out all day Sunday drooling over Mr Ackles and Mr Padalecki at the Supernatural Convention – I can’t believe the day has finally rolled around, and we’ll be seeing the stars in the flesh this weekend. I feel like a teenager all over again LOL 😀
Back to sweltering Sydney
After a whirlwind trip back home to Auckland where I froze my buns off, it’s back to Sydney and the hottest day in the history of April since time began apparently … oh yay, LOL (sorry Zeb, I only got your email when I got home Sunday afternoon, so didn’t get chance to catch up – will definitely give you a holler the next time I come over, though, so we can arrange a meeting!).
It was really lovely to go home again and Dad was happy that I managed to clear out about 2 suitcases full of clothes to go to the Salvation Army plus about half a big wheelie bin full of soon-to-be-shredded papers. Ah, I so love going home for a holiday haha. The weather was shocking, so we didn’t get to go sightseeing at all around Auckland – and unfortunately the flights were really full out of Wellington, so at the 11th hour Mum and I cancelled our flights, as it had the potential to be an extremely costly trip … of course we forgot about Easter and school holiday traffic … doh!
I didn’t get too much stitching done, although I did stitch up my April Christmas ornie for the ornie Challenge … and I’ve since started the Acorn Needle Book by Periwinkle Promises, which is a kit I’ve had in my stash for way too many years now. It’s been really fun doing every stitch except XS so far in this piece, although I’m a bit wary of the upcoming acorn cap completely made up of french knots {{shudder}}.
“Snowy Night” by The Prairie Schooler
from 2008 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue
stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads
“Acorn Needle Book” kit by Periwinkle Promises – first WIP photo
A bit of rice stitch, satin stitch, double holbein stitch, double back-stitch (or long-armed XS), and finished with a smidge of normal back stitch
Mum and I managed to catch up with my Auntie Trudy (who’s not actually an Aunt, but a family friend that I’ve grown up with in NZ), and it was lovely to see her again. I came away being spoilt with a lovely blue scarf she knit for me, so I feel very special 🙂
The highlight of the trip (and our final night) was a visit to my fave family, the Smiths … Auntie Heather (again an extremely close family friend that I adore) has known me since I was six weeks old in the UK, and our two families have grown up together when we both emigrated to New Zealand. There are only a few years difference between the age groups of myself and their two children, Tracey and Carl, and now they both have their own children and we have our own “Granny Smith” (she hates being called that!). It turned out to be Danial’s birthday during our visit, so we were able to visit on Saturday afternoon/evening on his birthday – it was great fun! Tracey and Glen live out in the country south of Auckland, and it was great to finally visit their property and play with all the animals. The only ones I didn’t get to pet were the cows! 😉
Here are a number of photos from our visit – including some very special Easter bunnies, that were part of Danial’s birthday present.
Danial, Bradley and Heather (with stickers on her forehead compliments of youngest grandchild Danial!)
Tracey hard at work in the kitchen preparing dinner
How many men does it take to put together a racing car set? Four, apparently! ;P
Maybe we should read the instructions, Grandad!
Easter bunnies country-style
Awwwww……. Somebunny loves ya Heather!
The Dragon having a bunny cuddle
And this bundle of fun I just couldn’t wait to have a cuddle with, I love him to death … poor Dodge got so excited that he kindly peed on my leg … I think that means he likes me! haha – he’s such a soppy soft dog you’ve gotta love him! This is him begging me to come outside to play with him – I kept leaning out the window to give him a pat! 😀
And to finish off, here’s the birthday boy with his icecream cake – with Dad (Glen), and the Dragon (Mum)
Now it’s back to the heat of Sydney, and I’m over it already after 48 hours!! Will summer never end?? Bring on those cooler autumn days with blue skies … keep your pelting rain and humidity! Oh well, at least I can laze around at home over the next few days indoors … inbetween going to gym sessions each day this week … I’ve finally joined a gym to get my fat A into shape and feel a bit healthier. Going to the chiropractor all these months has been wonderful, and I’m ready to make a healthy change – going to the gym will hopefully help me reach that goal … I just need to get back into the routine of going regularly before work!
Anyway, I’d better skedaddle and put some laundry washing in while it’s still daylight and the laundry nazis don’t chase me out (we have to be out by 8pm sharp!) … can’t guarantee there’ll be a stitching finish any time soon, as I want to put a few hours into Mirabilia’s Winter Queen (thanks to me joining a UFO challenge group) and also get some decent stitching time into Nicki’s Quaker RR 😀
Look forward to catching up on your blogs over the next few days as well … ah, the joy of still being on holiday!! 😀
Photo Hunt – Triangle
This week’s theme is ”Triangle” and I struggled to find a photo choice before I headed off on leave (this is post-dated again, I love WordPress for that function!) … so I decided to use some famous triangles on the Sydney harbour landscape – a closer look at the Sydney Opera House.
One more sleep …
One more sleep, until I’ll be winging my way across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa, aka New Zealand … where I’ll definitely be seeing this view again …
Auckland (Waitemata) Harbour from near the Harbour Bridge
Perhaps not this one this time around, but maybe there’ll be chance in Wellington …
Maori greeting, Rotorua (Whakarewarewa thermal park)
But most definitely this one, if he’s still there at Wellington Airport …
Gollum at Wellington Airport
This time round I’m only staying for 6 nights, and Mum and I are having a one-night stay away in Wellington just to go to Te Papa Museum. We were only going to go down or the day, but the flights home are shocking (and unfortunately on staff travel we have to travel on stand-by … no seats, no travel …) so we figure we’ll probably end up staying overnight anyway.
Not sure whether I’ll get online while I’m away, as I’m not taking the laptop this time.
I still haven’t packed properly yet, and we’re off to see Tim Minchin live tonight, so I’d better get my A into G!! Looking forward to seeing him perform live, as I think he’s absolutely hilarious – a very talented, if very quirky, comedian! 😀
Have a lovely week everyone – see you in less than 24 hours, Dragon!! 😀
Mini Happy Dance
One more small finish for me for the year – I really enjoyed stitching this one … I was craving some ‘specialty stitches’ and this fit the bill in a small way. Unfortunately they were stitches I’ve already done before, so I didn’t really learn anything new, but it made a nice change to doing all cross stitch! And I just LOVE the colours on this one. It took longer than expected to stitch the top part, but I did manage to put the final stitches into it before midnight last night, so the entire thing was stitched in one day 🙂
“Lavender Bag” by The Victoria Sampler
Stitched using kit fabric, threads and beads
I’m thinking of trying to finally get acquainted with my new sewing machine later this afternoon if I get time, or on my return from my visit home, so I’m looking forward to finally getting some actual ‘finishing’ done (including the quilted wallhanging of Just Nan’s Evening Star, so it can go to its new loving home).
Now I’m off into the office for an hour or two to check my emails, and make a quick phone call to Tucson and Los Angeles if I need to … fingers crossed, though, they’ve got things sorted in my absence now the Manager is back in the office!
Photo Hunt – Stripes
Joy to the World
I managed to put the final stitches into my Christmas ornie last night:
“Joy to the World” by Threads Through Time
from 2001 Just Cross Stitch ornie magazine
Stitched on 32ct white Lugana
using recommended DMC
And today started a new quick project – Lavender Bag by The Victoria Sampler (sorry, it’s a bad photo!):
Hopefully I’ll get chance to finish off the stitching tonight, as there isn’t a great deal more left to stitch, and no more bands with loads of colour changes 🙂
Feather Stitching 