Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
I’m totally spoilt for choice for this week’s theme of “wooden” … so I’ve chosen one photo that I’ve already used at the start of the Photo Hunt, plus two others.
Here is a boat sculpture on the shores of St Kilda Beach:
Plus two wooden sculptures by the artist Ken Blum, at the Enchanted Maze Garden, Mornington Peninsula:
And lucky last, the beach huts on Dromana beach, Mornington Pensinsula:
My goodness what a wonderful week of socialising this week has been! First of all our friend Bek came up from Melbourne to visit Wed and Thu nights – we managed to christen a few things during her visit … first of all we christened the sofa bed of my ‘new’ lounge suite, and Bek has given it the seal of approval that it’s very comfy! Then we christened the pretty comprehensive bar by spending Wed night slurping back numerous Illusion cocktails … which meant Thu at work was pretty low key haha. Thu night we had antipasto foods and nibbles and a few wines sitting outside while christening our new balcony. It was really lovely just sitting outside and chilling out with friends!
Friday night we had another ex-Melbourne colleague and friend of Lisa’s here in Sydney, so we ended up heading into the city straight after work to have dinner with him, followed by coffee and dessert at the Lindt chocolaterie cafe at Darling Harbour, before waddling back to the car and drive home.
My birthday started by being very quiet – we were going to go out for breakfast, but I was up at 7am then fell asleep again at 9.45am just as Lisa was getting up … needless to say when I woke up again it was lunchtime and Lisa had gone out shopping. So I baked myself a birthday cake, and just chilled out for a while. When Lisa walked in she came in with a big bouquet of flowers for me, then suggested she shout me out for dinner … we went to a local pub called the Intersection or something, and had a lovely dinner followed by a few cocktails. We toddled in home at about 11.30pm … so thanks to Lisa I had a very special birthday night 🙂
Something else made my birthday extra special too, and that was the parcel that the mailman brought me on Thursday (I haven’t been anywhere near the computer to write about it until now). There was squishy mail from my good friend KarenV, and I have been spoilt rotten! Not only did Karen send the remaining Summer Snapperland charts from my wishlist, but she also send the most beautiful pinkeep and floss fob … how gorgeous are these?? Funnily enough, I’d recently kitted up the peacock chart that Karen used for the pinkeep, ‘cos I love it so much, and now I have my own all stitched up! I absolute adore the little scissor pocket on the back, complete with my very own pair of Putford scissors … yep, you can definitely say I spoilt rotten!! Thanks once again, my friend, I absolutely adore everything, and the Summer Snapperland series is going to remind me of my new home here in Sydney by the beach (although maybe I should stitch it on grey fabric to match the summer skies we’ve had most of summer haha).
Now I’ll leave you drooling over my gifties from Karen, while I run up to the local shopping centre to buy my Dad some blank DVD’s. I’ll do another quick post tomorrow, as I need to load up some photos of my plants for Mum and my camera battery has just died …
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In the meantime, I want to wish my good friend KarenV a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY today – hope you have a fantastic day being spoilt rotten, and may 2008 be a stupendous year brimming full of goodness in every single way!!
| Your Birthdate: February 16 |
 You’re incredibly introverted and introspective. You live inside your head. You spend a lot of alone time meditating and thinking. People see you as withdrawn, and at times they are right. You are caring and deep, but it may be difficult for you to show this side of yourself.Your strength: Your original approach to thinkingYour weakness: You tend to shy away from othersYour power color: Pale blue Your power symbol: Wavy line Your power month: July |
Even though the photo isn’t a great one in terms of skill or technical ability – this is my choice for this week’s theme of “free” … I always think it must be such a sense of freedom to be sailing over the earth with nothing but a basket under your feet. Although I haven’t been hot air ballooning myself yet, it’s definitely very high up the “to do” list! This is the view I had from my kitchen window one morning in Elwood …
Finally I can share with you a couple of amazing gifts I received last week from two very generous online friends. After such a stressful time, it was amazing to open up my PO Box and find two envelopes bursting with goodness sitting in there!
First up was a scrummy skein of Gloriana silk from Susan – it might be a bit fuzzier than it originally arrived, as I kept stroking it at work haha. For anyone who hasn’t fondled a skein of Gloriana before, it’s a sheer joy! Thanks so much for your lovely thoughtful gift Susan, it’s been a pleasure to call you “friend”, and your gift really touched me! {{hugs}} 🙂
Next up is an absolutely exquisite biscornu from Andrea – this is so perfectly “me” in every sense of the word!! Look at those scrummy colours and that beautiful finishing … isn’t it a real stunner?!! This was a gift to welcome me into my new home, and it’s now sitting on display in the lounge with my other smalls – it will always be treasured, Andrea, I really love it to death! I love the personalisation on the back too! 😀
See, I told you last week the piccies would be worth waiting for … and I was right, huh? 😀
Thanks again to my two dear friends for making last week a wonderful one!
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A quick update on the car is that it’s running nicely again – everything requested was fixed … although admittedly it was a bit more than I expected in the end, as the alternator ran into a few difficulties so it ended up costing an extra $100 – anyway, all up it was just over $750 so it didn’t quite hit the $1,000 horror mark … and I’m so happy that everything is now fixed, including the airconditioning and aerial … I’m one happy camper!!! And to top things off I’ll be using it to drive down ‘south’ next weekend to my first stitching weekend in Sydney – I’m really looking forward to meeting a few more stitchers up here 🙂
We have a friend from work coming up from Melbourne tomorrow morning to stay with us for 2 nights until Friday, which will be fun. That means we’re off out to dinner for the next two nights – tomorrow night we’re just popping across the road to the local RSL, then Thursday night we’re heading into the city for the first time. I still haven’t worked out what to do for my birthday yet, hmmm … no doubt I’ll make my decision on Friday night – 24 hours notice is OK right? haha.
I’ve also just been very bad and organised Mum’s birthday gift … we’re now off to see Phantom of the Opera here in Sydney. Mum’s never seen it before, and she’s always wanted to see the live show, but we’ve never managed to organise it before. It’s so awesome to finally get tickets for her to see it … and of course I get to share the gift as well (even though I saw it in New York years ago, I’m looking forward to seeing it again). I hope it lives up to your expectations Mum! 🙂
Rightio, time to quickly run around with a vacuum cleaner before hitting the hay for the night, as I think we’ll be having a late night for the next two nights, and I’ve spent most of tonight in the kitchen cooking … time to quickly cram the entire night’s housework into 15 minutes hmmm 🙂
I’ve been speaking to ‘my’ mechanic today and I’m off to pick up my car tomorrow … and it seems it’s going to be a relatively painless bill, much to my total amazement and joy (for me relatively painless is under $1,000!)! Hence the feeling I could cry tears of joy!!!
Out of all the problems with the car, he’s managed to find that they’re quite ‘minor’ things – the airconditioning flooding the car only turned out to be a blocked drainage tube; the ‘broken’ windows just turned out to be that the idiot who ripped out my alarm system last year hit the ‘child lock’, so the windows were fixed at the push of a button (that gave me a bit of a giggle) … the ‘big’ costs are a reconditioned alternator and a new battery … and he’s replacing my car aerial that got killed in the hail storms before Christmas, plus the dashboard light and hopefully the door remote. I’ve got my fingers crossed it won’t be too much over say $600, but time will tell tomorrow morning!
I must say it’s a real pleasure having a mechanic that’s not out to stiff you and is truly reliable and trustworthy – even if he is on the other side of town, I’ll definitely be taking my car to him on a regular basis now!
In other news I’ve requested from Dodgey Brothers R Us a copy of the receipt for the extra rental truck expenses, and he’s refused to give it to me … which I now have in writing from him in an email … bless you Mr Dodgey, that’ll come in very handy for when we take it further to claim back those costs!! 😀
And if that all isn’t enough, I’ve also managed to ‘unpublish’ all those future WordPress posts as well, by just clicking on edit timestamp and saving again … so over the next few weeks it’s going to feel like Groundhog Dog with everything you’ve already seen haha.
Still no gift photos to share with you yet, as I need to buy some DVD’s to get rid of some files on my laptop … but I promise you the wait is worth it! 🙂
I’ll try to remember and pick up some DVD’s tomorrow while I’m out picking up my car! For now, it’s time to head off and unpack another couple of things before bedtime. Hopefully in another week I’ll have more time to get back into my stitching again. We’re having a friend come to visit from Melbourne next Tuesday, so we’ve got to get cracking and get the place tidied up … it’s going to be so good having a social event next week and entertaining at home! That cocktail bar will finally get a hammering … and I will have a Chardonnay drinking buddy here (no-one else I know drinks Chardy … everybody else in Oz seems to be Sauvignon Blanc fans). I must say that today “life feels good” 😀
Rightio, time for bed so we can get up early tomorrow … hope to be back tomorrow with a fun-filled post of stitching goodies! 🙂
Not sure what’s happening with WordPress today, but all those posts are dated for the future, and shouldn’t be published! I’m not sure how to ‘unpublish’ them without deleting them either … oh well, you get a sneak preview of the next load of Photo Hunts haha. And no, it’s not my birthday either … well, not for another 9 days anyway! Thanks for the early birthday wishes, though – that’s what made me realise the WordPress glitch had happened!!
I will do another post later, as I have some exquisite gifts to share … but I need to send a couple of emails first, plus my laptop hard drive is full and won’t let me crop or edit the photos ho-hum … will post piccies as soon as I can 🙂
The post title is apparently what I look like! The removalist who dropped Lisa’s bike off on Saturday said “you’re looking fit -must be all the walking up those stairs” … !!! Well, it’s good to see his eyesight was still working OK after not turning up until 7.3opm hmmm haha 😉
As for what else has been happening – the dining table legs are now firmly wedged onto the table top, but still propped up against the wall until Lisa’s back has strengthened a little bit – it’s still way too heavy for me to manage on my own. Once that’s up, though, it means I can put the sewing machine up and get a few things finished …
Especially as now I have another needleroll ready for finishing! Yes, I finally pulled the needle and scissors out and stitched a needleroll for Dragonfly Dreams – this one is Shepherd’s Bush’ Shepherd’s Roll. It was fun to stitch something ‘easy’ … although I ended up stitching the darning band 3 times due to having a serious blonde moment not once but twice!!
Anyway, here’s my latest finish … don’t expect to see anything else this week haha.
Sorry I haven’t been online much but quite frankly I just haven’t felt like posting at all – the move was quite exhausting, both physically and mentally … I can’t believe that even my knuckles felt bruised and aching after all the lifting!!! Yesterday was the first day I could lift a box up off the floor again without groaning – geez it felt good 😉
Anyway, today I had an early morning start – my car is finally off to the mechanics on the other side of town. I really need my car, and to finally have a decent and fair mechanic looking at it is a blessing in itself. Brenda and Nigel have recommended their mechanic to me, and he seems like a really nice bloke so far. I’ve documented the entire history of what’s been going wrong with my car over the last 2 years, which will hopefully help shed some light on what’s wrong … if nothing else hopefully he can get the car windows to open again, which will be a bonus in the Sydney heat! And most importantly I hope he can get the dashboard light working again!! I upgraded my RACV membership to the “total care” package, which gives unlimited towing and breakdown assistance … but unfortunately it doesn’t exactly copy over to the NRMA in Sydney (which I didn’t realise) – I only get 8km free towing, and have to pay $4.40 per km over that … considering the mechanic is possibly just over 50km away, that’s gonna be a hefty towing bill!! Supposedly I can claim that money back from the RACV though, so that’d better be true, or I’ll be spewing big time!!
I have to admit I feel quite nauseous and ill thinking of all the money that’s being incurred lately – it’s all going on a credit card, but it’s still extra money I have to fork out every month in repayments. Our dramas with the removalists haven’t finished either – it turns out they delivered the wrong bike to us (I had no idea, as it was Lisa’s and she didn’t see it until she arrived) … and I’m missing one entire box, so I’m trying to make a list of all the things I can think of that were in it hmmm. Lisa’s away this weekend, but next week we’re probably going to write down a time line of everything that’s happened and send it to all and sundry, including possibly the TV show Today Tonight!
All this hassle and drama has seriously impacted on my stitching – I looked back at what I’d achieved in January stitching-wise and the only thing was that paltry little Xmas ornie stocking that I finished in one day! That’s very very unlike me!! The only other thing I started was Sweetheart Tree’s Wildflower Needleroll … the photo is basically the sum total of 3 days stitching (2 days from when I was sitting in an empty apartment, and 1 from a couple of nights ago) … it’s all quite pathetic really!
I get really enthusiastic and excited about all the designs I could be stitching, then feel exhausted about 5 seconds later and don’t end up doing anything – perhaps once the boxes etc are all entirely unpacked and I can move in my bedroom easily, then I’ll feel more settled and can get into a normal routine again. The lounge is a bomb site at the moment as well, as Lisa’s things are all piled up there, as well as some of my stuff that needs to be sorted out, so the clutter everywhere is probably affecting me. Lisa put her back out last weekend, and she’s been in agony all week, so we haven’t been able to do much around the place … but hopefully she’ll be back to normal again by the end of next week and we can make a concerted effort to get the place tidied up and organised.
The main challenge for me this weekend is trying to set up the video to Lisa’s TV … and get the legs onto the dining table, so the dining area can get uncluttered. I’m going to try and make an effort to take a couple of hours out to do some stitching – and need something quite ‘easy’ to stitch to help get me back into the swing of things (which won’t be the ST needleroll … that backstitching of all the leaves is doing my head in at the moment!! – mind you, once that’s finished there’s not much left before it’s totally stitched). It’s likely that I’ll either choose a small freebie or Xmas ornie, or start a new LHN or CCN design … but I must stitch “something”, or I’m going to kick myself hard!!!
Once the place is fully de-cluttered we need to invite our elderly neighbours up for morning or afternoon tea … I’d guess they’re both in their 70’s to 80’s, and seem really lovely old dears (Norma on the ground floor, and Barbara in the middle of us on the 2nd). We’re also setting up a calendar in the kitchen where we can keep track of all our house guests that will be coming over the coming year, so we don’t double-book … it’s going to be quite a social year if everyone comes that says they will be! 😀
Anyway, time to sign off for the day as I need to head to the Post Office before it closes … I’ve found out there is a tiny local branch just up the road at the shops, which is open on Saturday mornings – I haven’t been able to get to the PO since my car has been broken down, since moving here, to post some changes of address etc, so it’s great to find I can do all that on Saturdays now! I can still clear my mail in the mornings at Mascot before work, but the actual shop for postage etc isn’t open then.
Rightio, time to ‘shake a tail feather’ and do the morning duties … with luck Lisa’s bike will be returning this afternoon from Dodgey Brothers R Us, and I need to make sure I’m home all afternoon for their arrival … geez, they’re the last people I want to see today!!
PhotoHunt
Feather Stitching 