Cross Stitch – Page 25 – Feather Stitching

Ackworth Friendship Book, Cherished Stitches, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Quaker, Round Robin, Round Robins, With My Needle, Works in Progress

Back briefly

9 March, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick note before I hit the hay for the night … I’ve obviously been ‘AWOL’ for a while, thanks to an extremely demanding and exhausting (and not much fun, quite frankly) job … and I owe a ton of emails to some wonderfully kind and generous ladies for some exquisite birthday gifts from last month – once I send emails of thank you I’ll post some piccies of their incredible generosity.

I have been AWOL not just from blogging, but from emails as well – I have a new record of 1900+ unread blog feeds and 522 unread emails … don’t think I’ll be getting through the backlog in a great hurry!! Anyway, I have stitched in little spurts now and then just to keep my sanity – usually when I’ve fallen in a heap after a week of 12 hour shifts, and working weekends … and Katie and I have popped in our Supernatural DVD’s for the ultimate in chick relaxation … along with a bottle of something alcoholic. I swear before this year’s out, I’ll be signing up for AA meetings!!!

Following are the results of my stitching over the last month – not a great deal to show for it, but then again I’ve hardly been home long enough to put needle to fabric … and this last weekend is the first one in well over a month that I haven’t worked, and spent it all recovering from an exceptional hangover! We cut loose in a BIG way on Thursday night, and suffered well for it afterwards, but it was a great way to let off steam after being so exceptionally stressed all these weeks.

Anyway, on to the sparse stitching – then in the morning I’ll get those thank you emails shipped off, and I can do a longer post, perhaps (I have taken tomorrow off – in lieu of all the extra unpaid hours I’ve done).

First of all here’s the latest update photo of Mirabilia’s Winter Queen … starting with the last progress photo taken:

And what she looks like now (I took a full length photo as I needed to roll up the scroll bars for the, hopefully, final stitching at the bottom). I have to admit I’ve made some good headway with her, more from some serious stitching on Sunday afternoons than anything else – just to force myself to relax and chill out.

Then I had two Christmas ornie finishes last month, just in the nick of time (with 30 minutes to spare) for last month’s Christmas ornie challenge on a Yahoo group. The photos are terrible as I took them just before midnight!

Followed by Part 1 of my Quaker Friendship Round Robin that I’m stitching with a group of some of my closest online pals. Unfortunately I didn’t get Part 2 finished in time for mailing, but as I’ve stitched mine on individual pieces of fabric it doesn’t really matter.

And on that note I’ll sign off as my eyes feel like sandpaper – I’ll try to pop online again in the morning to catch up on my personal emails, and thank yous … I can’t guarantee I’ll be blogging regularly again for a while, though, as work is still feral for a while longer … plus I’ve decided to go home for 2 weeks with the family again – just what I need when I’m fed up at work 🙂

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Bad update photo of Winter Queen

10 February, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Seeing as I’m not sure if I’ll get anymore stitching done until the weekend, I thought I’d quickly jump on and upload my latest WIP piccie of Winter Queen … for once you can see some substantial improvements in the last piccie! Can’t wait to get her finished so I can unroll her from the scroll bars and see her in all her glory … also so I can move on to something else 😉

As previously done, here’s the before and after pics:

Before (closer to the actual colours of the threads!)

After (dunno what happened to the colours in his one!!)

I think the next “major” BAP I’ll focus on after Winter Queen is finished is Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello … so much for my rotation this year, I just want to keep stitching on WQ until she’s done … of course I’m female, and therefore reserve the right to change my mind on a whim! ;P

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Winter Queen update

3 February, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

After getting my hair done on Saturday I sat and stitched for a few hours on Winter Queen. Sunday was spent at work the whole day, and yesterday was spent in agony hobbling around at work with an agonising back. Thankfully I had a chiro appointment last night, so I was sent home with instructions to put an ice pack on my lower back followed by some Anti-Flamme ointment, and today thankfully it is quite a bit better. I was so chirpy last week ‘cos I’ve had more energy than I’ve had for at least 6 months … but apparently this is to be expected in the initial stages of the therapy. Still, I feel so much better within myself, the $1000 is worth every cent so far! 🙂

As for Winter Queen, she’s grown a wee bit since the last photo, and I put a teeny bit more into her again last night too as Katie and I sat and watched another 2 episodes of Supernatural Seas0n 1 … just can’t get enough of that show! Anyway, just before I jump in the shower, here’s a quick update piccie – sorry but these update piccies are quite boring, as you can hardly see that much improvement thanks to the lovely blocks of white … can’t wait to get to a nice blue to stitch with 😉

Now for my own benefit, to make me feel like I’ve actually made some progress, I’ve included the before and after shots again… starting with the “after”:

Before

Country Cottage Needleworks, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

Quick Drive-By

29 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Life is downright hectic at the moment – the weekend was taken up with moving and cleaning, and yesterday I did a 14 hour day at work … and no sign of that letting up for a while. We’re down to two staff members in our team (with one new start, but she’s not trained up yet), with our Supervisor now on annual leave for two weeks – we’re so flat out with our day-to-day work and operational actions that our project work is struggling to get completed (hence the late hours) … even my poor stitching has been suffering, although I have managed to get a couple of stitches in over the weekend … (so much for my New Year’s goals though hmmm)

On Saturday night Katie and I sat in front of the TV in the lounge and watched a few episodes of Supernatural (we’re both massive fans), while I sat and stitched in my recliner. I’ve been stitching while sitting up in bed over the last few months, so it was really nice to get my stitching station set up again in the lounge. The night I managed to get the last stitches put into Cottage Garden, so I have one more finish under my belt. (Sorry about the dark photo.)

“Cottage Garden” by Country Cottage Needleworks
stitched on 32ct cream linen
with recommended threads

Then on Monday night I picked up Winter Queen again and put her back on the floor stand – if you can work out the differences between the last time I left her in May 2008 and now, with the minimal amount of stitches I managed on Monday night, you’re doing fantastic … ‘cos there’s very little to show for my efforts haha. But every stitch is better than none, right? (And if you give up, they’re on the left hand side LOL) 🙂

Before:

After:

Anyway, time to jump in the shower and head off to work – I’m having a slightly later start today ‘cos of my late finish (we’ve been leaving home just after 7am this week) … Roll on 5pm is all I can say, ‘cos I’m off to the Chiropractor and I can’t stay late (yippee!!).

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Cottage Garden WIP

20 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Just thought I’d add a quick updated piccie of my latest WIP, as it’s unlikely I’ll get any stitching done tonight. I have another chiro appointment after work, followed by their ‘new members’ meeting which gives you more information about what the chiropractor does and how to help manage you health outside the chiropractors rooms. Anyway, with any luck I’ll get this finished by this weekend … worst case scenario it’ll be finished some time during the weekend anyway, as the border will likely take me a while to complete. The colours aren’t particularly true to this piece, as the fabric is a rich creamy coloured linen. Maybe I’ll try to get a piccie in daylight when it’s all finished 🙂

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

New WIP

19 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

There are some good things about feeling unwell – a few more hours in the day for stitching for one! … I went into the GP today to pick up some antibiotics and tomorrow I go in for blood tests … and I’m soon off to the chiro for my next first appointment of three this week. In the meantime, though, inbetween doing work from home I’ve managed to put a few stitches into my next WIP – Cottage Garden by Country Cottage Needleworks (Just Cross Stitch magazine). I thought a nice quick project was just the trick to keep the spirits up 🙂

Cross Stitch, Fancy Work, Finishes, Quaker

Quaker Swan Case

18 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Staying home bundled up today has been great for the stitching progress. I managed to put the final stitches into my Swan, so now it’s being placed into the ‘finishing pile’ for one day when I feel up to the challenge (and once I have some decent cardstock to use). The top photo is the closest to the actual fabric colour.

“Quaker Swan Case” by Fancy Work
Stitched on 32ct Blue Spruce Belfast linen
with recommended GAST threads

I actually finished the beading of my In The Dark Needleroll last weekend, but won’t bother showing a photo until the actual finishing is completed. I guess that means the Quaker Swan Case is actually finish #3 for 2009 🙂

Christmas, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Prairie Schooler

First finish for 2009

5 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I now have huge bags under my eyes and bed sores after stitching my little heart out for the entire weekend, and I enjoyed every little minute of it. I watched so many movies I lost count LOL. Anyway, I managed to put the finishing stitches into a Prairie Schooler sampler I started on Christmas Day – I’d managed to stitch about half of the bottom village scene while I was away over Christmas, then stitched the rest of it over the weekend … a bit mental, but it feels like a great accomplishment. Of course now there won’t be much stitching done tonight, ‘cos I’ll have to be in bed by 8pm to catch up on sleep haha. The photos were taken at midnight last night, so not quite as rich in colour as it is in daylight.

“Good Saint Nick” by Prairie Schooler
stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen by Wichelt
with recommended DMC threads

As you can see from the bottom photo, I was going to post this part finished on Saturday, but decided to just keep on stitching … Next up is probably finishing off a Christmas ornament that just needs a few beads to be added, and my In the Dark needleroll which also just has the beading to be done before it’s finished, then it’s back into the rotation properly again.

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, picture framing

A short post for a change!

20 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

After catching up on all the holiday news, it’s time to settle back into Aussie life once again. This morning will be spent getting my hair cut, then writing some Christmas cards (‘cos I forgot all about them before heading on holiday, which means everyone in the world will be receiving them late – I’m totally useless this year … even worse than last year, and I didn’t think that was possible!!!) … then this afternoon will be spent quickly throwing some clothes and bedding into the washer if I get chance before heading out to Carols in the Domain Aussie-style 😀

To quickly answer Andrea’s question, unfortunately no, the Santas won’t be adorning my tree this year – I have a little half tree that hangs on the wall for my hand-made and special ornies, but it appears that is now pretty full this year, and my actual Christmas tree is too small to really handle a lot of ornies either. My wish for next year is a decent Christmas tree so I can have a mix of glass ornies and stitched ornies together. In the meantime, I have a medium-sized swag that will be hanging from my curtain rail above the lounge window, and I’m going to hang Mum’s Santas from there this year. Here’s a photo of my ornie tree that I took before I went on holiday – this is where I hang my gifts from friends plus a couple of ornies I’ve made myself over the last two years … as you can see, it won’t handle much more! 😉

Talking of gifts, I remembered to take a photo of Karen’s incredible gift – you may remember she handed me her old Janome sewing machine … here it is in all its glory. I brought home with me my old sewing machine feet and various attachments (walking foot, 1/4″ seam foot etc) from Mum’s, as I’d given them all to her when my old Janome died. I’m looking forward to trialling this little beauty out after Christmas 😀

I also forgot to post a photo of my Snapperville piece all framed and on display in Karen’s shop – didn’t the framer do a wonderful job of it? I’m really pleased with the framing of this one, it’s just lovely … he usually tends to favour dark mats, which I think sometimes overpowers the piece, but this one suits it well 😀

Now, I guess I should quickly do a spot of unpacking so I can get a photo of Katrina’s beautiful ornie, then it’s time to start on those other chores for the day …

Art Deco, Auckland, Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Flowers Trees & Gardens, Food, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Mum's stitching, Napier & Hawkes Bay, Pohutukawa, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Napier/Hastings … final part (photo heavy again)

19 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Alas, Tuesday came far too quickly, and it was time to pack up again for the return drive home. We had a leisurely start to the day and didn’t leave the motel until 10am – we started of by driving to the Silky Oak Chocolate factory and museum, where we unexpectedly ended up spending a full two hours! Not only do they have a cafe serving great food (we ended up having brunch there), but they have a really interesting Museum all about the history of chocolate – it was fascinating, and definitely worth the visit! 😀

Eggs Benedict with Bacon

Raspberry & Pear Muffin

Afterwards we drove into Napier township for a visit to the information centre and a wee walk around the waterfront and streets to take some photos of some of the Art Deco buildings – we enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn’t end up leaving Napier itself until 3pm … oops! 😉

One of my fave sculptures – “Pania of the Reef“

Napier waterfront gardens, with Pohutukawa trees in bloom

If any of you are interested in Art Deco building styles, here is a selection for you. For those of you who aren’t aware, Napier CBD was flattened by a devastating earthquake in 1931, and all of the buildings were rebuilt during the same era, giving Napier the reputation of being the capital of Art Deco architecture due to having so many buildings of that style in such a small area.

We finished off our trip to Napier by stopping at a couple of fruit sellers stalls to stock up on beautiful fresh produce. That’s one thing I really love about NZ, there are plenty of local growers selling their fresh produce – and their quality and flavour is far superior to anything you can buy in the supermarkets. My special treats over the couple of days away (as we bought some other fruit the previous day) were fresh strawberries (to die for!), apricots (one of my all-time fave fresh fruits), boysenberries (can’t remember the last time I saw them fresh since moving to Oz), blueberries, and black cherries … oh boy, I’m drooling again just remembering them!!! Sheer heaven – I ADORE summer fruits 😀

We finished off our gourmet couple of days with dinner in Taupo, at the Waterside Restaurant & Bar – here the food was blissful and the service great … yet again, here are the gourmet delights we troughed through:

Chicken Salad for Mum

Lamb Fillet with asparagus, with Greek Tsatziki & balsamic jus for me – drool

Looking back, one of the other things that brought a smile to my face and a lump to my throat was to see all the Pohutukawa trees in bloom – these are affectionately known as the “New Zealand Christmas tree”, and their red bloom is a real delight to behold. Tales say that if the trees bloom before Christmas, we will be in for a long hot summer … personally I just love to see their blooms colouring the skyline.

Other things that I loved being in NZ, was that you can buy L&P everywhere you turn your head … even at the humble pie cart in an outdoor market – ah bliss 😉

It was great to see the Auckland icon, the Auckland Sky Tower, with its impressive bulk shadowing over the CBD.

And not to mention the vast lush “green-ness” of the countryside – unfortunately I didn’t get a great photo of it as it started to cloud over on the way home from Napier, and then rained off and on the entire way home to Auckland 😦

But one of my biggest treats was to spend a week in the warmth of Mum’s Christmas tree – her tree has brought delight to my soul for as long as I can remember, and I made sure my final night in Auckland was spent huddled in the lounge with the warm glow of the Christmas lights … and a rare night of familial bliss as we all sat and watched the Christmas in the Park show on TV, followed by an hour of Aussie and Kiwi stand-up comics … what a great way to finish off a great holiday! 😀

I have come home with many beautiful gifts – but no photos yet as they were bought using Christmas money, so they’re wrapped up under the tree … I’ll share photos after Christmas. What I can share, though, is the wonderful treat from Mum – a set of Prairie Schooler Santa ornies … I just adore these, and will treasure them always! Thanks so much Mum, you’re a sweetheart! 😀