Tag: Cross Stitch

Cross Stitch, Quilting, Stitch-alongs

Case of the Blah’s

Anne S

I managed to get 4-5 hours sleep last night (I didn’t get to sleep until nearly 3am thanks to my snoozing yesterday afternoon), and still feel like a train wreck. My ears are sore, and I still have the queasy feeling, as well as just wanting to sleep all day again, so I’m about to take myself off for a wander up to the local doctors. It annoys me having to go, because I know there’s nothing they can do about it if it’s a virus, but I need to get a doctors note for work, I guess. C’est la vie … another $30+ down the tubes ho-hum. At least the Woolworth’s bladder has eased off quite a bit, and it’s relatively cool in the flat, which makes it a bit more pleasant. 

I can’t wait until next week, though, when there’ll finally be something worth watching on TV … thank goodness for my DVD player and home library of cheap DVD’s, that’s all I can say!  Not being a sports fan, it kills me to look through the TV Guide to see the selection this week … at the moment one channel has the cricket, one has the tennis, and one I never watch anyway, leaving one channel to choose from – and because of the cricket/tennis my fave programs aren’t on … But as always there’s a silver lining – I’m getting to watch movies I haven’t seen in months, and I also have some audio books I haven’t listened to yet either (although I have a splitting headache at the moment, so that’s not a great option).  Actually, I’ve just remembered I’m on night shifts next week, so I’d better get ready to videotape all my fave shows that are coming back on again (House, Medium, and NCIS especially).

I’ve made a tiny bit of progress on Bordeaux today, by adding one golden ‘basket’ and about 6 Rhodes grapes, but that’s it – I’ll probably do the last Rhodes grape on the left-hand side, then call it a day … I’m trying to do about 2 hours work on it each week so I don’t jump too far ahead, and I’ve done those 2 hours today already … albeit very slow stitching!  I’ll post a progress piccie later on.

Something else I meant to show a few days ago, and that’s two new quilt designs that I really like … I’m seriously going to have to try doing one quilt at least this year, or at least start one anyway – I’ll have to look through my fabrics and see if I’ve got anything appropriate already, without having to buy too much more … but that’ll be another day when I feel more up to it.  I don’t need to tell you, I’m sure, that of course my quilt will be in blue fabrics 😉

December Rose quilt
December Rose quilt

Winter Carnival quilt
Winter Carnival quilt

Now it’s time to throw some clothes on and wander on over to the GP’s office … although the way I’m feeling, perhaps it’d be safer to drive hmmm …

(Updated to add GP results – I’m now off work until Sunday, and if I don’t feel OK on Sunday then I just go back to see him on Monday … also I may have an added bonus of a bladder or kidney infection, so I’ve done a mid-stream urine test as well – at least I can now relax and not think about having to go back to work for two days, and just focus on relaxing and chilling out.  Fingers crossed it’s nothing but a virus, although he also talked about diabetes as well hmmm.  time will tell, I guess.  I was very naughty and treated myself to hiring two new release DVD’s from the video store nextdoor to the GP’s – something I haven’t done for months and months … I thought it would a nice cheer-me-up to help with my stitching.  Even though I’m not getting too much done, a few stitches is better than nothing!)

Cross Stitch, Stitch-alongs

Macaw update

Anne S

Well, it wasn’t quite the night I had planned … I ended up getting halfway to work today and turning around and coming home again, as I got really queasy and wanted to throw up.  I went straight to bed and slept on-and-off for 3 1/2 hours.  I also had an entertaining dream where the cracks in the lounge got too big, and the front of the lounge collapsed … hmmm.

Anyway, after having a light supper of scrambled eggs on toast (which seems to be sitting quite nicely, thank goodness) I managed to put a few stitches into my Macaw, seeing as it’s my SAL night with Carina.  Here’s my progress today, and now it’s put back again until next week – the blue and dark grey blob is now a blue, dark grey and green blob! 🙂

Macaw at 25Jan07

Cross Stitch, Stitching Smalls

Enabling Post!! (updated)

Anne S

Oh my, for lovers of “stitching smalls” check out these beauties! Wow, I just love them all!!! They’re all from The Cat’s Whiskers … WOW!!! Click on the link for all the latest releases. Guess who’s wishlist is growing? LOL – more incentive to hurry up and get cracking on that 50 project challenge (although there was talk of increasing it to 100 … perhaps I could do 50, have a splurge, then do 50 more? LOLOL) These ones are my favourites:

The Peacock Stitching Chair (how cool is this??)
Stitching Chair closed Stitcing Chair open

Blessed with Happiness Embroidered Box
Happiness Box

Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag with Stitching Accessories
BOAF Dilly Bag

Grandma’s Cushions Thread Wallet
GC Thread Wallet

Alyssum Scissor Pocket (Limited Release 2007)
Alyssum scissor pocket

Phew, that excitement in my mailbox woke me up this morning! I felt so rough last night I ended up not stitching at all, and just went straight to bed, where I slept for almost 11 hours yikes! Hopefully I can get a few stitches in this morning before I go to work – I’ve already printed off a few more properties to take in to show Sheree (love the Domain’s house alerts by email!), and once I’ve stopped salivating over the new releases I’ll have a quick bite of brekkie and get motivated. I still feel slightly like a train wreck, but hopefully it’ll ease off before work 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the piccies! 😀

(Update) Oh man, my inbox is going to be the death of me today … I also just found out tha CA Wells is doing a class here in Perth in April – oh boy, would I LOVE to go to that?? I’ve sent a quick email to find out if there are any spaces left, and what the details are … it would be a very cheap holiday apart from the class cost, as I get a very good travel discount on the flights, and a close friend moved to Perth from here last year and is always hassling me to come visit, so I’d have free room and board – how cool would that be? Anyway, I’d better not get too excited, as I presume it’s all booked out, but it’s nice to dream! And when I move in with Sheree it’ll be approx $400 savings each month, which means these sorts of splurges are very ‘do-able’ in the future 😀 BTW, can you tell I’m still not stitching?? LOL.

Blogging Memes, Cross Stitch, Food, Works in Progress

Leporello update (updated)

Anne S

I managed to get a bit more stitching done last night, and finished my Smalls rotation slot with the Leporello. Now it’s back to Winter Queen, which I realised I haven’t touched since I started her back in November 2005 – yikes!! Anyway, I managed another hour on her as well, but I won’t bother posting any progress until I’m at least halfway through my rotation. Here’s the Leporello, though, before I put it aside.

Leporello 21Jan07

This week I’m on 3pm shifts all week, which is great if I can keep up the habit of getting up early, and going to bed as soon as I get home (which is a bit harder to manage), as it gives me the whole morning to get a few things done – I take a meal into work with me, and have a regular meal break, as technically lunch is at about 7-7.30pm, which is perfect!

BTW, I managed to change my internet settings to get rid of that annoying Blogger pop-up … I’ll also go back to my last post and remove the old piccie as it seems to be confusing and annoying a few people 😉 Oh boy, though, it’s good not getting those stupid prompts before and after commenting – makes the whole process so much more pleasant … and speedy! 😀

Rightio, time to go and do the week’s laundry (I forgot about it yesterday, oops), then I may bake a batch of biscuits again (the Honey Coconut ones – yummo). Then I want to make some banana muffins or banana cake with my manky bananas, but that may have to wait until tomorrow … how awful, I end up with yummy munchies to splurge on LOL 😉

Updated to add a biccie piccie 😛
Honey Coconut Biscuits

Also: Thutmosis, if you’re by any chance reading this – I can’t find the comments link on your blog for some reason, and can’t leave a comment … could just be me having a blonde moment, though!

Updated: Well, what do you know?? I guess some quizzes really ARE good 😉

You Should Paint Your Room Blue

Peaceful and soothing, blue rooms have been known to reduce blood pressure.
Your blue room will encourage deep rest and great sleep.
A blue room is the perfect oasis for a stressful life.
Blogging Memes, Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Annoying Blogger! (updated)

Anne S

I must say there is something about the new Blogger that annoys the hell out of me! I’m sick to death of getting the following prompt before and after trying to leave comments … does anyone out there know how to turn the stupid thing off? I don’t know whether it’s in my PC settings somewhere, but I do know “it has to go!”, as it’s driving me crazy!!! Angry emoticon [Updated to say I’ve managed to fix it – thanks for the help!!]

[Photo removed to save confusion and frustration 😉 ]

Not much to report today – I felt like death warmed up yesterday and just blobbed out – I can’t even tell you where the hours went yesterday … no stitching or TV watching, just vegetating and doing nothing … tidying up a few computer files and photos, and websurfing, and that’s about it! Mind you that seems to be pretty standard stuff after coming off 5am shifts, oh well … today’s another day!

Seeing as I didn’t get my full quota of Bordeaux stitching done last week, I’m going to sit for another hour or so today and finally put a few more stitches into it so I can show some progress. I’d love to be able to hit the true half-way mark by month’s end, but I might be pushing it hmmm. I’m going to sit and do that now, then it’s time to get motivated and get some housework done – I need to start allocating an hour every day to go through my things and see if I want to throw out any items to save lugging them around again in the next move, as well as starting to think about actually packing things away that I’m not currently using (ie kitchen things etc).

Updated to add my progress piccie after one more hour on Bordeaux – I’m happy now I’ve managed to complete two hours stitching on it, so it can wait until Thursday again for the next stitching session 🙂
Bordeaux Sampler at 21Jan07

Rightio, time to surgically remove myself from this computer chair and get moving! I’ll update with a piccie later when I have something to show 🙂 But here’s something else I just remembered I did yesterday … now I can close that screen down 😉 Perhaps this explains my affinity to ducks! LOL

Geb

Engaging personality, sensitive, modest, occasionally narcissistic, but can rise above vanity.
Colors: male: violet, female: rose
Compatible Signs:Set, Horus
Dates: Feb 12 – Feb 29, Aug 20 – Aug 31
Role: God of the earth
Appearance: Green-skinned man, with leaves all over his body and a goose on his head. Sometimes he was shown laying on his side under his wife, the sky goddess Nut.
Sacred animals: goose

What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign?
Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock’s Quizzles and Quandaries

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Rotation, Travel

New rotation plans hatched!

Anne S

While sitting in traffic yesterday afternoon I mulled over my current rotation, and I’ve decided to try cutting back a few slots and see if that works. This way I’ll get through my pieces more quickly, and hopefully have some quicker finishes, which means I can then add more new projects into the mix … rather than having so many projects on the go at once ‘cos I just wanna stitch everything NOW 😉 I’ve removed the “kits/classes” and extra “UFO” slot, plus one focus piece and smalls slot. I’ll finish my current rotation until the end of the list, then I’ll look at starting this new one up.

Anyway, this is what my half-asleep brain came up with while driving, I just have to think it through a bit more when I’m more awake to see if it will work (I’m still half asleep today too), but at the moment it’s incorporating all the WIP’s I’ve currently got ‘on-the-go’:

  1. Focus piece
  2. Smalls/ornaments/gifts etc
  3. UFO’s
  4. Canvaswork/Specialty stitches
  5. Focus piece
  6. Charity stitching
  7. Mirabilia/L&L
  8. Smalls/ornaments/gifts etc
  9. Focus piece
  10. Band samplers/Specialty stitches
  11. Quilting/Stumpwork
  12. Free choice
  13. Finishing session (just for 1 or 2 days, not 10 hours)

I’m still doing my SAL pieces separate to my 10-hour rotation slots, which will add more variety until they’re finished. At the moment that will mean focusing on the following projects in my rotation, with those in brackets are like to be the ‘next in line’, along with my SAL commitments:

  1. Egyptian Garden Mandala
  2. Stitching Leporello & gifts (then Lavender Rose Sewing Case)
  3. Nature’s Resting Place (then a ‘mystery’ UFO)
  4. Flight of the Bumblebees (then Sapphire Star)
  5. Egyptian Garden Mandala
  6. Charity stitching
  7. Winter Queen (Angel of Love)
  8. Strawberries So Faire & gifts (then My Treasures Workstation)
  9. Egyptian Garden Mandala
  10. Le Jardin Silk Sampler (then Golden Garden Sweet Bag)
  11. The Blue Collection quilt
  12. Free choice (undecided yet but probably a small Just Nan or Drawn Thread)

* SAL Wednesdays – Macaw with Carina
* SAL Thursdays – Bordeaux Sampler with Carol
* SAL monthly – Needleroll SAL
* SAL monthly – Christmas ornie SAL
* Round Robin – Quaker Friendship Sampler

And I’ll finish with another quote I really like:

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” Hugh Downs

Staying with friends in Fiji taught me that material possessions etc do not maketh the man and make you happy – it is how you view life that makes you happy. They took me into their home when I had nowhere to go, and showed me a world of kindness and love rarely experienced by many. They accepted me into their family circle, and will always leave a mark in my mind and on my heart. I shared Christmas Day with them and experienced Fijian culture at its best, within the true family setting. I know I’ve talked of this before, but that quote brought thoughts of them back again. I managed to repay their kindness by paying for their food while I was there, and when one of the brothers lost his job during the ‘George Speight coup’, I paid for his daughter’s school books and stationery before I left so she could continue her education that year with a good start (even though I was a student then myself, with no income … thank goodness for Visa!). Here’s a photo of us on Christmas Day with an amazing feast of local delicacies (all the photos are clickable for bigger versions) 😀
Christmas Day in Suva
Also, sitting outside my temporary home having a kava party with the boys … the guitars were playing well into the early hours of the morning (I think I eventually slunk off at 3am and it was still going strong) – I don’t know how they can drink so much kava, it’s dreadful stuff! The only time I’ll drink a few is when they’ve thrown a party in my honour, and I’ll do it as a sign of respect to them, but it’s downright awful!
suva-1.jpg
Now here’s one of one of my favourite Fijian couples – Dokko and Ana … they call me “Ana” in Fijian, instead of Anne, so we say “Tai-Ana” to each other, ie “my namesake”. We always tried to make a special trip to see them as they’re out in the islands, and Ana’s face always lights up when she sees us, and cries when we leave – she has a big heart, and I always love to see her.
dokko-and-ana.jpg
And lastly one of Mum being treated like a Queen at a party they held for Mum and Dad, as they greatly cherish and respect their elders – something else we could all learn from them, as that seems to be disappearing in our modern society! Mum and Dad hadn’t met them before, so I promised to drive over from Nadi to Suva to introduce them, and they threw a party in their honour. Mum loved it all, but Dad was bored stiff, as for the first time they didn’t bring their guitars … poor Dad – but Mum and I adored it all and lapped it up!! The lei she’s wearing around her neck is called a “salusalu” and is traditional in the part of Fiji they come from, and they made it especially for Mum, as well as some exquisite woven bags … I should take photos of them next time I go home, they’re gorgeous!
suva-2.jpg
Sorry, didn’t mean for this post to be so looooooong! 😉

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stitching Smalls

It’s Friday!!

Anne S

And you have no idea how wonderful it is that it IS Friday!  Day 7 today, with 5am starts, and it’s been a killer of a week with the heat etc.  I had a very stressful day at work from the minute I walked through the door at 4.55am – Heathrow airport had bad weather with planes diverted to Stanstead, and I was the contact to liaise the rebookings etc … got some very lovely praise in writing from both the Supervisor in our office and the main operational guy in Sydney for the job I did (geez, I’m gonna start getting a big head soon LOL), but it hit me like a ton of bricks once the day finished – I feel totally drained!

Then after work I had to make a side trip to Wonga Park to drop off a boot-load (trunk-load for those of you in the northern hemisphere) of pet food off to the Blue Cross – we had a charity collection at Christmas for this animal shelter, and I finally found the time to drop it off.  It took me in the opposite direction to home, and a 2-hour round trip, but at least it’s done.  I didn’t realise how close I was to Frazier’s folks, so I made a quick phone call to see if they were home so I could catch up … alas they weren’t, but we made up for it tonight and chatted for 1 1/2 hours on the phone – unusual for me!  It was actually lovely to catch up with them, as I haven’t seen them for close to a year, if not longer.  When I move back to my old area, I’ll have to pop out and visit them more regularly again.  I was very touched when they told me off for not asking them for help when I told them I was moving out due to financial difficulties, and said there’s always a room at their place if I ever need it, for as long as I want – that’s incredibly kind of them!

When I finally got home this afternoon I was so exhausted I actually felt really queasy, so I went straight from the front door to the bedroom, and flopped out to sleep for 2 hours – I’m still quite shattered, but at least the queasiness has eased off.  I don’t know if I’ll get much stitching done tonight, though, and only managed one strand of silk in Bordeaux last night.  I’ll post a piccie later if I get chance to do any more, as there’s not much to show right now.

Talking of stitching – for CathyMK, you’re right the Treasures Workstation is the one by Judy Odell.  I signed up for this months ago before going on the Wagon along with the first SAL Yahoo group, and never could decide on the threads to use.  After trying to find a blue thread to substitute for the CCN ornie last month, I came across a Stef Francis thread (Bluebell) that KarenV sent to me, and think that would look beautiful for the flowers – I just have to decide which green thread to use and whether to use a contrasting thread as well.  But I’m a lot closer to at least starting than I was a few months ago! LOL.  I want to make a concerted effort to get this stitched soon, as I have the finishing kit all ready to go, so there’s no excuse after paying all that money out for it … and it’s such a gorgeous project 😀

   

I also found out the fabric I used for Egyptian Garden for those who asked … I used “Midas Touch” 32ct Belfast opalescent by Silkweaver – I originally ordered the Lugana version of it, and found it was too tiny to stitch on for the over-one, as the threads were quite clumped together, and the Lugana colour was too pale and apricot-y for my liking too … the Belfast is much darker and better for the project I think.  Sorry for the delay in finding the answer for you!  I still have no idea what the heck I’m going to do with the original fabric, and think I may try to dye it a different colour … I’m really not sure!

Rightio, time to go settle down for the night – I think I’ll crack open a bottle of Chardonnay to help with the chilling out process … that’ll be one less bottle to pack later teehee.  Talking of which, Sheree is calling a real estate agent today about a property that sounds really nice in Blackburn South which comes free next week … we’ll have to see what comes of it, but it’s closer to my old neck of the woods and looks quite modern – she specifically wants somewhere with two bathrooms, and we both want three bedrooms, which makes it harder to find somewhere, but this one seems to fit the bill … fingers crossed …  It’ll be so nice to be closer to my buddy, Sharon 😀

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Best laid plans gone awry

Anne S

Today I finished work at 1pm (yep, the one great thing about starting work at 5am is the finish time!), and I drove straight over to David Jones at Chadstone shopping centre, to suss out and likely purchase one of these little suckers …

 Blue Nano  Silver Nano  Pink Nano

So, what happened?  Well, I know you’ll be really surprised to hear that I was going to buy the beautiful turquoise one, but I’m also quite taken by the simplicity of the plain silver one … oh decisions, decisions!  What made it easier to decide today was that there was only colour to choose from, and one colour only … yep, you guessed it, bright fuschia pink!  What do you think I did?  Those of you who guessed I bought one anyway don’t know me very well … I tucked my tail between my legs and moseyed on home again, after asking the sales guy to call me when they got more in 😉  I’ve decided I was already happy to spend an extra $50 myself towards my voucher, so with the money from Mum, Dad, and the ‘Smithies’ added in I’m thinking of still chipping in and getting the 4GB option instead of the 2GB one.  At least them not having one in stock means it gives me more time to get the money together 😀

In stitching news, nothing to report today except after seeing Carol’s progress on Bordeaux, I realised I’d totally screwed up band 3 by using the wrong thread for the leaves … which makes sense when I think about it – which means I have to do some frogging … bugger! 😦  It’s also a stinker of a hot night in this little flat, so I can’t see me doing much stitching again tonight – I’ll try for at least an hour, then I’ll do a bit more tomorrow night as well to make up for it before I take another progress piccie.

I’ve been craving red meat all week this week, and I have to say since my freezer got emptied I haven’t bought any red meat into the flat … while I was at ‘Chaddy’ though, I picked up one whole marinated lamb steak to try, and two lamb shanks to cook up on Sunday afternoon – I’m drooling just thinking about it.  I used to be disgusted at home when we had our cat Rio – because I was the only one in the family who really loved lamb, I rarely got lamb as a food choice, while the precious cat got lamb every week, the little sod … not to mention the fresh whitebait and prawns, he got better fed than we did!! LOL.  Here he is hogging the chocolates one Christmas haha.

Rio with the choccies

Anyway, talking about steaks, I’d better get mine cooking so I can still sit down and have an hour’s stitching before bed!!

Before I forget though, the decision was taken out of my hands by SB&B about continuing my monthly Mystery Bits wishlist … you can’t have a wishlist anymore, and can only choose up to 3 threads you’d like to collect, so I’ve cancelled it.  I’ve been a bit annoyed the last two months, as three months ago I asked if it was possible to focus on sending all the overdyed threads on my list instead of other items, which was OK for one month, then the last two months I’ve received a mix of allsorts again, and not the threads I really wanted.  In some ways I’m glad the decision has been made – now I’ll just buy them as I need them, and forget about SB&B 😀

Cross Stitch, Rotation, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

SAL revisited (updated)

Anne S

My apologies to Carina, but my SAL plans for last night were thwarted somewhat … thanks to the bushfires still raging in rural Victoria, it attacked transmission lines to the national power grid in NSW, causing massive power failures throughout the state of Victoria.  We lost our power at work just before 4pm yesterday, killing our lights and air conditioning … with a temperature sitting at 39C, that wasn’t much fun (but luckily I only had to survive 1/2 of that).  Then driving home all the traffic lights were out as well, causing a delay in travelling anywhere.  When I finally got home I had power on for one hour before losing that … I figured even though I had to have an early night due moving back to a 5am start today, I’d still get an hour’s stitching on my Macaw … then the power died while I was checking emails, and put paid to all those plans – it was way too hot to stitch without an electric fan on, and too dark in my stitching area without my ott-lite … so no stitching done at all for the night.

Tonight, however, I’ve also decided to change my mind yet again – and I’m going to unpick what I’ve done and do everything over-one … yeah, I know, I must be stark raving bonkers, considering I hate over-one stitching normally!  I’d opted to stitch over-two because there is one blended thread in the chart, but I’ve decided to just choose one of the colours used and stitch that part in just one colour … fingers crossed it’ll still look alright hmmm.  So, tonight I’m going to spend at least one hour getting a couple of stitches put into my Macaw to make up for last night … I just have to work out which fabric to use now …

Then tomorrow night I need to decide whether I continue a bit more with the Leporello, or whether it’s back to the Bordeaux Sampler for this week’s stitching session ready for a progress piccie on Friday/Saturday.  It probably all depends on how shattered I am this time tomorrow, I guess …  I have to admit I had a dreadful night’s sleep last night thanks to the shocking heat, and no power (it came back on during the night, but I was too dopey to get up and switch the fan on, just kept waking up every 1/2 hour and going back to sleep again) – it also appears my neighbours downstairs have had their baby, as the last two nights have also been spent listening to it screaming its lungs out while I’ve been trying to sleep … to say I’m little Miss Cranky Pants today is probably an understatement LOL.  One of the benefits of living on my own that I’m soon going to miss … not having to smile and be friendly when you come home feeling like death warmed up – there’s no-one to think about and impress, and my ducks don’t care if I look at them with baggy eyes and scowling frowns 😛

Actually, talking of the Leporello, I can probably show a progress piccie from the other night – I got very little done on it, but it’s a bit more than before so any progress is good progress 🙂  I’ll continue with this one now until I’ve completed 10 hours, then the next rotation slot is Mirabilia/L&L so I’ll put some more stitches into Winter Queen (which hasn’t been touched in an entire year … very very bad!).

My current rotation is as follows:

  1. Focus piece – Egyptian Garden Mandala
  2. Smalls/ornaments – Stitching Leporello
  3. Charity blocks/Free choice
  4. Canvaswork/Hardanger – Flight of the Bumblebees
  5. Focus piece – Egyptian Garden Mandala
  6.  UFO (Mystery – ie randomly picked by drawing a number out of a hat!)
  7. Smalls/ornaments/gifts – Strawberries So Faire (but doing Leporello instead this time)
  8. Mirabilia/L&L – Winter Queen
  9. Focus piece – Egyptian Garden Mandala
  10. Band Samplers/Specialty Stitches – Le Jardin Silk Sampler
  11. Finishing items
  12. Smalls/ornaments – My Treasures Workstation or Lavender Rose Sewing Case
  13. Focus piece – Egyptian Garden Mandala
  14. Kits & Classes – probably Ete en Grece (French kit of Greece)
  15. UFO (Chosen) – Nature’s Resting Place
  16. Quilting/Stumpwork – GCC Gracie stumpwork or The Blue Collection quilt
  17. Free choice – (not decided yet – whatever screams loudest at the time)

Crikey, I have a lot of projects in there – hence the reason I’m thinking of reworking my rotation, as it takes too long to get to some projects.  Maybe I’ll just work my way through it in its entirety once or twice then decide … I’m almost keen to become a one-at-a-time at the moment to get a few projects finished, but then again with a rotation I don’t get bored on the whole.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the latest unimpressive update of the Leporello … now I’ve got to get that fan on and find some fabric to restart my Macaw!

Last week’s blob has been replaced by an even smaller blob – I decided to just stitch the Macaw on some 28ct white Lugana.  It’s pretty slow going, but I’ve managed 2 hours stitching on it tonight anyway … and now I’m off to bed.  I thought I might as well show a piccie of the blob, otherwise it’ll be another couple of weeks before it resembles anything, and Carina will wonder if I’m actually stitching along with her! 😉

Macaw at 17Jan07

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

“It’s good to be back …”

Anne S

A HUGE “g’day” from Elwood!!! Yep, this is actually me sitting in front of my very own PC in my very own little flat – no, Houston, we no longer have a problem – we have a phone line!!! 😀 The phone technician called this morning to see if I was home, and if he could come round … his job today still went ahead, but he finished it sooner than expected, and was able to fit me in woohoo!!! 😀 Unfortunately the phone jack is now right in front of the front window where the Christmas tree usually sits, so I’ve had to spend just under $40 for a 12 metre extension cable and double adaptor, seeing as my computer is miles away, and the double adaptor I had already got was for the geriatric phone connection originally in place – now we have a snazzy new one.

I’ve already made one call home on it, and exercised the phone line for almost 2 hours chatting to Mum … and here are some photos expressly for her – the latest on my wall cracks. The first one also includes a great shot of the newly finished phone connection (I still have to vacuum up the mess and move the furniture back), as well as the lovely new crack I have along the middle of the wall, just nicely in line with the height of the sofa.

Next up is the top corner of the same wall – the window is now so out of plumb I can’t actually close it at all, and the phone technician reckons the floor in the corner is actually on a bit of a slope now hmmm.

Next is the corner behind my bookcase which divides the lounge and dining rooms.

And lucky last is above the balcony door frame. Some of them actually look worse in real life than they do in the photo … yep, definitely a good time to be looking for somewhere new, before I end up making an unexpected visit to the downstairs neighbours by landing on their heads!!

As for stitching, not as much to report as expected … here’s the latest progress photo of Bordeaux Sampler – I stayed up last night to finish of the over-one parts, and it’s been put away again until next week. You can see by the groups of grapes down the left hand side of the border where the halfway mark is, so I’m now very very close to it 🙂 Don’t worry Carol about not being in the same place – I know you’ve been very busy doing gift stitching … it’s still nice knowing you and Leslie are stitching it as well, even though we don’t have a designated night for it 🙂

Lastly I can show the latest UFO I’ve finished – this Cream Button Bag by Shelley Warner was from a Guild weekend Retreat in Auckland … it just has to be made into a bag now, but that will happen on one of my ‘finishing’ slots in my rotation. It’s pitiful how long this has been sitting around, as it only had four leaves left to be completed and the buttons added – it only took about 1-1/2 hours to finish!

This week I also started a SAL with Carina on the Ross Originals Macaw – it’s hardly worth showing a progress piccie, as there’s only a few stitches to show for it … but by next Wednesday there should be something worth showing, as that’s our new SAL night 🙂

Rightio, now it’s time to get the icing ready for a chocolate cake I made this morning … I’m not a baker by any stretch of the imagination, but I figure my skills will never improve if I don’t give it a go, so I’m stretching myself a bit. And the guys from work are going to be my guinea pigs to help save my waistline 🙂

I also made Honey Coconut Biscuits which are quite yummy … and a case of 2nd time lucky! I was making them on Wednesday morning to take into work, but the final ingredient was self raising flour, and when I was sifting it I found a big clump of insect eggs … everything ended up in the bin. Then I finally made them again last night, and managed to have an accident with the oven tray – while taking it out of the oven the heat started coming through my right hand, so I tried to jiggle it a bit in my hand, only to have the whole thing start slipping … I automatically grabbed it with my left hand, only to remember I didn’t have an oven mitt on it – let’s say I remembered bloody quickly!! Luckily I have a heap of ice cubes ready made in the freezer, and I ran a 1/4 sink of cold water and dumped every single cube into it – the throbbing pain was insane, and it’s no wonder people sometimes don’t survive major burns due to the shock from the pain! Anyway, it seems the ice bath really helped, as today it’s only slightly tender and the blistering is thankfully in places that is letting me have full use of my hand … phew!! I even managed a bit more stitching on Bordeaux after the accident, I think more to take my mind off it than anything else 😉

I still can’t switch to (non)Beta Blogger, and I’m getting sick to death of clicking on the “we are ready for you, switch now” blurbs … this kept happening for a while before losing my phone access, and it’s still happening. It’s getting a bit annoying, but perhaps I should just ignore the prompts until it changes into something nasty, like a final demand letter 😉 Either that, or start looking at alternatives, as I understand a few people haven’t been able to comment on my blog for quite some time 😦

Well, no more chatting for me – time to get moving, as I have an early shift at work tomorrow (a mix of 8am and 5am shifts for 7 days), and I still have some housework to finish … as well as organising some rental alerts on a few suburbs, and to get that icing done.

Oh boy, it’s good to have the ‘net at home again!!! 😀 Mind you, with 1160 unread feeds, I’m sorry but I really do have to mark all as read and start from scratch – it’s just too much to handle. I hope I won’t miss too much by doing that 😦 Hope to catch up with you all again soon 😀