Tag: Cross Stitch

I have to say you all should have come round for a stitchalong yesterday – my little flat was the perfect location … everyone would have had perfect stitching, as I’d swallowed all the frogs!! To say I woke up with a croaky voice was probably an understatement – a little touch of laryngitis was in order. I’ve had this in the past when I’ve overindulged and been dancing etc for a lengthy time among a lot of smokers. Thanks for the offer of the Berocca, Katrina, that would have been lovely yesterday LOL. Have to admit, I woke up feeling OK, although I didn’t get much sleep, waking up every hour – but I can honestly say that’s been the hardest day of work I’ve done in ages … the after-effects decided to wait until the afternoon to arrive. Luckily that was more in the form of a splitting headache and fatigue, and nothing else … can’t complain, though, as it was worth it for such a good day out LOL. I have a small amount of sunburn which has given me a healthy glow, and slightly aching calves from all the dancing – and it feels great! 🙂

Anyway, back to stitching news – can’t say there has been a lot of it happening for the last week or so … I started stitching something the same night I finished the M Designs’ Thistle Treasure Bag, but it’s a small gift for someone … and to say it’s small, it’s taking me forever to stitch! I think a lot of it is that it’s on a very small count linen (or it seems that way) with a darkish colour, and I’m using metallics for the whole thing. Hopefully on my next days off (Mon/Tue next week) I will be able to get my WTC quilt panel finished as well as putting the final touches into this little piece. I can’t resist putting a teaser picture up – but there’s not much to tease you with LOL.

The other stitching news is the very small gift I sent to Becky for her birthday – I was a bit disappointed with how it turned out, but I couldn’t find much within my stash that had a suitable design for that little mirror. In hindsight, I probably should have used a slightly darker brown for the backstitching. It was well received by Becky, though, and I guess that’s the important thing. If you haven’t seen these before, they’re made by Framecraft, a UK company, and they’re quite neat little items.

Rightio, that’s all for today, I guess – except to say, thanks again to all of you for your kind words of support during my ‘blue day’ … it really does mean a lot to me, and made it easier to ‘roll with the punches’. {{hugs}}

Now I’m off to start preparing for my interview tomorrow, and have to sift through my poor old brain for real-life on-the-job scenarios for when I’ve had to deal with complaints (gee, it’ll be hard to find one of those LOL), gone above-and-beyond with customer service, etc etc … I feel quite ‘OK’ about this interview – I’m going in with the expectation that I won’t get it, as there are some top calibre candidates again, and it’s helping to keep my nerves down. I refuse to let it affect me like it did last time … que sera sera, what will be will be 🙂

Ooh, one last thing … a big Happy Birthday to Danielle – hope you have a wonderful day, Danielle, full of everything that your heart desires!!

Yay, I received an email from the secret recipient of my gift piece to say it has finally arrived safely, so I can now reveal all! This little piece was meant as a cheer-up gift for our beloved BeckySC months ago – unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way, as I was trying to do it while I was really sick, and had a number of mishaps with it … when I ‘melted’ the blending filament on the wings, it was the final straw, and I couldn’t face it again for ages due to feeling so disappointed about it – but it finally got resurrected and fixed up, and got sent on its merry way to its intended recipient … I’m so so happy that it finally managed to reach Becky – better late than never 😉 Anyway, here is the piccie from the scanner – try as hard as I might, I couldn’t get a clear photo on the camera … perhaps Becky will manage a better one 🙂 It’s the first time I’ve ever sent a stitched gift to another stitcher, so I was a bit nervous – but pleased with the overall result 🙂

Lana, good luck with stitching Dolphins Domain – I have to admit, it’s lovely when it’s stitched, but it can be pretty hard going with all those greys … I’m finding the best way to stitch it is to mix it in as a rotation with other smaller/brighter/more fun pieces. Looking forward to seeing it totally finished, though – it will be hard to part with it once it’s done, I think, but hopefully Vicki and John will love it seeing as they chose it as their wedding present years ago 🙂

Sharon, if you want it, you’re more than welcome to my copy of Dolphins Domain when I’ve finished with it … hope you’re not in a huge hurry LOL. Seriously, though, I’m unlikely to ever stitch these critters again in this lifetime, even if I do think they’re lovely stitched.

For Cathy and Christine – “champers and panettone” is something new for us at Christmas this year … “champers” is just sparkling wine/champagne, and “panettone” is a traditional Italian Christmas cake – considering we have not a single ounce of Italian heritage in us, that was something new to try this year – it’s like the consistency of bread, with the fruit and peel in it, and is just lovely. We have a large Italian population in Melbourne, and I work with quite a few of them, and one of the guys at work said I had to try Panettone with Champagne, as that’s the best way to eat it … who was I to go against orders from an expert? LOL. I have to admit to disliking traditional fruit cake intensely, so I love the panettone!

Thanks everyone for your lovely and kind comments about my first ornaments. I have to admit, Bine, I did follow some instructions – I bought the Judy Odell/Just A Thought book, but didn’t find it as helpful without pictures (I’m a very visual person), so I backed her notes up with a trip to a website by CameoRoze as she has a step-by-step tutorial. It was pretty simple once I started the process. And I had so many wonderful examples that others had stitched for inspiration. At least next year I won’t be quite as phased by it all, and I’m going to try to stitch at least one ornament a month, so I’m ready for Christmas early in 2006 … well, that’s the plan anyway haha.

Mum’s hounding me to do the flat-fold finish of the Stars are Brightly Shining … we made some carrot noses out of Fimo before Christmas and she’s dying to see it made up! I decided I was too impatient to wait for ordering more buttons, and thought we’d give it a try in Fimo – looks pretty good, even if I say so myself … now I’m starting to think about trying other shapes with it too hmmm. Maybe on my next days off we’ll have another finishing session – but I need to buy some different batting first 🙂

Kali, I can’t wait to see your outfit when you’re all dressed up as Cindy Lou Who … that sounds like a real hoot and a half!!

Rightio, off to do a bit of stitching before I have to go to work – I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I’m up early … the bonus is that I have more play time before work yippee 🙂