Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes

Three sleeps to go & an exchange (updated)

(Updated to add the following piccie etc) Just quickly popped over to see if any new exchanges had been received on the SBEBB, and it looks like Annette has received the biscornu I stitched for her … as I mentioned before, it turned out to be a lot bigger than I expected, but it still looks OK. I used a DMC variegated thread (which is one of my favourite colourways) and added some beads for extra effect. It’s another conglomeration of a few designs – the infamous Indigo Rose freebie that I can’t seem to get enough of just lately (you may recognise elements from my pinkeep in the centre) – as well as part of a cushion design in a Stitchers World magazine from years ago (Earth Laughs by designer Anne Stanton). I ended up leaving off the tassels because it looked too fussy. Here is the photo of the finished front, and the actual stitching (I won’t bother showing the back).


I can’t believe that’s all there is to go now, before I fly out – 3 sleeps, woohoo!! And during my visit I’ll hopefully be meeting Nicki and Kerry from the blogging world in Auckland – that will be wonderful! πŸ˜€ As well as that, I’ve got an appointment set up already for me to see my old Physiotherapist, who is going to manipulate my back/neck and hopefully help to get it back in alignment again – I used to see him just for 1 or 2 visits yearly, and that would get me through the whole next year … but I haven’t been for 2 years now, and my neck has been giving me grief for months now – every morning I wake up with neck pain and feel like I haven’t slept properly … and sometimes the pain wakes me up during the night … can’t wait to get that ‘clicked’ back in again, it’s going to be sheer bliss!!

Nothing really to report – there will be no blog reading tonight (or stitching, for that matter), as I’m on a short turnaround time for my shifts, ie I finish work at 6pm (and won’t be home until about 7pm), and have to be asleep by 9pm at the latest in order to try and get 8 hours sleep, as I move to my 6am shifts. I think I’ll be sleeping my first 24 hours in NZ haha.

No stitching or blogging done yesterday either, as I forgot I had a training day in the city from 9-5, and met up with a friend for drinks after we finished, as she works in the same building as the training – we then decided to have dinner at the Rose Garden in Elizabeth Street … a very cheap and ‘nasty’ Asian eating place that has very very nice food – it was a great treat, and a wonderful night catching up. Unfortunately Hayles has decided to move to Perth, though, so she will be winging her way over to the west coast in July. Just means I’ll have to make an effort and go for a holiday over there – which I’d love to do, as I’ve always wanted to visit Perth.

I also managed to visit the Post Office the other day, and picked up my stitching treat that was sitting there waiting for me – it was the M Designs Christmas needleroll from Katrina from a recent trade … woohoo, another one to stitch for my collection! Thanks heaps Katrina! πŸ˜€

I’m still waiting for my SB&B orders to arrive – using my birthday money, plus a second treat in the next sale not long after … in both cases there is just one thing that is out of stock – one item has been “in transit from the supplier” for quite some time now (I didn’t realise you still use the Pony Express in the US haha), and the other one still on back order … there were some items in there I wanted for my last two exchanges, plus I’m getting a bit impatient, so I’ve asked for everything else to be shipped, and have the others sent later with some extra fabric I’ve just ordered (a fat 1/4 each of 32ct and 28ct Lavender Bliss). Hopefully they’ll arrive some time soon after I get home from NZ.

Anyway, time to shut up and get ready for work – I’m really rambling on about nothing just to wake up, I think, and I didn’t sleep too well last night … maybe I should head to work early and pick up a cappuccino on the way to truly wake up!

Exchanges, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Round Robins

A mixed bag of allsorts!

Before I forget, for Myrna – the needleroll SAL is Katrina’s brainchild (and she is the QUEEN of Needlerolls LOL) … we’re doing this the 2nd weekend of every month – it’d be great if you could join us πŸ˜€

At the start of the month I posted what my commitment stitching deadlines were – I decided to post it again now, just for my own motivation, so I can see I’ve actually made some headway in meeting those goals, as well as seeing what’s left to meet … I feel as though I’ve still got huge weights hanging over me with stitching deadlines, so it helps for me to map it all out and see it’s really not as bad as I think …

* 12 May – Melanie’s Exchange (SBEBB)
* 15 May – Biscornu Exchange (SBEBB)
* 15 May – Batman logo quilt block (Jordan B)
* 25 May – Scissors fob exchange (StitchNZ)
* 5 June – Mail Art Exchange (SBEBB)
* 22 June – final Christmas RR ornie (Ornaments RRBB)
* 1 July – Round Robin first posting due (my first real RR)
* 1 July – Strawberries So Faire SAL
* 15 July – Racing cars quilt block (Jay B)
* 15 August – Dragon quilt block (Caitlin R)
* late Aug/early Sep – Needleroll exchange (Robin’s Nest BB)

The scissor fob is under control (meaning I’ve at least made a start on it – but my headache didn’t ease off, so not a great deal of progress yet), but I’ve decided to wait until I get to NZ to post it, as it’ll probably arrive more quickly at its destination that way. I still have no idea what to stitch for the mail art exchange – it might have been easier having a set theme … hopefully inspiration will hit soon hmmm. As for my own RR, I’ve decided to stick to my original plan of having four of the blocks from the Stoney Creek Wings of the Wild afghan series from way back in 1991 … I thought I’d send copies of all the charts I have with me (9 out of the 11), and the other three people can choose a duck square, so I still get a bit of a surprise when it’s stitched up πŸ™‚ Being duck-mad, and owning loads of duck charts, it’s pretty bad that I’ve never actually stitched one for myself yet – having this theme will make this RR extra special for me, and will give me something to truly treasure every day I cast my eyes upon it. This is what the original afghan looks like:


On non-stitching news, I want to extend a HUGE congratulations to my Aunt and her partner in Canada – Monica and Norbert tied the knot (finally) in Las Vegas at the end of April … congratulations to Mr and Mrs Schwarzer! Norbert, it’s about time you made a decent woman out of her! teehee (running and ducking for cover …)

And continuing with non-stitching ‘stuff’ … I’m excited to be going home for many reasons this coming weekend – aside from catching up with people I haven’t seen for a couple of years, I’ll be going through all my stitching stash, and possibly parcelling everything up and freighting it over here … that would be wonderful! … but aside from all that, it’s FEIJOA SEASON!!!!! I nearly fell over when I saw a plastic bag filled with feijoas in our work kitchen last week, but they were so tiny they weren’t ripe yet and very sour (didn’t stop me from eating some though, just ‘cos I’d missed them so much! LOL). I intend stuffing myself silly with feijoas every day I’m over there … I just love them! I originally thought they were a NZ fruit, but according to Wikipedia, the Feijoa originated in the highlands of southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina, and is also known as the Pineapple Guava. Yummo!!!!!!!!! Mum and Dad have a tree in their garden, and we used to give bags and bags of them away … they won’t get chance while I’m over this time haha.

A reasonable week of work shifts this week – starting with 3 x 10am shifts, and finishing with 3 x 6am shifts. It’s amazing how quickly my body has become adjusted to not doing shift work – it’s a bit of a shock to the system to get back into it, but it’s just a case of getting into the routine again. Luckily while I’m way I’m getting out of my least favourite shift – 6pm to 2am … I hate those shifts, as I don’t start feeling tired until about 4am, so I might as well do a “doggo” (overnight) shift – unfortunately it means whoever is covering me while I’m on annual leave will have to do them … there are so many benefits to being a ‘permanent’ Hotliner – having a stable shift roster is without a doubt the best!! Forgot to say, I had a huge highlight in my job last week … after having a slight meltdown in my patience threshold, the next day (the mentally challenging one) the Consultant I was helping out with this horrible problem for almost 2 hours, came and gave me a “Luv Ya Work” award … I was so touched! We have a new programme at work to award your colleagues when they’ve done something exceptional – you fill out the award and the Supervisor keeps the details in a central register, and you can eventually cash them in – 2 awards gets you an hour off work before or after your shift starts, 4 awards gives you two hours off or a $10 voucher from stores like Myer, JB HiFi or a bookstore … it’s a really nice way to recognise internally that you’re doing a good job, and it was designed to lift morale – I think it works πŸ™‚ I got another one last week, too, as I got a score of all 5’s for my evaluation (where they listen in to 6 of your phone calls, and make sure you’re giving the correct information, creating a rapport, etc etc) … which means I now have a sum total of 5 awards sitting in my folder since the programme started a couple of months ago – how wonderful! πŸ˜€

OK, enough rambling, time to get ready for work … Have a great week everyone – hope to catch up on all your blogs this week, as I doubt I’ll get chance in NZ (Mum has the worst dial-up connection in the world!).

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Needlerolls, Stitch-alongs

Finally able to post a piccie :) (updated)

It appears from the SBEBB that Paula has received her Melanie’s Exchange I stitched for her, so I can post a piccie. I have to admit, I really really struggled with the choice for this one … I was originally going to stitch a pinkeep for Paula, and had the design all mapped out, then Jo beat me to it by stitching a pinkeep for the Spring exchange (which was beautiful!), so it was back to the drawing board again (but at least I got to keep the mock run one, which you’ve now seen!) … in the end I decided on a needleroll, and the design is a collaboration I made from various design sources – there are bands from Just Nan’s Evening Star, Dragonfly Stitches freebie needleroll (for the blackwork ‘flowers’ and other bands), Indigo Rose online freebie for the Rhodes hearts, as well as another freebie online chart for inspiration for the beaded bands. The only thing is that I struggled to find some narrow ribbon to match for it, and ended up using something that I had on hand … and I wished I’d waited to check out a few more stores before posting – but it looks OK. Here’s a photo of the actual stitching, and the finished needleroll. I tried stitching our names inside the back ‘flowers’, but it’s very teeny tiny LOL. I really enjoyed stitching it πŸ™‚


I should also have another photo to share a bit later on today – I’m in the middle of stitching The Sweetheart Tree Strawberry needleroll, for our weekend needleroll SAL … I started it last night, and slept in this morning so missed the charity walk (oops! – mind you, it turns out we were all doing it ‘on our own’ so it probably doesn’t matter – the money is still being donated anyway) … so I’ve been sitting up in bed catching up on taped TV programmes from during the week and doing a bit more stitching. I was originally going to start a Shepherd’s Bush one, but I needed to stitch some calico to the sides as the fabric is quite small, and I can’t stitch in hand … the Strawberry fob was the only one basted up and ready to go πŸ™‚ It also means that I’m now inadvertently copying Katrina, as that’s the needleroll she’s planning on stitching too πŸ™‚ It’s really pretty so far – the colours are lovely … the DMC 816 is such a rich red, it’s gorgeous! I’m about 2/3 finished, so should be able to post a piccie by the end of the day πŸ™‚

I should be stitching my fob for the scissor fob exchange on StitchNZ, but I just wanted to take some ‘time out’ from commitment stitching and stitching something else – and the needleroll SAL is the perfect thing to a quick “me” stitch πŸ™‚

(Update before day’s end) And here’s the final piccie for today – the finished stitching of my strawberry needleroll … which also means I met the 24 hour challenge on the FGBB as well yippee! πŸ˜€ Leaves me tomorrow free for working out my scissor fob yay πŸ™‚