Tag: Stash

Cross Stitch, Stash

A teensy bit of stash

Anne S

Today I spent a wonderful few hours browsing and chatting with Karen at Dragonfly Dreams (soon to be renamed as The Stitching Post) in the Blue Mountains.  As always, I feel as though we’ve known each other for years, and feel really comfortable in their company.  I managed to come home with a few guilt-free goodies … guilt-free ‘cos I’ve finished the 50 project challenge!  I haven’t taken photos, as I can’t be bothered trying to find the camera right now and uploading the photos … I might update this post tomorrow with piccies if I get time … maybe 😛

Anyway, following are the goodies that followed me home today:

I’m really excited at the prospect of stitching again – since my last finishes I haven’t lifted a needle at all … while I’m here in Glenwood I usually only have the time and energy to put a few stitches in on Sunday nights.  By the time I do my 5 x 12-13 hour days, I’m ready to collapse in a heap on Friday night, and I’m sure if I did stitch, I’d just have to rip out all the errors again on Saturday, so I avoid it big-time!

In less than a week, though, I’ll be sat merrily stitching away until my hands are ready to drop off, and I really can’t wait – I’m so incredibly excited at the prospect of all the projects that I really really want to start (and also those that I want to finish).  I’ve even taken an extra day off work just so I can sit around all day and stitch for one day … I’ll have no furniture in the flat at that point, but I intend propping myself up against the wall, while sitting on my duvet inner and blow-up mattress, listening to DVD’s and/or talking books on the laptop, and celebrating the fact that I am no longer having to commute a million miles every week … I’m feeling all dreamy now just thinking about it!  As for the furniture truck, it can take its merry time to arrive, as then I’ll be flat out unpacking instead of stitching haha.

I’m looking forward to meeting a few more stitchers in Sydney in 2008 as well – and over the last couple of weeks I have been considering opening my flat up for a stitching day … I just have to work out how many people we can fit it as it’s such a small flat – it might not end up being an option, but it’s worth considering anyway.  It would be lovely to meet a few more stitchers up here – spending time in Karen’s company, surrounded by those wonderful goodies in the shop, makes me realise how much I adore being in contact with other stitchers.  I have been missing my good friends Tannia and Sharon very much over the last few weeks for that reason (although I’d love them if they weren’t actually stitchers!).

Rightio, time to head off and kit up a couple of ornies for our ornment SAL challenge on one of the Yahoo groups – I’m hoping to get one of the ornies stitched tomorrow night (or close to being stitched anyway), but it takes me forever to kit it up then start stitching, so much better to get organised in advance!  Plus I also want to kit up Ladybug, Ladybug (Little House Needleworks) – I’m itching to start the Sampler Lady by LHN, but I’m still waiting for the threads to arrive from back order … then once my Ladybug, Ladybug piece is finished I need to start some serious stitching on my CA Wells piece – so far I’ve managed a whole 2 flower heads, because I’m having to stitch in hand (need my sewing machine to sew on some side strips so it will go in the Qsnaps), and I detest stitching in hand.  That’ll be a much better project to start concentrating on when I settle into the new place.

Rightio, time to get cracking ‘cos I’m starting to get heavy-eyed … time to move the body … and maybe time to get a chilled glass of Chardonnay to help with resuscitation haha.

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash

Note to self … and oops … Stash!!

Anne S

Note to self …

“Do NOT watch Big Brother again this week until their weekly task is completed, finished, done and dusted, all over red rover!! If you DO watch Big Brother your heart will begin pounding as though it will burst out of your chest, and you will have cold sweats, crawling skin, and general heeby-jeebies for hours afterwards … just like you did last night!!!”

What am I waffling on about??  Well, I switched the TV on for the first time this week last night to watch Big Brother … only to be confronted by bl**dy great visions of arachnids (ie Huntsman and wolf spiders etc … and if you feel keen please go Google their names yourself, ‘cos I don’t feel like having their piccies sitting on my computer screen right now) as full as life filling the TV screen – I nearly died there and then on the spot!  It’s been a long time since I had to put my hands up to cover my face from what is on TV, but I just couldn’t bear to watch it anymore.  I ended up turning away and just listening to it … their task this week is to enter the ‘spider enclosure’ of which they reckon there are at least 50 bl**dy great spiders in there, and they have to catch some as part of their task.  I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it again!!  Aaaaarghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, that brings me to something else I’ve been meaning to blog about, and keep forgetting – the good news is that I’ve finally booked in to see a therapist towards the end of August (a hypnotherapy doctor) about my severe arachnaphobia.  It sounds like I may need more than one session, and at $230 a pop that’s not great, but if it works it’ll be worth every red cent!!  The great thing about not paying rent right now is that it’s giving me chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and just couldn’t afford it … this is going to be soooooo worth it if it works!!!

That’s all I wanted to say really … still not really in blogging mood yet – and still have more packing up to do, so time to go do it before I settle in for the night.  At least it was my final 5am shift today so I get an extra 2 hours sleep in tomorrow woohoo!!  I only have 4 sleeps left here, so I also need to start thinking of getting the bedding etc washed and ironed and all the rest of the housework done.  I only have my 8am shift tomorrow, then an overnight shift on Sunday (9pm-5am), then I’m on days off for 4 days yippee 😀

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Updated to add … I also forgot to mention that I got stash in the mail today!!  Yes, that’s right I’m on the 50 project challenge, and I’m not allowed to buy any charts … if you don’t tell anyone, I won’t! Well, I was rebellious two weeks ago and ordered a couple of things before I go back on my stash diet again.  The only thing that made me do it is that I was really keen to get Just Nan’s Queen’s Bluebird Box, and I saw it was out of stock already at one of the ONS’s … I figure if I was ever going to get it, now was the time.  As it is I’ve missed out on my all-time favourite Au Fil de Reves designs because they’re no longer in print after dickering for a couple of years whether to fork out and buy the kits … so I wasn’t gonna do the same thing this time!  (In actual fact I splurged and ordered two of the AFDR kits from Criss Cross Row in a panic as soon as I heard the news they were going out of print, but they’ve never sent the goods, and are not replying to my emails – and my order went through in February hmmm.) I’ve only bought the chart and finishing kit for the Bluebird box (doncha just LUV that little blue bird?? LOL), ‘cos I couldn’t justify the extra money to buy the silk kit … I may just have to see which colours are needed and buy a few at a time, as well as raiding my existing stash … I have to say I think US$75 for the silk kit that is just “cut to the correct length” is pretty exorbitant … it’d be interesting to see how much it would work out to buy a full skein of each hmmm…

queens-bluebird-box-cover 5-29-05c-0109-combo

Of course I had to justify the cost of postage for the Just Nan box, and also bought the Trick or Treat Box by Just Nan as well … won’t they look cute in a cabinet together??  Yeah, yeah, OK, I’m just justifying to myself it was a good buy! haha.  Oops I just remembered the Just Nan Octagonal Peacock needlecase is also on back order, so I’d better go add another 4 (not 3) charts to my 50 project challenge.  Hmmm, maybe I should just give up now!! 😉

jn100lg

The 4th thing I bought was something I’ve been yearning for dearly for a few years as well – I ordered it two years ago from SB&B, but they refunded my money for that chart, and I assumed it was because it was no longer available or in print (they never contact me and let me know why … I just got a PayPal receipt saying you’ve been given money back!) – I’ve been searching Ebay for a while to no avail … and one day recently I stumbled across their website, and saw they take orders directly … and I’m now the very proud owner of this chart, Gazelle, by Simply Old-Fashioned.  I also received a 15% off voucher for the next 10 purchases from them, and a very personalised packaging and note … I have to say I was very very impressed with their service!  I can now stitch this one to be a matching pair with my ‘giraffe’ that I’ve already stitched (it’s actually the Zebra chart, but for some reason I always thought it was a giraffe … can you say blonde and mentally challenged?? LOL).  Here’s the new chart, and my stitched ‘giraffe’:

gazelle Zebra - Ever So Little #8 chart

Cross Stitch, Stash

More goodies in the mail

Anne S

But before I show you my other spoils from yesterday, I have to apologise for the many many spelling and grammatical errors in last night’s post.  I’d only had 4 hours sleep the previous two nights, and after spending a few frantic hours packing, I was feeling really exhausted, and could hardly string two sentences together … I think that showed!! 😉  It actually took me a whole hour to write that, when it would normally have taken half that time haha.

We’ve woken up this morning to a freezing morning out here – I was almost expecting icicles forming from the curtain rails in the lounge … Mum has put on her thermal undies to survive, as it’s sooooooo cold in here!  Just being able to close that darned window would be soooo nice.  Oh well, only 2 more nights and the furniture and boxes will all be gone … leaving us with a few boxes of ‘rubbish’ to get sorted through, as well as my stitching (I want to kit up a few more projects and I’ve run out of time to get it done before the big moving day).  Mum and I will be sleeping on air mattresses and sitting on fold-up camping chairs for a couple of nights – but one of the Supervisors at work was concerned for us yesterday and is bringing in a portable TV for us to watch, bless her heart 😀

On Friday after the big moving day Mum’s decided it’s “I’m not doing anything else” day, so we’re having an afternoon/night of R&R and heading out to the movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 … can’t wait!  Then I’m back at work again on Saturday, so Mum’s going to start the scrubbing and cleaning while I’m away – then we have Sunday/Monday to finish off (I have those days off work), before Mum will have to fly home Monday night.

Anyway, I’d better get off this PC and start getting my clothes sorted into piles before I have to jump in the shower … but before I do, I have to share the rest of my wonderful mail day yesterday …

I want to thank Leslie for sending me her Barnabee’s Quest charts – after me drooling over this project while she was completing the recent SAL, she offered to send them to me once she’d finished with them … and they’ve arrived in perfect timing, so I can kit it up and add it to my ‘future projects box’.  Thanks again Leslie, you’re wonderful! 😀

Last, but certainly not least, was a lovely generous parcel from Andrea.  This was totally unexpected, and I was blown away by the contents.  Andrea stitched me a divine scissor fob – how could I not start drooling with that scrummy turquoise colour?  Even Mum was eyeing it up … I’m going to have to frisk her before she leaves to make sure she hasn’t pocketed it! 😉  This was in thanks for sending a DT chart to her, but personally I think I got the better part of the deal 😉 Not only the fob was there, but I was also spoilt rotten by a few items off my wishlist – the SB Schoolhouse needleroll, and threads, as well as some really scrummy blue fabric … I’m seriously blown away by everything.  That NR is another project that is getting kitted up this weekend so it can be stitched sooner rather than later.  Thanks again Andrea for a really wonderful and unexpected gift! 😀

 

Rightio, time to head off and pack … now I’m awake 😉

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

Squishy mail & lovely visits

Anne S

Well, tonight I ended up having a reprieve from work … we had a wonderful visit out today, but driving home it took us over 1 1/2 hrs to get home from Eltham, and by the time I got home I was feeling decidedly squiffy again, so I called in work and said I’d be staying home for the night 😦  We even had to stop off at a local Dairy (stop giggling my fellow Aussies, that’s our Kiwi equivalent of your Milk Bar … I still can’t get used to calling it a Milk Bar – for you Brits out there, it’s the equivalent of the ‘corner shop’) so I could buy some ginger drink to try to quell the queasiness.  Anyway, that’s enough of me moaning … on to the brighter moments of the day 🙂

Before I do that, though, I just realised I haven’t written anything about our weekend social night out with Sharon and Pete … We went round there for dinner on Saturday night, and had the most wonderful time – dinner was divine and the company excellent.  I took my stitching with me but we were enjoying ourselves so much it came out briefly for a show-and-tell, but not a single stitch was done.  I also received a wonderful birthday gift voucher for Bustle & Bows from Sharon, and very touched with that generous gift … unfortunately the gift I gave Sharon wasn’t quite as good … unfortunately I’d chosen a chart I knew she loved, but she’d just bought it for herself as a kit … oops 😦  I already know what I’m doing next time, and think I’ll be safe with that choice 😉  Before we knew it it was almost midnight, and I felt like we’d just arrived – as always a definite pleasure and both Mum and I enjoyed ourselves immensely 😀

Back to today – we caught up with another fellow blogger and Melbournian for a beautiful lunch and stash drooling.  We drove over to visit Gina today, albeit half an hour later than we planned due to a visit from the real estate agent (which I’ll talk about soon), and then because I took a wrong turn and had to consult the Melways … because of supposedly going to work for 6pm we had to cut short the visit, as we knew the drive would take a while to get home – we would have loved to have stayed longer … next time we definitely have to choose a non-working day so we can have more time 🙂 Thank you again Gina for a lovely day out – it was great to finally visit and see that infamous collection of linens … and see your Indian first-hand 😀  Mind you, if I’d known I’d start feeling sick again on the way home, we wouldn’t have had to hurry off 😉

The other highlight of the day was the wonderful mail I received – firstly Becky’s piece for the Quaker Friendship RR … it looks gorgeous in real life, and I’m looking forward to adding my little bits to it in round 2 of this RR 🙂

Next up was my order from One Star’s Light – my Cat’s Whiskers charts and 17″ Q-snaps … and I have to agree with everyone else that Jenna’s extra attention to detail is lovely with everything individually wrapped in beautiful tissue paper and wax seals … even Mum’s drooling over the Alyssum scissor keeper, and I can see her extra birthday gift being something stitched this year (she already has the main part of her gift in some Gingher scissors etc).

Last, but certainly not least, is a wonderful RAK from Linda … she very generously sent me her copy of Just Nan’s Dragonfly Scissor Purse, and I’m just over the moon about that – I was seriously drooling over Linda’s blog every time she put a progress piccie up, and I’m thrilled that I now get chance to stitch one of these beauties!  That was enough on it’s own to have me grinning from ear to ear, but she also sent another chart from my wishlist, M Designs’ Snow Wonderful – I fell in love with this after seeing this on another blog, and yet again Mum’s eyeing it up too because of the snowmen and snowflake!  Linda also sent another chart which I hadn’t seen before – Winter Getaway, and I just love the little cabin scene, so it will definitely be stitched up as well.  Thanks again, Linda, I truly adore everything 😀

On a different note, we had a visit from the new real estate Property Manager, and she was dumb-founded by the cracks … I’m really impressed by her attitude – she took loads of photos and said she was calling the landlord immediately as the cracks were very serious.  As I said to her, I’m happy someone from the agency is finally taking me seriously, as my previous chasing phone calls were doing nothing at all.  Within an hour we had a phone call from her saying the landlord wants to visit tomorrow morning, and she’s trying to get someone from the Body Corporate out here immediately as well, because it’s that serious!  Hallelujah!!!  It will be interesting to hear what they have to say tomorrow! 😀

And to finish this very lengthy post, here’s the progress to date of my CA Wells’ Peacock Needlecase … not too much to show, but I’m not touching any other stitching until this one is finished in its entirety.  I’m feeling a bit brighter than when I first got home, so I just might be able to get a thread or two into this tonight … fingers crossed 🙂  Which is exactly where I’m heading now … off to watch House and Medium with Mum … aside from the squiffy tummy, it doesn’t get much better than this 😉

Cross Stitch, Stash

“A Store is Born”

Anne S

Just a really really quick post to congratulate our great online pal Jenna on the opening of her online needlework store – when I announced to Mum this morning that today was the day that the store opened, Mum’s immediate reaction was “well, we’d better order something then!” I now have my Christmas gifts from Mum all sorted out 9 months in advance haha … and have ordered The Cat’s Whiskers charts that I’ve been drooling over the most since they were released at Nashville. I also ordered some 17″ Q-snaps at the same time to save on postage later, as I’m going to be needing the Q-snaps for Egyptian Garden soon as that whopping great project grows.

In the meantime if you get chance please do pop over to visit Jenna’s website and store – it looks wonderful, and I wish you every success in this exciting new phase of your life Jenna!  You can visit it here:

One Star’s Light Needlework Supplies

The two charts I’ve got on order are the Alyssum Scissor Pocket, and the Peacock Stitching Chair – yippee!!  They have to be wrapped up in Christmas wrapping paper as soon as they arrive and packed away with the Christmas tree decorations so I don’t forget where they are in December LOL.

 

As for my own stitching, I’ve spent so much time commuting between LNS’s over the last 7 days that we worked out it was the equivalent of an entire working day … and don’t ask how many times I’ve frogged parts of the Pyramid Etui haha.  But finally I’ve found a combination of blues that kinda work – the variegated thread looked totally different when stitched, and the colours I had just didn’t blend well.  I’ve just managed to finally finish one of the large square bases tonight, and I’ll take full piccies tomorrow in daylight so you can see what the final choice of colours looks like.  It hasn’t worked out exactly how I pictured it in my head, but I do like it! 😀  I’m extremely behind with my stitching of it, though, and it’s stressing me out, but more on that tomorrow …

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash

Birthday joy & Finishing blog

Anne S

My face must have told a 1000 words yesterday if you’d seen me open my birthday parcel from Carol  … certainly the girl next to me at work got to share a fair bit of the excitement! 

Thank you so much my dear friend for my gifts – as I said to you via email, I absolutely adore everything!  I’ve never seen a tin-topper in real life, and this one is absolutely perfect in every way!  Carol says the design is reminiscent of New England, her home, which makes it extra special to me.  She was also thoughtful to send the stitching details along with it (what a great idea!) – it is Down East Tin Topper by Samplers & Such, stitched on Dirty Belfast linen with DMC … and I just adore it! 

Not only the tin topper, though, Carol also send a darling pair of scissors and some needles inside the tin (I forgot to take a piccie, sorry) – and I’m going to add the wee scissor fob Carol sent me for Christmas to the scissors, as it’ll fit nicely in the tin … which is going to take pride of place next to me on my stitching table.  The tin topper would have been plenty enough, but I also received a large selection of Crescent Colour threads, which are one of my favourite overdyed threads, and the most scrummy turquoise fabric (that I’m planning a use for already, so you’ll have to watch this space later in the year!) … I still can’t believe it’s all for me!! 😀 

hanks again, Carol, you are a total sweetheart, and I love everything!!

 

My free time over the last couple of days has been spent playing with my photo editing program to get a header together or our new Finishing blog … and Karen and I have been tweaking it a bit so we’re not far away from being able to publish details about it.  I’m really looking forward to this new venture, and already thinking of finishing techniques I’d like to learn.  Anyway, watch this space for the details soon!

The rest of my time this week has been spent on finishing two birthday gifts (which unfortunately will be arriving belatedly at their new homes), and planning my stitching time for the next two months in readiness for the CA Wells class in April.  There is an exceptional amount of work involved, and I’ve worked out what I’ll need to get stitched by the end of each week between now and then to have everything finished in time … all I can say is I’m grateful I’ve got two weeks off work as at 11pm tonight, as I think I’m going to need it!!  I also have to get cracking on another birthday gift … I’ve got my heart set on a project, but it might be a bit ambitious going by the timeframe hmmm.

And on that note I’ll sign off again – partly as it’s now time to go to work (last day for two weeks, yippee!!), and partly ‘cos I have nothing else to say LOL.

Blogging Memes, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash

Christmas Gifties

Anne S

As promised, here are piccies of the beautiful gifts received from my stitching pals – I apologise for the poor quality of the photos, as the light is almost as bad this morning as it was last night … and I ended up taking them on top of my clothes that are drying (or in this case a bedsheet … guess who will be ironing again soon? LOL). Piccies are not in any particular order 🙂

First up is a beautiful biscornu from Jenna – I have to admit, I knew what this one was, but it was still a wonderful surprise to see it first-hand and hold it 🙂 And Jenna’s stitching and finishing is perfection in itself – I just love it! 😀 It’s going straight on display in my basket!

Next up is my gift from Katrina – how cool is this?? I adore the frangipani memo board, and it’s really going to brighten up my fridge … it’s just perfect! And that would have been plenty enough, but I also received a gorgeous needlework roll … funnily enough I have the chart bought all ready to make one for myself, but I just haven’t pulled my finger out to give it a try yet … and now there’s no hurry! I just adore it!! And how perfect is it going to be for all my unfinished ornies to keep them in one place before they get finished? Thanks Katrina – I love everything! 😀

Next up is a beautiful wallhanging from Sylvie – how did you ladies know I love blue so much? LOLOL. How gorgeous is this? I’ve never had a wallhanging before, and it’s taking pride of place hanging up on the side of my computer desk so I can admire it every day – I just love it! Thank you so much Sylie, I adore it! 😀

And last, but not least, here’s another stunner – this time from Nicki. What a stunning ornie, and not one I’d attempt myself (mainly due to the finishing) – once again perfect finishing and stitching, and the colours are just beautiful. I’ve got two photos this time so you can see more of the stitching. Thanks Nicki, I truly love it!

And finally my gift to myself – bought just before my finances went bust … I can finally drool all over my Gingher’s Alyssa scissors – they’re just so beautiful! Thanks to Jenna’s ingenuity, I had to wait until now before I could see my little purchase … and they were definitely worth waiting for!

Thanks again ladies for making my Christmas Day so special – I love all my gifts, and I’ll treasure everything always {{hugs}}.

Ooh, I almost forgot … this gave me a giggle … how appropriate!! I obviously love the tree so much I turn myself into one!!! LOLOLOL.

You Are a Tree
You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you’re goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree!

WhatChristmas Ornament Are You?

Now it’s off to work again – it’s freezing outside (I’m sat here in my winter PJ’s and dressing gown, go figure!), so I’ll be bundling up in my jeans and polar fleece for the day … what happened to those 43C days? LOL.

Have a wonderful day everyone! 😀

Stash

Last day of freedom

Anne S

It’s back to work again tomorrow, but it’s only a 5-day week for a change, which is just wonderful – this week’s shifts are reasonable, with a mix of 3pm and 12 noon starts. Next week it’s back to 5am starts again hmmm, which means I should get loads of stitching done just to keep me awake in the afternoons!

Yesterday I promised piccies of my great mail day, and here they are – the first piccie is of course Jenna teasing me with my scissors … I’m still laughing my head off today over this little trick – I love it! As well as the beautiful wrapping, it also has a gift tag already made up on it … “To Anne, From Anne” – what a crack up!

The other goodies I received were my back-ordered threads from Karen at Dragonfly Dreams – this means Sapphire Star will be joining my rotation as the next project on my list for the canvaswork slot … although my rotation is a bit out the window at the moment to fit in some commitment and gift stitching. Here in the piccie is the latest issue of JCS (only bought for the ornies in it, and I have to admit there are probably only 2 of them I’d consider stitching up, oh well), some 16ct Bay Leaf Aida for Mum, my Rainbow Gallery back orderered threads, a packet of 40557 Mill Hill beads (seeing as I still can’t find my other ones, and I need one to finish Lynn’s RR, plus this colour always comes in handy), 2 WDW threads I needed for upcoming projects, and finally some little buttons and charms for Christmas ornies coming up.

As far as my gift stitching is concerned, I have one entirely finished and it’s winging its way across the Pacific as we speak, as I managed to get to the Post Office late this arvo. I’d offer a sneak preview, but it might give it away 😉 We’ll just have to wait a week or so until it arrives at its destination, then all can be unveiled 😀

Not entirely sure what I’ll sit and do tonight – possibly some kitting up of some Christmas ornies, or perhaps starting my next bit of gift stitching … I dunno yet, but no doubt whatever I do it will be stitching-related 😀

Stash

Bloody expensive beads!!

Anne S

I just managed to spend $110.50 for one packet of Mill Hill petite beads … woohoo, cheap huh? In my ultimate wisdom I decide to call into my semi-LNS on the way home ‘cos I can’t find my 40123 beads for love nor money, as the LNS is on the way home and it would save money on petrol rather than me driving out of my way to a Spotlight store … or so I thought! I parked in a 1-hour parking zone, right outside the store, and I swear the parking attendant must have been walking right up behind me … I was in there for no longer than 10 minutes (had to wait while another customer was served), and walked out to a parking ticket … for $107 – I hadn’t seen the “Clearway between 4-6pm” sign … bloody hell, I feel sick … think of all the stash I could have bought in there for that money!!! Oh well, it means the next month will be a lot tighter financially … I had a good pay week last week, ‘cos I had an extra Sunday shift than I should have normally, so feeling great I socked $200 away towards my sofa bed repayments while I had some ‘free cash’ … now I’m kicking myself for being so bloody organised for a change … especially because I’ve been bidding on a scissors set on the Bay of Evil that I am totally in love with, which of course if I win will be another outlay … that was expected and was still OK, but not with the new unexpected expense!! {heavy sigh}

Even though I’m on a stash diet until my 50 projects are over, that doesn’t affect these as they’re “tools” … how could I resist these?? I accidentally came across a piccie somewhere, and fell head over heels in love … just look at the colour of these!!! Gingher Alyssa designer series scissors … they’d keep me happy for the rest of my stitching days!!! 😀 I was moaning to Mum while she was here that my Fiskars dress-making shears just don’t cut all along the length of the blade, and it’s really annoying, so when I found out Ginghers do “big” scissors too, I was reeled in, hook, line and sinker 😉

I’ve been here 3 years and I’m STILL learning about the parking rules … I’ve only ever had one other parking ticket here, while flat-hunting in this area, as I didn’t realise there was such a thing as “permit parking” in residential areas … I soon found out $50 later that in fact yes there are … filed that one way for the future too …

Stitching-wise I’ve been trying to stitch a small gift for a friend, and had been creating something myself, but I decided the creative process just isn’t coming together for me right now, and I was best to just use an existing chart … hence the reason I needed the beads (perhaps if I’d stuck with my creative idea I’d be $100 better off right now … bugger!). I didn’t have one of the threads, so substituted with a Caron Collection Waterlilies silk instead, and I just have the centre bit of one side left, which is just tiny, and the beading, then it has to be put together … fingers crossed I manage to get most of that done tonight, as I’m on 5am shifts tomorrow and need an early night, but I really want to get this finished.

Aside from that nothing much else to report – I’m still having back/neck pain, and finally decided today to get an appointment (yay, more money going out!) with a sort of physio who specialises in muscular troubles like mine … she’s a nerve manipulator or something, but hopefully she’ll be able to provide some relief, or be able to recommend a physio or someone, as this pain is really getting me down.

Geez, I’m just a bundle of joviality tonight, aren’t I? Oh well, I’ll get over it I’m sure, and be back to normal by tomorrow hopefully. In the meantime I’m heading off to the fridge to make myself a nice long Jim Beam and L&P (I still have a small collection of L&P cans left … they only come out for special occasions, and I’ve just decided tonight is one of them as a cheer me up!).

Stash, Works in Progress

WIP updates

Anne S

I was originally going to post a piccie once I’d got my latest project entirely finished, but it’s been slow going so I thought I’d post a progress piccie instead. This is the first time I’ve ever tried doing nun’s stitch, and I’m amazed at how slooooooowly that wee stitch goes … can’t say I’m a huge fan, although it looks OK. I still have to add the little bead eyes and do a broad chain stitch across the centre fold line – then I have to do the little separate name label before putting it all together … and being ‘finishing challenged’, I’m going goggle-eyed reading the instructions already – hopefully it will all slot into place once I have the actual finished articles and lining etc in front of me! This is “Bumble the Bee’s Wax Pocket” kit by Moss Creek Designs … I just love the little bee 😀 I wasn’t so fond, however, by the over-one stitching hmmm.

In fact, seeing as I’m not a great over-one fan, I’m definitely getting plenty of experience with my current/future projects … this one, plus the Bordeaux Sampler (all the verses plus the next band has oodles of over-one grapes), and the Lavender Rose Sewing Case (next on my list of smalls to stitch, seeing as I missed the SAL) … I’m either going to enjoy over-one more after all that practice, or detest it further … only time will tell …

And seeing as it’s almost Friday, I can finally post a progress piccie of the Bordeaux Sampler with my start of band number 2 … I haven’t touched this since coming home from Hong Kong, so I caught up a bit by putting 4 hours into it earlier in the week – and it’s time to get it back into a regular stitching slot each week. I’m looking forward to seeing Carol’s progress too 😀

Other than that, I have another mail art to be done as the original one went AWOL … have to admit, this is definitely not a stitching highlight for the week 😦

I do have to admit to a slight lapse off the Wagon last week too – just realised I’d forgotten to post a public announcement of my lapse, as well as a piccie of my spoils … Ashleigh was selling off a bundle of her stash on Ebay, and I’ve been dying to try some of the Periwinkle Promises little cushion kits, so I couldn’t resist trying some at a reasonable price to see if I like them … and after receiving them, I think I see more of them arriving on my doorstep in the future … after I’ve been on the Wagon a bit longer 😉

Now it’s off to bed for the night after a very inactive day … mind you, I can see the lounge room floor again, so I obviously got a bit of housework done today ;P