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Well, especially for Karen & Isabelle, here is the first progress piccie of Summer into Autumn that I started today. I was so over-tired this morning due to broken sleep, I frog-stitched the top band a sum total of 3 times and it’s such simple stitches!! Anyway, there are some things I don’t like about it, but some things I love about it … The dislikes are more to do with the kit itself – the threads are cut so darned short, they barely manage to stitch across the bands – for example just the short 4-sided bands and smyrna crosses I was left with literally one inch of thread in the needle! That’s spoiling the fun of stitching it a bit with me, ‘cos halfway across the band I’m focusing more on whether I’ll have enough thread to finish, than on the stitching itself 😦 I would have preferred to cut the threads myself to a reasonable length. Also, I’m not sure how I feel about the single strand coverage with the cross stitches – but with it being a kit, I daren’t increase the threads to two strands, as I won’t have enough thread to finish … I haven’t decided yet, but I may yet stitch it again with my own threads just to compare it later – and see how it looks with the 2 strands giving it a bit more concentrated colour.

On the positive note, though, the little bands are really fun to stitch – and they’re so tiny! Now I know what you meant when you were stitching it, Karen – the bands are only about 2 inches wide, with a nice mix of stitches and techniques. Don’t know whether I’ll match Karen’s finishing time of 5 days, but I might come close 😉

Well, time to think about getting to bed … it’s 1.44am, and I’ve only been home from work about 10 minutes, but I’m feeling pretty shattered – and I’ll be having another wake-up call in about 5 hours, from who I have affectionately nicknamed the “Bin B*stards” … it’s rubbish collection day, and the garbage trucks stop right outside my window at about 7am – mind you, it’s better than the last place I lived in … they came at 5.10am every week like clockwork, which is when they got their nickname! LOL.

Hopefully I’ll be able to put some more time into SIA tomorrow, as I still have 8 hours left in its rotation 🙂 Ooh, before I sign off, my order arrived from Nordic Needle today … some pretty stash enhancements – only missing size 10 short beading needles, which are still on backorder, but they sent me 2 x canvaswork charts by accident, so I’ll have to send the spare one back – fingers crossed they’ll reimburse me for the postage … Anyway, I’m a bit tired to post the stash contents today, so I’ll leave it for later 🙂

Managed to get a bit more of them done yesterday, but I’m ready to move on … they’re now being taken off the floorstand ready for the next slot in my rotation. It’s supposed to be my ‘finishing’ slot, but I had a pretty rough sleep last night, and my eyes are like road maps, so I think I might wait and leave that slot until the next time when I can concentrate better … and swap the next two slots around. That means I get to stitch on ‘free choice’ … and today’s choice is … The Drawn Thread’s Summer Into Autumn :)) I’ve got 6 days of 5pm-1am at work this week (yuk), but then I’ve got 5 days off, so I’ll be more energised to do my finishing work then I think.

Thanks for all your comments about the Dratted’s – I have to admit, they’ve grown on me again, and I’ve been enjoying watching them grow … still can’t wait until they’re finished, though 😉 Gina, in this case they’re definitely being framed – but not to hang on my walls … I offered my best friend as a wedding gift for her and John to choose a chart out of my stash, and I’d stitch it for them – and this is the one they agreed on. Little did I know back then just how hard I would find this one to stitch, and my joke of them getting it for their 10th wedding anniversary is starting to look like reality LOL. I’ll probably just send a money order or something to them, so they can get it framed locally, rather than me trying to organise framing for them (they live in the South Island of New Zealand). Hopefully they’ll be pleased how it finally turned out.

Thanks for the link to the stitch clips, Carol … I have to admit I own a set, and absolutely love them! Unfortunately, though, when I first had the Dratted’s on my scroll bars I only had a short sidebar available, and my floorstand has a clamp that sits on the left hand side of the sidebar, right where the little clips went, and it wouldn’t clamp properly (kept slipping) … hence the reason I laced it instead, which gives me really good tight tension. Can’t remember where I read about doing that – somewhere online, anyway 😉

I have to admit, I’m getting much more time for stitching since moving out on my own – at the last flat I was in, I did almost all of the cooking etc, while now I cook every now and then and the rest of the time just have to defrost (if I cook casseroles etc I just eat one meal then freeze the rest) … amazing how much time that frees up LOL. And Mum commented yesterday that while she’s here on holiday I should get even more stitching done, ‘cos she’ll be helping out with the housework etc … love ya, Mum!!

Well, today my recliner has my bum imprint clearly embedded on it 😉 I’ve been super-glued to it all day stitching my little heart out. Actually, saying that, I’ve just realised it’s 11pm and I didn’t stop for dinner … oops! I’ve been having a DVD-fest today at Shackbuster, watching soppy movies such as Sleepless in Seattle, 50 First Dates and The Sixth Sense. I managed to complete one whole rotation segment in one day … plus a little bit more – seeing as I also put 4 hours into this piece earlier in the week, I’ll decide tomorrow whether I’ll continue for the next 4 hours to complete another rotation segment, or just start on my next rotation slot. Anyway, here’s the latest progress piccie of the Dratted’s … hopefully it will only be about another 2 rotation slots for them before I can cut the side lacings and move the fabric up on the scroll bars … yippee!

Rightio, off to bed for me … was going to sit and blog for a while to catch up on everyone’s blogs, but I might have to leave that until the morning – didn’t realise the time until I came to send this …

Well, what can I say, but gee whiz, I really like it! Took a few attempts to get things the way I was happy with it … and I’m sure Lisa has a voodoo doll made of me (perhaps that explains my ill health issues over the last few weeks?!! LOL) – but the final version I can certainly live with!

My main problem was that I had my heart set on having a paua shell background (you’re right, Sharon – that’s exactly what it is!), and I’d had some wrapping paper back in NZ that I thought would be perfect … Mum got sent on a shopping mission, but unfortunately the paper she found wasn’t the same – anyway, Lisa obviously managed to find a different graphic somewhere, and it looks pretty good … I just love the colours of the paua shell, I think the purples and blues are just stunning! So that was the touch of my Kiwi homeland … as well as starting to fulfil my “blue” fetish … and the ducks of course had to be on the page to tie in with my blog title. To add a little bit extra, I had the little photo added next to the comments sections, which is a photo we took on holiday driving to Adelaide earlier this year with Mum – it’s a photo of the Twelve Apostles, on the Great Ocean Road … so that’s also a little touch of my current home, Australia 🙂

Now I can play a little bit with the sidebars etc – unfortunately with the colours changing, you can’t see the progress bars anymore, so I need to try and work something else out there, plus centre the WIP’s etc. Every time I look at this new blog it makes my whole body go “Ahhhhh” – I feel very positive and ‘centred’ when I see it … it is definitely “me” 🙂

I finished the beading on the pansy pin pillow thingo this morning before I went to work, but I thought I won’t bother posting a piccie until I’ve stitched it together into the actual pillow – with any luck I’ll get that done some time tomorrow …

I had to follow suit, and have a play on the South Park Studio site, after seeing Jenna’s South Park character – have to say, Jenna, very very cute! So here’s my “me too” effort … it really was way too much fun on that site! Kept me amused for a short while when I got home from work LOL.

And yes, you’re right, Jenna – that is the pansy needle keeper from Mill Hill … and I have to say your photo album is divine! In fact, I’ve also fallen in love with your needleroll from the Classic Stitches site and just HAD to go and download it myself 🙂 What a great enabler you are … and the needleroll didn’t cost anything, so my credit card company loves you too haha. Anyway, I’ve managed to get a fair bit of the pansy done tonight, but it’s time to hit the hay – I don’t start work until 1pm tomorrow, so with any luck I can get some more stitching done before I hit the road, and if not, I’ve then got two days off so I should be able to finish it totally then. 🙂

And my new-look blog is soon to be unveiled … woohoo. It’s taken a few ‘re-writes’ but the latest version combines the three requisites … (you’ll never guess two of them LOL) … 1) a touch of Kiwi to remind me of home; 2) ducks (!); 3) blue (!!). Anyway, I’ve just asked if the comments section can be made one tiny shade lighter to make the text easier to read, then hopefully it can get the final tick of approval and I’ll have the new look unveiled next week yippee 🙂

The title of the post is perhaps a bit facetious (sp?) and very much tongue-in-cheek! I had huge plans for getting loads of stitching done this week, seeing as I’m on early shifts … but, alas, it’s not to be … this piccie is the sum total of last night’s stitching efforts, of 1 whole hour! haha. While not stitching, though, I did something else equably as enjoyable as stitching … if not even better! I caught up with my first ‘real’ blogger, Sharon, on the phone. Sharon had given me her number weeks ago, but I didn’t want to phone until I felt a bit brighter within myself health and morale-wise … and with her impending operation yesterday I felt a “need” to phone – and I have to admit that usually I don’t enjoy spending hours on the phone chatting after being on the phones all day at work, but this phone call was a sheer joy! In fact 3 hours of sheer joy LOLOL. It was really lovely to chat to a fellow stitcher real-time … thanks Sharon 🙂 As I’ve said before, blogging really is amazing – what amazing doors it has opened up … I’ve found some real friends here {{hugs}} to you all.

Rightio, now I’m off to put another hour’s stitching into place – with any luck tonight my body will finally work out that when I go to bed at 7-8pm, it’s not my intention to just nap for 2 hours, it really IS bedtime! LOL … I think I might have to help it along with a glass of Shiraz (might not help the stitching, though) – followed by a hot milky Milo just before I hit the hay … only one more 5am start, yippee – it will be a pleasure to change the alarm from 3.45am to 8am instead 🙂

Yes, the old dear turned 85 years of age today, and there were celebrations a-plenty. Everyone was permitted to wear casual clothes, with an emphasis on wearing red & white colours of course – there were red & white balloons dotted around the office, as well as party food put on for the staff … it was a lovely relaxed atmosphere at work today. By the time the celebrations started properly, I was awake enough to appreciate them … on the 5am shift I have to say I’m not functioning 100% until lunchtime, then the rest of the day seems to fly past – love leaving work at 1pm, I feel like a naughty school girl cutting school early haha.

Also on the work front, we had a very brief glimpse of the new Airbus A380 as it flew by – it’s amazing the thing gets up in the air! If nothing else, there is always something new in the airline industry, that’s for sure!

On the stitching front, I have nothing to report … yet. However I have to force myself to stitch myself silly this afternoon just to stay awake – don’t think I’ll find that too much of a hardship LOL. With any luck, I’ll be able to put a progress piccie up tomorrow … I’m probably going to stitch my pansy magnet Mill Hill kit thingo – geez, my English is great! Maybe I shouldn’t stitch at all – I might end up stitching everything backwards how tired I feel at the moment haha. Oh well, my needle is calling me …

BUT before I go, I have to say … Barbara, you absolutely crack me up – your comment had me in hysterics!! Although I have to say, I’d probably have to swap the glass of milk in the bath for a glass of bubbly … come to think of it, the ducks could come swim in the bath as well – nothing like getting close to nature 😉 LOL.

I have to say, the best thing I could ever have done this week was to take those few days off work … I feel as though I’ve been on holiday, and feel really refreshed and re-energised 🙂 No stitching done until this evening, when I finally put the final hours of the current rotation segment into the Dratted Dolphins – they’re actually showing some progress since the last time I looked, which is great. Next rotation segment is for ornaments/smalls, and not entirely sure what I’ll choose to fill the 10 hours stitching time, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something haha. This week should be good for stitching shift-wise – I have 2 x 10am-6pm, followed by 3 x 5am-1pm shifts … I usually find stitching is fantastic on 5am shifts, as it helps to keep me awake until 7pm when it’s time for bed 🙂

The reason I had no stitching done this weekend, is that I’ve had visitors staying with me all weekend – it’s been over a year since we’ve caught up with each other, so it was lovely to have their company. I can’t remember the last time I ate so much – admittedly, I blew approx 3 week’s food budget on the weekend’s food, but it was worth it. They had a function to go to on Friday night for a few hours, and got back here at about 8pm – we just opted to order in pizzas (which were divine!) and drank a few bottles of wine and caught up. Then on Saturday we had a cooked breakfast (Pete) and bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese (us girls) … what a way to start the day – yummo – then we spent the rest of the afternoon at Chadstone shopping centre, as they’d never been there before, and the weather was a bit dicey for our beach picnic we’d originally planned. After that, we came home and ate our picnic of dips, olives, and other antipasto’s indoors, followed by a Thai beef red curry I’d made – blobbed out and watched National Treasure on DVD, and drank Feijoa vodka … it was heaven! The feijoa is a fruit in New Zealand, and has the most amazing aroma – the vodka has a very strong flavour of the fruit – boy, I miss it here in Aussie!

Today started off very lazily, with a cooked breakfast again, then we went to St Kilda and wandered around the open-air craft market, then round Luna Park for a while, finished off with an icecream from NZ Natural … Then my visitors headed off home, and I finished off with a short walk home along the beach front. Just before we headed off today, though, we reorganised my furniture … I was saying I wish I could move my recliner back into the dining area more, as I love the area by the balcony windows that overlooks the trees (to the right of where my computer sits), and where I sit and watch the birds flying overhead – so we’ve pushed the dining table and chairs up against the wall by the kitchen servery, and given me the whole space to move around in – it means I can move my recliner back during the day and sit in my favourite area, then if I want to I can move it back again at night to watch a DVD … so simple, I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it earlier!!

So tonight I sat watching Armageddon for the umpteenth time, stitching the Dratted’s, and purring like a contented kitten … life is good, today, that’s for sure!

Thanks to Danielle and Gina, I’ve been mulling over what stitching goals I have for 2006 … to be honest, I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks, mainly due to a group of SAL’s I’m joining up with, but it’s quite fun to actually put thoughts down on paper. Some items are things I’ve already started this year, and intend to just continue on with … so, here goes:

1) Finish a few WIP’s/UFO’s:

• The Dratted Dolphins UFO (it’s pretty slow progress inbetween other stitching, so not sure how this will go next year – particularly as my time stitching on this will be impacted by my SAL’s … but it’s a goal – or perhaps a dream – none-the-less).
• Nature’s Rest UFO
• At least 2 other smaller UFO’s (undecided as yet, but probably my Hussif by Monica Hunt, and perhaps my cream button bag from a Guild weekend retreat when I was in NZ … no doubt these will change by the time I get to the stage of dragging them out of the box!)

2) Continue some just-started initiatives:

• Keep going with my rotation – seems to be working out well so far, and I’m enjoying the mix of projects and seeing each one progress steadily.
• Continue on The Wagon – no more stash purchases where possible, by using/substituting threads from my stash – if I don’t own the silks listed, and there are DMC substitutions, then DMC will be the thread of choice! The only thing I’m allowing myself is to continue with the FOTM with Country Stitch and Silkweaver even if just for a couple of months – my fabric has been steadily building up, which I really needed, due to the sales on recently, so I may find soon that I don’t need to buy much more fabric.

3) Participate in 2-3 exchanges with the SBEBB during the year, and also participate in the following SAL’s with the Stitching Smalls yahoo group (months may change, depending on how far we get along with the previous months stitching):

• Jan – Apricot Elegance by Cindy Valentine
• Feb – Secret Garden by Forget-Me-Nots-In-Stitches
• Mar – Bunnies in the Garden by With My Needle
• Apr – Folding Cross Needlebook by Indigo Rose
• May – Lavender Thistle Collection by Twisted Oaks Designs
• Jun – Strawberries So Faire by With My Needle
• Aug – A December Box by Cherished Stitches

4) Try some new finishing techniques – in particular, an 8-cornered pillow (biscornu/tuffet) and a flat-fold finish. I also want to finish off two needlecases that are stitched, but ready to be finished, as well as making at least one more needleroll, fob and pincushion.

5) If I can find the time, I also want to stitch some new charts next year … although now I look at the SAL’s above, that might not be much of a reality hmmm. Anyway, the main two are L&L Angel of Love now I have the fabric, and Summer into Autumn by The Drawn Thread now I have the kit. I’d also love to stitch one project from my selection of Inspirations magazines, but again, that could be seriously wishful thinking.

Well, that’s it for me … I’m now going to print this off and put it in my diary for Nov 2006 to have a celebration … or giggle … at what’s been accomplished. If I get really keen, I might even try and work out how to get it into my sidebars – although I might wait until my new template is finished by Design-A-Blog.

Well, yesterday I got more bad news at work, that I didn’t get one of the upcoming 2-month secondments to the Hotline, and after feeling so incredibly positive about feeling more like myself over the last few days, I decided “Bugger you!” and opted to remove myself from the negativity and the office environment and take 3 days annual leave before I did or said something I might later regret … mutter mutter mutter. Anyway, enough said on that.

So, I blobbed out with Tomb Raider on DVD (first time viewing), and started stitching at 10.45pm, finishing at 2.15am … oops – but it sure got the anger out of my system. It also means I’m now nearing the end of the current rotation segment for those “Dratted Dolphins”, as they’re now officially termed in my eyes. Doesn’t seem to be showing much progress, but there’s still 2 1/2 hours to go, then I’ll compare with the last piccie and hopefully see the difference.

I also thought the day was exceptional here in Melbourne today weather-wise, and it would be a waste not to get my fat bum into gear, and get out there and do an hour’s walking round the bay … boy, oh boy, was I wrong!! It’s absolutely blue skies and scorching where I am – but the closer I got to the bay, the clouds were a bit in the background, and the wind was quite a bit stronger – well, in just the short time of 1/2 hour it felt like gail force winds coming in, which caused me a few difficulties staying stood up straight, along with the sand-blasting coming off the beach. But under all that the heat was tremendous … I’m sitting here in a big puddle of sweat – sorry, not a very delightful picture! I feel absolutely exhausted, but still glad I got moving and did it … it’s nice to just get out and get the fresh air. There’s a canal just a few metres away from my flat, which has got a park bench a short walk away – I’m thinking of taking some portable stitching when I can and just sit there for 1/2 hour in the fresh air and sunshine – ah, bliss!

Anyway, I thought I’d just touch base very quickly before I jump in the shower and head out the door. Catching up with friends from work today who are very sympathetic to my situation, and very supportive, so it will do me good to get my moans off my chest … aside from that, I’m looking forward to just catching up with ‘gal pals’, something it’s take me a long time to find since moving here – and this get-together has taken 3 months to finally pull together, seeing as two of us work shift work, so it’s hard to match up shifts – then tomorrow I will finally finish my rotation stitching on the Dratted’s, and start stitching a needlework ‘small’ – yippee … can’t wait! I’m really itching to start something little again 🙂