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Today has been a fantastic day stitching-wise, but a shocking day housework-wise … what I should have been doing on my day off is my housework for the week – but instead the needle won over the vacuum cleaner haha. Oh well, such is life – luckily I only have to answer to myself when the chores don’t get done 🙂

I have to admit, I am now putting aside “Dena” – I only have the final band to go now, but it includes yet more of that dastardly thread weaving, and I think I’ve faced all the weaving I can for this week! Never mind, if it’s really well behaved this week, I might bring it back out on Tuesday night for UFO night again and have another small attack at it. Unless something else takes my eye – I’m so easily distracted by my many projects underway haha.

Thank you to everyone that has been leaving comments on my blog – it is so gratefully received … I can’t believe how many wonderful needlewomen I’ve met in such a short time of blogging. After living on my own for the first time, I don’t feel a lack of company at all – I come home to lots of chatting and camaraderie from yourselves and other online groups I belong to, and it’s really wonderful fun. In answer to some of your comments:

Karenv – Glad to hear my UFO plan might be of interest to you. I have to admit, some weeks it took me a lot of personal drive to actually stitch some of the ‘horrible’ ones, but even if you put just one thread into the fabric over the night, it’s one step closer to finishing 🙂 And I still can’t believe that Summer Into Autumn chart is from The Drawn Thread … I’ve been checking out online sources today to track it down. Enabling is great!

Sharlee – Wasn’t that thunder and lightning amazing? I have to admit, when I first left work I spoke to my ex-flatmate who was on late shift, and was telling him what I was about to drive towards. He thought it was fantastic … um, no, I kept telling him – I was wetting myself all the way home driving into it, I hate driving in that sort of weather … I don’t mind it when I’m tucked up safely indoors and can try to ignore it’s happening! My mate ate his words later, though, as the storm hit the eastern ‘burbs and knocked out all their power … ended up frying one of the fuses, and their fridge/freezer has been out of action all night – yikes! Re my stitching, every now and then I’m disciplined … but mostly I chucked the rule books out the window, and just stitch what I feel like 🙂 It will be nice to clear out some old UFO’s though …

Beckysc – Thanks heaps for your comments about Dena – I have to admit since I finished the thread weaving this arvo, she started looking a bit brighter in my eyes as well.

Jenna – You certainly can take the full blame for getting me to order the 2004 JCS ornie issue … shame on you haha. I can’t wait to see the other ornaments in there – I’ve never made one before, and looking forward to other enticements in both that issue and the 2005 one 🙂

Cathymk – I have to say I was suitably impressed with the grab bag from Country Stitch. Which FOTM did you order? I ordered the plain fabrics initially, but I’m wondering whether I should change to the hand-dyeds … I really like the ones I got in the grab bag … hmmm decisions decisions!

Lelia – I’ll have to check out the other Patrick’s Woods designs – that threadwinder case pattern sounds intriguing … I’ve still got my original DMC threads on floss bobbins, but eventually replacing them with the new plastic holders that hold the full skein (the name escapes me at the moment … Gold concept??). Yippee, more enabling coming up – gotta love it!

Well, better hit the hay for the night – have made myself promise not to spend all night on the computer for a change. Instead I’ve been stitching, which is positive – and I have one more DVD to watch before I get to sleep … my best mate used to call my bedroom in the old flat “Shackbuster”, ‘cos I have so many movies at home it was like a Blockbuster video hire store in there! I love stitching to movies – it just plays in the background, and I look up every now and then when changing threads. I also love talking books for the same reason – I love reading, and that means I can ‘read’ and stitch at the same time … great time management, and kills two birds with one stone.

About 3 years ago I designated Tuesday night as “UFO night” – originally I had a numerical list of all my unfinished stitching projects. I got serious and numbered tiddlywink discs with the same list of numbers – on Tuesday night each week I drew a number out of the ‘barrel’, and whatever project had that number, that was the one I had to stitch on that night. I figure this was the only way I could force myself to stitch those UFO’s I’d come to detest. Well, it worked OK for a while, and I managed to even finish a couple of UFO’s that way, but I’ve pretty much fallen off the UFO wagon over the last 2 years since moving to Aussie.

Last night I decided to reinstate the tradition – but instead of drawing a number out of the barrel, I opted instead to actually choose which UFO I wanted to work on. In this case I picked out my old canvaswork piece called “Dena” by Orna Willis. No sooner had I pinned the canvas to the frame, and clamped it into the floor stand, and started reading the chart, than I remembered why this became a UFO in the first place … loads and loads of ‘weaving’ of threads … yuck!! Anyway, I figured I couldn’t back out now … I was already sat in my recliner ready to stitch – I just had to bite the bullet and get on with it! In actual fact, I eventually got into a rhythm, and finished one band, and got part-way through another one. I figure I’m going to continue stitching this one for another night or two – it would be lovely to get this one finished and out of the way before I start my Christmas SAL next week. And I seem to be on a roll stitching-wise, so I might as well strike while the iron’s hot, so to speak!

And what better weather to sit and stitch to … driving home tonight the sky was lit up amazingly by lightning – and on the last street before reaching home it started pelting the car with hail, and you couldn’t see two feet in front of you thanks to the torrential downpour! I only have a few paces to walk between my carpark and the building, and in such a short space of time I managed to get a thorough drenching – unbelievable! Mind you, it seems to have eased off now, and is undoubtedly terrorising some other part of Melbourne with its energy.

One other great thing happened tonight – I recently rejoined Ebay just to find a copy of the 2004 JCS Ornament issue … well today I actually won my first ever bid from a UK supplier, so hopefully my copy will soon be winging it’s way across the oceans. After seeing The Sweetheart Tree’s ornament in another blog, I really really wanted to stitch it … I had no choice but to track it down and buy it! LOL. And hopefully I’ll soon be completing another exchange for the 2005 JCS issue … plus today is officially my Friday – tomorrow is the weekend for me – the day just doesn’t get any better than this! 🙂

Sorry, I tried to insert my photos like usual in the right places among my text … but for some reason Blogger is sooooo sloooooow tonight, and it won’t upload photos correctly … in the end I gave up and used Picasa to upload them instead. I added text comments so that they’ll at least relate to the script below it … Now I’ve wasted most of the night trying to upload these darned things, I don’t have time to stitch hmmm. Oh well, I’ll have to make up for it tomorrow night instead.

This is my choice for the Christmas SAL about to start with StitchNZ yahoo group. 

This is the tuffet made by the Gift Workshop group of the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria 

I don’t what it is about today, but I felt really positive driving to work – I took time to notice the blossoms sprouting in the trees, and yet again thought to myself what a beautiful city Melbourne is. Those irrational complainers at work have also taken the hint, and eased off, and the world is good today!

I forgot to post that I purchased a small tuffet and matching scissor fob from the Guild exhibit the other day – I’m really keen to make one myself, and thought this would be a great example for me to follow, as well as providing an extra couple of dollars for the Guild’s pockets. It’s now resting comfortably in my cane basket, along with my other pincushions. I still have about 6 ready to be ‘stuffed’, so I look forward to filling that basket up even more when I start my Friday finishing nights.

I had to complete a dreadful task today … I’d been putting it off until it was absolutely necessary, but today I could put it off no longer. I went along to my local needlework store (since I’ve just moved suburbs, I have a new ‘local’) to buy some floba fabric that I needed for my soon-to-start Christmas SAL. I’m going to be stitching the stand-up Christmas tree in Mill Hill Treasured Christmas Trees chart:

The reason I’d been putting it off going to my LNS? … ‘cos I knew darned well that I wouldn’t be able to resist coming out with nothing else but what I went in for LOL. Yup, sure enough, a chart hopped into my hands without warning. Actually, my restraint was pretty good, as I really really wanted to buy one of the Mill Hill beaded tassel ornament kits too, but I held back. Instead I bought a chart called “A Cotton Case” by Patrick’s Woods. It’s not my usual style, but I’m going through a phase where I’m fascinated by the ‘smalls’ for stitching – especially pincushions, needlerolls etc. This one is unlikely to be stitched by me in its current colours, as I’m thinking of changing them to vibrant colours … not sure, though, as it might detract from the design. I also want to change the cotton pockets to something else – again, not sure what I’ll replace it with yet, but perhaps pockets for packets of needles or something. Anyway, it’ll be sitting in my stash for a rainy day when I feel like tackling it … I really must get some of my existing UFO’s finished first though!

Glad to say only 3 more working days to go for my working week, until next weekend … I don’t know what it is about this last week, but customers are totally irrational, irritable and downright loopy! Boy, oh boy, I can’t wait until this current cycle of crankiness is over and done with!! Full moon usually makes a difference, but this is crazy. Yet again, a good excuse to come home and stitch a bit more – any excuse is a good one haha.

I had a thought late last night regarding my ‘oldest’ UFO I stitched on yesterday … there is quite a bit of yellowish staining on the fabric and stitching on this piece. Unfortunately it’s discolouring the stitching on the top 1/4, along with fabric that won’t be entirely covered with stitching – I’ve decided to put a small halt on the stitching front where this is concerned. I’ve opted instead to chuck it in the Orvus, and give its face a bit of a wash, to see of the stains are moveable – I figure if they’re permanent, there’s no point continuing and it’ll either be trimmed down as an ornament or something (‘cos the deer is still quite cute), or just go straight in the bin. Anyway, fingers crossed it will come out in the wash, but if not that means I’ll have a free space in my rotation – I’m sure I’ll be able to find something to fill its place hahaha.

Mum has managed to find my old JCS Ornament issues (VERY old 1997 and 1998 issues), so she’s going to post one of them over to me to try stitching at least one ornament this year. Still waiting for the 2005 one to hit the newsagents here, as I haven’t seen it in the shops in Melbourne yet … either that, or they’ve sold out already!! Yikes, I hope not!!!

So, a very quiet night at home tonight – will try to get about an hour’s stitching done, but need a very early night. Unfortunately the after parties from the AFL grand final last night kept me from having a sound sleep, and feeling a bit under-par tonight. Oh well, I should get at least one threads worth of stitching done, if nothing else – it’s one step closer to something getting finished 🙂

Of all the things I choose to stitch tonight, I had to choose a project that became my first ever UFO. This project was started approx 1992 – called Nature’s Resting Place by Stoney Creek Designs. This was the first attempt I ever made at stitching on an evenweave fabric (I’d only stitched on aida before that) – and this project was in fact one of the first I’d ever stitched at all! It’s funny as I look at it now, that I realise how inexperienced I was at the time I started stitching it. There are shocking hoop marks and stains on the fabric, along with a couple of rust marks where previous needles had been left in place – and I’d started stitching by the wrong thread (although at the time, I didn’t realise there was any difference). At least all the stitches are going in the right direction!
The reason this became a UFO was that I only realised 2/3 into the stitching that the entire top 1/4-1/3 was supposed to be stitched with only 1 thread – whereas I had stitched the entire lot of XS with 2 strands … I felt so disheartened, I packed it away and didn’t touch it again … until now …

I’ve since decided that I need to put this piece to rest – it’s not something that will ever grace my walls, and I really don’t know what I’ll do with it afterwards, but I just want to get it finished. I think I’ll have to redesign my rotation to fit this into the list. My new thoughts are to have my rotation for October as follows:

• Week 1 – Christmas SAL (StitchNZ)
• Week 2 – Stoney Creek UFO
• Week 3 – Mirabilia SAL (StitchNZ – Winter Queen)
• Week 4 – Dolphins XS

I also think I’ll have Friday nights as ‘Friday Finishing’ night – where I put together those pincushions that are ready for stuffing, and the needlebooks that are ready to be put together, as well as the needleroll that just needs to be stitched together and stuffed. My goal is to have all of my pincushions at least completed by Christmas – the cords are all made, they just have to be hand-stitched together.

How do people cope with day-to-day stresses if they don’t stitch? It makes me wonder – isn’t it lucky stitchers have such a fantastic outlet that is not just creative, but a fantastic stress relief and calming solution.

Today I couldn’t wait to get home and stitch – it’s been an awful day at work – stitching is the only solution I can think of. What is it that makes people so feral sometimes? I relieve on the ‘supervisor hotline’ at work in our call centre – today an escalated call came through from a VIP member … he started by just ripping into the previous staff member extremely rudely, then said “and what are you going to do about it?”. I responded that I wasn’t sure what the issues were, and could we discuss what the problems were in more detail … the response was that I was an “unhelpful b*tch” and further angry yelling that continued on regardless of what I said. I won’t into more details, but basically I’m losing my job because I didn’t answer the phone quick enough, didn’t apologise in exactly the right place, and “have no pride in my work”. I managed to hold my tongue pretty well, but there’s no need for such abuse to be given the minute I picked the phone up. I’m usually pretty good, and can diffuse most complaint situations, but this man was out of control and totally irrational … I could have read the McDonald’s menu to him and he would have exploded – totally irrational, phew!! So, because of this man, I am now forced into having to spend the evening stitching ;-P

So, again, I say “thank goodness for stitching” – you are our saviour!!!

I forgot to post earlier that I also treated myself today – to a new Canon bubblejet printer. And the first thing I did was to print off the album pages for my last 4 small finishes to add to my printed stitching album. On each page I include a photo of the finished piece, plus information on the design/designer, dates started and finished, any specialty threads/stitches, the size of the piece (either cm or stitches), and any comments I want to make. It’s really nice to flip through the pages every now and then to remember what achievements I’ve actually made.

To top the day off, I just played on the computer – no stitching done today, which is a bit bad, but I did something else instead … I scanned photos of pages in my stitching magazines that I’d like to stitch. So often I’d have to flick through magazine after magazine that I own, just looking for ‘something’ – now I’ve scanned a photo of the project itself, and posted into a Word document, along with the issue and page number, so now I’m super organised haha. Oh well, even if I never use it, I had fun!!

It’s now time to turn in for the night, after a most relaxing and rewarding day. At least tomorrow and the next week I’m on reasonable shifts, and just working 8am to 4pm … it will be bliss going to work and coming home both in daylight! And it means my sleeping patterns should be a bit better this week … which bodes well for stitching 🙂