Tag: Uncategorized

KarenV and I have been having a discussion about starting up a “Finishing Blog” – and I’ve purloined Karen’s text from her own post as I couldn’t write it any better if I tried … so here goes:

“(We) have decided to go ahead with the idea of a finishing blog, along the lines of what Becky was hoping to do with the finishing BB, where we could keep a master list of useful links to tutorials, where people can ask questions about a particular finishing technique, where we can have monthly SALs or lessons on a specific technique and where people can share their finishing tips, pictures, skills etc. with each other.

So, if you think a blog dedicated to finishing techniques is a good idea and you think you’d want to participate, please leave a comment below, so that we can gauge whether it’s worth setting one up.

Note: we’d be hosting it on WordPress, not Blogger so you’d have to register with WP before being able to post to the blog, but it’s a quick and easy process and you wouldn’t have to set up your own WordPress blog.”

Please feel free to leave a comment either here or under the original post by KarenV (click on the link, and it’ll take you straight to the original post).  Also, let us know if you have any other suggestions as to what you’d like to see included, other than the ideas we’ve already come up with 🙂

Personally I really want to increase my skills in the finishing department – I look at my finishing pile and cringe with fear when I think about getting the sewing machine etc out … there are some wonderful finishing techniques out there that I really want to try out, and I think it will build my confidence no end to do some finishing on a regular basis – as they say, “practice makes perfect”!  I’m often amazed when I do actually finish something, how easy it actually was … but I just had to ‘get started’ 🙂  I for one am really looking forward to getting this underway 😀

First of all to get the mini vent out of my system … why oh why does the local Council have to decide on THIS week to start digging up the pavements in the street … I woke up to a bloody great digger sitting underneath my window early this morning, listening to it digging up the pavement … perfect timing, when this week I commence my overnight shifts and need to try to sleep during the day 😦  To top it off, the photo shoot for my eXcel award ‘publicity shot’ is during the day of my last day of night shifts, so I’ll be looking extremely attractive, especially if I hadn’t got any sleep compliments of roadworks … mutter mutter mutter.  There was a note in the mailbox saying the works are going to be going on for approx 2 weeks … oh happy happy joy joy! 😦

OK, that’s the venting over … now on to the good stuff …

I’ve just sent an email to the organiser of the CA Wells classes saying “count me in” – I have the weekend off, although I’ll need to try and get a shift swap the Friday before if I can’t get annual leave (at the moment I finish at 8pm), and I may need to leave slightly early on the Sunday to get a flight home, as I start at 6am on the Monday … but it’s probably do-able.  I’ve put my name down for annual leave for two days beforehand and one day after, but there are already too many people on the list, so I just may have to juggle my time a bit to get there for it.  Anyway, hopefully it will work itself out closer to the time … now I just have to hear back from the organiser to see if I’m definitely “in” 😀

My apologies to Carina today – unfortunately my shift today doesn’t allow any stitching, as I don’t finish work until 9pm, so there’s be no SAL stitching for me tonight, or tomorrow night for Bordeaux, so my apologies to Carol too … I hope to be able to make up for it at the weekend, though – I’ll try to get a few stitches into both projects during the day of my night shifts (I don’t dare take them into work to stitch on – the over-one stitching would kill my eyes in that poor light at work) ……. 

Ooh, I just had a thought … my night shift starts on Friday night, which means my sleeping days will be Sat/Sun/Mon, so hopefully the roadworks won’t be such a major problem … unless the Council works on the weekends, but I don’t think so – phew, that makes me feel better!!! 😀

This is just a really quick post, as I feel dreadful … we found out yesterday morning that the rental property we’ve been keen on was open for an inspection between 5.30-5.45pm tonight, and I had to do a shift swap with someone to cover it, meaning I had a bare 10-hour turnaround between shifts last night, and a 6 hour sleep. Oh boy, do I owe my swap partner BIG time as she has to do that tonight! As it turns out, the lounge/dining and outside area was lovely, and the master bedroom was fine – there were actually 3 toilets (!), and two showers/bathrooms … BUT the two other bedrooms were tiny, and only really suitable for single beds … so all-in-all not suitable at all, and it’s back to the drawing board again. I’m not giving my notice in here until we find somewhere as I couldn’t afford to get movers in twice, so at least I have a roof over my head for longer, but I really and truly hate this part of house-hunting … you have to look at so many doggy properties before you find one you like and hope like heck you get approved over other people … ho-hum.

Thanks for the comments about the photo hosting options … I really appreciate it. I have to admit, I like the idea of having tags etc on Flickr photos, and the simplicity of blogging direct from Flickr … but I also haven’t really looked that deeply into Photobucket and what it can do, and I really love the simplicity of Photobucket for uploading piccies to date (in fact I prefer it over WordPress’s upload options). I’ll do a bit more research and see if I can set my Photobucket albums up a bit better than they currently are and maybe get better utilisation out of it.

I have to admit, too, I’ve been feeling headachey all day today and running to the bathroom every hour (plus a slight pressure on what I think is around the kidney area this morning), so I think I’m coming down with the stupid virus that’s rampant everywhere at the moment … so tonight I’m going to take it easy and kick back and just have maybe an hour’s stitching time on Winter Queen, as well as planning a couple of upcoming ornies and gifts. Dinner’s already taken care of … I made myself two lamb shanks in red wine on Sunday night, and forgot to take the second one into work last night, so I’m reheating it tonight instead … delishimo!

And on that note, I’m walking away from the PC for the night, and heading for the microwave … now, where’s the TV Guide? … 🙂

Pacific Pohutukawa by Jen’s Jems

Originally uploaded by shakatak66.

I’m just trialling the Flickr ‘post direct to blog’ option with WordPress, and wondering how it will work out. I’m trying to make a decision whether to use Flickr for my main photo storage instead of Webshots, or to use continue using Photobucket instead … oh decisions, decisions … 😉

Well, I have to say this is definitely looking a bit more “me” as I’m tweaking the template layouts etc.  I’ve been playing in Photoshop Elements with my old blog headers, and adding new graphics etc to see if it’s possible … and it’s worked out OK.  I guess a future job when I have nothing better to do is to re-do an entire heading from scratch … but that’s not gonna be happening overnight, and I’m pretty comfy with the current one now – to be honest I never did like the duck square in the other one, it was weird that it was off-centre, and the royal blue border just clashed with everything else … but by that stage I was sick to death of whingeing to the designer, and just accepted it … now I can play to my heart’s content 😀

I’ve been very bad and not stitching at all the last two nights, rather I’ve been spending waaaaay too much time online catching up on a few things, and wasting lots MORE time on trying out new things, aka this blog haha.  I still have to work out how to post images yet, but I’ll try popping a random onto this post to see what happens …

I have to say, though, to date I absolutely LOVE WordPress … the options available are so much better than Blogger, I wish I’d known about it and made the change months ago!  I don’t know whether it will eventually cause me problems commenting when I close my old blog down, but I presume because I have a Google account that I should be able to comment using that … time will tell, I guess 🙂

Rightio, here goes trying to load up a random piccie … sticking with my favourite theme (aside from stitching, that is), here goes attempt number one – this is a free photo by pdphoto.org, and is a most gorgeous photo of a Wood duck (I almost used this in my header, and may do so in the future some time, as it’s gorgeous!).  OK, I give up on trying to put it down the bottom of the post etc … I think I definitely need some coaching on uploading and using piccies … I’m going to play “who wants to be a millionaire”, and I’m off to “phone a friend” 😀

I’m at an internet cafe in St Kilda at the moment, as the library doesn’t open until 2pm today, and I needed to do some bill paying.

The phone update is that if the phone technician has a job cancelled for tomorrow, he can fit me in tomorrow to install a ‘temporary line’ – if not, he’s then on holidays for 11 days and the real estate agent will have to try to find someone else to do it instead … I’m trying not to stress out about it, but if it keeps on for much longer I’ll give the Body Corporate/real estate agent a bill for my phone and internet connection for the month I haven’t been able to access it! hmmm …

The cracks in the walls are also now getting worse, and the building movement thanks to the drought has now changed the position of the windows at the front, and I can’t close them anymore. I also now have a crack appearing horizontally across the middle of one of the walls … not happy, Jan!

Which brings me to my next news … the girl I considered moving in with last year has handed her notice in at her flat, and is looking to move again – and we’ve agreed to move in together. That means flat-hunting again as we’ll need a 3-bedroom place this time … it also means extra outlay for the move, but a better financial position in the long run. I’m extremely sad about moving from my current area, but it’s a small sacrifice to make for a longer-term benefit, I guess. It just means I’ll be walking round the beach every day until I move now! In fact, I’m having brunch here in St Kilda to start the ball rolling. That also means not having internet access for a while after I move … although I’ll start checking out options for wireless internet in the meantime as well, as that might be a better option in case I end up moving again in a year or two – who knows what the future will bring?

Stitchingwise I can’t say I’ve done too much – I’ve almost finished the next band of Bordeaux, and I’ve finished one surface embroidery UFO, but that’s pretty much it … my time will now be spent househunting again, which doesn’t lend much time for stitching. Oh well …

Anyway, I’d better head off … not sure when I’ll be back online again. I miss you guys!!

Just a really really quick note as I’m out having dinner with Fraze and Megan, and hijacking their internet connection quickly … my phone line has totally died on me, and I haven’t had any phone or internet access for the last 48 hours. I probably won’t get to an internet cafe for a while now, so I’m going to be missing in action for a while. I’m still stitching, though, so I might have some progress piccies when I get back 😀

If you need to get hold of me regarding the RAK Registry etc, try contacting Nicki (Plush), Carol (Garden of Stitches) or Jenna (Tale of a Shooting Star) for my work email address (except I’m not back there until Saturday …).

See ya when I get back online … whenever that is …

Happy New Year everyone!
Wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous year in 2007.
I look forward to continuing the wonderful friendships I’ve made throughout the coming year 🙂

Yes, it’s that time of the year again when we look back and see what we accomplished during the past year, and set our goals for the next one. I have to admit, I had a fantastic year for stitching finishes, even though most of them were ‘small’ projects. Here’s the entire list:

1. Love needleroll ornament (Jeannette Douglas Designs)
2. Spring needleroll kit (Lorri Birmingham)
3. And Many More needlecase (Just Nan)
4. Merry Yule ornament (Erica Michaels Designs)
5. Becky’s Bees mirror
6. Oriental flowers 1 – charity quilt block (design by Sue Page)
7. Oriental flowers 2 – charity quilt block (design by Sue Page)
8. Thistle Treasure Bag (M Designs)
9. Shooting star scissors fob for Jenna (DMC freebie with modifications)
10. Home for Christmas ornament (Brightneedle)
11. World Trade Center charity quilt square
12. Star of Wonder ornament (With My Needle)
13. Herald Angels ornament (The Prairie Schooler)
14. Peace*Joy*Love ornament (Lizzie*Kate)
15. Echidna charity quilt block
16. Golden Garland ornament (Paw Printings)
17. Pinkeep (Indigo Rose freebie with modifications)
18. Melanie’s Exchange needleroll (mix of many designs – SBEBB)
19. Batman logo charity quilt block
20. Biscornu Exchange (Indigo Rose freebie with modifications – SBEBB)
21. Strawberry needleroll (The Sweetheart Tree)
22. Santa’s Stash ornament (Full Circle Designs)
23. Scissor fob exchange (Hardanger – StitchNZ group)
24. Redheads ducks square for round robin (Wings of the Wild Afghan, Stoney Creek)
25. Racing Cars charity quilt block (internet freebie)
26. Peace needleroll ornament (Jeannette Douglas Designs)
27. Blue needleroll for Isabelle (own mix of many designs)
28. Christmas Tree ornament (Elizabeth’s Designs)
29. Teddy Bear Santa Stocking (Lorri Birmingham)
30. White Christmas ornament – Beyond XS kit (The Victoria Sampler)
31. Fire Breathing Dragon charity quilt square (Pegasus Publications)
32. Summer at the Ocean needleroll (Jeannette Douglas Designs)
33. Parula Warbler for Vash’s RR (Vermillion Designs freebie)
34. Needleroll in redwork for Nicki (own design mix – Robin’s Nest BB)
35. Redwork exchange for Nancy (online freebie with changes – SBEBB)
36. Thisbe’s Needleroll (Shepherd’s Bush)
37. A Stitcher’s Needleroll (Lorri Birmingham)
38. Mail Art for Zohrah
39. Bumble the Bee: Waxer Pocket (Moss Creek Designs)
40. Cherry Blossoms Fob for Katrina (The Sweetheart Tree)
41. Winter Sampler Snippet for Lynn’s RR (Lizzie*Kate)
42. Dolphins Domain for Vicki & John (Cross My Heart)
43. Scented Keepsake lavender sachet for Jenna (Classic Stitches freebie)
44. Just Jack freebie (Just Nan)
45. Silken Roses Fob for Su (Sweetheart Tree – Robin’s Nest BB)
46. Winter (Country Seasons) by Prairie Schooler (Lynn’s RR)
47. Starry Starry Night ornament (JBW Designs)
48. Summer Solstice needleroll by Eventide Designs
49. Coffee Menu by Little House Needleworks
50. Winter’s Eve ornament by Country Cottage Needleworks
51. Christmas Tree ornament by Elizabeth’s Designs
52. Merry Yule ornament by Erica Michaels Designs
53. Pacific Pohutukawa by Jen’s Jems
54. Christmas Eve ornie by Elizabeth’s Designs
55. Bunnies in my Garden by With My Needle
56. Snow Fall needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush

My 2006 goals didn’t seem too bad at the time, but life got in the way and my accomplishments were quite poor. Here’s how I went:

Completed:
▪ Dolphins Domain UFO (yes – completed)
▪ One more UFO (yes – completed)
▪ Participate in 2 exchanges on SBEBB (yes – completed 3)
▪ Christmas Ornie exchange RR (yes – completed)
▪ Learn to make flat-fold (yes – completed)
▪ Learn to make a biscornu (yes – completed)
▪ Stitch a needleroll (yes – a couple completed)
▪ Stitch a scissors fob (yes – completed)
▪ Summer Into Autumn by Drawn Thread (yes – completed)
▪ Bunnies in my Garden SAL by With My Needle (yes – stitching completed)

Started but not finished:
▪ Apricot Elegance SAL by Cindy Valentine … started, but not finished
▪ Nature’s Rest UFO … did a few hours, but not completed
▪ Continue with my rotation … um sort of, off and on
▪ Continue stitching from my stash … again sort of, off and on

Not touched:
▪ Secret Garden SAL by FMNIS … still waiting for the SAL to start
▪ Folding Cross Needlbook SAL by Indigo Rose … um, no
▪ Lavender Thistle Collection SAL by Twisted Oaks … um, no
▪ Strawberries So Faire SAL by With My Needle … SAL didn’t happen, unless I missed it!
▪ A December Box SAL by Cherished Stitches … um, no
▪ Stitch a pincushion … um, no but still hopeful!
▪ Start Angel of Love by L&L … there are still a couple of days left yet!
▪ One project from Inspirations magazines … um, no but still hopeful! (a canvaswork pincushion is kitted up to kill 2 birds with 1 stone!)

Seeing as I did so badly with my 2006 goals, my goals for 2007 are quite simple –

▪ Participate in Needleroll SAL weekends
▪ Participate in Christmas Ornament SAL weekends
▪ Participate in Quaker Friendship RR
▪ Complete my 50 Project Challenge
▪ Build my confidence by actually ‘finish-finishing’ a few things (eg And Many More needlecase, Bumble the Bee Waxer Pocket)
▪ Enjoy my stitching and not set too many goals!

Just in the nick of time before Christmas … the phone technician very kindly came in to visit me on his day off, just so he can try to rectify my problems before Santa’s visitations, and because it could be quite some time before my shifts allow him to come see me inbetween public holidays. Anyway, we thought we were up for a major rewriting job, then at the last moment he managed to access a line, and I have phone access again. Woohoo 😀

This is just a really quick post to let you know I’m back online again, but it will take me a while to catch up on the 460+ unread feeds, and 200+ new emails, so please bear with me 🙂 I’ll post properly when I’m a bit better organised … I don’t have much stitching to show for my ‘spare time’ – what is that about “the best laid plans…”? haha. I did do a tiny bit on the Leporello, but didn’t want to do too much as that would spoil the SAL with Jenna … but I just couldn’t resist making a tiny start 😉 So instead I put a few stitches into Bunnies in my Garden …

Anyway, I’ll post more tomorrow with piccies, as well as piccies of all the lovely gifties I’ve been receiving this week. I’ve been grinning from ear to ear all week from all the lovely items that have been appearing, and my spirits are positively soaring! 😀 More details to follow tomorrow …

Now I’m off to kick back with some egg nog (first time I’ve tried it, and I think I’m hooked!! – but this is the Aussie version, on loads of ice! :D), and an old DVD (as an aside, oh what a blessing, I can access the TV Guide online again now woohoo), and my stitching … life is good! Especially as I now have two days off, the supervisor on duty also let us Hotliners go home 1/2 hour early tonight, and I got two more Luv Ya Work awards today … life really IS good 😀