#3 of 50 and a Special Visit

Two reasons to celebrate today (3 if you include the fact I only have one more 5am shift left this week woohoo) ... I can cross off project #3 from my 50 Projects Challenge - and the final product (with those very very expensive beads LOL) went to the lovely Katrina today :D Yes, it's true, we got to meet each other face to face today, and she's even lovelier in person than on her blog, if that's possible! :D It was awesome that we got to meet up and spend some time together before she flies home - and she says a big "hi" to everyone!! She sneaked in a quick blog reading session while visiting family at the weekend, but no doubt will be catching up properly when she gets home again :)

I had originally planned to stitch Katrina a self-designed needleroll, but my creative juices just didn't come together in the end with my health issues etc, and the final design still needs a bit of tweaking ... a quick glance over Katrina's wishlist and I found the Cherry Blossoms Fob by The Sweetheart Tree hiding in there, which I had in my stash all kitted up for myself ... it became the perfect solution. I'm still disappointed my needleroll didn't come to fruition, but I liked how the little fob turned out, and will definitely stitch it again for myself (even with the pinks LOL).

Unfortunately dopey me forgot to pack my camera to take with me today (my brain doesn't really function at 4am - it's even slower than it normally is, and that's saying something), so I couldn't take a photo myself, but Katrina had hers, as did her Mum, so you can look forward to one down the track when Katrina gets home hopefully :)

I couldn't bring a photo home with me, but I did get spoilt rotten and given a beautiful gift from Katrina too ... this is a design I've been ogling for a while now, but haven't gotten around to stitching it for myself yet, and now I don't need to - I now have a gorgeous pinkeep to have on display, and it will always remind me of our first meeting, so it will always be treasured ... I just love it!! But that's not all, I also got a needleroll chart by Forever In My Heart, who I'd never heard of before ... this chart is so versatile as you could use just about any colour combination, and I'll definitely be stitching one of these soon (in fact my mind was ticking over with the thread possibilities as soon as I had it in my grubby little hands). I just love everything, thank you so much, my friend - and it was such a wonderful treat to meet you! {{hugs}}

Unfortunately it's now onto very mundane stuff, after all that excitement, as I have to get all the housework done tonight ready for a workmate arriving tomorrow evening, then tomorrow a lot of the prep needs to be done ready for Saturday night's dinner banquet here ... can't say I'll be even looking at a needle, never mind using one, before Sunday (if that). When I do, though, I'm thinking of throwing my rotation out the window until I get the Dratteds done completely ... I would dearly love to get the Dolphins stitched by year end, and my new idea is to stitch 10 hours on them, then stitch a Christmas ornie or needleroll (just something small and quick) or do a spot of finishing, then back to 10 hours of the Dratteds and so on, until they're finished. If I do that, I'm hoping to have them finished by the end of October, especially if I can really put some serious work into them on my days off ... well, that's the plan anyway ... but you know what they say about the plans of mice and men ... ;) LOL.

So in the words of Looney Tunes' Porky Pig ... for now, "th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks!" ;)

Handy tool

I remembered when I was using it last night, that Mum said I should post a piccie on my blog of one of my favourite tools ... Mum thinks it's awesome! This is my 'cording weight' ... and it was very very expensive ... not ;) Basically it's just a metal paperclip that I unbent, and added some fishing sinkers onto it ... and now I have the perfect weight with a little hook to hang onto the middle of my cord when cording - works a treat! :D I'll think I'll hold off patenting the design (haha), but I thought I'd fulfil Mum's wishes and post a piccie ... especially as I have nothing else to post about today. (Excuse the shadows from the glorious afternoon sun.)

Today was my first 5am shift, and we usually have some 'down time' to catch up on emails etc at the start of the shift ... but today it was one call immediately after another for the first hour and a half - in fact I made a coffee before I started work at 4.50am, and it was 6.20am before I was able to pick it up and take a sip ... yikes! I'm not complaining, either, as I love it like that ... makes the day go so much faster when you're busy :D Hope the rest of the week goes as well as today woohoo!

And I heard from Jenna today that my scissors have been ordered, so in the infamous words of the Pointer Sisters, I'm running around singing "I'm so excited ... and I just can't hide it ..." la la la la la :D Yeah, I know, that's really sad, but I'm a bit loopy after the early morning start ... I'm sure I'll be hitting the wall of the zombie zone in about 1 hour and be struggling to stay awake, but for now I'm wired! ;) I might even get really keen and put an hour into the Dratteds to keep awake!

A mixed bag of all sorts

First of all, I have to say "yippee" to Zohrah, that the mail art arrived this time around ... and relatively quickly too!! I'm very glad you like it :) And I shouldn't take it for granted that someone doesn't read my blog just 'cos they've not commented before haha ... I'm just very pleased you finally managed to get your exchange in return after stitching such a lovely one for Aniza :D

As for the Gingher scissors - for anyone who's interested, JoAnn's (in the US) have a 40% sale off Ginghers, including the designer series, so it's a great time to stock up ... I just got outbid 24 hours before the bidding closed on the pair I put on my blog yesterday, and I've opted not to stress any more over it, as I can buy it directly from JoAnn's for an extra US$5 over my maximum bid. So thanks to my wonderful northern twin, Jenna, I'll be ordering mine directly from JoAnn's instead of continuing with the bidding ... at least I know they're going to be shipped officially, I think there's always a slight worry with Ebay about goods not being sent. Now I have to stitch an extra special fob for the 4" ones when they eventually arrive, as those two pairs will be treasured forever! If you're really nice, Mum, I'll let you touch them when you come over ... only once though! hahaha.

As for my finances, things have looked up since yesterday ... when I got a bank balance last week I got a nasty shock, as there wasn't as much in there as I expected, but today I got a phone balance and everything's OK - my loan repayment had been taken out last week, but wasn't showing on the statement ... phew! I also forgot I had a carton of ciggies from duty free I bought for a workmate that he hadn't paid for yet, so that's another $50 coming tomorrow, and to top it all off I also had 2 hours overtime last Sunday, which will almost pay the whole thing off (it comes in next week's pay) ... so today I'm MUCH more relaxed about the parking fine thing - I wouldn't say I'm happy about it still, but not stressed about the payment side at least :)

Then driving home I had a SUPER surprise ... I went to fill my car up as it was sitting seriously on empty (I was running late this morning, so had to leave it until the way home ... which is a good thing!), and the gas cost (ie petrol) had dropped another 7c a litre since this morning ... to a record breaking 110c a litre ... considering I was paying 137c a litre a fortnight ago, I was doing cartwheels past the gas pumps!! :D Yippee!!!!! Approx $45 to fill my car instead of almost $60 {skippety skip skip skip}. A nice extra silver lining after yesterday :D

Tomorrow arvo I'm hoping to catch up with Katrina, which will be an great highlight for the week - it will be lovely to meet her in person and catch up over a coffee or bite to eat :D I promise not to fall asleep in my coffee after my 5am start ;)

I'm now on 5am shifts for the next 3 days, so that'll be interesting with my dizzy turns, but fingers crossed I'll manage to survive everything ... I HAVE to, as this weekend is also my dinner party on Saturday night - and I now have one of my work colleagues staying on Friday night as well, so we can go out for another colleague's 39th birthday ... I'm so out of practice in going out partying, I'll need another week to recover! LOL.

Anyway, enough gas-bagging ... I'd better get this little bit of finishing done, then into bed for me for 7pm ;) Hopefully if I can get it finished, it means I can actually post a stitching piccie tomorrow :D

Mail Art Exchange

I know Zohrah hasn't received this yet, seeing as it only got sent out last week, but as far as I know she doesn't read my blog, and I've decided to post a piccie of it anyway while I'm waiting for my dinner to reheat. Here was my 2nd attempt at the same design thanks to Mr Postman ... I made a pretty crappy attempt at the buttonhole closures, and definitely need a lot more practice, but it looks OK, I think. The buttons were bought in Auckland while I was visiting in May ... funnily enough, I bought 4 of them at the time ... perhaps I knew something way back then!!! The names have been taken out for privacy reasons. The design was from one of the XS magazines that I can't put my hands on right at this minute (mainly 'cos I can't be bothered to go looking - if anyone is desperate to know leave me a comment and I'll track it down for you later).

(the front)

(the back)

Bloody expensive beads!!

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!!! :D 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!).

Project #2 out of 50 totally finished

This one is a bit of a cheat ... the actual challenge started on 1 September, so I get to include my two needlerolls that I finished the stitching of last week. My personal criteria, though, is that I'm not allowed to include them as part of the 50 Project Challenge until they're "finished" into needlerolls (seeing as I'd already done the stitching before I personally accepted the challenge) ... and I'm pleased to say "1 down, 1 to go". I just couldn't get motivated in the afternoon to stitch, but rather my finishing pile screamed to me louder! I popped into Spotlight on the way back from the PO, and picked up some Christmas fabric for ornie backings - I might even get organised enough to get some finished off during the next two months ;)

I did my finishing while watching another DVD rental - Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School ... it was a pretty good 'chick flick', and perfect for my equivalent of a Sunday afternoon (yeah, I know it's only Friday, but it was the end of my personal weekend as I'm back to work again, hence my Sunday). Today was an interesting day, as I just wasn't in the mood to be back there again - not helped by the fact that Sandra that I work with told me I looked awfully pale this morning hmmm :( Oh well, at least I survived the day in one piece ;)

Not sure what I'll do tonight - I managed to get a couple of hours stitching into Dolphins Domain (aka The Dratteds) last night, which I have to admit I really enjoyed, even though it took me much longer to stitch than normal. I won't bother posting a progress piccie until I've stitched a bit more on them. Once I've finished my 10 hours rotation I'll get my current RR piece stitched, then I need to work on my final exchange for a while - the scissor fob exchange on the Robin's Nest BB. Then in the New Year I'm committed to another Quaker RR with some close online buddies, so I won't be taking on any other stitching commitments while that's underway.

Rightio, off to get dinner cracking, then the dishes, then kitting up a new small project for a gift ... the Dratteds can wait a day or so ;)

Redwork exchange received

Just a quick note to upload some piccies, and say a HUGE thank you to Leslie for my Redwork exchange piece ... isn't this the most gorgeous thing? I just love it! It's just so rich and scrummy ... I have most definitely fallen in love with redwork - I just can't get enough of it now! (Don't worry, though, I'm still most definitely a blue girl at heart, and that won't change LOL.) As well as the beautiful stitched ornament (which I adore), Leslie also sent some extra goodies along - some GAST threads and a fat 1/4 of some lovely quilting fabric ... all very very useful! :D As well as that, she also sent the chart and remaining charms that she stitched mine from - which I also love, and it's going to be very very handy as you've just given me a great idea for an upcoming gift :) This poor exchange has been sitting at the Post Office since just before last weekend, but this is the first time I've been anywhere near work during daylight hours to pick it up.

Before I forget, for Cindy - I used the flat-fold instructions from Judy Odell's book, which is wonderful ... but Kim has put very good instructions on her website here - the only major difference is that Judy attaches her ribbon before the pieces are put together, and she stitches the pieces together instead of using glue, using a ladder stitch - hope that helps :D

And here is the before and after photo of the Kitty Pi Mum knitted for me ... I've conned her into making another one (one for the lounge, and one for the bedroom), but I've found where I can buy the proper wool (ie Noro Kureyon) here in Melbourne, so we're going to get some of the 'Real McCoy' to use next time. As you can see, the ducks are seriously impressed with it! ;) Just for a change, I thought we'd go "blue" LOLOL - the actual colour is more muted than the photo looks.

As for today, nothing much done except for housework - the lounge is tidy now (including my stitching corner, will miracles never cease??) ... the next job is the dining table which is a pigsty, but I figure just doing a bit every day will eventually get the clutter put away - after that, I start decluttering the bedrooms, and that's a full-time job haha. I had a shocking night's sleep last night due to horrendously high winds making a racket, so I'm just taking it very very easy today, and I'll have an early night tonight ... hmmm, I wonder what rocket fuel cocktail I could make tonight to knock me out? LOL. Other than that today I managed to get Zohrah's replacement mail art exchange in the mail ... I haven't felt too creative this week, so I've just re-done the original mail art I did (praying this one turns up, as I don't think I could stitch it three times!!).

I think this arvo I'm going to drag out the Dratteds and put a few stitches into them ... I really wanted to get them finished by Christmas, and that date is looming really really quickly!! After that, I think Egyptian Garden Mandala will be replacing them as my focus piece on my rotation ... I can't wait to stitch on this one again :)

Small 'finishing finish'

Another quiet day ... even though it sounds like I've been very busy, I've actually been very relaxed and lazy all day - I did a small load of washing, and felted my Kitti Pi bed (thanks to Jo for putting that on her blog) that Mum knit for my four-legged friend that hasn't arrived yet ... it's currently drying on top of my washing basket, so I'll show the before and after piccies when it's finished.

Aside from that I did a very tiny bit of stitching on my Bordeaux Sampler this evening, so here's this week's progress piccie ... the only difference to last week is a tiny part of the right-hand border, a bit of gold, and two groups of those dratted over-one grapes. I'm soooo tempted to leave all those until the end, but if I did that I know it'd never ever get finished, so I'm forcing myself to stitch them as I go, and complete each band ... I still have the four little grapes on the first dividing band to stitch yet, though.

The final thing I did today was to finally finish my Stars are Brightly Shining 'ornament' (by SamSarah Designs in the JCS 2005 ornie issue), and make my first ever flat-fold ... I don't have any suitable ribbon, so no embellishments are on it yet - I'll probably add some red cording and a red ribbon bow on the top, but not entirely 100% sure of that yet. Oh well, that's one thing crossed off my to-do lists for the year, as a flat-fold was one of my key goals for 2006 (the rest of my list is a bit of a whitewash, though!). Even though the curved needle had a mind of its own for a while, eventually I managed to tame it enough to do a fairly decent job of doing the ladder stitch joining up the sides :) (The first piccie is a better representation of the actual colour - it's a Country Stitch Kiwi Pearl, so not named, and it's absolutely divine!) It's shocking that it's taken me so long to finish this off ... it's been sitting there just waiting to have its carrot nose stitched on, and that's it! {shaking head} We didn't have a button the right size, so Mum and I made one out of Fimo last Christmas (yes, it's really been sitting here that long! LOL).

Tomorrow will see my final day of being lazy, as it's back to work on Saturday again ... thankfully to decent shifts this week of 8am-4pm for a few days - followed by 5am-1pm shifts ... I'll just have to make doubly sure I get all my sleep regularly for that :) And I'm back to taking the Voltaren again to try and get my back pain under control - I stopped after just 3 days last week, which was a bit dumb ... this week I'm determined to get it all fixed up and get my health back under control :)

And before I forget ... for Nicki - I really loved the World's Fastest Indian ... what a wonderful feel-good movie, I can definitely recommend it! The only thing that took some getting used to was Anthony Hopkins' weird 'Southland' accent ... sounded a bit more like something out of Cornwall, rather than Invercargill, but then again it's been a long time since I've been in Dunedin/Invercargill ;)

1 out of 50 Projects Completed

It took me forever to do just a tiny bit of stitching last night ... I'm still struggling to get my needles active again - but I persevered until the final stitches were put into my little bee project ... "Bumble the Bee: Waxer Pocket" by Moss Creek Designs. I only had the beads and chain stitch left to do on the main piece, and the whole of the name label. It might be a while before it's actually finished into the pocket itself, but at least the stitching's finished :)

The pictures are totally out of proportion, too ... the little name label on the right is actually only marginally over an inch in size! When I cropped it on the scanner, it automatically resized it hmmm.

Now I'm off to have a quiet day again ... I've had a couple of minor dizzy spells today, so I'm taking it majorly easy and just pottering ... not sure whether my needles will see the light of day today ... time will tell.

Health all OK

My wee health scare yesterday was just a scare after all ... all my test results came back OK, which is great news. Nothing concrete given as the reason for it happening, but we think perhaps my continued lack of sleep and the pain in my neck/shoulder/back just sent me over the edge. Let's just say, the next time I do these shifts, I'll be taking a sleeping tablet on the first night to get me in the rhythm ... that is if I can find them! I was going to take one last night, but couldn't find them - but even without them I managed to sleep off and on for 11 full hours ... crikey!!

Didn't do much today, aside from a bit of light housework (more tidying up in general), and making a big pot of pumpkin soup. Tonight I intend sitting on my big bum in front of the TV and trying to stitch for an hour or two and taking it easy - I picked up two DVD's from Video Ezy before going to the GP (they're right next door to one another ... very convenient), so I'll be watching The World's Fastest Indian and Walking the Line. I couldn't stitch at all last night 'cos we had a power cut ... the flat looked really pretty, though, with about 20 candles lit around the place ;)

That's all for me for the night ... Thanks for all your well wishes - they've been very very well received! {hugs}

Small health scare

Well, my walk around the waterfront didn't eventuate ... instead I ended up having a walk around the block in the other direction - to the local Medical Centre. I got up from the computer to walk to the kitchen, and started blacking out and falling over ... I caught myself on the kitchen chair with my arm, and the table collected my forehead, and while hanging on for dear life my legs and body started having, for want of a better word, convulsions. I have to say it scared the bejeezus out of me, and I phoned work to say I was too worried to drive ... so this arvo I ended up having a multitude of blood tests done as well as an ECG - the GP is marking it as urgent so I can get the results back tomorrow afternoon ... which also means I'm off work for tonight and tomorrow night. I know I hate the 6pm shifts, but this isn't what I expected to get me out of them!! The GP thinks it's possibly just anaemia (which I had when I was younger, and had to have vitamin B12 shots about 7 years ago), and the lack of sleep just sent me over the edge ... he doesn't think it's true convulsions - rather the anaemia that caused me to black out, and I panicked which caused the convulsions. My blood pressure is a little bit high, but he said that's to be expected after my body reacted how it did. Fingers crossed anaemia is all that it is ... gave me a pretty big scare, though :( If nothing else, I'm definitely going to take a sleeping tablet tonight to give me a good rest ... at least there's no work tomorrow to worry about sleeping in! :)

Budget reduction (updated thanks Jess!)

Today I feel like death warmed up ... these shifts are going to be the death of me this week - thank goodness tonight is the final 6pm-2am shift! Last night/this morning I didn't get to bed/sleep again until 4am (standard stuff on this shift), but I was awake again at 6am, and couldn't get back to sleep until almost 9am, tossing and turning the whole time ... I kept dozing on and off until just after 12 noon, but after the 3rd night of only getting about 5 hours sleep, I feel like crap ('scuse the language!) and everything, especially my stitching, is suffering 'cos I'm wandering around like a zombie {heavy sigh}.

Yesterday I tried to blow away some cobwebs before work and went for a walk and signed up for membership at the local Video Ezy store ... I then came home and put my Homescreen membership on hold for 3 months, because I think I'm wasting money unnecessarily each month by not sending my movies back quickly enough ... I think it might be better to pop up the road on my days off and pick something up when I really need it, rather than having them turn up on inconvenient days etc. I'm hoping this money will be better spent on other things ... such as ... a trip up to Sydney to visit friends, and a trip home either just before (unlikely, though) or just after Christmas.

With those goals in mind, I've also reduced my Monthly bits cost at SB&B to a lesser monthly amount, and cancelled my Silkweaver FOTM for the timebeing. The way I look at it, especially after looking at the list of all the projects I can stitch from my stash (gulp), I really don't need it all ... admittedly, though, the Monthly Bits from SB&B are just threads that I need for specific projects, so that's not so bad - I've also asked if I could get the WDW/GAST threads more quickly than the rest, too, as those are needed more quickly (and it'll also give me more choices to substitute from for other charts).

Anyway, time to really cut back on unnecessary items, and focusing on the things I really need rather than just want ... not something I'm very good at! LOL. Luckily I get a travel discount through work, but with all the airport taxes and fuel surcharges it still makes it a costly exercise to travel these days ... but it would be so worth it to catch up with everyone. At least the room rental's cheap where I'm travelling to LOL ... so fingers crossed that all going well I'll be heading north to Sydney in November, and then back across the ditch in December/January. I've decided to try and get back to NZ for one week every year from now on.

As for right now, I think I'm going to drag myself out and get some fresh air by walking round the waterfront for an hour ... I have no idea how I'm going to survive the night at work tonight - but I'm thinking tonight might be a fantastic time to try out those sleeping tablets I've had sitting there 'just in case' I need them, I'd KILL for a good night's sleep :(

Then tomorrow I can finally pick up a parcel that's been lurking in my PO Box since before the weekend ... they've been closed each night this week as I've been going to work late, but tomorrow I'm on 3-11pm, so they'll be open woohoo ... I LOVE getting those little slips of paper in my PO Box, which means there's something larger than the usual bills waiting for me ... it also usually signifies stitching stuff has arrived! Yippee!! :D

And to finish, here's another cultural experience I had ... attending an Indian wedding not long before I left Auckland to move here - that's me in the blue (shock, horror!) sari ... what an awesome experience!!

Piccie by Photobucket 'cos Blogger won't uplift for a change ...

50 Projects lists

I decided not to list a list of projects I want to complete as part of my 50 Project Challenge, as I need the flexibility to pick and choose as the mood fits ... and considering my HUGE list of possible candidates in my current stash, there should be no problem whatsoever in finding 50 projects. My relatively full stash list is here, and is by no means complete (eg I have most of the TW charts in existence from a stash collection spree years ago).

There are a few projects in the "highly desirable/pretty definite" pile, though, and these are:

• Lavender Rose Sewing Case - Fancy Work
• Bordeaux Sampler - Sampler Cove (WIP)
• Egyptian Garden Mandala - Chatelaine (WIP)
• Dolphins Domain (aka "The Dratteds") - Cross My Heart (WIP)
• Winter Queen - Mirabilia (WIP)
• Stitching Leporello - Chatelaine
• Star Spangled Scissor Finder - Calico Crossroads
• Apricot ("Marine") Elegance - Cindy Valentine (WIP)
• Autumn Arbor - Drawn Thread
• For the Birds - Drawn Thread
• Summer Solstice needleroll - Eventide Designs
• Quaker Swan Case - Fancy Work
• Golden Garden Sweet Bag - Forget-Me-Nots In Stitches
• Raphael's Raspberries - FMNIS
• Secret Garden needlecase - FMNIS
• Folding Cross Needlebook - Indigo Rose
• Le Jardin Silk Sampler - JCS magazine (WIP)
• Pacific Pohutukawa - Jen's Jems (WIP)
• Polynesian Paradise - Jen's Jems
• Evening Star - Just Nan
• Winter in the Square - Just Nan
• Sapphire Star - Laura J Perin
• Angel of Love - Lavender & Lace
• Coffee Menu - Little House Needleworks
• Needle Nick - Lizzie*Kate
• Sun needleroll - M Designs
• Schwalm Whitework Pinkeep - Moss Creek Designs
• Lavender Blue Celtic Knot Quilt - Nancy's Needle
• Onyx - Paw Printings
• Here Comes Santa Claus 2005 - Prairie Schooler
• Rainbow Lorikeets - Ross Originals
• Flight of the Bumblebees - Ruth Schmuff Designs
• Nature's Resting Place - Stoney Creek (UFO/WIP)
• French Monogram - Twisted Oaks (WIP)
• Crimson Fire - The Victoria Sampler
• Bunnies in my Garden - With My Needle
• Strawberries So Faire - With My Needle

Other than that I have the freedom to choose a project at will :) So much for not making a list!! oops hahaha

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the Aussies vs Kiwis - it is true that every country/race has their minority that are less than tolerant of other cultures, and friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) rivalry ... and yes, the Brits vs Scots and Yanks vs Canucks are definitely right up there too! LOL. Personally I've always been very accepting of all races and cultures, and that's been part of the wonderful experience that life has given me so far. While I'm certainly not perfect on that score, I try not to be judgmental and accept everyone for who they are ... and have made some great friendships and learnt a lot by doing that. One of these life experiences was staying with a Fijian friend's family outside of Suva, in a typical Fijian home (they were very poor) ... they taught me a lot, and I treasure a lot of the memories from my time there.

Still no stitching news ... tried again last night, but to no avail - I took a Shepherd's Bush needleroll into work again, but not much chance to stitch, plus I was very tired last night after only 5 hours sleep (and last night it was the same, so heaven help me tonight! - geez I hate these 6pm shifts!!). I have had great plans of stitching a gift for a friend, but can't get my head around designing/choosing the project ... it might end up being a late arrival, as this week just isn't the right time for me :(

I'll end of saying "welcome" to the new commenters here ... it's been nice to hear from you, and I'll be popping over to your own blogs soon to return the favour :D

Back at work again & eye candy

Last night was my first day back at work since Mum returned home, and my great plans of getting some stitching done was foiled by having to do work ... bummer haha. I returned to 3 full pages of unread emails that kept me busy for a few hours, then the phones were quite busy.

I had a guy at work give a great compliment to the Kiwis, which was wonderful to hear ... and it reminded me of a very different situation on my last day of work last week ... After having two different staff members come through being exceptionally rude about Kiwis, I snapped ... one stated a bomb should be dropped on my homeland and nuke all its inhabitants - I warned him to stop before he went any further as I was a Kiwi (this is the Readers Digest Condensed version!) ... then the next insult was a girl ranting about how Kiwis annoy her, and they want to become another state of Australia, and we sure as hell don't want them here (very condensed version!!) blah blah blah ... I very bluntly told her to nip it in the bud, that I am a Kiwi, and I was finding her comments very offensive, and that I'm sick of hearing it ... mutter mutter mutter.

On the whole, I have a very good sense of humour, and can take a lot of bantering ... as a Kiwi living in Aussie, you need a thick skin haha (and if anyone wants any sheep jokes, I think I've heard every single one known to man ... although every once in a while I do get surprised with a new one LOL). I absolutely adore Aussie and the majority of its people, and this is likely to be my home for a long time to come ... there are just a few pig ignorant ones in tiniest minority that tarnish the image in my eyes. I will continue to laugh at a friend who baa's like a sheep to me every time I pick up the phone, and I find it highly amusing to have the mickey taken out of my (and that of my countrymen) accent (mind you, I'm a real mimic with accents so I have a great Aussie twang going, and is probably why people don't pick up that I'm a Kiwi) ... but when you start saying you'd like to drop a bomb on my head or don't welcome me in your country, don't expect me to laugh ... Sorry, dunno where that little rant came from ...

And just to prove I DO have a sense of humour, my fellow Aussies and Kiwis will laugh at this one (especially the Aussies) ... those of you in the 'outer regions' may not get the joke, as it's based on the Aussies taking the mickey out of the Kiwis' accent, and you probably need to know the nuances of the accents - but I think it's absolutely hilarious! (You'll have to click on the link to enlarge it to be able to read it.)

And don't ask me why, but that reminds me to check out Google to see if there's a Billy T James DVD for sale ... a great Kiwi comedian from my 'youth' ...

Back to stitching ... I forgot to post a few weeks ago about some new 'smalls' designs that have me drooling (but no, I'm still not tempted until my challenge is over LOL). If you haven't seen them before, check these out ... aren't they all gorgeous?? The great thing about being abstinent for so long, is honing that wishlist down to seriously droolable items haha ... ;P

Old Italian Sewing Set by Giulia Punti Antichi

While I Darn Sewing Set by Giulia Punti Antichi

Quaker Schoolgirl Needle Necessities by With My Needle

50 Projects Challenge

Over on The Wagon BB, HasturTorres has decided not to buy any more charts until she has completed 50 of her existing projects, and offered up the challenge for anyone else to join her ... after considering it seriously (well, actually I just woke up this morning and decided it still sounded like a good idea LOL) I've decided to join her in her challenge :D Originally I was allowing myself up until my birthday in February, but now that's on hold, and the goal is 50 projects instead. Seeing as I have a mix of both small and large items I want to stitch, this could take me some considerable time, but I really don't need any more charts, and have enough on hand to do the challenge at least 4 times over ... and I love being able to see my progress - it's just another excuse to start another list! haha.

I've been given the OK to use my two latest needleroll finishes towards my efforts, as they're not actually 'finished' yet, and have only just been stitched (and I'm probably going to re-do that wonky band on the LB one so the two bands match as it's niggling me in the back of my mind), so I have a good start on it already. The only exceptions I have to the chart buying are the JCS ornie issues, and a recent XS magazine that has the Michael Powell Greek design in it (I'm still stalking the newsagents for that one to arrive down under as I ADORE Greek scenes with all that blue - surprise surprise). I still permit myself to continue my monthly stash programs - fabric from Country Stitch and Silkweaver (although I intend the latter to be more short-term) and threads from SB&B, and any fabrics/threads that I need to complete a project (which should be minimal) but that's it for a while ... perhaps it will give me more incentive to stitch faster ;D

Now I'm off to see if Blogger is playing ball this morning ... last night I tried to catch up on some blogs, but many of them showed an internal server error and I couldn't display them. I've also been tidying up my sidebars a tiny bit, and have moved all of my links to other blogs I like to read to a separate post, which makes my blog a lot quicker to scroll down, and makes it easier for me to add new blogs to the list ... also, I don't use the links myself anymore as I use a subscription service instead. Talking of which, off I go to add another 10 to Bloglines ...

Photo for Tessa

Just to satisfy Tessa's curiosity ... here's my basket of 'smalls' - in fact, here's a "before" and "after" shot haha ... the first photo is from when I first started blogging just over a year ago - and the 2nd is the result after a year's worth of stitching to fill it up! I eventually want to find a nice long narrow basket especially just for my needlerolls, which will give a bit more space to my pincushions again, but for now this will suffice. It's sitting on top of my new Ikea cabinet I made last month which houses my glasses, and is the first thing you walk past when you come into my wee flat. I can't believe how full that basket has got recently ... me thinks perhaps I'm going to have to find another one to fill again soon too ;)

before ............................. after
Aside from that, nothing to post about really - I've been feeling really down and homesick today, so a phone call home helped a bit before settling down for the night. I've just been moping around for the last two days, perhaps because I haven't been at work so haven't had the distraction of chatting to other people there, and I've really been missing Mum since she's been gone. Oh well, it's back to work again tomorrow for 4 nights of 6pm starts (my least favourite shift - yuk!!), so I'll have plenty of things to keep my busy then ... I might even sneak in a small stitching project for work too, seeing as every now and then we get a quiet night and can get a few stitches in between phone calls :P This time I'll make sure it's not a Lorri Birmingham kit, so there shouldn't be any errors for me not to notice!

And I'll soon be meeting Katrina face-to-face when she's over visiting Melbourne during the next couple of weeks, so that'll be a great cheer-me-up and something to look forward to :D Then on 30 Sep I'm hosting my very first dinner party since I've moved out on my own ... which is a huge big deal for me, as I'm inviting 4 people from work phew! I'm really nervous about it, but really looking forward to it as well - two of the ladies are definitely staying over for the night too, as they have a long way to drive, so it will be a fun social weekend, as we'll be finishing off with brekkie at St Kilda before they head off home. I'm not really social on the whole, as I'm quite shy, and having people from work in my home is a biggie ... I'm just nervous that people can be quite judgmental, but I feel secure enough with my surroundings now to make the move and invite people round ...

Over the next week I'm hoping to catch up on blog reading, as I'm usually little miss cranky pants during the day and don't get any stitching done on these shifts (I can't usually get to sleep until about 4am, and don't get a good unbroken sleep) ... I've decided I'm fed up with Newsgator now showing piccies on the subscription feeds, so I'm moving everything over to Bloglines, and I'm catching up on each blog at the same time as copying over the subscription details - unfortunately, though, it's going to take me quite some time to do it all, so my apologies if it's a while before I get to 'your' blog :)

Rightio, back into the kitchen again to finish cooking dinner ... a very boring Tuna Bake, that's going to last me for the next 3 nights ...

WIP updates

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 :D 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 :D

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

Empty flat once again ...

I just walked in from dropping Mum off at the airport, and the flat seems awfully quiet and empty ... it looks like a tornado hit, though, so I'll be keeping busy tidying things up - there's stuff everywhere! LOL. Thanks for all your comments too about Mum and I ... I have to admit, we're very lucky in that the relationship we have is very close - I certainly wasn't ready to have her go home yet tonight.

For Mum's last day we spent our time making up a couple of ornaments, and we went through my Christmas fabrics and cut off enough fabric for each one of Mum's stitched ornaments for her to finish them off when she gets home. Mum reckons I'm being a very generous daughter, but then again I'm just giving a bit back for all the things she's done tirelessly for me over the years :) Mum made a very good comment the other day, in that I've hardly done any stitching while she's been here, apart from the commitment stitching ... and she's right. Never mind, I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things again soon. On the other hand, Mum's been stitching enough for both of us ... as well as the 'finished' ones, here are Mum's ornies that she's stitched:


As for me, I finished up my ornament that was Mum's gift this year, so she could take it home with her - and I managed to quickly finish off my Sweetheart Tree Strawberry Needleroll from my finishing pile while I was waiting for us to head to the airport this afternoon.

I was originally going to get cracking and do some more finishing when I got home, but I'm not entirely sure how keen I feel now ... I feel really tired and flat, and could do with some 'down time'. I've been having a lot of pain in my right shoulder blade area, and been using anti-inflammatory cream for the last week or so to try and ease it ... today I've started taking some Voltaren tablets to see if that helps, as it's been so painful it's been keeping me from sleeping properly each night as the pain wakes me up. If it keeps up in a week's time, I'll have to see a GP about it as it's really getting me down, and it's been niggling ever since we did our spot of DIY after the Hong Kong trip.

Anyway, off to tidy up a bit so I can at least see a small portion of the lounge floor ...

Needleroll exchange from Sylvie

WOW!!!!! That's what came out of my mouth as I stood on the pavement at the back of the Post Office today ... I was too impatient to get home to open up my parcel, so Mum and I opened it up together there and then ;) Inside the parcel was my needleroll exchange from Sylvie, and I can honestly and truthfully say I am totally blown away by it all - I just adore everything! The needleroll is stitched and finished so beautifully, and the design and colours are incredible ... I'm lost for words as to how beautiful I think it is :D And if that wasn't enough, inside the gorgeous bag (that is going to be oh-so-useful for my stitching bits and bobs next to my chair) there were Gloriana silks in the most dreamy and heavenly colours for a blue girl like me ... serious drool material - I adore Gloriana silks! But there was even more yet ... a lovely little address book, and cute turquoise bracelet, and a postcard from Normandie ... and I love it all!! I still can't believe that I get to keep it all, that it's all mine! I'll say it again ... "WOW"!! :D Thanks heaps and heaps Sylvie for an exceptional exchange :D {{hugs}}

(I give up on Blogger tonight, so I'm using Photobucket mutter mutter mutter)

The other squishy mail I had today was my next round robin piece - this is Lynn's seasonal round robin ... I'm really enjoying stitching on these, and I've been looking forward to the next one arriving. Now I just have to decide which season to stitch, Winter or Spring ... oh decisions, decisions ... ;)

Rightio, off to work I go again ... but not 'real' work, though ... Mum and I are going to try ornamentifying a few of her stitched ornies so she knows how to do it when she gets home. Which will be interesting, as I've only ever made the two square ones last year ... we'll be dragging out the magazines again to get some ideas, I think - mind you, seeing as Mum's flying out tomorrow, I don't think we'll be getting too creative - nothing like leaving it until the last minute haha. We're going to finish off her holiday tonight with king prawns (on sale at Safeway today), and breakfast out at St Kilda tomorrow morning and a trip into the city for some last-minute sightseeing/shopping ... thank goodness for stitching, 'cos I'll be feeling a bit lost for a few days afterwards having the place to myself again ... not for long, though, as I'll be kept busy catching up on all the blogs!! :D

Redwork exchange

Just a quick note to say my redwork exchange on the SBEBB has been received by Nancy, so I can unveil it now ... I used the Quaker Swan Case as my instructions, but used an online freebie as my basis for the stitching. As the stitching chart was wayyyyy too big, I deleted a few elements and played around with the flower leaves for a while until it fitted my measurements OK. It's stitched with DMC 115, which I really love, on a 32ct hand-dyed Lugana from Country Stitch. I was really really disappointed with my finishing, as I found the ribbon 'hinges' too long, and it just flopped around when it was all put together, so I ended up putting a little line of backstitches on the two side hinges to keep it more 'together' - which also means now that you can hang it on a hanger on display ... which I really love the idea of it, and may now do that with mine when I get around to stitching it too :) I also wasn't too pleased with how the inside hearts are attached (the red ones), so when I do mine I think I'll modify that a bit too. I'm really glad Nancy liked it, though, as I was a bit worried about it ... I didn't take a photo of it with the 'tweaking' of the hinges, or with the goodies I sent, and I don't think Nancy updates her blog anymore, but at least you can see the needlecase :D

Seeing as it's Mum's last full day here today, we're off out shopping ... so no stitching for me until tonight. I do have a progress piccie to share, but I'll wait until tomorrow or Thursday, when it'll be a finished piccie hopefully :D

Needleroll SAL

Even though I worked all weekend, on Friday and today I was on a 6am shift, so got home early enough in the afternoon to get some decent stitching in (especially tonight) ... I thought I'd get one Shepherd's Bush needleroll finished ("Thisbe's Needleroll"), but I ended up taking a Lorri Birmingham one into work as well ("A Stitcher's Needleroll"), and managed to finish them both tonight - yippee!! As per usual, there was an error on the LB chart, and because I was distracted by calls etc, didn't pick it up until it was all finished! I can't be bothered unpicking it, so it will remain as it is ... if anyone else is thinking of stitching this, check the chart, as the very top band only had one space below it and the first border, whereas the bottom band has two ... I have decided I absolutely detest LB kits for that exact reason - I've stitched 3 different ones now, and every single one has had a major error ... mutter mutter mutter. I'll do the actual finishing another day.

Only 3 more days to go, and life will be back to normal here at home, as Mum will have headed back over the oceans where she'll be staying until February, then I have the pleasure of her company again probably for another six weeks. I've told her I'm going to start charging her rent, as she's here 1/4 of the year hahaha. I love having her here, though, and it's really no hassle :) It means at the end of next week I can catch up with blog reading again without feeling guilty and self-conscious ... I can't wait to see what I've been missing out on! :D

Rightio, that's all for me tonight - just a quick post for the needleroll SAL piccies :D

Needleroll exchange

Just a quick post before I head to work, as my needleroll exchange (on the Robin's Nest BB) has been received by Nicki ... as soon as I received Nicki's name, I decided I now had two redwork exchanges to do, as I know Nicki loves red ;) And I also knew I wanted to have something about cats on it ... after trawling my stitching stash, and a couple of online freebies, I sat down at the computer and cranked open the XS designing software, and came up with the following needleroll.

It's a combination of loads of different bits and pieces - the top band came from a Just Nan chart "A Summer's Day", the little fish bone skeletons I designed myself, and just used a row of herringbone stitches next. The band above and below the cat band is from the "Peace needleroll ornament" by Jeannette Douglas Designs. The blackwork cats are from Just Nan's "Catnip Tea", the blackwork fishies are from an online freebie by Kristine Herber, and the row of watery waves are from "Summer at the Ocean" needleroll by Jeannette Douglas Designs. I'd worked 4 different versions online before I finally decided on this final one, and I was really really pleased with the result - and I'm glad to hear Nicki likes it :D It was stitched on 32ct Maritime by Lakeside Linens.

R.I.P. Steve Irwin

I feel very saddened today to hear the news that Steve Irwin, that great Aussie icon, has been killed today while diving near Port Douglas - he was killed in a freak accident with a stingray. The "Crocodile Hunter" was one of those bigger than life characters that you either loved or hated ... I was one of those that loved him, and he will be greatly missed by a large number of Aussies and Kiwis. Rest in peace, Steve Irwin - thanks for sharing your love of life and love of the natural world with everyone around the globe ... "Crikey, you'll be missed!"

Redwork dilemmas

I've decided I really need more experience in doing finishing of items - I am so disappointed with my redwork piece, it's not funny ... I was so proud of it last night when it went under a pile of books to be pressed, but when I uncovered it at 3am when I came in from work my heart sank ... and I have absolutely no time to stitch something else instead, so I'm going to have to send it as it is :( To be honest, it looks really nice, but it's part of the functionality of it that I'm disappointed with. This is a finishing technique I've got the original design and everything all kitted up to do for myself, and I'll be modifying a lot of their instructions for it next time. Time will tell if my recipient feels the same way as I do ... I'm probably making it sound much worse than it actually is - it is basically just the 'hinge' that is too long so it flops around ... I have a way to compensate for it, but I don't know if I can find the hardware anywhere here, and it has to be in the mail straightaway.

I'm also miss cranky pants this morning, so that might be colouring my judgement as well, and perhaps I'm being overly critical of my efforts ... I had a really rough night at work (on the 6pm-2am shift to help someone out) with some 'interesting challenges' and couldn't get to sleep until almost 4am, then some kids playing soccer in the middle of the street and a noisy lorikeet sitting screeching in front of my bedroom window woke me up very early, so I've only had about 5-6 hours sleep. My eyes feel like little slits :( Hopefully that won't mean me falling asleep in the movie theatre today, as I'm taking Mum to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 before she goes home ... I'd better get running and get dressed, as it starts in an hours time for the session I want to go to ...

Thanks for comments about the framing - I have to admit I bought a matcutter in the US years ago, and haven't used it yet, and I brought that back with me with my last lot of freight, so I definitely do want to learn to do my own framing eventually, and I'll start looking for some cheap frames to use (good suggestion from Gina to check out the op shops too!). I have to admit, I've laced a couple of things before, so that's not too major ... come to think of it, there's really no excuse for those smaller jobs! ;)

Rightio, the Pirates wait for no-one, so time to get a hurry on ...

Needleroll exchange on its way

Yippee, there was a cheer of relief today as I returned from the Post Office - into the mail went a chart I'd promised Katrina, as well as my first of two exchanges ... my needleroll exchange is winging its way across the oceans. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to doing this one as I know the recipient quite well, but it took me a while to work out what I wanted to stitch. All-in-all, though, when it was finished I was pretty pleased with it - with any luck the recipient will like it too :D

Nothing else to report, really ... I still have to do the final touches to the finishing of my redwork exchange - after my 6am shifts last week I was too mentally exhausted to attempt it, but it should hit the mailbox by Monday afternoon as I'm working all day Saturday and from 6pm-2am on Sunday night ... but that leaves me most of Sunday to put the final touches on it. I've never ever attempted this sort of finishing before, so I'm a teensy bit panicked about it, but hopefully I'm worrying for nothing!

I'll finish this short post with the SBQ ... Today's SBQ was suggested by Anna M and is:

"What do you keep your WIPs and other stitching supplies in when traveling?"

I have some tote bags made out of calico that Mum made for me, or use a plastic folder either with a 'zipper' glider on the top or with a flap and press-stud closure. At the moment I've got a pile of the plastic folders on top of my books in my bookcase, which is right next to my stitching chair, and they house all my WIP's I'm stitching on at home (I don't honestly have travelling WIP's that often as I drive to work, and don't have the time to stitch at work that often).

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Carolyn and is:

"How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them, scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?"

I wish I could afford to get everything framed, but that's just not an option - I am starting to think about finishing alternatives to framing, though, such as quilted wallhangings etc. I blog about any finishes I've had, and always scan them or take a photo and keep an electronic record. I keep a Webshots album that I keep relatively up-to-date, plus I keep a printed record in a ringbinder. I print a copy of the photo/scan plus info on the chart/designer, who it was stitched for, when it was started/completed, and any notes that might be of interest. In case you haven't seen it before, here's an example of one of the pages.