PhotoHunt - Creative

28 July, 2007


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This week’s theme is “Creative” - for me my creative pursuits are mainly (if not purely) within the realm of needlework, and within that realm I feel my stumpwork pieces are the most creative for me. These two pieces are some of the first I ever did (and the rest of my collection are still sitting in UFO status … much to Elisabeth’s disgust LOL). I think one of my overall favourite pieces is the sweetpea (I especially adore the little tendrils and beaded pea pods), but I have to admit the Elizabethan roundell is still pretty special (even though I can see the faults pretty easily, as this was one of my first ever pieces stitched).


Final piccies of Elwood

24 July, 2007

When I was cleaning out the last remaining boxes of ’stuff’ for storage, I came across the following on a CD - which is great ‘cos I had to format my compact flashcard and thought I’d lost them all!  These were my final shots of my apartment in Elwood before I moved out … I miss the flat just a tiny bit, but I sure don’t miss those cracks or the window that wouldn’t close!  I wonder if they’ve manged to get new tenants into it yet or done the work on the building?  Oh well, all power to them …  Here goes with the photos:

elwood 1
You probably can’t tell from this photo, but the window sill is actually buckled - the left hand side tilts upwards, and the right hand side tilts down … just goes to show how much the building is moving I guess …

elwood 2
This is what we found behind the bookcase - all of these cracks were much more impressive (and scary) in real life … this one explains the vertical crack all along the wall, we could finally see the source!

elwood 3

elwood 4

elwood 5

Talking of photos, I thought I’d share my storage space with you, so you can see how packed to the gunnels it is … I still have one more box, plus my sewing machine, plus a small suitcase to go in there tomorrow … miracles still DO happen, don’t they? LOL.

storage-unit

On a slightly ‘down’ note, I’ve had the disappointing news a few weeks ago that the housesitting agency I was going to be doing housesitting jobs for has closed their doors for at least the next year … ho-hum.  I’ve heard bad things about some other agencies where you just don’t get work, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do now …  The guy I was going to housesit for has a daughter who runs an online agency, so I’ll probably sign up for that one - not sure how much business it’ll generate, though.  If not, I guess I’ll have to start thinking about moving into a new place again closer to Christmas.  At this stage I have jobs pretty much right up until the start of November - after that I’m up in the air quite a bit.  I’m going to put an ad up on the noticeboard at work to see if that generates any more business (at this stage all my housesitting jobs have come from my fellow colleagues on the Hotline).  I guess my first job now, though, will be to get $3,000 in a kitty behind me just in case I need to move into somewhere new … at least I still have housesitting until my laptop’s paid off phew! :)

Rightio, time to get up and start the official house cleaning … and packing my suitcase etc.  The food bags are already packed with leftover groceries (I’ve been very lax about cooking while I’ve been here, so there’s plenty of tins etc left) - and my stitching is pretty much packed up … just one more bag of ’stuff’ to finish sorting out and everything’s ready.  It will be nice to have a free night tonight to just kick back and relax knowing all the housework is already done. 

I have to admit I had a slight panic yesterday when I came home from the storage unit to find one of the cars missing from the driveway - thankfully I called Sal’s Mum and found out her Dad had come to pick up the car for picking them up from the airport … phew!  I’m sure they’ve got the days wrong, though, as I’ve got it in my diary that they’re coming home tomorrow, not today … I guess if they’re not home by lunchtime today I’ll know I’m right.  I’ve got the table in the kitchen already laid out ready for them with their piles of mail and the bills I’ve paid for them, plus a vase of flowers, bread and milk, and a bottle of red wine sitting ready with two wine glasses and the corkscrew, plus a welcome home note - hopefully they’ll appreciate it when they arrive … I just hope all my housesitting jobs won’t expect it haha :P

Anyway, time to start the day … I’m not sure after tomorrow what sort of reception I’ll have for my internet connection - I’m moving to Seaford on the fringe of Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and unsure whether Unwired’s coverage reaches out there or not … if not I’ll be out of action for just under two weeks until I move out to Ringwood (where I’ll be for 4 weeks).  Mind you this week the reception here has been appalling, so an improvement would be fantastic! I’ve been trying to post this for well over an hour now, but the stupid reception keeps dropping out hmmm.

In the meantime, have a great week everyone! :D

I’ll leave you with my latest WIP - the photo is appalling, and half the wording has to be frogged due to  stupid mistake, but I’m over halfway with this needleroll …

friendship-blooms-needlerol


SBQ’s … loads of them!

23 July, 2007

3rd note to self …

“You must remember at all times that you have a head like a sieve right now – your blondeness is truly ruling the roost in your life, and you mustn’t forget it! For example, when you think to yourself that today is Monday you really really should check and confirm to yourself that it really is … shift work and blondeness are not a good combination. The outcome is that you will pack your car up with all your stitching boxes and computer to take them into storage … only to arrive at a chained up gate at 3.15pm. Yes that’s right … if you check what day of the week it really is, you would know it was Sunday and the gates close at 2pm. That would also save you from driving all the way home to unpack the car again … to just repack everything again the next day and do it all over again! So, check … check again … and triple check again … doh!!”

4th note to self …

“If you stopped doing dopey things, you wouldn’t have to keep writing ‘notes to self’ … ;)”

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I’m sooooo behind on answering the SBQ’s, so it’s time to catch up from before I moved out of my last flat:

10 May – This SBQ is from Ish:

“How do you choose a project for an exchange? Do you pick solely on what you know of the taste of the recipient, or are there other reasons you pick the piece you do?”

I try to get a feel for what the participant likes, then find something using that criteria that I would enjoy stitching – no point in stitching something that you’re going to hate doing. I always try to find out colour preferences, if nothing else, and work from there.

16 May – This SBQ is from Juls:

“If you could only stitch one more piece what would it be and why?”

That’s a really tough one … perhaps it would be Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello, as I think it’s an exquisite piece when it’s all finished, and functional at the end of it all.

30 May – This SBQ is from Kathryn:

“How many needles do you use during a project? Have you ever loaded up a needle for every colour? Do you use a new needle for every project, or recycle your favourite needle?”

It depends on what I’m stitching really – for example with the Bordeaux Sampler because there were only three individual colours being used, I had one needle pretty much loaded up per colour, especially if I’d only used a tiny bit of the thread before finishing it off and moving on to another colour. I’ll also use a number of needles for TW designs, mainly for the blended needles – when I’m stitching one of those I use one of the needle park gadgets to keep track of them all. As for using a new needle for every project, I don’t honestly see the sense in that – I’m pretty hard on needles and chew through them pretty quickly due to the chemicals in my skin I guess, so I’d never have a needle long enough for it to be a ‘favourite needle’ ;) As soon as the needle starts to ‘drag’ through the fabric it goes in the bin and I grab a new one out of the packet.

6 June - Today’s SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

“What has been your most challenging project and why?”

Hmmm, this is quite a difficult one to answer, and I can’t narrow it down to just one thing – The Dratteds because stitching all that monotonous colour was truly boring, and it was a huge project to stitch; the CA Wells pieces purely for the challenge of the finishing methods as I’m lacking in confidence in that area; and Bordeaux Sampler for all those dratted over-one grapes I guess. Anything that teaches me something new is a challenge, but a rewarding one J

14 June - Today’s SBQ was suggested Jennifer and is:

“How do you store your WIPs and other projects that you have kitted up?”

Before I moved all my goodies into storage, I had all my rotation pieces sitting in the lounge by my stitching chair – all my scrollbars and stretcher bars etc with my WIP’s on them were stacked up against the bookcase, within arms reach of my chair, with each of the project ‘kits’ in project envelopes, sitting in a plastic tub. They’d sit in order of my rotation, and once I’d stitched a rotation slot the project envelope got put at the back of the pile, ready to select the next project from the front of the pile. Each project envelope holds the original chart, working copy, and threads/embellishments needed for stitching. As for other kitted up projects, I have them sitting in archive boxes now with the threads, fabric and charts in zip-loc bags – and the list of each box’s contents is in a Word document.

22 June - Today’s SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

“When you start a new work do you look for something small, do you look for another huge project or do you consider your UFOs?”

I’d have to say it depends on the mood … if I’ve just finished a BAP I’m more likely to pick up something smaller for a while to give myself a break. Also, if the guilt sets in badly that I’ve been neglecting older WIP’s I ‘might’ eventually pick up a UFO and work on it … maybe ;)

3 July – Today’s SBQ is:

“Do you consider yourself a “floss miser?”

It depends on the thread itself – if it’s silks, expensive threads, or part of a kit, yes I am – I’ll stitch down to the very last bit of the thread. If it’s DMC, even though it’s more expensive here than it is elsewhere in the world, I have to admit I’m starting to change. I used to stitch with my DMC down to the last inch (and I still will if I’m stitching a large patch etc), I won’t save scraps anymore for ‘later’, unless it’s a fairly decent length of thread.

12 July - Today’s SBQ was suggested by The Wagon and is:

“What do you love to do that many people hate? What do you hate to do, but do anyway?”

I can’t say I “love” doing it, but I don’t mind doing backstitching – it quickly ‘finishes’ a project off and you can usually see a great impact on the finished design fairly quickly. I hate French knots, but I’m learning to master them so they don’t have me running screaming from the room now as much as they used to.

19 July - Today’s SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

“Which project (finished or in progress) are you most proud of? Explain why.”

I’d have to probably say my stumpwork pieces – they were my first foray away from cross stitch, and I still feel quite proud of them to this day. They were a huge step forward in my stitching … nothing like jumping in feet first with something simple! ;) (talking of stumpwork, Elisabeth your comment in my Webshots album about the Lorri Birmingham fob gave me a HUGE giggle!! LOL)


2nd note to self …

21 July, 2007

Note to self:

“It doesn’t matter that your back is aching, do NOT lay down on the bed to catch up on emails and blogs in the afternoon when you’ve just finished day 4 of 5am shifts … your eyes will close involuntarily and you will wake up 3 hours later in a pool of drool feeling as though you’ve just consumed 2 bottles of red wine, and making it harder to sleep later … next time do what you normally do, and get your stitching out!!  It doesn’t matter if you need to use matchsticks to prop your eyes open, just remain vertical at all times!!”

One other thing I forgot to mention the other week too (I’m sooooo behind on things at the moment, and very very forgetful), is that I have a space confirmed for next year’s classes in Perth with CA Wells … I’m very excited! :D  We’ll be stitching the Sailor’s Valentine, and a Cottage Etui (which is mainly in blues apparently, woohoo! - I think it may be the project pictured here).  My annual leave form is in already for April … yippee :D  All I need to do now is pay for the classes, and as soon as the kits are received I’ll be on my way with more stitching projects to be completed (I think the SV kits are coming first ahead of the other ones).

Right, off to do some of my final packing, and get my load of washing in the machine …  With any luck I’ll have a better internet reception at the next place, in a lounge or something, so I can catch up with what’s been happening in the blogging world :)


PhotoHunt - Tiny

21 July, 2007


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This week’s theme is “Tiny” - most people who have been reading my blog for a while now know I have a serious passion for ducks … this one is the tiniest one in my collection - it is made from Greenstone (which is NZ Jade), with cute little etched wings and details. Mum very kindly modelled this wee fella on the end of her index finger to show the scale of how little he really is.


Note to self … and oops … Stash!!

20 July, 2007

Note to self …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

jn100lg

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

gazelle Zebra - Ever So Little #8 chart


The Walls of Jericho came tumbling down…

18 July, 2007

Well, maybe not the Walls of Jericho, but definitely a dining chair!  I took the first load of boxes etc over to the storage unit, only to put one box into the space and have a dining chair come flying down from above!!  B*gger!!  I didn’t get hurt at all, and it seems that the chair is still in one piece, but it poses a bit more of a challenge now to get everything into storage.  While I had everything neatly laid out, I’ve now had to balance the dining chair in a space where there should be NO dining chair … that space was nicely allocated to about 4 more storage boxes … mutter mutter mutter.  Unfortunately I can’t reach to put the stupid chair back where it was before (although if there’s any possibility of it moving again, it probably isn’t wise anyway).  It will be interesting to see how I manage to get the rest of the goodies into that tiny wee gap that’s left, ‘cos there’s still my computer to go in, 4-5 boxes of stitching stuff, my sewing machine, and duvet inners … haha, I’m laughing out loud just thinking about how it’s all going to fit it!  If I wasn’t so delirious with sleep deprivation I’d probably be quite miffed ;)

Anyway, time to head out into the bitter cold again … I very stupidly left my shopping bag with my wallet in it at work (duh!!), and I asked a lady who lives about 10 minutes drive away to bring it home with her - I’ll just have time to pop round and pick it up, come home and jump in the shower, and get tucked up in bed.  The ducted heated has been cranked up all afternoon to soothe the chills (6C yesterday during the day … woohoo LOL) so the room will be lovely and warm when I get home again {{sigh of contentment}}.  Talking of which, I’d better run …


Just a quickie …

17 July, 2007

No time to really chat - just a brief update to show my latest finish … after posting that pitiful progress report the other day, I pulled my finger out and went out to pick up some cheap DVD’s to watch (namely the first season of Medium, and the films Music & Lyrics, Invincible, The Guardian and another one whose name escapes me that I can’t be bothered getting up to check).  Anyway, the result is this:

mini rose garden mandala 2

mini rose garden mandala 1
A Tiny Rose Garden Mandala - freebie by Chatelaine
Stitched on white linen with recommended threads

I also started a needleroll, seeing as it was the Needleroll SAL weekend this weekend just passed, although I don’t have too much to show for it.  I’ll keep stitching on it until it’s finished, though, even if it means getting it finished after I move out from this housesitting job.  I only have one more week left, and all my stash will be going into storage some time over the next couple of days boohoo.  I haven’t joined in with any of the needleroll SAL weekends to date this year, so it was nice to start it up again now.  I’m making sure I have at least one more needleroll within access from the storage container door, along with a couple of Christmas ornies to try to keep a couple of smaller projects on the go throughout the next few months.

Rightio, back to it again … no time to chat - time to get a few more chores done, and watch two of those movies before it’s bedtime.  And seeing as I bought the missing 2 DMC threads at lunchtime today, I can get back to finishing off the top half of my needleroll …


My body clock needs replacing!

15 July, 2007

Geez, I wish there was a shop where you could take your body clock in for fine tining … or a complete overhaul!  I dunno what’s wrong with me at the moment, but I just can’t sleep ‘normally’.  I haven’t been able to sleep before midnight (and generally 2am) over the last few nights, with plenty of tossing and turning happening.  Tonight I was supposed to be going out after work and felt really shattered, so decided to have ‘an hour’ laying down as soon as I got in at 6.30pm before I got up to get ready … only to wake up at 11.30pm!  Yikes!!  So what does that mean?  Yep, you guessed it … it’s now 3.30am and I’m struggling to get back into the swing of sleep mode again … b*gger!  I’m also working for 4 hours overtime tomorrow (actually, I guess that’s now “today”) … it’s gonna be a fun shift, I can tell already ;)

As for other things, life has been exceptionally calm and boring, which is a nice change.  I have hardly lifted a needle since I finished Bordeaux, and this is the sum total of my stitching efforts over the last few weeks … compared to what I normally achieve, this is quite a pitiful sight!  Eventually it will be a finished Mini Garden Mandala freebie by Chatelaine.

mini garden mandala 12jul07

Never mind … life goes on - I’ve been having more fun kitting up my stash in recent weeks than actually stitching, so at least I’m still keeping myself busy by immersing myself up to the elbows in threads and fabrics :)

Rightio, time to go back and try to sleep again … ho-hum …


PhotoHunt - Shadows

14 July, 2007


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This week’s theme is “Shadows“, and here I’ve taken a photo of one of my wrought iron candlestick holders … I was struggling to find something on hand when Mum looked up and saw the shadows on the lounge room wall from the sun pouring in from inbetween the clouds … I just managed to capture the shot in time before the sun disappeared from view again.