Party time in Sydney

Yep, I actually did it!  Ended up going to a meeting in the city just before drinkies time - we were invited by the group that were hosting the drinkies as an extra incentive to get us in there, I think … and I’m really glad we went.  We had a cordoned off area set outside at the Cargo Bar at Darling Harbour for drinkies and nibbles … even though it was raining and freezing, we had outdoor gas heaters blowing and it was very social and very cozy.  I had a WONDERFUL time.  I only stayed for 2 hours, and opted to leave at that point while I was still OK to drive!  I was sorely tempted to stay longer, but that would likely entail a $40 cab ride home then having to get a bus then a train into work tomorrow morning … so much better to leave with a clear head

I must say something a bit soppy here … tonight at the celebrations I finally felt as though we had launched the project - it truly came at the right time for celebrations, and a lot of the members of the project team  that we’d been meeting with from the myriad of different departments over the last six months were present.  The only people invited from our department was myself and my boss, as we have been the only ones working on the project until the day of launch when it was “all hands on deck” to load the procedures etc in the database.  It was great to meet the top tier executives from that department, and be invited to join the group.  I have to say (here’s the soppy bit) I felt really proud to have been part of the whole project tonight and to see it launched very successfully … geez it felt good tonight to actually feel the positive emotions about the whole thing!

Anyway, that will see me hitting the hay with a smile on my face … now I’m off to drag out the winter-weight duvet inner to throw on the bed to keep that smile on my face during the night, ‘cos the temperature has plummeted today.

Tomorrow is now Friday for me, as I’ve been granted a day in lieu for all the additional hours I’ve been putting in lately … I figured Friday is as good a day as any to take off, as my flatmate is away that day too which means I can blob around and be lazy all day … so now I’m guaranteed to get the Sunflower Sampler finished this weekend

And on that note, I’m off to bed

For Mum

Nothing to show stitching-wise … I was still on my own in the office yesterday, so it was yet another full-on day.  With any luck the ’sick’ person will be back in today ‘cos it’s starting to get a bit draining.  Have been invited to the official launch of ‘my’ project tonight in the city - not entirely sure I’ll go as it’s a major hassle to get into the city just for a quick drink to come home again … although it’s quite a big deal, I think, so perhaps it will be expected that I be there hmmm.  I’m taking the makeup in in case I change my mind (I don’t normally wear makeup, unless it’s for site visits or special occasions etc).

Anyway, my real reason for posting is to announce to my Mum that my nail has finally grown out enough for me to soften it and cut it off.  You have no idea how wonderful it is not to wander around with a bandaid on it every day and to have to be careful every time I touch something so it doesn’t catch on the nail.  It’s sheer sheer bliss!!!  It’s a bit of a weird shape at the moment until it grows a bit more, but “I feel good, na na na na na na na….”

And on that note there’s one quick way to stop feeling good … and that’s to get on my bike into work ‘cos I’m now running late!

Exhausted … but still here!

I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away for long … although the last two weeks have really taken it out of me energy-wise.  Aside from working both days last weekend for various times, I’ve managed to have my working days this week range from 12 hours to 17 hours … today was my final 13 hour day for the week, and my intention for the entire weekend is to sit around in my PJ’s, watch DVD’s and stitch to my heart’s content.  I don’t give a monkeys about housework chores (aside from a bit of laundry that I’ll need for next week) or cooking gourmet meals … it’s all about being bone idle and not having to think about anything for a second longer than absolutely necessary.

The product launch went pretty well (my 17 hour day was from flying to Hobart for the day - leaving home at 4.45am and getting home at 10.30pm … not fun!), although it’s been a rush of ongoing work since then due to some problems with the software that has caused some extra workload for my area … but I’m hoping that today will see the last of the long shifts, and next week things will return to normality once again.  I have to admit that tonight arriving home I sang a little ditty to myself and did a bit of a dance coming into my bedroom … so I guess I’m excited that I survived the week and that it’s now the weekend!

Inbetween work last weekend I did manage to fit in a tiny bit of stitching and got one project completed - eagle eyes may have spotted it sitting in my “finished” Flickr display in the sidebar here after last weekend, but I can now unveil it officially.

“Fish Collage” from Sea Life booklet by Lanarte
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen with DMC

I also have something else to ’show and tell’, as I received a wonderful, wonderful gift yesterday from Susan.  Unfortunately, though, I haven’t taken a photo yet, so that will have to wait until I do that this weekend.  In the meantime if you want to see it more quickly you can have a peep over at Susan’s blog.  I absolutely ADORE it, and you’ll understand exactly why when you see it!!

One thing I did do, though, while cleaning up my photo files for half an hour the other night, is find another few designs that had to be put officially onto my wishlist, and I thought I’d share ‘just for the sake of it’ while they’re on the Webshots screen:

Golden Lotus by Art-Stitch

Home by the Sea by Designs by Pamela

I love, love LOVE these fellas!!!!!
Victorian Santas by Charlette’s Collectibles

With thread in hand by Lavender Wings

Rightio, it’s now 10.30pm, and I’m still sitting in my raincoat after just walking in the door, so time to undress and get into those PJ’s I’m gonna be wearing all weekend … I think tonight I’ll fall into bed and be asleep before my head hits the pillow.  It’s such a good feeling to know “it’s all over” (well, the biggest part anyway).

Thanks, too, by the way for all the positive support from the incident last weekend, it was really appreciated - I’ve now moved on and decided not to address the issue further.  It has still left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, for want of a better description, but it will not stop me from blogging or stitching … after all, that’s part of who I am!  Thanks again for the support everyone {{hugs}}.

Rightio, it’s really time to hit the hay now, as my eyes are starting to close of their own volition haha.

A bit of a rant!

After posting a piccie of my stitching finish “Picanini Can Can”, someone ‘kindly’ left a link to Wikipedia in my comments area which essentially states the term “Pickaninny” is offensive and racist.  Am I to interpret that link to insinuate either my stitching or myself is offensive and racist??  Who knows, as the person who left the link has not responded to my personal email to her.  All I can say is, seriously, GET A GRIP!!!!!

Quite frankly it’s picking on one of the least racist ‘white chicks’ you can meet - I used to tell Fraze off all the time for his racist comments and actions against Asian races … and I have always had friends ‘of colour’ - Asian, Indian, Maori and Fijian … not to mention I was apparently the only kid in the street growing up in England who used to play with the ‘coloured children’ (the term I was taught to use growing up) - as far as I was concerned there was no colour difference … as someone once said, “we are the same people in different packaging - we all bleed the same blood”.

I’ll end with a photo of the last relationship I was in … racist?  I think not! (by the way, it’s the guy on the right) 

Mutter mutter mutter …

I can only say one thing, in the form of my latest stitching finish - my Christmas ornie for June … “PEACE”!!!

“Peace” ornament by Country Cottage Needleworks
from 2007 JCS Christmas Ornament magazine
Stitched on 28ct Water Lily Jobelan
with recommended DMC (except substitute plain white for DMC 3865 which was AWOL)

Yet another crappy photo that doesn’t show the colours up too well - the fabric is a lovely soft green!  Like others before me, I think this is way too big to be an ornie, so I’m keen to finish it as a flanged pillow … with a pastel pink fabric for the flange … yeah, I know, ME … PINK!!!!!

PEACE !!!

No stitching to show

And it might be a few days or so before there’s another update after my stitching weekend marathon

Instead, today I finally contacted the NSW Embroiderers Guild to talk about signing up for membership.  The headquarters is in Concord West, so it’s a wee drive away from here, but they have stitching groups that meet one Saturday or one Sunday a month, which could be nice to join up with.  Even though I’m not currently doing any stitching other than XS, it’s nice to see other techniques being done - and might even spur me back into action to work on some of the EGA class projects I haven’t even started yet!

I’ve also been increasing my wishlist (yet again!!) - here are the latest ones that have taken my fancy (thank goodness I don’t often search for new designs so I only find a few at a time haha)

Here’s My Stitching Treasures Accessories by Jeannette Douglas (I also now might have to add the original My Stitching Treasures to the list too LOL):

New 2008 double flip-its from Lizzie*Kate - I LOVE these big time!!!  I have a funny feeling my Mum might love these too … I don’t normally ‘go for’ Lizzie’s flip-its, but these ones are a given

Talking about Lizzie*Kate, this one I have definitely got a soft spot for after seeing it on Dawn’s blog - gotta love those sentiments haha:

And I’ll finish off with Mirabilia’s Letters from Nora - the letter A is just perfection in itself for moi … what more could I want than a beautiful pretty blue angel? OK, so she doesn’t have a duck by her side, but it’s close enough to perfection for me

The only thing I had to add is that I finally have a better typing set-up at home for my laptop … just before Mum left I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I just LOVE it - especially the mouse! It’s amazing how much more quickly I’m getting things done on the computer.

I’m also starting to plough through my 3 months backlog of blog reading as from today - I’d love to get to the stage again when I just have ‘new’ feeds to check each day instead of the 1300+ I currently have to wade through! I’m tempted to ‘mark as read’ … sorely tempted … but I know I’ll regret missing out on news and stitching finishes, so I’ll keep going for a few days and see how I go

Day out down south

As I mentioned yesterday, Mum and I drove down to Mittagong, Bowral and Berrima on Saturday, and had a really lovely day out.  I wasn’t going to write this post just yet, but I’m up (not bright but) early thanks to Lisa coming home inebriated in the wee small hours and spending half the night in bed listening to her throwing up in the bathroom opposite … I figured now is as good a time as any to write it up!

Anyway, we started the day off by driving to Mittagong to Victoria House so Mum could see the stitched models.  And we ended up coming out with a few charts from their bargain/sale bins … I didn’t take any photos of the stash, sorry, but basically Mum’s were all Christmas ornament charts, and I bought a couple of Hillside Sampling charts, a needleroll chart, and a wooden bellpull hanger for my Bent Creek Christmas wallhanging.  It was nice to wander around and view the stitched models - always my favourite thing to do when visiting a new (or old) needlework shop

We then drove on a few km’s up the road to Bowral where we’d heard there was a Food & Wine Festival on … if there was, we didn’t find it, so ended up having a very non-Weight Watchers snack of meat pie and pastries from Gumnut Patisserie - this patisserie has won awards 4 years in a row, and it’s easy to see why, absolutely everything we tried from there was absolutely divine!!  No piccies, unfortunately, as we scoffed them while on the road (very naughty, I know!).

From there we drove another short distance (about 8km) across country to Berrima, where I’d been recommended to visit - and we weren’t disappointed.  What a lovely quaint village atmosphere - and not touristy at all, I thought.  The buildings are just lovely, and we spent a couple of hours just wandering aimlessly in and out of all the shops … with the odd thing jumping into our bags every now and then

A highlight for me was Mrs Oldbucks (they also have mail order from their website) - there is a room just filled with every sort of tea imaginable.  I bought four as my treat for the day, then Mum bought me one more with a tea filter for my mug … I came home with Wild Berry, Raspberry & Lime, Chai Herbal Blend, Summer Blend, and Marsala Chai - I should take some photos of the teas themselves … just opening the shopping bag up to read the labels my senses are filled with an amazing smell … aaarghhhh

As well as the room full of teas, there is another long room at Mrs Oldbucks which is filled with all kinds of culinary goodies - lollies (sweets), jams, chutneys, honeys, mustards, etc etc etc … an absolute treasure trove of yummy goodies.

We also spent a little bit of time wandering through the local patchwork shop, and managed to find a fat 1/4 each of fabrics we just HAD to have … plus I bought a wire hanger with 7 hooks on it to use for hanging my scissors up (I’ll try to remember and take photos later when I unpack all my scissor fobs and scissors … yep, still unpacking! haha), plus a couple of small wire hangers that I’d been hunting for for months!

There were also a couple of lovely antique shops that we found in a side street later, but it was getting too late to call in - but I loved a few of the buildings in that wee street (I’m a sucker for old buildings).

When we turned out of the street to return home, we were greeted by the magnificent sight of loads and loads of cockatoos sitting up in the trees - I’ve seen this phenomenon before but Mum hasn’t … it was hard to take a photo, but you can see all the white specks in the trees, well they’re all cockatoos!  It’s a glorious sight!!

After we arrived home we decided to celebrate the end to some wonderful adventures, as we were unlikely to be tripping off again during this visit - I cooked a light chicken dinner (stir-though sauce compliments of Leggo’s haha) and we cracked open a bottle of bubbly and placed a hibiscus flower in syrup that I bought in Perth recently in the bottom of the glass (they’re so cool!! - their website has a much better photo and information if you want to check them out), and settled in for the night … a fitting end to a wonderful holiday (I’m just trying hard not to think about work tomorrow as I know I have a gruelling procedure writing session for my ‘huge project’ as soon as I walk in the door hmmm).

Sydney Stitchers Get-Together

We’ve been out of town for a few days, and I didn’t take the laptop with me, so I’m only now catching up on the last week’s events.

Last Sunday (1 June) I held a get-together at my place for 6 lovely Sydney stitchers (8 including Mum and myself) - even though my place is only small, it was a lovely day catching up with everyone and seeing their finished works and those that are in progress.  Some even managed to do some stitching, but I certainly wasn’t one of them

Here’s a photo I took on the day … apologies to those that aren’t 100% perfect in this photo but it was the best of a bad bunch!  Working round the room from left to right are Robyn, Margaret, Mum (June aka the Dragon), June (Alison’s Mum), Alison, Amanda, and Karen.

I’ve also stolen Alison’s photo from her blog (hope you don’t mind Alison), as her photo is much better than mine and of course the giggler in the pink T-shirt is me (I know, ME in PINK!!! LOL) 

There was plenty of chatter and plenty of eating happening, and the time just flew by.  Thanks again ladies for making it a really enjoyable day!  Now I can’t wait for the next one to be held!

One thing I did do on the day was to dismantle my scroll bars on Winter Queen so I could take a quick photo of her - not the best photo, but nice to see her in all her current glory, even if she does look washed out!  I might try to take a better photo before I roll her back up again.

The rest of the week has been spent driving to Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, so I’ll document each day individually as there are quite a few piccies to share …

Wonderful day …

Well, the Dragon definitely celebrated her birthday in style this year!  I’ve provided a small sample of snapshots from each part of the day …

We started off by popping into Spotlight to stock up on DMC that Mum needed, along with some fabric to make me some cheap pyjama bottoms … then we parked the car and hopped on the train into the city.  We headed straight to Darling Harbour, starting with the Chinese Garden of Friendship, which Mum really wanted to see during this visit.  They were really lovely to walk around, and we were lucky with the weather, as it had been raining earlier in the day.  It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so.

Next up was back over to Cockle Bay Wharf (still at Darling Harbour) where we headed to the Lindt Cafe to stock up on naughty goodies (I’ve fallen in love with Lindt’s Delices … oh my goodness, they’re divine!!!).  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of them before they were demolished, but another blog has a photo here.

Then we popped next door to Nick’s 103 Cafe where Mum had a lovely prawn and avocado salad for lunch.  Here’s a photo of Mum tucking into her lunch, with her Lindt goodie bag sitting under her guard and watchful eye … and even though she doesn’t look it, she’s really enjoying her day out!

Afterwards we had to hustle a bit to wander over to the Star City Casino and Lyric Threatre, where we saw the Phantom of the Opera.  What a wonderful show - the stage settings, costumes and music were all truly haunting and magical, and Mum really loved every single minute of it, or so she told me afterwards.  I’ve seen it before, but still really loved it myself … and a couple of the songs never fail to take my breath away! As photography is banned in the theatre, I’ve borrowed these files shots from a Phantom of the Opera website …

After the show we took a slow walk around Darling Harbour and over to the QVB Building to catch the train home while we reminisced about the day and the show.  When we got home we finished the day off with a bit of stitching (on my part anyway), a glass of wine for me and a botte of Corona for Mum, and a couple of episodes of NCIS while munching away on our Lindt delicacies … 

Here’s a quick shot of Cockle Bay Wharf at night:

And to finish off, here’s my latest photo of my progress on Mirabilia’s Winter Queen (geez, I’m soooo loving that white and Wisper thread … not!).  Sorry she’s now headless, but I can never be bothered unrolling the towel and taking a full photo of her!

Ah, such a blissful day … those are the things that dreams are made of!!!

French Monogram tuffet

Yippee, the stitching is now all finished, both front and back, so the tuffet is ready to be put together (which won’t be happening this week … but next weekend is looking good).

“French Monogram III Tuffet” by Twisted Oaks Designs
stitched on 32ct cream Belfast linen
with DMC 115 floss

I’m soooo happy to finally get the stitching on this one finished - it’s been a WIP (or perhaps more like a UFO of late) for far too long.  It used to be my evening stitching when I was on the overnight shifts at work - that is until I found out I was one stitch out somewhere in the outside border, and only found out when I’d completed the whole thing.  Mum very kindly took it upon herself while I was at work to find out where I’d gone wrong and unpicked it all for me … bless her heart!  It’s amazing how quickly it’s stitched up once I had the time to concentrate on it without having to take phone calls inbetween stitches!  Now I just have to stitch up the needlebook and fob to match … not sure whether I’ll do that straightaway now or pick up an older WIP … ah decisions, decisions …

I have to admit after my stressful night last night I’ve been taking it pretty easy today, and didn’t attempt to put together Barnabee’s Bride - I hope to get this finished during the week, however, so I can still take it over to Katoomba next weekend.

I did manage to get the food processor out this morning and after donning a surgical rubber glove onto my injured hand I finished off the soup, as well as cooking a whole new batch of soup with pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato.  Lisa had that for dinner tonight, and apparently enjoyed it, so that’s good

As for the finger/fingernail, I changed the dressing tonight and I’m quite pleased with how it looks after I cleaned the dried ’gunk’ off it - as long as I don’t bend the nail at all you can only just see where I sliced it through … thank goodness (and no, I didn’t attempt to actually bend the nail, last night was enough trying that little trick out!!).

Rightio, time to get into bed … so much for my planned early night tonight, as I coudn’t pack up the stitching until I put those final stitches in … now I can sleep a restful and happy sleep … helped along by a glass of Omrah Shiraz that I chose as my nightcap - that’s a wine that was recommended to me while I was in Perth, and I have to say it was a good recommendation!

Accident in the kitchen

Well, the pumpkin soup is essentially finished, but not put through the blender yet … I ended up getting Lisa to heat up a can of soup for me to eat with some homemade damper fresh from the oven.  It didn’t get finished because Lisa couldn’t stand the smell of the soup (it has a teaspoon of cumin in it, and she can’t bear the smell apparently!).  Anyway, the reason I couldn’t get to finish it myself is because I had a small accident in the kitchen with the meat cleaver! 

All limbs are still attached, but I did manage to slice right through the nail in the middle of my finger (the finger next to my little finger, thankfully on my left hand) … luckily my reflexes kicked in a bit so I managed to not take the top of my finger off!  Needless to say there was a fair bit of blood, and I broke out in a nauseous sweat thinking I was going to pass out.  But after I stopped the bleeding, I called out to Lisa to give me a hand with some Savlon and a large band-aid.  She wanted to take me to see a doctor, but I figured the bleeding had stopped, and they could hardly stitch it, so there was no point.  The nail itself seems to be sliced right through, but as long as I keep something covering it while it grows out, I figure it should be alright (although perhaps a tetanus shot may be worthwhile hmmm).

The pain was pretty intense for a while, but my nursemaid Lisa made me sit down and drink a soft drink to give me some sugar and fluids in my system (apparently I was as pale as a ghost).  I then had something to eat and took a couple of Nurofen and eventually the pain eased off, and is so far OK as long as I don’t touch the nail with anything.  I got stir-crazy and sat looking at my hand, and figured I just might be able to stitch (much to Lisa’s amazement as I’d been ordered to sit down and rest without doing anything … but I just couldn’t do it).  Anyway, sure enough it was a bit uncomfortable at first getting used to holding the needle differently so I didn’t touch that finger, but I actually managed to get a fair bit stitched tonight!  I think it helped to calm me and take my mind off my injury more than anything else!

Here’s the result of my stitching efforts tonight … I’m now hitting the hay after taking another couple of Nurofen to help me rest during the night.  Fingers crossed tomorrow it will still be relatively painfree, otherwise I just might have to make a visit to the local medical centre …

French Monogram III by Twisted Oaks Designs
Tuffet - front
stitched in DMC 115, on 32ct cream Belfast linen
(as usual at 1.30am the colours are not true to life)