Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I am so Lucky

To have so many wonderful stitching friends. Susan, Diane, Cathy & Marilyn came over on Sunday afternoon. We had a wonderful time. Stitching people are so lovely. Diane bought her Chatelaine's Medieval Mandala over. It is just mouth watering. The colours are gorgeous and Diane's stitching is so perfect. We also other pieces that she bought over. Susan bought over her Cross Eyed Cricket piece called Walk in the Woods. It is also lovely. Cathy wowed us with some of the exchanges she received and her SB bag that she had finished. Then I had another Kathy and Marilyn again come over on Monday and then on Tuesday I went out with Kathy, Marilyn and my daughter-in-law Laura for lunch and looks in bead shops. Today I was a little flat and low and behold Diane came after to work. What a lovely week it has been.

Anthony enjoyed his first day at school. I am tripping the light fantastic around here with joy because Anthony and school has always been such a worry and concern. He even came home and cooked dinner tonight. Having a happy lad makes such a difference.

Well just wanted to share

Cya

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

I am knackered

I went out today to a wholesale bead place and then we went down to Fremantle and onto "Little Creatures" for lunch. I was a bit disappointed with the bead place but did pick up quite a few of those watchmaker tins for very cheap. They are not really good enough to sell as they are scratched and marked but I am guessing I can get rid of them or use them anyway. LOL No luck with beads for the shop. I am think I am going to have to fax Maria George again and try to get an account.
I am really close to finishing Cloister Garden. I nearly had the last little in-between band done but discovered on the last ray stitch that I had started it one thread in. So the frog started to croak and I am about half pulled out. I would love to chuck it into the corner but strangely enough I feel like finishing it. Or my little brain is talking sensibly for a change. Then it is just one band to go. There is a small Lori Birmingham kit I started last year that is also not that far off finishing that I may pop into the rotation after that and finish that. I have to finish more than 13 this year. Most of my starts are BAPS so anything small is a bit welcome.
I took Anthony shoe shopping when I got back from bead shopping. I hate taking Anthony shoe shopping as he hates wearing shoes and doesn't like 99% of shoes so it is like pulling teeth. Wonders will never cease. First shop and third pair of shoes. Yippee for Spendless Shoes. No brand names for this kid. He is not the least interested in brand name shoes. A whole $29.95 later. So I let him have a you beaut file for school as well. This year has been a cheap start to school. No new uniform needed as the one from last year still fits him. I just have to pay the fees. I will do that in a month or so. And wonders will never cease he is going to walk to Emily's house and walk to school with her. What has come over the boy???? At least he is not sleeping in my room this year with his panic attacks. Instead he is pulling out the sofa bed in the games room and sleeping there. I don't care. If that is how he wants to handle his anxiety then that is fine by me. Walking to school Woohooo!!!!! Did I mention his school is 5 minutes walk away. I usually have to drive him. He does walk home though.
Well looked through my hand dyed fabric. I am such a dickhead. Don't really know what I thought was wrong with them. I do prefer the new dyes though so will keep on with them. Will keep a few of the old colours going. That's all I think.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

God I hate the summer

It is hot here. I hate it. Hot again tomorrow. Why can't we have more winter and less sun? LOL Did I tell you I hate Armadale in the summer. It reminds me of Mingenew in the summer. That was a hell hole I can tell you. At least we have air-conditioning. Just thought I would share that little bit of how I feel about summer. LOL
Well Colours Down Under is getting organised. Laura, Jacob and I have been sorting and sorting. We are nearly done now. Laura is going to rearrange the room. We dyed today. I am in love with my new hand dyes. They are not on site because we haven't named them yet. I think I need to get a life because all I think about is dyeing. Laura tells me it is good to passionate about what I like doing.
Anyway not a lot happened today. I did go to my piano lesson. I love learning to play the piano. It has been about 18 months since I started. It is such a joy and I love to spend the time with Gwen who is not only my teacher but my cousin.
I am going to sign up for quilting classes. I have always been in love with heavily quilted quilts. I bought a kit quite a few years ago. It is white and has the outlines of the quilting to be done on the fabric. I also have the backing piece so I just needed the wadding or whatever it is called. I dropped into a local patchwork & quilting shop this week and have found out when they have classes. Apparently they will help me set it all up. So that is my new thingy for this year.
Did I mention that Tracey from the GTG group phoned yesterday. It was lovely to hear from her and I could hear James in the background. He says no really good. Trace is such a sweetie. I can imagine her gorgeous smile. She has the happiest face I have ever seen. I am so looking forward to catching up with everyone again. How disappointing it is that Susan cannot come. Oh well we will have to make sure we recount every detail to her.

Monday, January 22, 2007

I shouldn't leave it so long in between blogs

Because I end up having too much to say. LOL Well firstly I want to show you my progress on Cloister Garden by Drawn Thread. It is in my rotation. I have not moved onto the next piece because I was enjoying the stitching so much I just wanted to keep on stitching it. It is finishable so I may keep on going until it is completed. Stitching this has made me realise why I love Drawn Thread designs so much. They are such fun and so quick to stitch.
Well life has been busy. Mum turned 79 on Saturday. I can tell you that because they are not on the net and she can't use a computer anyway. In fact, she wont use one and was very nervy for the little time they were on the net. I don't know what she thought was going to happen. They went on the net because my brother Craig went overseas for a few years and it was a way to keep in touch. Mum would read the emails but would not reply to them. We (meaning Jacob and I) were relieved when Craig came home and Mum talked Dad out of having the net on. He is a bit of a bugger my Dad. Not only did he forget how to use different aspects of the computer in between sessions on the computer but he just could not help himself when it came to opening/not opening suspect emails. Jacob constantly had to go over and get rid of virus. (Did I mention they live 5 houses away?) Anyway he does have a computer and we have loaded on a lot of those $9.95 games so he can play Solitaire/Mahjong or whatever to his hearts content.
Anyway I digress. Mum's birthday. My sister Annette and brother Craig and his wife Gail came over for afternoon tea yesterday afternoon. I think Mum really enjoyed herself. I chose to have it here because we have recently found out that Mum's very bad back is not a progression of arthritis as she thought (we didn't) but she had a fall in November (which she didn't tell us about) and fractured a vertebrae. The poor old dear has been in agony. She is stubborn about getting help I can tell you.
Well Marilyn and I are going to our adventure in March. I booked our tickets today. A week in Sydney wont hurt us too much I don't think.
Another thing is that I have decided to discontinue all my hand dye fabric. I have sent a few people in a bit of a flurry but I have been a bit unhappy with them for awhile. After a big meeting with the other two partners we decided to keep my stress levels down we would stop producing this line of hand dyes but never fear for the few who seem to like what I produce there is another range being developed. I will be selling off my hand dyes soon and then when I have the next range ready I will be twisting that boys arm up behind his back to get the new range on the computer.
The picture is a model stitched for me by my dear friend Kathy. It is called Life is Change and is a Cross Stitch Art design. It is stitched on Outback Blue 28 count Jubilee. I am so lucky to have such good and generous friends who help me out with my business by model stitching for me in exchange for a bit of stash and help me make decisions with the business and of course buy my stuff and give me loads of encouragement and confidence to continue.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

I have been learning

How to use this blog even more. Today I have learnt how to put photos in amongst the ramblings. I have added a Stitcher's Link and I would love to add more names to it. Please email me with your link. And I have learnt how to put links within my ramblings so this post is going to have links. LOL
I have been stitching on my rotation that I mentioned in an earlier post. I think once a month I shall post updates on the stitching. The Tiger is being stitched on the days that I stitch. I just put in one or two threads depending. Mai is coming along nicely. I really enjoyed my stitching session on Three Things Sampler. It is such a lovely sampler. I haven't done quite as much as I thought. There is still a bit to go before I can claim a third done. Lastly I have stitched on Peacock Cypher this week.
I should also put in the links to our Kitties pictures. Lindsay was one yesterday. Jacob took some lovely pictures of her. She is such a sweetie. She is the watcher. She likes to keep an eye on what is happening in the house. Just loves to be pet but is not really keen on being picked up. I love her gentle personality. Georgia on the other hand is an extrovert. What a clown. She keeps us in fits of laughter and just loves to be in everything. She also enjoys a cuddle. The two girls have bought such joy into our lives and sure have eased the grief we felt when Mickey was killed. All I can say is thank god for cats.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

My New Rotation


For this year. I have had so much trouble sticking to a rotation but I seem to have found a way I can sort of get the stitching I want to get done, done.

Every time or day I stitch I have to put a length of thread into the dreaded Tigers. This is my official UFO for the year and I hate stitching it. It is for a friend so I have to do it. I am not the sort of person who will just sit down and stitch it to get it done. If I had to do that I wouldn't stitch anything. Anyway this seems to be working for me.

Next during the day I will stitch on a Dimensions Petite kit called Mai (I think it is that one). I started that on 31st December. Well it was a restart really. I put about 20 stitches into the aida in kit and then put it away because I really hate stitching on aida. I am well on the way with this one and it wont be long before I reach the halfway mark. This will be a model for my shop.

Then I have 7 other projects that I have chosen for my night time stitching. I very rarely go out at night so it would be possible (unless I have a flare) to stitch each project each week. But it is not sheep stations, as I would say, if I don't. If I get sick of one of them then I can substitute one of the other 71 projects that are waiting in the wings to be stitched on. actually it would be slightly more than that.

When I have finished Mai I will move up St Sofia to the daytime stitch as I need to get that finished for a shop model as well.

Here are the projects I have chosen in my rotation.

Three Things Sampler by Moira Blacburn. I have nearly a third of that done. I am stitching it over 1.
Cloister Garden by Drawn Thread. I am nearly at the half way mark with this one. Up close it is sickly in colour so I keep stalling with it but when held back it looks terrific. I have chosen quite a sickly pink colour by my most favourite hand dyed fabrics, Silkweavers, called Strawberry Milkshake. It is not a colour I would generally choose but it does look gorgeous. I have also stitched it with two threads instead of one which makes the colours very strong.

Peacock Cypher by Just Nan. I nearly threw this one in the corner. I made a huge mistake on the last band in section 2. It is a big band and I had completed nearly all of it. One of those mistakes that have to be frogged. Well frogged it is and I have done about half of the band again. I had hoped to finish this last year but that mistake was just too much.

The Potting Shed by Shepherd's Bush. I just love this project. I have done about 2 or 3 bands. I wanted this kit for years and then lucky me obtained it at our last TWGTG at the Crewel Gobelin in Sydney for a very little $40.00.

St Sofia. I am not certain how much I have done of this one. Nearly a quarter I think. I am stitching it on my Nasturtium fabric in the Byzantine Colourway. It is gorgeous. It is a shop model and when the days of the shop is over then it will probably go to one of the girls because I don't think it is really my colour scheme.

Miss Hathaway Garden by Marty Bell. This is a restart. I am now doing it on my Outback Blue. I had started it on grey. Why I don't know because I am not fond of the colour grey. It has not very many stitches in it so far.

And last but not least A Medieval Garden by Counted Illuminations. I am starting it tonight. Gorgeous design. I own two designs of this lady and I want one more called Galleon & Sea Monsters and then I will be happy. And if you believe that then you'll believe anything.

My picture tonight is a model stitched for me by the lovely Diane. Her stitching is one of the most perfect stitching I have ever seen. It is such a privilege to have her stitch this model for me. It is a Crossed Stitch Art design called Art Nouveau Lily.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

I had a lovely mail day today.


All my eBay mail arrived today bar one. I am a happy girl. I got in envelope 1 my other Counted Illuminations chart. It is gorgeous. The Medieval Garden one. I would love to start it right away. I also got my 2 Drawn Thread winnings. I got Spring and Winter. I just need Summer now and I have the set. I also got my big parcel. This is my official Christmas present. It was such a yummy parcel. I got Frankincense by The Victoria Sampler with the accessory pack, Chatelaine's The Bluebells, The Magnolia's, The Roses, Rose Lights all with the beads needed and they came in the most gorgeous containers labelled. Oh and I got The Freesia's as well same deal with the beads. I also got two TW kits. The Noah's Ark Sampler and Footprints. I also received a new magazine called at home with Needlework. It was free from the publisher just in case I wanted to advertise in it. Yeah right like we have the money. The gift of stitching was also released. This is one quality magazine,in my opinion, and Kirsten Edwards should be so proud of herself. I have been getting the magazine since edition 1 and I believe the quality of it has doubled and if I was told I could only have one magazine it would be hard to decide between that and SANQ. I think my picture today will be of my Dutch Sampler RR. I just love this RR result. It was not a design just the result of everyone's stitching and them deciding what to put on it.