WIP Wednesday #205, WIPocalypse & SFS

IMG_20170927_082813Well – I *might*have blown Stitch From Stash. If I spend nothing more & have no finishes, I will end up at $16.03 at December, which is a very small amount indeed (if we are calculating the whole year, which thankfully we’re not, I’d be at -$88.49 & not in credit until April 2018!!). But it is OK, as I am happy, & unlikely to spend heaps between now and January except on the odd skein or two. Gail so very kindly loaned me Fairy Idyll!!! I have been wanting to stitch this 1996 chart for ages, & couldn’t find it for love or money. So I brought a piece of Applemint Lugana from Catherine at Countrystitch especially for it. This needs to be my focus piece until I complete her. Luckily there is plenty to hold my interest & keep me going!

 Monthly Allowance $25.00
Hospice – MLI Shepherd -1.00
Hospice – JCS pile -2.00
RR Spend -91.00
Fox Collec. Mill Hills -53.84
Countrystitch Applemint -42.60
SELL MLI Blueberry 5.00
Mia Mermaid 15.35
Hawaii Santa Conversion 10.00
Florence Santa x2 20.00
Rollover $56.12
Total Available Budget -$58.97

And this month I finished two of the Florence version of the Mill Hill Renaissance Santa’s, & then found that the Fox Collection sold them MUCH cheaper than the LNS. I’m talking ten bucks cheaper per item, people. Now, I work retail so I understand margin & if it had been only a couple of dollars, I wouldn’t have brought from the online. But overall twenty dollars is substantial.

And I also spent $91 at the LNS, on fabric, Thread Heaven (before it disappears entirely), speciality threads (Waterlillies are ten dollars each here), beads etc. Thank goodness for the finishes I had!

This month, in addition to finishing Mia Mermaid, Hawaii Santa, Florence Santa x2, I also started the Jamaica Santa for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, worked on Nantucket Rose’s tree canopy, finished Blitzen (except the ribbons) is done on my Reindeer Parade & I started Prancer. And of course I managed to work out the start point and did four threads of Fairy Idyll last night (Simon has discovered Taskmaster, & it’s hard to do a new start when you are watching something interesting and laughing you’re a$$ off). So far this month I’ve only had one day where I didn’t stitch at all.

Topic of the Month: Which floss (or colour of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly? I’m really only buying thread as I need it. It’s too expensive to stash, but I have recently started using and loving GAST, so if I had a few extra dollars, I’d be buying that, & probably in blues. I really need to finish that Persephone in blue…

Note: SFS is a closed facebook group hosted by Stephanie (Ms Oh Sew Crafty). Registrations for the first part of 2018 will be opening up later this year. WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi over on her blog and in facebook. Click on the link to the right to be taken to the blog.

Sharing Is Caring: The Doodle Rant Is Over

Let me start this by saying that I am not apologizing for my furious rant on facebook. I was angry, angrier than I have been in quite some time and my feelings have merit and I can’t apologize for that. But I fell into the trap. The trap set by those that want division in […]

via An open letter to anyone….. — crochetmyheart

SO – Farrah is a very good friend of mine. If I could, I’d be at her house everyday (but I haven’t yet convinced hubs we need to visit TX, let alone move there). And while I may not agree with everything she has to say, there are some good take-away points here that apply to anyone, be you from the US, UK, NZ, Australia – wherever. Whatever age you are. Whatever your background is. Whatever your religion is. Whatever.

  1. I can try to be better, act better, live better.   I can only try to treat my fellow humans in the manner I want to be treated….with respect and love and understanding. I may not agree with you, but you deserve at least that from me… if it’s earned.
  2. And we didn’t invent racism.  At least I didn’t. But only we can eradicate it.
  3. Protest your cause.  Peacefully.  If you want someone to respect you, try showing a little respect to them.  If you want someone to listen, try listening yourself.  If you want to make a change….

    Change yourself first.  We seldom see the ugliness in ourselves until it’s too late.

  4. And until we learn to respect, accept and love each other, NOTHING will change.  It’s our actions, not our words, that will prove to be effective.

Bowentown & Karangahake

BowentownThis past weekend, we left B at home (he’s too cool for family stuff, LOL, plus had refereeing commitments) & the four of us went out of Auckland to relax. As is always the way, it took longer to get out of Auckland than the rest of the drive but once we were on the way, it was awesome. Dinner in Paeroa & we see someone from Dad’s work *eyeroll* can’t go anywhere in private!

The house we rented was a decent size 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 lounge that would sleep 8 easy – if anyone wants the detail, please hit me up – and in a really quiet spot well away from the usual holiday residences/camp grounds. Bowentown is down the end of the mini-peninsula from Waihi Beach, which is both more touristy and more settled.  It was a few minutes to walk to the beach, tennis courts, petanque, playground etc & the boys wanted to do everything – except petanque, as apparently that’s only for adults who like wine. Me, in other words.

Saturday morning was GLORIOUS. We were out on the beach exploring as soon as everyone woke & was fed. I had woken at 4 & curled up with coffee, stitching & my eReader. You know it’s time to get up when the other half steals all the duvet, right? So I got to watch the sunrise and drink coffee in peace. Once everyone else was up we went for a long ramble along the beach…

After the beach & a snack we headed out to Karangahake Gorge. On the map above, it’s a little bit to the left of Waikino. This is the site of old gold works & battery, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) who manage the site do a great job. Of course the first person we see is someone we know *eyeroll* but this time it’s Z’s rugby coach Keryn & the Year 12 drama class from college. Z’s year 10, but you could tell the kids were eyeing each other up with the “do I know you?” look.

Anyway, I love this region. History combined with water combined with forest. I am never keen on being enclosed in underground & that 1.1km tunnel does stretch my limits! However the boys love exploring, doing boy things like climbing on old bridge supports, throwing rocks in the river, jumping over streams, bouncing on swing bridges so we happily spent several hours walking. Technically, if you didn’t look at anything and just walked on the one track, it’s only 3.2km & that’s less than an hour.

3a82d9c2bbeb4bcbc1d673c1ef300701--cornwall-new-zealandWe dragged the boys thru a couple of the antique/junk shops in Paeroa (I got a rare ash tray from the 1940 Centennial exhibition. I’m collecting the rarer stuff as it’s cooler to me but as often was in everyday use, hard to find). But they weren’t into it, so we headed to the supermarket then back to the rental.

That evening we napped, had dinner then watched the election coverage until about 11. It was clear reasonably early on that we wouldn’t have a clear government come Sunday, and in fact we might have to wait a fortnight for the special votes to be counted. I’m OK with that. I won’t get into how I voted (we have MMP or mixed member proportional system so you get two votes, one for the person you wish to be your local MP & one for the party you want to govern). Interestingly, it would appear that the Maori Party is gone completely with less than 1% of the total vote. All the Maori electorate seats went to Labour Party (the left) representatives. I don’t agree with many of their policies obviously, being of the “white settler” background & also having no time for racism or secularism or many “ism” at all, but I was astonished none of their candidates made it thru.

Sunday was a bit cooler than the day before. Everyone else slept late, as you should on holiday, but we again explored the area. Si & the boys went to tennis, while I sat lazing in the sun. I did most of the packing & cleaning while they were still in bed, so that there was as little fuss as possible. Being boys, there was still fuss!

We walked around Waihi Beach and surprise! Again there’s someone we know *eyeroll* Z’s principal & his wife. Who were not there with the drama group, but staying at their bach. Then the drive home, & the sheer delight of crawling into our own beds…

If you got to the end of this and asked – but what about the stitching? – rest assured. There’s plenty to show you on Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday #204

Yay! Most everybody got back to me after last week’s announcement (& a bit of social media nagging). The only person who didn’t was Carol, for Poppy Field. So, without further ado, I’ve redrawn this via Random Number Generator, & congrats to ANNE SHAW!

I’ve mostly been stitching at work during breaks, or while travelling. None of my big projects have grabbed me, altho I have put a few more threads into Nantucket Rose over the weekend, and so I’ve been working on two versions of the Florence Renaissance Santa, by the designer Sandra Cozzolino for Mill Hill. One on the perforated paper that comes with the kit, and another on clear 14ct plastic canvas. One for Lou, & one for me. It was Zac’s idea that I stitch both at the same time, as I haven’t created the second of the ones I stitched last year nor the two from earlier this year, & I think it’s worked. I’m up to the beading!

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And because yesterday (here in NZ) was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I started both versions of Jamaican Caribbean Santa from this year’s series. Arg, me hearties…

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WIP Wednesday #203 #passthestash winners!

Firstly, THANK YOU all for your interest, and the lovely comments. It was lovely warm fuzzies reading them all.

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So without further ado, here are the winners. Please email me at paulainauckland AT gmail DOT com (replacing the capital words) with the subject line #passthestash & your postal details by September 19th,. If I haven’t heard from you by then, I will re-draw that chart & ask the new winner to email me on the following WIP Wednesday. Note: I used Random.Org to generate the winners.

As I thought she would be, given that I mostly seem to stitch Mira/Nora Corbetts & so do a lot of my readers, Inkberry was the most popular chart. But there really was something for everyone which made me happy.PassTheStash.JPG

UPDATE: Both Amanda & Kristen have been in touch – your charts were posted today, Sept 14th.

EVEN MORE UPDATED: I’ve also heard from Cassandra & Pat, and your charts are posted today, Sept 15th.

Sharing Is Caring: Floss Conversion Charts

In her Friday Finds, Alice C linked to the Spruce’s post of DMC to whatever (& vice versa) thread conversions. It’s really really useful & one you should bookmark, especially if you’re on a budget & can only find/afford DMC. I will second their comment regarding converting Weeks Dye Works to DMC – use two different DMC threads to get a truly unique piece of work.

Alice C’s blog is HERE – she is a new designer too & very clever! check her out.

 

WIP Wednesday #202 part deux – Andromeda conversion details

I’ve just been reminded that I forgot to post my finish of Andromeda & the promised conversion details! Sorry to anyone who has been waiting. C’s surgery drama made it slip my mind completely. I haven’t even taken her to the framers.

IMG_20170711_144441_382.jpgSo- she is stitched on 28ct Antarctic Storm lugana from Catherine at Countrystitch. The x in her waves is as charted; the x in her robe is changed. I presume you have the chart already but if not – NZ based I recommend either Countrystitch or Stitch NZ sites, & state-side, I love the team at Down Sunshine Lane.

Andromeda
DMC Kreinik
163 (rocks) #4 braid in 850
DMC DMC
blanc 3756
762 3813
3743 993
211 992
3747 3851
414 991
844 3847
3836 3814
3740 3847
MILL HILL CHANGES
10001 02058
16608 03035
62047 03035

WIP Wednesday #202 Mia Mermaid conversion details

IMG_20170905_173537_725.jpg

A question first: is it ironic, or just life, that the first day I really need to take hayfever tablets is also the day it’s pouring down? I would have thought the pollens would be washed away! Never mind, at least I know Spring is officially here!

Last night I finished Mia Mermaid, the Australian freebie from the Mirabilia meet up this year. The fabric is one I brought from the close-out in Rotorua so it cost a whopping $2.50. I *think* it’s a Zweigart parsley or sage. I know it’s a 28ct evenweave. I did splurge out & grab some Gentle Arts Sampler threads that caught my eye & appeared to match. I really liked using them, more so than Waterlillies. I think I will swap out more often in the future.

Because if the thread splurge I used beads from my stash & I’m a little dodgy about the lighter green. I may frog that eventually. Or I may just call it good.

Mia Mermaid
DMC GAST
964 evergreen
958 silver fern
3371 dark chocolate
DMC DMC
934 935
CWL GAST
207 mistletoe
83 pine
137 toffee
MILL HILL CHANGES
03021 03044
10001 02022
02097 00525