I’m so happy it’s the end of the working week. To cap off an awful few days I lost the car this afternoon for a few minutes!
But I come home to this feeling so it’s not that bad really, is it?
Author Archives: paulainauckland
Saw this, thought of Jenna
Perhaps this is what I should put on your bookmark?!
Flags
There was a conversation on FB yesterday about the exorbitant prices some people demand for OOP charts. ME, I prefer to swap or RAK things. We’re all on budgets, we all discover designers or likes at different times so why use something so beautiful/theraputic as a money maker?
Anyways, one of the charts in question was the Mirabilia Lady of the Flag. I personally am not in love with this one, more because I can’t work out how to re-chart it to depict my country’s flag and to “victorianise” the figure. One of my countrymen piped up in the conversation “you mean the REAL flag, right?”
Oh yes. This is my current political soapbox. The idiot Prime Minister has been steadfastly ignoring the public opinion and is going ahead with a $26M referendum to pit five potential flag candidates against each other next month, then the winner against our current flag next year. What a waste of money.
retarded flags
As for me, I’m following the Returned Serviceman’s Association’s stance. This ballot will be featuring my writing “we support the current flag”.
our flag flying over war graves in Egypt
WIP Wednesday
Woo hoo! I actually have some WIP progress to share with y’all. It’s taken four days but I have nearly finished beading the wallpaper and hair portion of Persephone. I am not used to back-stitching a Mira’s skin with two strands, but it was definitely right to do:
she looks so pretty!
The only thing I am not happy about is that the Mill Hill beads 82023 (the long brown tubes) take up FIVE spaces not the four as charted. You can clearly see the issue in this shot where the one on the right leans, because the end is on a stitch, & the light bounces off it differently:
I don’t know what to do about it; I may not notice in a year or so & I can adjust my stitching for the bodice etc where these bugle beads will next appear. I don’t really want to re-stitch but given that I am now determined to frog those hands on Stargazer that annoy me, it means that I probably will notice! What do you think?
Inheritance
Last week a workmate’s mother lost her fight against cancer. Judith was also a stitcher, and I am very fortunate that I have been given a large portion of her stash. The only request was from her husband, asking that I finish her Grecian sampler (that’s the one started below on the white linen). It’s quite unlike anything I have in my current WIP pile, and definitely one for my “16 in 2016” list.
Also included is this sampler. I took the notes from a historical sampler blog www.Needleprint.blogspot.com
This stunning sampler from the Wyndham and District Historical Museum in NZ, which was likely stitched by Mary Meikle in 1836. It is probable that Mary was born to Robert Meikle and Sarah McPherson in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Robert’s name is worked in black, the custom being that he was deceased at the time of stitching. In fact, Sarah went on to marry Andrew Wilson in 1826, who would have become Mary’s step-father. I particularly like the variation on the dedication: I have done this to let you see how kind my parents were to me. Which feels a little less remote than the usual – what good care my parents took of me. This is such a fabulous Scottish sampler with its large thistle, cupped garlands, row of family initials and the distinctive paired urns in the lower corners. But not only that, there are two darling confronting birds perched on a heart over the word Amor – Love. And look at the labelled deer and lepord. And for good measure, at the base is a Solomon’s Temple above which the date stands with its quirky reversal of the numeral 3. For your copy of this sampler contact Sherelyn at Heirlooms, NZ or visit the Heirlooms web-site.
I’ve never stitched a historical sampler – or any really, apart from birth records. Has anyone out there done one?
Monday, marvelous Monday
I am pretty happy this morning, even tho I am at work! I did no computer work over the weekend (yesterday’s post was via they Swype keyboard on my phone) and go into the week relatively pain-free. The steering wheel is causing a bit of grief & I don’t really like typing or mousework but ten minute bursts will be fine.
i managed 80-odd beads over the weekend. Slow progress, but it’s still progress. I went back & filled in the missing one after this photo.
Persephone as at 8th November
Having that stand is awesome.
Also, the full Skid Row crew is at work today. I’ve already lol’d and just about spat my breakfast out at one point. Laughter really is the best. Claire’s version of the Lizzie*Kate best describes my workmates:
Bonfire!
Last night was the Second Annual Tasker Bonfire, and like last year hosted by my FIL down at his Hobsonville farmlet.
Highlights: the boys (3 generations!) made a guy
And carried it down to the fire
Friends came over with their families. There were 9 kids from three 15 yo all the way down to Mase just kicking the balls around, making up stupid jokes and having a great time.
After dinner it was dark enough to light the fire.
Perspective proves it really was that high to start with! But it soon came down enough to make steve-style smores; toast/burn/obliterate your marshmallows, slap between two Griffins chocolate this and eat. Nom nom.
Apart from sparklers and some other fancy stuff,
no one was really interested in the fireworks. There was the noise from Whenuapai base but everyone was content to sit and be. And watch a neighbor release beautiful Chinese style lanterns.
It was a good good night.
Book Review: Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
- Subtitle: loving, leaving and finding the church
- Publisher: Nelson Books
- Subject: 248.843 religion/spiritual growth/Christian life
- Recommended by: Jessica N Turner
- Author blog/website: www.rachelheldevans.com/
- Moments for me: there’s a lot of reasons people leave the church – mine was not hers but this is very thought provoking.
Blurb: Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn’t want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals–church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet, despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing her back to Church. And so she set out on a journey to understand Church and to find her place in it. Centered around seven sacraments, Evans’ quest takes readers through a liturgical year with stories about baptism, communion, confirmation, confession, marriage, vocation, and death that are funny, heartbreaking, and sharply honest. A memoir about making do and taking risks, about the messiness of community and the power of grace, Searching for Sunday is about overcoming cynicism to find hope and, somewhere in between, Church.
While I always have called myself Christian, I’ve been away from “church” for a long time. Hypocrisy, one-upmanship, jealousy, gossip, simply feeling like l don’t belong – those are all valid reasons why I walked away from certain places. It’s not a valid reason as to why I am not at or searching for THE church that will be my second home. I don’t agree with every viewpoint that Evans has but there are enough points for me to have really enjoyed the thoughts this book provoked, even if I am uncomfortable with some of my thoughts. I’m not going into all those thoughts here on the blog, as they are for my consumption but here’s some portions of the book I am thinking on.
Talking about Hands (relevant verse 2 Timothy 1:6 “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands”) There is power in touch – a connective energy, a bond…Jesus didn’t have to touch the blind man’s eyes or the leper’s sores, but he did…the church blessed its sick and commissioned its leaders ith the laying on of hands…the hands that pass the peace can past a meal to the man on the street, the hands that cup together to receive Christ in the bread will extend to receive Christ in the immigrant, the refugee, the lonely, or the sick. Hands plant, and uproot, and cook, and caress. They repair, and rewire, and change diapers and dress wounds. Hands tickle giggling children and wipe away tears. Hands rub heaving bellies of big, ugly dogs. Hands sanctify all sorts of ordinary things and make them holy. My hands bless my family & workmates by what they do, a non-verbal way of saying that “I care about you & what I can do for you”.
The Meal: The first thing the world knew about Christians was that they ate together…rich and poor, slaves and free, Jews and Gentiles, men and women to celebrate the day the whole world changed…they remembered Jesus with food, stories, laughter, tears, debate, discussion and clean up…the focus was not in Jesus’ death, but rather on Jesus’ friendship. Later on in the same section, Evans continues: I need the Eucharist because I need to begin each week with open hands…because I need to practice letting go and letting in…because I need to quit keeping score. Or in the words of Alexander Schememann “No one is worthy to receive communion. No one is prepared for it. At this point all merits, all righteousness, all devotions disappear and dissolve. Life comes again to us as a Gift”.
On Church: but the gospel doesn’t need a coalition devoted to keeping the wrong people out. It needs a family of sinners, saved by grace, committed to tearing down the walls, throwing open the doors and shouting “Welcome! There’s bread and wine. Come eat with us and talk.” This isn’t a Kingdom for the worthy; it’s a kingdom for the hungry. Don’t look at everyone else as worthier than myself. Be secure in the knowledge that I am God’s too, and I am loved.
On Healing & stuff like that: the truth is, the church doesn’t offer a cure. It doesn’t offer a quick fix. The church offers death and resurrection. The church offers the messy, inconvenient, gut-wrenching, never-ending work of healing and reconciliation. The church offers grace. The Church offers grace.
Hi Five for Friday!
I’m feeling so so grateful right now. Here are some things I love this week:
- The doctor & physio are on the same wavelength & ACC has approved the claim. I have a referral to a hand specialist already!
- Simon fixed my old tapestry stand. It took me about an hour to attach the fabric to the strips on the frame (I kept stopping to rest my hand and to oogle the sheds in George Clarke’s Shed of the Year) & I will have to learn to stitch either with two hands or left handed, but I will be able to stitch! Next step is to sort out a smaller frame so I can stitch smaller projects.
- The forecast for the weekend is awesome. School fundraiser fireworks show tonight, bonfire at the FIL’s hobby farm tomorrow. Neither will be rained out.
- Plenty of flowers on my dwarf apple, and lots of bumble bees!
- I started shopping for the 12 Days of Simon that I will do again in December. I have a set of Jelly Moulds (that will be day 8, as there are 8 moulds) & a T ornament (for his last name).
- While one of the fish I brought last week didn’t thrive, it was easy to get a replacement. Meet Refund (the grey gourami, he’s very curious about hoomans) and Reward (the yellow gourami, I used my reward voucher to pay for him). Yay for Animates.
Reblogged: Tell other parents they are awesome, please
When I was a single parent, I had a transformative experience that I still think about often. Really often. I was at a restaurant with my then 2 ½-year-old son and he was hanging out in the small outdoor play area. There was a row of seats along the edge of the play area where myself and other pa
sewscrapmuse 