Author Archives: paulainauckland

Test

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

There’s an awful lot of chatter about the new editor, so I thought I’d try to post as my (android) app updated yesterday too.
So far, so good.
On the stitching side, I’m going with my thoughts of changing out Persephone’s dress. I’m not an aqua/teal person,  I’ll have to change out the brown bugles (oh darn) but here’s my initial floss toss.

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Top row is charted.
Middle row is probable.
Bottom row is the possible. It’s always good to have a set of options!
Have fun this rainy weekend, folks. I’m prepping to get soaked at the concert tonight but hey!  FLEETWOOD MAC BABY!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin by

I’ve managed to complete a little more of Persephone. Much of it while Z was surfing sport channels; it was too hot much of the weekend to spend time outside from 11-3 & I’d rather they didn’t risk sunburn so it’s easy to say yes to TV, board games and so on. I’ve gotten up and worked on her a little each morning (around 20-25 min) and I’m up to the second “jellyfish” as Mase calls them.

She’s going to come off the stand for a few weeks as Lenna’s piece arrived yesterday. She’s big and beautiful! I need to take a decent photo. My options are Siren’s Song, Undine or Moonlight Laguna. I’m not sure which one I’ll choose!

Flags

Posted in Uncategorized by

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

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

our flag flying over war graves in Egypt

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia by

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!

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:

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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

Posted in 16 in 2016, cross stitch, grateful by

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.

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Also included is this sampler. I took the notes from a historical sampler blog  www.Needleprint.blogspot.com

 mary miekle002

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

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, Mirabilia, work by

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

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:

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Bonfire!

Posted in family, food, friends, grateful by

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

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And carried it down to the fire

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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.

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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,

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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.

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It was a good good night.

Book Review: Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans

Posted in books, grateful, growing by
  • 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.

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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.