Category Archives: grateful

February WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, me, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is hosted by Mel at her blog http://measi.net/measiblog/ – or you can click on the icon on the right 🙂

Question of the Month: If you have any of your pieces on display in your home which attracts the most plaudits?

I don’t actually have anything of my own on permanent display at home, just the ones I pull out at Christmas for the tree. I have lots waiting to be framed, and ornies made for me in exchanges, but the pieces I have had framed are displayed in other people’s houses. All anyone can see in my house is whichever WIP is currently on the scroll frames! Right now, that’s Persephone and my new start, Afternoon in London by Country Cottage Needleworks. This is after two evenings:

363e59ad9083b6f297924642bd6ec158At work I am teaching Kimberley to stitch! Her grandma loves pigs, but is sadly very ill and heading to hospice soon. Kim wanted to do something to honour her grandma – learn a craft her grandma loves to make something very personal. She chose this wee design  & I kitted it up for her. We had a session on Tuesday and I had multiple people tell me how cute it was to see her working away during her breaks! Love sharing life skills.

 

As for myself, I had a follow up with the GP yesterday, as I’m in week 3 of this low level headache. Something to *woot!* about – my iron levels are 36. That’s thirty-freaking-six, peeps. It’s not been that high since I was a newbie teenager working at MedLab. And I am now trialling Nortriptyline on a half-dose as a preventer. Apparently it’s an anti-depressant/stop-smoking agent in full dose 25mg – but I’m on the baby 10mg. I took it at 8pm and was snoring by 9pm. This morning I woke at 2, went to the bathroom then straight back to sleep. No anxious dreams. I do feel a little hung-over which apparently is a side-effect for a week or so but even that is less than the headache. Things look good, today!

I have lots and lots of smalls to share later on in the week too. Happy today.

The Cousins are Over

Posted in 16 in 2016, conversion details, cross stitch, family, freebies, friends, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin by

And if you’re a FB friend, you’ll have seen that we have been very, very busy each evening. Combined with the fiscal year end here at work, I’ve barely had any space to stitch. However, we do have a finish! My second for #16in2016. This is the Mirabilia 2004 Cherub with Tree freebie, with lots of conversions:

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The changes are:

Original Used Notes Original Used Notes
310 823   500 319  
356/758   1/2 strands 502 320  
356/434   2/1 strands 598 932  
839 938   926 931  
3052 3022   3756/3811 3753  
3768 930   Kreinik 009 2 strands

Backstitch: 2 strands 844 for border & wings, 356 for skin & 310 for lashes.

Beads: N in the border 02026 to 03050; O in the border/hair + collar went from 02010 to 00161; tree is all 03050 except the star is 03016; O in the dress is all 02026.

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Orewa beachfront

On Saturday we escaped the mugginess of the city and went for a tour north of the city. We did Waiwera pools to relax (I want this place, but Ben says 650-700K and I just about choked, so that’s a no https://www.barfoot.co.nz/562286 ) and ended up at Orewa for dinner. There’s a good takeaways on the edge opposite Hillary Square, and we trudged across the road to the beachfront. We drove home via Riverhead (which is where I wanted to live, but now I’m thinking the village vibe is going to disappear in the new subdivisions that are spreading out).

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the boys at Arataki, looking out towards Manukau Heads

Sunday was a bit easier – Sharon’s place, then Arataki, down across town to Devonport (proper lager at the pub, apparently) and home for dinner.

 

20160208_201656_011.jpgYesterday was recovery day, so Si & his dad chain-sawed pine trees for the gf & grandma to last them a couple of winters, then BBQ at Grandad’s – and no summer Barbie is complete without a game of cricket. See Mase in the front left, in blue? From that spot he threw the ball to the far wicket and ran Zac out. Amazing arm on that kid.

Today is the first day all three boys are at school – hallelujah! –  so of course I’m celebrating this by being at work. Hmm. Something is wrong with this picture. At least I have Rahenna’s piece to stitch on. By default I’ve ended up with Lily of the Valley, which I haven’t stitched before.

Poppy reminds me of Anne, as it was one of her finishes last year. Hey, Anne!

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January WIPocalypse

Posted in 16 in 2016, conversion details, cross stitch, freebies, goals, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is into year 5! I’ve only been participating for one of these, but it’s a monthly check-in I want to make time for. WIPocalypse is hosted by Mel at her blog http://measi.net/measiblog/

Question of the Month: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

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Me & the Moon at Mission Bay

Well, nothing much has changed since last January. I’m still in the same house, same job, same everything really – only the projects have moved on. We are very nearly done with the SIL’s house reno so that will open up more free time. The Screaming Teen turned 16 on Saturday and has passed the first year of his major exams; Zachary Quack is about to turn 13 & start high school (he has a scholarship, I was so proud I nearly burst) and Mase the Ace is posting his own Lego creations on my Instagram account. This is what you get when you have gifted kids and are stupid enough to use hubby’s new extension number as your cell pin.

I am up to the very last panel of a Mirabilia Round Robin – this one belongs to Crafty Rahenna. Then mine will come home! I’m pretty excited as I haven’t even seen an update for nearly a year now.

IMG_20160124_214031.jpgBut before I move onto the RR, I want to finish one piece so I have something completed on my #16in2016 list. Cherub with Tree is an older freebie by Nora Corbett, and I started her as a coverage experiment in June or July 2014, before putting her away and focussing on the Audubon St birds that are on the same fabric. She is on 25ct white Lugana, stitched 3 over 2, with 2 strands as the backstitch. I found that the darker threads don’t have as much coverage as the lighter (lots of others have commented the same with DMC) but overall I’m pretty happy with the result. Lots and lots of conversions (hubby chose the dress colours & is really pleased with the outcome). I think maybe another week and this will be done!

One thing I am doing for 2016 is keeping a separate portion of my diary for stitching goals AND keeping my WIP blog page updated with pics as I rotate. I have a page in my planner with my #16in2016 rotation goals – I am determined to be an adult about things this year. My trial isn’t time-based but section based. I didn’t think week about would work for me. So here we go:

  1. Mirabilia Mermaids of the Deep. First goal in December was to start the top mermaid and stitch the skin & hair. That took 11 days (altho some days I only put in a couple of threads!) and the next goal will be to complete the DMC in her tail.

I had a couple of days in between this one and my #newyearnewmira so I threw Roses of Provence up onto the stand to see if I wanted to add her to the rotation. And yes – she is back in.

  1. Mirabilia Raven Queen. My #newyearnewmira start in the FB group. My goal was to complete the border for the top half & get the architecture on the LHS done. I am doing the beads & Kreinik as I go. Next goal is the architecture on the RHS, including the Raven.
  2. Nora Corbett Cherub with Tree. The goal was to complete the LHS background and her hair – and that took 3 days so she stayed on the frame. This one will be my second finish for the year! My first is saved for the Smalls check-in later on this week.
  3. Mirabilia Roses of Provence. There’s a couple of others doing her as well in their rotations. Next goal is to get the tree and roses done. Beading as I go.
  4. Nora Corbett Blitzen. Goal is to get his body and the ribbons that connect him to Rudolph completed.
  5. Mirabilia Persephone. Next goal is to get her left arm and the “jellyfish” on the LHS finished. Then it’s onto her dress conversion!
  6. Nora Corbett Arezzo. This is my over 1 conversion. Goal is to get the lower pink roses done. I’m toying with using petite beads for the last lot of roses – talk about a glutton for punishment!
  7. Semco Toy Story sampler. Next goal is to get the dinosaur done.
  8. Teresa Wentzler Tapestry Cat. Next goal is to get the cat body done.

In addition I want to do a Small each month and drop in another couple of things – Simon has his eye on the Satsuma St “Pretty Little” series. He’s English, so London is perfect; he’s been to Paris, so that’s an obvious choice and we both love Sydney, so there’s 3. Smalls apart from this month will likely be the Joyful World SAL that I linked to the other week & the Tuscan Garden will replace Cherub as a Mini (my thought pattern is Small (Ornament)/Mini/Medium (a Nora Corbett size)/Large (a proper Mira size)/Yep That’s Big (Teresa Wentzler)/Absolutely Freaking Not No Way (HAED equivalent)).

Looking forward to reading some of the other WIPocalypse posts – jump on in!

RIP to the Goblin King

Posted in grateful, me, music by

Not that I want to be jumping on the bandwagon, but David Bowie is a man I’ll miss. His musical gifts were strong, and he could make himself into another character so thoroughly – if you’re a master criminal you should be taking lessons (or maybe not).

I love Labyrinth. I could identify with Sarah (drama much?) especially as my conflicts with my working mother increased and so did my childcare duties. Sorry Rob – it was always you I gave away to Jareth. My own children could probably sing along to several of his songs without even thinking, as his music is so much a part of this generations’ culture too.

as the world falls

I admire too the way in which he conducted himself media-wise. There’s a lot of shock floating around, that his cancer battle was so private but that is exactly what it should have been. As a fan I didn’t have a right to know what was going on in his personal life, and I wish today’s “celebrity” would get on board with that. Kimye, I’m talking to you. And to his family, I thank you for sharing a piece of your David with us.

RIP, David.

Sharing is Caring! Trade in your resolutions for this one thing

Posted in grateful, me by

I follow Tsh’s podcast (the Simple Show) & her blog. Love how it’s the simple things that can make my life move from good to great. And if you’re curious, my intention this year is to track my stitch spend. So far it’s at $ZERO – I am using what I have. Which is a very very good thing!

“Making my bed is dumb.” I was VERY opinionated about making my bed as a child. “Why spend all that time fixing it up, when I’m just going to get in it again tonight and NO ONE is going to see it anyway?” In what I can only attribute to childhood genius, I even went

Source: Trade in your resolutions for this one thing

Wow

Posted in family, grateful, me, photos, work by

Apologies #sorrynotsorry if you follow me on IG or are a Facebook friend as I am spamming you with this image. I’m so so so overwhelmed by the perfection of this year’s Secret Santa gift. And amazed that Mase kept the secret for two whole sleeps!

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My santa was Rory who does all the catalogue still photography here at work (& keen eyed peeps might remember he does the club shots too). He and Simon got the four kids together for this.

I cried. Then I laughed at Hamish,  who genuinely believed all I got was a photo frame with someone else’s kids in it.

Best santa gift ever.

WIP Wednesday

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, friends, grateful, house - gardens, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

It’s been an…uhh…weird Wednesday.

I got audited for the second part of my job today. Given that I practically invented the process, with minimal input, and I’m getting the outcome my boss wanted, I think I’m sound okay. But it was odd to explain my reasoning and go over scenarios with someone who is removed from the process. In a way I hope he comes up with some suggestions as I am not sure that I can’t refine the process somewhat.

Sarah was feeling as “done like a dinner” add I was so we went walking to Kings on the other side of Fowlds Park. She got advice about her magnolia and I brought herbs. I need more potting mix but the Bay & the Rue are in new pots where hopefully they can stay for a while. I also noticed my Little Bo Peep rose is covered in flowers.

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My Twitter secret santa arrived! Jinny must have paid attention. I have plans for the white one in particular; white kreinik and beads to make it shine. I’m waiting to see if Jen got hers (stalking TBH).

And on the stitching front, as you can see from the IG feed, I’ve got started on Mermaids of the Deep Blue. I did re-chart her hand as it looked odd.

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I think I’ll be onto her face just as soon as I finish with the skin on her chest.

What are you up to?

High 5 for Friday!

Posted in 12 Days of Gifting, cross stitch, family, grateful, High Five For Friday, me, Mirabilia, round robin by

It’s been a busy few weeks. To be honest, I am struggling – with pain & loss of function, the return of the Screaming Teen, a tired partner, feeling oh-so-obliged – and being grateful went by the wayside.

Yesterday was a big day in the household; (bottom left) Mase’s group had a concert at school (they are repeating it at local resthomes today & for the public on Saturday evening) and (top left) Zac graduated intermediate. He also got a Service award!

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(top right) I am very nearly at the end of Lenna’s tail – there has been a bit of juggling to get the colours right in the roses. I can’t justify the drive across town for the three Waterlillies threads, especially as I’d be in so much discomfort after, so I dug in my 3 thread boxes and came up with something true to the original picture but also unique.

Mase is totally into Christmas – the last pic of the layout is my new Rudolph. He kind of reminds me of Beaker from the Muppets!

I am just about at the end of the “12 Days of Simon” for this year – but I think I will just number them and place them under the tree. I saw this boy at Living & Giving today & it’s perfect for Day 11 – my (frog) Prince 🙂 cheesy, yes. Who cares? If you’re looking for something similar, these are by Zoku and widely available world-wide.

frog prince

November Smalls

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, Smalls SAL by

Smalls SAL is a monthly stitch-along hosted by Heather @ Stitching Lotus. This months’ post is here

My Small really is a small, but a big achievement for me. Mr Darcy only took 3 hours, from re-charting a Cloudsfactory (I changed the shape a little and definitely the dimensions) to picking threads to stitching. And thanks to the stand from Andrea, NO PAIN.

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Dear Darcy will be heading off to Jenna next week!