I have learned some very important lessons this year. I can’t wait to share them with you! Be grateful for EVERY health moment you have 2. Friends will come and go. 3. Do what’s best for you. 4. People make mistakes. 5. Don’t get hung up on the little things 6. People are immature at…
Category Archives: grateful
#craft31days day eight
I’m down to 5% battery so let’s make this quick.
The bathroom is clean & clear of all the debris. 840kg worth, people. My wrist & shoulders hurt. Simon started nailing down the new tile slate tonight. With “help”.
I managed to get a decent hour or two in Fairy Idyll after everyone else went to bed. Hooray! That’s another 250+ stitches in this weekend.
Hope your weekend was as productive!
#craft31days day five
Not much going on tonight. We went to the electronics sale (I updated my tracker, Lou got a new tablet, we got a Wi-Fi extender & stocked up on headphones, as the boys seem to eat the things). I worked a little on Jamaica Santa by Sandra Cozzolino for Mill Hill. Maybe 60 stitches?
#craft31days day four
So no true WIP Wednesday post today & probably not for the rest of October. I’m just planning to stay on track with the #craft31days prompt.
So far I love how much progress I am getting in on Fairy Idyll. This is an older (1996!) Mira that I’ve wanted to do for ages, which is adding to my momentum & work ethic.
Tonight I took The Screaming Teen into his pt session in town. That’s an hour of sitting around; I watched some netflix (the Gaga doc) & stitched, as I’d remembered that but not my hoodie. Doh.
So today maybe 180 stitches plus a bit of BS. I’m trying to do that as I go.
Tomorrow morning my wrist is being scanned, as its not healing fast enough. 8 weeks & I still get pain when I hold something & use force, like a door handle or can opener. It’s frustrating. Hopefully it’s nothing broken.
WIP Wednesday #205, WIPocalypse & SFS
Well – 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.
Bowentown & Karangahake
This 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.
We 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 #200 #passthestash #sprinklestitchykindness CLOSED
Okay then! Let’s get into this.
So the number is very, very arbitrary & we won’t get into my dodgy calculations to work out how many WIP Wednesday posts I’ve done since moving to WordPress. There are a few, so let’s leave it at that & get to the exciting stuff.
After 10 days or so not stitching, I am back working on Nantucket Rose, altho only 2-3 thread lengths per session. Anything more still hurts! I am about a quarter towards my goal of completing the top canopy. I don’t know if I will continue on her past the end of August or swap to my planned Mira month or Return to Hogwarts which are the Stitch Maynia SALs. If I have the fabric I might just start the Clouds Factory Hogwarts House banner pattern.
So. The Good Stuff. I want to #passthestash and #sprinklestitchykindness on you all in chart form. SO, in the comments, please indicate which piece(s) you would like to go in the draw to win. I will post worldwide, but you will only be eligible to win ONE chart. I will be drawing the charts in the order below, so as an example, if you win #1, and have asked to enter #4, you’ll be automatically ruled out of the later draw. You must also be over the age of 18, and entries prior to midnight NZ time on 09/09 will be considered. Winners announced in the WIP Wednesday scheduled for 13/09. Google random generator will be used to pick the winners 🙂
I’ve chosen my favourite designers or themes here. Hopefully there is something to entice everyone!
- Ross Designs White Tiger
- Teresa Wentzler’s Summer Carousel Horse
- DMC Poppy Field (this one does include the threads)
- Country Cottage Needleworks Joy
- Nora Corbett Inkberry (kindly donated by Lynne)
- Little House Needleworks Gourmet Garden
Right. Have fun, share this around, do whatever. TTYL!
Let’s Catch Up, Shall We?
It’s fair to say that it’s been an awfully heavy month. I have done little else but work, cry, look after mum, try to keep the family sane, stitch & attend bootcamp. I can report that of all those, only work & Mum is the bit where I can consider it a pass.
If you don’t want to read on, you can take a pass here too. Thank you for your kind thoughts & prayers & comments over the last month. They are very much appreciated.
Let’s divide these up into sections:
WORK: I am up-to-date thanks to Jille taking care of one of my in-boxes for a week. I am currently starting at 6am, finishing just after 2, & picking Mase up from school, & into “normal” stuff after. I have run out of leave, as the rest of the adult family didn’t step up (yes, I am a little resentful here). I have another 4-6 weeks of this routine. It’s hard not having a proper lunch break/walk/escape from the office time. One of the buyers is also not speaking to me, the weirdo, as her work crush has been speaking to me! Umm – he has to, we work together?!! I have little patience for child-like, bitchy actions from people in their 50’s! I am treating this like a game & currently we are at day 12. I wonder if this can last until her retirement? Cross fingers!
BBM: I tried going to 2-3 of these a week. Unfortunately I’ve re-injured my wrist last Sat at the Strength HQ morning so can’t do half the stuff. I can’t STITCH either! Slowly going insane…cue the CRY. And the migraine, which is completely stress related. The GP yesterday put me onto Rizamelt, which dissolves in the mouth. So I’m more likely to gain a benefit, as the fast-acting migraine the other day left me vomiting.
MUM: So the 4 hour hospital appt turned into 5 days. The surgeon taking the lung biopsy cut thru her lung, & so she needed a chest drain. This gave rise to further complications. She doesn’t remember much, as she was pretty out-of-it, but at one point I honestly thought that she was going to die. Lung illnesses are scary stuff. The funniest point was when (high on morphine) she was glaring at one of the nurses, totally convinced the poor woman had kicked a squirrel! Yeah. We don’t have squirrels down here. Not even close.
The upshot is that we don’t yet have a comprehensive diagnosis. This is making Mum giddy, & it took a lot of talking to get her to understand that YES SHE IS STILL SICK and NO YOU CAN NOT GO BACK TO YOUR NORMAL. She likes to bury her head in the sand and ignore what she doesn’t like, which is one reason she got so ill, because she wouldn’t go to the GP until we forced her.
Her ANA tests are sky-high, which indicates an auto-immune disease. Her body is attacking her lungs. Usefully she tested negative for the more common strains, like rheumatoid arthritis etc. Her lung specialist has referred her to the RA clinic, as they deal with the auto-immune complications more than the respiratory clinic, then we go back to respiratory in 3 months time.
In the meantime, she has to eat regularly (at least 3 times a day, one meal fibre cereal & only 2 pc bread a day, which unknown to us was all she was having a lot of the time). Poop every day (instead of once a week). Take vitamins. Walk daily (cue a multitude of complaints). But she has lost 9kg since starting to see the specialist, so that’s good (it took 6 of us to move her in the hospital, as she was in so much pain she couldn’t help us). In another couple of weeks she can go back to the GP & see about clearance to drive & “work” at playgroup & school reading recovery again.
She will have to keep a healthy routine now for the rest of her life, and avoid people with respiratory illnesses themselves. I know this will be super-hard, as she needs to feel useful, but that should be a worry for another day.
If you got to the end of this, thank you! Well done! It was like a mini-marathon to run, & I guess you can tell that my personal stress level is super-high. I’m thinking I should probably take advantage of the work Employee Assistance Programme & the free counselling. Especially as I can’t stab things…
Sharing Is Caring: Casa Cenina & Italian Rebuilds
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ll know that there are some devastating natural disasters around the world. Needlework supplier, Italian-based Casa Cenina, has gathered together some original designs especially to raise funds for the earthquake rebuild fund. Click HERE to choose. from some awesome designs.
- Bothy Threads
- Joan Elliot
- Nora Corbett
- Hands On Design
- Little House Needleworks
- Lizzie*Kate
- so many more!
No points for guessing what was my first purchase…
All designers and Casa Cenina will donate the whole sale income of these e-patters to the Italian Civil Protection, for the post-disaster reconstruction.
Blog Hiatus
Hi everyone
yesterday was fairly traumatic. We’ve had some medical issues with a family member and also a close friend & frankly, I need to hibernate. I’ll most likely be stitching up a storm as I find that hugely therapeutic; & there are already scheduled review posts so I won’t be totally gone. I’ll probably be around on Instagram but not here or FB.
If you pray, please pray for C & her surgical team; for K & his quick recovery (to add to his burden, his mum has just had ankle surgery so there’s two down in that household). And that I can hold it together & be brave in front of the kids. And that J can cover my leave requirements without breaking down herself.
Thanks heaps.
sewscrapmuse 