WIP Wednesday #240

20190202_195150.jpgHello everyone! I’ve been super busy this last fortnight, stitching, walking, reading, cleaning, running around after family members & I can’t wait to take a break! One highlight was a repeat dinner with the Harpur family, who brought Aurora with them. Two weeks ago she was the length of Simon’s forearm/hand – now look at her! She’s 5 weeks here.

I didn’t post last week as my pieces were all over the show as I worked away at the various #schoolofmagicalstitchesandliterature tasks. All up, this last fortnight has seen the start & finish of Hello March (500 for words), 200+ more stitches on Nantucket Rose (enabled), 600+ on Shakespeare’s Fairies (various challenges) and 700+ on Tapestry Cat (two challenges). I have just stitched more on TC in a week than I did in all of 2018. He nearly has a tail! This is a lot of stitching but with our national holiday, Waitangi Day, I got extra walking and stitching in. And market shopping. Nom nom on the Whitestone cheeses and Selash cured meats. And perfection at the Franked stall – imported, handcrafted items from Cambodia where there is a story behind the item, & it’s helping differently abled people.

I also finished my January Project Life pages. I’m choosing to do these in a 6*8 album as it’s more personal to me, not for the family. There’s some stuff that involves others (I asked Mase to fill in the Back to School card) but they won’t get this until I’m passed. Mase does look at it, but he knows if it’s hidden journaling, it’s private to me & he’s not to read it yet.

And on Sunday, Louise & I got up early and walked around the harbour on Tamaki Drive. We started at St Helliers, went up to Achilles Point & watched the sunrise and a cruise ship come into the harbour, picked up coffee at Mission Bay and eventually got collected at Royal Akarana Yacht Club. 7.2km in all of super-quality time with my girl.

Hope you all have a lovely week!

#craft31days day sixteen

Not a lot of stitching tonight, maybe 80 stitches in all?

The main reason is that Si is sick, so after swimming lessons I drove back into town so B can go to his Force Fit meet. I walked around Silo Park & the Wynyard Quarter back towards the CBD. #masetheace wasn’t too happy as I only let him use the elevator twice, & forbade him from interupting a yoga class on the most amazing glass viewing platform (there was plenty of room for us anyway) but I enjoyed the fresh air.

And summer is coming! That top left photo? That’s the pohutukawa starting to bud. Its our Christmas tree, as its covered in gorgeous red flowers during December. Old Maori tales say that if the tree flowers early, we’ll get a long, hot summer. Yay!

COVER REVEAL: Cherish Hard By Nalini Singh

WOOT! It’s nearly here…remember how I LURVED Rock Hard? And the family dynamics? Here’s Gabe’s brother in his own book. It’s on my must-read list.

cherish-hard
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh kicks off her new Hard Play contemporary romance series with a sizzling story that’ll leave you smiling…
Meet Sailor & Isa on November 14th!
Pre-order your copy today!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2yaHnQG
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2i1LhHC
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2yXwnFB
iBooks: http://apple.co/2xw0U0O
Nook: http://bit.ly/2yf01bI
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2i2wvR1
☆☆☆☆☆☆
Sailor Bishop has only one goal for his future – to create a successful landscaping business. No distractions allowed. Then he comes face-to-face and lips-to-lips with a woman who blushes like an innocent… and kisses like pure sin.
Ísa Rain craves a man who will cherish her, aches to create a loving family of her own. Trading steamy kisses with a hot gardener in a parking lot? Not the way to true love. Then a deal with the devil (aka her CEO-mother) makes Ísa a corporate VP for the summer. Her main task?
Working closely with a certain hot gardener.
And Sailor Bishop has wickedness on his mind.
As Ísa starts to fall for a man who makes her want to throttle and pounce on him at the same time, she knows she has to choose – play it safe and steady, or risk all her dreams and hope Sailor doesn’t destroy her heart.
☆☆☆☆☆☆
EXCERPT
Fuming, Ísa made sure to set the alarm system and lock up. Everyone else was already well into their summer vacation—the sole reason Ísa was here was because she hadn’t been able to work on her lesson plans at home.
Her upstairs neighbor was having repairs done to her bathroom that required banging and hammering.
Not all of it involved nails and wood.
Hopefully the repairs would be finished by now. There was only so much ecstatic orgasmic screaming that a single woman in online-dating purgatory could stand without being driven to violence.
She spotted the tan-colored gardening truck the instant she came down the front steps of the school’s imposing redbrick main building and turned left to head toward her car. The hot gardener had parked it right next to her zippy blue compact. The front of the truck had four doors with tinted windows while the large bed was piled with shovels and other manly tools as well as a huge sack of clippings.
His light brown T-shirt was hanging over the top of the tailgate.
Which meant he was still walking around topless somewhere around here.
“Get in your car, Ísa,” she muttered to herself, well aware what would happen if she came face-to-face with that delicious hunk of manhood. Because while she might’ve conquered her shyness, she knew her limits.
Confronted by a bare-chested man who made her ovaries explode, she’d turn bright pink, lose her ability to form speech, and end of story. “Oh—”
She would’ve bounced off that sculpted chest if he hadn’t grabbed her by the hips.
“Hey, sorry,” he said with a startled smile that lit up the dazzling blue of his eyes. “I didn’t
see you.”
“No, um, my fault.” It looked as if he’d crouched down to check one of his tires or
something else but had risen to his feet right when she swung around to get into her car. And God, his skin was so hot and smooth and he was so tall and his shoulders were so broad and her mouth was drying up. The stuttering would begin at any moment.
The same stuttering Suzanne had mocked relentlessly when they were fourteen. Until Ísa had gone silent around everyone except the few friends she trusted. And now that horrible, ugly-hearted girl was getting married, having a baby, getting a happily-ever-after. Added to which, Ísa’s mother was jerking her on a string like she was a marionette, and her last “date” had asked her to call him Woofy and reward him with doggy biscuits.
The blue of the gardener’s eyes flickered with a hot flame.
And she thought… I know him. But before she could follow that faint thread, all the fury and hurt and frustration and sheer aggravation in Ísa ignited into an incandescent inferno.
She went mad.
Grabbing the hot gardener’s beautiful face in her hands, she said, “I want to kiss you.”
A wicked grin. “Go on ahead.”
And Ísa pressed her lips to his.
Copyright © 2017 by Nalini Singh

naliniMeet the Author
Nalini Singh is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling, Guild Hunter, and Rock Kiss series. She lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing.
If you’d like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts and free short stories on her website . Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. The Rock Kiss books are all stand alone and can be read in any order.

Harvest Moon WIPocalypse

Mase took these photos last night, as we headed down the North Western motorway to pick up Dad. A cell phone can’t capture the sheer size and the colour – no wonder the American Indians & Maori (among others) called this a Harvest Moon.

My September has been all about my round robin prep. This was a love/hate relationship for sure and I AM NEVER USING DMC SATINS AGAIN. Until next time. However I am finished with the frames & thinking that they do look amazing – even if I had to dig in my ORT jar to finish the top leg of the last 20 or so stitches! Playing thread chicken is not as fun as you might think.

I’ve also finalised my layout, and the lovely Elizabeth has come to my rescue and has ordered Bluebeard’s Princess mermaid for me (www.stitchnz.co.nz) so while I may have to post the intended portion on the FB group, I will have it in time for someone else to stitch. Just not Mel in Australia – but there’s four others for her to choose from. My start is the Queen Mermaid – but I’m thinking about adapting her “purse” to either a treasure box (Atlantis-type) or a shell, like this one I found on Pinterest:

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I am looking forward to Christmas 2017 when I should get this one back! First posting isn’t for 3 weeks, so Queenie will be done by then.

*~~~~*~~~~~~*

Question of the Month

Tell us a story about the journey you took through one of your completed pieces.

*~~~~*~~~~~~*

This is one of my favourites – the first I completed and had framed intending to keep! Which was a Big Deal, as it marked 10 years of stitching history. This is Bran’s birth sampler, the Alma Lynne Noah’s Ark Collector. I still have the chart…but I can’t find it in online stores, sorry, so it must be OOP.

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It’s the first that I re-charted portions on – I added personalisation to include Bran’s name, DOB. I used Kreinik for the first time (the lightning bolt) and I gave myself permission to stop angsting over those French knots. Beads all the way! This hangs in our hallway and even at 16, B still appreciates it. There’s true love for you!

Why, helloooo out there!

I’ve been too quiet here – a lot is on my mind. THREE days until RC leaves work & I formally take on her role. I am now thinking that I was very stupid indeed! Never mind, I’ll get thru it. At least the other side of my role is steadily decreasing; July delivery errors were down another 18% YOY. This is good. This is bonus material. This is potentially (if I win the argument) a family trip to Hawaii.

IMG_20160808_070629Anyways, the “new me” plan took a few steps forward, a step back, step forward again. I was massively annoyed two weeks ago to find I’d put on 500g, then last week I’d lost 1.2kg; I worked my a$$ off last week (walking over 45km!) and lost 400g. Huh. I had expected that I would climb over the 5kg mark, but I’m still 300g shy. Next week!

I am posting morning pictures for Rochelle (@stitchynerd) on IG as my morning swim accountability plan. So if you see a lot of semi-sunrise, that’s why. This is thru the car window, looking north from the base to the North Shore area.

On Saturday I took advantage of Bran’s assignment at Cornwall Park and had some alone time walking around One Tree Hill. I used to run this when I was at high school.

TOP: I love the architecture of the trees; I’m always wanting a cupola; the view from half-way up (where the buses have to stop).

MID: Looking south in a gap at the archery club; the replacements for the “one tree” & noting that usually you’d see the city & harbour beyond that; Sir John Logan Campbell’s memorial with the Maori warrior.

BASE: a map of the park (I walked the orange roads then the climb to the summit); the tulips, daffs & crocuses were out; the rain had died down by the time I got to the bottom again!IMG_20160806_102613.jpg

Sunday I took Mase and Zac to Cascades Kauri, the regional park near Bethells Beach – Z’s choice. Next Sunday it’s hopefully KiteKite Falls.

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I don’t ever remember seeing the water level this high; normally you can see the base of the measure. 3M is huge for this stream! And isn’t Z cute, climbing & exploring? He doesn’t like photos right now, so this is something awesome.

Lastly, I saw a post on Kerry’s Love Those Hands at Home that made me laugh. Click here to go read! You will smile (unless you support the Wigged Wonder. If you do, just remember I can’t vote in this election & this is purely my opinion – but he’s a nasty small minded bigot. Nuff said).

Enjoy your week – and thanks for reading so far!

EDIT: Si just sent me this. NZAAC is the unit he was part of. Aww.

NZAAC

You Can Quote Me

YCQM is a semi – regular post based on my One Little Word for 2015, Serenity.

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Serenity can come during family time! I bribed the boys; of you go to bed early, I’ll get you up to watch the All Blacks. Check out that bed head!

AB’s won thankfully (it was close, far closer than what I thought but hey! Japan recorded an amazing win against South Africa) and then I busted my ass to get to work at the usual time. Pulled over to take this tho:

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Love those pure colours. That’s Auckland CBD, looking West from Metcalfe Hill.

Steptember Update – the writing on the wall

This has been a week of up and down – the lack of a walking partner & some work pressure on Thursday/Friday meant that I didn’t hit the target those days – but I made up for it on other days. Physically I feel really good – this morning I woke for the first time at 3, it’s now 8 & I’ve been up for over three hours but I don’t feel hungover like I normally would. Can’t wait until it is light enough to walk early – roll on daylight savings!

  • Tuesday – 14696 steps or 8.2k
  • Wednesday – 11676 steps or 6.6k
  • Thursday – 8655 steps or 4.3k
  • Friday – 6468 steps or 3K
  • Saturday – 11879 steps or 5.7k
  • Sunday – 14616 steps or 7.5k
  • Monday – 14264 steps or 8k
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sculpture at the wharf

Sunday we went around the bomb point at Hobsonville Point development. When Si’s dad transferred to the RNZAF, this is where he was based. His writing is still on the wall! I also love the structure of the sculpture. Function and form.

looking back to the storehouses

looking back to the storehouses

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front of a storehouse

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Gordon’s writing on the wall

it’s a holiday weekend, so it must be raining…

And yup, there it is. I’m sitting at my kitchen bench, working (of yes I am!! 6 sets of reporting are done & dusted) and looking east to the City. I’m halfway decided that the little bit of light that I can see is the glow from the street lights. I’m not going to be seeing this colour today but I will be dry (disclaimer, I didn’t take this shot. It’s from Vincent’s very beautiful blog, https://vincenttack.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/nog-6-dagen/ ):

sunrise in aucland

Cover Reveal – ROCK HARD (Rock Kiss Series) Book Two

ROCK HARD

PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE

Releasing: March 10th, 2015

In New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh’s newest contemporary romance, passion ignites between a gorgeous, sinfully sexy man who built himself up from nothing and a shy woman who has a terrible secret in her past…

Wealthy businessman Gabriel Bishop rules the boardroom with the same determination and ruthlessness that made him a rock star on the rugby field. He knows what he wants, and he’ll go after it no-holds-barred.

And what he wants is Charlotte Baird.

Charlotte knows she’s a mouse. Emotionally scarred and painfully shy, she just wants to do her job and remain as invisible as possible. But the new CEO—a brilliant, broad-shouldered T-Rex of a man who growls and storms through the office, leaving carnage in his wake—clearly has other plans. Plans that may be equal parts business and bedroom.

If Charlotte intends to survive this battle of wits and hearts, the mouse will have to learn to wrangle the T-Rex. Game on.

Series Reading Order

Rock Addiction (Book One)

Rock Courtship (Book 1.5)

Meet the Author

 

nalini

NEW YORK TIMES AND USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about hot and wickedly tempting rock stars – and one sinfully sexy rugby god turned brilliant CEO. If you’re seeing a theme here, you’re not wrong.

Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you’d like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, whileAngels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. Also, don’t forget to swing by the site to check out the special behind-the-scenes page for the Rock Kiss series, complete with photos of many of the locations used in the books.

STALK HER:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

Share Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MDk5NjRmMDM5ZDM4YTBjYWM0YzAyYzM0NGI2ODRhOjU5Mw==/?

 

Just a little extra, that you won’t see anywhere else: Nalini has one of my stitched pieces on her study wall. How cool is that?!