Tag Archives: round robin

Feeling Good

Posted in cross stitch, family, friends, goals, grateful, house - gardens, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin, weight loss, work by

It was the first long weekend of the “summer” for us down here in NZ. The forecast wasn’t too crash hot but who cares? Three days away from the desk beckoned…

And it stayed that way. I thought about work late last night & decided that hey, I’m capable of getting heaps done today, so why break into family time when I really don’t need to? So we snuggled down (as much as one can with a sulky teen) & relaxed. I’m so relaxed right now that I have “losted” my work key and sat in my car until (work) Z appeared this morning! It worked out well as I remembered my alarm code & he couldn’t remember his.

Screenshot_20161022-160919.pngSaturday started with boot camp, like it has for the last few weeks. I am enjoying this start to my weekend. We did the other steps at Trusts this weekend for a change; terraces to bear climb (or reverse bear) or run down, steps to run up, ab work on the dock in the sun, listening to the water rush by. I still don’t like being in photos but there is a huge difference between 8 weeks ago and now. I have cheekbones! That’s Loren, Si & myself, with #masetheace above us. Si keeps telling himself (and us!) that he was the rose. Huh.

In the afternoon I surprised the kids with the Lego exhibit that was on at Trusts. I won over cynic Teen 1 AND 2, not bad for seven bucks a head! We probably spent a couple of hours there; didn’t buy anything but I am lusting after both the Disney castle and Hogwarts – I have earmarked part of my bonus on a family holiday, part towards a canopy for the new ute and now part for a Lego castle. I am earning it, I may as well be frivolous with part of it! Mase dug into his pile of Lego on Monday and created a robot – he asks that you note the “glasses” it is holding.

We also went to Waiwera to soak out the stresses. Biebs stayed home so Lou came; Mase and (regular) Z went down the lazy river, had cannon fights and so on; I got very annoyed at a bunch of 15yo boys who had a go-pro, took over the relax pool and talked (loudly) about boners, shaming fat girls & so on. If any one of them had a gf I’d be very surprised – what little sh*ts. Grateful I don’t see my teens in this mode (altho I am very sure they have a sh*t mode too).

img_20161023_133618Sunday was devoted to Grandma’s house. Two sets of steps are replaced; the gardens are pruned/chopped/weeded, lawns sorted. Hard to believe these were puny $2 buxus that I put in 12-13 years ago. That hedge is as high as my waist now.

Monday started at Bethells dunes with Chris & Loren (Paige & her fam were late). For all the time I’ve spend at the beach, I’d never gone into the dune side. Chris had planned a three-step exercise for us and OUCH my calves were cramping very quickly! However apart from the reverse bear crawls up the slope (no-one managed that) & the two-feet-together-jump-up (only Si managed that) & the body drops (I struggle with those as my wrist goes too far, so I sub out) – I managed to complete a set. Si, Loren & Bran were well into their second set at the end of 20. Then we did a final set as nine – Paige had appeared by then – & I think the kids beat us adults hands down. Next time I’ll bring the board to go down the dunes! 20161024_085847.jpg

The rest of the day was devoted to relaxing (we watched Peter Kay’s Tour that wasn’t a Tour vid, totally recommend & I was in stitches for good portions of it and its fairly clean), getting ready for the week ahead (I prep Si’s & my breakfast cereals, snacks & so on for the whole week on Sundays now as a kick-start & did a lot for the kids also), and speaking of stitches, I got in some time on Andie’s round robin. It was a bit awkward as her stitching is the opposite to mine (/// then \\\) and had forgotten that I could turn it 90 degrees to get the same result and use my method. You can tell I clicked yesterday as the progress was so much more! Doh.

Tag starts this week; Si and Biebs are refereeing at two tournaments a week this summer, on Wednesday and Fridays. Then boot camp is Thursday (I want to start adding Tuesday to my schedule); next Monday sees the start of Tag…our weeks are filing up as Monday swim classes started last week. The next few months are going to be an exercise in balance; but only 15 sleeps until the US Elections (I do not envy your selection), 29 until Thanksgiving (the tradition I think I would adopt) and 60 sleeps until Christmas! So that’s 55 until I’m on holiday…

 

Harvest Moon WIPocalypse

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

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.

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Question of the Month

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

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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!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in 16 in 2016, cross stitch, family, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin by

One really good thing about regular posts is that the pressure is off to create witty titles. I’ll leave that one up to Maia, eh?

This week hasn’t been great. This fortnight, really. I am dependant on meds to keep the headaches at bay and continue functioning. I am nowhere near as bad as some people (and freakily there is a shortage of Sumatriptin right now here in NZ, so I am hoarding the 10 tablets I have left and using the other stuff) but I am going to have to have a serious conversation with my boss when he returns from Ambiente next week. Ideally I’d like to work from home Wednesday and use that to catch up on sleep and slide my working day by a few hours. I’m fairly disciplined and there are no regular scheduled meetings for me that day, apart from his catch-up. Say a prayer for me, please?

20160215_215159On the Finish front, I have #3 – Crafty Rahenna’s round robin is done, and will be off in the post today. I think that is actually ahead of schedule! There are no beads, as she will add these post a wash (Poppy’s wings need it, they aren’t as white as they could be) and no thread conversions on my part.

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Mase has begun to stitch again – he is already converting the baseball from this chart to a red cricket ball and made the decision to swap around the two colours in the gridiron ball.  Okay, then. I might have started a monster! This is at about an hour of work, and he’s actually done more. Apparently he “needs” his own Instagram as he doesn’t want to continue to use mind. Hmm, really? Need?

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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WIP Wednesday

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, Mirabilia, round robin, Uncategorized by

Hump day again! Well, technically, I reached the hump when I left yesterday, as I have Friday off to spend with Mase on his school trip to Bethells Lagoon. Can’t wait!

Last night I finished a small ornie for my twitter-based NZ Secret Santa. She doesn’t follow me here or on Twitter so it’s safe to share:

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Very simple finish, blanket stitched felt on the back, used some sparklie thread to create the loop and added the star button to hide the threads.

I’m also working on Lenna’s mermaid tail still: Laguna will have a change in the flowers, so they match the ones used by Lenna in the centre of the whole piece. I’m on the third colour thread, and it’s working up reasonably quickly.

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I do like her fabric choice! It works with a wide range of tail colours.

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, round robin by

First – please don’t forget to enter my blog giveaway! Check it out HERE and make a comment – entries are open until next WIPocalypse – only one more week! 🙂

20151015_170443We’ve gone from the League merry-go-round to the swim merry-go-round. This one involves a lot of early starts/early finishes at work, driving then sitting around. I spent about 4 hours there last week. This is my usual view now.

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Roses of Provence as at 18/10

I am up to a lot more data entry at work, up from roughly 600 delivery issues in July to 1100 last month. My right wrist is really, really sore and stitching has slowed down. I’m sure this is also due to stitching on 32ct linen as I’m finding I’m very annoyed with the unevenness of the weave. I got past that on Stargazer but I’m not sure I will on Provence – this is after about 8 hours. The leaves have been converted to more even greens; the charted were too lime for the dye of the fabric. I may frog and sell this fabric, and start again on Belfast. I am also plodding along with Christmas Elegance – found one mistake & frogged a little. I think I’ll wag work for a few hours Friday and go to the stitching drop in. I miss the community that arises around stitching or craft groups. I can also grab a pack of Mill Hill to bead around her cape. I had thought of using the Abalone in my stash but it’s not quite right.

Christmas Elegance as at 21/10

Christmas Elegance as at 21/10 – backstitching makes all the difference!

I also got some stash. I wanted Ashley’s Roses and this came as a set. So now I have two copies of Rose of Sharon and Sleeping Beauty. I’m more than happy to swap so drop me a line.

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The seller also had the seasonal angels from Lavender & Lace so I tripled my L&L stash with this bunch of 8 J no, I have no idea when I will get around to stitching everything in my folder, but who cares?

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WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, friends, grateful, round robin by

I’m full of flu but celebrating some highs, especially when I look at my October goals.
I finished Keely’s Angels, & that piece is already with the next (final) stitcher.
Yesterday I finished Lisa’s piece which had the Tattie Teddie theme. There’s a full day worth of backstitching there! Mine is the one on the right, with the pink sunflower.

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And I’m down to the last two threads on Kathryn’s piece. I really like the idea of this one, as a cushion perhaps? CrossStitcher magazine from Jan 2011, designed by Jacqui Pearce.

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I’m expecting to finish this one today, then I’ll be selecting the piece for the Mira RR. Yay! Love crossing off those goals.

WIP Wednesday & a Smalls Update

Posted in cross stitch, round robin by

Regular people will know that I picked up another set of RR this month, so it’s all about the Smalls.

Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House

There’s Andie’s piece, a Shannon Wasilieff Gingerbread House (Andie is beading later on) then progress on Keely’s Christmas Angels.

Keely's piece is nearly done!

Keely’s piece is nearly done!

I had a goal last night to get as much of the actual stitching done as possible, so that I could be back stitching by the weekend and look! I’ll be starting on that tonight. I watched From the Rough, which was a based-on-a-true-story-sporting-chaff-becomes-winners movie but it was perfectly done, much like Remember the Titans. And it had Michael Clarke Duncan in it! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1704586/ And I do like Taraji Henson too. She plays Joss Carter in Person of Interest, another smart show.

WIPocalypse, October Goals & Contest Reminder

Posted in cross stitch, round robin, WIPocalypse by

Crap – this is a lot for one post!

20150928_205449This full moon is beautiful! Not a “blood moon” here in the Southern Hemisphere, but as Auckland skies were clearing, I got some good shots even with my Galaxy S3 phone.

With personal things there was no real WIPocalypse check-in last month, so here’s a couple of updates.

August 29 – Topic:  Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece.

IMG_20150929_080302I’ve stitched on quite a few things this past month. I finished Mediterranean Mermaid, and worked on two round robins from a crashed & burned RR – Andrea’s gingerbread house and Keely’s Christmas angel. Andie in turn fixed my boo-boo in the Toy Story birth sampler! I have three more to work on this month as well as finishing Keely’s piece, which I hope to do this week, as I have Thursday/Friday off. Daylight savings has also kicked in which means more light at night and BBQs – Simon is cooking more which takes a load off.

20150928_215907Of my own pieces, I worked on Persephone. With the frustrations involved in the RR I needed to do something that was MINE, and I’ve gone past where I wanted to get too – the back wall paper is completed, and last night her pomegranate/leaves/stem was done. I did make a small mistake in one leaf, and decided to work around it. I don’t think anyone else will be able to tell where I went wrong. She’s looking as rustic as I wanted to, with the slightly coarse fabric – I don’t think it’s what it was labelled as! – and will be a good piece to take into the next year.

Yes, I’m thinking of 2016 already! I joined the FB “16 in 16” group, which is not about new starts but about finishing the WIPs that I do have. Currently this is very small – my over-one Arezzo, Persephone, a freebie Angel, the Toy Story piece that is with Andie, the TW Tapestry Cat and TW Noah’s Ark.

I think I’ve just given myself grace to make a few new starts 🙂

September 28 – Topic:  Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies?

I get most of mine through either Ribbon Rose in Ellerslie (the other side of Auckland, so a minimum 40 min travel time one way), through Elizabeth at http://www.stitchnz.co.nz, running to the DMC stand at the local Spotlight and I have tried Amanda’s Stitching Menagerie. I’m reasonably loyal & go where the service is. I did buy some kitted up stash recently so don’t really have a need to shop right now. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly well and I’m sure I’ll invent something!

So while I “adult” for a little bit, the October goals are:

  • Print out the last 10 days before Christmas & journal to complete my December Daily for 2014
  • Complete my portion on Keely’s RR (Christmas Angels) – this is the one that Z didn’t even open L
  • Complete my portion on Lisa’s RR (Tattie Teddy)
  • Complete my portion on April’s RR (Mira – my pick of one that speaks to me, & I’m thinking a reverse Provence Roses will fit well)
  • Complete my portion on Kathryn’s RR (flower LOVE letters)
  • And if all that’s done, make a start to Raven Queen

Also please don’t forget to enter my blog giveaway!  Check it out HERE and make a comment – entries are open until next WIPocalypse!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, family, grateful, me, Mirabilia, round robin by

Today’s WIP are brought to you with a bit of bitterness on my tongue. I won’t go into this too much, as I am not out here for sympathy, but I am choosing to walk away (click away?) from a FB group. I will miss some aspects of the community but it’s healthier for me (& less drama for others) if I just leave. So that’s what I’ve done. This way I can forgive & then forget without the constant reminder that someone let me down then broke my trust in them.

Keely's choice; Angels from XS Crazy 2012

Keely’s choice; Angels from XS Crazy 2012

Anyways, let’s get onto the good stuff. This is where I left Keely’s piece at last week. Since then I have completed most of the Angel’s skirt, her wings (blah to DMC metallic) and some of the presents that are on the bottom left. I forgot to take a more up-to-date shot (even on Instagram) so next week’s will look much more complete. I won’t be posting it this week tho, which gives Kathryn a bit more breathing space.

I’m waiting on the international Mira RR to get to me still but I had to get back into something that was my own for a little bit.

progress as at 9th Sept

progress as at 9th Sept

The rugby world cup has started and so I pulled out Persephone while the AB’s played Argentina (very) early Monday morning. I got two cranes done then, and a half plus the ribbon done while supervising homework later than day. I love working with the silks of the Waterlillies – this is the first piece I’ve used them in, as they are quite expensive down here and previously I’ve always subbed them with the DMC. I’ve now got the frame around the top done so it will be all about filling in this last section of “wallpaper” this week. I can’t wait to start back-stitching to define her face but that beading should wait until the end. It’s heavy already given that I stitch “in hand” & I don’t think I should add to that weight yet!

Let’s see if that thought lasts until Christmas, hmm?!

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progress as at 22nd Sept