Tuesday, January 30, 2007

January Ornament SAL

At the last minute I remembered this was an ornament SAL weekend, so dug through my charts/magazines and found one to stitch -



Christmas Village - Threads Through Time
JCS Christmas Ornaments - 1oth Anniversary Edition
Stitched on Willow 32ct Linen

It's back to Ashley's Roses today - then on Thursday, the start of February, it's time to get organised and start rotating ... which coincides with the busy life, sports practices, school (on the 7th) etc starting back again. I'm not looking forward to the rushing, but I am looking forward to a few days of the house being quiet and to myself :)

Summer seems to have finally arrived here so we've been to the beach and pools quite a bit, the only bad part is that my hayfever is really bad this year and I'm having to suffer through it - about the only reason I'd really like this time of year to be over!

Have a great week everyone :)

Friday, January 26, 2007

Bits and Pieces and more of Ashley

Here's Josh and his mate Maisie ... Josh is chief feeder and carer (Maisie was his 5th Birthday gift) and the cat knows it! This was the other morning, shopping day and we'd run out of cat food, so she was trying to "share" Josh's breakfast, everytime Josh put the spoon towards his mouth Maisie was trying to share it LOL

and here is the HKCA U11 Rep Team - they played well in their tournament - very tired, very long days - they played two 30 over matches a day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and it was pretty hot and muggy in Wanganui for those few days. Cameron made the honour board one day with three wickets in one of the matches which made his day :) They won about 50% of their matches. I've circled Cameron and David was manager - I circled him too - I was amazed at how alike the two of them look! I think its the glasses and cap LOL

and lastly - Ashley's Roses - I think I have stitching ADD with her - I've moved from thinking I'll just finish up the dress, to another day thinking I'll just finish up this blue gingham part ... last night I thought I might just work on the bottom greenery bit ... they all need little bits to finish them off LOL






Monday, January 22, 2007

Just a quick update this morning ...



Here is Ashley, she's holding her roses now! I can't believe how much I am loving this piece, I have no desire to put her down at all :) I'm even hoping, that maybe I can finish her before the end of January - I've made a pact with myself that I could stitch whatever I wanted in January - but come February I will settle into my "loose" rotation.

No sitting and stitching all day today though - we're off to Wanganui to watch Cameron play cricket - him and DH are staying up there with the team for a few nights (they get home Wednesday), the boys play six games over four days - one yesterday afternoon after they arrived, two today and two tomorrow, and then one Wednesday morning before they come home. Cameron apparently played well yesterday - 2/21 off 6 overs for those who know anything about cricket - against a Hamilton team who scored 143 runs to their 75 ... so I figure those bowling figures must be pretty good ;)

Happy 18th Anniversary to DH and I (yesterday) - of course, in our typical married, family fashion - DH is away playing mother to thirteen 11-12 yo boys (he's manager for Cameron's Rep team) and I enjoyed an evening free of snoring LOL

Have a good day!

Friday, January 19, 2007


Summer has finally arrived ... I apologise to anyone who is buried in snow and ice, but for those who want to see what the other side of the world is like right now ... here's a photo from yesterday - this is what summer should be about!








Here is the latest update on Ashley's Roses ... she is finally growing! I love the colours in this one, they're lovely and bright - even the leaves have a bright bluely green that all blends just nicely.

Friday already here - I've worked the last two nights so feel a bit weary, work this afternoon - and then a quiet weekend, life is good :)

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

White and Grey ...


That's about all I've stitched since I finished the baby sampler! But Ashley is definitely growing :) I might work on the top coloured bit this afternoon and then go back to the white and grey tonight, such hard decisions I have in life at the moment! LOL
I'm back at work tomorrow night, Rhiannon starts back at gym today, so life is starting to pick up again ... pity, I'm enjoying this summer holiday mellowness!
The girls and I will walk to the beach later this morning, the boys could come too of course, but they've got very "I don't want to" ... sobeit ... the girls and I will enjoy the sunshine and fresh air :)


Monday, January 15, 2007

A Finish, Organising and Cute Kid ... sometimes

So, what did I spend the weekend doing? Organising my floss! Another of those jobs I've needed to do for a long long time, but never seem to get the spare time. So Saturday our lounge looked like a bomb hit it as I spread floss out, put in number order, marked off etc etc. This is my floss drawer - three floss boxes with nearly one of every DMC colour, a fourth box with the extra wound DMC colours. There is also a bag (not seen here) of plastic bags separated into about numbers (by about 100's - 2-300 sort of thing) with the numbers inside the bags written on a piece of paper in good view. The funniest thing was having 7 skeins of 898! I'll never have to buy that number again LOL. Also sorted and ticked off what GAST and WDW I have ... need to do this with Crescent Colours too - but didn't find a good list straight away - anyone know of one?

Interestingly, I only have 25 DMC colours missing - makes me wonder why I could never find the colour I wanted when I needed it ;)

Now, the cute kid thing? What do you do in bed when you should be going to sleep, that can make it fine to get out of bed and say something to your mother, even though she's told you about five times to get back to bed and stay there? Why, write very cutely in a card of course ... make her heart melt, and all is okay ;) ... this makes me laugh though, Rhiannon was obviously spelling out the words for her and she must have misheard the "v" in love as "b" ... so I get a "To Mummy Lobe From Charlotte" LOL

Lastly, here is my latest finish - I put down Ashley's Roses to stitch this for a good work friend of David's she was the HR person a couple of jobs ago - they have kept in touch through redundancies, job changes etc - anyway, she is due this month sometime - not sure whether she is having a girl or boy - so I will add the name after we hear of the baby's arrival. I will probably get it framed once I've finished it off completely.


Sisters and Best Friends - Birth Sampler, Bless
Stitched on 32ct Grab Bag hand-dyed fabric from Countrystitch
Finished 13 January 2007

As always, thank you for looking and listening to my rambling!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

More Ashley's Roses


I had a lovely stitching day yesterday - in fact, as I stopped stitching very blurry eyed at 6.00pm to get dinner ready and rush Cameron off to cricket practice, I realised I'd been stitching since 2.00 - with inbetweens of breaking arguments, feeding kids snacks etc ... but basically a wonderful four hour stint. Then later I went to Kath's house where Kath, Pat and I stitched some more - now that is what life is about LOL
Pat had organised our groups b/day gift for me - some wonderful cardmaking goodies and a VERY useful carry bag/tote just for crafting - I can see it being perfect for carrying what I need to work - thank you again ladies!
The household funny for today - I woke up this morning, looked at David's clock and it said 7.30, nothing wrong with that ... then turned over and saw my clock and it said 6.30 ... hmmmm 7.30 or 6.30? To go back to sleep, or not? of course by the time I worked out that I never fiddle with my clock, and I remember vaguely hearing David fiddle with his last night as he set the alarm, so his would be wrong ... I was very awake LOL - I laid in bed and read a while, then got up and enjoyed the quiet house before all the kids got up. I must ring David though and see if he ended up at work an hour earlier before he realised!
The sun is actually shining today so I'll do the customary couple of loads of washing and get that hung out in the fresh air! Beyond that, we have nothing planned I need to finish tidying and organising my desk, I might even give the pantry a much needed clean out and clean. Then I think I'll take advantage of the sunshine that is sure to not last long, and take the kids to the pools this afternoon. I have reached a new "time" in my life where it is actually FUN to go to the pools because I get to lie and read my book while the kids all play together in the pools - Charlotte has now got big enough where I can take my eyes off her and know she will be fine (I sound like a lazy old bat don't I? But believe me after years and years of having to be in the pool and be very self-conscious about my size, or sitting on the side heart in mouth, everytime a little one almost slipped, or tried to climb out, or whatever - this is a luxury for me!).
David and I going out for dinner and to the movies tonight - partly for my birthday, partly because we've been saying for over a year we will and never get around to it/can afford it, and partly because of a silly agreement we have with oldest son about still being paid for babysitting, even if I don't go to work - so we feel we need to make sure he earns his money!
Oh ... and Ashley Roses? I looked at the date in my Picturetrail Gallery and it says that the last picture was taken 3 January 2003 - I still can't quite believe that it has been four years since I last worked on her - time sure does fly!! I had plans of working on her pretty solidly over the next week or so, but I've remembered that I need to stitch a birth sampler for a good friend/work colleague of David's who is due this month ... I hope poor Ashley doesn't get put away for another four years!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Ashley Roses Resurrected

Here is Ashley Roses from, um, well quite a while ago! LOL
Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com


and here she is after yesterday's effort - I'll keep stitching her for a few days I think - rotation can start happening in February! ... I have to undo a bit i think, I went to fill in some white last night and it didn't seem to fit - but it was late so I figured I'd work it out today.
Thank you for all the Birthday wishes yesterday - you are all very sweet. I had a very low key day, lots of telly watching and stitching. Back to normal today - grocery shopping to do, kids to amuse :)

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Another finish!

It must be summer holidays ... I'm on a roll!

This is one from my very long WIP list - I had just the last square to go - we started this many years ago (I'm thinking about 2002? But someone might be able to enlighten me) as a NZ Yahoo Group SAL. I do know that I stopped stitching it because I could hardly work out the chart markings on that last square - but really, once I sat down and really concentrated it wasn't so bad.

Anyway - here is Collaboration Sampler -


Collaboration Sampler - Square One, Shepherds Bush - Square Two, Charland Designs - Square Three, Just Nan.

Started approximately 2002, finished 8 January 2006

Can anybody advise me on a good hosting gallery? I've used Picturetrail for quite a few years, but I am going to have to upgrade yet again to fit more photos in, so I thought for 2007 I'd start a new one somewhere else - any recommendations on a good (and free) programme that isn't likely to suddenly start charging or close up?

and lastly - Happy Birthday to me! ... I'm 38 today - that really is rapidly reaching the 40 milestone!

Monday, January 08, 2007

V.2 Vest and A Place We Call Home Finish


Here is Cameron's cricket vest - he wouldn't model it for the camera, little darling ;) ... the colours on the ribbing are the Representative Team colours, they go away for a big tournament in two weeks so he is all set to go now :) Even I'm impressed with my knitting skills, I think the two vests took me three weeks to complete - helps when it is holidays and we were all stuck at home for a week with everyone sick! Everyone is well again now though - so hopefully it is back to normal, I have one more week of no work, no sports practices etc etc so I'll try and make the most of it, with stitching AND getting the kids out and enjoying the (hopefully!) sunshine.

Here is A Place we call Home all finished - in keeping with finishing my stitching completely this year, I'm planning on making this into a cushion - I'll hunt out some fabric in the next couple of days. I need to drop by my parent's and pick up an old sewing machine they've got - I was telling my father about the toy one we got for Charlotte and it not working and he said he has one they bought very cheaply, but has never been very good - but probably perfect for the girls to tinker on, as soon as I pick it up I know I'll be "helping" them, so I might as well have mine out at the same time! LOL

A Place We Call Home - Country Cottage Needleworks
28ct Country French Latte Linen
Finished 7 January 2007

Friday, January 05, 2007

True Confessions

Well, I did it yesterday - I went through my WIP drawer, and the "junk" drawer above it that also had some RR WIP's (my ones with various finishes to do on them) and listed them all. Oh my golly gosh - there are things in there I'd forgotten even existed, not mention the list is MUCH longer than I anticipated. In fact, sitting here and thinking about it - I have my chest of drawers in this room that probably has a couple of very very old ones in it as well. I AM finally starting to feel a lot more organised though, and its a good feeling :)

One kinda funny thing I found was an ornament stitched, but not finished up into an ornament - the date on it is 2000!! Surely, it hasn't been that long since I had a really good tidy out?? The other one was a snaplock bag with the stitching I took to Singapore with us - it had a mystery sampler I was stitching at the time, DT's French Garden and a NZ Designer canvas kit ... I haven't stitched those since we went to Singapore ... back in September 2004! Definitely time that I caught up on and finished those long lost WIP's!!!

Talking of WIP's here is my latest - but I WILL finish this ;)

A Place We Call Home - Country Cottage Needleworks

Okay - I'm off to put that scary list on my sidebar!!!


Wednesday, January 03, 2007

A stitching ... and Knitting! finish


Yes, I have been stitching - just not a lot, because I've been knitting! ... I started Perennial Garden (The Drawn Thread) before Christmas sometime, but somehow lost my stitching mojo - I was originally going to do it for ebay, and I think that was why - I just couldn't be bothered. I have to say though, that I have stitched this maybe three times now, and it is still a delightful stitch - the flowers are fun to stitch up and it amazes every time how real they look - the detail is amazing!


and here is the knitting, one cricket vest :) This was going to be for Cameron (the red and blue are the rep team colours), but as I was knitting it I thought how much his best friend would want one too - so I waited until I'd finished to gage how much I'd want to knit another. As it turns out Cameron would rather have the stripes on the bottom band as well as the V neck, and really he could do with one size bigger - this fits fine, but a size bigger would probably do him two summers. So, anyway ... this is now for Curtis - and I've knitted the back and about a quarter of the front for Cameron's. I've got to say - hurray for one day cricket matches on the telly, it's perfect knitting watching - as much as I like knitting and used to do a lot of it, after stitching/embroidery for so long I find it really boring! LOL

... and how was our New Year? Well, lets just say my No.1 hate as a parent is pukie kids ... and we're now onto a week of it - I'm really really really hoping that Josh is definitely the last of us - we thought Josh and Cameron had had it earlier, but they either got it twice or had it mildly the first time and got it well and truly the last couple of days. Even I came down with it - which is unusual! We had the Royal in-law visit on Sunday ... which of course was the day DH came down with it - I was royally p***ed with him as he just disappeared into our bedroom/ensuite and never appeared again - leaving me with his oh so lovely parents (which is always hard work), not feeling so hot myself ... boy was I glad when they finally left - only good thing is I bet they won't be eager to see us for a while! LOL

I'm only going to set one January goal, and that is to sort out my stash and WIPs - until I do that I don't really know what I should be, could be, stitching. I started a new piece last night and as I was sorting through looking for the right threads, was quite distraught at what a mess it all is - so that definitely has to be my no.1 goal!

I think the sun is finally going to come out today, so hopefully I'll be able to get the well kids out to the park or something to clear the sickie cobwebs away - and get some washing out on the line!

Hope you all had a much better New Year celebration than me!