Resurfacing

Posted on January 13, 2006 | 1 comment

Ahem. Hello! Remember me?

Sorry. I seem to have been in a bit of a blogging-minislump lately. Coinciding with a stitching-minislump, unfortunately. So what have I been doing? Well, sleeping, shopping, studying, and stuffing my face, mainly ๐Ÿ˜†

New Year’s Eve, aka Finn’s Birthday, was quite something. The hottest NYE since… well, ever! In Melbourne the temperature eventually climbed to 42.9C (that would be 109.2F for some of you). In the part of the state where we were – somewhere north-west of Bendigo, it was somewhere close to 46C (that would be oh, about a million in Fahrenheit terms, I think). I say “somewhere close”, because opinions were varied between those who had thermometers attached to their cars, and we had no other measuring device. Suffice to say, it was Not Good. Much like an oven, really. We managed to summon enough energy to sing Happy Birthday for Finn (He’s THREE… OMG!) during the afternoon at some point, but mostly we just sat around in my Father-in-law’s half-renovated, non-airconditioned house and melted into people-puddles. The point where the power failed and our one little pedestal fan was no longer, that was really, really Not Fun.

At close to sunset (temperature still v.high 30s, at least), we drove up to nearby Melville Caves, where we ate prawns, drank champagne (though neither for me ๐Ÿ˜ฅ ), and watched the sun set. Well, kind of. Visibility was a bit poor due to the bushfires raging across the state in Stawell.

We had plans to stay the night with my FIL and drive to Mum’s (about an hour-and-a-half away) in the morning for another mini-party for Finn. But at around 11pm, with one grumpy boy on our hands, temps still in the mid-to-high-30s, little hope of restful sleep, and no shower to be had in the morning, we decided to pack up and drive across the state right there and then. So that is how I came to see in 2006 as the only person awake in the car in the middle of nowhere. (After saying the obligatory “White Rabbits”, I woke OtherHalf to wish him Happy New Year :giggle: )

The change in the weather didn’t come through until mid-afternoon on the 1st, but how blissful when it did. I celebrated by burning the wagon! Yes… that’s right. I SHOPPED FOR STASH! I’m glad I managed to last out the year, but heck, I’m not doing that again :giggle: I headed over to Stitching Bits and Bobs and reduced the size of my wishlist by 8 charts, some beads and sparklies to kit out Mermaids of the Deep Blue, and a few other bits and pieces (or bits and bobs, I guess!) My package should be here any day now, I’ll be sure to take a picture for you!

Christmas and NYE (and shopping) having taken the wind completely out of my sails, I pretty much slept through January 2nd and 3rd… and then I went back to uni on the 4th. Eeeek! I have been immersing myself in the exciting ๐Ÿ˜ world of web servers ever since, and that’s what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks, oh joy. After that…… FREEDOM! Free, free, free as a bird! No more studying for me, for at least… err, well, let’s not make any promises we can’t keep now, shall we?!

Anyhoo… here’s a couple of NYE pictures for you. These were taken up at the caves. 1) Happy Birthday Finny Banana! 2) Happy New Year to 3 generations of boys ๐Ÿ™‚

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, Postgrad Study, The Kids

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O Tannenbaum

Posted on December 29, 2005 | Comments Off on O Tannenbaum

Christmas for me is always so much more about the anticipation. After 3 days of family craziness, by the 27th of December, I always have something of a ‘Christmas hangover’, and not in the normal way. Yesterday, we took down our tree – we don’t waste any time around here! Finn was quite dismayed that ‘Christmas is over’, but easily placated by a ‘sleeps-until-my-birthday’ countdown (2 more sleeps).

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, I give you… our tree, circa 2005 :giggle:

Also, because I think it’s cute, and because it needed preservation (darn the transitory nature of the whiteboard), here’s a self-portrait Finn drew with his new markers from Santa:

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Posted in Family, Kid Crafts, The Kids

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Stitchy Eye Candy

Posted on December 27, 2005 | 2 comments

Hope you all had a wonderful time doing whatever it is that you do at this time of year:smile:. We spent the last three days traversing Victoria like mad things, and are now trying to sleep it all off. Here’s a bit of an update on things stitchy in my life lately. Clickety-click on the images for more, of course ๐Ÿ˜‰

Item 1: The promised picture of my simply (but expensively) framed Waiting For Ships. She’s currently adorning the floor, while we contemplate potential paint colours and the state of our finances.


Item 2: Probably my last finish of 2005 – Lily Pond, by Elizabeth’s Designs. I craved another finish a) before the end of the year, and b) before I go back to finish uni (on Jan 4). Thank goodness for these gorgeous Little Leaf designs, which are always handy for instant gratification! There’s more to this when you click through – the thumbnail is just of the centre of the design.

Item 3: What else I’ve been stitching – Christmas Mandala Garden, by Chatelaine. I started this one in January with last Christmas fresh in my mind. I dragged it out again after I put Petal Fairy away. Truthfully, it probably won’t see the light of day again until next Christmas. Maybe I’ll finish it then!

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Finished, In Progress

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SBQ

Posted on December 22, 2005 | 1 comment

Last week’s SBQ was more about blogging than stitching. I’ve been mulling over my answer to the question since it was posted, and have been interested to read other stitchers’ answers.

Take a minute to reflect on your blog reading habits and preferences. What do you prefer to read in stitching blogs? (Progress, tips, family life, experiences, etc.) How much do you think you are influenced by other stitching bloggers?

Much as I expected, many answered that they like to see mostly (or only) stitching on a stitchers blog. I figured this largely because most of the comments I get here come in response to a post where I actually show some progress on a piece, or on a happy dance post (oh so rare!). For me however, I find most stitching-only blogs don’t hold my interest very long . Yes, stitching is a big part of my life, one of my dearest pastimes, but none of us are one-dimensional.

When I read a blog, I like to be able to feel I ‘know’ the person behind the blog a little better. A good deal of the blogs I read are not stitchers’ blogs. I like to people-watch, and that reflects in my online habits, I think. That said, many of the blogs I read are crafty in some way – either stitchers or knitters or otherwise. These are the people I share interests in common with, so it stands to reason that I will find them interesting. But I am most interested when the blog shares a little bit of this and a little bit of that, along with the craft reports. There are some stitching-only blogs that I check in with, and I have been inspired by some of the wonderful finishing techniques that I’ve seen lately, since discovering some of the bloggers on the SBEBB, but by and large, I want more!

I like witty writing, I like a little bit of fun stuff, a little bit of family stuff, a little bit of stitching, and a lot of personality. I aspire to write this kind of blog myself, and for my one or two readers:wink: to feel they know me just that little bit more (without getting creepy, mind!) That said, I do try and keep the depressing stuff out of here. Life isn’t all happy and shiny, but I would rather my blog be a place to laugh and sing rather than a place of misery. Sometimes the misery might creep in, but most of the time it won’t. I do admire people who can share more of themselves with the whole wide Internet and gain solace from doing so, but that’s not me.

OK, ‘nuf rambling from me now. I’m off to get some stitching pics off my camera so I can get me some more comments:giggle:

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Posted in General Ramblings, Memes

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Jingle Bells, Santa Smells

Posted on December 19, 2005 | Comments Off on Jingle Bells, Santa Smells

I have nothing against Christmas Carols, really, I don’t. Though I am otherwise unwaveringly secular, and refrain even from singing hymns on the rare occasions I am present in a church, I quite like Christmas Carols. They put a bit of pep in my step and make shopping centres at Christmas time (almost) bearable. But I do have a limit. And my limit, it has been breached.

Given that I spend an unfortunate amount of time in public restrooms, what with pregnancy and the diminutive bladder of a 3-year-old to contend with, I think I am qualified to make the statement:

CHRISTMAS CAROLS PIPED INTO PUBLIC TOILETS ARE OVER-STEPPING THE LINE PEOPLE!!!

Apart from that little peeve o’mine, festive goings-on have been low-key but enjoyable this year. We have A REAL TREE. Yes, a real, living tree died for our amusement this year ๐Ÿ˜› Though I feel slightly guilty in a tree-hugger kind of way, I have to confess, I love the smell of pine in the house. We’ve gone back to breakable ornaments this year, as Finn is not particularly grabby, and understands ‘gentle’. We figure it will be back to the more durable set next year, with a 6 month old around. The unbreakables are red and gold, not my preferred colour-scheme. This year we added some purple into our blue and silver mix, and the tree looks great. There are some photos hiding out on my camera, I’ll get to posting them some time. The gift wrapping is all in purple and silver, and looks faaaabulous! My hand stitched ornaments have not yet emerged, but I had planned to prop them against cards on the mantelpiece – someday I’ll have enough to do a whole tree, but not yet.

We waited an hour in the middle of the night (almost) to see the Myer Christmas windows, because that, apparently, is what you do when you have a child. The display was, well… okay, I suppose. Some newfangled Christmas story I’ve never heard of. Finn was somewhat underwhelmed – I think the anticipation was more enjoyable than the actual event. (Like Christmas as a whole, I’ve always found!) He was much more excited the night we drove around seeking Christmas lights – the Boulevard in Ivanhoe always has wonderfully lit houses, but we found others in pockets about town. I enjoyed that a whole lot more too.

In other news, there isn’t any, really. Still tired, tired, tired, tired, tired. Not a whole lot of stitching going on, though I have made some progress on Chatelaine’s Xmas freebie mandala garden, which was begun shortly after last Christmas. Again, I will post a picture… sometime. Along with a pic of my framed WFS, which now awaits some appropriate wall-colour upon which to hang. Moving into 2nd trimester, hoping for a serious energy injection any day now…

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, Pregnancy

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SBQ x 2

Posted on December 14, 2005 | Comments Off on SBQ x 2

Two-by-two is the way I seem to be answering these lately ๐Ÿ™‚ Here’s the latest:

Do you have rules in the way you stitch? (i.e., Do you start in the middle? Do you determine which blocks to stitch first? Do you always start from the top or the bottom? Do you have special paths to prevent wasting thread?)

I always like the ‘rules of cross stitch’ I read on some BB somewhere a while ago. Rule 1: Thread goes in needle. Rule 2: Needle goes in fabric. Everything else is negotiable! That pretty much sums up the way I stitch, though my stitching has changed slightly over time – I used to care about using the least amount of floss and having neat backs. So I would take a path to accomplish those goals. Now I care much more about neat, well-formed ‘x’s, so I don’t worry so much about the backs. As to where I start, I usually start somewhere interesting :giggle: Gridding allows me to start wherever I like, but lately I’ve been a bit lazy about gridding, and have only done a few lines. I started Petal Fairy in the middle because of that. See… no rules! Just whatever suits me at the time.

Have you done any charity stitching, been in one, or would like to organize one?

Nope.

(That one was easy!)

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Memes

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An Awww Moment

Posted on December 13, 2005 | 2 comments

You know, I think Christmas is cancelled. Because quite frankly, how could anything top today? Finn and I were exploring a new (to me) fabric shop with equal amounts of glee – he running madly beetween the bolts of fabric and probably irritating every other shopper, and I discovering wonderful embellished fabrics and trims in this little shop I had ignored for so long. When he came up to me, and announced…

“Mum, you’re gorgeous!”

So as you see, I need no more from my life, Christmas cannot possibly live up to that!

Eh. Pity he’ll grow up to be a teenager and will forever more think his Mum is a complete dag :giggle:

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, The Kids

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Beautiful Blogs

Posted on December 9, 2005 | Comments Off on Beautiful Blogs

I meant to write this two days ago, but haven’t quite got around to it yet (just as I haven’t quite got around to breaking/fixing all the image links on here, and I haven’t quite got around to getting a Christmas tree yet, and I haven’t quite got around to folding the laundry yet. Am I painting you a certain picture here?!)

Anyway, there are two very wonderful blogs I have been reading for about 6 months now. Each was one I merely stumbled across, enjoyed, and was thrilled to discover were Australian. So I kept reading. Each just achieved major kudos in an ‘Australia’s Best Blog’ competition, arriving in 2nd and 4th places. Yay ๐Ÿ™‚

So go now, discover Claire of loobylu (who has a 3 year old and is pregnant, and lives in Melbourne, but this is where the resemblance to me ends, as she is brilliant and gorgeous :giggle: ) and Karen of karencheng (also a gorgeous and talented mother, from WA this time). Their blogs are both uplifting, beautiful spaces, and I am never disappointed when I pay a visit.

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Posted in General Ramblings

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Interruptus

Posted on December 7, 2005 | 1 comment

We’re currently undertaking a change of server, and after that I plan to totally reorganize my site. The blog address will remain the same, but there could be some unplanned downtime and I’m sure I’ll manage to break lots of image links :topsy: so in the next few days it could be somewhat unattractive around here. Sorry… I promise to have it back to normal asap!

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Posted in Blog Blather

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Guilt Free Me

Posted on December 6, 2005 | 5 comments

I know there’s a bunch of stitchers out there who partake of ‘Guilt Free January’ – in which new starts are permitted without any feelings of guilt about the numbers of WIPs they may be neglecting. I think this is a fabulous idea. So much so, in fact, that I am going to be partaking of guilt free stitching from – oh, now, until whenever I so choose :giggle: Basically, my stitching time is going to be seriously curtailed for the next goodness-knows-how-long, as I slog through (a) this pregnancy, (b) the final unit in my Masters course, and then (c) sleep deprivation and all things newbabyish. So with that in mind, I’m going to enjoy what stitching I do get time for. And there is nothing I enjoy more than new starts! Not saying that’s all I’m going to do, of course. It would be lovely to even finish something once in a while. But given what I just spent on the framing of 2 pieces at the weekend (I’ve been too busy/ exhausted to do it myself), I can’t afford to finish too much anyway :giggle: So in honour of Guilt Free Me, please welcome the newest WIP to my portfolio – Mirabilia’s Petal Fairy. This is the first 10 hours of stitching – and the first time I’ve ever counted time (wonder how long that will last?!). She’s fun, and I will probably do some more on her over Christmas, I think.

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, In Progress

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