Stitchy update

My mother gave me some dollars for my birthday so I went to Spotlight yesterday and came home with this.

I plan to turn it into this (except mine won't be on pink aida):

I purchased this chart from Wee Little Stitches a few months ago. One of my all time favourite movies. This is my progress so far. Yep - heaps to go lol.

I've also made some progress on my Lizzie Kate (Cat Lessons for People). It's coming along great. Only problem is, this is the first piece I've stitched on linen and I have found a mistake in the orange box. I haven't decided if I'm going to pull it out and re-stitch that part yet. But of course, its the first place my eyes go to now.

I've had an incredibly lazy day today. I feel guilty.. eeek. Still trying to shake this rotten head cold though. Blah.


Hope you're all having a great week.


xx

The F Word (and the "c" word thrown in for good measure)

WARNING - If the F word offends you - please DO NOT read on.

I've mentioned before that my mother has bone cancer. We're not the type of family where I could go to her and put my arms around her and ask her if she's doing ok. This is my way of asking her if she's ok.

I was cruising the net at work on Friday night (as you do) and found this - Subversive. Love it! Some fricking hilarious kits in there. Had to keep asking myself, "why didn't I think of this"? Anyway, I managed to find some old scrap 14 count aida lying around (had to give it a good wash first lol) and some random threads that "kind of" matched the pattern. I stitched this up last night while watching the Breakfast Club. Awesome movie by the way. I'm hoping to just be able to whack it in a 4" x 6" photo frame and make it look nice.

I'm going to send it to her and hopefully it will make her laugh. I know it will make her laugh. A couple of years ago when she was first diagnosed I sent her something mushy (click here). She called me and told me it made her cry (she was laughing while she was telling me). So I'm hoping this has the opposite effect.

Lots to do today. Finishing covering eleventy billion school books, make a cake for bubba's birthday tomorrow, groceries and Jason wants to go and have fish and chips on the beach!

xx

Caterpiller Graveyard

Very creepy. Our back deck seems to have become the final resting place for heaps of caterpillers. The yard must have been too wet for them so they tried to move to higher ground. Epic fail. So for the last few days we've been doing crazy little dances as we negotiate the caterpiller free spots on the deck.

So another Monday bites the dust. Nuff said about my day :p

I went back to work today and the city is slowly starting to look "normal" again. Saw helicopters flying over regularly and from my building could hear the trucks pumping water out of basement car parks.. Apart from that if I hadn't known there was a flood last week I wouldn't have known.  Oh crap.. I can't believe I just typed that LOL

I've been doing some thinking about the frames I use for cross stitch - as in the working frame. I've been using hoops forever but I'm thinking the JBJ chart is just wayyyy too big for a hoop. My wrist starts to ache after a while. Although, maybe its not related to the weight of the aida and just my age? Anyhoo.. I'd love some feedback on what you use. I'm looking at the doodler frame from the Fox Collection but its exy and want to know what its like before I fork out for one.

Watched The Horse Whisperer last night. Oh man.. Robert Redford is just divine.

Yawn.. I really have nothing tonight. Should quit and adjourn to the couch.

xx

Blue Skies

So hard to believe that we are having such sensational, typical Queensland weather while we are going through our worst ever natural disaster.

The floods have been on telly non-stop since Monday night. While we are suffering in south-east Queensland it's often hard to remember that so many other areas in Queensland are also doing it tough and still at risk. As I type, Goondiwindi is about to go under. And as our floodwaters recede, other areas in Australia are facing similar conditions. The cost and effort to rebuild our transport infrastructure alone is going to be mindblowing.

There isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said. I think our Premier (who I must admit, I am NOT a huge fan of) has done a fantastic job of communicating with the public. I won't say anymore on that at the risk of getting myself tangled up in a political debate (all in my head of course :p).

I work in Brisbane city and will not return to the office until at least Monday. I'm "lucky" that I have remote access and can work from home.

If you are that way inclined, I encourage you to donate to the Premier's flood relief appeal. Please beware of bogus scams looking to pinch dollars (yes, they really are the lowest of the low).

In between checking emails and other bits and pieces of work I've managed to make some good progress on Lest we Forget. Lots of solid colour stitching. I also took the time to count the stitches remaining on one side of my Bon Jovi masterpiece. I miscalculated. Not.happy.jan. Actually I didn't miscalculate. I took the wrong measurements to Spotlight. Instead of taking the "finished area" dimensions, I took the "stitched area" figures. Say no more. I'll be pulling the stitches out and trying to salvage the aida for something else ;).

Really need to turn the telly off and nick off to bed. Everyone stay safe and dry.

xx

Biting my tongue

Jason has a laptop as well as his desktop PC. Zak uses the laptop from time to time and has a rule imposed that he must shut it when he's not using it, because a certain 2 year old (who shall remain nameless to protect his identity :p) likes to pull the buttons off the keyboard. Zak is learning slowly to shut the lid. He's been banned from using it at times because he sometimes forgets. Well today Jason left it up (as he always does - double standard much?). Anyhoo.... the nameless 2 year old decided it might be fun to not only pull the buttons off but also the little plastic bits under the buttons. Oh bugger me.  Wonder if Jason has learnt his lesson? Bahahaha...
 Pretty much rained all day here. Except for a small break in the middle of the day while I did the groceries.

Have had a nice weekend - plenty of stitching done! Still haven't started on my 52 weeks album... doh!

So here is my start on the JBJ pattern.

It's his left arm.. drool

I'm now having a mini-freak and worried that the cloth isn't going to be big enough. The instructions on the pattern say to use 28 white Aida. I couldn't find that count anywhere! And I didn't want to go to linen because I'm no good with linen. So I found some 18 Aida and used an online converter to put the measurements in. The finised pattern is 225w x 284h stitches. My cloth is 35cm wide by 45cm high. I'm thinking of doing it the old fashioned way now and just counting the amount of stitches I have left on the right hand side of the fabric and compare it to the number left on the pattern. Eeeek. Too tired now to focus on that but really need to do it before I do too much more.

Also made some good progress on Lest We Forget too. It's coming along nicely. I' think I'm on track to have it finished by Anzac day.

Zak was at his dad's this weekend so it was just the three of us at home. Poor Robbie always wanders around looking for mischief while his big brother isn't around. Sometimes its bad mischief (see the laptop story above lol) and sometimes it cute, funny mischief. I looked out of my bedroom window this afternoon and saw this.

He is going through of phase of lining things up.  Cars, teddies, and apparently deck chairs lol! (Don't mind my sick maidenhair fern there.. I forgot to water it for a while.. but after a couple of good drinks she has some nice re-growth :p )

Weekend is over already. Boo. Back to work tomorrow.. double boo :(

xx

Humpity hump hump

It is hump day hey? I'm still trying to adjust to being back in the real world and actually having to keep track of days!

It's raining here again in Brisbane tonight - just for something different lol.

Managed to dig out the unfinished cross stitch I was talking about a couple of posts ago and took a pic. I started this about 17 years ago. I cringe when I see the masking tape around the outside although it doesn't seem to have discoloured the fabric. In any case, that part will be under the frame (if I ever finish it!) so won't be noticable... problem is, I know it's there! The tape around Robbie's actually left some sticky residue.. but again - it ended up under the frame so no one knows.. shhhh..

Anyway - here it is! I think I still have two teddies left to do (I'm too lazy to get up and go and look at the pattern lol). I know I have run out of a colour and need to work out which one it is and replace it. Then I start thinking that over the years surely the cotton colours will have changed (even slightly?). But hopefully it won't be too noticable.

Also - a progress shot of Lest We Forget. I'd love to have this one done by Anzac Day. Even though Jason's Grandad will probably never see it, I will have immense satisfaction. Must say, I'm really *disliking* the colours in it. Again - that smudge is not on the fabric.. I must clean my camera lense!

I'm thinking of making a start on a Jon Bon Jovi cross stitch. It was one that I ordered through Etsy and it was emailed to me. I need to get organised and order the thread and cloth. Also, does anyone know what the copyright rules are for images? I'd love to have this image made into a cross stitch but I'm not sure if its illegal or not?

I've been looking around at pattern maker programs but a bit nervous to take the plunge.

Before I forget - I still have the giveaways I mentioned a few posts ago. Please let me know if you're interested. If none of those tickle your fancy, let me know and I'll send through a list of the other little kits I have that are looking for good homes.

Hoping to make a start on the 52 weeks of me album this weekend. I'm pretty keen to do it. I'm sure I've got a spare album floating around in my stash somewhere lol!

Should go to bed I guess.. I hate this being back at work shit.. hehehe..

xx

All good things must come to an end (apparently)

Last day of freedom before I go back to the real world of work tomorrow. I've only been off for two weeks but it has felt much longer. I guess thats a good thing. We've got a busy day planned today. I'm taking Zak to hang out with one of his old daycare friends, Claude. Claude's mum caught up with me through Facebook. Zak and I were trying to work out how long its been since they've seen each other. It has to be at least 5 or 6 years. I'm looking forward to it. Claude was a beautiful kind soul. Then of course there is the shitty old grocery shopping I need to do this afternoon.

I scrapped again yesterday. A layout for the first of the January sketches at Wicked Princesses. Not sure about this one. It feels like its missing something. Maybe its the photo. It really is a crap photo but captures this little man's giggles perfectly!

I also grabbed some shots of the other two cross stitch projects I have finished in the past. I managed to do most of this one while I was pregnant with Zak (12 years ago) and finished it off not long after he was born. It measures about 35cm x 30cm. I still look at it and smile :)

This one took me ages. Its huge. That writing was a total pain in the butt but so worth it. I love it. It measures about 50cm x 35cm. Not a good photo but it gives you an idea.

I have one other work in progress (besides the Lest we Forget). I started it about 17 years ago for my then stepdaughter. Things changed, I moved on but have carried the project with me from house to house. She has just told me she's going to be a mum. I'm thinking about getting off my butt and finishing it off to give to her for her baby. We'll see. Will post a pic when I can find it lol.

We've managed to score a couple of really nice days in between all the miserable rain up here. Zak spends most of his time with the neighbours, either out in the street or at their houses. We couldn't resist letting Robbie go out to join in with the big boys yesterday afternoon. He's getting a new "big boy" bike for his birthday later this month, along with a helmet. Thats going to be fun!

xx

New Years Eve

Another year bites the dust huh! What they said when we were kids was true. Time really does seem to go a lot faster as you get older.

I'm enjoying the time off work. Only a few more days of freedom left though :(.

We're having a quiet one at home tonight. Probably play a bit of Wii with Zak. I've got a couple of friends dropping in at some stage but I don't think they'll be here at the stroke of midnight.

Robbie has been causing us a bit of worry over the last couple of weeks. He is a breath holder. The first time he did it was in hospital the day after he was born. They stuck him with a needle and he cracked it. He tends to do it when he stumbles over or if he's chucking a really bad tanty. He's so different to Zak in that respect. Zak was quiet mellow - not the Robster lol. We're going to take him to the doc to be sure but I'm confident its nothing serious. Very scary when it happens though. Even though its only for about 15 seconds its enough for him to start to go limp-ish. I'm glad there are no signs of fits (yet!). I've done a bit of research and it does happen - doesn't make it any easier to cope with when he's doing it though!

Zak has been totally obsessed with his new xbox 360 over the last couple of days. To the point that I'm limiting his use. An hour on and an hour off.

I've done a little bit of scrapping over the last few days. A couple of layouts for challenges over at Wicked Princesses.

I've also been powering through the cross stitch. I ended up pulling the stitching out that I had made a mistake in. It would have driven me crazy if I hadn't lol. I must take a progress shot and a shot of my backside. A few posts ago I mentioned the TUSAL that Daffycat is hosting. She has posted some piccies of some of the prizes on her blog. You should check them out!

We've got a beautiful day here today - a nice change from the shitty old rain that we've had for a couple of weeks now. I'm off to enjoy it!

Happy new year everyone!

xx

Craziness

One more sleep till the big man in the red suit pays us a visit. I ducked out to the shops this morning to grab a few things. Pure madness. Glad I don't have any need to go back today!

Started to think about new years resolutions yesterday. Then reminded myself that I try not to get caught up in the whole resolution thing. I'm going to try and focus on being a nicer person. I'm such a cow sometimes. Thing is, I know I'm being a cow but I can't stop myself. Whats with that? Like last night, the power went out. I couldn't find the number in the yellow pages for Origin and the kids were bouncing around.. I was getting so pissed off! Why? Its not as if I was in the middle of anything. Maybe I was pissed that my two boys can find fun in running around in torchlight while I just sit there annoyed at the inconvenience. Anyway.. hopefully a nicer Shelley in 2011.

Before the nice Shelley comes out to play though, I need to have a whinge about my car. I can't remember when I last had it serviced. Why do I leave these things so long? Took it to be serviced yesterday because of the strange noises it was making. Ouch... $850 later. Plus I need to take it back asap to have the timing belt done... ouch ouch ouch. Hopefully I've now learnt my lesson and will have it serviced more regularly. I had to have the brakes done yesterday too - they started to make that awful grinding sound when we were up in Toowoomba.

While i'm on the shit off bandwagon... I've made a mistake in the latest project. I'm hoping I can get by without having to pull any stitching out though. I've left a row of about 7 stitches out of silhouette of the soldier to the left. Funny thing is, even though no one will ever notice I'll know its there lol. Progress shot - I must have a mark on my camera lense because the cloth does not that that smudge mark on it in real life.

Its forecast to be a wet wet wet Christmas here. I'm glad we didn't have any grand plans to have the family over for a barbecue. Its going to be a nice quiet one here. Seafood, ham and salads. Finished off with plum pudding and custard.. YUM!

xx

The Enemy!

Lesson learnt. I picked up a pack of these in a hurry at the supermarket earlier today. Big mistake. Bubba has been bouncing off the walls for about 3 hours now. I'm sure I'll look back on this afternoon fondly and smile one day. LOL
We have Miss Chloe here with us at the moment. Its nice having another girl around the house. I took her shopping to pick out some Christmas presents for herself. It was a marathon effort but mission accomplished!

We're off on a road trip to Toowoomba tomorrow. Having a Christmas celebration at Jason's sister's house with the family. Jason will then come home and the kids and I will visit a few more friends and my family before we come home. Hopefully the weather here stays fine so Jason can re-seal the deck. It really really needs it.

Thanks Daffycat for your tip about the problems I was having with Blogger. It must be a random thing as you suggested - its working fine now!

Will leave you with the latest progress pic of Lest we Forget.

xx

Sweet sweet freedom!

So another work year bites the dust. I can't say it has been all sunshine and lollipops this year. It's been a struggle. On top of madness on work I've really struggled at home. The whole balancing act is not very balanced at the moment. I'm not overly happy. But then not overly "un" happy. I'm hoping that over the Christmas break I can chill out and put a few things back into perspective. I get so worked up about things (usually those that I cannot change) and it really flows into every part of my life. Robbie has decided that he no longer wishes to sleep in complete darkness. I couldn't work that out though. So at 1.48 this morning while I was in tears trying to get him to settle and getting frustrated that everytime I left the room he would scream for mum or dad there was no way I was thinking rationally enough to ask myself why he was doing it. Jason finally heard him (yes - you are detecting a slight hint of annoyance), came in and suggested we leave the rangehood light on. Hey presto. Meh.. anyway.

Big boy is off at a friends place for the night. It scares me how quickly he is growing up.

I had a nice dinner with some workmates at the Broncos Leagues Club tonight. Boss paid. Awesome. Then I pulled $40 out of the pokies. Gotta be happy with that.

Now I'm ready for bed.

First though - a pic of the work in progress.
xx

Is it time for holidays yet??

Almost! Tomorrow is my last day for the year. Having a nice quiet break and not back at work until 5 January. 2011. Wonder what the year will bring. Big boy turns 12. Little man turns 2. I turn.. yeah well... closer to 40 than 30 lol.

Update on latest project:

Found out my mother needs some more chemo today. Once a week for 12 weeks plus radium on her hips. The tablets she has been taking to try and slow it down have not been working so they want to hit it with chemo and radium. Not sure what it means. I'm the type who buries their head in the sand and what I don't know can't hurt me. Wrong I'm sure. But its my way of coping.

Not expecting to do much in the way of work tomorrow. We have a lunch at the Brekky Creek and then dinner at the Broncos Leagues Club. Food galore!

xx

Progress

Slowly slowly. Would like to say its nice to be using a colour other than black but the colours in this one are all very meh lol. Also, this is the first time I've done a big one in 16 count aida. Much prefer 14 count. Tis going to be worth it though. Will look great when its done.

Had enough!

Ok.. I'm ready for a break. I'm totally over it. I've been feeling out of control for the last couple of months, with work and trying to keep up with everything at home. I felt like such a loser today. I had written on my calendar a date claimer for a Christmas party at Wet and Wild for next weekend. At 8am my mother called to ask where the flock I was because the party had started. Arghhh.. I had written the wrong date on the calendar. So of course I hung up the phone and cried. Thats what I do. I cry. I got my shit together and called her back. We could still go. Problem was the Gold Coast is about an hour and a half from here lol. We packed up our stuff and got down there by 10. Ended up having a really good day. We're all sunburnt because of course we didn't think to grab sunscreen. Its been raining here for ages. It was overcast there.. and muggy as hell. Both Jason and I have nice "masks" across our eyes where our sunnies covered our faces. Big boy had an awesome time. Robbie had fun too.. till he crashed and burned in the pram. Anyway - bring on the break!

Two sleeps till Bon Jovi. That is all.

Been working on my latest project. Hating the colours. With.a.passion. Will persevere because it means something special to us and to Jason's Grandad.

Lots and lots (and lots) of rain!

The last couple of weeks have seen heaps of rain in our area. We're lucky that we haven't had any major flooding but today we had the heaviest lot of rain we've had in a while. It went for about 40mins or so. This is the side of our house (the side we don't frequent very often lol)..

Muggy as hell though this morning so the rain has been good to help get rid of that.

We went to dinner tonight with a good friend to an Indian Place... awesome. But I ate waaaaayyyyyy too much.. I missed the live feed from the Melbourne concert while we were at dinner.. I'm hoping I can find it somewhere to watch.

Have done some more on the project. Just to prove its not all black i've taken a pic of the rest of the colours in the kit. So not my usual style.. but the finished product will be so worth it!

xx

4 Sleeps to Go

Holy crap batman.. so close I can smell it! Just four little sleeps to go. I'm sure I'm driving everyone completely insane with my obsessive-ness... but too bad.. hehehe..

Found this totally cool and pointless thing to join http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2010/12/totally-useless-stitch-long.html . I always feel like i've achieved something when I have a pile of scrap thread next to me on the couch. I don't think its something you would understand unless you're a cross stitcher though... crazy but true..

Secret Santa at work today. I think my secret santa was trying to give me a hint.. I got a cute little peace doll.. Lol... peace man. My mission for next week is to get through the week at work without dropping the f-bomb. Out loud that is... it doesn't count if I say it in my head..

So I spent a bit more time stitching some more BORING black last night.

Almost ready to move on to some other colours but I prefer to have the dark stuff done first so the thread doesn't umm.. whats the word... kind of pull apart into the lighter colours?

Anyway... couch is calling my name.. hopefully there is something interesting on Fox!

xx

Almost there....

So close to the end of the year and some time off... so so close.. lol... 5 sleeps till Bon Jovi... not long now!

Report card day today. Love report card day. Big boy makes me so proud. His last day of grade 6 tomorrow then next year he's a big grade 7 boy. We're trying a different option for vacation care this time around. After the biting incident last holidays I'm not prepared to fork out any more money for that care. Hopefully the PCYC will be a much more active and engaging programme for him.

Work on the masterpiece is continuing (very slowly :p). Still working on black... heaps more black to go... yay... Need an early night but it feels like i'm wasting time when I have an early one. Always regret it the next morning though!

Went to a Christmas get together at my local scrapping store last night. Was really nice to hang out with some friends, nibble on some gorgeous goodies and have a bit of a browse. They also had a couple of make and takes so I ended up with a cute little Christmas tree shaped thingy.

Ok.. adjourning to the couch...

xx

7 Sleeps!

Wondering how many more Bon Jovi concert DVDs it will take before Jason moves into the shed? :p

More on the latest masterpiece:


Like I said... lots and lots (and lots) of black!

xx

8 Sleeps to go!


Excited much? ya think? yahuh!


Monday = blah


Spent more time on my latest effort last night... lots and lots of black... boring old black! But will be so worth it when its done!



xx

New Masterpiece!

So I've started work on a new masterpiece! Bet you can't guess what it is!? I ordered a new kit from Vicstitch and it arrived a few days ago. Love the design. The people who design these are very clever!

Big boy had his end of year concert last week. It was a great night! His class did the "evolution of dance". He looks like he was born for the stage!




Crappy weather here at the moment. Seems to be constant rain. Makes for a very blah mood. Oh and how good was last night - Anne of Green Gables on telly!

Only 9 sleeps till Bon Jovi! Holy shit I can't wait!

We put our Christmas tree up yesterday. Now the fun of keeping a toddler away from the pretties begins! LOL . And this picture really was the best of a bad bunch!

xx