WE HAVE A JOB

Hubby has accepted the position in south east (I wrote west in my last post) Victoria in an area called refered to as Gippsland. Here is a link to the local government site that covers the town that we are moving to http://www.egipps.vic.gov.au/, if you have time have a look around, it is a lovely area.

Dee asked if we had a preference for areas of Hubby's jobs. The other position would have put us both closer to our parents but in a smaller town, around the same size as we are currently in population of 8000. We would have still had the problem of Luke having to travel about an hour by bus to get to a school that we would have been happy for him to go to. But with our Gippsland choice the population of our town is 12000, and the schools have been chosen and the children enrolled, and both schools are next to one another and in town. Currently, we are around two hours away from both of our parents and the move will make it around five hours. Ideally I would like to be closer to my parents, Dad will be 77 in January, but we feel that we need to base our decisions on our own family needs.

I have been stitching but I may not be able to post very often with having to pack. DH is starting his new job on the 14th of January and my last day of work here is the 17th. So now it is me looking for a job, hopefully I can get one with the same bank. My area manager is doing some ground work for me, he is not obligated to but feels that since I started back not so long ago he would like me not to have any further leave without pay. We will see what happens after Monday when I'll be having a phone conference with my own manager and the area HR manager.

I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year.
Travel safely if you are travelling during the festivities, but most of all don't forget to have fun and enjoy the time spent with loved ones.

Love and Hugs
Joanne

A Finish.

WOOHOO a finish!!! This is The Drawn Thread's There's No Place Like Home. It is stitched on fabric from R and R Reproductions, I am unsure of the color or count of the fabric using the called for threads, DMC and Needle Neccesities. I changed the flag on the flag pole in the last picture from stitching to a little Australian Flag button.

Next is an update of CdC by Ink Circles.

I don't know what the diagonal line in the photo is (going from top right corner down) it is not there in real life!!! The picture is washed out due to the flash, but the coloring on the top is pretty close.

I am currently working on my second block of VOHRH, block 11 which is the school house. I have another new start, Fouroaks Designs A Love Song, another BAP, oh well!!!

Hubby and I did most of our Christmas shopping yesterday with Joel and Caitlyn with us, and I left my purse at home. We first went around the aisles and discussed what we would buy, then hubby took the kids elsewhere and waited for me to contact him by our walkie talkies. I would leave the shopping trolley somewhere nearby and we would change over, with hubby taking the shopping through the register while I took the kids to the car. We managed this manouvre three times in all!!!

Last Saturday it was my break-up party for work, but I was not able to attend as I had double booked myself. So where else did I go, to see the live production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It was truly amazing, and so much better than the movie. I went with my three sisters, my Mum and two friends of my sisters. We all had a wonderful time and one of my sisters lives around half and hour out of Melbourne and another sister organised a christmas surprise by ordering a limousine to take us all into the city. WOW, we all had the best time, sis also bought two bottles of champagne for us all to share, even though she doesn't drink.

Hubby has just been offered a position in south west Victorian. He is also in the running for a position in a town which is about an hour from here. He has been able to negotiate a slightly better salary package with the first position and if nothing comes from the second one, he will accept the first one, are you confused yet? Even though there is a short fall we will be able to manage. He had the interview for this last Friday and when the interview was finished he was told to go and enrol his children into the preferred schools. It has been horrible trying not to get our hopes up too high, but feeling rather confident with the comment that was made.

Thank you everyone for your comments and for your patience during my not so frequent blogging. This I will 'try' to rectify and post updates more frequently.

I hope you are all well and getting lots of stitching done.

Nearly a Month.

I can't believe that it has nearly been a month since my last post, apologies everyone.

Coral is stitching a design of five pumpkins, and ran a competition to see who could guess which pumpkin she started first. I WON WOOHOO!!! and yesterday I received my prize, a lovely bundle of DMC threads in Halloween colors, green, orange, yellow, and a cute card. Thank you so much for your generosity Coral I really enjoyed your package. I can't take any photos at the moment as DH has the camera with him, and as we have exceeded our bandwidth our internet connection is rather slow at the moment, this should improve by Tuesday.

I have been stash collecting again!!! I was going to take photos but I can't at the moment, I will just do a quick list. I now have all the beads for Lady of the Mist, 7 pieces of hand dyes fabric from Colours down under, (they are clearing their current stock of hand dyed fabric to introduce a new range), 11 Little House Needleworks designs, (you read correctly, yes 11) I love their designs, can you tell, Prairie Schooler Spring has come and Summer Breeze, Rosewood Manor The Berries, The Cats Whiskers Red Desert Scissor Pocket with required Dinky Dyes thread, four HAED designs.

I ordered and have received some (lots of) threads from Vicky Clayton, her conversions for Carriage House Samplers Village and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow, two hanks of Garnet. Her silks are gorgeous and are very pleasant to stitch with, how would I know this? I started VOHRH oh no, another wip. I am stitching it on 40ct Lambswool linen using one thread of silk over two fabric threads, I really just wanted to do a little bit, had to check the thread coverage you know, and I haven't stopped.

I need to figure out a rotation of some sort or some things just won't get stitched on. I don't want to stress too much about this as my stitching needs to be enjoyable. I have been working on CdC during my lunch break at work and it is coming along nicely. Did some work on Bubbles also, HAED project, and I am now doing one of the actual bubbles. I also need to show photos on my progress of Sleeping Beauty and Blackstone Fantasy Garden.

I received four YOU MAKE ME SMILE AWARDS, Lynn, Lelia, Suzanne, I would like to thank you for making me smile by awarding this to me, it is greatly appreciated. I read, or try, alot of blogs and they all make me smile in various ways, so I am doing the cheats way and awarding everyone the award. I know I said four awards, I just can't find the forth and sincerely apologise to whoever it is.

DH is still looking for a job, he has an interview for one on Thursday in country Victoria and Devonport has again cropped up. Apparently during negotiations the person offered the job decided against it after all, so the position was re-advertised. The consultant knows DH due to industry contacts and has offered his help with the application, and is talking of ways of getting DH there for an interview, sounds quite promising.

Study has finished for the year, had my exam on the 31st of October, received my assignment results now just waiting for the unit results to come through on the 29th of this month.

I have rambled enough for now, thanks for sticking with me, I am hoping to post photos soon.

Stay safe everyone and happy stitching.

I am still around

Hi everyone, we are all well again, I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes. We went on a little holiday to our beach house, we left home on the 26th of September and got back home on the 2nd of October. It was very quiet and peaceful, apart from having the children there hehe, and we did alot of nothing. DH developed a secondary infection from the flu and after visiting three different doctors in two days he finally started to get relief. He had a sinus infection and the antibiotics didn't really start to take effect until the third day.

We caught up with our neighbours down there, and are so fortunate, they are wonderful. They have three children, two boys, 10 and 8, and a daughter 6, and the play beautifully with our kids, but they also respect the fact that we are on holidays and do not let their kids over at our house very often.

As you can see by the pictures I have done some work on the Sampler Gameboard, I think I worked on this about three weeks ago. I have done other stitching, in fact I have been really naughty. While we were away I started Miribilia's Sleeping Beauty and Ink Circles Blackstone Fantasy Garden. I also kitted up Miribilia's Lady of the Mist and can't wait to make a start on it. Needless to say my rotation, which I think I have stuck with for about 3 rotations, has gone out the window. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!! This week I have been concentrating on CdC and have stitched all of the circles along the bottom row and have begun going up the right hand side.

I have received my order from Karen at Dragonfly Dream. I ordered the JCS 2007 Ornament Issue and the beads for Lady of the Mist, and two charts, Just Nan's Christmas Peace and the embellishment pack, and Lynne Nicoletti's Fairy Tale Fortune Teller. I will try to take some pictures at some stage. I am waiting on some beads still from Karen, they are on back order and she said that I should have them in the coming week. Dee was interested to know what I thought of the JCS issue: I haven't had a really good look through it yet, but at a glance there are a few that I like, though I have only ever stitched on ornament before, stitching is finished, but it is not an ornament yet. Lindy wanted to see a finished picture of Reeds Stocking, it is a Shepherds Bush design Lindy, I hope the link works for you.

Last week, after we got home from our little break away, I worked three days in a row of my new hours. I was totally shattered on Friday night, not mentally, but physically, just from standing for so long. I am so not used to this work business, hopefully it is just a matter of time until my poor feet and legs get used to it again.

At the moment I am meant to be finishing an assignment for uni, it was due on the 4th of October, I am getting so slack with uni, everything seems to be running behind. I only have to do about another 700 words, including the conclusion. It is a sociology subject so rambling and waffling are permitted.

While we were away three of us turned another year older, and two of them were significant numbers. Caitlyn turned four on the 1st of October and Dh and I turned 40 aaaarrrrrgggghhh LOL five days apart with me being the older of us. Mine was the 30th of Sept and his was the 5th of Oct. He always tell people that I (meaning me) am 'five' older than him, deliberately not including the word days, and making people think, days, weeks, months, etc, sometimes he says decades, rotton fiend. No real news on the job front for DH there are a few that he is in the process of applying for.

I haven't got any more news this time around, I think this is long enough, just wish everyone happiness and lots of stitching.

Lots of updates.

We have all been sick!!! It started with Luke who has had over a week off school with the flu. Then DH last week, couldn't get out of bed on Monday of last week but has been slowly improving. The two little ones, Joel and Caitlyn, have been in and out of bed for about a week now with varying temperatures and other symptoms. I went to a work training course last Wednesday in Shepparton, 1 and 1/2 hours away from home, didn't feel to flash when I woke up in the morning, but just put it down to tiredness from looking after everyone else. I don't know how I made it home, but when I did I just went to bed. DH took Joel, Caitlyn and myself to emergency at our local hospital and luckily my doctor was on duty that night. He started making jokes about seeing all of us at once and I just told him it wasn't funny. (Not feeling very humorous at this stage). He just said it was the flu, it is going around like crazy, treat the symptoms, go home and do nothing, he gave me a week off from work.

Luke has gone to school today, we sent Caitlyn to pre-school only to get a call from them that she wasn't well enough to stay. DH took her to see the doctor and she has now developed an ear infection which is common for this strain of flu apparently. So she has had her first dose of antibiotics and should be on the road to recovery.

Through all of this I have been stitching, and here are some update pictures of Noah's Ark and Reeds Stocking.

In other work news a person resigned a couple of weeks ago, and even though my boss knows that I will be leaving eventually, I have been offered the position. So instead of my 'nice' 2 days per week, I will now be working for 4 days per week. Mondays will only be for three hours, I will have Tuesdays off, with normal length days for Wed, Thurs and Fri. I should have started these hours this week, but with being sick it was not to be.

There is nothing significant to report with regards to DH's job hunting, he has only been doing bits and pieces on the computer and phone, he hasn't been up to doing much of anything else, just like the rest of us. I am ready for us all to be well again!!! SOON!!!

I do have updates of Sampler Game Board and CdC as well, but will save them for another time.

I have had some stashy mail; I ordered a further 10 skeins of Dinky Dyes thread for CdC and also a metre of 40ct lambswool linen and have received both from Stitching Obsession. I was thinking of doing HOHRH of VOHRH, I have both in my stash, on the 40ct, using one strand of DMC.

I also placed an order with Dragonfly Dreams so that I could get my JCS orni issue, of course that was not all that I ordered, will share when it arrives.

I had better go and try and get this house sorted out a bit, I hope everyone is stitching lots.

My Middle Name

I was tagged by Kim and here are my answers:

The rules:
1 You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2 Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3 When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4 At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My middle name is Marie (the same as Kim's)

M is for marriage: DH and I have been married for 7 and 1/2 years. We have had our ups and downs, but more ups and it seems that the longer we are together the stronger we become.

A is for additional: as in additional pets. One day DH and I took a walk to our supermarket and we always look at the community notice board. This day there was a photo of the cutest looking dog, who was free to a good home. I said to hubby that we just have to have him so we rang the phone number, when to see the dog, and then he became ours. He fitted in perfectly with our family, is great with the kids, very tolerant of them. He was owned by a young girl and is very attached to me for this reason, and he loves lying on my lap, even if said lap is already occupied with my stitching.

R is for religion: At a particularly low point in my life I felt that I needed some sort of help, and although I had never thought to go to church before in my life, I felt that I needed God at that point. In the next twelve months I met my DH, a Christian, and have been going to church ever since. I believe that all things happen for a reason and that God had a big hand in me meeting my DH.

I is for integrity: My job as a bank employee calls for a high level of integrity. I have to ensure that I do not compromise any of my clients financial or personal information in any way, even to the point of telling DH that I saw such and such today, which of course would divulge that the person banks with my employer.

E is for excitement: I love seeing excitement on the faces of my children, seeing their expressions when they are looking forward to something, like going to the park or some such treat.

I am not going to tag anyone else, but if your blog title begins with a letter which is in my middle name, consider your self tagged and let me know so that I check out your answers.

A week ago a person at my work resigned and they have offered me the position, even though they know that I will be leaving before Christmas. So my two days a week very cushy job, has now become four days a week, starting this week. The extra money will come in handy (more stash) but I will be exhausted by the time the week end comes around.

I owe some update photos of a few projects and will try to get them done soon, my camera needs new batteries and I it won't even turn on when they are flat.

Everyone seems to be coming down with some sort of flu at the moment; Luke had been in bed since last Friday, he is up and about today and I think he will be well enough for school tomorrow, Caitlyn has had a temperature since Monday morning and didn't go to pre-school yesterday and has a terrible cold, and this morning DH woke up feeling cold and achy. Joel and I have escaped everything so far, I hope this continues. I am going on a training course tomorrow for work and I am picking up another girl on the way, I am looking forward to it and I hope that I don't come down with anything.

I had better go now, after boring all of you, I hope you are all getting lots of stitching done and that you are all well.

I finished a page

WOO HOO!!Well as the title says I have finished the first page of twenty, here are the before and after pictures of HAED Gypsy Rose. I am loving this and was tempted to keep going on her after her rotation finished last week, but I don't want the others in my rotation to fall behind. The creamy color on the right is her dress, and the design is four pages wide, so there is alot of dress to get through.

The next picture to come is of CdC.

This was taken after finishing stitching on it last Sunday night. There is not much more to be done of the bottom row, but I can't see myself finishing the bottom row this week end, perhaps the next. Through the week I ordered another ten skeins of the Dinky Dyes thread and a couple pieces of fabric from Stitching Obsession. Mandy is great to deal with (no affiliation) and offered for me send her one of my skeins so that she could then send it to the Australian distributors for them to do a comparison with to ensure that I received the same dye lot. I told her not to bother, but if they are different I am planning on mixing up the lengths, do one length from one skein and then another length from another. At the moment I am going to complete the bottom circles and then start the mixing if I need to.

We haven't heard any more about the jobs in Canberra, but no news is good news, right!!!! DH was unsuccessful on a few, Devonport, Warragul and the one in an inner city suburb. Another one has come up in Ballarat and he has been making heaps of phone calls in answer to ads on various internet sites and in The Age newspaper, all I can say is thank goodness for VOIP (voice over internet phone) otherwise our phone bill would be astronomical.

I have also been tagged by Kim, it is about middle names, and you would not believe it, but my middle name is the same as Kim's. I will do mine over the week end, and if you want to know what my middle name is in the mean time, you will have to go to Kim's blog to find out. ;) LOL

Happy stitching everyone, and stay safe.

Some pictures at last.

Yeah, blogger is finally being cooperative. This picture is for Ranae. This is of my fractal. The centre of it is stitched in greens and yellows, it is huge and apart from where I have gone off on a tangent with it, I have almost stitched two pages of thirty.








Here are before and after pictures after its rotation.


















The next update is for CdC. I have almost finished the outside border but decided to do some filling in of the circles, the more I do of this the more I love it. I am so glad that I decided to have this as my week end stitch so that I can work on it more regularly.












Here is a closer picture of where it has been filled in. Someone on the Cirque des Cercles blog said that finishing each section was like a mini happy dance, and they were so right. I get excited finishing one section and then I just have to start the next. We all know how addictive stitching can be and how hard it is to put our needles down.

It will be my birthday soon and the other day hubby asked if I would like an LCD computer screen, of course I said yes!!! So now I am looking at every one's blog on a 19 inch LCD monitor and I am loving it.
Later today we are heading to Bendigo and tonight we, DH, Luke and I, are going to the theatre to see a production of Oaklahoma. We love the theatre and are never disappointed by the productions that Bendigo Theatre Company put on. Joel and Caitlyn are being baby-sat by a friend of the in-laws and when they are old enough we will take them also.
I hope that all of you enjoy your week end, and that you get lots of stitching done.

Stitching Updates.

We have just finished playing a board game with Luke and I thought that I would post my stitching updates. The project that I stitched on last week was my fractal, and here are before and after photos. Blogger is not letting me load pictures at the moment so I will try to answer some questions. Ranae asked what fractal I was stitching. Cross stitch Collectibles offer free fractals on their site, a new one every month and this is where I got mine from. Mine is number 25 Ranae and as soon as blogger allows me to post some photos I will post one of it. Unfortunately it is only in black and white so you will need to hang aroung my blog for a few years until mine is finished to see the colors. LOL

Hazel asked who designed And A Forest Grew, it is Rosewood Manor. I have previously left a comment on Hazel's blog but thought that I would also answer her questions here, just in case she missed it.

I would like to sincerely thank everyone for their comments, I love reading them and often sit here just thinking how sweet everyone is.

I will post progress pictures when blogger decides to cooperate.

Happy stitching everyong.

Lots of news.

Last Saturday there was a stitching GTG held in Melbourne. I was emailing Tannia to wish her well and she asked me if I was going to the GTG. After a bit of thought, and realising that we didn't have any plans, I asked DH if he could take me. He said yes, and I asked Tannia what the details were, address etc. It took 3 1/2 hours to get there but it was worth it, I had an amazing time. For me to walk into a house, not know the owner, or any other person there, is so far out of my comfort zone, it is not funny. I had a couple of weird thoughts of what am I doing, on the drive there, but quickly dismissed them when I thought of the other stitchers that I was going to meet.

When I walked in I immediately recognised Tannia and Marita from their blogs, and I was introduced to everyone, I am sorry I am terrible for remembering names, and met the hostess Bernadette, who wait for it, also has an ONS called The Needlework Boutique. With me I took CdC, my completed Celtic Spring and Daughters and my HAED Gypsy Rose. I was made to feel very comfortable by everyone who had lovely things to say about my work. Unfortunately Tannia, Marita and some other ladies had to leave not long after I got there. Tannia gave me the warmest of hugs as she was going. I will remember this day for along time to come. Once everyone else had left Bernadette suggested I call DH, who had taken our children to McDonalds for a play, and ask them back to her house so that our children could play with hers. Luke enjoyed playing football (Aussie Rules) with her 10yo DS, while Joel and Caitlyn played indoors with her 2 DD's.

On the job front, remember DH tried to set up an interview with another company in Canberra, he had a phone interview with them, then an 'in person' interview on Wednesday. Another trip to Canberra, and then onto Melbourne for a position with a council. The two Canberra postions are being handled by the same consultant, and has told DH of another position, and told him that he would have him in a position in Canberra before Christmas. We will wait and see. We are not stressed about DH being out of work, it is almost exciting thinking about where we will end up.

I have been stitching and owe some progress pictures, will try for later today/tonight.

Thank you to everyone for wishing DH the best for his interviews, it means alot to me.

Job news

Would like to thank everyone for the comments that they have left and the well wishes left for DH for his job prospects, they are much appreciated.
The job that hubby interviewed for last Friday in Canberra contacted him on Monday to say that they wanted to talk with his referees, so that is some great news. The other Canberra position, that he was unable to organise an interview with, conducted a phone interview with him on Monday afternoon and now want to see him in person. So hubby is off to Canberra again on Wednesday, and then on to Melbourne on Thursday.

Today is his last day of work and he has been in such high spirits, I am very proud of him. This proves to me that our time here is up, and as Luke begins secondary school next year and Joel start primary school, our move could not have come at a better time.

As for stitching I am currently working on my fractual, and I feel that I have made some progress on it. I am itching to start a Miribilia after I have my next finish, but I would like to incorporate some smaller projects into my rotation as most of them are LARGE. At this stage I have Sleeping Beauty and Petal Fairy almost fully kitted, lets see what happens.

Hope everyone is well and stitching

Desert Guardian update.

I have just finished the weekly rotation on Desert Guardian by Character Creations. Here are before and after photos.

Lots of confetti stitching in this one, but I am enjoying it. It is the week end, and I get to stitch on CdC. Will post a picture after the week end.

I would like to thank everyone for visiting and leaving comments, I love reading your replies to my posts. I got my assignment away, and my uni received it only one day late, I can live with that. The next assignment isn't due until the middle to late September. So I can concentrate on the course work for this topic.

Yesterday DH drove over 1000 kilometers to Canberra and back for a job interview. I think the employment consultant felt sorry for him, with the distance traveled, and even bought him lunch before the interview. We should find out next week if he has been successful or not. He is aware of another position in Canberra and tried to organise an interview for it while he was there, but it couldn't be done, so he might have to go there again next week. He'll be in Melbourne on Monday for, I think, two interviews, one is with a university, and the other is for a council. (Sorry Marita I am not going so I won't be able to catch up with you this time, I also work on Mondays).

Luke is playing his last game of soccer for the season today, I would have liked to go but I've just been so tired lately, I am sure I just need some 'earlier' nights.

I think that is all I have to say at the moment, I hope everyone has a great week end with lots of stitching.

WOOHOO!!! A Little Finish

On Thursday I had a little happy dance. This is Lizzie Kates Daughters. A fun little design which I think I will make into a little pillow. Even though this empties a slot in my rotation, I am not going to start anything else at this stage, though I can change my mind if I want to!!!! HEHE

As for my exam, I felt that I did better than I thought that I would. I feel that I managed to cover most of the relevant areas even though there was some 'waffle' in between. Now just to wait for the results, I am still waiting for the return of my assignment.

Time to go, I have an assignment due OHOH on Monday. It will possibly be a day or so late, I can live with that. Bye for now everyone, stay safe and happy stitching.

It has been a while

Sorry it has taken so long to get organised enough to put together a post, life just gets is the way of the things that we like to do at times, doesn't it?

I would like to thank everyone for their comments and for their kind wishes and thoughts for DH's job interviews. Still no new job, though still in the mix are; Devanport, Ballarat, a job at Melbourne University, a council in surburban Melbourne, and new ones at Warragul, one hour from Melbourne and he is still following up on a couple of others. There was one which he didn't feel that he interviewed well for which has been re-advertised. He contacted them and asked for them to trial him for 3 months, and that he would prove that he could perform the neccessary tasks required, still waiting to hear back from them.

I have an exam this afternoon, my first written one at university level. I have already seen the questions and have formulated my answers but I am still not over confident. I haven't received my assignment back yet either, just waiting to see what penalties will be applied as it was 'very' late, no doubt I will see in due course.

I have been stitching, even if it is only for an hour or so every night. I have also started to knit an afghan with six different colored stripes, eight balls of each color, and I am on the third stripe of the first lot of eight balls - I hope this makes sense, not feeling very coherent at the moment, not a good feeling before an exam.

I have made fairly good progress on Cirque des Cercles over the past two week-ends. I have also stitched on Bubbles, Celtic Banner and at the moment I am stitching on Daughters, hoping for a happy dance on this one (fingers crossed).












Here is CdC. As you can see I have been concentrating on doing the border and the outer circles, I am sure progress will seem to come to a halt once I start filling in the gaps.







Here are before and after shots of Bubbles. Not the greates of photos unfortunately, but the after shot is actually showing a second patch of lighter colors as in the before shot.













And finally here is Celtic Banner, again not much progress, but at least you can tell that it has been worked on. The left hand side border got some attention this time also.

Well I have some washing to hang out and a few other things to do before DH comes home from work to baby sit so I can do some last minute studying before my exam.

123 Stitch Stash

Here is the list of stash that I received from 123stitch'

Lemon Meringue Sampler by Casey Bounaugurio

Antique Ivory Cashel, quarter yard

Yellow Creme Glass Bead for Lemon Meringue Sampler

Spring Row by Bent Creek

Ice Cream Sundae by Country Cottage Needleworks

Holly & Ivy Sampler by Country Cottage Needleworks

Flower Shop by Country Cottage Neddleworks

The Bookshelf, by Little House Needleworks

Ladybug Ladybug by Little House Needleworks

Music & Books by Little House Needleworks

Nature's Beauty by Little House Needleworks

Fairy Flora by Miribilia

Lady Of The Mist by Miribilia

Lt. Mocha Cashel (18x27)

Clay Cashel (18x27)

32 Ct. Natural Linen (27x36)

Blossom Time by Papillon Creations

Three Little Words by Papillon Creations

Here are the pictures,

There is a story (excuse) behind me getting the Lemon Meringue Sampler, especially when I saw how beautifully Michelles' looked. My hubby's favourite dessert is Lemon Meringue pie and a good friend of mine makes one that is to die for. This is the same friend that offered to have the kids on the Wednesday of the school holidays doing Luke out of some pocket money. When I picked the kids up after work she had very kindly made a pasta dish for our dinner and a lemon meringue pie for dessert. This was around the same time that Michelle had shown her finished and framed Lemon Meringue Sampler. What is a girl to do, but to get her clicky finger working. I of course had to get it and went through my HUGE list of ONS and I found it at 123 Stitch, and 'of course' I had to justify the overseas order by ordering other things. I needed some neutral fabric, had to get the beads, and the charts, well, they just 'appeared' in my cart HEHE. I blame it on my friend and Michelle ;) LOL.

Happy stitching everyone and stay safe.

I Am Still Here

Hi everyone, as the title says I am still here, have just been busy.

My assignment is finished WOOHOO at long last and when I last checked with my uni, it had been sent to the assessor for assessment, so should have it back in the next week or so. Hubby didn't get the job in Melbourne. It was with the Australian Cricket Board, but he has four interviews today in Ballarat, two with employment consultants and two for actual jobs. There is another in the pipeline which would mean relocating to Tasmania, this would be fine as it is located in Devonport which is where the Spirit of Tasmania (ferry between Melbourne and Tasmania) docks. It is able to carry cars as well as passengers, and as all of our families and friends are in Victoria or southern New South Wales it means that it is not too difficult to reach them, or of course we could also fly. This prospect is exciting for me as Tassie is the only state in Australia that I haven't been to, what better way to check it out while living there. But we shall wait and see.

I have been stitching and I owe a few progress pictures so here they are:

First is There is no Place Like Home, before and after. Not a huge amount of progress, but still progress. I was concentrating on my assignment so stitching had to take a back seat. Not to worry.

Next in my rotation was And A Forest Grew, before and after.

Again not much progress, the three small trees are out of position my a stitch, I didn't rip them out as the position of their neighbouring motifs is not affected, I may decide to 'fix' them, or I may just leave them.

I did stitch on CdC over the weekend and made some good progress and will post of picture of it soon. My clicky finger has been at it again, this time I put in an order with 123stitch, How fast are they? I placed my order on the 11th, it was shipped on the 11th, and I received it on the 19th. I will post what I ordered and pictures later on.

Thank you everyone for you comments, they are very much appreciated. Happy stitching.

Time for an Update.

Last Friday saw the end of my rotation for The Castle.

I stitched all of the bushes that needed finishing and made a start on the castle. Teresa is quite the genius when she works out her blends. I love the way they look. But I don't know that I will ever stitch another of her designs even though there are a few that I do like. But then you never know, we can all change our minds, can't we.

On the week-end I made a start on Ink Circles Cirque des Cercles. I am stitching it on 28ct Navy Jobelan with Dinky Dyes silk in Desert Sand. Here is a picture. The fabric looks more purple in this photo and I think IRL the threads are a richer colour. Never mind, still gives all of you an idea of what it looks like. I am loving the silks they are so soft and pleasant to stitch with.

I would like to thank all of you for your support in my decision to concentrate on my studies and appreciate that you will still look forward to seeing my progress on my wips.

Hubby has a job interview on Monday for the position of Chief Finance Officer for a major sporting association in Melbourne. At this stage any job would be good. I grew up in Melbourne, but have not lived there for 10 years now, and I would prefer to be in the country. But we have to go where the jobs are for hubby.

We are all fine and into the second week of term break, finding care for the two littlies has been interesting. Wednesday last week Luke actually looked after them with strict instructions to 'actually' watch them, and not get engrossed in television shows or the computer, which he is inclined to do, as I suppose all 12 year olds do. He did a great job and was extremely pleased when he received $20 for his work. I would never let him do this if we were not so close. Hubby and I made phone calls at different times of the day to make sure they were all okay and Luke knows all of our contact numbers, and we could be home in less than five minutes. This Wednesday a girlfriend of mine has offered to have Joel and Caitlyn and Luke was disappointed as he would not get paid again. Oh well Luke, you can always help Mum with the house work.

I had better go now and hopefully get closer to finishing my long over due assignment, 700 words to go, including conclussion of about 500 words and which I generally find easy to write. Happy stitching everyone and stay safe.

What's happening in my little piece of the world......

When I decided to not finish the study unit for semester one this year, I still thought that I would keep my options open and see how I felt after a couple of weeks break, and applied for special consideration so that I could have a chance to sit my exam again. I didn't think that it would be approved, but it has been. So I am having another go at getting this horrid assignment finished, 900 words to go, and sit my exam in mid August.

A few things helped me change my mind; I am so close to having the assignment and this unit finished that it seemed such a shame to not complete it. I received my course work for next semester (which begins 16th July) and the content is something that interests me a whole lot more. By completing these two units it will put me at a quarter through my studies, a milestone I have been hoping too get to. So I will not be applying to defer next semester, call me crazy, even with an imminent move in the not too distant future.

With these time constraints upon me, something has to give. As much as this 'hurts' me I have decided that I have to spend less time reading and writing blogs, and sniff sniff stitching. I will still be stitching, perhaps for only an hour a night, and will endeavour to keep posting my update photos once a week, and keeping you up to date with other general things. As for blog reading I will still try to read them, but I feel that my bloglines might get out of hand, never mind (taking deep breath) at least all of your posts will still be there for me to read when I get a spare few minutes.

As far as stitching goes for this past week; I stitched on The Castle for five nights and on the week-end I started Cirque des Cercles, it is quite fun, and those silk threads WOWZA. Now I understand how stitchers become silk snobs. LOL Will post progress pictures possibly Tuesday. Until then everyone stay safe and happy stitching.

P.S. I would also like to thank everyone that takes the time to read my blog and to leave comments. I love reading your comments and I appreciate them all very much.

WIP Update

Here is Drawn Threads Game Board Sampler. A new start this rotation. I enjoyed this one. I am stitching it on 32ct Driftwood, the designer actually suggests 25ct Driftwood but the piece I ordered was too small, but I am happy with how it is looking on the 32ct.

Next in my rotation is something that I started some time ago. I wouldn't really call it a UFO at this stage as I have always intended to finish it. I asked my three sisters to choose a design each and that I would stitch it for them. I have completed one of their choices but I can't remember the details, but it was of three teddy bears sitting on and around various patch work quilts. The next sister asked for a dragon and one day I spotted a magazine with TW The Castle on the front and I just had to buy it. Not knowing what TW's were like back then and not knowing about linen and evenweave, I did this piece a huge injustice and started it on (cringe cringe) aida. I know, how could I do that???!!! Anyway, there is no turning back now, I am not going to restart it as it is almost 3/4 done. Here is a picture: sorry for the cruddy photos, I took these on my computer desk and was crammed for room. The design in the magazine is on four pages and I have nearly completed the third. In the last few days I have managed to fill in the 'empty' spaces with green and have been surprised how quickly they filled in. Well I will leave my posting here for now as I have to get ready to go to work. I start at ten today but I go back in at just before four so that I can see the balancing procedure. Work is only five minutes from home, the first time I have ever lived so close the where I work.

Bye for now, and happy stitching everyone.

Stash

In an earlier post I said I was going to place an order with Stitching Obsession to get a bigger piece of navy fabric for Ink Circles Cirque des Cercles, well it arrived today. That was super quick. I, of course, had to justify my order (any excuse) and also ordered a subscription for The Gift of Stitching, and a With My Needle chart called Petit Carnet d'Ouvrages, Livre II.



I have been wanting the subcription for a while now, I have liked so many designs that have been posted to blogs in the past that I couldn't wait any longer. I usually by Just Cross Stitch every two months, but have recently found that there is not much that I would like to stitch, so I have stopped buying that, except for the ornament issue every year. I will actually save money as my subscription is less than two issues of JCS.



Here is a picture of what I got:












I have finished the rotation for Drawn Thread Game Board Sampler and will post a wip picture hopefully tomorrow. Next in my rotation is TW The Castle, I will tell you more about this tomorrow also and post a picture of where I am up to with it.

Happy stitching everyone.

Reed's Stocking update

Here are my before and after pictures of Reed's Stocking. This is a fun stitch and it does go quickly. I am doing it on 18ct floba using DMC perle cottons as suggested by the designer.

I was able to purchase all of the perle cottons, for all five stocking patterns that I am planning on doing for all of us, from an ONS which was closing down earlier this year. I was sad to see the ONS close but I was happy to buy these at a reduced price.

I have also taken some pictures from the stash that I received from Jenna.

Here are LHN and CC collaborations packs; Wisdom, Goodwill and Believe.

These one's are Peace, Faith and Love and Faithfulness.

And finally these are Patience, and Tree of Life.

The threads in this picture are all Dinky Dyes silks. The middle bundle is for Cats Whiskers Blessed With Happiness, and the other color, Desert Sands which came from StitchingObsession, is for Ink Circles Cirque des Cercles.

I would like to thank everyone who left comments about hubbies job. He has still got a job until the end of August, this is when his contract runs out, so we are not panicking too much. In today's paper there are a number of suitable jobs for him, so he will be busy next week applying for them.

My job is still going well, the kids are all well so we are truely blessed in so many ways.

Happy stitching everyone.

Job News

Unfortunately DH didn't get the job. I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes. Although disappointed some positives came out of the interview. Hubby had to do a power point presentation on differing investment scenarios, and the employment consultant said that DH's was the best out of the three people that were interviewed. Consultant also said that DH is heading in the right direction career wise, and that he should keep applying for this kind of job, as he is ready for this move.

I know that I owe all of you some update photos, will try for either tonight or tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Bye for now, and thanks for reading.

Blog Reading.

I think that I am rather anal about my blog reading.

When I first started looking up blogs on the internet I would add them to my favourites and read through them, from the beginning, starting at the first one in my favourites. As I finished each blog it would go to the top of my blogs folder, in alphabetical order of course, and as I continued reading other blogs I would check back on the ones that I had already read about once a week to look for new posts.

As you could imagine as my list of fully read blogs grew and grew, it would take anything upto a week to read through them, let alone reading any new blogs. So then I decided to begin my own blog, and as a consequence I joined up with bloglines and thought that it could sift out any new post for me. This worked really well, and still does, except my feeds have been consistently over or around 200 for a few week now. I will determine to get them down some day. At the moment my feeds number about 185, with about 20-30 being added every day.

I guess where I am leading to with this post is that I am apologising to people when I reply to more than one post at a time, creating multiple messages within whatever system you use to track new replies. I hope that no-one feels any frustration at this 'system'J of mine.

Stitching - I finished off my week with Shepherds Bush Reed's Stocking and will post a progress picture soon. I am stitching on ANOTHER new start The Drawn Threads Sampler Game Board, what a fun design with bits of everything, border, alphabet, quick little motifs and intense little blocks of houses.

I received my order from Jenna of Ones Stars Light, it was packaged very well, and I will post pictures of this also. I received my Dinky Dyes threads from Stitching Obsession for CdC and was hoping to start this on the weekend, and make it a weekend project, but my piece of fabric is to small, unless I want to stitch it over one, NO WAY!!!! LOL So I will be placing another order with Stitching Obsession, whose postage is quick, and will make a start hopefully the next weekend.

Hubby travelled to Adelaide on Monday/Tuesday for a second interview for a job, and should hear today whether he has gotten it or not, please keep your fingers crossed for us. The job is actually situated on the outskirts of Adelaide and would be great for us, having the convenience of a state capital city nearby for family outings, and the pleasure of a larger town to live in.

I will hopefully post pictures later on today.

Stay safe and happy stitching, Joanne

More Stash.

I have received my order from Stitching Obsession. Here are the pictures. I got:

Papillon Creations - Love with a Capital L

Ink Circles - I Still Do (also includes another chart for Second Chances

Ink Circles - Cirque des Cercles

28 ct cashel linen - Navy

38 ct jobelan - Forget Me Not Blue

One packet each of sizes 26 and 28 Piecemakers needles

Carrie's Creation threads for Ink Circles Blackstone Fantasy Garden.

Still to come from here are 7 skeins of Dinky Dyes silk in Desert Sand, here is a LINK. With this thread I am planning on stitching Cirque des Cercles on the navy cashel linen. I would value your thoughts on this!!

My order from One Stars Light shipped on the 15th so it should be here soon, Thanks Jenna.

I have a dilemma!!!! This is the situation with my container which I store my charts in. What to do??? What to do??? I KNOW!!! Buy a BIGGER container. LOL What I actually did was buy another container and I moved my charts to it, and kept my printed freebies in the one in the picture. But I am afraid that with all of the S.E.X. that I have been having I will still need to buy a new one in the near future. Will post more soon. Bye for now.

Progress Photo

Here is Joel's 'Noah's Ark' birth sampler where I left it at the end of its rotation. This is done on aida as I started it before I learnt of linens and evenweaves, nonetheless I am still enjoying sewing it and knowing that it will be for one of my children makes it all worthwhile.

I was looking back through some of my comments and Dawn asked if we knew what sort of ball was stuck in Caitlyn's ear. Yes we definately found that out. For his job DH goes to alot of seminars. One of the sponsors from one of them were handing out maraquas (SP) and DH bought a couple of them home for Joel and Caitlyn. They were made of clear plastic and had little green and yellow balls in them, do you know were this is leading? Joel, in all of his wisdom of a five year old decided to hit one of them against my desk, and of course the inevitable happened and little green and yellow balls went everywhere. I cleaned up what I thought to be all of them, famous last words, but Caitlyn happened to find a stray one. It just happened to be a green one also, my favourite color. I hope that hubby doesn't bring any more home.

My son is awesome

You may remember that Luke qualified to run in a cross country event. This post. On Thursday morning DH and Luke left home to make their way to Sydney. At this level Luke was representing his schools' district. Out of a field of 15-20 other kids Luke came 7th. Only six kids go on to the next level, but if someone is unable to go Luke, as emergency, will go. We don't care what happens after this we are just proud and pleased that Luke was able to do so well, and get this far.

As far a study goes. I have decided not to continue on with this semester. The topic is not my first love and not where I see myself headed. Because we are planning on moving, hopefully in the next six months, I have also decided to apply to defer for six months. I didn't realise that working two days a week would take so much away from my study, but I just seemed to be getting further and further behind. Joel will start school next year, so hopefully that will enable me to have more study time. In this six months I am going to concentrate my efforts on changing my course from an Arts degree to a Science degree. My real desire is to study Psychology and while psych is a more demanding course, I find it much more interesting and stimulating. I fee relieved now that I have made this decision and it is now time to move on.

As for stitching. I am enjoying Joel's birth sampler and have made some progress. The rotation finishes tonight and I hope to post progress pictures on Tuesday. Next in my rotation is Shepherds Bush Reed's Stocking, looking forward to this one, it seemed to stitch up really quickly last time.

My clicky finger has been at it again. Can't it show any control at all!!!! LOL. I will not put my new stash away until I can post some pictures. This lot came from a new ONS, for me, called Stitching Obsession, here is a link, http://stitchingobsession.com.au/index.php Mandy was lovely to deal with and I was pleased with how my order was posted. My order from Jenna has been shipped and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

That is all for now, take care everyone and happy stitching.

Stitching Updates

Here is last weeks progress on HAED Gypsy Rose. I almost got this page finished and I love the way the rose is turning out, very pretty so far IMO.

Next in my rotation is Joel's birth sampler, a Dimensions Chart and Charms design of Noah's Ark.

A full picture, well almost., and a closer one to show what is left to go. There is a heap a back-stitching in this piece and I have been doing some as I go. The row of animals where the elephants are has been done, I think a couple of the fish on the right need doing as well as the horses on the ramp heading into the ark. This has been going for a while but like all of my other wips, I am still enjoying it.

I appologise for the large pictures, I forgot to resize them when I transfered them from my camera to computer. Now I know why it took longer than usual for blogger to upload them, LOL live and learn.

So that is all from me for now, bye.