Trouble with chooks, and Faery Tales

I would like to thank all of you for your kinds wishes and comment on my last post, stitching bloggers are some of the kindest people I know, I smile inwardly every time I read comments that you make.

Last Saturday night when Luke fed the chooks, he unfortunately neglected to lock the chook pen properly, and on Sunday morning while we were at church one of them apparently became adventurous and wandered into the back yard with the dogs. Our neighbour heard all of the commotion, jumped our back fence and managed to lock the chooks away. When we came home we saw all the feathers and checked on the chooks and they were all huddled into their shelter. Our neighbour told us what he had found and we thanked him for all that he had done. We kept a close watch on them, put water and food in their shelter, but unfortunately one died through the week. The other 3 have survived the shock and are now venturing out of the shelter for food and water.

Poor Luke he felt so bad, but there was little anyone could do, so we just gave him lots of hugs and reassured him that we knew he would never do this intentionally. If you remember I was struggling with a medication change and got quite upset over the poor chooks, but am now relieved that the 3 remaining chooks are now alright. I think it will be some time before we see any eggs from them, a person at hubby's work said around a month.

A stitchy update: here is Faery Tales.

Hopefully the photos are clear enough on your monitors. In the larger photo, the brown blobby bits are the beginnings of something exciting, something other than sky and water that is LOL!! The second photo is from the blobby bits to the bottom. I have stitched ten rows from top to bottom and this totals 4530 stitches all up.

I am going to do the same with Land of Enchantment, so all you can see at the moment is lots of black tree, and then I would like to go back to VOHRH.

I hope that everyone is getting in lots of stitching, stay safe and happy.

Some WIP Pictures

Here is a picture of A Love Song. It is by Fouroaks Designs. It was one of the first designs that I had to have when I first started looking at cross stitch on the internet. I tend to work on this when I am travelling, and when it calls to me, as it is a very enjoyable piece to stitch for me, no colour changes and it is easy to keep track of where I am up to. I am stitching it on antique white linen, I think it is 32 ct, and I am using Vicki Clayton's silk in the colour way of Garnet. I am loving stitching on this and seeing the different motifs appear on my fabric. The chart for this is divided into four parts, with the bottom portions being smaller that the top. The very left hand side of the border is where the bottom page ends. So I will say that I have done a quarter of this.

I would also like to share where I am up to on my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I am trying to complete one square per month and have been successful so far except for the grave yard square, which took about two months because of the solidly stitched block. I do have breaks from this if I need to during the month by stitching on something else for a night or two if I need/want to. I am stitching this on 40 ct Lambswool linen and using Vicki Claytons silk again, this is a great conversion by Vicki and I am enjoying stitching this design with the silks.

This is a closer picture of the block that I am currently working on, nearly finished, so well on track to completion for this month.














I have been feeling a little flat lately, and my old 'friend' (or foe) depression has come for a visit. It seems to be worse when I am pre-mentrual, (sorry if this is TMI) but I am mainly putting it down to the move, and not being successful with a number of job applications with my current employer. With moving I am not guaranteed a position, but have to apply for them as they become available, I am okay with this, but I am limited to two branches which I can apply for, and need to wait until other employers move on. I asked to be put on leave with no pay while waiting to be appointed to a position, but first of all I have to use up all of my other leave entitlements. I am so not happy about having to use my Long Service Leave as I have worked for a long time to be able to have this and was hoping to use it for something pleasurable.
This is the main reason for no posts the last month or so, but I do love the stitching community and the people in it, looking at every ones pictures and reading about what they have been up to. So I have decided to let all of you know what has been going on. Sorry for the rant :(
On a brighter note, both boys have settled into their respective schools very well, and Caitlyn is enjoying her two days per week of kindergarten.
I think this is long enough and thanks for all of your wonderful comments on my last post, I really appreciate everyone for stopping by and I hope that you all get lots of stitching done.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stitching Updates.

I haven't done any of these for awhile - sorry about that.

The last time I updated I was giving a new start a turn on my rotation and that was Desert Guardian by Kustom Krafts.

MMMM not much stitching for a week, never mind at least I got to do some. It doesn't show up in the photo very well, but I am stitching this on a pale blue hand dyed fabric with small patches of white to look like the sky.

The next project to get some attention was my Fractal. A new one of these is posted on http://www.xs-collectibles.com/index.aspx every month. I am not sure how long ago mine was on the site, and I do not have a full color picture of it either. It is in predominately purples, blues and black, but in the centre it changes to greens and yellows. You will need to use your imagination and take my word for it until I get LOTS more stitched, how many years have you got? LOL.

Here is one photo of the whole project and a close up, and below, I hope its below, is a picture of where I finished with it on this rotation.



It is a bit sad, but I don't think that you can see any progress in the photos (sniff, sniff). It is there, I promise. Hopefully I will be able to get better pictures next time this one comes up.













Next up in my rotation is Gypsy Rose, this is one that I am really enjoying at the moment and I will post before and after photos when the rotation finishes on Sunday night.


My order from The Silver Needle arrived last week, but with everything going on I have forgotten to mention it. I have not put any of it away yet and will post pictures before I do in the next day or so.

I also want to reply to some comments from my past posts, so I will try to do this also.


Happy stitching everyone and stay safe.

Joanne

Pictures at last.

Well I am finally able to show you the progress on Lizzie Kate's Daughters. Not too much more to do on this, just another flower, finish the verse which is Daughters are a special joy, and finish the border. I thought that I would have been able to finish it this time but it just didn't happen. There is always its next time in my rotation.

Next up in my rotation is for my son Luke. He asked me to show him designs of dragons and he chose (asked for me to stitch) Desert Guardian, by Character Creations. Here is a link with a picture if you would like to see it. http://www.dragonflydreams.com.au/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=2688 I will stitch on this until Sunday night as per my rotation.

This next lot of photos is something that I have been stitching on for years, possibly as long as Luke has been on this earth, 12 years. It was started when he was quite young and I was on maternity leave from work. I found this pattern and another one, which will be a birth sampler for DD Caitlyn, in a knitting and craft book that I bought. I finished the stitching last year sometime. Luke saw me stitching on Joel's birth sampler, a Dimensions Chart and Charms pattern with a design of Noah's Ark, which has a 3 stitch wide border. He asked what would his look like with a border. I told him that if he would like a border on his that I would stitch it for him. I got him to choose the style, funny enough the same as Joel's, and color. He chose DMC variations thread color number 4050, I don't think a better choice could have been made as alot of the greens in that thread were already in the design. So earlier this year I stitched and finished the border, it didn't take too long, perhaps 5-7 days of off and on stitching.

Here is the full piece. It is quite large, not sure of the exact measurements off hand. On the bottom Luke only wanted one row of stitching as there is already quite alot of green in the grass.

And here are two closer shots of each half.

Now just to get it framed. I am thinking of just a fairly plain wooden frame without any mats as there is so much detail in the design, that it doesn't need anything too fancy. And after all it for a 12yo boy, who is also very keen on telling us that he is almost a teen-ager. Where has the time gone?

Well I will leave it at that and go and continue to do that bear of an assignment of mine. Whose idea was it for me to do a Uni degree? OOHH that's right, it was mine!!!!

Bye for now everyone, and happy stitching.

Celtic Banner Update.

Here is my update on Celtic Banner. I don't feel like I achieved a whole lot on this during this rotation, oh well maybe next time there will be better progress. If you want to see where I started this rotation from, just scroll down a few entries.

Hubby has gone back to work tonight. He works in finance and has to present end of financial year reports as part of his job. He wants to catch up a bit as he will be away from tomorrow lunch time and all day Thursday as well. His boss has told him that is ready for the next step in his career and is driving six hours for a job interview. The interview is on Thursday morning at 9am and he wants to be fresh for the interview so he's leaving the day before. If he gets this job it means of course a move for us, but it would place us near some of the premier snow skiing fields. I am not hugely into skiing, have been twice in my life time, but I think it would be amazing, not only for hubby and I, but I can just imagine the fun that we could all have in the snow. We would only be about an hour from our nations capital, Canberra, and there is so much to see and do in the general area. Please could everyone keep their fingers crossed for us.

Back to stitching, next in my rotation is Lizzy Kate's Daughters. Here is a pic of it so far. I am sorry for the blurry picture, it looked much better through the screen on my camera. Hopefully I should be able to finish this one this week. I might replace in with something else small or I might not bother replacing it in my rotation, we will see what happens.

I would just like that thank everyone who visits and leave comments, it is wonderful to read what people write.

Well that is all for now, catch up soon.

Joanne