Darn it!!

I was just about to settle down to stitch for the evening when the bulb on my new daylight lamp blew *sigh*! I know these things happen but in less than a week? Maybe I overworked it a bit - lol?! The only problem with these lamps not being available in this country (as far as I know) is that I have to order replacement bulbs from the UK and then wait rather impatiently for the parcel to arrive (safely I hope!!). I've gone and ordered two bulbs so that I will always have a replacement if this happens again (which I'm sure it will, hopefully not so quickly though!). I'm kicking myself now that I also didn't order a replacement bulb with my original order! Thought about it but didn't act upon it - didn't think I would need it for a while. Ahhh well - life is never dull :)

Anyway, thank you all for your wonderful comments on GG - she is a great stitch :)

Hello Anne (waving madly) - nice to have you here :)

Amy, me, organised? I have spurts but they don't usually last long - lol! I must admit that I don't do any major housework around here - I have a lovely part-time maid that comes twice a week to clean for me. I resisted for quite some time at getting a maid but in the end I compromised hence part-time. I just tidy, cook, do the laundry and ferry the kids around :)

I didn't end up stitching this afternoon after all. The kids were invited to the movies this afternoon by their friends so I took the opportunity of being child-free to hit the shops :) Firstly I collected Liam's school pants then headed to the Mall to pick up school supplies (oh, and wasn't that fun!!). I also rang DH to see if he was finishing work early like he normally does on a Thursday and if so could he meet me at the furniture store there as well. He was and he could :) I had already been browsing and had my eye on a couple of items so by the time he arrived all I had to do was show him and see what he though. He liked so then it was just a matter of payment and organising delivery, very quick and painless - his kind of shopping :) We then went and had a late lunch, he headed home and I picked up a few last minute things and then headed home myself.

The kids got home not long afterwards - they'd had a great time - saw Monster House which they all said was good. Caitlin's friend wanted her to sleep over so she said hello, grabbed her things and headed out again :)

Well, I'm think I'm going to attempt some stitching!

She has an ear!! Girly Gothic QS Update :)

I stayed up way way way too late last night (yet was still up and out walking the dog by 6.30am this morning!) to try and finish up page 1 last night but didn't quite make it! Managed this morning though while everyone was still snoozing :) I even managed to tuck the stray threads away while taking the pic this time!

Thanks again for the comments re my nephew. I'm hoping my brother will send some more pics through soon and regularly as I won't see him "in the flesh" for quite some time. He weighed in at just under 8lbs I think so he's a reasonable size.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to reorganise DS's cupboards to find places for the extra stuff we had shipped over (hence the need for the mega stitching session last night - lol!). I haven't done too badly but there is still a pile of things on his desk that need sorting out. I'll get to that later today maybe. Right now I'm enjoying the quiet - the kids have gone to the pool with their friends and DH is at work - so I might make myself another cuppa and move on to page 2 of GG for a little bit. Although now that the school has sent the stationery requirements list through I should really go and get that sorted. Mmmm, I might go and ring the school uniform shop and see if Liam's trousers (had to be altered) are ready to be collected. If they are then I will go and get them and do the stationery run at the same time. I'll stitch later :)

My new nephew

Kane Joshua
Born 29th August 2006

Thanks for all the congratulations. As far as I know mum, dad and baby are doing fine, although mum (my SIL) is very tired.

Leonie, when I upgraded my template after switching to Beta I had to revert back to one of the old Blogger designs. I guess when editing in HTML is accessible again I can go back to using the other :).

Boxes and Beta Blogger

While in Australia recently we started packing up some more stuff to get air freighted back here - well, 11 boxes of varying shapes and sizes arrived yesterday! My house looks a tip and until I can reorganise existing cupboards and get some more furniture (predominantly bookshelves) it will remain that way - ack! I was kind of hoping that the stuff wouldn't arrive till next week when the kids are back at school - dragging unenthusiastic kids around furniture stores isn't exactly a fun way to spend a day! However, I do know I will be making one lucky furniture salesperson's day next week though :)

Anyway, all the boxes are unpacked and for the time being most of the contents will live on the beds in the spare bedroom. Thank goodness we are not expecting any visitors - lol!

Like Jo (and no doubt many others) I received my invitation to switch over to Beta Blogger and have done so. I haven't had a chance to check it all out yet - so if you find some things that don't work please email me and I'll see what I can do to fix it.

Oh, and in family news I've just had word that I'm an aunty again!

I am loving ...

my new Lowery workstand! Easy to set up, easy to use - I'm really happy with it and am glad I finally decided to get one :) I can now stitch one hand below and one hand above my work although not well ... that will come with time.

Now a couple of quick replies to comments ...

Heather, now that you've pointed it out, the new template does blend well with the colours of my profile pic. That was taken many moons ago!! I was a bridesmaid for an old school friend :)

Anon, I guess I'm a bit of a closet wannabe Goth - lol! I don't know what the words mean - they were just part of the template :)

Well, I've been up since 6am and have had three to six children coming and going through my house at varying stages today so I think it's cuppa time. Might even steal a few stitches too!

Time for a change ...

Yep, decided to revamp the look of my blog :)

By the by, has anyone tried the new beta Blogger yet? I'm still undecided.

And then there was light!

My new stitching lamp and workstand I ordered from Sew & So last Monday arrived today! I received a phone call mid-morning from Emirates Post telling me to come and collect a parcel from the Central Post Office. I figured it would be my stand and lamp but was a bit puzzled as to why I had to go and collect it when I'd paid for courier postage. Anyway, after going through the three-ring circus that is Emirates Post it eventually became clear that there was some duty to be paid on the lamp. Mystery of collection solved :)

I was very keen to get home and set it all up but by this time the kids and I were hot, hungry and thirsty so we stopped in at the Mall of the Emirates on the way home to refuel :) I also needed to stock up on printer cartridges as I'd been printing off some HAED charts yesterday and went through quite a bit of ink!

Anyway, as you can see I'm all set up now! I have a roast in the oven, DD is playing Bratz in her room with a couple of friends and DS is playing Age of Empires III on the computer, DH has arrived home from work and is heading for the gym, so I think I might just christen my new workstand for half an hour or so.

Oh, and in case you are wondering I got a Lowery Silver Grey Workstand and the Ultimate Floorstanding Lamp from the Daylight Co. I have struggled to find a decent lamp for night time stitching here so I decided to buy myself an early anniversary present :)

Before I go, here's Girly Gothic's current state of play ...



Sorry about the stray threads across her face - I'll remember to tuck them out of the way for the next update!

Wow, thanks ...

for all the nice comments you have all left - you are all so sweet :)! I'm just sorry I've taken a few days to acknowledge them (bad Mel!).

Re Quick Stitches - they are a smaller section (usually) of a larger design. My QS Girly Gothic's finished size will be 6 x 6-1/2 inches using 25 count fabric whereas the full size is 16 x 21 in. My QS Snowflake QS will be 4 x 5 inches and my Fire ACEO will be 6 x 8-3/8 in. Actually Fire will be smaller than that as I'm stitching it on 28 count. Depending on what fabric you use the finished size could be smaller or larger.

I've still been stitching away on Girly Gothic although not as frequently or as long as last week during the contest :) I played Sims2 rather than stitch for a couple of days this week so that has slowed progress. I did spend a bit of time on her yesterday and today (being our weekend) though - lots of detail stitches so it doesn't look like I've done much (to me anyway)! I consider myself a slow stitcher because I spend more time looking at the chart then back to the stitched piece then back to the chart trying to decide which colour to do next - lol! This is why I need to stick to one column at a time!! I will take a pic after tonight's stitching session and upload tomorrow.

Not much longer and the kids will be back at school! We did the uniform thing this week and other than a couple of things that need to be altered they are all set for this year clothing and shoe wise. We will go to the Mall one day next week and pick up the basic stationery supplies and a new school bag for DS while all the sales are still on. Their friends from down the street arrive home tonight too - no doubt they'll be knocking on the door early tomorrow morning. Looks like I'd better go to the supermarket at some point tomorrow and stock up on food for hungry kids - lol!

Speaking of hungry kids I'd better go and make a start on dinner. DH will be back from the gym soon to take the dog for her second walk of the day (I usually take her early in the morning and DH takes her in the evenings). The kids go along on their scooters which leaves me peace and quiet to start dinner preparations. It's a good system :)

And so it endeth ...

the HAED Stitch-A-Thon that is :)

Here's my progress for the week.



I managed 5,557 full crosses which for the purpose of the contest equals 11,114 stitches. I'm not a fast stitcher so I was pretty pleased with my effort this week. I am easily distracted too although with the kids banned from the downstairs lounge room this week (one of them left a lollipop stick on the couch and their father found it - ooops - lol!) I was able to reclaim my stitching area back and stitch in relative peace! Wonder if I can make it a permanent thing - lol!

I think I will continue working on this one for a little longer as I'm really enjoying her but don't be surprised if I change my mind - lol!

Some replies to comments ...

Thank you for all your lovely comments on Girly Gothic - I appreciate them :) Oh, and yes, Leonie, I can hear you cheering me on - lol!

Now, for the person who asked what fabric count and threads I'm using, here goes :)

I'm using 25 count Lavender Bliss lugana and stitching one over one with DMC floss. I also have WIPs on 27 and 28 count evenweave. If you enjoy stitching one over one and want to try stitching a HAED then my best advice is for you to head on over to the HAED BB (you may have to register to EZBoard - it's free) and check out their Tips & Techniques section. There is a whole host of wonderful information and advice there. Check out the WIPs Gallery and the Chart Details sections too!

I wouldn't call HAED charts easy but then I wouldn't call them difficult either! They only use whole cross stitch, no partial stitches or back stitching but they do use lots of colours and can be quite detailed - long term projects :) I hope that helps some?

It is Day 5 of the HAED Stitch-A-Thon and I have made some good progress today so far. You may have noticed (Leonie did - lol!) that I am heading over to the right side of the page in order to get down to her face :) I've hit a patch of detail stitches in her hair but I'm almost through them and should be starting on the face very soon.

So, on that note, I'd better get back to it :)

HAED Stitchathon ... I see hair!!

That dark curved bit on the left hand side is hair (believe it or not) and there's also part of a wing happening too.

I am halfway through Day 4 of the contest and this is my progress on Girly Gothic QS so far. I still have a few more hours of stitching after dinner before I tally up today's total stitch count though :)

I'm off to stitch some more - lol!

And So It Begins ...

The week long HAED Stitchathon started today. I was woken at 6am by DH telling the dog off from our bedroom window (she was barking)! I gave up trying to go back to sleep and was out walking the dog by 6.30am. By 7am I was stitching :)

I made good progress today. I started off by putting a couple hundred stitches into Snowflake QS. Most of those were detail stitches so it doesn't look like I've done much.


by mel_w

Once again, Blogger Photos is playing up so these pics come courtesy of Webshots.


by mel_w

Around 9am I switched over to Girly Gothic QS which is my new start specifically for the contest. I managed a total of 1016 stitches by midnight :) Sorry about the terrible photo - the lighting isn't all that great in the lounge at night.

I spent a fair chunk of the day stitching although I did have a few breaks. The kids and I headed out to the Mall of the Emirates and Virgin Megastore to buy some tickets to Jimmy Barnes for DH and a couple of his friends. He's doing a show on Saturday night here. While there the kids picked up a couple of PS2 games (Eyetoy 3 for DD and Dynasty Warriors 5 for DS).

I also popped into the pharmacy to stock up on sunscreen. We have friends spending the day with us tomorrow - they are on their way back to Australia from France. Their boys (they have three) want to go to Wild Wadi Water Park (hence the sunscreen) so the menfolk are taking the kids there while us womenfolk go shopping :) Another reason for mega stitch session today - I'm not sure how much (if any) stitching time I will get tomorrow since I'll be out most of the day.

After arriving back home the kids disappeared upstairs with their new games (see there is a method to my madness - lol!) and I got back to stitching :)

I had another break to feed the kids lunch and then later on in the afternoon we made blueberry muffins. Stopped again to cook dinner but then settled in for the evening after the table was cleared. I slowed down a bit then as CSI:Miami and CSI:New York were on the telly and they distracted me a bit - lol!

Anyway, that's it for the day - hopefully I'll get a few stitches in the morning before we head out for the day.

Verdure Update

I finished the fourth column last night so now I am officially half way through page 1 - only 19.5 pages to go - lol!



(Good grief! Blogger Photos actually worked for a change!!)

I thought about continuing on with her tonight but Snowflake QS will be coming out instead. The HAED BB are having a stitchathon next week and I am starting something new for it (haven't quite made up my mind for it yet though)! I thought I should probably spend a little quality time with at least one or two of my HAED WIPs before my new start :)

That's it for today - the kidlets want to go and see Nacho Libre at the cinema so I'd better go and get organised!

A Re-Start :)

While in Sydney on our holiday I picked up a few silk threads from Dragonfly Dreams with Southern Jewels in mind. Some of you may remember that I started it some time back but didn't have enough of one of the colours I'd chosen and couldn't get any more since it was a limited edition colour.

Well I completely restarted it a couple of days ago :) I wasn't really happy with the 28 count fabric that I started it on so I'm using a white 32 count opalescent that I found whilst going through my fabric the other day. I'm also using different colours - Silk 'N' Colours "Papyrus Leaf" for the four corners and "Jewel of the Nile" for the centre. "Jewel of the Nile" is what is called for in the chart but I didn't realise that at the time I was choosing colours - I just picked what appealed to me :)

I finished stitching the first corner this morning, just need to add the Rhodes stitches later ...*sigh* and just for something completely different Blogger won't upload photos so I'm using Webshots. Just click on the picture if you want a closer look.


by mel_w

Thanks for the comments on our candid family shot - we certainly kept the people in the line behind us entertained - lol! And, Kim, you're right, these sorts of shots are the "real" family pics. They will be the ones that trigger the memories later in life :)

A Kodak moment (although in our case, Sony) :)

After reading Kim's blog about her family's quest to take the perfect family photo, I thought I'd share this one taken on our recent trip.



It was taken whilst we were waiting in line to go on the Pirates of Caribbean ride at Disneyland. My beautiful son can talk his way out of a wet paperbag with a mouthful of pebbles while underwater - lol!!! Most of the time he is entertaining to listen too - other times, just annoying - lol! Ken clicked the shutter at one of those moments - rofl!!

Getting a decent family photo is not an easy task :)

HAED Update

Okay, so I wasn't going to add a pic of Verdure until I'd finished the fourth column but I am fickle and change my mind frequently so here goes - lol!



I am also in a state of shock that Blogger allowed me to add a pic two days in a row!!

Leonie, I bought three Nadia Tate QS in the HAED sale ... Dragonfly Fae, Kimono Fae and the Earth/Fire/Ice/Wind Mermaid quartet :) As you know I have Girly Gothic (you have a budding junior goth child on your hands there - lol?) printed out ready to be started so let me know when you are ready and I'll happily stitch along with you. At least until I start something else - lol!! Oh, and I printed Dragonfly Fae out this morning too! I wonder if I'll qualify for a HAED Serial Starter blinkie - lol?

Hmmmm, think I may have pushed myself a bit hard on my walk this morning - either that or the Berocca has finally kicked in!

Right, on that note, I think I will go and have some breakfast!

One down, three more to go :)

Yep, the kids and I have been in Dubai a year now. Boy, has that gone fast! I am sure the next three will fly by!!

Thank you for the welcome back - and that you found my holiday entries readable :) I'm afraid my entries won't be quite as interesting from now on ... until our next holiday at least - lol!

I am actually managing to stitch again - have worked pretty steadily on Verdure the past couple of nights but I will wait until I finish the column I am working on before sharing a pic. Once this column is done I will be halfway through the first page - only 19.5 pages to go - lol! I am hopeful of getting a couple of days in on Snowflake QS this week although I purchase three new QS this week in the HAED sale and I am being very tempted by one of them! I need to be good and resist!!!!

Okay, seems Blogger is letting me upload pics so I thought I'd show you my last major finish, which was in the first half of last year sometime ... I think! I remembered to take a photo while I was back in Australia before storing her away.



Lavender & Lace "Celtic Christmas"
Stitched on 28 count Ecru Quaker Cloth with DMC, Kreinik and Mill Hill beads

We have only just passed the halfway mark of our summer school holidays so finding ways to entertain the kids is continuing! It doesn't help that their friends are still away. Today we went to see Garfield 2 at the movies. Cute film but I think I would rather have seen Pirates II again. I then dragged them into Ken's office so I could do the end of month accounts stuff. They are good kids and they always manage to find ways to amuse themselves. Tomorrow I might take them 10 pin bowling or perhaps swimming?!

It's 1.30am so I'd better go hit the hay. No doubt my body will have me up and out walking the dog in six hours time, if not earlier!

Around The World in 30 Days - Los Angeles through to Hong Kong - the last two weeks :)

Boy, am I way behind in updating this! I suggest obtaining a beverage and possibly food before settling in to read - this is going to be a long one - lol!

Okay, back to Los Angeles which is where we were when I last posted :)

We spent a full 12 hours at Disneyland from 10am to 10pm!! There are two theme parks - Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure - we only did the one and we just managed to cover Disneyland in that time. It was a full on day but loads of fun. We went on pretty much all the rides there except for the ones for the little tackers. I did drag everyone on to It's A Small World ride and I still don't think I've been forgiven by Ken and Liam yet - we must never speak of it again - lol! It wasn't quite what I expected but it was a relaxing change from some of the other rides we had been on :)

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was a must of course :) The ride was the inspiration for the films - the attraction itself is almost as old as Ken and I :) Liam, Caitlin and myself also bought pirate-themed hats although mine was more of a cowboy hat with a pirate patch stuck on the front. I did buy it for sun protection purposes though as I'd forgotten to pack a hat for myself!!

We saw some of the fireworks show but we had to be back at the designated pick up spot for the tour bus at 10pm so most of it we watched from the carpark :) It was pretty close to midnight by the time we got back to our hotel (we were the last to be dropped off) so we were glad to fall into our beds and rest our weary bodies, not to mention our aching feet!!

The following day we slept late which was fine as we'd made no specific plans for the day. After a leisurely breakfast we walked over to Rodeo Drive (nothing spectacular in my book really but then again I see the same type of shops in the malls here) and then jumped in a cab and headed to Hollywood Boulevard. Saw the Kodak Theatre where they hold the Oscars and the Mann's Chinese and El Capitan Theatres (which was pretty busy as Pirates II had just been released). We took a look at some of the stars in the footpath and Liam had his photo taken with that of Jackie Chan's :) We found a good vantage point in a nearby shopping mall to take a photo of the Hollywood sign plus I also took the opportunity to venture into the Gap store and do some minor retail therapy (I needed more t-shirts!) ;)

Trying to find a cab to head back to the hotel was interesting - there were hardly any and the couple that we did see were not for hire. We ended up having to go into a little English type pub that we found and ask them to ring one for us. It was a bit of a change to New York where just about every second car was a cab!

After we got back to the hotel we headed over to the Westfield shopping plaza across the road in search of another suitcase! We had only bought two and they were starting to get a bit full! It just so happened that Macy's were having a sale on selected lines in the luggage department so we picked ourselves up a bargain :) We also called into the cinema there and purchased advance tickets for Monday morning to go and see Pirates II.

We had a quiet night in as we had Universal Studios planned for the next day :)

Universal Studios was excellent! We upgraded our tickets to get Front of the Line passes (no waiting in queues and special reserved seating at the shows) - we were there at a busy time of year so they were well worth the extra money. There was lots to see and do, more rides to go on (the Jurassic Park and Mummy's Revenge rides were our favourites) and shows to watch. The Waterworld (based on the Kevin Costner movie of the same name) show was another favourite :) We also enjoyed the Studio Tour - saw the sound stages where some of my favourite tv shows are shot and movie sets from The Grinch and War of the Worlds amongst others. I'm not a Desperate Housewives fan but we did see some of the Wisteria Lane set. Normally the tour goes along the street but the day we were there it was closed off for filming.

Loads of fun and another full on day :)

Monday was our last day in Los Angeles so after a leisurely breakfast we headed over to the cinema to see Pirates II. I loved it but to have to wait until May next year for the third instalment to find out what happens is cruel - lol!!!

After the movies it was back to the hotel to pack and then head for the airport for our late pm flight. Next stop, Sydney!

We arrived in Sydney around 6am on Wednesday 13/7 feeling reasonably refreshed - we all managed to get quite a good amount of sleep on the flight. Being winter in Australia it was also quite a bit cooler than what we had been used to!! We were dressed warmly for the plane anyway and had jumpers in our carry on luggage so we were okay :)

After eventually checking in to our hotel (slight problem of there being no record of our reservation for us - a bit disconcerting when you've prepaid! Next time we will book it all ourselves rather than rely on the travel agent, this wasn't the first occasion where things went slightly awry!) and organising a hire car we headed off to Katoomba (about an hour's drive from Sydney) so I could go and visit with Karen and check out her wonderful shop, Dragonfly Dreams.

Caitlin and I spent a wonderful afternoon chatting and browsing and eventually buying (lol!) with Karen while Ken and Liam went off and did some sightseeing :) They came back a couple of times but we weren't done so they went off again - lol!

Thank you, Karen, for making my visit so enjoyable :) It was really nice to finally be able to meet you!

Liam and Caitlin haven't been to Sydney before so the next morning we took a quick walk down to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. That was all we had time as we had to head back to the hotel, load up the hire car and head out to the airport for our flight to Adelaide.

Adelaide was a whirlwind! We had nine days and pretty much most of that was spent sorting out our house there so we can rent it out. It was nice to catch up with family and friends, mum and dad in particular, and the kids managed to spend some time with each of their best friends. I managed a quick lunch with a couple of friends and saw my stitching buddy, Leonie, and my other stitching friends from the Embroiderer's Guild. I had been through my stash and had a car load of stuff that I didn't want but knew would find good homes with the ladies there :)

Before we knew it it was time to pack up and move on! This time to Perth to catch up with Ken's mum and dad for a couple of days. Then it was on to Hong Kong and back to the warmer weather :)

After checking in we went for a wander down to Nathan Road and just generally took it all in. We found a local Chinese restaurant that Ken had been to before and had a very enjoyable meal. The kids had fun trying to eat with chopsticks :)

The next day we walked down to the Star Ferry and headed over to the island. We then boarded a double-decker bus bound for the Stanley Markets. Now, these are the way markets should be! No one sidling up to you peddling copy watches, handbags and DVDs every five minutes like they do in the markets here. Let me look without hassling me, give me help when I ask for it, then I am more likely to buy :)

After the markets we caught a cab up to The Peak. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy so the view wasn't as spectacular as it can be. We then caught the tram down to the bottom, wandered about for a bit, travelled on the longest escalator, and ended up on the Metro back to the hotel. We were planning to go to Ocean Park the next day so we decided to try the Italian restaurant in the hotel and then have an early night.

Unfortunately we didn't make it to Ocean Park as Caitlin was ill throughout the night - poor kid. We were up at 5.30am sorting her out and getting housekeeping to change the bed etc. It wasn't anything she'd eaten as her and Ken had shared their main courses the night before and Ken was feeling fine. I think it was just one of those bugs that come and go. Anyway, we decided to postpone Ocean Park to another time and just had a quietish day. By mid afternoon she was feeling better so we ventured out for a bit of a walk but didn't go too far as to tire her out too much. It was mostly so housekeeping could come in and service our rooms :)

By dinner time, Caitlin convinced us that she was just fine so we went out for dinner to a really nice steak house not too far from our hotel. Missy didn't eat much but it was something and she kept it down :)

I spent from after breakfast until lunchtime the following day re-packing the suitcases, then it was out to the airport to catch our flight back home.

We arrived home late last Thursday night (good grief, we've been back a week already!), dumped the suitcases in the entrance way, showered, had some toast and Vegemite and then collapsed into bed :) Friday morning we went and collected Tikki - she had been very well looked after but was very excited to see us. Ken welcomed her home by giving her a bath and then taking her for a big walk - lol! She's not keen on the bath bit but she loves her walks.

Saturday, Ken went back to work, I took the dog for a walk and then the kids and I went grocery shopping - what fun! It will be another month before I can go grocery shopping on my own again! After getting back from the shopping, it was Liam's turn to be ill. I figured the heat and travelling in the car (not that we had far to go) could have been a contributing factor because he was fine for the rest of the afternoon ... until Ken came home from work *sigh*. Anyway, we packed him off to bed and he was fine the next day so I think it was something similar to what Caitlin had. So far it has missed Ken and I and for that I am extremely grateful :)

Anyway, that's our trip - a fantastic time was had by all :)

I had intended to upload some photos with this post but Blogger Photos is again being a right pain in the butt and will not, for some reason, upload them ... grrr!