Yippeee!

Thanks to Alison, and Anne's comment on her blog - I have moved all my posts over to Wordpress!

Soooo for the future please point any links to:

http://ausxser.wordpress.com/

See you over there :)

Tannia

A Mini-Finish

I've now completed part 3 of the four-part M Designs piece I am doing. I've just one more initial to do in the top right corner! A "W" and I have to wait for it to arrive from Dragonflydreams to do that.

Here is a picture of the "T" all done. I'm using a Week's Dye Works overdye for all four squares. I'm really liking how this is turning out!

Now, because I'm having a few days off work (I've had all this week - darn girl troubles) and quite possibly once I see the doc tomorrow will still be laid up for a little while longer, I am really getting my stitching mojo back! I am really enjoying putting stitches int o fabric once again.

I 'd like to do a few more little things to reinforce the 'finishing' feeling and then get stuck in to some of the things that have been on the back burner for ages. I wont list them here because I've made promises to myself on this blog before (ha ha!) but I think for every two finishes I will allow myself a new start. How does that sound? I mean I don't have as many starts or UFOs under my belt as 'some' people eh Janine :)

First off the block will be An Open Heart, Then " the pesky Dad's Sampler" ( I quite possibly need to get a new magnifying lamp for that one - the over one is killing my eyes!).

Oh and I"ve discovered the "Google Blog Reader" thingy which is really cool - I now just have to figure out how to get my list into this page. I needed somethign because the pesky blogroll thing never lets me know when blogs are updated, so I went hunting for something else :) THis seems to be working ok and perhaps I will be able to keep up with comments and things now!

I've also started aWordpress Blog but I've yet to figure out how to get THIS blog's posts over to there - I know it can be done though - I am sure I've seen it! If you have any ideas, please let me know :) The template I chose over there is really pretty! You can have a look here!

The Cat in the Hat is 50!

According to the Borders newsletter I got today, "The Cat in The Hat" is turning 50 on the 2nd March 2007!!

In our lifetime, there may never be another revolution like it. And, as revolutions often do, this one started in a small way. In 1957, Dr. Seuss was asked to write 'a story that first graders can't put down'. Given a list of 236 words drawn up by three experts, Seuss wrote 'The Cat in the Hat' and changed the world as we know it.

The Borders Kids Webpage lists the Cat in the Hat Project 236. On the 2nd of March 2007, at 2:36 pm we are all encouraged to read aloud the Cat in the Hat!

I know I will enjoy reading it to my chickadees! : )

A brand new finishing blog and some interesting facts about mine!

If you're a finishing numpty (like me), wander over to a wonderful new blog set up by Anne and Karen "Focus on Finishing". Here, generous stitchers are giving up their time to bring it all together for those of us with limited skills in that area!!!

Today I am going try making a Biscornu from a free chart so graciously provided by Aurelle. I'll post a picture when done - I'm not sure which of the 14 freebies I will choose but they all look small and easy to complete...wish me luck! A Bisornu is a little pincushion-y thing.

I've also been taking a look at my stats to see where my vistors have been coming from, what you have been searching for on Google that led you to me and taking a look at where you all live :)

It seems Nigella's Ham Recipe has been very popular around the world, because I've had vistors from the UK, India, Switzerland and all over the US looking for that - I hope the story was useful for you! It really was a great feast!

Stitchers have been searching for:

• Sew To Be Seen Designs -I've completed just one - Maiden's Walk, but I own nearly all of Judy's Sew To Be Seen designs;
• M-Designs Celtic Heart (I've stitched this several times!);
• Bargello Fantasy -I'm lucky enough to own this very hard to find chart, but I've not stitched it yet;
• Bargello - a lovely technique and I'm very partial to how Victoria Sampler uses this one in some of their sampler designs;
• Genny Morrow's Nova - again I own it but it's not started

As for visitors, you've visted me from:

• In Australia, Victoria, The ACT, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland (where are the Tasmanians and Northern Territorians????)
• The UK
• The Netherlands
• United Arab Emirates (hi Mel!)
• In the US, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts, Atlanta, New York, Virgina, Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, New Jersey( I think I should aim for all states to have visted me before the end of the year!)
• Cyprus
• India
• Korea
• Turkey
• Canada
• New Zealand
• Japan
• Greece
• China
• Afghanistan
• Brazil

Edited to add

• Italy
• Singapore
• Mexico

I also note that some of you have visted my other blogs too! I've been a bit slack on the wine blog - not that I haven't been partaking, but I've been very lax in writing about my wine lately - a shortness of time mostly. My music blog will become busier too and if you have a question about Aussie music feel free to ask me there!

Wow - that makes me feel sensational to think that people from all over the world have taken a minute to vist me :) Thanks! I hope you enjoyed your visit and please leave a comment and let me know if you have a blog I can visit too!

Have a great Saturday!

Opps - missed an important date...

I didn't realise that 23 June was my blog anniversary!

Time flies when you're having fun....

Happy blog day to me!
Happy blog day to me!
Happy blog day to me-ee!
Happy blog day to me!

For the Movie Lover

Stumbled across this blog that has movie reviews for just about anything you can think of! Great! They're quite detailed so if you don't want to be put off....probably best not to read them till after you've seen a movie! (Just to see if you agree)!

How to make a me!

I saw this on Mel's blog and just HAD to have a go!

Accurate description of me don't you think???

How to make a Tannia

Ingredients: 1 part mercy 5 parts self-sufficiency 5 parts empathy

Method: Layer ingredientes in a shot glass. Add a little caring if desired!

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

I'm not the only one...

It would seem that even space heros have laundry dramas...stumbled across this on Jean-Luc Picard's blog on blogspot.com....I've never been a Star Trek fan - but the blog is funny.

Goal for the rest of May

Now I've been in a bit of a stitching slump, so slowly, slowly I need to get myself back into the swing of things... For the remaining 10 or so days in May, I have decided that my goal will be to stitch for at least an hour each evening....on any project....EVEN a new start if that is what I so desire.

In a week or so I will post goals for June (which will probably encompass some of those old ones I didn't achive last year!)

Wish me luck!

Embroidery......a great decorative art

I am reading "Samplers" (Cambridge University Press, 1997) by Carol Humphrey which is a handbook describing the Fitzwilliam Museum's collection of samplers. I read through the 'Preface', which describes how the collection was bequeathed, etc (an interesting story of two very different collectors. But it wasn't till I started reading the 'Introduction' chapter that I got this funny little furrow in my brow?.

Let me quote from the very first paragraph.

"At the end of the twentieth century the story of the sampler is far from over. Surprisingly, at a time when virtually all textiles are mass-produced and women are increasingly employed outside the home, there has been a revival in embroidery. Of course embroidery can never again be one of the great decorative arts that flourished prior to the Industrial Revolution."

I would be very interested in others' opinions here....why would embroidery have ceased to be one of the great decorative arts, and just when did that occur. Embroidery is by default decorative in all its forms......now, it's not one of the "great" decorative arts? I find this statement disturbing to say the least. I still consider it the greatest of the decorative arts, perhaps someone forgot to tell me of its decline.....Yes, I know its popularity has declined, but I just can't agree with that statement. Perhaps the practice of 'hand' embroidery has dwindled, but even modern machine embroidery is still decorative is it not?

The book however, is a great reference and is full of gorgeous pictures and very detailed histories and descriptions...a must for any sampler lover.

An AFL star in the making!

Games - 1
Goals - 1
Behinds - 1

This is Liam (LHM). On Sunday he played his first game of Aussie Rules Football for the Yarraville Eagles Under 10s.

Now Australian Rules football is a weird game for the most part - but Under 9s and 10s even more so....If the two teams don't have the same amount of players, i.e one of the teams is very short, then some of the players have to play for the opposition to 'even it up'. So in his first ever game for the Yarraville U/10s (up an age group from his normal team) Liam had to spend half the game playing for the opposition - the Laverton Magpies no less!

Anyway - the superstar that he is, scored a goal for his own team in the first half and a point for the opposition in the second :) All in all - a successful game :)

His mother (that's me!) is very proud!

Question of the Week 12 July 04

How do you choose a project? What “calls” to you the most?

Hmmmmmm...generally, it's something totally different to anything I have on the go at the moment.  Like just recently I did the needlepoint because I had never done any before....mind you I am now an addict!  For a while, it seemed that everything I started was green or varying shades of so I couldn't wait to start something with colour and LOTS of it!  Now, If I am 'bored" I just pick up the project that is yelling the loudest :)

This is probably why I have 13 works in progress!!!!

Cheers

Tannia

Question of the Week

Which project (finished or in progress) are you most proud of? Explain why.

Good question....well asked!

My greatest achievement in stitching is finishing Indigo Rose's "Desiderata".  It's the first sampler I finished, the first piece with specialty stitches of any great number and the first 'real' hardanger I completed!  I stitched the date on upside down.....but never fixed it before it got framed, so it reminds me that I'm not perfect!  Stitching the verse as well made me really take it to heart.  It's hanging in my lounge room and I look at it every day and it makes me feel good to see it.

I am also stitching a sampler for my dad (pic in a previous post somewhere) which is really hard going...I guess when it's done I will have to rethink my 'most proud stitching achievement"

Blessings

Tannia

Stitcher's Five

Seen enough of these to want to participate :)

 

Here we go - my first Stitcher's Five

 

1. What was your first finished stitched piece?

A piece from a magazine "For the Love Of Cross Stitch" when I was around 15.  My Mother still has it framed and hanging on her dining room wall.

2. What was the first piece you used beads on?

Warm Christmas Wishes by Emie Bishop and a piece of hardanger I designed myself for a friend.  This was only last year....never been one for embellishments but I have several pieces on the go at the moment that will have tons of beading when complete!

3. What was the first piece you used blends on?

Teresa Wentzler's The Castle Sampler - still a WIP and has been for some years!

4. What was the first piece you used specialty stitches on?

Hmmm in any great details I would have to say Indigo Rose's Desiderata (as opposed to the sampler I designed and stitched myself for my mother!)

5. What was the first piece you stitched on evenweave or linen as opposed to aida?

The same piece as in answer number one.  I have only ever stitched four pieces on aida and two of them were the same chart!!!

More later....

Tannia