It's so nice to be home :) I spent a lovely few days in Jarvis Bay this week. We went down to watch my littlest brother, Jamie, "pass out" from his Naval Officer training. It's not the first time I've seen it all of course, my other little brother, Carl, went through the same thing three years ago, and both of my parents were in the Navy, in fact they met at HMAS Creswell, and spent the whole weekend reminiscing and being very romantic with each other. So the week was filled with getting dressed up, sitting through boring ceremonies, and then schmoozing with people my parents knew, and I had to pretend to remember meeting when I was knee-high. I hate that kind of social function, where you have to pretend to be charming and witty with people you don't know. But it was quite exciting to meet and chat with some very important people, including the Chief of Navy, Chief of Police, etc. It was a bit intimidating, I felt like such a no-one, but all these men came up to shake my Dad's hand so I was also introduced. I think my Dad is quite an important person too.. or at least well known and liked. I also met my sister's boyfriend, and his family, and had a chance to catch up with some old family friends. Having grown up in a Navy family, and moving all over the country and the world, we met so many people when we were in one place or another, every time we catch up with them it's like a big reunion. But all in all it was an interesting and lovely week.

So of course, we were so busy with cocktail parties, receptions, parades, and the ball, that I had no time at all to get any stitching done, until the train trip home. I've done a little more on tranquility, but I spent most of my time frogging. I decided to take out the green motif on the first row and replace it with blue, and I'm considering taking out the light green one next to it, but I'll decide on that later, after I see the blue.

At the beginning of the week I was very good with my SALs. I put about 4 hours into JOB on Monday, and felt very proud of myself, and just as I popped online to upload the picture, I realised that the internet wasn't working, and neither was the phone! So I spent an extra hour and a half stitching whilst on hold with Optus trying to get it fixed. Well, they finally fixed it yesterday, as I discovered when I got home last night. So now I can post my SAL pics.
For Toccata II this week I did 'A' and Area 2. I was going to do Area 1, but I couldn't be bothered getting up off my bum to go and fetch my beading thread. *sigh* laziness is a curse.

Okay, next post I'll talk about Wednesday's trip to The Craft and Quilt Fair, and I'll show you all the lovely stash I bought :)

Labels: Eyecandy, Familials, Small talk, Stitchiness, Toccata II-sday, Tranquility

Yay! I've finished my exams! Now I have no uni or study or anything until August :) It's such a nice feeling. The exam this morning was good. Not great, but oh well. I only studied on the train on the way in, so what do I expect. I'm sure I'll still get a credit though, which I'm satisfied with.

I left my exam 2 hours early, decided to wait around until Catherine (my sister) had finished her exam, so wandered up to the main campus and went to the Beautiful Minds exhibition. It was a collection of Nobel Prize winners, the people and the discoveries and inventions. It was fantastic. It's quite awesome to see the actual petri dish and culture that Alexander Fleming used when he discovered Penicillin, Marie Curie's equipment, Watson and Crick's models of the double helix, and the first ever X-Ray tube, and so many more things that I've learnt about over the years. I came home feeling all inspired.... and promptly sat down to stitch.

So, here are this week's motifs for my Toccata II SAL with Nicki. Area 10 - Ringed back stitch band and Area 11 - Satin stitch and tied cross.
I also attempted to take a photo of the whole thing in the sunshine, but it didn't turn out so well. Probably because there was only five minutes of sunshine to be had this week, the rest of the week has just been wind and rain and more wind... just the way I like it :) And I'm even more excited because there's a big storm coming tonight. I love storms, they're so.... dynamic. You can just feel that every molecule in the air is charged! But anyway, here's the dodgy pic.
I actually stitched some time last week, but tonight I finished stitching the last panel frame on JOB , although I could barely see through my tears... I was watching the most tragic episode of NCIS (actually, you can see it on the telly in the photo... hahaha! And you can see my lovely warm socks) It's such a relief to finally finish all those black frames. I find that kind of stitching really boring, and that was the part that was majorly slowing me down last time. Once I finish all the repetitive lanterns and details on the frames, it'll be a breeze :)
So... tomorrow is my first day with no uni or study hanging over my head! I wish I didn't have to work...lol!

Labels: Eyecandy, Small talk, Stitchiness, Toccata II-sday, Uni

Aargh, I have the hiccups! The painful ones. I hate hiccups.

I'm only blogging because I should be studying... hahaha :) My exam today was great, despite the fact that I only spent about 2 hourse studying. But tomorrow's will be a lot harder. I just can't be bothered studying. I want someone to do it for me and then just pour it all into my head. Ah well, I'll study on the train on the way in in the morning.

I didn't stitch on JOB today. I know, I'm so naughty. I think I might do it after my exam tomorrow instead, I hope you don't mind Kyrie :(

Aargh, I still have the hiccups! And Desperate Housewives is on now so bye :)

Just a quick post today, as I should be studying. I had the paediatric nursing exam on Friday and I'm pretty sure I did okay *phew* but on Monday I have Pathophysiology: Neuroendocrine, and I'm sure you can imagine how much fun that is. Acutally, I do really enjoy Patho, and I always do well in it. Then I have my final exam on Tuesday. Hooray!

I'm very pleased to say that I've *finally* begun some of my Pay it Forward stitching. I think the 12 month deadline is coming closer, and I decided that I just had to make some decisions on what to stitch for each of my recipients. I've been working on someone's at work over the weekend, and I'm loving it so much that I've been trying to figure out an excuse for me to keep it for myself.. hmmm. I just hope the recipient likes it as much as I do :)

I should be sharing wip pictures. I do actually have a couple to share... I've been sitting on pics of Mystery X and Tranquility sampler for a while now, but I can't be bothered waiting for blogger to upload them at the moment. So instead, I'll give you this:

Your Personality Profile

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant. Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle. You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important. You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection. You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

Oh, bugger study. I worked night shift last night, and I'm too tired. I'll do it when I wake up this evening. Goodnight!

Labels: SBQ and memes, Stitchiness, Uni

Yay! A finish! This is Leigh's square for the HAED RR. Her theme was Ian Daniels, and I stitched from "A Rose Among Thorns". I think this is a lovely picture, and I can just imagine the kind of romantic story that led up to this scene. Plus he's very handsome. He's my boyfriend, and I've christened him Phillip :D

I decided to try cross-country stitching on him, rather than parking as I usually do for HAEDs, and I'm surprised to say that I think it was actually faster. Not to mention the back is a bit neater (but not much neater, my backs are always atrocious, but I figure, that it's the front that matters, isn't it?!)

So here's the whole thing after me. Looks gorgeous, doesn't it. Only one more person to stitch on this one! It would be lovely to see all of these robins in person after they're finished. In fact, it would be lovely to see everyone's stitching in person, but it's just not going to happen, is it? click for nice big pictures :)

I was rudely awoken at 7:30 this morning by Mum calling from her car, as she was stuck in 8 inches of snow! I'm jealous. I haven't seen snow for years! It doesn't happen a lot here in Sydney. Actually it doesn't happen often down in Canberra either, but today must be Mum's lucky day :)

Okay, now I'm off to study. *sigh* I have an exam tomorrow, and I haven't even started studying. It's a content heavy subject: childrens nursing. At least it's mildly interesting, that usually helps to motivate me. Well, hopefully studying will keep me from making a very naughty new start. Probably not. I have her as my desktop picture, just to tempt me a bit more. I even got out the fabbie to admire last night. Must....not....start....

Labels: Eyecandy, HAPPYDANCE, Small talk, Stitchiness, Uni

I'm busting to have a new start! I'm very close finishing my HAED RR, only about 200 stitches to go, and I've got itching fingers. I'm dying to start this:


It's not helped by the fact that I have the perfect piece of 32ct white opalescent lugana sitting there in my stash, and by the fact that HAED just released a lovely companion for her :)


However, I really don't need a new start. I've already got Boreas that I should be working on...QUICK SOMEONE, TALK ME OUT OF IT!

Labels: EEEK

I'm back! I'm soooo sorry for being gone for so long. I had a lovely trip down to Canberra, followed by a horrible week of clinical, at Ryde hospital (I swear, no matter how sick I am, I'm never going there!) And after that, my back went out again. I have two prolapsed discs, which usually don't cause me any problems, but occasionally, it just goes. So I was on my back (literally) for eight days. It hurt to sit up and stitch, so I only got a few hours done. I could hardly even use the computer. And even now I'm still still on horrible pain killers that make me so sick and drowsy that I can't concentrate on stitching or reading or anything. At least I've got a couple of weeks off work, which I can't complain about. But I will be complaining at the end of the month when my mortgage payment is due.. eeek!

In other news, my brother Carl, who's in the Navy, got on his ship and sailed away to Iraq. My little brother is going to war :( Actually, it's quite funny, my father served in the first Gulf war, and now Carl is going off to the second. He acutally sailed from Perth, so I didn't get to see him off, but it sounds like it was just a giant sob-fest. He'll be back at Christmas time, only 7 months, not very long really. But he left his girlfriend, my old school friend Naomi behind, and she's been messaging me constantly, she misses him terribly.

So, back to stitching. I am aware that I owe three weeks of SAL updates, and I must confess that I haven't even been stitching on JOB. Yesterday was the first time I touched it in weeks, and the little I did wasn't even worth photographing, just the top half of the border of the last panel. Next Monday I'll definitely finish that one, and that'll be a big milestone for me. The repitive borders were the biggest thing that slowed me down last time. But I have been doing Toccata II. The first picture shows two weeks worth of stitching, I did very simple motifs because I was so doped up, and it took me a couple of days to do even one!

The next two pictures are the motifs I did for this week. I had trouble with the butterfly, it took me the whole weekend to do! I should have stuck to simple ones. But I did finish it in the end.


I haven't labeled any of the areas because it's too painful to stand up and fetch the chart. I can't wait until I'm back to normal again.

I do have more photos, but I'll share them tomorrow.

Okay, I'm really tired, so I'm going to sleep. Goodnight :)

Labels: Eyecandy, Familials, Small talk, Stitchiness, Toccata II-sday, Uni