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It’s been a while since I’ve done a life update. I guess because we’ve settled into a bit of a routine now.

WORK: Mine is going well. It’s been a bit challenging trying to learn everything when I’m only there a couple days a week, and with everyone sharing the work, but it’s coming together. Scott’s is… going. :/

HOUSE: We moved! We upgraded to a two bedroom apartment a bit more central to work and family. The apartment is small, but nice, and I love the neighbourhood.

EXERCISE: I joined a new gym near our new house and it’s GREAT. They have an epic gym area, swimming pool, and lots of classes, so I’ve been able to add yoga and swimming back into my exercise plan (in addition to weights). Scott started biking to work (10km each way!), and still plays basketball and the occasional extra game of soccer or more basketball.

CRAFTS: My latest project is creating cross stitch patterns that I am trying to sell on Etsy. It’s hard though!! I have to make the patterns, test stitch it, photograph it, list it, and then advertise it. I’ve got two patterns in my shop but I still have SO much more work to do.

I also taught Scott how to crochet, so we’ve been making granny squares to eventually turn into a blanket. The biggest challenge is getting our tension to match each other.

FRIENDS: I’ve still been going to trivia most weeks with my internet friends. They are great. I also get together with a sub-group of them to Stitch n Bitch every month, which is fun. We usually eat lunch, and then crochet/cross stitch.

We used to go to a different trivia night with some of Scott’s friends but the pub changed the night so that is off until we find a good replacement.

We had Jemma and Damien over for a games night the other weekend. We played Wasabi and Carcassonne. I think we are getting close to teaching them Agricola!!!

VISITORS: Cassia and Pablo came to visit Melbourne with two of their Spanish friends. We went to Chin Chin for dinner the first night (1.5 hour wait!!! but really tasty), and then did a mega tourist day the next day at Brighton Beach, Fitzroy, and the CBD. I hope Silvi tags me in her pictures because I didn’t take any. :/

Natasha has arrived in Australia as well. She’s in Sydney at the moment, but we expect to see her in the next couple weeks. I can’t wait! We’ve got the guest bedroom all set up ready to go. :D

SUMMER: One really hot day we drove out to Sorrento back beach to play in the tidepools. It was lovely but Scott severely sunburned his feet which was SO GROSS. It wasn’t that hot of a summer, but it is lingering a bit. It’s still been above 30°C most days, but thankfully it gets cool overnight, so it’s been okay.

SKELETON: My FOMO about not sliding this season hasn’t actually been that bad because 1. I still get timesheets from Whistler to analyze, 2. the World Cup races are on at very convenient times here so I’ve been able to watch most of them live. 3. Instagram stories make me feel like I’m right there, and 4. My old coach Rob has been keeping a daily vlog. So yeah, that’s cool. The final race of the season is next weekend, in Korea on the future Olympic track! Should be interesting.

OK I can’t think of anything else at the moment, so… hasta luego.

 

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My last two cross stitches were big projects. Each one took about a month!

I found the pictures online and used a website to convert them into cross stitch patterns.

MR KOALA

In progress.

Finished.

Close up.

The back. AHH!

MR OTTER

In progress.

Finished.

Close up.

The back. Not as bad?

I think I will get these framed up properly so we can hang them up as a pair. I’m VERY happy with how they turned out.

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This year I decided to make shoes for the nieces and nephews for Christmas presents. I knew the kids were going to get literally heaps of presents so I wanted to get them something a little different.

Ava is the youngest. I got the smallest shoes possible and they’re still too big. Oops. Also there are no cute animals that start with “V”. These might be my favourite of the lot though!

Next is April, who loves the Wiggles. It took a little prodding, but then she recognized Emma and the rest of the group.

Seth got Avatar shoes. These were fun to draw and shade.

Beau’s are from Pokemon Black and White. I don’t know which Pokemon those are but he says they are the best ones. :D

And lastly, Noah got Dragon Ball Z. He’s been requesting a pair ever since I made his dad some Wolverine shoes.

It was fun making all of them! Scott picked all the pictures for the boys. Each pair only took a couple hours once I got started. And they’re all done with permanent fabric markers and Scotchgarded so they can get wet, although I would try to avoid it if possible.

I would love to sell custom shoes, but I can’t legally sell anything with copyrighted material. Technically you’re not even supposed to MAKE things with copyrighted material, but I don’t think companies usually mind if it’s just for fun. But making money from it is a different story.

Feel free to email me with any ideas you might have though and maybe we can figure something out.

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Since I am funemployed I have quite a bit of time to do crafts. (Which is amazing, by the way!)

I crossstitched a sprite on to one of Scott’s hoodies using waste canvas.

The trickiest bit is pinning the waste canvas in the right spot, with interfacing on the back, and then setting it in a frame without everything getting all out of place. But once it’s all set up you just cross stitch like normal, although you have to use a pointy needle and it’s way harder on your fingers to get it through all the layers.

Finished. They are apparently characters from Final Fantasy VI. Iunno, he picked them. :P

Then you get to do the best part, pulling the white strings out. I dunked the whole thing in water to soften the fibres, and then pulled out each strand out the side with tweezers. It takes a little while, but it’s satisfying.

All done.

What the back looks like. I also cut out another rectangle of ironable interfacing and ironed it on top, in an attempt to seal up all the loose ends. I don’t know how well that will hold up, but so far it’s working.

I used DMC threads, so we can launder it like normal, the only thing is that I told Scott to make sure the zipper is done up when he puts it in the washing machine so less chance of something like a tooth catching and pulling something out. It feels pretty secure in general though.

Pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I want to monogram everything!

I got this metal tuk tuk kit in Thailand. All the pieces came in two small flat sheets. You just punch the pieces out and follow the instructions, bending pieces and twisting tiny tabs with needlenose pliers that lock everything into place. It took me a good few hours to finish and I stabbed my fingertips many many times. I definitely made some mistakes, as the instructions weren’t super great, but I think it turned out pretty neat. It’s about 7 cm tall, by the way. I would totally like to try another kit!

I finished my koala in a funny shirt crossstitch… I will post a picture soon. Next project, a matching sea otter in a woolly sweater.