Archive for the 'Postgrad Study' Category
Sooo…
You’re gonna love this!
Five hours after I wrote that last post?
My brother-in-law backed into my car.
My newly repaired car, not four days after picking it up from the repairer.
I’m able to smile (wanly) about it now. At the time, I had a minor breakdown in the bathroom. Stupid, really. All the things that are going on in my life are so infinitesimally small… it’s just that cumulative effect thing taking a hold.
In better news, the exam timetable for this semester came out today. I know, that doesn’t sound much like a good thing. And in fact, it is a little scary, my two exams are within two days of each other. The good bit is that my exams are earlier this semester, so I get it over and done with. Last semester I had three weeks of twiddling my thumbs er… I mean studying, before the exams. This time, I’ll be done on the 29th of October, so I’ll have two entire months off before my final unit in January. Yay!
September 12 2005 | General Ramblings and Postgrad Study | 2 Comments »
At the beginning of this year, I decided I wanted two things on my 30th birthday. To not have any grey hairs, and to have purchased our first house. The big Three-Oh is now two months away.
I’m holding strong on achieving #1 - none to be spied 
And #2 was fulfilled today, hooray! In fact we will settle on the house 6 days after my birthday. I’m so happy that hunting is over. I plan never to look in a real estate agent’s window or website again… until the next time 
October is going to be quite the month for me in fact. The 11th is Happy Birthday Mel, the 13th is the deadline for my major assignment in Usability Eng, the 15th is the rollout for our major assignment in Web Database Applications, and the 17th is the settlement. I am scared… very scared. We will probably have an extra week or so tenancy in our current place, so moving can be stretched out a bit, but still…
Our house (our house…. teehee!) is nothing super-special. It will need sprucing up over time, but is perfectly liveable as is. It’s 3-bedrooms, has heating and cooling (big bonus!), and good sized front and back yards (better bonus!) I can’t wait 
August 12 2005 | Family and General Ramblings and Postgrad Study | 3 Comments »
I’ve just been taking a bit of a break from the web for a little bit, induced mainly by the fact that we’ve been all over the state in the last week (didn’t quite make it into South Australia as planned, more on that later). I have had web access on most nights, and have been checking in occasionally with my regular haunts, but I’ve felt no inclination/no time to blog or post to groups. I think it was long overdue for me to take a web-break, really.
But I got some brilliant news yesterday that I just have to share. The semester from hell is not only over, but it seems I came through with the goods despite the horror. Marks were out Friday, I finally logged on and got them yesterday - 92 for Secure E-Commerce, and 90 for Intelligent Web Systems (which means I must have aced the exam, since I was on about 82 average for the assignments). Go me!
Will be back tomorrow with an updated pic of WFS. She’s gorgeous - all stitching (except a little bit of braid and backstitching that I might do tonight) is finished, only the beads after that. I can almost taste a HD!
July 11 2005 | General Ramblings and Postgrad Study | 1 Comment »
Before I get to the next set of questions… the exam went well. It was a satisfying exam, in that it was solid and comprehensive, and I think I performed well on all the sections. I am so pleased to be on a break now though. With any luck, next semester should be less horrible than this.
In other business, for Cathy, here’s a pic of my Storyteller. I’ve done a little bit more since this picture was taken - backstitching the top border - which gives it wonderful definition. After the Annual stitchalong (this weekend), I’ll take another picture.
And now to the next batch…
6. What is your favourite stitched piece?
Um er… well, I described WFS as my favourite WIP recently, and that will probably be my favourite when finished. But for the time being, my favourite finished piece would probably be Celtic Christmas. I don’t have a good deal of finished pieces yet :sad: … soon.
7. What is your favorite fabric?
Quaker cloth. It’s 55% linen, 45% cotton, has the appearance of 100% linen, but is a fraction cheaper, and in my opinion, nicer to stitch on (a softer handfeel). It’s also what I’ve been doing my hand-dyeing on, and I’m very happy with the results - a little more subtle than 100% linen.
8. What is your favorite fiber?
I’m not sure I really have a favourite fiber. I love to stitch with silks, but the designs I stitch don’t call for silks much, which I’m fine with, due to the extra cost. Variegated cottons are fun, I like trying to predict how the variegations are going to fall. And although metallics are sometimes a pain to stitch with, I love the result. Of the metallics, Rainbow gallery petite treasure braid is my all time favourite, it is simply lovely to stitch with, and has a beautiful shine to it.
9. What is your favorite needle?
According to my records from the last 2 times I bought needles, Piecemaker Needles tapestry #26! I do have some #28s, but they’re mostly too fine for my liking. I think I also have some John James needles hanging around. I use Beading Needles (size #10) for beading, the ones I have are blunt-ended, not sharp. They go through delicas, and most Mill Hill beads. I hate the really fine, supersharp beading needles, that’s just a recipe for disaster in this house!
10. Do you prefer black & white or colored charts?
Black and white, hands-down. Colour charts, ick, ack, euw 
{still to be continued…}
June 21 2005 | Counted Stitchwork and Memes and Postgrad Study | 2 Comments »
At the exact time this blog entry is posted, I will have just started reading time for the Intelligent Web Systems exam. How is this so? I love this tricky little feature - just alter the timestamp of the post, Publish, and the post will show up after the given time. Nifty!
Anyway, I’m pinching the 25 Questions about Stitching from Belinda’s blog (among other places). I don’t plan to fill my blog with memes, but I think since it’s primarily a stitching blog, these questions are probably worth answering, just so you know. But I’m not going to do them all at once, oh no. Five at a time… you’ll just have to come back to read the rest of the answers later
1. How old were you when you started cross stitching?
When I was 12 or 13, my Aunt gave me a stamped cross stitch kit (I know - :yuk:). It was a daisy pattern, to be made up into a cushion. That was also my first colour conversion - I’m not that crazy about oranges and yellows, so I changed them for pink and purple. Amazingly enough, I believe I finished that project… I’ve no idea what happened to it since though.
2. Who taught you to cross stitch?
I did! Well, I guess the instructions did, but nobody specifically showed me how to make an x.
3. What inspired you to begin cross stitching?
After that stamped kit, I was an on-again-off-again stitcher until about 4 years ago. Mainly because I picked too-hard charts. I bought Teresa Wentzler’s Spring Carousel Horse, and later, Mirabilia’s Garden Verses and Winter Queen. None really qualify as beginner designs, and while I had big ambitions, I just didn’t have the patience for these big designs. Finally, at 25, stressed-out by work, I found some freebies on the ‘net (Ellen Maurer-Stroh) , and took it up as relaxation. I found TW’s freebie Stretch around the same time, and subsequently the TWBB, and ebay, and… well, you get the idea. My stash came into being, and I have never looked back.
4. What has been your most difficult cross stitch piece?
So far, I would have to say Stretch. I know he’s only small, but for me it was the first time doing loads of fractionals, and blends. My most difficult in progress is TWs Storyteller, for the same reasons, but on a much bigger scale.
5. Do you have friends that stitch?
I introduced Mum to cross-stitching after she became interested in surface embroidery. Her fabric stash is a great resource! I have 2 friends who stitch - but one is in the UK now, and the other doesn’t get a lot of stitching time, so no SAL-ing for me (other than with online friends).
{to be continued…}
June 20 2005 | Counted Stitchwork and Memes and Postgrad Study | 1 Comment »
Aaaah… feeling better today. I went into the city, ostensibly to study at uni, but I got up to some retail therapy as well (forget now everything I said about saving money the other day ). Prompted by my answer to the gift certificate question on The Wagon, and encouraged by OtherHalf, I went to Lush. I bought:
- Dreamtime ~ for tomorrow night
- Double Bubble ~ for sometime when I feel like being… pink and glittery!
- Black Magic ~ clary sage, geranium, ylang ylang… yum! I think I could become addicted to their massage bars yes-indeedy
- Little Monkey ~ for Finn. He had some in his bath tonight. It turns the water a disconcerting shade of yellow :shock: but it smells great
plus I was given a sample of:
- Demon in the Dark ~ which smells glorious (big mint fan here), and I think I’ll shower with it pre-exam tomorrow, to give me the edge
But wait, there’s more. I recently (like in the last 24 hours) discovered that there’s a new Borders open in the CBD… just across the road from uni. Well, we all know where I’ll be spending my ’study time’ now, don’t we! I popped in there - it’s a bit smaller than the other two Melbourne stores, but still a great sized book shop. I picked up
Hmmm… seems Finn scored more today than I did! Never mind. I had fun. Notice how all those books are about Wild, Energetic, Loud young children? I wonder if there’s something in that?
June 19 2005 | General Ramblings and Postgrad Study | 1 Comment »
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