Sharp work paying off
FORMER advertising industry executive and athletics coach, the late Richard D’Alton, will be farewelled at a memorial ceremony at the Sports Reserve today.
Mr D’Alton died on July 11 after a long illness. He is survived by his wife Lynette, sons Thierry and Aaron and daughters Kylie and Sarah.
Members of the athletics community as well as former business associates are invited to gather at the Sports Reserve at 4pm to celebrate his life.
Centrals Athletics Club president Mark Chester said Mr D’Alton’s contribution to athletics in was immense.
“He never yelled, he preferred to encourage athletes to relax and use his or her innate talent,” Mr Chester said.
Mr D’Alton came to Townsville in 1980 after working as a graphic artist in his home state of Tasmania and later in New South Wales.
He set up an advertising and public relations agency in his new home town and quickly gained a reputation for his talent for creating effective advertising campaigns.
Richard’s wife, Lynette, said a plaque would be mounted in Richard’s honour at the Sports Reserve athletics track today, where her husband used to stand and watch his young athletes go through their paces. REGISTERED nurse Katie McGhie’s quirky cross- stitch business was born out of a need to find a new hobby about four years ago.
“I actually used to do quite a lot of baking but that meant a house full of baked goods which wasn’t so good for my waistline,” she said.
“I needed something else to keep my hands busy so I started do crossstitching.”
The self- taught stitcher gravitated towards somewhat naughty sayings and portraits, which she made as gifts for friends before realising there was a wider demand for it.
It was from there that Ms McGhie’s business Classic Stitch Up was born about three years ago.
She set up an Instagram to allow people to commission her work and since then business has been steadily increasing.
Ms McGhie, 29, now attends the Renegade Handmade markets several times a year and each time sees a flurry of new business afterwards.
“I guess Instagram and Pinterest are pretty good as inspiration,” she said. “I saw a few portrait styles out there and I started to develop and create my own.
“There’s a few people who do that but I don’t think there’s too many in Australia.”
Ms McGhie attended high school in Townsville, having previously lived in Sydney, Darwin, Groote Eylandt and New Zealand.
“I moved away after high school but came back, which I think a lot of people do in Townsville,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of good friends here.” Ms McGhie designs all her patterns herself and says she puts a lot of thought into each one.
“My inspiration comes from TV shows, movies, 90s R’n’B … what I am watching influences it,” she said.
“I’ve recently finished watching The Office series again, so that’s inspiring some at the moment.
“My partner and I got married at the beginning of July so I hadn’t been doing as many but I’m trying to build it up again now. Normally I do it five out of six days but I’ve stitched every day for the last week.”
The sayings emblazoned on crossstitch range from the cheeky “I hope your day is as nice as your butt” to the Ice Cube lyric “You can do it put your back into it” to the dark “dead inside”.
It’s these written pieces that are Ms McGhie’s favourites.
“I just really loved seeing these little subversive cross- stitches,” she said.
“I loved that there was something sweet and something not sweet about them.”
Each piece takes anywhere from two to 12 hours to complete, but Ms McGhie finds the designing process more time- consuming.