2015 Wrap Up

Hullo hullo happy New years Eve everybody. Can you believe it? In less that 5 hours it will be 2016. That is truly terrifying. To stand once more at the foot of the unknown...

2015 wasn't too bad of a year, all things considered. Yes, my gran went into a home this year, but if that's the worst thing to have happened.... Me and the man made it to 4 years together without killing each other, and then 29 years with out killing ourselves (me through sheer clumsiness,  him through his habit of cycling everywhere). I also made it three years in my job and got moved up the role of 2IC - shame that didn't come with a pay rise,  but I understand the reasons behind that. The house renovations got started this year, and while they haven't moved as fast as I would like, we have been actively looking at other properties so hopefully our "grown up" will come sooner rather than later.

Though on that note, my savings in 2015 didn't climb as high as I would have liked.

Hobby wise, I am claiming 2015 as a total win. While I didn't make my reading goal, only reading 63 of the 70 I had hoped for, I did do exceptionally well on the crafting front.

I taught myself to knit this year - not only taught myself but also completed three projects. Two hats and a tablet case that I completely made up as I went. Little bit proud of that achievement. I just have to block it and buy a button for it and it'll be good to go.

Diamond embroidery also got attempted, and while I did finish the project, I don't think it will get a repeat performance,  despite the affordability of the kits.

Just today I tried my hand at fabric dying - the results are currently either sitting in plastic bags waiting on various rinsing times (I'm experimenting) or on the line drying, so no photos just yet, but it's definatly something I can see me carrying through to next year - current blue skin tone not withstanding. Turns out my glove had a leak in it.

Finally, cross stitching. In that particular regard - what a year. I have thankfully had this week off work so I  managed a few sneaky finishes before the year closes.

Canterbury Santa

Saxony Santa

Avignon Santa

Debi's Roses

Eleni of Troy

I also put The Reader back on the frames, but I doubt I'll get the remainder done in the next few hours, so that will probably end up being the first finish of 2016.

All up that brings me to 27 finishes for the year, 31 if you count the ones from other crafts. That number blows my mind. I have never finished that many things. And I think for that I can thank everyone in this wonderful cyber community of ours. Seeing everyone's beautiful work on blogs and Facebook and YouTube really helps motivate me. So for that I thank you all - each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

You may have noticed that thanks to the week off letting me have a clear head to focus on such things, I've made a couple of changes around here. I think I have FINALLY got the subscription issues worked out - a far too simple fix that I was overlooking, but such was the state of my brain towards the end there. I have also i mported past posts from various other blogs that I had scattered over the place. One of my goals for 2016 is to be far more active in my blogging and that, in my head at least, means being more streamlined and not having thoughts scattered everywhere. 

We have probably all noticed over the last 6 months or so that I am terrible at sticking to plans. It is for this reason that I generally don't make new years resolutions. That being said though, I do have a few goals this time round that I really am going to make a conscious effort to try and achieve over the up coming year. The first being to blog more. Like I just said, I want to be more active in my blogging. I really do enjoy it whe  I find the time for it. Even if no one reads this, just the act of getting it out there has a similar calming effect to cross stitching. And of course, cross stitching will still be the primary focus of my web-endevours, but I'm also going to start including my reading adventures and more about life in general - not that I think my life is particularly interesting - its not, since I'm a homebody, workaholic - but I am going to try.

Other goals I would like to meet in 2016

1. Amp up the savings - a house deposit by the end of the year would be absolutely amazeballs.  This means no unnecessary spending - I don't like the term stash diet, but it is what it is.

2. Be healthier. I am back up to the weight I was 5 years ago, and I'm not overly happy about that. I need to stop being lazy when I get home from work and start going working again - also to cut back on the sugar I'm consuming. While I love my job, the hours and the food are starting to take their toll.

3. I'm going to aim for 75 books this year. While still more than I read this year, I like to aim high.

4. Get the bedroom, entrance and living room completely renovated. This means painted, construction of what needs to be built and spring cleaning everything that's not needed anymore. We have far too much stuff. And by "we" I totally mean the man.

There are also a couple of stitchy goals that I have, but I think I'll put them in the 2016 finishes tab so that I can update them as I complete them.

On that note I think I'll leave it. I'll pick up The Reader for a little while longer, before I make a new start tomorrow. I will stay up and watch the fireworks, but I'm not going to go down to the public concert. Large crowds still make me nervous thanks to the earthquakes. Don't think I'm ever going to get over that, but never mind. 

Once again, happy new years everyone.  Hope 2016 brings you joy and laughter and all that you want it  to bring you.

Till next time.

Wheel of Time Series - Robert Jordan

Reading this series so early in the year, and trying to marathon all the books back to back, was probably not the best idea when trying to complete a year long challenge of 100 books (I have since amended that goal to 80 books). I gave my self a serious case of burn out and had to switch to other pursuits to try and get my reading mojo back. 

That's not to say that I regret it - because I don't, not at all. I loved this series. It was just a lot of words; a lot of pages of world building and high fantasy, to read all in one go. And a good chunk of it while on vacation and doing nothing but reading.

There are low points of course, every series has those books that just aren't up to the same perceived standard or that you have to force yourself through - book 10, Crossroads of Twilight in this case - there is enough in the other books to make up for the transgressions.

Jordan's story of Rand and his friends is fantasy done right. The world building alone is phenomenal. There is enough detail (some say too much at times) and enough imagery that this could be a real world sitting just to the side of ours. The character development follows the natural and logical course of the characters lives. They change, they grow up, they let their environment and their circumstances become a part of who they are and who they shall be. Yes some are more likable than others, but the things that make them unlikable are their truly human flaws.

While I don't think anything will ever knock Eddings' Belgariad off the top place in my favourite fantasy series (it was my first, it will be my last), the Wheel of Time series has definitely wrangled its way up there in the rankings. I can see re-reads in my future, though I may stagger them out a little next time.

Over all, I give the series four out of five stars

And yes I realise that it is cheating a little bit to lump the whole series in with each other as one post, but that's life.

Over for Another Year

Hullo hullo, happy post-Christmas everyone. Hope the holiday saw you all well fed and we’ll looked after. We just got home this afternoon after a grueling drive. There truly are some crazy people on the roads at this time of year. Kind of always make me want to stop and start screaming “I’m sorry for driving according to the road laws”.

Anyways. I know I haven’t been the best at keep up with updates in the last few months and once again I am very sorry for that. As I’ve mentioned before, work has been brutal. But now that christmas is over I am sincerly that I can start reclaiming my life. I have this week off so that will be a good start.  

As a nice little start to the holidays, my long awaited Stitching Bits and Bob’s order finally arrived so with any luck, the now three projects that were waiting on it might just get finished before the end of 2015. The three being Eleni of Troy by Cross Stitch Art, Debi’s Roses by Chatelaine and Joan Elliots The Reader which despite my lack of blogging, I have been faithfully plodding away at.

I got as far as I could with her but I needed more of that gold (kreinik 028) so I had to put her in the waiting pile with the others.

I picked up Love Birds for a day or so. And then remembered why progress is so slow with this one. It’s one of those infamous Chinese kits that I got off Aliexpress.  And while I do still think that the pattern is cute as pie, it actually physically hurts me to stitch. The pain adds to the all round disappointment really. The threads are coarse and in a far more muted pallet than the picture would have had you believe and the aida is so stiff that it even though it’s 11 count, pulling the three strands of floss through the holes not only makes that horrible near ripping sound, it makes bruises on may finger tip from the force of the needle.

But I finished a page at least.

I will finish this one. I’m not relegating it to the UFO pile yet. But I think it will have to be a bit of a slow and steady type of thing.

To give my poor finger a break I thought I’d treat myself to something new. While I have been trying my best to avoid the dreaded fear of missing out plague, I have notice the Plum Street Sampler 12 Days of Christmas that so many are doing and decided I had to do it too.

The red is good old 115 and while I am stitching it all on one big piece of 28 count white lugana, I am planning to do them all as individual ornaments. One day. Don’t know when but that’s the plan.

Finally, since my parcel finally arrived, I had some smaller things to pop in my bag to take with me to mums to potter with over Christmas. I had ordered all three of Mill Hills Medieval Santa ornaments so I started with Canterbury Santa on Christmas day, since I was in Canterbury after all.

I was going with the theory that beading would be easier when there wasn’t a small fluff ball of a dog sitting on me so this week will end up being a bit of a bead-a-paloza I think.

Luckily I took all three of the kits with me so I moved on to Avignon Santa since he was similar colours to Canterbury.

And because boxing day is the best day for being lazy (not that I ever need an excuse), Saxony Santa.

It’s entirely possibly that I miss judged how many beads were on these things. I have a feeling it’s going to take a lot longer than the stitching. But that’s okay, I have very few plans for my week off.

On that note I might leave it there for today - I want to unpack and get the washing on while the man goes gets pizza for dinner - Harry Potter marathon tonight I think since I got the complete set for Christmas - and back to the Santa's. 

Hope every one enjoys the last days of holidays - till next time :)

Merry Christmas Times

Just a quick little note to wish every one all the best for the holiday season - whether it be christmas or Hanukkah or just a Friday off work I hope it sees you happy and well and all that good stuff. For those of you  that like me are having to travel - stay safe out there - people on the roads seem to go crazy at this time of year.

Merry Christmas every one :)

An Update at Last

Hullo again everyone - hope this Monday sees everyone well. It's December tomorrow and I cannot believe that - like I said a couple of days ago - what a month. There isn't a part of me that doesn't either ache,  burn or both right now. I swear the Christmas rush at work starts earlier every year, it's absolutely insane. And it starting mid November hasn't made training the newling any easier. He is good, and he is picking it up - slowly but certainly faster that previous minions have. And I am starting from complete scratch with him so I will give him credit where it's due. It's just taking longer than I had initially thought. But he can be left by himself on Saturdays now so for the first time since September,  my pay slip last week was for under 100 hours - YIPPEE!!!

I guess that's me trying to make excuses for being a awol.  I get home and pretty much collapse into bed most days and hide from the world for the rest of the afternoon. I really did mean what I said about being nice to your servers - we take a lot and I mean ALOT of crap from customers who think they know better - especially at this time of year.

Stitching is good therapy for that of course - when else can you stab something thousands of times and not get locked away?

I did spread the love amongst a few projects this month. I did the little freebie kit that came with a magazine I bought to cheer myself up...

And then carried on with the little freebie Chatelaine - Debbie's Roses.

I did as much as I could here. I need to wait for the kreinik to arrive. It's in that Stitching Bits and Bob's order that I made way way back at the beginning of October when I had my time off (a looooong distant memory now), and that still hasn't arrived. Waiting on a pattern arriving at that end apparently. I understand,  and I'm not really in a huge rush for it but two projects are waiting on it to be finished now - this and Eleni. It would be nice to have them both done by the end of the year, but I guess it doesn't really matter one way or the other.

By this point in the month my work addled brain needed solid blocks of colour, so I worked on the border of Book of Ink Circles for a while.

Half way there

Not much to say on this really. It's on 28 count antique white Monaco and I'm sure it will be great once I start to fill it in. But borders bore me.

So to break up the monotony of the border I picked up my Earth Dragon to see if he could be finished. Turns out I had made a mistake that would have meant frogging at least half of the entire design.... so it got thrown in the trash. Luckily I found some more of the random scrap fabric that I was stitching the set on, so I shall restart that one some time in the new year to round out the collection.

Since that ended up a fail, I picked up a Mill Hill Ornament kit that I had sitting around.

This is Dandy Duo and it got made into a plant spike. I love these little kits. They are always so bright and colourful and happy and easy. It's what I needed this month when  I had a week from the absolute pits, which included (but was not limited to) the death of my beloved 8 year old gold fish. We planted him in a pot plant and the plant spike can be a commemoration of sorts.

And now I am back to the Reader. I really do think it's possible for me to get this one finished this year.... presuming I have some more of the gold kreinik I am using. I should probably check that. For anyone thinking of doing this design - the spool I need to hunt for will be the third. Some thing to keep in mind. 

Pictures not great, she's what I'm stitching on right this minute...

I am really happy with how she's turning out. I'm not as sold on the Joan Elliot pattern quite as much as I am on the Cross Stitching Art or on  Mirabila but I certainly could see me doing some more of hers in the future.

All I all pretty good progress given the month I think. I don't expect it to calm down any in the near future, but if I can keep this up I will be a happy camper. Not holding my breath though, nor will I get dissapointed. I know what I looking at in the build up to christmas crazy. The car goes into the panel beaters for four days next week (see above mentioned horrible week - drunk students, dented up car and profanity etched into my windsheild), then it's my birthday (29, yikes) and since we didn't get a chance to properly celebrate either the Man's birthday nor our anniversary (4 years) last month due to both of us working over time, hopefully this will be a chance to make up for that. I've also got the Christmas and birthday presents to package up and sent to my dad's family (not visiting them, still a sore spot there for me), work out what we are all going to get my bosses for Christmas,  survive the previous christmas work-fest craziness and drive up to my mums on Christmas eve with all the mad holiday motorists.

Good news is that if I survive all that I get 10 days off since we decided to shut the shop for a week between all the holidays. I look forward to that time off so very very much.

I better leave it there, before I get too much more ramble that I already have. I would say that I would call it an early night, but with the Man on over time that's not likely to do me much good - a bakery manager and a postal worker - that's a winning combo at this time of year, I can tell you...

But anyway, I sincerely hope that you all enjoy your week. I shall endeavor to not leave it an entire moth this time before I return. So until next time....

What a Month

Hullo hullo lovely Internet people's,  hope you've all been keeping well over the last month since I last wrote anything. Time seemed to get away from me over the last few weeks. Not really surprising I guess. The Christmas season has hit us - and since I work in a job that encompasses both retail and hospitality, I'm sure you can imagine the carnage the Christmas brings with it.

On that note, please remember over the holiday period that sales staff are humans too. Be nice to them, they feel the stress of the period ten times more than they are showing, and yelling at them because they are sold out of something is not going to make it magically appear....

But anyway, getting off that soap box, I was informed that the links to follow the blog we not working (Thanks again :)). I am really sorry about that have just now tried reinstalling them, hopefully that works?  I will also accept any suggestions on how to fix it if it hasn't.  Turns out editing this things template isn't quite so easy on a tablet as it was on my now dead laptop. Go figure.

I'm not going to do an update just yet, I just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive and I am trying to fix the problems. I'll work on my update over the weekend - which I get now. Yay for finally having the minion trained up... kinda...

Bye for now, talk to you in a couple of days.

Thanks Be for Public Holidays

If it wasn't for public holidays I wouldn't have a weekend this week and that would make me sad.

Hullo hullo everyone hope you've all been having good weeks - far more productive weeks that me. I'm going to apologize now for any grammatical errors - for once I'm not using the key board of doom, but the Man does have me watching "The Man from Earth" and I must admit it is holding my attention quite a bit more that television or movies usually do. But I've also never been one for just doing one thing at a time.

It is nice to just be at peace with the Man for once, sitting with drink in hand and watching a movie - especially a movie that is more my pace that his. I am all for the thematic - I think it's the reader in me - and he is more for the indy artsy type thing. With life going the way it is, it's just nice (okay I may also be beyond my first wine right now too ), but it's nice to just sit. I think I mentioned I my last post that we were losing some staff at work. My personal underling has only just been hired and doesn't start for another few days so since having my week off a fortnight ago I have been doing two people's jobs and pretty much will be for another two to three weeks while I train up the underling to do my evil bidding (or at least do the job I want them to do semi competently). That makes for a whole lot of over time and not a lot of free time where I'm not absolutely exhausted. That's probably why I've held off on writing this. I wanted some thing to actually show you - but now that I've actually started writing this and thinking about all I want to say, Ive realised that I have done more than I thought.

Firstly I finished my mosaic. While I know that this is not cross stitch, it is still a finished project. I have absolutely no idea with what I am going to do with it, and I must admit I am a little dissapointed by it. But it was cheap. And you don't know if you don't try do you?

While there was something strangely cathartic about sticking tiny resin tiles on to a sticky canvas, it just didn't turn out entirely how advertised. But that's life, and like I said, it was cheap. I got it off Aliexpress for only a few dollars, so what right did I have to expect grand things really.

And that's about where my previously stated plans ended. While waiting for my Stitching Bits and Bob's order (curse those back orders - but that's not the lovely Bobbies fault), I pulled The Reader back out. My aim is to have another two big finishes this year; this and Eleni.

To recap, this Joan Elliot pattern is being done on 32 count ivory even weave with all the recommended supplies. It's become my new weekend project - or at least in so much that the word weekend applies at present. This week I got a whole two days on it, thank you Labour Day.

During the weeks however, I have deviated away from the reading that I was doing. I discovered that I have missed some Downton Abbey somewhere and since there was a dvd sale on at a local store I am now the proud owner of the first five seasons plus the Christmas specials and have proceeded to re watch  them all right from the beginning. I had forgotten how much I love Downton. But being engrossed in a mini marathon doesn't make reading particularly possible so I've been picking up some small cross stitch patterns. 

First I started, and then finished my first ever go at black work - a freebie from Papillion Creations called Hearts and Flowers.

It's not prefect. I'm a little off centre somewhere on the boarder. But it's not bad for a first attempt. And while I didn't seem to find the great zen that a lot of people seem to find with black work, I didn't dislike it. I don't think I will be doing Save the Stitches anytime soon, but I could see me doing more smalls definatly.

While I stuck with good old DMC 310,MI did change up the beads a little. The pattern called for gold but I had some of these red petite laying round - and let's face it, you can take the girl out of Canterbury, but you can never take the Canterbury out of the girl - red and black are always going to be my colours. For those of you over seas - that is a regional rugby reference. Here's a slightly better shot of the beads anywhoo.

Finally I started in on another freebie - this time another Chatelaine. Debi's Roses.

My plan is to make this, along with the sunflower one I did not long ago, into no sew cubes for mothers day next year. One for my mum and one for my nana. Was thinking of giving one to the mother in law, but the Man doesn't think it's really her thing. Whatever. Mum and Nana will appreciate them. Like the sunflowers, this one is being worked on 28 count antique white Monaco and I'm going to change the beads slightly so they both match in that regard.

I think I will leave it there for now. With any luck I won't be as behind in future.

Till next time.

All The Finishes

Okay, okay, maybe not ALL the fiishes, but three is a good effort right?

Hope this latest out burst sees everyone well. As I think I mentioned last time, I took some much needed time off work. It was my first day back today and already it was naturally a day of outting out fires and cleaning up messes which only makes the time off I had so much more meaningful. 

And I got three finishes so even better.

First of all I finished this little bad boy...

Just as a recap. He is the free Mirabilla christmas cherub from 2012. Stitched him up on 28 count antique white monaco with all the recomende whats its and do dads. the beading on this little guy was my first time using a tacky bob and I have to say I am in LOVE. Don't know how I every survived with out one. If you don't have one, and you bead, drop everything right know and go buy one. I'll wait.....

...thats how much I love the tacky BOB. And for those of you oaying atention, if it was my first time using a tacky bob, that must mean I went shopping and broke my buying ban. And I did. More on that later.

After the cherub, I carried on with the christmas theme and finished off my monochrome christmas sampler.

Its done on 16 count white aida (slowly getting rid of my aida stash, the stuff just doesn't do it for me anymore) with DMC 115. Ithought I would try it with a slght varigation to the thread. Kind of give varigated threads a real chance, you know? I see everyone with all these beautiful hand dyed threads and while I know I've said before that they are not my thing, I cant deny that they are lovely. So I gave it go. And I think I was getting the hang of it by the end. You can probably see that I had a few iffy moments nearer the top.

Then I went on an organising binge and found a little magazine freebie kit that I hadn't done yet. So I did it.

Its from Cross Stitcher I believe, with the horrible horrible threads. Don't know why I insist on doing them really. The threads make me angry every time.

Ah well.

The reason why I went on the organising streak is that I bought, as part of my shopping, the X Stitch app since it is now available on android. And I have to admit that it, so far, is living up to all the hype. It will be nice to have all my stash in once place again after losing my spread sheets when I ost my laptop. So far I've loaded all my patterns onto it and sorted out all my floss in preperation for inputting. I decided that I would put the floss from my UFO's back in the with bulk of my collection since I doubt that I will be going back to the full coverage peices any time soon.

Theres something very soothing to me about sorting thread bobbins. The side of my brain that likes order and lists and what not gets a kick of seeing all the neat little plastic spools lined up just so.

Happiness is well ordered floss.

Plus I want to get everything put into the cross stitch app before my latest order from Stitching Bits and Bobs gets here. I ordered with both them and 123 Stitch and I'm not even sorry about it.

I was doing my christmas shopping you see. Yes I realise that it is only October but I would just like to say that  for the first time ever, I am pretty much done wiith my christmas shopping. So as a reward, I bought some stuff for me. 123 was just some fabric to justify the shipping cost of the tacky bob. Stitching Bits and Bobs though I went a little more crazy. I will fill you in more when it actually arrives, but I at least got the stuff I need to finish Eleni.

Now you could easily be sitting there thinking, 'so Dana, I'm guessing all you did with your time off was cross stitch and internet shop.'

Well you would be wrong my friends.

I painted my living room.

It went from this....

...a big disgusting pile of mess. To this....

a not so messy nice looking room. I still need to get the tv hung on teh wall and we are going to build some shelves it the two alcoves on either side of teh fire. The tv is teh mans ONEJOB that he so far has failed to do and the shelves are waiting till next month since I am trying to get it all done without touching the VISA card. But it is progress. Finally.

And progress is a big thing for me right now when it comes to the house. Its a very small house. And the man has lived here or 10 years now. So it is this horrible combination of the amount of crap that one person can gather in a decade, with it having been a bachelor pad for nine of those ten year. Plus I think he may have the tendancies towarsd compulsive hoarding. I've been doing some research about it and it is looking like it. I would love to hear from anyone thats dealt with that sort of thing before - its starting to wear on my patience a little.

But thats enough of the doom and gloom here. Once again I don't know wha this week will bring stitchy wise. I am hoping to get my mosaic finished, but beyond that have not made any plans. I really don't know how tired the over time is going to make me so I will play it by ear.

Hope the next week sees you all productive and well.

Till next time. 

Unexpected Visitors

Hullo Everyone. I'm back again. Hope everyones weeks are going as well as can be expected. Daylight savings has started here so the air has a decidedly springlike feel to it make the week just that little bit brighter. The longer days certainly help with the brightness too. It never fails to amaze me, every year, just how much of a difference that little shift of an hour makes.

As the title of this post would dictate, I had a surprise visitor this weekend. My kid sister was in town at the South Island short course swim champs. I got to watch her race, and though she wasn't happy with her results (no medals, just a 4th placing) I thought she swam really well - especially since it was her first meet of this level and her first time really away from home by herself (shes 13 and I'm not counting school camps here).

It was a bit of a bitter sweet visit though. It was wonderful to see her, but the whole debacle (because thats whatt surprises always turn into) seems to have cememnted the shift/rift in mine and my fathers relationship. I wont get into all the ins and outs of the split, but it really has left me feeling like there has been a death, or like I am re living my parents divorce twenty years after the fact. 

But life goes on I suppose, and I really am happy with the stitching I got done this week. For the most part I am still sticking with my read during the week/work faithfully on one project at the weekend plan. There was just one little deviation from that this time round. Like I said above, daylight savings hearlds the start of spring in my little world, so when I got home from work on Friday morning I thought I would take advantage of both the sun and having the house to my self and work on my Chatelaine for a little. 

The little tree to the right there got done, plus the very start of the monogram. Retrospectivly, I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew when I started this one. While I am loving how it all looks on the black fabric - I always love how these things look on black - black 32 count linen for a peice that has a fair bit of one over one stitching may not have been my wisest decsion. It is death on my eyes. It has to be bright sunshine for me to be able to see it. Hopefully we will get a bright sunshiney summer and we can see more progress on this one. I really do love the design. 

Once my eyes got to sore for that - which admitably didn't take that long since I had early work starts over the weekend - I went back and did what I said I was going to last time. I started working on one of the Mirabila freebie cherubs. The Garland Cherub to be presise.

The Man has dubbed this one the naked fat man. Usually I would protest, but this is the first time since we started living together than he has come up with a name that is something other than 'the "insert colour here" blob', so we are just going to go with it really. Plus he is kinda naked I guess.

I'm not entirly sure about the green in the cloths at the bottom, but I'm following what the pattern says so I'll stick with it. Hopefully it will all work out in the end. Its also being done on (a far larger piece than I was originally expect) the 28 count antique white monacco that I have a few peices on at the moment. I got a heap of it cheap when I last did a 123 Stitch order to bump up the order postage wise. I am actually quite liking the monacco fabric I have to admit. Just wish I had bought it in pure white instead.

Ah well.

I think I shall leave it there for today. Not sure what the next week or so will bring. I have taken next week off work (nine whole days, I am so excited), so with any luck I will have more stitching time, or at least mtivation to stitch when I am no bone dead tired. That being said there is also a fair bit that I would like to get done around the house. Hopefully I can balance the two.

Until next time. xxx 

As Good As It Gets For Now

Good afternoon all (or morning or night) - maybe i should have stuck with hullo. Hope this past couple of weeks have seen everyone well. Mine has beenn busy, which seems to be the normal as of late. We had yet another staff member hand in thier notice, so the work load has increased once again.  Free time for reading and stitching suffers once again, but that  is being a grown up and all that I guess.

The single project approach that I mentioned in my last post is still in place. I seems to be really working for me so far. I see all you lovely people with your rotations and I always love the idea. I just always find it so hard to stick to. I either don`t feel like stitching that project, or I get obsessed with a project and don`t feel like changing them or doing anything else. I get demoralised and stitching becomes like work. Which it is not. It is a hobby, something that I do to de stress rather than to create stress.

Its something that I have been thinking on a little this week (again). With the added pressures that have been intrusted to me work wise, I am trying to minamise it in my personal life. There is so much that I am wanting to do and get done and I think for a while there, cross stitch was starting to overtake my life. Now, don`t get me wrong. I love cross stitch and I in no way feel any sense of guilt about enjoying that paricular hobby. But I do need more balance. Especially when coming home so exhasted.

So, and I promise I will get to progress pictures soon (though I think the rambling trend is becoming enough of a pattern that this doesnt surprise anyone anymore) - for the rest of the year I think I will try out a "new" plan for my self. I am going to re organise my WIP page, starting up a UFO section. This should hopefully elevate some of the guilt I have about those particular project. I just don't enjoy doing those full coverage projects. I might one day - I do love the patterns after all - but if I can get rid of the guilt I wont feel like I have to force my self to work on them. Which is step one of removing the stress.

Steps two and three are simpler. I am going to carry one how 've been going. Week nights are for reading, weekends are for stitching. Time off and long weekends are the exception but we will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Enough of that- on with the stitching.

I carried on wiith Eleni, as per the one project at a time tactic...

Sorry, it is still all creased, but technically it is not finished yet. I have done as much as I can. I need to order some more Krienik so that I can finish the back stitch. And between buying bans and not being able to find the shiney stuff any where, poor Elin is going on hold until after christmas. She is going to take a while to bead me-thinks, but I do really love her. Even better is that by sheer chance she matches the colour that me and the Man decided to to the feature wall in the bedroom.

Next I decided I wanted something small so I brought back out my Steam Punk Seaserpant by Samsara.

And looky looky, he is finished - buttons and everything.  Just as a reminder, he is stitched on 32 count winter sky linen, with all but one DMC conversion.

I am thinking that I might make a start on one of the Mirabila free cherubs next. I am still feeling the small sized projects. But we shall see.

Reading wise, I seem to be back on track - for the first time ever I am two books ahead on my GoodReads reading challenge for 2015. YAY! I finished SevenEves - much to the Mans horror - apparently reading a book that size in ten days is unnatural. But I'm okay with that.  I will update the reading page too, while I'm on my updating kick, if anyone wants my thoughts and opinions on that behemoth.

The buying ban also go a little bit broken in regards to books. Part of my job is to man a stall at the local farmers market - either for the bakery or helping out various other vendors as the seasons dictate. I was there onn Saturday, and what do you know, the stall next to us was some girl scouts trying to raise money.... buy selling second hand books. How could I resist. So $14 later I was putting 10 books into the car. Not a complete blow out - and it was for a good cause. But this time, I really really swear, no more buying until after christmas.

I will leave it there this time I think. It is getting dark so I better go rescue washing and those other adult type things.

Until next time...

Manogamy

Hullo hullo everyone - we all doing okay today? Please forgive any typos that might occur from here on out. Just got a bluetooth keyboard for my shiney new tablet today. I will admit that even though I have had a tablet in the past, it is certainly taking some getting used to not having a laptop to fall back on. Like I said in my very brief update, I caved and broke my buyng ban and bought new technology. It wasnt in the form of a new lap top though.  I went with the option of updating both my laptop and my tablet in one foul swoop and got a fancier tablet.

I love it, dont get me wrong, and I certainly dont regret my decision. Its just that usual learning curve that comes with all these things.

And it wasn't just on tech that I broke my ban. I went into Spotlight on my way home from work yesterday to get another couple of DMC skiens for Eleni and what do you know, they had 50% off all their clearance stock. It would be rude to turn down such offerings would it not?  I didnt get too much, I am still trying to stick with my plan of not buying anything until after christmas

Like I said, not too to much.The travel cases were only $7.50, so I figured i would give them a go - I got two. After all these years  still havn't ever settled on a way of kitting up my wips that I truely love. I've tried the boxes and I've tied zip lock bags and project enelopes and baskets.... all the different ways have had good aspects but nothing has really screamed at me. Plus I'm pretty sure the Man Thing is getting sick of my bobbins perminantly streen across the couch. There is also a couple of key chain blanks thrown in there that were nly a couple of dollars. Might come in handy one day (the cry of stashers and hoarders everywhere).

As the title of this post would indicate and as i iluded to just above, I have only been woring on Eleni these last couple of weeks. Work still hasn't really slowed down, and I dont think that it will now until after the new (as yet to be employed) staff are trained and christmas has been and gone and left us in its dusty wake.  When I get home in the evening, my brain cant really handle much more counting, so I have been settliing down with this behemoth -

- all 880 pages of it, and not really moving until I fall asleep.

A such, only really stitching on the weekends, I havn't really got the fatigue that I usually end up with of working on the same peice constantly. So Eleni has ended up my one love it would seem...

Not the best photo I'm afraid, but like I said, still getting used to the shiney new toy.  Hardley seems as exciting when I'm only working on one thing I'm afraid, but I guess thats just what happens sometimes.

We shall see what happens this weeked with here. I NEED to sit down and finish my course work. The facilitator is coming tto visit next week and I hope to have it all done and handed to hime then. No, not hope, I WILL have it done and handed to him. I'm sick of having it hanging over my head. It'll cut into my stitching time this weekend but it should (in theory) free me up a bit once its done.

Thats the plan anyway, no doubt I will keep you in the loop.

Till next time.

Done

Just a quick note to say I caved and bought new technology and have thus updated photos in the pages up to.

August

August, and the end of August at that - how did that even happen? Are we all well?

And with no blog post from me. Sorry about that. I really am. I sat down after work to on the Monday just been to write one, but hey, what do you know - my laptop decided that it had lost the will to live. An action that perfectly describes how my month has been.

To begin with, work has been crazy. Every one has been filing for time off before we start to get manic for Christmas (until you've worked in an artisan bakery at Christmas, you don't know what stress is - worse than in a mall by far) and so there is constant roster changers and filling in for people and so on and so forth - last pay day my usually 80 hours was well over 100. But its all extra savings for that second house we hope to buy next year. Plus the hard work went rewarded when the bosses asked me yesterday if I would take over from the leaving 2IC.

Promotions - exciting any terrifying all at the same time.

I've also started going back to the pool as part of this whole weight loss kick that I'm on. Lost 5kg this month so I'm a bit pleased about that. I have to admit, I have fallen off the waggon a couple of times  but I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

So between the crazy hours at work and the trying to be more active in the evenings, teamed with the Man being on ultra early shifts (we're talking 3am alarms here) I have been tired enough to want to spent most of my down time during the week reading. And not just any books, but my indulgent guilty pleasure genre of choice - paranormal romance. For some reason people seem to think I'm intelligent and as a result, expect me to always be reading books that reflect that. But I do love me a vampire love story. And luckily I managed to up date my book page just before the technology crash.

That may leave you thinking 'but what time did that all leave you for cross stitching?' And that is a very valid question. It is what we are all here for after all. And the good news is I did manage to find time when my eyes weren't too unfocused. 

But this is were the technology fail comes back into play. I am on my tablet right now. My tablet is nothing fancy at all. I bought a cheap one because at the time I had only really intended it for reading. As a result, it is really REALLY slow at up loading pictures. 

In a nut shell,since my last post, I have worked on six projects, had four finishes and four new starts. I will keep chipping away at the pages up top to get them all up to date with picres and the like and then hopefully by that stage I will have a better idea of what this tablet can do. I'm trying not to buy a new laptop right away - for he same reasons that I'm on a stash buying ban until after Christmas. We have renevations that we are trying to get done on the house and are saving to buy another when our mortgage comes up for renegotiation next August. So all spare pennies for a little while are being squirreled away. 

Hopefully I can make it all work out. We shall see.

Sorry this ones so wordy, I'll try not to make a habit out of it.

The Colour Purple

And I don't mean the movie. I mean the actual colour.

Hullo lovely people of the internet - I realized last time that I never actually say hullo and that seems a little rude of me some how. How are we all today? It has been a very spring like weekend and I not sure if my mildly loopy mood can be blamed on that or not. At the very least we can blame it for all my customers being in a good mood today and consequently me not coming home angry or frustrated - so win!

Maybe I shouldn't say blame - its not a bad thing in the slightest to have a small taste of spring after a cold cold winter. Even if every one knows that it wont last. August is never nice weather - and its only next week away. How crazy is that! Some one mentioned to me today how many pay days it was till Christmas - and that in itself is a terrifying thought not worth thinking about. At the risk of repeating myself, I never believed my parents as a kid when they told me that time speeds up as you get older. The year seemed to take so long to pass back then. But oh my were they right. 

Not much to report this week. The man has been away all week so I have had piece and quite to get along with things. And as much as I miss him, it has been quite nice to have the house to myself. We currently live in a very small, one bedroom house so it sometimes feels as though we are living on top of each other - I will be glad to have him home at the end of the week.

Him being gone has made me realize one thing though. I need to lose weight. Before I moved to Dunedin, so we are looking at... three and a half years ago now - I lost 25kg. I have always struggled with my weight, and that was such an achievement for me. I finally felt comfortable with myself. But now I have gained it all back. The majority of it since moving in with the man a year ago and letting him prepare all the meals. Not happy about that in the slightest. I wont harp on about it here though, I am debating with my self whether to set one of the pages above for tracking my progress, putting it out in the open for accountability or maybe start a sister blog dedicated to it. I don't know, we'll see. 

That revelation didn't stop me stitching though. I feel like I got quite a bit done with out the distraction of another person watching movies around me. 

I started with Eleni again.

So very much purple. I am really please with how she is looking - and how much I have got done. She was only started a couple of weeks ago after all, and I'm not the fastest stitcher out there. Its also a really enjoyable pattern to work on. I think I will definitely have to investigate others by this designer. But I can't lie. I got really sick of purple.

And since I am apparently insane, instead of grabbing out one of my WIPs to counter act the purple, I started something new.

Just a little freebie sampler from Jardin Prive. Not entirely sure that my fabric is going to be the right size - its 28ct antique white even weave of some description (monaco I think?) - but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I can always jiggle the pattern around to make it fit I guess. Again, just using the DMC conversions floss wise.

That's about all there is for now. Time is about to become precious. Back to 6 day/50 hour work weeks for the next three weeks and I want to start going to the pool again a couple times a week as well as trying to go for a hill work or two each week. Not to mention course work that I still have not done. Oops. 

We'll make it work.

Till next time....

Another Day

Real life always seems to get in the way of our hobbies, doesn't it? Now, don't get me wrong - I love my man and my friends, my job and work mates are wonderful, my course work I'm ambivalent to but it's for my job so we will claim that for a win. I just wish it left more time for hobbies. Maybe if we had more hours in a day or didn't need to sleep. Maybe if I was a twilight vampire.

Jeeze, did I just admit to knowledge about Twilight vampires? Lets maybe move on shall we?

Last time I posted - which was far too long ago - I mentioned that I was sick. I still am, surprise surprise. This cold that has been going around the city is kicking me (and everyone else that has had it by all accounts) around pretty hard. The extra infections have cleared up and the antibiotics have been finished, but still the hacking cough continues a month later. Oh joy. That's no excuse for a late post however. Although I guess "lateness"  is a relative term when I haven't really set "rules" on these things.

That is something I have  been thinking about over the last week or so. I was thinking about my stitchy bug and my reading bug and how they seem to come and go. Both are back now, incidentally and I will get into my progress soon, but I was thinking about these things while trawling through Facebook and YouTube and I realized that social media affects my desire to do things, but not in the way that I had previously thought. 

I knew that social medias enabled me more in my purchasing and my willingness to start new projects - a slight fear of missing out that was awakened in a way far stronger than I ever got from reading blogs. Perhaps because interactions are not as seemingly instantaneous on a blog, perhaps for some other reason entirely, I'm not sure, but on blogs I seem to be able to admire someones hard work and the piece of art that they are creating without feeling... obliged, I guess... to do something similar or to join in a SAL or whatever. Getting to know people still happens, just slower and more gradual - more natural in a way.

Social medias breed pettyness and social cliques however than I have never come across in the blogging word. And that makes me sad. That there is snobbery and people citing opinions as fact and feeling like you (or at least I feel like) are being force into choosing this side or that side of a ever raging battle between the right way and the wrong way. And the stress of that makes me not want to read or not want to stitch or not want to knit.

Of course maybe I have just been fortunate enough to avoid such things in the blog-o-verse, which would render my point useless I guess, but I can only speak from what I have experienced. Nor am I blaming social media. Petty social cliques are endemic, I have noticed, in any group of people - just look at any high school in the world. 

But when I am at home, I want to be able to be me with out fear of reprimand. 

By day, I essentially run a store. There are other people around - the bakers and the owner doing baking and owner type things, but over the last three years, I have become one of the main faces associated with the store. Its a small city, so consequently, I can rarely go anywhere without bumping into at least one customer that recognizes me. So you see, home really is the only place I can truly be me. Where I don't have to be happy or civil or tippy toe around the politically correct environments. 

At home I can be human.

I'm not saying that I'm going to ditch social media altogether - I do like it. But stepping back from it a little bit has done wonders for my productivity. Which we should probably get onto - I have rambled on for far too long and if you have made it this far without skipping, I applaud and thank you.

I have been a little ADD this last couple of weeks, trying to kick start my stitchy bug - but it worked, so we shall just deal with a lot of photos. We've just dealt with a lot of words so why not right?

First up is my Steam Punk Sea Serpant by Samsarah that I was working on in Kakanui. I have only done maybe another 20 stitches or so since coming home, but I never put any pictures in my last post so here you go - 

He still needs a head, but we will get to that eventually. I am doing the DMC conversion for this one for all bar one colour. Its a Weeks Dye Works and I'm still not entirely convinced on the thread. I know I have said before that I am boring with my fabric choices because I think that hand dyes are too busy and I think my thread preferences may be heading the same way. We'll see.

Next up I put Once Upon a Time back on the frame, but that didn't last long either.

I love how these always look so much better once I take a photo. It's like the action of stepping back and viewing it through a lens forces me to see it as a whole rather than as pixel stitches.

Then, as I said in my last post, I started Joan Elliot's The Reader.

This is about where I started the thinking of the thoughts that have been spewed out above. I got a decent chunk of it done but lost a bit of momentum because work and what not and didn't really feel like picking it up again. So when in doubt, start something knew - I am coming to terms with being a serial starter.

Just looks like random purple at the moment, but it will become Eleni of Troy by Cross Stitching Art. I am just doing her on an antique white 32 count even weave, and while I would have loved to do her all in beads, I am just doing the DMC conversion because that would have been a whole lot of money on a WHOLE lot of beads. And that money I need for house renovations right this minute. And tea. I always need tea.

Side note, this progress on Eleni was fueled by tea - t leaf T banana caramel to be specific. Its my current favourite and if you love tea - you should try this brand. I love them all - even their earl greys which until now I have never been particularly fond of.

Finally I gave my mosaic a bit of love

Not a huge amount, but I definitely think it would be a lot easier if I had a table or desk to work on, but alas, they are in storage at the moment so we make do without. Progress is happening on it though.

Hopefully I can get back on track this week. I still have one work book to finish for my course. I want it in by next Friday and then I am up to date with that. But my man goes over to Australia for a couple of weeks this weekend so at least I will have no distractions stopping me from getting that done and moving back onto getting all the pages on here updates and back only my stitching and reading. And knitting. I am going to have to go shopping (oh no what a shame). After the success of my pompom hats I have had half a dozen people ask me to make them one too. 

Practice makes perfect I guess.

A "Crafty" Weekend

Admittedly, writing this post has been put off all week. Sickness had left me not wanting to do much of anything recently. Just a cold but as has become my pattern since working in the baking industry, the simple cold became a sinus infection and a chest infection. That combination does not really leave much motivation left for anything beyond curling up in bed with a book. Or more accurately, graphic novels. I go through phases - always have - and it would seem that graphic novels are my 'thing' at the moment. Whatever. As a result I have upped my reading goal for the year once more to 75. I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I set it quite low, at 50, at the beginning of the year because my reading bug deserted me. 2014 got me to 72 books so the drop was a bit demoralizing, but such as life. The way my mood is going at the moment though, I feel confident bumping that back up. I only hope that my stitching doesn't suffer too much as a result.

I did go to my crafty retreat last weekend though. Retreat makes it sound all fancy, but really it was a borrowed batch and what was supposed to be mum and two of her friends and me and two of mine. Family friends have a holiday home in the little coastal community of Kakanui. It sits right on the beach - we had stayed there before - last year, just the two of us, but this time we thought it would be fine to increase the numbers. Mum has a paper craft circle that she is active in, and I have a good friend that crochets and another that is more of a mixed media crafter. I was really excited about the weekend. Went up on Friday after work.... only to then find out that both of my friends had pulled the pin and were not coming. One for a good reason, the other not. The news resulted in a fair bit of ranting and more than a little sulking around. Don't get me wrong, I love my mum and its good to see her for a weekend now that we live in separate cities. But when her and her scrap booking buddies get going, I may as well be on mars.

Without the motivation of those two, I spent more time on the beach searching for penguins than I did with needle in hand. Didn't find any, but it was fun trying. 

I did make some progress on my WIP's - I'll update the page above when I get some decent light for taking photos. Mainly on Steam Punk Sea Serpent (seemed fitting since we were just out side of Oamaru - the Steam Punk Capital of New Zealand) and on my mosaic thingy. Mum seemed fascinated by the mosaic, so that's a Christmas present sorted. I also started yet another project, just to see it that would kick start my stitchy bug. It didn't, but maybe the weekend will change that. I'll keep Joan Elliot's The Reader on the frame for the next few days and see if motivation returns. I hope it does. 

This year has been killer on my motivation. It's not been a bad year per say. I just seem to be in the wars a lot. I am usually a very healthy person. But this year I seem to be back and forth to the doctor so much. Torn calf muscle, fractured hand, respiratory infections, various cuts and bruises that are more serious that usual... maybe that's not really that much. Maybe I'm just noticing it when I see my productivity drop.

Never mind. No point whining about it I suppose. No body wants to hear me complain and feel sorry for my self - I'll go back to my book instead. I am about half way through it and I think I can feel pretty safe in declaring that it's one of my favorites for the year. The Martian by Andy Wier is going to be released as a movie later this year, so of course, being the true book nerd that I am, I had to read the book first. Man, I am glad that I have. It is truly brilliant.