Back to School Time Again

Hullo Hullo  lovely people,  hope you are all well and good out there in your various parts of the world. We are here, despite the week or so delay in updating.  But life happens as we all are well aware.

Now let's start with the heading of this post - no, I'm not going back to school - I have neither the time nor inclination for such things at this point in my life. I do however live in the heart of "studentville" and they are all well and truly back for the year. Lectures start next Monday and O Week started today - neighbours on the right are listening to NZ pop and the ones on the left are listening to classic rock. Upside that both of them this year seem to have listenable taste in music, but the combo of the two clashing genres defiantly has me reaching for the headphones for the first time this year. The price I pay for city living.

Because of the arrival of the students, I have been all over the place - which is also the reason I've been a bit quiet. The bosses wanted the new cafe up and running - which we managed, just, opening last weekend. As a result the bakery has been left to look after itself, which in reality we should be able to do,  but if you've ever worked with people you'll know as well as I do that hearding cats would be an easier profession most of the time.  I was also foolish enough to volunteer for market shifts like some kind of crazy workaholic.

What this means is that lots of projects have been worked on, but not a huge amount of progress has been made of any of them. Hyperactivity is a symptom of stress I think.

I do however have a finish - most exciting. 

New Zealand Map, by Heritage. I very fittingly finished this on Waitangi day. The pattern had also charted the text ' New Zealand' in the bottom right and the coat of arms in the top left, but I left them both off (as you can probably see, despite the terrible photo). As unpatriotic as it sounds,  I don't particularly like our coat of arms, and I figured I could remember what country it's a map of.

Then this is where the ADHD kicked in.

I tried one of my HaEDs, but only lasted half a row.

So then I tried my kit from China, but again only lasted half a page.

Thought maybe I needed something smaller, so I  started a Mill Hill kit that I want to do for Mum, for Christmas.

It's going to be a penguin, not that you can tell yet. As you can tell, my attention didn't last long on that either.

So then I tried my Astrologer and was a little more successful with that.

It's still on he frame in the other room at least. 

I also dragged my Chatelaine out at one point, but I have decided to scrap that and restart it at some point on different fabric. While I can handle stitching on black fabric, I have come to the realisation that I do not like linen. It's not even and that drives me to distraction. Eventually I will get some evenweave for it. I do still really love the design, but it can go on the back burner until I get through some of these other big projects. I'm not planning to by stitch stuff until the end of the year anyway.

And while I have just said that I don't like linen, I did start another project on linen. Not just linen,  but 40 count. But it is only small and I don't want to waste the fabric I already have.

It is (will be?) The Bookshelf by Little House Needlework. 

Finally, on the stitching front anyways, I at least have been keeping up to date with my temperature book mark.

I did warn you I was all over the show this month.

Reading wise, I was a little more consistent, finishing four books. Kind of.

First was yet another book bub freebie - that this is dangerous I swear.

While I did enjoy this one, I think I did suffer from having too many points of view. Whether this is something that works itself out further into the series, I don't know, but while it was a decent enough premise, (zombie like plague forcing the human race back to the middle ages) it's not particularly high up the list of series' I need to finish.

Went back to my favourite authors with this one.

Dean Koontz is one of my favourite authors.  And I do particularly like his stories with religious overtones and the themes of good verse evil. This one defiantly fell into that category,  and while not quite as good as The Taking, still very good.

This one probably doesn't count as a full book, but whatever.

The Man brings then home when he finds them in the thrift store to try and finish off our collection. Both of us read them as kids - me loving them with every fiber. And they are still super fun to read.

And lastly I finished this one last night.

Again, this had a really good premise - what happens to the normal kids, when the heroes are out saving the town. I had, you doubts at first, but it really did come through.

I think that's about it for this time,  sorry it's a long one. I've got one evening shift this week, the touch wood, I should going back to normal. With any luck that means my ability to concentrate will return.  Hope every one else has very pleasant weeks, full of all you want them to be - I will do my best to be back next Monday to prevent another mammoth post like this one...

Till next time

Time

It's March!  Can anyone else believe that? How does that even happen?

Well, I guess I know how it happened, I just don't want to think very much about the month that's passed. Today was the first time in... gosh... almost two weeks, that I have picked up needle and thread. It's been THAT kind of month.

Before my brief and unplanned stitching hiatus I was doing quite well. I carried on some with the HAED that was oh so captivating.

I fully finished my Santa's - felted back and ribbon and everything.  

A big accomplishment for me. I tend to just shove every finish into a box. So as a reward I went on a starting binge. 

Joan Elliot Astrologer

Brookes Books stitchers ABC'S "a"

In The Company of Friends dark ABC'S "a"

I did a little more on Peg.

Brookes Books Peg the Plum Pudding Angel

And picked up my Chatelaine.

The back stitch was a killer

And then I went on holiday. And every thing changed.

While on holiday, we found out that my Nanna's cancer had returned and had infected every one of her major organs. Problems that everyone had put down to progressing dementia was in fact the spread of the cancer and so was only now being picked up after it was too late. The was on the 22nd of February. An emergency trip to Christchurch ensued, and last night, on March 3rd, she passed away, aged 85, in the company of her son and daughter. At peace at last.

And so between worry about my Nanna and my mums reaction to my Nanna, and then the work crisis of discovering my minion (the person who would usually cover my time off) had been stealing from the business.... I haven't been able to brain enough to stitch. Reading has seemed the safer bet. 

Upside I'm still ahead for my book goal this year.

And so, after all that, I picked up yet another new start, because why not really.

New Zealand Map by Heritage Stitchcraft

It'll more than likely be getting some love over the weekend. I had been planning to go up to Christchurch again tomorrow - organised time off and everything, only to find out the plans have changed and the funeral won't be till the end of the week.

And the man thinks that I am bad at organizing things. I learnt it from somewhere - just saying.

Ah well it is what it is I suppose. I just hope everything goes back to normal soon. My introvert brain is getting very discombobulated with all the coming and going. 

Hope everyone else has been having a better time of it.

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.

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....

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