The First of (hopefully) Many

Morning everyone, just a quick moment to say..... SHE'S DONE!!

Joan Elliots The Reader,  on 32 count ivory even weave. Done and dusted. Hopefully she's the sign of how this year is going to pan out.

Till next time.

False Start

Happy 2016 everyone! Hope you all survived whatever festivities you partook in (if any). I'm not a big one for parties anymore. I used to be when I was a teenager and my first few years at uni. But people change. I saw in the new year reading my book, in bed (new start for the new year of course). Living the life, that's me. And I don't even care if that makes me sound old lol.

In the spirit of all good things, I did also attempt to make a new stitchy start when I finally ventured into the waking world. The call of reading Jurassic world in bed in the sun was too great, so it was a much later start than normal. And to be honest I have no idea what I was thinking with that attempt of a start. I as going to go with We Are Geeks from Paine Free Crafts - a chart that I have adored since I saw it on another blog. But for some strange reason I thought it would be a good idea to do it on 40 count linen.... one over one.

Clearly that was a case of temporary insanity.

I got a letter and a half in before throwing it across the room in frustration and going down to the public to have a beer with a good friend. That led to sunburn, but what ever. Side note, the beer that we were drinking was called Velvet Worm, it's a local craft brewery, and while beer is not usually my poison,  I'm very glad I got suckered I  by a silly name.

I tried it again this morning, this time on a 32 count lugana - I think the fabric is a keeper this time, but within half of the first letter the floss was a tangled mess, so I've taken it as a sign that this piece is not destined for right now.  So it got frogged and put back in the 'to start' pile and I went for a walk to the farmers market to calm down.

And farmers market in January - you know what that means? No?

These

Central Otago has got to be THE best place for cherries. Well, stone fruit in general, but it's only the first week for the rest so it's not at its best just yet. Give it time. Since Central Otago is right on my door step, and since I work a lot at the farmers market, I gorge myself on fruit at this time of year.

Bliss. Absolute bliss.

And with all that happy,  I felt up to putting The Reader back on the frames.

The border of doom is getting close to being done. I'm on my fifth spool of Krienik now, so I guess the floss usage guide was a little wrong. Here's hoping that I can get her finished before I go back to work.

Which is only a few days away. It's been very nice being lazy and on holiday. A girl could get used to it. But I'll worry about that on Tuesday. For now I think I will take advantage of night finally falling and the temperature finally dropping and go continue with the adventures of Alan Grant and friends. The man did warn me that it was very different to the movies but it's exciting and fascinating to discover just HOW much different it is.

Until next time.

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.

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 :)

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....