New Things

Hullo hullo everyone, hope the week has gone well all around. After only four days back at work, it doesn't bode well that I'm all ready trying to work out when I can take more leave but such is the never ending battle for those of us yet to win the lotto.

Like I  briefly mentioned the other day, I started Liz Almond's latest offering, Pandora's Box.

I was hoping to get completely up to date this weekend, since it looks like it back to six day work weeks for a little while, but these itty-bitty squares are more involved than I thought.

Several lessons have been learnt in doing this though.

1. Buying hand dyed threads on line is hit and miss. This is another Carries Creation floss and I had thought it was going to be a lot more purple than it is shaping up to be.
2. I don't like black work. Save the Stitches, as beautiful as it is, will never be being stitched by me. Black work  (to me at least, I know that plenty of people love it) is stressful and tedious and I just don't like it. 
3. DMC  satin floss isn't as scary as I thought.
4. I really love the effect of pulled thread work.

Not bad for a weekend. My MiL was amazed when I told her I'd only been working on this since Friday afternoon. Guess we are always going to be our own harshest critics when it comes to our crafts.

The rest of the week was taken up by reading. I wanted to finish Jurassic Park and after being back to work, that's all I felt up to. I did finish it, and surprisingly I really enjoyed it. I say surprisingly because even though I love the movie, it's the first of Michael Crichtons books that I've made it past the 50 page mark. 

I couldn't get over how different from the movie it was - but different in a good way. And I found the idea of science as the enemy really quite intriguing,  especially since I live with a scientist. Over all it was a 4 out of 5 for me.

Keeping with the movie adaptation theme, last night I picked up Arthur C Clarke's 2001 a Space Oddyssey. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'll keep you posted. I'm really hoping that the book sheds some light in that scene in the movie. You know the one. The whole acid trip into a bedroom bit near the very end. It took so many viewing for me to get that bit.

I just wish that I could read as fast as I can stitch. Or maybe I could if I sacrificed movies and time with the man. And I don't want to do that. Then I'd miss both him and fantastic movies like Pixels. It's brilliant. If you like 80 s nostalgia then I strongly recommend it.

And now it's Sunday night and it's back to the real world again tomorrow. Maybe I can get some more book done tonight while the man watches his weird indy movie.

Till next time.

First Real Start

Hullo hullo how is everyone today - well I hope.

Decided yesterday that after days of not stitching, I would start something new. Liz Almond has a new part by part piece out - Pandora's Box. I never did Save the Stitches or Box of Delights - while both beautiful, I don't know about that much blackwork... this one appealed though.

Just working on the boarder before starting on the three blocks that have been released. Turns out I like pulled thread work.

And I mean REALLY like.

Go figure.

It's become an obsession, so until next time.

Twice in One Day

Hullo again all. Twice in one day - how crazy is that. It's entirely possible that I'm taking  advantage of he last day before heading back to work. Oh what joy that will be after ten days of stitchy peace.

I would first like to apologize to a couple of you. My tablet decided that I actually was meaning to click when I was swiping and deleted a few comments. I feel horrible for that mistake and would like to thank you all for taking the time to make a comment and I am so sorry that I am technologically incompetent.

Back to business. I finished another piece today. That's seven finishes in the 10 days I've been off work. That blows my mind. And not only was it a finish today, it was a finish of my oldest WIP.

Dragon ABC'S, on an off white 18 count aida, stitched with DMC. I have no idea where the pattern came from. The Internet somewhere I imagine. It was started way back in 2013 when I was trying to get my then flatmate interested in some form of hobby - any kind. She was always complaining that she was bored. If I remember rightly, she wasn't overly amused by my telling her that being bored showed lack of imagine. But even so any attempt she made a anything never lasted any more than a day before the complaints started up again. So I started burying myself in my own (then) forgotten craft.

I know that such a simple piece shouldn't have taken near on three years, but fractional stitches. I really hate fractional stitches. Especially on aida. And this has a whole bucket ton of fractional,  then since I didn't know any better, aida was what it was on.

Procrastination at its finest.

To be fair, I'm not sure how I got it finished today either. Not with the movies we watched. It's been grey and rainy and decidedly unsummer like the last couple of days, so a movie marathon was justified between the two of us. Some of them were bust, but if you like off beat, foreign/indy movies and think pieces then I really highly recommend the four we watched today.

The 100 Year Old Man Who Jumped Out the Window and Disappeared. A hysterically  charming Swedish Forest Gump like tale.

Into The White - a Norwiegen WW2 story about British and German solders helping each other survive after shooting each other out of the sky's

The Sunset Limited - another fantastic Cormac McCarthy adaptation with a cast of two 

And

The Road Within - a road trip movie with tourettes and OCD

Reading subtitles and cross stitching - that takes determination lol.

But it's back to the real world tomorrow and I honestly have no idea what that will bring. Hopefully nothing to stressful. But I guess we shall see. Probably not as many finishes if nothing else. Never mind. I was good while it lasted.

Till next time.

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.

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.