Starting With a Bang

Hullo Hullo everyone - and happy February!!it's hard to believe that it's the second month of the year already, but there you have it. It's Waitangi weekend here in kiwi land at the moment, so no denying the passing of the year when we have a long weekend to prove the fact.

The long weekend will be especially nice after my week back at work. Unexpected training of new staff all week always adds to the usual chaos, but such is to be expected with the new cafe due to open in a week. 

Mum flew down for a coffee yesterday which was nice. She seems to be on the mend - at the very least she seems a lot more peppy and aware which is good to see. Especially when her visit was close on the heels of bad news from my dad - my Pop (and sole remaining grandparent) has been told he has terminal cancer so it looks like I'll lose three grandparents in the course of 18 month. The more morbid side of me is taking the view of 'well at least once their all gone, you can't lose any more'.

I have some very strange thoughts sometimes. 

Beyond that slight blemish,  the month has actually started out really well. Because I went back to work, and the Man was on holiday (and therefore home when I finish for the day), I just pulled out a small piece of stitching to work on, not really knowing how much I would get done.

Turns out, more that I thought, and I finished the piece. Not just finished but FULLY finished.

Peg the Plum Pudding Angel is one of Brooke's Books patterns and I am really happy with how she turned out. A few little changes here and there, but none particularly big enough to notice. Beyond leaving off the wings. Wasn't a big fan of the wings. She can now go into my slowly going collection of Christmas decorations that I never get around to hanging up  (but will one day).

I was then ready for something a bit bigger, so I pulled out my NZ map.

This was actually further along than I had told myself, and the back stitching and motifs don't seem to be taking as long as anticipated so maybe, just maybe, with the long weekend,  I can finish this this weekend. Or at the very least by next weekend.

Three finishes by the middle of February would be pretty stinking great. Four would be better since there's a new start I'm planning to make at the beginning of March, but I'm not going to push my luck with that one.

Finally in terms of stitches put into fabric, I did a few more days on my temperature bookmark. 

Still really fascinated by this. I can't wait to see it as it grows through the hottest months of the year this month and next month and on through winter. Really looking forward to it - so much so, I'm already planning to do one next year as well. And I have finally got my colour range sorted for it.

with guest appearance from the ORT jar

So pretty. I'm thinking that eventually I might give it its own page up to with all the information. At some point.

What prompted the sorting of the colours was the massive tidy up of my craft boxes that I undertook when I got home from the airport (coffee with mum) yesterday. I think I mentioned that I put in a huge order with 123 stitch with the intention of it lasting me the whole rest of the year without buying more. That arrived on Friday so that involves a whole heap of DMC that needs put onto bobbins, but the end result is that my full coverage pieces (plus one set to start soon) have its own project box of floss, as does my book mark that shares a box with whatever I'm working on at the minute (in this case, NZ map)

My current project gets pulled from a master set of DMC, which will be a little frustrating until I get my current number of WIPS down, but I'm using that as incentive. 

So all very good progress for the week on the stitching front. And reading has been  just as good. I finished this beast...

I FINALLY FINISHED IT!!!!

And I did really really enjoy it, for all the hard work it was. Plus I think I read it at just the right time in political history for it to have maximum impact on me. Defiantly a five star read that has now fallen into the category of me wanting to tell people to read it just so I have someone to talk about it with.

As a reward for finishing the behemoth, I started and finished another...

Not that the was now a challenge, being only 59 pages. It's a companion story that fell a little flat for me. There was no where near the level of mystery or chemistry between the characters that there was in the full length novel, so that bumped it down to a three star for me. But then I have never really been a short story person.

Defiantly starting the month with a bang.

As for what this week will bring, the Man is still on leave so no quiet time in the evening just yet for me. I am also pulling a extra shift to cover the market next Saturday,  which'll cut in to my time a chunk. I do so hope to get New Zealand finished though. Pick up my new glasses Friday too, so hopefully that helps how my head feels.

I very much hope that your weeks have been and continue to be just as you want them to be as well.  'Productive' is such a subjective term.

Till next time.

      

Addictive Qualities

Hullo Hullo lovely people, hope this last week has seen you all happy and well. Mine has seen me on holiday from work, so it has been fantastic. I love my job, I really do, but some times it is necessary to not leave the house for a week and stitch and read the hours away.

Leaving the Man to think I'm crazy - but I'm weirdly okay with that.

The only blemish in the week (beyond the storms) has been Mums illness. She had been on the mend after a weekend in hospital a few weeks ago, but it would seem that that was merely a brief respite from it all. She didn't sound at all like herself on the phone last night, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about her. Since Nanna died last year, it's only her and my uncle left in Christchurch. I don't regret moving to Dunedin, I think that was the best thing I could have done for me, but I do wish I could do more for her while she's sick - especially since it has delt with it for so long by herself and it doesn't seem to be showing signs of slowing.

But enough with the doom and gloom, the week has been glorious none the less - I could really get used to the whole not working thing. If only I didn't need the money. But I do, so I best make the most of it.

I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't leave the house. I came home from a botched appointment last Friday  (people telling me one date and writing down another do not make me happy) and have not stepped out of the gate since. I will have to today, to go to the optometrist, but that's okay. That's in my best interest in fact.  I think I'm going to need new glasses. While the headaches haven't started, I don't feel quite right when reading. Oh well, if I do I do - it's been.... four years since they've changed. Not a bad run really.

And it hasn't stopped the stitching - which is almost all I've done this week - adding to the blissful nature of the week. I stitched on three projects this week, one of the obsessively for a few days. I'm not going to tell you the times that I tracked - but if I actually cared I would probably scare myself.

First up I did a bit more on my Book of Ink Circles

 Still not sure on the colours, but the colours I'm not sure on have changed. It was the orange I was primarily worried about, now it's the yellow.... but I'm not hating it so that's the main thing. I still want to carry on - though I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with it when it's done. It's also making me think I would like to do some other Ink Circle patterns. Which if I stop to think about it, is probably why designers give freebies...

Then came the addiction. The HaED.

Or one of them at least. Mini Universe in a Jar, artwork by Randal Spangler. I swear that HaED patterns have some forms of drug infused into them. I went from hating them to not being able to get enough of them so quickly that it's frightening.  I seriously could not put this down. There was one day that I even didn't have dinner because I was focusing so intently on it. Like not having to work, stitching these is something I could definitely get used to.

I will admit I got a little burnt out on the HaED though. I had intended to push through for a second page finish,  but I couldn't. My choices of replacement are slightly limited though. I decided to reorganize my stash and as result I am now waiting on a fairly chunky 123 stitch order. When that comes in I will go through my process with you all. But until then, as I say, limited choices. So I went with my newest WIP.

Even doing it one over one like I am, I will be cutting it close with the fabric. Hopefully just on the width. Don't know what did with the calculations-  think I must have missed allowing for a boarder. I'm going to work my way to the top row and hope to heck there's better allowances there - since I'm going to have to rechargeable the bottom couple of rows that are the widest. Am very glad I started in the middle and didn't just presume I left a boarder. Hopefully I can make this work. This is the third give I have started this piece and I really really love it - it just seems to be cursed.

Reading has been how I spent the rest of my time (including most of the night) though I don't have much to show for it. I am reading Atlas Shrugged at the moment, and as I mentioned last time, it's slow going. I love it, but it's slow going. It's making it hard to stick to my 69 pages a day goal - I can't remember the last time I was this slow to read a book, but I'll get there eventually. I'm about 60% through I think.

I did take a brief break from it to read something a bit lighter. Both to give me a buffer in my book and page goals, as well as to give my brain a bit of a rest.  It was a children's book in fact.

Though it was a dark and creepy and terrifying children's book. Not a bad romp - it reminded me a lot of Coraline. Defiantly not for all children - but I grew up on Goosebumps books..... that probably explains a lot about me now that I think about it...

Now that I've wasted most of my morning trawling the interwebs I best be off to the eye docs. And them two and a half more days of holiday before going back to the real world. If I remember, I'll fill you in on any progress for the weekend, otherwise I'll be back end of next week, or when I finish Atlas - whichever comes first.

Till next time...

  

One Week Down

Hullo Hullo all. Hope the first week of 2017 has seen you and yours well.

We seem to be (touch wood). The man had a cold for the actual big day of new years, but he's on the mend, and Mumbai is claiming to be feeling a little better so that's a plus. My only complaint is muscle pain, but that is self inflicted so I can't be too loud about that.

The bosses bought a new cafe just before Christmas,  so the last two afternoons after work, instead of coming home, I've been down there helping them paint. And don't while I am on my feet for nine hours a day with little consequence, painting walls is a whole different bunch of muscles - ones that are now making themselves VERY known.

I did make time for some all important stitching though - the long holiday weekend certainly helped with that. I decided against doing a new year, new start this year. I have far more WIPs than I am really comfortable with at the moment, but I did change out which one I was working on as a kind of homage to the idea.

So, I pulled this bad boy outta the storage box. I hadn't worked on it in a really really long time. Nearly a year I believe. I hated the fabric. It's one of those stupidly cheap kits from China stitched on a 11 count Aida.  The Aida is so stiff and so... the holes are far smaller than they probably should be for such a wide weave of fabric - if that makes any sense. It would pop out of any hoop I tried to use and I'm not big into sticking in had so the whole process became unbearable, leading to the projects banishment to the storage box.

But I bought myself a little birthday present. A quantum frame. And I am in love with it. It holds that tricky fabric nice and tight so this cute little bird heart project won't become a UFO after all!

Next up I did a little more on a HaED.

This now marks the half way point for this one. I am hoping to make more of an effort on my full coverage pieces this year. There's more I want to start, but I don't think it's a good idea for me, personally, to start another without making some forward process first. I completely admire all of you that have so many projects going at once. I can say I have tried, but it's starting to stress me out a little.

Finally I pulled another out this week that hasn't seen the light of day since last January.

I do still really like this piece, I had legitimately forgotten that I had started it. The only problem I have with it that can possibly explain my absence of mind with it is that, because I've in a fairly dark house with poor poor lighting, I can only work on it for so long before my eyes don't want to any more. I won't be forgetting about it again however. It is lovely, and does come together quite quick.

Reading wise, I have just started 'Salems Lot by Steven King. Not far through it yet, but I do love King. Goal wise I have stuck with 75 again, despite my whopping 101 for 2016. I think that was a fluke of circumstance and I really do hope do get more stitching done this year so 75 it shall stay.

No long weekend this week, in fact it's the opposite I have market shift, so I'll only get Sunday to really rest. So not as much will get done this week, but that's okay. There is plenty of year left.

Until next time

What a (Insane) Year!

Hullo Hullo everyone, if anyone is still out there. It has been a really long time, but 2016 has been the year that officially kicked my ass. 

I think, scrolling through the past, the last life update I made was June,  the last stitching update July and the last reading update was in September. It's now December. I can only say I am sorry. I was all set to do another update mid September,  it's still sitting here as a draft. It was going to be title "Normal Sweet Normal". I think that jinxed me if I'm being honest.  

If any one remembers, my Nanna passed away in March and that threw me for a bit of a loop. Especially since it was followed so close by my great uncles passing, and a theft at work. The drama killed my stitching bug entirely and left my reading bug unchecked. Just when I thought everything was starting to return to normal (hence the unpublished update), my other grandma passed mid September which funnily enough renewed my slumpy mood. Things with my dad remained tense, but hey ho what you going to do. My uncle was then screwed over by his partner and left with nothing more than a can of beetroot, my aunt was thrown from her horse and spent two weeks in hospital and finally,  to round off the year my mum sprang on us at Christmas that she has been seriously ill for the last six months.

So, all and all, I haven't really had the brain space to do much at all,  blogging not withstanding.

But that's enough of the doom and gloom.  I'm ready to rejoin the world.

Even with the lack of stitching motivation,  I did have a few finishes this year. Six in fact.  Not a huge number but certainly more than I was expecting.

This one was the first of the Christmyth ornaments that I've started. They were free patterns put out by Dragon Dreams. Not sure if they still are or not, but they were when I got them.  I thought something small would be a good way to ease back into the whole stitching thing.

 Certainly everyone knows this one by this point. I left the boarder off from top and bottom because in my head, once I frame it, I don't think that boarder will add anything. I can always change my mind.

Finished off Pandoras Box, another freebie, this time of the Liz Almond variety. I used a Carrie's Creation cotton in Chimera, DMC 310, a silver DMC satin and some random clear silver lined seed beads I found in Spotlight. While I did enjoy working on it, not entirely sure how I feel about the finished piece. It did teach me a lot though - which is always nice.

This was my oldest wip that I finished early this year. Without looking it up,  I don't remember any detail beyond its done and there was a boat load of fractional stitches that I hated doing on Aida.

Joan Elliott Reader. This one defiantly gave me a love of Joan Elliott patterns. Can defiantly see me doing more of them in the future.

And finally

My mums tartan cushion. I finished this bad boy with a couple days left till Christmas and with two crushed fingers. Handy life lesson - don't try and catch a falling 30kg bucket. But I pushed through it and finished the cushion in time to give it to her at Christmas,  which she loved.

Reading wise I did far far better. I read a total of 100 books (101 if I finish my current one before saturday)  for a grand total of 35,559 pages - at least according to Goodreads. I am a little bit chuffed with that achievement.

Looking forward to the new year, I am really really hoping that life becomes a little more settled, or at the very least not as upsetting. I have set up spreadsheets to try and get some more accuracy and organisation to my workings. I am setting my Goodreads goal to 75 again, but I am hoping not to ignore my stitching so much.

Before the weekend I will update all the tabs up top, so we have a good starting point for the year. I'm not going to make any goals - me and goals don't seem to get along very well, but I would like to make a dent in the number of projects I have going - while I have great admiration for those of you with many multiple wips going, for me, my number is getting up there - especially since most have not seen the light of day in the longest time.

I did treat myself to a set of quantum frames for my thirtieth birthday - I have had them for two days now and am in love, so here's hoping it makes working of some of the older wips more enjoyable.

I think I will leave it there for now.  Unless some one tragic event happens I don't forsee me being awol. I am hoping to get back into a regular routine with posting again. What I will do, I think, is try and keep the reading and the stitching posts separate,  but we shall see. The only real objective I have right now is routines.

So if you are still here - thank you

Until next time

June

Yes, June. And the end of June at that. That's a hard statement for me to process in more than one way. The last six months have both felt like an eternity and flown by simultaneously. I know I haven't been around in a while and I know I have already apologized for that (to be fair I probably will again), but hopefully now I am getting back to normality. 

Hopefully I'm not mistaken in that this time.

Hopefully.

I figure the easiest explanation will be to give you a run  down of all that's happened over the last five months. If you are only tuning in for stitching, then I'm not going to be at all offended if you quit reading here and carry on with you regularly scheduled day. Thanks for dropping by if that's the case, but truth be told I haven't actually been doing any stitching. Or any thing crafty at all.

Where to begin?

It all started in February - sounds like the start of some pulpy paperback doesn't it? But it did. The end of February when we found out my Nanna's cancer was back and that she was dying. So multiple trips too and from Christchurch and then just like that she was dead. And then her brother was dead too. And what support do I get from my father? A 30 second phone call. This was the woman who practically raised me and supported him through my parents separation  (despite being my mother's mother) and all I get is a measly 30 second phone call. I spent half of the funeral answering the question of where he was to people I barely knew.

But we survived the funeral and made it home safely. Only to find out that my boss had be covering my shifts because the idiot that usually covered me had been caught stealing money from the till. So it was back onto six day weeks through the long process of searching for a new person and getting them trained up. A process made longer since the powers that be decided that in light of this being the 11th person in this role, the obviously need longer training.

Which was fine. Extra money will never be turned down by me. So I get her trained up, and the bosses go away so I have to cover them. Then we have baking classes - move shift cover. I've had two two day weekends since easter and that's only due to public holidays. Well three if you count the sick day I took on Monday - because I got my self sick. Funnily enough. Next weekend I have a work trip to Auckland and then hopefully, HOPEFULLY like will go back to normal. 

Oh and the idiot that was stealing from us - 237 hours community service, 9 months supervision and reparations - why so much I hear you ask? Because the twat resisted arrested, punched and officer then threatened to kill said officer.

You think you know someone huh?

Like you would think that I know my dad after nearly thirty years. But apparently not. After the whole no show funeral thing I will admit, I was a little mad. I'm not now. I have officially hit the relms of not caring any more. All I ever wanted was to know that I was equal in his mind with my two (half) sisters. It's something that's been brewing for a while. They get given ipads, I get given towels (it not about the money, I don't even want an ipad), of the five houses I've lived in since moving out of home, he has never seen a single one. He can afford to take time off to go on cruises and to Australia and Fiji and the cook islands but can he spare a weekend to make a four hour drive to visit Dunedin? Nope. Apparently not. And then, thinking me mad at him, does he confront me himself? No, he works through my 14 year old sister (God knows what he's told them). When I do confront him, I get no response.

So apparently that's how it's going to be.

I just can't bring myself to care any more. Perhaps because I'm so tired from everything else. But it is what it is.

And to top it all off, I crashed my car the other day. Not badly, just clipped the roof on the corner of a trailer unit. But still.

But all this does mean that I have done absolutely no stitching, as I mentioned before. The brain fuzz kicked it and it's all I can do to stay awake when I'm at home, let alone do anything requiring concentration. Although, I did pick up a needle for a couple of hours today and boy did it feel good.

I have been reading however. ALOT. As you can probably see on the tickery this to the right there, I am 61% through my reading goal for this year - which is huge since this year, of the 46, only 12 are graphic novels, putting me at a whopping 15,078 pages - that's nearly 1000 more that the whole of last year already. And it's only June.

I think in a few days, I'll put together a post doing short reviews on them all. If not this week, then at the very latest in a fortnight time when I get back from Auckland. At least if their all in thier own post it can be skipped if no one is interested.

Hopefully that goes someway to explaining my absence. I really am sorry, I never intended it to go on so long. But life. 

If you stuck this rant out to here, we'll done. And also thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. The man listens to an extent, but he's to close to the situation to really let loose I guess.

I can't promise that I'll be back to regularly scheduled cross stitching anytime soon, but I do intend to be around more, and actually pick up the needle - even if it is only once a week.

So again, thank you so much for letting me vent and I'll be talking to you all again real soon.

Till next time. 

Happy (belated) Easter

The schools here have started calling today "easter Tuesday" so maybe I'm not completely late. 

Regardless,  I do hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, whether you celebrate easter or not. We don't really, beyond having the four day weekend as an excuse to do absolutely nothing and not feel guilty about it. Or at least pretend to not feel guilty. Realistically I know that there are plenty of things around the house to be doing, but it's hard to get motivated to do them when the somewhat hoarder won't do his parts. But that's besides the point. We will just work on it being a peaceful lazy weekend and leave it at that.

Plus it was a weekend where I wasn't making a trip to Christchurch, so win!

Though I have to admit that not going to and from Mums place, my reading has slowed down. I am still working my way through the Narnia Chronicals. Finally on to the last one, but how I ever made it nearly 30 years without reading them in will never know.

The stitching bug is back in full force however. Which is surprising to me if I am being completely honest. Winter is coming you see. I can feel it in the hand is broke last year. The days are shorter, the mornings colder (we had our first frost over the weekend) and the evenings are darker. Daylight savings ends next week and I am not looking forward to the mid afternoon sunsets that that is bound to bring. 

But such as life. It's more that I haven't started going into hibernation yet, like I usually do that has me surprised. Maybe it's that I have slightly better light in the living room now. Slightly being the word. I long for the day when we are in our grown up house and these small trifles become less of a problem...

Stitching has happened though. And exciting stitching. I am trying something out. I don't want to share it just yet, for fear of jinxing the entire enterprise, but I'm excited about it and it (so far) has provided results. I promise to share when I'm more confident of it though. 

I got a page finish on my HAED. My first ever page finish on a HAED (or similar) pattern. And if that wasn't enough, I carried on and finished the partial page that was number two. 

TWO WHOLE PAGES. On a HAED! I'm so excited about that. I had talked myself into hating that style of stitching which had made me very sad. There are so many beautiful works of art out there that I was cutting myself off from.

On the theme of the full coverage beauties, tonight I dug an old 'friend' out of retirement. Dragon Lovers by Character Creations is a BAP that I have started and restarted repeatedly over the last.... gosh... 10 years? I finally restarted it yet again the year before last, this time on 20 count ivory aida. I got about two thirds of a page in, the banished it under the bed, never to see daylight again. I thought I'd give it a go though, with my new found understanding of HAEDs. Here's the starting point. 

It hasn't changed any worth mentioning tonight - bed and a book were calling far louder in the cold.

I also used the long weekend to catch up on my Pandora's Box piece by Liz Almond. I was a couple of parts behind and it was something I had been intending to keep up to date with.

Not bad for a week or so really. Admittedly not every week has such long stretches of down time, but still not bad at all. And I suppose I should make the most of it, since it's back to six day weeks for a little while. We do have the final two candidates for the job coming in for meet and greets with the team on Saturday,  so that's one step closers to get some control back over my job. It was something that was brought up at my yearly appraisal last week. All the things that are having to be left by the wayside while I pick up the slack of trying to hold down two people's jobs. But what are you going to do really. At least I got a pay rise.

I should probably stop rambling now though. Hope everyone has a fantastic week with lost of time for the things you love.

Till next time

Home Again

And with a new WIP.

The funeral went well, there was a good turn out and all that other jazz. The main thing is that I didn't drop the ashes (in a very old, post quake church that's a bigger achievement than you think, especially when your as clumsy as I am) and I remembered enough of the Lords Prayer to stumble my way through the first church service I've been to in about 20 years.

Go me.

20 years is also about how old my new WIP is. Mum used to cross stitch, back in the day. It was her that taught me. But she wasn't as keen - it hurt her eyes and gave her head aches. So she tried tapestry. Bought a couple of cushion kits that she like and started them. Only she never finished them. I have long finished all of her half started cross stitch project, so I figured if make a start on these too. 

Plus in my rush to catch my flight on Monday,  I forgot to pack a project and consequently got bored.

The one I decided to start on was the simplest of the two. Just a McKenzie Tartan cushion.

The idea, from what I can tell, is to tent stitch all the stripes one way then turn the fabric 90 degrees and fill in all the gaps by repeating the pattern but reversing the direction of the stitch. 

Figured I'd give it a go. What's the worst that can happen.

Progress...

....despite everything.

I am definatly longing for life to go back to some semblance of normal. Nanna's funeral is on Tuesday, so I fly back to Christchurch tomorrow night after work. Work is still back on six day weeks until we find some one to replace the thieving little idiot that is currently hiding from the police. Plus on top of everything, nanna's brother died six days after her. 

I did manage a couple of days stitching though, and boy did it feel good.

Heritage Stitchcraft, NZ Map, on 28 monaco, coffee dyed myself

I haven't done any of the bits inside the land - rivers, mountains and what not. I figured I would do all the coast lines first. But it is going quite a big faster than I had thought it would.

Hopefully by this time next week things will have settled a little and it will go even faster. I think I'm over the starting bug that hit me and am ready to finish something. 

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.

Field Trip

And I mean that in the literal sense.

Hullo all - its February now, can you believe that!? The speed of time regularly messes with my head like that. February means the students are all moving back and my piece and quiet is disappearing rapidly. Which is a shame really.  But until I can afford another house,  student neighbours will continue to be a fact of life.

Did get some peace on the field trip though. I think I briefly mentioned it last time as some kind of justification for potential lack of stitching. Which was a fairly accurate prediction. I got a few more stitches into Sleepy Hollow.

Few being the opprative word. I also restarted New World Map by Bucilla. 

This pattern is the reason I don't buy kits any more. I bought it off trade me, completely new and unopened. But it was not only missing two colours of thread but I would have been severely short on at least eight others - we're talking about running out before being half way through type of short. I tried contacting Bucilla but they didn't want to know anything about it so I had a tantrum and threw it in the ufo basket. Thought I'd restart it now that ie had time to calm down, plus it's fairly easy to follow for my post work weekday brain.

And that's it. Like I said. Not a lot of progress at all. The field trip was totally worth it though. Even if it did mean no break from my loud boisterous work mates for 48 hours (I love them really)

The bakery that I work at has very strong locavor ethics. We take pride in being able to trace out raw products to the source and that's what the trip was about.

We started here.

It's a farm just outside of Fairlee.  It grows this stuff.

Biscuit wheat

In multiple varieties.

Rye, biscuit and hard wheats

60% of the flour we use comes from these exact grains of wheat from this exact farm. The other 40% comes from a farm half an hour up the road. We then followed these grains the following day to the mill and watched them being made into the flour. But unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me that time.

We also toured another bakery and and got the chance to pick some of these guys...

Again the berry farm is a supplier that we use. Finally we stopped off at the pig farm where all out pork product comes from and we were lucky enough to arrive at the right time to see this

These piglets had only been born an hour or so before we got there - the last one was born while we watched. It was amazing to see, even if it was in the back of everyone's minds that in 5 months time we will be serving these cuties as bacon, ham and pulled pork.

It was the size of the adults that stunned me.

This lady was nearly shoulder hight on me - and I'm 5 foot 6!

And so now after all that sun and farm air I am definatly ready to stay inside for the upcoming long weekend. Very definatly sunburnt and my nose is starting to peel.

Reading wise it's been a far better month. My total completions for the last 31 days is sitting at 15 books, and while eight of them were comics, I'm still beyond happy with over 2700 pages behind me going into the rest of the year. I have also almost finished book 16  - The Mark of Athena, the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. Which I think I will return to now. While the last few weeks have been u seasonable cold, this week has been the opposite. High temperatures well and truly making up for lost time. Bakery work when it's in the mid 30s is not particularly pleasant,  but there is now a drafty cool breeze waiting for me to lie in it.

Till next time.

Where is Summer?

Hullo hullo everyone! Hope everyone is well and keeping warm - even those of you in the southern hemisphere - I know not everyone else suffers from black hole syndrome like those of us in Dunedin, but it has not been summery here - its been rainy and grey and miserable . I realise that when compared to the storm hitting the US, my lack of sun is a small problem.... but it's supposed to be summer!

Plus it's ruining the berry and stone fruit growing 😢.

The rain has been prime stitching and reading weather though, so I suppose that is a silver lining.  I finished 2001 A Space Oddyssey  (Dave was the space baby? How on earth did I miss that obviousness in the movie?!), and moved on to the Heroes of Olympus series. It's the follow up series to the Percy Jackson books and I have to say, a book in and I'm enjoying it more.

I have to admit, during the week days, I have been reading far more and not stitching. I don't know what it is but between the gross weather and the post christmas lull, work is just draining me. People (ie customers) just seem to be so much more.... stupid, I guess, after the Christmas  holidays. Like thier brains have overloaded and shut down for a spell - the number of times I've had to say something along the lines of "no, we cannot make you a whole wheat gluten free loaf" has gone past being a joke now. And don't even get me started on the people doing the paleo diet as their new years resolutions...

Sigh.

After all that, my own brain just doesn't want to. I did try to do a little stitching - I started one of my Brookes Books patterns but I only got a couple of lengths of floss in before I lost the will to count and went back to the books.

Peg the Plum Pudding Angel

Weekends have been more productive, even with disruptions thankfully. I worked last weekend, and eldest kid sister was in town for swimming again this week. But the Man has been working Sundays so disruptions have been balanced with alone time which is nice.

I FINALLY picked up Once Upon a Time again. It seems like forever since I worked on it. I got a little done before remembering that despite appearances this is actually a brain intensive piece. 

It will be lovely when it's finally done though. Plus I had forgotten how much I like the tea dyed monaco that I'm using.

As a reward for surviving all the stupid that's out there (it would seem that it's all still hitting nerves, though that could also be the sister visit), I thought I would reward myself with a new start that I didn't have to think about as much as Once Upon a Time.

Sleepy Hollow by Glendon Place. Worked on 32 count charcoal even weave. It's been just what I needed today after being reminded yet again that I am the forgotten sibling. As well as swapping the fabric for something more neutral, I have also swapped out the Carondelet Waterlily for a glow in the dark treasure braid. And I hate to say this, given how highly people speak of them, but I'm not liking the petite treasure braid. I prefer kreinik. It just keeps knotting on me. I mean, I'll keep with it for the sake of the moon here, but in the future,  I don't think I'll be buying it again. 

I feel like I should duck and cover for saying that. 

But then the sarky, currently bad tempered part of me reminds me that it's my hobby and I can do what I like. I don't like being bad tempered as a general rule, I just happen to do it really well (I'm blunt and honest by nature, so often come off as being a bit of a witch if you know what I mean...especially when teamed with an angry resting face) and I don't mean to wish away time, but I can't wait for the end of February. This comming weekend I have to survive an overnight work trip. As much as I love all my work brothers and sisters - they can be a bit full on (think ADHD children), and the introvert in me  doesn't know how she'll react stuck with them in a van for 48 hours. Then we have the over seas family invasion. Again, that could go one of two ways. But the last week of February, I have solely to myself and off work, and I think it will be just what I need to get me out of this funk I'm in.

Between now and then, I would like to apologize sincerly and deeply for any and all rants that I am likely to have about various things (I will spare you the one I just had about the sugar documentary we just watched). Nothing I may or may not say will be intended in any way shape or form to be offensive. But I can feel the bad juju brewing inside, and like I said - I'm blunt.  

And hopefully stitching will take the edge off. It usually does.

I think I'll leave it there for to night. I've hit the point of rambling. So, until next time 💚

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.