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.

      

Clumsiness of Brain

Hullo again, I knew there would be something I forgot to mention yesterday.

Or two things.

Point the first - I taught myself to spin. Or at least use a spindle...

My first wee attempt

It is still early days yet, it's no where near being even and I still need to attempt the washing/setting thing. But it was fun and something a bit different for when I need a change.

Just another reason why if money was no option I would retire now (at the ripe old age of 30) - between stitching, reading, knitting, house renovations and now spinning - I just don't have time to work!

The second thing I forgot to mention was that I FINALLY got around to finishing my ORT-aments for 2014, 2015, and 2016. This year's still needs filled with my jar but that'll happen on Sunday.

The empty bauble I found at Lincraft, the ribbons are from stash, as are the Krienik and silver perforated paper and felt that I used for the tags. The font is one I found on Google. Simple little things but I'm happy with them.

I think that was all this time. I have updated the WIP tab above to have starting points for the new year. MIL is in town this weekend, so I doubt there will be much advancement on projects between now and the first.

So until next time - and next year.

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.

Thanks Be for Public Holidays

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Till next time.

All The Finishes

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

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

And I got three finishes so even better.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ah well.

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

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

Happiness is well ordered floss.

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

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

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

Well you would be wrong my friends.

I painted my living room.

It went from this....

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

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

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

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

Hope the next week sees you all productive and well.

Till next time. 

As Good As It Gets For Now

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

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

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

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

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

Enough of that- on with the stitching.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time...