Train a'coming!

Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel!  The deadline for Beetle is Sunday next - March 4th.  I'm not going to make it - at least not to the point of being framed, wrapped and presented.  But I'm going to be a lot closer than I previously thought that I would be.  I may even have got to the point of taking it to the framer!

This is the only picture that you are going to get this week, because Beetle is the only piece that I have been working on.  The car itself is complete, apart from some backstitch in places.  If you look at the bottom right, you will see that I have started filling in the shadow around the right front tyre.  That's all that's left - the shadow and some backstitch.  Then it will be a quick trip through the washing machine in a pillow case, a close encounter with an iron and then off to the framer.  All being well and a quiet week, I may make it to the framer on Saturday afternoon.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Once the Beetle goes to the framers, I will go back to working on Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose with the aim of finishing page 1.  That will be my priority.  The Cat will become my Sunday morning piece and the piece that I take to Patchwork Group.

In other news, I still have nothing to say - no interview date, no scarves to show.  I got very little sleep last night, despite going to bed about 9.30pm, so will call it a day now, go and make tomorrow's lunch and try for a better night than last night.

IHSW Report - February 2012

This is likely to be brief because my computer is playing me up - doing anything on line is like wading through treacle, it is so slow.  It was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend again this week, and I did get some stitching done, even if not a lot.

I'm beginning with the Beetle because this is the one with the deadline and consequently the one which has had most input this week.  White stitching on white is never easy to see, especially if I'm doing the camera work, but this week I have put in the centre line down the bonnet and started infilling the right side (as you look at it) of the bonnet, working from the top down.  There is still a way to go and certainly the bit around the headlight is going to be quite fiddly, but it's coming on.

I said in my last post that the friend for whom I am stitching the Beetle was coming round this week to show me her own work and to catch up.  Anyway, she duly came and showed me a very nice small piece of a Geisha, and we had a nice long chat.  Well, I couldn't have the Beetle on show and so I started a new piece.

This is "Abyssinian Cat" by Jayne Netley Mayhew from Issue 9 of Cross Stitch Gold (June 2002).  It is stitched on 28 count Wichelt Desert Sand, which has not photographed well - next time I will try and take an outdoor shot.  I was a bit dubious about the colour because it was a lot darker than the picture in the magazine, but the stitching looks good on it, and now that I have seen how badly it photographs, I feel slightly better.  It is also quite an open weave as well, so I will have to be careful about trailing ends.

In other news, having noted when having my hair cut last week that my hair colour had become somewhat boring (mouse brown with grey streaks), I took action on Friday night and dyed it a reddish brown.  My parents like it - my littlest niece said that I looked funny with new hair - I will get my colleagues' reaction tomorrow.

Oh, and I forgot to say, my cousin loves the Noah's Ark - thinks that it is gorgeous!

Postively the last appearance!

Tomorrow the Noah's Ark goes off to its new owner so I just wanted to show you how I had had it framed.  I apologise for the glare, but photography is not really my forte - I took several pictures in different locations but couldn't get one without some glare on it, so have chosen the best of the bunch.

 The only other piece that I have to show you is the Beetle, which is coming on nicely.  There is just one little problem - the friend for whom I am stitching it is coming round on Tuesday night for a coffee and to show me her stitching.  I am going to have to hide the Beetle away and get something else started as I don't want to go back to Carnation until I have the Beetle out of the way.  Carnation is just too complex to only have half your mind on because you are worrying about finishing something else.  So next week I should have a new start to show you.  In addition, it will be International Hermit and Stitch Weekend starting on Friday so I will need to sign up for that tomorrow.

I have to leave for work early tomorrow in order to catch my in-house courier, so will finish now, make tomorrow's lunch and boil a kettle for a hot water bottle cos it is somewhat chilly tonight.

2012 WIPocalypse - February Full Moon

This is going to be a quickie because I did an update report a couple of days ago.

However, I did promise you a full picture of my finished Noah's Ark so here goes:

I hope that you like it - more, I hope that my cousin and her partner and her baby like it!

My other current WIP piece, the Beetle, having now become my priority piece, has some progress to show since my last post a couple of days ago.  I still don't think that I am going to get it done in time, but it will definitely be closer to being finished.

I have got the fabric and threads ready for my next start, but this is on hold for the moment.  Anyway I now need to go and check in with Measi and then make tomorrow's lunch so here's wishing you a very happy February Full Moon.

The best laid plans!

Well, I booked Friday off to finish Noah's Ark as per my last post, but matters did not quite go according to plan.

On Thursday afternoon I got a phonecall at work - it was Dad ringing to say that Mum was in the local hospital with chest pains and they needed to do some blood tests to see if she had had a heart attack.  They did a 6 hour test which came back clear, but they also wanted to do a 12 hour test just to make sure.  Then the machine went down so it was 12.45pm when Dad rang to say that the test had come back clear but that Mum was staying in because they didn't know what was wrong and wanted to do more tests, so could I come and fetch him?  I got to bed at 1.30am, but I had stitched off and on until about 11.30pm when I felt my eyes giving out.

Friday I spent the morning sporadically stitching and waiting for phone calls.  In the end the hospital decided to discharge Mum and do the tests on an outpatient basis, so I picked her up about 1pm.  I did get a bit more stitching done later that evening.

Saturday I finally managed to buckle down to it and the Noah's Ark is now finished!  I managed to get it to the framers on Saturday afternoon and get home before 4 inches of snow started to fall on us.  However I am only going to show you the completed bottom half of the piece today - I'm saving the full picture for my WIPocalypse update on Tuesday.  So here goes:

The only problem is that I realised in bed last night that I had been in such a rush to get it to the framers that I forgot to stitch on my initials and the year - I've decided to stick a label on the back instead.  Oh, and the other thing - I did have enough thread  - although I was down to my last smidgen of black when I did the lettering!  So that's my first finish of 2012 done and dusted.

Moving on to the Beetle, more visible progress has been made.  We are now moving into windscreen territory.  The top part of the roof is white so I am going to leave that for the time being.  Now that Noah's Ark is complete, this becomes my priority piece - I just have to work out how best to get myself set up to stitch on it in the lounge instead of spread all over my bed, being as the lounge is warmer than the bedroom.

On the wool front, still no scarves, although I live in hope as my colleague told me in the week that she had received the fuchsia mix in the post (and wanted to keep it for herself!).  On the job front, still no news - I have sent another email asking about interview dates.

Anyway, back to work tomorrow so I better go and make my lunch.  See ya Tuesday.