Better late than never! I meant to post last night but as you all know, sometimes things don't go according to plan. However I have used the extra time wisely and have a mini happy dance to show off.
First of all, I have a new start to show you. This is Bouquet 5. When finished, it will be three pots of tulip-like flowers in a basket. What you see here is two of the pots and the rim of the basket.
Now for my mini happy dance - this is Train of Dreams and on the left you can see the complete depth of this piece. Courtesy of a little extra input this morning, column 1 is finished. Using the parking method has made a big difference with this piece. At the end of a session I feel that I have actually made some progress, which I didn't before when I was just dotting around.
Carnation is coming along at its usual pace. I'm looking forward to getting page 4 finished and then scrolling up to start the next row of pages.
No progress on the Angels this week. Part of the problem is having to take Carnation off the stand (which involves fiddling with the adapter) and putting Angels on. If I had more space in my lounge and more money, then I'd buy a second stand and adapter to put Angels on. When I win the Lottery :-)
On another happy note, I lost another 1lb this week which brings me down to 12 stone exactly. This is my first interim target and I intended to treat myself to a new chart from Scarlet Quince (where I got Carnation). Then I thought about it - I'm only just over a quarter of the way through Carnation so I really don't need another big and complex piece to be sitting there saying "Stitch me, stitch me". So instead I treated myself to a new pair of dancing shoes - 5 inch black stilettos, although to be sure the soles are about an inch deep, so let's say 4 inch black stilettos!
What else? Well, being on leave this week, I took my nieces out for the day on Thursday. We went to a local country park where they played on the big play park and we went for a walk in the woods. Then we went for lunch at their favourite garden centre, where there is a fish tank in the cafe. After lunch we came home, but a sudden downpour stopped us from going to the park by the library. So we had stories and they played monsters in my bed.
Back to work tomorrow and I need to collect in the rest of my Race for Life money. However I do feel much better for having had a week off doing nothing. So may the sun shine on you, your families and your stitching, and may the frog steer well clear.
What I want to know is where the time goes. Here I am writing the August IHSW post when it was only five minutes ago that I was writing the July post. And it is Full Moon on Wednesday so my next post will be a WIPocalypse post - where does the time go?
Anyway I have some good progress to report, both stitching and life in general, so here goes.
Bouquet 4 is now finished and as usual the back stitching has made all the difference. There are two more left to do before making them up into cards, so I hope to get the next one started at some point this week.
I meant to work on Serena, the Angel, this week but things didn't go according to plan. Instead I put in time on Train of Dreams and got two more blocks done today. It's not a brilliant photo, I'm afraid, and needed better lighting. Hopefully another couple of stints will see me at the bottom of the page and ready to start the next column.
Finally on the stitching front, I managed to get four blocks done on Carnation instead of the usual three, so the end of next week should see me into row 7 with any luck.
In life in general, I lost another 1lb this week, which takes me to 7.5lb in total and gained me my half stone award. If I can manage to lose another lb this week, that will take me down to 12 stone exactly and I can then treat myself.
Also on a positive note I am on leave this week and plan to spend most of my time relaxing and chilling out. I haven't had a week off since April and as I spent that week at my family history conference and then staying with family, it was enjoyable but not exactly relaxing.
The weather seems to have perked up again and I am hoping that it will stay fine for my planned day out with my nieces later this week. All the best to you and yours, and may the frog stay well away from your stitching.
I just have to get through this next week and then I've got a week off work, and boy do I need it! I last had a week off in April, but spent part of it at a family history conference and the rest staying with family. It was great fun, but not exactly relaxing. I badly need to chill out, defrag and wind down. I've made a tentative booking to steal my nieces for a day and spoil them rotten, but other than that, I have no plans except to take it easy.
Mum and I did the Race for Life today, doing our bit to raise money for cancer research. The weather was just about right - warm and sunny, but with enough of a breeze to make it comfortable. We were a bit slower this year because Mum's legs were playing up, but we finished and that's what counts. And it's always a really good atmosphere - all those women and girls giving up their time and putting in the effort - but then the sad thing is that of course everybody knows somebody!
Moving on to something more cheerful - stitching!
All the cross stitching is done on Bouquet 4, so my plan is to get the back stitching done this week and then this will be finished!
And half a happy dance for Carnation - row 5 is complete and so page 4 is half done! I took all of my WIPs to Patchwork Group this week. Everyone was very complimentary, and there was a comment about the clever shading of the lilies on this piece.
So the plan for this week is to finish Bouquet 4, get the next three blocks of Carnation completed and work on Serena (she may even acquire a face). The only drawback to this is that I am currently on chicken duty which takes up part of my evenings and this is open ended at the moment, so we shall see.
To finish on a bright note, I lost 1.5lb this week. Another half pound will mean that I've lost half a stone in total, so fingers crossed for Thursday's weigh-in.
All the best to you and yours, and may the frog stay away from your house.
This is a couple of days late so I apologise profusely. The weekend was not so good (the Black Dog dropped by) and yesterday was Dad's birthday, which is why the delay.
I'm just going to show you my update photos and then I'm going to call it a night.
Bouquet is not far from completion. There are two more flowers to do and then the back stitch. I may or may not have it finished for my next post. I do have Patchwork Group this week, but I also have Race for Life on Sunday which will mean re-scheduling various chores and a subsequent loss of stitching time.
Carnation is coming along. Here I am halfway through row 5, so nearly halfway through page 4. I would dearly love to finish row 5 this week, but the same caveats apply as for Bouquet.
Last month the Patchwork Group asked to see all my WIPs so this week I will be showing them Bouquet, Carnation, Serena and Train of Dreams. It will be interesting to see what they say.
I'm still very tired but the weather appears to be cooling down a bit so I hope to get more sleep the next few nights. I put on 0.5lb last week but I expected that because I had lunch at a friend's on the Saturday and a leaving lunch on the Wednesday, so it could have been a lot worse.
All the best to you and yours, and may the frog stay away from your stitching.
