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!

A long week

Well I meant to get back to you before now, but as the title says, it's been a long week.

Monday, I drove a 300 mile plus round trip to Essex and back to attend a family funeral with my parents.  It was a scorching hot day, and although the funeral went well and it was very nice to meet up with family members who I haven't seen for years, it's taken just about all week to get back to normal.

I have had to change my Slimming World class as of this week.  My previous consultant has changed venue and evening.  I could have got to the new venue but can't do the new evening due to prior commitments.  So now I have to attend another class on a different night and get to know a whole new set of people, which is probably good for me but I could have done without it this week.

And to top it all off, on Friday evening my washing machine died in the middle of washing my work gear!  The perfect end to a tiring week.  However a little man should be coming round tomorrow to fix it when he has arranged a time with my Dad who will be letting him in, and my lovely parents let me use their washing machine instead of having to make a trip to the laundrette.

On the bright side, I finally got a call back from someone at Origin Publishing and now have my subscription to XS Gold for £24.30 as per their advert.

I did get some work done on my Poinsettia piece this week.  Its coming on quite nicely, but I'm looking forward to finishing it and starting on something else.

There has been progress on the Beetle as well.  That there is a chunk of front bumper.  The blue and brown and orange look a bit odd, but when I checked them against the picture on the front of the kit, it seemed to work OK in the finished version.  I'm not sure whether I got more than normal done this morning because I wasn't up and down to the washing machine as usual or whether I might have got more done if I hadn't been up and down sorting out Mum on the Internet.  I shall be so glad when she gets on-line at home.

And finally Carnation - another 300 odd stitches done this week, mainly at the bottom left.  I just need to complete one more square and that will officially take me over the 2,900 mark and leave me just 100,000 stitches to go!  Mum seems to be coming to terms with this project - at least she takes a good look at it each time she drops by.  You see, she's a patchworker and quilter - has been for well over 25 years - and doesn't really understand why I choose to cross stitch and also why I don't create my own designs.  I've tried to explain to her that as I can't actually draw, cross stitch enables me to create something beautiful and I also find it very soothing and beneficial to my mental health.

Well, its getting on and I have work in the morning, so will call it quits.

Sorry it's late!

I'm a bit behind the fair this week.  Although my WIP photos were taken on Sunday as usual, I had a very early start on Monday to drive down south for a family funeral.  I've just about recovered from driving over 300 miles in one day so here's my update.

My Poinsettia did not get worked on last week for one reason or another, so no photo this time round.

I managed to get the tyre finished on the Beetle this week as I had no interruptions, and have moved onto the front bumper.  This is not a piece that I would ever stitch for myself and doing it on aida means that a sharp needle is required for the many fractional stitches (which would be so much easier to do on evenweave).  Nevertheless I shall plug on in the hope that my friend will appreciate it when the time comes.

 Carnation is coming on slowly - there are something over 2,500 stitches there.  I will have to roll the fabric up soon in order to stitch the bottom section of page 1.  That will be a two person job as the frame is so long that it is difficult to manipulate the dowels and keep the fabric taut on your own.

In other news I have still not been able to sort out my Cross Stitch Gold subscription.  I have now had four different call centre minions say that they will call me back in the last two plus weeks, and nada.  According to tonight's minion (No. 5), all the supervisors go home at 5.30pm and let the minions get on with it.  I will therefore be ringing up at 8am tomorrow in order to speak to a supervisor before I go to work cos I am not impressed by the service that I am receiving, and if I don't get a straight answer tomorrow morning, there will be a formal letter of complaint to the Chief Executive.  OK, rant over for the time being.

The week continues!

Well so much for a relaxing weekend after a difficult week - yesterday went OK but today was not good!

Mum came round, which was planned so that was fine.  What was not planned and therefore not so fine was being descended upon by two over tired small people, who needed to be sorted out.  The sorting out meant that my usual Sunday routine went to pot.  On top of that it has been a very hot day and I don't do well in the heat.  And to finish things off, I managed to reverse into somebody else's car - they got a little scratch and I knackered my back light!

Anyway, a little stitching:

I've got a little further on with my Poinsettia, but following a suggestion from Mum, am considering not doing the border and finishing it as a circular Xmas ornament.









This morning's stitching on the Beetle was interrupted by small people.  I had hoped to get the tyre finished - there are another five or six rows to go - but it just didn't happen.

Carnation is coming on - there are something over 2,200 stitches there so just over 100,700 to go.  The lightish piece emerging on the right is one of the Chinese lanterns.  I'm enjoying this very much, although am definitely doing more in the early mornings before work than when I get home at night - mainly cos the light is better in the mornings.

Well, I've still heard nothing back from the Cross Stitch Gold people about the subscription.  I bought the latest copy of Gold yesterday and it has exactly the same advert in as WOXS, so tomorrow evening when I get in, I will be ringing up again (for the third time) and if I don't get a sensible response (rather than "we haven't got a copy of the magazine in the office"), I will be asking to speak to the manager!

So back to work tomorrow, but then a day off on Tuesday - can't wait.

What the heck!

I am somewhat peeved.  I got home slightly later than usual last night to find my subscription copy of World of Cross Stitching on the mat - just what was needed after a long hard week!  So I got all my little getting home chores done and then settled down with WOXS.

Now, for some time, I have had Cross Stitch Collection and Cross Stitch Gold on order with my local newsagent.  However, the shop has recently closed due to serious illness.  So I have been on the lookout for good subscription deals for these two mags, rather than have to traipse into town every time a new issue comes out.

So I was really pleased to find in my new WOXS that the publisher had a summer sale on and that I could get 40% off a subscription to Cross Stitch Gold and only pay £24.30 for 9 issues.  I immediately went on-line to sort this out, only to find that the website was quoting £26.95 for 9 issues.  Something not quite right here, I thought. 

I rang the subscription line to enquire about this discrepancy.  The young lady on the other end was slightly bemused as she had £26.95 on her screen.  Unfortunately they didn't have the current copy of WOXS in the office so she couldn't check it straight away.  It was nearly 8pm by then so she couldn't do anything further just then, so I now have to wait until next week to get this sorted.  Somebody somewhere has made a boo-boo!

I know that its only a matter of £2.65, but when you are on a single lowish income and in the current economic climate, every penny counts.  So, as I said above, I am somewhat peeved.

On the other hand, "Carnation" is going well and I hope to have a photo for you tomorrow.