Late Easter post

I was too late home last night to do my usual post - we had family high tea and an Easter egg hunt at my parents, plus I was on taxi duty to take our guest home, so I'm posting tonight, having had a lazyish day, and the prospect of back to work in the morning.

I'm starting off with the Cat because I haven't done much on it recently.  I didn't get any more done on Saturday night because the light wasn't good enough in the house that I was babysitting in.  I did however get some done yesterday morning in between the four loads of laundry that I did before having lunch and going to pick up our guest.  It's coming on slowly and I'm quite enjoying it, but with it being my Sunday morning piece, I just don't get an uninterrupted run at it - I'm always up and down to the washing machine. 

Although I posted a pic of Carnation on my WIPocalypse post on Friday, I'm showing you another because not only did I finish the second block, I managed to complete a third block as well.  So now I only have three blocks to go before I finish Page 1 and claim my new book and the right to buy stash. 

The purchase of stash will be assisted by the money I earned babysitting on Saturday night - the kids were good as gold and I read my new book which I claimed for finishing the Fuschias.  Mum picked out "The Horn of Merlyns" by Violet Needham, published by Girls Gone By. For my Easter present to myself, Mum picked out "The Winter of Enchantment" by Victoria Walker, published by Fidra Books.  I already have a number of books by Violet Needham and this one was very enjoyable.  Victoria Walker is a new author to me, and I also enjoyed this book very much.

Is it really that time again?

And yes, it is indeed Sunday evening again and time to post my usual update. I'll start by saying thankyou for all the kind comments on my last post.  It's so nice to know that other people like my work.

Following on from your comments:

Joysze - yes, Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series does come into the same genre as the books I read.  However, EB's books have retained their popularity and are much easier to get hold of than the ones I mentioned.

On the wool front, as yet I have no scarves.  My colleague was only able to get the black and white mix from her local yarn shop, and will have to order the fuschia mix from the Internet.  I'm not in a desperate hurry - if the snow comes that they are threatening us with, I have shawls and scarves enough to keep me from hypothermia.  I will however post a photo as soon as I have a scarf to show.

Now for the update itself.

I now have a smily whale and some sea as per last week's plan.  However, not as much sea as I would wish because it is driving me nuts!  There are four different colours - white and three shades of aqua - and as you can see, it is designed in curling waves.  It is fiddly and frustrating, and to make matters worse, I am worried about having enough threads.  There was enough of all the other threads so in theory there should be enough of these, but I seem to achieve so little with each thread that I can't help worrying.  I got so frustrated with the sea that I started doing some of the backstitch, just to feel like I was getting somewhere.  And time is now tight - ideally I want to be taking this to the framers on Saturday with a view to getting it to my cousin for the following Thursday.  I think that I may have to take a day off on Friday to nail it.  Decisions, decisions!

Again I've made visible progress on the Beetle.  The back end is now done (bar any backstitch) and I've started on the roof.  I feel that it is starting to come together now.  Next week I plan to fill in the gap next to the window, then work on the roof and possibly the windscreen.  


I need to make a confession - other than having to go to work, the main thing which holds up progress on these pieces is my books.  It doesn't matter whether I work in the lounge or the bedroom, there are books.  And inevitably a point comes when I put down the stitching and pick up a book, and then I lose time - a few minutes, half an hour, a whole hour, depending on the book.  I suppose I could try stitching in the kitchen or the bathroom, but neither would be very comfortable, and the light in the hall is far too bad for stitching.  Am I the only person who has this problem?

IHSW Report - January 2012

Doesn't time fly when you become an adult?  When I was a kid, days and weeks were so long, and the six weeks summer holiday seemed endless. Now, every time I turn round, that's another week over and I still haven't got done what I wanted to get done.  Do you have that problem too?

Well, this weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend and yesterday I certainly hermited and stitched!  I didn't so much as stick my nose out of the door and, following a latish start, spent most of the day working on Noah's Ark.

The Ark itself is now complete and work has begun on the whale.  The plan for the coming week is to complete the whale and get started on the sea.  I now have a deadline in mind for this piece.  My cousin's birthday is 9 February and I would like to have this completed and framed to send with her birthday card.  I have a cunning plan for the sending which I will tell you about if it comes off.

Today was also laundry and shopping day, so despite an earlier start, there was less hermiting and less stitching.  Visible progress has been made on the Beetle despite the need to frog the first half hour's stitching because I had used the wrong colour thread!  The large dark patch at the top left is a greyish purple (DMC 3740) and is part of the shadowy interior of the Beetle.  I also completed the section between that and the diagonal orangey line - this is where the frogging came in.  I think that part of the problem with this piece (other than the million fractionals) is that the chart is so big - about twice the size of the fabric that I'm working on.  It makes it easier to read, but also means that it looks like there is so much more to do than there really is.  Next week I plan to carry on with the back of the car, working up and then round to the front.

In my last post, I talked about wool.  Well, I made up my mind and with any luck, my colleague will be bringing me a black and white scarf tomorrow, with a fuchsia mix one to follow in due course.  I decided to treat myself to an every day scarf (black and white) and a scarf for occasions (fuchsia mix).  I might even get carried away and have loads of scarves made - there were so many yummy colours to choose from.  Pictures will follow when the scarves arrive.

I have also treated myself to some new books.  These were my Christmas present to myself.  I collect girls school stories, often by authors that most people have never heard of.  I get them either in second hand bookshops, on the Net (Ebay or Abebooks) or from a specialist publisher - Girls Gone By.  My treats this time were as follows: "Evelyn Finds Herself" by Josephine Elder, "Leith and Friends" by Clare Mallory and "Mermaid House" by Gwendoline Courtney.  I would thoroughly recommend anything by these three authors.  Does anyone else out there enjoy this sort of book?