Getting back to normal?

I promised you a picture of the Beetle in its final format, so here you go.  When it comes back from the framers, I'll take another picture - I've gone for a natural wood frame and a pale ivory mount, as close to the cream on the right side of the bonnet as I could get.

Now that the Beetle is done, the plan was to try and get back to normal.  However since completing the Beetle, I've had a thought which has set me another deadline.

The initial idea was to stitch the Cat for my friend who is currently in the States.  But while I was doing some work on my family history, I was reminded that my aunt, nanna of the Noah's Ark baby, will be 70 in August, just a fortnight after my father, and she also loves cats.  So the new plan is to stitch the Cat for my aunt by the beginning of August.

I've been working on the Cat today in between loads of laundry.  If you remember, the first picture that I took didn't show the fabric very well so I said that I would take the next picture outside.  So I did, and this is how it came out.  Unfortunately the sun was going down so you still don't get a really good idea of the colour of the fabric, although it is slightly better than pictures taken inside with flash.

However, regardless of the new deadline that I have now inflicted on myself, I am going back to work on Carnation as of tomorrow morning.  It will seem strange to be working on the floor frame again.  

This is how it looked when I stopped work on it in order to get the Noah's Ark done.  I need to finish the column on the right and then do the bottom row in order to complete Page 1.  I would like to do that before the first anniversary of this piece on 25 May.  What are my chances?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Just a couple of catch-ups - nothing to say about the wool and as for the job, well, I chased earlier this week, only to get an email response that they've now frozen recruitment for this post!  It is over 3 months since I first applied and was asked to come for interview.  Ok, so the initial delay was understandable under the circumstances, but I am more than a little narked about being messed about like this.

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.

Late clocking in, but news and finishes to report

Yes, this should have been posted on Sunday night but never mind.  By posting it now, I have more to tell you so will get the news out of the way before I talk about the stitching.

On the job front, I didn't get the job that I interviewed for the other week, but I handed in the other application form first thing on Monday and got a call last night to say that I'd made it through to the next stage.  This is a PA job in a local comprehensive school - a bit closer to home and more money, and a complete change of scenery!  Interviews were supposed to be being held tomorrow but the school suffered a tragedy over the weekend.  They have therefore done the shortlisting but postponed the interview process.

On the Marie Curie front, we did really well.  We raised £530.35 on our stall, and the coffee morning which had taken place the day before raised around £470, so we reached our first £1,000 in two events and two days.  I am so proud of us and very grateful to the local community for their generosity.

Moving on to the stitching, I have a couple of finishes to report.  First up is the Poinsettia piece that I completed the stitching on some while ago.  I have now finally got the beads on and it doesn't look too bad.  I tried using a beading needle but couldn't get the metallic thread that I was using through the eye.  Fortunately the holes in the beads were wide enough to get my ordinary stitching needle through so I did manage to get the job done.  Now all I need to do is turn it into an ornament.

Next up is the Angel ornament for my younger niece.  As my niece is a redhead, I've changed several of the colours on this.  The hair was originally yellow, the robe two shades of red and the background was a tan colour.  As with the Poinsettia, all I need to do now is turn it into an ornament along with the accompanying Holly piece.


The Beetle missed out again due to the need to work on my application for the PA job.  I promise that I really will get down to it this week.

With the Angel being finished early in the week, Noah's Ark has become my sunrise piece.  As a result, by Sunday I had not only finished the zebra, but also completed the two windows and started on the side of the Ark itself.  I'm hoping to get that done this week and get started on the roof.  No news on the baby front so I'm not panicking too much just yet - fingers crossed.


Finally, on the Christmas front, I still have shopping to do but I have posted the cards that need posting, been out for one pre-Christmas meal, have another one tomorrow and am going to a party on Saturday.  Now if only the plumber can get my central heating fixed tomorrow, everything in the garden will be lovely! 

Life and other plans!

In the past several posts I have been saying that I really must get on with the Beetle and I did intend to get down to some serious stitching this morning, but as the saying goes "Life is what happens when you are making other plans".

Last night I had just sat down to eat my tea when there was a hammering on my front door.  It was my little nieces who had come out with their parents to see the Christmas lights being switched on in our main shopping street.  They were dropping in on their way home because my oldest niece had a request to make - she wanted to have a sleepover with me then and there!  I couldn't say no; surely it means that I am doing something right if she wants to spend time with me, so she stayed over.  We read some books together and then it was time for bed.  She cleaned her teeth with toothpaste on her finger and I popped her into one of my t-shirts before tucking her up in my bed.  She slept like a log - I didn't.

This morning she ate enough breakfast to sink a battleship, we read some more books, she did a lovely drawing of a house and then played on my computer until Daddy came to fetch her.  I managed to get dressed and get the laundry done!  So no Beetle this week.

I have made some progress on the Angel, although this had to be shoved under the sofa last night when my visitors came.  I would hope to get it finished this week.

The elephant on the Ark is now complete, and I have moved onto the zebra.  The zebra's mane is a bit fiddly, but I would hope to get him finished this week as well.  Time has just become a bit tighter on this one.  My mum spoke to my aunt today - my cousin is huge, the baby is expected to weigh in around 9lb and the head is already engaged!  I'm sorry, baby, this will be one occasion on which an early bird will definitely have to wait for the worm so I would stay snuggly warm inside a bit longer if I were you.

On the Marie Curie front, we had our first event as a team on Saturday.  We set up a stall on one of our local shopping streets and sold cakes, Christmas cards, cookery books, chilli jam and chutney.  The first shift arrived at about 8.30am to set up, and the second shift (including me) came on about 10.30am.  I'm hoping to get an email tomorrow to say how much we made, but by the time we shut up shop at about 12.45pm, all the cakes and chutney were gone, we'd sold quite a few cookery books and Christmas cards and some of the chilli jam (good with cheese, ham etc apparently), so I think that we've done quite well.

On the job front, I have nothing to report.  Having purchased a new interview suit after much stress, I went to the interview on Tuesday morning.  I thought that it went reasonably well and they said that they would let me know either way.  I have heard nothing!  I have a form to fill in for another job which needs to be done this week - c'est la vie!

Stitching for others!

As per last week's post, I have only been stitching for others this week - Carnation is on hold for the time being, despite my wish to get page 1 finished before Christmas/New Year.

Starting with the closest deadline first, here is my progress on this year's ornament for my eldest niece.  I completed the framework first and am now working on the filling in.  I hope to be showing you a finish next week, and the start of the ornament for my littlest niece.  It's been nice and straightforward, working on this piece in the quiet time between breakfast and setting off for work.

The next deadline coming up is my cousin's baby due at the beginning of January.  As you can see, I've opted to work on the elephant next.  There has been some frogging on this one and also an annoying tendency to miss the odd stitch and have to go back to it with a fresh piece of thread.  Work has been done on this at lunchtimes at work and in the evenings.  This will move into my sunrise slot once the girls' ornaments are complete.  

Finally, the Beetle.  This lost out last week so this week I've finished the pale pink section at the top and added the somewhat wiggly orangey (although it doesn't look it) section.  I still need to do the white line up the side, but the top of the orangey bit butts onto the bottom of the front windscreen, so I am getting there slowly.  This still needs a lot of work to be done by the end of February, and I also have the Jayne Netley Mayhew piece to start when the fabric gets here, and get finished by the same time as the Beetle.  However the JNM piece is smaller and will be more transportable.

Well, that's the stitching sorted.  How about life in general?  Well, I'm a happy bunny cos I have a job interview at the end of the month for what could possibly be the perfect job, so please keep your fingers crossed for me!

We celebrated Mum's birthday this week.  My Dad, my sister and I clubbed together to buy her two vintage dolls houses - one of which I showed here.  We also played Pass the Parcel and my sister baked a cake.  It was good to spend time together.

I also spent time with my nieces yesterday.  My sister was having a weekend away and my BIL was refereeing a football match.  The girls and I had a good time on the whole (a bit of poking each other and some tears), and my BIL had cooked sausage casserole for our tea which meant that I didn't have to cook when I got home and could work on the Noah's Ark piece.

Well, I'm going to finish here cos I need to make tomorrow's lunch and I want to get a fairly early night, so I'll see you at the end of the week.

Happy Dancing!

Tonight I have two finishes to report - the Robin and the Xmas Tree.  Both need to be finish finished, but the final stitches are in!

I put the last stitches into the Robin yesterday after a little frogging for the ID, and then washed and pressed it today.  I now have three weeks in which to find a suitable frame, lace it, frame it and wrap it.  I really like it - I hope my friend does too.

The other finish was this little Xmas Tree - the last of the back stitch went in early this morning.  It has also been washed and pressed, as have the two other little Mouseloft pieces that I did earlier on.  Now I just need to make them up into cards if I can find suitable colours - this is on a creamy yellow aida (hasn't photographed well) and the other two are on a pale blue.  Not exactly Christmassy colours despite the designs.

I also washed and pressed the Poinsettia that I finished a while ago.  That is now ready to be beaded, something I've not tried before.  The deadline for getting it beaded and finish finished is mid December, so watch this space.

On to work in progress.  This week you can actually see what I've done on the Beetle without going back and looking at the previous post.  A small frog visited this morning while I was working on this, but only about half a dozen stitches.  That's what happens when you are doing the laundry and handwashing stitching pieces as well as actually stitching.  There's still a long way to go on this one so I'm thinking that perhaps I need to give this an evening in the week as well as Sunday mornings.  I'll let you know.


I got another two blocks done on Carnation - it's confetti time again.  However I only have two more full blocks to go on this page and then it is on to the partial blocks in column 8 and row 10.  The plan is to get page 1 done before Christmas.

However, the kit has arrived for my cousin's baby and I need to get cracking on that.  The aida for that was washed and pressed this morning as well in order to get the creases out.  I've measured it up and it looks as if it will fit on my Lapman.  Once I get it all sorted out, I think that that will be my travelling piece (at least I will give it a whirl).

In addition, I think that I've found the piece for my other friend's 40th birthday - it is a Jayne Netley Mayhew cat from a very old issue of Cross Stitch Gold.  I'll need to buy some fabric for it - 28 count desert sand evenweave.  I had been thinking about doing some Ginger Tom bookmarks as they would be easy to send to the States, but if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well.  At the moment, I'm thinking on stitching it and sending it unframed, a) for ease of postage and b) cos I don't know what their decor looks like out there.

And lastly, but definitely not least, I've applied for a new job!  It is the perfect job - using all my skills and qualifications, regular foreign travel, more money and I can walk to work!  They've acknowledged my application - now I just have to wait to see what happens.