Last post of 2013 - how did I do?

Unfortunately I managed to miss out on the last WIPocalypse and IHSW of 2013 - I was too busy getting sorted for Christmas, but I did take photos of my WIPs even if I didn't manage to blog them at the time.

So I'll start by going through the goals that I set myself this time last year.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose - page 3 was finished on 17 April and page 4 on 29 September 2013.  This piece has since been on hold whilst I worked on other things, but I plan to get back to it in 2014.

Turkish Challenge - we were given an extension on this piece, so it was finished on 11 April 2013.

5th birthday present - this was "Enchanted Garden", finished and framed by 8 June 2013, a week ahead of schedule.

Guardian Angels - this is still work in progress, with one angel complete bar beading and the second started - again to be worked on in 2014.

Bouquet pieces - this series of 6 smalls was completed on 11 October 2013 and made up into cards to sell for Marie Curie.

Train of Dreams - this is still work in progress - again to be worked on in 2014.

That's the update on 2013 goals.  I will set my 2014 goals in my next post.

Next comes WIP updates etc.

First, a couple of finish finishes - my niece's Christmas ornaments finished on Christmas Day itself.  Unfortunately for some reason I can't get them to fit side by side, which is most annoying.
















 

This is the before Christmas shot of April. 

Followed by the post Christmas shot of April.  This piece is coming on nicely with only a small amount left to do on this bottom section before I can finish the back stitching, do the French knots for the birds' eyes and move on to the first angel.

 Finally the before Christmas shot of Train of Dreams - one more block completed in this session.

Followed by the post Christmas shot in which there are a further two blocks completed.

On the health front, I weighed in before Christmas at 11 stone 8.5lb, a total loss of 1 stone exactly.  There has been no weigh-in this week because it was Boxing Day, so I have a little extra time to try and get straight after Christmas.

Back to work tomorrow and the New Year will begin in a couple of days.  So here's hoping that you all had a lovely Christmas, and wishing you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year in 2014.

2013 WIPocalypse - October Full Moon & IHSW - October Report

Once again the WIPocalypse and IHSW fall at the same time.  This is good because it saves me from having to think up an enticing title for this post.

I'm really pleased with myself over this piece.  This will be a Christmas ornament for my eldest niece and is actually a start and a finish!  I started it on 14 October and finished it on 19 October, which is really good going for me.  He comes from Issue 130 of Cross Stitch Crazy.  Eldest niece actually learns recorder and keyboards, but the closest I could get was a flute playing snowman, who actually looked like he was chewing a stick, so I went for cheerful, happy cymbal snowman.  Littlest niece would like to sing in the school choir so my next piece will be snowman with song book.

Train of Dreams is coming along nicely.  The green book is very nearly finished - just a few stitches remaining in the next block or two.  I'm looking forward to seeing the moon ornament develop as I move down the page.

Nothing to show on Serena this week because on Saturday Mum and I went to a local patchwork exhibition.  The patchwork group holding the exhibition includes some of the members of the group that I belong to, so several of the pieces on show were old friends.  There were some stunning quilts, including a fabulous Chinese dragon, and as usual other pieces that just didn't inspire at all, but everyone has different tastes.  We had a very nice time, meeting several people we knew, but Mum was feeling a bit under the weather so went for a nap when we got home.

However I did promise you stash pictures.  I tried to get it all into one photo, but failed miserably.  Anyway this is the insanity part of my stash purchase - two Teresa Wentzler charts.  I took everything to Patchwork Group the other week and as soon as I showed Peacock Tapestry, one of the other members said that she knew someone who had done it!  I would dearly love to have a look at their finished piece for guidance, but unfortunately they are not very well at the moment.

Next comes the cute part of my stash bonanza.  Two charts by Valerie Pfeiffer of Heritage Crafts.  I do think that the Christmas Chick is by far the nicest of her Chickadee series - there is something about the way the eyes are done on the others that doesn't appeal.  And the Chorus Line is just so sweet - I don't normally do cute, but I just couldn't resist.

Last but not least a Joan Elliott Design Works kit and a Just Nan chart with charm.  These come in the more challenging but not insane category, between Peacock Tapestry and Christmas Chick.  Speaking of Just Nan, I sent her a query about beading Mum's angels, and she replied that she normally beads as she goes along, but that she stitches her angels singly rather than in a row.

So that's stitching and stash - what else can I tell you?  Well I lost another 1lb last week so I'm down to 11 stone 11.5lb, so another 3lb to go before I've lost a stone.  I know that it's slow but I also know that it works and I will get there eventually, so I'm not too worried.  It's school half-term here so work is quite quiet - I'll have two days on my own this week so will hopefully get some backlog cleared. 

Now I really must go and put my tea on, so all the best to you and yours and may the frog steer well clear of your stitching.

IHSW - November 2012 Report

Well, I have quite a lot to report this time.  A finish, a finish finish and a new start.

"I'm Snowman A and I'm very pleased to meet you.  I hope that you will soon be meeting my good friend, Elf H."  So that is one 2012 Christmas ornament for my nieces off the blocks.  The plan is to start Elf H during my lunch break tomorrow and then take him to Sewing Day on Thursday.  The only change made to Snowman A is to backstitch the outline of the white areas to make him stand out better - he was designed to be stitched on pale blue aida rather than white.

The finish finish is Little Miss Gorgeous' Teddy stocking to go on her first Christmas tree.  I'll give him a press before I send him off, but I think that he has come out nicely.  Her parents love the Noah's Ark, so I think that they will appreciate this piece too.

This is not a good photo of my new start but as it is being stitched on 28 count white linen, I think that the fabric doesn't help with photos at this early stage.  This is Just Nan's Serena, being the first of four angels that I am planning to stitch on one piece of linen in response to a request from my Mum.  This is going to tick off a number of firsts for me - first piece on linen, first piece using special stitches, first piece using Kreinik threads - and second piece with beading.  I'm using a 30 inch frame with my Lowery floor stand, so another BAP to join Carnation and Train.

Another block completed on Train and some good overlap into the block below.  I lost the morning light again today due to having to make an early shopping trip to accommodate Mum's birthday tea, but still some progress made.  Despite the issues of using 25 count fabric, I do like the way this looks and how close it is to the original picture.  

Lovely progress on Carnation this week.  In to row 3 and it was so nice and straightforward that I got four blocks done instead of my usual three.  That puts me a tiny bit ahead of my deadline of finishing page 3 by the second anniversary.

So for this week coming, I have a Sewing Day with the Patchwork Group on Thursday.  My plan is to take Elf H and crack on with him with the hope of getting both ornaments made up by the end of the month.

Hope all is well with you and yours, and that you are keeping snuggly warm in this wintry weather.

Slow and steady does it.

This is not going to be a long post tonight as we had family visiting this weekend, which affected the amount of stitching done, but a baby is a lovesome thing, God wot.

Starting with my Christmas snowman, I took him to Patchwork Group this week.  I had to frog his hat almost immediately because I had gone one stitch to the left too many.  However by the end of the evening, he had hat, face and a good start on a body.  The remainder of his body and the start of his blue A got done on Saturday night.  I rather think that I am going to have to backstitch him as well as his A - he was designed to be stitched on pale blue aida rather than white, so does not show up brilliantly.

Train has really suffered this week.  Due to my cousin's visit, I have only put half a dozen or so stitches into this today, but I have completed another block, bringing the total to 17.  Hopefully better luck next week.

On to Carnation, which got its regulation three blocks again this week.  One more block on the current row and then down to row 3 next week.  My camera lost the plot taking this photo - I took the picture and a message came on the screen - "Blink detected".  If you can see anything in this picture capable of blinking, then you have better eyes than me!

Next, my frames came for Mum's Angels and for Four Seasons.  The Angels will have to come first, but it did take two of us to get the fabric onto the clip frame properly.  Now I just have to get my thread organisers sorted and get started.

Finally I had a quick word with my littlest niece today when she came round to my parents' house to see the baby.  It turns out that she wants a picture similar to the one I did for her big sister (see Sunflowers on my 2011 Finish page).  This means that Mum and I will have to do some serious adapting of the Sunflower chart - reversing it is just going to be the start as I really don't want to do the exact same piece.

Anyway, here's wishing you all well for another week, especially anyone still suffering from Sandy chaos.  And as it is Remembrance Sunday, at the going down of the sun, we will remember those who gave their lives that we might live freely.  Willie and Jack, your names live on in our hearts.

Help needed!

I have a little problem relating to the fabrics that I have so badly photographed here.  Z, the honorary member of our Patchwork Group, came back from Turkey with a range of fabrics, including these.  As a result, the group is now faced with a challenge.  By Easter next year, we have to create a piece 6 inches by 24 inches (approx. 15 cm by 60cm for metric people) using our selection of fabrics.  Personally I wasn't keen on any of them, so ended up with these florals.  I have thought long and hard, and the only thing that I can think of is to stitching a climbing rose incorporating the colours in the fabrics and then get Mum to combine my stitching with the fabrics to create the right size piece.  The problem is that I cannot find a suitable chart of a climbing rose.  There are issues about width, complexity (I have limited time to do this in) etc, etc.  So can anyone out there suggest something that I could use or adapt?  All suggestions gratefully received.

Right, moving on - I have both a finish finish and a new start to show you.  Here are my Delft pieces made up into cards to sell for Marie Curie.  It isn't a brilliant photo because I forgot to leave them unbagged so that I could take a photo without glare.  I think that they look just fine and am hoping that someone will take a fancy to them at our stall later on this month.

The festive season fast approaches and therefore so does the need to start work on this year's ornaments for the girls.  This start will eventually be a snowman with a red scarf standing next to a blue A for my littlest niece.  This is taken from an alphabet in the current copy of Cross Stitch Collection (issue 216).  Eldest niece will have a green and red Christmas elf standing next to a bright orange H.

On to Train of Dreams.  Just a little progress here due to this morning's expensive excursion, about which I will say more in the Stash section of this post.  One more complete block and a couple of nearly completed blocks, courtesy of last night's late night waiting for the fireworks to calm down.

Carnation got its regulation three blocks but also quite a bit in the next block, which should speed things up this coming week.  It's very satisfying watching this lovely painting emerging under my needle.

Now - the Stash Update.  As some of you may know, HAED's Halloween Sale expanded from 35% to 50% off.  I had a couple of items in my wishlist and thought why not?  So I did.  As a result, my chart stash now includes Golden Wood by Ruth Sanderson, which always reminds me of the fairytale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Birthstone Sapphire by Rachel Anderson.

This morning Mum and Z and I went to a fabric warehouse in Leicester.  I don't really go for the fabric but they do stock some DMC threads and other stitching bits and pieces.  Today I spent £137.13 - aren't 0% purchase credit cards so useful some times?  On this occasion, they had far more DMC threads than usual at 40p a skein (85p each in Hobbycraft).  I just went along the rows taking one of each colour that they had in stock - 300 skeins later, I was not massively popular with the people on the checkout - it took three of them to count up how many I had.  The remaining £17.13 was aida, waste canvas, thimble, needle threaders etc.  But as I pointed out, I don't smoke, very rarely drink, don't go clubbing, and so on and so forth - and all those threads will keep me going for quite a while!  Carpe diem, as they say!

A little finish and a little start

Well, a day late but that's not unusual.  I do have a finish to show - I think my Snowman is quite cute.  I didn't bother with the snowballs/ snowflakes in the end.  They would have been a pain to do without thread showing through from the back.  Hopefully someone will be able to make a nice card out of him for Marie Curie.

I finished the Snowman at my Slimming World class while waiting for everyone to get weighed.  I'd tucked a follow-up piece into my stitching bag and here he is.  When it's done, it will be Santa's head saying Ho, Ho, Ho.  This is another Mouseloft for Hobbycraft piece.  I bought a handful of them some time ago but never got round to them until now.

I do think that this Beetle is a bit jinxed.  I have made progress on it, but not a lot because I was fighting a battle with my washing machine on Sunday morning which distracted me from my stitching.  The far front tyre is finished and some stitching put into the far end of the front bumper, but still not as much as I had hoped.

I didn't get a lot done on Carnation either this week - only completing two blocks, leaving me with one to do on the bottom row before going back up to the top and working down.  However, as I was out every night from Monday to Friday, two blocks is a reasonable achievement.

Monday night was dinner with my parents and a family friend, Tuesday was Pilates, Wednesday was a meal out with two old schoolfriends (one of whom is the future owner of the Beetle), Thursday night was Slimming World and Friday night was babysitting.  I got home Saturday morning about 1.20am and the highlights of the evening were catching up on the episode of Who Do You Think You Are that I missed on Wednesday and my littlest niece falling out of bed!  Although she'd fallen asleep on the carpet by the time I got up the stairs and only needed putting back to bed, it did mean that I spent the rest of the evening jumping at any unexpected noise!

I've had a cunning plan for my other school friend.  She hits the big 4-0 a couple of months after me but doesn't want anyone to make a fuss about it.  However they both came back to mine for a cup of tea after the meal on Wednesday and she was admiring the birds in my Eva Rosenstand catalogue.  Well, there is a very nice little robin chart in that catalogue which comes out at just over 4" by 4" which, as she is also into bird watching, I think will do nicely.  I've done the conversion to DMC and now just have to sort out the fabric and threads and get started.  Hopefully I will have something to show you in my next update post.

Hurray for Bank Holidays!

Well, tomorrow is August Bank Holiday Monday, which means the kids go back to school next week and the big 4-0 is only a month away now!

Tomorrow I'm planning an excursion to Wye Needlecraft in Bakewell, just for a look see.  I may or may not come home with stash - it all depends on what they've got.

OK, update time.  I took my Snowman to Slimming World with me this week and made some good progress.  You can now see what he is without needing the picture from the kit :-)  Really, I should have finished him by now, but he's not really my sort of thing - the plan is to make him into a card to sell for Marie Curie.

 Having been away last week and not done anything on the Beetle, I've had a good go at it today.  The middle of the front bumper is done and I've started on the other front tyre.  However I have noticed that there are differences between the chart and the picture on the front of the kit so I'm hoping that it still comes out looking OK.  Also I've checked carefully and I'm not going to go over the edge of the gridded bit of the fabric which is a relief. 

Carnation is coming on - despite the short week due to having been away, I have completed three blocks at the bottom left and done a chunk of a fourth.  I've also had to change the angle of the photo in order to get it all in - quite how I'm going to manage when I've got much more done, I'm not sure.

If you look under the pheasant at the top, you'll see that I've added a new page for my 2011 finishes.  There are only three so far because I need to wash and bead my Poinsettia before it counts as a finish, and then it will have to be finish finished.  

Some sick and twisted person texted the Metro this week to say that it is only 19 weeks to Christmas - have they got nothing better to do - I've got assorted birthdays and Halloween to deal with before then!  A short working week this week between Bank Holiday Monday and having a day off on Friday.  I'm out every night this week doing a variety of things from dinner with friends to babysitting, so may not have a lot to show in my next update.

Anyway, time's getting on and if I want to make an early start, I need to think about getting to bed.

Back in my own bed!

Hi folks, this is a late update post because I have been away for a long weekend at a family wedding.  The title refers to the fact that the past three nights have been spent staying with relatives, then staying in a hotel (where I needed earplugs to get any sleep) and then back to the relatives.  It was a lovely wedding and I got to meet members of the family that I knew of but had never met, but I am really glad to be back home in my own place and really glad to be sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Having been away for four days, I have not managed to do anything on the Beetle at all.  However I have made some progress in my project to create pieces for Marie Curie.  I had in my stash some little Christmas pieces designed by Mouseloft for Hobbycraft.  I took this snowman away with me and managed to get a reasonable chunk done in odd moments.  I did have to sub in one of my own needles because the one supplied was rubbish!

Carnation has also suffered this week but I did managed to get the column on the right finished and start work filling in the first block in row 8 at the bottom.  

Tomorrow I'm back at work.  The boss is now off for a fortnight, but this week will be a four day week because of the wedding, and next week will be a three day week because the Monday is a bank holiday and I have booked the Friday off to chill out.

I also need to do some work on my family tree as a couple of the family members that I met over the weekend are really interested and I have promised to send them stuff.

Right, my action packed weekend is catching up with me.  I need to go make tomorrow's lunch and then crawl into bed for a good night's sleep.