Last finishes for 2012 & First for 2013

We managed to have a wonderful Christmas Day with some of our closest family friends (who are closer than family to us in most respects), and Dad managed to have a good couple of days before he was whisked away to hospital by ambulance late on 28 December.  Here is our ‘gang’ on Christmas Day:

With Dad in and out of hospital like a jack-in-a-box the last week we haven’t been able to leave home much at all … which has meant a reasonable amount of stitching time for me.  Unfortunately I was incredibly unprepared for this trip home and I just quickly chucked what I thought were some fully kitted up projects that were relatively small into my carry-on bag … only to find when I got here that one was totally missing fabric, and almost all of them were missing half the over-dyed threads!  I had ordered them from 123stitch and they had just arrived a bare 24 hours before I left, but I forgot to pack them as well so they’re still sitting at home in Sydney …

In the meantime, though, I’ve managed to start and complete a couple of small projects over Christmas after raiding Mum’s stash of DMC so I could finish kitting them up (at least I’d brought a couple that used DMC!!) 🙂

“Blossoms & Bluebirds” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct Lambswool Wichelt linen
with recommended DMC
(but I’m thinking of removing the 3371 border and just back-stitching it instead
as it has totally overpowered the pretty blue border)

“Ma Boite a Tresors” by Cmon monde
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with recommended Atalie and DMC threads
(just need to find some ABC buttons for it)

I also made a start on a small Easter one (my first stitching choice for my holidays) but I’m really unhappy with the colours in the kit – I want to change the big pink egg to be blue, but there isn’t enough Old Blue Paint in the kit threads and nowhere to buy from locally over the Christmas holidays.  I’ve looked at some of the other blue threads that I brought with me and some are great, but just don’t suit the other kit colours.  This morning I woke up feeling very tempted to just change some of the other colours as well, but that would probably mean unpicking the entire border … will have to mull that one over a bit further, I think … but in the meantime I’ve placed another 123stitch order with some things for Mum and I with some other threads, so fingers crossed they arrive before I fly home again!

The final finish I have is my first finish for 2013 – I managed to put the last stitches into it at 12.30am this morning, just after the New Year was celebrated (which for me was me in the bedroom wishing the TV a Happy New Year as the oldies were both asleep).  This has been a UFO for longer than I care to admit … I tried to replicate a biscornu I’d already stitched, but the purple thread was much, much paler than when I originally stitched it and seems to have faded over time as well – the turquoise I’d originally used was WAY too bright so after stitching about half of the first side I chucked it into the naughty corner where it sat forlornly for at least 2 years.  I (well actually Mum) finally unpicked all the bright turquoise and after deciding I didn’t have any well-matched over-dyed threads in my stash I resorted to pulling some of Mum’s DMC out and opted for 597 as my colour of choice.  It’s really nice to finally have this one out of the stitching pile and into the finishing pile – as soon as I get home it will get made up into its final form and sent off to a new home along with some long-overdue promised goodies.

I still have another few projects left to be stitched, but sadly they really need the missing threads – in the meantime Mum and I popped up to the local Spotlight store for a piece of 14ct Aida and 32ct white Belfast linen so I can at least start my Round Robin which is due for posting out on 1 February and also start a charity quilt square (will have to raid Mum’s DMC yet again, though).  I have a lot of SALs and other challenges to work on this year, but they will all have to be delayed until I return home, as I didn’t bring any of my SAL challenge pieces with me … we find out on Thursday whether Dad can have surgery and if so when that will happen, and will probably work over here for a short while (I brought my work laptop with me just in case).  Either way this week will likely be my final free week for lots of stitching time … it’s been wonderful while it’s lasted, though, and I really need to make more time for it in 2013 to give myself a bit more work/life balance! 🙂

Finally, here’s hoping that 2013 is a better one for many of us who struggled in 2012 … I hope for everyone it is a year filled with stitchy goodness, lots of fun and laughter, love and friendship, not to mention good health and prosperity!