Anne S

More enabling …

19 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

After this week, my flat is an “enabling-free zone” … thanks to KarenV, I’ve fallen in love with yet another chart, and have had to place an order … for the Lavender Rose Sewing Case by Fancy Works. I have to admit I was umm-ing and ahh-ing until I saw these two latest releases today by Wendy Causer, of Wendy K C Designs – Bee’s Garden and Summer Hearts … well, that was the deciding factor, as I can now justify the postage cost. That means I’m officially back on the stash wagon again … unless I need a specific fabric or thread to complete a “must do” design, I’m not buying any more charts until my birthday … that’s right, no more charts until at least February. I’m getting the Mystery Bits each month now from SB&B, which are only for threads on my wishlist, so that’ll keep me in stash heaven every month until then 🙂

Thanks to Nicki’s generosity, and a top up from myself (due to an extra fortnight’s pay yippee), I had a major Drawn Thread stash fest in the last SB&B back order, as well as receiving my Designing Ladies finishing instructions for the Stitching Leporello (thanks again Nicki!), TW’s Tropical Dream and Just Nan’s Beach Roses – lucky last, I also received LHN’s Coffee House Menu … not my usual style, but I just love this one stitched up 🙂 So, finally two weeks after returning home, here’s the last stash photo, seeing as there are no stitching piccies again today (a whole lot of basting isn’t too exciting to show you, and that’s all I got done yesterday). The Drawn Thread charts are For the Birds, Sunflower Bellpull, Little Learning Band – The Acorn Sampler, Autumn Arbor, and It’s Halloween … now you can see why it’s easy to go on a stash diet! 😀

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“They’re baaaaack!!!”

17 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

No, it’s not yet another re-run of Poltergeist … but the return of the Dratteds 😀 I felt absolutely miserable and sorry for myself today, so I cheered myself up with starting my rotation again – I didn’t think I’d ever say the Dratteds would bring me so much joy, but it was definitely what the doctor ordered. I sat all day with my bung knee, bunged up and intermittently dripping nose, and heavy eyes due to lack of sleep (add to that a certain monthly visitor showing its head today hmmm) and stitched my little heart out … and I enjoyed every minute of it. My eyes are now like little squints, but fingers crossed I’ll sleep better tonight.

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I worked on the Dratteds (and any of my rotation, for that matter) – it was December last year since they saw daylight … so I’ve decided to do a ‘before and after’ shot to see the progress 🙂 Basically the entire left hand side is now 100% finished yippee. I’d dearly love to see them finished before year end, even if none of my other goals are met … hopefully it will happen … As they say in Arabic, “imshallah” (God willing) 🙂
Before

After

Blogging Memes

Miss Cranky Pants

17 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Yep, that’s me this morning … didn’t get to bed until after midnight, but was out like a light almost immediately, then semi woke up at 4am … only to have a spider dream where the damn thing was dropping down from the ceiling with it’s huge hairy legs wiggling right by my head – my heart was pounding, and the sheer terror had me bolting upright from bed and hastily running to the door and lightswitch … only problem is that I’d piled up a whole lot of ‘stuff’ to clear out today and ended up falling over it and ploughing into the corner of the wooden bed frame – I now have a nice graze and simmering bruise on my left knee, that was throbbing most of the night. I was tossing and turning the rest of the ‘night’. Bloody spiders … mutter mutter mutter …

An answer for Heather – reversible blackwork isn’t at all hard, but you do have to concentrate really hard to make sure you follow the directions correctly. The class I did was a correspondence class through the Embroiderers Guild of America, and the teaching notes are awesome – every block is mapped out step by step with numerical sequences … I managed to stuff up three blocks, but the rest look pretty good, and it’s a piece I’m really proud of. Took me a looooong time to stitch it, and eventually it’ll be turned into a draughts board. I’d definitely do it again – and I have the teaching notes as a great reference for life now 🙂

Rightio, on to an archive question from Memes for Stitchers, seeing as there is no stitching again today (“yet” anyway – that might be what I need to cheer me up LOL):

What do you think of Chatelaine designs? have you ever stitched one or do you want to? What do you like/dislike about them? And finally how do you feel about projects that cost over $150 in supplies?

I adore Chatelaine almost all of the mandala designs, and would dearly love to stitch a few of them, but I have to admit the price of supplies keeps me from doing as many as I’d like to. Egyptian Garden is sitting on my old tapestry frame Mum brought from NZ for me on her last visit (it’s the only one I owned that had scroll bars long enough, and I didn’t see the point of buying another set) – I have to really know I’m going to stitch it before going to the expense of buying everything … and the price makes it a priority for stitching. Can’t wait to get this back into my rotation again soon 🙂 I also have the Stitching Leporello ready for starting now, as my supplies arrived while I was away in NZ yippee … just have to find time to fit it in again now. Would have been nice to keep up with the SAL, but now I’m three months behind, I don’t feel very motivated to catch up 😦

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, SBQ

SBQ … part two (3rd post today!)

16 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

OK, 2nd time lucky for my stitching nest piccies …

The second request comes from Singular Stitches, and she is asking for “a pictorial tour of [the] special place that you go to create your wonderful stitched creations.”

The first piccie is my permanent stitching area – only a few of my stitching folders are in the bookcase, with the rest of my stash in my bedroom closet, and spare bedroom (still unpacked since I freighted it over at the start of the month). The plastic tub holds my DMC collection, with my stitching tools etc in the basket. My essential tools are there – my floorstand and my OTTlite … as well as my cuddle blanket for my legs now the colder weather is here. Then I have a couple of WIP’s tucked in the corner on scroll bars, and my latest addition, a bin to hold my empty scrollbars (they won’t be empty for long once I get back to my rotation!). Lucky last is my little folding table with other essentials … my ort-bag from Toby, highlighter pens, Tacky Bob from Carol, tub of udder cream and wet facecloth for my hands. The great thing about living on my own is that I can have everything cluttered in the lounge without annoying anyone haha. (You should be able to click on each piccie for the up close and personal versions …)

Straight ahead of me is the other essential tool for stitching – my TV for watching DVD’s LOL. As you can see, one cover is missing from the furniture, as it’s still in NZ (I forgot to bring it home with me oops). My next spending when I have the money will be a new lounge suite and table – although, our $150 garage sale lounge suite has tided us over very well, and the sofa bed is very very comfy (shame the sofa itself isn’t the same!) – and I’m using the table that Frazier made at high school in woodwork class (his Dad sold it to me for $20 hmmm). As you can see, at the moment that little table is housing my basket of smalls.

From where I sit, off to the left is my little nest of tables, where my Melanie’s exchange from Jenna is currently residing happily 🙂 It’s joined with a ‘seed’ picture I gave Grandy a few years before she passed away, so it’s now back with me again. I brought it back with me from NZ, so it will always remind me of her when I see it. I had a bit of difficulty getting it through Customs – but once I told them it was of sentimental value, and why, they let me through with it without any further problems – go Customs guys!! 😀 My poor sunflowers have seen better days, but I haven’t found any nice ones to replace them with yet.

Behind my stitching chair is my dining/balcony area – when it’s a nice day, I can pull my stitching chair right back in front of the windows to make the most of the daylight – but it’s usually where my laundry ends up drying every week 😉 You can see my new ‘short’ curtains 🙂 The colour’s really dark, though – the blue is a bit brighter than it looks. My computer desk sits here, directly off to the left of the photo – my chair is basically where I was standing to take the piccie … I get to look out the window and enjoy the view 🙂

Lucky last, this is the view as you look back from my stitching chair … back to the dining table and the kitchen. See, I wasn’t joking when I said you’d get to see half of my entire flat!! The only thing you can’t see is the two bedrooms, the bathroom/laundry and toilet haha. As you can see throughout my piccies my theme of “blue” is definitely very present … and you have probably spotted the odd duck or two around as well LOL.

So, that’s it in a nutshell … end of tour 😀

SBQ

SBQ … part one

16 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, I still haven’t picked up a needle today, but I’ve done really exciting things like scrubbing the toilet and unpotting 3 of my dead plants out on the balcony, and getting a load of washing done – after all that excitement I think I need a lie down ;P

I also finally managed to get a host of photos taken to show my ‘stitching nest’ … of course by doing that, you get to see half of my entire flat! LOL. So, here goes for the SBQ’s: (actually, it seems that Blogger is only being half accommodating tonight – it’s amazingly let me upload six stitching piccies, but no stitching NEST piccies, so I’ll try again in a separate post for them …

The first request comes from Vash who is requesting pictures of
the back of your stitching … are you brave enough to give this one a shot?

Here’s the front and back of one of my very first XS attempts years ago … um, things have improved just slightly since then ;P The Tiger design is by Ross Originals.

Here’s the front (on the left) and back (on the right) of one corner of my Chess Anyone piece … if you think they look similar, you’re right, as it’s stitched using reversible blackwork ;P

And my final ones – my Prairie Schooler ornament, and my Zebra (aka my Giraffe LOL).

Blogging Memes

No stitching yesterday

16 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I was in a bit of a ‘funk’ yesterday – spent some time catching up on three of my favourite blog archives, but I couldn’t really say what I did for the rest of the day – I think, though, that I got through the worst of my illness yesterday, and today I feel quite a bit better. My ears are still a bit ‘funny’, but my voice is coming back, and I’m not too bunged up. Saw a GP this morning and we agree I didn’t need antibiotics just yet, so we’re going to see if I can kick it in the butt naturally over the next couple of days – if not, we’ll take more action. So, I now have the next three days off yippee, so plenty of time to get over these nasty bugs 🙂

I was just in the middle of reading Jenna’s archives, and came across details about the Stitcher’s Meme blog … I think that’s going to be a great thing to fill in the gaps when I don’t have any stitching progress to report – and it’s fun to read everyone’s answers. I love all the different memes – it makes things much more personal, and you get to find out so much about people. Anyway, I decided seeing as I’m going to try to get back into blogging more often again, this would be a good way to help start … by using some of the ‘archive’ questions each day, as well as answering the current ones … and seeing as I don’t have any stitching progress today, here’s my opportunity to start the ball rolling with the June memes …

Floss Storage meme:
1. How do you store your floss?
2. Do you keep a complete set of DMC?
3. Do you buy new floss to “kit” up new projects or do you use out of a master set?

1. In floss-away bags – I’ve tried just about every storage method, including bobbins, stitchbows, and plastic sleeves in ringbinders, and bags definitely work the best for me so far.
2. Yes, I have the complete set of DMC.
3. I use what I have on hand, and only replace when I run out. A lot of colours I have duplicates of, so I’ll only buy extras when I have a large project such as a Mirabilia, and I know I need multiple skeins of one colour.

Monthly goals:
1. How did you go with your May goals?
2. What are your June goals?

I don’t tend to make monthly goals, but perhaps if I did it would help me to get a few more things done, as it would help me to focus. So, even though it’s halfway through June, perhaps I’ll start and give it a try …

My June goals are:

Kit up my racing car charity quilt square
Ducks RR stitched up ready for posting on 1 July
Start Bordeaux Mystery Sampler SAL with Carol
Re-start my rotation again

And the last question from May:

1. Do you have an online gallery somewhere with your cross-stitch?
2. How often do you take WIP pics?
3. Do you ever spend time looking at other stitcher’s galleries? If so how often do you look at them?

1. Yes, I have a Webshots album here (there’s also a link in my sidebar).
2. I take WIP pics regularly – usually at the end of each stitching day if I’m blogging about it, otherwise I just wait until it’s finished (eg for exchanges, as I’m not posting progress piccies anywhere).
3. Yes, I enjoy looking at other stitchers online albums – it gives me great inspiration to see others finished works, and their WIP’s … I love to see other stitchers work 🙂

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash, Works in Progress

Stitching update

15 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I had to take a day off work yesterday just to get some stitching in … well, actually it was because I felt like cr*p, and couldn’t face work – my sore throat turned into a bit of laryngitis on Tuesday night, and I hardly slept at all. When I woke up yesterday morning I felt really groggy and as though I’d been run over. This morning I still feel pretty rough – I’m more blocked up in the nose, and my throat is sore again, but my voice isn’t quite as laryngitis-like. Fingers crossed I’ll be OK to get back to work again tomorrow. It does mean, though, that I managed to get a bit of stitching done – and a bit of frogging too ;P I still have two stitches to fix up in the vines that I noticed I managed to miss yesterday, and they’re easily added in – but I’m slowly catching up to you, Carol 😀 I’ll continue to get this panel finished (the whole of part 1), then I have to get my ducks RR done to get in the mail by 1 July … then it’s “Dratteds, here I come!!!” 😀

Just a quick post today, as my concentration at the computer isn’t great – I tried catching up on some more blog reading yesterday, but I ended up reading most things three times, and gave up. Off to have another Lemsip Cold & Flu, then cuddle up under my blanket again in my not-so-glamorous PJ’s for the day …

(Updated) Crikey, I just realised that I hadn’t posted piccies of my previous stash arrivals … for some reason I thought I’d already done it, but just checked back in my blog posts, and lo and behold nothing was there! Oops – I’d forget my head these days if it wasn’t permanently attached!! Anyway, here are the piccies of stash I received as gifts from some very generous ladies – thanks so much again Cathy and Nancy – your generosity is amazing, and I love everything (I know I’ve sent personal emails already, but just wanted to reiterate it now) 😀 Unfortunately blogger is, just for a change, having a hissy fit about adding more photos, so I’ve had to use Photobucket, which of course means you can’t click for a bigger piccie, sorry 😦

Here are my wonderful spoils from Cathy:

And my wonderful spoils from Nancy:

Works in Progress

Just blogging for the sake of it (updated)

13 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

I don’t really have anything to say … just wanted to try and get back into the habit of blogging more regularly. Managed to get some blog reading done over the last two days, but many many more to go yet – hopefully by the end of the week I’ll definitely be caught up. Apologies if I’m not leaving many comments, but I’m enjoying reading everything.

Even though the curtains don’t reach the floor, I’m loving them – even just having them up gives the place some more colour and warmth … and eventually I’ll just sew some more fabric on the bottoms to help keep the cold out. I also picked up the same curtains in the sales for the main lounge window, but it’s a lot wider and more awkward to get to, so I need to wait until I’ve got an accomplice to help me … hopefully they’ll be up on 20 June, ‘cos Fraze is visiting – yup, yet another job for you Fraggle! 😀

I did a dopey thing yesterday … went with my little parcels to the Post Office before work, only to find they were closed – it was a public holiday in Australia, and I didn’t know hmmm. So I rocked up to work in my business clothes, and everyone else was in jeans 😦 Good job I took a decent coat and scarf, though, as we had two separate fire alarms go off and we had to evacuate the building twice on a very cold day in Melbourne … brrrrrrrr. It’s funny, when I lived in Auckland I owned a full-length wool coat and scarf etc, but wore it about a dozen times … since moving to Melbourne I now have a nice selection of scarves, gloves and hats – and along with my coat I actually NEED them. It has looked quite miserable a few times over the last two weeks – very bleak looking and grey all day 😦 So my lovely blue curtains help to hide the bleakness, and I get to look at some beautiful colour instead 😀

Today I’ve decided I need to start my rotation again – I honestly have a tangible physical and mental URGE to pick it up and get back into my routine … so this morning I am putting my Bordeaux Mystery Sampler (which is no longer a mystery ‘cos we have all the parts haha) onto my scroll bars, and I’m putting a few stitches in before work … after 10 hours on that, I’ll be back to picking up the Dratteds (aka Dolphins Domain) and I honestly can’t wait!!

(Updated) And just to show I really did make an effort this morning, here’s the proof of my labour … not much to show for it, but it’s a start none-the-less 🙂 I’m on 3pm shift starts all week, so it gives me a bit of time in the mornings to get a few things done – today I decided to have some “me” time for stitching instead of housework 😀 Mind you, I’ve been struggling with a bad throat and chest the last three days, so perhaps it was also a bit of pampering needed to perk me up too … I have my fingers crossed it doesn’t escalate into a full-on cold 😦

Uncategorized

No stitching today

11 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

It’s been a very busy weekend so far, but none of it was planned and none of it was really thought out … it just kinda ‘happened’. The fact is my little flat is an icebox in winter – it has ducted heating, but the pilot light has gone out, and I’ve got to find time for the landlord to come round to light it etc. In the meantime, I have windows in the lounge that aren’t quite shut properly because the wood must have swollen up a bit with the wet weather … and it has a little winding mechanism to open and close them, so I can’t even give it a good yank to get it closed … I’m also 3 floors up from the ground, so I can’t pop outside and push it closed hmmm.

On top of that the balcony door has a 1/2cm gap at the top of it where it doesn’t close nice and flush, and the kitchen window has an extractor fan in it, which of course has the opening in it … my kitchen/dining/lounge is all open plan, so that all adds up to a cool draught on most days/nights. Anyway, I popped into Spotlight and picked up some cheapo curtains on sale – and I’ve spent part of yesterday and this morning getting the balcony ones ironed and put up on the rods … only to find they’re about 30cm short of reaching the floor oops. Oh well, it’s still got to be better than nothing … I’ll just have to add on an extra piece of something at the bottom to lengthen them (I only paid $20 for the pair for the balcony, so they’re hardly heirlooms). I also spent the rest of the morning ironing up sheets and bedding etc for the spare bedroom, and putting an electric blanket on it (brought over from NZ – thanks Mum) … and doing a bit more housework.

I really should be doing some more housework or stitching now, but I’ve decided to take a break and try and catch up on a tiny bit of blogging – I still have almost 500 unread posts in there, as well as loads that have since gone into archive … there are about a dozen favourite blogs that I’ll be trawling through the archives, but I hope by the end of this week to be back to square one, and ready to get back into a routine again – and that includes stitching, blogs and life in general …

Now, just for the sake of it, I’ll fill out this questionnaire that I found on Rowyn’s blog, just to get me back into blogging mode 🙂

1) What is your occupation? Senior Sales Consultant for an international airline
2) What colour are your socks right now? Blue (what else could it be?!)
3) What are you listening to now? MoreFM online (Auckland radio station)
4) What was the last thing you ate? Toast with breakfast marmalade
5) Favourite colour? Blue
6) Music Preference? Love most music except opera, country & western, and rap (although I like some of Eminem) – probably prefer rock/pop
7) Last person you talked to on the phone? Dawn
8) How old are you today? 40 years and almost 4 months
9) Favourite drink? Jim Beam and L&P
10) What is your favorite sport to watch? If I’m forced to watch anything, I’d struggle less if it’s rugby union (can you tell I’m not a sports fan in any shape or form??)
11) Have you ever dyed your hair? Yep – still keep blonde highlights in my hair
12) Do you wear contacts or glasses? Nope, but I’m about to get some glasses again after having my eyes lasered about 10 years ago – bummer
13) Pets? Nope – but seriously considering asking the landlord whether I could keep a cat here after doing a bit more homework about having ‘indoor cats’
14) What will you stay home to watch? ER, followed by NCIS, Lost and Amazing Race
15) What was the best movie you have seen lately? Can’t say any have stood out for me … one of my fave ‘recent’ movies was Pirates of the Caribbean, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing the sequel
16) What is your favourite day of the year? Pay day
17) What do you do to vent your anger? Shut myself away and take time out to calm down
18) What was your favourite toy as a child? Don’t remember my childhood prior to being 10, so not entirely sure … I do know I loved my Enid Blyton collection of books and was gutted that I had to leave them all behind when we moved to NZ, though
19) Vanilla/Chocolate? Depends – prefer vanilla flavoured things … but love actual chocolate (milk and white, not dark)
20) Living arrangements? Flat/apartment block on my own
21) When was the last time you cried? Watching a soppy movie
22) What did you do last night? Housework, and sorting out my embroidery corner in the lounge, as it was a shambles – ended up tidying up all my flosses a bit as well seeing as I had some more flossaway bags (thanks again Nancy)
23) Favourite smell? Opium perfume, and vanilla
24) What inspires you? People with an open mind that are non-judgemental, and live life without hurting others
25) Least favourite person right now? Probably still my ex-flatmate

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, SBQ, Stitching Smalls

SBQ’s and a very quick update

10 June, 200625 February, 2012 Anne S

And still no stash photos – just haven’t had time … have hardly spent any time at my PC all week, but have been working hard to get my exchanges finished instead, as well as trying to unpack after my holiday, and tidy up a bit (my little flat looks like a bomb has exploded in it).

Anyway, just quickly I’ve managed to get my scissors fob exchange into the mail to Nicola (I’m safe to post piccies, because she doesn’t read my blog) – the stitching was all finished before I flew to NZ, I just had to whipstitch it, make the tassel and cording, and put it together … then while I was in NZ I just never got around to getting it done, and ended up bringing it back home with me (geez, I’m useless!!). Anyway, it’s finally in its little envelope and on its way back to NZ again phew!! And just for a change, blogger is having a hissy fit about posting photos, so I’m giving up … here are photos uploaded from Photobucket – and if you want to see a close-up of the front click here, and the back is here.

My mail art is all finished with the stitching – I hope the recipient likes it, but I have to admit to being a bit worried about it … I think I struggled as I couldn’t work out the recipient’s preferences, as there is no online album that I could find, or wishlist, so I feel like I’ve been stitching ‘blind’. Today I have the job of putting it all together into it’s envelope shape etc – I was going to do it yesterday, but it was day 7 of work, after doing the last 3 days with 5am shifts, and I was worried with my tiredness I’d stuff it up … best to leave it until today … although I still feel half asleep, so I don’t know … haha.

This weekend is our needleroll SAL, but I don’t know whether I’m going to manage to get one stitched, as I really do need to get that mail art 100% finished – maybe I’ll get some time tomorrow to put a few stitches in. If I do, I think I’ll be working on my half-finished ‘sample’ one I was making for the Melanie’s Exchange, and try to get a little bit more stitched on it.

Rightio, lastly on to the SBQ’s before I sign off … I now have 4 SBQ’s to catch up on, so I thought I’d bite the bullet and get them all out of the way today, ‘cos before I know it there’ll be another one being posted 😛 I’ve decided to just answer the first 3 initially, as the other one needs photos, and I’m not yet organised for that one.

17 May – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Jenna and is:

“Lately, it seems that many stitching bloggers have experienced a loss of their stitching mojo. Have you ever lost your stitching mojo? If so, how did you get it back and how long did it take?”

I lost my mojo when I first moved to Melbourne, due to appalling living conditions that just weren’t conducive to stitching – but as soon as I moved out with Fraze and we got our own place I bought a cheap recliner, set up my stitching station, and never looked back … in fact I’ve stitched more in the last 24 months than I’ve ever stitched, I think 🙂 I did get a bit overwhelmed with my commitment stitching etc over the last couple of months, which has been detrimental to my overall stitching … I think sometimes it’s a bit of a carry-over from when I had concussion years ago – even now if I get over-tired, I struggle to ‘focus’ on things – I find I have to make lists etc to keep on track, but when I get overwhelmed with ‘stuff’ my head almost gets too cluttered and I lose track. I can sit in a chair, knowing I have lots of things I must get done, but half an hour later I’m still sat there, and don’t know where the time has gone hmmm. Now I’m realising that I need to be more realistic with my stitching time, especially as sometimes I get really tired with my shift work, so I can be more in control.

24 May – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Nancy and is:

“What is your favorite specialty stitch? Which one is your least favorite? Why?”

I don’t know what my favourite stitch is at the moment – I enjoy doing Rhodes stitches in whatever shape or form (which is probably a good thing, seeing as there are so many in the Bordeaux Mystery Sampler!), and I really enjoyed doing the Waffle stitch for my Melanie’s Exchange needleroll – I just enjoy the variety of loads of different stitches. Probably my least favourite would have to be bullion knots and french knots … definitely a lot easier to answer! haha.

31 May – Today’s SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

“Do you collect charts by one particular designer, yet have never stitched anything by that designer? If so, which designer and why do you collect the charts but have not yet stitched any of them?”

Perhaps the designs that come to mind here are Teresa Wentzler … I went through a phase where I had to buy every single design that TW had put out, and continued to do so for quite some time, including trading and tracking down copies all over the world (prior to knowing about Ebay!). I’ve never actually stitched any of them in their entirety, although I do have two of them that are currently UFO’s, so I do expect to eventually finish them both. I doubt I’ll stitch much of my collection, but it’s the only one I’ll be hard pushed to part with. Even if I never stitch them, I love flicking through the charts in my folder like a book of fine art – it’s uplifting for the soul to just feast your eyes on such beauty 🙂

I also started doing the same with Mirabilia charts, and used to received her new charts automatically – but the designs changed and I no longer loved them as I used to, so I stopped … I’ll still buy one if I fall in love with it, but it’s more rare these days, and I’ve even been putting a few up for trade that I know I’ll never stitch in a month of Sundays. They’re probably the main two designers I’m guilty of collecting.