Category: Finishes

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments about my Dolphins Domain … I have to admit, I really out-did myself with the amount of stitching I crammed into the final couple of days – it’s amazing what sheer determination and bloody-mindedness can make you do! 😉 Mind you, the pile of dishes in the sink and general mess around here shows I really did do nothing else but stitch for every waking moment for a couple of days – and on my day off sick I literally sat down with needle in hand at about 9am and didn’t put it down again until almost midnight, and did the same thing yesterday until it was finished. And for those of you who’ve asked for it, here’s a much better photo of the Dratteds (and it’s clickable) – I think the colours are a bit more accurate too, as it was taken in front of the window with no flash this time (and with my good SLR camera).

I’d just downloaded an anti-phishing software that came with my renewal for SpyNet, and it was playing havoc with my PC, especially blogger … so today I uninstalled it and voila I have Blogger piccies again without crashing the entire system yippee!! 😀

Last night was my first night shift (affectionately known as the Doggoes – apparently this came from the old days when night shifts were known as the ‘dogwatch’), and I really loved it – I was wide awake all night, in that I didn’t feel tired once … although tonight may be a different story, as I never sleep properly during the day (and of course yesterday I was awake almost 24 hours by the time I got to bed). Anyway, the calls were a bit quiet for a few hours, so I managed to put in a few stitches for the Needleroll SAL with Katrina et al inbetween answering queries/calls – this month I’ve chosen the Snowman Needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush, and here’s my progress to date.

As for “what now?” after the Dratteds are finished … I’m debating between a couple of choices for my newly opened focus piece slot in my rotation – high up the list is Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine, or possibly one of my TW UFO’s (English Garden Sampler or Noah’s Ark). I have to say, due to the sheer size of it, that Egyptian Garden is likely to win out. Originally I was holding off doing this so I could SAL with Carol, but we agree that she’s pretty much Chatelained-out with her stitching in that area this year, so I’ve opted to pick it back up again and get cracking on it. In fact there you go, my decision has been made … EGM is my new focus piece! 😀 Seeing as I coughed up all that money for the kit, I really should get that beauty finished!

Next up, though, is my scissor fob exchange, as the deadline is drawing ever nearer – then a small gift for someone, and a couple of Christmas ornies … if nothing else, there’s always something in the pipelines waiting to be stitched, so I’ll never have a problem running out of a project! ;P

Have a great weekend everyone 😀

This one is a bit of a cheat … the actual challenge started on 1 September, so I get to include my two needlerolls that I finished the stitching of last week. My personal criteria, though, is that I’m not allowed to include them as part of the 50 Project Challenge until they’re “finished” into needlerolls (seeing as I’d already done the stitching before I personally accepted the challenge) … and I’m pleased to say “1 down, 1 to go”. I just couldn’t get motivated in the afternoon to stitch, but rather my finishing pile screamed to me louder! I popped into Spotlight on the way back from the PO, and picked up some Christmas fabric for ornie backings – I might even get organised enough to get some finished off during the next two months 😉

I did my finishing while watching another DVD rental – Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School … it was a pretty good ‘chick flick’, and perfect for my equivalent of a Sunday afternoon (yeah, I know it’s only Friday, but it was the end of my personal weekend as I’m back to work again, hence my Sunday). Today was an interesting day, as I just wasn’t in the mood to be back there again – not helped by the fact that Sandra that I work with told me I looked awfully pale this morning hmmm 😦 Oh well, at least I survived the day in one piece 😉

Not sure what I’ll do tonight – I managed to get a couple of hours stitching into Dolphins Domain (aka The Dratteds) last night, which I have to admit I really enjoyed, even though it took me much longer to stitch than normal. I won’t bother posting a progress piccie until I’ve stitched a bit more on them. Once I’ve finished my 10 hours rotation I’ll get my current RR piece stitched, then I need to work on my final exchange for a while – the scissor fob exchange on the Robin’s Nest BB. Then in the New Year I’m committed to another Quaker RR with some close online buddies, so I won’t be taking on any other stitching commitments while that’s underway.

Rightio, off to get dinner cracking, then the dishes, then kitting up a new small project for a gift … the Dratteds can wait a day or so 😉

Even though I worked all weekend, on Friday and today I was on a 6am shift, so got home early enough in the afternoon to get some decent stitching in (especially tonight) … I thought I’d get one Shepherd’s Bush needleroll finished (“Thisbe’s Needleroll”), but I ended up taking a Lorri Birmingham one into work as well (“A Stitcher’s Needleroll”), and managed to finish them both tonight – yippee!! As per usual, there was an error on the LB chart, and because I was distracted by calls etc, didn’t pick it up until it was all finished! I can’t be bothered unpicking it, so it will remain as it is … if anyone else is thinking of stitching this, check the chart, as the very top band only had one space below it and the first border, whereas the bottom band has two … I have decided I absolutely detest LB kits for that exact reason – I’ve stitched 3 different ones now, and every single one has had a major error … mutter mutter mutter. I’ll do the actual finishing another day.

Only 3 more days to go, and life will be back to normal here at home, as Mum will have headed back over the oceans where she’ll be staying until February, then I have the pleasure of her company again probably for another six weeks. I’ve told her I’m going to start charging her rent, as she’s here 1/4 of the year hahaha. I love having her here, though, and it’s really no hassle 🙂 It means at the end of next week I can catch up with blog reading again without feeling guilty and self-conscious … I can’t wait to see what I’ve been missing out on! 😀

Rightio, that’s all for me tonight – just a quick post for the needleroll SAL piccies 😀