Crazy January 2013 Challenge, Cross Stitch, Finished Items, Finishes, Flowers Trees & Gardens, Frangipani, Goals, Pay It Forward, pincushions, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, The Floss Box

It’s a woman’s prerogative…

No sooner had I set out my stitching plans for 2012 that I started to realise I really don’t know how in the hell I’m going to achieve all of those finishes/goals when I really only get to stitch on the weekends (and not every weekend at that) … so I’m seriously thinking of throwing those previous plans out the window, and just going back to a rotation instead.  That means I’ll also be able to focus more on my existing WIPs which are actually starting to bother me, rather than trying to cram in those same WIPs (at a lot slower pace than I’d like) as well as meeting all the SAL and commitment deadlines at the same time … and probably not getting any of them done by the year’s end (but not stressing about it).

Perhaps it’s just that my head is in the wrong space at the start of the year with Dad’s health and some work issues that are still really bothering me.  Both of these issues are slowly getting resolved, with Dad seeing his surgeon this Friday, and I’ve started having dummy spits in the office to voice my frustrations at issues I’m facing (including telling a team member they’re doing my head in and they’re not helping my stress levels … yep, there have definitely been a few dummy spits lately in that respect, and probably a couple of months well overdue at that!!).  Anyway, maybe removing the pressure of having to finish all these projects will help to restore some sanity to my stitching – most of the projects in my list will still remain there as part of the rotation, I will just have no expectation to actually complete them by the year’s end … plus I’ll have the opportunity to change my mind at a moment’s notice, as I’ve also come across some other projects that I really wanted to stitch, but that didn’t make the cut for my initial 15 projects …  I think the stress of only limiting my stitching to a set group of projects also inhibits my sense of freedom, and as soon as that sort of pressure starts mounting I find I don’t end up stitching at all … so perhaps it’s for the betterment of my stitching this year to just ‘let it all hang out’ so to speak 😉

Tomorrow I’m off to the local GP to try and get some antibiotics for my bugs, which will also help to bring me back to a state of equilibrium (and probably less likely to have dummy spits at work LOL) … and perhaps feel more like stitching … but in the meantime I’m going to start my rotation guilt-free just as soon as I’ve finished my Round Robin piece that’s due out for mailing at the end of January … but not before I have fun by adding a few more rotation projects to the pipeline 🙂

And I’m not stressing if I change my mind a million times throughout the year … as the title of this post says, “it’s a woman’s prerogative” … as long as I enjoy my stitching this year I’m happy 😀

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Ooh, before I forget, I heard from Cindy that my little gift arrived safe and sound when she returned from holidays – so I can now share the full goodies … just as soon as I find the photos!!!  I think I’ve shown the finished biscornu before, but I’ve never shown the finished fob that matched it.  It feels good that this is now finished and living in its new home 🙂

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While I’m at it, I think there are also a number of framing jobs that I completed in November last year that I haven’t shared on here yet … the Tiger and Summer Snapperland are both for me, whereas the bears and the Letter S are both for gifts.  I did most of the framing of the Tiger 2 years ago, but couldn’t finish-finish it as the backing board was too high … he’s one of my first ever finishes (stitched on aida) and I love, love, love him!

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Finally here are a couple of yummy things I brought back from New Zealand with me on my last trip – the scrumptious blug electric kettle was compliments of Mum and Dad’s Fly Buys points in NZ, while the bowls are from my ‘glory box’ still in storage over there.  Both have already been christened, and I’m totally in love with the jug in particular!!  And I can’t WAIT to try out the new Orange Truffle Baileys over a bucket of ice … hmmm, in fact I just may choose that for dessert tonight, the ice will help soothe my throat and the alcohol will help to lull me into sleepy submission … hmmm …

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The final photos are of my frangipani plants on my balcony to show Mum – now both plants have finally flowered, although I’m disappointed to see the 2nd plant which has flowered for the first time has the pink frangipani … it’s still very pretty, but I do have to admit to preferring the white frangipani on the whole.

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And I think that will do me for another post … I still have some other things to post yet, but think I’m a bit photo heavy already … and it’ll give me something to write about later (if I get over the shock of having so many blog posts in one month!!!).

Autumn, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, peacocks, Piece and Plenty, pillows, Quilting, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, valentines

Weekend finishing frenzy

I had planned to get acquainted with my sewing machine over the weekend, but the end results weren’t actually what I’d planned … for some reason I got a serious urge to get some of my finished projects sewn up into pillows etc – it ended up being an exceptionally productive weekend on that score, with 9 pillows and a scissor fob completed, along with a little mini-quilt that just needs the binding to be hand-stitched … plus I also made some minor amendments to a lovely wall-hanging that Sylvia gave me years ago.  Anyway, here are the end results – I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The Stitcherhood-Autumn LizzieKate-Fall Nathalie-Chatrouille freebie
Erica Michaels-Random Hearts LizzieKate-Boo Squared
Peacock pillow Plum Pudding Needleart-Love freebie Heart in Hand Needleart-Wee Valentine Bird Mosey 'n Me-Love February freebie
Pumpkin scissor fob Pumpkin scissor fob

This one just needs the binding to be stitched down 🙂

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Sadly Sylvia’s lovely wall-hanging was folding up due to the high humidity, so I chopped up the hanger into pieces and stitched it in 4 places directly onto a pretty wee wire hanger 🙂

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This is what first got me into “sewing machine mode” – the first month’s BOTM fabrics and instructions for my Piece and Plenty quilt … sadly it doesn’t come with any specific instructions for each block, and I’ve ended up spending a fair bit of time rummaging through my quilting books and online tutorials trying to work out how to do paper piecing – once I’ve got a bit more comfortable with my sewing machine I’ll be ready to start this one 😀

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Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, scissor fobs, The Drawn Thread

Another wee pumpkin

And this one really IS a wee one!!  Unfortunately I don’t have any of the right width ribbon to finish this one off, or I would have managed the finishing today too.  I’ve got my heart set on using a ribbon for the hanger, so it’s being put on the side now until I can buy some.  This is a really cute, really fast finish!

Drawn Thread-Autumn Scissors Keeper freebie
“Autumn Scissors Keeper” freebie by The Drawn Thread
Stitched on 36ct hand-dyed Edinburgh linen in Pipi by Countrystitch
with WDW Whisky, Silk n’ Colors Autumn Honey, and GAST Dried Thyme

The photo doesn’t do justice to the lovely fabric colour – unfortunately the glare from the daylight bulb tonight has washed out the fabric colour and made the other colours a bit extreme … when I take the next photo I’ll do it in daylight (hopefully then it’ll be an actual fob!).

Cross Stitch, Edfu, Exchanges, Freebies, Nadi, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, pincushions, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, Travel - Egypt, Travel - Fiji

NZ Exchange

I have absolutely nothing to show stitching WIP-wise this week, as I’ve been clocking some mental hours at work, with a few 12 hour days.  My new all-time record was a 16 1/2 hour day yesterday – 12 of them in the office, then I came home and did the remainder at home, finishing at 1.30am this morning.  I still have enough work to keep me going for one more entire day, but I thought I’d take a break for a bit – although I have a major deadline looming, so I have to do it over the weekend to get it finished in time for review on Tuesday morning (it’s a long weekend here in Sydney this weekend).

Seeing as I don’t have any WIP updates, I thought I’d go ahead and post the exchange I posted off last week.  I haven’t heard that it’s arrived, but it should be there by now 🙂

You will remember that I shared the ‘back sides” last week, well here are the fronts.  I was very sad to see these ones leave home … I think I just may have to repeat this exchange all for myself – love, love, love the colours – I just hope my recipient likes it too!

Exchange for StitchNZ

StitchNZ Exchange scissor fob

Freebie from My Aunt’s Attic
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC 4030 thread
(homemade tassel & cord also in DMC 4030 thread)

StitchNZ Exchange pincushion

Freebie by Le Petit Monde de Vavi
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC 4030 thread

And seeing as I have nothing else to share today, I’ll end with this week’s Photo Hunt, as I ran out of pre-published posts last week and have to think of this one from scratch.  Alas, no future themes are out yet either, so I guess next week’s will be from scratch too…

 

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
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This week’s theme is ”Public” and I went with the following dictionary definition:

“Definition:Open to common or general use; as, a public road; a public house.”

In saying that, here are my choices for this week … Here I am waiting for a bus at the public bus depot in Nadi … during a flood (and no, I have no expectation that a bus will really arrive!).

Nadi bus depot flooded

Or perhaps a public road at Edfu markets, Egypt…

Edfu Markets 1

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Hardanger, Just Nan, Periwinkle Promises, pillows, pincushions, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, Works in Progress

Exchanges, WIPs and Finishes

In my overflowing mailbox this week I received an exquisite exchange from Elaine in NZ (this was an exchange hosted by the StitchNZ Yahoo Group).  I’m absolutely thrilled with this exchange – I really adore hardanger, although I still haven’t kicked myself in the pants enough to get back into it myself again … and this one is just gorgeous!  Elaine made it into a stitching pocket so I can hold my needlework tools and supplies – and sent along a matching wee pincushion (so gorgeous!) and packet of needles.  I’ve taken loads of photos so you can share in the beautiful stitching detail of this piece – while photos never do stitching real justice, I’m sure you can imagine that the finished piece is even more exquisite!  Thanks Elaine for a wonderful exchange! 😀

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StitchNZ Exchange from Elaine July 2010

StitchNZ Exchange from Elaine July 2010

My exchange piece unfortunately left a little bit late (actually a whole week late, ahem!) … thanks to not being able to get to the Post Office.  As I’m pretty positive the recipient doesn’t read my blog, but perhaps I’d better play it safe and not post details about it yet … I’ll tempt you with a photo of the ‘backside’ in the meantime, and will post more when it’s received 🙂

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What’s next???  Oh yes, yesterday I sat in the lounge with Katie watching Dark Angel DVDs, and doing a teeny bit of finishing – I managed to get the Christmas Ornament tutorial photos completed (very basic ornie) which also means one more ornament off the finishing pile, my Just Nan Ladybug Santa is now in its little Whimzi frame, and I completed the Periwinkle Promises January Sampler Accent into its little pillow, complete with little corner tassels (I ran out of silk for the backing fabric/joining, but luckily had a skein or two in my stash that I was grab to finish this one off).

Christmas Cheer Ornament finished

Just Nan-Ladybug Santa framed

Periwinkle Promises-January Sampler Accent finished

Tassels

As for my WIPs themselves, I’ve done very very little stitching over the last week or so – I managed to put a handful of beads into Chatelaine’s Egyptian Garden Mandala (3 nights of beading and I’m still not even halfway finished the one band of beads – the row on the edge of the lotus flowers) – it doesn’t help that the beads don’t sit nicely with that poxy fabric that I’m using, so I’m having to squeeze the beads in and offset them every 6 or 7 beads:

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Then yesterday I managed to complete some more of the border of the Quaker Huswif, and am now working on the bottom quaker band.  Once this section is finished, I’ll be flipping the design upside down and unrolling the scrollbars to work on the final two sections at the other end – I think at this point in time I’m pretty much sitting on the halfway mark of this piece 🙂

Quaker Huswif 24Jul10

And that’s pretty much it for now … not sure what I’ll be stitching on this week, if anything … I’ve got some big deadlines at work over the next fortnight, so I may be putting in some longer hours, which means less mental/physical energy for stitching …

Beading, Boo Club, Cross Stitch, Lizzie Kate, scissor fobs, Works in Progress

Sick flatmate

Alas, since lunchtime I’d ‘had’ to keep my flatmate and best pal Katie company in the lounge while she’s been suffering from a dodgy tummy from Vanuatu – it was a major hardship having to sit in my stitching chair for 8 or so hours while we watched all the TV shows that have been taping in her absence … which means there’s finally a stitchy progress photo!  Only one more week and this little puppy will be finito!  As you can see from the bottom piccie, I’ve now turned the corner for the bottom band of the border 😀

On Saturday morning I managed to get a couple of items into the post – my first PIF on it’s way finally … and this little gift to someone else – fingers crossed the recipients like their gifts 🙂

Tomorrow I’ll find out whether I have got the new 12 month secondment position or not … after I drop off my 90+ year old neighbour off at the airport for her next Queensland holiday … that’ll keep me in the good books for a while longer LOL.  And seeing as I need to leave home an hour earlier than normal to do that, I’d better get my A into G and get into bed!!! 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls

Roberta’s Flowers Fob

Here’s my latest finish – and even completed immediately into an actual scissor fob … I think I may need to lay down for a while LOL.


“Roberta’s Flowers Fob” freebie by Sharon Manspeaker
www.xstitchhappy.com
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with DMC threads

Unfortunately the lighting is dreadful again tonight, so crappy snaps of the finished fob follow.

Roberta's Flowers Fob by Sharon Manspeaker

xstitchhappy-Roberta's Flowers Fob freebie (back)

Beading, Cross Stitch, Erica Michaels, scissor fobs, Works in Progress

Final fobs, Thanks, and a New Start

A quick note to thank everyone that bought fobs from my original request to donate the proceeds of sales to wee baby Timothy – I managed to send almost US$90 over to Coral towards his medical costs, so I thank you for enabling me to do that for them 🙂

And the final group of fobs today are brought to you by the colours Brown, Wine and Purple (unfortunately these ones didn’t photograph as true to the colours, so I think I’ll have to re-do them before I upload to ArtFire).

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And to finish off the post for tonight, here’s my new start for the evening while Katie and I caught up on a tiny bit of TV with Criminal Minds, Biggest Loser and Bones … alas I had a frog attack on the left hand side group of hearts and bottom border, but I quickly frogged the stitches and redid them, and I’m back on track once again.  If I don’t manage to get this piece finished tomorrow night, I should definitely see another wee finish on Saturday morning 🙂


“Random Hearts” by Erica Michaels
being stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen in
Carrie’s Creations thread “Scarlet”

Beading, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Mosey 'n Me, scissor fobs

New Scissor Fobs and a Wee Finish

First up is the tiny wee finish I completed tonight – I started this on Sunday night, and did a bit more stitching tonight, putting the final stitches in about 1/2 an hour ago.  As per normal at this late hour of the night, without being taken under a daylight bulb, the photo is appalling … but it’s a finish all the same 🙂

“Love February” old freebie by Mosey ‘n Me

It’s also my very first EVER Valentine’s finish … and also the first finish from the pile that I kitted up over the weekend 😀  I almost swapped the cream inner border with the pale pink from the rose, but then decided last minute to leave it … in hindsight the cream really does blend into the background of the fabric, so the pink would have been much much better … but I don’t love it enough to bother unpicking it all.  Not entirely sure how I’ll end up finishing this one – perhaps I’ll just add a ribbon hanger and turn it into a hanging ornament … maybe … 🙂

Next up is a bunch of scissor fobs that I put together weeks ago, but never showed.  Eventually most of these will be going into my ArtFire shop for sale … when I get the time to upload them all and type up descriptions etc – but that is unlikely to happen for another couple of weeks thanks to my impending trip home.  As there are quite a few new fobs, I’ll just upload a few tonight, and add some more over the next few days.

Tonight’s fobs are brought to you by the colours Red and Pink

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Other than that, nothing much happening out here really … I’m heading out to the Blue Mountains this Sunday to pick up all my stitching I’ve had out there on loan for the last couple of years.  There are personal reasons for my doing this, which I won’t share on my blog – but I must say I’m really looking forward to having them home again … and those that are still unframed will be framed by me some time over the coming year as finances allow … so watch this space 😛