Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
Oh my goodness I’ve had so much fun starting all these new projects, it’s been great – I almost wish I’d signed up for a crazy 15 somewhere (not sure if anyone is doing those anymore)! Oh well there are still a bunch of new starts yet to come so I’ll probably end up with lots more starts before the month is up!! In the meantime here are the final two of my Crazy 7 starts:
And along with going back to work means back to minimal stitching time again … but I’ve forced myself to keep up with my Crazy 7 starts and other SALs so far – it feels great, and I’m going to have some awesome projects to work on this year! 😀 My latest updates, of which there are very few stitches in each one are as follows:
Only two more projects of the Crazy 7 left to go, but still about 5-6 more SALs due before the end of the month – then I get to choose a couple of projects to focus on for a while … I wonder which ones will get stitched soon? I’ve already got an inkling of at least one of the projects, as I didn’t want to put it down the day I was stitching it – but then again, I know I change my stitching mind like the weather, so I’ll wait and see how I feel at the end of all the new starts! I can’t wait!! 😀
Well my stitching finishes in 2015 were pretty paltry in comparison to other years, but I’m still proud that I managed as much as I did considering the exhausting year I’ve had at work etc. Here they are all together (with the exception of one last finish coming tomorrow!):
I have a HUGE list of stitch-a-longs and challenges I want to join in 2016 – I have no real intention of actually FINISHING any of the SAL projects during 2016, but I hope to get a decent rotation happening again where I can give each piece a bit of love and dedication throughout the year. Here is the planned list:
And just for my own amusement, here are the planned new starts in visual format (and means I’ll have a truckload of WIPs/UFOs for 2017 LOL):
In November it was my best friend’s birthday – she’d begged me to fly over for the occasion, and after selling my shares and having a wee bit of a windfall I managed to get there for the big day. It was wonderful hanging out for a few days with my bestie at her home just outside Nelson – we’ve been best friends since we were 10 years old, and even though we rarely stay in touch these days with visits and phone calls, it feels like the years disappear when we do manage to catch up again. I love her dearly. Here’s a photo of the two of us with her (and my adopted) Mum, Doreen. That’s one huge piece of my childhood history in that one photo! 😀
In November I also FINALLY finished my wedding gift for my dear friend Elie and his bride Caroline … their wedding was in 2012, so it was only three years {{cough}} overdue!! 😉 While I’m not 100% happy with it, Elie adored it when I gave it to him (but unfortunately forgot to snap a photo of it framed). This was a very personal gift, as Elie’s favourite author is Kahlil Gibran, so I chose some pieces of his work for the top two quotes. The colour of the roses was to match the wedding invitation, and the bottom quote is directly from their wedding invite as well. The Arabic wording means “a thousand blessings”, and as they are both Lebanese it was another bit of personalisation (I charted that up myself). I have to admit, though, that I’m really glad this is one is finished now, and even more so that all the effort was appreciated by the groom 😀 Sorry for the poor photos, for love nor money I couldn’t get a decent shot of it!
Finally, I joined in a “Winter/Fall” Exchange with a Facebook group. Following is the item them I sent to my exchange partner. It’s been on my wishlist to stitch for myself, so I’ll definitely be doing this one again for me some time in the near future while the chart is still out … just need to decide on the fabric to use for my one.
“Winter Needle Roll” by Heart in Hand Needleart
Stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch (colour TBC)
using mostly recommended threads
A male work colleague flew home to NZ for a flying visit, and ended up in a charity shop of some sort – he came home with a couple of little treats for me as he knows I love to stitch … I was a bit gobsmacked at his kind thought, and think I’ll leave these in the desk drawer to do a spot of lunchtime stitching in the office in the New Year 🙂
Over the last month or so I’ve also been taking part in a Facebook ingredient cooking challenge – it’s been great fun trying to find recipes for the weekly main ingredient, and it’s been giving me a lot more confidence getting back into cooking again. That’s something I want to do a lot more of in 2016 – cooking from scratch! I’ve always enjoyed cooking when I’m in the mood, and oh my goodness food tastes SO much better when it’s cooked from scratch … so 2016 will see my cooking progress continue as I do the weekly challenges, if nothing else!
And the last photo I’ll finish this post with is me dressed up for a bit of fun in the office – I dressed up in my old Christmas tree dress outfit and handed out sweets/lollies at work … including calling into my favourite coffee shop where I have a great laugh with one of the baristas (who’s in the photo – and the photo is his, so you can blame him for the caption on it! LOL).
Life got in the way yet again … what with some longer working hours with unexpected projects, and just a general malaise really. I certainly haven’t been spending my time stitching, although I have a few random spurts of stitching activity every now and then.
So much for my big SAL plans, I ended up foregoing most of my plans as I missed the starting dates … some because I didn’t have the right fabric (my own fault for not checking earlier), and some just because I didn’t get my act together to start on the given date. I could’ve told porkies and posted a piccie in the group later and pretended I’d started on time, but that’s just not me. Anyway out of all the SAL plans I actually managed to start two of them (oops) … it’s good to give myself a little chuckle, if nothing else, so here’s my progress!
25 Sep – HAED SAL – Didn’t start because life got in the way, even though it was all kitted up and ready to go, I just had to cut out the fabric and overlock the edges … never mind, there’s a new SAL starting in 2016 that I’ve signed up for instead 🙂
3 Oct – Mill Hill SAL – YIPPEE, this one I actually managed to start!! It’s been my stitching project for the last 3 months – only one more colour of beads to go and I’ll have a finish, my last finish for the year. I stitched “Cappuccino” as my choice of project in the end. Here’s a very blurry photo of what it looked like a couple of days ago, just as the beads were starting to get added. This has been my stitching project while staying with friends over Christmas and Boxing Days … it’s oh so close to being finished now! 😀
15 Oct – Holiday Ornaments Galore SAL – Yep, another other I didn’t get organised for in time … but another one that is starting up again in the New Year that I’ve signed up for yippee 🙂
20 Oct – ‘Tis the Season to be Challenged (any of the 4 elements) – Sadly I didn’t have a big enough piece of fabric to stitch Mirabilia’s Deco Spirits, which is what I had my heart set on, and I couldn’t decide on fabric for the alternative choice, Dragon Dreams’ elemental dragons … so this one was another epic fail for me. Oh well, I’ll stitch them one day.
1 Nov – Brooke’s Books Advent Animal Freebies SAL – Another one where I just didn’t get my act together, so didn’t start.
5 Nov – Chatelaine SAL – I didn’t have anything kitted up in the end, and couldn’t afford to do so, so just gave this one up as a bad job – maybe next year I’ll be able to splurge on a kit or two from European XS so I can start a couple of these later next year. I have a major birthday coming up in February, so I just might treat myself for my birthday if I can 😀
7 Nov – Rosewood Manor SAL – I had fabric ordered early for this one, but it got caught up at the Post Office with a mail mix-up – it’s still on my list to stitch this year, it just won’t be as part of a SAL.
12 Nov – L&L Celtic Ladies Series SAL – I flew to NZ for a holiday and forgot to kit this one up to take with me and start … but once again there’s another L&L SAL starting in the New Year, so I’ll have another attempt at starting her.
20 Nov – UFO SAL – As per the above, I wasn’t organised enough to take anything with me on holiday.
24 Nov – Christmas themed SAL – This one I managed to do, but keep forgetting to post a piccie in the group. This is how it looked after a couple of stitching sessions:
The rest of my SALs are yet to take place in the New Year … and there are LOTS of stitching starts planned for 2016 … let’s just hope I can do better than I’ve done in the latter part of 2015!! I have to say I noticed that the odd night that I stitched for a few minutes in the evenings I slept like a log afterwards, so I need to continue doing that this year – even just 20 stitches a night is better than nothing, I reckon, and it’ll get be back into a good stitching habit again 🙂
So, what’s the stitching plans for 2016 – well, I think I’ll put those into a separate post, so I can refer back to it when I need reminding!!
This is more for my own benefit, to come back and remind myself of my choices for the SALs – these are the ones I need to whittle down once I work out what I can kit up and what needs extra items … I want to stitch from stash as much as possible, so that’s a big deciding factor for me.
This one is easy, as I’ve already started it, but nothing worth photographing yet. My chosen design is QS Iris.
I hate stitching on perforated paper, so my design choices will be made if I have some alternative fabric to substitute for the paper. So far I have two already kitted ready to go, so that’ll probably be the decision factor, especially as the SAL starts really really soon. The kitted up ones are Cappuccino and Haunted Hotel.
No need to add piccies here, I’ll just be dipping into my kit box and dragging out any ornies that already have the fabric ready to go 🙂
This one is to stitch anything related to the four elements (Water, Fire, Air, Earth). Here my choices are either Deco Spirits by Mirabilia or a freebie series of dragons by Dragon Dreams. I always thought I’d do the dragons as a round robin, but seeing as I haven’t done a round robin for a couple of years, I think I might as well just do them myself.
Once again, no decisions on the charts as they’re defined in the SAL. This should be a fun one – just need to make sure I’ve got enough of a fabric to stitch the whole set!
This is probably one of the two hardest SALs to choose for me – once again, though, it will probably come down to which design I have the most items for it kitted up. I’m not too keen on starting another really big mandala until my Egyptian Garden Mandala has been finished, so I’m thinking one of the smaller designs may be wiser for this SAL … but never say never … High up on my list, though, are the castle banners, the Paris ones, and the Greek Mandala … not to mention the peacock mandala and beaded tiles … see what I mean, I want to stitch everything!!! 😉
This one is easy, I’m going to be stitching Quaker Diamonds. I’ve been trawling through my fabric stash, though, and can’t decide on a decent replacement fabric, so I’ve just put in an order to Picture This Plus fabrics to get a piece of the fabric that it was designed for. Yes, it’ll turn out bigger than I originally wanted (I was going to use a smaller count and use less strands of thread), but I adore the look of the stitched model.
My choices here are either Celtic Summer or a conversion of Celtic Autumn in blues.
I have oodles of UFOs still outstanding, so this one is going to be relatively easy – and it depends whether the UFO has to be cross stitch or not as to which I’ll be working on. My main choice at this stage is the following:
My preference here is probably the Lizzie*Kate flip-its, however this is one of the few SALs that have a deadline, and I’m not too sure I’ll be able to meet it. Will decide closer to the time, though …
My 2nd hardest choice will be this group … I have so many Mirabilia designs that I really want to stitch, that it’ll be hard whittling it down. Once again, I’ll have to see what I have the supplies for and work back from there …
I have oodles of their designs in my stash, but I’ve managed to whittle it down to the following eight:
Even though it seems really overwhelming, it’s not too bad … all of these can be started by just a few stitches on the given start dates, then they can be inserted into a rotation throughout the year to continue working on them. Some will be quite quick stitches or will only take 2-3 rotations before they’re completed, others will take longer. Either way, I’m looking forward to getting some of my stash kitted up and started … I need a few fun designs to keep my motivation with stitching up and running! 😀
All my hard work this last year seems to have paid off and I received a small wee windfall as a bonus this week. It’s actually enough to pay the remainder of my car loan off, which is absolutely amazing! It’s also let me have a couple of decent treats … one of them stitching related.
My TiVo has been playing up something terrible over recent months, and I’ve spent a bit of money on it trying to replace the WiFi connector etc … I’ve almost missed lots of shows over the month or two because it hasn’t taped them … so my first treat to myself is to buy a new Panasonic DVR. As the TiVo doesn’t appear to be greatly supported anymore (I couldn’t even replace the remote when it broke the other month), I’ve decided not to spend any more money on it. So, DVR is now ordered and will hopefully be ready for pick-up when I get to work on Monday. That means when my TiVo packs a sad again next time I’ll be prepared with a back-up! Plus in the meantime while it’s still working it means I can tape extra shows that I would normally have to miss out on – woohoo!
Treat number two is a trip home to NZ to fly to Nelson for my best friend’s 50th birthday. She pretty much begged me recently on FB to come over, so that was the first thing the money is going on (even before the car loan). I was already thinking of surprising her by turning up on the doorstep on her birthday, but I’ve ended up letting the cat out of the bag and telling her I’m coming. She’s been so down lately, I thought that news would help spur her on and pick her spirits up a bit.
That leaves the final big treat … I’ve put down a deposit on the 2017 Victoria Sampler Retreat in Victoria, BC. It’s great that I get to save up over the next year for the remainder of the retreat costs, and really have a full 18 months to get some spending money together for the trip. I received ‘airline tickets’ from work for my 15 years of services last month, which means I can use that to get to Los Angeles – I just have to pay for the airport and service fees/taxes. It means I’ll also get to meet up with some family and friends. I haven’t met many of my Canadian family (which is Dad’s side of the family – they emigrated to Canada before we emigrated to NZ) so it would be great to meet them – plus I would also get to meet my Northern Twin, one of my closest pals here in the stitching community.
Sadly that has now spent all my wee bonus even without a stitching stash splurge … but seeing as I’ll now be just over $600 better off every month with the car loan paid off, I think I just may have to splurge on a big order when my next pay day rolls around 😀 I’ve got plenty of charts etc, so I’m thinking a bit thread order would be awesome to get some of my wonderful projects kitted up and ready to be stitched … especially my canvaswork charts and perhaps a Chatelaine! Ooooh, bring on payday!! 😀
This is my choice for April’s theme of “tombstones”. I didn’t have the recommended fabric or threads, so I substituted … well … basically, everything! I think it turned out OK 🙂
“Not Forgotted” by Plum Street Samplers
Stitched on 36ct Moon Shadows hand-dyed linen by Stitches and Spice
with a mix of various brands of silk:
Belle Soie – Noir
Caron Collection Waterlilies – Gingersnap
Silk ‘n’ Colors – English Ironstone
Silk ‘n’ Colors – Olive Branch
It seems my mojo has well and truly taken a hike over the last few months … since my last finish, I haven’t touched a needle for a few weeks … although I finally took a day out recently to remind myself how much fun stitching is when I attempt it! I’ve been very behind with my Hallowe’en SAL, so I had the perfect designs put to one side to get up-to-date once again … and it was pretty simple stitching so I didn’t have to think too much!
Anyway,without further ado here are my SAL pieces for February (skeletons theme) and March (owls theme) – both designs are by The Prairie Schooler. The design states to stitch on Lambswool linen, but I found a piece of 30ct WDW Guacamole recently that I should would be good to use instead (it also meant I could be lazy and leave the background of the skeleton unfilled, win-win!!).
Then on the weekend I started my Smalls SAL piece, and managed to put the final stitches into it while watching TV tonight. I’ll wait, though, and schedule a post with the finish piccie and details in it for the official SAL reveal day in a week’s time.
That’s the sum total of my stitching, though, for the last month or so … fingers crossed next month will see an improvement! 🙂
One really exciting thing that happened a couple of weeks ago, though, was that my Mum came to visit unexpectedly. I won two tickets to the opening night of Les Misérables in Sydney – I found out on the morning of the show the people I’d invited to go with me had decided to turn down the offer … chatting to Mum she said she’d love to come. I jokingly told her to jump on a plane and come over. Well, she totally surprised me by saying OK what time do the flights go? It turns out she had 15 minutes to leave home and get to the airport – and she totally blew me away by actually going through with it! She pretty much rocked up in the clothes she was wearing and one change of clothes in her carry-on bag … I was in shock all weekend that she was actually in Sydney visiting me! I took a day off work on the Monday and we had a lovely long weekend together. I’m pretty much resigned to the fact it’s unlikely she’ll visit me in Aussie very often anymore (she even took her toilet bag home this visit, which she’s always left here, so that’s a sign in itself) … so it was very special to have her here, and I made sure to make the most of it. She arrived in Sydney with about an hour to spare before having to leave for the show – we had a really wonderful night out, it was one of those nights that amazing memories are made of!
Then on the Sunday I dragged her out again and we drove over to the Hunter Valley for the day … then we finished the weekend travelling by having a lovely picnic out at Audley Village in the Royal National Park. All-in-all it was an exceptional few days spent with my favourite person in the world … it really doesn’t get any better than that! 😀
If you managed to read my previous post, you probably have an idea why there was no WIPocalypse post for June … and I’m back online again just in time to complete my post for July … which means for the 2nd time in a row I’m well and truly late … c’est la vie, such is life I guess!
Anyway first up is the piece that I started stitching a week ago, that I managed to finish today. I started kitting this one up a few weeks ago but couldn’t make a decision on the threads and fabric. Last weekend I started it and still wasn’t 100% happy with my choices – I put the last stitches in today then opted to pull one colour out and re-do it, and I’m so glad that I did, because I absolutely ADORE this one now! As you can see, it really doesn’t look anything like the original version … I much prefer my choice of threads for this one!! I’ve listed below the threads that I ended up using:
“Dance in the Rain” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Shell Wichelt linen
with my choice of silk threads (see below)
The threads that I chose to use were: Belle Soie Beanstalk, Belle Soie Ocean Tide, Silk n Colors Aged Plum, NPI Silks 471, 336 and 991BB, and Rainbow Gallery Splendor S870.
The other stitching I managed to do over the last couple of months was to finish my charity quilt block for Love Quilts Australia:
“Butterfly Quartet” – a Stitch Simple kit by DMC
While I was trying to work out how the hell to pay the rent until I found a new flatmate I start making up stitching rolls to sell … I’ve managed to finish 6 since then, although still haven’t worked out how to price them yet – once I do that, though, they will go up for sale, and I’ll also start taking orders for people who want other colours etc (and different sizes). I’ve been a bit tired the last couple of weekends, though, so haven’t taken photos and worked out the final costings yet (I also had to go back to Spotlight to price up the fabrics etc that I use). Here’s the first one I made, though, as a sneak peak:
For the last two Saturdays I’ve also managed to get a few more stitches into my L&L Angel of Love – she is probably what finally kicked my butt into gear and brought my stitching mojo back again to be able to stitch my Lizzie*Kate finish. I was primarily beading the top part of the skirt this time round, and oh boy is she stunning!! Photos will never do this baby justice, that’s for sure!!!
Even though I was on a total stash diet (and still am effectively) for the last couple of months, I did receive a small amount of stash that I’d already ordered previously. One was a kit that I’d posted about previously that I’d been trying to track down for a few years, and managed to find on one Ebay – don’t even know what made me go put the search words in, but one came up straightaway so I just had to buy it … I’m glad Ian hadn’t moved out at that point or it would have killed me not being able to buy it and knowing one was available!! The other items were a drawn thread book from the Book Depository and a delightful French design, with the cutest little wooden hoop button. I bought two copies because one copy is for a dear friend.
And I think that’s probably all my stitching news for the last couple of months … really not too much to show compared to how I normally stitch, but I guess life became more of a priority for a while. Hopefully now I’ve managed to put needle fabric semi-regularly over the last two weeks (even if it was just at the weekends), my mojo will continue and I’ll get back into it once again. It had better do that, as I have another quilt block I need to stitch by next month now!!!
I’ll finish off with the last 2 WIPocalypse theme questions:
13 June – Have you ever been to a stitch gathering such as a retreat or a festival? If so, tell us about it!
Yes I have – way back in 2000 I flew to Sacramento, California for a CATs stitching festival. It was the most amazing experience where I got to meet some online stitching pals and had about 6 classes with well-known American designers/needle artists. It was my first introduction to pulled thread (I thought I was learning drawn thread so I soon found out I didn’t know what I was talking about, and learnt a new skill I hadn’t expected to). I went a bit crazy at the shopping mall, meeting some more designers face-to-face, and went to a local stitching shop where I was beside myself with all the thread choices etc. I think I came home with pretty much an entire suitcase full of class projects and stash, along with my first floorstand and mat cutter! It was an amazing experience that I’m ever so grateful I got to experience!!
12 July – It’s halfway to Christmas. Do you start your holiday stitching this early? If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?
Truthfully I stitch my holiday stitching whenever I feel like it. I always used to try to stitch a Christmas ornie a month, but now I just do it when I get the urge, or when I have a rotation slot dedicated to ornie stitching. It doesn’t bother me stitching Christmas items throughout the year, although I have to admit the closer it gets to Christmas the stronger the urge to stitch something for the festive season! This year I have no lofty goals, I just want to continue enjoying to stitch – and hopefully have a few finishes by the end of the year 🙂
Feather Stitching 