Enjoying a sense of peace one stitch at a time
For the life of me I can’t find the photo I took of the “finished” ornie, but at least I have one of the stitching to hand – Margaret has let me know that it has arrived (albeit very very late) safely across the oceans, so I can now reveal my other stitching finish for April.
“Santas and Snowmen” leaflet by The Prairie Schooler
stitched on 32ct Pipi linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads
No time to chat on the PC again, so here’s a quick drive-by once again … with a Parisian visual treat that makes my heart sing 🙂
… about posting a write-up on our UK/Paris trip … just haven’t been motivated to sit at the PC for hours at a time … so here’s one of my favourite shots in the meantime … I’ll get around to updating one day – it’s right up there with catching up with over 2000 emails in my inbox … 🙂
For my birthday in February I decided to go to L’etoile Restaurant & Bar (in Paddington) as my ultimate treat … mainly because I’m a bit of a Manu fan and that sexy French accent! Anyway I bought Manu’s cookbook and left it for him to sign for me as he was away on holiday – this weekend I was finally well enough to drive over and pick it up 🙂
The traffic was hideous all the way there so I decided to splurge and stay for dinner as an additional celebration for starting to feel better … including my favourite dessert of creme brûlée … ah bliss!!
I have to say I’m also really really impressed with my signed book as well – I expected just a quick signature squiggle but Manu kindly took the time to really personalize it for me … makes me like him all the more! 😀
Just a quick drive-by to update with my latest finish – as the final stitches were put into place tonight. That means one more WIP is out of the WIP/UFO list and placed into the finishing pile.
“Walking in a Winter Snapperland” by Bent Creek
stitched on 32ct Parchment Lugana
with recommended threads (GAST/WDW) except for the white where I subbed DMC 3865
Some reasonable stitching effort put in over the last month due to being off work with ongoing illness, what between a dreadful head cold/flu, followed by pneumonia, and finishing with a cortisone injection in my heel … I may have felt like crap for weeks, but it’s the most stitching I’ve managed to do in an awfully long time, and I loved every single second of it!!! The last month saw the following updates take place (the only exception is that I had a Prairie Schooler exchange ornie included at the beginning of last month, but can’t show it yet as it’s only just left here on the journey to its new home):
I also started some new projects, which have to be added to the WIP list until I receive some missing silk threads:
As a visual reminder, here are the projects I worked on during the last month, and their state as we go into the month of May:
During the next month I hope to get more stitching done on “Walking in a Winter Snapperland”, and also work on at least one more older WIP/UFO – I’m leaning towards Mirabilia’s “Enchanted Mermaid”, Ruth Schmuff’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” or Just Cross Stitch’s “Le Jardin Silk Sampler” … although I can’t guarantee what the final pieces will be ‘cos I change my mind 20 times a day! Seeing as I’ve mislaid my stitching mojo for a while, I just want to stitch whatever takes my fancy at the time, and whatever builds my stitching enthusiasm up once again 🙂
Due to sickness I haven’t managed to get to either a Post Office to post off my Prairie Schooler Exchange to my recipient, or to pick up a couple of weeks worth of mail from my PO Box – finally this week, though, I managed to do both (and my PS exchange is finally winging its way across the oceans).
I was thrilled to find an absolutely gorgeous ornie from Edgar hiding in my PO Box – it is absolutely exquisite, both in its stitching and finishing, and it will be treasured on my Christmas tree every year. Thanks Edgar for a really wonderful exchange! 😀
The other stitching news this week is that I managed to put a few more stitches into my “Walking in a Winter Snapperland” WIP with a new block well underway. Sadly I ran out of DMC 3865 for the snow, but I managed to find a couple of skeins at lunchtime today, so I can continue with this one again shortly (it would be really nice to be able to continue with this one until it’s finished, although I have to admit all that white stitching is doing my head in, and I have to admit I’m not enjoying stitching this one as much as I have done the other Snapperland series that I’ve done).
When I went DMC hunting at lunchtime today I actually popped into Lincraft in the city, as it’s only 2-3 small blocks from where I work – as usual, though, they had a pitiful selection and didn’t have the colour that I needed (I so hate that store, it’s not funny!). Anyway, I had to pop to Officeworks as well, so after I posted off some more mail I walked on the other side of the road further up the block … and lo and behold, what did I see? Needlework on display in a shop window, that’s what!! I cannot believe I’ve worked in the city for 6 months now and never walked that way in daylight, and had no idea that Morris & Sons was in the same block … well colour me stupid!!! They may be a bit pricey, but I did manage to get the DMC I needed and at least know where they are now …
On another note, my flatmate will be moving out in a couple of months to move into a new flat with her boyfriend – which means finances are going to be critically tight from then on while I decide if I can continue to live here on my own (which is doubtful) or whether I’ll have to find a smaller/cheaper place to live … so, what do I do in the meantime, knowing that I need to be saving money? That’s right, I go shopping!!! I decided to take up a sale at Country Bumpkin which gave 50% off a floor-standing Ott-Lite … I have one in the lounge, but I’ve been stitching in my bedroom more than ever of late, and decided rather than having to move it between rooms all the time I can have the 2nd one in my bedroom permanently (and Mum can use one when she visits). Not only that but I’ve also gone a bit mad buying a few extra pairs of Dinky Dyes scissors that are on sale this week at Colours Down Under … I figure they’ll make nice gifts for exchanges or gifts etc in the future … it also meant I could buy an extra WDW skein of Bark and Havana, which I’m going to need to finish off Walking in a Winter Snapperland … which means I really don’t have any excuse not to finish it now (except for lack of desire).
All-in-all that’s probably all from me for now … I’m sure there were a few other things I wanted to talk about, but I’m absolutely shattered and my head is a bit “all over the place”, so I figure I should leave it there … sadly I’m still getting over this stupid pneumonia so I’m getting really tired as the week’s gone on … but still feel so much better than I have been!! 🙂
My new start yesterday turned out to be Shepherd’s Bush’s kit, “Into the Night” … sadly, though, the kit contents were extremely frugal and I’ve managed to run out of two of the threads – even though I stitched right down to the last 2″ of thread of each of the strands. So much for thinking I could get the whole project completed this weekend because of having ‘all the threads’ required. Oh well, it means it’s now put to one side while I contact Shepherd’s Bush for some replacement threads 😦
For now I guess it’s time to return to an older WIP for the rest of the day – I can’t be bothered working out a new project again today so I figure that’s the easiest thing to do to keep me in the stitching mood for my last day of proper recuperation.
Next week my job will be to sit up at my PC and catching up on emails, of which there are well over 1000 unread emails 😦 I really do need to set up my laptop for my emails, as it’s so much easier to sit up in bed to catch up … it’s a real pain to sit up at my computer desk late at night when I get in (and when I’m not feeling well), so I find I tend to forget about reading them 😦
This morning I had a cortisone injection in my heel for my plantar fasciitis … not something I want to repeat again in a hurry – but that means following Dr’s orders by sitting with my foot elevated for 3 days. Such a hardship having to sit up in bed with my stitching 😀
I decided that I wanted to make a new start, and silly me had to choose a project that I don’t have all the threads for. This is the companion piece to one I’ve already stitched, so I wanted to use the leftover kit threads from that one before I could work out which threads I needed to order (I did a previous trade with a fellow stitcher with our used charts) … I’ve now reached the stage where I can’t go any further until I order the threads I need. It’s a pain in the neck in that most of the threads I just need one strand, but I have to admit to absolutely loving stitching with these threads, so maybe I’ll continue to use those that I end up buying 🙂
Anyway, here’s my progress to date (Just Nan’s 20 Flowers):
Not sure what I’ll work on next – it’ll be as much as a surprise to me as you!
It’s been an interesting week with a few GP visits – one which ended up with me having a CT chest angiogram at a local private hospital to rule out blood clots in the lungs. Thankfully that came back clear, but it did confirm that I have managed to contract pneumonia … which explains why I’ve been feeling so crappy still. After going into work yesterday morning just to attend a training session that ended up being cancelled, my boss sent me home and told me I don’t have to think about work duties this week, just to take time to get better. It felt strangely exhilarating and soothing to know that I didn’t have to concentrate on anything ‘real’, but could just chill out at home and relax and concentrate on getting well again (at least until I have my cortisone injection on Friday, yikes).
So, what was the first thing I opted to do yesterday when I got home? I pulled out 4 plastic tubs of kitted up charts to start stitching something new to cheer myself up … but then I glanced over at my current WIP and realised I only had about 9-10 hours of stitching left to go (I’d had a big stitching weekend where that’s all I did all weekend, sat up in bed in my jammies!). In the end my WIP got the better of me, and I put aside any new starts … and I spent the entire afternoon in the lounge stitching. I managed to put the final backstitches into the piece today, so I can cross this off the WIP list and move it into the Finishes list (it’s very lonely on that list this year!).
“Tiger Reflection” by Dimensions
stitched on black aida fabric and thread from the kit
As for what’s up next? I have an exchange ornie to do, so I think I’ll be kitting an ornament or two up to be stitched … then I may start something new that’s a smallish size … before I return to another of my WIPs – I don’t know why, but all of a sudden it’s bothering me that I have so many unfinished projects floating around the place and I’m almost becoming a “one project at a time” person again. Knowing me, though, I’m sure that’s a short phase I’m going through LOL.
I get really tired on the computer, so still no updates from our trip written up yet … I’ll get around to it at some stage, I’m sure 🙂
And now it’s time to go and braise some beef to make a huge pot of soupy stew to keep me going over the next few days … and to dig out the next stitching project 🙂
Feather Stitching 