Bedroom lined and glossed

Here are the same two views as yesterday, but with all the woodwork gloss painted and lining paper on the walls, evening poor plasterwork out and hiding all the dark plaster we had to use to cover the sunk wiring back in June. I realise that, mostly owing to the poor light yesterday (it seemed to be dark all day), the photos don't show a great deal of difference, but if you look closely at the ones from the last posting, you'll see a change, esp up near the cornicing and just next to the cupboard doors. At least it's been proper daylight today and you can see clearly again.

The top paper is going on this afternoon and Sir is finishing sanding down the woodwork in the hall where there are a LOT of doors! 5 rooms, 4 cupboard doors as well as the front door (which we'll do later on) and the skirting board. That little lot will be glossed tomorrow afternoon. Oh, how great it is to have friends who love decorating and hate to be idle over the hols!!!

I'm still pressing on with lesson planning, writing handouts etc and generally trying to keep house in amongst all this chaos. Not surprisingly, we're sleeping at mum's again! We plan to sleep here again on Monday night after the hall glosswork has had time to dry and air and the bedroom paper is dry etc. And Tim's just arrived for his afternoon's fun. No, really, he loves it!

No stitching to report on really except that I'm in the final stages of back-stitching on the blue-tit. I can't get into it at the mo, so don't expect much in the way of really interesting photos.

Bedroom in progress

Here's what it looked like before work started for the day:

<- This is the 'usual' view of the corner with my wardrobes - here seen primed and undercoated. It's yet to be glossed and yesterday we bought new door handles to make it look a little nicer than before. We also got the wallpaper, a self-coloured off-white stripe. I just wanted something simple and neutral so that we can go to town with bedding colours and jazz up the walls with pictures, i.e. the chaffinches one I did over the summer.=)

->
This is what the room looks like from the door. It's so dark today that we have to have lights on all the time! Anyone would think it was within the Arctic Circle the amount of light we're getting right now!=(

As I type, Sir is sanding down woodwork in the hallway, Hongda is pasting lining paper and Tim is hanging said lining paper. Should get the bedroom glosswork done today as well. Another update will be posted tomorrow with how it looks at the start of the day, then another on Sunday with the bedroom essentially done. Huzzah!

Working, working....

As I type, Sir is madly sanding down the kitchen door frame. He's using his time off over the holiday period to get on with the decorating and a friend has been kind enough to come and help too. Another one due tomorrow as well, so we plan to get the entire bedroom finished, the glosswork done in the hall, living room (only 2 things there left now), and perhaps even the bathroom completed as well as the bathroom prepared for re-painting and at least the ceiling done of that. Things are moving ahead apace!

As for me, I'm spending the rest of the day on my secular work and probably much of tomorrow as well, so I can get well caught up and then relax a bit more for the rest of the hols. I've been ill for the last week, which has lost me a lot of time and productive stuff.=( So, I'll have some photos to post over the w/e, mostly of progress around the flat, but maybe even something on my needlework too. I must get that 2nd picture done soon for the bedroom!

Works in progress

Well, images wasn't working yeterday for me, so these are one day out of date, but.....

(Weds) Greetings and many thanks to all those who sent congratulations to DH on his graduation!=) Today I've got 2 WIP photos of very different kinds. The first is the blue tit cross stitch as I just haven't got back into the dog again yet.

The other is the current state of my side of the bedroom. We're hoping to get a lot of glosswork done over the holiday season, but I'm not holding my breath, you know!!!LOL!

Thursday am: I've now done a few leaves and the light brownish bits to the left of the bird as well. Hope to complete the XS today as I'm stuck home not feeling well, bit as I was planning on having a Stitch-a-thon today anyway, no probs!!!

I have also created a 'Sale or Trade' album on my Webshots, (link on the left, or click the here at the top of the blog), so have a look and see if you can use anything that's there. Most of things I've already done, so you can see the finished look in more detail in the relevant albums there.

ConGRADulations!


And here he is, Margaret Sherry's 'Clever' Cattitude. I just changed the background colour and simplified it to half stitches instead of whole crosses, (mostly owing to lack of time....).

<-And here's the back for those who like to see backs.=) Oh, my photos are up on the Helen M Stevens' site. This is the page showing all the students' galleries and mine are in the Selection Box one, first on the list and my two pieces are even there as the first two, so they show on the main list too! Can't think why when the other lady's are much more glam, using Pipers' super shiny silks and so on, but I'm dead pleased anyway.

Pearsalls got those missing threads to me extremely quickly, so a big thumbs up to them for service there. Also, decided not to stitch the other card, but to do a papercraft one as I just don't have time and all this pressure to get stuff stitched to tight deadlines is too much.

Two Animals

Look what my friend, Katy, stitched for me:

Isn't he fantastic? It's Margaret Sherry's 'Cat-a-cello', (although I reckon it's more of a double bass....), and I think he's absolutely delightful and am thrilled to bits with him.=)




Here's the latest on the dog too:

Hoping (probably against hope) to have him done in another 2 weeks. Might make it, might not, but as that will take me to the 10th and I need to have cards ready for 14th and 16th, I would like to be able to get one finished and then press on with the others.

It's only 09:20, but I've already blitzed around doing the cleaning and am just about to get some work stuff prepared for class tomorrow, then it's on with the bow-wow's nose. I started it last night, but took it out again as I don't think it would have worked well that way. Need to finish the entire nose part and close up that whole gap by Friday in order to be done on time.

Knitting & Stitching Show 2006

I went to the Kintting & Stitching Show in Harrogate yesterday. It was great as ever! I wanted to do a couple of the Learning Curve practical projects, but the two I was interested in were sold out by the time I got there. I was rather disappointed, but no matter, I had an extra £12 to spend instead! I managed to earwig the first section of the 'Crazy Patchwork Bag' session and wrote down a few notes (borrowed a book from the library on the same sort of thing on Thursday too), and I went along right at the end of the 'Japanese Embroidery' session to see what they had been doing. I was quite glad I'd missed that one as I'd hoped that it would be a small piece that I would have been able to mount in a card, but they were working the first stages of a larger piece and she collected them in afterwards, so there was nothing to take away. The bag, however, I would have liked and am keen to try CQ as soon as I can.

So, here's the stash I bought: 2 Pearsalls' silk embroidery kits, one flatwork 'Bluetit Family' and one 'Stumpwork Poppy'. The model for the latter was incredibly beautiful, but the photo on the front of the kit is dismal! They'd never have sold a thing without the model and really need to re-do the kit picture. You can get them better than this because I've seen them on raised embroidery sites and newsgroups, (might send them mine as a suggested replacement once I've worked it!!). There were 2 lots of the threads missing from my kit, so I e-mailed at once to get them sent to me. Will report back as to how well they do on this score. I also got a Brazillian embroidery kit from Ed-Mar, which looks lucious! I have 2 courting couples in my circle of friends right now and I'm sure at least one, if not both, of them will marry and this kit will make a delightful ring cushion that's sure to do for one of them. More to one girl's taste than the other though and she loves things South American, whereas the other has quite simple tastes. As well as the kits, I got one skein of Anchor Coton à Broder, one freebie skein of Pearsalls' silk and 4 packs of Mill Hill beads.

I spoke to Tracey Franklin at her stand about the dog portrait. She stitched the model in the RSN's book and so I wanted to know if she found it challenging at all and she said some of it was rather hard, esp. as the stitches went in all different directions. So, I felt better for finding it hard if she had! She also kindly said that I must be quite good to attempt that, but I didn't like to say that it was the first piece of silk shading I'd ever done! I've done that lily since and the tiny strawberry flowers on 2 other things have used the same principles, but the dog is the ultimate and the first piece I tried. Talk about jumping in at the deep end! Well, I'll have to learn to take smalled steps in future. I did with other types of stitching, so why I'd to be so hard on myself with this one, I can't imagine! Twit!

Speaking of twits, whilst I was at Miss Franklin's stand, the funniest little man was there too! He was trialling some stitches on her hoop etc and, as I got there, was just enthusing about her giving him the whole piece of fabric, (probably trying to get rid of him). Shortly afterwards, it was clear how he was trying all ends up to impress us both and was saying that I ought to encourage my hubby to start stitching as it goes down well with the ladies and so on!! Well, a happily married man would hardly expect to be told how to go about getting into other ladies' good graces, how to chat them up in nightclubs, and that by his own wife!!!! It was clear this chap was on the pull and fancied his chances of meeting a nice stitching lady he could charm as he was there in his suit and tie, but he was late middle-aged, hadn't much hair and even told us that he spoke Icelandic to try and get some admiring response! I couldn't resist telling him I spoke Mandarin Chinese, to which he started to say something I thought must be in Icelandic because I hadn't a clue what he was saying at all. When he repeated it and looked almost accusingly at me, I realised that he was attempting to say 'how are you?' in Mandarin, but honestly, the pronunciation was so poor (and even one of the words totally wrong) that I thought he was showing off his Nordic skills! I said that I was sure poor Miss Franklin had had enough by then and took my leave, but I bet he was at least thinking I couldn't really speak Mandarin as I couldn't make out his rotten attempt!! What a character! I shall turn and run off if I see him there next year!!!!!!

Some Updates

And it's Monday again! Good-oh! I'm not very well today, but it seems to be only a 24 hour thing and I should be OK for my new Chinese classes 2nd session tomorrow tea-time. I've got loads of fun activities planned, so I'm quite looking forward to it. I would never have thought it, but perhaps teaching is for me after all.=)

So, here's the long over-due kitchen update photo. It still needs a window dressing (and the glosswork will be re-done when it's all done over the winter hols) and I plan to stitch that lovely blue tit and bird table design to go just above the cooker too. So, things to look out for the in the first half of next year, all being well. Hope you like progress thus far - it's certainly a lot brighter and less bottom heavy than it was, now that it's painted a nice lemon colour and has 2 shelves to house all my machinery.

Here's the doggie at present as well. I'm kinda enjoying doing him, but will be very pleased when he's done and I can get on with other things. Might do something on his this afternoon actually as I have an unexpected free afti owing to it being a good idea to rest up as much as poss. That's certainly true as I'm going to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate on Friday and it would be an awful shame to mess that up, no?

Streuth! The new beta Blogger version might be quicker etc, but it adds in even more blank lines with photos than the old one did! Heavy use of 'preview' function recommended, and it's about time that was adapted to actually reflect what will appear too!

I'm back!

Good morning one and each!!!

Here we are home again. We came home about 18 hours earlier than planned, but we were both ready for home and would have just stayed one more night for the sake of it, so I'm glad we went with our feelings and drove home yesterday tea time instead of this morning. Slept better and more comfortably in my own bed anyway.=)

Had a nice trip though. We saw some lovely scenery and met some nice people too. I also got quite a bit of my dog portrait done and here's the latest update shot of him:


Click on it to get a full sized version, which looks a bit better than always this shrunk photo. You can see the stitches much better etc, (if it works, of course, which it didn't for me when I tried it, grrrrr). Anyway, I got quite into it and found it much easier going when I was enjoying it more. I'd hoped to have the 2nd cheek completed by the time we got home, but as I didn't stitch any of it for the last 2 days and we're home early anyway, I'm not slapping myself about it. Good news is that I should indeed be able to have it completed this month and that feels GOOD!=)

Condolences card

Here's the card I made for my little friend who lost her daddy this week. All our congregation are going to sign it as they met her just last week. I know she'll like to hear from them a lot too, although it's hardly a real consolation for losing Daddy.=( Hope everyone likes it. It's a Mary Hickmott design from her 'Moving on in Hardanger' booklet. I just changed it in that I put a spider's web right in the middle instead of square filet in the 4 squares around it and used silvery threads for much of the stitching to make it a bit more special.

I'm not very well at the moment - got a dreadful throat and so on. DH has had a bit of cold too, so I guess this is how it's coming out in me. Nothing sinister though and we're looking forward to our holidays from next Saturday.

Not much done on the dog as yet - just one more section last w/e, but I have today and tomorrow pretty much free as I can't really go out and about infecting people left, right and centre, so I hope to press on with the Woofer a bit. Oh joy!

Blue tit and a rethink.....

So, here's what the rebel blue tit looks like at the mo. I haven't had time to do any of it today and it was taken in non-natural light and adjusted this evening, (in case it looks a bit odd in any way, i.e. rather yellow).

Today I was given a great illustration to think seriously about when it comes to stuff like getting that pesky mutt (the dog portrait) finished. I was told it was like 'sitting on a pin'. Suppose that just before you sat down, someone put a drawing pin on the chair and you sat right on it. You have 2 choices, you can either get up, remove the pin and sit back down in relative comfort, (supposing you haven't damaged your behind too grievously, that is!!!!), or you can stay on it, pretending the discomfort isn't there, you're not really squirming away from the pin and so on. When we put things off, knowing that they're bugging us, but we just won't get on with them anyway, it's like sitting on this pin and staying there. We know what to do to remove the discomfort, but we choose to say 'I don't mind' and keep on letting it jab at us. I suppose that we can get kinda used to the pricking sensation and even grow a bit numb to it over time.

So, I must get on with that dog, even if a little at a time and then I might actually begin to feel the tension I suffer from release a bit. Seems a bit too simple to be the root of the tension, but it's worth a try and, if it doesn't actually work to get rid of all of it, then it will at least be one irritation out of the way. I'll feel able to get on with other projects that I'm looking forward to without feeling that I shouldn't do them as I haven't finished the dog yet, and that's just got to be great. Von, what you said about taking care of one's sanity is just too true. It was pointed out to me that I needed to get this project that was bugging my big style off my mind and thus free up my hobby for genuine relaxation. This is what doggy looks like just now:


Not a frog, but a bird this time....

Here's the progress on my bluetit so far. I have loads of bluetit designs, kits and so forth in both XS and freestyle and have been wondering what to do with them all. Today the idea came to me - make them into a quilt/throw to put around me when it's cool in the evenings and I don't want to put the heating on with electicity prices being stratospheric these days..... I'll put plain panels in between the stitched ones and fill it with some lightweight batting. Sounds good!

I've been having a very slobby day stitching today, but I think I'd better get on with something productive now. Sigh, how dull!!!

The Rebel Post!!!

Well, I finally did it. I rebelled and got on with a bluetit I've been wanting to stitch for almost as long as the dog's been underway, so about 2½ years! You know when you really should be getting on with a long overdue WIP, but you just need to do something else for the sake of your own sanity? Well, that was about the size of it.

So, why no photo? 'Cos I started doing it on that printed fabric that looks like sky and realised that I'd got it the wrong way 'round. It only looks right one way and not at right angles, which is where I started. Rats! So, as DH said, 'It was meant to be a bird, but turned out to be a frog!'. Oddly enough, I didn't even mind that! It was the fact of making a start on it that made me feel a lot better.=)

No headache today, in fact it disappeared 'ahead of time' yesterday evening!

Long time no post, huh?

We were in Ireland over the weekend, (Thurs - Mon), and I haven't done any stitching for about 2 weeks now! I know, sacrelige! Just no time at the mo, so much going on and things don't look like getting much calmer for a little while, but we at least plan to have a lazy week in the upper Dales in November. I know it'll be cold, but it'll be a break and that's really what matters.=)

The other week, someone I stitched a picture for sent me a photo of the framed thing, so I thought I would share it with you here. She said she'd prefer a gold frame, but this one looks nice too, don't you think?

Two late updates!

Has it really been more than two weeks? Yikes!

OK, so here are some WIP updates. The first is very late as it was done more than a week ago, (although it's been only a week since I completed moving all the books etc back in, which you can't see on this lil' pic), and it's the living room from more or less the same angle as I posted about 3 weeks ago. I thought it would make more sense that way! It's been really just renewing in here. No big changes like in other rooms, just keeping things the same so as not to have to buy new furniture etc. Wait 'til you see the hall when it's done....

The second is the latest on the hardanger cushion. I haven't been able to do much on it lately, but as you can see, I've completed all the satin and cable stitching. Next is the backstitch which will make the flowers seem more complete, then it's on to the cutwork, which won't take long as there isn't much and it's just wrapped bars and square filet filling - both the fastest going. Then is the eternal beading - 888 beads to go on this baby! Eeeeeek! I plan on doing those for the flower centres in purple and those for the buds in turquoise blue. Nothing more done on the dog as yet, but I think I shall take him to Ireland next week and work on him there. He'll have been in 4 countries then!!!

What home looks like right now.....

Are you ready for this? Here's what the bedroom looks like with most of the movable contents of the living room in it, (although there are also 4 boxes in the hall, (see below), and 2 bags in the kitchen!). I managed to keep a space clear-ish to dry washing in, but it's some challenge to get in my wardrobe, I can tell you!! Notice too the splashes of paint down the walls and so on in here. It needs wall-papering yet and also most of the woodwork needs totally stripping and re-painting. Only the skirting board just needs rubbing down and re-doing. Sigh! Well, we do want it to look good, right?=)

<- The hall looks like this with all those living room boxes, decorating stuff and being in rotten, messy condition itself.=( Haven't decided on a colour scheme for the hall yet. Anyone got any ideas? I suppose the best thing I've thought of has been red and cream shades.

And this is the view from -> the living room door. Everything under cover, but the coving is totally mended and re-painted as is the ceiling. Sir also finished getting all the old wallpaper off and we plan to buy the new tomorrow. We get £150 of decorating vouchers then, which is a BIG help. He also wants to get some undercoating done tonight.

The weekend's WIPs

Eye-eye! Here's a close-up of the dog's eyes, (although I hope that was obvious!!) I'd done the eyes proper back in July, but put in the lids and the lower surrounds over the weekend. It's getting very crowded stitch-wise in that area! I'm glad to say that the next bit of the dog is to fill in the gaps in the forehead more or less down to the eyes and that is less intense. I can even do it in artificial light, as long as I make sure the colours are selected first.

I wanted to get all the satin stitching finished on the cushion and might have done so, but that I met the frog again! I put one element one line too far over and had to take it and the three that had been measured from it out. Not as bad as having to remove about three quarters of your work, like last time with this one, but a shame just the same. Hope to get it done today as well as the cable stitching around the four large white diamonds. The green back-stitching will take a while as there's a lot of it and I dread to think about the beading....

Oh, for the day these 2 are FINISHED! 'Happy dance' won't be in it! It'll be champagne breakfasts all around and a major street party!

Last night's work

Here's what we both did last night. Sir did some work in the living room and I did some stitching, (as I didn't feel well enough to help - got a rotten bug, AGAIN!). I got on with the hardanger cushion and have now got more than half of the thicker thread (#5) surface work done. With this one, there isn't a great deal of cutwork to do, but there is a lot of #8 cotton, thinner thread, stuff going on and well over 800 beads to contend with.....=( Here's what it looks like right now:

Sir fixed the part of the living room cornicing that was damged by the electricians putting that nasty trunking across the ceiling, inserted a new piece. Today it'll be fillled, smoothed and got ready for re-painting. He also fitted the proper living room light, which may seem a bit back-to-front to do that before re-painting the ceiling, but he says that, last time he did the celing around a temporary light fitting, the ceiling rose was larger and he ended up with an un-painted patch to re-do, so he'll just loosen this one when the time comes. I'm happy anyway as there's twice as much light as before and I love light.=) As well as sorting out the rest of the cornicing, he plans to smooth down this awful patch of plaster you can see here, strip the remaining wall-paper (from walls not visible on this shot), and also prepare paintwork for re-doing.

He's also almost through with his own read-through on his dissertation, then it's my turn to proof-read. I'm shopping with Mamma this morning, out with Jen this afternoon, then taking it easy for a bit to rest this virus through. I've been doing too much on a virus and need to rest, so Saturday is home day and I'm going to have a stitch-a-thon. Look out for updates on Sunday to both the dog and the cushion cover.=) I'm trying not to start anything new until these are done and they will both take a while and provide quite some variety within themselves. Then I'll feel much freer.

Oh yes, we got verbal (just waiting for written) confirmation that the wiring issues are resolved and have been awardrd £150 in re-decorating vounchers too! Yippee! That should pay for the stuff needed for both living room and bedroom. Going to buy paper on Tuesday, right after I register for a German course at LMU (Leeds Metropolitan University). Looking forward to moving Sir's language forward again.

Re-start of renovation works!

Hi guys! 6 comments from this morning's posting already, WOW! Thanks for all the lovely responses to the finishes on the posting below.

So, who remembers the major home renovations from June? Well, they got frozen for about 2½ months, but now that Sir has all but finished his MA dissertation, (just checking and proof-reading to do), he's about to get on with the living room. We're having guests arriving in 9 days' time and, as that is our 'guest bedroom', it needs to be a bit better than it is. Have a look at what we've been looking at for the past 11 weeks or thereabouts! That along with several packed boxes, bags and half laden, dusty shelves as there was no point in putting stuff back beyond what was needed to use the dining table (and stop it collapsing under the weight of so many books!). So, the fact that it should be totally re-done including new carpet in just over a week is a nice thought.

Then the bedroom, re-painting the kitchen and bathroom, painting and papering the hall.... No danger of life getting boring around here, huh?

Two Finishes!

Yippee! Finally got the birds and the needlecase finished.=) The stitching show motivated me to get on with my WIPs (and at least one of the 2 chums I went with to get on with hers too....), and here are the results.

Here are the birdies: It's not at all a good photo as you can't really see the beading in the flowers at all. There are actually beads and long-stitches in there, which look fab in real life, but don't show well on here.=(

And here are the front and the back of the completed needlecase. I'm quite proud of it as the sewing is quite neat for a change and I managed to get the stitches that hold the 'leaf' in to be virtually invisible along the outer edge.=)

Stitched in 'Cotton Candy' Caron Watercolors and Wildflowers threads on pink Oslo fabric.

Nope, I'm not dead...=)

I'm still here, somewhere!!! Haven't been doing any stitching to speak of lately, so there wasn't anything to post here. Sorry to be so dull.

Anyway, I went to the Stitch and Creative Crafts Show in Manchester yesterday afternoon with a couple of girlie friends and got 5 pieces of fabby organza (2 whites, 2 greens and 1 aqua blue), great for leaves and insect wings in the stumpwork pieces I'll get around to one day. I also got Helen M Stevens' 'World of Embroidery' for half price and thus completed my collection of her books.

The show kinda spurred me on to do some stitching, so I almost completed the background on the chaffinches and will finish that off, plus the top-stitching on the birds today. That will just leave adding the beads and long-stitching on the flowers and it'll be done. Also want to finally get that needlecase sewn up. I did prepare a piece of bright pink fabric as a backing for it - spent hours hemming it up to size by hand, then realised that I just didn't like it as a backing and wanted white instead. I'm just going to use felt as it doesn't need edging up and will then sew the flannel leaf in, (which also needs some sort of trimming.....), and that's another project done. Planning for some progress this week.

Then it's back to the dog and the cushion cover. I will feel a LOT freer with my stitching once those are done, esp. That pesky mutt! (But I will, of course, be immensely proud of him when he's done.....)

New Chaffinches Shot

I haven't done any on this, or any other stitching project, for about a week now, so not much progress. Just a little half stitching in the background there.

Fabric Storage

Basically, I have 2 supermarket carrier bags in the under-bed drawer on my side. One bag contains all the evenweave fabrics for counted work and the other plain/fineweaves etc for surface and raised work.

In the counted bag there are various colours of Aida, 28ct Jobelan/ evenweave, some pieces of linen and some Hardanger/Oslo fabrics for hardanger work. The fabric is quite neatly stored in there and I can see what's where at once.

In the 2nd bag are several colours of polycotton, some cotton twill type stuff, calico, various shades of felt and some silk (dupion) and organza pieces. Don't think this bag is quite as well organized as the other.

Stitch and Creative Crafts Show a week on Saturday, so I daresay that I'll be adding to the stuff I already have FAR too much of!! Yes Lili, you're right - new stash does help. It's just a problem when there's not much £$£ around and the guilt of spending money you shouldn't takes away the pleasure of stash enhancement!!!!!!!

Oh, I got Helen M Stevens' latest book through from Amazon yesterday, 'Embroidered Gardens'. It's lush! Looking forward to the next one on landscapes too, esp. as it promises to be in a similiar style to this one.=)

Photo taken from far away this time....

Here's the current progress report on the Chaffinches and Blossom design. I put the frame on the floor then took the photo from standing, which is probably too far away, but at least it's a lot less liney that the last shot was. Still not stitched up the needlecase yet, so nothing to show on that one, nor have I done anything on the other 2 WIPs. No-one will die of suspense though, I guess!!

Progress on the Works in Progress

Here are the chaffinches as of 2am today! (I couldn't sleep!!!)

And here's the completed stitching on the hardanger needlecase. I just need to get some fabric to finish it up now (make the backing and the leaves to hold the needles) and then it can be sent over to my Mother-in-Law.




Still don't seem to be able to get rid of the lines on the photos and make the fabric look like it should. Anyone got any ideas?

I'm back!

Hey! Well, here I am in the land of the blogging again after more than 2 weeks. Crumbs! I was home for 2 days last week and have been here since late Sunday this week too, but I'm totally POOPED and needed to rest. Still do actually, but I got some ironing done last night, including my WIPs so I can now show them off. Well, that would be true IF Blogger images was working, but it's on the darned blink AGAIN! Drives you mad! AAAAARRRRRGHHHH!!!

Germany - First we were in Deilingen, where my in-laws live. This is a tiny place in the Swabian Alp area. Nearest major city is Stuttgart and the local centres are Balingen and Rotweil. We were there for 2 days, then a 7 hour drive up to Lunzenau in the former GDR (East Germany), which is an hour from Leipzig. Neither Sir nor I had been there before, to the old East I mean, so that was interesting. Anyway, more on all that on my travel site, which I'm in the process of putting together. All the 'Scenes from England' shots, home photos and 'The People Album' are being moved there (it's a Yahoo 360 site) and so my Webshots and this blog will be for stitching stuff and everyday twitter only. I'll post a link to the travel and events site as soon as I'm ready for it to go public. I've been sorting out the photo albums there, plus the profile business, so there's just some more, (recent), travel and event photos to upload there and the blog to create for the last trip(s). Planning on completing that within the next week as PC access permits!!!!

I got quite a bit on the chaffinches done whilst away, well got the other bird done and some more on the plant life, (see Webshots for photo as I can't upload here today) and I did all the work pre-fabric cutting on the hardanger needlecase (again, see Webshots) during that awful long drive from Baden-Wuttemburg to Saxony. You can stitch OK on most German roads as they are in good condition and my father-in-law's car is quite a high and stable vehicle, (plus he drives decently), so car-sickness is greatly reduced. I rarely get much stitching done whilst away, so I was pleased with progress on both of these. I won't be keeping the needlecase, I promised it to my mother-in-law when I saw that she was bunging her needles in a pin-cushion. Well, at least it was a cross-stitched pin cushion!!! I also did the design for kid sis's manicure set bag on the plane . Be a while before I get to that though.

Been busy, Harsha? Nah! Haven't put in a stitch for about 10 days now and I think Sir wants me to do some 'thank-you' things for people in Lunzenau who did a lot for us last w/e etc, plus I'm wrecked but need to get the housework done, (how can you possibly rest and relax when you feel awful that your home is such a tip?), and....and....and... I NEED A HOUSEKEEPER! Any volunteers???!!!=)

Not really making goals for the month now as, looking at some stitcher's goal lists, it makes it look like a load of stress and 'I don't want to do this, but....'s, so I think I'll just say that I hope to have the chaffinches and the needlecase done as well as any small gifts for Germany and some more progress made on both the cushion and the dog. I expect both of those will be done by about the end of next month, but I'm not committing myself to anything!!!!!

If I can post photos here, there'll be updates soon and I'm now going off to get a bit more on the weaving on the needlecase cutwork done.

Quick Update Before Hitting the Road

Just want to post a quick update on the current WIPs before I head off to Germany for the week, (would rather stay home though, I must confess.....)

Dog looks kinda surreal, doesn't he??? The left hand eye is a bit too round and needs elongating, but other than that, I'm quite pleased with them.

Watch the Birdie!

Here's how the chaffinch XS piece is looking right now. Coming on beautifully, I think. I won't be doing any more on it for a little while though, as I want to take it to Germany when we go on Monday so I can work on it there. My other 2 WIPs are either too large or too 'delicate' to take, so I'll work on those over the next 50 hours and post updates over the w/e.

I decided to do the hardanger needlecase for myself whilst on the long car journey from Deilingen to Leipzig.=)

Also, just seen the preview .pdf of the next issue of 'Inspirations' and there's one of those glorious Elizabethan sweetbag designs in there called 'Flowers for Elizabeth', so I think that must go on my 'stuff to stitch for self' list!!!

Minor Miracle!

No, I don't mean DH has done the dishes, I mean that I've actually got some of the dog done! In fact, about 2/3 of the actual eyes are done and that was the scariest bit. Instead of working from the inside out, this time I reversed it and did the honey coloured bit of the iris (you'll see that soon as I haven't taken a pic yet) first so that the central pupil bit didn't get too round. Seems to have worked quite well and I feel rather like getting straight on with it.=) It felt good when DH, thinking I needed a 'reminder' (!!!) asked out of the blue how the dog was coming on and I could tell him to go and have a look. YIPPEE! Might finish it this summer after all.

Now then, I need a small counted thread project (blunt needle) to do whilst on a long, dull 5-hour drive in Germany next Thursday. I'm out of bookmark and needlecase kits. Any ideas? Perhaps a couple of small hardanger pieces for cards? Buy another kit? Finally do that hardanger needlecase for myself? Possibilities, possibilities. Any more ideas, ladies?

Now that Blogger images are working again, I can show you the blackwork kit I got as one of my 4 anniversary presents, (the others were a lovely dressing gown, a DVD of 'Mr Holland's Opus' - a film I just love, and something else which hasn't arrived yet and DH won't tell me about....). It's called 'The Embroideress', which I thought was a good one for both me and lots of you stitching ladies who visit here often.=) This one's for us!

WIP Update as of 12 July

Good morning! Glad some of you are planning on trying hardanger. Something else I should have mentioned last posting is that hardanger embroidery works up quickly. So, if you're used to, and fed up of, the sheer amounts of time needed for cross stitch, then you'll enjoy the relative speed of hardanger.

Now, speaking of which, I actually did some on the cushion last night and here's progress so far. I counted every single element meticulously as I don't want a repeat performance of my first attempt with this piece, where getting one row of things one row of holes out caused me to have to take about 70% of the stitching I'd done out again! You can even see the old holes if you look closely at the pic (click on it for a full sized version).

This is the current status on the chaffinch piece. I'll probably be taking this one to Germany with me next week to work on/finish off there and the other day I ordered its companion 'Blue Tits and Seedheads' design. Hope that will come soon too.

Haven't done much on the dog beyond taking out the few remaining stitches from my first attempt at the eyes, (I made them too round), and re-drawing in the eye area on the fabric. Might just brave that later on this morning, but knowing me, I'll bottle out!!!!! I'm still getting zero done on old overdue work and not feeling any more comfy with it, so I'm just going to have to take myself in hand. I thought of bribing myself. Any other ideas?

My Current WIPs (in 3 Volumes) #1 Chaffinches and Blossom

Good morning! Well, a semi good morning as my throat has swollen up again and I fear a batch of tonsillitis..... Oh well, I wasn't going to do much today anyway as I got loads of work done yesterday, so apart from cancelling the shoe buying trip (which I hate anyway - I have awkward sized feet) I'm just going to slob out and stitch. So, maybe tomorrow I'll be OK.=)

This is the picture I've started for the bedroom. I'll be doing the 'blue tits and seedheads' design from the same series too for one either side of the bed. I love the colours in this one and the changes are very subtle with a lot of blending of colours together, (one strand each of two shades instead of the usual two of the same). Problem with both this photo and the next is that evenweave fabrics don't reproduce well on certain scales of photo, so both of these pix look 'liney' and the hardanger one looks loose!!!!!

#2 - Hardanger Cushion

Here's the hardanger cushion that I started on back in November. I got a lot further than this, then realised that I'd miscounted at the centre and had to frog it to what you can see here, i.e. not much left!! It's now ready for working on again and is mounted in one of those mammoth 17" snap frames. I've never worked with something that big before, so I wonder how I will get on with it. Should be able to comment on that tomorrow, all being well. I don't feel too ill, so I should have a reasonable day's work.=)