GAST has landed!

Yum! Got 15 skeins of GAST in the post today as an extra from my CSF Secret Sister.
Far too tired to think of anything more interesting to write today as I'm still sleeping very badly and am, frankly, fit to drop. Waaaah!

All done!

Hurrah! All 808 beads are firmly in place, the whole piece has been taken out of the working frame and I'll get the backing and zip tomorrow on the way to work. Will post a photo when the first lot of backing is on and the colour shows through the cutwork. Look out on Thursday, perhaps??

Made 2 Cards

Papercraft cards this time. Stitching two cards within one hour would be either miraculous or not worth looking at the results!!!! I'm not brilliant at papercraft at the mo and I wasn't feeling 'with it' enough to really get into it, so they aren't the best. One's for the engaged couple who will get the cushion cover and the other is for friends' mum who's in hospital after an amputation, poor love!=(

Managed to get a decent night's sleep last night, at long last!

No more beading done as yet, but hope to add about another hundred this evening.

One thing is now crossed off my list of 12 as I did it today and I was able to cross another out too as it's only things that bug me and work in the office etc doesn't bother me at home under normal circs. Hope to delete a few more over the next week or two!

Bead-a-long with me!!

Beads now total 312. That's 39.5%!!! Hope to make it over 50% today and I may get a good start on it as I can't sleep and may as well do some more now. It's 1am. I'm just so wound up these days that sleep has legged it and won't talk to me.=(

Got a DSL Gift Certificate for $25 the other day, so I've just ordered 15 skeins of GAST to re-update my collection with all the new shades that have appeared.

Send me sleep! I'll pay!

Started Beading!

Gosh! Thanks for all the lovely comments that you've made! One even came in whilst I was preparing the WIP photo for today's posting, 'Just a mo, I'm about to update....' LOL!!

So, I've started on the beading. There are 788 altogether and I've done 108 of them. It took just about 90 minutes, so that's 13.7% done at an average speed of about 1.2 beads per minute. Should take 11 hours in total, 9½ to go!!!! Bead-o-math!!!!LOL=) Here's a close-up of the mostly beaded corner:

Pleased with Rapid Progress

The cushion cover is coming on well. What do you think so far?

I'm a bit ahead of schedule now, thanks to being able to do a lot yesterday. I couldn't go to work as I was really unwell, (feeling quite a bit better today for the rest, I think, but still under the weather and a sinus headache too, yack!), but managed to be well enough later in the day to finish the back stitch, then do the cutting out and finally to wrap all 4 large diamonds and 13 of the smaller areas. Just 7 of those to go (you can see them at the bottom and bottom right), then square filet filling (also nice and quick), then onto the beading. NOT looking forward to such a lot of beading, but I'll have about a week to do it all in, about 100 per day.....

As always with me, this photo was taken first thing in the morning, so it excludes the day's work which I will start on sooooooon! Just wish I could manage to get nice photos that don't show all those horrid lines on the fabric....=(

Marlitt-a-thon

OK, so it's breaking the challenge rules, buying stash just for the sake of it, but every girl needs to comfort shop here and there! Besides, I admit to feeling not in the least bit guilty about grabbing a selection pack of 20 Marlitt threads for only £8.99, free P&P/S&H! This super deal was from The Happy Cross Stitcher and the order came in double quick time. I ordered Friday morning, it was despatched over the weekend and I got it just this morning. Thus far, I recommend them totally. Must e-mail and see if all the Marlitt bags are the same though as I will probably get another in the fullness of time, (doubtless within the next few weeks!!) and, as you can see, I got rather a lot of greens this time!! Good thing I love natural types of designs and motifs, so that will be great for leaves, stems and so on. Wouldn't mind a few more floral colours etc now though.

Had my 2nd viola lesson today and I'm itiching to get practicing again. If it weren't for the fact that I still have to do all the other stuff in life and I have a short presentation in Chinese to get written today, as well as the fact that my finger ends would protest wildly, I'd practice 4 hours a day! What we did today I found quite challenging, but I also found that last time until I went over it again a few times at home, then it was easy.=)

Got some more of the back stitching on the cushion done last night, (thanks for the comments so far, ladies!), but it's not yet done. I still have 8 more lots to do - basically going around the remaining 2 diamonds. Will post another photo when there's something to really see - probably Thurs or Fri.

History of a Hardanger Cushion Cover!!

The Hardanger cushion cover is very much back in progress, despite the eternal dog not yet being finished. He'll have to wait a little longer as some pressing things are coming up! Anyway, I started this piece in November '05 and was making it as a wedding present for someone I know in Germany. I made a real mess of it though and ended up having to frog about 75% of the work I'd done that far. In sheer exasperation, I asked myself just why I was tying myself up in knots making a wedding gift for someone who I'd learned to no longer like very much and who probably wouldn't walk across a room to say 'Hi' to me? So, once it was frogged to within an inch of its life, I put it on one side.

Later on I decided that I would make it for someone I do like instead and as she was courting at the time, I thought it would do very nicely as an engagement present. As she showed me her ring yesterday, I thought I'd better get on with it, quick smart!!!!! So, here's what's been added of late:

Not much as you can see since late September when I posted the last up-date, but I've been doing the green back-stitch stuff over the last couple of days. I've now given myself 2 weeks to get it completed and finished up into a cushion/pillow cover (pillows only go on beds in the UK, but I know there are US English speakers out there too......!!!!LOL!!). Given the 888 beads that await me smugly in their little packets, I wonder if I'll manage to meet the goal, but either way I'm going to jolly well try!

Another good stash day!

I did an exchange for some of the patterns/kits that I'd already worked with Cherie in the States. She selected what she wanted from my 'To Trade or Sell' album on my Webshots and then bought me things from my wishlist. Look what came for me today:

Aren't I the lucky one? My stash is growing nicely again, isn't it??=)

CSF Quiz Win Prize Arrives!

I won the Cross Stitch Forever group's trivia quiz last month and the prize came today. Have a look and see what I got here:

So, thanks a lot for all of that, Angie! I esp love the linen and the beads. Can't get enough beads, can you? Dunno what I'm going to use any of it for yet, but I think the Aida will look good as a background for some lovely leafy floral design with pale flowers that will stand out in contrast to the brown.

Bookmark done!=)

Here's my second finish of the year and 2nd of the 50 project challenge, PLUS 2nd on the list of stitching plans/goals for the calendar year. The fact that it was one of the smallest and simplest, of course, doesn't matter!

It was done for my 19 year old friend, Caleb for a special school he's starting for 2 weeks tomorrow. He liked it and said he would use it, so I'm well pleased with that!=)

My new baby!

Here she is, take a look at Vicki: NO! She is NOT a violin, she's a viola. You can read all about my relationship with her on the latest addition to the Sew in Love blog family: Veeeeeohlah, link on the left under 'Challenges'. I expect learning to play this baby to be a real challenge!!

Not as far on with the bookmark as I'd hoped, but here's progress thus far anyway: Should have it done on time though as there really isn't much stitching on it.

Right, better get some cleaning up done then I'd better do some upper body exercises else music will be a painful experience!!!