Updated Bucket List

Unfortunately the Bucket List has grown a little bit since I originally created it, it's now a little longer.

Ben seemed to think that a Bucket List was quite a depressing thing to do, but I look upon it as quite positive, because it means that I've got to last forever to finish everything that's on the list.

Technically I've managed to make the list go down because I've managed to cross 4 off as completed, unfortunately I've added nearly a hundred on that I want to complete, so I'm basically in big trouble.

Happy Stitching!

I'm now up to 126, and consequently am in a lot of trouble!

HAED: Lancelot and Guinevere (Fenech)

HAED: Dragon Rider (Spangler)

Maia: Winter's Majesty

Dragon Dreams: Fairy Tale Sampler

Bothy Threads: Kings & Queens

Bothy: Cut Thru Castle

Cross Stitch Collection: Heathcliffe

Cross Stitch Collection: Robin Hood

Cross Stitch Collection: Regency Ballroom

Cross Stitcher: King Arthur Sampler

Cross Stitcher: Medieval Lady

Dimensions Gold: Elegance of the Orient

Dimensions Gold: Enchanting Geisha

Dimensions Gold: Japanese Maiden

Dimensions Gold: Jewels of the Orient (again)

Dimensions Gold: Mighty Samurai

HAED: A Source of Admiration

HAED: Dahlig: Avarice

HAED: Dahlig: Envy

HAED: Dahlig: Gluttony

HAED: Dahlig: Hope

HAED: Dahlig: Light

HAED: Dahlig: Love

HAED: Dahlig: Lust

HAED: Dahlig: Ophelia

HAED: Dahlig: Pandora

HAED: Dahlig: Sloth

HAED: Dahlig: Vanity

HAED: Dahlig: Wrath

HAED: Hannah Lynn: Alice Lost

HAED: Hannah Lynn: Annabelle

HAED: Hannah Lynn: Glacier Lily

HAED: Hannah Lynn: QS Genevive

HAED: Hannah Lynn: Runaway Princess

HAED: JJB: QS Alice in Clockwork

HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: Mask of Colours 1

HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: Mask of Colours 2

HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: Rapunzel

HAED: Linda Tso: Ice Winds 2

HAED: Meeting on the Turret Stairs

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Alice in Wonderland

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Blossoming Spring

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Fall Fire

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Queen of the Night

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Raven's Treasure

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Summer Sun

HAED: Nene Thomas: Deidre

HAED: Rachel Anderson: Emerald

HAED: Rachel Anderson: Garnet

HAED: Rachel Anderson: Ruby

HAED: Rachel Anderson: Sapphire

HAED: Randal Spangler: Flights of Imagination

HAED: Randal Spangler: Hit any Key

HAED: Randal Spangler: Medieval Shelf

HAED: Randal Spangler: Sundae Delight

HAED: Randal Spangler: Train of Dreams

HAED: Randal Spangler: Treasure Quest

HAED: Rebecca Sniz: Enchanted Evening

HAED: Rebecca Sniz: Gothic Lament

HAED: Selena Fenech: Bewitched

HAED: Selina Fenech: Bright Skies + Dark Waters + Centre Section

HAED: Selina Fenech: Bubbles

HAED: Selina Fenech: Gloriana

HAED: Selina Fenech: Hide & Seek

HAED: Selina Fenech: Impossible Love

HAED: Selina Fenech: Jinxed

HAED: Selina Fenech: Lady of Avalon

HAED: Selina Fenech: Mab

HAED: Selina Fenech: Nephalia

HAED: Selina Fenech: Titania

HAED: The Soul of the Rose

HAED: The Tempest

Heritage Craft: John Clayton: The Grand Ball

Joan Elliott: Earth, Water, Air and Fire Goddess

Joan Elliott: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Fairies.

Joan Elliott: The Renaissance Ladies

Lanarte: Geisha

Lanarte: Indian Beauty

LOTR: I've got for Lord of the Ring Charts by Fluffy Kittens (I kid you not), I'd like to do one of them, don't mind which)

Maia: Geishas

Maia: Hutari Mai

Maia: Kihaku

Maia: Tsubaki

Maia: Yumezakura

Maia: Zojoji Temple

Memoirs of a Geisha

Mirabilia: Autumn Queen

Mirabilia: Midsummer Nights Fairy

Mirabilia: My Lady of the Mist

Mirabilia: Spring Queen

Mirabilia: Summer Queen

Mirabilia: The Kiss

Mirabilia: Three for Tea

Mirabilia: Venetian Opulence

Mirabilia: Winter Queen

Passione Ricamo: Autumn Fairy Spirit

Passione Ricamo: Fae Eyes

Passione Ricamo: Fairy of Dreams

Passione Ricamo: Mediterrano

Passione Ricamo: Moon Fairy Spirit

Passione Ricamo: My Lady of the Snow

Passione Ricamo: Once Upon a Time

Passione Ricamo: Selene, the Moon Goddess

Passione Ricamo: Serendipity Fae

Passione Ricamo: Spring Fairy Spirit

Passione Ricamo: Summer Fairy Spirit

Passione Ricamo: The Night

Passione Ricamo: Winter Beauty Princess

Passione Ricamo: Winter Fairy Spirit

Penguin Parade (can't remember the make)

Pixel People: Firefly

Pixel People: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Pixel People: The Princess Bride

Self Designed: Princess Bride

Self Designed: Susan Sto Helit (Discworld)

Self Designed: Wicked

Pixel People: Big Bang Theory

Bothy: Dictionary of Tea

Kustom Krafts: Little Snap Dragon

Birth Sampler

First update of Fairy Tale Sampler

Here's the first update of Fairy Tale Sampler, which I'm rather enjoying working on. The fabrics lovely and sparkly, but I can't get the camera to take a picture of the pretty sparkles.

Due to a slight moment of stupidity on my part this is on 32 count rather than 28 count, which is what it should be on, but I didn't notice until I'd already started sewing, so now I'm crossing my fingers that the beads fit okay despite the fact that the fabric's the wrong count, I think it'll be okay.

I can't do much more on this now because I'm waiting on teh beads and threads that I had to order, including some very nice Caron Waterlilies dyed threads which look beautiful. Can't wait for them to arrive so I can carry on with it. It'll look great when it's finished, lots of speciality stitches that I've never done. Can't wait!

2012 Stitching Plans

Okay, it's that time of year where we all start making plans about what we're going to stitch in the next year, and having seen the gorgeous (and ambitious) list that Joysze's set herself for this year, I thought that it was probably about time I thought about doing mine.

So, I'd love to say that I'm going to finish my first Heaven and Earth Design, but I think that that might a little unlikely. Instead I'm going to aim to achieve the following.

HEAD: Lance and Gwen: The top row, so that's 3 pages to complete

HAED: Dragon Rider: The bottom row, so that's 7 half pages.

Maia: Winter's Majesty: Next row, so that's actually only two pages

Dragon Dreams: Fairy Tale Sampler: Complete

Pixel People: A chart off the bucket list, there are 3 to choose between

Cross Stitcher: King Arthur Sampler: At least the first page.
Joan Elliott: Start a Joan Elliott chart
Dork Stitch: Come to the dark side

I think that's more than enough, but I think (maybe) that it should be just about achieveable, I hope!

I know I've seen that a few people have already put their lists up, but for those that haven't, go on, give it a shot.

Right, I'm off to order the speciality bits that I need for my Fairy Tale Sampler.

Happy Stitching!

Final TUSAL of the year

The final, slightly blurry TUSAL of the year, with the threads from Little Snap Dragon and Big Bang Theory in it.

Hope everyone has had a good year, has a good Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year.

and it all started with a Big Bang!

A quick little Pre-Christmas finish.

I wanted a little project to work on this week having finished Little Snap Dragon last week, and this little chart was calling out to me.

This lovely little chart is by Wee Little Stitches and I just loved it. In fact I recommend a quick visit to her site if you are in any way a geek, cos she's got loads of charts in this style, there are at least three others that I want to do, Princess Bride, Monty Python and Firefly!

I have to admit that I don't normally like working on little charts, I don't know why, but I have enjoyed this, although Leonard is a little cross eyed, but I'm willing to admit that that probablyt has something to do with my stitching rather than the charting.

I hope everyone has an absolutely lovely Christmas, I'm sure I'll get another post in before New Year, but just in case I don't, I also hope that everyone has a lovely and happy New Year.

IHSW and a finish

Well, I had a productive International Hermit and Stitch weekend. Much to my surprise I managed to finish Little Snap Dragon, and I think he's rather sweet.

I've been working on him (on and off) for fifteen months, although there was a seven month gap in there, so I've actually only been working on it for about eight months.

I didn't enjoy it very much when I started, and I wasn't quite convinced with the shading, but in the last few weeks when I've been working on it the shading's all started to make sense and it seems to have stitched much faster, possibly because I was finally pulling everything together.

I've also promised Ben that I'll mention him in this post and how the fact that I finished it is partially down to him.

Having had quite a busy Saturday (his final family Christmas shopping, a two hour power cut which involved me trying to finish off a stitched Christmas card as part of his secret santa for his works do in the evening) on Sunday he glanced over my shoulder while I was looking at other blogs and noticed that it was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. As such he declared that I wasn't allowed to help him with the chores that he had to do and that instead I had to stay home to do some Hermit and Stitching as the weekend declared. He also then agreed to watching Miracle on 34th Street while I stitched later on in the day. Which I thought was very sweet of him and meant that I got Little Snap Dragon finished around 10 o'clock yesterday evening.

I hope everyone else had an equally lovely and successful International Hermit and Stitch Weekend.

Now I'm debating what to put on the frame to replace him, I think I've decided that it's going to be the Fairy Tale Sampler and fabric that I bought a few weeks ago from the stitching fair, but mum's agreed that I can have these off her for Christmas (I couldn't really justify buying it), so I can't do anything with that for a week.

Happy stitching!

Another week... hopefully!

He's getting there, and I'm hoping that one more week (I've got next Friday off and currently nothing planned) will be long enough to get it finished!

He's got a a torso now (do dragons have torsos?), and he almost looks like he's attached to his wings now.

The flowers and stalks are all finished, so all that's left is the dragon himself, which is very exciting because it means that I can see it all coming together now.

Oh yeah, and it's International Hermit and Stitch weekend. I don't know how much time I'm going to get this weekend, but I'll give it a show.

Happy stitching!
Oh yeah, and I'm still useless with commenting (think I might have to cave in and get a new computer in the new year), but I'm going to make a concerted effort to comment on as many blogs as I can over Christmas and New Year, just to prove that I haven't forgotten anything.

The end is in sight

I've done two weeks on this and was going to put it away to work on something else, but when it's so close to being finished I haven't got the heart to put it away. So hopefully, in the next couple of weeks I should be able to show a final finish for the year.

I was planning to get a lot more done yesterday because I had a half day. Unfortunately I had the half day because I had my wisdom teeth out, so I spent more of yesterday feeling sorry for myself than I meant to, so I didn't manage to do quite as much stitching as I was hoping to, but I did a little bit, so that's better than nothing.

There's a definite dragon shape appearing here, but right now he doesn't quite seem to be attached to his wings, I'll have to work on that this weekend, so it looks like it's actually all the same thing. There's not much left to do, the last couple of colours to finish the stalks, half a flower above his snout and of course the rest of the dragon. End of the year? Yeah, no problem!

Little Snap Dragon is Growing

I can't believe how quickly this is stitching up. More to the point I can't believe how slowly I used to be working on this. I've only got a page and a half left to do and I'm done, and I've done three half pages this week. It's completely possible that I'll have this finished by Christmas. Why was it taking me so long to stitch this last time? Getting used to working on HAEDs has obviously done wonders for my stitching speed cos I'm suddenly so used to working on quite fiddlyh stitching. The only thing I'd say about this is I seem to be changing colour all the time, even more often than I feel I do with a HAED, don't know why that is.

Oh yeah, for HAED fans, have you seen Selina Fenech's three new pin up witches? I really hope they get charted, they're just lovely. Oh yeah, and I crumbled on the HAED sale again, I am a bad person!

Anyway, I better get my ass into gear and out of the house, I'm a volunteer usher at my local theatre and it's my first shift doing the Panto today, so I better get ready for that. Happy stitching everyone.

Oh yeah, and I apologise for not commenting much at the moment. I've complained about the vagaries of my computer in the past, so I won't go into that again, but I'm also having some problems with blogger that when I try to comment it tells me that I don't have permission. It's happening quite randomly, some days I can comment on one blog and not another and the next it's the other way round, so I apologise for not being more chatty, but chances are I've tried to comment and the computer's refused to let me!