A little bit of Stash Enhancement!

Okay, so I said I wasn't going to be anything at the Knitting and Stitching show, but lets be honest, we all knew that that was a lie, I had good intentions, but it just wasn't going to happen. So here's what I got, a chart called Fairy Tale Sampler which I fell in love with, and its going to be my new year challenge because it's got some speciality stitches in it which I've never done, so I'll do that.

I also bought some beautiful fabric to stitch it on, from a company called Sparklies I recommend her, she's got some absolutely gorgeous fabrics, they're lovely!

Finally, I fell in love with another Bothy Kit, called Kings & Queens. It's gorgeous! What do you think? Isn't it great! I'm going to have to get it at some point.

Little Angel is FINISHED!

 Right then, a miracle has happened, I've managed a second finish in 2011, I really didn't think that that was going to happen. Here's Little Angel by Maria Diaz.

I've got mixed feelings about this one. It was quite an easy stitch, although I really did get sick of the sight of cream, as it felt like that was all I worked on for two or three weeks. It does look really effective now that it's finished, although I do have to say that it's really not to my taste, I've only stitched becuase it's a present for some friends who are due to have a day in new year! In fact Ben's even declared that the mum on this looks a bit like our mum to be, although I'm not as sure that I can see it. But it does make it look even more thoughtful than it actually is, so I'll go with it if that's what he thinks!

Of course, the fact that Little Angel is finished means that the frame is freed up and Little Snap Dragon can finally go back on to a frame and I can stop feeling guilty about the fact that I've been neglecting him for nearly an entire year! I love this piece, I settled down to work on it again last night and am back in love with him. It's such an easy stitch. I have a vague memory of thinking that was a bit confetti based when I was stitching it originally, but after working on a couple of HAEDs this is suddenly really simple to work on.

I was going to work on Dragon Rider this week, (Ben's away so I've got a day of stitching goodness ahead of me) but now that I've got Little Snap Dragon back I just want to keep working on it, I reckon I can get the wings page finished today, and hopefully the stalks on the bottom page as well if I put my mind to it and really work on it today (and this week of course, but it may be a busy week this week).

In other news, it's the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate today, and seeing as I live about 5 minutes walk from where it's being held I couldn't not go, so before my stitching marathon can start I'm going to see if I can test my will power and see if I'm capable of spending an hour or two in a room with that much stitching stuff and not buy anything... I suspect that I can't, but you never know, I could surprise myself.

TUSAL

I forgot TUSAL again, I'm useless.

Here's this month, it's mostly light blue and cream from Winter's Majesty and Little Angel this month!

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

Good evening all, did everyone have a good International Hermit and Stitch Weekend?

I got quite a bit done, although it's not really looking like much because all I've done it add more cream. I'll be honest, I'm getting a little bored  of cream, but I know it'll be worth it in the end. I've still got to do mum's top, her neck and face, babies sleeve and face. I'll get there, I'm hoping to get it all done this week, then all I've got is the darker colours and the backstitch. The aim is by the end of the year. Two finishes in one year, can such a magical thing happen?

I haven't had a chance to check out everyone elses proress yet, but I promise I will, and will leave comments on as many as I can.

Filling in some blue

I'm a bit late posting this week. I somehow ended up covering for one of Ben's receptionists when she couldn't make it into work this morning. Gulible? Moi? I guess I must just be a loving girlfriend.

I've managed to make a fair bit of progress though, there are who sections that I practically filled in now. Although there are also whole sections that don't actually have any stitches done. But, as predicted with the end of the evil little flowers, my love of this piece has returned, and I am rather enjoying seeing the shape of her actually appearing now.

And now, for International Hermit and Stitch weekend and the following week I'm back on to Little Angel, which contains a lot of cream. I've just had to go and buy a second skein!

Cream, cream and more cream!

There is a lot of cream in this piece, so that's pretty much what I've been stitching this week, as the title says, cream, cream and more cream!

It is starting to look a lot better with the extra colours filling in. I think that there are only about four colours left, but I think it's time for a break, I'm getting fed up of the all the cream.

Hope everyones stitching is going well, I'm enjoying everyone's progress and am starting to manage to comment on other people's blogs, so all is good in the world!

I can see it!

Now that I've got a third (start or a fourth) colour in here, the shading's starting to look better. I'm hating the darker colour less now that it's all fading in a bit better. I'm pretty comfortable that I'll be able to get this finished within time. Little dude is due in January, and it'll probably be a couple of months after that little dude is christened so plently of time. But I'm aiming to get it finished in time for the birth so I've just got to get it framed for the christening.

So, now I'm debating what to work on next, I think I will take a week off from this, but I can't work out what's calling to me the most. I do love Dragon Rider which is technically what I'm due to work on. But my love for Winter's Majesty is returning and she has seen periods of neglect this year. Also, Lance & Gwen has seen a drought this year, so it'd be nice to work on that. But if I work on Little Angel then when it's finished I can get back to Little Snap Dragon. Basically I just can't decide. I'm sure that I'll make a decision at some point in the next 24 hours!

Oh yeah, in other news we went to see Bill Bailey in Sheffield last night, he was absolutely brilliant, really funny!

Nearly finished the flowers!

I know, it actually doesn't look like much, but this is a big step for me, I've nearly finished the evil flowers on this section, which means that my love of this piece has returned, because that's the bit that I really don't like working on. You can almost see this page taking shape, so it's a start!

I actually want to make a bit of an apology today. I'm not commenting on people's blogs at the moment. My computer is going through a bit of a tempremental phase (I think it's telling me that it's going to break soon - must remember to back everythin up!) whenever I try to open a second page then it keeps freezing my computer, so I am reading most people's blogs I think, but I'm always worrying that clicking another link to comment will be the one that causes the freeze! I'm debating gettin a tablet for internet browsing, but I'm undecided at the moment, so generally I'm just potterin along.

Also, I may go a bit quiet through out November. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writin Month), which means that I'm meant to try and write 50 000 words in November. To be honest, I'm not convinced that I can see it happening. But if by some fluke it does, if I disappear, that's why!

Tusal of the month

Here's the latest (very blurry) update.

Happy stitching!

Little Angel update

I know, not the most original of titles this week!

Here it is, two colours in, but I'm not sure about the shading thus far. It doesn't look right somehow.

I'm hoping that another couple of colours will even it out a bit!

Hope everyone's having a fun weekend!

Internation Hermit & Stitch and Parking

I've made another attempt at parking, and I'm actually getting along with it a lot better this time... and I've created the beginning of some small mushrooms (it's not a very good picture, but they're there, honest!).

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I was hoping to, but I've achieved a row and a black smush, so that's not bad!

Hope everyone else had a good Hermit and Stitch, I'm off to  check out everyone elses stitching!

Return of the Evil Flowers - The Evil Flowers Strike Back

For some reason that I can't quite fathom the colours haven't come out on this quite as well as I would have liked, but then I also didn't get as much stitching done on this as I would have liked, so perhaps it's just one of those weeks!

You can see the beginning of the next set of evil little flowers (hence the title) down the right hand side, and that's mostly what I've been working on this week, along with a little bit of the fur trim on her cloak.

International Hermit and Stitch again this weekend (it seems to have come round really fast this month. Is everyone joining in? I've got a few plans for today but hopefully that will also involve some stitching time, and I haven't got much planned for tomorrow yet, so hopefully so progress will be achieved. Dragon Rider is coming out again, I've only got half a page left to finish the first column, so I'm keen to work on that and try and achieve it, start to give me an idea of the size of a completed HAED. Unfortunately the latest Terry Pratchett novel also arrived today, so there's a chance that I'm going to get distracted from my stitching by that.

In other news it was my birthday on Thursday so I had a day off, and Ben took me out to lunch (local pub/restaurant called the Pine Marten, really nice), and we went to see the Three Musketeers in the evening at the cinema. I'm getting behind in my reviews, but I might try and get round to posting a review of that this weekend when I want a break for squinting at 25 count. And what did I get for my birthday? Ben got me a purple ukulele! It currently sounds like I'm torturing cute furry animals when I try to play it, but I'm going to try and play it (well practice chords at the moment) a little each day until it stops sounding like the torture of cute furry animals, and starts sounding like something that vaguely resembles music.

Have a fun weekend all, and enjoy the stitchathon if you're joining in!

DrumChasers

Better late then never, I said last Sautrday that I was going to put this post up, and I'm only just getting round to it now. Lazy, that's what I am, just lazy. Also increidibly disorganised and forgetful!

Anyway, I said last week that I'd been to see an incredible show called DrumChasers which is touring at the moment, unfortunately just coming to the end of it's tour actually, so this may not be massively relevant to many of you, but I do suggest keeping an eye out in case it comes somewhere near you. I believe that it will be heading to Holland (I think) soon, and also that there are plans to head to London at some point.

The cast are mostly unknown. The only exception being Stephen Fry who I suspect most people will have heard of, however he wasn't there. A voice over of a narrator was pre-recorded and played in the right places. The narrator explains what is happening and gives you a bit of history on the plot because, apart from a couple of lines from Mr Bennett there's little to no dialogue.

To give you a vauge idea of what DrumChasers is think of a percussion show (something along the line of Stomp but with drums and percussion instruments in feet - there's an entire routine played on the triangle!) with a Romeo and Juliet style plot with warring factions and star crossed lovers and that's pretty much a run down of what the show is, but it doesn't really do justice to the sheer joy and power of the show as a whole. I have to admit to not being able to play any form of musical instrument, but that doesn't mean that I can't see talent in others, and these guys were incredibly talented. It absolutely amazed me the sort of beautiful noises that could come out of instruments that is basically someone hitting an object with a stick. It made me completely fall in love with Xylophones and Glockenspiels (sp?), they make such a beautiful noise.

The show takes places in the backstage of a theatre where the caretaker (Mr Bennett played by Jack Warner) is tidying up. I think the entire audience fell in love with Mr Bennett, he was brilliant, and his plot arc was very dramatic! As he's tidying there are some odd noises and the DrumChasers invade the theatre.

The first DrumChaser that you really see is Weckl (Rachel Stone), who practically speaking isn't actually a DrumChaser, but I'm not going to get that involved in that detail here. First and foremost, I want her hat, it was brillant. Weckl is the force that keeps the two warring factions apart, through the use of two lightsabre esq weapons (and yes, you can buy replica in the foyer - there were a lot of happy kids there). Weckl didn't get as involved in the percussive performances as some of the other performers, but she was a beautiful dancer was was fabulous to watch, giving a macabre but sensous performance, and her fascination when she inspected Mr Bennett when she first saw him was a joy to watch. She also leads the audience in some percussive clapping of their own at the end. Yes, there is audience participation, but don't worry, it isn't scary and you won't be dragged up on stage, but you'll be amazed, even you can be involved in making lovely percussion noises through only the use of clapping.

The second performance that caught my eye was Buddy played by Simon Morgan-Thomas. Buddy was one half of the love story and is a character who is relentless in his determination to bring the two factions together.There is a charm in his depiction of a young man in love for the first time, not quite sure how to act to impress her, his efforts hampered by the warring groups who don’t want to see love across the divide, and it's a beautiful moment when, rather than presenting his love with a bunch of flowers he presents her with a bunch of drum sticks tied with a ribbon. He was also the only cast member to come out into the audience at the end of the performance, drawing smiles (if also a little nervous laughter, especially from us) from all that he approached. Again, another dramatic arc that had the audience on the edge of their seats at the end.

Finally you have to mention Gene & Jansen, performed by Amy Kelly and Roger Chapman, who are very much the comedy duo of the ensemble. They are the trouble makers of the group and responsible for the two funniest routines in the show. One of thses is a brilliant UV sequence. I did theatre when I was (a lot) younger and logically speaking I knew how the UV sequence was done, most people will but, despite the fact that we were sat on the front row, I still couldn't actually see it being done, and it was such fun to watch.

Another routine that I loved was when they decide to steal tambourines of Mr Bennett because they're fascinated by the noise they make. It's a wonderfully playful routine where the tambourines are passed round the stage in an elaborate game of piggy in the middle while Mr Bennett trys to chase after them to get them back.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I loved this show and have been enthusing to anyone who will sit still for long enough (people are starting to avoid me). It was fun and imaginiative, and really high energy. Suitable for all the family there were families with young kids who were fascinated by the noise and colours to groups like ourselves who just sat there open mouthed at some on the sounds and routines created. If it comes near you, I really do recommend going to see it becuase it was just such fun.

The web address if you want to see their tour dates etc is www.drumchasers.co.uk

There's also a trailer on the site! And a shop - personally I'm hoping that they'll add a dvd eventually

Whoop Whoop!

Another update a day later, this isn't like me at all. But I've finished the page, which makes me very happy, so I thought I'd share that happiness with all my lovely followers in blog land!

Two pages done, I can't even remember how many more to go, possibly 12 full and 7 half pages to go, but it's only another half page before I've finished the first column, and if I've remembered that right that means I'm nearly (ish) one seventh of the way through!

But anyway, I love it! I love the difference that filling in all those little white gaps makes! I still love the castle, but now I've got a tree that I love as well, so all is good in my stitching world!

So now I'm debating what to work on next, I ought to go back to working on the birth sampler, but I don't really want to. I do love this and am very tempted to go straight onto working on the next page, but it's also a long time since I worked on Winter's Majesty, and I am feeling bad for neglecting it, and I've been neglecting Lance & Gwen for even longer and also quite fancy picking that up again. Hmmm, decisions decisions!

And review for DrumChasers will still follow, I'm still composing!

So near and yet so far!

I meant to finish this page this week, but it didn't quite happen. However I did manage to finish all the confetti so all that's left for this page is the black now, so hopefully should be finished in the next couple of days.

I'm loving the castle! As per usual when you've got your nose three inches away from it you can't really see what's developing. Now that I look at the picture I can see the shading and the shape of the castle when it was just a bit of a grey shmush when I was working on it!

I have a question... I set myself targets to finish by the end of the year, and unless some kind of miracle happens, I'm not going to achieve them so, what do I do?

Do I pick one or two to concentrate on so that I can achieve some of my targets and let some others fall by the wayside

OR

Do I continue to work on each of them and get each one closer to where I was aiming to be?

I've got one that I've got to finish, the birth sampler needs to be finished by the end of the year because you can't ask a little dude to wait to be born, but other than that I've got no time limits to work to.

I will actually do a second post later, I went to see the incredible DrumChasers last night because I knew someone who was in it, so I've promised that I'll put a review together for them, so second post to follow! Hope everyone has a good weekend and that the rugby fans aren't shouting at the TV as much as Ben is!

The start of Little Angel

Here's my first week on Little Angel. Seeing as I actually haven't had much time to work on it I'm quite happy with how much I've done and how fast it's stitching up. Despite the fact that I've done one and a half colours you can clearly see the picture taking shape, how often can you say that?

This is one of those projects that I know will look great when it's finished, but it's not really to my taste so there is an element of knowing that I have to work on it, as oppossed to wanting to. But as I say, it seems to be stitching quite quickly so hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a struggle to get it finished in time (as long as she's roughly on her due date, early January).

I started a second job yesterday (like my life isn't full enough), so I'm now waitressing at a local little restaurant two evenings a week, which is a bit of a catch twenty-two, because it means that I'll have more money to spend on my hobby (for the first time since being an undergrad I'll be being paid weekly and in cash - it's a bit like having pocket money again), but I'll have less time to work on the hobby. Although the money is going to be used for other things as well. I also have a couple of days off coming up in the next couple of weeks which will involve some stitching time. Off this coming Wednesday on a random day off, the following Thursday for my birthday (woo hoo, I'm such a kid, still get massively excited about my birthday) and then Ben's away for a conference that weekend as well, so a bit of a stitching marathon will (hopefully) happen in the next few weeks.

So what to work on next? The rotation has crumbled a bit in the last few weeks so I'm pretty much picking up whatever I want to work on for a week until I wor out what I'm going to have as my rotation. Was putting Little Angel away last night and debating what to work on next and as my brain was fried from an 8 hour office day then a 4 hour waitress shift I decided Ben could decide instead.

Me: What shall I work on next?

Him: (Surprisingly decided and almost excited) Dragon Rider!

Me: Is that because that's the only one you can name?

Him: (sounding insulted) No, you like Dragon Rider, you're working on the baby one as well.

All pretty true really, I do like Dragon Rider, and am generally referring to Little Angel as 'the baby one' myself. Anyway, England/Scotland rugby match has just started, so I'm off to stitch through that while Ben watches it and gets far to over excited for this time in the morning!

Tusal-y goodness!

I'm a day late, I'm sorry! And it's an appalling photo, all in all, this post has gone well!

My first (and probably last) finish of the year!

It's finished! Yay, I got a finish in 2011, I was starting to think that that wasn't going to happen! And it is, almost certainly going to be my only finish of the year, so I'd better make the most of it!

I finished the Dictionary of Tea, and this makes me very happy. Now I have to contact the friend in quesiton and get her to come and collect her present for one of her friends as this was (technically) a commission piece!

I loved working on this, Bothy charts are such beautifully easy charts to stitch, it's all whole stitches and it's the easiest back stitch that I have ever done. And it really makes the pictures pop out where they didn't really look like much without it. Also, love the fact that you actually get 10 little projects or finishes when you do the Dictionaries.

So, this finished, next project sorted and about to be started. We have friends who are due to have a little dude in January so I'm doing a Maria Diaz chart which I think is called 'Little Angel' but I seem to have thrown away the page that had the title on it, so I wouldn't swear to it.

A saucy little pot

Here it is, the penultimate teapot, only one more to go. And it has to be said that I rather like this one. I saved my two favourites till last (as is often the case with my stitching, I think I've had this rant before - start with the boring bits/the back ground and it helps to stop me from losing interest because I've still got the best bits/the central focus to look forward to!) so here's my second favourite tea stitched, and I've only got my favourite one left to do. My plan is that by this time next week it'll all be finished and I'll be able to call the friend who asked me to do this in the first place to tell her that's it's all finished and she can give it to the friend that she bought it for a few years back. And in turn I can start on the birth sampler that is beginning to stare accusingly at me whenever I go anywhere near it.

I have really enjoyed working on this kit, it's the first time I've done a Bothy Threads and it's been most enjoyable. I'll probably do a little review of the kit etc next week when I post my finished picture of it... I will finish it by next weekend, if I have to stay up until all hours to do so... and I've just realised that this is a rather foolish promise as I'm busy next weekend and pretty busy this week. But I want it to be finished so one way or another this will be achieved.

And in other news... why would Michele have another sale on the HAED site, it's good for neither my will power or my bank balance. I ended up with another 3, Raven's Treasure by Meredith Dillman, Rapunzel by Linda Ravenscroft (she looks so grumpy and yet I still love it for some reason) and QS Genevive by Hannah Disney... they're all charts that are on my bucket list at least. And I was thinking about it the other day, cross stitch (even taking into account the seriously addictive nature of stashing), is quite a cheap hobby really. Yes it can be a bit of a painful outlay when you first buy the kit or kit up your chosen chart, but think how long that then lasts you. If you worked it out at cost per hour I'd be surprised if it was even close to a £1 per hour, it's probably only a matter of pence per hours fun and enjoyment, in which case, pretty cheap hobby, especially when I consider that a couple of hours at the cinema is £10, an hour at Zumba is £4, an hours badminton £12 and a couple of hours at the theatre £15. And just think, once you've made the initial outlay your hobby is then free for the period of that kit/chart! See, suddenly that few pence per hour on your stitching, not so bad. Check it out, justified out stitching addicition (and even the stashing to a certain degree) in one simple paragraph

After a gap - a new tea pot

I've been quite for a week. We've been on holiday and got back and some unnatural hour in the morning on Sunday morning, so that's why I haven't been commenting etc!

Here's the latest teaapot, and I'm not sure that I like it as much as the others, I don't quite like the writing on it for some reason, it looks oddly uneaven, and that's after I altered it slightly. It's improved a little from how it looks on the chart, but still doesn't quite look right to me somehow. Only two teas left!

I'm just in the process on catching up on everyones blogs for the last week, but I don't know how well I'll do, so I apologise if I don't manage to comment on all the blogs like I normally do.

TUSAL

Another months TUSAL (I'm a day late, I apologise). Hope everyone's had a good month of stitching to get them to this point?

It's not a very good picture so you can't really see much of it, but the new stuff is mostly brown from Dragon Rider and blue from Dictionary of Tea.

Tiny update

After my quite productive Hermit and Stitch last weekend I actually haven't had much stitching time this week so there isn't much progress to show, only about an hour or so. It's probably not even 200 stitches, possibly not even 100. So there honestly is a difference, but you might have to really squint to see it. There's a little more grey and black been filled in And I still love the castle, I got so excited when I could finally see the castle appear, and I do like the twists on the tree.

I'm going back to my Dictionary of Tea this week, in a final push to get it finished so it can go back to my friend to give to her friend. The end is in sight on it so that's where I'm going.

Thank you for everyone's comments on parking, I'm still undecided about that I think. I think it's quite good when doing really confetti sections, which some of this page has been, but I think I'm a cross country girl at heart, so I suspect I'm going to end up doing a combination of the two on my HAEDs, cross country for the bigger colours to give me a base to work on, then a bit of parking to do some of the more fiddly confetti bits that are needed to finish off.

IHSW or July

Here's my progress or International Hermit & Stitch Weekend, and I'm quite proud of my progress, even if I do say so myself, there's a definite difference between Saturday morning and Sunday evening, it's not quite the page finish I was aiming for, but it's close enough.

And I should probably explain by the way, it's a new technique to me, but it's something that half of you, if not more, are already using. I thought I'd give parking a go and see how I get on with it. I can see the logic or it, but at the moment I'm getting a little confused with all the different threads. I'll keep it up for the rest of the page, and for one of my next page starts and see how I go from there.

I think I've managed to comment on most of the progress pictures that have gone up so far, but if I've missed anyone I apologise.

Weekendiness and a gorgeous kit

I hope everyone's having a lovely weekend and those that are joining in are having a productive International Hermit & Stitch! I've just had a rather exciteable phone call from the boy who is now on his way home again, apparently it was a fun stag weekend, riding go-karts and jumping off cliffs (absolutely mad!)

I have discovered a beautiful kit, I've never heard any mention of it before, and it's just lovely! It's the Grand Ball by John Clayton and I'm competley in love with it, and can't understand why no one's told me about it before this point.

As for my stitching, it's going well, not quite where I wanted to be, but I've still got another 3 or 4 hours before he gets home, so there's still time, and I'm trying a new technique, so I'll see how that goes and whether it makes any difference!

The emergings of a tree and a castle

Right then:

Chores done (mostly)

Jogging done (again, mostly, I'm not designed to be a runner)

Breakfast done (and the point of the jog ruined in the process)

Boyfriend evicted from the house (kinda, he's on a stag weekend... again... I swear, he has to be running out of friends that aren't married)

Nothing else that I have to do today (except possibly go out for a smoothie, the weather's gorgeous out there), let the stitchathon commence.

Here's my picture of where I'm upto at the moment,  (once again I look at the photo and suddenly see what the stitching actually looks like). I've actually managed quite a bit this week due to a bit of time off, so my ambition is to get this page finished this weekend, I reckon it's just about doable is I really do have a proper stitchathon this weekend.

Hope everyone enjoys International Hermit and Stitch weekend, can't wait to see all the progress pictures.

Calami-tea

Another tea pot has been completed, and it looks pretty cool, even if I do say so myself, and there are only another three left, so I'm so close to finish on this, which my friend will be very grateful for, because it'll mean that she can get it framed up (should I be generous and offer to do it for her?) and give it to her friend, as it's always been intended for! About another three weeks worth left on this, but I'm going to put it away for a couple of weeks now, as the call of Dragon Rider has just been too strong.

I packed this up when I finished the back stitch last night and got Dragon Rider out and thought, 'Well, I might as well just decide which colour I'm going to do next... Well, I might as well thread the needle up so it's ready for me to start tomorrow... Well, I might as well do a couple of stitches, just to attach the cotton... Well, I might as well do this little block here... Well, I might as well do that block there now that I've decided which way round I'm going to go..." and so on, you know how it is. I'd pakced Dictionary up because I was going to go to bed, and then I lost another half an hour to Dragon Rider, ah well! So, two weeks on this, including International Hermit and Stitch Weekend next weekend, where Ben's away so I really am going to hermit and stitch, hoping to get the second page finished, where I think I'm a little under half way at the moment, it's possibly a little ambitious, but it'll be fun!

Oh yeah, and I'm about to go back and edit my Bucket List (again) and add yet another 4 on, I think that puts me over 60... it's looking less and less likely like I'm going to finish this list, because I just keep adding to it.

And on that note I think it's time to set some mid-year targets... I've just looked at my new year targets and I'm basically gonig to throw that out of the window.
1. Another page of Lance and Gwen
2. Finish the page I'm on and do the half page below on Dragon Rider
3. Next two pages of Winter's Majesty (that might be ambitious)
4. Finish Dictionary of Tea (easy)
5. Birth sampler for friends. (it's picked, but I need to finish Tea to free up the frame, and to make sure I've got all my threads)
I think it's mostly do-able, but Winter's Majesty might be my down fall as I'm a bit on off with her at the moment.

Check out the monster post... right, I'm off to decide what to spend this months audible credit on!

Wish me luck (in all of it)! Happy stitching!

Kim x

The Bucket List

I pinched this idea from The Enchanted Burrow, she's just finished her latest WIP and while deciding what to stitch next she started thinking about what would be on her stitching Bucket List. And it got me wondering what mine would be. And remember that I've already got 5 on the go to finish first so for the sake of accuracy, I'll put those on the list first:

HAED: Lancelot and Guinevere (Fenech)

HAED: Dragon Rider (Spangler)

Maia: Winter's Majesty

Bothy: Dictionary of Tea

Kustom Krafts: Little Snap Dragon

Birth Sampler

Passione Ricamo: Once Upon a Time

Passione Ricamo: My Lady of the Snow
Passione Ricamo: Mediterrano

Passione Ricamo: Fairy of Dreams

Passione Ricamo: Seredipity Fae

Passione Ricamo: Selene, the Moon Goddess

Mirabilia: My Lady of the Mist

Mirabilia: Venitian Oppulence

Mirabilia: The Kiss

Mirabilia: Three for Tea

Mirabilia: Midsummer Nights Fairy

Maia: Geishas

Lanarte: Indian Beauty

Dimensions Gold: Mighty Samurai

Memoirs of a Geisha

Self Designed: Susan Sto Helit (Discworld)

Self Designed: Princess Bride

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Alice in Wonderland

HAED: Selina Fenech: Bubbles

HAED: Selina Fenech: Lady of Avalon

HAED: Selina Fenech: Titania

HAED: Selina Fenech: Mab

HAED: Selina Fenech: Gloriana

HAED: Rebecca Sniz: Gothic Lament

HAED: Dahlig: Hope

HAED: Selina Fenech: Impossible Love

HAED: Selina Fenech: Nephalia

HAED: Meredith Dillman: Raven's Treasure

HAED: The Tempest
HAED: The Soul of the Rose

HAED: Nene Thomas: Deidre

HAED: Rachel Anderson: Emerald

HAED: Rebecca Sniz: Enchanted Evening

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

Joan Elliott: Earth, Water, Air and Fire Goddess

Joan Elliott: The Renaissance Ladies

Cross Stitch Collection: Regency Ballroom (gone completely blank on designers name)

Cross Stitcher: King Arthur Sampler

Cross Stitcher: Medieval Lady

Oh dear, I make that 46 charts (plus 5 already on the go), and that's just off the top of my head. If I average one a year (some easily small enough, some far too big, so it'll average out), then I might just manage it. Wish my luck!

A stitching I will go, a stitching I will go.ey, ay, adieeo, a stitching I will go.

So go on then, be brave, what's your bucket list, then look back once a year, add on the ones that you've found in the last year and cross off the ones that you've completed, it'll be fun!

Kim x
EDIT:
Dimensions Gold: Jewels of the Orient (again)
Dimensions Gold: Elegance of the Orient
Dimensions Gold: Enchanting Geisha
DImensions Gold: Japanese Maiden
Lanarte: Geisha
Maia: Hutari Mai
Maia: Zojoji Temple
Maia: Yumezakura
Maia: Kihaku
Maia: Tsubaki
And suddenly I've hit 57, oh bother!

2nd EDIT:
Bothy: Cut Thru Castle
Mirabilia: Spring Queen
Mirabilia: Summer Queen
Mirabilia: Autumn Queen
Mirabilia: Winter Queen
Penguin Parade (can't remember the make)
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)
Cross Stitch Collection: Heathcliffe
Cross Stitch Collection: Robin Hood (think these two would nice in a nursery for some reason)
And that's 73 - one a year means I now need to reach 100 - this isn't looking good! And I'm going to have to buy 27 of them. HELP!

3rd EDIT:
Heritage Craft: The Grand Ball - John Clayton
HAED: Hannah Lynn: QS Genevive
HAED: Hannah Lynn: Alice Lost
HAED: Hannah Lynn: Annabelle
HAED: Hannah Lynn: Glacier Lily
HAED: Hannah Lynn: Runaway Princess
HAED: A Source of Admiration
HAED: Linda Tso: Ice Winds 2
HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: Rapunzel
HAED: Dahlig: Vanity
HAED: Dahlig: Avarice
HAED: Dahlig: Gluttony
HAED: Dahlig: Sloth
HAED: Dahlig: Wrath
HAED: Dahlig: Envy
HAED: Dahlig: Lust
HAED: Dahlig: Light
HAED: Dahlig: Love
HAED: Dahlig: Ophelia
HAED: Dahlig: Pandora
HAED: JJB: QS Alice in Clockwork
HAED: Randal Spangler: Train of Dreams
HAED: Randal Spangler: Flights of Imagination
HAED: Randal Spangler: Hit any Key
HAED: Randal Spangler: Sundae Delight
HAED: Randal Spangler: Medieval Shelf
HAED: Randal Spangler: Treasure Quest
HAED: Rachel Anderson: Sapphire
HAED: Rachel Anderson: Ruby
HAED: Rachel Anderson: Garnet
HAED: Selina Fenech: Bright Skies + Dark Waters + Centre Section
HAED: Selina Fenech: Hide & Seek
HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: December Glow
HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: Mask of Colours 1
HAED: Linda Ravenscroft: Mask of Colours 2
HAED: Meeting on the Turret Stairs
HAED: Meredith Dillman: Blossoming Spring
HAED: Meredith Dillman: Fall Fire
HAED: Meredith Dillman: Queen of the Night
HAED: Meredith Dillman: Summer Sun
HAED: Selena Fenech: Bewitched
Passione Ricamo: Spring Fairy Spirit
Passione Ricamo: Summer Fairy Spirit
Passione Ricamo: Autumn Fairy Spirit
Passione Ricamo: Winter Fairy Spirit
Passione Ricamo: Fae Eyes
Passione Ricamo: Moon Fairy Spirit
Passione Ricamo: Winter Beauty Princess
Passione Ricamo: The Night
Self Designed: Wicked
Bothy Threads: Kings & Queens
Dragon Dreams - Fairy Tale Sampler
Pixel People: The Princess Bride
Pixel People: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Pixel People: Big Bang Theory
Pixel People: Firely
129 - I have to be stopped!

Winter's Majesty Lives!

Winter's Majesty has returned, and while I enjoyed working on her I got bored quite quickly, so I think it might be a long time before I manage to finish it! But there's quite a difference (I think anway). I've done all the back stitch on the bottom third (but most of it's gold, so it doesn't photograph very well. And you can see shapes beginning to take place on the page above. the blue/grey is the beginning of her elbows, and the red to the right shows the beginning of the shape of her shoulders. She's gone away again already, but I'll come back to her soon I'm sure. I go in fits and starts on this, so I'm sure I'll have another fit on her soon enough!

Ooops, TUSAL Time already

Where does the time go? It can't be this time already!

There isn't much difference in mine anyway, a bit of cream and one solitary thread of gold I think, doesn't seem to have achieved that much stitching in the last 4 weeks.

I'm also just going to give a plug to Shirl's lovely blog. She's got two and I've plugged the other one in the past. One is dedicated to her card making and the other is what she refers to as her 'other blog'. This contains other craft stuffing including stitching where's she's currently working on a really cute kitten kit by DMC!

The full size of it

You can now see the full size of Dictionary of Tea, and I've only got four left to do. I am still really enjoying it, it's so lovely to work on, I even enjoy the backstitch because it's very simple and easy to follow, unlike other kits I could mentions (Tatty Ted - grumble, rumble!).

I can see the end of this one now, it's about another four weeks worth to get it finished, although I am now going to put it away for a couple of weeks and work on some other projects, Winter's Majesty is feeling neglected and I'm missing Dragon Rider, so I'm going to go back to those over most of August I think then make a concerted effort to get this finished over September so I can start the birth sampler with a January finish deadline. (Eek, when I say it like that 2012 is perilously close, how did that happen?)

In other news, Ben and I went to Barcelona last weekend and had an absolutely brilliant time. Beautiful city, I've got so many lovely photographs, I might put a couple up over the weekend, but there's currently nearly a hundred of them, so I might need to do a little editing and trimming first.

And my legs hate me, I've missed Zumba this week, and my teacher is away next week, and I've eaten too much chocolate so in a moment of guilt I decided to go for a little run when Ben went to work (and believe me they really are little in my world), I'm not a natural runner and I don't have the stamina so it's half run and half walked, and I was still only out for about 22 minutes, but it's a start, and it's eleviated some of the chocolate guilt! Talking of which, I have photos of cool chocolate from Barcelona, I'll defintiely put some of those pictures up as some point.

Happy stitching all!

Memory's Wake & IHSW

I know I've got quite a few HAED fans following my blog, so that possibly means that I've also got a few Selina Fenech fans following my as well. Personally I really love her work, as you can tell by the fact that Bubbles is my avatar and Lancelot & Guinevere was my first ever HAED pattern that I started, talking of which, I really must go back to that at some point soon, I've been missing it!

But, anyway, for those Selina Fenech fans that are reading this, did you know that she's recently released a book? Memorys Wake, written and illustrated by her fine self. I'm a fan of Selina on facebook and follow her blog and I can tell you that the art work is gorgeous, and I've read the first couple of chapters and am now well and truly hooked and am going going to have to read the rest as soon as possible. If you're interested in knowing a bit more about it, or in getting hold of a copy yourself then why not check out her website at http://memoryswake.com

In other news, I didn't post for this months International Hermit & Stitch weekend, because I managed about 50 stitches in cream and you can barely seem them so it would have been a pointless post.

Happy stitching (and reading) all!

EDIT: Just remembered, mdgtjulie asked me about how the theory test works in the UK for those who care read on... if not, just stop at the last sentence and pretend this bit doesn't exist.
I've actually been learning for a while, the test in the UK is split into three, but you can start driving on the roads (as long as you've got an instructor or someone who's over 21 and passed their test 3 years ago or more in the car with you) before you've done any of the tests, so I'd had nearly 15 hours of lessons before I did my test this weekend. I did 2 parts of the test, a multiple choice and a hazard perception (they show you videos and you click when you see a hazard), so now I'm just continuing with my lessons and waiting for my instructor to decide that I'm no longer dangerous and agree to me using her car to do my test! And I think she's starting to be convinced so woohoo!

Yup, definitely a banner!

Finished the banner, which is good, because that's what I was aiming for this week. I haven't had much time for stitching this week because life has got in the way a bit, but my extreme slackness can be justified, and I'll explain in a moment. In the mean time, yup, definitely a banner, finished it last night. I was debating whether the writing looked odd because it's in one strand when the writing on the squares is in two, but I think it actually looks okay. It was pretty simple, after doing the outlines for the three shades of blue, and doing the capitals and spoons it was all simple filling in.

So, the reason for my slackness... after far too long I restarted my driving lessons a few weeks back and had to re-take my theory test, which was this morning, so I've been revising for that all week, but I passed, so that makes it all okay.

And in other news, I need to get the Dictionary finished and off the frame because the frame needs freeing up again, because friends have just announced that they're expecting in January. A chart has been chosen for them, so it's simply a matter of getting the Dictionary finished and off the frame and making sure that I've got the supplies I need for a new chart. Poor Little Snap Dragon, he's always getting evicted for other charts that need completing, and this time he's not even going to make it back on to the frame, he'll be replaced straight away.

Anyone else having serious trouble resisting the HAED sale by the way? I'm contemplating a little congratulations present to myself!

Oh yeah, and in answer to comments after my post last week, I don't think that there's anything wrong with my blogger dashboard, it just looks like it's been completely redesigned and I don't like it at all. To my mind it's more fiddly to use, especially when it comes to scrolling through and reading other people's blogs, but I don't seem to see a way of changing it back to the old dashboard.

The beginning of a banner

What's happened to blogger? I don't like the way the Dashboard looks and I now can't find anything, help! And it looks weird! (If you could hear the petulent tone in my voice right now...)

Anyway, in other news, Dictionary of Tea update, I aim to complete a section every week that I work on it, so I've finished my section for this week and started next weeks section as well, considering how busy the week's been I've actually had quite a successful stitching week.

My aim is to finish the banner this coming week, as I'm counting that as a section just the same as one of the squares, I figure it's roughly the same amount of stitching, and once I've finished that I'll be half way through. 4 squares and a banner done, and 5 squares left to do.

Happy stitching all!

There's a difference, honest!

I know you can't see much difference between this and last week, but honestly, there is a difference, I have done more stitching on it since my last update, honest! There's two and a half colours been added since last week. But I've been busy this week and so haven't had as much time to work on it as I did the week before. But I still love it, it's such fun to work on.

You can see the tree still (like it was was going to disappear), and you can finda see the background castle developing more, there's a little bit of stonework appearing now. But, much to my disappointment he now needs to go away for a while so I can work on some other projects.

In answer to a few comments that have been made about my updates on this over the last couple of weeks... I keep saying that I'm going to try stitching the 10x10 blocks but I never quite get round to it because I like doing a colour over an entire page. There are pros and cons to it, I like seeing the picture develop when I stitch like this, but it does occasionally mean that I miss a couple of stitches in each colour and have to go back and re-do them. However with the 10x10 blocks I can't be bothered with re-threading my needle everytime I change colour again, which is going to be a lot in a confetti area, and I'll probably just end up tangling my threads anyway.

In other news, if the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain ever tour anywhere near you, go and see them, they are absolutely brilliant. We saw them on Wednesday and they're sickeningly talented and really funny!