January WIPocalypse

January 5- Topic: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!

Introduce Myself. Hmm. Right. I’m Paula, and I live in Auckland, New Zealand. My avatar name is pure panic/laziness, as I needed a personal email the one time I had to go job hunting and that was all I could think of. Paula, in Auckland. I am a mum to four, who range from 20 to 5. I am a partner/fiancé of nearly 19 years now. I work as a vendor performance manager for a major retail group, and I have my fingers in quite a few pies. I also do volunteer work during the league season – in 8 years I’ve only taken the one season off. I’m seriously considering being a sideline mum this year. I don’t use my degree at all, unlike Si, my partner, who uses at least two of his in the day-to-day role he has. I am overweight & not really looking to fix this in a hurry because I have no desire to run even Round the Bays. I’d rather walk it. Or swim.

Personality wise I am friendly, altho don’t lie to me. I will drop you like a hot potato. I like to make people smile or laugh, and it was only after a massive issue at my then employer in 2012 that I learnt to say “no” when asked to do something. A very valuable skill to have. I like to support people and find solutions to help make them happy. Happy friends = happy me.

I read A LOT. Like, two to three books a week. Anything from suspense to biography to contemps to historical. I don’t read horror, or misery memoir. I did read M&B (bath books!) but it’s more than a little stupid to use your Sony in the bath. I’ve been reading since I was 4 & I love to escape into a world that someone else has created. Pretty much everything I read is now digital. Forget diamonds – eReaders are this girl’s best friend. I do occasionally buy physical books – for the pretty pictures or the travel guides.

I dabble in scrapbooking – mostly Project Life, December Daily and this year I’m taking Ali Edwards’ One Little Word. The idea is to take one word that really speaks to you, and make it your focus. You can read about my choice here: https://sewscrapmuse.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/one-little-word-2015/ and more about Ali’s course here: https://aliedwards.com/projects/one-little-word

I took a surface embroidery class in 2014 and enjoyed it. Not enough that it has taken over my main hobby, which is cross stitch, but enough that I can see where I want to incorporate it into pieces (Mirabilia Sleeping Beauty’s blankets seem to be a cool spot) & I have some confidence to do so.

I made Teddy Bears – proper old fashioned ones – in the past. One sits on my console here at work & is regularly picked up and examined. Others have been gifts for newborns and friends going thru hard times. Others have sold, which was amazing to me at the time. I still have the tools and a banana box of stash/patterns but I haven’t made a bear in years.

2014 saw a revival of sorts for me, stitching wise. It went from a chore & an ignore to a woo-hoo! & I got lots more completed than I thought I would do so. I filled my TUSAL jar. An attempt at rotation (let’s blame my wanting to grow up to be Anne for this) failed as I got the “must finish it now” bug. I got a Nora Corbett bug & brought heaps of patterns, altho I cleaned out boxes and boxes of stash.

This year’s WIPs are:

Nora Corbett Reindeer (I started with Rudolph). I only have five charts more to go…six to buy!
Nora Corbett Mediterranean Mermaid
Mirabilia Stargazer
Teresa Wentzler’s Tapestry Cat

Planned new starts:

Nora Corbett Letter C
Nora Corbett Letter P
Mirabilia Rose of Sharon

I am still collating my list of Smalls for the SAL this year, as I like to be a little flexible (I was regimented about the 12 TW smalls for last year and finished with 3. Dismal fail). I sort-of think the NC letters are small, as I tended to finish them in only a fortnight, but the rules state they are not.

Travelling Bunny (he came from Wisher in November, & he needs to move on)
A biscornu
A Just Nan special finish
a “not my circus, not my monkeys” piece I saw on Pintrest. It fits nicely with my OLW for this year too.