Author Archives: paulainauckland

December WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, embroidery, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

as of this morning

Well. When I said earlier that 2018 wasn’t going to be my busiest stitchy year, I wasn’t wrong.

Goals (bracket date indicates the start month & year):

  • Mirabilia Ashley’s Roses RR section (Dec 2018) COMPLETED
  • Semco Toy Story Sampler (October 2013) – Zac will be 15 soon, & this needs to be done before then! But first I have to hunt it down… DIDN’T TOUCH IT BUT I FOUND IT
  • Mirabilia Fairy Idyll (September 2017) – Gail has loaned me the chart, & I want to return it this year HALF-WAY THRU
  • TW Tapestry Cat (Dec 2006!)  – because it deserves progress DIDN’T TOUCH IT
  • Mirabilia Persephone (May 2015) –because I want to get thru that skirt! COMPLETED
  • Jane Austen SAL (December 2017) –because I want to keep up with the readings FLAGGED

In addition to the above, I did get a few more things completed, & a few starts:

  • LHN Bethlehem (which I forgot to get framed for this Christmas)
  • Melinda’s RR choice,  Gigi
  • Lizzie*Kate’s Be Bold
  • LHN Summer Sampler (I’m FFO’ing that this weekend, finally, as it’s now Summer down here)
  • Mill Hill ornaments – two each of the Beehive, Trinidad Santa, Peridot and one re-worked Santa for Bec
  • Mirabillia’s Portrait of Antique Vines (converted)
  • Mirabilia Renaissance Mermaid for my own RR (& then I beaded it all)
  • Home*Stitch*Ness Remembrance Wreath (FFO)
  • Joy embroidery wreath (FFO)
  • Clouds Factory’s Princess Bride
  • Cathy’s Hello December, January & February (also FFO)

I am very close to my first 2019 finish – a conversion of Jardin Prive’s Eiffel Quaker.

I gave up Stitch From Stash in November. I went stupid from all the stress and on a spending spree. Overall the year finished $126 in “debt” but I plan to be better in 2019. I’ve begun a course of antidepressants and things are so much better – I’m not anxious (or as anxious) as I was so yay for that.

Anyways, Happy New Year & I’ll be back for the Intro & 2019 Goals post next week.

It’s Christmas Eve!

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And I’m sure you can feel the children’s anticipation in the air… Mase the Ace particularly is excited this year, don’t ask me why.

But I want to thank you all for your comments & thoughts this year. I really do appreciate it. Merry Christmas to you & yours, and I hope to “talk” to you in the New Year.

WIP Wednesday #236

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Man. I am flipping from project to project faster than you can turn the page.

With the lounge rearranged, I no longer get enough light to stitch at night in my big chair with the frame. This had meant a lot of frustration but… solution is to put Fairy Idyll away for a while.

So… big project wise I brought ahead my plan to start Shakespeare’s Fairies on January first. The Urewera Mist fabric arrived & it’s not quite as deep as I had hoped. So I went thru my stash & found Sparklies Winter Sky in 28ct lugana. I’m stitching weirdly but can do this in hand, so it should be fine for the road trip. Altho I am tempted to start SF on the Urewera anyway, just to double check…

Travel projects had also flipped. I brought a small haul from 123Stitch & included Hands On Design Hello There. Currently stitching December, which was dumb. I should have started January then I’d have a head start on the new year…

Home stuff is as per. SIL is coming up for Christmas (cue tension headaches) but in response we’re going away. I’m looking forward to a break!

WIP Wednesday #235 & WIPocalypse catchups

Posted in cross stitch, DIY home, family, grateful, growing, house - gardens, me, Mirabilia, Movies, Nora Corbett, photos, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by

I could quite easily copy/paste the same info as last time we met.

Still plodding away on the reno at MIL’s (deck done, but the weather isn’t conducive to concreting so Mase & I have been planting like mad things)…he took the photos from this last batch. It’s cool to have a gardening buddy. We knew the tags are unlikely to stay with the plants, so at least we have a rough idea of what we planted in this batch. His fav is the Fireworks.

Still radio silence from the SIL (I’m about ready to tell her not to come up, but that would hurt the MIL & actually, I need a break)…

Still working slowly on Fairy Idyll…mostly hour chunks when I can get control of the TV remote from Mum! We watched The Great NZ Bake Off last night, and the guy in the photo was eliminated. GF sponge cake is hard, y’all.

I did start and finish CloudsFactory’s The Princess Bride, as a tribute to William Goldman. If you haven’t seen the movie, you’re in for a treat. And it’s PG, so family safe. I think I want to add his name and dates to the bottom tho. Appropriately, this is on Cloudburst 28ct Lugana from Countrystitch. 

Now, because the stitchy bug has been gone, or superseded with all the other things, I didn’t post in either the Oct or Nov WIPocalypse pages. I’ve given up on Stitch From Stash, as I have been buying ALL THE THINGS and really gone ridiculous (for me. Maybe not if you’re Katy the Stash Queen). I am daily anticipating the first parcel from 123…and the fabric from Catherine at Countrystitch. I went for Urewera Mist (that mottle one). I’m going to return Gail’s Fairy Idyll chart as I have my working copy & will hunt out an original for myself. I really, really want to work on Shakespeare’s Fairies so I will, once the fabric arrives. Stitching & guilt shouldn’t go together IMO, & I also know that if I do park a Mira for a while, I will always return to it. 

So – here’s the Q&A I missed from the last two episodes.

October 28 – Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time? I’ve tried rotation and it doesn’t work for me. I prefer to leave a project out on the bars rather than pop on or off…& I usually have a car project with me to break up the monotony of being monogamous.

November 25 – What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year? Eh – nothing. I brought back some embroidery (two hoops, whoop-de-woo) & perfected my pin stitch, but that’s about it.

WIP Wednesday #234

Posted in cross stitch, DIY home, family, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

I’m telling myself it’s still Wednesday somewhere…

Not much had been done in the way of stitching this last week. However, Mum’s gardens are cleaned up, re-planted & barked. I need some more filler plants but I need to research a little first. Low pollen is needed, but she wants colour. Right.

We’ve also started the ramp… at the recommended 1:12 fall, it’s going to be over 9 metres. Eep. That’s a lot of timber, folks (yes, we could get a temporary metal ramp, but that wouldn’t tie into the existing decks and it would look very, very ugly). I learnt how to rout timber!

On the bad side of things, the SIL is still in radio silence with everyone but mum. Christmas is going to be interesting.

So. Minimal work on Fairy Idyll, but one strand more of the over one was included in all that.

Hope you all have a lovely Stitchy or yarny but joy filled week.

WIP Wednesday #233

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, family, grateful, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by

Hi everyone. We’ve come to the end of a 12 day hospital stay, & I admit my Stitchy bug was very very absent. The MIL was admitted via the ambulance services (scariest morning of my life, finding her so incapacitated & weak) but she’s making as best a recovery as we hoped. For the next few weeks she will be at ours, regathering strength, then she’ll transition back to hers. I’ve met with physio, occupational therapy, health assessors & we’ve got a plan, and help, in place. Yay!

While I was in hospital with mum, I completed the Rememberance Wreath by home❤stitch❤ness (currently in a world of xs mag, but will be on her etsy site in April 2019):

Then the stitching of a Christmas present is about done, but I can’t show that as the person reads this blog. Boo.

I completed an embroidery freebie from cozybluehome (online, etsy, IG) that I just need to #ffo. It’s cute. It’s whipped back stitch, to look like the tangle of your Christmas lights. It really does look like that in real life!

And lastly, a few stitches on Fairy Idyll. I’m not looking forward to the over one that remains to be done, but the rest of it goes quickly enough.

what the?

Posted in books, me by

in a break from the twitter mess of what is the NZ political scene at the mo, I bring you something else that’s weird and impractical and frankly, dumb.

debby-hudson-1056837-unsplash1Who thought that displaying books without their spine was actually pretty or functional? Hmm?

*disclaimer – I stole this photo from another blogger. Their actual post made a lot of sense. Mine? Not so much.

WIP Wednesday #231

Posted in cross stitch, friends, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, work by

This week hasn’t been very Stitchy at all. We’ve cleared out a third of the garage (for some obnoxious reason, Si thinks we should use the garage for storing more than one of the cars) & there’s been work stress I brought home.

I have some progress on Fairy Idyll. That over one skin on her back is about two hours; I wish now I’d gone for tent stitch but it’s too fine to unpick.

And I have a new start! Those is Jenny home❤stitch❤ness Remembrance Wreath from a recent World of Cross Stitch magazine. I think the chart will be on her etsy mid year next year. It’s a fast stitch; I did the first two items in about an hour, & more at stitch group last night.

Hope you have a good week!

WIP Wednesday #230

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Hey everyone! Today’s going to be a little bit off, as I am at the DC for an all-day training session. I’m looking forward to it, something different. A change is as good as a rest, right? So…I’m uploading this on Tuesday as otherwise I might forget.

With daylight savings and great weather we’ve been taking advantage of “spare” time. Instead of boot camp, Si & I have done a lot of walking – I’ve gone from (prior to the clock change) an average of 4.94km daily up to (last week) 7.13km. This Monday I did 7.9km and I’m nearly half-way thru the monthly Samsung Health challenge of 200K steps with 22 days to go.

So in the weekend, I finished beading and FFO’d the two Mill Hill ornaments I’d stitched at work. This is the Peridot ornament from a series I stitched in 2016 or 2017 as gifts (I want to re-chart the colours and do a set for myself). I also did a huge chunk of Fairy Idyll, so much so that my right hand is really sore now and stitching is a little painful.

And this week at work, my goal is to lunchtime stitch in the sun and finish the stitching for the Merry Christmas Santa that I am adapting. I’m nearly there & should be well done before the recipient & I meet up in November. Then after that, I’m ready to start Barbados Santa from the 2017 series by Sandra Cozzolino. Again, this is one for me/one for Lou. Then I’ll sell or #passthestash with all three charts, as I don’t mark the originals.

Haul – I found Shakespeare’s Fairies on trademe (our version of ebay) for a very reasonable price. I am torn about the fabric, but I think I’ll go with #3, Urewera Mist by Countrystitch. I am itching to start this one, but as Catherine dying until November, I will just have to be patient. Sigh.