Author Archives: paulainauckland

WIP Wednesday 

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL by

Yay! I am taking part in the Stitch MAYnia SAL this month, which is a finish line SAL. Firstly I carried on with the Emma Congdon/Stitchrovia design Wise Words Tolkien that was in a Cross Stitch Crazy (note that this will be on her site as a pdf purchase early in the new year):

And I have a finish! I am thinking I will #ffo as a hoop for a quick finish. Plus I want to work on that as a technique. 

I drove Brandon to the last Domain tag round for the year. Because of Christmas in the Park it was moved to Cox’s Bay. The tide was in and it was beautiful. I went for a little walk. Just had to! 

The pohutukawa flowers are out. Beautiful reds. I want to take the kayak out!

And while waiting I started on Celtic Winter by Marilyn Leavitt-Iblum. This is a classic piece so I’m sure you’ve seen it before. I am doing this on a 28ct opalescent Elegance lugana by Silkweaver, which I picked up in Andie’s destash. I am changing out the gold for silver, at least on the borders and motifs. Possibly blue on the skirt. The silver is PTB32. 

Then my next focus-on-a-finish piece is Mermaids of the Deep Blue by Mirabilia. This is on a 28ct Raglan Surf lugana from Countrystitch. This is my start point:

And since Saturday I have got a wee bit done: 
 

WIP Wednesday 

Posted in cross stitch, me by

Whoa. Not a huge amount of stitching but some hauling is going on. My local junk store has a DMC stand from another that went out of business so I’m trying to get a full master set of DMC going.  At a buck a skein it’s good value so worth the detour. 


My current piece is Emma Congdon’s wise words. The quote is from LOTR / Hobbit (you’ll find it in both, worded slightly differently). I may carry this thru into December as the Stitch MAYnia monthly SAL is the nearest-to-finish WIPS. I have this and Mermaids of the Deep Blue planned. 

I may yet frog the white clouds for a light gray. Not totally sold on those. 

What are you up to in your crafty life?

EEP Monday-itis

Posted in cross stitch, family, growing, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, work by

I’m feeling more than a little off today. It’s the first Monday of the new fiscal month here at work, so it’s busy-busy-busy yet I want to play (as I write this I’m heading into the last couple of hours and I’ve cleared today’s reporting requirements and am up to the 23 store emails from Friday, so at least that’s something). As a family we have a new routine this week with Si away (we’ll see him briefly on Thursday but that’s it until Sunday). I am absolutely stoked to have finished Cloudsfactory A-Team (only 6 stitching nights!), a huge chunk of Persephone’s skirt for Stitch Maynia’s colour challenge (over 2K stitches or nearly half a skein!) and a new start on Emma Congdon’s Wise Words trilogy (altho for now I only want to do the Tolkien). Both my Secret Santas this year are really hard!!!

And on a personal note, I am struggling with forgiveness.

On Saturday my eldest brother let me know that his dad, my stepfather, is very ill and has been admitted to hospital. JM is 87, so this may be his time, but I am struggling to give a crap. I’m on empty when it comes to him & my (biological) mother – and that’s where I have an issue. Great that I’m not angry or disappointed or frustrated anymore – but where is my Christian spirit? My heart is so hard. I imagined visiting and telling him that I forgive their selfishness and the hurt they caused; but as neither honestly believes they have wronged anyone of us children this would be a waste of time, and would hurt me more. I’m having trouble lifting this burden. Please remember me in your prayers this week. x

Decisions, decisions…HOLP!

Posted in conversion details, cross stitch, friends, grateful, lavender & lace by

So I brought some haul, as Andie was preparing for a serious move. It was my civic duty, right? Yeah, let’s hold onto that thought.

But now I have a dilemma. I want to start Celtic Winter RIGHT NOW but I am at work, and no threads handy. Not ones that would suit! And I need to finish A-Team. And I brought two pieces of fabric, and I’m at a loss as to which will be best. Keep in mind that I am planning on changing the golds to silvers…

celtic-winter

The StashCache file is already uploaded onto that tab 🙂

 

What do you think?

Review: Connilyn Cossette’s Counted With The Stars

Posted in books by

out-fo-egyptSynopsis: Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation.

When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all. To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus.

She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she’s only just beginning to learn about, and in love with a man who despises her people. With everything she’s ever known swept away, will Kiya turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 15:5

I picked this one up thru Book Bub as I have liked Biblical historical fiction previously – and I was wowed. Not only was it cheap (but hurry, that offer closes shortly!!) the writing of this one is superb. There is attention to detail, a real urgency, adherence to the story of Exodus and the fleshing out of the characters is top-notch. I didn’t even stitch last night, as I wanted to keep reading – and I raved about this one to whomever would listen. God’s grace is for everyone, even a sinner like me.

I’ve already brought book two! Definitely 5 stars from me.

Complimentary bible studies for the first two books are available on the You Bible study website and app; see https://www.bible.com/search/plans?q=Connilyn%20Cossette&version_id=1209

WIP Wednesday 

Posted in conversion details, cross stitch, me, stitching patterns by

Seeing as I had a finish, there must then follow a start, right? Right.

This is two nights on Cloudsfactory’s A-Team. It’s working up quickly on 28ct Cloudburst lugana from Countrystitch . 

So far my only change was to bling out BA’s necklaces with Kreinik . It’s easy to tell in daylight but I used 002 instead of DMC 3821 and 102 instead of DMC 3852. Si likes it, but I think Bran is stealing it for his room!

November WIPocalypse – I have a finish!

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, round robin, Smalls SAL, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is a monthly check-in hosted by Mel over at Measi.net – come join in!

I missed that moon last week. I ended up with the first migraine in months that took me out for 2 days; there was a massive earthquake that has shook up (ha, no pun intended) and made me realise that our house needs an emergency kit (fully related, the replenishment of ready meals in one of our chains has never been higher!) and sport took up three evenings and the full day on Saturday. On the plus side, I got paid for Saturday (totally unexpected!) and that money is going towards the JCS Christmas Ornie DVD – which will cost me $36USD to get shipped from 123Stitch or in NZD, $51.39. Eeep.

And as for the finish – it’s been a bit of a slog with this one, tbh (no fault of Andie’s!!) but as the fabric is so huge, and it belongs to someone else, I didn’t feel that I could bring it to work & keep it as clean as I needed too. Also not having scroll rods big enough meant that I had to stitch in hand, so had to make sure no food met my T before I sat down to stitch each time.

I played thread chicken again with the Kreinik. I firmly believe that if I hadn’t brought TWO rolls, I would have run out of the first and had to go back to Ribbon Rose in a mad dash. As it was, there is probably no more than 40cm left on the spool.

So here she is…Nora Corbett’s Petal Fairy. No thread conversions, no beads. I think I’ll eventually buy this chart for myself. She’s very pretty and delicate.

IMG_20161120_223628.jpg

I am totally counting her as my Smalls finish of the month too.

Topic:  What pattern (or designer) is on your must-try-to-stitch bucket list? I’m finding that as 2017 draws near, and so many of the people I follow have well thought out plans, mine are disappearing. I am fearing that I am losing my stitchy bug 😦 I have plenty to do, don’t get me wrong – but I am lacking the quiet time to get things done. I do have a few Erin Condon/Stitchrovia designs that I want to do – something about script is enticing me.