Author Archives: paulainauckland

June WIPocalypse and WIP Wednesday

Wow, WIPocalypse already! Time just seems to be flowing by. Sometimes I feel like I barely have time to breathe before diving into the next thing & I wish it would all just slow down a little.

Since the last WIPocalypse check-in, I’ve had some wins. Now seems like a good time to go over the May goals:

Nice to do’s:

  • Finish the stitching & beading on Mediterranean Mermaid DIDN’T PICK HER UP AT ALL
  • Sort out what my next big Mira will be STARTED THEN FROGGED ROSE OF SHARON; STARTED PERSEPHONE

So the June goals are:

  • Complete Ali’s April & May prompts for One Little Word
  • Print out the last 10 days before Christmas & journal to complete my December Daily for 2014
  • Complete my portion on Debbie’s RR (mermaids!) which will probably also double as my Small
  • Complete the hair portion of Persephone (it’s a lot of confetti, more than I anticipated)
  • Layout & complete my portion for the new New Zealand FB XS group RR (only four to a group, fast)
  • Complete Med Mermaid’s tail beading

Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter? I’m about equal. In the summer I spend more time outdoors doing family stuff but I offset that against stitching while on the road (Si is one of those men, it’s my job to pack lunch/snacks and book the accommodation & find highlights on our route). In the winter there are always at least two nights a week that I don’t even think to pick up a needle due to exhaustion or mucking around with the kids’ training or a really good book. I binge watch recorded TV twice a week (my binges are pitiful, they amount to 2-3 episodes of whatever I’m loving right now) and stitch while watching.

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Today is also WIP Wednesday for me. Here’s my new start, Mirabilia’s Persephone. I had started Rose of Sharon, then frogged when I realised that the fabbie wasn’t going to be big enough. It will do for the NZ RR which I’m playing around with now. Thinking Mira (surprise!) with a horizontal layout, four heads divided with a peony tree in the centre. Or four reindeer, but I am stitching these anyway…oh, I don’t know! What do you think?

it’s a holiday weekend, so it must be raining…

Posted in grateful by

And yup, there it is. I’m sitting at my kitchen bench, working (of yes I am!! 6 sets of reporting are done & dusted) and looking east to the City. I’m halfway decided that the little bit of light that I can see is the glow from the street lights. I’m not going to be seeing this colour today but I will be dry (disclaimer, I didn’t take this shot. It’s from Vincent’s very beautiful blog, https://vincenttack.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/nog-6-dagen/ ):

sunrise in aucland

Saturday and I’m winning

Posted in family, grateful, league, me by

Out of the house before 8:30. Z to one muster, B over an hour early to his first ref assignment and we were late to M’s muster at Ellerslie.

But all settled down and M actually was player of the day!

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Back to Fowlds just in time to see the ref call the game off after the second red card to Z’s opposition. Z was at the bottom of the heap so it was a good thing I missed that bit!

Wendys to reward both for their efforts then back to Cornwall to watch B ref the second of his games.

Now I am more than ready to head home for a cuppa & a little bit of lazy. How was your day?

Fairy is Framed

Posted in Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitching patterns by

Really happy with how she looks – simple and sweet.

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I also took Stargazer in to see what potential frames would look like. It’s a toss up between these two:

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Left is already silver toned and matches the beads/fabric nicely:

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Right has more detail and if this is the one I use, I’ll rub it with silver to make that detail stand out. Pristine is not the look I’m going for:

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Let me know what you think. Left? Or right?

WIP Wednesday

Posted in Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitching patterns by

Having finished with the Fairy I’ve been working away at Stargazer’s beading. I didn’t stitch over the weekend, as we were busy/I was tired, but after some frogging and matching, I’m really happy with what I’ve now decided on. I’ve used Mill Hill 16010 for the largest, 02010 for the white and 00161 for the remainder.

 I have roughly 3 weeks before the next RR piece arrives, so plenty of time to finish this. But what do I start next?! I so want a new start, rather than finish the last

Stargazer as model stitched

Stargazer as model stitched

My version of Stargazer

My version of Stargazer

 

 

I also picked up two more charts, and sold a couple myself. I have (on the way) the May fairy and the OOP Once Upon A Time. I’ll change out the roses colours on OUAT – blue is wrong on too many levels! The May fairy will stay as charted and likely be as model stitched.

once upon May fairy

Jacqui’s RR is done!

Posted in Nora Corbett, round robin, Smalls SAL, stitching patterns by

And three weeks before deadline. I’m so pleased as I can now focus on other stuff without feeling any guilt.

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It was stitchers choice of the Nora pixies; I chose Daisy. I’ve not stitched her before but she went fairly quickly in about 16 hours tops (from choosing the chart to beading). I did scoff at Jacqui’s note about not being able to count, so she is 30 * 72. Whoops. But I am going to count her as my Small for May.

Here is the piece as it will leave me next month:

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Now to focus on finishing Stargazer’s beading before Debra’s piece arrives!