November WIPocalypse

Posted in embroidery, goals, grateful, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by paulainauckland

Hello everyone! WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more. If you’re a crafter, please join up either on your blog or via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers!

Oh gosh. Here we go again with a catch-up post, as I missed October’s. Stitching without real goals means I am not at all as regular with posting as I would like to be, especially as I do use this blog as a form of a diary. Must do better, Paula!!

Since my last WIP Wednesday post, which would have been my last stitching update, I have finished Luce Mia, however she is quite converted from the original. Not so much that it’s glaringly obvious, but more so that she fitted in with the mermaid wall and our overall household aesthetic.

Original	Used	featured
Luce Mia
722	GAST Silver Fern	2 skeins
3347	987
3348	3347	body
898/420	3078/3852	hair
3347/3348	987/3347	tail
991	924	ribbon
958	931	ribbon
993	932	ribbon
964	3752	ribbon
162	3753	ribbon
MH 10030	MH 42029	ribbon
MH 42031	MH 10030	hair
MH 42031	MH 02007	body
3799	356	skin
3799	898	brow
3799	310	eyelash

I have completely given up on Stitch from Stash. I’m sick of feeling guilty about spending this year, and figure that my spend is helping smaller businesses and individuals who are finding it tougher than I am. I am thinking about maybe next year trying to do it all from stash, as that could be a reasonable way to get thru my list and be a bit more productive than I have this year. I am toying with the Magical Stitchers group challenge, which will be based around the Percy Jackson books. Mase and I were planning on reading these anyway, so it could be a good fit. I’ll have to see which charts I can match to mythology – probably quite a few Mira’s!

At work I have been moving along on the Barbados Santa’s, and these are about three quarter’s done now. I will have new Santa’s for my tree this year! At home, I am working on a Faby Reilly biscornu and sadly, think this might be the first & last time I purchase one of her designs from Etsy. In the UK magazines, her charting symbols are quite clear and distinct from each other but I haven’t found this to be the case here. The actual result tho is amazing even without back stitching, so it might be something like childbirth, where you forget the pain and do it again anyway! I have also sent away for the teaching resources for the Embroidery Guild modules – OMG!! Scary stuff indeed.

October Question: How do you choose what you’re going to stitch on next? Right now, it’s all about what makes me happy. I’ve only got the backing to do for one of my Secret Santa presents; and this biscornu; then I can leap into something else. I’m thinking Holly, or Day Nymph (both by Nora Corbett) or finishing Fairy Tales (which needs those yellow roses frogging and re-doing, as the colours aren’t showing well enough). I just brought a hessian-like tree skirt from Spotlight and am thinking of doing some of Nora’s Reindeer around it…

November Question: What new discoveries did you have in the stitching world this year? I learnt that I like the DMC variegated threads when I use them in embroidery; and I learnt how to do French knots finally! Didn’t really venture too much out of my lane, except with the Sirens of the Sea piece and starting a Chatelaine banner. It’s enough that I want to learn more, hence applying to do the EGNZ modules.

I can’t believe that we are finally in the home stretch of 2020. I hope 2021 is a better year; that a validated vaccine against Covid-19 is available (and cheap for developing countries). That we all get to spend more time with family and friends than we do with fear. And so on… My list is growing!

2Mar2020

February WIPocalypse

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by paulainauckland

February Goals were:

Finish the second panel in 12 Days – just scraped in
Finish the second panel in Celtic Sampler – done & moved well past
200 over one in Fairy Idyll – nope, maybe I should rename her Fairly Idyll 🙂
Walk every day I don’t bootcamp – mmm, most days I hit goal. Just the one rest day each week, and I am noticing a lot of changes.

I also completed another of the Cloudsfactory Disney minis that I am doing for Aurora’s Christmas present – Belle is done now too. So that’s Ursula, Rapunzel, Lady T, Eric, Oscar, Belle, and half a Dopey and a bit of Mulan.

Celtic was my work (yay, aircon) and travel project. It got a bit of time in hospital, doctor’s surgery, waiting for dawn etc as it’s much, much smaller than 12 Days (and a different fabric too).

It was sooo hot (most days it was well over 27/28/29 degrees Celsius, and a muggy hot too, and I didn’t want a lap quilt worth of floba anywhere near me! Some days I barely managed one thread length on the 12 Days, other days were a little better.

March Goals:

Finish the third panel in 12 Days
Start a Chatelaine – see below.
Late Edit: add March is the first one-a-day SAL, I’ll be working on the beading of Atlantis. Copying Measi & getting the wheel to decide how many beads.

In honour of “Leap Year,” tell the story of a time you had to make some sort of a “leap” in stitching – taking the chance on a new style of stitching, attending a meet up or class, etc. I’m not very good at leaping – hence the growing collection of Chatelaines in my basket! I’ve made it a goal for this month to at least start one of the banners (I have three of the Mini Mystery Castle range) and master some of those embroidery stitches. After all, I’ve attended a class or two AND I’m not that stupid. I will be using mostly DMC rather than the original silks tho. My budget simply won’t stretch that far! And due to the expected intensity of this project, I’m not committing to much this month. I have looked into joining the local chapter of the Embroidery Guild, thanks to Anne’s advice & experience, and I’m attending my first meet up next week.

Stitch From Stash: I ended up finishing January in the red, mostly due to a fabric purchase. I’ve pulled that back in Feb, as I sold the spare Lady Mirabilia chart/bead pack that I had (broke even too) and had a couple of small finishes. However I’ve ordered the Duchess of Rouen (companion piece to The Baker’s Wife, both by Nora Corbett/Mirabilia) and the Hands on Design Nashville release, Well Rounded (expecting both in late March, early April). I also brought a kit by Tis The Season, a new-to-me business that I found in Whitianga, a coastal resort town here in New Zealand.

27Jan2020

January WIPocalypse Wrap

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by paulainauckland

Hello everyone! It’s a hot & muggy Auckland Anniversary Day here in NZ, and I celebrated the day off by running myself into the ground, lol! Bootcamp, a hospital visit to the MIL, finished loading the trailer then a dump run, dropped a dresser off & finally sat down. My arms hurt, my butt hurts & I really want a nap!

Anyway, let’s get into the Wipocalypse wrap. You can find our group in FB & in wordpress. Click the icon over on the right to be taken to Measi’s site.

My January Goals:

Complete the first panel of Jim Shore’s 12 Days (new start)
Complete 500 stitches in Fairy Idyll
Christmas Ornament FO
Disney Cloudsfactory item for Aurora FO

I got EVERYTHING knocked out this month. I’ve stitched every day (although one day was only 39) & made huge progress in big parts of Fairy Idyll. I did avoid any over one, so that helped, but I can’t ignore that forever.I also started Antique Celtic Sampler on a piece of 28ct lugana that I dyed myself. I was going to do it on cream, but this is the fabric MIL chose.

February Goals:

Finish the second panel in 12 Days
Finish the second panel in Celtic
Another 200 over one stitches in Fairy Idyll
Walk every day that I don’t bootcamp.

The question of the month is about what SALs we are participating in and the current answer is – a big fat NOTHING. Hooray for gap year!

SFS is still going for the month, so I’ll update that later. Right now, healthy as.

8Jan2020

January 2020 WIPocalypse & Intro

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

Hello everyone! This is my sixth year of WIPocalypse. It’s the most committed I’ve been to any SAL & I put that down to the pressure free, encouraging environment that Melissa hosts. If you’re a crafter, please join up either on your blog or via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers!

If you’ve not read from my blog before, I’m in my mid-40’s, a working mum to four (ranging from 25-10. I am book-mad, often found stitching & listening to podcasts or audiobooks, and I’m working more in my garden than ever before. We own our home near the base of Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges & can often be found working on it (new deck, gardens & a swim spa were added this summer) walking on the beach or in one of the many beautiful parks Auckland boasts. I’ve been hand stitching since before I was 10, can’t knit an even scarf or crochet to save myself and don’t often pull my machine out (not at all in 2019!!).

I didn’t do a December catch-up so here goes:

December Goals:

Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework YES
Plan January WIPs YES
No Spend! EH, NO

With Magical Stitches now finished, I stitched 5439 stitched in December, bringing my annual total to 77051 stitches (which I am certainly NOT counting in 2020!). Most of this was on Shakespeares Fairies, as this is my current favourite to work on, and is now about 2/3 complete after 12 months. I finished the year so far in the red for Stitch from Stash that I am a little embarrassed in myself, and have unsubscribed from a number of emails. This is not necessarily a bad thing; we crafters could all do with less time on the electronic things but a bit of a wake up. My One Little Word for this year is “reset” – and I’m applying it to my crafting as well as thinking.

January Goals:

Complete the first panel of Jim Shore’s 12 Days (new start)
Complete 500 stitches in Fairy Idyll
Christmas Ornament FO
Disney Cloudsfactory item for Aurora FO

Year Long Goals:

Complete all panels of Jim Shore’s 12 Days
Complete Fairy Idyll (I bead as I go with this one)
Complete Mermaid of Atlantis (which honestly is just the beading to go)
Complete the stitching on Shakespeare’s Fairies
Complete Tapestry Cat (my oldest WIP).

Let’s see how I get on!

2Oct2019

August & September WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by paulainauckland

Hello everyone! I hope you’re well. WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.

August Goals:

Complete the Year 5 Extra Credit homework (4/11 to go) LEFT ONE TASK INCOMPLETE
Complete Mermaid of Atlantis stitching (seriously possible if the weekly homework goes my way) NOT QUITE – BUT USED WHERE POSSIBLE
No Spend! NOPE – SPENT $10.40

September Goals:

Complete four EC NOPE, just two
Complete Mermaid of Atlantis (lined up for a few of the monthly Extra Credit) NOPE
Bead & FFO some Mill Hill ornies NOPE

All up, in August I didn’t stitch as much as in July. We finished the car & I spent a lot of time walking & listening to audio books rather than on my butt. Still happy with what I got done tho.

Fairy Idyll 231
Mermaid of Atlantis 435
Shakespeare’s Fairies 1957
Tapestry Cat 202
Stitchrovia Austen Quote 404
Coffee Quaker 1024
Jeanette Douglas 2012 Peace 417
Four Seasons in NZ 247
The Guardian 565
Erica Tui (new start) 506
MH Santa’s Sleighs 500
Un Ricarmo Per Rinascere 509
Reindeer Parade 213

That’s over 7410 stitches for the month.

In September I slowed right down (lots of reading & more time with Mum) and got in just over 6000 stitches.

Fairy Idyll 1353
Mermaid of Atlantis 868 (just beading to go now)
Fairy Tales, a new start 3141
Un Ricarmo Per Rinascere 321
Sampler House, a new start from Blackbird Designs 607

SFS: In August, I didn’t manage a no spend month (again) but it was just a few DMC & two charts at the Hospice shop. Turned out the person I picked them up for already had them, so if you’re into Paula Vaughan they are up on my @pauladestash IG account. I have ordered the new Mirabilia, Garden Prelude, but the bill hasn’t arrived yet so I can’t count it. With the ornie finish, I’m 30.85 in the black.

And then September turned to custard! I was given some money so went wild – $110.10 in 20 minutes at Ribbon Rose. Oops. Luckily I also sold Lady of the Flag for a reasonable (not eBay enormous) amount to a fellow stitcher, so that kept me in the black, at 26.92.

August Question: What do you have on your stitching bucket list? (for example, specific projects, designers, fibers, etc) I have two Chatelaine designs in my stash – but with a few large Mira’s on my WIP list either is a way away from starting.

September Question: What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do? More hand-finishing – Mase wants this Blackbird Designs stocking ASAP – so that’s on the list to knock off. Plus I’d like to take a framing course next year.

See you next week (hopefully!) or at the least, for the October WIPoclaypse.

21Aug2019

WIP Wednesday #256

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by paulainauckland

Hello everyone! Apologies for not posting last week – we had a lot going on at home. By the time I remembered about the WIP it was Friday… this week we have a Japanese billet with us for the week so it’s been an adventure! Sho is lovely, coming out of his shell & has a good sense of humour. We will miss him on Sunday when we put him on the plane home to his family.

Week 6 involved Professor Umbridge coming into power and we had to stitch on something that we really wanted to quit, like the students wanted to quit Hogwarts. I wanted to quit Coffee Quaker, as I simply got tired of the over-one. In the end, taking it everywhere, I managed 1024 stitches. I didn’t stitch on anything else this week tho.

Week 7 was O.W.L.S exam week – ick! We had a choice of going for E (exceeds expectations) with 100 stitched on each of the 7 Core/3 Elective subjects for 2pts, or O (outstanding) with 200 stitches giving 5pts. I went overboard again, ignoring the monthly tasks that I hadn’t completed, and worked on getting all O levels. Luckily we had done some “subject” things earlier in the year, so it wasn’t so hard to match up WIPs and subjects.

I picked a Jeannette Douglas design to cover both Astronomy (the quaker star) and History of Magic (words) and got a start & finish with Peace. This is in the 2012 JCS Christmas edition (available on the CD at 123Stitch & other retailers).

Using the Emma Congdon Austen quote, I covered Herbology (growing Hellebore roses) and Potions (Hellebore is an ingredient in several potions) – not a finish, but over halfway now.

I used Mirabillia Shakespeare’s Fairies for two other Core subjects – Charms (they summoned fireflies to light their way), & Defence Against the Dark Arts (one wears a diadem, like what Voldemort used as a horcrux).

The last Core was transfiguration, and as Professor McGonnigal is shown in both her forms in the first chapter of book one, the obvious choice was Tapestry Cat.

Electives – I ignored Arithmancy (would have had to use Coffee Quaker) and Divination (I’m with Hermione, that subject sucks) and chose Ancient Runes (completed all the lettering in Home*Stitch*Ness Four Seasons), Care of Magical Creatures (Mirabilia Mermaid of Atlantis) and Muggle Studies (I stitched the Mary Rose, the Tudor ship that’s in Mermaid of Atlantis as I’d been watching a doco about it while stitching Care).

Hope you all have a lovely week – I’ll be back for next week then it’s WIPoclaypse.

31Jul2019

WIP Wednesday #254 & June WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by paulainauckland

I’m a bit time poor this week so it’s WIP Wednesday as well. Last week I was in Detention so it was 1000 stitches in either blue ink or on words. I chose to make a start on the Emma Congdon/Stitchrovia quotes that match one of my already FFO pieces & knocked that out fairly easily, especially as we had a whole work day waiting on the systems to get back online. It was a loooong day. This current week is in the “too hard” basket for me, so I’m doing penalty stitches on Shakespeare’s Fairies.

In July, I’ve tried hard to complete each of the weekly #magicalstitches homework tasks, and knocked out several of the monthly EC as well as two Ultimate on Mermaid of Atlantis:

Fairy Idyll 2049
Mermaid of Atlantis 4692
Shakespeare’s Fairies 744
Tapestry Cat 1049
Pumpkin Carriages 758
Stitchrovia There’s Always Time for Tea 230
Stitchrovia Shakespeare Quote 1479
Stitchrovia Austen Quote 320

That’s over 10K stitches for the month!

I also have two FO – I just kept working on the Stitchrovia Tea piece until I finished it. I am not sure how I will FFO it yet. I didn’t count the remaining stitches as they didn’t fit a homework theme at the time I completed them. I did count the ones for Shakespeare Quote, as they worked into one & a bit of the extra credit tasks. That one will be a hoop finish to match the Tolkien quote that is already on my wall.

Both of these are available in Emma’s Etsy shop.

July Goals:

WIPocalypse One-A-Day with a twist – just stitch every day SWEET AS
Hello May HECK NO
Don’t spend! DEFINTIELY NO

August Goals:

Complete the Year 5 Extra Credit homework (4/11 to go)
Complete Mermaid of Atlantis stitching (seriously possible if the weekly homework goes my way)
No Spend!

Question of the Month: How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

I’ve previously gone with finding a new start, just picking one WIP, ignoring stitching entirely & finding some SAL to check into. It is odd for me to go more than a few days without stitching now but last year there was a couple of sparse months. Right now I’m in a scrap drought that I can’t shake but it will pass.

SFS: even tho I didn’t manage a no-spend month (needing both DMC & Kreinik for MOA) I had those two Stitchrovia finishes and I’m in the black.

2Apr2019

I have a finish already!

Posted in conversion details, cross stitch, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by paulainauckland

Hello everyone! My resolve for April is to be not as inwardly focused, so you should see a bit more of me. It was partially depression, partially feeling overwhelmed that lead to a quiet March, blog-wise. With what happened in Christchurch, while I wasn’t directly affected, it’s been a massive shock and I’m certainly not ready to articulate my feelings there. I will share more of our family time as there’s some scenery later on this month.

As you saw in my last post, I was in the red for SFS. Luckily one of the week’s “homework” pieces handed out yesterday in #magicalstitches was to choose a piece that was 75% done and work 300 stitches on it. I wasn’t actually sure that I had 300 stitches left but luckily – 409 including the backstitch! This is a portion of Little House Needlework’s Captains Inn (2007) on 28ct Haystack from Countrystitch, full conversion except for DMC blanc. Everything is in the Crescent Colours I’ve stashed, except for the sea is a Waterlilly & the anchor is DMC.

Original	Used	featured
LHN Captain’s Inn Sign
434	Roasted Chestnut	sign
434	Fool’s Gold	ship
CC Blackbird	Hickory Sticks
CC Green Onion	Eggshell
WDW Dolphin	WL 229 Oasis
WDW Gunmetal	3768

3Jan2019

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 paulainauckland

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.

4Oct2018

WIP Wednesday #229 & September WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by paulainauckland

WIPocalypse is hosted by Mel at her blog http://measi.net/measiblog/ ; it’s my favourite SAL, mostly due to the host organisation (which is spot on), the range of topics & the wide variety of stitchers participating. There’s always something to oooh over! Click on the link to the right.

September Focus:

Finish Persephone – YAY!
Bead the top third of Fairy Idyll – done, despite somehow losing two packs of beads.

October Focus:

Complete the wings, Rabbit’s Kreinik ball & face/neck/back over one stitching of FI’s skin – partially done as I completed the wings last night
FO the two Mill Hill Peridot ornies – up to beading
FO the Celebration Santa gift – found out I ripped the plastic canvas, so it may be a re-start.

SEPTEMBER QUESTION: How do you keep your stitching stash organised?

I have the Stash Cache app on my phone, so as long as I keep that updated, I’m sweet there. Most of my patterns are in clearbooks, except for my Mira & Nora stash – that’s in a basket I can pull out and play with (unless the chart is second hand & without the folder – those are in a clearbook to protect the chart). I have four thread boxes of purely DMC, with speciality threads in another; beads are in a Sistema plastic box. But my SIL found a replica stitching box that will soon become the home for everything! It needs to be pulled apart & re-painted, as that dark stain just won’t work for me, but it’s sturdy enough.

STITCH FROM STASH: This isn’t in as great shape as I had hoped, as twice someone’s pulled out from a purchase, and I still have a second Lady Mira + bead pack for sale. I also hit up every Op Shop between Palmerston North & New Plymouth last month & spent a bit (found an OOP Prairie Schooler that I am really pleased to have tho).

	$25.00
Fox Rapunzel, Aphrodite & Bellas	-29.43
Spotlight 13 DMC	-21.97
Op Shop Finds	-31.90

SOLD Biancabella (Shayla)	70.00
Mira Mermaid (round robin)	34.50
Stitchers Notebook	2.55
Persephone (conversion)	54.50

Rollover + Budget	-$159.74
Total Available Budget	-$81.49

sewscrapmuse

irregular updates on family life, books & cross stitch. Lots & lots of cross stitch.

Category Archives: stash cache app