Tag Archives: cross stitch

August WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, Mirabilia, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is a monthly-ish blog hop hosted by Measi.  This moon’s task was to choose a WIP and tell the story.

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This is Mediterranean Mermaid. Long time followers will know all about her; but for everyone else, this is why she’s still a WIP.

Our youngest, Mase, often has asthma flareups. Bad ones. End up on nebuliser ones. It’s long hours, often alone as there are other children at home, so I had to have a project that was permanently packed & could go anywhere with me. Lynne suggested Jug (as in, she carries an amphorae).

But so far in 2015, and with winter nearly over, we’ve kept Mase under control. Small flares, nothing major. Poor Jug hasn’t been worked on for nearly a year (I even brought the beads earlier this year in preparation),

It’s hard to feel for her tho!

28/8 Hi Five for Friday!

Posted in books, grateful, High Five For Friday, stitching patterns by

LISTENING: TobyMac (eclectic Christian artist with a recent release but solid back-catalogue) and of course, Elise’s podcasts.

tobymac

READING: I finished Anchored (review to come) and started something I thought might be fluffy but has turned out to be a very thought-provoking romance series from Susan May Warren. Self-forgiveness. Massive concept. Her Christiansen family series, in case you’re looking for something new-ish.

CRAFTING: well not yet,but I love this suggestion from Simply Vanella about what I could do with my black linen. Isn’t this perfect?

DW2886 chalkboard cross stitch

http://www.123stitch.com/item/Design-Works-Be-Happy-Chalkboard-Counted-Cross-Stitch-Kit/DW2886

Also I found this ceramic owl HALF PRICE at Farmers so I can re-create one of Carol’s photos. Think I will choose Serenity, as that is my OLW for this year.

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DOING: Celebrating. Mason’s awesome anniversary report. Zac’s official rep selection for one of the Auckland U12/13 restricted weight sides. A bunch of awesome parents in this rep side. LAST Under 6 game for the season tomorrow – it’s been a long year! Freebie December Daily foundation pages (OK, they started out as lotto ticket wallets but that’s two standard and two pocket pages right there, peeps – and I left the lady looking up Ali & Becky’s websites). Springtime flowers seen during lunchtime walks.

Let me know what you find to celebrate this week!

WIP Wednesday & Smalls SAL

Posted in conversion details, Mirabilia, round robin, stitching patterns by

Yay, Wednesday already! Work finished the fiscal month (oddly) early, rather than rolling it over into a 5 week month, so I’m like the duck – serene on top, paddling furiously underneath. It makes for a long, long eight hours! Luckily the children are just as tired so last night, they took themselves off for reading time just after seven. Bliss! A quiet house!

sunday's progress. primrose urn

sunday’s progress. primrose urn

WIP-wise I have put a few more threads into Persephone but mostly I’m forcing myself to work on the next NZXS RR. It’s just not my cup of java at all, from the aida cloth to the flower urns – I am reminding myself that THIS is why I said I’d organise a round robin or two! Once I had added the leaves (all the yellow and green was done last night, the urn on Sunday) I did like it more. It’s a very quick little piece. I do like the bird.

tuesday's progress

tuesday’s progress

I also finished Summer Queen, my contribution to Rachel’s RR. I converted some beads and of course the metallic DMC, as I loathe that stuff. Kreinik all the way! Look Zeb! I’m using my birthday notebook!

Summer Queen

Summer Queen

paula's summer queen bead conversion

paula’s summer queen bead conversion

14/08 Hi Five for Friday!

Posted in grateful, High Five For Friday by

High Five

LISTENING: to the No Such Thing As A Fish podcasts. Funny & factual. I actually prefer this to the parent show which is QI. You can get the podcasts thru iTunes or at http://qi.com/podcast/

NSTAAF

READING: absolute crap. I need a recommend!

PINNING: Eh yeah – playing on Instagram too much instead!

CRAFTING: Small, small start to the next Mira RR. I need to get my head around stitching the “wrong” way for me, which is / then \. I’m stitching Spring Queen in the space above Winter. I must admit my OCD is itching as the person owning this piece said to plop the Queens in any order!

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DOING: Banging my head on the desk. How many ways can you tell a vendor that if they didn’t charge you for an unordered product (which we didn’t add to the order, we had them collect it) then we can’t generate a credit claim?!

It’s been 14 days since my last entry…

Posted in Smalls SAL, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse, You Can Quote ME by

PeedoInstead of being all busy and achieving heaps while Si was away I was knee deep in cleaning as all three boys went down with this tummy bug. I copped it twice and was absolutely wiped out by Wednesday, when he came home. We had a very quiet birthday for Mase (he was six on Sunday) & have plans for his school friends party in a fortnight.

In this time I’ve missed a couple of WIP Wednesday’s (wouldn’t have mattered, I didn’t have the energy to read, let alone stitch), YCQM, a Smalls check-in and a WIPocalypse. It was my question this time around too!

So here we go:

SMALLS: I worked on the Reindeer Parade (Blitzen is coming along but I can’t find a decent photo) & a NZFB RR piece. This is Angela’s selection:

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WIPocalypse: Topic: What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece? I’m genuinely interested in catching up with the answers on the blogs this month. I tossed up on Saturday about what I should do now, in that gap between finishing Angela’s RR piece and receiving the next of the Mira RR, and I ended up picking up my second oldest WIP, the Teresa Wentzler Tapestry Cat. Poor old TC was my Christmas present to myself way back in 2005 or 2006 and I’m telling myself that I must finish this before she finishes charting Illuminata (race is on!) because otherwise how will I justify purchasing a new chart?!

I am trying to find a new leaf outline thread – the ones on the right in the image are as charted, the top one is the current thought. I just want them to be more defined – what do you think?

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YCQM: I’ve managed to be more Serene than not while Si was away, with the exception being the Screaming Teen’s night time antics. He just won’t stay in bed! I can’t tell you how many times he woke me by watching TV in the lounge which really, really wound me up. Now I’m back at work I am enjoying waking him up for a change.  And isn’t this the truth?

work minion

You Can Quote Me

Posted in OLW, You Can Quote ME by

So instead of an image that links to my One Little Word, Serenity, today I’ve got an app for you stitchers out there. It’s doing wonders for my peace of mind & sanity. We all know I grasp onto that tightly! I found this quite by chance as I updated the new phone – it’s FREE and works on Android.

StashCashe

http://geekeclectic.com/stashcache/

Linda has an abundance of patience (altho I think I have now worked out the coding) and will talk you off the ledge. I can now add material and chart lists to the app and in the format I want – bonus! There are some templates and quick lists (DMC & Anchor threads) on Linda’s site & I’ve created a Kreinik #4 list to match (I like to know the colour names).  My Mill Hill list is underway (including the DMC recommendation for attaching, always good to know if you can’t find the invisible thread) and it now takes me about 3 minutes to type & load up a Mirabilia pattern to the stash. Which is very good as my order arrived from Amanda today!

Now I just have to sit down & enter the DMC, Kreinik & Mill Hill that I have in my stash, and this app will be fully functional!

High 5 for Friday!

Posted in family, friends, grateful, High Five For Friday, me, round robin, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, work by

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Visiting: today I’m meeting up with Angela from the NZ XS group. She lives very locally, on a farm. Looking forward to it!

Stitching: Blitzen, & incredibly curious about Angela’s choices for the RR. Plus must give Tapestry Cat some love. Watching the progress Theresa Wenztler is making on Illuminata is amazing. Designers don’t get enough kudos or money.

Pinning: lots of gorgeous things

Paying: bills. I’m grateful I have a good job that I enjoy and that enables me to help look after my family.

Watching: not a lot. Think I’ll have a NCIS binge. Yay for DVDs

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!

You Can Quote ME

Posted in OLW, stitching patterns, You Can Quote ME by

YCQM is a weekly post that is linked to my One Little Word, which for 2015 is Serenity. Here’s a bit of truth for you:

something good in every day

Yesterday seems like a bit of a blur.

  • menu planning/grocery shop. planning yes, shop no. I cleaned out the magazine pile instead.
  • Vacuum/wash floors. vac yes, wash no.
  • Laundry. Ugh. Lots of.
  • Some stitching on my latest project. not much, but a few threads.
  • Potting up some herb cuttings, planting more seed. there’s a new basil cutting planted for Sarah, not much else done. Cleaned kitchen & made two dinners instead.
  • And painting mirror frames black so they match my picture frames. last coat of one is done. Too cold to dry in the proscribed two hours so didn’t touch the other two frames.

EXTRA! Check these pretties out!

Posted in DIY home by

I had to do a chocolate run (yes, I know!) and came across these in Countdown

alzheimers-biscuits.2000x700

Ten bucks with the downside being only 80c goes to the charity (I would like it to be more along the lines of a couple of bucks) but it’s a beautiful, solid little box. Magnetic front closure too.
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I brought the Tui one. He’s printed on there in a heavy, glossy ink with texture, and the inside is perfect for my plans to store my Mill Hill bead packs. With a slight design amendment by Bran 🙂 he needs these projects for his NCEA paper!

I’m such a good mum!

EDIT: this is kind of what I wanted. For now I am using the flimsy plastic that the biscuits were in and that will do nicely.
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