Tag Archives: emma congdon

June WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, embroidery, goals, grateful, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

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!

I had no real goals for June. I am still floating around, with little purpose. Work is work; there was Mum’s service; family discord with post service disappointments; more work & then I became very sick (as in covid tests, delays and now antibiotics & working from home when I should be resting). I’m not a happy camper overall. I would like to rewind 2020 and have a do-over, please.

I did a bit of shopping therapy and one chart has turned into a finish – I have amended some of the colours in Pohutukawa and changed the shore to fit the circle of the hoop finish that I intend to complete soon. I also brought Mirabilia Summer Queen as I have long regretted selling this one and Autumn on when I did. I’m waiting on two charts from 123Stitch – When Life is Done by Silver Creek Samplers, which I will do as a memorial piece for Mum and the HOD Stitching by the Sea. I’ve counted them in my June spend as they are charged & shipped, altho I may not get until July. I ended up finishing the half year in credit, $19.70, so that’s looking good.

My other finish was an Emma Congdon quote from the Pride & Prejudice movie. I know it’s not “canon” but I couldn’t get the brain space to re-chart it. This one is available on the Stitchrovia Etsy store.

June’s question is the Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year? Hmm. This is not going too well!

  • Complete all panels of Jim Shore’s 12 Days stopped in March
  • Complete Fairy Idyll (I bead as I go with this one) haven’t touched for at least 2 months
  • Complete Mermaid of Atlantis (which honestly is just the beading to go) YEAH
  • Complete the stitching on Shakespeare’s Fairies YEAH
  • Complete Tapestry Cat (my oldest WIP). Haven’t touched.

This week I start a course about Maori tikanga, or customs. That will take out a chunk of stitching time but I can listen to some of it while driving. I’m a little bit nervous about returning to semi-formal study (it is run by a tertiary institution and counts towards national standards) but I need to get over that. So for July I’d like to finish beading Shakespeare’s Fairies, put a little into Fairy Idyll and start When Life is Done. That’s it. Pretty simple!

All the best to you all. Stay safe, stay well, stay patient. God bless.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” 

– Leo Buscaglia

WIP Wednesday #256

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

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.

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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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

WIP Wednesday #253

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

Hey everyone! Hope you’ve had a good week.

Last week’s #magicalstitches revolved around Professor Umbridge. If you could match the options, it was 1000 stitches total or if you chose penalty stitches, 2000. Eep. But 200 stitches a night is usually achievable for me so I tried to match.

  1. The colour Pink – Fairy Idyll’s bedlinens
  2. Tea or Teacups – I found an Emma Congdon/Stitchrovia series of smalls. Originally in Cross Stitch Crazy, they’re now available on her Etsy store.
  3. Kittens – which had to be domestic cats, so Tapestry Cat came back into play.
  4. A pattern name that starts with one of the letters R.U.L.E.S – I chose Shakespeare’s Fairies
  5. A designers’ name that starts with one of the letters S.T.R.I.C.T – here I had a couple of options with Teresa Wentztler (TC or Guardian) or one of the Sandra Cozzolino designed Mill Hill Santas.

Halfway thru the week, it was confirmed that you could use the designer name or the company it was released with, and it suddenly dawned on me that hello, it’s Nora CORBETT and C is in strict. Insert facepalm mode. So as Fairy Idyll was in front of me at the time, I knocked out another block there.

Family wise it’s a bit odd. Out of mum’s day-to-day loop, so it was a shock to find out she’d been so ill she’d been prescribed antibiotics. We had the same conversation three times on Monday night when I took up her morphine allocation. Plus with the SIL constantly going on about money. Its super hard not to bite back, but that would achieve nothing. Our focus has always been to give Mum a good life, to show our gratitude physically as well as verbally e.g. the ramps we built so she could ignore steps & use her Zimmer, altering the height of her ensuite basin so she didn’t have to bend, organise car servicing etc…I couldn’t tell you how much money or time we’ve spent, but hello, it’s Mum.

Sorry for the downer end.

February Smalls & WIPocaylpse

Posted in cross stitch, goals, round robin, Smalls SAL by

So sorry everyone – I wouldn’t normally post these together but my energy level is really, really low. For links to both SAL’s, please click on the icons to the right.

For Smalls – I completed Emma Congdon’s Home Sweet Home, the GWP (gift with purchase) for a Cross Stitch Crazy 2016 edition. This one isn’t up on her website yet (they often are after a 6 month lag) but you can find similar charts https://www.etsy.com/shop/Stitchrovia?section_id=14750602 SO that one checks off the #monthlymagazineSAL that Heather II runs too…

I also finished stitching and beading Mill Hill Fireflies. This one will be FFO’d this week and be on it’s way to Farrah in TX; just a little something to let her know I’m thinking of her.

My biggest piece this month was the Round Robin. Sorry Jacqui – I just didn’t enjoy stitching her! This is Passione Ricamo’s Into the Darkness, threads as charted (believe it or not). I did play a bit with her lashes; she doesn’t look as witchy as the sample; this is also helped along by not stitching the background. I do think this piece will look amazing when it’s fully done, especially as I can guess as to what Jacqui is planning on the header.

Question of the Month: What is your favourite stitch other than the standard cross stitch? I have a few I like; back stitch doesn’t usually worry me (except that Tattered Teddy I did for a round robin a couple of years back!). I like Algerian eyelets, and chains, and Smyrna crosses…that Stitchsmith course was well worth it and I think I’ll go back for the advanced course next year.

Thanks for reading – I’m off now to complete some real work…

WIP Wednesday 

Posted in cross stitch, round robin by

I’m plodding on thru. Looking at my diary, I’ve not stitched a lot in February so far; more days blank than not. 

However, I had a small finish for the #monthlymagazineSAL hosted by Heather. This is Emma Congdon’s Home Sweet Home as kitted by Cross Stitch Crazy. I’m keeping the chart as I haven’t decided if I’ll do this one again. 

My
My new work project is Mill Hill Believe, again stitching as charted. I got most of his sack done while waiting at Tag on Friyay.


And the at home project is still the Passione Ricamo round robin. The hair is done and I’m on skin. Those eyes are over one so waiting till I have quiet time. 

WIP Wednesday 

Posted in cross stitch, friends, grateful, round robin, Smalls SAL by

Look! Aren’t you proud of me? I am posting on the proper day! 😎

I have a couple of things on the go right now. This is Emma Congdon’s Home Sweet Home from an issue of Cross Stitch Crazy. I’m not in love with the colours yet but it’s a good project for work (I finished that Mill Hill fireflies & it’s ready to bead):

At home I am working on Jacqui’s round robin. She’s chosen Passione Ricamo for her designer, and I’ve chosen the least fussy chart from the selection. It’s Into the Darkness but maybe it won’t look so witchy as the original when I’m done. 

Andrea’s stitched the one on the right. I wish I could show you the sparkle; those roses are back stitched in Kreinik or a Rainbow Gallery.

I can’t wait tho to get back to something Mira.

Lastly, here’s some Stitch Porn. This is amazing. I want!

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