Hello! Week three of the lockdown & I’m starting to get wound up. Back on Twitter, which may be a mistake; it’s raining, altho Easter weekend itself was amazing weather; and I’ve lost all desire to cook. The hubs is looking at rentals (what the actual?) but on the positive side, school started back today. Remote & online, but it’s back.
Since I last posted, I finished both the Genoa Santa pieces from Mill Hill/Sandra Cozzolino, and got a huge chunk done on Shakespeare’s Fairies. I’ve had to order beads from 123Stitch but I don’t know when those might be sent.
Hope you all have a great week.
Tag Archives: mill hill
WIP Wednesday #270
Hey everyone! I hope that you are well, have enough TP, & feel peace in your hearts. I’m going to assume that Market oh-I-want-that feels, we all have plenty of projects on hand. I may have ordered a few things anyway!
Stitching wise, I had no progress on the Chatelaine. Given my monthly goal was to get it started, I’m more than okay with this.
Mermaid of Atlantis has had attention every day, and I guess I’m about halfway on the beading now. I’ve also started 3 French Hens for my monthly piece. That was more frog than stitch as part way thru the first letter, I had a brain fart…
Take care of yourselves, inside & out.
WIP Wednesday #269
Hey everyone! I am recovering from a flu bug (the same one that knocked #masetheace out for a week) so it was really quiet at ours.
I did try to work on the Chatelaine but after learning some new stitches (nailed the Rhodes!) I decided to drop following the chart & just focused on my #wipocalypse one-a-day project, beading Mermaid of Atlantis. 
As you can see I’ve managed slightly more than one a day, and I’m about a third in. I might get this done this month & be able to bank the stitch from stash credit before my next order comes in…
November WIPocalypse
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.
November Goals:
- Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework
- Finish some CF or Mill Hill pieces
I managed to keep up with both of the above – 4 Mill Hill finishes (two each of the Celestial Sleigh and Pumpkin Carriage) and four Cloudsfactory items for Aurora’s parcel – Prince Eric, Oliver, Rapunzel & Ursula. All the weekly homework was done, some to the bare minimum, and I got one Extra Credit in. I’ve completely slowed down with regards to stitching.
December Goals:
- Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework
- Plan January WIPs
- No Spend!
November Question: What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year? The short answer is – nothing. I didn’t take any class or attempt embroidery or anything else. A crochet class or at least the embroidery refresher at Liz’s is on my wish list for 2020, but I wasn’t in the headspace to try anything new this year.
Stitch From Stash: I am so far in the red I won’t be climbing out this year. Even with a gift from Mum specifically for my stash budget, I have overspent on Miras and fabric that I may not even touch next year, & I’m a little horrified at myself. I have seven FO’s, but they are all relatively small. At least it’s only stash I have spent my feelings on this year, and not all the other things like previous years. Overall, fiscally I’m in better shape than previous.
August & September WIPocalypse
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.
WIP Wednesday #257
Hello everyone! We had a full on end of week, with time playing at the museum (find me a little boy who doesn’t like dinosaurs), at the beach and game day on Saturday. The Massey team Mase played in won comfortably, but Sho won opposition player of the day with his beautiful tackles. Great day in our household! Sunday was very odd once we got home from the airport and had an emptier house.
The #magicalstitches homework was in three parts, to celebrate the restoration of Dumbledore to Headmaster of the school. Part one was 300 stitches on the 11th WIP in my list, as 11 Death Eaters were captured…WIP 11 was finished, so I rolled over into WIP 12, The Guardian. Part two was 300 in any colour but pink to celebrate Umbridge leaving the school. I skipped the bonus task to focus on a monthly task and knocked off 500 stitches and beads in my Christmas sleighs.
Have a good week everyone – let me know a little something you’re grateful for. Gratitude shared increases happiness all round J
WIP Wednesday #251 & bonus book mini-review
Morning everyone! This time last week I was absorbing the fantastic Becoming by Michelle Obama (audible version, which has the bonus of being in her voice and so with her intonations and emphasis). It was great, for work and playtime and transit time. The only obvious problem is of course the book hangover that results from a great read. Regardless of your colour, creed, race, status or whatever – this one will have some lesson to take onboard, even if it’s just that what’s on someone’s surface isn’t necessarily true. Look to their actions, and be empathetic. Remember that person next to you in the supermarket queue also has problems and prejudices, and work to minimise yours in such a way that others are enabled. Or at least, not inconvenienced or damaged.
Right. Onto the lighter stuff. Last week was the first relating to The Order of the Phoenix. I worked on the actual challenge points:
- Boring neighbour – 300 on something that can get boring – I used Mermaid of Atlantis’ borders and you’d think that would be straight forward. EHHHH no. Not when you look at the chart and count the BS line as where a ten block finishes…and it actually doesn’t! I had to frog 70-odd silk stitches (carefully!) and their corresponding BS line as I was two rows out. I’ve now started on the filigree corner for an Extra Credit task.
- Unapproved Magic – 300 on a project that’s been suspended for 5 months or your oldest WIP – Teresa Wentzler’s Tapestry Cat certainly qualified, as I started this in Christmas 2006! I worked in the Greek key sections on that top right corner and got in 600 back stitches. Boring but necessary.
- Dementor Attack – 300 on a project that has no faces –a new start, the Mill Hill Princess Carriage. As per, I’m making one for me and one for Ms Lou. I managed to get in all the stitching to be at the beading point – 758 stitches at work/training/travel.
This week’s challenge is around the address of 12 Grimmauld Place, the Black house that lies semi-hidden in London & is the home of the Order of the Phoenix. The options were either 500 stitches on WIPs 1 & 2, or 1000 on WIP 12. I’ve gone for the first option so there will be another session on Fairy Idyll and Tapestry Cat, as I just couldn’t face Guardian. I may or may not get this out – we’re leaving on a combo work/play trip tomorrow and neither of these WIPs is something I can take with me, FI being on the floor stand and TC being a complicated blend of multiple threads (plus white evenweave, eep!). At least there are large blocks of colour on the Mirabilia.
Bonus shot is of a mural we found in Point Chevalier, another suburb of Auckland. Not sure who the men are, perhaps the composers? But I liked it anyway.
Have a good week!
January WIPocalypse & OLW Thrive
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.
My January goals were:
- Finish Jardin Prive’s Eiffel Quaker COMPLETED
- Mill Hill Golden Tannenbaum for my Small/Christmas All Year Round BOTH FFO
- Hello There March (& FFO) not started
- 341 stitches in Shakespeare’s Fairies for the HP SAL ACHIEVED
Additionally, I’ve got over a thousand other stitches in SF and at work, I’ve stitched two Genoa Santa’s (one for me, one for Lou), and started two of the Wales version. I’ve also touched one of my yearly goals and stitched on Fairy Idyll – one of the monthly HPSAL goals was 500 stitches in gold, so I’m used her dress. So far, there’s only 3 days this month I haven’t stitched, & I’m happy with that.
Late last year I asked Belinda (@aussiestitcher) if she wanted to part with her copy of Coffee Quaker (the one that says “first I drink the coffee, then I do the things”) and she sent me a huge haul. Three needleminders (great for holding up copies of charts on the frame), two pieces of Colour Cascade fabric, the chart and her thread remnants, some of which will be enough to complete the smaller portions on the chart! I’m spoilt.
February goals:
- Bead & FFO Genoa Santa’s
- Complete stitching on Wales Santa’s
- Stitch & FFO Hello There March
- Work on Fairy Idyll
- Work on Shakespeare’s Fairies
Question: What SAL’s are you participating in this year?
After last year’s abysmal failure, I’m only doing two. One is the #ChristmasAllYearRoundSAL via my Instagram posts (if you don’t know, I’m Christmas mad) and the other is the #HarryPotterSAL via the Facebook group. I’ve completed a few challenges this year & I’m looking for ways to incorporate more WIPs into the rotations.
A LATE EDIT, JUST FOR STEPHANIE January Stitch From Stash has come out positive, despite the NZD-UK Pound exchange rate. Idyll cost quite a bit! And some fabric sales came thru the bank account last night, moving me from my already positive 59cents. LOL.
| Jan-19 | |
| Budget | $25.00 |
| Fairy Idyll for Gail | -46.76 |
| Spotlight DMC*6 | -11.40 |
| Eiffel Quaker | 21.25 |
| Golden Tannenbaum *2 | 12.50 |
| Fabric Sales (Lani) | 70.00 |
| Total Available Budget | $70.59 |
As my One Little Word this year is THRIVE (and Simon has also adopted it when it comes to us as a couple, like he did with YES in 2018), we took advantage of a child & work free day and went to Hamilton on Monday. It was super hot very early on, so we didn’t spend much time in the sun but on the drive, I not only finished the stitching in Genoa but made a start to Wales. I enjoy these pieces when we’re driving. We ended up at the Gardens, a favourite place, and took in the new Katherine Mansfield garden. It’s based upon her short story, The Garden Party, and while I forgot to take shots of the tennis court area, the house had us going ah…
It’s just a 3-4M deep facade, but so much detail. In another year, when the garden is that much more established, it’s going to be beautiful.
And of course, in the entry piazza that leads to these extra garden “rooms”, there’s Alice & the White Rabbit:
WIP Wednesday #238
Hello my lovelies! I’ve had an up & down week, and there’s lots of pressure at work (year end on the 27th & an annoyingly slow system) so I’ve been following doctor’s orders and stitching as much frustration away as possible. I am also at payday with money still in the everyday account, and I haven’t spent anything on stitching supplies for myself this month, altho there are 6 skeins I need for Shakespeare’s Fairies.
I did get rid of a huge guilt patch by sourcing and buying another copy of Fairy Idyll and having it posted to Gail. She lent me her copy in September 2017 and I never thought it would take me so long to stitch, & I’ve been feeling awful about it. The chart is OOP and was 25 pounds but… worth it for the relief.
Anyway, this week I’ve got (what I am counting as) two FFO with the Golden Tannenbaum ornaments now ready for the tree, a good start on two Genoa Santa’s and well past the monthly goal on Shakespeare’s Fairies.
Hope you all have a great week!
WIP Wednesday #237
Hello everyone! It’s hump day, hooray.
Life update: I’ve been on antidepressants for three weeks now & had a check up yesterday. A lot of improvement in my overall wellbeing, my blood work was fantastic & I’ve actually lost 1.3kg (side benefit). I’ve got another check in 3 months & will continue with the meds in the meantime. I also went back to bootcamp this week…. mild ouch.
S
titching wise I frogged the initial start on Shakespeare’s Fairies by Mirabilia. Neither hubs nor I liked the fabric, so on Monday I went back to the initial plan of Urewera Mist and restarted. Much happier.
At work, I’ve finished the paper stitched version of Golden Tannenbaum by Mill Hill & started a plastic canvas version. Once that’s stitched, I’ll bead them both. Then onto a Santa!
Hope you all have a lovely week.
sewscrapmuse 