PL Update

[I’ve been so busy that this update is a week late!] I had planned to stitch with the Let’s Stitch SAT group on Friday night (last week), but a late night in work and an early morning on Saturday to go play hockey meant that I didn’t really have much time to devote to Paradigm Lost. I did get a few stitches in and here’s a progress photo:


Also, I finally got Sailing Home back from the framers, and they did a wonderful job – I’d never used them before so that was a good find. My boss was delighted with the sampler as well, phew :) (Sorry for the inexpert photo, I realised I had forgotten to take one and so this is my attempt at work to get a photo of it.)



I’ve since taken ‘Their Song’ to the framers, which I finished back in 2007, so I will post a photo of it proudly hung in the house in a couple of weeks when it’s ready.

Happy stitching!

A Surprise!

We came home from Dublin on Sunday evening last week (sorry Edda it has taken me so long to post this – I know I’m very naughty!) – we’d been to see H’s family and help his brother celebrate his 30th birthday. I was very tired and…maybe even a bit cranky…until I found that a mysterious package had been delivered over the weekend. I wasn’t expecting anything, so was delighted to find this:

Edda had sent me a Crazy Exchange, and I love the bourse that she sent – it’s a lovely pattern (it’s Three Emblems freebie by Papillon Designs which can be found here if you're interested!) and Edda’s stitching and finishing is really lovely. Thanks to Edda also for including some lovely well-chosen extras for me. Now to get my head down and work out what to stitch back for Edda – by the Crazy Exchange rules, I have 30 days to ponder, stitch, finish and send something back to her. Needle to the ready!

I’ve also been busy with Paradigm Lost – my new plan of leaving it on the frame seems to be paying off as I’m really rattling forward with it. I am a lazy so-and-so, and often when PL is off the frame, I can’t be bothered to do all the set up and pull out all the bits and pieces I need to start stitching, and instead just pick up something small and easy. So on the upside, I’m stitching more on PL and really hope to meet my goal of finishing it this year. On the downside, my stitching chair and stool are now never tidy because I never put PL away, and I am not getting as many photos, because I can’t get a good shot when it’s on the frame. And which is also why I have no photo update for you...

And, finally, thanks have to go to Angela who nominated me for an award:

According to the rules of the award, I need to name 5 things I’m addicted to, so here goes:

- Acquiring stash – I just can’t seem to help myself. Now, I know I'm not alone in this one...
- Cigarettes – it’s up in the air whether this truly belongs on the list, as I gave up on Sunday evening a week ago, but I’d still LOVE to have one. Or two. Or…
- Driving – preferably with my iPod cranked up.
- Chocolate – yes, another obvious choice, but the truth is that I send H out for chocolate most evenings, and I just can’t seem to get by without at least a tiny taste. Dark for preference, and never Cadbury.
- Me time – I’m a social creature, but only up to a point, and after that I need some space, so ‘me time’ is definitely on my list of must-haves.

I’m very naughty about passing on awards. This one I think has been around and around, so I think it’s safe for me to not pass it on – although thank you to Angela for thinking of me in relation to it, and if you haven’t had it yet, and want to, then by all means consider yourself awarded – if you’ve managed to stick with me this far, you definitely deserve an award!

Happy stitching!

It's a Snow Day!

Well, half a snow day anyway. We woke up to 1/2 inch of snow here in Berkshire so we travelled into work as usual to find that London had had a proper snowstorm - 6 to 8 inches in most places. And, because London is not generally a snowy place, you can imagine the chaos that ensued - all bus services suspended, the Tube only working on the actual underground bits, all the train services from the south and east of the country suspended... I was one of only 8 people who managed to get into the office. So after fielding dozens of calls from colleagues and clients cancelling most of the meetings for the day, and seeing that it continued to snow heavily outside, I decided not to risk getting stuck in London for the night and headed off home around noon. Now, it did take me almost double the normal time to get home, but hey I made it and I'm home about 3 hours before I'd normally be home! So what am I going to do? Stitch, of course! :)

I stitched with the Let's Stitch group for Friday's SAT, and made some great progress on Paradigm Lost - I'm now finished page 6, meaning I'm over halfway done. Hurrah!!! Perhaps a goal of a 2009 finish isn't totally insane?? (For the moment, I am ignoring the fact that it has taken me two years to finish up to page 6...)

Happy Stitching!

What a Week

Whew. What a week. By Wednesday, I had already worked more than my 40 hours, with the prospect of Thursday and Friday to come. It was exhausting - I feel like I've been through the wringer. And we have a friend coming to stay this weekend, meaning all the chores needed to be done (I usually let them slide when I'm having a week like this! I am no 1950s housewife, that's for sure).


So, as a consequence, I haven't much to show you in the way of stitching. Last night for the Let's Stitch SAT, I was running around doing chores until 10pm, so I didn't actually achieve much - so I opted to stitch the very unglamorous (but passing the easy-to-stitch-when-extremely-tired test) right hand border. [Sorry for the oddly-shaped photos - for some reason Blogger won't resize the photos that I'm uploading from Photobucket - if anyone knows why, happy to hear from you :) ]

Earlier in the week, I managed to put in a couple of hours on Spanish Wine, so I'm now working on the central motif. You'll see I've stitched the '2' and the '0' of what will eventually be the year (the next two digits are at the bottom of the central design), but I think I might just leave off the next two, just in case this one goes a little bit into 2010 :)

We've a friend staying with us this weekend, so not sure I'll get much stitching done, but will be having plenty of laughter and wine, so that will make up for it ;)

Happy stitching!

Friday SAT Let's Stitch Update

I tell you, this SAT Friday thing over at Let's Stitch is an absolute corker - it helped too that H was away on business and so I only needed to stop briefly for a quick snack rather than prepare a proper meal ;) (Shhh, don't tell him, he will frown at me!)

My goal this week was to finish the big motif I was stitching, and had been stitching on seemingly endlessly since July. JULY, folks. Which is ridiculous really, but I did have quite a bit of holiday and other commitments in August, September and October, so I suppose I have half an excuse for why this took so long...

The good news is I'm on to page 6, and once I'm finished page 6, I'll be at the HALFWAY POINT in this sampler! In fact, I'll be a little bit past halfway because I've stitched little bits of pages 7 and 8 aready. I'm really hoping I'll hit halfway before the end of 2008, but with a long holiday in prospect, I may not quite get it done. I will keep you posted of course ;)

Here is last night's progress:

Happy stitching!

Paradigm Lost Update

Another Let's Stitch Friday SAT, another Paradigm Lost update from me. I set myself the goal of finishing the outer ring of the large motif I'm working on, and beginning to stitch the centre of it. And, despite some desperate anguish and rather a LOT of frogging, I managed it! I did have to stitch into the wee hours, and H was asleep when I finally went up to bed, but I just wasn't ready to admit defeat over this one.



The goal for next week's SAL is to get at least half of the centre of the motif finished. I'm finding the Let's Stich SAT Fridays really motivating - maybe my goal of finishing PL in 2009 isn't so unreachable after all!



Happy stitching!

Let's Stitch!

This past week, I had an email from Kathy letting me know that she was closing the Snowbird SAL blog, as most of the stitchers (who were stitching either Cirque des Cercles or, like me, Paradigm Lost) had pretty much drifted away (or completed their stitching!). So, in the hopes of not becoming demotivated, I saw Becky’s blog ‘Let’s Stitch’ and decided that this could be just the thing to keep me going. So I signed up, and last Friday participated in my first SAT! Here’s my progress on PL – my goal for this Friday’s SAT is to finish the ‘outer ring’ of stitching and move to the centre on this particular motif:

Before:

After:

I also saw that Barbara received the Fair and Square Christmas Squares I sent her – my only worry was that she had stitched them for herself from the latest JCS ornament issue, because as soon as I saw them, they just shouted ‘Barbara’ to me.

As if by magic, there was a package waiting for me at home tonight – Barbara’s squares to me! She adapted ‘A Tiny German Folk Sampler’ by Threads Through Time from the JCS 2004 ornie issue, and she stitched it with Belle Soie silk – mmmm some of my absolute favourite silk! They’re gorgeous Barbara, thanks a million! I can’t wait to finish them up into an ornament for our tree (even though we’re not having a tree this year because we’ll be travelling, but well, for lampshades and picture hooks and doorknobs and such!).

And, finally, a little progress photo of Sailing Home, which is a delight to stitch (as are all BBD designs as far as I’m concerned), and stitching up relatively quickly (for me, that is). (I'm not sure why that photo is suddenly small - should be clickable though!)

Only 35 days before we jet off for our extended break to BC for Christmas (so excited, so so SO EXCITED!), do you think it’s too early to plan stitching I’m going to bring??

Happy stitching!

An Old Friend

Finally, this month I’ve had some time to get out an old friend and put in some stitches on Paradigm Lost. The Snowbird SAL seems to be losing momentum a little bit, but I’m going to persevere with my Thursday stitching and finish it to my revised timeline – end of 2009 (yes, I have just like that given myself an extra 12 months – average lifespan of a worker bee, but a manageable extension for myself!). I’ve been stitching on it (on and off, to be fair) since March 2007, so I think another 15 months should just about cover it :)



I also managed to stitch an ornament for the mini SAL that Leena and I stitch each month, but I seem to have forgotten to load up the photo onto my memory stick (I am at work you see – shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone), so you’ll have to wait for a photo next time!

Don’t forget, you’ve about a day and a half left to sign up for the giveaway :)

Happy stitching!

Updates and Goals

I managed to squeeze in a (short) night’s stitching on Spanish Wine – it’s very slowly progressing, but hopefully now that I’ve finished off a couple of larger projects this should start to proceed more quickly.



And of course Thursday was the Snowbird SAL and Paradigm Lost, here is this week’s progress:

Right, so, the monthly goal review:

July’s goals:
Stitch, finish and send a birthday gift – yes, Carol received this
The other gift – finish and send – yes, Marne received this PIF gift
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost – yes
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – yes, I stitched 2
Keep stitching Awake the Dawning Day – yes, and I finished it!
Keep stitching Spanish Wine – yes
Finish the secret stitching – yes, and I finished it!
Start the other exchange piece – yes, and it’s nearly complete
Finish one item from the ‘to be finished’ drawer – yes
Quilt – carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt – no
Quilt – carry on with patchwork bag – no
Quilt – start Xbox quilt – no

I also stitched and finished a gift. You can see I wasn’t too motivated with the quilting in July :)

August’s goals:
Send a birthday gift
Stitch, finish and send the other exchange piece
Stitch, finish and send the Crazy Exchange return exchange to Joke
Start stitching the HOE Prairie Schooler exchange
Start stitching F/S Holiday Round Squares
Start stitching HOE Hallowe’en exchange
Thursdays – Snowbird SAL – keep stitching Paradigm Lost
Christmas ornament mini-SAL with Leena – stitch one ornament
Keep stitching Spanish Wine
Resurrect the AMAP pinkeep from my UFO pile
Start stitching the baby gift
Quilting – carry on with Vintage Holiday quilt, carry on with patchwork bag, start Xbox quilt

That should keep me busy at any rate!

I’ve just gotten back from a lovely weekend with the girls being pampered at Hanbury Manor and I’ll post some photos and tell you a bit about it tomorrow – I am too knackered just now :) Also, Hazel’s long-awaited PIF arrived on Saturday, so I’m going to go open that - which I'm totally looking forward to! - I’ll update you on that tomorrow too.

Happy stitching!

Surprise Envelope for ME??!!

Royal Mail managed to surprise and delight me – although not as much as Joke from the Crazy Exchange did by choosing to stitch me this gorgeous needleroll using the Shepherd’s Bush ‘Shepherd’s Roll’ pattern and I just love it – not only has Joke finished it beautifully, but she stitched me sheep, and I love sheep!



She also kindly sent me some lovely extras, and you’ll notice that one of the chocolate fingers has inexplicably gone missing… Thank you Joke – I think I have a great idea (I hope!) about what to stitch for you, so needles to the ready...


Here is my weekly update of Paradigm Lost – this big ol’ motif is going to take me some time!



Happy stitching!

She Slowly Stitches

Well, I haven’t really felt motivated to blog, but I thought I should post a few photos of my progress on my [seemingly endless] projects – it’s not that I’m a slow stitcher (well, not that slow), but more that I can’t find enough time to do it every day, and so I forego things like blogging when I want to spend more time stitching. I need at least a 27-hour day, or maybe I just need to retire from my actual paying job…(hope my husband is reading this and taking notes).

I did stitch on Paradigm Lost last week, but couldn’t find my blogging mojo, and so didn’t post a photo – here is this week’s progress instead. This is now 26 weeks after I joined the Snowbird SAL for PL, and all in all I’m pretty pleased with my progress. I have swallowed the bitter pill of realisation that I won’t get around to finishing it in 2008, but I’m hoping for an early 2009 finish. Luckily, the date is at the bottom of the design, so I have some space to manoeuvre.





I’ve also spent a little time on Awake the Dawning Day – I think you people must really love either this design in particular, Blackbird Designs in general, because I always get a lot of really lovely comments on this whenever I post a progress photo. I’m hoping though not to post too many more – you’ll see that the verse, date and initials are all now completed, as well as 5 of the 85 remaining eyelets that I counted up last time, so with only 80 eyelets to go, the finishing line is surely in sight.



This weekend is the third weekend of the month, and therefore my mini-SAL with Leena, so hopefully I’ll report back on Monday with photos of the Christmas ornament(s?) I’ve stitched.

Wishing you all happy stitching until my blogging mojo returns more forcibly.

Paradigm Found!

After six weeks of stitching deadlines, a large project at work, and not much time to stitch, finally July looks a little calmer, and I've been able to pick up my needle for things other than exchanges with deadlines fast approaching. Paradigm Lost really suffered in that six weeks; I didn't put a single stitch into it. But this Thursday I was able to rejoin my SAL-mates and this week I nearly managed to finish the crowned heart - soon I'll be on to the huge motif that covers most of pages 5 and 6.


I woke up early today to get ready for a wedding (haven't managed to get a card, or a cardigan, yet) and it was pouring with rain - oh no! But the weather is clearing up a bit now - hopefully that carries on and it is at least dry for the day; my shoes in particular are definitely not meant for wet weather! I'll have my camera with me, so hope to get some good photos to share with you.

Happy stitching!

WIPping along nicely

I managed to put some time in on a few WIPs this past week - Thursday of course was devoted to Paradigm Lost. I promised myself I would finish this medallion this week, and I have! I didn't have time for much else though, as I was late home - work, trains, occasionally everything conspires against me! So here is my progress thus far:



I also managed to get some time on Spanish Wine. I stitched the red flowers and the gold accents around the first red flower (okay, yes, not much progress, I think that was another night hijacked by work).

I am beginning to realise that starting a lot of big projects and then only stitching on them occasionally is not really working for me. I like variety, so I like to have several things on the go, but equally I am only a medium-paced stitcher and I get frustrated by something that takes too long to stitch (especially if I'm only stitching it once a month, and I never seem to get anywhere on it!). So I think my solution is going to have to be to only have 1 large project on the go at any one time, supplemented by some smaller projects for exchanges and such. Theoretically, this should mean I finish the large project much quicker (because my effort is more focused), but don't get too bored stitching on the same thing day after day. What works for you??

Oh, and here are some improved photos of the lovely ornament that Leena sent me for my birthday - the weather has vastly improved today, so the photos turned out a bit better.




Happy stitching and wishing you all a prosperous week ahead!

More and Further Birthday Presents for MEEEEEE!

Well, you all know how much I love a Saturday delivery here in the UK, and today is especially good, because the postie brought even more presents for me!!

First, my birthday exchange from Jacqueline came through the door. And what a great birthday present she made me!! She has clearly been hanging out on my blog, finding out about my love of sheep and Drawn Thread, because she made me this amazing wall hanging, and this fob:



And do you think she stopped there? No, of course she didn't! She also made me this very sweet gingerbread pincushion man:


And of course, she was kind enough to put a few stitchy presents in the package as well - some fabric, some buttons, a Shepherd's Bush kit, and some yummy chocolate! I am so spoiled :) Thanks Jacq, I totally love it! Now I just need to find a pretty hanger so that I can hang the wall hanging in the bedroom...


And, because I am the most lucky girl, the birthday presents didn't end there! After a somewhat painful trip to the local Post Office...

('Hi, I'm here to pick up this parcel.'
'We don't have this parcel.'
'Are you sure, the card says you have it?'
'I'm sure, trying ringing the depot.'
'Hi, depot, where's my parcel?'
'Your local post office.'
'Are you sure? They say they don't have it, can you double check?'
'They signed for it on Thursday, they have it.'
'Hi, I've just tried to collect this parcel, and the guy couldn't find it, but the depot assures me that C Fox signed for it on Thursday, so you should have it.'
'We don't have a C Fox.'
'Oh. Well, where do you suggest I look for the parcel?'
'I'm not really sure.'
'Can you check one more time, just in case?'
'I guess so. [Pause while she goes and checks.] Here's your parcel for you.'
'Erm, thanks.')

...I finally got my package and it turns out that it's my SBBC birthday exchange from Anna! She is an amazing crafter, not just a stitcher, as I was quickly to discover! I knew it was gonna be good when I opened the outer parcel, and found this:

She made nearly everything in the parcel herself, including the card:

and the stitched scissor fob (I think it's a Ewe & Eye & Friends design - and I love it!):

AND the beaded scissor fob:

AND this wonderful bag (it's all very chic, with pintucks and EVERYTHING). I tucked the front edge down on the photo, so you can see the lining:



And it didn't end there, she included some DMC variations thread, 2 small Prairie Schooler charts, 2 fat quarters, some linen, and some very clever finger grips for needles (oh, and the scissors that the fobs are attached to, those were in there too!).

Phew, what an amazing birthday day for me!! I've got such a huge smile on my face :) I can't wait for H to come back from Dublin, so I can show him all the wonderful things I got. I am really such a lucky, lucky girl!

And just one stitching update - my progress on this week's instalment of the Snowbird SAL - I really wanted to finish this medallion I am stitching on, but I was so tired after this super long week at work (even though it was only 4 days), that I fell asleep on the couch before I could finish it. Next week, it will be done!

Thank you Anna and Jacqueline, and also all of you who have left birthday wishes for me over the last few days - I love you all!! :)

Happy stitching!