Lots of squee-ish stuff

Where do I start?

Well, I forgot to mention that Anna the incredibly generous gave me even MORE stash before Christmas, but mum packed it all in together before I could get a chance to take a photo. More fabric, all different counts, some 32 ct jobelan to play with and a piece of the same (white) cut to the perfect size for From the Ashes, my new start for the year.

She also conned me into trying stitchbows by giving me some and I've tried them, loved them and madly ran up to cherubs to buy some more and the plastic pockets for my binder - I got a new binder for them and it's adorable, a Happy House one with butterflies on it. Most of Hope's colours are now on stitchbows, which means one less box to take to Tumby, and we'll see how many other colours we can get on stitchbows as well - I have lots.

In stitchy news I've been working away at Hope and have almost finished this page for the row of 10, which is kind of nice - I'm starting to get sick of working on linen though. I've passed the 1/4 mark for her which is awesome, she's finally starting to properly take shape.

In unstitchy news, I got a lot of very cool presents for Christmas (including the aforementioned stash from Anna and Rachel). I got my lowery stand from the parents, yay for them, even if they do keep moving my couch off of it for no good reason. Bindi gave me body shop stuff so I'd stop stealing hers, which was also nice. Troy gave me my ring *wink* but also paid for some glass bowls and a candle which I'd picked out. Peta and Greg (Troy's parents) gave me a laptop bag that I can use for school next year since I'll be carrying it with me, and it's pale blue and very pretty. The rest of it all is a little bit of a blur - I know Bronwyn (Troy's sister) and Doug gave me a sarong that's blue with dragonflies on it and too pretty to wear so it will be a tablecloth and Matt (his brother) and Athena got me an awesome basket that turns into a bag and painted me a large vase with Psalm 117 on it, and then put pebbles and a delicious smelling candle in it so that's going on my desk.

And today - well, today Troy came up to drop my display folder that has a few of my charts in it (silly me had left it at his house) and also to give me some good news - lots of it! He's been looking for somewhere to stay when he's at Uni next year, Nairne is far too far to travel everyday, and hasn't had much luck - Athena heard that a friend of hers was looking for people to share a house with and Troy rang him. Well, turns out that this house is 10 minutes walk from Uni, 5 from a main road (that the bus to my house travels down) that has the library and a few supermarkets etc on it, 20 minutes on the bus from my house and 20 minutes on the bus to the city. And $65 a week rent, which will go down if they get more people to live there. And he can move in whenever he likes. SCORE! Absolute answer to prayer, so I'm thrilled (and how much I'm thrilled has nothing on how much Troy is!) and he's got most of the furniture he'd need. He's got his bed, when his dad fixes it up with slats so it doesn't have a ridge in the middle, and a chest of drawers for clothes, a hanging rack for shirts and stuff and bookshelves. The only thing he really needs is a desk, and we can get one pretty cheaply from Ikea.

He and his mum went to Designer Direct on the way back and picked up a new pillow and U-shaped pillow for him (his old ones were so far beyond gross it's really not funny) as well as a few sets of sheets for his bed (and they match, woohoo - and don't have ballerinas on them. Don't ask.) and pillowcases etc. He's got a good doona cover and matching pillowcase that his mum found for him six months or so ago (very awesome - red corduroy and deep blue denim) so that'll do him well, and he's basically got everything he needs for uni now sans books. And a laptop - wait did I say laptop? My bad.

Dick Smith had pretty good Toshiba laptops for $800, which is an absolute steal given they've just been released, and guess what his mum bought him? He'll pay her back eventually, but it's there and it's great. He also got a really great laptop/other stuff bag at the same time - it's a backpack with a padded pocket for his laptop, so he can ride his bike to and from uni if he wants to and he can carry all his books and things in it as well.

The house is a 'nerd haven' according to Troy - they're all nerds, and the house comes complete with a 512k connection to the net and someone's xbox. He'll love it, a bunch of Christian geeks - what could be more perfect for him? He'll have his own room, and it's cook for yourself which works well for Troy given he's lactose intolerant and can't eat a lot of normal food anyway.

So now I'm sitting on the floor stitchbow-ing my floss and grinning my head off, and life is absolutely wonderful.

Christmas and stuff

Well, it's over and done with for another year. Yay!

I'll type up a 'what i got' type post later, but this one is about stitching in the new year.

As it stands, here's what I'm looking at.

Beginning of every month:
Mystery X (Chatelaine)

Second weekend of every month (May interrupt Mystery X):
HAED BB SAL - Phoenix Rising, Teri Rosario

Rotation:

• Hope Angel Virtue (HAED)
  
• Noon Basking (Dracolair)
• Periwinkle Fae (HAED)
• Froggy Frog World (HAED)

School:
two major pracs and any other stuff I do for it.


looks like a fairly good year of stitching - oh and did I mention I want to do a double wedding ring quilt for Troy and my bed? Yeah that too. Spare time? What is this thing you speak of *grin*

I love being busy.

Hope - 2 - Week 3

Well, another week done. I haven't got as much done this week as I would have liked, but that's okay - sometimes it just happens. You can see all of her neck now, most of her collar (the detail stitching on it is beautiful) an I've only got about 6 stitches in the next row of 10 to do on her hair - thank goodness for that! The confetti in it has been driving me mad. I'm almost finished this row, which I'm pleased about, and the circle is starting to get narrower again which is neat to watch - though doesn't make my stitching any narrower, because her wings continue to spread outwards. And sorry about the threads over her wing - Troy took the photo and forgot to move them.



Hope Angel Virtue - (c) HAED and Ann Massiker
Stats:
Started: Early July 2006
Total Stitches: 49,856
Full Pages: 1
Stitches Done:

• 8/12/06 - 8795
• 15/12/06 - 10,159
• 22/12/06 - 11,025

A getting married thinking post

I've just been sitting down and thinking about the practical things with getting married yada yada.

As much as I'd love to be Crystal I don't think it's going to happen - I think I'm going to have to work, and possibly full time, for at least some of the first few years of our marriage.

Electrical applicances are the things that confuse me most - I don't know what we really need and what we can live without/don't need at all?

It's cheaper to make biscuits and cakes from scratch and I quite like doing it, but is it still cheaper given I have to buy the stuff to actually use to make them (mixer, baking trays, cake tins, etc) or should I wait to get that kind of stuff?

I guess need things are: computer, internet connection, tv, radio/cd player, oven, stove, fridge, freezer, toaster, kettle, microwave, washing machine. Is there anything else we *really* need? A food processor would be good, so would a blender, and beaters - my grandmother can probably get me one of the oldschool unkillable (except by my mum!) mixmasters from somewhere so I guess that's one thing.

Out of that, we have a computer (soon to be two when Troy gets his laptop), a pretty decent radio/tapeplayer/cd player that I've had for years but still works perfectly (and has a remote!) and I guess the oven and the stove will be in wherever we live, maybe a fridge/freezer if we're lucky, ditto maybe a washing machine. Other things, the non-really expensive ones, I guess I can ask for for christmas & birthday presents, and I was thinking of asking my parents for blankets/sheets/something like that for my birthday next year. I've got to the stage where I just want practical things for christmas and birthday and stuff now - my stand for christmas, sewing cabinet for my 18th, computer for birthday and Christmas the year before, sewing machine for christmas the year before that - they're the big things that I can't buy myself and my parents are happy to buy for me as gifts. So I guess I can just ask for stuff through them too.

I don't know if I'm coming off as really materialistic in this, I'm just trying to figure out how we're going to do this whole getting married thing. I don't know what necessities really are in terms of electronics and stuff and that's hard...how do you know what to buy and what not to?

I have my china - everyday stuff, four of everything, a full dinner set plus mugs, rice bowls, a couple big salad/serving bowls and platters to match, and I have more teacups and mugs than I know what to do with.

Troy's dad will do any furniture that's able to be made out of wood - bookshelves, a table, chairs, a low table, a bed, cabinets etc, for moreorless cost price, and I can do bedspreads and curtains and things.

I'm thinking of doing a double wedding ring quilt in blue, green and cream for Troy and I, which would do a bedspread, but curtains and things are a bit harder to do now. I guess I just earmark money for it and when we settle on somewhere that we have the window measurements for I can make them up out of something that isn't too expensive.

I'm turning into a bit of a homebody, much to the amusement of my family and several friends. I've been collecting recipes up, making up cookbooks, stashing things and trying to sort these sorts of things out. I guess I just want to make this as easy for us as I possibly can.

Stash and stitchers and squee!

I caught up with Rachel and Anna today - hello!

That was fun. Much talking and stitching and fabric, thankyou so much again for catching up with me.

I may just have been converted to 32 count jobelan...Anna's giving me a piece to try 1x1 on and if I am then I'll do my From the Ashes on it, her stitching is so tiny and neat! Very inspiring. And yes, Anna, your stitching IS neat.

And I got a present for my engagement/christmas - STASH! Which came just at the right time, given I've now been forcibly put on The Wagon by Troy. All these beautiful counts of fabric to play with...yum... see below for picture. And a pair of scissors that look like an oil slick. And lots of needles. And some needlethreaders. And YAY! Thankyou again gals.


Was so nice to catch up with likeminded people and actually see someone that isn't me with an HAED chart in their hand...and q-snaps that weren't mine...and other people who are crazy enough to stitch over one!

*big satisfied smile*

oh and Anna - my sister's camera (that I take most of my photos with) is an olympus. I haven't even seen it and I know it is, I just had a mental blank before.

mmmm *flop*

Got up earlyish today to head down to glenelg with mum...and went to Jurlique to be pampered since we didn't go away like dad & bindi did a couple weeks ago.

And now I kind of feel like I'm floating.

A nap is sounding really really good now.

Hope - 2 - Week 2

Hope Angel Virtue - (c) HAED and Ann Massiker
Stats:
Started: Early July 2006
Total Stitches: 49,856
Full Pages: 1
Stitches Done:

• 8/12/06 - 8795
• 15/12/06 - 10,159
  

Hooray for confetti

I'm much slower working on my angel, but that's okay. I did finally get that hair done, and I've finished that row and got about halfway through the wing section on the next row as well. She's turning out beautifully and that hair was worth it, just incredibly frustrating. The circle has started to curve in again now, which means it's more than halfway done, which is very satisfying indeed.

My ring still hasn't got here from being resized which is annoying me, but that's what I get for having tiny fingers I guess. I'm an (australian) H.5 which makes my fingers the second smallest you can readily get. Yikes.

It cooled down today after being stupidly hot, and dad and I went out to the hot side of town to look at caravans yesterday - we saw one we liked a lot, with curved cupboards and couches and was just generally an inviting place to be. If we get one, I hope we get one like that - I'd actually like to go away in something like that. But in the process I turned an interesting shade of beetroot which worried the salespeople - I overheat very easily due to my ichthyosis and I look hotter than I am, usually. I only really start to worry when I start to get headaches, which are a sign I'm suffering real heat exhaustion, in which case I go find shade and water, quick! I think I stayed that colour most of the day, but oh well.

I took the angel off the stand yesterday to take her in the car travelling and couldn't believe how used to my stand I'd got - my neck and my back ached terribly after about five minute's worth of stitching, and I've only had it a week! Oh well, just shows I need to keep it.

Anyway I'm rambling so I'll post again tomorrow with an updated picture - yay!

More stash & small world

HAED has had a sale on the last week or so, and I finally got around to ordering a few. Troy said I could have five full size charts, but with a wishlist like mine it took me forever to choose! Here's what I got:

Sara Butcher:
Autumn
Truth
Temptation

Meredith Dillman:
Fallfire

Teri Rosario:
From The Ashes

I'd like to stitch Truth and Temptation next to one another, or framed individually but hung together. And From the Ashes is so perfect for me that I couldn't help but get it.

My next HAED BAP will still be Flight of Fish Fancy but From the Ashes is calling my name. Oh well, I'll love it and tuck it away. One of these days I'm going to have to add another slot to my rotation aren't I...hmm. Not for the next six months anyway. I can't afford to kit anything, we're saving our pennies now. I'll have a chatelaine to keep me happy, and I can work away at my other WIPs.

I've been working on Hope the last few days in between squee-ing and being too tired to do much - the excitement's making it hard to get to sleep, and I didn't sleep well most of last week. Early night tonight - I'm already dressed for bed and I'm just lying on the couch typing this before I head to bed. The confetti in her hair is driving me batty, and I'm getting irritated at the threads splitting and it's hard to count at the moment as well. The same thing happened the last few times I've had to work on her hair too...sigh. I think it's all the similar colours being confetti - looks wonderful but is horrific to stitch! I'm going to settle down and attack it again tomorrow, and hopefully I'll get it out of the way soon so I can get back into stitching the wings - they may be confetti but at least they're straightforward!

We have an engagement party tentatively planned for February, and Carole is doing us a cake and matching it to my dress - go me, who else has a $3000-a-cake wedding cake designer do their engagement cake? Should be great to see.

And I ran into Anna, an HAED BBer (nutsedge) - in my bank! She's one of the tellers there and recognised my email address when I changed my account around a bit (and got higher interest) which was really quite odd but very cool nonetheless. We chatted and giggled a bit which I think weirded out some of the people standing in line, but oh well it was great fun!

Anyway I found Periwinkle, so she'll hop back on the q-snaps when I make my goal on Hope so I can finish this page, before I get back to the frogs again. I really need to go up to cherubs and get the fabric for my dragon, but otherwise everything's organised for stitching - just waiting on the Chatelaine kit. I want it already - want to feel the silks and drool over colours and wonder at what the garden will look like.

It's 13 days until Christmas, 15 until our 3.5 year anniversary (which seems a little unimportant but oh well) and 19 until the new year. Wonder what 2007 will bring?

I got into all my courses for Year 12, which I'm pleased about. Now I just need to sort out pre-reading, stationary and a uniform and I'll be set. My subjects are Modern History, Maths Studies, English Studies and Craft Practical (YEAH! - they thought they might not have the numbers for a class) which should be good. I'd like to do a big sampler-picture for one of my major pracs, tempted to make it a wedding sampler - we'll see. But that will be good.

About that other Squee-worthy thing?

Yeah - the blue and gold one.

Well, the blue and gold one is a ring. Specifically a very very pretty sapphire, diamond and gold one. Even more specifically, my engagement ring.

Troy asked my dad for my hand last night and he said yes, so now I'm no longer his girlfriend - instead, his fiancee!

YAY! *happy dance*

EDIT: and here's some pictures for those of you that like that sort of thing *wink*

Hope - 2 - Week 1

Yay, a face! And I'm loving my new Lowery for for stitching, makes life so much easier.



Hope Angel Virtue - (c) HAED and Ann Massiker
Stats:
Started: Early July 2006
Total Stitches: 49,856
Full Pages: 1
Stitches Done:

• 8/12/06 - 8795
  

SQUEEEEE!

Ok, two reasons. One I am going to talk about, and one that I'll blog about in a while.

First one - my stand came today! And I love it. It's set up with the angel in it under one of the couches in our living room, and it's so much better than sitting with my stitching in my lap. I have to get photos, I love it. And my little bag of floss that I carry with me when I take my stitching hands on one of the levers which makes life easier, and it's close. I haven't got a steel board for the board holder yet, but that's alright I've got the chart on a tea trolley that I've comandeered instead for the time being. It's great and squee.

The other one has something to do with blue and gold but I won't say anything else yet.

Froggy Frog World 3 rows

Yeah!! Three (thirty) rows done. 9000 stitches! The last little bit was a hard slog but it ended up being worth it, finished it this morning. I'm now happily working on my angel, about 250 stitches tonight. I'm hoping to get all the work on the left wing for this 10x10 row done tonight, about 100 stitches more, and the hopefully tomorrow I'll get to work on (and finish) her face. It will be good to actually see her whole face... my mum's comment tonight was "ooh, doesn't look like cats ears anymore." I think that's a good thing?
Sorry the photo's a little dull, I tried a different technique and i'm not sure if it was worth it or not.


Stats:
Started: 20 October 2006
Total Stitches: 141,300
Stitches Done:

• 23/10/06 - 1600
• 10/11/06 - 3008
• 17/11/06 - 4726
• 24/11/06 - 5613
• 1/12/06 - 7603
• 5/12/06 - 9000
  

Argh! Glitter!

Now I remember why I was going argh glitter last time...

500 stitches of solid glitter (give or take about 3 non-glitter stitches) down, 400 to go. *whimper*
At least I'll only have one more 10x10 row of this solid glitter nonsense on the fourth page after this, after that I get to start on a flowerbud - still lots of glitter, but at least a bit of colour to break up the monotony.

On the upside, I've got the last bits of colour done now for this 10x10 row, which means I'm very close to quota for my rotation and I get to move on to the angel soon. Yay! I haven't stitched on linen in just about forever, so it will be a welcome change. Which reminds me, I really do need to do something about buying fabric for my dragon re-start.

I'm going to get a bit of a change of scenery tomorrow, going into the Uni with Dad while he works on science-y stuff and has fun with algebra and I sit in a corner and stitch. I'm taking the frogs with me, to finish the glitter, and my angel to pick up again. Should be good. This page (50 rows across two pages) has the rest of her face, and I get to start her dress down to her waist and that beautiful green scarf. Looking forward to it. I also get to finish all that we see of the extreme left and right of the circle befor the wings cover it up, which will also be very cool. Lots of sparkle in the wings, but tasteful sparkle. The sparkle in the dress is still bothering me but I'm thinking I'll be good and go with the recommended here - I was worried about the sparkle in Froggy Frog World too and apart from it annoying me every now and then in terms of the stitching of it, it looks fantastic. It will be very good to see her face! I can't wait.

We're headed to see Terry after that..., which means sitting in a waiting room for me but given I shouldn't be juggling the qsnaps of doom (17wx8h) and trying not to hit people and still mark my chart by then (a la last week) I think I'll be fine.

Got new candleholders and taper candles for the advent wreath today, which I am very pleased with - our other ones were so cheap and nasty..ugh. This year I have the proper colours (royal blue and rose) and these beautiful silver snowflake taper holders! I'll take a photo tomorrow and post them, I'm so proud. I also got a glass dish for the centre Christ candle, which gives it a bit of height and just makes the whole thing look a little nicer. I don't like greenery on advent wreaths, I'm always afraid it will catch alight, so I just put candles in holders on a platter instead. It works and it still looks nice. I liked some others that I saw (frosted glass, and you turn them two different ways to hold tapers or tea lights) but the snowflakes stole my heart, even though they're not very Australian christmas. Oh well, they're lovely.

Troy's got a job trial tomorrow for a computer company in Barker, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers, please. Fingers crossed!

I just stabbed my finger

...so I put my needle down for the night. Fair's fair, it's 12:21.
I've finished the flower for this section now, and am now working on the frond on the right hand side, which I have alwayus seen as the most boring (except maybe that entirely sparkly last page) part of this project, it's narrow with only a few murky colours. It looks good in the scheme, it's just fiddly and murky. I much prefer the purples *smile* oh well, 350ish stitches for the day is pretty good given I've been to church twice in there and I'm sick, too. Which is why I'm still up...*rolls eyes* yeah I have issues, I'll go to bed soon. I had nightmares last night, and I think I'm procrastinating because of that.

It was the first sunday of Advent this year, the sunday of Prophecy. We lit the first purple candle in our wreath today, and the readings were from Isaiah ("unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given...) and Luke (the Annunciation), and it was good. I love advent! I think Advent and Easter are my favourite seasons of the church year, something about the preparation seasons is just fun.

Froggy Frog World Week 5

Well, I haven't actually done any stitching since wednesday because life got in the way. But here's the update anyway. The total of stitches this week is rather awesome - just a bit over 2000 stitches in five days!


Stats:
Started: 20 October 2006
Total Stitches: 141,300
Stitches Done:

• 23/10/06 - 1600
• 10/11/06 - 3008
• 17/11/06 - 4726
• 24/11/06 - 5613
• 1/12/06 - 7603
  

Advent Kalender & lack of stitching & Dec goals

Yeah a few things in this post.

The chatelaine christmas things are in full swing - the first advent kalender window was to die for (a rather lovely ornament chart) and bingo has started, no words for me though :( yet!

I haven't been stitching much the last couple days, thursday due to health and friday because i did everyone's christmas shopping with mel, which was lots of fun. I am officially in love with Troy's present, but I hope he'll like it even more than I do. I'm thinking of picking up my needle later today though, and getting some work done on the frogs. I've got some spare aida, too, so I think I might grab the necessary fibres (or the ones i don't have anyway - i need to catalogue what I have, including the leftovers from caitlin's things) for the advent kalender piece and stitch it up too, so cute.

My december stitching goals are as follows:

• to finish this row on froggy frog world (easy one)
• a page on the angel
• finish off the page on periwinkle if/when i find her
• get fabric & work on dragon
• enjoy my new frame when I get it
• enjoy chatelaine kit when i get it

I'm not sure where all my rich text options have gone, might have to figure that one out.

Mystery XI

The topic for this BIG Mystery is a "Celtic Garden" -think of a maze perhaps - a forest, trees and plants, ferns.Celtic Symbols hidden in the green.The Moon...the Stars-gold and silver Metallics - silks in all greens the nature provides,beads, crystals and a certain mystic touch

Ungh...will not buy, will not buy, must resist!

I love all things celtic and ungh. I also love all things victorian so I'm going to enjoy this mystery but oh....

Maybe if I'm still feeling rich and adventurous this time next year?

Pay It Forward

Here's the basic idea:
First five people to comment on this entry, get a little present in the mail at some point in the next year with something stitched especially for them, and a few other surprises, and I'll try and personalise it.
The only catch is this - you post something like this in your blog, or offer it to people you know in other ways if you don't have a blog with much traffic.

So if you'd like to leave a comment, go for it!

SBQ - Waste Knots

How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically,
do you or have you ever used a waste knot?

no, I haven't. I find them rather useless, and much prefer the loop start method if I'm working with two threads, and if I'm not I weave my start end under the same way I weave the finish end under.

Froggy Frog World 5%

And here it is after this marathon amount of stitching recently. Over half this next row of blocks is done now (how's that for half a week - think I can get it all by friday? Yeah right but a girl can dream)

It's over 5% done now, which I'm very pleased with.

Me go fall over now.

*pokes rotation again*

Okay here's ANOTHER take on it...bad kyrie...
but I needed to make Froggy Frog World have more of a prominant position or Troy will go nuts (it's for him). Besides, I want to see the actual frog part of it!

ROTATION:
beginning of each month rotation is put aside and chatelaine part is done before any other stitching, then rotation recommences
Froggy Frog World is focus piece, and 3000 stitches on it (30 rows) is alternated with:

1. Medium sized - currently Hope angel, probably Faith next, then Love (50 rows across width)
   
2. non-HAED BAP - currently Noon Basking (needs more fabric), probably Midnight Hunting next (needs chart, fabric and kit - my one major expense) (amount to be finalised)
   
3. QS or similar - currently Periwinkle Fae, Red Witch next - maybe Geisha Fae after (1 page)

I tend to be a bit sneaky anyway and when I get too frustrated with a piece I put it down and move onto the next project, then come back to it and pick it up when I can face it again. It helps, and stops me getting in too much of a slump.

phew!

I just finished a stitching marathon - lost track of time.

500 stitches since I finished the 2nd row of blocks...over 1000 stitches since Friday. And I didn't get much stitching done over the weekend!

I stopped because my fingers were starting to protest insanely (my thumb has now gone numb) and I'll probably pay for it tomorrow but it's awesome to see it all come together. 10x10 blocks ARE the best way to tackle the glitter, which I hadn't figured out, but it's true. Especially when the glitter has colour mixed in, I just keep a single glitter thread threaded up for each row and work 10 stitches at a time, working down, then continue with the next block. It's a lot faster, and my tension is better too. I'm about 70 stitches off finishing this page worth of this row of 10x10 blocks but I can't keep stitching tonight, I'll fall asleep with my stitching in my lap. The frogs are looking lovely, or the background is anyway (no frogs to be seen at all in this rotation's worth - it sucks) and I'm glad to be working on them. The glitter/background part of it's almost done for this row (well, the first part - the last entire page is glitter) which is good, soon moving on to colour and flowers and prettyness.

*stumbles off to crash*

Threads for ornaments:

As it stands:
Belinda - rainforest (dinky dyes)
Kyrie - sapphire (dinky dyes)
Troy - topaz (dinky dyes)

Random stitchy things

I've been in the General HAED SAL this weekend, which has been fun though I haven't had as much time to stitch as usual, grr. I did (almost) finish the two little cutesy things for Caitlin (troy's niece) though, including a heckuva lot of backstitching, so I'm pleased with that. I'll try scanning them later, and show them off, when I've got the ? on one stitched (I forgot it) and figured out how to do french knots. Does anyone have a good guide on them? My mum can't do them and I can't figure them out! I need them for the . part of the ?s on the two pieces (they have verses to go with them) and it's bugging me. They're absolutely adorable though, so I'll be proud to give them to her for Christmas.

And we're getting name trees for our this year ornaments! Mum buys my sister and I an ornament each each year, so that we make the tree our own and also we have ornaments for our tree when we're first married and have no money to buy ornaments with. I tend muchly towards angels, of just about any kind (I have cloth ones, wire ones, crystals...) but name trees are just so awesome that I can't pass them up. Mum never got around to getting us one last year so we'll buy one to add this year, but we'll get the trees too and they'll give me a good "car project" for the 9 hour drives to&from my grandmother's place when it's a bit hard to work on a HAED or chatelaine etc. I thought I'd fork out for Troy's as well, so then he and I can have matching ones for our tree one day. Blue for mine (maybe a dinky dye? I'll be lucky...), green for Troys, probably a pale green for Bindi, it'll be her choice anyway. And I thought I'd put the 2006 tree on the back to make it that bit more special.

Mum had periwinkle out to show someone and has misplaced it somewhere in the chaos that is our house currently (missing half our carpet/furniture in our living room does that) which is annoying (I was thinking of going back and finishing her off, then coming back to the frogs) but oh well, if I get too sick of the frogs before I finish this section on them (I've almost finished the 2nd row of blocks, yeah!! but I need 3 *sigh*) I'll just swap onto my angel then come back.

Troy's gone home now, so more time to stitch I suppose. I should really get back to it.

Froggy Frog World Week 4

Stats:
Started: 20 October 2006
Total Stitches: 141,300
Stitches Done:

• 23/10/06 - 1600
• 10/11/06 - 3008
• 17/11/06 - 4726
• 24/11/06 - 5613

Money? I have money?

Martina just published the materials list for Mystery X...and ECC now has the kit...

I bought it.

$220 American. I don't know what that is in $AU, I don't think I want to.

But I can't wait to see the kit...I'm going to be watching my postbox now!

Materials picture for Mystery X

Lookit THIS!!!! *drool*

all those lovely colours...and variegated threads and beads and metallics and...

can't wait!

Froggy Frog World Week 3

Here it is again, posting late because for some reason I've had no motivation to stitch all weekend. Which I don't understand, but oh well. Sometimes it's just like that. I've started a bit more on the big purple flower, and the fronds left of the middle are starting to be a bit more defined which is nice. It still looks like a lot of nothing though, so I'm going to be glad when I get a bit more in! This lot of rows of ten has a few fronds of that purple flower in it, so at least it will add a bit more colour, but it's still just glitter thread for the majority. Not that there's really anything wrong with that - except the expense!


And here's a closeup of the only really interesting part so far, all these soft colours that make up those fronds that you can see coming out. It takes a lot longer to really see anything on this than on a QS, but for the effect it creates it's very, very worth it. Hopefully there will really be something to see next time I post a picture of it!

It's a Froggy Frog World - (c) Jody Bergsma & HAED
Stats:
Started: 20 October 2006
Total Stitches: 141,300
Stitches Done:

• 23/10/06 - 1600
• 10/11/06 - 3008
• 17/11/06 - 4726
  

Next year & long term stitching plans

I was chatting to Bec tonight about what I was thinking about doing with stitching in the next year or so, and planning it out over the course of the conversation.

What I was thinking was that I've got the chatelaine to do next year, and that will cost me quite a bit kit-wise, so I can't afford to start many new pieces. I need to get my current ones done, but wasn't sure what to do afterwards. So here's the plan as of today (not including buying very many, if any, charts)

ROTATION:
beginning of each month rotation is put aside and chatelaine part is done before any other stitching, then rotation recommences

1. Medium sized - currently Hope angel, probably Faith next, then Love
   
2. non-HAED BAP - currently Noon Basking (needs more fabric), probably Midnight Hunting next (needs chart, fabric and kit - my one major expense)
3. QS or similar - currently Periwinkle Fae, Red Witch next - maybe Geisha Fae after
4. HAED BAP - currently Froggy Frog World, Flights of Fish Fancy next

My goals for next year would probably be to keep up with the chatelaine, finish at least two angels, finish restart of Noon Basking and seriously start Midnight Hunting, finish two QS charts and finish Froggy Frog World. I think I'm probably being overly ambitious, but I think if I try hard enough I could do it. We'll see.

SBQ for this week

Do you stitch Christmas ornaments? If so, how many do you stitch each
year and for whom? If not, why not?

No I don't, I think I've just never bothered. I'd rather buy ornaments, all different ones, and noone I know would really appreciate them I think! I'm thinking about doing the name trees for myself, bindi and troy next year though, but just because they're awesome.

Lookit what I did!

I just completely made over my blog, with a bit of sneaky use of the blogger click and drag tools and lots of use of photobucket.

And I'm very proud. Now to just sit back and enjoy it :)

Bad Kyrie (or, Kyrie bought a Chatelaine)

I finally caved, and last night I paid for the chart of Mystery X. Which I won't even get to see the first part of for another month and a half, but that might be half the fun of it I think.

It was the description that got me - I love the idea of a Victorian design, especially a garden-y one. So I'll be working on something beautiful and sparkly all of next year. Wonder if I can count it as backup for my Craft (school subject) work? Probably. I'll be learning specialty stitches and new techniques and all sorts of other good things won't I?

I'm thinking I'll do this one at least in the silks. I know I could do a DMC conversion version but the purist in me is willing to fork out the ridiculous amount for all the silks, and fork out for them I will. I am not going to be buying anything else with the money I get for Christmas this year am I? Nope didn't think so.

Will probably mean re-jigging my rotation, but I'm going to have to do that when I go back to school anyway so I don't think that will be too much of a hardship. Will be nice to have a project all 'time managed' for me anyway - a part a month, so if I get the chatelaine done before I work on anything else then I'll be making a serious goal each month, and that will make me feel good.

Anyway...it will be beautiful...so who cares!

Thinking of restarting Noon Basking

Yes...you did actually hear me right. The BAP that I'm 3/4 of the way through...I'm thinking of restarting.

When I cut the fabric originally, I left 1&1/2 inch allowance around the thing...and it's frayed...and it's going to be impossible to frame. On top of this, it's got a chocolate stain that I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to get out, I didn't start it in the middle like I should have, and the tension's funky.

Hence I'm thinking of restarting. It's piece no. 2 in my rotation and I'm currently still working on 3&4 so it'll take a while to get to it and have to make my decision, but I'm getting more and more sure that I need to. Which is a shame but I'm not sure that he'll ever make me happy in the state he's in.

*sigh*

Froggy Frog World - 10 rows

I just had to post a picture - It's now 10 rows across the entire piece, as well as a few extra 10x10 squares and assorted bits and pieces. The important thing is the 10 row bit, as I'm now determined to be a bit more logical about my 'plan of attack'.

This next row is the beginning of a huge flower that takes up most of two pages, so it should be fun to have a bit of variety. Lots of lovely purples, and glitter thread on the flower too! which seems a little odd, but I'm sure it will look gorgeous.

One final note - I think I need to take out shares in DMC's light effects...10 rows in and I've already used more than half a skein of it!

Froggy Frog World week 2

Here are the frogs - there's actually a bit more to the glitter on the right but there isn't much there and it got cut off in the photo. See all the glitter?? I'm actually vaguely enjoying the glitter on this, I think because it's in large slabs rather than annoying bits and pieces (a la Periwinkle)
I love these pictures because they make me stand back properly and look at the picture rather than the stitches - you can see the bits and pieces of the colour coming together.


And here's a closeup of that corner section that's 3 10x10 blocks deep

It's a Froggy Frog World - (c) Jody Bergsma & HAED
Stats:
Started: 20 October 2006
Total Stitches: 141,300
Stitches Done:

• 23/10/06 - 1600
• 10/11/06 - 3008
  

Periwinkle Fae Week 5

After consulting the HAED BB I ended up putting her down and moving on to working on my frogs instead, and I figure I'll come back to her and finish the page when it's time to move on from my frogs or when I get sick of working on my frogs, whichever comes first. She has a face and some eye now! So pretty... And that bud on the left is starting to show properly, which is kind of nice. It's good looking at the pictures in here because they make me take that step back from my work and see just how much I've got done. All the fairy's done for this page, just a half open flower (that's what the right stem is for), the rest of that bud, and a very slightly open bud to go on this page. And waaaay too much glitter, but that's okay. It wil get done. I'm actually sort of missing my dragon, so it will be good to get through the rotation to him again. Weird to think I'd miss him, given I worked on him for 11 months straight and almost went nuts!




Periwinkle Fae - (c) Nadia Tate & HAED
Stats:
Started: 29 September 2006
Total Stitches: 31,350
Stitches Done:

• 6/10/06 - 1503
• 13/10/06 - 2655
• 20/10/06 - 3688
• 27/10/06 - 4315
• 3/11/06 - 5310
  

Why do I keep picking glittery charts?

5,300 stitches of 8000 (roughly) for this page in, but the rest is confetti, which is alright with a few nice block-ey bits as well to even it out - no such luck, or worse yet GLITTER! I think I need to take out shares in DMC's metallics or kreinik, given I keep buying (and starting) charts with masses of the stuff in them. Why oh why oh why...

In happier news I bought the few threads I was missing and filled in all those holes, so it's a much more polished and rich look and the leaves look beautiful. And I worked down that side that I'd been leaving for goodness knows what reason and gave her some cheek, more hair and a bit of an eye! And that eye just gives me hope.

I'll post a picture tomorrow, showing that I've got all of the fairy done for this page (yay!) and a little more for the next page, due to my obsession with not breaking rows of colour that continue over the page.

Weirdly enough I'm starting to miss my angel, and all the solid colour dmc and lack of expanses of glitter. And I've got another glittery project to get through before I get to her...maybe I should rethink my rotation. Just kidding, but I'll be glad to get through the big blocks of glitter on the frogs too. At least they have more colour than glitter.

Speaking of glitter and frogs, I'm thinking of "frogging" (ha, ha) the glitter on them...I don't like the tension that I got with it and I'm thinking I might use kreinik after all, it's less "white" than the dmc I'm using. The picture I took after the SAL is down the page...anyone that reads this (if there is anyone!) what do you think?

My current stash list

This doesn't include random kits that people gave me when I was a lot younger and I never finished. It does include everything else. It's not too big yet, hopefully will stay that way.

Slot 1 (Medium pieces)
HAED Angel Virtues. There are 8. At the moment I'm only aiming to do the first three. The others might come later

• Faith
• Hope (WIP - 1 page done)
• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Wisdom
• Courage
• Grace (Belinda - sister wants me to stitch this for her one day)

Slot 2: (Large non-HAED pieces)
This is currently for the Days of Dragons, which I haven't bought yet. I'm being good.

• Noon Basking (WIP - 3/4 done I think?)

Slot 3: (Small pieces with more than one page)
This is basically for HAED QS projects at the moment. If I get more similar charts, they'll come here too.

• Periwinkle Fae (WIP)
• Buttercup Kitty Fae
• Kimono Fae
• Red Witch

Slot 4: (BAPs)
At this point in time they're all HAEDs.

• Froggy Frog World (WIP)
• Flights of Fish Fancy
• The Storykeeper
  

Miscellaneous small pieces:
These are just small things that I work on for other reasons - gifts etc

• Caitlin's Dear God things (WIP - 1 done, 1 to finish)
• Santa Paws (Margaret Sherry)
  

My rotation

I have a four project rotation, and I'm keeping it that way, unless I get a huge number of projects that deserve their own catergory or something. I'm determined that that won't happen, but we'll see. Here's how it works:

Slot 1:
Medium sized piece. At the moment this is my Hope Angel.
Slot 2:
Large piece with backstitching/non HAED. At the moment this is Noon Basking (dragon).
Slot 3:
Small piece with more than one page ie HAED's QS projects. At the moment this is Periwinkle Fae.
Slot 4:
HAED BAP. At the moment this is Froggy Frog World.

And more stash...

I was naughty and bought another chart, this time from Dragonfly Dreams. A very sweet Christmas chart from Margaret Sherry called Santa Paws, who I'd like to get done in time for Christmas - okay, I can dream...
And I also got this beautiful lady witch who I won as a random prize from the new start SAL on the HAED board:


I'm thinking I'll get through a bit more on my rotation, then maybe start her for the QS Wednesday SAL. Maybe.

Periwinkle Fae Week 4

Here she is - lots more background, and two more leaves, some more hair...the usual, though the leaves were fun. And that blurry bit on the right hand stem above them is going to be another leaf.


Periwinkle Fae - (c) Nadia Tate & HAED
Stats:
Started: 29 September 2006
Total Stitches: 31,350
Stitches Done:

• 6/10/06 - 1503
• 13/10/06 - 2655
• 20/10/06 - 3688
• 27/10/06 - 4315
  

Periwinkle Wk 3 and Frogs after SAL

Here's the beautiful periwinkle fae, so very close to half a page done. I got distracted from posting up the update on Friday by a New Start SAL on the HAED BB and forgot entirely, so I'm posting it today, and will post my usual Friday update this week as well. My Frogs have 1600 stitches done now, two rows of 10x10 blocks on a page, and lots of sparkle thread, not bad for a weekend, and I'll post a picture of that here as well. It's a shame to have to put them away for a while, but the fairy will have a page done on her soon, and then I'll pick them up again. They look rather lovely - well the background stuff that I've done does anyway! It'll be another three pages after this one before I see frog, but I can wait. The colours are very soft, and I didn't like the look of the sparkle next to the soft colours at first, but it looks amazing from a distance and passable from close up (right under my nose, where I stitch!) now so that's okay. I'm looking forward to not having the huge expanses of glitter thread to stitch soon, it's just a bit much to do massive amounts.


Periwinkle Fae - (c) Nadia Tate & HAED
Stats:
Started: 29 September 2006
Total Stitches: 31,350
Stitches Done:

• 6/10/06 - 1503
• 13/10/06 - 2655
• 20/10/06 - 3688

It's a Froggy Frog World - (c) Jody Bergsma & HAED
Stats:
Started: 20 October 2006
Total Stitches: 141,300
Stitches Done:

• 23/10/06 - 1600

Hope Angel Virtue - 1 page HD!

Here's my beautiful angel, with two half pages - the equivalent of a page, since I didn't want to split the rows while working on linen. She's got a face now, and she's breathtaking...it's so much fun stitching her. I've used the kreinik in the wings, but her dress is white and calls for a lot of sparkle - I'm going to use the DMC glittery stuff that I'm using for the fairy and will use for Troy's frogs instead in the dress, and the kreinik for everything else, because the kreinik isn't that bright white and I think the DMC will look better.

So without further ado, here she is:

Hope Angel Virtue - (c) HAED and Ann Massiker
Stats:
Started: Early July 2006
Pages: 1

Periwinkle Fae Update (2 weeks)

Here's some more fairy - way too much fairy, really! Lots and lots of background, and some more stem, with the beginning of another leaf. And the locks have started to cross over in the hair. The holes in the leaves are still there, I need to go shopping and get that last colour.


Periwinkle Fae - Nadia Tate
Stats:
Started: 29 September 2006
Total Stitches: 31,350
Stitches Done:

• 6/10/06 - 1503
• 13/10/06 - 2655
  

New Start (Periwinkle Fae)

I've started Periwinkle Fae for this holiday, even though I haven't finished the page on Hope yet. I just didn't want to take her on holiday, so I'll finish that page when I get home.

Here's a picture of her at this point (updated when I got home):



Periwinkle Fae - Nadia Tate
Stats:
Started: 29 September 2006
Total Stitches: 31,350
Stitches Done:

• 6/10/06 - 1503
  

My Current WIPs

I won't post pictures of Caitlins things until they're done, because it's not worth doing. Will post them as soon as they're done though.

Here is what Hope will look like


And this is what mine looks like:



or did, ten rows ago! I'm almost finished this block of ten rows (working towards the 40 row mark) and then I'll post another picture.

My dragon will look like this:


And currently looks like this:

New Blog

This is kyrieflutter, I needed a stitching blog because all my cross stitch and craft is eating my life, so here it is.

Here are my stats:

WIPs:

• HAED Hope Angel Virtue
• Dracolair Noon Basking
• Annie Dear God Kid things for my niece, Caitlin (small, I work on them on the bus)
  

Have charts but not started:

• HAED QS Periwinkle Fae (Nadia Tate)
• HAED Angel Virtues (Ann Masiker) YES I do have all 8
  
• HAED QS Kimono Fae (Tate)
  
• HAED QS Buttercup Kitty Fae (Tate)
• HAED The Storykeeper (Selina Fenech)
  
• HAED Flight of Fish Fancy (Stephanie Pui-Mun Law)
  
• HAED Froggy Frog World (Jody Bergsma)
  

Wishlists:

• here is my HAED one
• Dracolair Midnight Hunting
• Dracolair Dawn Awakening
• Dracolair Evening Dreams (when it's released)
• The other Days of Dragons chart when it's released

My current rotation works on a page by page basis, between my two major WIPs. I'm planning to add Periwinkle Fae and Froggy Frog World when I get to the end of this round of my rotation (most of the way through the page on Hope, need a page on Noon Basking) but that will be a little while yet. My fingers are itching to start them but I'm going to be good. I think 4 is a managable rotation, and will give me a bit of interest - all four are very different! I think my rotation will look something like this category-wise:

1. Angel Virtue or other "smaller" HAED
2. Days of Dragons dragon
3. QS of one kind of another - I have way too many Nadia Tates, I have to start them!
4. BAP HAED

Should give me a bit of interest. The Angel Virtues are 2x1 on 25 count linen, the dragons 2x2 on 32 count and the other two I'm planning to do on 25 count lugana.