A special homecoming

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks but I have managed to do some kitting up and planning my christmas stitching is underway.  Today I kitted up Joan Elliotts Home is where the heart is to do for 2 family members for their homes for christmas.

I also ordered this little kit from 123stitch this week to do for another family member for christmas as well to hang in their home.

Jacobs Christmas stocking is going to get a workout this week as well as I havent touched it for a while.  Actually I havent touched any stitching for about a week so dont have any updates sorry.  I did have a special homecoming today, dads dogs that I have done for him for his 70th birthday next month, dont they look devine (just ignore my arms at the bottom of the picture)

He is going to love it so much, it almost hurts to let it go, but it is going to look perfect in his home.

So finally, I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was on a weight loss mission, well it is going really well.  I have lost 8.4kgs in 8 weeks and feel so much happier and healthier already.  For those who want to follow my progress I have a facebook page sharing my journey here.  You are welcome to join me here if you have facebook, I would love to see you there

Have a lovely weekend everyone, picks to follow in a few days of Jacobs stocking

She's looking good

Well, the weather here is freezing, the only thing I love about winter is getting into my PJ's at the end of the day and lounging in front of the fire stitching or watching trashy tv.  This week and next week are school holidays here in New Zealand which means no work for me and no playcentre for Jacob and I.  I quite like holidays, we dont have to rush around in the morning trying to get out the door, we can lounge around at home and just hang out watching dvds or playing together.  Jacob is still touch and go with his day sleeps but I have managed to get some stitching done recently which I am happy about.  My ladybird fairy is now all stitched, all that is left to do on her now is the backstitching and beading. 

I think she is quite lovely.  I love the firey colours of her skirt.  The backstitching wont take long but I have never done beading on a cross stitch design before so I am a bit nervous about it. 

A short blog this time, as I only updated it a few days ago.  Once ladybird is finished I am going to start my christmas stitching, working on Jacobs stocking and also doing a design for my brother and his wife and kids for their home.  I will post a pic of the pattern next blog

Have a lovely stitchy week :)

Stash, stash and more stash

Dont you just love technology....when it works.  I have tried about 4 times in the last 2 weeks to update my blog and my poor computer decided not to play the game.  Finally we bit the bullet and got a new wireless modem, so things are all up and running again :)

The last few weeks have been a little crazy but I have managed to get some stitching in.  My little man has decided that he only needs to have day sleeps about 3 days a week now so I am missing my stitchy time during the day.  I have done some progress on Ladybird, she only has a little bit left on the flowers and leaves on the bottom of the design and then she is ready to backstitch and bead. 

I have had some lovely stitchy stuff arrive lately though which is so exciting.  First off was the lovely DMC thread that I won off Melanies blog when she had her giveaway.  I have never bought any colour variation thread and was so taken with how pretty it was when I received it.  Thank you so much Melanie for your lovely giveaway and for including me.

For those of you who have been following my blog for the last few months you would have seen my Dogs that I recently did for my dads 70th birthday coming up in August.  Last week I found the cats version as a chart and had to get it for me, I love cats :)  So it is in my WIP pile but further down the pile as I have others I need to do first.

Next one that I bought was a double pattern that I have loved for ages called Butterfly Fairies. This has been on my wish list for so long and last week I finally got around to buying it! My love for cats is only superceeded by my love for butterflies!  My goal is to do both of these and hang them in my bedroom, but right now they will have to wait as well for more important projects that need to be completed.  Here they are, aren't they gorgeous

So, there is all my stitchy news.  Sadly I broke my glasses last week (cant even blame it on the 2 year old either, it was all me!!!) and so stitching is having to wait till my new pair arrives this week.  Thankfully my lovely optometrist has given me a pair of contacts to use so that I am not completely blind :)

I hope all my stitchy friends are well and happily stitching.  Once I get the beading and backstitching done on ladybird I will be starting my christmas stitching for my family, including putting more work into Jacobs christmas stocking.  Oh, and there is the new Mira design which is called Dressmakers Daughter which I am going to be stitching for my mum for her 70th birthday next year, yes, she was a dressmaker!!

Ok, big verbal blurb is over, I will leave you all with a couple of photos taken last weekend at our yearly photo shoot that we have done as a family.

Our little man

Hubby and I

Bye lovlies :)

Yes people...I am alive!!!!

Hi everyone, yes I know it has been ages since I updated this, I am still around and have been quietly lurking in the background.  Truth be known May was a hard month and my blogging just kind of fell by the wayside.  But here I am, back up to speed, lighter, happier and ready to go!!!!  So let's catch up with what I have been up to.  Be prepared for a long, detailed post!!!!!!

Health wise I had a pretty scary month.  I have had a tiny sore on the inside of my nose for about 2 years now which has never healed (sounds gross I know but we are all friends here so let's share!!!).  I have never done anything about it as it was so tiny and never bothered me.  Anyway last month it grew, very fast and very serverly, to the point that it was tracking up my face.  I went to the doctors and he put me on an antibiotic and cream to try and heal it, but it continued to spread.  I went back and was given a second lot of cream and pills...still spreading.  Another visit to the doctor and a third lot of medication tried.  I was given 4 days with this medication and was told if there was no improvment that I would be admitted to hospital and a biopsy taken to analyse it.  Needless to say, the next 4 days were incredibly stressfull!!!  For the first 2 days nothing changed, day 3 I could breath through my nostril, day 4 I woke up and it was practically gone.  All that is left of it now a week later is a scar that I dont think is going to heal but hey, that's what makeup is for huh :) 

I also in the last month decided to take control of my health and weight and joined Weight Watchers.  I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I have a 2 year old son that I want to enjoy spending time with and running with and it is hard to do right now with the size I am.  So I bit the bullet and joined and I am LOVING it so much.  I am happy, full of energy, and have lost 3.8 kilos in the first 2 weeks.  Onward and downward, that's my moto now.  My husband actually told me the other day that he is really proud of me for how determined I am and how well I am doing, which is huge for him.  He has also lost half a kilo since I started too so my healthy dinners must be rubbing off on him.  He came home the other day with Mayonaise on his chin so I asked him where he had been....he confessed he had snuck off to Burger King for a feed.....hahahaha.  At least he had it there and didnt bring it home!!!

So anyway, onto stitching over the last month.  I havent done a lot, it has been so busy and stressfull but I am happy to say that the skirt on ladybird is finished. 

My aim is to get the legs and scarf finished over the weekend, will see how we go.  It depends if my 2 boys play the game and give me some quiet mummy time :)

I hope everyones stitching is going well.  I have been checking your blogs off and on but have not had a chance to really catch up on them for ages, so that is my mission this afternoon while the little man has a sleep. 

Happy stitching :)

A little finish and an update

Hi everyone.  I know it has been a couple of weeks since I updated this blog, so much has been happening and we have been a home of sickness and bugs so my stitching has really suffered over the last 2 weeks.  I do have some progress to update you on though.
Here is the latest on Ladybird Fairy.  I have finished the top 2 pages now and have just started the bottom.  The top part looks a little weird with no backstitching and I have not done the kreinik or beading either in case my hoop damages it.  All that aside I think she is looking lovely and I am excited to see her progress.

Mothers day is coming up this weekend.  I know at least one of my stitchy friends has lost their mother in the last year and my thoughts and hugs are with you.  This will be my third mothers day and my darling hubby has taken 2 days off at the end of this week to give him a four day weekend and he is taking us to our beach house for a long weekend together.  I have wonderful visions of sleeping in, stitching, walking on the beach (fingers crossed for nice weather) and getting spoilt....hehehe.  I have managed to get something done for the mothers in my life, my mother and my mother in law.  I made a card for each of them, I loved this design so I stitched it twice, one each.

So before I go I thought I would share my little spot of heaven with you, my stitchy corner.  I sit in hubbys armchair with my feet up and use Jacobs little sofa beside me to put my stuff on.  My light behind me was from hubby and I love it.

And this is what a typical stitchy session looks like for me

Strangely the only time she sits on my lap is when I am stitching.

I hope everyone has a lovely week and gets some stitching done.  I shall now head off and stalk your progress :)

April IHSW

Hi everyone, well today is a public holiday for both New Zealand and Australia to remember those who served their country in war and the blessings that we have today because of their service.  It is usually a quiet day of reflection for me as I have many ancestors who served in both world wars, some who were killed in action, and it gives me a chance to pause and remember them.  My husband works a half day as all the stores are closed till 1pm and then open half a day.  So he has just left for work, the little man has just gone to bed for a sleep due to being tired and grumpy and I actually plan to spend some time this afternoon while he sleeps doing some genealogy.....I know, shocking....no stitching!!!!  Genealogy is my other passion, and I find that I dont spend enough time on it with all of the other things that get in the way. 

So onto my weekend stitching for the IHSW.  I managed to get some done on ladybird, I did not get to stitch as much as I planned to as we had lots of visitors and other things got in the way.  But I did manage to get the wings done on the left side and all the hair done.  She is coming along nicely, just the skin and a few ladybirds to do and she is half finished.  That is my plan for this week, to get her half finished.

Confession time, I havent done any more work on my SAL this week, I only have a couple of star bursts and then the beading to do.  I think I have been putting it off a bit because I have never done beading before on a cross stitch design so I am worried about it.  I SHALL work on it this week and post my progress next week on here :)

So that is me all updated.  I hope everyones IHSW went well and that you got lots of stitching done.  I thought I would share this photo with you, look what just caught my attention in the lounge.  She spent the night locked in the garage so I think she is staying close to home now.  And I guess she has figured if Jacob is no longer using it she might as well.

Right, off to find those ancestors of mine....happy stitching :)

I think I have a problem!!!

OK, so confession time, I took a look at my kitting up of one of my current WIPS this week after I caught hubby giggling to himself watching me stitching.  I couldnt work out what he thought was so funny till be pointed out that my stitching is just as organised and OCD as the rest of my life!!!!  I have to admit after stepping back and looking at it, that he is right, and it amuses me no end!!!  Ok so I am about to share with you the routine that is my stitching.

So here is the floss box for my kitted Ladybird fairy that I am doing.  I will share a pic with you then explain why it is set up the way it is :)

Ok so the DMC floss are organised numerically so they are easy to find in the box.  When I take a floss out to use it I turn the one before it on its side so I can find where I need to put the one I am using when I am finished (not too scary so far huh).  The highlighter and scissors sit below on the left (it's the only place they will fit).  I do stitch in an armchair though with my feet up so when I am stitching I put the highlighter between my leg and the chair leg since I use it all the time.  My scissors sit point down in the top right square of my box so that they are easy to grab as well.  In this picture I have put all my kreinik in one square since they all fit but if they didnt I would put them into more than one, numerically of course (is it getting scary yet???)  The beads go into their own square, I cut the top off them so they will fit in and I put my thread heaven into whatever square is not being used (what I hear you ask...no set square for the thread heaven!!!!!!).    My cut off threads go in the bottom square next to my scissors and highlighter and my rubbish goes into the bottom right square.....to keep them apart....SIGH.  So there we have it, an explanation of how I kit up.  Hehehe.  Oh, and I must mention my final little quirk, when I pack up my stitching for the day my chart, my floss box and my WIP all go into a zip lock bag (in that order) but the WIP gets folded nicely and put on the top so I can see it next time I pick it up and get excited/frustrated over how much/little I have done.

So, confession over, do any of you get all super organised about your stitching.  I think I do it because with having a 2 year old my stitching time is precious to me, so I dont want to waste valuable time that could be used on stitching trying to find my scissors or floss. 

Onto what I have managed to get done in the last week.  Ladybird fairy is looking good, she has a bodice now and the top half of her skirt is finished as well.  My plan this week and over the upcoming IHSW is to give her a face and some hair.  The V8 racing cars are on this weekend here in Hamilton so I am looking forward to settling down in front of TV with my stitching for the weekend watching the racing.  I would love to be there but will just have to settle with having to hear it from my house.  Anyway, I digress, here she is as of today

My plan this week is also to get the next part of my dream SAL done so I will post my progress on this and Ladybird after my IHSW.

Ok, that should have everyone filled in for now, I hope you are not too shocked by my stitching OCD.....please tell me I am not the only one!!!!

Goodbye summer....

Well, what there was of it!!!  I actually cant remember a worse summer than the one that we just had and now I know it is over as the extra blankets go on the bed and I head out today to get my winter PJs for the year.  We did have a glorious easter though, absolutely beautiful weather.  I had a lovely easter with my family, we pottered around the house on friday, hubby went to work on saturday, we had a family day together on sunday and on monday hubby and I had a date in the afternoon at the movies seeing Titanic in 3D.  I totally love that movie, have seen it more times than I can remember.  Oh, and I did manage to get some stitching done over the easter break too which was great.  This week I started Ladybird Fairy by Joan Elliott that I mentioned in my last blog.  Here is where she is up to today after a week of stitching, I started her last tuesday.

I just love the colours on this design, so bright and firey, she is coming along nicely.  I have just put my little man to bed so plan to do some work on her this afternoon while he is napping.  I havent touched my dream SAL this week as the last week has been a catch up week and I am up to date with it right now. 

Well that catches you up with my stitching for the week.  I hope you have all had a lovely stitchy week and got lots done over easter.  I look forward to seeing everyones progress.

SAL week 2, some slow progress and a new start

Hi everyone, it has been a little while since I updated this, it has been one rough week.  All 3 of us had a nasty tummy bug last week which resulted in us all being home and me having no energy to do anything....including stitching.  So there is not a lot to show for my week, I did a bit of stitching to share with you though.

Firstly I have finished the second week of the SAL tonight.  It was only a few hours work but I love the effect of it.  Here's an update.

So as well as getting my SAL done tonight I did manage to get a small amount of stitching done on Jacobs stocking, there is a bit more red to it now!!!  Still a long way to go but I shall push on with it. 

So that was the week that was.  I have also kitted up my next project which I am ready to start tomorrow, another Joan Elliott design from Cross Stitch Collection, the first of her garden fairies, Ladybird.  I totally fell in love with it when I picked up my magazine this week so am really looking forward to starting her tomorrow. 

I hope everyone else has had a lovely stitching week.  I am so looking forward to getting into more stitching this week now that I am over my bugs and yuckies......more to follow next week.

SAL progress week 1

So the doggies got dropped off at the framers this morning, and after picking myself up off the floor after finding out how much they were going to cost to frame I left them there for their final makeover.  Thank you framer guy for letting me pay off the framing, and thank you dad for not having "special" birthdays every year :)

So last night I started week one of the SAL, I kitted everything up and printed the chart out ready to go.  I really like the design, Joan Elliotts Dream inspirational word from her Bewitching book.

The writing has a lot of purple and pink in it which are my favourite colours and I love butterflies.  So I managed to get week one of the SAL done last night which was stitching all the letters. 

I used a very light blue aida for it which is really stepping out of my comfort zone of white or natural coloured!!!  I think it looks lovely though

Right, my son is in bed, it is saturday afternoon, I am curled up in the armchair in front of a dvd with my stitching and hubby has said he will make dinner tonight.....BLISS.  Have  a lovely weekend everyone

Seven dogs all in a row

Welcome to my second finish for 2012.....yes, the dogs are done!!!  I sat up till midnight last night and finished them off and I must say I am SO happy with them.  I have totally loved doing this design, I think the difference has been that I have backstitched as I have gone with this one and so it was nice to see each dog take on a life of its own as I went.  So now the boys are off to the framers tomorrow for their final makeover.  I dont usually get my pieces professionally framed due to cost, only if it is a special piece like this one for my dads 70th.  Dads birthday is not until August but I wanted to get the boys finished in plenty of time cause the framing will take a while to pay off!!!!

So what next I hear you ask!  My first SAL starts in 2 days and I just went and got the fabric today for it, I have all the thread, the chart and the beads so I am ready to go....I might even be sneaky and start tomorrow....hehehe.  I was actually very daring with the fabric today, well daring for me.  I am a creature of habit when it comes to my stitching, I stitch on 14 count aida in either white or natural/light tan but today I bought a nice piece of pale blue 14 count, yes, couldnt get away from the aida but I thought I might add a bit of colour to the SAL with the light blue colour.  I will post a pic once I start.

The other project I need to work on is Jacobs stocking for christmas.  I started this last year and I have a goal to get it finished for him for this christmas.  Truth is I have not touched it at all this year so I need to get onto it.  Here is where it is at, I have half finished it.  I love the design but do struggle with doing it on 16 count instead of my normal 14...I shall perservere though

Hope everyone is having a lovely stitchy week, I am enjoying catching up on everyones blogs as well, thanks everyone

My first IHSW and a lovely recognition

Hi everyone, I hope you have all had a lovely stitchy weekend.  This is going to be a big post, apologies in advance!!! 

I just took part in my first IHSW this past weekend, for those of you who have not heard of this before, it is on Random Ramblings.  I have seen a lot of my blogger friends Hermit and stitch every month so thought this month I would join up and see how much I get done.  So here was my picture of my dogs before I started on friday night.  Not sure why they look so brown but hey, it gives you an idea of where I was up to.

So friday night I got 5 hours of stitching in (stayed up till midnight), saturday I got a couple of hours in during the day and a couple of hours in that night and yesterday got a couple of hours in during the day.  I think all up I spent about 12 hours on it over the weekend which is huge considering I am a mum of a 2 year old.  All I can say is YAY for his day sleeps.  So here are the boys today after my weekend of stitching.

I managed to get the white dog finished, the white and brown dog both backstitched and quite a bit of the background done and also started the final dog.....yes, I am up to the last boy!!!  My goal was to have this design finished by the 24th March as I am starting a SAL on the 25th March so I am well on track to get this finished with only one more dog and a bit of background to go.  I am so glad that I chose to do the backstitch as I went on this design as the backstitch has been a real headache....I would have been mighty upset if I had left it all till last!!!  So that is how my IHSW went, how did everyone elses go????

I had a lovely treat from my stitchy friend Margaret this week who sent me a message to let me know that she had selected me as one of her blogger friends to receive the Liebster blog award.  Thank you so much for thinking of me Margaret and sending me this award.  Margarets blog is awesome, she has become a good facebook/pen friend who loves HAED and has recently gone on a mission to aquire as many Miras and Lavender and Lace patterns as she can!!!!

Liebster is a german word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved.  The Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting.

1.  Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to

2.  Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3.  Post the award on your blog.  List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites.  Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.

4.  Share 5 random facts about yourself that people dont know about you.

So, my list of recipients is as follows

1.  Kathy she does some beautiful work, love her blog

2.  demeter83 Absolutely stunning work and a beautiful blog

3.  Rowyn A fellow kiwi stitcher, I love how much detail she puts into her blog

4.  Thoeria Gorgeous work and lovely blog

5.  Danielle A beautiful blog, love all the updates.

I must say that there are two blogs that I totally love and would so want to give the award to, if only they weren't so popular!!  I still want to give them a mention

Katrina I love your blog, such gorgeous updates and yes, again a fellow kiwi

The Manbroider My dear friend who is an amazing stitcher and proves that men can cross stitch too!!!

And finally, the 5 random things about me

1.  I am dreadfully claustrophobic, I cant even sleep in the bottom bunk on a set of bunk beds!!

2.  I am addicted to reality TV, especially cooking shows.  I love to cook but cannot bake to save myself.  Last week I made my first ever batch of cupcakes which actually turned out pretty well, as you can see below.

3.  My hubby and I first met in 1993 but he does not remember us meeting.  We then did not meet up again for another 9 years!

4.  My father taught me to fly light aircraft when I was 5 years old.

5.  Although everyone considers me to be a girly girl my favourite sport is car racing, especially V8s and stock cars.  My dream is to one day drive a stock car in a demolition derby and crash the heck out of it.

So everyone, that is me and that is my update from the last couple of week, thanks for hanging in there through this blog, long as it was.  Looking forward to hearing everyones updates :)

Decisions Decisions

I recently saw the Joan Elliott Cinderella design that she did in Cross Stitch Gold and decided that it was totally gorgeous and I had to have it. Finally this week the issue arrived in NZ and I grabbed it. Isn't she gorgeous. The only thing I kind of wished was that her dress was a nice pretty pink or purple colour.

And then Joan went and did this conversion. Totally stunning, now I dont know what version I want to do!!!

Joan put the conversion on her facebook page so if you are wanting to change the colours over to the pink here are the conversions

Blue to Pink: 826 to 961, 813 to 962, 827 to 3716

Purple to Lavender: 3746 to 553, 340 to 209, 3747 to 210

Man, I have no idea what one I like better, I like the pink one cause I love pinks and purples but I like the blue one too cause of the vibrant colours. What's everyones thoughts on their favourite one?

Not a lot of stitching done this week, ok no stitching done this week. Today is friday though so I usually settle down and stitch on a friday night while watching American Idol. I will post what I have done over the weekend in a couple of days. Have a wonderful stitchy weekend everyone :)

A reflective post and a special purchase

As you may have picked up through this blog I am a mum to a busy, active, and totally adorable 2 year old.



We are so blessed to have him in our lives. After 6 years of infertility and struggling to have a child of our own we finally went down the avenue of adoption and our scrummy little man is our blessing from that. We were told we had been chosen as his parents when he was 3 weeks old and got to bring him home at 5 weeks old. I have always felt in my heart that he is my child in every sense of the word, but there is a piece of me that acknowledges the huge sacrifice that his birth parents (especially his mother) made so that our family could be so blessed. We are in contact with his birth parents and see them about 3 times a year for a catch up. I know that his birth mother still struggles with the decision that she made to give him up, even though she knows it was the best thing for him and that she struggles to look after herself day by day without adding a child into the mix. I feel a very special bond with his birth mum and I have wanted for so long to do something for her to let her know how much her sacrifice has meant to me as a mother. This week I found exactly what I have been looking for on 123stitch and bought it straight away to do for her. I plan to stitch it twice, one for her to give to her for christmas and one for my son to hang in his room with a photo of him with both of his "mums". I hope they both treasure it.


The poem on it reads
"Once there were two women who never knew each other
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.
Two different lives shaped to make yours one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun
The first gave you life and the second taught you to live it
The first gave you the need for love, the second was there to give it
One gave you a nationality and the other gave you a name
One gave you the seed of talent, the other gave you aim.
One gave you emotion, the other calmed your fears
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears
One gave you up, it was all that she could do
The other prayed for a child and God lead her straight to you
And now you ask me through your tears
The age old question through the years
Heredity or environment-which are you the product of
Neither my darling, neither, just two different kinds of love"

I havent got a lot of stitching done this week, managed to get the backstitching done on the right hand side of dog 4 and dog 5 has legs and a scarf now. I have set myself the goal to have his design finished by 22nd March so that I can start the SAL, it might take a few hours of evening stitching but I should get it done :)

Have a wonderful stitchy week everyone, I have been doing lots of blog reading this week and your projects are fantastic, thank you for sharing your amazing talent with the blogosphere :)

My favourite 4 letter word....SALE

So happy right now, saw online that HAED are having a 50% off sale to celebrate the 29th February. So I headed over to their website and checked my wishlist to see what was in there that I would like to get. Apart from the 7 sins (and I couldnt justify getting 7 charts, even at half price) the 2 below jumped out at me and said "Pick me, pick me" I love butterflies so the QS butterfly one was a no brainer and also really like Randal Spanglers designs so grabbled the train of dreams as well. I dont know when I will get them done but it is nice to have them. My HAED patterns are growing quite quickly....YAY me!!!

Hope everyones stitching is going well. I had a catch up of blogs last night and added quite a few to my read list. My followers have also doubled since my buddy The Manbroider mentioned my blog in his....thanks sunshine :D

Have a great week everyone, have not done a lot of stitching this week but will update my weeks progress in the weekend.

slow and steady

Hi all, well it's been a bit of a slow week this week with stitching, have not done a lot but did manage to get the other half of dog number 4 done, he just needs to be backstitched. I think he is my favourite, I love the face and the attitude that comes from him with his ammunition slung over him. This is fast becoming one of my favourite stitches that I have ever done, it ranks right up there with Teddies on the Line that I completed a year ago. I am planning to get a couple of hours of stitching in this afternoon while the little man sleeps and the big man goes and gets firewood for us from my dads. So here is an update of the boys thus far. Todays goal is to get the left side of the next boy done so that I can do the backstitching on the finished one and get some more of the background detail done.

This week I found Joans Blue Geisha and tried to order it from Polstitches but it is out of stock. I have it in my cart at 123stitch along with some beads that I need so will probably buy it today. I have another one of her geishas and so they will look really good side by side.

I have signed up for my first SAL which starts around the end of March. I signed up to it through one of the facebook cross stitching groups that I am in. I am quite excited about it actually as I have bever done a SAL before. We are doing one of the Joan Elliott inspiration words from her Bewitching book, I think it is Dream that we are doing, which I am really happy about as it is the one with the butterflies, and I LOVE butterflies. That is what the beads from 123 are for, they are part of the supplies needed for the SAL. Once I start I will be able to show my week by week progress.


So anyway this week hubby says to me "Remember, my dad turns 80 this year, what are you going to do him for his birthday???" I think he has been watching me do the boys for dads 70th and thought he better get his request in for the FIL before I get too many projects on the go!!!! So I have found the design that I was going to do for his mum and have all the cottons for this one, just need the fabric. Once I finish the boys I will have to make a start on it. Thankfully his birthday is not until October!!! So here is the pattern




Well I think this catches me up with everything that I have been up to this week. I hope everyone is having a wonderful stitching week, cant wait to see all your progress :)

Storms, sand and stitching

So once a year hubby takes a week off work and we head away to the family beach house an hour and a half from here in Whangamata for some quiet family time. We usually head off at the end of January, beginning of February once school goes back and it is a little quieter there. The weather is still lovely at that time and we spend the time relaxing at the beach, doing bush walks and taking day trips. This last week was that time of the year again and I absolutely LOVED it. The weather was touch and go as you can see from the picture below. We went over last sunday and got there late sunday night. Monday it rained, tuesday it was fine, wednesday it rained, thursday it was sunny, friday was the worst thunder and lightning storm the locals can remember in a long time, and saturday and sunday were glorious. Today it rained!!!! We heard a rumour in town on friday while avoiding the thunder and lightning that the golf course was flooded so decided to check it out for ourselves.......and here it is!!!



The only action on the green that day were the ducks. 2 days later we stopped by again and what do you know....

It was so sad to be packing up today and heading home, the week went so quickly. I would love to have had another week there. We do get over there for weekends often but sadly our yearly holiday is done and dusted :(. My one thing that cheered me up when I got home was my stash that was waiting for me when I walked in the door.

I am completely and utterly in love with the Joan Elliott Bookazine....I had to hold it away from me while reading it to avoid the dribble. So I want to stitch at least half of the designs in there, sigh, the wish list has grown in leaps and bounds. My other treat that arrived in the post while I was away was the Zumba programme I ordered......and after the week I had at the beach of full on junk eating Zumba will have to become my new best friend!!!!!

So while away I managed to get quite a bit of stitching done, very happy with that. I would settle down and do a couple of hours during the day while Jacob had his sleep and hubby went to the beach then do another couple of hours in the evening. The result.....the boys are half finished. Three and a half boys stitched and backstitched, three and a half to go!!!! I am so happy with how they are looking. I think dad is really going to love the design.

I hope everyone has had a lovely stitchy week, I am off to watch the rest of Desperate Housewives while dribbling some more over my new book......how excited am I!!!!!!

I finally found it

So I have been looking for the Ultimate Joan Elliott Collection bookazine for the last few months but everywhere has been out of stock. I did find a few copies on ebay but I didnt want to pay the huge prices it was getting to on there. Well, today I found it on an australian craft website so I emailed them to find out if they still had copies of it and how much including postage. The result...it is finally on its way to me!!!! Yay, I am so excited and looking forward to getting it. For those who are looking for it I think they still have a couple of copies left. The site is http://pictureperfectnc.com.au/shop/

I also found an absolute bargain online today for DMC thread. Here in NZ the threads usually are anywhere from $1.30-$1.70 a colour in the shop. I found a person selling DMC threads online today and got 30 of them for $18. I was so happy, 60c a skein!!! And even better, she winds them onto plastic thread bobbins and labels them as well free of charge, I dont even have to pay for the bobbins. So happy, did my little happy dance for the rest of the day. Cant wait for my packages to come in the mail in the next few days.

As expected, I havent got any stitching done so far this week but I did manage to get an hour of sorting and organising done of my stash this morning. It's a good feeling to go through everything and see it all out on the floor, feels like christmas morning!

Have a lovely stitchy week...or what is left of it everyone.

The boys.......

So this week I decided to work on magnificent 7 that I am doing for my dad, or as I call them, the Boys. One and a half boys down, 5 and a half to go. I decided on this design to backstitch each dog as I go and am really happy with the results. I usually leave all my backstitching to the end then get really frustrated cause I dont enjoy backstitching so it seems like a crazy way to finish a project, by doing what I love the least. I love how the one I did this week just pops with the backstitch.

So I had a close look at the HAED pattern that I put in my last post and would you believe that the entire background of it is done in Kreinik, a whole 19 skeins of it....what the heck!!!!! Next to backstitching is my frustration when working with Kreinik. I have to decide now if I am going to continue with using the Kreinik on the design when I start doing it or change the thread type. Decisions, decisions.

I dont think I am going to get much stitching done this week as it is pretty full on but I will try and pick up the boys to finish the other half of the dog I have already done. Enjoy your week of stitching everyone and I love catching up with all your work

My scary purchase!!!!!

Ok so I told myself that I was only going to post once a week on this blog to update on my stitching week, but I had to show what I had bought today....my first HAED!!!!! Talk about daunting, I am so blown away with how big it is but so happy that I got it, I have admired this design for ages cause purple is my favourite colour and I love butterflies. I am assuming that I did the right thing when I received it by saving it to my computer so that I can print it out. I am tossing up starting this one at the same time I start Geisha, depends how the finances are for fabric and floss!!!!

I hope everyones stitching week is going well, I have been working on my dogs this week, will post this weekend with progress :)

Surprise

Hi there, I know it has been forever since I have posted in here but here I am with an update on what I have been stitching since I was last here. I put my stitching down for about 6 months and just enjoyed being a mum, with all that brings. Needless to say with an active 2 year old I didnt have any energy at the end of the day to stitch or even function! I picked up my stitching again in December and managed to get this owl design done for mum, called Outrageous Owls. Mum loves owls and I loved the colours on this one so I think she is will love it. I havent decided if I am giving it to her for mothers day in May, her birthday in October or Christmas yet, but I will get it framed.

I am also working on a design for dad called Magnificent Seven for his 70th birthday in August. He adores his dog and also loves cowboys and cowboy hats so this is right up his alley. I am hoping to get this one framed in plenty of time too, I have only been working on it for about 4 days but it is coming along nicely.

And finally, an update on Jacobs stocking. Because I put my stitching aside for a few months I didnt get his stocking finished for christmas. So my aim is to get it done for him for this Christmas. It is half finished so I am well underway. The gap at the top is for his name to go in and I will do that last. I cant wait for it to be finished, he will hopefully treasure it and think of me and the effort I put in.

On my wish list to do this year is the Joan Elliott Geisha to hang in the spare room. We have a lot of Japanese students come and stay with us and so I thought that would be a nice touch for their room. I am also planning on doing my own christmas cards this year and will probably do some more work on my one I have mentioned in my previous post with Christ and the sheep, I have had that one underway for years and would love to get it finished. I have told myself that I cannot start Geisha until I have finished either the stocking or the Magnificent 7 one though since they both have deadlines!

Well, I think that catches me all up to date. I hope everyones stitching is coming along well, I love looking at everyones blogs and seeing how lovely their work is. Keep up the fantastic stitching :)