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 :)

latest update

So finally I have finished our wedding sampler for Jeff and I, after 7 years of marriage. A friend of mine just told me that instead of being the 7 year itch it was the 7 year stitch! I just need to get it framed and give it to him now.

So here is what I have been up to. I have been working on a christmas stocking for my son for christmas this year. I have also included a photo of the finished design so that you can see what it is meant to look like. And no, his name is not Christopher!! The huge amount of blue all done in 4 strands of half cross stitch drove me crazy!!

Below is also a birth sampler that I am working on for my brothers baby due at the end of next month. It should be finished in a couple of weeks and then I just wait for the name!

Apart from stitching life is quiet, Jacob is 18 months old next weekend, where has the last year and a half gone??? We are having an at home day today cause he has a cold so will get some stitching done when he goes down for a sleep. The V8s start here in Hamilton today, just a few minutes from where we live. We went to them the first 2 years but have missed the last 2 as Jacob was too young. It is awesome to be able to hear them from here!!

Hope this posting finds you all well and happy and stitching away :)