for this week:

How do you share your finished pieces with others? Do you frame them, scan and/or photograph them, or do you have another method that you would like to share?

Well, I wish I could frame them, but I have no money because I keep buying stash. I take my finishes to work to show my stitching friends, and I always show them to my mum. Then I scan or photograph them and post them on my Webshots album, and I also share them with the girls over at the Livejournal cross stitch community, and get lots of lovely oohs and aahs. And of course now that I have a stitching blog, I will be posting them here, if I ever have another finish again!

Labels: Blogging, SBQ and memes

Long time, no update! Well, it's kind of hard to update when you have no internet. Luckily, now I do. And broadband at that! Now I can look at the pictures on the HAED page! Yay!

Last week, I desperately wanted to write a whingey (sp?) entry about stitcher's block. I was feeling horrible about the slow progress on my Cattitudes. not being a big fan of cats, or the colour orange, or stitching big blocks of one colour, I was feeling kind of bogged down. I've been working on this for nearly a month now, and I was hoping to have it finished by the end of the month, but I don't know if I'll make it.

...and because I was trying so hard to stitch on that, I've been ignoring Scent of Enchantment, so that's not moving along fast either, and I was getting more upset, beacause I knew I wouldn't finish it by the end of the month.

So to make myself feel better, I thought I'd start something new: my HAED RR. But it just didn't work. The colours were all wrong, so I had to ditch that one, find a new theme, new fabric, and a new layout, and I was so in love with the old one... le sigh.

But now it's all okay. I've thought of a lovely (secret) new theme for my RR, and found a lovely (secret) new chart, and I've come up with a way to adapt the layout to fit the theme... so it's all good. Aaaand, I've finally finished all of that damn orange on the carnivorous cat. I've just got the belly and the background and the backstitch to go. Thank God!

With 2 days left to go, I'm going to try for a finish before the end of the month :) *crosses fingers* I'd better get offline and get some stitching done.

Labels: Eyecandy, Goals, Stitchiness

-Teresa Wentzler's Noah's Ark Kit

























-Noah's Ark by Ginger & Spice
-Wee Darlings Miniature Stockings
-A freebie from The Sweetheart Tree























-The remaining 150 DMC threads I needed to complete the collection
-YLI invisible thread (for beading)
-Mirabilia: The Rose of Sharon, which I'm planning to do after Firefly Fairies.
















From Dragonfly Dreams:
-Wind by Sheila Wolk (HAED)
-D, E, I and P by The World of S's Ruritania alphabet (I want to do them for my RL friends Daula, Elisa, Iz, and Prue)
-Soie Perlee for Toccata II (my silk pack came with the DMC perles, but I decided I wanted the pretty shinies :)













-Queen Anne's Lace kit by Lavender and Lace. There's so many lovely kreiniks in it :)

Labels: Eyecandy, S.E.X., Stitchiness

I've been trying all day to post pictures. I have so many stash pictures to show you... but no luck! Stupid blogger. Why does it hate me so?

Thanks Nicki for asking about the dentist. It was amazingly good. And my mouth hasn't been in agonies this week so... hooray! He let me keep my tooth, and it's really gross!!

I've been stitching away on Scent of Enchantment. I'm 80% done. Yay! I think it'll be finished this time next week. Well, I hope.

I still haven't decided which HAED I'm going to do. Wind came in the mail, and the picture on the front has all weird colours, the top looks green instead of pink. So i'm going to have to do a floss toss to help myself decide. Then I'm going to go and buy The Langsuir and Lady of the Lake and look at them, because I still don't even own them! But I figured there's no real hurry to decide, because I first have to do my RR piece, and I really want to stitch Automne SK, and I keep forgetting about the mystic stitch and the GK miniature I have lined up. Wow, at this rate, I'll never get back to HAED!

So.... I don't really have much to say now that I have no pictures to talk about. I've had five separate stash parcels in the last couple of weeks! And I can think of at least 3 more that are on the way. So much lovely stuff to show you! So much money I no longer have. I'm actually starting to feel bad that I've spent so much money. And there's still a couple more things I have to order (including the aforementioned HAED charts)! But I'm buying in advance.. because starting January 1, I'm going to be on a stash free diet. For no less than 6 months. I'll need it, because my friend Veronica and I are going to America next year, and I'm planning to well and truly wear out my credit card :)

In other news, partly triggered by my guilt at excessive stash buying, my sister and I decided to sponsor a child! She lives in Mongolia, she's 5 years old, and she's so cute! It's something we've been meaning to do for a months, and I'm so glad we finally got around to it.

Okay, gotta go and get and early night, I have to be at uni at 2pm tomorrow *le sigh*

Labels: Blogging, S.E.X., Stitchiness

Lady of the Lake - Sara Butcher (350x490)
To be honest, I can't even describe how much I love her, or even why. She just pushes all my buttons. Ive always been a fan of Arthurian legend, and I have to say that this is a far lovelier illustration of her that I could have imagined. I want to put real pearls on her gorgeous dress. The only reason not to do her is that I'm planning to do lots of Sara Butcher ACEOs as well, and I think I might get 'Butchered out" so to speak.

The Langsuir - Ian Daniels (300x296)
When I first saw her I wasn't sure if I liked her or not. She was just a bit weird. But the more I look at her, the more I love her. So I bought the QS. But now, I keep looking at her and loving her even more. In fact, I think I'm becoming a little obsessed with her. She's just lovely. So I really want to do the large one. But I'm a little worried that I would get bored with a B&W design, and I don't really know how they turn out. I'll have to go and look at some WIPs.


Dark Waters, Bright Skies - Selina Fenech (625x430)
This one will be huge. That's the main attraction. The sheer size of it. Plus I think it's pretty and all :) It was the first HAED that made me think "I want to stitch that!" Just as long as all of that blue doesn't kill me.


Wind - Sheila Wolk (350x593)
I don't know the stitch count of this one yet, as it is currently on an aeroplane, or a ship, or a truck on it's way to me. But that's not the point. She is stunning. And the colours are breathtaking. When I saw her I knew I had to have her, and I know I was so lucky to get hold of her because she was already discontinued. I don't know what to say about her really... the picture kind of speaks for itself.


Oh, how can I possibly choose? I think I should just do them all!!! Hahahaha! But really. HELP!

p.s. I know, I've been slack with updating, but...well I have no excuse. But I do have some more stash to share :)

Labels: Eyecandy, Stitchiness

I only have 1 1/2 hours left with all of my teeth. I'm going to the dentist this afternoon to have at least one wisdom tooth pulled, maybe three. Actually it will be a relief, because it's been killing me the last few days, so I haven't really felt like stitching.

Nevertheless, I have managed to get some done. I've done a tiny bit on my aussie RR square (sorry, no pics yet, it just looks like a yellow blob), and a few hundred more stitches on Scent of Enchantment. I'm just over 70% done! YAY! I've been thinking of what I'm going to start when I'm finished, and I've decided that I'm going to be very very good and start nothing. I'd love to start another HAED, but I have a GK, a Mystic Stitch and, of course, my HAED RR to do before I will let myself start one. Not to mention my other neglected WIPs. Thank goodness, I've got all of that to worry about, because I would have a terrible time choosing one to do.

Actually, I think I do have a new start planned in the near-ish future. Nicki suggested that we do a SAL of Toccata II (I'm too lazy to post a link, but there is one in the previous entry), since we both have most of the materials ready. Only one motif a week, so it won't be any great pressure. I've never done a SAL before...yay! Now I have to go on a fabbie hunt.

Oh yeah, and did you notice, I have a new layout. It's under construction, so there's going to be a lot of weird stuff going on in the side bars for a while, and I'm hoping to change the pic at the top when I find a suitable one. Hmmm, the internet is such a huge stitching distraction, no wonder I never get anyt stitching done.

Ok... I'm off. I've got to go and mentally prepare myself for the dentist...

Labels: Blogging, Small talk, Stitchiness

My birthday was on April 1st (please spare me the obvious jokes), and my birthday present from Mum FINALLY arrived! We first ordered some things from Nordic Needle, but had to cancel the order because of 3 months of back order, and no communication from them. So we ordered new stuff from The Silver Needle instead. And it arrived! yay!

I got the silk pack for Toccata II from The Drawn Thread... Kreinik metallics, DMC perles and lots of yummy NPI silks.

Peace Tree and Snowflake from M Designs

The Mermaid Sampler kit from Threads Through Time. It includes 40 count silk gauze, which I can't wait to play with.

And Noah's Sampler Reborn kit by Just Nan which is a Silver Needle exclusive (you'll have to scroll down the page a bit to find it)... and I'm SO glad I got it. I have a thing for Noah's arks, and this one is gorgeous. And it has the most divine GAST, I've never seen them before, and I can't wait to use them. I have so many arks, but I've never actually stitched one yet. I think this one will be the first. Now just to find the time *sigh*

Aaaand, they added a freebie design from the Cricket Collection, Sunshine, and a little packet of jelly bellys (which are not in the picture as they were already in my belly)

Yay for stash! I've spent a couple of hundred dollars on ebay this week, so I'll have even more coming into my mailbox soon. When I picked my parcel up from the post office, the girl looked at me and said "another parcel?!". Hahaha, I'm famous.

In other news, I made my HAED wishlist, and I'm hoping to expand it to a general stitchy wishlist, and stick it on my List Blog. I'm gonna have my stash list, my reading list, my "What I will stitch next" list, etc. I can't wait. I love lists :)

Labels: Blogging, Eyecandy, S.E.X., Stitchiness

Updates on this list and other wishlists will be in my list blog.

Leighton
Flaming June

Ian Daniels
***The Langsuir*** (I bought the QS, but decided I love it enough to do the large one)

John Waterhouse
Boreas

Sara Butcher
Lover's Tarot
Death Tarot
Raven's Eve
Water ACEO(I have the other three)
Summer ACEO (I have winter)
Autumn ACEO(When it comes out...)
Spring ACEO(When it comes out...)
Aries ACEO(When it comes out...)
Temptation QS (I already have truth)

Selina Fenech
***Bright Skies***
The Madness of Hatred
Shimmer QS
Greenman's Door
Atlantis
Nouveau Mermaids
Nouveau Fairies
Nouveau Angels

Labels: S.E.X., Stitchiness

Amoreno
Scent of Enchantment QS

Bernadette Lusk
Letting Go

Caron Vinson
Blushing Rose

Ian Daniels
Faery Queen 2
The Langsuir QS
Scotland QS

James C. Christensen
Faery Tales

John Waterhouse
Tempest

Leighton
Flaming June QS

Linda Tso
The Passing

Rachael Anderson
Queen of Hearts

Sara Butcher
Truth QS
Earth ACEO
Fire ACEO
Air ACEO
Winter ACEO

Selina Fenech
Centre for Bright Skies Dark Waters
Dark Waters (I really must get Bright Skies, then I can start them!)
Storykeeper
Storykeeper SK
Impossible Love

Sheila Wolk
Gatekeeper
Heart's Content
The Garland

Tracy Butler
Martyrs

Labels: S.E.X., Stitchiness

So, I'm a little bit late, but I wanted to post some August goals.. in the vain hope that I may actually get something real done this month. And to stop myself from any more starts.

DEFINITELY:

Finish Aussie RR square(I'll show you later)

Finish Scent of Enchantment

Plan the birth sampler for Jaxon (I'll explain later)

Put at least one thread in Firefly Fairies

HOPEFULLY:

Plan layout for HAED RR

Start housewarming gift for Kim

Finish 'S'

Phew! It's possible that I'm being a little ambitious, especially as I've just started back at work and uni, also, my clinical starts next week. Oh dear. At least I have a plan now. It should stop me from starting another 10 things that I really want to... *must resist temptation*

Labels: Goals, Stitchiness, Uni

I just got home from the first day of Uni, and it was such a gorgeous day, that I couldn't resist going out to take a pic of Scent of Enchantment in the sunshine. You can finally see the colours the way they really are! (oh, and please excuse my shadow on the edge there....)

I'm now almost 62% done. I passed the halfway point and didn't even notice!

Hmmm, time to start planning my next one :)

Labels: Eyecandy, Small talk, Stitchiness, Uni