Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Toccata II-sday (5)

I've been wanting to do that peacock for weeks, but I couldn't resist any longer. It's just lovely. Those stitches are called double broad diagonal crosses. Because the peacock was so large I wanted a small motif for the second one. I love the mauve colours, they bring out the pinky bits in the fabric perfectly. I wish I were a better photographer so I could show you what I mean.

Travel memories dried out, and most of the stitches are okay now, but the gold metallic is still all funny. I think I'll just restitch them.

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posted by Tash at 10:05 | 3 comments
Monday, January 29, 2007
I'm Superwoman!


Yay! I finished it! That's 5 for 2007!

I figured out what it is about the backstitching that I hated. It's the fact that they're all like long stitches rather than backstitches, and I think they look messy and don't really sit right. But, on the up side, they are much quicker then normal backstitches, which is how I managed to finish so quickly.

AAAAARGH! DISASTER!!! I just went to wash it (after I scanned it and started writing this entry..thank goodness) and all the back stitches have stretched and moved... especially the gold ones! EEEK! I don't know why it happened!? It's kind of like maybe the aida shrunk, but the thread didn't. Look: (Click to see it bigger and clearly)
help?

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posted by Tash at 14:35 | 3 comments
Sunday, January 28, 2007
a WIP
Just wanted to share another WIP. This is Travel Memories and Dimensions Gold Petite kit. I started it about 10 months ago, but haven't touched it for aaages. All those stupid half stitches were really annoying me. Honestly, the whole thing is half stitches! But now that I've finished with them it does look pretty good. Now I only have the backstitching to go. As a rule I like backstitch, but I'm not looking forward to this one. There's something about the backstitching in Dimensions kits that I hate. I don't really know what it is.. maybe that there's so much of it, maybe that there's six different colours to backstitch with. But I just really want to get through it.
Actually, I just realised I didn't set goals for this month, as I was too busy setting goals for the year. Bummer, shame I didn't, as it's been my most productive stitching month ever! Well, I'm making myself a goal to finish this by the end of the month. I've got three days... that should be plenty (I hope)

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posted by Tash at 07:40 | 2 comments
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Let's boogaloo 'till we puke!

Another finish! That makes 4 for 2007! This is Personal Scissors Keep by Olde Colonial Designs. The best thing about this one was that I got a chance to practice some more sewing! I'm getting more confident... I think I'm ready to try some more complicated things!

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posted by Tash at 17:13 | 4 comments
Toccata II-sday (4)

Week 4: Nicki and I decided that one motif a week wasn't enough... so from now on we'll be doing two. It should move along much faster now, and there won't be so many 'boring' weeks with just plain crosses. So this week I did 'N' and Area 22, which has half rhodes stitches and beads :) I took the photo this morning with the sun just coming in the window, but then my stupid shadow got in the way. Oh well, better luck next week!

I've been working on Terri's dragon RR, and on something else for myself that should be finished today or tomorrow! (fingers crossed)

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posted by Tash at 09:31 | 1 comments
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Bits and Pieces
I just spent a lovely morning re-arranging my stash. I've got a fabric drawer, a floss drawer, a kit drawer, and a chart shelf. It was so much fun because I found all these things I forgot that I had!

This was a pair of jeans that my friend made into a bag for me. I remember that it was my favourite bag for the looongest time. I called it, creatively, my jeans bag. But unfortunately there are too many holes in it, so I'm going to have to chuck it out :( But I thought I'd take a picture, to preserve the memory.



I really had forgotten about this! I don't even remember where or when I got it, but now that I look at it, I'm getting an idea. It's the pattern and template to make the box, and you're meant to go out and find your own fabric. But, I thought, instead of using fabric, could you cover it with cross stitch? I mean, if you measured how big the panels were, you could take a bit of linen and stitch up something and cover the box with that. Does anyone have any thoughts? Would that even work? I'm really excited about this idea, but it will take a lot of planning and fine tuning. And I don't actually know if it's possible!

I realised that I haven't taken a WIP pic of Japanese Octagon Box for a while. I feel guilty because I haven't worked on it for so long... but it was just that awful border! Aaargh! No, awful is wrong, it's lovely, but it's just so repetitive, so repetitive.


In other news: I *finally* got the pics from my trip to Perth off my camera. It was the first time in 4 years that we had the WHOLE family there. Well, almost the whole family. It would have been the whole family, except for my bro Carl. So I had to add his picture into this photo of all the Grandchildren. There's 14 of us, from 6 different families, the oldest (Me) is 23, and the youngest (Jack) is 8 months.

And here are the Grandparents. They're both 67 :)

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posted by Tash at 10:52 | 1 comments
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Toccata II-sday (3)
Another Toccata II-sday already! For those playing at home, this is area 12, with more couched goldwork, and some gorgeous Gloriana silk.

And look, Cynthia has just brought out Toccata III! But I like this and this better :)

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posted by Tash at 13:22 | 3 comments
Monday, January 15, 2007
Scent of Enchantment
I finally finished Scent of Enchantment QS. I started this waaay back in June (or something), and got about 3/4 of the way through, and then didn't touch it again until about a week ago. Don't ask me why, usually when I get so close to finishing something I can't put it down. I think I just got too busy with other things. But I finished it this morning and I'm really happy :D

ETA: 1 over 1 full crosses, DMC threads on white 25 ct Jobelan.

Next up will be Boreas by Golden Kite, I'm just waiting for delivery of fabric and threads... I'll have to think of something else to do in the meantime.

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posted by Tash at 14:53 | 3 comments
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
2nd finish for Monday
Tiny litte RR piece I stitched on Monday night at work. It took me about two hours, and I finished it just after 11pm, making two finishes in one day! 2 finishes already this year! Now I'm getting out Scent of Enchantment QS, so here's hoping for another finish later this week :D

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posted by Tash at 03:23 | 3 comments
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Toccata II-sday (2)

I thought that I'd better do a boring motif this week, because I don't want to be stuck with all the straight cross stitches at the end. How's that for discipline!

However, boring doesn't necessarily mean easy... Stupid me had to frog twice. Don't ask me how it happened, my excuse is night shift.

In other news, yesterday became the day of two finishes! I'll tell you about it tomorrow :)

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posted by Tash at 15:24 | 1 comments
Monday, January 08, 2007
First finish of 2007

Well, it was a close call, but I managed to finish my square on Nicki's RR by the mailing date. Her theme was faces, so I chose Bella Luna by Brigid Ashwood. I finished it about 10 minutes ago, and now I'm about to trot down to the post office and send it off to America :) This is my first 2007 finish, but it would have been finished last year if it weren't for that interlude in Perth... *sigh* ah well... bygones. Now onto the next RR before that mailing date. Luckily it's only little!

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posted by Tash at 11:59 | 3 comments
Friday, January 05, 2007
Yippeee! Rotation!
It's really interesting reading everyone's rotations, and I've been meaning to make one for myself for aaages. So here goes. I hope I do this right!

First of all I list all my current projects, and for each project I list what I'm going to start when I finish it. I like to have a variety, so each slot has a theme.

1) Chatelaine: Mystery X -> Japanese Octagon Box
2) HAED/GK: Scent of Enchantment QS -> Boreas
3) L&L/Mirabilia/TW: Firefly Fairies -> Tradewinds -> Rose of Sharon
4) Sampler: Toccata II SAL -> ?
5) Round Robins: Aussie RR and HAED RR on alternate months.
6) Small project: Travel Memories -> Snowdrop Fairy

Then I listed all the times I'm able to stitch (there's not that much time in between full time uni and two jobs) and decideed which project I wanted to do on each day! Easy :)

Tuesday morning: 4
Wednesday: 3
Friday: 1
Friday night: 5/6
Saturday night: 5/6
Sunday: 2

Now let's see if I can stick to it! Hahahaha.

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posted by Tash at 22:20 | 1 comments
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Toccata II-sday
This is the first week of the Toccata II SAL with Nicki. We're doing one motif a week and posting on a Tuesday, so henceforth, the day after Monday shall be known as Toccata II-sday (hehehehe). Is it sad that such a bad joke amuses me so very much?

So here's my first motif. I started in the centre and the closest one there was Area 14 which is couched goldwork (or something like that)

Stitched with recommended threads on 36 count Celtic blend by Stitches and Spice.

One of the fun things about starting in the middle is that I have so many choices for where to go next. But given my indecisiveness, I'll probably spend more time deciding that each week than actually stitching the motif! *sigh*

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posted by Tash at 17:13 | 1 comments
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New 2007!
So 2006 is over, and I've finished 17 things this year. That's 17 happydances! This has been my most productive stitching year by far. In the past two years I only managed to finish one thing! Pathetic!










December's goals:

  • Start and finish Nicki's HAED RR - Started, but not finished
  • Start and finish Beryl's Birds (Aussie RR) - Done!
  • Start and finish next round of Aussie RR (If it comes. I think I'm going to have two at once, but I could be wrong. I have no idea what's going on with this RR, the mailings are all over the place) - Nope. It did come though.
  • Finish 'S' by M Designs - Done!
  • Put at least one thread in Firefly Fairies - Nope
  • Prepare myself as far as possible to start Mystery X on January 1 (ie. choose a fabric! This depends on when the kit arrives here from ECC so I can do a floss toss) - Still haven't chosen my fabbie, and still waiting for the kit :(
  • Choose what count to do Boreas on, but DO NOT START HER (at least, not unless I finish Scent of Enchantment QS, which isn't likely) -Haven't even thought about it! I must get hold of some 20 count lugana to have a go on.

    So, now there's a new year and I have to make some big goals. The idea is to reduce my WIPs, because I hate having too many, I never feel like I'm getting any finishes.

    Current WIPs:
    1. Snow Drop Fairy - If I finish this and Travel Memories I can start the Snowman or Dartha. But I doubt it will happen.
    2. Scent of Enchantment QS - When I finish this I will be starting Boreas.
    3. Japanese Octagon Box - I don't actually expect to finish this, because I'll be doing Mystery X. If I do it's a bonus!
    4. Firefly Fairies - I REALLY want to finish this one. And if I do then I can start either Rose of Sharon (for me) or Tradewinds (for Dad)
    5. Travel Memories - I really should finish this, because the only thing stopping me is laziness! This will be replaced by Snowdrop Fairy (see above).
    6. Fire and Ice - Will most likely be retired to UFO status.
    7. Aussie RR89 - This should be finishing in July. I'm not going to replace it with anything, just enjoy the extra stitching time. In future I'm only going to participate in one robin at a time, because I miss out on too much 'me' stitching time.
    8. HAED RR - This won't finish until around December (I think) so I'll wait until 2008 to start a new Robin. Maybe a UFO RR for Fire and Ice?


    New Year Starts:


    1. I'm allowed one free new start to celebrate the beginning of the year, and that is Mystery X (pending materials and fabric choice)
    2. I'm also allowed a new start just for fun, and that is Toccata II SAL.
    3. (I was going to have a third start, Boreas, but I decided to make myself finish Scent of Enchantement QS, because it's sooo close)


    Financial Goals:


    1. To meet my mortgage repayments.
    2. To save $1000 by April for my trip to see DMB at Bluesfest.
    3. To have $5000 in my savings account by December (Paris? America? UK? who knows?)
    4. No new patterns or kits!!!!!! I have all the ones I need for next year, and I really do need to save money somehow! The exception to this will be 2 full size HAED patterns, which I haven't yet decided on, but one of them will probably be Silken Spells. But I'm waiting for a sale, and I'm waiting for a few more new releases ;)
    5. On the subject of flossies and fabbies, I haven't really decided yet. I'm going to continue collecting Stitches and Spice (very slowly), and I may sign up for a FOTM club (if I can decide on one), but other than that, I'm going to try and keep purchases to only what is needed for a current or immediately next project. (The exceptions to stash restrictions are sales of 50% or more, limited editions etc, and purchases for other people)


    Other Goals:


    1. To keep up with Mystery X (as soon as I've chosen a fabric).
    2. To meet all my mailing dates for robins.
    3. To keep up with Toccata II SAL.
    4. To get as much practice as possible with Finishing Techniques. I would love to join the SBEBB, but I really can't before I perfect a few methods. I can't finish everything as a biscornu. I might have to start saving up for a sewing machine!
    5. To limit my net time (I haven't decided to what though) and spend more time stitching.
    6. To devise and at least attempt a rotation. I don't know if it'll work for me, but I'm going to have a go at it. Some more structure might be just what I need to actually get something done!
    7. To keep this blog going! That means posting at least twice a week, updating the sidebars regularly, and finally spending the time to find a perfect layout.
    8. To weigh no more than 95kg by Christmas *fingers crossed*

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    posted by Tash at 21:39 | 0 comments