The finishing process is taking me a lot longer than I thought. I've been finishing for two nights solid now, and I don't have much to show for it. Wednesday night was mainly measuring and cutting bits of skirtex, cardboard, and interfacing. Last night was making cording and tassels, and I actually managed to finish the scissor case and fob of Cherry Blossom Spring€ (and they look absolutely gorgous!) I'm having a little trouble with the needlebook, but I think I know how to solve it, I just need to be inventive.

I'm worried...

Here's Monday's progress on JOB. I finished wll the stitching in the third panel, and added some gold to the lantern at the bottom. I didn't get too much done because I felt guilty and decided to study for my exam (it went okay by the way)Wow, the fabric colour came out quite well in this picture! I was going to do more... I was going to do more gold on the top and bottom, but I got stuck on a decision. I was looking at the way I had put the gold around the rhodes stitches. I followed the instructions which said to do it in two stitches (on the left) but I think It might look better if I just do it as one long stitch (on the right). I looked at other people's WIPs on webshots, I saw that Kyrie is doing it in two stitches, other on people have done it both ways, and some people have done it with four tiny stitches! I'm leaning towards the one long stitch on the right. Any one else have an opinion?
And lastly, I finished Cherry Blossom Spring yesterday. Yay! Now, I can get started on the finishing. Eeek! Actually, I'm tempted to stitch Fir Tree Mountain too so that I can finish them all at the same time. But I really should finish the other two as they were supposed to be birthday presents and they're already very late. *sigh* I just don't know.

Happy stitching :)

So.... here we are, it's 0215 hrs, and I'm still awake. I have a mental health practical exam in the morning, and I need to go to sleep. This is why I hate night shifts. GRRRR

I need to post a pic of today's progress on JOB, but I can't find my camera at the moment, so it'll have to wait for tomorrow. I didn't do much anyway, I decided that I probably should study a bit for my exam, although I don't know how much help it will be. There's not much preparation I can really do.

*sigh* I'm going to go back to bed and see if I can get to sleep yet. Goodnight

Free ice cream, even on a cold day, makes me happy.

It's my last day of uni today (besides exmas) and that makes me happy too.

I'm meant to be in a mental health tutorial at the moment, but the teacher gave us a half hour break --->happy

Plus, it's payday, and I'm going out for some S.E.X this afternoon!

And I got a HD on my assessment!

happy, happy, happy!

Isn't it nice to have a rainy day? I love the rain. The only thing I like better is a thunderstorm, we usually get a few in November in Sydney. Unfortunately today was just rain. Not even any wind to speak of. Oh well, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I didn't go to uni today.... very naughty of me, I know, but it was the last class for Patho, and it's mainly revision, so I decided to stay home and generally lay about the house and stitch. I've finished all the crosses on Running Rabbits, and it's just been washed and is hanging up to dry now. Tomorrow I'll attach the beads and the charm to the centre and give you a picture. I'm thinking of framing this to give to the lady who gave me the kit. At least I know she'll like it! If I can't find a frame then I might finish it into a little cushion or something, or maybe a pinkeep if I'm feeling adventurous!

Mel helped me out with my blog problem. I think the problem is the way webshots hosts pictures, it seems to change the url of the photo every hour or so, so I stuck it on Flickr instead... fingers crossed it goes better this time.

Yaaay! I finaly spent a Monday on JOB! I've really missed this, and I had great fun stitching it today. Actually, I didn't do very much now I think about it. It took me over 3 hours to do the bird, the clouds, and some of the blue mountain. Hmmm, next week I'll have to spend a bit more time on it. So, anyone notice that I changed my layout? I like it, but for some reason the picture at the top won't show up. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. What have I done wrong? I'll never understand HTML!

I went to work last night, and Jan, who works the evening shift gave me a little Just Nan kit that she had picked up at a fete the day before. She said she had trid to start it, but the fabric was too small and she couldn't see it! (It's only 28 count! I'm glad I have good eyes). It was Running Rabbits. So I was very naughty and had a new start last night. Here's where I am so far. I'm going to work on it a bit tonight, then take a break tomorrow for JOB SAL, and then go back to this until it's finished. It shouldn't take me too long, probably be finished by tuesday, all things going well!

So, I'm a few days late, but better late than never, right?

Goals for November:
1. Finish Cherry Blossom Spring
2. Start the final square of my RR
3. Get back into JOB SAL with Kyrie (Mondays)
4. Do a few more green bits on Mystery X
5. Write a novel.

That's all... sound's do-able. Except for the last one maybe, it's not coming along too well. 4,207 words, but only about 300 of them are any good. *sigh*

So... I'm working night shift tonight... shall I stitch on Cherry Blossom Spring, or Wri my No?

Oh, by the way, this is my 100th post. Hooray!

So, I know it's been a while. August, September, and October have always been problem months for me. I don't know exactly why, but it seems to be the time of year when I've very unsettled. Among other things. I don't really want to go into it, but basically I'm an emotional write off during those months.

My other excuse is Uni. I've never worked so hard as I have this semester. I have to say though, thus far my marks have reflected that. I'm doing extremely well this semester. Hopefully that will continue. I may not be lucky though. November is going to be yet another month from Hell. First of all there's exams. Two written, which will be a breeze, and two prac, which will not. I hate prac exams, and I'm very worried about one of them. I'll be assessed on IV drug administration, blood transfusions, and catherterisation (only female, thankfully, they're not that cruel to us.

Also this month, I'm doing NaNoWriMo for the first time ever, and I'm not confident. I've already started, I'm about 3000 words in (that's not very much). I don't have a plot, I've just started off with some characters and a situation, I don't really know where it's going. It might be a very interesting adventure.

But I doubt it'll be much of anything, as I might be moving house this month. Catherine (my dear sister) will be moving down to Canberra in the near future, thereby leaving me stuck here paying two people's rent, which I simply cannot afford. So goodbye little house in Pennant Hills, goodbye my darling little puppy, I'll be moving into my Dad's weekday flat in Rhodes, and my puppy will be moving down to Canberra where there's a garden for her to live in :( So this month I'll be boxing up my life and moving the majority of it into a storage unit somewhere, and taking the bare essentials with me to Dad's place. It's tough to downscale everything you own, which at the moment fills my whole (small) house, and work out what I need to live out of one (small) bedroom. But that's life. It will at least be a financial relief. I've been struggling big time lately. But I don't want to go into that either.

I do have some interesting things to show you... lots and lots of lovely pictures! The days are getting warmern (yuck) and longer (yay) since daylight savings has commenced, so when I noticed an opportune ray of sunshine hitting one of my finished pieces on my piano this afternoon, I decided to whip out everything I've touched for the past few months and take a few snaps.

First is the round robin catch up. I finished the first one back in... um... September? Yeah, that sounds right. This is Sheri's and it's a fragmented version of Vacher's Sacred Hour. I did the bit in the bottom left. It was really easy because there were only about 8 colours. I can't wait to see how it turns out when everyone's stitched on it. (don't forget to click on all the pictures to see them nice and huuuuge, if you like)

Next up: Wanda's RR, a fragmented version of Verdure by Linda Ravenscroft. Her art has been discontinued at HAED, so I can't give you a link. This kind of art isn't really my kind of thing... there's something about her face that creeps me out a bit, but I have to say that even so, she is absolutely stunning in real life, and she is so much fun to stitch!
But the most exciting thing is that my RR came home to me! Everyone has stitched on it, and it looks amazing! Now I have to decide what to put in my last square, then finish the border, and it's all done!
I did manage a finish during my absence. Actually more than one, but some of them are secret (PIFs are due out soon, and I'm not finished all of them... nevermind!) Anyway, I think I can show this because the recipient is blissfully unaware of the world of blogs, let alone the fact that I have one. It's for my friend Veronica, who is also a stitcher, and stitches on night shifts with me. This is Shades of Blue Willow by The Cat's Whiskers. I've finished the stitching, but I still need to do the actual finishing into accessories. I'm absolutely terrified of this bit!

I also started one if it's companions Cherry Blossom Spring for my other stitchy work friend, Tara. And I'm planning on doing the final one in the trilogy, Fir Tree Mountain for myself. When I've finished stitching on all three of them, I'll tackle the finishing. (Even though Tara and Veronica's birthdays were over a month ago.)
I've also made a small amount of progress on Mystery X. I will be SO happy when I've finished part 2. Nearly there now. My goal is to finish this bit by the end of the year. Fingers crossed. I also started adding some of the beads and treasures from part 1. Alternating beading and monotonous stitching with honeydew keeps me sane.
That photo was a bit washed out by the sun, but the next one is a much better picture of the colours. I love taking relief photos, they always look stunning. I had about six, and it was really hard to pick just one to share!
I also put a small amount of work into tranquility sampler. I still have a looong way to go on this one too, but I've put it away for a while. It'll come out again next year I suspect.
Oh, yes, I was also very naughty whilst I was away. I had not one, but two (2) new starts! And both of them were full size HAEDs! Oh, lord, just strike me down now. I know I have no self discipline and am therefore destined for Hell. (I've been craving a few more new starts too, there are just more and more stunning artworks coming out every week!) Anyway, the first is Lady of Lake by Sara Butcher. I'm doing it in tent stitch (eeek!) 2 x1 on 32 ct white opalescent lugana. Actually, the coverage is perfect, and stitching is going very fast, I just hope that when I get to the lovely lady herself, she doesn't look slanty!

And this one is Princess Asleep by Yvonne Gilbert. I love this picture, it looks like it has come straight out of a fairytale. It's 1x1 full crosses on 28 (or maybe 27)ct cream Linda (I think.) This one is much slower going, due to the fact that there's just so many colours, but it will hopefully be worth the hard work.
Wow, it really has been a long time since my last post. I've had a trip to Dragonfly Dreams, and got some lovely stash, and finishing materials... but I'll have to save those pictures for later I guess. I also went to the quilting and craft show in Darling Harbour, and bought myself a lovely treat.
Yes, it's a box to put all my bits and pieces in. I've needed one of these for a long time. And it was only $60! I think that's a bargain!
Awww, look at my pretty girl, I'm going to miss her when she moves away :(

Anyway, last, and least, I'm going to leave you with a picture of the world's smallest sewing machine. I haven't used it yet, except for on a test piece of fabbie, and it seems to work fine. But for $15, I certainly can't complain!

Phew, okay, that's all for now. I'll post again when I have something of significance to show.

Goodnight!