And since I'm going t be away on Tuesday I thought I'd better share Toccata II early. I did OPQ and Area 20. I loved this one, it had so many stitches in it :) queen stitch, satin stitch, alternating double back stitch, elongated smyrna cross, and tied trellis stitch! Phew!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to stitch on JOB this Monday, as I'm going to Canberra on the train and won't be able to carry it. I'll be taking Mystery X instead which is collapsible (hooray for Q-Snaps!) so hopefully by the time I return I'll have made some headway. Maybe I'll even have finished part 2! But don't get your hopes up ;)

See you on Friday!

Labels: Blogging, Eyecandy, Small talk, Stitchiness, Toccata II-sday, Worky-purkey

So, even though I've been busy, I still managed a Happy Dance at work on Friday night (yay!). This little cutie is Popcorn. He was for the other Round Robin I'm in. Actually, I'd nearly forgotten about that robin, it's so disorganized, I haven't had a rotation from that one for about four months. But now I seem to be back in the loop! Teddy bears aren't really my kind of thing, but he is very sweet, and he only took 10 hours of stitching!

It was Mother's Day yesterday, and I had great fun buying Mum' presents. I usually buy her fabric for quilting. But she used to cross stitch all the time, and I really miss that, so I decided that if I bought her something that I know she'd like she might be forced to have to stitch again. I got her two kits, Fruitful 1 and Splendor from The Heart's Content, because I know she's been eyeing them for a long time. And of course, since I was buying online, I thought I'd better make the most of the postage, so I bought myself a silk gauze kit: Gaze Awhile. When I got it in the mail, I was going to start it right away, but my WIPs are really getting out of control as it is, so I'm saving it for a bit later ;)

Well, Mum was very pleased with her Mothers day present, so she bought me a present to say thankyou (I told her that's not how it works, but I didn't argue with her too hard.) A gorgeous overdyed silk (Grape by Caron Waterlilies) and a beautiful pair of scissors I can wear around my neck whilst stitching, and a pincushion kit, with my very favourite (NOT) stitch all over it. Mum said she forgot that I hate Queen stitch, but I know that she was giggling the whole time, sneaky Mummy. So, I haven't been around, but life is still moving on. I do have some good news which I've been bursting to tell, and that is that I quit my sleep over job, and I couldn't be happier about it. I was really unhappy there, and I was doing 4 nights a week, which was just too much for me to handle with full time uni and the other two jobs. I've just had a horrible few months there. Plus I wasn't getting paid enough... $100 for 12 hours work is criminal! However, now that I have quit I will be absolutely broke! I think after I pay the mortgage and bills I will have $100 a fortnight for everything else. So there will be another job in the near future, but I'm definitely going to enjoy a few weeks of having more stitching time.

Labels: Blogging, Eyecandy, HAPPYDANCE, S.E.X., Small talk, Stitchiness, Toccata II-sday, Tranquility, Uni, Worky-purkey

Labels: Blogging, Boreas, Goals, Mystery X, New Start, Small talk, Uni, Worky-purkey

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*

Labels: Blogging, Goals, Stitchiness

Labels: Blogging, S.E.X., Uni, Worky-purkey

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?

Labels: Blogging, SBQ and memes

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

Labels: Blogging, Small talk, Stitchiness

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

Labels: Blogging, Familials, Small talk

Labels: Blogging, Small talk