Race before 2012!

Hello!  Here we are, with a little less than 6 hours left til the New Year 2012.  In Singapore, the day after Christmas (Boxing Day they call it, a remnant of their colonial British past), decorations for the Chinese New Year were being put up right alongside the Christmas decor which were most likely on the way down, I suppose.  They say that the next year 2012 is the Year of the Dragon (honestly would not have known that if I hadn't been there: the lead up to that will come in our local papers maybe a week or 2 weeks to Chinese New Year, which I reckon will be towards the end of January 2012.. no firm date overheard).   They say it will be a better year.  We can only hope!

See the Christmas decor on Orchard (poor shot taken from a taxi cab as we were crossing Orchard; my timing was off)

As of now I am rushing this Day 4 doll square, work on which you may recall came to a standstill after I lost the whole skein of green 501 floss.  Pretty lame, but there it is.  My friend Joysze has been yearning to see a finish (sorry Joysze! and I forgot to sign up for IHSW!)  For the past week I have been sporadically stitching on it; I've been unable to because I was spending time with the apples of my eyes (there are 2 apples, don't you know) my nephew and niece.  Christmas was a bit of an anticlimax, with family matters spoiling all things Christmas.  

Anyway, here is what is new over at Casa Whimsey and Wit (my WIP is now a "casa" where things happen.. or don't! lol):

I'm not being very ambitious, I just want the green dress and the red piping done and the word "dolly" in green sewn out before 2012 comes.  The red piping will be courtesy of DMC metallics 321 -- apparently there is no such thing as DMC 5270 anymore...  paid a quick visit to the local needlestore - such nice staff!  the store is smaller than it used to be but the two young ladies manning it said it was only temporary - let's hope so! I bought 4 DMC Amorsolo patterns (I have the Tinikling already, so that makes 5th) - there are 8, but I don't like the other three -- all yellows and browns, and the "Banga" one and the fishing one and the girl bathing which I really don't feel drawn to as subjects for stitching.  Are they for me?  No, they're for my dear cousin who's visiting - it's been 5 years since her last visit and she's here with her family to celebrate her mom's 80th.   I must say, though, that I'm inclined to buy the patterns for myself... but given my rate of finishing they might turn out UFOs or NFOs!  Still.. would be nice to have them in case I'm ever crazy  inspired enough to stitch them.  I like Tinikling, and the Girl with Mangoes.   My cousin, on the other hand, is someone who will likely stitch them, and finish!

These paintings portray early 20th century scenes from the countryside.  Sadly these scenes are very rare now as what used to be countryside and rice fields are now real estate developments!

On to more inspiring things... stash!  Magazines count as stash, don't they?

A lot of magazines my cousin sent to me.  These aren't half of it yet.  She even sent charts, and boy can she keep them neat and really new looking.  She made up a kit for me for one of them and that's going to be the second, no third item I'm stitching for 2012.  First will be a Happy New Year small for a card ( I already apologized for not being able to send it off before Christmas!), then the Flower scene "Flowery Meadow" from Burda, and then the kit.  Um, I should say I have not kitted up for the Flowery Meadow just yet.  Threads are in Anchor. I don't mind Anchor, but at the point where I started stitching there seemed to be more DMC, so I have more DMC than Anchor.  

I have a confession to make.  I visited Spotlight at Plaza Singapura, and they were having a huge sale til January 5th, and I didn't buy anything except a pack of Mill Hill beads that were on sale at SG$1.  There was also Kreinik at SG2, and 2 shades of green Marlitt at SG3.. and packs of Aida and evenweave with accompanying leaflets/charts by Semco at SG5.. even red Aida 16ct.. and I didn't buy!!  At that time I was congratulating myself on my restraint but now... it just seems abysmally dumb of me not to have bought!!!  :((

 And another thing... I FORGOT to bring my stitched ornaments to my nephew and niece!  So they're here, languishing in my box.  Well, I have decided to find a way to "finish" them into respectable ornaments and not just little bits of stitched stuff, so my mom or I can bring them next time.   Oh well.  

Okay.. I better get cracking if I'm to finish Day 4!

A brighter, happier, all around better New Year to all my stitchy friends!   A peaceful, prosperous New Year!

hello.. checking in!

my dear brother has come and gone, and nothing got stitched... this despite posting the new dates for International Hermit and Stitch! and i forgot to sign up, too! perhaps because it was my birth day that weekend.. i got a really neat present from DB. combi birth day and Christmas.  i hope he and his wife like their presents, too!

but i digress..  undaunted, i promise to continue stitching tonight if it kills me (please don't let it, lol)

i've been really torn by these really cute freebies from the blog i mentioned in my last post.. we'll see.  i plan to bring my stitching along over the Christmas break.

now, off to bake!

Some things to share

I found a really cute Noel SAL at Lili's blog and it's free but you have to subscribe to her to get the entire chart .. nice, cute small pattern!  she can be found here:  http://gtlilih.over-blog.com/ (somehow I seem to have forgotten how to post a blog name and the link to it in one..)  :p   she also shared a new Christmas chart.

As you can see not a lot of stitching is going on!  But I promise to have a post (with sewing progress in it!) soon.

My friend Parsley is having a really generous PIF going at "Seasons of My Mind".  Check her out on the side bar! I should only be so lucky... :)  It's so difficult to find any good charts here.. hardly any of the neat stuff featured in ABC and 123!

That's all for now, folks.. may your Christmas preparations prosper!

stitch-related things

found at Daiso -  i thought it looked like the stitching aid at 123s

my prorgress thus far..

thanks for stopping by!

10,000 blistering barnacles!

as Capt. Haddock puts it.    isn't it cool that there's to be a new film version of Tintin?  

i am so upset, i can't find my skein of DMC 501 green!!  put down the green sewing (the doll's dress) to do her face in 948.  next thing i know (wanting to finish her dress) i couldn't find the green!   arrrgh.  i'm too upset right now.  will have to make a special trip this weekend to buy the color, right when i still have my christmas shopping to do!

that's all for now.. i'll see what else i can do.

Famous Last Words

here's where i am with it.. i'm going to do a bit more after posting this:

left the collar to do (it's ecru!) but finished both sleeves. notice the other day's pic vis a vis this one...the dreaded frog visited and stayed a day! aside from that, my brother arrived yesterday (sad that my sister-in-law could not come along) so overall very happy!  will try and finish dress now.  the trim, i dunno.. it's DMC Metallic #5270 which i could not find.  i'll get a substitute instead!

Cindy, thanks for all the encouragement!  I really love to hear your comments, lol  I'd really love to hear more!

er...

half-done!  i miscounted, so there's a half line i have to frog..  you know how it is... you feel so disheartened when it happens!  anyway, i'm not overly bothered though i am behind (way behind!) schedule.  i told my mom "Christmas", what i forgot to say was "2012"!  lol  i will finish this tomorrow, for sure, and show a start on another square.

so we finally brought out the tree - no fresh pine here, alas!  it is our old tree, foreshortened - it used to be a foot taller, but when we moved somehow 2 sections disappeared and a year since moving we have not found them.  also missing are some cute prism ornaments that we bought at Borders Singapore.  i am not sure if this is the store that closed, same as many of the US ones - has it? i remember my first visit, to the one in Torrance/Del Amo.. and i remember being so overwhelmed that even after a half day parked in the store, not being able to choose any books at all!  that was when i first heard the term "the paralysis of infinite choice" and boy was that apt!

anyway, back to the ornaments.. we have saved (or we saved) many ornaments throughout the years, as it was always our (my mom's and my) thing to shop at the different bazaars, way back from when i was in high school.. and that was, oh, 25 years ago!  the only bazaars then were Casa y Jardin by the Catholic Women's Club, and the odd Rotary or Zonta and the FOB bazaar by MM, and the International Bazaar that the embassies used to take part in.  now they are a dime a dozen, and the quality of goods.. meh.   lol   we bought a lot of our ornaments in Casa y Jardin and FOB.  anyway, here are some of them:

this was my brother's ornament

and another brother's ornament.

and my other brother's.  i think little toy soldier used to have dangly legs but they have since been lost to time.

a favorite star.  we had several felt ornaments with embroidery on them.  my ornament was a little dutch girl made of felt. she had a pink overskirt and a green apron, and a white cap a little bit like "the Flying Nun". she's missing - i think she may have got thrown away because 3 or 4 years ago, i washed her cap.. disaster! she came unglued - literally!  there's also a quilted angel ornament but it was too dark so i will have to take another picture later.

a partridge, i'm guessing 

a little pig

a wreath

another star

some teddies.  the white one i bought from Bloomingdale's in LA, with some chocolates, for my dad.  the other 2 teddy bears are for my nephew and niece.  no Bloomie's pedigree for them, unfortunately.

the little horse isn't actually part of our Christmas decor, but it's Christmas-y, and i wanted to show it because it's at least 35 years old.  The pig in jester costume is part of our regular decor.  somehow things popped up with our move - i don't remember the brown bear but there it is!

and last...

my ornament!  ta-daaa!  isn't it beautiful?  it's flanked by 2 button wreaths which my nephew and niece made.

woo hoo, i'm on a roll! look at that!  the beginnings of the little doll!

and i will be very happy if i can keep it going!  i will finish her tonight.  look for my next post announcing it!

didn't spend the day stitching - i went looking for some presents! some Bragg's amino acids - seems it's a soy sauce substitute of some kind - organic, etc.  we love our soy sauce!  but i can't imagine how it can be better than shoyu or tamari - they're non GMO too and prepared in Japan..saw some other interesting things at the health store Healthy Options.. Bob's Red Mill flours of all kinds, flax seed, organic honey, shampoo, Bronner's castile soap peppermint - might go back for that - just nice wandering around..   and after all that, bought my nephew's present:

honestly, their toys are soooo much more expensive than ours were, when we were kids. wii?  DS?  PSP?  man oh man.  we had the old Nintendo system and i saw it when we were moving but i don't think it was complete and anyway, with everything that was going on during the move i'm sure it's now gone completely...  anyway, my nephew writes blogs and is so creative!  he makes plots for Doctor Who episodes.. i mean, you really need an active imagination to write things like those! (takes after my brother, his dad)  it's nice that he writes, but i'm afraid that between that and the playing, he might choose not to socialize, and it's important at that age to make a little bit of effort, so that school is okay.   i made him promise to go out to run, or for a nature walk every afternoon (i hope he makes friends there).  i digress,  i bought that, then had to go to mass -- a journey normally 10 mins took me 35 minutes! i guess maybe the Christmas rush has started.  in the end i had to attend the 7pm mass (First Friday).

anyway, gotta get back to the stitching if i'm to have something to show tomorrow.. til then... happy stitching!

bell!

I've finished bell!  and I did some stitching on the angel, whose shade of blue I can't figure out. Comparing it with my DMC floss card, it looks like it could be 3752.. I don't know, cause the floss I picked didn't have its number! haha ha... I don't unpick my floss and wind them on those thingies, that's why.. and I guess that's not a good move.

Next to do, either the angel (1) or the musical note (12 - if I don't get frustrated with working with metallics.. the whole note is metallic!).  Why not 3?  It's the candy cane and it needs B5200 (or whatever white shade that is).  Why not 11?  It's the sheep, and ditto, it's mostly ecru! Not to mention I think I'll have to order Rainbow Gallery's Wisper 88 and 89 -  and good luck with that over here... I'm 99% sure, no make that 100% sure that no one sells that in this part of the world..  Wisper 88 for Santa's beard, and 89 for the sheep's wool.   I'm saving all the white stitching for last.

You never know, it could be the doll (4) or the Holy Family (13)!

ps. the little distortion is the fabric, there's a fold in that area!

thought i'd share

To Stitch or Not to Stitch has a lovely giveaway going on.  In case you hadn't noticed my Giveaway Goings-on sidebar.  Good luck to us all!  Happy Stitching!

good morning!

thanks, everyone, for sticking by me through this Advent Alphabet project.  i know it's looking a bit raggedy and honestly while it's fun sewing on the linen, it's taking a lot out of me -- the counting and the finding where to start a stitch on the linen!  i only  hope it will look a lot better when it's washed.. whenever that will be  lol

anyway Joysze has just gently reminded me that i haven't posted any pic yet.. so i'm here to tell you that i can't!  LOL  foiled by my camera, i took a shot of my WIP and the battery just died so i'll have to wait for it to charge up again.

on the bright side, i was so excited to finish the square that i started on another one immediately. HA!  how's that for progress?  3 3/4s squares down, 20 more to go! haha ha.. it's a Christmas countdown!  anyway, just to keep me going i am posting a pic of what it's supposed to end up looking like..

and another, closer up (i finished Day 2, the little bell, first row, second column)

the other half:

you can just see the faint pencil marks on the side where my nephew (or niece) decided it was a nice sheet of paper for drawing on..  :)

and in other news, yippee! i found a working copy of the chart i lost (actually it was a magazine and i lost ALL the charts, i mean of all things, the magazine had all the pics and in the middle was stapled the charts, just ONE huge page all folded up!)  i'm lucky i decided to make a working copy - although that's probably how i lost the whole charts page anyway.. from detaching it from the magazine!!  Burda International for those interested.. let me show you the pic of the piece:

okay, with these flowery goodies i must go...  it's my brother's 33rd anniversary of his Day of Re-birth and i have to go to work early so i can leave early for mass!

Missing you, dear blog!

hello!  welcome to new friends!

missed posting the whole week, i've been so busy!  late nights at work (getting home at 9) have had me really, really tired. after reading from my blog roll, i am just ready to sleep!

it's enough to make me tear out my hair.. everyone's WIP is so beautiful and neat looking, even while they're IP, that it quite drives me to despair!  i surely have a nerve posting my long suffering WIP!  oh well, i'm doing it for the beauty of it (or soon to be beauty of it, when it's finished), and for my satisfaction.  i do think it's a cute, cute pattern, not appreciated enough when it came out.  and there must have been buyers, the chart's got a control number so at least 200 people must have bought it, and now look, i mean it's OOP and HTF!  that is, if anyone other than me would choose to look for it  lol

anyway, here's this week's progress:

darn, i will post later! i forgot i was trying to upload an old SD card so there's no space to take another shot.. meanwhile, i have to go to mass.

toodle-oo!

progress, at last!

good day!  some progress, at last.  what i stitched sunday (taken in full sunlight, hence the yellowish cast):

and what i stitched today (under flourescent lighting):

leetle by leeetle.. well, there's still the rest of the day (what's left of it!)!

where does the time go?  the days are passing so quickly, i can't believe it's just 30-something days before Christmas!  all the blogs i'm following are doing Christmas stitching, nice and festive!

we are still tv-less, and i doubt i can go buy one until the weekend, so wow! a whole week without tv! i can never not watch a program or two during the evenings.. tonight i would have watched the cooking program Ricardo and Friends, which i first saw in Vancouver, and Chef at Home (if i have the schedule correctly).  or it would be Nigella Bites, or French Food at Home. i'm also partial to the River Cottage series, i can never believe that you can really just live off the land (or maybe you can, and it's just the land in England!)

hurried off to the office this morning without realizing that i wasn't wearing my headband. yes it is very Alice in Wonderland-y but i have to wear one as the hair on the left side of my head is in an inadvertent 'bangs' style. i say inadvertent because it all snapped off after i had a treatment done on my hair (dang!) and i never realized how bad it was because i kept combing my hair back. anyway, the hair has grown and now it's just standing.. i have a thick head of hair so i have to pin that side back and then keep it back with a headband!  that hairdresser really did a number on me.. grrr!  when i look at the strands i note a definite pattern with the breaks occurring at a certain point.. even the split ends split at the same point!  ack!  i don't think i'll be able to stand this much longer.. it will either be short, or again rebonded and then cut short!  if things work well i will be able to stitch while this is being done!  imagine, 5-6 hours while your hair is being done.. boredom!

happy stitching, all! :)

move along now

move along.. that's what the title of this post should be! haha ha
hermit and stitch was this weekend but as i said, saturday not much stitching would be done (in fact none at all!) i was so tired from the little outing that i fell asleep 2 hours after i got home!  blame it on the journey - it was a fun afternoon but too short! - the trip going and coming took really long, back and forth all in all was 6 hours!  i kid you not.  and without the traffic i'm sure it would only have taken 2.

a view of the main gathering place from the gazebo - welcoming lights within

the walkway over the pond.  my friend's husband's family made a very lovely retreat for their mother.

then this afternoon was all about research on a new tv or 2, and of course nothing got done because aside from reading about it now i have to go look at them "in the flesh" as it were!  and i now know the difference between CRT, LCD and LED tvs, more or less, plus what to look at!

anyway, i did some stitching actually (compromised on the floss color, so relieved to be getting on with sewing the motif!) and will post a pic tomorrow.

happy weekend too short!

a few pics

Had a bad headache last night.. not had one of those for quite some time!  Could not sew, but I did try to take a few pics.

Thought I'd post a few pics to inspire me.. a finish, SIL

a WIP (the left one).. it's been lying around but I could not find it last night!  I intend to finish it by looking at the pic. This is the Burda magazine whose charts are missing.. oh St. Anthony, please help me out!  Anyone know how to chart using a picture?  There's another project I wanted to do, and I took a photo of it but the vertical photo wants to go horizontal.. why does that happen?? This one is perfectly okay..

Won't be able to sew til much later today.. Will be at work then a get-together.  I hope my head behaves!

Happy week-end!

catching up.. again!

hello!  it's been really really busy at work and i predict it will be as busy as when we were having those labor problems.. (so much sangfroid in saying that when the reality is i do sympathize and really, we have been told that there is no guarantee that it won't happen to us either!) at least 'til december 16.  spent today catching up with my work and will be doing the same thing tomorrow. couldn't even go out to lunch.  didn't get any of the hoped-for stitching done during the break!  what did i do?  i napped!   argh!  lol  i needed it. this weekend i will be adding to the design of the blog by putting in my Wish List, so you can all drool?  yearn?  with me.  i hope it won't be a violation of copyright to show the pictures of what i want.  how's that for a project?  but what i should actually be doing is sewing!  sorry about the pic again, i think it's better to take photos in the morning.. see that nice bit of frill to the green ribbon?

there's a lot of solid stitching on this chart but as it's my first stitch on non-Aida it's not going as fast as i want it to because of the counting! i will add another, better pic later.

many things at home needing replacement, darn!  tv just went today of all days, and a/c in our room made screechy sounds last May or June, water heater would be nice, would like one in all the bedrooms, new water purifier..  i put off replacing the a/c because anyway the worst of summer was over ..  will need to do it probably in Feb (just being frugal) and with Christmas coming the expenses will be ginormous to begin with (plane tickets more expensive).. i need to win the lotto or something so that we can get really good, CLEAN finishing done on the house..!

on the bright side next month i will see my brother, and my nephew and niece.  worth the expense, which i will still be paying for 3 months after, lol.  not literally, but to build up reserves again.  well, there's today's stitching..!  :-D (huge grin to make up for lack of stitches)

ho ho ho!

i forgot to write!  oh dear.  i'm still pretty much stitchless and with a growing wish list ?  anyway i will post a pic of the 30 or so stitches i managed so far (shameful i know.. a whole week wasted!).   i started with the bell and abandoned the angel for the meantime because 1) it's hard sewing with metallic thread, DMC light effects - is that the name? and 2) i'm running out of the blue DMC732 i'm using as a substitute for the WD Morris Blue.  i may have to re-do the angel (for the second time, i might add!)  how do i get myself into these things??

my poor WIP is looking more raggedy. i must say today i'm glad the resolution isn't too good because it truly is unpressed and woeful-looking! i'll have to make up for it later (and at least sew the 1 by the angel square!) .

now, it is funny i started with the bell when there are, oh, 21 other motifs i could have made a start on, but i liked the color 991, which forms the ribbon for the bell.  it's such a nice, vibrant green shade.  i confess, i don't have the 3855 for the bell, either.. the substitute for the WD Honeysuckle.  what happened in the 5 or so years i stopped stitching??  where did all these new colors come from??   my DMC Stitcher's Color Guide only has 390 (plus 30 of that year's newest colors)...  and i checked on 123 and the newest guide has 470!  ack!

i wrote ho ho ho on the title post, i should have written ha haha..  then again, high ho might be better, cause it's off to work i go.  hoping to sneak in some stitches during my lunch hour so i can feel virtuous again  :)

more on the wish list :)

ooh looking at other blogs just makes my wish list grow longer (and my stitching time, shorter!) saw some lovely patterns. Les bonheurs des dames Christmas piece, Teddy ABC, Les Ambrosales Christmas ABC, Permin Christmas calendar, etc etc... you get the drift.. :)

Ok, really now, post pic later.. hoping to get a few stitches in before the end of the day!

Good stitching, and God bless the everyone and everyone's week!

hello!

spent the day reading, and  being inspired by everyone's work.. also looked for my issue of Burda Practical Handicrafts Vol.1 No. 1, 1993... found it!  And then discovered that the charts are missing!  Burda's got their charts in the middle section of the magazine as a pull out..at least the old ones did! Grrr.. i did want to do several of them, specially "Flowery Meadow", and i had a start already on one of the Danish flower thread wreaths..  sigh..  so i read stitchy blogs the whole day and added to my wishlist of patterns out of frustration.. as if that was going to help! haha ha.. oh well, i can always try e-bay...  

reading stitchy ... now if only i could get going on my own! sewed the "2" on the 2nd square, and that's about it. the DMC 991 is such a nice color!..   will take a pic later.. late with the blogging, need more motivation!

tomorrow

tomorrow's only 2 minutes away!  panic, panic
what a short weekend this is turning out to be.. was at work til 3.30pm on a day when it's supposed to be a half day..
didn't get any stitching done; was too busy admiring other people's work (on their blogs!)
just read that it's some sort of blog a day for the whole month, so trying for that (well, for the rest of the month, ha ha!) with this little post.
i know, i know...
saw this little piece mentioned in 123 stitch:  Candice Mendousse - Le Joyeux Noel des Lutine.. would anyone know where to find it?  i love advent calendars!
another nice piece..  Roses Blanches by Reflets de Soie.  reminds me of my mom's beautiful, beautiful tablecloths!  one day i'll do this...

Missing! and some NEW stuff (etc) - edited

Missing my stitching mojo - despite the best of intentions I seem to have lost it these past 2 weeks!  Where's it gone?  Despite the best of intentions, I seem to be stuck on the angel - yes, the angel with the DMC metallic thread!  There's a nice, silvery effect to it - a bit icy looking!  My thread lengths are little more than 6 inches and yet I can't seem to sew more than a few stitches before the DMC metallic slips off.. Why?

Should I be using a needle with a bigger hole?  I think I have either a 24 or 26 DMC embroidery needle.    Anyway I have promised my Mom I will persevere.  So after this, I am off to read (yet again) some tips on sewing on linen and using metallic thread. Some stitching MUST be done tonight!

And here's the Cosmic Handmade Angel freebie pattern that got done (or semi-done, anyway)  In case you didn't notice, lately the stitching's "all about smalls":

This little baby is heading to my dear SIL - once it's all done, that is.  No wings, and no blonde streaks yet in her hair!  I found a cute little angel in the JCS magazine and I'm making that too - the Prairie Schooler angel!

And of course, that brings me to my latest dearest possession, the 2011 JCS Christmas Ornament magazine - yippee!  My dearest cousin sent it to me! (Note:  I should add that I'm in Asia, so it's not the easiest thing to find.. there's less and less cross stitching magazines available!)   She also sent me a little cookbook "Recipes for a Cure", a special cookbook with some cross stitch patterns, compiled by Attic Needlework (oh, it's a LNS in Arizona!) and proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Because I'm a survivor too!  Not the same type of c, but c nonetheless.  Why is it when you've had it, they never say "c-free", just "in remission"?  I hope it never comes back!

Anyway, posting some pictures of the goodies:

sorry about the light, I lost no time in covering it with plastic to protect it, so that's the reflection shining off it!  In the cookbook, I especially liked Blue Ribbon Design's "Hope" ornament, so that's on the To-do list too.  There's a lot more I'd like to sew, but those 2 will be first!

The recipes are very do-able and sound really delicious - as in "on your hips" delicious.. however they do use a lot of canned soup,  canned vegetables, etc.. so in making them it would be a good idea to watch the fat and the sodium and get low-fat and low-salt stuff!

Just got off the phone with my dearest nephew - he was excitedly telling me about his graduation party - his first real 'dance' with kids his age... too cute!  I am so happy that he's excited about it and that he had fun!  Next year he goes to high school! Where did the time go? His dad would be so proud.

If you saw the back of the Whimsey and Whit advent alphabet pattern, you would see some crayon drawings - mementos of my dearest nephew!  I can hear awwww in the background!

Anyway, that's it for now..  I hope to post again by Sunday and show some progress on that angel, and some new starts!  Til then, God bless everyone!

Oh, and here's another photo.. hoping it inspires me:

At last! a few pics

Good morning!  Long weekend mode here..read a bit (Caleb Carr's "The Italian Secretary" - should have paid attention to the reviews!  His previous books were way better), cooked a bit (a seafood tomato cream sauce), went to mass,  prayed very hard last night and somehow got heard, so now I can post a few overdue pics!

Here is the original Whimsey and Wit chart, complete with my nephew's drawings on the sides.. it was No. 207 of the print run, I guess (see lower left).  I think at some point it got wet, so Baby Jesus (Day 9) has a little splotch on him... the chart has a cute stamped mark that says "Sisters in Stitching" at the bottom.  I wonder what happened to Lori? I picked her name up from page 2 where it says you can email if you have any questions about the finishing..  I have a little problem with my fabric because of the grids.. I don't have enough fabric left to fold over for a dowel on top!

And here's the other chart I was looking for.. found!

And that's all folks!  I took a picture of my little ornament and of my recent sewing but the USB connection's acting up again.. it doesn't recognize my camera!

Ah well, will try again later. I'm planning to bake Cinnamon Rolls and Double Chocolate Chip cookies.   Happy stitching, all!

Three Day Weekend !!!

Happy happy day - Saturday work but Sunday-Monday and Tuesday off. Yippee!  This is a tradition inherited from the Mexicans I think - celebration of All Saints and All Souls' Day.  Officially it's All-Souls' we're supposed to be celebrating and I don't know when we started with All Saints.  Maybe because the thinking is, the beloved dead are in the company of the Saints (or are saints themselves).  Whichever it is it's a day of remembrance for our beloved departed. Remembrance of them always makes me teary eyed - two brothers, my dad - all so young when they passed! Cousins and aunts and uncles, and of course grandparents (unfortunately gone on both sides though they lived to good ages, to their 80s).

Today was just lazing around and channel surfing and got caught up on 3 episodes of Modern Family - always good for a laugh/some light relief however previous season seems funnier somehow.  Could not quite decide whether to watch something scary like Sleepy Hollow (by the reviews not as scary as the other offerings like Ring and Ring 2, maybe on the level of 'the Walking Dead' which looked like an 80s movie to me).   Decided that what I really want to watch is the Looney Tunes Halloween Specials with Daffy Duck and Sylvester and Porky Pig - no I'm sure it's NOT Porky Pig -  and Tweety.. loved the one where they ended up in Duckula's Castle... not sure if it's actually the episode , will look it up in Amazon in a bit!

Finally got started on the angel - stitching with DMC (a pale blue) and DMC Special Effects silver metallic thread.  It looks pretty; the threads together give off an "icy" effect  but man is it hard to stitch with!  Same problem as the Kreinik gold, the metallic ribbon and the nylon thread separate at some point!  Thought my floss length was reasonably short but I've gone to 8" and still having problems.  Ho hum.  But the nice thing is, got started again on the Whimsey and Wit so that's a good thing!

Will give my camera one last try tomorrow with it USB cord and if that doesn't work, will use another one.. but by hook or by crook am posting pics tomorrow!

a little finish

Celebrate!  Dance of Joy!  I finished a little freebie from Prairie Schooler "Deck the Halls", another Christmas tree!  This is another one for my niece, so she has a choice of Christmas trees.  The little girl always surprises me.  I thought she'd want an angel ornament, but no, she wants a Christmas tree! I'm a little freaked out that Christmas is less than two months away... Anyway I stitched the July freebie from PS, and here's how it's supposed to look (from the site): 

 

Now, if my USB connection was working I could show you my take on it! A little "original and my version" comparison as it were..  I used a lighter colored floss for the candle "flame" and the color  practically blended in with my fabric, an Aida 16ct.  DMC 676 instead of 677.. I should look at what I pick up more carefully!  I've done that with other things, too, not just floss!  Even a tin of ice cream!  You can imagine how dismayed I was when I got home lol..  Cookies n Cream instead of Coffee Crumble!

I'm now doing the Guardian Angel, another freebie, from Cosmic Handmade, and it's a cute 'contemporary' angel.  This one's for my sister-in-law.  I also saw other cute angels (in a more traditional design) from Told in a Garden.  As you can guess, my own projects are not getting much love right now, because I'm so fascinated with all the freebies!  But as soon as I'm done with the Guardian Angel, I'm doing the Angel from Day 1 of my Whimsey and Wit Advent Alphabet!  That's 'cause I finally have some silver thread for the angel - DMC, not Kreinik.  My gold thread, ah blending filament, is Kreinik, from many years ago.  I bought a whole bunch of different colored ones from that little (and little-known, alas) store in Mile Long because I really wanted to do a set of Russian angels that were in an issue of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts.  Some things never change, lol.  I will be looking through my magazines for that issue - I think that was in the early 90s, before 1993.  I'll post a pic soon, maybe use another camera..
 

good week overall.. with an anticlimax!

My stitchy friends are increasing..hi C, J, C, and H! And yay, my mom found my original chart:  Whimsey and Wit Advent Alphabet!  sadly the plastic bag is gone, and that's where the free magnet button thingy was.  She also found my True Colors: Madonnas of the Old Masters chart!  I took out my WIP, tried doing a few stitches and promptly got a headache-- what was I thinking? one stitch over one thread, at 22ct?  I must have been mad!  But then of course, it *was* 8 (or was it 16?) years ago...

Hurray for my brother -- Dear brother sent me a 16-pc cookware set!  Pretty cool of him since it arrived here the week after his birthday, and, you guessed it! We didn't send him anything special! We miss him (and his wife) every day but there you go, things happen.. or rather, they don't!  But we are very good about remembering to greet!  As for the cookware set, it saves me from bugging him every time there is a sale on at Canadian Tire... but please, DB... could you get me the Lagostina stuff that sometimes goes on sale at $9.99?  Please??

He also got us something music-y which I am sure we will enjoy for years to come, but right now I am trying to figure out how it attaches to all its gear!

I also got some beautifying done skin-wise, so I feel better - what I  mean is, it stings, but I feel better knowing I look better... now I just have to work on my hair (grumble grumble, I already fixed it before, so why do I have to do it again)- I may or I may not this weekend, depends if I can bear the thought of sitting in the salon for at least 4 hours :(  

Now for the bad part.. now that my charts have surfaced and I have this sort-of weekend for stitching,  when I have something stitched to show,  my computer refuses to cooperate!  It doesn't recognize the USB cord to my camera! Waaah... any techies out there who might know what is wrong? It's on Windows 7 and "ask me" is enabled on Autoplay.. but Autoplay doesn't play at all!  Could this have happened because I pulled out my USB when the computer was shutting down?  Now what to do?   I plugged my USB in and it recognized it, and gave the option to eject.. so I followed.. and when I tried it just now with the camera USB, nothing..

Is Mercury, what do you call it, out of phase?  Good luck to me, hope my camera works tomorrow!

The pics i (still) didn't get to post

This was the storm that was:

A friend didn't get to work because of the typhoon (massive flooding on the streets to his office), and took refuge at this vantage point.  He had a good view of the waters of the bay - the storm surge caused all this cascading water.

The chart from which I sewed those simple ornaments (hoping it'll behave and not turn over..):

Drat!  It's not behaving.  It appears right side up in Windows' preview pane but flips when I put it in here.  I'm too tired to fix it right now...

Oh, and here's what I'm supposed to be working on (keeping fingers crossed that it'll appear the right way)..

OK.. it's not working.  I think it's time to go to sleep!

whacked

I've been wanting and wanting to stitch and show some solid progress on my Whimsey and Wit Advent Alphabet work (sorry friends it's supposed to be a scroll, not an afghan, though with the grids on the fabric it could look like one), but all I can show is Kris Kringle's hand and the staff done.

I wish I could do an afghan, but I'm not that ambitious yet..  :)

This is what the entire scroll would look like:

(Picture to come -- it's coming out horizontal!)


Christmas ornaments are a bit better, the Christmas tree's all done (somehow I thought the pattern said gold filament thread but it didn't, after all -- and I was so excited to use it!).  The trains are a bit funny, I finished the outline stitches on the wheels.. but only finished one wheel on each!

The pattern book below (again picture to come, it's horizontal AGAIN), I highly recommend it for beginning stitchers like me.  You feel a glow of accomplishment much faster! Sorry, I'll have to fix that sometime.. too tired right now.

Oh, and just yesterday finished this (as a break from doing Christmas-y things).  I started Sunday afternoon and stitched intermittently, thinking of all sister stitchers diligently sewing away on a Hermit and Stitch Day (or was it a just sit and stitch day?)  The pattern is from the Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine and the design by Cherrywood Designs.  Isn't it cute?

I used DMC instead of the WDW, Gentle Art Samplers and Crescent Colors recommended, and tried out variegated floss on the yellow flower.  I followed some advice I read somewhere to finish the x's individually so the color variations would show.  I think it came out nice.  Don't look too closely 'cause I missed some stitching on one of the flowers!

Before all this we had a typhoon (see the wind blowing at those coconut trees and how overcast it is.. we lost electricity practically the whole day):

and work was not spared, the disaster we were preparing for and privately half expected would happen, happened, and on the same day.  We've been in damage control since then, because as someone once said "the best laid plans of mice and men .. often go awry".  Odd working hours - 1am to 1130am, 4am to 1pm, 11am to 8pm, I've done them all...

Dear God, please throw a bit of luck our way.  Thank you.

And speaking of thanks and birthdays this week, it's my youngest brother's birthday, so Happy Birthday bun, we love you!
And my dad's birthday, we miss you very much and love you.
And the ex's (exe's?).

God bless us all this week... thank you for reading, hope you drop a line!