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: