Stitchy progress!

Hi, just checking in! I've been wanting to post for the last 3 days but have been foiled by the pc not recognizing the camera USB... bummer!  But thank God (really!) that it's fixed and I can now post what I've been stitching!

So here it is, a UFO from years and years ago in all its unwashed, not pristine glory:

and now:

Despite being the proud owner of a DMC floss card with actual samples, I still could not match up the floss I used back then!  Honestly!  It's enough to make you tear your hair out! I also found out that the conversions I used back then were a bit off -- I was doing it by picture only! Back then I don't think I could have found the Anchor to DMC equivalents online (or maybe I didn't think to search online --google them).. so I was a bit off!  But anyway, I love the pattern, so cheerful! It is from the Buurda International "Prettiest Flower Motifs in Cross Stitch" 1993 vol.1.  I'll finish this soon, I promise, and have it framed!  I suppose I will have to stitch the other three just so there is a companion piece or two!

And made a start on the Peaches chart by Maria Winkler:

and here's what it's supposed to look like some day soon!

I've stitched the rounded curve of the peach in the middle center; I can just see it! Well, it's coming along, though not as fast as I want it!

This is the companion piece to the Plums one that hangs in our breakfast nook.  I wonder if I should have washed the Aida first so the fold lines would've disappeared.. I can still do it I suppose.. I forgot to ask!  I know that a lot of the 123 ladies like rolling their pieces to store and don't fold them!  Here I am unique once again..  lol

I have yet to cut the fabric for the Shepherd's Bush chart (chicken...!) and aside from this Peach-y chart my mom wants me to stitch the Quaker heart freebie from The Workbasket!  It would be a really quick stitch I think!  I also want to start the EMS 2012 Sampler - one step at a time, I guess!  Cut all fabric first!

I'll end with a photo of one of my nieces - a cousin's daughter - she's been a frequent visitor these days and is such a ham!  She even had me digging out my old needlepoint so I could teach her to "sew"!  It was a bit difficult as she couldn't get the hang of what she was supposed to do - stab the needle in, and from the same side, stab out.. she kept going straight to the other side, not sewing through the cloth! lol  She's all of 5 years old.. and makes me think of how much I miss my nephew and niece!

Well, that's all for the moment.. hope to post again in 2 days' time or less, and with a finish or two!  And then it's back to Whimsey and Wit Alphabet Advent!

Hermitting, less stitching!

Hello! Yippee! It seems someone (2 new someones) are now followers! I hope to have something to show for last weekend's IHSW!  All I can say is, everytime I went to stitch the Evergreen (day 5) , the dreaded "frog" was with me and the last time I actually touched it was last Saturday! I understand that putting it down is the best thing to do when the frog visits you.. so that's what I'm doing!  I'm seriously debating "fudging" (I don't know what the technical term is) it, and just actually going on so I can break out the champagne for finishing a square! lol

Okay everyone, I've decided to do SB Santa's Christmas and the PS together..I need a rotation after all.. I mean, when you put down the work that isn't working, for a fresh one ... that refreshes you, too!  The only thing is I am afraid to cut linen!  Everything I have is already pre-cut (except for the Aida of course), and I'm scared of making a mistake!  My LNS is no help either, offering to sell me big pieces, not the exact size I want!  However, never daunted, I have already counted the stitches and all that's left to do is the actual measuring and cutting!  Measure 2x, cut once?  Wish me luck!

Real luck has been in short supply... one week of no internet, having to fiz hacking problems (both mine and mom's), time spent doing things for my mom and aunt, etc etc...  I need a HUGE dose of luck as I am very afraid of cutting wrong!

In the meantime I've picked up a UFO which will soon be a finish.. will hurry up with the posting for tomorrow!

Anyway.. have a great weekend, friends!

hmmm

I have a little progress to show on "evergreen" (square no. 5). I was doing it just now when I hit a snag.. a stray thread from "angel" (square no. 1, which i haven't finished because of the metallics) got caught in my green.  So I am now hunting for my scissors - I know it's here somewhere.  There was a whole week last week where I was missing them; they're a small, utilitarian pair of Fiskars with nice sharp points for getting under thread and cutting.. I was already mourning them, I mean a whole week and they hadn't surfaced!.. when I found them in my little stitching box right beside the bed! Now, I would seriously have been inconvenienced by their loss, because 1. for sure there is not any place to buy them here and 2., I have no other pair of "embroidery" scissors -- I am missing my DMC "stork" embroidery scissors (haven't seen them since the move).

I haven't helped but notice, in many of the stitchy blogs I've been following or visited, that there's this mystique about certain kinds of embroidery scissors - you know.. "Ginghers", "Kelmscott", etc.  I'm curious about what makes them so special (aside from the fact that they have lovely designs on their handles).  Note to self:  visit an LNS (I would, of course!) to LOOK at the different kinds of scissors.

So here I am with a lot of charts to start and for sure I have not kitted any.  I am going to be using whatever Charles Craft, plain ol' no-name Aida, no-name hardanger and MCG evenweave that I have. And good 'ol DMC.  Sometimes it's a relief not to have a choice (of floss!). Just think how much damage I could do to the wallet.

List of charts to start (kitting not sewing, I can't start til I've kitted right)
1.  Prairie Schooler  "Holiday Homestead"

2.  Shepherd's Bush "Santa's Christmas"

3.  CEC Mrs. Claus
4.  Graphworks "The Christmas Shoppe" (from Denise)
5.  plus a whole lot of others that I will post later

Which one should I start first?   PS or SB? Decisions, decisions.  Whichever one it is, I will be sure to post.

Anyway, in the madness of the full moon, I am seriously considering buying a new chart "A Most Noble Pursuit" which is a collaboration of blocks by seriously good designers. Our only problem right now will be the logistics of paying (the logistics of stitching will come later, assuming the logistics of paying get sorted out).

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Hope I am starting the Chinese New Year right!  I am going to mass, and then going to order dinner (our cook doesn't do Chinese), and then I will be back to my stitches.

So here's what I've accomplished this IHSW so far:

Doll is almost done! Just backstitch a line for her mouth (the pattern doesn't say what color!) and attach a few beads to the front of her dress (like I know how to do that!)   :-))

I've also started Day 5, which is the Evergreen.  Another Christmas tree, holy cow!  To think I was thinking of sewing a Christmas tree small (red, on white) by Sue Hillis, from the JCS Christmas 2008 issue!  Maybe I still will, it's words and not plain green stitches anyway.  Well, I will do a small in between just to keep things interesting.

Here's the evergreen:

not much to show yet but at least it's a start!  And my weekend is LONG, because of Chinese New Year! Woo hoo!  Hoping and praying for a good year for all of us! My mom, my brother and his wife, my (late) brother's family, everyone dearly loved!

Jade Vine blooms

Just thought you might like to see what jade vine blooms look like.. despite living in the tropics, I only ever saw one blooming, live,   yesterday.

Instead of stitching (it's the IHSW weekend, you know!)  I went out right after Saturday half day work, to a place 2 1/2 hours away, for a delicious, mostly vegetarian lunch.  The setting was a beautiful, fragrant garden... such balm to the soul!   We had wheat sesame bread, salad (romaine, butter lettuce, and assorted other edible leaves and blooms I couldn't identify off-hand), and pasta, with a choice of cashew cream dressing, olive tapenade,  basil pesto, mango, pineapples, sunflower seeds, some kind of shelled "pop bean like" bean, cream sauce with chicken, basil tomato sauce, grilled salmon pieces, etc etc... with dalandan (a type of citrus orange) juice, and to finish, banana fritters, and a thin wedge of dark chocolate cake.  Yum! I'll try and find some pics from among my friends to show. I was too hungry to whip out the camera and take pics.  It was the birthday treat of the beautiful, kind, gracious lady who is my boss.  May she continue to be blessed (and may the rest of us be blessed along with her!)

woohoo.. all signed up! and late!

Ha! I'm all signed up for International Hermit and Stitch and I'm not even sure whether it's this weekend or last.. okay, just checked, and it was for LAST weekend!  Sigh.  So much for keeping myself on the "straight and narrow" stitch-wise.. now I'm just plain late!  Is there any way I can un-sign up?

I want to have some finishes - notice the ambitious line-up on my sidebar?  I can barely finish a square a month from my Whimsey and Wit project.. I'm ambitious, what can I say? Some stitchy friends have been so nice as to put up some gift-aways and PIFs, and I have to get cracking!  Not to mention which I committed to having my own give-away for Christmas sewing!  And have I mentioned that everything to me, which is bigger than 6 x 6, seems like a BAP?  :)   In 5 minutes, I am getting off here to do some sewing...

Anyway.. I am putting some finishing touches on the Christmas ornaments that I forgot to give my dearest nephew and niece.  They're ready now.. for next Christmas!

For the New Year

“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness;  to an opponent, tolerance;  to a friend, your heart;  to your child, a good example;  to a father, deference;  to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;  to yourself, respect;  to all men, charity.”

Writing from my sick chair (I would say bed except I'm not in bed).. caught a bad virus and am now sick.  Won a few giveaways in the last couple of days (not on blogs, so they weren't posted on my wall) - isn't it great??  Christmas stitching stuff and the leaflet "The Christmas Shoppe"! Many thanks to Laurie and Denise!!  I'll get to see them (the winnings only, not them!) at the end of the month, when another cousin comes home for his dad (my uncle's) first year anniversary..

I'll post my finish and a couple of starts for the year.. certainly hope it's better than last year!

Wishing peace, joy and love to all my stitchy friends..