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!

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!

finally a few pics!

TGIS - thank God it's Sunday!  The only full day of rest.  I tell you I was so tired yesterday after an 8am meeting at another office, and I *still* went back to my office til 3pm, that I didn't have the energy to walk around the mall for even an hour, and when I got home I promptly fell asleep til 7.30 in the evening!  The things we are planning for at work, just thinking about it makes me feel like panicking!  Anyway, it's Sunday, so get a grip girl and learn to compartmentalize (talks to self)..

For that 8am meeting, my co-worker picked me up at church -- I went to Saturday morning mass for the sake of my immortal soul :)   This is what church looks like:

It's not such a good shot because of all things, I chose a day when they were having booths in front of it (for vocations)

And this is what it looks like inside:

A side corridor, where the niches are (I thought of visiting my dad but in my anxiety about whether I'd given my co-worker the right directions for the church, I forgot!  But never mind, I visit every Sunday, so no worries.)

So why am I showing these - well, my cousin was thinking of buying a niche so she may as well see what they look like (they are to the right):

There's a little garden between the church and the niches (really little, compared to the gardens I've seen abroad, but a big deal here where  land is so expensive)

Oh well, hope no one is upset by the photos.

On to stitchy things.  I've basically dropped all my other works in progress like The Tuscan Welcome - oh, who am I kidding, I only have that in progress, ha ha!  Although the Dimensions Angels are ready to launch - they're in a kit, after all -  and Maria Winkler's Peaches have all the needed thread, only no fabric!  It needs a white fabric to match the Plums piece.  Aida, if I'm to really match them.

Whimsey and Wit's Advent Calendar is coming along.. at this rate I'll be done in time for Christmas (next year! haha ha)  Still no eyes for the infant (fear of French knots has taken over, I tried 4x and was unable to make a single one - my high school home ec teacher, where are you?), so maybe I'll take up Jenny's wise suggestion and place beads instead (I only have pale blue Mill Hill though).   Kris Kringle's left hand is missing as is the staff he's supposed to be holding.  Oh, and his beard of course.  But that's white, and uses Glissen floss (where do you buy Glissen floss over here?). Anyway, it's white, or ecru, and if I'm using DMC then I'll hold off from stitching it til I'm nearly done with everything.

Day 11 is a sheep, and Day 12 a music note.  I'm not too keen on stitching white first, so I'm not doing the sheep yet.  So next up will be Day 12, which is in navy.  Or I might go to the Angel on Day 1 and frog, since I discovered my count is wrong besides which, I was supposed to stitch her with floss and metallic together.

It's a lot of solid stitching so it's taking a bit of time as I get bored with a lot of color.  It's a toss up - too many color changes and I get tired, too much of the same color and I get bored!  I was looking at the Weeks Dye floss the piece was supposed to be sewn in, and I noticed there's a lot of variation in one thread color alone.. maybe that would have made things more interesting.

And here are the ornaments:

Sorry about the picture quality -- seems kind of dark.  I'll take clearer ones later.  Hmm... looking over the church photos I notice a definite tilt to the left - must correct that.  Back to the ornaments.. the boys' trains need their back stitch on the wheels; the Christmas tree needs its candles, star and ornaments and its trunk.

The only thing is I have several errands to run today - mass, FedEx or DHL, plus we need some grocery items - peanut butter (my brown bag sandwich of choice), plus, since I want to cook, shrimp, Cajun seasoning, and chicken.   Hope to be able to update this tonight.

Ah well, there's my Sunday.. how will yours go?  Thanks for reading..  Happy Sunday!

Pics!

It took me longer than I thought to get to actually post these pics, so I am further along with Kris Kringle than I was at the previous post (although Baby Jesus still does not have french knot - or bead!-  eyes:

I apologize for the delay in posting - planned to post last night -  but we've had some domestic ruckus involving getting my mom and my aunt off to their retreat in the mountains.. the best laid plans. sigh.  I will really have to take an interest in the automotive arts.. bigger sigh...

Anyway, in other news, I started making my ornaments and since they are super easy they stitch up in next to no time!  The little trains just need outline stitch and the other one needs its wheels, too!

A Christmas tree has been started (lower left - I could not sleep last night so I began but realized I really had to try to sleep as it was 4am!) and an angel is next on the list.  Then, whatever catches my fancy in terms of ornaments!  Though really I should just stick to my list so that I feel a greater sense of accomplishment.

That's all, folks.. I'm really looking forward to stitching and posting my progress - I can better appreciate how it's going!

In a Knot!

Hello, haven't posted anything in a while .. still caught up with work :(

On the up side, I've finished a square of the Advent calendar (Whimsey and Whit ) or I *would have* if I knew how to do a French knot!

The Infant Jesus square would be done, if I could do the French knots for his eyes..  

I am looking through some teaching blogs and Youtube, for how to do it.. now to get my nerve up to actually do it...

I have also started on the next square, Kris Kringle!  I didn't have the DMC equivalent of the Weeks Dye embroidery floss, so I am making do with DMC 3350 which I think makes Santa's clothes look a bit either worn (I think that's good!) or too pink (bad!).  So I'm almost done with his hat.  Speaking of which, I do wish there was a supplier of WD floss in this part of the world..

Post with pictures in a bit.

I'm also starting to "kit up" (what a lovely word!) the train which my nephew wants as his Christmas ornament.  It is actually pretty simple and I'm glad I rummaged in the other room because I found a whole booklet of Christmas ornaments (circa 1990s of course)!  I really regret not looking at Needlecraft stores while in Canada and the US this year, but maybe there's still time to do a quick trip there and back .. also because I haven't been able to find the Just Cross Stitch Ornaments 2011 magazine here..

I've been busy resisting the "Sale" and "Clearance" corners of various online needlecraft stores.  It might be less expensive to order from them than to fly over and buy the goodies.. but I don't much trust the post office here!

.. saying a prayer for the U.S. on the 10th Anniversary of 9-11.. what a horrific day.. I remember I was watching the evening news when the first plane hit the tower, and I remember rushing to tell my family about it.. going back to the coverage and then, unbelieving, seeing a SECOND plane heading for the towers..  that was unreal.   I knew then that it was no coincidence.  There was coverage of the people on the towers.. horrific.  I felt for them, and for their families.. some of whom probably didn't even know the events unfolding..  I prayed for them then, and I pray for them now, on this day of remembrance.

The best laid plans...

Oh dear, did not get as much time with my projects as I wanted - I was at work until 5.30pm.  Sad news, that around 1,000 employees are to be 'let go'.  I have friends among them!  I feel for my fellow workers.  It's just a few months before Christmas!  But what can you/I do?  The powers-that-be had decided.  :((   It also means a lot of work for the next two weeks.

My original plans for my Saturday afternoon involved going to the mall to buy some thread for a future project (it's always nice to have everything you need on hand just in case you decide to start the project early!) and check out the latest patterns and kits.  But bang went all my plans to buy more thread from my favorite needlestore because of the sad news.  :(

I finally settled down enough to do a little work on a long neglected piece..  the Whimsey and Wit Advent Calendar.  Ta daaa!

with flash..

 without flash..

And settling down to do it, I realized why I'd set it aside...  I was having difficulty with counting on linen!  :-p    Strictly an amateur, I've only had one other project (the Madonna and child on 22ct hardanger) on non-Aida cloth, and I still haven't finished that one!  !  Feeling all my inadequacies here, I set the piece aside again and read up a few tips on working with linen..  that is, if tattersall is linen?

Then, since the chart specified "Cadet" and "Sea Foam" WD (found out it was Weeks Dye) floss and I didn't have that, I had to decide which shades of blue thread fit best... I still don't know if I got the shades right, but I like what I chose.. :)

All these dilemmas gave me a different focus for a few hours, and hopefully a few more hours today, til W-O-R-K comes round again tomorrow.  My goal is to finish stitching Baby Jesus (yup, that's part of his blue swaddling cloth up there).  I will be stitching away...   :)

ps.  Thank you for your comments; they are always welcome!  Even more so now, as I stitch on linen.. did you know that there is a "good end" and a "not so good end" to each side of your thread?  And you have to do a fluff test to see which side to start with?  I didn't know that!  I just read up on it last night (and I can't remember now where I read it - it's either Cross Stitch and Country Crafts, Cross Stitch and Needlework, or For the Love of Cross Stitch magazine!)
pps. In another entry there was this same project displayed.. blue stitching too!  That was the angel motif on the calendar.. I still can't find the chart, and am working on the photocopy I made- only Days 10-24!  would you believe it!  $%^&**  Anyway, I'm sure the chart will turn up.

Happy Weekend to all of us!

Stash

I haven't really got much stitching done; I unpicked a few days ago and only really started again a few minutes ago.  This really reminds me of the sewing tip "count twice, sew once" as by this time I've already counted 8x and sewn twice!  Lesson learned.  Anyway things are going along swimmingly so far. 30 half stitches on Tuscan Garden  :)

I spent most of the past 2 days reading blogs and my head is awhirl with all the beautiful projects I've seen, and in between some of the stash the makers have acquired.  Seeing their stash reminded me of mine...  a nice thing happened yesterday, I found some of my old stash -- I'll show some pics of it later!

It's "later" so I've uploaded some pics.. my stash of some linens, 28 and 32 ct - didn't know I had those!  This stash is all courtesy of my dearest older cousin Avey!  She's such a brilliant needleworker (needle artist?).. Everything stitch related comes so easily to her!  And to the right, the Tattersal on which some stitching is visible.. this is the angel on Day 1 of the Whimsey and Wit pattern!  Please pattern, come out, come out, wherever you are!

Jenny, I could do with more stash  :)