A big week

It seems to have been all go around here just lately - so much so that the stitching hasn't had much of a look in! The main reason for that is Little Miss. She's been unwell since last Sunday, cutting a bottom molar and having a horrible cough. The cough is persistent and still here a week later so we're off to the doctors with her tonight. It's waking her up bith during her daytime nap and her big sleep at night so no-one is getting much rest. I just hope they can give her something for it with her only being a little one...

The other major piece of news regarding Little Miss is that she started walking yesterday! :D We're on cloud nine at the moment as she is 17 months so seems to be at the later end of starting to walk. She took her first steps on the 21st October and now walked properly on the 31st. I guess it's watch out world from now on!

Hubby has started a new job today, which I think will benefit us all. It's still baking, but that's ALL he'll be doing - no more paperwork to bring home! We will get more time with him, especially as his earliest start will now be 4am instead of midnight so we'll have time together in the evenings. YAY! He's also started up his own blog and will hopefully put the first post on today (he's under "The ramblings of a grumpy old man" in my blog list. :D

As for me, I've been for an interview and trial day at a childcare centre and it looks like I'm going to be doing 4 days a week soon! I also got a call from a closer childcare centre so it seems I'm in demand at the moment ;)

I have done a little bit on Jack's sampler but it's not moving so fast as Megan's did. Purely because of the lack of time I've had to spend on it. I'm enjoying doing this one, so hopefully once we get Little Miss sorted out I will be able to make some headway with it.

Making a start

I made a start on Jack's sampler a few days ago, but had to wait until I had some colour on there to be able to take a picture worth taking - cream on cream really wasn't going to show up too well! I have taken the same approach as I did with Megan's - I am going to stitch the border as I go so I don't have to do it all at the end. This one has little boats in the border and it's going to look very cute. This one also has two stuffed toys to cuddle and the blanket has more colours in it, so it's going to look quite different from Megan's. I am looking forward to having them both side by side when this one is finished though.



I have also been a busy little bunny on behalf of my mum. At the weekend, during our weekly phone conversation, I helped her to set up her own blog. She's been stitching for over 10 years now and has a fair bit of work to show. I think it's also going to help her to keep her stitching going, as this blog has helped me. She's Making Time To Stitch on my blog roll if anyone is interested in having a look.

Now that the warmer weather is coming and we've had a couple of nicer days, my enthusiasm for cleaning seems to have kicked in. If we have a nice day, I feel like I should be getting the washing machine on, dusting, etc. I even went as far as cleaning the windows this week - am I mad? :P

In the past couple of weeks, hubby and I have seriously contemplated moving towards the country. It is something that has been at the back of our minds for some time now, but this is the most we have thought about it. In the end, after all the excitement, we decided the time isn't right for us. So, to try and get it out of our systems, we are going to re-arrange the house a little bit and have a huge clear out of anything we don't need. We're looking at moving the lounge into the dining area and the dining area to where the lounge is. This will mean that the lounge is away from the front of the house but closer to Little Miss's room. Not sure how well it will work, what with the summer looming and Little Miss having her bedroom door open to keep it cool in her room, but we'll see how it goes. If it doesn't work, we'll just swap it back and we haven't really lost anything.

Anyway, thst's it from me for now - I'm heading off to catch up on reading all of your wonderful blogs. Happy stitching!

Megan's birth sampler is finished!

I finished, I finished, I finished! :D It's all a little exciting! I get a bit of a buzz when I finish a design, and I am so glad this one has gone so quickly. It was exactly a month from start to finish, so if all goes to plan on Jack's, they should both be done and framed by Christmas, and that'll be fab :D

I have already cut my fabric and found the centre ready for Jack's, but I think I might end up starting that tomorrow. Little Miss has gone off to sleep without too much trouble tonight (thanks goodness!) so I am about to go and have some dinner and a well earned cuppa. I might even see what's on the telly for a change ;)

Happy stitching folks!

Double figures!

I just noticed that I made it to TEN followers! Thanks everyone for reading my little blog - it amazes me that people are interested in reading what I have to say and what I am working on, so thank you! I get so much enjoyment out of reading your comments and, of course, your blogs too. I can feel that this is the start of something wonderful :D

Now, here's to the next 10.... :P

Getting there...

I have now almost completed the backstitch on the main part of the picture, and just looking at it, it has come alive. I am so happy with it. I can feel the fact that the end is in sight - all I have to do next is stitch the flowers in the border, backstitch them and put in the birth details. Looks like I'll be on to the blue one for Jack pretty soon!



I haven't been able to get too much stitching done of late, which is a little disappointing but that's just the way life goes, especially with a 16 month old! Poor Little Miss is having a right old time of it at the moment. She's cutting bottom molars so is finding it difficult to get to sleep (hence no stitch time for me) and is grumpy during the day, making her even more clingy than normal. By the end of the day we're all exhausted. I do hope those teeth come through soon!

The past couple of days have been wonderful, weather-wise. I've even been wearing shorts - shock, horror! I think my lily-white legs must have blinded a few people LOL.It's amazing how much better you can feel about life when the weather is warm and the sun stays up longer. And it's great for the washing too!

Before I finish up, I'd just like to say how wonderful it feels to read your comments. Sometimes I might not get chance to respond to them but I love reading them, and I can hardly believe I have 9 followers now! I know it's not many compared to some, but I value each and every one of you. I didn't think anyone would be interested much in reading my ramblings so I'm glad that you all are. Thanks for making my day special :D

Pink is done!

This weekend I finshed the pink on the border - woohoo! :D I counted that once the border is completely stitched, there will be nearly 3500 stitches in it... That just blows my mind - it's such a small design for that number of stitches....



After all my grumblings of how much the pink was annoying me (probably due to the boredom of straight lines all the time) I am very pleased with how it is looking. I am even becoming a little partial to this tone of pink, but Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone! :P

It feels like I am on the home stretch now - just a bit more filling in, and then on to the backstitch I go! I think I am going to finish the main part of the design before stitching the flowers in the border. I think it'll be hard to say goodbye to this one when the other one is also stitched...

Hubby has also made a little progress on his stitching:



Gotta convince him to get his own blog so he can give more details about it, but I think he is doing well. :)

This weekend has been a bit hit and miss... Hubby organised to take Little Miss to his mum and dad's for a couple of nights to give them some quality time with her and for me to get a break. It was great in theory and the first few hours were pretty good. I had a couple of the girls over for a stitchy meet, so we got a chance to stitch and chat as long as we wanted - especially with the clocks having gone forward on Saturday night, it seemed like the daylight was going to last fgorever! We had a great time - it almost seems like old times, pre Little Miss. It was once everyone left that it seemed weird. The house was soooo quiet! I ended up staying up til about midnight watching a bit if TV and eventually doing some more stitching. I thought it would be lovely to have a lie in the next morning, but apparently my body clock thought otherwise and I was awake at 7am! I fought with it and took ages to go back to sleep and finally got up around 9.45am. The whole of yesterday was very bizarre. Not having to clean up the lounge room every five minutes, having lunch and dinner by myself - I even cooked Stroganoff for myself as hubby doesn't like mushrooms. By the time dinner had ended I couldn't be in the house by myself any more so I went out to visit my friend, Bek. It was good to get out of the house and have some good company and do some more stitching! I came home around 10.30pm and again stayed up late - it was after 1am when I turned out the light. Thankfully I slept until 9.30am this morning so that was good. Hubby and Little Miss arrived back late morning and it was so good to see them. As soon as Little Miss was in my arms she was waving to hubby as if to say "I have Mummy now, I don't need Daddy any more". It's lovely but I feel bad for him when she does that.

They both had a great time away, and I am sure it will be something that will be done more regularly. Maybe next time I will feel better about it too :)

Over the border

OK, so I am now offically fed up with stitching the border on this design. I admit that it is looking lovely, but it is doing my head in! LOL I am so very nearly there with it though, so I am going to finish stitching the border before I get back on to the main design or else I feel that the border will stay unfinished for a very long time...

I will probably end up having a bit of a break from it tonight anyway as I have our 6 year old niece staying with us for a sleepover. Since it is school holidays she is allowed to stay up a bit later so we'll probably end up watching a movie before bed, once Little Miss is settled. She's teething at the moment so has been waking up early (4.20am the other day!) so I think I'll be taking the opportunity for an early night too :)



Hope you are all doing well with yur various stitching projects. Happy stitching!

Secret stitching

Judging by the progress he's making, I am sure hubby is stitching in secret :P I love the way this design is coming together - well done hubby!

I am amazed at how well the border seems to be coming along - it seems to be taking an age when I am stitching it, but when I look at the end of a stitching session I can definitely see the progress. I would like to get some of the left hand side of the border done before doing any more on the main part of the design. This will probably be the next couple of days worth of stitching as I am working tomorrow so no stitching time during Little Miss's nap time!

Good stitchy day

I ended up getting quite a bit of stitching time yesterday, so I made a good amount of progress. After lunch, I stitched whilst Little Miss slept and then I needed to borrow SIL's dryer so headed down to her place for a while with my stitching in my bag too. I left hubby in charge of Little Miss so he had some nice time to spend with her without me around. It was good sitting in the quiet with just the sound of the dryer going round. Maybe I should do it more often! Then last night once Little Miss had gone to bed, out came the stitching once more! I had the tv on in the background this time though and it was a struggle to decide what I wanted to concentrate on more! I ended up giving up when I realised it was closing in on 11pm.... Definitely a late night for me :S

I'm pleased with how well this one is going, although I am pretty sure I will have finished the central design before I even get close with the border!



I actually tried to post this earlier but it wouldn't let me upload the photo... I then had a little visit from the frogs during my lunchtime stitching session but thankfully it wasn't too bad - I've managed to recify it tonight so tomorrow I can continue like nothing happened at all!

I took pictures!

I finally got around to getting the camera out earlier on - woohoo! I also found the best spot for taking a picture was our bedroom - the natural light in there is fantastic... It'd be wonderful as a stitchy room. Hmmmm, wonder if I can convince hubby LOL!

So, here's Lizzie*Kate's Home Is... finished excpet for the names - I want to keep that a surprise until it is framed and given :D



It needs a darn good iron too, but again, that'll wait until after the details are put in. :)

I made a start on the first of the birth samplers on Tuesday of last week, so I have now been working on it for a week. I took the piccie before any stitching today, so it is already out of date! Some nights I haven't been ab;e to do any stitching, and some nights have been minimal with stitching time, so I feel like I've made a good start. After confering with the stitchy girls, it was decided that I start on the pink sampler first, so here it is:



I've decided to stitch the border in stages as I go, due to the fact that there is so much of it. I think it'd probably do my head in if I left it all to the end. I'm really liking the colours on this one, whichis very strange as I have never been a fan of pink... They look much better than on the pattern too. I'm really loving that I am back into my stitching, and projects like this one make me excited to keep going too.

Must take pictures!

That's a mental note for myself... lol! I have been putting off posting as I wanted to get photo's taken first. Now I have decided I can't wait that long, so I'll post pictures later. I want to have natural light to take the photo's but every time I have chance to think about it, it seems that the daylight has gone... I'll try tomorrow :)

I finished my Home Is piece on Monday evening - yay! - and am now working on one of the birth samplers I have to stitch. I am currently unsure as to whether I am posting pics of these as I go, as the friend whose children they are for reads my blog. I am leaving the decision up to her as to whether she wants to see them as I stitch them or if she wants a surprise at the end. So c'mon Jane - let me know! :D

I have had a pretty good stitchy week, to be honest. I had a stitchy meet on Sunday at Cassie's house which was smaller than usual but it meant that we all got plenty of stitching done (despite the snacks calling out to be eaten!). The company was fabulous and I realise now why we try and make the meetings as regular as possible. It's lovely to get together with a couple of friends and stitch the afternoon away.

On Monday afternoon, I headed over to Belinda's house for some more stitching. She couldn't make it on the Sunday so it was nice to catch up. Bek came along after work and we all had dinner together and then did some more stitching. It was a great couple of days - lots of stitching and lots of good company.

Besides those two days, I have managed to get a little bit of stitching done in the evenings, but not as much as I could have done. Unfortunately, my daughter is teething and has a pretty bad cough to boot, so she's having difficulty in getting off to sleep and staying asleep (understandably) so my time has been taken up with trying to settle her. I'll be so glad - for her sake - when the cough goes and the teeth coem through. How hard it must be to be a little one...

Hubby's progress

As you can see, hubby's stitching is coming along nicely. I thought I would take a picture with the kit cover so you can see what it will look like in the end. We're not sure where it will end up living yet, but it's definitely going to be put on display :D I think it looks great, and I am very proud of hubby for how far he has come with it. He seems to be enjoying stitching again, so that can only be a good thing. I think it is definitely beneficial for him to be able to do something to switch off from work and home, at least for a while! It's great for me to have someone to stitch with on some evenings too.

Home Is...

I've had a couple of evenings this week, when for one reason or another, I haven't managed to stitch. Since I have got back inot my stitching, I have enjoyed stitching every evening. Not doing so this week has seemed a little strange. Still, I have managed to make some progress on the design I started stitching this week. (I didn't have chance to iron before taking the picture and have just realised how bad the creases look...) I just love how quickly Lizzie*Kate designs stitch up - they give you that sense of accomplishment so quickly. This is actually the third time of stitching this design, which I never thought I would do. Three friends of mine got married within 2 months earlier this year, and I wanted to stitch them something for it. They are also all stitchers so I figured they'd be stitching their own weddign samplers anyway, and I needed something quick to stitch but effective. I think the message says it all. :) I'll be personalizing it with names at the end too. One day I'll stitch it for myself but I think I might need to have a break from it for a while! Needless to say, none of them have actually reached their owners on time, but that's just me. I guess it's the thought that counts, eh?



I'm already looking forward to my next project - birth samplers for my best friend's twins. I have chosen 2 designs that are similar and compliment each other - one has a blue colour scheme and the other a pink one. I already have the fabric and threads (I bought Anchor especially as all my threads are DMC and this one was stitched with Anchor. It was in a magazine waaaaaay back when I used to get the stitching magazines. I think my purse and the lack of space in the house were two of the reasons why I stopped. Nothing to do with the fact that I'll never get around to stitching all the designs I have kept out of them - honest! :P

Stitch and slim update - finally!

Things have slowed down of late, which is why I haven't posted about my weight loss, but also because I want this blog to be primarily about my stitching, so there may only be a once in a while post about the weight. I am so happy with this week's progress though - I lost 4lb!!!! I'm not entirely sure how I did it, but I think I might have focused on the job in hand - I took my eye off the ball the previous week and had a little gain, but this week corrected that and then some! It brings my total since mid-July to 12.5lb when my friend and I decided to go for it, but the total since the end of January to 1st 11lb! There's still a long way to go, but I feel like I am actually getting somewhere this time.

I think it's also helped that I am trying to stitch every night to keep the munchies at bay. I have started on a Lizzie*Kate design that reads "Home is where our story begins". It's going to be a pretty quick stitch, I think, and I am already thinking about what I will stitch next. Maybe Jack or Megan's birth sampler. They are the twins of my best mate, Jane, and I think it's going to be difficult to choose which one to do first! Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.....

Another finish!

As you should be able to see, I finished stitching "A Stitch in Time". I actually finshed stitching this on Saturday night/Sunday morning (I was up at 3.30am stitching!) but have only just got around to taking a photo of it. Why was I up at that unusually early hour I hear you ask? Well, I blame the Melbourne weather. It was incredibly windy and raining quite hard, when I was awoken at 3.20am by the dog barking. Thank goodness we have a monitor for our daughter's room, or else I probably wouldn't have heard him! He had let himself out of his doggy door and gone to the front part of the yard. Unfortunately, the brick that is usually holding the gate open between the front and the back of the yard had not been put back, so the wind blew it closed and it locked. Poor Buster was out in the wind and rain with no shelter and no way of getting back in. No wonder he was barking! I have never seen him so happy to come into the house as when I opened the door. He was running around like a lunatic, barking, growling playfully and generally VERY HAPPY to be in a dry, warm place! He was pretty panicky too, so I decided to stay up with him to calm him down and settled myself on the couch with a blanket (after putting my daylight lamp on and getting my stitching out of course! I knew it was going to be a long night...) As soon as I was settled, Buster was on my lap - he took up the whole length of me! He didn't move for a good couple of hours, poor thing... Still, at least I managed to make good out of it and get some night time stitching done! ;)

Hubby's stitching update

Daniel has been doing pretty well with his stitching lately, but he apparently "hasn't got the time" to do a blog to show off his progress. Well, too bad, coz I'm making sure I show off what he's done! :P I'm so pleased that he has finally got the enthusiasm for stitching again. It's been a long time coming. Well done hubby!

Some finishes

Hubby and I decided that some of our stitching need to be framed this week, so we took a look at what was there. We came across hubby's very first stitched design, and he decided that it was small enough to put into a coaster, so here it is:



It's good to see it being put to use, and it is so neatly stitched - he must have had an excellent teacher! ;)

The next one is mine, and we took it to the framers. The lady there looked at it and said that it looked like it would fit into a standard frame, and it did! I think the colour of the frame really brings out the chocolate in the design. The mat came with the kit, and I think it looks perfect for it. I'm very happy with how it has turned out.



We also took my recent Lizzie*Kate finish in. I chose a dark frame with no mat, and the frame itself has a bit of a carved design. I'll hopefully be getting that back next Friday. I can't wait! Hubby chose to take his Concorde design in. It was his first evenweave design and it looks great. He chose a dark grey mat and a greeny grey metallic frame that compliments the plane perfectly. He's already chosen where he wants to hang it, so all we have to do now is wait for the phone call to say that it's ready.

Stitch in time update

All seems to be going pretty well with this little stitch. I am really enjoying working on 32 count again - it was a little daunting at first but I'm very happy with how it is turning out. As always though, the picture on the cover doesn't do justitce to the colours. Normally I find that the stitched design is brighter than the picture on the cover, but with this one it is the opposite - the colours look a lot darker in reality. Still, I am pleased with how it is turning out, and with any luck it'll soon be finished!



I think it helps that I have been making time for my stitching too. I had a stitchy friend, Bek, come over one evening this week and usually we just sit and chat and maybe show off our stitching but we both actually DID some stitching this time - shock, horror! She also very kindly got me 2 threads I was missing for the pattern - my local shop didn't have them in and it really frustrates me. I think it's mainly because when you go in and pick up a handful of threads they just scan one and multiply it by how many you have rather than scanning each one so the stoitck can get replenished. Grrrrr! Ayway, rant over... It was a great night and I love to stitch in company. I have also been taking my stitching to work with me to do in my lunch break seeing as it is such a small one. Half and hour here and there really does make a difference!

New project

Well, in the end, it didn't take me all that long to decide what I would be stitching next. I have decided on my very first Prairie Schooler design that reads "A stitch in time". I thought it would be perfect to head up my blog. It's stitched on 32 count, and I completely forgot how small that is! I'm not having as much trouble with it as I initially thought I would though. The last time I worked on 32 count was 13 years ago, and my eyes were a touch better then!

I told myself that I was going to get everything organised last night to be able to start stitching today. It was quite late when I got off the phone to my mum, so intended to head to bed once I had done that. Well, it turns out that there were other ideas afoot... I had everything ready - threads sorted, material cut, centre found... And then as I was about to put it away, a little voice entered my head - "just a stitch or two to start won't hurt, will it?". I gave it some thought (for about a millisecond or two!) and thought that if I did a couple of stitches I could go to bed content in the knowledge that I had at least made a start. But we all know that I didn't stop at a couple of stitches, don't we? LOL I was still up stitching when hubby got up to go to work, at about 10.45pm, and only put it away at about 11.30pm.... Silly me! I've been tired all day because of that, but here's what I managed to get done:

Hubby's stitching

I am very pleased that this week my husband picked up his stitching again! Woohoo! Admittedly, it was after a bit of teasing from myself and my stitchy friend Belinda (maybe even her hubby Adrian too) but I'm sure that doesn't matter, the point is that he started again. It has been a couple of years since he's stitched, probably. It's been so long that neither of us can remember. I got him hooked into cross stitch shortly after we got married - cunning plan! He had asked me to stitch an Egyptian design for him that he liked, and I agreed to. It was quite a complicated design (and still hasn't been done to this day...) Then he saw another couple of much simpler Egyptian designs so got them for me to do. One day I was stitching on another piece and we were discussing what I was going to stitch next. The Egyptian designs got mentioned and I jokingly told him that seeing as they were for him, he should be the one stitching them. To my surprise, he agreed! We decided it was best for him to start on a small design first to see if he liked it, and so we ordered a Snoopy design from Sew and So. Once he had begun stitching it, the bug took hold. He told me he now understood how I can sit and stitch all day and not realise how much time has passed. That, as they say, is history and was the beginning of his addiction.

Unfortunately, after a couple of years of doing really well at it, he developed carpal tunnel syndrome which made it very difficult to stitch. He had an operation on one wrist but it wasn't terribly successful. I think now he has come to live with it, and wants to try and do as much as he can, when his wrists allow. Work has also got in the way over the past couple of years, with promotion meaning that he hasn't had the time to do any stitching as he has had paperwork to do at home, and then been too tired to do anything else.

There was also a disaster with one of his kits, which had been left out for a while without being done, and the sun had got to it. It was black fabric, so ended up going a shade of red down one side. I think he learnt a painful lesson there, and it put him off stitching for a while. It was a stunning tiger design too. But, after some careful cajoling here and there, he's back into it! He decided that the only way he was going to get back into it was by starting a new design. So he went through his box of stash (one of my rules when he started stitching was that he was going to keep his hands off MY stash!) and decided on a design called Fish Quay by Derwentwater Designs.

This is how far he has got after 2 days (probably only a couple of hours worth) of stitching.

Lizzie*Kate finish

I finally did it! I finished stitching a design. *happy dance* I really enjoyed stitching with the specialist threads, and I think the button sets it off nicely. I love stitching Lizzie*Kate!

It's been so long since I have finished something, even longer since I have finished something I am going to be keeping myself - it's a great feeling. I'm thinking about getting it framed fairly soon too, rather than add it to the finished designs I have waiting to be framed. It almost feels like jumping the queue, but I'm itching to get this one up on the wall.



I now have to decide what I'm going to stitch next - such a lot to choose from too! I'll have some fun making that decision today.

Lizzie*Kate update

I feel as though I have made a lot of progress on this design over the past week or so. It feels like it won't be long before I am finishing it off either. It's been a while since I have had a finish, so it's a bit exciting!



I ended up fixing the mistake too - I decided on taking out the top row and moving it up, and stitching an extra row on the bottom of the oblong too. I think it looks ok, and if I had left it and moved the bottom up one, I think it would have looked too squashed.

I'm really enjoying using the speciality threads now too. The effect is subtle but good. Just a little more time consuming, and I have to keep reminding myself to cross the stitches individually rather than doing a whole row at a time!

A mistake or two

It seems that over the past couple of days, I have discovered a couple of mistakes... The first one I discovered was that I had miscounted my weight loss, and had actually lost 6.5lbs up to Wednesday, not 6lbs. Yippee! Then I weighed in and lost another 1.5lb making a total of 8lb in 4 weeks. Can't say I'm disappointed at that! :D In all, since the end of January, that makes almost one and a half stones - woohoo! :D

The other mistake, I discovered today. I have not counted correctly on my L*K design, but nothing disastrous. I am debating how to fix it up though (mistakes in my work is one of my pet peeves!) I have a one stitch gap between the border and the writing starting at the top, where there should be a gap of two. I am debating whether to a) decrease the gap at the bottom so that it's even or b) take out the row of stitching above the writing and move it up one, adding a row to the top and bottom of the rectangle on the left hand side... I just don't want it to look squashed if I take option a or out of place if I take option b... Decisions, decisions! I'll post an update picture soon too, as I have got as far as the word "please" :D

A new WIP

I think I've decided to give WTP a rest for a little while, until I summon the courage to sort out the mistake I have made on him. So, now I have another project that was previously started and ended up getting put to one side (as it is for me, and it was put aside to stitch for others as is always the case!) that I would like to finish. I did want to start on one of the charts I recently got at the show, but most of them required 32ct or 28ct (of which I had neither) and the only ones I did have material for were too large - I just wanted to do a small design. So, at about 9.30pm after texting my stitchy friend Belinda for most of the night, she convinced me to forget WTP and find another design. I looked everywhere for one that caught my fancy, and ended up settling on a Lizzie*Kate Giggle Boxer that reads "You can touch the dust but please don't write in it". I think it sums up this place very well! :P



I tried to be a bit fancy with the picture as I have noticed that on other blogs, people are very creative with their photography. Unfortunately, I am not a good photographer - I just have a "point and squirt" camera, but I am happy enough with it. This is the first project where I have used speciality threads (thanks Bek!) and it is taking a bit of getting used to, having to do the stitches one at a time. I'm sure the overall effect will be worth it in the end, but it just makes the stitching slower going, I think. I am looking forward to finishing a design that is just for me too, so I think I am going to enjoy this one!

Stitch and slim update

Well, there have been mixed results so far... The slimming is actually going better than the stitching at the moment, which was a total shock to me! I lost 2.5lb this week, making a total of 6lb in the past 3 weeks. It's not as fast as I would have done if I were going to a group, but I must say that I am pretty pleased with the results so far :D I think the thing I am most impressed about is that I am not snacking of an evening. By the time I get home from work and get Caitlyn organised and in bed though, it's about 8.00pm to 8.30pm before I am having dinner so I guess that eliminates the need for snacking. If I feel like I do need something before dinner, I am finding that I'll just grab an apple. It'd be even better if I could get one all to myself, but Buster the crazy Beagle just loves apples, so I have to share! LOL

Stitching wise, not much has happened. I have started ripping out the mistake on WTP, but I got a bit unenthusiastic about it and he's just been sitting there for about the past week. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to pick him up at the moment either, so I think I will be starting on another small project to make sure my stitchy bug stays alive and well. I haven't decided which one I will do yet, but most likely it'll be one of the charts that I picked up at the show - I'm itchin' to be stitchin' one of those!

Craft and Qulit Fair

It's been over a week since I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair with Belinda and Cassie, so I thought I had better post about it! I have wanted to before now, but have just been so tired from work and this darn cold that I haven't mustered the enthusiasm... But here I am now :D

We all had a fab time at the show, and I am very happy that Belinda and I finally got to one together :D There were only a few cross stitch stalls, which is disappointing, but the old favourites were there, so that was good. We had a wonderful time looking at all the stash that we *could* have come away with, but all in all, I think we were fairly restrained. Cassie managed to find her very first cross stitch project, so I am looking forward to helping her on her way with that in the future, and Belinda bought some fabric for her birth sampler as well as a Mirabilia kit that she has wanted for ages. I bought just patterns: Lizzie*Kate, Prarie Schooler and Glory Bee, with a couple of them being on my wish list, so that was an added bonus. :D



I also saw a L*K design that read "Dogs leave paw prints on your heart" but when I went back to go and purchase it, someone had taken it (none of the ladies at the stall remember selling it, and they only had one copy). It's so disappointing to think that there are crafters around that would do something like that.

All in all, it was a fab day, and I can't wait to go again next year! :D

1 day to go!

We're off to the Craft and Quilt Fair tomorrow! Yippee!!!

I have my spending money all ready and waiting, and I am thinking about what is best to wear. I'm probably going to wear runners for comfort, I think. Not sure I could last all day in my heeled boots. I'm also thinking about what to take for lunch. We've decided to take our own rather than pay the expensive prices of the food there. I am thinking I'll either take tuna and crispbread or I'll take a pasta salad, along with a couple of pieces of fruit.

I am soooo looking forward to all the fantastic things we'll see tomorrow, and to helping Belinda and Cassie choose patterns. Belinda is looking for a baby sampler for her baby, which is due at the end of January, and Cassie is looking for a small design to begin cross stitching with, as she has only done long stitch so far. I'm just going to be looking for anything that catches my eye! :P Seriously though, I usually look for Lizzie*Kate designs, and I would like to see if I can find Passione Ricamo's Romantic Stitcher.

Here's to a successful day :D

Progress report

Well, the first week of stitch and slim is down, with mixed results. I managed to lose 2.5lbs this week, which I am really chuffed with. Hopefully I'll do the same next week, and get on to a cracking start. I actually looked at my diary from the beginning of the year, and since January 25th, I have dropped 1st 1lb altogther. Not bad, at all. Can't believe I didn't end up putting that weight back on, but I'm not going to argue with it. Maybe looking after Caitlyn has stopped me from regaining. Who knows? I have really enjoyed some of the nice things I have had this week, and feel satisfied that I am making healthier choices.

On the stitching front, things haven't been doing so well. I only picked it up on Wednesday when I went to visit Cassie for some stitching time. I was happily stitching along, and then discovered that I had made a mistake. So what do I do? Not what I should have done, lol! I should have worked out where the mistake was, but I haven't been brave enough to find out how much I have to rip out. Instead, I went to another part of the pattern and started some backstitch :P No doubt I'll brave it soon, when I can sit and concentrate on it, and I'll post another picture soon too.

My stitching time is about to get rudely interrupted though, as I have just got myself a full time job, starting on Monday. I am going to be sooo tired for the first couple of weeks that I don't think I'll be stitching much during the week. I might get chance at the weekends though, if I am lucky.

Stitch and slim

I have decided recently that enough is enough, and I need to lose some weight. So, in true stitchaholic style, I am going to use my stitching to help me out! I figure that if I aim to be stitching every night, I will be much less likely to snack my way through the evening (who wants stains on their stitching?). I made a bit of a start on Thursday by swapping the sugar I was putting in my cups of tea for sweetner. I also swapped the Coco Pops at breakfast for Weetbix with banana. I tend to find that bread is one of my trigger foods, so I am aiming to cut back on that almost completely. I have re-discovered Cruskits with flavoured tuna for lunch too - yum!

A friend and I are going to be trying to do this weight loss thing at the same time, so hopefully we'll be support for each other - I find it so hard trying to be good by myself, and I think once the first few weeks are out of the way, it should get easier.

Hubby and I also took Caitlyn and our dog, Buster out for a walk this afternoon. Hopefully that'll start doing me good, and it'll certainly wear the dog out - we were out for 45 minutes today and he was so tired when we got home that he was trying not to fall asleep whilst he was sitting up! It was very cute. :D

Stitchy meet

The stitchy meet I went to at Melody's house yesterday was fantastic. I'd almost forgotten how good it was to just sit and chat and stitch and eat yummy foods! There was me, Belinda, Melody, Cassie and Melody's very cute 9 month old daughter so there was plenty of chatter going on. I got a little bit stitched on my WTP design, so I made progress but not much. I think because of all the fractionals I probably need to do that at home and take a simpler piece to the stitchy meet.

I can't believe that there was so much sweet stuff to munch our way through - too much probably! I took my slice, Belinda baked a banana bread with a caramel topping, Cassie bought Lammingtons and Melody supplied Oreos and cupcakes. Thank goodness she also supplied salsa with celery and carrot for dipping! I'm thinking next time, I might do something savoury for a change. I only have a few weeks to decide what I'm doing though as the next one is mid-August. Bring it on! :D

Tomorrow, tomorrow....

.... I love you, tomorrow, you're only a day away! I am so looking forward to catching up with the stitchy girls tomorrow - it's very exciting. There will be lots to catch up on, and probably more chatting will happen than actual stitching, but it's been so long since we've seen each other that I am sure no-one will mind.

I made my rice krispie slice tonight to take with me to the meeting. It was supposed to be individual rice krispie cakes, but I don't have a cupcake pan. It'll taste the same anyway. The recipie I found online is different to how I remember it turning out as a kid, so I might have to have a go for the next stitchy meet - that'll be a shame! :P I'm sure it'll taste fine, but the look is not what I remember. I think sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good...

Well, I better head off and get some more stitching done before the big day tomorrow :D

WTP update

It's not the best picture, as it was taken in fading light, so I had to use the flash, but it gives you a good idea. This is my progress so far on "Let's Bounce". It was surprising to see how much I had actually done, once I unrolled the scroll frame. Still, I'm not really looking forward to stitching Tigger... He's my favourite WTP character, but he has far too many fractional stitches in for my liking! I'm thinking of starting to do some backstitch on it soon, so that I don't have it all to do at the end. I think it also helps the design to come alive, so might spur me on to accomplish more of the design in a shorter time. We'll see. :)

OK, I'm off to move the dog from my stitching end of the sofa, and start making some more progress :D

Stitching friends

I am getting so excited now that the month of July is rolling on. I belong to a group of young stitchers (young as I am the oldest one!) and we try to meet about every 4 weeks to have some stitching time, a good gossip and some yummy food. Unfortunately, it has been about 6 months since our last meeting, as 3 of the girls have got married and honeymooned in the first part of the year, makign it difficult to find a free time, what with all the preparations for the weddings, etc. Our meeting day is finally going to be happening on Sunday, even though 2 of the girls are unable to make it. :( I think we were all hanging out for a meeting so badly though, that we couldn't let it go any longer. I think it's one of those unfortunate things that when you get a larger group, it's going to be difficult to find a date that suits everyone. That will just make the meetings where everyone can get there all the more special. :D

There will be 4 of us on Sunday, so it's a nice number. As we meet for the afternoon, we all bring along a snack to share with everyone and the snacks have been unbelievably yummy! A couple of the girls really love to bake, and they never disappoint! I think it encourages all of us to try something new too. I'm going to be taking Rice Krispie cake this time. They are supposed to be done in little individual serves, but I am going to be making one big one and slicing it. Hopefully it'll work out ok!

Good company, good food, and quality stitching time - what more could a girl ask for? ;)

Stitching time

I am very happy that the past few nights, I have made time to do some stitching :D This is mainly because I have decided not to go on the computer once I have put my daughter to bed. I was finding that once it was on, it was on all night and I didn't get anything else done. It feels good to be free from it, and to be able to spend my time more constructively. One of the nights was hubby's night off work, so he was catching up on some TV whilst I stitched. It felt less anti-social than us both being on different computers. My next goal is to find my iPod and listen to some podcasts while I stitch. Now that would be my idea of indulging myself for the evening!

My Winnie The Pooh design is coming along, although I am finding the progress slower than I'd like due to it being on 18 count. I'm so used to stitching on 14 count and the stitches covering a larger area. It also makes it more difficult for those pesky fractional stitches... I am pleased with how it's looking though, and hope to post a picture soon.

My first post

So, I've been persuaded by my good friend Belinda to create a blog for my cross stitch. Well, here I am! I'm hoping that it's going to spur me on to do some more stitching as my stitchy bug has been AWOL for a while...

I have lots of stash to work my way through, and I am feeling like I am finally getting on top of my addiction - I haven't bought any new stash for quite some time. However, with the Quilt and Craft Show soon to hit Melbourne, I am not sure how long that is going to last. I am going with Belinda, and another friend, Cassie, too. I am looking forward to it, it should be a fun day. Of course, I can't promise not to buy any more stash - it's just so tempting! I have a pretty good method for controlling what I buy though. Another friend (Bek) and I take a notebook with us and note down everything we are interested in on our first circuit of the show. Then, when we stop for lunch we take the time to look through our list and choose only the things that we still really can't live without. It also makes it easier to navigate the show at it's busiest time if we only have a couple of stalls to go to. It's a shame that Bek can't come to this show - hopefully we'll be able to go together next year though!

Stitching wise, I have only just started picking it up again in the evenings, now that I have my daylight lamp organised. I have done a quick little Lizzie*Kate design which features the phrase "Home is where our story begins". I love stitching LK designs as they are quick and simple and come to life very fast. It's a good way to get back into stitching. Tonight I decided to pick up a WTP design that I started working on quite some time ago. It's from the Tigger movie and called "Let's Bounce". It's all the characters holding onto Tigger's tail to try and stop him bouncing. Very cute, and it'll probably end up in my daughter's room when it's finished.