Stitch Haven

New post, now with photos

2009-06-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

Photos, as promised yesterday.

Kitten Reflections, the finished product

I'm very happy with the outcome. There's lots of french knots around the bushed on the right. I am now very good at french knots.

Below is Happy cats. Looks a lot nicer with the detail. This is moving very slowly as I have gotten tied up in a new project (See below).

Ashley's Roses. I've been wanting to do another Mirabilia for ages! Below is approximately one week of work.

Then about two weeks. This is all skirt and a bit of bouquet. The greys are a bit tedious, but alternating with some of the colours is working well for me. I will gladly work on this for as long as possible before I go away :)

Thanks for reading :)

No photos :(

2009-06-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Sadly no photos in this blog. I have been slack and haven't uploaded any recently.

Anyway, in exciting news: I HAVE FINISHED MY THESIS! About frickin' time! It's handed in and I don't have to think about it until it's returned from the markers with recommendations for changes, probably about 5 weeks away. These shouldn't be too drastic.

Now, in my last post I wrote up a list of goals for my "month of leisure" as I shall call it. I am now 1.5 weeks in, and I am loving that I made up the list, as I can go back and check over how I'm going. Let's see...

1) finish all uni-related paperwork (forms, case summaries etc) On its way. I just finished some bits of paperwork
2) finish Kitten Reflections DONE! Picture in next post
3) start a new cross stitch project (maybe a Mira) I started Ashley's Roses about 2 weeks ago. Photo in next post
4) continue working on Happy Cats :) A little bit of work on this, but not much, I've been caught up in AR
5) read novels (averaging 1 per week) Not at all. I've been reading travel guides
6) start swimming Nuh. Need bathers. However, I've just been offered to teach a permanent class at my local YMCA which means I'll have free pool access, so it's on the way.
7) plan my overseas trip That's definitely on the way, flights all booked and paid for, paid for some accommodation, thinking about trains.
8) learn a few necessary words of the languages for the countries I'll be visiting (France, Netherlands, Italy...hopefully I should be right for the U.S. and England). Not really. I'm trying to cast my memory back to primary school Italian, and high school French. I think I have a very basic understanding of these languages. Dutch, I'm completely lost.

So that's what's happening. I am only working about 3 days a week at the moment, which is absolutely tops. I will be going to Queensland for a beach-based holiday with friends in a few weeks, then on to international travel. I think I'll have to set up a travel blog as well.

Photos of finished projects, and works in progress next post, hopefully within the week :)

Thanks for reading x

Shhhhh! I'm "working"

2009-05-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Haha! I'm at work at the moment, quite obviously not working. Let's call it my 3.15 lunch break. Thought I would put up a post as it's been about 6 weeks. Really, I think I post irregularly because I'm not sure anyone is reading. So if you do have a peruse, drop me a comment, it will make me feel special :) ...not that I can't enjoy blogging regardless of who is or isn't reading.

Anyhow. Let's look at some progress pics.

Kitten reflections is nearly finished. I've put up two photos as the more recent one (first pic) is pretty cruddy quality:

I have really enjoyed working on this one. Dimensions do such nice designs. All that is to go is the cross-stitching and back stitch in the top right corner (bringing the second smitten to life :) and then a shed-load of french knots making up little flowers in the bluey-green bushes. Oh how I love french knots (shame sarcasm doesn't come accross in written text).

I have also been working on another piece, Happy Cats (has anyone noticed that I like cats a bit?) This piece is fantastic, all simple shapes and bold colours. There is a progress pic below, as well as my initial floss toss, with a shot of the expected finished outcome.

I've actually made a fair bit more progress than this as well, I just don't have a shot of it to post. No wait, I do have a shot of a more recent Happy Cats! Unfortunately it's obstructed by my unhappy cat.

CAPTION: "Where's my dinner, b%^&$!?"

Lastly, a little mother's day card I knocked up a week before the day. This is from one of the more recent issues of CrossStitcher. I changed a few of the colours around so that it wasn't so pastelly, then stuck it to a bit of manilla folder to make the card! I really like this piece, but it hasn't reached my mum yet. She's currently holidaying in Europe and hasn't received it more than a week later :( Here's hoping it shows.

In other news. Within two weeks I plan to hand my thesis in! I know, I know. "We've heard it all before" they say. Well, I think it's actually very close. Then I'll have a month of working a 2-day week and chilling out before I go overseas. I was thinking I might make some goals for my month off:

1) finish all uni-related paperwork (forms, case summaries etc)

2) finish Kitten Reflections

3) start a new cross stitch project (maybe a Mira)

4) continue working on Happy Cats :)

5) read novels (averaging 1 per week)

6) start swimming

7) plan my overseas trip

8) learn a few necessary words of the languages for the countries I'll be visiting (France, Netherlands, Italy...hopefully I should be right for the U.S. and England).

Can't think of anything else at the moment. I'm excited about the prospect of having time to myself!!

Thanks for reading, and sorry for rambling :)

Plodding along

2009-04-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hello to all.

Well, I am plodding along, as my title suggests. I am still working on my thesis. I am still looking forward to finish it (obviously), but I feel like I've stopped fighting with it so much. Either way, it's got to be done, so there's no point in hating all the time spent on it.

In the time that I have to spare I have been working on some round robin pieces (again, I won't post pictures until the whole round is complete. There's a total of 13 of us participating...that's 169 pieces! Massive!

I have also made some progress on Kitten Reflections. The backstitch looks so nice in this piece. And now the first smitten has a face. The colours are so good; I'm looking forward to getting back to it between round robins. Picture below.

In other news, a friend of mine has been working on a project of siamese kittens and has palmed it off to me as she's not really interested in cross stitch any more. Her progress is in the picture below:

I'm not sure if I'll actually work on this one, as I've actually already done the pattern up before (about 10 years ago). It is lovely, but I have so many other projects that I'm really keen to get into. I'll see how I feel once I've finished kitten reflections.

Hope everyone is well. Happy easter. I'm off to stick my face into some easter eggs :)

Kitten Reflections

2009-03-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been working a lot on Kitten Reflections, and I've got to say, I am loving it. Look at how much progress I've made!!! It's going very quickly :) I love that you can begin to see the shape of the first kitten coming out. I think the colours are really nice and the shading/blending is beautiful. Go Dimensions!
I was even a bit worried that I was going a bit fast...I do like to be able to spend time on projects, but then I realised that if I do finish it quickly, my enjoyment won't be hindered, and I'll be able to begin one of my other projects sooner! Double positive!

In other news, I'm addicted to reality television. Biggest Loser & SYTYCD Aus, are great!! I want Charlie to win Dance and I think he just might. If you are elsewhere in the world and/or haven't seen any of the show, I recommend you youtube some of Charlie & Penny's dances...lots of fun.

Anyway, back to the dreaded thesis :(

Something different

2009-03-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Hello

this is a long overdue blog update.

When I have the time to stitch I've been working on a few round robin pieces, which I'm really enjoying. Although, not sure I love the time pressure of round robins. I like being able to take the time and enjoy my stitching...although I do also love seeing the picture take form.

When I've been between round robin pieces I've been working on Kitten Reflections. Before I put it down in January, this is what it looked like:

This is where it's at now-ish.

I'm really enjoying this piece...I like the textures and different stitches Dimensions use.

I will hopefully be able to post again soon :)

What have I been doing?!?

2009-02-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back in blog-land.

Not sure what I've been doing that means I haven't been able to post anything. I suppose I'm back at all my jobs now (I work at 6 different places!...no wonder I'm confused all the time). Other things of interest: I have been working on improving my diet...go me! And in doing so I've lost a little bit of size (not weight, but it's the size I'm interested in losing). I'm hoping that with a healthy diet will come nice skin, but I suspect that that will sort itself out when I'm not so stressed (someone tell me to cut it down to only 3 work-places).

I have also been working on my thesis...I have to hand it in before the end of March and it still needs a fair bit of work...I can't wait to have it done.

In happy stitching news:

I have finished Stroke of Midnight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my god. It's about time. I have been working on it for about 4 years

Obviously she needs washing and ironing. I think I'll work on all that, and getting her framed once I've handed in my thesis...and gotten on top of some other projects.

Here are some photos of the detail in the piece:

beading and over-1 detail...I like the way her face turned out.dress detail (including over-1 parts)

I have since done a little bit of work on Kitten Reflections (no picture as yet), and been working on some round robin pieces...also no pictures on the off chance co-robiners stumble across my blog. I am loving working on round robins, it's such a great opportunity to stitch pieces that I enjoy working on, but wouldn't necessarily do for myself. Brilliant. I will post photos of these once they have been received by their owners

Thanks for reading. I will try to be more diligent in my posting, reading and commenting :)

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a new year. How exciting! I had a very uneventful evening at a friends place playing board games, but it was a good time. Hope everyone else's nights were good.

Anyway, onto stitching. Below is a picture of the secret santa piece I made up.

Sadly it's not the best picture in the world, but it is now on the other side of the world (in Canada!) so nothing I can do about it. I am very proud of the finishing (I've only ever framed things before. I made the cording myself! I must admit there were a few nasty words and tears in the making. The lady I sent it to said she received it on the 23rd so I'm glad it made it before Christmas.

The picture below is the completed stitching for my Christmas round robin. I am absolutely loving this piece to bits! The colours are great, there's sparkle in the border. It's just so lovely. It will be sent off in the next few weeks (now to 13 other places). I will look forward to getting it back, hopefully with some nice additional pieces :)

Below is the finished picture of my Paris project. All framed up. Again, I did the framing myself. What bitch of a job! It took ages. But my parents loved it and said they had no idea I had been working on it. Go me!! Now to pick where to hang it...

And lastly:
Now that I've finished all my extra projects etc, I am back onto the Stroke of Midnight. I did a little bit of work on her before Christmas, which is the photo below.

But then, compare with the work done in the past week. I am on absolute fire with this bad boy! I can't wait to finished it. It is so complicated and intricate. Give me solid blocks of colour any day. I think I'll finish it within about a month. Then I'll dance around, put it in my finished projects bag and not think about it for about a year.

Anyhow,
that's it for the moment. Thanks for having a read. Sorry I haven't commented recently, it's been that crazy time of year. Hope everyone is feeling suitably righteous about the New Year's resolutions, I know I am :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-12-16T01:05:00.000-08:00

No seriously, it is! :)

I am looking forward to Christmas. Although I'll still be teaching my classes at the gym over the break, they only take up one hour at a time, and I won't have to do any 9-5 style work! Hooray!

I have a couple of bits and pieces to report.

I finished my naughty/crafty cat. He's so cute!!

Hehe, he puts me in a good mood. Now I'll hopefully be sending him off sometime in January so that he can have some cat friends join him :)

Once I finished the cat I began work on my part of the Christmas Round robin I joined. The pattern is from Cross Stitch Collection issue 162. I really like it so far, although the sparkly threads are a massive pain in the ass. Should have this finished within the week.

Lastly, I received my Secret Santa from 'Jay' hidden identity in Canada. It looks great! and is sitting above my computer where I can see it. Bit of a bird-Christmas theme this year so far...

I will keep you posted on other goings on up until Christmas. As soon as I've finished my wren I'll be picking Stroke of Midnight up again...hooray!! :)

Paris is Finished!!!

2008-12-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

Hooray! I finished up Remembrance of Paris. See picture :)

I'm very pleased with it! And go me for persisting with all the drab colours. The only disappointment is that the pattern I got for this (which was bought off ebay), did not include background details:

I suspect that it was originally a stamped kit, but as I bought it from somebody potentially dodgy, I missed out. Oh well, I think my parents will like it anyway (and they need not know that there's parts missing ;) I just need to wash & iron it, find a frame, cut up the mount board, frame it, wrap it, and put it under the christmas tree :)

This means I can now finish off my cat round robin, stitch up a christmas pattern, and then I can finally get back to the Stroke of Midnight. Woohoo!

Thanks for stopping by, it's absolutely lovely receiving comments! :)

Too much to do

2008-11-27T02:56:00.000-08:00

Aaargh study! I am so over it at the moment. I am currently working on an essay that Just. Keeps. Going. I imagine I'll finish it some time in the next century. Sadly, this has meant that I haven't had much time for stitching. I won't post any pictures for this post, as there's not much change to appreciate in either piece that I'm working on at the moment. I have been doing mostly backstitch when I've had the time.

I was away over the weekend for a conference in Brisvegas (realistically known as Brisbane, and not really anywhere near as exciting as Las Vegas). But it was nice to get away for a bit. Although I had to work, I looked at it as a holiday and had a really good time. I did a bit of shopping and went out for a few drinks...I also watched a lot of Greys with my colleage who I was sharing a room with. Good times.

Alright, it's late and I'm off to bed (I have ANOTHER conference tomorrow!) bleugh! I'll include pictures in my next post. Thanks for stopping by :)

Older and tireder

2008-11-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

It was my birthday on Friday...hooray I love birthdays. I got a lovely necklace, Grey's Anatomy Season 4 on DVD, and lovely bowl and a massage. Brilliant! However, I am now excruciatingly tired...I had a pretty big weekend...went out on Fri and Sat nights, had an aerobics workshop on Sunday, had to prepare a presentation for a conference next week. Too much. Now that I'm 25 I can't quite handle as much...whinge whinge.

But, beside that I have done a bit of stitching.

I am currently participating in a Christmas round robin and secret santa. I finished my Secret Santa piece, but have decided not to show it on here for the moment. I will wait till I send it out. Needless to say, I am incredibly proud of myself. I sewed my little christmassy piece into an ornament and made and attached my own cording! I'm beaming :)

I have done a bit more work on my puss cat for my other round robin. He is below.

Isn't he cheeky!? Loving him to bits :) Should finish him in the not too distant future, then I can get back to Stroke of Midnight...I am actually missing her and very much want her finished.

Paris is also coming along. I'm a little bit nervous that I won't get it done it time...but I must remember Christmas is still a good 5 weeks away.

This probably doesn't actually look that different from my last post. There would be more white, and more backstitch. Looking forward to getting this done so I don't have to work on things in secret (I think it also means that I am spending more time on this when I should be studying...naughty).

I have also done a bit of spending. I bought '501 Cross stitch designs' by Sam Hawkins. I used to borrow it from the library when I was a teen. I feel all nostalgic now owning. Plus it will be great for my Christmas round robin :)

I also bought the lastest editions (available in Australia) of Cross Stitch Gold and Cross Stitch Collection. I have a problem. As we have all thought at some point..."when will I ever have time to work on all these?!?!"

Anyway. That's probably about it. Thanks so much to those who have read and commented on my blog. Keeps me motivated. Have a lovely week! :)

I should take some time to study...

2008-11-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I should take some time to study. But there are two major barriers: 1) I don't want to study. 2) I want to stitch! Oh life is difficult!!!

Oh well. This will be a short-ish post as I need to get to bed...I have to be up at an outrageously early hour to work at the gym tomorrow :(

Remembrance of Paris is coming along. It feels very slow. I am currently working on the white stitching and am getting pretty bored. I would like to have this done by the end of Nov, but it's a very busy month for me, so I'm not sure how I'll go. Picture below:

Hooray! No more half stitches. Although it's slow and tedious, I am liking the way it looks.

I have also done more work on my naughty puss cat for the round robin, but I won't post a picture of that yet. I am also working on a secret santa christmas ornament (a very little one), so no pictures of that either until it's been received.

Instead, I will share a photo of one of my previous completed projects. Mirabilia, Rose of Sharon:

I remember buy the chart just after I finished high school...I would have started her in 2002 and finished in 2004. I'm very proud of her and love the colours. Now I need to get off my arse and have her framed (either doing it myself, or batting my eyelids at my dad and having him do it...I refuse to pay for framing, at least until I have a solid job).

In reading other people's blogs I am now hugely keen to do another Mirabilia. I have Ashley's Roses and Shimmering Mermaid in my stash, but they will have to wait until I've cleared some of my WIPs.

That'll do for now. Enjoy your week ahead (just think, only 5 more days till the weekend!)

Nov begins (which means I will soon get older)

2008-11-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Here we go...

it has been a while since I posted. I suspect that the put it off as time spent posting is time away from stitch. Plus, I haven't set myself up to have other people read this yet...so perhaps that will motivate me a little more :) I'll start commenting on some other people's blogs (after all it's a reciprocal thing).

Anyhow, I have some progress reports, and I'll upload lots of pics in this post as I didn't include any last time.

Let's see. Stroke of Midnight has had very little attention the past month. This is because I have several other projects going which have due dates. But, there's been a little bit of change (although you have to squint to see it).

Sadly she's going to have to be put away until after christmas. I'll get her out again after that and will ignore everybody until I'm done.

Remembrance of Paris is going well. I was getting very sick of it for a while, but have made some nice progress today. I will post two pics because I have finished the Arc de Triomphe and the Eifell Tower and am currently working on the Sacre Coeur. I am doing a pretty good job of hiding this from my parents :P

This is the middle and right side completed. Below is the work I've been doing on the left.

The backstith really brings this piece together so I'm looking forward to getting to that on Sacre Coeur.

Now, I have also finished the koi fish, and turned them into a birthday card for my mum.

I am really pleased with how this turned out. I think the colours are beautiful. And I am quite proud of the card. I made it out of a manilla folder :) My mum was pleased to get the card and said that she would like to find a frame for it. This was nice as she's not always hugely supportive of my hobby (thinks it's a bit strange).

I have also started two other projects since my last posting (as if I don't have enough to do!).

When I finished the fish I started Kitten Reflections, a Dimensions petit pattern. This was going to be one I worked on when I'm in my room (I usually work on my stitching in the living room), but this will now be sidelined for a bit to make way for Paris and my other project (to be shown in a minute...

You can't really tell what this is from the picture, but it's the bottom corner of a lily pond. I'm looking forward to getting back to this.

Now, the other project I'm working on is a round robin...my first! I'm quite excited about it. I am participating with three other women, one in the UK and two in the Dominican Republic. My theme is going to be cats :) I have started on mine with one of the anchor cats. So far he just has a body, no head.

He's a cheeky little man :P I think it will be so exiting having people from around the world working on projects together. I have already selected my patterns for the other ladies' rounds!

In non-stitching news, I have almost finished my uni coursework. I have an essay to go...2,500 words of sheer tedium. Sadly I won't have my thesis and placements finished till next year, so I'm still a bit away from the end.

Also, it's my birthday soon!! Hooray. Only 12 days away and I will have acheived a quarter century...pretty impressive I think :) I am hoping to get some nice pressies (really they should call them present days!)

Anyway, I'll finish up this epic post. To anyone reading, thanks for having a look. Happy stitching! :)

Slackness

2008-10-15T03:22:00.000-07:00

Weee!
I have been too slack to write in my blog, let alone upload progress pictures into said blog. I think it's because the time that I'd spend taking photos I could be stitching. And not only could I be stitching then, I HAVE been stitching then! :)

Ah dear. I have made some pretty good progress on my Paris and Fish projects, but as a result Cinderella has taken a bit of a back seat. This is the disadvantage of working on multiple projects at once. I think I would rather have one big one and a small one for the other room or for when I'm sick of the big one. But for now, I want to get Paris finished as a pressie for my doting parents.

In other news: I'm thrilled to bits. I have invested in some Dimensions kits, including Balloon Glow (one of the the new ones from the Gold collection), and Kitten reflections (petites). They are sitting on my desk at the moment and I just want to start them. But I will restrain myself. They will wait until Paris (and possibly Stroke of Midnight) are done.

In other other news: I ran the half marathon on the weekend. Go me! I finished it in 2:12 hours which I'm very pleased with. I expected to take 2;20-30ish, so I'm very pleased. Plus running the streets of Melbourne was exciting. We ran St Kilda rd, past Albert Park Lake and along the shore in St Kilda. These are all places that usually have lots of cars so it was a bit of a privelege. Now I want to do more running, but I think I need to give my knees a break.

For anyone who has read this, thanks for the support. Have a brilliant week. Come back soon :)

The Arc takes shape and 'Running'

2008-10-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

Another week.

My weeks are currently defined by how much work I get done on my cross stitch projects.

Remembrance of Paris is coming along well. My parents have obviously been out of the house a fair bit whilst I've been at home, because I have managed to get almost another half of he Arc de Triomphe completed. This is probably about 1/3 of the way through, perhaps a bit more. Here's hoping I'm able to get it done by christmas. I've been going for about 5 weeks.

Now, the Stroke of Midnight is also continuing. It usually doesn't look like I've done a lot on this one, but my progress the past few months has been very good considering how slow it's been up until now. I am feeling motivated to finish her off. Honestly, my enjoyment of this project has not been huge. It's a bit too complicated...in the future I am likely to go with things that don't have quite so much shading and constant changing of colours. Anyway...here she is:

The end is in sight! :)

My other project is Koi fish, from the book "A Cross Stitcher's Oriental Odyssey". This is one that I do when I'm in my room (really it should be called "I refuse to study!") I am absolutely loving this one...I think because it's nice and simple, and the colours are so vibrant! Plus it's a little project so it will be finished quickly (mind you this is about 3 weeks of work as it is).

In other news:

I am running the half marathon this Sunday!! 21km of unadulterated joy and knee-pain. I am looking forward to it, but I'm also a little nervous (not 100% sure why nervous, I've already run 19km, so it's not much extra on top of that). It should be a good day (I do believe I will have a drink afterwards...but only one because that's all I'll need after a big run).

I will post up on how it went next week.

Have an excellent week to those who are reading (and hell, I'm in a good mood, why not to those who aren't as well).

Post two...witty title to follow

2008-09-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that posting on my blog is going to be a sporadic activity.

I have continued stitching as much as I can. I have been working on three different projects.

First is Teresa Wentzler's Stroke of Midnight. I have been working on this for a very long time (3.5 years minimum). There have been times when I've put her down for at least 6 months, due to lack of interest. But in the past two months I have very engrossed in it, and I've made some good progress (the carpet underneath her dress and and the stonework in the foreground)

I have been working a little bit on trying to keep my stitching neater; I take more time to make sure that I don't split threads of previsous crosses. I've also been rail-roading, where you split the two threads that your working with with your needle so that the stitch sits a bit flatter. I think it's been working well, but neatness with this project is difficult as the stitching is so dense (thinking maybe I shouldn't have done it on 18ct aida).

One of the other ones I've been working on is Remembrance of Paris. This is a kit I bought off ebay.

I am working on this as a gift to my parents...they love paris. Hopefully they'll like this...they tend to be picky about what kind of designs they find not-too-twee. Oh well, if they don't like it, I will tell them to put it on the wall anyway :)

That's about all I have time to write. Bed beckons me (I have rediscovered the benefits of getting a good night's sleep, so as of 1 minute from now, I'll be asleep for 8 hours).

Bye x

Maiden Post

2008-09-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well, the blog begins.

I have so been enjoying the blogs of others, and have so been enjoying cross stitching, that I thought I would take the step to share my enjoyment with others! Hooray!

I imagine my blog will consist of a vast variety of content, depending on what's going on in my life at the time.

At the moment, it is likely to contain lots to do with cross stitch, as it is my means of avoiding study in every way possible (even now, I am working split screened on the computer...Word is on the left).

Once I figure out how I will start to post photos etc. Should be interesting