Finally finished

It's been a busy week around here again... On Tuesday I popped down to Birmingham and stayed with Margaret. I took with me everything to make the 2010 ornament that matches the one I just finished (yes Karen, it's on my to do list!!), but didn't even open the bag! Wednesday morning I picked up a colleague from Canada at the Uni, and for the rest of the week we worked on a paper. So no stitching time until Friday. And at that point I shocked Eddy as I was too tired! He did wonder what the body snatchers had done with me ;)

Anyway, yesterday I forced myself to pick up Wild Thyme Fairy again. And once I'd got a couple of lengths in, I was quite enjoying it... and a little after midnight I finished it!


Wild Thyme Fairy, (c) DMC

Today I picked up a New Beginning again... I'll post a progress picture in the week (I hope!)

Happy stitching!

More fairy stitching

Since I've been back at work I've not had as much time to stitch, but this is where I have got to with Wild Thyme Fairy:



Not much to go now... hopefully I'll manage a happy dance this weekend (especially given this design has so little back stitch).

This year I've decided to join in the totally useless stitch along - while stitching collect all your ORTs in a pretty container, and post a photo of it every full moon. This year the TUSAL is being organised by Sharon.

Here is my ORT 'jar' - I could only find Kilner jars in the house, and I thought Eddy would object if I used a new kilner jar... so I'm using a pretty small vase instead!!



Since I only decided to join in the TUSAL 2 days ago, and I've not had chance to stitch since then, it's totally empty... time to go away and Christen the new ORT jar I think!!

Fairy progress

I did loads of stitching on Wild Thyme Fairy in the run up to Christmas, and a little bit on Christmas day and boxing day... we're back home now with real internet, so here's a photo:



Santa was very kind to me, and I was lucky to receive lots of DVDs, CDs, some new crockery, smellies, chocolates and best of all, 3 lace bobbins and 4 cross stitch charts from Eddy, and a little bag of interesting fibres from Sonia.

We're just starting to watch Battlestar Galactica from the very start (I got the full box set from Eddy), so I'll be brief... BG is probably one of the best series I've seen on TV in ages....

Christmas stitching

Well we got away for Christmas, despite the snow. We left a day earlier than planned as it was forecast 10 inches in Birmingham! Margaret was trying to phone to tell us not to come when we arrived. We ignored Eddy's cell phone and 5 mins later rang her doorbell and shouted 'surprise'!!

Since then I've developed a serious case of stitching butt, and have made great progress with Wild Thyme Fairy. I'm posting this from my iPhone so not sure if I'll manage to upload the photo I just took.

Hmmm looks like it's not an option! I've stitched her arms, face and one wing since the last photo. I'll have to wait until I'm at my mums (who has the Internet) before I share a photo.

Hope you are all enjoying some holiday stitching too!

Busy busy busy....

Wow, it's 2 weeks since I posted??? I can't say I'm surprised! December brings with it the end of term meltdown (usual heavy workload, PLUS marking and a few grant deadlines to boot). Then it's party season. Last week I was in London on Tuesday and didn't get home to 10.30 (I took the opportunity to see my sister); Wednesday was our undergraduate students' Christmas party, followed by a meal out with our masters' students. Thursday was the departmental Christmas cocktail party (and I squeezed into an old cocktail dress, and fully enjoyed the beverages on offer). Friday was a leaving do for 2 colleagues, followed by another meal out... so as you can imagine no stitching got done.

This weekend has been filled with Christmas preparation. We've both taken all this week off so today we've been claning and bought our tree - we usually buy if after Eddy's birthday, but due to the weather forecast we are going to leave home a day earlier than planned for Christmas... We'll be back for New Year, hence the need to buy a tree :)

Anyway, since I last posted I have worked on Wild Thyme Fairy almost exclusively... here she is as of Saturday monring, she now has one arm!!



Happy stitching everyone, and if I don't get back on here this week, Merry Christmas one and all xx

Weekend white out

Well it's been a snowy week here... On Wednesday the University closed as the snow was falling so thick and fast there were concerns staff would struggle to get home (most staff live out of the city centre, on the hills - where the weather is generally MUCH worse than on campus). We had a snow day on Thursday. Much as I would have liked to spend the stitching, sadly I had a pile of marking to get done...

This weekend we cancelled our trip to Birmingham, as to get there we'd have to drive through some of the worse affected areas. Thankfully Eddy was able to get home by train - we were worried we'd not see each other this weekend.

So, what to do??? We're meeting a good friend for lunch (not seen her since August bank holiday), and probably making a more serious start on the Christmas shopping. I'm hoping to do some quilting also.

Over the last week I've been stitching Wild Thyme Fairy:



Last night I wanted a change, so started Holiday Peacock by Courtney Collection (JCS xmas ornie 2010). I finished it this morning:



Hope everyone has a lovely stitchy weekend!

Fairy fun

At the weekend I said I fancied a change... so I looked at my WIPs and decided to pull out Wild Thyme Fairy again. I've made great progress, finishing her leg and getting going with the thyme and grasses to the right of the fairy. The last progess photo I posted (back in March) shows what she looked like when I picked her up this weekend. Is it really 8 months since I last worked on her???



I've done almost all of the stitches in the bottom left corner, and am making good progress with the bottom right. The top half is less intensively stitched, so once the thyme and grass is done it should come along quickly. Well it would do if I'd not decided to stitch the areas of skin over 1...

I've finished the stitching on the second ornament for the TWCOE. I just need to get them both finished ready for posting by the middle of next week.

Legs!!

Over the weekend I worked on Wild Thyme Fairy, and now she has legs!



The first time I stitched a DMC flower fairy someone (maybe Phyllis) suggested stitching the skin in petit point, and I love the way it turns out.

We had a busy weekend, lots of errands, but my favourite was buying a new laptop - a Christmas and birthday present from Eddy's Grandad. I've not had chance to do anything much other than surf the web, but I love it so far. I'm trying to organise my files on the desktop before transferring them here, so there's nothing on it yet!! Amazingly I got £20 trade in for my old laptop, which I bought in 2002... due to a minor internal battery issue that particular laptop thought it was still 2002, which could be a little confusing when looking for the most recent version of a file!!

It was WW tonight, and I lost 3lb, making up for the lack of weight loss last week. That's 16lbs or 1 stone 2 since I started, and I'm delighted. Today I wore jeans a size smaller to work :) I seem to have mostly lost weight off my legs. I just hope my belly catches uo soon... I'd like to lose another 5lbs before we go to the States. We'll see.

Thanks to everyone who leaves a comment - I don't say this very often, but I really do appreciate each and everyone.

Happy stitching

January goals

Hmmm, I didn't have time to set any goals at the beginning of the month - too busy recapping the last year! I also didn't set any in December, so I'll take my November goals as November/December goals:

1) Finish waiting for ships yes
2) stitch an ornie yes, two for the TWCOE
3) work on Fantasy tripych yes, finished the knight, apart from his face
4) work on Gaelic banner yes
5) a new start, yet to be determined! yes, two - Postman Pat and Wild Thyme Fairy

January goals:
1) start new project on Jan 1st yes, Pomegranate and Pears Stitches :)
2) get 1/2 of Pomegranate and Pears done almost there already...
3) Pick up SOMETHING other than P&P for stitching this week...
seriously...
I'd also like to
4) finish the knight panel on FT
5) stitch an ornie
6) make significant progress on Postman Pat
7) stitch on another WIP, if I find the time

So, guess what I was unable to put down yesterday:


I had a long first day back at work today, but after I've posted I'll pick up some stitching. It's Monday so it should be FT, but I suspect it will be P&P...

While most of my WIPs haven't changed since I last photographed them, I did make some progress with Wild Thyme Fairy over Christmas, mostly with the left foreground...



Thanks for popping by :)

Merry Christmas!!

Wow, December has been a whirlwind. As usual work took over my life, some nights I barely had enough energy to stitch... Our term finished on the 18th, but work seemed to increase as then end got nearer, not decrease. So I took all this week off as holiday. Saturday we did various jobs, not least getting all of our parcels and cards in the post - just before the last posting date (again). Sunday we travelled to Birmingham to see Ed's parents. The weather was NOT on our side, at one point it took us 25 minutes to drive just one mile (though the snow near Huddersfield - a snow hot spot that hit the headlines that night).

We had a lovely time with Ed's parents, and headed back yesterday. A long drive (traffic this time) followed by manic food shopping and a rather bargainous tree - £10, reduced from £40... so there is a plus to last minute tree shopping!! Today we cleaned, tidied and decorated the tree. And watched the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe, and the Muppet's Christmas Carol (our favourite Christmas movie). I'm shattered! But a lovely curry later and I've found time to blog. Luckily Ed brought his laptop home, so I've been surfing the web in front of QI. I'm spending my Christmas and birthday money on a laptop, so TV/surfing combos will become more common...

Anyway, this is what I've been stitching over the last month (it's a month since I last posted... not good!!):
First of all, a photo of the finished Waiting for Ships:

(c) Mirabilia, stitched on 28ct cashel 'Fathom' by Picture this Plus, in DMC and Krenik


I then started a new project, which I designed myself. It's Postman Pat - not my usual style, but a request from my friend Leanne, as a birth sampler for her nephew (I did Bob the Builder for her other nephew):

I'm not really enjoying it, but it's quick (and good for when I'm tired), and is my only outstanding bit of obligation stitching.

I also stitched a bit more of Dracolair's Gaelic Banner:


I took this with me to work on in Birmingham. But we packed so quickly I forgot the page of pattern I was working on, and worse still, the key. Ed was a star and suggested we went out on Monday and got me something to work on. The little independent shop in Solihull, which I have used occasionally, has closed down, so we ended up in Hobbycraft. £25 later I came home with the DMC Wild Thyme flower fairy. After just over 24 hours I finished the dress, proving I'd have been a nightmare to be with if I'd not had anything to stitch in Birmingham... I'm not good at sitting still! I did a little bit more last night and today, here she is (after just 4 days of stitching):


Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!