Still going!

Still going, and starting to believe that I can do it!



This is what it looked like before I started doing some serious stitching, on about the 4th of January - so three weeks ago -



I've got one week to finish all of it now (eek!) ... I'm hoping to get a couple of hours this afternoon, if work is quiet, a couple of hours tonight. Fridays aren't usually a good stitching day for me, and Saturday I'm going out for the bride-to-be's hen party ... but hopefully I'll get the bottom part finished by the end of Sunday ... then have Mon-Thurs next week to get the left column finished off and the writing done *phew* I can't wait to have it done! I've got a couple of RR's I need to work on ... then I'll probably stitch whatever I want for a few days before throwing myself into a 2006 rotation :)

I've finally reached the point where I am really ready for the kids to go back to school ... it's taken me about three days to do some work that should take me a morning ... the constant interruptions, whines, arguing etc are driving me bonkers. Of course, give me a couple of weeks after they're back and I'll be whinging about the early mornings, lunches and rushing around!

Off to do grocery shopping now ... one of many thrills in my life ;)

I can hear you Kath! LOL

Hee hee ... I was under very firm instructions from Kath on Saturday morning to come home, take a picture of my newly picked up and framed Christmas Elf and put it on my blog so Katrina could see it too. Um, it's Monday morning now - sorry Kath and Katrina!

Here she is -



Thank you SO much, again, Kath and Katrina - I love her to bits :D

and what have I been doing instead of posting here? Why, stitching of course! Another stitching board I am on is having a stitch-a-thon this week, so I figured what an opportunity, I need to mega-stitch Apache Wedding anyway, why not count while I'm doing it for a bit of fun ... and there is nothing like my quiet competitive streak to be spurred into action to really get me going ;)

... over 2000 stitches later (counting crosses as one, and each backstitch as one) ... here is another update on it -



I'm hoping to finish the bottom part this week - and then have most of next week to finish up the words and right-hand side.

Now a question - along the bottom it says "Apache Wedding Blessing" ... do you think I should replace those words with "John and Georgina, 18 February 2006" ... or leave the Apache Wedding Blessing there and put the John and Georgina along the very bottom of the sampler?

On to today ... we are going to take the kids and bike down to the park ... they need to get out, and I've had fun stitching in the afternoons, but it's definitely time to do the good parenting thing! LOL

and lastly Happy Anniversay to DH and I (well, two days ago - but near enough!) ... 17 years - doesn't that make me sound old? LOL

Yet another update ...

If you're bored of AWB ... just skip the picture - although the terrible photography does add a wee bit of interest, I'm sure! LOL



I stayed at work an extra half hour or so just to finish the brown framework ... now I feel like I just need to fill it all in to finish off that side (and yep, work was quiet, in fact I did NO "work" work at all - but I did managed to catch up on my cricket filing, cricket audit letters and general paper work - as well as some stitching - AND got paid!).

I'm getting itching stitchy fingers ... I really want to do some sewing and finishing, maybe try one of the bags I've been saying forever that I'm going to sew, or start one of stitching smalls ... but I have to keep working on this sampler - I'm sure that's why I'm getting the stitchy itch, more because I know I can't do anything about it - than really wanting to do something else! (gosh - did that rambling make any sense at all? LOL)

The framer rang me yesterday to say my fairy is ready - I need to ring Kath and see if she wants a trip out tomorrow morning, and we'll go pick it up :)

I managed somehow to end up with NINE children here yesterday ... my five, plus David's usual two friends and my two nephews - they're all actually very good ... but I can't say feeding them is much fun, lots of pizza inhaled within five minutes, and then lucky me clearing up afterwards.

Not much else happening around here really - just the same old, same old.

Charlotte, a game piece, her nose ... and pliers ...

After I came home from my soccer meeting last night DH showed me this -



Yep ... Charlotte stuck the red game piece up her nose, and it got stuck. Poor DH had to deal with it - and like any good man he got out his tool kit LOL ... thankfully the game piece had a hole on the underside that he could grip with the pliers and then pull it out.

He asked her why she had put it up her nose ... her reply? "I thought it might stop my nose from running" ... oh cripes, I was crying I laughed so hard (easy for me, I wasn't there! LOL). That girl sure keeps us amused!

and last, but not least - my daily update on AWB - not a whole lot done, but I only got to stitch in the afternoon yesterday so I'm happy that I got any done!



I've promised Rhiannon I'll take them to the beach this afternoon, and I have another meeting tonight - so not sure whether I'll get to do much today either.

Do you like the new do?

I had a bit of play yesterday - I'm quite proud of it (me of no html training or experience, it's amazing what some copying and pasting can do! LOL).

Can you hear the quiet around here? DH has gone back to work (should I be as happy as I am about that?), and what's more the two girls stayed the night at our good friends last night ... woohooo I can sit here with no "I'm hungry", "Mummmmmmy" ... I need to make the most of the next few hours before they come home :)

A few photos today -

Firstly, AWB update ... I made the fatal mistake of looking at how much was left to stitch when I took it out of the Q-Snaps to do the backstitch last night ... *gulp* do I really think I can finish it on time?



It's taken me three days to do that top right piece ... I need to speed up! ... and this week won't be a good stitching week :(

Yesterday I dropped the girls off to Tawa, and on the way back took advantage of the "me" time and stopped at Spotlight to buy these -



Our wonderful little NZ stitching group gave me the money for my birthday to buy them - they are for Celtic Summer, I've changed the Mill Hills to Delica so they fit on the hand-dyed 32ct better - it was lovely to be able to stand in the shop and really study them to try and get the conversions right - thank you Kath, Katrina, Pat and Wendy!!! (there is one missing, they didn't have the Mill Hill number, so I couldn't use it to figure out what Delica to buy). The little brass coin thingees I happened to spot in the jewellry part and I'm hoping that they will work for the little ornament in the JCS Ornie mag - can't remember the name of it, but it's a small one with a coin in the middle, it was only $2.50 for the bag full so no worries if they don't work - if they do I'll let you know, I'm happy to share!

... and a couple of other silly photos -

This is Maisie our cat -



I think she thought she was helping Josh by lying in the puzzle pieces? ... that, or the sun was streaming through the window and it made a nice sunny possie for her LOL

... and this is our front yard on Saturday morning -



I really did expect someone to come to the front door and ask if we were hiring bikes out! LOL .. in fact they were all pulled from the garage because one of the delightful boys (the biggest one) managed to put a cricket ball through the window, and glass had gone everywhere and needed to be cleaned out, and the window fixed. I should note that they're not all OUR bikes - I think we've got three of David's friends ones at the moment, one is on holiday and we're storing it for him, the other two his friends who practically live here, I couldn't fit them into the van when I dropped them back at home on Friday night.

Today I need to get ready for our soccer meeting tonight, firm up the meeting room etc for cricket's meeting next week, do some housework, try and fit a bike ride in ... and hopefully get some stitching done!

Time for a stitching update

Firstly ... my wee confession - when it was my Birthday I just couldn't face the awful backstitching on the AWB ... so I started something new (oh ... did you hear that I wasn't going to start new things on a whim this year ... I was going to FINISH other pieces first? LOL). I started Elizabeth Design's October Sky Sampler ... and looking back on my blog last year, I was going to start this way back in January last year ... so I'm only a year late! I worked on this for a couple of days - and then had to put it down, as much as I didn't want to.



Then, of course, we have AWB progress - I've finally finished the top part, those geese (I was calling them ducks - but I think they are geese) had the most awful back-stitching on them - really hard to read on the chart, especially on the grid lines where it was really hard to make out what was backstitching lines and what wasn't - but I've finally finished with them! I'll start the right side today/tonight - if I can get that whole side finished over the weekend, I'll treat myself with a day on October Sky Sampler :)



My stitching will take a serious downturn next week - I have meetings Monday and Tuesday night and then back to work on Thursday and Friday nights ... I've really enjoyed stitching just about every evening, and I've got lots done.

This last picture isn't stitching - but my other "hobby" - DH got this framed for me for my birthday, something I've been meaning to do for ages but never get around to, he found one of our old frames and used that - if you look closely not a perfect job, but it looks pretty good ;) Anyway - this is my perfect target - 100.10 -



I shot it back in 2004, after about 14yrs of shooting. Now, I should note - that these do not happen very often at all, EVERYTHING has to be going right, the rifle, the ammunition, the mind, the whole lot ... and I can assure you that my heart was thudding when I got to the last couple of shots and realised I might actually do it ... so to control that beating heart, stay relaxed and in the zone - is quite amazing :D It is hanging under my other framed shooting ego-boost - my photo and medals from Oceania 1995 (gosh, is it really so long ago! LOL) when I won the womens' individual match ... what's really nice about that photo is the two Australians either side of me who were not happy at all that this little unknown NZ'er wrecked their first, second and third plans ... hee hee.

That's enough with the bragging ... back to the realities of housework, soccer work, cricket work etc!

Here I am!

... so much for updating everyday ;) This having DH at home really cramps my style!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes - I had a lovely day, pretty relaxed and well looked after by my family - although I did end up cooking dinner ... but my biggest boy made a nice chocolate dessert, yummy!

Pinching this from Anne's blog ...

A is for Age: 37
B is for Booze: a nice glass of white wine - I don't drink much at all (too many years of being pregnant or breastfeeding!)
C is for Career: Secretarial/Administration/Mother
D is for Dad’s Name: Jack Watson
E is for Essential Item to Bring to a Party: DH
F is for Favourite Songs at the Moment: No idea! I'm hopeless with music
G is for Goof-off Thing to Do: Stitching/Sewing
H is for Hometown: Paraparaumu, grew up 10mins away in Paekakariki
I is for Instrument You Play: Played recorder at school, did piano lessons for a few years as an adult
J is for Jam or Jelly you Like: Raspberry
K is for Kids: David (14.5yo), Josh (11.5yo), Cameron (10yo), Rhiannon (7yo) and Charlotte (4yo)
L is for Living Arrangement: 4 bedroom plainish house on medium sized section - close to schools and parks, of course!
M is for Mom’s Name: Patricia
N is for Names of Good Friends: I have packages of friends ... my stitching friends (fellow Doris's), my mother friends, my work friends - but admit to being standoffish in that I don't get VERY close to anyone (a poor trait of mine!)
O is for Overnight Hospital Stays: 5 births and a few times with the kids for various things ... but never for me.
P is for Phobias: Magpies, tall cliffs next to the sea
Q is for Quotes you Like: Whatever
R is for Relationship That Lasted Longest: DH (David) - married 17yrs, together 2yrs before that
S is for Siblings: 5 sisters, 2 brothers - Aileen (44), Dianna (43), Willie (39), me (37), Juilie (35), Stephanie (30), Georgina (30) and Joel (24) ... see 5 isn't that many at all! LOL
T is for Texas: So? LOL
U is for Unique Trait: Dunno - I used to be able to stitch with a baby curled up in my lap ... no babies now though ... maybe that is a unique trait - the ability to conceive, have easy pregnancies and easy births ;)
V is for Vegetables You Love: Corn, coleslaw (cabbage and carrots)
W is for Worst Traits: Lack of self-esteem, lack of self control when it comes to eating and I can be too quick to make assumptions on people's personalities.
X is for X-rays You’ve Had: For teeth, for a fractured ankle when I was 14yo ... and of course ultrasounds with each pregnancy (hmmm kind of theme here)
Y is for Yummy Food You Make: Lasangue, scones
Z is for Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

I should have stitching updates tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to me :)

Gosh I'm 37yo today ... that really is heading towards that big 40 now!

I'm hoping to have a pleasant day - as usual, I do have some emails and work I need to do ... but so be it, two weeks after Christmas is usually low key ;) ... I will go down to the framing place today and pick out a frame for my Christmas Elf - it seems appropriate to do that today!

Here is AWB progress as of last night - I finally finished all the crosses in the top mediallon, I still need to do some backstitching, it's really hard to see some of it - I started last night, but trying to work out the duck parts are quite hard.



Not sure if I'll carry on with it today, or treat myself and stitch on Celtic Summer instead - I'll see how I feel.

Thanks for all the previous comments and cheering on - I do appreciate them!

No progress pictures today ... but do have pictures!

I did a wee bit of the dark brown of the duck wings of AWB yesterday afternoon before our guests arrived for our BBQ, but that was all - not worth taking a picture! Hopefully today I'll sit and do a whole lot ... it's the last one day match for NZ Cricketers for a few weeks, so I'm hoping to sit and watch that, which is also a good excuse to sit and stitch for a few hours!

Talking of cricket ...

Here is Rhiannon, our future White Fern, playing cricket with the boys in the backyard this morning ... note the very professional pads and gloves ... and the lovely white nightie and bare feet! LOLOL ... we'll save this, we might be able to sell it to magazines for a good price in later years ;)



(the wicket keeper is Curtis, Cameron's friend).

... and here is Charlotte, our cartwheel girl - we have cartwheels ... down the hallway, in the kitchen, in the lounge, down the supermarket aisles (although I must admit, I remember doing them down the supermarket aisles ... probably at a bit older than 4yo!) ... I thought I should actually record them, so I don't forget how clever she was!




Happy weekend everyone :)

More progress ... and a forgotten ornament

Firstly - here is the next Apache Wedding Blessing (AWB) progress - didn't do nearly as much as I wanted, Charlotte and I ended up going to the Post Office together, and then she was in a nice mood so we went and had an ice cream together ... then did a little shopping (I bought her a new - very cheap from the sales - top) ... there was one very big green eyed monster aka Rhiannon ... when we got home. The only reason I took Charlotte is because Rhiannon had gone to the neighbour's house and Charlotte was feeling left out ... oh the joys of parenting! LOL ... anyway - back to the subject in hand -

Deleted to fix sidebar

I'm not hopeful about getting much done today - we've got a BBQ here this evening so I need to get the house tidied up ... and some food ready, I might get an hour this afternoon if I'm lucky, but that will be it.

I stitched this ornament at work the week before Christmas - it was from one of the Ornament RR's ... and stitched up much quicker than I thought it would, I love the beading on it - although I forgot to make sure they were lying right before I took the photo!



We've got two little girls in this house who are being awful at going to sleep at night ... I thought it was the excitement of changing bedrooms and being in the same bunk beds (Charlotte on the bottom, Rhiannon at the top) ... but I think the holidays have just totally stuffed up their body clocks ... they're awake mucking around at 10pm ... and then of course not awake until after 9.00am ... ready for another night of the same - I love my quiet evenings, and even though they are sort of in bed (definitely in their bedroom), the never-ending telling them to be quiet and to behave means I miss my quiet evenings! ... I'll be looking forward to work by the 19th of January ;)

No other exciting news here ... just more of holidaying and stitching :)

Apache Wedding Blessing Progress

Okay ... I have to get stuck into this ... my sister's wedding is February 18th ... I probably need at least two weeks to get it framed before that. I'm not too worried if it is late, but it would be good to have it finished before then!

Soooooo ... bear (or bare?) with me, while you get daily progress pictures! (more to keep me going than anything else).



I stitched the top corner last night - didn't quite get the back stitch finished on it though.

Today I'm hoping to get a really good chunk of the top middle done, it is a medillion type thing with two ducks on it. There is a one day cricket match today - so I'm hoping to get lots of stitching done, while I watch that on the telly!

Stitching, Friends and Quilts ...

I went and stitched at Kath's house yesterday with Kath (obviously! LOL) and Katrina - what a lovely afternoon and evening - thank you so much for hospitality Kath! ... I stitched on my Celtic Summer (while Kath and Katrina stitched their SAL ... but I'll let them tell you about that ... hee hee) - here is her progress -



I stitched on green and gold swirls at the front/bottom of her dress - I've got to put her away now and REALLY work on the Wedding gift.

and for the friends part ... Kath and Katrina nearly made me cry *sniff sniff* they very sneakily (while I went and looked at Kath and Kevin's new house - oh my gosh it is looking GREAT!) ... quickly made this up for me -



They are just way too generous - but hopefully they know how much this means to me - I have sooooo many unframed pieces, it is such a luxury for me to finish one and be able to go and pick out framing straight away. Thank you so much, again, ladies :)

and as promised, pictures of the girls with their quilts -



... I should put in the small writing that I did not choose the pink to go the back and binding of Charlotte's one ... I preferred the red that I tried to direct her to, much better! LOL

Righty oh - I'm off to do grocery shopping etc and need to get moving!

First 2006 Finish!

Mirabilia's "The Christmas Elf Fairy" - started 29 Dec 2005, finished 3 January 2006. Stitched on "Evening Shadows" a Countrystitch Sparkles.



The photo hasn't shown the fabric well at all - it is more of a purpley blue, than the bright blue it looks on this photo.

This was a delight to stitch - I think the fact it was a Mirabilia and stitched up fast was half the fun - and she really is gorgeous, Rhiannon has already asked if she can have it (hmmmmm I don't think so! LOL).

We finished our doll quilts too - I forgot to take a photo of them, I'll do that in another post.

I DID stitch a wee bit on Rose Arbour last night as per my pre-determined rotation - I was hoping to finish the Elf earlier and have a bit more time - but I got a bit more of the greenery done. On to Celtic Summer today/tonight ...

I've just talked Kath ... and her and Katrina are planning an afternoon/evening of stitching and kindly invited me along - after a week of being cooped up with Mr DH who has been irritating the heck out of me (long story ...) ... I'm more than ready to escape the house and spend it with a couple of friends stitching! LOL

But first I have to do some soccer accounts - I've organised an auditor and need to get all the information to him - just need to update the last couple of months and finish some filing - and I'll be quite pleased to pass them on to someone else to tidy up. The someone else happens to be my future BIL which was very opportune - but I don't want to scare him off marrying my sister either! ROTFLOL

Hopefully I'll have an update of Celtic Summer tomorrow :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody ... may all your hopes and dreams be fulfilled :)

No stitching at all yesterday, I sewed with the girls and then we went off to a New Year Eves party at a friends house - we all had a great time, LOTS of kids and they all had a ball - Charlotte lasted until about 11pm when she climbed on my knee and cuddled up and dropped off pretty quickly (awwwww ... she hasn't done that for a long time), 10.20am and she is still asleep! It's the first time we've seen the new year in for quite a while - probably since the big 2000 :)

I have got a couple of pictures of the girls sewing though - Rhiannon did very well, she could almost do the guiding the fabric through and finishing off by herself, Charlotte just sat on my knee and "helped" ;)

I'll finish off there wee quilts today - good quilting practice for me too :)

Here is Charlotte and I -



and grown up Rhiannon -



I'll definitely be stitching my Christmas Elf tonight - I have to, I wrote down below that I would! LOL

January Rotation and Goals

Rotation

Week one - Sunday 1 January to Sunday 8 January

Sunday - Mirabilia Christmas Elf Fairy
Monday - Mirabilia Christmas Elf Fairy
Tuesday - Rose Arbour
Wednesday - Celtic Summer
Thursday - Wedding Blessing
Friday - Wedding Blessing
Saturday - Wedding Blessing
Sunday - Wedding Blessing

Week two - Monday 9 January to Sunday 15 January

Monday - Celtic Summer
Tuesday - Rose Arbour
Wednesday - Sampler Gameboard
Thursday - Ornament
Friday - Wedding Blessing
Saturday - Wedding Blessing
Sunday - Faery Tales

Week Three - Monday 16 January to Sunday 22 January

Wedding Blessing

Week Four - Monday 23 January to Sunday 30 January

Monday - Celtic Summer
Tuesday - Rose Arbour
Wednesday - Sampler Gameboard
Thursday - Ornament
Friday - Wedding Blessing
Saturday - Wedding Blessing
Sunday - Faery Tales

Goals -

Finish Christmas Elf
Finish Wedding Blessing (*gulp*)
Finish Rose Arbour
Stick to rotation and goals!

2006 Plans and Dreams

... that title should read - Tentative 2006 Plans ... very tentative LOL

Also - for now - as much as I'd like this to be working every week, all though the year, I really need to carry on selling a bit on ebay, plus I have a couple of obligation things (like my sister's wedding gift) I'm going to need more time than one night a week to work on. So for now I'm going to try and do this rotation weeks 2 and 4 of each month (I typed 3 and 4 first, then realised I have soccer/cricket meetings Monday/Tuesday nights every 3rd week of the month! LOL). I'm hoping life is going to change a bit over the next couple of months which will mean no ebay stitching and being able to stitch for my pure pleasure ... we will see ...

Rotation
Monday - Mirabilia/L&L slot
Tuesday - Mirabilia/L&L slot
Wednesday - DT/ED/Bent Creek etc
Thursday - Ornaments
Friday - Ornaments
Saturday - UFO/Obligation/RR/Exchanges
Sunday - Faery Tales

Mirabilia/L&L Started -
Celtic Summer will take Monday's slot, then - Ashley's Roses
Rose Arbour Tuesday's slot, then Mermaids of the Deep

... and each will then be replaced with what is next on the list.

Celtic Summer - 2005 start, 2006 finish
Mermaids of the Deep - 2006 start and finish
Rose Arbour - 2002(?) start, 2006 finish
Ashley's Roses - 2003(?) start - no finish date yet
Sleeping Beauty - 2005 start - no finish date yet
Petal Fairy - 2005 start - no finish date yet
The Kiss - 2005 start - no finish date yet

Kitted/Partially Kitted
If I finish Ashley's Roses, Sleeping Beauty, The Kiss or Petal Fairy - I'll "let" myself start one of these!
The Dreamer
Cottage Garden Fairy
Lily Dreaming Fairy
Madonna of the Garden
Under the Rose Tree
Queen Mermaid
Fairy Roses

Drawn Thread
Work on Sampler Gameboard and French Garden every second week, when one is finished replace with whatever I feel like.

Started -
Sampler Gameboard
French Garden

Kitted -
lots ...

Elizabeth Designs -
Started - none!
Kitted - lots ...

Bent Creek
Started - none!
Kitted - Lots of the rows.

Other UFO/WIPS to be worked on -
Carrie's baby sampler
Deserata
Toy Shop
L*K Season Snippets
others ...

Other stitching I'd "like" to work on ... lots

When kids and DH are out of my hair I'll actually pull out all my charts etc and fill in the places where I've put "others" ... and "lots". So there you have it ... I'm hoping those are goals I can stick to, I haven't really specifically put any definitely finishes for most things - rather just a rotation of the variety I want to stitch, I'm hoping that won't make it so overwhelming. Something I DO want to stick to this year is making goals each month and sticking to them - I'm a goal orientated person and as long as they are realistic enough that they don't take over my life, I work better at working towards achieving things if I write them down and plan for them. Happy New Year - and all the best for 2006, in stitching and other forms of life :)