end of the month update

It's been a few weeks so I have more than usual to update. Really I should save some stuff for other posts but I just want to get it all done now.

First lets see Persephone:

No she is not finished yet! But I have completed the cross stitch part and some backstitch. I will do the rest of the backstitch and beading together. Going through my very unorganised messy stash I have found 5 of the 11 colours of beads this one needs. I will have to put in an order and wait for these to arrive via international post so this one won't be completed any time soon.

I did frog the hearts in the right hand side and took a picture as evidence:

 That took forever to unpick and it was the silk waterlily thread! I picked up another skein and at the very end I did need a few extra strands - so very close!

So I have been thinking about what I will stitch on next. I have so many WIPs and stash that it represents years of stitching that can be stressful to think about and of course there is always the lure of new designs and new starts. But I know I will feel better if I keep plugging along at what I have for a while longer.

I pulled out a bag which I designate the 'recent bag' as it has most of the stitching stuff in from the last two years and inside found two completed designs. So gave them an iron and took photos:

Roses of Provence by Mirabilia stitched on the recommended fabric 32 count linen by Wilchelt in the 'White Chocolate' colourway. Stitched between 2013 - 2014

The Industrious Bee by Theron Traditions on a 28count linen (not sure which maybe country french?) and good old plain DMC. Sitched between 2012 - 2013.

The next project I wanted to work on was Touching the Autumn Sky by Mirabilia. I started this one at least 5 years ago and haven't worked on it since. I gave it an iron and this is what it looked like:

I wasn't at all happy with the wrinkles left in it after giving it a really good hot iron with steam. I was wondering if I should just throw the fabric out and restart the design some other time. I wasn't unhappy with the idea of that I just wanted a decision made. I googled ironing cross stitch and chose a method I could get on with straight away without having to soak or freeze the fabric (I'm impatient) and that was to soak an old heavy cotton tea towel in water then place it over the cross stitch face down on a towel on the ironing board and iron on the hottest setting. There was a lot of hissing and steam and because the tea towel was smaller than the fabric I repeated this process a few times and this is the result:

Still faint wrinkles but good enough for me to keep working on it.

Over the past few weeks I did have a brief slump and so instead of stitching I thought about what I want to stitch... a wishlist / TBS (to be stitched) combined. The task I set myself was to narrow the list down and really think about what I liked as I have a tendency to want to stitch almost everything which is impossible. For my favourite designers I limited myself to 5 designs so that was fun almost like a contest with 'sudden death' rounds. The list is linked at the top of this blog and here as 'To Do List'. The list is quite long - even after paring it down heavily!!

Weekend wrap up: October 5th 2015

So last week I kept stitching away - no knitting or reading was done - I seem to be entralled with cross stitch again.

Update photo:

WIP as of 05/10/15

So I think I have completed the bottom half completely except for detail back stitch in the dress and beads which I will do at the same time.

Next up is to frog the entire right hand ironwork as it's one stitch too low. At the time I realised the mistake I was so annoyed that I decided to ignore it and started to stitch the dress (I had only completed the bodice at that stage) and work in the opposite direction! Usually I will make myself fix a mistake as soon as it's discovered but I had just gotten over discovering the faded fabric from the qsnaps (entirely my fault) and was close to throwing in the towel on this project.

This weekend was different to most in that we helped our friend move out on Saturday. He had been living with us since the beginning of the year but has just broken up with his long term girlfriend (also our friend) so he felt like a move would give him a fresh start and our place could become a bit more neutral for them both. So the circumstances are sad, we will miss him not being around, and I really don't like change!

We also bought a new washing machine and dryer which is a major purchase for us! We have purposefully not bought anything new ever (exception being the couch). Everything we have is a mishmash of donations from friends and family or dirt cheap second hand deals. Well we now have the house we want to stay in for a long long time and have to get our heads around buying quality proper replacements as time and circumstances allow. We worked out that over the the past 10 years we have only spent $300 on 2 x washing machines and 1 x dryer and repairs that Jonathan has made to keep them going. This weekend we purchased new machines and spent thousands lol - hard change to make!

We decided to make the purchases now as we have been warned that this summer coming up has the potential to be a record breaking dry summer. We are semi rural now and rely on tank water gathered from rainfall on our roof. We have run out once before and it was easy to get water trucked in but it was horrible tasting stuff. So water efficiency and tracking is key and that includes a new washing machine :)

I'm going to try and enjoy this week as it's going to be a lot calmer than next week *gulp*.

Next week the other half of the couple that broke up will return from holiday (this happened on the eve of an overseas holiday) and has been absorbing the shock but it may seem fresh all over again returning home. My mother-in-law is visiting for a day or two, and Jonathan is going on an overseas business trip for just over two weeks and now I will be home alone - not looking forward to that!

Weekend wrap up: September 28th 2015

I was planing to do a once a week update, but I've just posted a Friday Frolic update and thought I would follow up here.

So first things first: Stitching

Not much got done, explanation later on, but I did a little bit then this morning ironed the piece and took a photo. So here she is again!

Persephone copyright Mirabilia designs

Persephone is being stitched on Picture This Plus 32 count linen in their Rosewood colourway - I love it! There is a faded square on the fabric that you might be able to see. This is from where the qsnaps were left on, and in the sun too, for a long time. It's a testament to how depressed and tired I was last year that I just didn't care enough to pack away this project. I'm hoping that once the design is completed the faded square will not be as noticeable.

Ironing this project was an unexpected joy this morning. I can't say this house is the tidiest it could be - I do need to start making an effort there. But it is way bigger than any other place we have lived in. It is also modern having been built 10 years ago and that means STORAGE. All my adult life I have lived in places built circa 1900 and they didn't do built in closets and wardrobes back then. This new place has sooo much storage and I am ashamed to say we aren't using it - we aren't used to it! This is a roundabout way to say that we have a rumpus room that is being used as an exercise room/library/everything else and the ironing board is left there permanently set up (don't know who did it or why as I don't iron clothes) any way it was there and it took mere minutes to switch it on, heat up, and iron my project. Will be doing this all the time now!!

Weekend wrap up: It was weird

Friday night: Two close friends of ours, a couple, broke up. They have been living with us since the beginning of this year so being in close proximity it's hard to witness two friends going through a horrible time. They had been together for about 6 years, travelled the world together, so this is a very hard break-up.

Saturday/Sunday: Was spent being cautiously available but not trying to pry either.

Saturday was notable that daylight savings has started in NZ - hooray - I feel I look forward to this more than any other event/holiday of the year. LIGHT.

Sunday was a complete write off as I woke up feeling dizzy and disorientated which remained for the whole day and I was even sick. It was like having motion sickness - except I wasn't in a car or boat. Thankfully it seems to have passed.

New Start

It's been a few years!! I think I'll have to reintroduce myself :)

My name is Lisa and I'm a cross stitcher in New Zealand. I've cross stitched since I was a teen and I remember joining the TW BB board when I was 18 (as kiwiflowa) it was my first contact with other people who were just as crazy and passionate about cross stitch as I was as well as discovering the marvellous wonder of all the designs/fibres/fabrics that were available off-shore with the click of the mouse. Blogs weren't a thing, digital camera's were new and expensive to have, cellphones did little more than txt and, you know, actually call people. I'm now 30, and my passion for cross stitch has waxed and waned over the years. My interests have grown into other areas: Gardening, knitting, reading.

I've gone to uni, graduated, started working, bought a house with my partner, got engaged, bought another house and moved out of the city, quit work. Yup I was really not happy, a bit burned out to be honest, so in June this year I left my job and became a home maker it's taken me this long to feel settled and content.

Sooo I pulled out my cross stitch this week for the first time in ages. I have a lot of old WIP's as I used to like working on many things at once, going so far as to create complicated rotations. I have a lot of stash in boxes that I haven't gone through in ages. At the moment that causes me some stress so all I have done this week is pull out the WIP I was working on last and have been working on that this week. Over time I will start to organise everything I have.

Here she is:
Persephone by Mirabilia

The fabric is wonky as I was trying to stretch out the wrinkles. Next time I will iron before taking photos. The right hand ironwork is actually 1 stitch lower than it should be so I will be ripping that out at some point and re-stitching, which will also mean a new skein of waterlilies I think too.

This is a huge design, I forgot until I took it off the qsnaps and it seemed to go on forever when unfolded, it's hard to take a photo of it on the table as I'm not tall enough and my arms not long enough! I resorted to using the tiled floor.

Just as I remembered getting photo's uploaded to blogger is such a pain. I just had to download google photo's, picasa, make umpteen folders, upload photo's to picasa webalbums etc etc. Off to go research how to make this easy. Instagram is a breeze and so much easier!! I've never found the whole picasa process intuitive. I don't want my laptop to become full up on photo's including a lot of duplicates.

Roses of Provence

Taken with mobile

cue autumn

 Summer Novel by Lanarte.

Here is the design:













I started this at New Years 2009 and got this far:


Then I never touched it until now and I stitched quite a bit! Here is the updated WIP:



The pics are a bit dull (the fabric is white not grey) so I'll work on getting brighter pics.

Long Weekend

So Last time I posted I was stitching Sophie's Roses a kit by Shepherds Bush. Here she is finished:





Then I started another quick one:
Alphabet Rhyme by Little House Needleworks




Next up?? Well I'm feeling guilty about my WIP's from last year as they aren't getting a look in. But at least I'm finishing what I'm starting? So I'm going to go with my heart...

The True Love Sampler by Indigo Rose:



























(image from Wyndam Needleworks)

And here it is kitted and ready to start!