Major Happy Dance!!!!

Well it's hard to believe but after 6 years I have at last finished Dragonfly :)  She was started in April 2010 and is stitched 1 over 1 on 25ct white lugana.  I am so happy, just need to get her framed now.  The thing is part of me is going to miss her.  She's been part of my life for ages.  Well here she is!

I have so got the stitchy bug at the moment that I've already made a start on Mad Queen Alice.  I'll post a picture soon, it's much bigger than Dragonfly though so she's going to be slow progress - what do you reckon?  10 years?  Lol.  The first few pages aren't going to show much of the picture and are mainly black so I guess they won't be very interesting but I'll bore you anyway.

So nearly there!

I'm still focusing on Dragonfly with every spare moment that I have to stitch.  The finishing line is so close that I can almost taste it. After however many years this has taken I will definitely be done by Christmas.

The plan once this is finished is to start Mad Queen Alice and then do that, Curl Up With A Good Book and Enchanted Flute in rotation.  Just not sure yet whether I do, say, a month on each or have to complete a page of chart on each.  I do now that due to the size of Mad Queen Alice I do intend to do her, one of the others, than back to MQA, the other design, MQA, etc.  Otherwise MQA may never get done.  Can't wait to start her although the piece of fabric is HUGE!

Happy stitching!

Page Finish and New Chart

Yeah, mini happy dance as I've finished another page on Dragonfly.  Only four more partial pages to go!

And I've succumbed and bought another HAED chart, Mad Queen Alice.  Love the design but turns out that it's even bigger than Dragonfly!  Whoops!

Can't wait to start it though! 

Happy stitching.

Running, Stitching and All That

I'm pleased to say that I've just completed week 2 of the C25K training program.  And it was an interesting run.  I just got to the second walk as I caught up with a gentleman who was walking, flat cap, umbrella and all.  As my phone ordered me to start running again I charged past him at full speed.  That was a mistake.  It was too fast.  I struggled on at that rate as he could still see me but it killed me for the rest of the run, so when I turned round I passed him again.  This time I could hardly walk let alone run and my right foot was squelching with every step from getting soaked on my last run.  I must have been a right sight.  Valuable lesson learnt.

On the stitching front, I've done more of Dragonfly and the page is close to a finish now.  The just four half pages to go.  Still hoping for a finish before Christmas.  

And "All That" .... well my eldest daughter got her "A" level results and did brilliantly with A,B and C so is off the Swansea University to study Psychology.  And really excited for her (I wasn't bright enough to go) but there's a lot to do and sort out before she heads off.  Big changes ahead but I'm sure she will have a great time.

Happy stitching everyone.

Some more small steps!

Well I'm definitely not very good at this blogging lark am I?  Sorry once again for my long absence.  I guess I'll just have to accept that this will be an occasional blog and it's still a record of my stitchy progress.

So what have I been doing?  Well, not a lot really.  We've been on holiday and I didn't take any stitching with me so there was no progress on anything in those two weeks and with the nicer weather (most of the time anyway) I just don't seem to stitch as much in the summer.    However, I did get Dragonfly back out last week and have made some progress on her.  The dragon now has a bit more of his tail.  I'm still hopeful that this will be finished by the end of the year, so I'm guessing it is going to have to be my top focus.

On the weight loss, well I had done really well (lost nearly a stone) and then we went away and I ate and drank to much (but it was very nice).  So it is back on the wagon again now and I'm feeling very virtuous having been for a run this morning.  I'm trying to do the C25K which I have done before, so day 1 down and several more to go.  I'll keep you informed of my progress.

Happy stitching everyone!

Slow Progress

I've never been the fastest stitcher but I'm on a real go slow at the moment.  There is a little bit to show you on Chinese Garden though.

 

Hope you're all making better progress than me!

Happy stitching!

Back Again

Yes I've been AWOL again but I guarantee for very good personal reasons.  However, life seems to be back on course and I have finally got round to picking up a needle again - the result being that I've stated Chinese Garden Mandala.

Now there isn't a huge amount of progress, but I hope to knuckle down to it over the next few days (famous last words).

So this is what I have to offer for now -

Happy stitching everybody!

1st Finish

Well here it is, the first finish of 2016.  This piece was charted by my daughter and I stitched it up for her.  I know this picture makes it look like a cushion but that's just the extra fabric folded up underneath it.  She has yet to find a frame for it.

I'm really not sure what to work on next.  I don't seem to have much time for stitching at the moment and when I do seem to be so tired I just fall asleep.  As a result I'm lacking motivation.  Maybe it's time to entice myself with a new start - could it be the first thread for Chinese Garden about to go in the fabric?  We will see.

Happy stitching everyone.

PANIC!!!!!!!!

I've not had much time to do any stitching over the last couple of weeks so I've not picked up Dragonfly which was the original plan. 

However, my youngest daughter has charted a piece from something she saw on tumbler or somewhere so I've started to stitch that for her.  Most of the words are now done and there's just a bit of a border to do.

I wanted to get this done in order to encourage her.  She's quite arty and while this is a fairly straightforward design I wanted her to see it stitched as soon as possible.  She has designed and stitched a couple of pieces before and you never know where things may lead and I want to share my hobby with her.

Hope you like it!

Happy stitching.

It's all in black and white

I had a good weekend session of stitching and have managed to complete the first block of Save The Stitches.

It stitches up surprisingly quickly so may be my target for the year isn't so far fetched.

I've done a bit more on Dragonfly as well and she'll come back out again now - even though Chinese Garden is calling me.

Happy stitching.

New Supplies

The supplies for Chinese Garden have arrived.  Pretty!!!

Sparkly, pretty, lovely, tempting!  I so want to put in those first few stitches. I'm going to resist, for now at least, lol.

But Dragonfly is still progressing.  Here's the next bit, quite a good start for the next page.

Happy stitching!

Another page complete

Yeah, celebration time!!!!

Finished page 15 of Dragonfly, that's another step closer to finishing her.  I'm feeling motivated to complete this now.  It seems so close.  One more full page and then four partial pages.  I might actually get this one done before the end of the year!

Happy stitching!

1st Goal Achieved

Yes I have achieved my first goal of the year, but it is a bit of a cheat as it was just to buy a chart.   Chinese Garden Mandala by Chataleine Designs.  It's a beautiful design with lots of specialty stitches.  I've also given in and bought fabric, thread and beads.  The original design calls for lots of different specialty but one type that is used quite a lot is no longer made, so I've decided to go for the DMC conversion (which also makes it a lot cheaper).  The chart is here (the advantage of pdf download), beads are on there way from the USA and fabric and threads from the Sew and So.  I will have to resist the temptation to start this though.  I really must finish something else first.

Happy Stitching.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everybody.  I hope 2016 is good to you all and you get lots of stitching time and progress.

I've been thinking through my plans for the year, I don't want to be too ambitious as I would actually like to achieve some of them, so here is what I have so far:-

* Finish "Dragonfly"
* Finish "Curl Up With A Good Book"
* Complete 6 of the 12 blocks in "Save the Stitches"
* Do something with "Christmas Pots" - this is finished but just sitting in my box not "finished" if you get what I mean.
* Stitch the Halloween design I bought last year - in time for Halloween ideally!!!!
* Buy "Chinese Garden" - this one's easy - not sure I'll start it yet but need to buy the chart and then work out what I need for it.


That's it I think.  I'm sure other things will happen during the year, little charts and things but these are the things I want to achieve.  If I get other things done as well that's all the better.

I'll compile another page with these and where I am at the moment and post progress as I go along.

The one other target I have is to loose weight!  I say this every year but I really mean it this time.  I need to get fit and loose weight.  I won't bore you with every minute of my progress but I'll try to find a ticker or something to put in the side bar and might shout about it when I hit a milestone.  I've got about 2 stone to loose and want to loose it for our holiday.  We're going abroad for the first time in years and possible the last time as a family as my eldest is 18 and will soon be doing her own thing and not want to come away with Mum and Dad for much longer.  So I want to be in swimsuit shape, I'll never be bikini shape again, lol.

Happy stitching everybody.

Here's to a good 2016!