Time Flies... (Pic Heavy)

when you're having fun - 'specially when it's of the stitchy kind!

For those of you who might have wondered if I did squeak in that final finish for 2012... I did it!  I put in the final beads for the "L" as the fireworks went off over Sydney at midnight.  I was also correct that the first thing out of the Lilybug's mouth in the morning, was, "Did you finish my L, Mama?"  Needless to say, I had a very excited little bubble New Years day.

New Years Day, I started my 15 day rotation of the remaining five pieces from the 2012 Crazy January Challenge.

Day One, I picked up "Woodland Enchantress."  I had done some work on her during the year but she is a big piece.  Wall to wall stitching - not an HAED by any means but still a hefty 43 008 stitches.  I'm at least an eighth of the way through it now and managed 600-odd stitches on New Years Day.

This is where I started Tuesday morning:

 



and by Tuesday night, this is how it looked:

Wednesday morning, day two.  I revisited "Train of Dreams."  Now this one IS an HAED.  I haven't touched it since last January but it was calling to me big time over these last few weeks.  Wednesday, I answered that call and put in about 400 stitches.  Mainly black but there is some navy blue in there too. 

Wednesday starting point:

 

Wednesday, after:



 

Day Three, Thursday.

 

I pulled out the afghan I'm stitching the EMS Garden Alphabet onto.  I completed the A earlier in the year and had almost finished B.  Thursday, I finished the B - wasn't much to do but Thursday was a busy day.  We went swimming at Manly Dam and had a picnic lunch.  Ended up spending most of the day there - this holiday business really seems to eat into precious stitchy time!  LOL.



Finished B, with backstitching done.

 

and the A and B together...



 

Friday, day four.  Back to "O Holy Night."  I love, love, love the shading in the Stoney Creek designs.  The confetti this automatically creates drives me insane but in the long run, it's worth every single stitch.  I hadn't touched this since that first day last year but last night, I got to spend a decent amount of time on this.  The colours are just stunning!

 

Before:



After:



 

Tonight, I'm back on Woodland Enchantress.  Yes, I know this is only four, not five.  I'm going to do three days on each of these four and then the final three days of the fifteen, I'm going to do solidly on my Celtic Christmas conversion.  When I pick her up, she's very hard to put down and she needs a lot more thought than these four.  With these, follow the chart and you can't go wrong.  With the conversion, I feel like I've been thrown in the deep end, well and truly!  I may need someone to call the lifeguard around the 14th of January. LOL!

 

Phew!  I hope I haven't exhausted you with my photos.  I'm off to do some more stitching.

 

See you all 'round :)

 

xxx

K

Should Auld Aquaintance be Forgot...

Happy New Year Everybody...

 

I think if we were all together IRL, we'd be standing together, arms linked singing in the New Year. 

 

Where once upon a time - in the not too distant past - I felt so isolated as a cross stitcher, I now feel as if everybody I know stitches!  They don't, of course, it's just that I've met so many people on line who share this stitchy obsession, that there's no way I could ever feel isolated again,  Firstly, to the ladies whom I originally met on the about.com cross stitch board - you all hold a very special place in my heart.  We've walked through a lot together over the past few years.  To the stitchers I have met in the blogosphere and in the facebook groups - it has been fun getting to know you all in the last two years and I look forward to getting to know everyone better in the time to come.

 

Ok, must stop or I'll get all mushy and end up crying!  LOL.

 

We're being very boring tonight.  The kids are in bed.  No company over.  Just DH and I watching tv and DSS playing x-box... I'm stitching.  Correction.  I will be stitching.  Desperately trying to squeak in one more finish, so I can say I finished 12 in '12!  LOL.  I've been "almost finished" Nora Corbett's "L" for almost two years.  Tonight is the night - and there's a little Bubble upstairs who will be demanding in the morning; "Did Mama finish my "L" last night?"  She's been very patient but is not willing to wait any longer.

 

It was supposed to be finished for her fifth birthday...ummm... *cough, cough* ...in May 2011... Mama got a bit sidetracked with other stitchy business.  I know, I know, I'm hanging my head in shame.

 

I'm ending 2012 feeling very satisfied. I've finish 10 of the 15 pieces I started as part of the Crazy January Challenge. I had one extra start and finish and have put in a few stitches here and there on other WiPs, even though I didn't end up participating in the WiPocalypse after all.

 

So... the outstanding WiPs would be...

From CJC2012

• Celtic Christmas (Conversion with cape and hood)
• O Holy Night
• Train of Dreams
• Woodland Enchantress
• EMS Garden Alphabet (Afghan)

WiPs started prior to 2012

• Lizzie Kate ABC for Parents
• Dimensions Precious Moments Advent Calendar
• HAED Queen of Hearts
• Joan Elliott's Little Summer Fairy

The 2013 Crazy January Challenge begins in a little under three hours but I've decided to do things a little differently this year.

I really love the five WiPs that are left from the 2012 challenge.  I've decided to spend the first 15 days of January giving those pieces some love.  Then once we hit January 16, it's all on!!!  LOL, I WILL be starting another crazy 15 pieces.  If you're interested in my list for the year - click on the tab at the top of this blog page. 

Happy New Year to you all.  Be safe, be merry and above all, be blessed!  May all your hopes and dreams for the year ahead come to pass and I pray your fears amount to nothing!

Much Love.

XXX

Kirstin

Super-Duper Happy Dance!

I'm pretty simple to please, really. (My DH might disagree...)  It doesn't take much to keep me happy.  The thing I've most wanted of late, is time.  Just time.  Time to myself.  Time to stand in the shower without having to rush so that I can't enjoy the hot water.  Time to move leisurely 'round the supermarket and not have to dash in, dash out. Time to do stuff without having to yell at the kids to "Hurry up, Mummy's got to go to work!"  Most of all I've wanted time to stitch...

Amazingly, time is exactly what I have had over the past week! 

You all know I finished "Hope" a few days ago.  Well, last night (actually 12:50am, this morning) I finished "Imagine".

Wooooooo Hoooooo!!!

I didn't think I'd get a chance to do any more to Imagine this year, let alone actually finish it!

Remarkably, against all odds,  here it is:  Joan Elliott's "Imagine" on 32ct Blue Whisper linen.  DMC floss, Kreinik 032 BF added for a little sparkle in the starbursts (I did that for all four words - I do love sparkles!) and Mill Hill beads attached with YLI invisible thread.

 

All four words on the one piece of fabric...

 



 

 

 Like I said, it doesn't take much to make me happy...

 

LOL!

 

xxx K

 



Happy Dancing!

'member how I wished for more stitching time for Christmas??? 

Well, guess what Santa brought me? 

Woo Hoo!

I actually had time Christmas Eve, Christmas Night and then again this morning to sit down and stitch.  I've finished "Hope!"

I didn't think I'd be done before the weekend but not only have I finished my Crazy No 9 but I've got a recognisable unicorn appearing on No 10!

Thank you Santa.

"Hope"  Joan Elliott's Inspirational Words
Crazy January Challenge 2012
Finish number Nine
32 ct Antique Blue Whisper Linen

Here's "Imagine".  We're going away for the next two days.  I don't expect to get much stitching done but I didn't think I'd get my stitchy Christmas either.  I'd like to finish this one at the weekend... Fingers crossed... or maybe not fingers, that would make it difficult to stitch!  I'll cross my legs instead. *wink*

 

 

Finally, here's the three completed words, all together.

 



I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas.  I'm looking forward to re-connecting with all my stitching friends here in the blogosphere.  I have missed you in the past few crazy months.

xxx K

All I want for Christmas...

...is some extra stitching time! It's not going to happen but a girl can wish, can't she?

I'm very close to the final Happy Dance of the year. I really wanted to finish the final two Inspirational Words but finishing three of the four words this year is a reasonable achievement.

 At least it is in my very humble opinion, LOL.

I stitched and frogged (and stitched and frogged and stitched and frogged) and finally stitched again and finished the left hand dove on "Hope"

 

 

aaand then I realised that the dove's back looked really weird.  *sigh*

 

I really didn't want to frog again, so I stitched the right hand dove, then went back and fixed the poor deformed bird. No, I didn't re-frog.  I bluffed.  I clipped a couple of backstitches, put them in the right spot and voila, looks okay. *wink*

 



 



Last night, I made some headway on the starbursts and I'm hoping to finish them tonight - if hubby will help with wrapping pressies then I'll definitely get them done.  That will only leave the beading, which I'll get done at the weekend.

 

 

Final pic... Believe hidden on the scroll, Dream finished, Hope nearly done and Imagine to come...

 

 



It's the End of the World as we know it...

and I feel fine!

I love that old REM song - especially the version they performed on MTV Unplugged...

Well, we're still alive and kicking down-under in the Antipodes.  How 'bout all you Northerners?

I guess this means I've still got a shot at finishing my 10 out of 15!

Wish me luck, I'm off to set my needles afire.

x K

Christmas Is...

I got itchy fingers a few weeks back.  Even with a bazillion WiP's to choose from, I still wanted to do something new.  I figured if I started something little, then at least I'd get it finished and it would be enough to satisfy those itchy fingers.

I ended up pulling Lizzie*Kate's "Christmas Is..." out of my stash, hunting up some suitable thread from the stash to substitute for the Weeks Dye Works that is charted - I've never yet bought any WDW.  Don't know why.  I'm sure I'll get around to remedying that this coming year *wink*

It was a super quick and easy stitch.  Loving the Crescent Colours I used - They're a little brighter than the original charted colours. Stitched on 32 count Lambswool linen by Permin.