IDIOT! (Lots of photos)

I can't believe I did this, but I actually managed to irretrievably delete 2 old posts whilst trying to change the labels on them! Thankfully, I have some idea what they were about, so I'm going to re-hash them here so as not to lose the record.

The first is the first sample from my C&G Colour module, which was a flower border. Here it is from source image, through rubbishy gouache painting (first time using this kind of watercolour) to finished piece of stitchery:

Second was my silk-painted, 'quilted' hibiscus sample (#8 for my C&G) and here's the photo collection from source image, through artwork to finished sample.

I was going to add in some artwork from a previous resolved piece, but I can't get the image to move. I may well have over-done the amount of images allowed per post, so that'll have to wait until next time. I will now add the correct labels and try, in future, not to do such dumb things again! Duhhhh!

I went through my kits yesterday and started to plan which to take with me East this summer. Some of them will get packaging dumped and instructions scanned/re-typed and designs transferred etc first - anything to keep the weight down! 20kg of stuff, plus 7kg (and a laptop) cabin baggage is not much for a year! Glad EVA allow you to take a laptop as a separate piece of hand luggage, although it might be a challenge getting that through the airports, which are strictly one piece in the UK. We'll think of something.=) Yes, Von, I agree that this could well be the reason no job came up. I was rather thinking that myself....

It's all happening here....

Here's the first line or two of a letter that came the other day:

So, we go to Taiwan about 21 August, all being well! I'm madly doing lots of on-line research about various things from student visas, through places to live and transport in Taipei, (an English bus map is downloading as I type!!). The trip's a few months away yet, but I like to get straight on things.=) I've just heard from the lady who does the admin for these stipends and she turns out to be someone I taught in East Asian Studies during my first year there. She also told me that I was selected out of a large number of applicants, so I'm really bowled over. I did write (quite honestly) that I was interested in learning about very specific Taiwanese things and, as they're interested in people with a passion for Taiwan as opposed to those who just want money to learn Chinese anywhere they can, so that must have done it. I'm really stunned and delighted!
Not much college work done, which won't surprise anyone, but I have got the Japanese cord more or less done. This is what it looks like and how it's made on the card. Please don't ask me to describe how it's done!!

Here are 3 of the photos I took in the V&A. Sadly, most just don't come out well and I don't know whether one can use flash or not. I did on some, but not on most, so I have only 4 or 5 worth showing. Will try again in July-ish when we take a visa trip to London. Here we have a Korean embroidered screen, an amazing thread painting and one that I just can't remember, but I think is possibly German as, in this section, I was focusing on Medieval English, German and Korean stuff.
Next time anyone's in London, check out CassArt. They have 4 branches and they sell genuine, big name art supplies for a fraction of the high street cost. DH bought me a set of 10 Winsor & Newton artists' quality watercolour tube paints for £19.99 that normally cost about £60. I have my eye on a 24 pan set that should be over £120, but that they sell for just under £30! And I want to see if they do Daler Rowney Sapphire watercolour brushes etc. Some things I'll just get in Taiwan, where it's also a lot cheaper than the UK, but then, where isn't, huh?

I passed - hurrah!=)

I got my music theory exam result yesterday - 96%! I'm pleased with that, although I realise I'm almost certainly never going to get 100% on a theory exam (unless I do as DH suggested and take Grade 1!!), so I have another thing to add to my CV and another fancy certificate to add to my glory folder is on the way.=) I felt horribly stressed out preparing for it, and I still haven't done the marking I shirked in order to do some practice papers the day before, but it feels worth it. Must text my viola teacher and tell her.

Back from Frankfurt

So, we had our weekend in Frankfurt and all went well. Even the flight was passable, although the take off and landing on the way home were nothing if not bumpy! It was rather windy at both ends. You're not scared in your mind as you know that it's nothing serious and certainly nothing the crew can't get through just fine, but your primal emotion - the body-mind reaction - is another thing! Anyway, here's a photo of what Frankfurt seems to stand for - money and banking! In the foreground we have the big Euro symbol statue thingy, whilst in the background you have the shiny tower of, I think, the Deutsche Bank. It's a big bank HQ whichever one it is!! This was taken on my new digital camera, which is great for things like this, but utterly hopeless for needlework. It's possible that I just haven't got to grips with it properly yet, but I had to revert to DH's old one for most of the pix below. That's a literal pain as the mechanism that keeps the little door of the battery compartment closed and thus the batteries in, has really had it now and you have to hold it tight shut all the time you're taking and up-loading photos.=( I confess to being really rather disappointed with that new camera. It was only a freebie and, OK, it does take good photos from further away, but the close-up function plain doesn't seem to work and you don't get a view screen when you switch it on. Must ask DH for help there.

Whilst I was in the main station in Frankfurt, I bought 4 embroidery magazines, 2 in Italian and 1 each in French and Spanish. I'd rather like the back issues of this French magazine, Broderie Tradition, but it works out quite pricey to order them and I really can't justify it as I have so much at the moment, so I decided against it, like a good girl!!

On the 'Stumpwork and Raised Embroidery' group (which I run) over on Stitchin' Fingers, we're planning on starting a stitch-along of a design from Inspirations #50 called 'Summer Harvest - Crab Apple'. This is the photo from the magazine. Do join us - the more the merrier! I'm going to find it quite hard to join in and keep up, (although I've specified that there are to be no timescales and/or deadlines for the SAL), as I have still so much college work to do and want to get the band sampler done ASAP as well. Here's the latest on that one, btw. Just done a few more bits at the bottom and it's coming along quite well now. There are 22 bands and I've now done 18 of them. Just the beading and finishing up to do after that.

I haven't done any more college work as yet as I wasn't ready with designs to take with me over the weekend - too busy doing other stuff and still feeling quite drained after that virus and another little something that's trying to get me at the mo. I haven't even done another stitch in that tree piece, (which is meant to be autumnal, Mary, although I admit the background painting is a bit lurid for that season!), but I hope to have that complete module done v soon and also have the shape one ready for marking after the Easter break. We have 2 weeks off coming up when I can't get any more behind, but can get caught up a lot, but there are still 2 more classes to go to first. I'm going to try and get there tomorrow, but I can't see myself staying a long time as I really feel quite rough again.=(

I took this little cross stitch kit away with me to Frankfurt. I bought it at the Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch Show in Harrogate back in October 2007 when I was comfort shopping. I had planned to display it on my desk as befits a Chinese teacher, but it seems that, had I stayed at the Language Centre, I still wouldn't have had a desk! One of the managers, (who was so brassed off recently that he even complained to me!), was bewailing the fact that there are secretaries in other departments who have their own spacious offices, whereas LC staff have to see students in the corridors! I did see his point and, even though there are now 5 nice new classrooms and some more workstations in the new building, they've had to take on so many new English teachers this year that sides have burst again already! I wonder how it will go long term....

Got my scholarship application in the post today at last. Deadline is Tuesday and we should get the outcome mid-April, so not too long to wait. DH has to go through the German office and he won't know his outcome until sometime in May. He has a telephone interview to do before then. I kind of wish I had as that gives you another chance to make an impression and convince the awarding body that you're a good use of their funds. I was able to say, quite honestly, on my application form that I intended to spend some of my year in Taiwan on researching peculiarly Taiwanese textile and needlecrafts, which no doubt get over-looked in the shadow of China. They're keen for people to contribute to cultural exchange and this is one way it could be done. I also mentioned that I wanted to learn the Taiwanese language (not just Mandarin) so that I could communicate with the elderly and others on the island who speak less Mandarin than I do (and there are plenty of them). Well, time to wait and see.

2 hours later: DH and I have sussed the 'close-up' problem with the camera and it should now be OK. Hurrah!

Current Sample Progress

Well, it's not strictly speaking the current sample, rather one that should have been done last November and that's when I did the artwork for it, but I'll show that when the piece is finished and I do my usual display of all pix from design inspiration to finished sample.

It's sample #9 and is not yet finished. In fact, you can't even see all of it here, just the part I've been working on - the leaves on the tree, autumnal to match the season as it was started. The background is painted with ordinary fabric paint, as is the main part of the tree, which I then brought forward by stitching in both dark and light bits. Although it's part of the colour module, (thus the painting and also the use of WDW and GAST threads), this is meant to be one of the manipulated fabric technique samples. You can't see any of that so far, but there is a bird table to be added as a hard slip and I decided to do some of the piles of leaves on the ground as small soft slips as the stones I painted to add on would really look out of place, (although I might prepare one or two to see if they could fit at all).

As mentioned above, this is sample #9 and this week will be #24, so you get some idea of how far behind I am! Having said that, #10 & #11 are done and #12 is in progress and there's artwork done for #13, #17 and #20.

Just started volume 2 of 'The Doctor's Wife' and, yes, I urgently want to slap that idiot girl!! Anyone who's read it, (or 'Madame Bovary') will understand why!

Update on the Band Sampler

Here's the weekend's progress on the band sampler. For information, this is 'Silver Frost' by Patricia Ann's Designs. I like many of her sampler designs and own at least another 2 to do later on. Some of the parts (those with lots of backstitch) are a bit of a pain, but, in the main, it's very pleasant and easy to work. It'll be made up as a bell-pull and given as a very belated 20th wedding anniversary gift to friends who have now been married 21½ years!! Not as bad as the dog, which was meant to be a ruby wedding gift and made it to it's final desitination a couple of months short of the couple's (my aunt and uncle) 44th wedding anniversary!!! So, at this rate, there's hope that something might be ready on time yet!

I hope to get on with some of my colour module work today as my teacher, Diane, suggested that it would be good to get that finished and signed off as soon as possible and that that completion would spur me on for the rest of the stuff and I think she's right. I'm even looking forward to the work I need to do. I have to do the actual stitching on 2 samples and a few pieces of art work for the resolved design piece. Please don't ask me what a 'resolved piece' is as none of us really understand it - including those who did it all in previous years!

I'm reading Mary Elizabeth Braddon's 'The Doctor's Wife' at the moment, but not finding that I'm getting into it as much as I have the others I've read by her. Perhaps that's partly because I kind of know the story - it's meant to be her version of Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', and partly because it's rather a slow starter. Doubt I'll be finished it in time to take back to the library on Weds, (only a 7 day loan), but at least you can renew them these days. You didn't use to be able to renew 7 day loan items. I plan to get quite a few more out then too, both from the 7 day and main collections (which, as an academic member of staff, I can keep for up to 6 months per loan!), including the 'Ever After' book, some of Wilde's plays and so forth.

Post Zusammenfassung in Deutsch:

Mein Sampler geht jetzt weiter und gibt's nur 8 Teilen übrig. Leider bin ich immer noch krank, aber heute hab' ich ein bißchen Berufschulestickerei gestickt und hoffentlich kommt bald einige Fotos.

Ich hab' kurzlich viel gelesen, viele gute Romans vom 19-Jahrhundert, von Anthony Trollope, Elizabeth Gaskell und Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Krankheit gibt mir die Möglichkeit zu lesen.

Am Freitag fliegen wir nach Frankfurt, bis um Montag. Ich hoffe, dass wir die Zeit haben dort etwas interesantes sehen werden. Ich war nur 2 oder 3 Stunden in Frankfurt und würde gern mehr sehen.

A Novel Life

I did a bit of stitching on Tuesday evening and <- this is what I was working on. If you remember the last update on this one, you'll know that I've only done a bit more on the bottom row, but it's a much nicer and truer photo than the last one I posted, so it's nice to get that aspect of it, if nothing else.

I've been doing rather a lot of reading lately. I read Trollope's 'Framley Parsonage' which I'd started just before falling ill, then went on to finish Ann Radcliffe's 'The Italian', an 18th century gothic novel I'd not touched for 4 years!! I've also read Mary Elizabeth Braddon's 'Aurora Floyd', which pleasantly surprised me. I'd really enjoyed 'Lady Audley's Secret' last month, but I was afraid AF was going to be just a re-hash of LAS. It wasn't though, the heroine is basically innocent, just a bit dim at times!! I'm now on to the last 2 tales in the World's Classics collection of Elizabeth Gaskell's shorter works called 'The Moorland Cottage and Other Stories' and have also borrowed MEB's 'The Doctor's Wife' from the Uni. I decided to read as many books as I could from the Uni library's great literatre collection as it saves lots of money buying them and means that I can 'save' my own resources for taing away when we go to Taiwan and I want something to read. I have lots of late 16th-early 20th fiction that I haven't read yet, but there are an awful lot of titles that I don't have, but want to read. Another perk of working at the Uni, (where, yes, I've decided to stay doing what I do now and anymore casual bits and bobs that seem decent, esp as the pay for even those is really good and I can use the libraries etc.)

My College teacher 'phoned the other night and I talked about catching up with her, so that felt a bit better and I feel more motivated. She gave me some good suggestions and now I feel that I can move forward again. Uni term finishes for a month this coming Weds, so I can work more or less full-time on my C&G over the 4-5 week period. That should see me well caught up and even on with my folder etc. I've decided that it's workday time only though and that evenings and weekends will be spent on personal projects, unless, of course, I'm enjoying a piece greatly and want to carry on with it.=) So, there should be more personal stitching coming up, including finishing this band sampler and a hardanger cushion with pink/purple hand-dyed Caron threads on white Oslo fabric. Looking forward to that as it works up lovely and fast. May do some more cross stitch after that too. Stay tuned, progress and photos coming up!

Music exam today!

So, I took my Grade 3 Theory of Music exam this tea-time and was pleased that, amongst all the kids doing that grade, there was another adult - a 40-something looking chap who sat behind me and who I was sorry not to get a chance to have a post-mortem with afterwards. I managed all the questions OK, but realised on the way home that I'd wrongly identified one of the performance directions in the last section. Not badly wrongly, I got some of it right, but not right enough for full marks, so I doubt a 100% score will be mine this time either. I got 98% for my Grade 2 and DH said I might have to take Grade 1 if I want to get 100% on one of them!!

My desk partner, (were we cramped together in that room, or what?), was a kid doing his Grade 5, but he didn't really seem to know many of the answers and did more fidgetting than anything. I saw a few of the questions on his paper and felt glad that I'd decided not to take any more theory exams for a good while yet! There seems quite a jump between Grades 3 and 4 and I really have too much on - esp. being so behind with college work - to take on anything more at the moment.

No stitching to showcase at the mo as I just haven't done any lately. I tried something with silk paints last week - working on a college sample I was keen to do as it was a nice idea and one I could do without needing to ask for any more details etc - but it went horribly and irretrievably wrong. Basically, both the silver and clear guttas (resists) that I'd used let paint through and the whole thing was just ruined beyond repair! The bottles of gutta had way too large openings to be able to apply direct to the fabric (silk habotai) and the clear one even had a sharp bit on it that would have ripped the silk! So, I had to use a small paintbrush to apply it, which I did with great care and making sure there were no gaps. After it dried, I started to wet the sky area as I thought to dilute that a bit, but noticed that it was bleeding badly into the main design - the Taj Mahal. I let the fabric dry again and painstakingly and plentifully re-applied the gutta only to discover that I may as well have not bothered with it at all as every single line bled! I was livid! I haven't sent them yet, but the 2 bottles are going back as they don't work and the applicators are very poor quality, and I'll include my ruined work as proof. Over 2 hours work there totally wasted!=(

Post Zusammenfassung in Deutsch:

Kürzlich hab' ich meine Musiktheorie Prüfung gemacht. Es geht so. Ich nicht es 100%-ig richtig gemacht, aber soll ziemlich gut sein. Es war die dritte Stufe und für die zweite hab' ich 98% gekriegt.=)

Keine Stickerei hab' ich auch gemacht, aber im Moment hab' ich eine Virusinfektion, oder so was, und hab' ich natürlich keinen Bock irgend etwas außer lesen zu tun. Mein Stickereikursarbeit geratet mehr und mehr in Verzug und hoffe ich am Donnerstag etwas mit meiner Lehrerin zu arrangieren. Vielleich könnte ich das Texturmodul nächstes Jahr fertig machen. Ich würde sehr gern bald mit einem Hardangerkissen anfangen und auch einige einfachen Kreuzstich und Bandstickerei Bilde sticken. Hoffentlich....

Goldfinch happy dance!

Yippee! I finally finished something! First 'proper' stitching finish of the year. Actually, I don't think I finished any C&G pieces yet, did I? Can't remember. Suppose I might have.... Yes! I did one on 2 Jan, according to previous posts. Anyway, here are the goldfinches. Started 24 March 2008 in Amstersdam airport and finished last night at about 11pm 18 February 2009. It was the least 'important' of all the things on the go at the moment, in that it's for us rather than an either overdue gift or an overdue C&G sample, but it feels good to have something finished. I plan to have a go at washing out both it and four other XS pieces that have got browned around where the frame was, or have got funny marks on. There's a really yacky, oily looking mark on the bluetits pieces.=( Anyway, let's see how well Ecover's hand washing liquid deals with those.=) Pattern etc has gone into my 'For Sale or Trade' folder on Webshots, if anyone's interested. 'Bluetits' is still there too, although I sold 'Chaffinches' on E-bay a while back.

Nothing done really on the C&G front. I meant to put in full days on in Monday and Tuesday of this week, but ended up under the weather again, (a colleague asked yesterday what the weather had done for me to be under it, but I suppose we all are, in purely logistical terms, aren't we?) Anyway, feel better now and should be able to get on today and press further forward tomorrow as well as next Monday and Tuesday. The substitute teacher we have at college at the mo, (ours had an accident on the ice, poor thing!), recommended that both I and another student whose just come back from 7 weeks in New Zealand where her daughter lives (and has recently had a baby!) and is as behind as I am on balance, just get on as quickly as we can, work small and simple and start to enjoy it again when we're caught up. I certainly agree with her small and relatively simple idea, but I do want to enjoy it as far as I can, even though I'm pretty clueless on most of what I'm doing, so I might take it a bit slower, but it won't matter greatly if I do. So, I want to get the bits of bobs of the old line and colour modules finished ASAP, do the sample from last week's class (today is half term, so no class - phew!), and finish the project I started last week by the time we go back next Thursday. It's quite a lot of work, but it may be possible - IF I get on with it!!!

Had a funny experience the other night. I was wasting time answering silly questions on Yahoo Answers. Later on I found one had been selected as the Best Answer, so I went back to look at it. The poser of the question had been really insulting and stupid in his response saying something like, 'I'm only doing this for the points anyway' and then putting some insulting quote, (that made him look a far bigger prat than he intended me to look!!) as his reason for why what I said was dumb. What cracked me up was that he said he only wanted the 3 points he got from selecting a best answer, but he had to pay 5 to ask the question in the first place. I earned 2 from answering and 10 for being voted as best. So, he ended up with egg on his face both by publicly proving himself narrow- and small-minded and by losing an overall 2 points whereas I gained 12!! HA-HA-HA!!! In yer face, pal!ROTFL! Hope he realises too..... I'm not at all a vindictive type, but I enjoyed this one!!! Tee-hee!=)

Postzusammenfassung in Deutsch:

So, mein Kreuzstich Distelfinken sind endlich fertig. Ich hab' diesen Projekt am 24. März 2008 angefangen (im Flughafen Amsterdam!) und gestern hab' ich es fertig gemacht.=) Schön, nö? Es ist auch schon gewascht und wartet jetzt auf einen Rahmen.

Musikstudium geht ein bißchen besser. Der Bach ist ein bißchen besser geworden (ich lerne Bratsche zu spielen) und die verbunden gespielte Tonleiter auch. Aber die Theorieprüfung ist am 5. März und hab' ich noch nicht genug studiert. Morgen, morgen!!=)

Hab' kürzlich überhaupt keine mehr Berufschularbeit gemacht und momentlich interessiere ich mich nicht so viel für das. Ich liebe Stickerei, aber wenn ich malen und sticken muss, dann ist das ein andere Sache!!

中文：

刺绣课程最近作得不好。因为最近常常生病了，所以没办法画画，设计和绣等。
我把金翅雀十字绣绣完了。我已经把全3个这个系列的飞鸟十字绣洗好了，等买框锯。

刺繡課程最近作得不好。因為最近常常生病了，所以沒辦法畫畫，設計和繡等。
我把金翅雀十字繡繡完了。我已經把全3個這個系列的飛鳥十字繡洗好了，等買框鋸。

Frustration!

Oooof! I feel really fed up with my art and stitching stuff right now. Well, the C&G part of it anyway. I don't seem to feel comfy doing any other when there's outstanding C&G work and I am just so horribly behind at the moment, that I feel overwhelmed with it. I've lost most of this year so far to winter bugs etc and have been to college only once this half term - next week is the mid-term break! I'm also really fed up that the course just charges through so bloomin' many techniques and so on. I'm certain not even half of them - esp. the art side of things - are required by the syllabus and I feel dangerously close to quitting altogether.=( I need a good talk with the teacher tomorrow. In the initial stages, I was planning on fast-tracking and doing it all in 1 year, but things have gone anything but according to plan, I'm easily the farthest behind in the class and feel really embarrassed about it.