'Oriental Dress' progress and some childhood UFOs

I've been doing a little stitching again and have got the cross stitching on the Anchor 'Oriental Dress' cross stitch kit done. As this one relies quite a lot on back-stitching for definition, it's really been a lot of just 'blocking in', esp in that green and white sidebar. The design is interesting here as it's clearly a Chinese dress, but the whole colour scheme is rather more Japanese with it's subtle shades and lack of red! Not to say that Chinese clothes don't come in these shades, (they do as I have a lovely light pink jacket to prove it), but it's not what you would expect. If my memory serves me correctly though, I think the whole series this belongs to is done in the same sort of colour scheme. When the stitching is done, I'm going to make it into a small gift cushion/pillow to send to the couple who kindly put us up near the airport when we went to Frankfurt and had to fly into 'Frankfurt' Hahn (which is about 90 mins drive away from the city!!) It's a bit late, but as I started it at their place and I know she likes stitchery, it should go down OK. I can't quite get enthusiastic about this one as, well, I'm not even sure I like it that much! I only bought as a desk decoration for my old job, (should I have ever got a desk, which now looks most unlikely to have happened!!), but I thought I may as well have a short and simple project on the go at the same time as all the college stuff.

My mum's been clearing out her attic (with DH's help getting stuff down to start with) and came across some childhood UFOs of mine! Well, there were three UFOs and one piece that needs some re-doing in part. Here are three of them, a pair of needlepoint kits:

Just look at the back of the completed one! What a mess! I'm going to match up the needed colours, (probably just use cheap stranded cotton for the background needed on the 2nd one), and finish them ASAP. They've been washed as they were rather grubby from hanging around - I even had one on my wall at one point, but I now wonder how I dared - there are small patches where I have tent stitch going in the opposite direction!


This is another needlepoint kit that I'd almost done. I plan to get them all finished up and then framed, but I really don't know who to give this one to. I daresay it'll find a home though.=) In fact, I have an idea, I think I know a very sweet teenager who would enjoy this made into a little cushion for her room....


The last piece is a part-sewn lion from the 'Friendly Stuffed Zoo' pattern collection that I started when I was in the Girl Guides. I didn't get very far with it, but all the necessaries are there, so I can soon finish it off with the machine and either add it to our stuffed toy collection, (which probably needs giving away, esp as we are moving!), or turned into a gift. Will post that one when there's something recognisable to see on it. Anyway, these date back about 25 years to my pre-teen days!

I've also done another line on the band sampler and decided to miss out one that I didn't like. There's an unfinished line near to the top that I also didn't like much and missed out so far as it needs beads attaching and I'm leaving that 'til last. So, now I'm looking for something to fit in the 7 threads space there is left there.....

Decisions, decisions!

I've decided that, as far as my current C&G work goes, I'll just be finishing this module, which will then go in to the end of year displays at the college, then I think that will be it for me for the time being. I couldn't really help it, but I'm so far behind and have so much on this summer that I can't envisage myself getting up to date without neglecting something more crucial. Also, as many know, we're going to Taiwan for a year or so in late August and we have to put our worldly goods must into storage and get a new place when we get back, which may very well not be at all conveniently located to get to the Harrogate bus route. College in 2010/1 may be impractical. I've talked to my teacher now and she agrees to just take it as it comes, esp. as the college is going over to the new C&G syllabus (Creative Techniques suite) quite soon, so I may join back then. We shall see. Anyway, I've learned heaps and am glad I did it. I'll post the last 2 samples as I complete them and the artwork for the samples I won't get to now and leave it there for the time being. Maybe I'll do a level 1 stumpwork cert before that shuts down too, but we'll see. Much depends on how finances are on our return.

'Line' Module Resolved Artwork

OK, let's hope it loads properly this time.

I did my line artwork based on seahorses. Here are 4 of the 5 pix I did - the 5th was pants! I meant to do it focusing in on the linear aspect of the plant life in the pic, but just ended up with a really wishy-washy piece instead!

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!