Still alive!

And even still stitching from time to time, but those times are a little rare at the moment.=( Here's the band sampler finally made up into a bell-pull, so I have been doing something I can show off.

The hardanger is still in progress and I hope I can get it done before we go! Only 2 more weeks and we move out of our home, then we fly out 2 days later. LOTS to do and I'll be amazed (and delighted) if I actually get all I need to do done in time, given that we're away the last weekend and have what seems like copious farewell dinners etc to go to. So much sewing etc to do as well as packing up.

Managed to sell rather a lot on E-bay and got shut of more or less everything I listed on there, except the stitching mags. I only listed a dozen or so to test the water, but it was stone cold, so I dropped that whole idea. The last 5 listings end tomorrow night (including the pattern for the band sampler, if you want to have a go at it!) and that will, hopefully, be it for my and E-bay sales for now. I've made about £300, which is great, considering that DH thought I might make £50 if I was lucky, and have cleared out all the threads I know I'll never use as well as several other stitching things and about half of my make-up. It's amazed me what people are willing to buy and how much, in some cases, they're willing to pay for it! I sold 2 Victoria Sampler designs with their relevant accessory packs and one went for about £15!

We've begun to pack some things up already and should be starting to move the boxes into the storage room at the weekend. Some local friends are borrowing certain things and I did a good bit of giving away this evening as well. Next up is sorting through the clothes into 3 piles: Take with me, save for later and give to charity. Ooof! Is it any wonder I've had no time to post or stitch? What does amaze me is that, during this last silent month, I've gained about half a dozen new followers!!

Other than the above, we've got our visas sorted now and have been offered one place to live with the option of another as well, so we won't be homeless when we get over there. Friends here are housing us for the last 2 days before we go, helping us with last minute linens and taking us to the airport as well. Banks are all sorted for international use and accounts being closed left, right and centre here. It's all happening, is very late at night and I should be in bed!

GOODNIGHT!=)

Band sampler stitching finished

Got some unexpected stitching time today - 4 hours of it - and managed to get, not only the stitching finished on the everlasting band sampler, but also all the beading and the trimmings! The snowflake at the top needs re-doing as I just noticed there's some thread caught around it. It was hard to attach that as the hole is rather too small for any needle to go through and I had to just poke one strand of floss through and hope for the best. If anyone has any ideas.... Anyway, it just needs finishing up into a bellpull now, for which I'll have to get an 'old' VS design out (old as in I've stitched it before) and look up how to do it as I've forgotten now. Oh, and it's not really blue, it's just bad lighting and camera problems.

Has anyone else noticed a distinct decline in blog hits and comments, or is it just me? I think it's the popularity of services like Google Reader that's leading to this. They're very convenient (although this blog looks dreadful on Bloglines) and I tend to use GR myself these days quite a bit, but it's a shame that so few comment nowadays and it can even be disheartening to see your visitor stats on Analytics plummet!! (No, it's nothing to do with the nice weather either!) And, hey! What's happened to the Stitchologist!!?? Where are you, Kate?

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!

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!

Dyeing to stitch

We had a go at Procion dyeing in class this Thursday. I didn't have much in the way of interesting fabric to hand and wasn't really in the frame of mind (or body!!!) for anything adventurous, so I just did some random space dyeing with ultramarine, turquoise and a green mixed from ultramarine and lemon yellow. I thought they would be useful for sky and greenery backgrounds and I should be able to use one or two of them in my samples soon.




The weather has been so grey here that it's barely been light enough to take photos, but trusty Photoshop has enabled me to correct the colour casts and show where I am with the band sampler and cross stitch pieces, both of which you can see here.


Jane of Craft Therapy has kindly nominated me in the latest 'Kreativ Blogger' awards, which I've added to the rest of the accolades down the sidebar!! Jane's blog is quite varied, although her main interest to date has been a number of papercrafts. She's done some pretty scrapbooking layouts, greetings cards and ATCs and is planning on branching out into more artwork - drawing and painting.

Thank goodness for cross stitch!

I've come to the conclusion (yet again!!!) that I'm sometimes quite nuts when it comes to my stitchery. For instance, if I want to stitch something, but I have outstanding City & Guilds work to do, unless I'm going to get on with that work, I don't stitch, I do something else instead. Now that's mad as, often, my college works needs a lot of thought and even energy as I'm doing new stuff almost all the time, certainly always using my own designs and it takes a lot more than just relaxing with the 2 counted thread projects I have on the go at the mo. So, I decided that, esp. whilst I'm still recovering from the 'flu-like thing I've had, I can be a bit more sensible and get on with some of the others. After all, the whole thing is meant to be fun, not another thing in life where 'I ought to....' Man!

So, above you can see that I've added another 3 rows to the top of the band sampler last touched about 4 weeks ago and to the right here you can see a good half of the second bird added to the 'Goldfinches' cross stitch that I last worked on in late July! If I'm feeling up to it, I'll get on with C&G samples tomorrow and so on, but if not, I'm not going to fret about it anymore. Also, if I don't quite get my work done in time for the assessment session on the last Thursday before the winter break, I'm still going to take the full winter break and not work on college stuff over that fortnight. So there!!

Thanks for the well wishes, by the way. Susan, you're welcome to go stash shopping for me. Are you paying too???=)LOL!

Photo explosion!

I haven't really been doing that much stitching of late, but I have been doing a lot of design work for the C&G and mounting of the line module etc, so have taken some pix to show you.

This is the box I presented my work in. It's just an ordinary purple box file, (with the internal clip affair removed by DH and his trusty drill!), covered with white mulberry paper, then trimmed up with the wrapping samples.

I didn't bother doing lots of pix of the mounted stuff as you've mostly seen it, but here's the beading one as an example, and probably the most interesting one that's all on one piece of A4 card. I also haven't got the eternal peacock feather done as it's very boring and long-winded, but our teacher was OK about that and said to make sure and show it to her when done. Here's what it looks like so far - like a cartoon kid with spiky hair!!!

We had to do a resolved design piece and this is what I came up with, although it's rather lacking in real design element and is concentrating mostly on various linear things. I did it in a little home made folder, which ties up with ribbon, and you can see here.

We've now moved on to the 'Colour' module and the theme is flowers and gardens. We'd to get a photo of some sort to work from and I got one from good old Google Images. We'd then to do a piece of artwork in acrylics. Well, I've bought more than enough stuff for this course, so used my gouache instead (a kind of opaque watercolour paint) and came up with this baby. Not brilliant, but it grew on me as the day went on. (Will post that later as I can't find the photo I just took on the computer.....)

Next stage was a bit of silk painting of the background fabric for the sample, then we'd to start on the stitching. She showed us stem and fly stitches, and bullion and French knots (both a bit different from my own, I think). Nothing new for me there, of course. I didn't get time to get on to the actual stitching, but here's the painted background with the threads I plan to use.

Last week sometime (I think! It's been such an age since I last posted!) I did a couple more rows on the band sampler. The middle of them couldn't exactly be called 'done' as I could only do 2 rows of cross stitches before the beading section, which is all being left until the end. So, here's what that looks like at the mo.

Hope to get some work in on all 3 current projects over the weekend and have more to show next week.

Bands 9-13 done, band 8 in progress

Here's the work I did over the weekend on the 'Silver Frost' piece. I've started just above the middle and worked up a bit. The top band here, band 8, took me about 100 minutes to do and there's still about half the work left on it! (I know that as it took the entire of watching a 103 minute film to do!!!!) Don't know how much more of it I'll get done in the immediate future because:


I finally cancelled my order with the ONS who have kept me waiting for over 2 months for my hardanger supplies. I won't say who they are in case there's some serious reason for their neglect, (like the lady who runs it has died etc), but I doubt I'll be shopping there again! I got this great cushion kit instead from Nordic Needlecraft in Scotland. They aren't the cheapest by a long stretch, but their customer service is second to none and I can't recommend them highly enough for that. The colours are precisely what I was looking for and the hardanger fabric included is quite a bit softer than I'd feared. Oslo would have been a little nicer, but this will do just nicely and will soften a little through washing and also working on, even though I'll be using my great big, unwieldy 17" R&R frame!!! Anyway, this piece is needed in about 2 weeks, whereas the 'Silver Frost' isn't wanted until late next month. There is another piece to do in between as well, (which also got held up by the ONS not responding), but I've just ordered those threads too and should be able to get that done OK as well. Hardanger works up quickly - mercifully!