Progress!

Don't you just love those pouty lips?!

I've been working on Dark Cherry and The Encounter too but just haven't got around to taking up-to-date progress shots yet. It is SAL weekend for Dark Cherry so I will wait until that's finished before taking another pic.

Ruth asked how it is that I find over one stitching to be soothing - lol. I honestly don't know :) I get into a zone where I can just leave everything behind, be it a crappy day or worry over a family member or friend, and head off to daydream land for a couple of hours. If something's bothering me I've usually thought out a solution after a stitching session too :) And, it always amazes me that after hours of stitching tiny little crosses, it will take just one and suddenly an eye or a mouth, or a turret of a castle or a tiny little flower or leaf, will appear.

Or it could be that I'm just bonkers - lol!

Quick Stitchy Update

Have a few things to blog about but have only got time to quickly upload some HAED WIP updates at the moment. Normal (and hopefully regular!) blogging to resume shortly!!

I've recently gotten back into my HAED stitching, I'd forgotten how soothing I find it and it has helped me get through these last few weeks.

First up is a new start, QS Dark Cherry by Ching-Chou Kuik. This is my yearly challenge SAL piece on the HAED BB with monthly SALs on the second weekend of each month. This is what I managed for the January SAL and given that I had family here didn't think this was too bad an effort :) Stitched on antique white 25 count lugana with DMC and PB10 for the sparkles. Started on 10 January 2009.



Next up is my current progress on QS Plum Gothic by Caron Vinson. I was hoping to finish this last year but with one thing and another that didn't happen. This year!



Lastly, my current progress on The Encounter by Ed Beard Jr. This is a full size HAED (36 pages, which is not as big as some). DS chose this chart and wants me to stitch it up for his birthday. He didn't specify which birthday but I'm estimating I may have it done in time for his 21st - lol! Stitched on 25 count white lugana with DMC and PB10 for the sparkles. Can't remember when I started this - early last year I think.

Heaven & Earth Designs LE Tornado Relief Chart

Recently the owners of HAED (the fabulous Michele & Bob) had their home and property devastated by a tornado. One of my favourite HAED artists, Ching-Chou Kuik, donated this beautiful piece of artwork for charting to be used to raise funds for tornado relief. Proceeds raised will go towards the major clean-up and debris removal operation now faced by the family.

Flow Runners is a limited edition chart and will only be available for two weeks. If you want to help, purchase details can be found here.

Being the major HAED fan that I am, I have already made my purchase and will probably add this to my WIP list next year :)

June Edition of HAED BB Challenge SAL

Before:



After:



I managed to finish the first page this time!

What it will look like when I'm eventually done!

Dream of Purple

Dream of Purple

Despite the painting (which is still ongoing), I managed to make some pleasing progress during the HAED BB SAL last weekend.



A couple of SAL weekends ago I decided to start using a different coloured highlighter to mark off my chart each SAL as a gauge for my progress as well. For April I chose pink :)



I will bore you with my painting progress tomorrow :)

WIP Updates - Pic heavy!

I grabbed the camera this afternoon and took some pics of my current stitching WIPs.

First up, Violet Eyes by Rachel Marks & HAED. I pulled this out earlier this week and stitched a little more on the eye area. According to my photo records I haven't worked on this since November last year. There's lot of white and sparkles in this one!



Close up of the eye area I've been working on.



Next, some more progress on Plum Gothic QS.



This is my current progress on the Wiehenburg Quaker Mystery 2008 SAL. I haven't stitched a lot on this WIP in recent times due to the holidays. I usually work on this during DD's tennis and tap dance lessons. Activities start back next week so it will start to see some action again :) Oh, and I finally managed to get a more accurate pic of the fabric colour this time!



Next up, my start on LHN's Princess and the Pea - sorry about the creases, I didn't feel like climbing upstairs where the ironing board and iron are located to iron them out :)



Last but not least, my before pic of Dream of Purple for the HAED BB Challenge SAL weekend starting tomorrow and running through Monday. I'm hoping to get a fair amount done but that will depend on the painting!



Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

QS Plum Gothic

The Fourth Weekend Themed SAL on the HAED BB starts today and the theme for this month is Background. I've pulled Plum Gothic out of hibernation in an effort to meet my goal of getting her finished this year!

Sorry I haven't been blogging much recently - as well as DH being away and having visitors (which is sapping what little energy I have lately!) today has been the first time I've been able to get on to any Blogger sites in the past few days!

I've managed a little bit of stitching but have packed most of my WIPs away for safe-keeping while the in-laws are here so no photos as yet. The in-laws are going to spend a few days with my sis-in-law next week so I'll get them out and photograph them then :)

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Easter!

Busy Weekend!

Boy, what a crazy busy weekend!

Friday night DH and I attended a corporate function at one of the nearby golf clubs. It was put on by our hometown State Government (they have an office here) in honour of a visiting bigwig. Lots of produce specific to our hometown region was flown in including Balfours Frog Cakes and Vili's Meat Pies!!! Plus local seafood (prawns, yellow fin tuna, barramundi and King George Whiting), Wagyu beef, Berenberg strawberry jam, Medlow fruit gels and Bickford's beverages.

On Saturday Australian Rules Football came to Dubai - Collingwood vs Adelaide - and with DS being a huge Adelaide fan we had to go :) The game was held on a polo field which was converted into a football ground for the event! It was a fantastic day and much fun was had by all. Adelaide won so DS was very happy!






Unfortunately, DS was off school sick today so my plan to spend most of the day with Dream of Purple for the HAED BB February Challenge SAL didn't happen. Instead, the day was spent catching up on the laundry I didn't do because we were out all weekend and taking DS to the doctor. He's fine and should be back at school tomorrow.

I did manage to put in the last few stitches left on my February Christmas ornament though! I'll post pics tomorrow :)

Made My Day :)

I was surprised and flattered to find that the lovely Kim over at KiP thought my blog made her day! Wow, thank you, Kim :)

Now I'm supposed to award another 10 bloggers who inspire and make me happy about blogland, and given the amount of blogs I have in my Google Reader, it is going to be a difficult task! So many of you out there in blogland inspire and motivate me! I'm running short of time right now so I'm going to have to come back to this after some thought :)

Lots of comments on my Plum Gothic progress too - thank you!! Welcome to new readers and, Sally, of course it's okay to add my blog to your Google Reader :)

Plum Gothic QS - Page 2 Finish :)

It was a UFO/SWIP themed SAL on the HAED BB this weekend and although I have older HAED WIPs I could have chosen, I really want to finish Plum Gothic this year! Preferably in the first half! I have neglected her woefully and I have made a pact with myself that I am not going to start another Quick Stitch until she is done! Mmm, we'll see how long that lasts - lol!

Anyway, I spent most of Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon stitching away on her and put the last stitch in page 2 late in the afternoon. There is still today to go in the SAL but I probably won't work on her now until Wednesday for the Quick Stitch SAL :)

Here yesterday, gone today ...

The rain that is :)

This is what our backyard looked like yesterday after 2-3 days of constant rain:



(Please disregard the sorry excuse of a trampoline - the mat disintegrated from the heat and sourcing a new one is proving difficult.)

This is what it looks like today:



Laura commented that she couldn't imagine a city "not built for rain". Strange, I know, but because they get so very little rain here it just never enters into the equation during the construction stage (no gutters, storm drains, etc). However, when it does rain it causes complete and utter chaos! Flooding, electrical problems, traffic mayhem, etc. All schools were ordered to close yesterday and today by the Ministry of Education because of it. Our school has been affected by flooding and I believe electrical problems.

Just a quick post tonight as I'm keen to stitch a little more on Dream before I head to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow so I don't want to stay up too late but I want to finish the section I'm stitching first!

I should have some WIP update pics for you tomorrow. It is the start of the HAEDless Sampler SAL on the HAED BB and I am working on St Georges this month. There will be a finish in the very near future!

Also thank you for your comments and welcome to new readers - there are a few that I want to reply to and I hope to do that soon!

HAED BB 2008 Challenge SAL - January Edition

Before After

Dream of Purple
Original Artwork: Ching Chou Kuik
Charted by: Michele Sayetta of Heaven & Earth Designs (c) 2007

Stitched 1 x 1 full cross on 25 ct pale aqua lugana using DMC threads

I finally started stitching on her Sunday evening for a few hours and then managed to get a few more hours in on Monday. I filled in a lot of the empty spots so I was pleased with my progress.

We have had quite a lot of rain today and this city is just not built for it (or US President's visits for that matter!) so after having my plans shelved because of the inclement weather (DD's class was meant to go on a field trip today and I had volunteered to help out) I dropped the kids at school, came home and settled down to stitch for the day :) I'm continuing to work on Dream of Purple until tomorrow when I switch her out for QS Plum Gothic. Several schools are closing tomorrow (including the one mine go to) because of the heavy rain. It has caused quite a bit of flooding and electric problems.

As I said before, this city isn't built for rain :)

I leave you with some shots (not taken by me) of our main freeway yesterday closed for the Bush visit.

It's raining ...

my tumble dryer is kaput and my new one doesn't arrive until tomorrow! My house, therefore, looks like a Chinese laundry (must find out where that saying comes from)!!

I managed to put a length (six strands) of floss into The Encounter but it's just a pitiful blob of blue :) I then sat down to work on Dream of Purple, delved into my WIP box and came out with my WIP and the chart but not the threads or the actual page of the chart I'm working from! Figured I had put it in one of my overflow boxes which are stacked on top of the wardrobe in the spare room before we went on holidays. My search of the boxes I could reach was fruitless and since DH had gone to bed I was going to have to wait until this morning for him to get the boxes right at the top down for me so I could have a look. I could have gone back to The Encounter but I'd already taken him off the stand and the Q-snaps and put him away.

This morning my much taller DH got the boxes down and I now have my threads and the first page of the chart ready for tonight's stitching session on Dream of Purple.

During the search I came across an old WIP of Dinky Dyes' The Dreaming - that looked a more soothing stitch - so I pulled that out and worked on that instead. I'm not sure when I started it, probably sometime in 2006!

This is how it was when I picked it up last night ...



I might squeeze a little more time on it over the weekend so I'll hold off from taking a progress pic until early next week.

I also put a few more stitches in St Georges this afternoon while waiting for DD at her tap class. Thank you also for the lovely comments - it is coming along quite well and I'm really pleased with how the thread colour stitches up.

Rightio, I'm off to iron the essential uniform and work items for the kids and DH for school/work tomorrow and then settle down to reacquaint myself with Dream of Purple!

Happy Stitching!

Pay It Forward 2008

I've gone and done it now - I've joined Karen's PIF challenge :)

So, if you would like something stitched by me sometime during this year (2008) then please be one of the first five (5) people to either leave a comment here or email me at buffster_fan at yahoo dot com dot au and I will be in touch. In turn you must post to your blog the same challenge and accept five people to send to. They do the same and forward it goes :)

If I do not have five people sign up then I will send five random parcels to different parts of the globe :)

I didn't get a lot of stitching done on The Encounter yesterday - prepping the fabric (I actually dragged out the sewing machine to edge the fabric), pulling the floss and gridding the outline of the first page took longer than I anticipated. We also went out last night for dinner so I didn't really sit down to stitch until quite late. I probably managed about 20-30 stitches before I headed for bed. I will work on this some more next week after the HAED Challenge SAL which is this weekend and I will post a progress pic then.

However, I will leave you with the latest progress on my Long Dog Sampler "St Georges" - not the best photo, sorry but you can see that it is almost done! I did quite a bit of this in the last week of our holidays.



I haven't managed to stitch yet today so I'm off to make myself a cuppa and then head to my stitching chair for an hour or two!

HAED BB Quick Stitch Wednesday SAL

<- Before


-> After



I didn't get as much time as I'd hoped on this last night so progress isn't very noticeable but at least I managed to put some stitches in before my eyes grew heavy and I had to go to bed! I really had hoped to finish Plum last year but it wasn't to be. She will most definitely be finished this year though and hopefully in the first quarter!

Just a quick post from me today - January's edition of the HAED BB 2008 Challenge SAL starts tomorrow (I think - must check) and I will be working on Dream of Purple this year instead of Verdure.

Before the SAL starts however I want to put some stitches into my New Year's start. Because I was away I obviously didn't get to start it on 1st January 2008 but today, rather conveniently, marks the start of the Islamic New Year so I get another chance :)

The chart/design? Well, I am in the Heaven & Earth Designs Birthday Club and whilst scrolling through my wishlist trying to decide on what chart to get, DS spotted this one. Am I insane?! Quite possibly :) DS said he wanted it for his birthday (which is in July). However, he didn't specify which birthday so I told him he may get it for his 21st, or if he's lucky, his 18th - lol! That gives me six to nine years to stitch it up :)

On that note, I'd better get to it! I shall report on my progress tomorrow.

I love my camera :)

The kids were out shooting some hoops with their friends before dinner last night when DD came running in yelling for me to come outside and bring my camera! I went outside and was greeted with this gorgeous sunset!

Got a bit carried away with the photos - sorry!

Stitching: I have been doing a little stitching although not huge amounts. I seem to have the reading bug lately and my stitching has suffered because of it. Anyway, it is the Christmas/Mermaids SAL on the HAED BB this weekend so I've pulled both Dream of Purple and Sea of Roses out with the intention of making some progress. I also had Plum Gothic QS out earlier this week and once this weekend is over I intend to get back to her and work on her until she is done. Well, that's this week's plan anyway :)

I'll post before and after pics of each after the SAL has finished. Right now I'm heading back to my chair for an hour's stitching before the kids come home from school!

Some Progress

Here's where I got up to with Verdure over the weekend. Blogger Photos is down so I've had to use Webshots.



As I predicted in my last post I didn't really get a whole lot of stitching time. Well, actually I could have spent pretty much all of Saturday stitching away as the kids were out all day but I ended up washing and ironing instead! Need to work on my priorities!! Anyway, some progress is better than none, right?

Next up is my progress on QS Plum Gothic:



I had plans to work on her yesterday for the QS SAL but was tempted away by my Mystery WIP (which shall remain unnamed for now). I'll try to spend some time with my Plum girl over the weekend, and maybe get that second page finshed.

HAED BB October Challenge SAL Weekend

This weekend is the October edition of the Yearly Challenge SAL and Verdure comes out to play.

Here's my before pic:



I'm not sure how much stitching will take place as the Eid al-Fitr holiday started yesterday and the kids are off school until Tuesday. I'm sure it wasn't all that long ago they were on summer holidays!!

Quick Stitch Wednesday

This is Plum Gothic before I start working on her for the HAED BB Quick Stitch Wednesday SAL. I have spent the last couple of days working away on her and I'm really pleased with what I've achieved. It might be a bit ambitious of me but I'm going to see if I can get the second page finished. I'm not sure that I will but hopefully I'm come close :)

This upcoming weekend is the HAED BB Yearly Challenge SAL for October and Verdure will come out to play. I'm hoping to get a fair bit of progress done on her too :)

I'm in a dilemma!

There have been some new Ching-Chou Kuik Quick Stitch releases over at Heaven & Earth Designs recently and I've fallen in love with almost all of them (!!) - Butterfly Dream, Crystal Magic, Green Dragonfly, Magical Spread and Serene Dawn. I think Green Dragonfly would go lovely with Purple Dragonfly so they are at the top of my list to start next BUT Butterfly Dream and Purple Silk Mermaid are also calling quite loudly! To make matters worse Guidance is also starting to make itself heard. Sigh. Plum Gothic is on my stand at the moment so I think I'll try to keep on with her for a bit and then perhaps I'll go back to Dream of Purple for a bit to see if that will quieten the Kuik callings :)

Wish me luck!!