June Ornament

Peace by Country Cottage Needleworks from the 2007 Ornament issue of Just Cross Stitch.

Stitched with DMC threads on 28 count mint lugana.

I was hoping to finish-finish it before photographing but up until a couple of days ago I hadn't found the right backing fabric (I'll probably finish it as a pinkeep). I'll try to get it done this afternoon ... if the kids will give me a few minutes peace!!!

Vierlanden Sampler Susanne progress

I thought I would post my progress on this - I have a portable project I stitch on while waiting for the kids to come out of school in the afternoons and this one was the chosen one for last week. I'm back to my Quaker Mystery this week. Anyway, it is too hot for the kids to cycle to and from school now - not too bad in the mornings, but blisteringly hot in the afternoons - so I'm back to driving them. I need to get to school half an hour or so before they let out to get a car park. Very typical of Dubai, they construct multi-story building after multi-story building but don't consider the carparking requirements of the people who will eventually reside and/or work in them. Anyway, gripe over :)

I think I've finally cleared out my Blogger drafts folder which will explain the sudden influx of posts from me - maybe one more waiting on pics - but I'll do that tomorrow. Hang on, it is tomorrow, in fact its almost 1.30am - oops! Better go to bed - gotta get up in 4.5 hours!

Plant Love Pinkeep

I stitched this up a week or so ago. It is a Lizzie*Kate design from Issue 28 May 2008 of the Gift of Stitching Online Magazine.

I finished it as a pinkeep and had planned to gift it away but I'm less than thrilled with how the finishing turned out (I'm a bit of a perfectionist at heart) so it will go into my smalls basket. They are probably minor things but they bother me :)

I had a lot of frogs visit me while I was stitching this too - pesky little critters!

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

High School Musical

The high school held a music performance tonight and since DS was playing guitar in one of the items we went naturally went along :) He was accompanied by several of his classmates on various instruments (there were three on classical guitar which is what he plays) and performed the New Zealand folk song "Pokekarekare Ana". They were fantastic!



(Apologies for the quality of the pic - DD decided she wanted to be the photographer tonight!)

I was blown away by the level of talent in this show. We were entertained by some very musically gifted kids. I just wish that some of the parents in the audience could have shown a bit more respect for these kids who had put a lot of work into getting this show ready and were putting their all into it tonight. There was one woman sitting two rows behind us who did not stop talking (and loudly too!) throughout the entire show (except maybe briefly when her child was on stage) and this was despite being told to be quiet nicely by a lady sitting in the row directly behind me! That's just plain rude! Unfortunately, the talker wasn't the only one and I felt really sorry for the kids up on stage. How can a child learn respect when his/her parent is incapable of showing any?

I guess all I can do is try to teach it to my kids the best I can :)

New Starts

A couple of weeks ago the HAED BB had a New Start SAL. I couldn't resist and started Ching Chou Kuik's Sweet Pink Mermaid. I've actually done more than this since this photo was taken. It's a nice stitch. One strand of DMC over one thread antique white 25 count lugana.



This is a Mother's Day freebie mystery exclusive to members of the Wiehenburg Samplers Yahoo Group which I started today. I'm using one strand of HDF's Premium silk "Dusty Rose" (discontinued I believe) over two threads of CountryStitch's 32 count lugana in "Hydrangea".

Dance Awards Ceremony

It's been a long day! It was DD's dance awards ceremony today and we had to be at the theatre at 8.45am for hair and make-up to be done and get into costume for an 11am show start. I had my alarm set for 6.30am so I could walk the dog before we left but she had other ideas and woke me at 5.50am! Tikki is not allowed upstairs, knows the rule and obeys it ... except this morning!! Clearly she needed to go out in a hurry! I'm not sure she would have done it had DH been home (he's away on a business trip). Anyway, since I was up I decided to get her walk over and done with early :)

We made it to the theatre on time, found our seats and deposited DS and his book in one of them with instructions to guard the other two, while DD and I headed backstage. I pitched in to help out Miss Haley (DD's dance teacher) and a couple of other mums with getting the girls hair done. We had a serious production line going and I would hate to think how much hair gel we went through! I lost count of how many buns I did - several - but it was nothing compared to the braiding machine that was Miss Haley!

Once hair and make-up had been done it was on to the costumes.





I headed back out to my seat about 15 minutes or so before the performance was due to start and praised DS for being so patient. I am so glad he is a major bookworm! He defended our seats very well too as quite a few people had tried to claim them. There were no tickets - you just had to ring the dance school's office to reserve however many seats you wanted and that was it. So basically the earlier you got there the better chance of good seats!

The performances were great and DD looked very cute on stage. There is only DD and another girl in her tap class and they performed to "Monster Mash". The audience really got into it by clapping along to the beat which was great :) Miss Haley made a lot of the costumes or part of them herself (she also teaches ballet and modern) and she did the most wonderful job. We will miss her when classes start up again after the summer as she has taken a teaching position at the Performing Arts School in New York.



We arrived back home at around 1.30pm, I made some lunch and afterwards attempted to do some stitching. I just couldn't focus so I laid down on the couch in front of the telly and promptly fell asleep for about an hour and a half - lol!

I've just taken Tikki for her evening walk and am now about to organise dinner. Then the kids and I have a date with the tv and American Chopper :)

My day in photos

I thought I'd document my day with the camera (I've seen it done on a couple of blogs and thought it would be fun.



My day

Not all my days are as busy as this one, thank goodness :)

Thank you also for the well wishes for DS - he's just fine and back at school today!

Quick WIP Update

DS woke this morning saying his throat was still hurting so I kept him home from school again. I suspect he would have been fine to go but under my dragon-like exterior I really am a softie :)

Anyway, here is the current state of play of a couple of projects I've been working on recently ...



I'm still quite a ways behind on the Quaker Mystery but the summer holidays are fast approaching and I expect I will get quite a bit done then. We have no real holiday plans at this stage - may go away for a couple of weeks in August if we can find someone to look after the dog.

After much dithering and dathering I finally started on Periphaeria's Mystery Spanish Sampler - I was planning to use a HDF silk but couldn't decide which one I liked. In the end I decided to use DMC Colour Variations #4210, one strand over one thread on black 25 count lugana. Yes, I'm insane!



Off to check on the patient - told him he is well enough to do some revision but I don't think much of that is happening!

Wow, thank you ...

for all the lovely comments about my latest ornament finish - I really appreciate them :) It was nice to see quite a few new visitors too - welcome and thank you for visiting my blog.

I have been remiss in posting lately (actually can't believe it has been quite as long as it has!) - things have been a little busy around here of late.

The painters turned up on Mother's Day (11 May) to finish off the interior paintwork. They did a great job and I'm very happy with the results, and only in two days - very impressive! It took me longer than that to put everything back in place! DD's room however I had to re-arrange differently. It actually looks better and has opened up her room and given her more space so it was worth doing :)

DH has been away for a week, back for a weekend, away again for ten days, back for a week, away again and there is at least one more trip in the works after this current one. He was also ill with a bad cold for the week that he was back so was working from home for a couple of days as well.

This weekend has been DS's turn to come down ill with a sore throat and bad ear ache. I kept him home from school today and took him to the doctor - he's now on antibiotics plus ear drops and I have to take him back to the doctor in a couple of days to check on the ears. There's a flu bug and a nasty tummy bug (one of DS's friends is currently off school with that) going around at the moment although I think the trip we had to Dreamland (water park) a week and a half ago may have had something to do with DS's current ailment. I think he's also trying to wangle another day off school tomorrow as he wss complaining that his throat was hurting before he went to bed which was the first time he'd complained all day! I'll see what he's like in the morning - he has exams coming up next week so I don't want him to miss too much school and revision work.

DD is preparing for her tap dance exam and dance award ceremony so we've had extra lessons and costume fittings etc. The exam is this week and the ceremony is the following week - busy times :) After the summer looks to be even busier as she wants to start up ballet again and maybe modern or Irish dance plus tap! Our girl does love to dance :) I think I'm going to have to limit her to tap and one other mode of dance though otherwise she'll just be overdoing it. Did I mention the piano and tennis lessons that are squeezed in there somewhere as well?

I have been stitching and I do have some pics to share - I just need to take a couple more and then upload them. It is quite late at night right now and therefore not great conditions for taking pics of needlework. Tomorrow!

Thank you again!

May Ornament

Another one done for the 2008 Christmas Ornament Challenge!




"Quiet Night" by Erica Michaels Designs
JCS 2007 Ornament Issue

Stitched on Polstitches "Welsh Mist" (Dragon Shades) 28 count Jazlyn with DMC threads. Subbed the called for Rainbow Splendor with two strands of Dinky Dyes' "Icicle" stranded cotton (I'm pretty sure this was from a collaboration pack) and one strand of Petite Treasure Braid.

This ornament is quite large as it should have been stitched on a 40 count linen but the Welsh Mist was the perfect colour and it was already in my stash :) The construction side of things was a little challenging but I think it turned out reasonably okay :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Monthly Finishing Challenge for May

I recently joined the Monthly Finishing Challenge blog and May's challenge was a biscornu.



The chart, fabric and silk ("Frosty") are all from the 2008 Limited Edition Winter Pack from Dinky Dyes. The beads I had in my stash (MH02017 "Ice").

I love Boursin!

Boursin cheese that is :)

With a few simple ingredients ...



and fresh Taglitelle pasta



The kids and I sat down to this for dinner tonight ...



Clearly went down a treat :)

Calling in the cavalry!

Yep, DH wants me to call the guys that painted the outside of our house last week and get them to finish off the inside.

I think I mentioned before that the walls are quite high in the rooms that are left to paint and I can just barely reach the top. DH is going to be away for work quite a bit over the next coming weeks so I guess the last thing he wants to be doing when he is home is climbing up and down a ladder finishing off the painting.

I probably also shouldn't have told him about the little tumble off the ladder I had when I was painting the hallway either?! It wasn't serious - a couple of bruised knees and an elbow. I just stepped back off the ladder when I thought I was on the last step when in actual fact I was on the step above it - oops :)

Anyway, I've requested a quote and should have that in the next day or two.

Oh, and I finished the stitching on my May ornament tonight too. Will post a pic when I've finish-finished it :)

I'm off to make a start on my biscornu for the Monthly Finishing Challenge.

Enjoy your weekend!

Doing my bit for DMC :)

Thank you all for the lovely compliments on my recent ornament finish. This is only the second pinkeep I've made and I decided to lace both the stitched piece and backing fabric this time, rather than use glue on the backing fabric like I did for my first one. I'm really pleased with how it turned out :)

April Ornament

Front


Back

Toy Shop Sign by
Carriage House Samplings
from the JCS 2007 Christmas Ornament magazine
Stitched over one with DMC thread on 28 count Natural Cashel linen and finished as a pinkeep.

Painting, ornaments and noisy neighbours!

I know I said last week I would bore you with my painting progress but with DH out of town again and me feeling a bit off-colour with some sort of tummy bug this week, I didn't quite get there :) I'll bore you today instead.

So far I've managed to paint both bathrooms downstairs (okay, one is really just a toilet and sink), the entrance way and hallway, and the dining room. Okay, so not much but I like to take my time, wash down the walls, tape everything up and cover up any furniture and the floor with plastic drop-sheets. I then go around and carefully do all the cutting-in with a paintbrush and then finally the roller work. My neighbour thinks it's funny - she just slaps it on and probably would have had her whole house done by now! If we were still in our old dogbox house in Australia, that probably would have been the case, but this house is considerably larger with much higher ceilings. We will have to get someone in to paint the stairwell walls (two floors high) though - they'll have the proper scaffolding to reach right up to the top. As it is I can just barely reach the top of the walls from the last (safe) step on the ladder in the lounge, guest room and bedrooms upstairs. I will roller up as far as I can reach and DH will have to do the cutting-in for me. No painting this week though - ran out of paint :) I replenished supplies on Wednesday however so I'll have no excuse next week!



Last week we handed over a rather large amount of dirhams (local currency) to have the outside of our house painted - DH had done some repairs and it was looking a bit shabby with all the patched-up areas. It looks great now though! A large number of painters turned up on Monday morning and by late Wednesday afternoon they were done!

I did get a little stitching in this week. After doing a few chores in the morning I sat down on Tuesday and finished off the stitching on my March ornament. I was stitching my version of A Colonial Christmas Ornament by Cherished Stitches from the JCS 2007 Ornament issue and only had the third panel to complete. That afternoon I finish-finished it ...



A Colonial Christmas Ornament
by Cherished Stitches
from the Just Cross Stitch 2007 Ornament Issue

Stitched on black 28 Quaker cloth with HDF "Tugtika" silk threads

I had a little trouble with the construction so it hasn't turned out quite as nice as I'd hoped. I think I will ignore the instructions and do it the way it makes sense to me if I ever stitch it again.

I've made a good start on my April ornament and all going well I should have it finished before the end of the month.

I'm off to stitch a little before bed - hopefully I can keep my eyes open! Our neighbours had a bit of party last night and were extremely loud! Our villa is in a block of four - I guess it is really a large townhouse - we are on one end, two in the middle and then another end unit. Our bedroom is upstairs at the back of the house and faces their back garden which is where the neighbours and their guests all were. Normally with the double-glazed windows and doors and the aircon running we can't hear anything from inside the house. Last night though their wooping and hollering and banging of doors was loud enough that it kept DH awake, and he usually sleeps with earplugs! Now DH had earlier only just returned from being out of town all week and was extremely tired. The last thing he needed was to be kept awake till the wee hours (I'm talking 2-3am here!) with inconsiderate neighbours. Thank goodness it is our weekend and he was able to sleep in this morning! He got the drill out after he got up though and proceeded to put up some picture hooks on the shared wall, hoping to get his own back - lol! You don't want to mess with DH when he's not had enough sleep!

Unfortunately, it sounds as though they are having another party tonight :( I think there will be a call placed to security if they're still carrying on after midnight! Our good friends live in the other middle unit next to them - I've suggested we coordinate our efforts and starting drilling from both sides 7am tomorrow morning ... mwuahahaha!

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!

No, you're not going mad :)

If you come across some posts that weren't there before it is just that I have finally managed to find some time to go through my drafts folder to add pics, edit where necessary and finally publish them!!

The kids are on Spring Break this week but go back to school on Sunday. DH and I plan to begin painting the inside of the house this weekend starting with the downstairs tomorrow. I need to start washing down walls this afternoon so DH can fill in some cracks and do some other minor repairs. Thankfully, I like painting as I can see I'll be doing the bulk of it during the week when everyone is at school and work :) We are getting quotes for the outside to be done too. Hopefully they'll be quick in getting that back to us as we would like to get it done before it starts getting too hot! I'm sure the guys doing the actual painting would appreciate that too :) I will stock up the drinks fridge as soon as I know when they are coming so there will be plenty of ice cold drinks on hand for them.

I have stitching pics to share as soon as I've uploaded them from the camera so stay tuned :)