Ooops... and freebie chart!

I'm not dead, honest!

Looks like I've forgotten about this blog for a bit again.  I'm going to try and post monthly from now on, if nothing else.

Anyway, I had an AMAZING time in Africa, and more than one of those photos will be finding their way into cross stitch charts!

Talking of cross stitch charts, I've decided that I want to release a few of my artwork pieces and photos as charts.  This first one is a freebie, a mini version of 'Wish upon a Star' - the full version of which will be released shortly.

You can find and download the chart here (click the image to open a new window):





Enjoy, and happy stitching!

Update for Sunday....

Like I said in my previous post, I'm in the middle of Stocktaking at work, so VERY early mornings and long shifts are not conducive to stitching much, but I am thrilled to say that I am over a quarter of the way there!

Stocktaking is....getting there. Had my 5am start on Friday (well, 7am start, but that means getting up at 5) and got my next 5am wake-up next Friday. 7am to 5:30pm.... That's a long shift! And I'm in at 9am next Saturday, too. Never mind, it's halfway over!

Been doing a few projects today - a peg bag and a cover for my mum's kitchenette. Made me realise how much I missed getting my sewing machine down! I'm also preparing for Africa......wait till you hear this....

I think I might have mentioned the fact that I needed to replace my Yellow Fever certificate - got the jab last year, put the yellow booklet somewhere safe....and promptly lost it! Anyway, I went to Superdrug (for the non-Brits, it's a pharmacy that also has a nurse attached, and they can give shots like yellow fever and prescribe malaria tablets etc.) and the nurse said I had to contact a company called CityDoc who keep the patient records. I would need to pay to get my patient records sent to me, then Superdrug could give me a replacement (which would also incur a charge....)

So, called up CityDoc at the beginning of the week, answered all the questions (name, date of birth, what I needed, etc) and then paid them. I asked for it to be sent by both email and snail mail. I'm pleased I asked for it to be sent by post, since I never got the email. And no wonder. When all my information arrived in the mail, (given that I gave all my details to the girl at least five times) my surname had magically changed from White to Smith. How the blue blazes do you go from White to Smith?!  Anyway, Superdrug were great. They did my certificate then and there, and didn't charge me for it!

Malaria tablets are also here, and I've had a fun three days trying to remember to take them to test for allergies before I go! No problems there, though, so all good to go!  Going to get my currency in a few weeks (not having hundreds of pounds in foreign currency lying about the house for eight weeks!!) and working out what clothes to take.

Another Sunday update

Slowly creeping towards a quarter of the way there! I might not get much done over the next fortnight, since it's stocktake at work and we're going to be very busy, but I'll try and at least finish this quarter.

No fun anecdote this time, I'm afraid.... It's 11pm and I'm starting to get a bit sleepy! Oh apart from one thing.... I have a new puppet called Tootsie....

(I think I need a new pair of slippers...... ;) )

One of THOSE days.....

Considering I've only had the odd hour here and there to work on this, it's actually still coming on well. I'm about an 1/8th of the way there, if not slightly more.

In other news...

The normally technically savvy whizz kid did something ridiculously dumb today... I somehow managed to delete a massively important file at work. Of course, it's in the shared area, so it doesn't go into the recycle bin. I had to call IT support and get them to reinstate it from the back-up. I emailed them the file location it used to be in, and then proceeded to shut down my computer to finish work..... Only to fine the file open on my desktop, so all I needed to do was hit 'save'! Boy, did. I feel dumb! I had to ring back IT and let them know (to raucous laughter from the other end of line) and then tell them I was going home before I broke anything else.

And I'm going to be now before I break anything else.... I just snapped my sewing needle. This really has been one of THOSE days!!

Rose of England WIP

Day 10 of the challenge, and about a week into stitching for me - and the first petal is starting to take shape! I love the colours on the linen, they really seem to shine and take on a life of their own.  This is the first time I've really worked on linen, and while it has its challenges, I love the look that the stitches have on it.

You can see how quickly this is stitching up compared to the last photo! I might actually get this done in time......

In other news, everything is starting to take shape for Africa. Posted my visa application yesterday for Zambia (nearly £70 for a visa!!) and getting my malaria tablets tomorrow (£80 for them!) so my bank balance is feeling a little bit poorly this month. However, this is a once in a lifetime trip, and I cannot wait. Ten weeks to go......

A Rose of England

Well, I sort of.... abandoned this page for a while!! I apologise for that. It's been a bit of a mad time for me, what with work and illness and all sorts of things happening. Unfortunately I never finished my last cross stitch in time for the judging, but it's still in my stitching bag waiting for me to pick it up again. In the meantime, I'm concentrating on the latest competition, which is stitching something patriotic for your country or area. I'm thinking slightly out of the box for this one, and since England is the land of the Rose (and I have a rose cross stitch sitting in my to-do list that has been there for FAR too long), I'm going to stitch that. I am very aware that I gave myself too large a project to do last time in too short a time, and I'm doing exactly the same thing this time! However, I've already made a good start, and it does seem to be stitching up quite quickly. I have until the end of September (bearing in mind I'll be in Africa for two weeks during September), and since I've been wanting to start this for so long, now is as good a time as any!

In other news, I have started Slimming World again. Finding it much easier than last time now that everyone in the house is slimming and starting to eat more healthily. I sorted out the fridge this morning, and put all the non-healthy stuff (Dad caved the other day and bought profiteroles!) in the bottom, and all the healthier stuff on the top shelves. Easy to access, and mostly all free on the SW plan.

First post, and first contest piece begun!

I've seen so many other stitchers with blogs, and I have decided that it is high past the time that I actually made my own to document my stitching journeys.  Since I've just finished one project (a fun tribute to the greatness that is Terry Pratchett's Discworld) I thought now was the time to start the blog. I'll take a photo of the Discworld one when I get it back from the framers on Saturday.

I've just started my first piece for a contest.  I came to the contest about a month late, so I'm just doing a relativly small piece, but one from my huge stash of charts.  It's from a magazine, and I would take a WIP shot, but at the moment I've been stitching white on white, so there's not that much to see.  I have finally been able to put that sparkly evenweave I won on ebay to some use though.  There's going to be quite a bit of fabric showing at the end, so I wanted something with a bit of shimmer to it.  The contest is the Puppy Love Spring Contest at the Stitching Pirates group on Deviantart.  I hope it fits the brief:
1) Any animal that is domesticated and can live as a pet. 
2) It should have a spring time motif (We could all use a pick me up after this winter, seriously, this winter was awful). 
3) The pets in the image are not required to be babies, just in a spring-like setting.

And I'm doing a kitten peering out from a teapot with roses on it..... not sure how spring-like it is, but I hope it goes down well with the judges! 

Some alterations have been made to the original pattern - obviously I've chosen evenweave instead of the recommended 14hpi aida, and I've changed the colour of backstitch from DMC pearl to a satin thread instead, to give it a bit more shine.

Back to the blog - I'm not sure how often I'll update, but I'd like this to become not only a place for me to blog about my own stitching adventures, but a place to collect tips, tutorials, free charts, and general stitching thoughts, ideas and inspirations.