Obligation Stitching

I just love giving friends & family handmade gifts especially for those big occasions but I hate working to deadlines, even self imposed ones. Over the years my friends & family have come to accept that special gifts from me arrive years after the event which the gift was originally intended for example my sisters wedding gift is yet to be finished and she & BIL will celebrate 6 years of marrage in September and my niece will turn 3 in September and her birth sampler is still a WIP. However, my oldest friend (I met her when I was 6 months old) is getting married in the summer and I am determined that she will get a specially stitched gift in the year that her wedding takes place. Originally I had promised myself that it would be done by her wedding day but I have been putting off starting it since the start of the year. I have finally come to the conclusion that the reason that I am putting off starting it is because I absolutley hate stitching on a piece which has to be done by a particular date and the feelings of guilt which come when I end up either stitching on something else or miss the deadline. So in an effort to make this piece a more enjoyable project to stitch and in an attempt to finish the piece sometime before Christmas (which is when I would like to be able to give the piece to my friend) I have decided to set up a rotation. I have broken the wedding gift down into 12 parts and once I have finished each part I shall stitch on a different project for 10 hours (about a weeks worth of stitching) before going back to the wedding gift (WG). Hopefully this will see the gift finished before the end of 2006 as I have estimated that each 12th of the WG will take about 20 hours to stitch and I think there are 36 weeks left till the end of the year. In order to also make progress towards finishing other projects I have decided that I will pick 4 projects for the in-between times. That way I should get to stitch each of the in-between projects 3 times before finishing the WG. Now I just have to decide which 4 projects to choose.

A Great Long Weekend

As well as getting to spend plenty of quality time with my family and getting loads of cuddles with my new nephew I got a fair amount of stitching time in. I managed to finish two of the kits I purchased while in New Zealand, both kits are by The Little Kit Company and were fun to stitch.

I also managed to get some knitting done and have progressed the scarf I am working on to the halfway stage. Now I just need to decide what to stitch on next.

Great Post Day

Today was a great post day but a very bad day for my stash reduction plans. Actually talking about stash reduction plans I think I have come to a decision, the original plan for 2006 was to try and reduce my beading, knitting AND stitching stash piles. But I have discovered that I am really really really bad about not buying any new stash so I have decided to change my goals and concentrate on reducing my stitching and beading stash piles. I will let myself buy more stitching stash but with a maximum limit of 30 projects to be in the knitting stash pile so that I don't go too mad. With the stash that arrived today I currently have 20 projects all ready to knit.

The postman delievered the remainder of my New Zealand stitching stash, two gorgeous needlepoint cushion kits (pictured above) plus a small kit of a yellow eyed penguin (not pictured because it is going to be stitched as a gift) and some hand-dyed silks. The cushion kits are by Mary Self Designs. The postman also delievered a small pile of knitting yarns.

This will end up being a pair of socks, a jumper and four scarves at some point in the future. Anyone know how to knit and stitch at the same time?

Two Things

First up is a picture of the bookmark by the Little Kit Company that I finished a few days ago.

Secondly I have been thinking about joining in with the 101 things in 1001 days idea that I have seen on other peoples blogs. It appeals for me for a number of reasons;

• there is so much that I want to do but there seems to be so little time so this would help provide a focus,
• I came back from holiday with the plan of not spending majority of my time & energy either working or worrying about work and to spend more of my time & energy on myself and my friends & family but this has fallen by the wayside as I have fallen back into the routine of working 10 hour days. Having a non-work based to do list should help me in my goal to achieve a better work : leisure balance in my life
• I LOVE lists and making plans

So having decided to give it a go all I need to do is decide on my list and on a start date. I spent my lunch break making a start on my list and managed to get to 56 things so it shouldn't take long to come up with 101 things to do in 1001 days.

An Auntie Again

Yesterday I gained a beautiful little nephew called Thomas William. His parents are totally overjoyed and his big sister Mae is very pleased with her new brother. He was a very healthy 7.5lbs and is already feeding well. My sister is as well as can be expected after her second c-section and is hoping to be out of hospital on Thursday.

A picture of the me and Thomas can be viewd at: Thomas and His Auntie

First Souvenir HD

Over the weekend I made great progress towards achieving my April goals by finishing the first of the cross stitching kits that I purchased while on my recent holiday in New Zealand. Once I find my camera I will post a photograph of the finished Kakora Bookmark, it only took a few hours and I also found time to start a second of the New Zealand kits and turn the skeins of wool from a scarf kit that I also purchased in New Zealand into balls. I have decided that this scarf will be my April knitting new start and I hope to make a start on it tonight. I probably won't be able to sleep tonight as I am very excited about becoming an auntie for the second time tomorrow so should get loads of knitting done.

April Goals

Because of my holiday I did not set myself any goals in March. But in order to stay on track I need to start setting goals again this month.

So for April my goals are:

• Beading: Finish at least one project
• Knitting: Start something and progress the new project to 50% complete
• Cross-stitching: Finish at least 2 projects.
• Cross-stitching: Start A&D's wedding gift and progress it to at least 25% complete

So I guess I shall be a little busy this month, but I need to be after last month purchases otherwise I run the risk of ending the year with more stash that I started the year with.

First Quarter 2006 Report

Since we are nearly one quarter of the way through 2006 (how on earth did that happen?) I thought it would be a good time to revisit my stash lists and review my progress towards this years stash reduction goals.

Summary for first quarter of 2006:
Cross-Stitching:
Stash Pile as of 04 Jan 06: 59 projects
Completed in 2006: 1 project
Added in 2006: 5 projects
Stash Pile at 28 March 06: 63 projects
Knitting and Crochet:
Stash Pile as of 04 Jan 06: 14 projects
Completed in 2006: 2 project
Added in 2006: 2 projects
Stash Pile at 28 March 06: 14 projects
Beading:
Stash Pile as of 04 Jan 06: 12 projects
Completed in 2006: 1 project
Added in 2006: 1 projects
Stash Pile at 28 March 06: 12 projects

It should be noted that I have only added projects to the stash list that I actually have at home. There are a number of cross stitching & knitting projects that I have already purchased but are being shipped to me that I have not added to the lists. So all in all I am proving to be very very bad at stripping. I must try and remind myself that my goal for the year to finish with 5 less projects in each category, at best I have maintained the number of projects on each list and the less said about the progress made on reducing the cross-stitch list the better.

FULL STASH LISTS
Red text indicates stash added Since 4th January 2006

Cross-stitching and other counted stitching projects

1. Beth Russell - Orange Border (80% complete)
2. DMC - Sweet Pea Fairy (5% complete)
3. L&L - Angel of Spring (80% complete)
4. TW - Above the Clouds (30% complete)
5. TW - Noah's Ark (15% complete)
6. TW - Peacock Tapestry (5% complete)
7. Barbara Thompson Designs - Skyscape
8. Barbara Thompson Desings - Around the World in Cross Stitch (25% complete)
9. Bent Creek - Swirly Sampler
10. Butternut Road - Earthdancer
11. Coleshill Collection - Sunflower
12. Derwentwater Designs - Rose Window (75% complete)
13. Derwentwater Designs - Rose Bouquet
14. Derwentwater Designs - Macintosh coaster 1b
15. Dimensions - Power of the Serengeti
16. Dimensions - Toy Shelf Birth Record
17. Dimples Designs - Wee Beasties Part 5
18. Dimples Designs - Wee Beasties Part 6
19. Dinky-Dyes Designs - Celtic Heart
20. Dinky-Dyes Designs - Celtic Knot Diamond
21. DMC - Laburnum Fairy
22. Just Nan - Amethyst Snowflake
23. Just Nan - Celeste
24. Just Nan - Christmas Jewel
25. Just Nan - Ice Blossom
26. Just Nan - Grace
27. Just Nan - Serena
28. L&L - Angel of Autumn
29. L&L - Angel of Christmas
30. L&L - Angelica
31. L&L - Heavenly Gifts
32. L*K - Bless the Baby
33. Lanarte - Orchid
34. Maria Von Scharrenburg - Night
35. M-Designs - A
36. M-Designs - A + D + Heart
37. M-Designs - E + J + Heart
38. Mirabilia - Royal Holiday
39. Mirabila - The Fairy Moon
40. Moira Blackburn -Growing Like A Tree
41. Sheperds Bush - Cherry Heart
42. The Silver Lining - Royal Affair
43. The Silver Lining - Joy
44. The Silver Lining - Hope
45. The Silver Lining - Honor
46. The Silver Lining - Grace
47. Thea Groverneur - Jays
48. Thea Groverneur - Pheony Rose
49. Thea Groverneur - Rhapsody in Blue
50. Thea Groverneur - Rose
51. TW - Celtic Cross
52. TW - Futurecast
53. TW - Knotwork Bookmark
54. TW - Paisley Corner
55. TW - Stretch
56. TW - Tempest
57. The Victoria Sampler - Beyond Cross Stitch Level Six No ?
58. The Drawn Thread - Toccata Number One
59. Sheperd's Bush - Mother's Heart
60. The Little Kit Company - Dunedin
61. The Little Kit Company - Kakora Bookmark
62. The Little Kit Company - Sheep Bookmark
63. The Little Kit Company - Aoteoroa Sheep

Completed Since 1st January 2006:

1. Derwentwater Designs - Macintosh coaster 1a

Knitting and Crochet Projects

1. Black Dune Scarf
2. Haze shawl
3. Collinette Jumper
4. Black & White Jumper
5. Black sleeveless jumper
6. Socks 1
7. Socks 2
8. Ripple Scarf
9. Lacy Lattice Stole
10. 63 square afghan
11. Rega Scarf
12. Rega Shawl
13. New Zealand Scarf 1
14. New Zealand Scarf 2

Completed Since 1st January 2006:

1. Toddler Ponch
2. Scarf of Hope 2

Beading Projects

1. Beaded Box (10% complete)
2. Romanov Bauble
3. Fandango Braclet
4. Aurora Stars (x3)
5. Toulouse Chocker Necklace
6. Georgian Bauble
7. Turkish Rope Tassel
8. Persian Tassel
9. Art Deco Bauble
10. Starry Night Bauble
11. Mayur Necklace
12. Zig-Zag Braclet

Completed Since 1st January 2006:

1. Fuchsia Scissor Tassel

New Zealand Report

A picture is worth a thousand words so I have decided to let my holiday photographs do the majority of the talking for me otherwise this post would take days to read and put anyone brave enough to try and read it to sleep. New Zealand is an amazing country full of spectacular scenery and wonderful people (if you discount Christchurch taxi drivers).

I arrived a little dazed by the 30 odd hours of travelling and the 13 hours time difference and was made most welcome by Nicola and her family, staying with them for a few days allowed me to recover from the journey in comfort and to get some stitching done. From Christcurch I headed off on a swift two week tour of the South Island before heading up to Wellington for a few days.

First stop was Kaikoaura where I went whale watching and was delighted to see three sperm whales and a pod of dusky dolphins. Since the whales only come up to the surface to rest and breath for a few minutes before diving they are not very active but at least that means you can take photos of them. The dolphins on the other hand did not stay still for even a second so were impossible to photo (well at least with my limited skills). So I gave up trying and just enjoyed their antics

Next stop was in Nelson and from there I went into the Abel Tasman National Park, yet more spectacular scenery and wonderful wildlife.

The above photo is of Split Apple Rock Bay and the one below is of a New Zealand fur seals.

From there I travelled down the west coast, with plenty of stops to enjoy the scenery and sample the local food & drink. The weather was a little wild at times but that just added to the drama.

Luckily by the time I arrived at Franz Josef the weather had cleared up and I was able to take a helicopter ride over the glacier before spending a day hiking on the glacier.

On leaving the glacier I headed towards Queenstown and then on to Dunedin, with plenty more stops along the way to admire the scenery and look at the wildlife.

On arrival in Dunedin it started raining again making the place look even more Scottish.

From Dunedin I travelled into the Catlins, yet more stunning scenery and close encounters with wildlife. Including getting almost too close to a sea lion who was hiding out in the sand dunes.


It was then back to Christchurch via Milford Sound and Queenstown. The day spent at Milford Sound it rained and rained and rained but that meant that the waterfalls were spectacular.

I was sad to say good-bye to the South Island and head up to Wellington. But it was lovely to spend several nights in the same bed and to spend time with my friends Alan & Christie. Christie was an excellent tour guide taking me to all the tourist spots in and around Wellington.

I also managed to meet up with Cathy for lunch and she introduced me to a wonderful cross stitching store where my credit card was a little stretched but more about that when the purchases arrive (I had to have them shipped home due to lack of space in the suitcase).

My last full day was spent in Martinborough sampling New Zealand wine (some of which found its way into my suitcase).

All in all it was an amazing holiday, even with the jet lag. It has taken me nearly a week to recover from the journey home and to get over the shock of going back to work.

Holiday Stitching Report

While away travelling in New Zealand I managed to complete a small Macintosh Design by Derwentwater Designs.




And to start Around the World by Barabara Thompson which I thought was a rather appropriate project to take on holiday. It has been stitched on in New Zealand, Sydney, Dubia and Birmingham plus on the plane between these points so has been half way around the world.

I also made a few purchases - to be precise 7 stitching projects and 2 knitting projects both scarves and both yummy hand dyed yarns.



The stitching projects include four kits (Aotearoa Sheep, Kokako Bookmark, Sheep Bookmark and Dunedin) by a New Zealand company called The Little Kit Company (oh and I have made arrangements for a fifth kit - Christchurch to be sent to me) which are pictured below and three other kits which are currently being posted to me because I ran out of space in my luggage. Well I was on holiday.