Stitching Diva

question nancy , sharon, lindy and any other victorian stitchers.. could you hear my plaintiff wail from across the strait??
it has been like 10 hours since i made my discovery and i still am having trouble not screaming at myself…
i am so so  so sorry nancy …
you know the RR… ummmmmmmm
i am dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb..

2 things happened this morning, telstra had the stupid idea to do a broadband update and wiped out the state ,no internet accces in rolling breakdowns through all the exchanges once it started they couldn’t stop it and it caused chaos.. i was in the middle of sending Sonya an awesome ecard i found with a topic close to both our hearts when bam, no internet… i thought i had finally blown up the modem, but then paul rang asking me to disconnect the modem so he could use our dial up addy from work ..phew… at least that one wasn’t my fault..

so i went and stitched, to do those last single stitches in the RR to post to diane…

and i had an epiphany .. but not a good one…
i stitched it sideways cos the legs had to cross the other direction.. fine… i turned the chart sideways too cos i couldn’t stitch it otherwise ….fine..

well so i thought but no i am  dumb dumb dumb…
there are arrows in the chart going left, right … do you all know where this is going?…
my dumb  bimbo brain did not register that i had to turn my head sideways to see the true direction of the arrows so i had the colours wrong for several chunks of the section.. i thought it looked odd , but as i was just stitching a chunk of dress it had no real sirens like purple skin or green hair…
so i spent the day frogging… seems to be a theme lately doesn’t it
and of course i had done single stitches through it which meant more than the wrong colours being frogged…  
i have frogged the sections now .. after all i had no computer to distract me
but i honestly think i might send it on and have it sent to me at the end to fill the gaps.. it isn’t much stitching but i can not face it
i feel so stupid… i NEVER make errors like that never never never

So i have spent the day being really cross with myself and muttering under my breathe a lot   and trying to work out  how to own up and tell every one what a ding bat i am…
so there you go .. i am almost to scared to pick up a needle i might just keep knitting the scarf i am knitting for pauls work collegeague as a farewell gift ( they are both out of a job in June as the current contract for providing professional development for teachers in the state runs out and they have to move on to new things… don’t know what yet , but the department HAS to give them a job)
i must thank Lindy for the easy peasy lace pattern, i am knitting it in Dark Reds 4 ply wool cashmere blend from the wonderful Knittery where i get all my wool at the moment

nancy i am so sorry i mucked up your RR……..

just a quickie so i don’t bore you again with my ramblings
here is my latest aredhelpicture after the fifth week SAL
once again i learnt i can not stitch with a headache and the black bit i did was done twice..
headache was my own fault i tried staying upto watch the cricket final.. gave up just as they finally went on to the field after the rain delay, then could not sleep cos paul got up an hour later to watch it
i digress this is meant to be short

i must try and finish my RR today as the next installment arrived from Jan.. full of treats again too the little treasure she is..
i feel so bad about how late i am again

the silver lining to having a bad head is that i got to catch up on my mystery sampler..
i knew if i tried too much haed/cc stitching i would end up frogging large tracts of it..
i have nearly finished my RR piece.. about 80 single stitches to go…. sigh but i have only done that in the hour the medication ( yes i went to the doc i have a prescription spray now ) works really well each time i use it for about 1 -2 hours then i start feeling grotty again.
so anyway here is the top row of the sampler done.. i decided not to continue on with my strip of bright pink until i hit the page below in 4 weeks time so i can see how wide the motif actually is there is just too small a sample of that one to risk choosing a colour IMO

there is a LOT of stitching in that Colonial teal motif  and i had a lot of fun deciding to go really OT with the Rose quartz and phlox combo for the last motif… i did have a more subtle combo usingthe rose quartz and water blue, but decided to heck with it
ok tried to post a pic where you could see the whole top row without a microscope and it would not work so just use the link instead, sorry….

 if you want to see a bigger picture here is the link
My Pine Dryad finally got charted.. yes this green thing continues to not only be a source of amusement for Sue and Sonya but one of bemusement for me..

so anyway, somehow someway i am going to try and squeeze a bit of time in for her i might be dropping out of some stuff and just doing my RR , mystery sampler, wed sal and sal challenge i think..
i have been feeling really overwhelmed recently and over commited trying to participate in everything with everyone
So once i can sort out some pale coloured jobelan and track down all the floss.. she is NOT small i will start her sopme how..
there is a peace about her that really gets to me
I saw another wip of A New Beginning from Abbey lane designs yesterday , again done in overdyed silks from HDF … i really do love that chart.. like i need another spot motif sampler..
i am too lazy to link the chart ,  it is in my wish list with a link just incase you know not what i talk of
it is time for me to move myself and try for a good stitchy afternoon and get those final stitches in the RR for nancy and so i can post to the poor long  suffering diane for having to put up with me always being late, and to do some of aredhel… then i must get back to my models.. a week off has been bad for my routine which had been working well

…. barely..

a bit melodramatic i know, but anyone else who suffers the ravages of sinus problems knows how close to death you can feel..
i had a great trip.. baring the last day .. but that was mainly due to the person who travelled with me and his inability to stop and think occasionally and more when we landed in tassie than when we were away.
football was disappointing as my team lost and the other game was a joke , the high point being that both those teams looked worse than my team in defeat .. not much of a highlight really ..lol
ate nice food bought nice chocolate, discovered yet again that clothing manufacturers refuse to accept that there are women with large busts and shoulders that like to wear nice clothes too and that they are not actually overweight in any part of their body .. they just have big boobs… it is a constant pain for me that i can never find clothes..
except legggings for the gym .. i am a  designer acceptable  size on the rest of my body, though my legs are a bit short ( lot short)
only had 3-4 panick attack/teary episodes so i did quite well given i went to two football games with lots of people.

stitching was a bust… the lighting in the hotel was really dim so i am miles behind on my mystery sampler, though i stitched it yesterday instead of my overdue RR as my head was so bad i could not see properly.. not conducive to HAED stitching at all..
my eyes and  have been so bad from sinus i have wanted to just to laydown and pretend i don’t exist for the past three days i got to the vomiting stage it was so bad the night i got home.. i have passed that now as i can manage it a bit better at home medication wise and at least i can see without it hurting too much today so i am back to trying to finish nancy’s RR.. poor Diane she must be shot of me and my slack stitching ways.
Now i am back i think the next thing on my to buy list will be that Scarlett letter sampler i linked a few posts back, the one that was originally done on 70 count linen.. i WON”t be stitching it on that though… if i ever stitch it…
feeling a bit of a stitching loser atm.. i know i am not but i still go through i am hopeless patches, i think it goes with the territory.
paul is away.. was yesterday, last night, will be today , tonight and tomorrow.. i think he comes home tomorrow night..
means i have lots of extra walking to do with my precious muffalupagus.. which is fine she likes it better when i walk her anyway, and exrtra time with the cats.. its funny they don’t really talk much to paul when he is here but when he is gone they miss him terribley and get really clingy
i had better go stitch……

before i disappeared into the wild blue yonder of the big island for a few days..

though my chances of even leaving burnie seem dodgey atm as paul has disappeaered into the wilds of the west coast of tassie ( a remote and scary place …lol) and has not even packed his suitcase..nor indicated what he wants packed and we are meant to be on the road by 5ish so i can have dinner and walk the dog etc when i get to Mums house BEFORE midnight…
i asked him before he left this morning whether he had packed ( facetiously i might add) and he looked puzzled and said why… umm Melbourne ?? i suggested and he said can’t i do that later..

aaarrgghh its not like it is a surprise we are going and he didn’t have time to prepare, and if i pack he whines about which clothes i choose ..ie the nice ones ….

but then we are talking about the person who left for work this morning leaving the hot water tap running full bore in the kitchen sink… a fact i did not discover until 15-20 minutes later when i went to put my coffee cup on the sink and walk the dog… i said evil evil things about him in his abscence…

and also the person who “accidentally” locked me out of the house for an hour the other night..
I always walk home from the gym ..as a cool down, he was still gossiping in the carpark so i gave him my gym bag, with the keys in the bag.. no worries
he drove home grabbed the dog and started walking her so we would meet half way ( muff loves finding mummy  when she does her evening walk, she thinks she is really clever).
i got home confidentally negotiated the side gate went to the back door which is ALWAYS left unlocked when the dog is taken for a walk… it was locked.. bemused i retraced my steps and went to the side door…LOCKED..

so it was 7.50 pm i had walked to the gym , done two classes with my tummy saying it was hungry at the start of the first class, walked back home and was stuck in the dark sitting on the steps to the front door for an hour , i was cold and some what amused actually..mainly cos i knew the look on his face when he reached the drive way was gong to be worth the wait… It was..
i watched snails racing across the front path, they actually move quite fast, did laps of the front yard singing trying to get warm, talked to the girls through the front door..they were very confused, and made sure i had my best sad face on when paul appeared.. he went pale and said “oh no” and looked like he was going to run the other direction except muff was thrilled that i had waited for her and ran down the path with paul attached so he had no choice
needless to say i got favourable treatment that night
as i always say routine and paul are strangers he can not grasp any routine and can make the same mistake 100 times and not learn his lesson . He still can’t even remember to set his alarm every night to get up for work ( no joke)

Stitching has been a bit weird this week did heaps of my CC model , and have been trying really hard to get my RR piece done.. i won’t win the RR race AGAIN… has there been a time when i did it inside the due date?? in either RR i think not, i am such a slacker.
i was thinking about doing a few hours on Birch fairy today for the CC SAL BUT ilost the chart.. and as i said before pauly is awa today so no emergency printing either.. SOi will plod on with my RR today, and skip the ornie sal this month and do the CC sal next weekend.
i am hoping the mystery sampler page is released before paul gets back to his office at 4.30 pm so i can take it with me and stitch a bit tonight at mums place i reallydo not need to get behind on this and at least i can transport it easily…

I love the new Judy Odell needle book BUT i am a bit annoyed how she sells the chart and the finishing book as two seperate things… i think i have grumped about this before… but i sort of think  it is unreasonabubble… I don’t know if it is obvious looking at the chart pack how to construct it.. i am lucky there in that i have a fair bit of sewing experience and can make most things if i look at pictures but i really like the chart  and lol it is  green!

and finally massive huggles to nance who sent me the I still do/ Second chance sampler charts from ink circles ( as in theTHE purple sampler) i love it… and of course the desire to stick a few stitches in the purple sampler was immense especially as some purple silks from HDF turned up the same day.. if you are a purple fan and you do not have sue-purple-ous in your stash… why not i say,  it is glorious…
similarly all my collection of stash from my stash fairy arrived..thankyou so much sweet sue including a few wonderful extras from the norty minx like a kitty kelmscott needle minder…
anyway amongst my stash i had some of the belle soie silks and the elegant eggplant is so yummy looking as is the fresh raspberries, they seem a bit thinner than the other silks soi think they will be great for 1×1 on 36 count.. i need to test stitch…
so hugs to my friends fo rlooking after me..
i will be around for email the next few days, we are taking the laptop with us as usualand all i have to say in closing is…

GO SAINTS!!!!!!!

so here are my two bits and pieces i have worked on this week/weekend when not model stitching..

first is Sugar… i had a shocking time scanning her , still not happy with the picture i was trying to show that i was using white eterna silk for the cheeks instead of sparklies and to show the sparklies in her eye… yes SUE one eye… given how long this one took you had no hope of two

next up is my tranquillity sampler… which would havebeen done mid afternoon yesterday if i had not frogged out 6 different colours .. 3 for the swirly one i eventually went with nosegay ( the purple) and 3 for the little bit i did in the very bright hibiscus…( paul chose that and it looked best of the three i tried) and i reserve the right to change it again if i discover in the next row of pages it is a really big motif… the dark blue is the yummy Heartbreak which is now called Mermaid Blue 2331

and yes i am ordering a pile of non varegated colours from HDF as i type this as i don’t want varigateds for this and most of my hdf’s are.

in other musings i continue to be impressed by the campaigning from some of you for me to have a new start..
The thing is the further it goes the less likely i am to start leaf as i am a stubborn little so and so… i know not exactly the newsflash of the century…
Must say though the thought of my Pink Day dream colours arriving and my desire to have a Vinson in my mix is quite exciting..
i won’t be starting Birch this time around in the CC on 3 SAL  as i will only get next friday to stitch before i leave on my footy/choc trip to melbourne
and the first chart purchase when i get back is that awesome red sampler from the Scarlet letter which i think is 2 posts back…
thankyou to Paula  … she sent me two yummy yummy charts… tempted to get the silks for one of them as well ( i know i am chronic) both from the Workbasket,
Trellis and Gods Critters
and thankyou to Jan for helping me try an dwork out which JBG face would be the best accompaniment for Sugar…
and finally a special needle minder has been released in Cheryl’s honour from kelmscott and OMIGOD!!! it is pale purple with dragonflies… $1.00 from each purchase goes to a parrot charity ( she had a pet parrot she adored) as chosen by her family

Millers Dragonflies 

i could show you a picture of Sugar, but i am sort of thinking i might be able to squeeze in some time with her after i do my section for the mystery sampler tomorrow..
so if i am invisible tomorrow you will know why..
i stitched her eye, it is incredible i am certainly going to ask for Pale Rose /melancholy Valentine or both to be charted as QS as companions further down the track.. which one suits her better… probably melancholy valentine.
I have been doing computer stuff too.. i finally seriously started playing with my charting software and paul finally showed me how to convert files to pdf files… yayyyy
not sure what i do with this game i am playing but it entertains me and stops me from shopping online so much…and if you believe that you believe in the easter bunny, santa claus and the tooth fairy
I thonk i have averted a new start..
i am amzed how eager all my froends are to push me over the edge!!
i was hoping for a few people trying to get me to stand firm, but i think only elena was on the don’t go there side… others whom shall remain nameless were emailling me as well as commenting on the BB, you are an evil lot…
i must admit i love Leaf.. i would love her in my wip collection… but i do think i need to finish more than Elenia this year.
all this started cos i was making silly lists in my head again..
back to the charts i want to stitch before i die type lists, why do i do this to my self i ask .. and i have no response really…
except i like to torture myself..
finally just a nice link for you to look at.. Volarium have posted really good clear
Biscornu construction instructions… try saying that fast three time!

here is my little green kitty
isn’t he a handsome devil

the thing that has jumped out and screamed at me in the past 24 hours is this sampler..
read the info.. yes that is 70 count they mention!!
i would love to buy the chart, i think next stop will be my wish list so i don’t lose the link
Jane Rees Reproduction Sampler
isn’t it magnificent … or am I just going crazy ?
well i am going crazy…. you know what i mean
next is a brilliant idea by Beth, i hope she won’t mind me linking her webshots album to this page, but the concept was so cool, she made a bookmark from the cirques chart, and being super clever she also made it a sparkley bookmark… the girl is too creative lol
anyway check this out Beth’s Cirques Bookmark
anyways i am tired , sinusy and fractious STILL… i need to shake myself out of this somehow…

it would help if Paul did not keep bursting out in song about how wonderful he is.. he won a golf tornament… naff prize was a watch ( he breaks watches as a hobby lol)  but the big thing was he now goes down to  a 4 handicap and he has not been that low since he was a junior golfer, he is about to go look at buying a new driver, ever noticed how golfers always believe a new golf club will work miracles… he needs to drop the singing at the top of his voice every 5 mins though

just quickly as i am off to spend the day in Launceston with my mum and the boys … of course…

i finished page two of the sampler .. pauly delivered it about mid day, and after various HAED?BB stuff i got going about 2.30–3 pm , took a 2 hour break for walking the dog and having dinner and finished it about 11.30 last night… i had to frog the rose section i had stitched last time before i started too..

so i am very happy with myself!

the new colours i used were Lager ( for the crown) and Azur ..which paul picked i was going to go with a pink but he was pretty firm it needed the azur and given he was actually paying attention to me i figured i should go with it

so i am off to deliver easter bilbys to the boys and to check out their new home in the bush were there are wallabies and possums roaming the garden and roof every night ( massive excitement).. actaully they do not have a gardenm yet as the house has only just been built and landscaping has not commenced, it will be a night mare with all the wild life getting anything going i suspect…
real Bilbies   easter Bilbies

 they also have a knitted bilby and a pile of soft toy bilbies and storybooks…

have a great easter everyone!

she is getting closer…..
I am sort of sad i will never see her finished IRL now… Michele has decided she will work the beads out, and i didn’t think it bothered me until i was taking her out of the Q snaps last night and i had a twinge of sadness that i would never actually see all the gaps finished ….
i think it will take at least two more rotations, maybe three that jewel bit around the bodice line is a real doosey so i think within 2 months!!

So now i have my Easter SAl and my Sampler SAl to do during my easter moel sttiching break…
so i will squoosh in time on Alien Cat , patchwork sampler and my mystery sampler ( if i can again bribe paul with going in to work and printing it… wy i has to be released after work on fridays i don’t know)..

Not sure what Paula and Sonya are stitching for their samplers this weekend, i have been bad and not emailed them to ask…. that is if Sonya can stitch….
i am NOT to start anything new…. i hope…. giggle