Sheep #5.5 and Stitch from Stash October 2015 ...

Month: October 2015
Spent: £0
Earned: £0

Dear all,

Yet another boring post for buying stash ... or rather lack of ... yay! Essentially you take one move, lack of cash, no internet or time ... and you have a frustrating inability to buy much.

Also further 400 stitches on my sheep (technically I am now behind by a week - sigh). 

But hopefully there is still a chance to catch up ... and Sarah won't give up on me just yet.

I have now managed to unpack, with an exception of a few misplaced objects that I need to find a home for.

...I also can't believe that I have just over a month to get ready for my next set of exams! Two this time ... and by the lack of revision in this house I am seriously worried. There is still time I keep telling myself.

Sheep #5.3 and Stitch from Stash September 2015

Month: September 2015
Spent: £0
Earned: £0

Hello all,

I am sorry for my long absence. I have now moved houses (lets hope this won't become an annual exercise) and it took until yesterday for the internet to be transferred and fixed.

My cross stitch is all over the place ... some projects are already unpacked, others still in boxes. Sadly to admit I am using one of my massive bed drawers for all the projects/fabrics/stash that is yet unstarted for the time being ... and it is a mess. I miss my organised drawers and shelves. Incidentally I had no time or money to spend on any new stash.

Sarah and I started on the next sheep and due to the whole internet/moving house I have fell behind in posting.

So ignoring my missed 2 posts I am up to:

600 stitches

I have also fallen behind on my other sheep. Hopefully I can get that one done soonish as well.

Till soon (I better go and continue unpacking),

Stitch from Stash - August 2015 ...

Month: August 2015
Spent: £3.20
Earned: £0


Dear all,

I have been having quite a stressful time recently, so I am very sorry for disappearing for 3 weeks. I will try to be better ... even if it is just a quick update.

My family has decided to follow me and relocate down South ... so I went to visit them for 5 days to help pack up ... and let me tell you it was a task not for the light hearted. For the past month I have been trying to find a van(s) to transport everything across the country and it has been proving to be quite a task. I almost had a meltdown today after all the issues I so far had with quotes etc (too many to mention) I finally booked 2 vans and after paying a deposit and emailing the company got an automated response that they are on holiday until the 29th (the move is meant to happen on the 26th) ... but hold your fingers crossed for me.

What I actually bought recently:

Thread pack for the following HAED (+ 2 magazines) ... I already have the 2 magazines (world of cross stitching), but by accident I found an eBay listing for further 2 copies and all the threads needed. £3.20 it cost me (+£3.80 for postage and packaging) ... in the magazine they estimate that cost of threads and fabric would be around £100, so a great bargain. I wanted to stitch this picture for some time ... so perfect. The seller is charity orientated and 100% of sale proceeds go to Midlands Air Ambulance. Money well spent.

Some progress on a few stitchy things:

Venice

I am now a third way through page 4 of 6. So pretty good progress although backstitching will be a pain.

My new start (I only took my sheep when I went up North, but it was too dark to stitch it in the evening so I started a new project instead):

This is 'Iris' by John Clayton (Connections series). I have already completed 'Calla Lily' in the same style back in 2012 (click here). There are 8 flowers in total and one day I might be able to complete them all. I have kits for 2 further ones, and charts for the remainder 4. Charts are unfortunately for the blue background. 

Last night after all the stress of van hire I was planning on cross stitching. I thought I might start something new ... maybe the one above, or my Alice and Dodo ... but then the first has no fabric and in general I could not find my blue marker for gridding. 

Anyhow till soon ... I am off to go wash dolls hair (I brushed it all out 2 weekends ago and now its lying in a puff and needs a conditioning bath to make it smooth). It is bright red in colour, so quite something! Before I go do you want to see the last doll head I have bee working on? Well here it is:

hair colour - Merlot

The best one so far, even if I say so myself! She needs her hair slightly trimmed at the bottom which will be done once she gets a head!

Hopefully hair won't take too long and I can put a few hours of woking into my sheep. 

Till soon,

Stitch from Stash + Wipocalypse - July 2015 ... something didn't quite go well ...

Month: July 2015
Spent: £0
Earned: £0

Dear all,

I am sorry but it seems I have disappeared again. Not sure what happened. I do need to get a bit of grip on my planning.

Nothing actually went on here since I last posted. I am back in college now, studying business planning tax, and financial management. I had some lessons for BPT already, but not for FM. Tax is fascinating and getting more complex every day. I am still struggling to work my head around various VAT issues. But as the next set of exams is not until December still some time to go.

My mum dyed quite a number of cross stitch threads, which I am slowly trying to add to our Etsy page:

They can be found HERE.




We have decided to put them at a bargain price of £1.80 per skein (10m). For further information check out the listing. I have started with pinks, but some other colours should follow shortly ... I just wonder where does all the time go?





What about my cross stitch endeavours you ask ...

Well I am slowly progressing with my sheep. I think I am going to set myself a task to complete it by next weekend ... that way I won't get distracted with all that other cross stitch trying to tempt me astray ... Sarah is so far ahead it is unbelievable.

Still quite a bit to go on my little 'Faith'. But we will see.

I have finally stitched a tiny bit more on 'Good Heavens' by Margaret Sherry ... (an achievement as this constantly becomes a UFO for me).

And a bit more done on 'Venice' by Michael Powell ... almost half of the first triptych. Then another two to go ... imagine quite a bit of the blanc space on the right being filled with stitching.

Till soon,

Stitch from Stash - June 2015 and I am back

Month: June 2015
Spent: £0
Earned: £0

Dear all,

This is short and sweet post just to stay I have spent £0 and earned the same.

I have now finished my exams, and managed to somewhat recuperate so will be back to blogging shortly. I am in the process of catching up on my sheep and everything else.

Till soon (with something longer),

Stitch from Stash - May 2015 and me going MIA ...

Month: May 2015
Spent: £17.42
Earned: £8.00

Dear all,

Well I really wanted to make it to deadline for this post so hopefully it is on time.

Sew and So had a 10% discount ... with which I had a massive problem ... it put discount through then reduced the amount further when going through the payment (I was going aaaaa has it removed items due to unavailability or something)... and then the system deducted the full amount without the discount from my bank. It was an interesting sort of glitch. I emailed the company and regardless of it being the bank holiday Monday (the 1st one of May) had a lovely girl named Lisa email me back and apologise for inconvenience etc etc ... she unfortunately couldn't refund me the 10% straight away (bank holiday issue) but we got there in the end.

I bought three charts and corresponding buttons (for the Little Sheep Virtues SAL I am doing with Sarah):
Peace
Friendship
Patience

and that's it ... I am officially banning me from buying (or so I hope).

Earned:

I did have a finish (that I am allowed to count the earnings for anyway ... my Winter Friends was not officially 'stash' as it was bought and stitched straight away):

click HERE for the original post

It was 61 x 61 ... so £8 earned.

And finally just to let you know I am going MIA for a wee bit. Just till my exams are done. Which will be a week on Tuesday! I am yet to reach the passing stage (55% on average) judging from practice questions ... but all is not lost ... or so I hope. And then I can catch up with everything stitchy.

Till soon,

Sheep #4.1

Dear all,

Long time no post... and my first post of Faith of Little Sheep Virtues that I am attempting (again a week late) to stitch along with Sarah. As always if anybody fancies joining ... you can. Even if just for one sheep.

201 stitches

Randomly enough I could not stop myself at 200 and hence why this photo has 201 stitches. I normally stitch half crosses in one direction (a row) and the the other half crosses back ... so it is sometimes difficult when a row is with a similar number of stitches I need to complete a block to stop.

I have been feeling slightly low recently. It must be the stress. Remember the study I have done back in February, well the three exams are coming up beginning of June and I feel I am unprepared. I try to make me study every weekend and evening, but it is always discouraging to see the pace this revision is going at and the amount of knowledge that I retain from it. People do say that the older we get the harder it is to keep the knowledge.

Okay off to study and making revision notes. Have a great remainder of the weekend. I promise I will catch up soon.

Till soon,

 

 

It's all about Alice ...

Dear all,

Be warned this post is not about cross stitch (much) ... it is all about Alice.

You know how I bought that kit recently of 'Alice and Dodo' ... then there is my 'Alice Enchanted' by Jasmine Becket-Griffith (HAED) which I am planning to start this year and another 'Alice and Snow White' by the same artist/company which is somewhere listed on my stash list along with 4 charts by Mizogucki 'Alice Series' (Tilton Crafts). Phew what a mouthful. Well do you think I am a little obsessed.

Justine pointed out to me that it is 150 anniversary for Alice. Sometimes I'm so clueless what goes on around me.

Etsy announced a competition run in conjunction with or rather by British Library - redesigning Alice, and entry to be based on the original book 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground'.

Well we have decided to enter (you know as I am a little obsessed with this old little lady). Our entry could be found HERE. And here are the pictures ...

I always thought Alice was not a blonde ... and there is an entire school of thought that seems would agree with me.

 

As always I was in charge of needle sculpting face and hands, hand drawing the face and hair ...

The rest is pretty much my very skilled mum with some help from my sister (who is also the talented photographer behind these wonderful photos).

Her arms and legs are connected by buttons and are adjustable into various sitting positions.

And look how cute she looks from the back:

You don't want to know what I went through to get her hair so perfect! I know we are unlikely to win... but somebody did say it is taking part that matters. And we had so much fun designing and creating her. We are looking into making the rabbit next.

Do go over and check out the listing ... even if just to be that extra number on my stats feed.

CLICK HERE

Till soon with actual cross stitch ...

 

Exchange and/or Winter Friends finish ...

Dear all,

Sarah and I had an exchange recently. The theme was our favourite seasons.

Sarah's was winter ... and knowing how much she loves sheep I made her the following:

It is 'Winter Friends' by the Snowblower Diaries. (This was the chart I bought back in February).

this was what I sent - had to borrow the image from Sarah
as silly me forgot to photograph everything but the sheep

And this is what I received from Sarah:

I feel very spoilt ...

... lets say almost all of the tea is gone now ... a part from a few elusive bags I took with me to work and are now waiting for me to return from my secondment to another department.

And look at the wonderful biscornu Sarah made for me ... isn't she oh so wonderful and patient.

I always marvel at how she attaches the panels! And there is a cute button on top. My season which you probably have guessed by now was Autumn. 

Till soon,

 

Sheep #3.7 - complete

Dear all,

'Simplicity' which I was stitching with Sarah is now complete!

May 2015

I somewhat lost my way at the start of this sheep with various delays but now it is complete I am very happy. My third (or rather fourth finish ... if you count the exchange piece I haven't shared yet) of 2015.

May 2015

Till soon,



P.S.  Look out for my next sheep next Sunday.

Stitch from Stash - April 2015 and sheep #3.6

Month: April 2015
Spent: £85.52
Earned: £18.00

Dear all,

I am very sorry for disappearing yet again. I find the more you have to share the harder it is to sit down and write ... I personally begin dreading all those photos and the uploading part. And where to start and where to finish.

Well I finally did it! I went on a spree (+some photos that I emitted back in February due to an exchange). I am yet to decide the following:

a) do I deserve it

b) can I actually afford this

Well to start with HAED had a 45% discount (sob) ... you know how I have a collection of these charts I will never ever have time to stitch ... well I couldn't resist two additions:

The Little Match Girl

Doesn't she look sad? I absolutely loved Hans Christian Andersen as a kid. Well with a pinch of sadness. After all the little girl dies ... well actually from what I remember everybody dies ... the Christmas tree ... the little mermaid. These three were my most memorable.

My second chart:

Tree of Life Ruby

I am already dreading the confetti (if I ever stitch this one). 

And you know what ... I finally did it ... I bought 'Alice and Dodo' by Tanya Bond (kit on 18 count).

Alice Dodo

See what I mean? First month that I am beginning to recover from credit card bills, utility bills and nobody knows what else. And what do I go and do? I get more pointless cross stitch that I will never complete (maybe I am being a little harsh on myself).

Very appalling! On the subject of appalling ... remember back in February I mentioned the order that I have been trying to order since November (it was allowed to be uncounted - as if it went through when it should have it would have been within the set budget for last year) ... well I now have some pictures.

Theodora chart

It is by the Snowblower Diaries and a thing of beauty! As it uses the threads by the Gentle Art I just got the chart. Then there was ...

Autumn Glory - chart, fabric, threads

Maja always packs her kits so well!

And the final order was Angela:

Angela - chart, fabric, threads

The only addition I made once the order went through is the following chart (it was included in my February report):

Winter Friends

I felt it was perfect for an exchange I was doing at the time. And what more Maja sent me the following chart extra (free of charge!) She is one generous lady.

The Rose Bush

And the other thing I bought back in February if you remember were some threads (which I can now share the picture of):

Some thread that I needed for the charts you just saw
(these were included in my spending budget back in February)

A note on earnings etc:

I have 'earned' from my recent finish of Ember II as follows:

Click HERE for the relevant post

220 x 220 fits 210 x 210 to 240 x 240 range which gives me £22. But as I had about a sixth done before January this then is reduced to about £18.

I had £64.39 carried forward (due to my lack of spending in previous months) + £25 for this month + £18 earned ... so I even have £21.87 to go to next month. For next half a year (starting from July) I might go a little stricter and decrease the allowance.

Sheep #3.6

I thought if would be nice to finish on a belated update of my sheep. It is almost complete. And I should have a finish for you soon.

1200 stitches

Hmm I am getting some very funky colour photography here (the project is not actually a shade of pink).

Till soon (I still haven't told you about the exchange Sarah and I had ... what did I say the more you have to share the harder it becomes to actually share),