Tuesday extravaganza returns and another orchid photo

Hello all,

A few years ago I have started stitching my first HAED 'Christmas Candle' in conjunction with my sister's first HAED. We decided to call this (sort of) SAL: Summer Extravaganza. It was meant to be a competition of who gets to finish first. Then the life slightly got in a way and although we have both been stitching, neither of us updated on the progress in the official Tuesday post. For my sister's blog click HERE. I think she updating hers a day late (naughty, naughty ... though who am I to judge, judging by my frequently late posts).

So here goes my current week's progress

last update that you seen (Wipocalypse me thinks)...

13/05/2014

close up

You can see from the closeup that I have all the confetti to look forward to now.

And a terrible photo of my other blooming orchid:

my purple blooming orchid

Mind the colours are a lot deeper in real life. The pot is dark purple ... unless you shine the lamp on it, and the three flowers are also more purple (although also intense and bright). I'll try taking better photos.

Till soon (I still need to brag about my 'finishing' mode),

A puppy done, TUSAL - post 6, and other stitch alongs ...

Dear all,

I have finished my exams a week gone, and have been busy catching up on work and all the neglected jobs/tasks that have been gradually resurfacing. My giveaway is almost ready to be posted/uploaded (just thinking of the last few touches) ... so keep your eyes peeled for my next post (I think that's the expression).

Lets now talk a little about SALs. SAL stands for stitch a-long as we all well know. And aren't they good for motivation? Or if you get someone who is very quick at stitching they end up putting you off? That's how I sometimes feel. I am in 5 SALs at this moment, and Wipocalypse 2013 (which is a stitch along for fun and has its own tab). So a total of 6! Oh dear, this is worser than I thought. 

SAL #1 - Puppy Love by Margaret Sherry

You can find it on Margaret Sherry Lovers - Blog Group.

Out of 6 puppies I only want to do 4...

... and number one is complete!

Puppy #1 complete

... and here it is again

 So 1 out of 4 done ... not bad, right?

And this is how far I got on the number two:

Puppy #2 

I feel relatively happy with the progress.

SAL #2 - TUSAL

You can find info on TUSAL 2013.

So this months report/post/update:

2013 and June

Not so many orts, but since I did have exams recently - thats how the jar should look. And now the mixture of 2013 all up to date:

January - June 2013

SAL #3 - QS Literate Dragon

This is the annual HAED stitch along. The info could be found on their bulletin board. It is a closed group, so you will have to join yuku and ask to be added to the forum. The sign up for the SAL is now closed (not the group - you can join any time), but one can see everyone's progress on the 6 designs. There were 6 designs to pick from and I chose the QS Literate Dragon, then the 4 pages would be sent one by one. At the moment I have 3 pages (and still have not completed the 1st - disaster). For every half a page you stitch you can select one of the other designs to get at the end of the year. So 2.5 pages to get all 6. Participation was free this year; but there is no info for the next year's (or whether it will occur). My progress:

Progress as of June 2013

SAL #4 - Summer Extravaganza 2012

This is less formal stitch a long that me and Snoopy over at Cross stitch mania decided to do a year ago when we picked our first ever HAEDs. I am stitching 'Christmas Candle' on count 18 (I think), and have 3 pages out of 36 done ... if I started a year ago and only managed 3 pages and there are 36 in total ... how long until I finish this? I say lets not think about that.

April 2013

SAL #5 - Snowflower Diaries

Check out 2013 SAL Blog. They pick a designer every two months or so and stitch along. They pick something on a smaller scale by lesser known designers, so this is great for beginners, as well as us addicts. June/July is Snowflower Diaries. The patterns by this generous and gifted designer are free, so a great project to join the group with. And since I wanted to stitch some of them already thats an extra added bonus. Two ladies already finished their projects, so I am a little behind. 

Nothing to show yet ... but hope not for long. I just need some perfect fabric.

So till soon, 

                  

Tuesday Extravaganza ...

My wish to complete the third page by the end of the year is looking more realistic every day ...

part 12

part 13

Till soon,

                       

November Wipocalypse 2012

This will be a short post ... for the purpose of updating you on the lack of my progress. (I have a mock exam on Tuesday so I better get myself revised up.) On another note I have been nominated for the Liebster award by the lovely Jules, so many thanks to her. Will do a further post soon once I decide on my five.

And now to stitching ...

October 2012

November 2012

October 2012

November 2012

Apologies for bad quality photos ... Maybe a finish of the page for the last update? Or is that too much wishful thinking.

Until [sigh] soon,

                            

TUSAL/Wipocalypse updates, a finish, and some starts...

It seems I have vanished from the blogging world ... which would be a good thing if I had done lots and lots of stitching, but sadly that is not the case. I have taken a picture of my jar last month and only now am getting round to posting it, and since then the jar has not seen any additions to it.

A little pathetic. Right? Anyhow to redeem myself in the lack of posts department I am posting a picture of a card I have completed last month:

It was a free kit that came with the May 2012/issue 163 of Cross Stitch Crazy.

Also I have started a few others ...

the I have ran out of thread for this one ... the free kit said do either one of the designs ... but I guess I picked the wrong one of the two as one colour was missing and one ran out.

Since I took this picture I have completed all the cross stitching ... apart from light green as guess what I have ran out of it. It was the most silly kit I have seen in a while. There was less dark green on the chart than light ... yet there was too much dark green thread and not enough of light. 

Wipocalypse update is squashed at the bottom due to serious lackness of it:

 This is how I have left my summer extravaganza:

August 2012 - part 2

And after a little work this is how the current page I am working on looks now:

October 2012

And as a whole picture:

October 2012

And sadly that's it ... but I do promise to be better next month. Will catch up on people's blogs tomorrow ... better go and fulfil my duties of baby sitting my little brother. 

Until (I hope) soon,

                           

Tuesday - Extravaganza - part 9

Just a quick update this Tuesday. Just got back from work, very tired and the internet is misbehaving. 

So this was last week:

part 8

And now:

part 9

Till soon,

                

Tuesday Extravaganza - Part 8 and my reading habits

I have now finished 'The Reckoning' by Jane Casey in a talking book format (obviously while stitching). This is the third book that she has written. First 'The Missing' which was a stand alone crime novel. Then 'The Burning', followed by 'The Reckoning', as part of the Maeve Kerrigan series. All three listened to in the past month and a bit (lots of stitching). There is only one book left by the author to read (well before she writes any more) - 'The Last Girl'. It is the third in the series, recent, and not available in talking book format at my library yet, but it is lying on my desk in its hard cover instead. Hopefully I will get stuck into it soon.

I have also finished reading the second book in the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris at a more leisurely pace. It has taken me a total of 3 days to read 'A Bone to Pick'. It wasn't as good as the first. Mainly because the main character decided to resign from the library! (how dare she) partially due to a ridiculous birth labour scene/(s) (2 actually). Unfortunately I have discovered that I haven't reserved the third yet, since I expected it to take me longer to read the first two. But I do have a few (by which I mean at least twenty) to preoccupy myself with in the meantime. And there is a reading group meeting in a week and half time, so I should probably read the set text for that.

And onto the stitching which you are all here for ... this is how the stitching looked like last Tuesday:

part 7

And this is today (two pages done!!! including the leaf):

part 8

I think the hair and the flower are very beautiful, and I can't wait to stitch the next page. At the rate of a page per month it will take me a total of three years to finish this project (a daunting concept), oh well it will be worth it in the end ... I hope.

Till tomorrow for the Wipocalypse update,

                                                                       

Tuesday Extravaganza part 5

Thank you all for your congratulations.

Quick post before work:

part 4

part 5

Until soon,

               

The World of Giveaways, Exchanges, Wipocalypse, and Extravaganza

It is a very long time since I have posted ... missed an entire week's worth of Extravaganza, but hopefully my excuses are good enough to warrant lack of blogging/stitching.

I have now officially graduated! And here is proof:

me outside the Cathedral

So now I am a Master of Mathematics with a 2:2 in the subject from Durham University. A little disappointed in the grade, but it is life and there is nothing I can do about it now. Things could have been worse after all. I missed my offer for the graduate course at Newcastle University, but they gave me an interview and decided to take a chance on me. So I am going to study for another year in an    ex-Durham college. (Newcastle used to be part of Durham, but have gained independence sometime in the past.)  

I have now also moved out of my Owengate room:

my old room

I am going to miss it very much, along with the view out of my window:

view of opposite roofs

to the right

to the left

and to the right again

And there is even the Durham Cathedral in the background.

From my room photo you can guess that I have lots of things. More than 3 car loads ... and since I haven't managed to convince anyone to help me move I had to hire a van. Two hours and bit later I had moved out (though it took an entire day to pack). And sadly now I cannot find most of the things that I own. Since everything is packed up in bags. Luckily I have located my camera and some of the stitching, but not all.

Giveaways:

First of all a thank you to Thea of the Gizzimomo's Stitchy Place for a wonderful gift I have won on her 200 followers giveaway. I wanted to include a photo, but the gift is packed away. It was a 'My Memories Suite 3' software, which I am excited to try out ... once I manage to clear out my poor little MacBook from the junk on it. Fairies, and Angels cross stitch booklets, fabric, cross stitch kit, a knitted pincushion and some stitching bits and bobs. This the first blog giveaway that I have won, so I was very happy to receive the package.

When I was showing off my gift to friends over lunch, someone pointed out that it is now my turn to return a favour and do a giveaway myself. I think I'm going to make myself a promise to do one once I reach 100 followers, but that is still in a distant future.

Exchanges:

I have participated in a Margaret Sherry's Summer Exchange. Which is what I spent stitching most of my free time... but I am unable to share it since it is still in the post to its final destination.

But I can share with you what I received from Marcinha (a big thank you):

front

back

I love the snail so much! I have seen it previously on MSherryLovers blog and was planning on getting a chart myself. I haven't decided yet on what I will use it for. I will probably need to unpack everything before I can decide what this will be used for.

Extravaganza: 

My HAED stitching is still stuck on the first page:

part 3

So I have finished almost all dark blue (I now realise I missed a little) and started purple. This was the progress I was meant to post last Tuesday for the Extravaganza update ... but miss located camera etc ... and now the stitching too ... so one update short:

part 4

And finally onto ...

Wipocalypse:

The progress on the HAED:

June 

July

And then as I lost it in the move I have picked up John Clayton's Venice:

June

I was a little annoyed that the stitching is at the top and bottom, so far way, but if I want to wind up on bobbins the leftover thread I should stitch all the combinations of it first: 

July

And the closeups:

I have furniture arriving today ... so maybe a little more unpacking and I can find more stitching.

Until next time,