Wipocalypse and TUSAL update - July 2014 (two months worth)

Hello all,

I have internet again! Feels very strange to be able to access emails and other necessities of life in a few moments. I am going to move South in September, so desperately trying to find a place to live. It is harder than I originally thought. Oh well, persevere, persevere, persevere.

This is belated (nothing new). So hopefully I can get all the late July posts out of the way and move on to the promised giveaway. But before I can do that I do need to look at my stash again, just to see what I no longer need.

First up is TUSAL ... with the baby orchid. Remember I have mentioned that one of my orchids had a baby (or keiki as they are known), well this young plant that has been potted on its own for only 5 months has now flowered!

Wipocalypse:

Christmas Candle (HAED)

May 2014

July 2014

Almost there. A bit more on the hair and leaves and a page finish is slowly coming along.

QS Poisonous Beauties:

May 2014

July 2014

Cabin Fever

September 2012

July 2014

There is not much progress on this one, but some progress is better than none, and after almost two years of no stitching this is now hopefully turning into a wip.

I have a few starts as well:

MSherry SAL update:

'Spring bouquet' by Margaret Sherry from CrossStitch Crazy issue 174 (March 2013):

July 2014

I feel a bit light headed by Judy Rossouw (Anchor kit)

July 2014

A close up if you can't see what I have stitched

Brollies (Heritage Crafts):

July 2014

Venice Palazzo by Michael Powell:

July 2014

and thats how huge the entire design is!

I know my starts are a little pathetic, but hey ho maybe they will grow by the next update.

Till soon,

P.S. in view of Wipocalypse question (always forget them). I haven't started any Christmas stitching. Not sure when (or even if) I will get around to that.

TUSAL #6 ... late ... and some orchid photos

Dear all,

I have an extremely belated TUSAL post (don't ask by how much it is late ... dreadful). Note in the background my mum's orchid that has been moved into my room so it can get encouraged by other orchids to bloom. It now has 6 flowers (so the plan worked), and is one of 5 flowering orchids at the moment (2 of which were bought so probably should not be counted). 

#1-#5 and #6 in front

2014 so far!

The purple one I mentioned in earlier posts has had an extra flower and still going strong after 2 months of flowering. I own an orchid in a similar colouring to mum's and it has now 2 flowers (almost 3). The baby has now a spike too! It would be very exciting to see its flowers (I don't even remember what colour that particular orchid is). So fingers crossed that the process goes well all the way. The parent looks a little worse for wear, but its roots keep coming out in all wrong spots (it likes to grow them into the plastic support), so I think its getting better.

Two of my other flowing orchids (yellow/peach is my relatively recent half price purchase from tesco and purple was bought about a year ago and has only just been nursed into flowering state again):

Orchids posing with bird houses for Etsy

I can't believe that two months ago I cut off a spike from the only blooming orchid I had (still no spike but a new leaf beginning to form), and now three other ones have blossomed (+ 2 new flowering additions).

Speaking of bird houses and Etsy. I want one for my room. Need to find perfect fabric. It will be so handy. The yellow/peach orchid is right in front of me on the desk and if I had the bird house in it I could put the pins there any time I needed to instead of attempting to find the pin box.

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),

Smalls #4 - a lovely The Snowflower Diaries finish, my new orchids & TUSAL #5

Hello all,

a slightly belated post on my latest finish for the smalls sal. It is 'Cherry Tree' by TheSnowflower Diaries. If you remember it was gifted to me as a kit for Christmas by my sister. 

I am not sure if many of you are aware but I was struggling, through my own fault, with this design. The green grass on the bottom left I stitched in columns of six (as I was stitching from centre outwards and did not want to make a counting error). Well, as you know this hand dyed stuff tends to be slightly variated. So I had myself columns of six highly visible. I was then debating of whether to leave it that way or unpick it. In the end I unpicked half of the stitching (as the rest was not too bad) and tried matching the shade of floss to the remaining block (to avoid the dreaded line). I think it has worked. 

fabric and thread info

Here are some close-ups of my new orchid. I bought it for £6 (half price!) in a ceramic pot. Pretty good deal as a pot normally costs £2 at least.

And my Tusal update. Not a lot as my last update was soooo late.

2014 so far in a jar

and after some prodding

Till soon (I have another finish to show off),