Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Extravaganza Tuesday part 6


Well not many updates since last Tuesday. I was a busy busy busy bee. Was at work most of the time. And stitching along in my spare time.

So this is what I had done last Tuesday ...
part 5

... and this is where I am this week:

part 6

Wanted to say a page finish. But did not quite manage that. That leaf is driving me insane. 2 or 3 crosses change colour, 1 or 2 crosses change colour ... oh wait missed 1 cross out. Anyhow there are only a few colours left on the leaf now including a one I don't have. So I might just get on with the page 2 for now.


Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Tuesday Extravaganza part 5

Thank you all for your congratulations.

Quick post before work:

part 4

part 5
Until soon,


               

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

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,


                     

Thursday, 21 June 2012

A day late

Just a quick belated post:

June 2012

Also I thought might be interesting to look at the years jar, since we half way there.

June 2012 and years up to now jar

The year's jar so far
And now to the Summer extravaganza ... not too much, since I have been concentrating on the exchange stitching I can't post yet.

part 2

part 3
Back to busy busy busy ...

Until later,
Lija

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Summer Extravaganza Part 2

So it is part 2 post already, and this was the progress coming onto last Tuesday:

part 1
and now (admittedly not a very good picture with the flash - weather isn't at its best here at the moment):

part 2

Hope it will start looking good soon, colours don't tend to blend at the moment, especially the greyish brown I am currently stitching.

Any sort of progress I have made seems insignificant with Snoopy's. Almost an entire page complete! And we have started at a similar time.

Till soon,

Lija

Saturday, 9 June 2012

Fizzy Moon and Summer Extravaganza

First of all there is an apology for the lack of the first post of Summer Extravaganza. I ended being a little more than snowed under with things to do. There weren't that much extra done to it from Monday, so for the last Tuesday update I think I will stick to that image ... which was:

part 1

I also have a finish from before to show off. I have completed this one a long while ago ... but was unable to post until I gave it as a Birthday present to mum. It is Fizzy Moon:



I need to look up from which magazine I got the chart...

But otherwise that's all for now,

Lija

Monday, 4 June 2012

June and Wipocalypse

Two things have downed on me recently. When I was creating my brand new tab for Wipocalypse I have realised the following:

- I tend to pick one and stitch, with some projects still lying stored away.
- I only have 2 out of 18 complete. [next update marks half a year of stitching and this is a very sad number]

So something might have to change. Maybe a rotation (like I have noticed some of you bloggers do). And definitely more finishes are in order.

Thinking this, I have pulled more of them out and now have two finishes, two starts, and small progress on a few others ... so read on.

1) 'Handpicked by Fizzy' - I have provided some 14 count aida to aid my motivation. 




June 2012

... and then it went back in the box.

3) Lickle Ted with a daffodil is now done


before

June 2012
I have braved the hatred of backstitching and finished this little fella.

4) Xmas Chums: Remember my dilemma about this one? Probably not ... it was so long ago. Well, the stitching is 10 squares lower than needed.


before
after some frogging

I will remove the stitching and start again with this one. Almost ready to begin afresh. Then maybe gridding.

Last month I have bought some easy count gridding for my new HAED. So I went a little crazy with making my life easier with smaller projects ... which saw my first attempt at using the stuff for:


8) John Clayton: Venice


June 2012
and behold an entire colour complete already.


12) The Snowman Card - a little progress ...


before

June 2012


13) 'Meet Baby Newton' - my second finish that I am very proud of:


May 2012

June 2012

Notice ... all the backstitching done too


18) HAED This is a new addition to the wips. It will take a long time to stitch, so I thought it deserved to be added to this list. It is also something I am stitching for the Summer Extravaganza (with an update due tomorrow - I highly doubt there will be anything added to make a difference). Nonetheless here it is:


June 2012
I am stitching it on the 18 count aida ... I think I will not name the design for now.

Well that is it for now. I have a summer exchange to concentrate on, and go crazy with my HAED in the spare time, so I envision a shorter update next month. 

Until tomorrow,

Lija