A month gone by

Hi all, January's nearly finished, the weather is cold and nasty, and all I want to do is curl up somewhere warm with a nice cup of tea and a good read. I've got some great books from the library recently, so I've been spending a load of time doing just that. Of course my Egyptian piece has suffered because of it but I can always spend another week on that. I've just read Paul O'Grady's second part of his biography - "The Devil rides out"; "The Dancing Years", part 33 of the Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles; and both the latest Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell. Not bad going for a week eh?
As a result I haven't photographed my progress (or lack of it), so instead I'll include a couple of older pieces which are hanging on my walls.

These two pieces are hanging in our bedroom. The clarinet represents my husband - he plays clarinet, sax, guitar, banjo and ukelele!

The accordian is my daughter. We once went on holiday to Austria when she was about 7 and she came back adamant that she wanted to play; so we bought her one and she still plays today!

The next 2 pieces are just things I liked and wanted to do!

The Lion Above - I completed this but never got round to framing or deciding how to finish it off - now I look at it I think - maybe a cushion?

The Praying Hands took me ages with all those sepia tones, but I think it was worth it. It remains one of my favourite pieces to date.

Over the next few weeks I'll put other pieces up here that I've worked on, but here's the piece that started it all - Erika's birth sampler. At the time I didn't know better - I sewed it all over one thread, using motifs that I picked up from a variety of magazines and things.
I never did frame it - I have it hanging with those plastic frame clips which we used to hang poster prints with. Last Christmas I was given some proper bell-pull ends, so maybe I'll get round to putting it on those!




Anyway my pile of books calls for today and tomorrow I'm off to see my daughter and grand daughter. (By the way - thanks to everyone for all the best wishes for Jessica's recovery - she got home late last Saturday night and seems to be none the worse for wear).
Bye
Sandie

I don't want another week like this!

Evening everyone.
Hope your week has been better than mine?

My daughter rang on Tuesday to say that our grand daughter wasn't well, and the GP had suggested she took her to the paediatrician. That was at lunchtime - she sat around in A & E until 8pm (with a screaming baby) when they admitted her to a ward. Finally at 1am they decided she had a urinary infection, so set up a drip with antibiotics. Two days later (after no more antibiotics & severe diarrhoea) they decided it was an e-coli infection. She was given more antibiotics last night and seems a little better today, but a prem baby does not need those days without extra fluids! Luckily my DD is an ex health care worker, so she knows the right questions to ask! We have just heard that the Consultant wants her on iv antibiotics for another 48 hours so it will be at least Monday before she''s home.

As a result I couldn't settle to much stitching this week, but I did get some more of my stocking done.

Progress!

You can see that I've managed to get most of the previously blank area filled in with the Light Effect thread, so now I'm able to stitch it as I go.

Also this week I've been battling to get an answer about a possible repair to my Slice diecutting machine. It uses SD cards with designs on, and suddenly it has stopped recognising cards one day, and the same card put in 10 minutes later - it sees it! I bought it via QVC UK in May 2009, so it's out of warranty - hence the aggravation. QVC can't get me a reply from their supplier about what to do, so today I contacted the parent company - Making Memories in US. They have at least responded to me - but the bad news is I have to send it to US for them to take a look, repair if required and I have to pay postage both ways as well as the cost of the repair! They have NO UK or European dealers who are authorised to repair them!

Still enough of a rant - I think an early night is called for! Along with a G & T (the tonic purely for cramp eh?)
Keep smiling
Sandie

Progress - although it's slow!

I've been working all week on this christmas stocking. The progress doesn't look much so I'm getting frustrated with it!


Stocking Jan 15th



But in my defense I've been back into what were areas I'd not sewn before in order to put in the Light Effect threads. (See 2nd Jan post for comparison).

When I started this we were on holiday and I was using a small hoop so the project was portable and I didn't put in the speciality threads in case they were damaged when I moved the hoop. Now I'm sewing it at home I've got it on my roll frame, so the Light Effects won't get damaged when I roll it up the frame. So as I've been adding a bit of colour to the bottom, I've also been going back and adding white and pale blue into the mountains and the snowflakes.

Think I might have to carry on with this for another week instead of going back to Egypt.

Sandie

Good news!

I heard today that one of my pictures is going to be posted in Cross Stitch Crazy magazine in one of the forthcoming issues!
I created a birth sampler for Jessica - a mixture of Tatty Ted (from a kit) and some Little Teds who had been in various magazines.

Jessica's sampler

I'll let you know when they tell me which issue it's going to be in! This will be the second time I've been "published" - the first time they told the story of how I got everyone at work involved in cross stitching samplers for weddings and births - even down to the caretakers!
Sandie

Progress!

Hi everyone - hope your week has been as productive as mine?
I've decided that I will do a week's work on each of my 2 main pieces, alternating them so that I get a proper stab at getting them finished.
I managed to do a fair bit of sewing on my egyptian piece as well as playing with my Sony reader, so I've put a new photo up so you can see how far I've got.

Egyptian piece 8 Jan 2011

I can see now how big it is actually going to be as I've got to the top border. If this is just over half of the central image I think I might complete this and do the backstitch on it before I start the 2 side panels. Otherwise I might go mad with so much backstitch to do all at once! How do you plan your projects? Do you finish a large project completely before you do the backstitch, or do you add it as you go along?

I've been sorting through some of my photos of older projects, and will start adding them to the site here so you can get a feel for the type of things I like doing. Here's one I've got hanging on my landing outside our bedroom to get the ball rolling.

Wedding anniversary 2000

Keep stitching and come back soon?

Sandie

Thanks everyone!

I've just sneaked a look at this blog after being out for most of the day, and WOW I now have 11 followers! - THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Now I can't back down and forget all about keeping it updated!

I was thinking about my stiching motto today while I was chatting to friends - I came up with my 2 favourites - "I stitch, therefore I am" and "Cross stitch forever, housework when visitors are coming!"
What's yours? Post me a comment & let me know?

I've decided also to stitch for a week on a project, and then move on to the next, posting my progress at the end of each week.
So this week I'm concentrating on my egyptian piece, and next week I'll work on the stocking. So keep your eyes open for more progress. I'm not going to start another piece until I'm at least half way through each of those.

Good night and thanks again
Sandie

This year's designs to cross stitch - I hope!

 I start this new blog with my aims for my cross stitching this year.

Egyptian extravaganza

I started this piece a few months ago, as a reminder of our Nile cruise & holiday. This is how far I've got today.

This is the picture from the pack - a long way to go still!

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Side 2

Side 1

I want to make a christmas stocking  for 2011. Jessica was only 18 weeks old in 2010, so she didn't know what it was all about! I've found 2 stockings exactly the same size, which I can make into a double-sided stocking. 

       

And this is how far I've got with side 1! I'm replacing the DMC 5200 (white) and 3747 (v pale blue) with the same numbers but in Light Effect threads to give added sparkle.

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Beatrix Potter sampler

Erika was given this by her MIL. She does cross stitch, but doesn't feel confident enough to tackle this - so guess who has to?

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Somebunny to love

My best friend's youngest daughter is expecting her second child due in July. I made her a Humphrey's Corner sampler for the first-born. I think this will do nicely for the second. 

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Little Ted

This will be for Jessica's first birthday - due August. 

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European Bistro

And this is my final piece - I bought it for myself. I've promised myself that I won't start this until at least 4 of the earlier pieces are complete!

 

I think those should keep me busy! I just hope not too many other "occasions" crop up which require sewing for! At least this year there's no significant birthdays or anniversaries to worry about!

 

See you soon XXX

Sandie



My first blog!!

I should start this blog by introducing myself - sounds reasonable eh?

My name is Sandie, although I go by the name of Tigermum on several boards and groups I belong to. I've been married to my DH (Mike) for 36 years next February, and all that time we've lived in the same house. I recently celebrated my 60th birthday.

My daughter (Erika) and her husband (Tony) presented us with our first grand daughter (Jessica) in August, and I am rapidly becoming besotted with her!

My Background?When I left college I started working in public and school libraries. That's all I've ever done all my working life (apart from brief spells as a cleaner and a bar person when Erika was pre-school). I worked in London, Ipswich and Colchester, mainly in schools, but the later part of my work was spent with people with disabilities - a field I thoroughly enjoyed as I realy felt I was making a difference to people's lives.

My Interests?

• Reading - well it had to be didn't it? Although I still borrow things from my local public library, I've discovered the joys of my Sony e-Reader - the thrill of taking 300+ books on holiday with me never leaves me!
• Cross stitch - I started when Erika was born and apart from a few periods when my mojo deserted me, I've never stopped! I've even designed samplers and pictures for work colleagues which I persuaded others to stitch along with me - one piece was worked on by over 30 people!
• Sewing - my parents were both employed in a Shirt Manufacturer's so maybe sewing machines are in my blood? A couple of years ago I bought a Bernina 630, complete with the embroidery module. Now I need more hours in the day to use it to its full advantage!
• Papercrafts - I make all of my own cards for family and friends, using PC and sometimes my CraftRobo. I've recently started to scrapbook - inspired perhaps by my family and our travels.
• Travel - although Mike and I had holidays while we were working, since we've retired we've become more adventurous! In the last two years we've been on four cruises (Auckland to Sydney; Singapore to Sydney; LA and around the Hawaiian Islands and the Western Med), Germany, Austria (my FAVOURITE country), Devon, and other places too.
• Photography - I now have 2 cameras! A Fuji HS10 which is fabulous and a pocket Panasonic TZ-7. So I'll have NO excuse for NOT taking photos of my finshed projects in future. I find I'm soooo bad about documenting what I've done! Many things I've done and given away before I realise that I didn't take a picture - maybe this blog will help me with that ambition too?

And now??
Well I'm about to start on this - my first blog. Although I've never religiously filled in a diary, I'm going to try and do this as regularly as I can. It will be a record of all the things I accomplish during the year (and maybe a few that fall by the wayside?). I'll also post photos of SOME of my activities!!

Thanks for reading!