Saturday, July 31, 2004

Sunshine and stitching

Okay so summer has finally arrived. Yay.

Sadly I have to work all weekend but hopefully it will still be sunny on Monday.

As you can probably see below, I have managed some stitching progress. I'm really enjoying mini mystery f because of the lovely colours. The silk n colors that Martina has used for the jewel in the centre is just such vivid colours. I'm really looking forward to the Sapphire mini mystery because its my birthstone.

I've been thinking a lot about my stitching recently and I have just finished typing a big post listing all 29 of my WIPs on the Rotation stitchers board. I want to reduce the amount of started things I have, mostly due to the fact that some stuff has been hanging about for far too long. So many things have been started and finished since starting some of them.

So the plan is to finish some of the smaller stuff and concentrate on the WIPs that I actually like just now. More mirabilia starts would be good too. I kind of stopped stitching much Mirabilia stuff about a year ago. Stitching Shimmering mermaid seems to have reawakened my interest.
Further to the plan, I'm going to try and set myself some realistic stitching goals each month to see if that works for me. I know I can't do a strict order rotation because I end up abandoning it but goals might work better for me.

Some stitching progress to share


Chatelaine mystery 7 part 1 finished

Chatelaine mini mystery F part 1 finished
Posted by Hello

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Here comes the rain again

Alledgedly this is supposed to be summer here.  So far all it has done is rain.  Today was really bad and the power has been flickering a little although there is no lightening in sight.   Just more rain.

Stitching wise, I haven't managed to stitch as much recently.  Just seem to be working a lot and when I come home, I don't feel like stitching.   However I don't have to work again until Saturday so there may be some stitching progress.

I've hanging out on the Rotation stitcher's BB over the past few weeks.  I have a sort of  rotation just now but I'm not really liking some of my WIPs.  I also have quite a few long term UFOs that I would like to get finished and some that I couldn't care less about.  My stitching tastes have changed so much over the past few years and I think getting rid of some of my stuff might make me feel better too.  Fresh home, fresh start so to speak.

I just need to get a list of everything I have started together and figure out what I still like.  And then figure out a plan to finish some of it. 

Moving house

Earlier in the year, myself and some members of my family spent many cold hours standing outside an estate agents local to here so that I could buy a flat in a new development.  At the moment, I live with my parents and much as I really love them and get on with them, I need my own space.
We had to queue up to buy this flat because the housing market is so nuts in the West of Scotland that it was the only way for me to buy a place in a decent area on my salary.

Fast forward several months and the flat is almost ready.  So now I have to pack. Sigh .  I don't actually remember buying all this stuff, where has it all come from ?.  I don't even remember owning some of it.

I also seem to have ended up with seven large storage boxes of cross stitch magazines which I am having to make hard decisions on because I don't want to move them all or keep them all.
Decisions, decisions

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Stitcher's question of the week

This week's question is  What are your favourite cross stitching websites and why?

Most of the sites that I visit are the variety of bulletin board dedicated to stitching.  I started off on the Teresa Wentzler board and found the rest from there.  I like visiting lots of boards so I can see that everyone else is stitching (and buying).  Through the board I have met some many lovely people and discovered cross stitch designers that I would never have f ound on my own as the selection near me is very limited.

My favourite UK on line stash enhancement sites are http://sewandso.co.uk and http://jaynesattic.co.uk/index.html . Both have a great variety of charts, threads and fabrics and both have great customer service.  They are both really quick at sending orders too when you just can't wait for something.

Outside the UK I like http://www.stitchingbitsandbobs.com/  and http://downsunshinelane.com/.  Buying stash from the US is so much cheaper, especially at the moment and the owners of both these sites are helpful and friendly.

Oh and of course http://www.ebay.co.uk .  Not strictly a cross stitch site but there is lots of stash to be bought there and when I spend too much on stash, I can sell old stuff off to fund more.


Monday, July 26, 2004

New to all this

After much puzzling and reading, I think I might have this worked out and hopefully the page looks like it should.
I've been reading lots of blogs for a while and I like the idea of having somewhere that I can ramble on about a variety of things.

The Plan is to write about stitching and also the other stuff that I come across on my daily life.