NH update

Well, for some reason (there isn't really one!) I can't show a big update from last week... With Dan now finally in the US, and no more OU, I shouldn't really be dreadfully busy, but somehow I was - some days I did not get a single stitch in last week. Weekend was busy as well, we went to West Ham for some shopping which was quite nice, especially the food. We went to an Indian Restaurant and had a kebab roll and an absolutely delicious mango lassi (Yoghurt drink).

NH afghan update

Here is my update from NH Afghan from last week. Finally, get some more time for cross stitch.


 

I am still anxiously awaiting Danial's visa, and it is hard to think of anything else. He is supposed to travel next week... I was supposed to travel to Germany this coming weekend to see good friends, and now I'm stuck here still waiting for Dan's visa. Apart from that, I finally started writing, and also watch the football at the moment (nice timewaster LOL)

-- Post From My iPhone

Nature's Home afghan update

Square 6Square 7Square 8view of the whole afghan so far.

Here is my rotation from last week - Nature's Home afghan. For square 6, I only had to finish the backstitch, but his really brought out the design and was well worth the effort. Than I did the next square to the right which I call square 7 (though they have different square numbers on the original chart, but I am working my way from the top down). Square 7 was not heavily stitched, so it was easy to finish in a few days. And the start of square 8 which is going to be very heavily stitched, almost completely filled with a birdhouse and surrounding flowers.

The flowers proving a right pain to stitch. There are a lot of colours in those small areas of flowers - the leaves alone for example contain over 15 different shades of green - I'm not convinced it is necessary for the design, but well, it does look nice when finished, so I guess it's worth the effort.  I definitely didn't do as much as on the giraffe last week, and it is a chore to get the afghan out every 5 weeks... but I'm determined not to have another very large project in my rotation until I finished the afghan - otherwise this could easily turn into a UFO - which I really want to avoid. Looking at the whole afghan today when I took the pictures helped though, as I feel it is turning into 'something' finally!

Some x stitch updates

-- Post From My iPhone



 

10. January 2010. OK, not an enourmous amount of stitching, but still, some updates to show. I really start to like the way the giraffe is coming out, so lifelike. NH afghan - this is square 6/30.

Nature's Home update

Last week, my rotation piece was the 'Nature's Home afghan' - I'm currently stitching square 6 of 35... long way to go, but one has to start somewhere LOL. This is a project which will be with me several years no doubt, but I don't mind, especially as every square is almost like an individual picture.

For my standards I did quite a lot last week, probably because I was off work on Monday and Tuesday, and really started to get into this piece. It starts to come together now. It is not really obvious, but there are plenty of confetti stitching in this, for example the green on the leaves is around 6 or 7 different kind of greens.

Cross stitch in the last 2 weeks

Here is my update on NH afghan, and the Poodle. Jo is still coming around once a week, and she is into cross stitch now biiiiig time - I can't believe it. Her picture is almost finished - and she goes to Hobbycraft about 3 times a week LOL, and bought about 5 or so more kits in the last 2 weeks LOL LOL. She's been bitten by the bug big time!

I hardly get to cross stitch though, and if there is one thing I'm jelous of, it's the time Jo can devote to her cross stitch. I think I did a few bits on the tree trunk for the NH afghan, and the poodle I managed to get a few lines in, but hardly noticable.

Here is my progress on the NH afghan. I have now finished 4 of the 5 top squares. And I can see good process, I've been able to complete a full square in the last week! Well, the square isn't densely stitched ...

There were no trains running today from Kent into London. I tried... honestly. Started to walk up to the station in the morning. Nafees said not to bother, as it said on SE trains website that all services are cancelled. I made my way walking up the hill, and people coming towards me asked whether I'm going to the station and not to bother, as no trains are going to London anyway. Well, so I just had to go back home. Did take some work-related phone-calls, but apart from that it was a great day off, especially as it was so unexpected. this week's rotation piece is Rachel's poodle, and I almost managed to finish page 2 yippee!

But here is my update from last week's rotation piece, Nature's Home Afghan. Didn't do a lot, only a bit of tree in square 4.

I have finished another panel on Nature's home. To me, the colours on the squirrel looked really like, I would have expected them to be either dark brown or reddish. However, I just carried on and it does look quite nice now actually. Those are the only 3 panels finished (out of 35), so long way to go.

The children are still on holiday, and our office closes early. We have nothing really planned for New Years Eve. I'm 'on call' and I'm quite happy about this...Nafees has this thing about going to Central London on New Years Eve to join the masses - and I hate it. I can't stand big crowds, and as I'm the driver on top of that, I will have to drive back through massive congestion - done it before, a 1 hour journey took me 4 hours - never again. So, very conveniently, I'm on call and can't really leave the house to go to a very noisy place. Maybe I can convince him to just go to a restaurant, and if he wants to go, I really don't mind.

Nature's Home Afghan

Here an update on Nature's Home afghan from last week. I'm quite pleased with my progress, and it's nice to have a warm blanket on my lap during the winter months LOL

An update from last week's cross stitch on Nature's Home Afghan. I finished Block 2 and started Block 13 (both are actually next to each other on the top, I prefer to stitch it block by block from left to right and line by line rather than the way the blocks are numbered. Now I've run out of DMC 3781 which is not surprising, the tree branch is stitched entirely in that colour and it says on the chart I will need 10 of them.

Today I had my OU exam - gosh, I am sooo glad that is over. I hated the course this year, and sadly it reflected in my grades which got WORSE as the year progressed! I hope I did enough today in order to pass the exam - don't wont anything else, as I will never pass with distinction anyway (not high enough marks throughout the year for that). Now I will have a break from OU studies before my final year. And it's going to be a break of 1 year !!!! Usually, the courses with the OU always started in February and ended in October. But now they decided that the courses will start in October - so I have to wait until next October to start my final year. I don't mind to be honest, as I don't urgently need the degree for work purporses and rather need a break from it at present. But if I think about people who need to do it urgently... At present I feel that, once I done the final year, I don't want to see any of it for ever again. Might change my mind, but I guess this year's course has put my off studying badly.

Finally, I can show an update on the NH afghan. Actually *drum rolls* its the 1st square done! I quite enjoy working on it - it's so different from my usual pictures. it's a bit strange having all that fabric to work with - but I know the end result will be stunning.


Thomas finally went to the vet this week to have his snip-snip. It all went well, but I can't help but think that he has changed a bit. He used to be a very affectionate cat, he'd literally lick your face off if you'd let him, and was following me all around the house. Well, he seemed more distant it seems. Maybe just some 'afterpains' from the op...

Here's my update on the NH afghan - first stage of block 1 (of 30 blocks ;-)). I actually enjoy stitching on the afghan fabric, it's slightly 'different' to hava a whole lot of fabric covering me - nice for the winter months s'pose. And today was payday, and what did I do? I ordered the remaining DMC colours for the afghan! the best prices are from Tandem Cottage. No, I'm not affiliated to them, but you can't beat 50 threads for £20! They even offer to wind them on bobbins for you, how is this for service.

Today I was in court, and it was quite a funny session. A lot of the witnesses were stark drunk. One of the chaps kept touching his --youknowwhat- and kept leaving (staggering out of) the courtroom to go to the toilet, and he called our coroner 'your honour'. I just had to giggle, and as they were all very friendly, I prefer this sort than the violent type.

This is our house today on Halloween. I'm not going overboard with decorations, but I thought I lead the way for the kids with our little pumpkin.

All 3 of the kids went trick-or-treating and got an enourmous loot. Everyone was really friendly to them, and I had quite a few trick-or-treaters this year, mostly really small kids with their parents.

Here the promid update on Spring Queen. Almost done now, I can't believe it. Don't look forward to the beading though... and getting it framed is gonna be soooooo expensive!

And here is a historic moment! here you see my very first 3 crosses on the NH-afghan (Nature's Home)

Oh, I know it's gonna be years till I finish this, but I don't mind. enjoying it, but don't know what to do with all that fabric on my lap, is good for stitching in winter time s'pose ;-))

I went back to East Grinstead today with Ruby to have her finger looked at. the bandage is off, and it doesn't look too bad. Odd, I'd say. The nail is still on, but the consultant said it is gonna fall off in the next few weeks, and a new nail will grow in 3 months or so. The tip of her finger looks kind of bulbous, with all that new skin growing. The doctor said it will take 9 months to a year to regain some feeling in the finger, but it would never go back completely normal, however, she will get used to it.