Happy 2010

03.01.2010

I wish everyone a wonderful and healthy 2010. May it be prosperous and may 'most' of your wishes come true.

I don't really have any New Year's resolutions.... I know I should lose weight *sigh*, but my heart is not really in it. I will try to be a better blogger and hopefully update more often.

Cross Stitch wise.... well, the poodle is finished, and I will just continue with my usual rotation. I will hopefully finally get my Spring Queen framed - I've promised myself to put some money aside for this every month. Work-wise - nothing special planned, it is always so busy, I am just glad to get through every week to be honest. I still enjoy it though. Of course, this is my last year in my degree with the Open University (oh, this reminds me, my next assignment is due on 13.01.!!), so hopefully I

will graduate by the summer.

Other plans for 2010 are: Holiday-wise, I will be going to see my mum and dad in March with my friend Jo who would like to see Berlin, and again in August the the children. This is what I am looking forward to, nothing further planned.

For the rest of the family: my eldest son Danial will finish school this summer, but he will stay on for a further 2 years for A-Level (Abitur in German), which he will start in September in the same school were he is now. Imran is of course still right in the middle of Secondary School (year 9) And my daughter Ruby will start in Secondary School (year 7) in September 2010 (same school as the boys). And Nafees is still very happy in his new job with the NHS, as far as he is concerned he can work in that hospital up to retirement if they let him ;-))

A cross stitching problem

I have a cross stitch dilemma! A few years ago I have asked DMC to chart one of my wedding pictures into cross stitch - see above. When the pack arrived, I just looked at it briefly, and remember thinking it was somewhat strange that they used only 9 colours for such a colourful picture - but I thought 'well, I'm sure they know what they are doing'.

Now, last weekend I took out the chart to be kitted up and start - and found that all the colours are whites/grays/blacks - so basically they have charted the picture in black/white. This is not at all what I have asked for, indeed I quite like my colourful wedding outfit and really wanted this to come out in the chart. They have also cropped the picture - and I think this improves it actually. I'm not sure whether the black/white was done by mistake, or maybe the picture can only be charted in black/white? I have no experience of this, and I'm  a bit dissappointed.

Question is, what to do now?
1. Have it re-charted by a different company?
2. Go back to DMC and ask them?
3. Or stitch it in black.white?

So, what do you think?

Poodle finish

h21.12.09. Right, here it is: the poodle is finished, after working on it for over a year on and off. It's for my friend Rachel who volunteeres for the poodle rescue





-- Post From My iPhone

Giraffe

And here the latest update on the giraffe from last week . Again, doesn't look like great progress, but I've moved on to the 2nd page! I find the thread really inferior, it keeps breaking and splitting apart - what a bum!!


-- Post From My iPhone

Birthday pressies

And here comes my beautiful birthday present from Simone. It was a very special surprise! She obviously knows me very well, the kitty cat card is just soo cute, and the decoration so thoughtful.


-- Post From My iPhone

Alexandra Palace and New Floor Stand

The Knitting and Stitching Show





at Alexandra Palace was
on this weekend, and as every year, a must for me. This year I went with my friend Jo - she's the one who has only this year started to cross stitch - and finished more than I have in the in past 5 years LOL, she's become a true addict.

As always, Ally Pally was very busy. We found that there were not a lot of stalls dedicated to cross stitch. I've realised that trend for quite a few years, and I think Jo might have expected something different. I don't mind so much, as I still enjoy looking at the other stuff like knitting, etc. The 'ususal suspects'  as every year were there of course, like Black Sheep, Choices, Michael Powell - sorry if I can't mention you all individually - and for me, my money has always disappeared by the end of the day, no matter how many or few stalls there are LOL. Jo got herself 2 Heaven and Earth KITS (yes, they come in kit form by Colray Crafts). Unbelievable, as a beginner, she gets into the Heaven and Earth stuff! I only got small stuff like needles, magnets and.......

Well, I have been toying with the idea of a new floor stand for a while. I had not so good experience with the Opus floor stand - it was never stable enough, too 'top-heavy' (I had to keep my feet firmly on the legs of the stand so it would not topple over), and the annoying turning over of the frame to secure threads etc was such a nightmare. I had the 'Needle Needs' frame recommended to me by another stitcher on a Yahoo-group. Well, it's not cheap... I payed £160 for the floor stand and 2 frames. But I was really fed up with other, inferiour stuff, and while I not always believe 'expensive is better' I have made that experience with some cross stich equipment, e.g. my daylight lamp. Since spending money on a good quality product - hey presto, no more problems. Anyway, back to the frame. I set it up straight away when we came back. This was straight forward, despite me really not being good on putting things together. I could tell straight away that the quality of the wood is excellent. The fabrib is held very taut, and as the frame lies on 2 arms and is not screwed in, it is straight forward to turn your stitching over. I had a bit of a problem rolling the fabric onto the top rollers of the frame if it is several layers of aida - I couldn't secure it in the slot provided, could only do it with no more than 1 layers, so the rest of the aido was sort of hanging loose, which was not a problem. the fabric in the frame was still extremely taught, the best I've ever had I have to say. The only complain, apart from the price tag, is that it could go up a bit higher for my taste, as my 'stitching corner armchair' is quite high, and even in the hightest position I feel that I have to bend down a bit. But again, not a major problem, it would just take a bit of getting used to. All in all, I am very satisfied with my new equipment. Oh, and as it was my birthday last week, I gave DH Nafees a little nudge, and voila - this is my birthday present.

-- Post From My iPhone

This is my progress on Lilliput Lane from last week. Not a lot done.

A finish in cross stitch

Here isn't latest finish - a heart design from the French designer Isabelle Vautier. I've still got the matching strawberry one to do. I thoght those small kits can be my 'on the move' pieces and took them into work for my lunch break. However, we hardly ever get lunch of more than 20 minutes so I would have never done anything on those. Took them back home with me.




-- Post From My iPhone