A highly successful FNSI/FF last evening working on Counting Bats by Just Nan....
Before:
Progress:
Only seven more bands to go......
NB: FNSI stands for Friday Night Sew-In, a virtual Stitch a long hosted every third Friday of the month (although this month it is happening on the fourth Friday). This is hosted by the wonderful Wendy from Sugar-Lane designs. Please click on the pic below to see the link up page and visit all the other FNSIers.
P.S. I would just like to invite you to take part in myGirl's Nest Giveaway #5, please just click on the pic below to sign up for the item of your choice. It closes on March 31st.
For the first day of the Winter Olympics Rotation Relay for WIPocalypse 2018 (a FB group, that you can find here) ....
... I rotated around three projects: Frosty Hopes by Just Nan - this week's Friday Frolics focus piece - (I stitched a pine cone and added some blue to the snowflakes in the right hand border)
'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Prairie Schooler (I stitched Santa's hat and his sleigh)
... and lastly I started the 2018 Temperature SAL (after spending hours playing around with colours, I managed to stitch the first five days of January).
... and right now, I am stitching some more on these pieces (and maybe a couple more) whilst watching Day 2 of the Winter Olympics - the Snowboarders today.
My first Friday Night with Friends and Friday Frolics ... was a bit like Schrodinger's Cat - neither successful nor unsuccessful! For those of you who are wondering who Schrodinger and his cat were and why I am referencing them - Sheldon from The Big Bang explains it best (or click on the link above).
(TraderVic and I are huge fans of The Big Bang Theory and are quite addicted to the show - it is on repeats here in Oz every night, so we are able to feed our addiction regularly - lol!)
Anyway, I digress - onto the stitching.....
Now, the successful part was me completing a FFO from last year - Wee Santa 2016....
Design: Wee Santa 2016
Fabric: 28 ct Mocha linen
Floss: My own choice of specialty threads
Framing: By me in a Mill Hill frame
My dear friend, Wendy, from my LNS, taught me a neat trick for getting the design to sit nicely when you sew it over the cardboard - you have two lengths of thread and weave them like shoelaces. It worked like a dream, the stitching is sitting really flat and looks perfect - thank you so much, Wendy. xxxx
Now for the unsuccessful part... in true Friday Frolicking fashion, I chose a WIP at random from my ever growing pile of WIPs, UFOs and BAPs ....
Morning Song by Just Nan, I last posted about it on this post.
So, here is where I was up to before yesterday....
... and after, looking rather more crumpled and not much progress at all!
Design:Morning Song
Fabric: 28 ct Cream or Antique White linen
Floss: Suggested DMC threads
Okay, do you want to hear my excuses?
1. Plait stitch is really tricky to do, especially in a light green - I found it really hard to get a rhythm - there was a lot of frogging happening.
2. It was really, really hot yesterday, so the house was shut up tight with the air conditioner on, the outdoor sun blinds down and the plantation shutters shut - so the lighting was poorer than usual which affected 1. above.
3. Frantic morning video chats with DS2 in Sydney. DS2 video chats me on my mobile:
DS2: Dad, where's Dad? I need Dad! (Note: no greeting)
Me: Why do you need Dad, is everything all right?
DS2: No, our ceiling has fallen down and I don't know what to do! (Note: DS2 is 24 and lives in a sharehouse in Sydney and there were terrible storms in Sydney overnight)
Me (and TraderVic): Oh, my goodness, was anyone hurt? - Ring the SES (State Emergency Service) and ring the agent.
DS2: No, no one was hurt, we were all in bed (it was 9am), I tried the agent, the office is still shut for the Christmas/New Year break. What is the number for the SES?
Me: Does the agent have a head office or a mobile number?
DS2: No.
Me: (On the computer in Melbourne, remember DS2 lives in Sydney) The SES number is xxxx and the real estate agent's mobile number is xxxx. Ring both of them now. You may be told by the SES that you can't stay.
DS2: We have a back up plan if we have to move out, I'll ring the SES now but I can't bother the agent on his mobile.
Me: Yes, you can, he needs to know, so he can let the landlord know!!!!!
DS2: Okay. Talk again soon.
Me: (later that morning). How is it going?
DS2: Ses came
And said it will be fine
So land lord is getting people to come fix it
Me:You got onto the agent, then? Do you have to move out?
No we can stay
Yep glen is sorting it out
Me: Great, aren't you glad that I found his mobile number for you - just saying! lol!
DS2: Thx mummy (Remember he has just turned 24!)
(Later that morning I get another call)
DS2: it is still raining and now the living room is flooding.
Me: Have you shifted the furniture? (couch, dining table and chairs, TV, etc.)
DS2:Nah! It is only a millimetre or two.
Me: What if it keeps raining and you don't have contents insurance?
DS2: Nah, she'll be right (very typical Aussie attitude), it's only a little bit of water and rain.
Me: I give up!
I am not sure what else has happened as DS2's mobile phone has now broken down - so I have to Message him via his best friend's phone who is staying with him for a few days before heading back to Melbourne and DS2 starts a new job on Monday. It never ends with your children, does it? lol!
4. Daytime naps needed to be had due to 2. and 3. above and the fact that it has been really hot overnight so little sleep has been had.
5. TraderVic, DS1 and DDIL and I all played a lively game of Monopoly_Melbourne Edition in the evening, which severely cut into my stitching time.
So, there you go, all sound like reasonable excuses to me! lol!
Just to finish off, the cats are feeling the effects of the hot weather, too. Milo and Nobu are engaged in a Mexican Standoff ....
... and Furio has just given up!
Poor furbabies, mind you, they could sleep in the cool, air conditioned rooms but no!
So, that was my first Friday Frolic for the year. Rather an eventful one, now that I think about it!
If you want to see what everyone else got up to for these Stitching events, click on either or both of the links below:
Well, not much activity on the social front for my Weekend roundup for the past weekend. I have been fighting off a bit of a cold and TraderVic has come down with a doozy of a sore throat. So, our focus was on resting and eating some good food and drinking lots of green tea (we came home with lots and lots of delicious green tea from our Taiwan trip, which we are slowly drinking our way through). Also, I have picked up a bit of freelance publishing work, so I worked a bit each morning of Saturday and Sunday, as well. So, the weekend was mainly some work, some cooking and lots of stitching and some TV viewing as well.
(You may wish to scroll down to the end if you just want to see stitching)
I found this soup to be perfect for what ails TraderVic and I, at the moment (I am feeling back to normal today) and I have made the focaccia rolls several times now and these were my best batch yet.
Homemade pizzas (I cheated and bought super nice bases but the toppings are all my creativity!)
Working:
This is me, all perky doing some freelance publishing work at home over the weekend (sans the yellow hair, of course).
TV viewing:
Sunday afternoon (while TraderVic was napping, nursing his sore throat), I indulged in a marathon of "War and Peace" (sans Episode 2, which for some reason didn't tape).
Oh, my goodness, such a sumptuous production and I loved the BBC's ending far better than Tolstoy's actual ending - read this article here.
... and in all my internet searching, I found this gorgeous clip.
... and the other show which TraderVic and I have been watching together is Series Two of Arrow (please note: this is actually a trailer for Series Four - couldn't find one for Series Two)
Stitching:
Lots happening on the stitching front:
1. More progress on "Frosty Hopes" - you can see earlier pics here.
2. Battling with the Smyrna crosses in the pumpkins on this Northern Expressions design for my (now late) March Hallowe'en Ornie.
3. Now, I have saved the best for last! Another new start - I know, I know, I need another new start like I need a hole in the head! But, Sunday morning I was poking around on FB and I saw this gorgeous design which someone had just finished - Song of Solomon - on this FB group, Embroidery motifs from Old Dutch Samplers
So, very shortly, with the wonders of the internet, I was the proud owner of not only this gorgeous design, Song of Solomon but also the wonderful Skyros ship.
I had the perfect fabric in my stash for Song of Solomon, a greyish-white overdyed with swirls of blue and I am using some gorgeous Threadworx floss which I indulgently bought a few weeks ago, not knowing what I would stitch with it but feeling in my bones that the right project would turn up - and it did.
This is what I accomplished whilst marathon-watching "War and Peace"
So, that was my weekend, a quiet but pretty good one (which we needed after the hectic activities and excitement of the extended weekend before at Byron Bay).
This Friday for my Frolicking, I went to my Girl's Nest and randomly put my hand on this WIP - Just Nan's "Frosty Hopes".
Here is the before pic:
The After FF pic - look Furio has snuck in somehow!
"Frosty Hopes" is a companion piece to "High Hopes", which I stitched in 2004 - oh, my goodness, that means I have had this piece in my UFO pile for 12 years now - Bad Kaye!
I personalised this piece by stitching my Cameo tortoiseshell cat, Coco, and changing the phrase from "High Hopes grow here" to "My cat Coco lives here". So, I will personalise this new piece as well, adding the phrase "My cat Furio lives here".
I am going to have to look for a third similar design, so that I can stitch one for Milo. I just looked at the Just Nan website and couldn't see anything suitable so if anyone has any good suggestions, I would be most grateful.
I am continuing to stitch on it over the weekend, so watch out for an update on Monday morning.
2. Americana SAL ...
One state down ... only 49 more to go! lol!
America, Land that we love
Jean Farish Designs
28 ct linen
Mainly the suggested DMC threads
Hopefully, I will finish Alaska tomorrow night (my next 'Merica Monday stitching night) and get started on the next "A" state - I think maybe it is Arizona but I could be wrong - I will let you know - are there any other "A" states? Not sure, but I think that I am going to know them all very well by the time I am done!
(Note: Just googled it and yes, Arizona is next but I forgot about the fourth "A" state - Arkansas!)
... so, while I hopefully stated in my last post that Henry would be done in one more evening of stitching - well, I was wrong - off with my head! lol!
However, I am hopeful of a finish very soon...
Anyway, that's all for me now - heaps to do today.
Well, only a day late with my TUSAL report which I think I have missed the last couple of months (obvious from the biggish pile of ORTs!)
The left pile is my train ORTs and the right my home ORTs. The brassware was once my dear mother's. I can remember many a time polishing those small trays and making up stories about the scene depicted on them. The stitchery in the background is "My cat Coco lives here". That is not its original name. It is actually High Hopes by Just Nan. But the tortoiseshell cat looked just like our cat at the time - Coco - that I changed the wording and renamed it. I finished it 2004. There is a companion piece - which is a winter garden languishing somewhere in my UFO pile. I must dig it up someday soon.
All of my 2014 ORTs so far.
Last night was Tudor Tuesday SAL night. I stitched on Plum Street Samplers "The end crowneth the work". I started out quite well
but then I realised right at the end of the night that I had made a mistake and I am going to have to frog that black cross hatching on the top right of the dress. Drat that frog prince!
.... I was lucky enough to win this great Just Nan design "Queen of the Needle" and scissor keep in a giveaway held by Kim from Wisdom with Needle and Thread.
