February WIPocalypse Update....

Hmmm, I am thinking that my WIPocalypse is going to be even more of an epic fail this month but let's see....

WIPocalypse is hosted for us by awesome SAL Mama, Measi's Musings.

Each and every month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  

Following dear Jo's lead, I have chosen my "17 in '17" which are the 17 projects I want to focus on this year.  You can see the full list on this post here.

Project 1: Rainbow Gallery -  2004 Cross Stitch Surprise series (January to December)

I have finished both January and February (and February is actually framed - by me).

Project 2: Imaginating - Halloween Happiness

A bit behind on this design, I seem to be struggling with this drunken witch - I am going to go try to get her into some sort of order shortly!

Project 4: The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - The Twelve Days of Christmas

Now, this is one project that I am on target with - yay!

Hmm!  Only three WIPocalypse projects worked on this month - yep, EPIC FAIL! 

.....and I can tell you, March is not shaping up to be any better - what is wrong with me?????  Oh, I know, I have a very serious condition called Startitis!  lol!

Oh dear, maybe I am not cut out to be a WIPocalypse type of gal?????

Okay, see you soon, off to work in a minute or two...

                                                    hugs,

January WIPocalypse Update.....

Hmmm, I am thinking that my WIPocalypse is going to be an epic fail this month but let's see....

WIPocalypse is hosted for us by awesome SAL Mama, Measi's Musings.

Each and every month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  

Following dear Jo's lead, I have chosen my "17 in '17" which are the 17 projects I want to focus on this year.  You can see the full list on this post here.1. Rainbow Gallery -  2004 Cross Stitch Surprise series (January to December)

So, this month I stitched on 5 of the 17 - not as poor a showing as I had imagined.  The five are:

Imaginating - Halloween Happiness - I finished the Moon for this month's theme for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL.

Fabric: 28 ct orange Lugana

Floss: My own choice of specialty threads

Jim Shore - The Twelve Days of Christmas

Not a huge amount of progress, just a bit of border, really, which I am actually planning to frog, as I have decided to go with a variegated floss (on the left).  This, originally, was my 12 Days of Christmas design for The Christmas Ornie SAL, but this has now been superseded by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery 12 Days.

The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - The Twelve Days of Christmas - Good progress here, Day One finished and some stitching on each of the other days.

Eva Rosenstaad - Danish bell pull - this one is moving along nicely, as this is one of my two Ten-a-Day projects.

Scissor Tail Designs - Christmas Charm - also progressing nicely as this is the second of my Ten-a-Day projects.

As for SALs and other Stitching Commitments....  I have just a few of those - lol!

First Saturday of the month - The Alphabet Club - we are working our way through the alphabet, the next letter will be S.

15th of each month - Gifted Gorgeousness - link up with anything which was a gift to you or is intended as a gift, you have given or received in an exchange or you can shoehorn into the theme of being a Gift!

New Moon - TUSAL - Totally Useless SAL -let's see how many ORTs we can create in a month?

Last Friday of month - Smalls SAL - Show off anything Small (you decide how big or small a Small is) you have stitched this month.

Last Sunday of month - WIPocalypse - post before the End of the World!

Throughout the month I also have Kitten Stitching and the Friday Frolics, the Americana SAL blog, the Prairie Schooler SAL blog, the Tudor Tuesdays SAL blog, the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog, the Christmas Ornie SAL blog, and, for my sins, I have joined a couple of Facebook groups, and I have a couple of freebie SALs on the backburner plus The Six Wives Club SAL,  plus I try to post my stitchy progress regularly on Instagram, plus, plus, plus! 

I am also taking part in a more traditional SAL with Jo, where we both stitch the same design - The Drawn Thread's Spot of Seasons.  So far Jo has finished stitching A Spot of Winter and I have "lost" mine somewhere in my Girl's Nest! I need to find it soon, really soon, as on 1st March we will start Spot of Spring!

Dear Jo also runs some fabulous Blog Hops which I try to take part in each year. There are usually five a year; Easter, Summer, Hallowe'en, Advent and the next one which will be Valentine's Secret Stitching Sweetheart.  

So, lots happening for me in my stitchy/bloggy world each month.

hugs, 

P.S. If you want to see what the other WIPocalypsers got up to this month - please follow this link.

P.S. Feel free to check out my Easter Exchange - you have just a litte bit more time to join in the fun!

P.P.S. Don't forget to join in the fun of my second Girl's Nest Giveaway for 2017. Entries close on Feb 5th.  Good luck!

The 12 Days of Christmas_Days Three and Four ....

 In my Boxing Day post, I told you that I had joined a FB group called Stitchmaynia and that I had taken up the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge , and showed you my Days One and Two progress.  Well, here are Days Three and Four of the challenge.

[Each of the twelve days from Christmas Day to January 5, you stitch on something related to that day's theme - A partridge in a pear tree, etc.  Being the traditionalist that I am, I am stitching, yes, you guessed it!  The 12 Days of Christmas!]


Day Three:

Day Four:

The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's 12 Days of Christmas

Stitched on 28ct Cashel linen, Serenity. 

Mixture of suggested floss and my own choices.

And, as it is so very hot here at the moment (30 degrees celsius/86 degrees fahrenheit overnight!!!!!), I woke up very early this morning, watched a movie  (Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren in Arabesque - what's not to love?) and got a good head start on Day Five - pic to come next post).

One positive of this very hot weather is some spectacular sunsets.....

I actually went to the movies, again, yesterday.  This time with my Dear younger sister.  We went to see La La Land...

Now, I know that this has been getting rave reviews but .... I didn't love it, I really wanted to, but I just didn't.  I thought that Emma Stone was great but Ryan Gosling just didn't really seem to love her enough in the movie, I thought, to make their romance really real for me.  Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have seen it but I would only give it Four Stars, not the Five Stars that every one else seems to be giving it.

Now, a movie that I would give Five Stars to, every single time, is The Princess Bride, which all watched on Netflix last night.  Such a wonderful film!  (Too hot to do much except watch movies or the test cricket on TV).

Just to finish off, here is another video, this is Furio, going ga ga for my chlorine laden shoes after I came back from water aerobics.  Does anyone have any idea as to why he would do that?

That is all from me for today, 

hugs, 

Boxing Day....

As Boxing Day is DS2's birthday (24 this year - oh, my baby is definitely all grown up!) we traditionally go to the movies as a family.  All I can say is thank goodness for film franchises: seven Harry Potter films; six Tolkien films and the various Xmen and superhero films!

This year we went to see the new Star Wars film:

Now, I would have to say it was okay.  A bit slow in parts (I must admit that despite two coffees at lunch I was so very tired that I kept dozing off during the film - that must say something about it, mustn't it?) and the heroine was too similar to the heroine in The Force Awakens, we all thought.  I think that I would give it three and a half stars.

Now, onto my Christmas Stitching.  I have joined a FB group called Stitchmaynia, which I think that some of you may already belong to or have heard of, and I decided to take up the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge.  Each of the twelve days from Christmas Day to January 5, you stitch on something related to that day's theme - A partridge in a pear tree, etc.  Being the traditionalist that I am, I am stitching, yes, you guessed it!  The 12 Days of Christmas!

Day One:

Day Two:

The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's 12 Days of Christmas

Stitched on 28ct Cashel linen, Serenity. 

Mixture of suggested floss and my own choices.

Well, that is all from me for now, 

hugs, 

Christmas Day ....

.... and a Merry Christmas was had by all!

Giving the pudding a drink of brandy!

My dear Dad's 97th Christmas ... rather bittersweet as he is getting very frail.

Making Peking Duck for entree...

 Some earnest political discussion going on.

 My niece loved her Xmas cushion (not sure how it went from being an ornie to a cushion - it just grew like Topsy!)

Let's see, what else... Baby Joe, looking askance at his Christmas ornie made by me (photo kindly sent to me by his mama from Casino, NSW)

A few Christmas gifts, a kitten calendar from my Dear younger sister....

... and my summer reading all sorted, courtesy of my dear younger sister (again) and DS2.

... and, of course, some stitching to finish... this is for my FB group (just joined - wonderful group), Stitchmaynia, 12 Days of Christmas challenge (we stitch on something related to each of the 12 Days from December 25th to January 5th).

The 12 Days of Christmas

The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

28 ct Cashel linen, Serenity

Floss: some suggested colours, some my own choice.

I hope that everyone has had a Merry Christmas and is now looking forward to a Happy and Healthy 2017.

hugs,