Pick up a penguin...

I did... and I stitched on it. One of his pals popped over to see how things were going.

A WIP & A Finish

A very late and quick stitching update on a Sunday evening. This is the piece I've just finished a rotation on: Midsummer Night's Dream stitched on Karma by Silkweaver.


And my second finish of 2010 - a small freebie from DMC that I've had hanging around for at least 5 years not completed.

I don't normally stitch things, but I'm like a bear with a sore head in the morning before my coffee so this design appealed to me

I'm so EXCITED!!!!

and I just can't hide it...
Planned Itinery for my trip to the US in 15 days:
29th - arrive Atlanta
30th - drive to Raleigh via Charlotte - hopefully catch up with Kristin
31st - Drive to Washington DC via Richmond
1st - Day in Washington DC
2nd - Drive to New City via Philadelphia - hopefully catch up with M2
3rd - Day in NYC
4th & 5th undecided yet
6th - Drive to Newark to fly home
I only wish I had at least another week to do some more travelling. We may diverge from this route to meet up with some friends.

Thinking about my list of WIPs

And I decided I could start one new thing for every two finishes. So far in 2010 I've finished one thing - the Peacock Stitching Chair, so that means I have to finish one more thing before I can start a new one.

I keep thinking about what I am going to start when I get that finish under my belt, but I do know that finishes this year will probably be few and far between because most of my WIPs are big projects.

In the meantime I am going to work through my rotation, I'm currently working on Midsummer Night's Dream

Stitching update and another wintry pic

First another wintry picture, this one of the house behind mine with the biggest icicle I've ever seen.

More snow forecast for tonight but it hasn't arrived yet so fingers crossed we escape again and I can get to work fine tomorrow.


And a stitching update to Earth Dragon.... I put this one away some time ago and have just done another 10 hours on it.

New look for my blog....

I was bored with the dragonfly colour scheme and found some fabulous colours / backgrounds to look through. For now I've settled on this one but I might change my mind in a few weeks.

My heating wasn't working yesterday

and I can't say I was happy when the engineer came out today to tell me that it wasn't working because you have to turn it off at night because it is too cold for the condensing boiler. Ice has blocked the condensing pipe and this has tripped the auto cut-off on the boiler. As I usually get up early and have my heating on before daylight (the coldest part of the day) to take the edge of the cold in the house before I get up and not on all night (except this past week when it has been so cold here) I guess what he is saying is my boiler works brilliantly as long as it doesn't get cold!!!

The pipe has been cut-off and the remaining ice is being defrosted as we speak so I should get heating soon.

How cold has it been in the UK? It was -18C just a few miles away in Oxfordshire the other night (0F)

This amazing photo from the NASA Terra satellite shows the whole of the UK blanketed in snow. I don't recall weather this bad since my childhood and then we only got 3-4" of snow (I lived near the coast so we always got less snow) and not the 8-10" we have now. Snow in this country usually only lasts 3-4 days before thawing so this is really unusual. It's also snowing again today although only lightly and it's predicted to snow again tomorrow.

Update on BrightNeedle's Sweet Summer Sampler

Here is how I left this one over 18 months ago after only 10 hours work



And here it is after 20 hours work, put away in favour of the next piece on my rotation



I'm using my own choice of threads for this one but I am liking how they are working together.

Work Christmas Party

I know I'm slow, we did really have the party before Christmas but the camera lead was lost.... and now it's found so the pictures get posted finally.

I decided to try a new look for the party, I went blonde and added a turquoise/electric blue streak to match my dress. I also had my nails done to match the dress.



The dance floor


Luke with Hannah (I sit next to Luke)


Luke posing next to the roulette wheel decorations

Update to Wild Menagerie - 105 hours

I worked a 10 hour rotation on this one and here is a progress shot, the picture underneath was how I last left this one. It's 50% complete now.


Wild Menagerie after 105 hours work

Snow videos

This post my take some time to load as it contains videos of my dog Charlie in the snow. There's no sound on these clips.

January 6th - snow and more snow...

Pics taken by my daughter today on her snow day. It is still snowing continuously. I wasn't able to get down my street let alone in to work today but have since heard that the office has been closed and all staff sent home due to deteriorating conditions.

Charlie the Westie loved his outing in the snow though he came back covered in lumps of snow. I have uploaded some videos of him to YouTube and I'll be posting those in the next blog entry.

The first pic is the local football field/recreation ground about 150yards from our house.

My first Finish of 2010

My Peacock Stitching Chair is finished, here are pics:











I use AVAS silks and Gloriana Wood Pond

January Goals

Breaking my goals down, here is what I want to achieve in January

1. Peacock Stitching Chair (50%) - To finish this one
2. Wild Menagerie (32%) - To get this 35%
3. Pam Kellogg's Christmas Mystery (20%) - To get this 25%
4. Sweet Summer Sampler (20%) - To get this 25%
5. Flamenco Dancer (15%) - To get this 20%
6. Earth Dragon (14%) - To get this 20%
7. Midsummer Night's Dream (10%) - To get this 15%
8. DMC Teddy Bear (8%) - To get this 15%
9. Emperor Penguins (3%) - To get this 10%
10. Four Horses of the Apocalypse (3%) - To get this 5%
11. Celtic Spring (1%) - To get this 5%
12. Blumen in Raster (1%) - To get this 5%

I know these goals are probably totally unrealistic but hey aim high and i might get somewhere! I am confident that I can get achieve the first 3.

My goals for 2010

These are just stitching goals, I may make a list of other goals at some point

Finish These Projects:
1. Peacock Stitching Chair (50%) Finished 03/01/2010
2. Wild Menagerie (32%) 50% complete @ 05/01/2010
3. Pam Kellogg's Christmas Mystery (20%) on hold until I can find the charts

Get the following projects to 75%:
1. Sweet Summer Sampler (20%) 71% complete @ 08/01/2010
2. Flamenco Dancer (15%) lots of unstitching done so still at 15% @ 31/01/2010
3. Earth Dragon (14%) still at 14% @ 31/01/2010

Get the following projects to 50%:
1. Midsummer Night's Dream (10%) 12.4% complete @ 13/01/2010
2. DMC Teddy Bear (8%) Finished 17-01-2010
3. Emperor Penguins (3%) 10.4% complete @ 31/01/2010

Get the following projects to 25%:
2. Four Horses of the Apocalypse (3%) had to start again 2.9% @ 31/01/2010
3. Celtic Spring (1%) didn't stitch on this one in January
4. Blumen in Raster (1%) at 1.4% @ 31/01/2010

To this end I have put in place my 10 hour rotation again and will see how things go! This would end the year with only 9 WIPs though to be honest I'd rather it were 5 or less.