This is a stupid test

Just trying windows live writer. I don’t actually see the advantage of this as compared to just going to the wordpress website, but we’ll give it a go.

Okay, so I guess I’ll put in a picture or something.

That’s my wardrobe. Cool, hey

>Stitching visit

>On Monday night I went to my friend Tara’s house for a stitching night. Well, we didn’t actually get much stitching done… we were too busy going through her stash! I took my camera and got lots of photos of her stitching.

She has two WIPs:

A couple of old finishes:

And some really old longstitches (for those who like that kind of thing):

>Strange but true

>I actually touched needle to thread this weekend! It was wonderful. I basically spent the whole of Saturday with my iPod catching up on podcasts and stitching. I didn’t realise that I’d forgotten how much I enjoy stitching.

There have been some changes in my life in the last few months. I dropped out of uni about 2 months from the end (spare me the lecture, I know how stupid that is). Actually, I haven’t dropped out, I have a leave of absence for up to two years so I can go back and complete my last semester in 2010 if I want, but I don’t think I will. I made the decision that I just don’t want to be a nurse… and it feels so good to just put it behind me. I feel free and happy I now have a regular full time nine-to-five job, no more night shifts, no more classes and assignments, no more poverty! I’m working in community health care as a “team leader”, which sounds quite boring, but I’m enjoying it so far. The pay is decent, I get a phone, laptop and CAR! WOOHOO!! And I’m working with Tara and Suzi, two friends of mine I used to work with on night shifts a few years ago. It’s almost perfect!

One advantage of having regular hours and no study is that I have so much free time! I have evenings! I have weekends! I can go out on Saturday nights! Amazing! So I took advantage of that and had a very productive stitching day on Saturday. I had two finishes in one day!

First of all I finished my little Snow Drop Fairy. I did a good deal of the half stitches in the background and then all the back stitching… and she was finished by 4pm.
Isn’t she pretty? I think I’m in love with her. Then I was on such a role I wanted to start something new right away, so I ran to my draw and pulled out a kit called “Tree” from the Historic Needlework Guild and started and finished it by 10pm.
Hmm, unfortunately the picture is really dull and washed out. Wow, I think it takes exceptional photographic skill to get a photo to look dull and washed out at the same time. Oh well, I’ll take a better shot when I’ve finished it. Actually all the stitching is finished, I’m going to finish it into a little pincushion and fill it with emery. I just have to photocopy the template and find some fabric that’s tightly woven so that the emery doesn’t leak out. I was really bummed that I couldn’t finish it right away, because I was going strong and didn’t want to stop!

I was meant to spend today cleaning the house, and then spend the evening stitching, but I made the mistake of turning on my computer. That’s always a big mistake. The biggest timewaster in the world. But I did get to catch up on some blogs. My feed was up to almost 10,000 unread entries, so I’m pretty much just looking at pictures, but at least I’m catching up, and it’s great inspiration! In future I’m going to stitch on Saturday, clean Sunday morning and then computer on Sunday afternoon, otherwise I’ll never get anything done!

Gotta go to bed now. One of the drawbacks of a real job is that you have to be up early Oh well, I’m thinking it’s a fair trade…

>itchy fingers

>I’m being tempted.

I know I should be finishing my little Snowdrop Fairy. It really won’t take me that long. I could probably finish it today if I wanted to. But I’m being tempted. I was organising all my stitching stuff (I hadn’t touched it since we moved house back in May) and I’ve been looking at all my old WIPs. It’s so easy to forget how gorgeous they are! I’m in love with them again, and I want to stitch on them all at once.

But I took one look at Lady of Lake and knew that I HAVE to do more of it.

(Click to embiggen, as always)
That’s about 9,300 stitches which makes it about 5.4% complete (total 171500 stitches…yikes). WOO HOO! Oh, and by the way, it’s tented, 2×1 on 32 ct white opalescent Lugana.
Here’s a picture of the top half of the chart, which might give you an idea of where I’m up to. Also, it looks pretty cool. I love that you can make out the picture pretty well from just symbols.

And for those with short-term memory loss, here’s what it will look like if when it’s finished.
I’m definitely suffering from WIP guilt though. I didn’t actually count how many I have going, I couldn’t bear to, but I would guess there’s about 10 or 12. I’m really glad I organised the WIPs before going through all the kits and charts, because I can guarantee I would have had at least two more new starts! I was also looking at one of my UFOs, and I’m considering reviving it. I won’t say more about it, because I don’t want to make a promise I might not keep… but it’s a maybe. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll hear about it if there’s anything to hear.

>Concerning blogging

>I have nothing to report. No stitching is happening, due to way too much uni work. And probably not much to come in the next few weeks as I’ll be on clinical as well as trying to keep up with assignments. I didn’t even go to she stitches and craft show on the weekend so I have no stash to share either

In the absence of any actual stitching updates, here’s a meme I saw on Kathryn’s blog

Why did you start your blog?
Well I’d been stitching for a while, but it’s really hard to keep motivated when there’s no one around to show off to. When I realised how huge and active the online stitching community is I was amazed, and I couldn’t wait to jump right in! I love having a blog and being part all of this because it keeps me on track, up to date with all the new designers and stuff, and much more motivated to keep stitching!

How did you come up with your blog name?
Well it’s really just that my sister and brother were watching Romeo and Juliet when I was making my blog, and I’ve always loved the prologue, and I was thinking about the words… Star-Crossed… cross stitch… star-crossed stitcher! It might be a bit misleading though, because I’m not star-crossed in any way at all, I don’t believe in astrology or fate or anything, it just sounds cool to me

Do your friends and family know about your blog and if so, what do they think of it?
No. I have an LJ for my friends to read where I talk about my life, and don’t bore them with all this stitching stuff. My family definitely wouldn’t care about me having a blog, and they’d laugh at me if they read it anyway. They think this stuff is pretty pathetic… they’re a very boring family. Actually, I did give my Nanna the link a few months ago because she was asking to see a bit of my stitching, but I wish I hadn’t. I don’t think she actually read anything, and I dont’ think she’s ever visited again, but I can’t be sure. Now I can’t talk about some things that have been going on for me in the past few months that I really want to get off my chest.

How do you write posts?
I used to update all the time when I had some stitching to show. Now I’m really not doing much stitching so I don’t have much to share. I like to have a picture to show off when I post, so until I’ve made some progress I usually don’t post unless I have some burning stitching issue I need to talk about to someone who understands.

Have you ever had a troll or had someone leave unkind comments?
No, no. I really don’t write anything that anyone would care enough about to leave a negative comment. Plus, stitchers seem to generally be a very nice bunch I did get a lot of spam a while back though, but that seems to have stopped.

Do you check your stats?
No, actually, I just forget I have stats! I should do though. I use blogpatrol and I think they tell me the ip address of who visits, so maybe I can see if my nanna does visit…

Do you care how many people read your blog?
Um, not really, but I do love it when I get comments. I would hate to think that NO ONE read it though!

What kind of blogs/posts interest you?
I read a lot of science and skepticism blogs, as that is my other obsession. Of course I read TONS of stitching blogs, but mostly I just look at the pictures and read the stitchy parts, i kind of just skim over the non-stitching related stuff.. except for a few special stitchy friends. The only other blogs I read are those of my real life friends because I like to keep up to date with their dramas, as I don’t get to spend that much time with them face-to-face.

What do you like and dislike about blogging?
Hahah, sometimes blogging is definitely a chore for me. Especially my stitching blog, when I don’t have any real progress to talk about. And I always feel guilty when I haven’t been stitching, and then I feel even more guilty because I don’t update! But I do really love being able to share my stitching with someone who understands what I’m talking about!

>SBQ 21/08/08

>

If you had to choose, would you rather spend money on overdyed floss or hand-dyed fabric?

Hmm, that is a very very tough choice. I have a real fetish for both. But at the moment I seem to have way more floss than fabric. Plus there is so much gorgous fabric out there! And it’s really hard to get what you want on short notice, whereas it is quite easy to find the floss you want. So I’m going to have to vote for fabric.

Speaking of buying yummy fabbie, the Stitches and Craft show is on this weekend. Unfortunately I don’t think I’m rich enough to go and indulge

Not much stitching is happening here, I’m still working on that assignment. It’s due at 4pm today, but I’m really just making a start, so there’s no way I’m going to finish in time. But there is hope. I decided to check the handbook for the late penalties. When I was at Sydney Uni, the late penalty was a level a day, so if you were one day late you’d drop from a distinction to a credit, two days late, a pass, and three days late, a fail. But the late penalty at UTS is only 5% per working day. So I can work on it all weekend and hand it in on Monday and only lose 5%! YAY!!!

>i found my mojo!

>It was hiding from me, lurking in the shadows, waiting until I have a REALLY important assignment to procrastinate from. The best motivation to stitch seems to come when there’s something else I should be doing. Typical!

I’ve been stitching up a storm over the weekend. Actually, that’s a total overstatement, but compared to the last few months it’s been a storm. I finished off all the crosses on Snow Drop Fairy. I’m really pleased that I’ve done so much. The background is going to take me ages, because it’s tons of half-crosses… which I hate doing. But once that’s done, I just have to backstitch and then a finish! YAY!

Of course I really do have to work on this assignment, because it’s due on Friday. It’s an article review on cannabis use and psychosis. Fun, fun, fun! I really feel like not doing it. I just hate uni at the moment. I have 6 weeks of clinical this semester, as well as lots of really annoying assignments. (I’d be okay if it was just essays, but I have to do things like a ‘portfolio’… boring!!) I wish I could just wave my magic wand and this semester was all over. *sigh* I just have to keep telling myself to just stick it out. It’s the last semester and in 15 weeks it’ll all be over.

…but 15 weeks seems like such a long time…

>What? Nine months?

>It’s been nine months! I’m not going to explain. It’s too complicated. I’m just going to apologise and start again.

Don’t worry, you haven’t missed much though. The last nine months haven’t contained much stitching. Plenty of other junk, but almost no stitching. I do have a few photos though.

I’ve been shopping! Do you want to see what AU$100 of silk looks like?

Aren’t they delicious? Unfortunately the picture is quite dark, so the colours aren’t perfect, but not too bad. I got these at the Quilt and Craft show in June. They’re from Kaalund Yarns, and I’d never heard of them before, but I’m glad now that I have. They mainly do knitting yarn, but these are proper stranded silks. How gorgeous! And they are SO soft and beautiful. I think they’re even nicer than Gloriana! The colours are from left to right: Jacaranda, Lavender, Tropical Berries, Pacific, Wisteria, Waterlilly, Rainforest, Taipan, Wine, Bottle Brush, Poinsettia, Bushfire, Guava, Pawpaw, and Silky Oak. Good Aussie names, aren’t they I also got the huge hank of natural silk at the top, which I may use for Cirques or something. Oh the possibilities!

I just checked the website and I saw that I only need 8 more then I have all the colours. I feel some more shopping in my near future…

Also at the show, I saw some scissors that I fell in love with, but unfortunately they were sold out. It was probably lucky though, because I thought that $120(!) was way too much for a pair of scissors. So I went home and bought them directly from the Sajou website, and for the same price ($120) I got a matching thread winder and thimble! I was so excited! Until they actually came in the mail. I was so disappointed with the quality of them. I was expecting them to be real mother of pearl, but they are just a kind of shiny plastic. I think the blades are good quality, but the plastic just ruins it. And they feel really light, and just plain fake But I guess they are still beautiful. I just probably wouldn’t have paid that amount for them if I had known they were so crappy. So if you’re considering buying them, I’ve warned you. (But they are very pretty!)

Okay, now for some actual stitching. Pretty much all I’ve done in the last nine months is in the picture below.
Anti-climax, huh. I just totally lost my mojo. But I think it’s coming back. Today and yesterday I’ve spent about 6 hours on Tranquility Sampler, and I’m enjoying it! I’m having fun stitching again. YAY!
So watch this space. I think I’ll definitely be stitching more. Time permitting. I’m in my last semester of uni, so I really should be prioritising that… hahaha!

>Finishing… slowly

>The finishing process is taking me a lot longer than I thought. I’ve been finishing for two nights solid now, and I don’t have much to show for it. Wednesday night was mainly measuring and cutting bits of skirtex, cardboard, and interfacing. Last night was making cording and tassels, and I actually managed to finish the scissor case and fob of Cherry Blossom Spring€ (and they look absolutely gorgous!) I’m having a little trouble with the needlebook, but I think I know how to solve it, I just need to be inventive.

I’m worried…

>I don’t know…

>Here’s Monday’s progress on JOB. I finished wll the stitching in the third panel, and added some gold to the lantern at the bottom. I didn’t get too much done because I felt guilty and decided to study for my exam (it went okay by the way)Wow, the fabric colour came out quite well in this picture! I was going to do more… I was going to do more gold on the top and bottom, but I got stuck on a decision. I was looking at the way I had put the gold around the rhodes stitches. I followed the instructions which said to do it in two stitches (on the left) but I think It might look better if I just do it as one long stitch (on the right). I looked at other people’s WIPs on webshots, I saw that Kyrie is doing it in two stitches, other on people have done it both ways, and some people have done it with four tiny stitches! I’m leaning towards the one long stitch on the right. Any one else have an opinion?
And lastly, I finished Cherry Blossom Spring yesterday. Yay! Now, I can get started on the finishing. Eeek! Actually, I’m tempted to stitch Fir Tree Mountain too so that I can finish them all at the same time. But I really should finish the other two as they were supposed to be birthday presents and they’re already very late. *sigh* I just don’t know.

Happy stitching