A Stitching Love Affair

Oh dear I have had a bad weekend, I had a wee accident on my mountain bike and fell off and dislocating my AC joint in my shoulder. A very very painful experience, so after an x-ray confirmed the injury I now have 2 weeks off work and I can't drive! (and yes biking is out of the question) The arrow shows where clavicle is meant to attach to my scapula (shoulder blade) It's not too painful, only when I get dressed or try to raise my arm. The good news is I can still stitch!!! Woohoo!!! very carefully of course and holding my arm against my side. On the stitching front I have done some more on Tuscany Town Before- After- I have also done a bit more on English Garden Sampler Before- After- I will endeavour to get it out again every once in a while! I really want to get Tuscany Town finished so I can enter it in the Oxford A&P show, so I guess now that I have a couple of weeks downtime I should get a lot done. Happy stitching! Michelle

Happy new year everyone!! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas (I know I'm bit late with that...) and I know I'm looking forward to a fresh new year full of plans and resolutions. Here's hoping I can stick to them! I had a fairly quiet Christmas with the family, it was a very hot day on Christmas day, about 30 degrees I think and the last think you want to do is eat a hot lunch! Anyway Santa was very kind to me and brought me sewing machine!!! YAY!! (thanks Mum you're the best) So I have been practicing on it and I will be able to show you soon what I have made. On the stitching front I have swapped the Christmas stocking (I will finish that for this Christmas) and picked up Teresa Wentzler's English Garden Sampler. I haven't picked this up for months, or is it a year...a long time anyway. Before- After- I'm not sure when I started this, probably about 2-3 years ago and as with every TW chart it has billions of 1/3 stitches! Ha...

Hello everyone! That for the kind wishes when I was sick, I am much better now, actually it only lasted 12 hours, so I was lucky. This weekend I am at my Mum and Dads to put up the Christmas tree which I do every year. Lots of fun! This is the stocking I made a few years ago for myself, so I am making another one (which probably won't be finished until next Christmas!) for my SIL. On to some sad news, I recently broke up with my BF which was very sad, so I feeling a bit depressed and sad which is always worse leading up to Christmas, but I'm trying to be Christmas happy! I am also looking at a change of career, from dental assistant to quantity surveying or engineering technology. It's a bit scary changing careers but I really have had enough of dental after 13 years! So I guess I have lots to think about over the summer/Christmas holidays. Anyways here is my happy pictures!- The Ginga's favourite chair! He's just so cute happy stitching!...

Hi everyone, I decided since I'm sick today that I should at least post something even though I haven't done very much stitching at all since the last post! Please don't read the next paragraph if your squeamish! I would actually rather be at work than sick because I got a nasty vomiting bug, whether it be from something I ate or a virus, anyway since 9am this morning I can't stop vomiting, hopefully it will pass soon because it is no fun what so ever! Anyway back to the more pleasant things in life, namely stitching! This is a chart I have been wanting to stitch for a while, so I thought it would be a nice Christmas gift to myself! Its called the Francophile sampler by Nouveau Encore from my favourite needlework shop ABC Stitch . It only uses 2 colours -  black and red (or any other colours you like) and is done 2 over 2 with one strand. I had maybe thought of doing it one over but I think I may go blind doing that! So I thought using 40-count, if you have any o...

Well I have been such a bad blogger! over one month since my last confession blog! Anyway here is an update on the Christmas stocking, which I don't think will be finished before Christmas :( well it's my own fault for procrastinating and not actually doing any stitching. I was having far too much fun looking at everybody else's stitching blogs! Before-  After- It doesn't really look like I have done much more, but I have! I promise! At the weekend we went for a walk around the Christchurch central city. We try and do this every few months as it is always changing with buildings being demolished and even new ones just started being built. It has been nearly 2 years since the devastating earthquake and the central city is still a demolition zone and it's really amazing how nature takes over again, with some buildings being overgrown. The sad sight of the Christ Church Cathedral, due to be demolished (what is left of it) but we really want ...

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last update - but I have been very busy stitching in that time! BF was away in China so I got lots and lots of stitching time to myself. I worked on Tuscany Town, Beatrix Potter Sampler and a Christmas Stocking. Tuscany Town before- After- Slowly getting there! Next is a Beatrix Potter Sampler Before- After- I've done quite a bit on this particular one, so it's nearly finished! And finally the Christmas Stocking I love this stocking, I have made one before and it looks great made up. Well as you can see I have been very busy stitching (for me that is) but now that BF is back I don't get as much time to myself to stitch. Happy stitching! Michelle

Well some good progress on Tuscany Town, just filling in around the trees and also blue on the triangle borders. I'm slowly getting there Yipee!! Before- After- I have been sorting through my stash again and I am being a bit ruthless about what I am keeping and what I will sell off, mostly because I will never do half of it in 100 years! I'm sure most of you can relate to that! A couple of weekends ago we went away for a weekend to Hanmer Springs. Hamner is a beautiful sub alpine little town in North Canterbury with the best hot pools! temperatures ranging from a cool 21 degrees to 41 degrees! Far too hot for me, it's like sitting in a really hot bath with dozens of strangers! Anyway I don't like the really hot pools and tend to stick to the more "cooler" temperature of 28. We also went for a drive into the mountains to the Molesworth, which is New Zealand's largest  high country station covering an area of over 180,000 hectares. I won't bor...

Well that's not entirely true, I have done a bit more on Tuscany Town...but it was my birthday last Friday and I don't really like the idea of getting older so I just tend forget how old I am, but BF kindly put in my birthday card "happy 37th birthday" thank you very much!!! I told him it was a typo and he should fix it...he just laughed at me...LOL! Anyway I had a lovely weekend with lots of dinners and lunches out with family and friends. So here is my progress on Tuscany Town: Before- After- So I have finished all the little Italian trees and I have started on the squares in the corners, I am slowly getting there and I hope to finish it by March 2013 so I can enter it in the Oxford A & P show, which is the local agricultural show but also has a handcraft and cooking sections, so fingers crossed I will have it done by then. I also got myself a little birthday present- Are they not the prettiest shoes you have ever seen!!! they are very high and I am ...

Woo Hoo!! I have finished Nora Corbetts letter "M" Recommended Threads - Cresent Colours Mill Hill Beads 32-count Linen I have also been doing a bit on the Chatelaine "Tuscany Town" Before- After- It's coming along nicely and if I'm very good I may have it finished by the end of the year! LOL! Also a progress picture on the Enchantment of Winter Before- (stitching is upside down by the way - oops my bad...) After- Just started on the 1 over 1 and not really enjoying that! Unfortunately there is quite a bit of it. I have done a bit more on Mirabilia's "Goddess of Wisdom" Before- After- Thanks to DMC changing the colours slightly, some of the blue is a different shade from the parts I have already done. GRRRRRR Not sure what I am going to do about that yet.... I hope you have been enjoying the Olympics, most of the live coverage here in New Zealand is on during the small hours of the morning, thank goodness for the Mysky...

Sorry no photos in this post! I have been a really slack lately, but that's because I have had other distractions - like my new boyfriend! BF (boyfriend, cos I'm too lazy to type out the whole word) I met a bit over 3 weeks ago has been taking me away from my stitching, oh well, I am not complaining! He doesn't ride a road bike like me but does ride a mountain bike (it's a hard road finding the perfect man...LOL) and the funniest thing is that he lives just 200 metres away from me, so he has been here the whole time!!! He is such a lovely guy and wants the same things as me, so fingers crossed he's a keeper. On the stitching front, I haven't got much done, but I have been working on the Enchantment of Winter. I am trying to do a bit of the 1 over 1 and having problems seeing it! It's definitely not for the faint hearted! Does anybody have any tips on doing 1 over 1? I have done a little bit on the 1 over 1 and you have to be careful you don't pull th...