No eyes!

Life has been very quiet at our house this week.   The HD3QBEM has had a nasty head cold but seems to be on the mend now -  at least she is back to being able to dry the evening dinner dishes:-)
However she managed to complete what we both call the bumblebee sweater and has added it to the pile of knitting which will eventually go to the Hospice Shop.  There are now five garments towards the total for next year.   39 is the number to beat and she seems on track to win.

While she has been busy, I have completed the roof of the Cottage Etui.   Well, almost.   That gaping gap in the middle is an eyelet but needs to be done after the interfacing is attached.   Apparently I drill a hole with my awl and make the eyelet then... we shall see how that works out.

Unfortunately dreams of constructing the pincushion and scissor fob came to naught but I have the ingredients ready and there is always next week.   Doesn't the Colourstreams Silk Ribbon match well?

I did manage to pick up my knitting needles and make a start on a pair of socks.   Before the HD3QBEM's sight completely gives out, I want to be guided through the intricacies of a turned heel and to cross off another item on my 'before 60' list.   During the winter I always wear hand knitted woolly socks inside knee high boots and the winter temperatures are here now and these socks need to be off the needles and on the feet.   So my needles this week have had no eyes :-)

Coincidentally Little Sis and Little Brother are both in town this weekend so the HD3QBEM will have company while I spend a day in the city centre.
I plan on a ferry trip across the harbour to the delightful second hand book store on Devonport Wharf, a saunter up the street to Cushla's Quilt Shop (she may have the paper hexie templates I am searching for) and in the afternoon attending several lectures at the Auckland Writers Festival.   I booked in to hear Alexander McCall Smith and Camilla Lackberg - one because I love all things Scottish, in particular Edinburgh, and I want to see in person the creator of Mma Ramotswe,  and the other because I enjoy the occasional foray into Scandanavian Noir.   I am looking forward to the lectures very much.  Listed like that the day sounds positively indulgent!
We had performance reviews at work this week -  mine on Thursday morning so I had most of the week to build up a solid knot of nervousness in the stomach region.   All went well and was amazingly positive so tomorrow I plan to spend a small portion of my bonus (reward) on a  tripod for my camera and thereby hopefully, be able to produce better selfies than the current versions which rely on my dim memories of physics for mirror reflection angles. And a tripod is another item on my 'before 60' list.
So that's the news from my house this week.

A quick catch-up

Only a  little progress to report this week.

This week I finished my target on Ring O Roses so she has been put to bed for a while and I have been stitching on my C A Wells Cottage Etui.   A little adapting here and there and I am happy enough with the finished result pale and delicate though it may be.

Actually the colour is not as pale and insipid as my photography.   The shades of the English Meadow floss are really quite pleasing.  The stitching is now done so that I can complete the scissor fob and the pin cushion - perhaps next week I will have the completed items to show as I need to get ribbon and wadding for the pincushion.  I did want to have a 'double monogram' with both M and S but couldn't find any alphabet like that in any of my books so gave up and settled for my usual M.   What difference will it make anyway as this piece will probably be discarded along with other pieces when my long suffering nephew sorts out my belongings one day.  Oh dear, how melancholy is that?   Fear not.   I am not depressed with dark thoughts-  merely telling myself not to get hung up on small details :-)
The plan for next week is to complete the other side of the roof - i.e.. the remainder of the alphabet and then the numbers.   After that it will be a temporary sayonara to the Cottage Etui and  hopefully on to construction of the Naxos Necessaire.   It was June 2013 when I went to the class for that Necessaire so I have promised myself it must be complete before 12 months are up but as they say "if wishes were horses,  beggars would ride."   There are too many variables in my life and indeed, too many other temptations also.

My diary - at least for the weekends -  is really full for the next six weeks but I was delighted to find that the Embroiderers Guilds Regional Day falls on the one free Saturday I have so I swiftly filled in that gap on the page.   I am looking forward to that immensely as it is always so inspiring to see what others are doing and to browse the merchants mall.

Little Brother is coming up to stay next weekend and both of us are looking forward to that.  Little Sister will be here the same weekend but she isn't staying.  There is only a certain amount of expansion room in a two bedroom apartment!   Perhaps I should invite Older Brother and we could have a family reunion?!   The HD3QBEM is full of anticipation and hoping that her health will cooperate.

Well that's all from me.  I have baked a Ginger Crunch Slice, some Chocolate Chip biscuits and a fruit loaf.   My busy schedule this weekend requires tight timetabling starting this evening.   Now it is time for my book -  I am hooked on a Katherine Neville book and lunch and tea breaks have been too short this week.   I shall read till I finish it tonight.

Night night everyone.

Everybody likes English Meadow!

Yesterday I took myself off to the LNS with my little list.   Did they have Silk N Colors English Meadow?   No.  What?   It is only four weeks since I bought a skein of that exact floss.   And now they have none?   Does everybody else like English Meadow?   Obviously.   I have emailed off to Sherelyn at Heirlooms to see if she can help before I attempt to extract one skein of floss from any on line overseas retailer.   My plans weren't totally thwarted but they sure were diverted.   I settled for a star frame instead of the circular one that was on my little list.   In fact the only item crossed off the list was DMC 535 -  so all in all a rather unsuccessful visit.
I did however complete this Christmas Ornament.   Originally stitched to go inside a Tim Holtz pocket fob, this was far too small and I have been searching for a small circular frame since.   Far from circular, this frame is perfectly satisfactory and another completed ornament for this year.

During the week I completed the base stitching on the lid of The Mermaid's Sea Chest.   I love this project but the over one stitching is hard on the eyes so I will mothball the piece and have a break for a month.
The "wood" looking panels have a pearl seed bead monogram in the centre panel and each side will be a bead anchor.

In April I didn't get to Embroiderers' Guild meeting so the Guild Project didn't get any further.  Last night I picked it up and completed the corner and all of page three.

Now I am working on the corner for page one and then will be one quarter of the way through.  

One third of the year gone and only one quarter of the project done?   I need to up my speed I think.
The HD3QBEM is not at all well this weekend so we are having a quiet time at home.   She is knitting what I call a bumble bee sweater (three guesses as to what colours the stripes are!) but her lack of energy means the knitting lies on her lap a lot.   Talking Books provide Sherlock Homes as background entertainment.   Our quiet times at home are quite fun!

Resolutions are made to be broken...

In my heart I am still a one project at a time girl but currently I have too many projects on the go.
My Guild project Ring O Roses,  easily becomes addictive in the week of Guild meetings and gets more attention than one day a month!

My main project The Mermaid Sea Chest, is a long term project so I have scheduled breaks.   At present I am working on the outside lid.   Once that is completed I plan on mothballing this project and starting picking up another.   Possibly next month?  

The planned "net-project" is C A Well's Cottage Etui which I started while away at Easter.   I will construct the fob and pincushion (yeah!   A trip to the LNS is needed to get appropriate ribbon) and hopefully complete the Cottage Roof before this too will be mothballed.

And the hexagons?   So far I have 148 tacked up.   Seems as if two of them must have a double up of the paper templates as I bought 150 of those.   Whatever, I need 262 for the runner so on the next trip to the LNS will get one more packet of templates and continue tacking up pretty little hexagons.

There are three Christmas ornaments stitched and requiring construction.   And the Naxos Necessaire needs to be constructed.   I have all the ingredients for that too, so no excuse.   Possibly at the next long holiday weekend in June?   But today I got my speed skates on and managed to finish one -  a small pillow which still needs a ribbon hanger.

See what I mean?   Too many projects on the go at once.   So I have vowed - no more succumbing to temptation.   I can admire the wonderful work of others but I must not covet!   I have knitting projects and dressmaking projects and a couple of requests from the HD3QBEM too so probably need to chart up dates and times like a true project manager would.   Oh dear, that sounds too much like a rotation for me.

This weekend I have promised myself a new dress for the winter and today I made a start on that - there is just the hand sewing to do immediately after I push the publish button on this:-)

And guess what.... while I was compiling this list and in the middle of my dressmaking, the HD3QBEM found three items of mending she required.   Truly, of making lists there is no end !  

What a weekend!

Easter - eggs, a holiday away and bad bad weather.
This year I received one egg only and I generously gave the calories to the HD3QBEM!   This small egg cup is a remnant of my childhood -  cute isn't it but eggs must have been bigger in those far off days!

We traveled down to Lake Taupo, through torrential rain and gale force winds and were most thankful to arrive safely.  

Our hotel was near the first geothermal power station in New Zealand.   We drove past the warning signs

and up to the look out.

The water needs to be cooled before it can be released back into the Waikato River and so a Prawn Park was established to use the water at one point in the cooling process.   They produce prawns of amazing sweetness and size and have a thriving restaurant and fishing establishment which appears to be on the must-do list for every tourist!   

I indulged in a Mud Wrap Thermal Spa and massage.   It was a wonderfully relaxing two hours and my skin feels super smooth still.

Good Friday we drove through to Rotorua, another city describing itself as a thermal wonderland.   In wet wet weather it merely smells of sulphur!   We did find this yarn bombed tree though.

And in between showers and excursions I found time to finish tacking up all the hexagon templates I have - 150 of them.   This isn't enough to complete the runner I want to make but as I only need another 50 or so I have decided I will start sewing these together and free up some templates to re-use.

Then I made a start on C A Wells Cottage Etui.   This is pretty and enjoyable but will now get put aside while I finish off my other projects.

I have stitched the pincushion/pinroll with its appropriate ends, the scissor fob and the lid of the cottage.   The satin stitch saw tooth border was easy compared to the cross stitch over one.   My aged eyes don't really like that too much but I am determined to persist.
Here's a closer shot.

And then on the way home my car mileage turned over to 100,000 kilometres.   Probably significant only to me but I wanted to record the event.   Unfortunately it all happened in a place where I couldn't stop and take a photo!
All in all we had a happy time away and both feel quite relaxed after the break.

What a day!

Today was a long and busy day but I mostly crossed everything off the To Do List and managed to clean the car as well!
This evening I have been busy stitching
A start to the Cottage Etui -  four sided stitches for the roof

My homework for Embroiderers Guild -  this is a representation of a New Zealand Pohutukawa, the tree that flowers in December.

and several hexagons

I need to have a minimum of this tin full to overflowing so there is long way to go yet.

Next weekend the HD3QBEM and I are going away for a few days to Taupo.   So far in reply to the question "what clothes are you going to take?" my answer is that I haven't thought about it.   Of course not.   I have been too busy planning what stitching and what books I am taking!!   But I have booked in to have a Thermal Mud Wrap and Massage so that should be fun.  My oh my, I am looking forward to a break away.

Three bags full...

Over one stitching doesn't grow very fast does it?   I love the colours of this Vintage Brown silk floss but feel as if I need a break before attempting the remaining two panels.   A small anchor, in pearl beads, will go over this completed panel.  Thanks to those who made suggestions for sourcing a simple anchor chart.   Currently I am working on the staves.

Somebody asked me who was the designer of The Mermaid's Sea Chest.   This was a teaching piece by Lauren Sauer and she kindly sent me the chart some years ago in response to my begging email request.   It has taken me some time to source a suitable substitute linen as I couldn't buy what she recommended but I am thoroughly enjoying this project.   However I admit to being a little wary of what looks to be complicated construction.

On Saturday the HD3QBEM and I have a long list of errands, at the top of which is the delivery to the Hospice Shop of her knitting for the past twelve months.   Three bags full!   Despite her valiant efforts, too many dropped stitches and sewing in of ends on coloured stripes used up time which would otherwise have allowed for the completion of the 40th garment.   I'm still awarding her an A triple plus though as even with her failing eyesight and ill health she managed to knit more than last year's total.

She wants a new pair of shoes for the winter so we shall visit her favourite shoe store also and then possibly indulge in a sushi lunch.   After that it is my turn for shoes,  and a new pair of jeans.   I'm wondering whether in all this there will be time for cooking, washing, grocery shopping, a hair cut and all the other weekend chores.   I'm planning to cut out fabric for a new winter dress and a pair of trousers too -  hopefully the hours will be elastic enough to allow for all of this :-)