Wipocalypse - January

Well here we have a new year and hopefully....on my part.....a newly envigorated blog.  Got a bit sidetracked at the end of last year with all the Christmas stuff and just got tired...as if the year was taking its toll....Anyway few days off....and a lovely family Christmas and the warm weather returning to Sydney after weeks of rain.....I am ready for another year.  And Wipocalypse.  I have not made a list but I have it in my head....so here is my first post for the year.  I have made progress on Golden Wood (the reason for this blog) and that is going to be my first entry in Wipocalypse.

Have also finished a couple of quilts.  One for my stepdaughter Tina and one for me which had been around for years as a top.  The  Flying Geese started life as a jelly roll which my daughter Bee bought at a quilt show.  Rather surprisingly she offered to take me to the show and she got sucked in by the lovely jelly roll.  She used to stitch when she was little and I have hopes that her craft side will spring back to life (she is now nearly 20 and it does not seem to be cool to stitch) but I have faith that it will rise to the surface again at some stage....it is in her blood, my mother and grandmother and I are (and were) addicted to craft -- so I say "Blood will out".  When Bee bought the jelly roll she said she would make something for Tina and I swore that I would not do it for her.....well you know how that went.  After the jelly roll sat in my sewing room for nearly 18 months I capitulated and made this quilt...just got it finished in time for Christmas...........

The trouble with making a quilt as a present, by the end of the process you want to keep it for yourself....I particularly loved this selection of fabric.....oh well!


So to all who happen upon this blog and read, may we all have a positive and creative New Year and may we all be able to throw off the sorrows and difficulties of last year (if we had them) and start afresh.

So Close to Finishing I Can SMELL IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When the Crafty Princess (God Bless Her) got me back into cross stitching and I started Golden Wood could not realistically imagine finishing anything (least of all Golden Wood) - Golden Wood has been on hold as I wanted to finish the Wedding Sampler and BLOW ME DOWN - I can actually see the end.  All the detailed stuff in the middle is finished and the border is pretty nearly there.....a big bit of fudging had to be done as I had to dodgey up the border when I made my original mistake....have had to add some stitches.....and as my head is not one that easily gets itself around mathematical numerical things there was also a bit of unpicking.....but I am hoping that all the border lines and all the flowery vines will meet up at the bottom right hand corner.....stay tuned should meet up sometime today....if I can drag myself away from the computer....then all I have to do is finish all the flowers along the vine, and they are quite quick.

I had a bad day a couple of weeks ago, where I had a horrible thought that because I had stitched the date on the sampler something fatal would happen to my husband and the sampler would be a tragic and ironic waste of time.  Roll on 12 October - anything can happen after that.....OH AM I A BAD WIFE OR WHAT.....having said that now, a plane will drop on me when I am out walking or something.....should this happen Crafty Princess I would like you to update this blog with a final post - thanks lovie

Look at that vine creeping around the bottom - cannot decide if the big birds are peacocks or turkeys??



HAPPY MAY DAY EVERYONE

Slow Stroll through the Woods of Gold

Have to say that stitching keeps me sane.....home life does weigh heavy upon me on occasions....(only occasions).....too many things to do and to think and to organise, and not enough time to do them.....but when it gets too much I escape upstairs to the very small sewing room that I made out of the walk-in wardrobe....turn on the ipod and have an audiobook read to me and sew.....and it is good for recharging.

Have not done as much as I intended last month...but then never do....but the sampler is looking good, and I will really have to get it finished this year because I have stitched in the date (2011) - not to mention our anniversary date.  I am reasonably confident it will be done before 12 Oct.

And the stroll through the Woods has slowed....mainly because I left my thread box at work for 6 days....I was a bit concerned at one point that one of the loons at work would throw it out in disgust at someone who does craft rather than the mindless computer games they play endlessly for 12 hours....but it was safe in my pigeon hole and I could stop worrying about replacing about $100 worth of thread.....nearly up to starting the sixth page....wahooooooooo!!!only a gazillion to go.

 

Hope everyone has a great April and you all enjoy Easter in your own ways...rabbits, eggs, peace and quiet, public holidays.....whatever.....and that you all get a chance to do a lot of quiet stitching, and maybe some of us will finish something.   I have a quilt that just needs the binding handsewn...so there is a chance that that will get done...all those chocolate eggs will energise me!!!

New Year - the leaves of Golden Wood are thinning - SLIGHTLY

Happy New Year all web crafters who may stumble upon this blog....best wishes to you all.

Golden Wood is going along reasonably well....have been at work a fair bit recently so have progressed fairly quickly.  Have finished both pages 1 & 2 - it is a great feeling tearing up the photocopied version of the pages - all covered in highlighter pen - and chucking it ceremoniously in the bin.  Ta Dah and then do a little dance!!!!!  I have got a little sick of fluro yellow highlighter - have just decided to change to pink (sorry Princess) for 2011 - or maybe multicoloured

Wahoooooo can almost see The Wood for the Trees

Wahoooooo the trees are starting to appear!!

Slowly getting out of the Trees of Golden Wood

Well it is as close to December as you can get so here is the picture of my progress for this month.  Thank God I go to work wouldn't get anything done other wise.  After much effort I have completely finished the first page and took great delight in ripping up the chart for page one - all coloured out in fluro highlighter.  Tore it into a million pieces and tossed it in the bin at work.  EXCELLENT feeling it was....only 18 pages to go.  I am being more organised about how I stitch from now on...no matter how carefully you count you still make mistakes and when you come to fill in other colours they are never in the same places as they were before.  Also I have noticed no matter how carefully you check each 10x10 block of stitches for individual symbols, and no matter how sure you are that you have done all of that symbol in each square, when you thread a new colour and stitch a few stitches.....SURE ENOUGH.....there is another of the last bloody symbols you were doing.....I'm sure the chart changes itself when you are not looking.  Anyway as I am approaching one of the fairies have to be more careful now with correct stitch and colour placement, otherwise the fairies will have eyes where there noses are and ears on their chins.....not a good look. 

"Do you have a Plan!!?"

Just like the Crafty Princess I have formulated a plan ("What another one!!" I hear you all say) Yes, yet another plan. I am gradually going to go through all my pictures from England/Scotland and post them and then tell the story of them so do a travel blog thingy and record my trip, before I actually forget what they all were. I may even include my emails that I sent home....some of which were quite funny.

That is plan number one. The other plan is to record the progress of the Golden Wood cross stitch that the Crafty Princess and I have started, and hope to complete sometime in our present lifetimes.

Had taken a picture at the end of the first month of stitching but somehow when I tried to upload it to my computer the damn thing ate all the stuff on the memory stick....which I might add included pictures of Spud's 93rd Birthday (for anyone not in the know who may be reading this - Spud is my ancient father-in-law).
Anyway have taken another photo of Golden Woods progress and it looks quite good in the photo - more definition in the picture than in real life....figure that if you can