WIP - Draco the Protector

Draco the Protector by Enchanting Lair Designs.

I first saw this chart at the Online Needlework Fair in Octboer 2010.

This was originally presented as a Mystery Start - Kay guessed correctly that it is Draco the Protector from enchanting Lair.

Now that I have a few stitches into him, he is simmering down

Mel's Sunday Update

Well I spent the majority of this week with a migraine, so not much output.  Also going back to work today so oh well, holidays are always fun while they last :)

One big personal milestone for me this week was making the final payment and closing the personal loan I have had for nearly 10 years.  The loan was first taken out to finance my car, one month before my marriage ended. Not the nest timing in hindsight. It's also been rejigged to cover various house moves, interstate moves, furniture acquisition etc, but now at long last it is gone from my life.  Now to pay back the interest-free loans and the credit card. The plan to be debt-free by October is working.

Also I have lost another kilogram (2 pounds) this week. So far, the diet and exercise are working; I'm not following any particular diet, just eating meat, veggies a little fruit, dairy and nuts. I've removed all processed food from my diet and combined with getting on the wii fit each day, this is working to the extent I need it to.

Another milestone was my first finish for the year.  The Britty Kitty piece annoyed me so much (Listen to Auntie Mel: NEVER put your pieces away with the mistake still in it, ALWAYS frog out your mistakes!) that I spent far too long in frogging and putting it right as it turned out there were multiple mistakes and in hindsight (glorious hindsight), it would have been easier and faster to have just started the project again!  Anyway once it was back in shipshape I decided to devote another day to it, and I finished it off. This project will plague me no longer!  The progress album is here and my 2011 Finishes album is here.

THe majority of this week, I was stitching on Rosanne's Round Robin.  Code named Big Blue Beast it certainly is big and has gorgeous blue/green floss choices.  I'll include a pic when I have more stitched on it.

While at Colours Down Under on Friday an order from a supplier than had been sent sea freight had finally landed.  So I bought a couple of charts and kitted them up there and then - so that was my splurge for paying off the loan.  No chatelaine's, just a couple of charts I admired from an Online Needlework Show last year,

One of them demanded to be started right away, so it now has a couple of stitches in.  I'm currently trying to smother it down the back of the lounge while I'm working to get the Round robin finished and onto the next person, but it's screaming loudly.  Anyway the floss toss is here in case anyone would like to guess what it is :)

Big News for Colours Down Under

See here for the details: http://www.coloursdownunder.com.au/shop/tree-change-sea-change-a11.html

2011 Finishes

Draco the Protector
by Enchanting Lair Designs

THreads and fabric as recommended for chart:
Belle Soie - Cranberry
Dinky Dyes - Nabilla
Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid - PB39 New Copper
Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid - PB29 Burgundy

Fabric is 28ct Cashel Linen "Seafoam" by Enchanting Lair.

Started: 7 Feb 2011
Finished: 17 Feb 2011

Phot o was taken in direct sunlight to try and pickup the metallic highlights in the border and in the dragon's belly scales.

Items I finish stitching in 2011. We wont mention the start dates for some of these ....

The long dormant frog plague

This morning, after dropping mum off at the airport, I thought I would put a couple of stitches into this project before I got on with my day.

This is a Britty Kitty project I started but for some reason never finished while I was commuting on the train a few years ago now.

I started stitching away and discovered that the stitching wouldn't line up.  I frogged my stitching and went back a few more rows until the mistake was obvious and then put it all back in again.

And it still would not line up.  I took all of it back out, frogged a few more rows again, and put it all back in.

It still didn't line up.  I frogged all of it, and then kept frogging until I had taken out three quarters of the design.  Then I sat and stitched it all up.  And as can be seen, the cat is stitched. At 5:30pm this afternoon.

Not quite the day I had planned.  And definitely reminded me why I usually insist that I frog *before* I put a piece away so it doesn't contain mistakes to trap me next time.

Well this is what being on holidays is all about, right?

EDITED to add: Well I found the album for this WIP and um ooops now I know why I didn't finish it now .... oh well .... {surreptitiously sidles off the stage}

Mel's Sunday Update on Monday

Firefox has crashed taking a fully written blog draft with it twice.  If it crashes again, no more blog!

News from this week:

Mum has headed home today.  As per usual it feels all too soon, we both enjoy each others company and both enjoy being on holidays :)  However in amongst the burning issues of warcraft, soap making and whether to eat breakfast or brunch, we did manage to get some stitching time in.

Mystery Start 1 was correctly identified by Shawn and Kay as Bright Idea by Inkcircles. I'm amused that so many people guessed it was an Inkcircles chart straight off. Are Tracy's designs that unique or is she that known as my favourite designer? Or is it that she is also a favourite designer of those doing the guessing? I've included an updated pic of the project here.  This project will now be set aside until the remaining threads arrive from Carrie.  Unfortunately Carrie's family all have the lurgy, so she has my deepest sympathies!

Mystery Start 2 was, surprisingly, not identified. Hint: It is not a Dinky Dyes design, but it is from another of my favourite designers ...  I did put a few stitches into this one, but not enough to help with identification. Update pic here.

I also stitched the first part of Abi Gurden's SAL over on the Stitch Specialists group. Part one was cross stitching on evenweave/linen.  I have already stitched on these fabrics a fair amount, so this was a quick stitch for me.  Update pic here.  Can't wait for the next part in a fortnight's time.

Also this weekend I found floss for rosanne and a chart for Julie, so my stitcher's karma has received a boost :)

However, like all good week's there was one down patch this morning.  While hunting for the threads & chart I stumbled over a project I was working on years ago as part of my train commute.  It's a small project, so I figured I could get some more stitches into it before spending the rest of the week on Rosanne's RR piece.

I really really really hate it when I get an attack of the frogs and put the piece away without unpicking it.  {grrrrr}  Well I've found the mistake now, and un-stitched all I've done this morning,  I'll fix the mistake before putting it away this time!

Finally this week's photo is of my two cats.  They don't get along so pictures like this are rare.  I call this one "Trubs is too hot & tired to growl at Abby for the temerity of eating at her own food dish"

Soap making

Well I just made my first soap batch in a few years.  As it has been quite a while since I last made soap, I made a very simple batch with full water etc etc, no shortcuts or fancy footwork :)

So the recipe I made up was:

250gm olive oil
250gm lard
250gm coconut oil (Copha)
250 gm rice bran oil
138gm caustic soda (lye)
365ml water
25ml Brambleberry Ginger Orange

This traced quicker than I expected so it was a thick pour, in fact the last few moulds were glopped in rather than poured. Made 14 full bars.  Will add photo when the soaps are unmoulded.

Edited to include a link to the fragrance description.

Mel's Sunday Update

Well I'm sure it's Sunday still somewhere in the world - say US Pacific time :)

This week was a great stitching week for me.  As can be seen above, I have finished Kay's RR and that is off in the mail this afternoon to Sisu.

Next up in the Round Robin is Rosanne's Big Blue Beast.  However with mum visiting we spent the last couple of days playing with floss and fabric and using my stash we kitted up a few new projects.  So of course, we had to put some stitches into the new projects to see how it would all look.

So my new starts are Mystery Start 1 and Mystery Start 2.  Can you guess which design and who the designer is for each start?

I also selected fabric and thread for a new SAL I'm joining on the Stitch Specialists group.

We also did lots of floss tosses for projects for mum - but I'll let her talk about those on her blog soon.

SAL - Stitch Specialists

French Knots
Stitched 20 Feb 2011

Photo was taken out in the sunlight, so it shows the colours of the fabric better :)

THis is a specialty stitch stitch-a-long run by Abi Gurden in the Stitch Specialists group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheStitchSpecialists/

WIP - Mystery Start 2

Floss Toss 9 January 2011.

Second mystery start. I figure most people would guess from the floss toss. If not, I'll put up a WIP picture in a few days time.

The Dinky Dyes threads are recommended. I've included the Eterna black instead of DMC black and the fabric is again a slight variation.

WIP - Bright Idea

9 January 2011

OK joining in the fun. Here's a new start. I'm using the recommended floss, but the fabric is a variation ( similar but different shade).

Everyone guessed this was an Inkcircles chart.
Shawn and Kay guessed it was Bright Idea by Inkcircles.

2009 - 2010 Round Robin

I was lucky enough to be the first person to stitch on Julie's RR, Alchemical Romance by Inkcircles. I stitched the nine symbols in the centre of the design. All these nine symbols represent gold - so each was stitched in a separate shade of gold. Also each was stitched in a different medium; cotton, silk, wool and a variety of differing metallics. I had a LOT of fun stitching this one!

I'm in a seven person round robin. Here is my progress on each person's piece.

Mel's Sunday Update

OK it's the first Sunday for the year and I'm starting as I mean to go on.

Here's my progress on Kay's Round Robin. I'm behind on this RR but I've made all of this progress in the past few days so I think this is a good start to the year.

Stitching Related Goals for 2011

Yep, even with 2010 being what it was, I'm still making some goals for 2011.  Admittedly these aren't life-consuming stressful goals.

• Keep up with my stitching commitments and not commit to anything else until I complete the commitments I have. This is where I am letting others down as well as myself. Kay's RR is being worked on now, and Rosanne's (which is due to be posted in Feb) is already here.  Also I have shamefully long overdue stitching to be done for Laura and Hilary. 

• Stitch and finish Mariann's birthday present. A couple of years ago Mariann specially made up for me instructions and a kit to start Hardanger or drawn thread work. There is now a person coming to the Colours Down Under friday night sessions who does a lot of this stuff and has agreed to help all of us through starting with hardanger and drawn thread.  My project for this get-together will be Mariann's Birthday present.

• Decide to either fully join in BAPXS and other stitching groups again, or to leave. This half-assed crap that I'm doing with yahoogroups is not conducive to anything productive. On a related note - is anyone interested in taking over the Wednesday Wobble as I've really let that aspect down too.

• Finish presents I have started for other people. i'm thinking here mainly of Wild Thing for Alison and Ash for Kim, but I'm sure there are a few others buried deep in the WIP pile.

• Finish at least one Chatelaine project.  This will most likely be Midi Mystery 1 or Mystery IX but I have a few others kitted up so you never know.

• Start and finish at least two new projects, one from Inkcircles and one from Cross Eyed Kat.  I have the projects in mind, I just have to rummage through my stash to *find* the charts, threads and fabric.
  

2010 - It's finally over!

The Ugly

• Discovered I have a non-cancerous brain tumor.  I have called him George.
• Also acquired a debilitating migraine. I call him Bruce, because he alternates as Bruce the mild-mannered headache and The Hulk Migraine that smashes everything in its way. He has been with me continually since the last week of March.
  

The Bad

• When I moved into my little home here Stephen was supposed to couch surf for a few days. That extended into a couple of months.
• Discovered Trubs has kidney disease as well as debilitating arthritis
• Continuation of crap newbie supervisor who panicked every time I breathed.

The Good
Mostly this centres around reduction or abatement of the above.

• Changed supervisor to an experienced person who has earned my respect and respects me and my work
  
• Trubs health is being managed and we are back to talking hopefully years instead of weeks
• Due to meds, stress reduction and long periods of time on my own, the migraine is more often Bruce and less often The Hulk

Hobbies?
In the stitching world, well that all came to a screaming halt due to stress and migraine. So very very little stitching got accomplished this year.  The good news is that I have started again and am halfway through Kay's RR and it should go off to Sisu within the week.  As well as mostly regaining my eyesight to stitch, I've also regained my enthusiasm for it so hopefully 2011 will be better.


2011?

• I know that with my health and work situation in 2010 I did not keep up with my commitments, I whinged too much and I lost friends.
• I hope to be a better person and a better friend to others in 2011.