Mel's Sunday Update

Again with the stresses of work, the commute and internet mod duties I haven't done any stitching at home this week.

I did however do quite a bit of stitching on the train - an extraordinary amount when you consider I cat nap on most trips.  Friday was the worst  I had to be woken when the train was pulling into my stop in the morning and I woke myself just as it was pulling into my stop Friday night. First time  I ever almost missed my stop on the way home. Even more extraordinary when there were monster children screaming in my carriage and I could hear drunks further down in other carriages.  I was just exhausted Friday.

The weirdest part was after I came home and started chatting on the email and then watching Eerie Indiana I stayed up until 1am !!!   Eerie Indiana is a kids show I watched nearly 15 years ago now.  You know those times when you are so sick that for nearly a week you just lie on the lounge and don't move and nap and doze and eventually get up the energy to go and make another cup of tea?  I was home sick for one of those for about a week a while ago. Can't even remember where or when.  Anyway this show came on and I really liked it.  Watched a couple of episodes over the week and then went back to work.

I've never found it since although I have looked and looked for it.  Finally found it (and at a reasonable price) at http://www.fishpond.co.nz/  last week.  It arrived Friday and I watch 4 of the 40min long episodes that night.  I love this show !!!  Pity they only made 19 episodes.

At the same time I also finally got myself a copy of the TV miniseries Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.  I have read at least three different novelisations of this and again have been looking for a copy of the original TV version.  I will watch this later - its one of those you have to concentrate a bit on ....

Oh and of course as soon as I rung Stephen to let him know my good news, I discovered he had obtained a copy himself the day before and was planning on lending it to me.  (The amount of times this happens between the two of us alternately amuses and terrifies me).

Anyway stitching.

Jasper. 
All the cross stitching is now done. All that remains is the backstitching. I cannot backstitch over already stitched work on 16ct Aida on a train - so this one will go into the "wait till I get time at home pile". Goodness knows when I will actually get to it - there is a fair amount of backstitching on this one and I haven't stitched at home in weeks.

Something in Red.
Still don't know what I'm going to do with Black Beauty - probably order a new skein of GAST Black Crow and start again. I *think* I have more of this Ivory linen. Its not good quality linen but I do want these two to match - so on the same exact piece of fabric would be good. This is again train stitching with just a wee bit on Friday night ... No mistakes so far and I have finished the bottom half of the dress.

In other news, lots of chatting with my support network and dinner with my best friend last night has really cheered me up and lifted the malaise my emotion's have been under over the last couple of weeks so I am back to being happy.

Now just to force myself to work through the blue on black problem on BoInk and to write a job application.  I detest writing job applications. I wasted all day yesterday because of the procrastination.  I didn't want to write the application, but the guilt wouldn't let me do anything else until the app was written so I cleaned house a little, bought unnecessary items for the dinner party etc etc until 5pm when I finally forced myself to sit down and start the blasted thing - whereupon I realised I need more information.  I need more info on the software packages the organisation uses and the layout of the hierarchy etc etc.  So I will talk to the official contact person for the job on Monday and I will also find out any goss from people at work.  The University Library sector is so small that surely someone knows someone who works there ...

So today I am free from the guilt paralysation and I am determined (Oh I can't used that word without thinking of the Gruen Transfer now!  One of our banks has adopted the new slogan "determined to be different".  Wil Anderson asks "what would the bank say if I went in there and said yes I'm determined to pay of my mortgage".)

Anyway I'm determined to make progress son BoInk today.  and watch a little more Eerie Indiana ....

Oh and finally - my backyard is "finished".  I've uploaded pics into here.

Tales of Commuting Stitcher: Part the First

Well I discovered late this week, that yes I actually can stitch on the train on the way to and from work each day.  There are some limitations to be taken into account. Take small projects, on large stitch counts with lots of blocks of single colours. 

Don't even *think* about a BAP size or even a small TW!

I took Party Cat with me this week on the train - it is on 14 ct Aida and does indeed have large blocks of single colours.  You can see how much progress I did on Thursday and Friday in my blog.

Things I learned late this week:

• Progress is much slower than normal - but hey its progress right.
• Stitches aren't quite as even as usual -but well I'm not sure anyone else will notice.
• You can only stitch during the country part of the trip - once you hit the city limits, there are too many people.
• If you have a seat on your own and stitch with long threads, people tend to find other seats wherever possible before sitting next to you.
• Embroidery scissors fit well in an inside pocket of your overcoat.
• Don't drop your orts while wearing a black woollen overcoat.  The bright reds and blues stick to the coat and are very obvious when you get into work.
• You can sometimes attract nutters - one person sat next to me Thursday afternoon and started reading his bible, glancing across at my stitching and muttered about "heathen images" for the rest of the trip.  Or maybe that's just because it was psychedelic ...
• Always take spare needles - I've lost two this week already. Train lurches as I'm threading the needle and out it flies .... free, free at last .... wonder where they'll be found...

In other news I actually did some normal stitching at nights - not much some nights I fell asleep with the needle in hand without a single stitch being done - but I did manage to finish another motif on Hanky Psanky for Tracy.  I'll post a pic when I get the go-ahead from Tracy.

Well its almost bedtime - ready for a 5am start again tomorrow morning ....

{Post edited to include a reference to Hanky Pysanky now that Tracy has given permission for the pic to me shown .....}