Happy New Year

(Well, it will be in 1.75 hours)

Looking back, 2009 was good to me
- I got back into cross stitch in an obsessive and almost psychotic way
- I finally accepted that I couldn't just eat my mum's food and bum around. I'm now back in school with goals for the future!
- I started blogging and have met so many wonderful people *waves* *hugs* *sobs with gratitude*

I'm pretty sure 2010 will be good to me.

Usually for the New Year, I get a favourite old book, read while I wait for the hour, and then look up to see that it's 3 in the morning~ This year I'm going to listen to a good book and stitch the year in.

Happy New Year!

December Achievements & January Goals

Goals for December:
1. Finish the floss tag Done
2. Finish Christmas Angel Everything except some beads I'm still waiting for
3. Finish Bluebell Nope. Ran out of one colour so I have to go pick it up.
4. Stitch at least 20 hours on Ganesha Nope (Again!)
5. No new starts I was good until two days ago when I went insane and couldn't hold off for the last 3 days of the month

Other things I did that were unplanned:
1. Started Holly
2. Finished Think on These Things.

Goals for January:
1. Finish Holly
2. Start Legend of Dragons
3. Start Autumn Winds
4. Stitch a needlebook
5. Stitch a bag
6. Stitch at least 20 hours on Ganesha

Wrapping-up December worked pretty well. I didn't really finish anything other than Think on These Things. I got very close with Christmas Angel and Bluebell so I'm pretty happy with that.

Last HD of the year?

Possibly.



"Think on These Things" by My Big Toe.
Start date September 22, 2009
Finish date December 27, 2009
Fabric 28 count antique white something. It's stitched over one.
Total hours 30.75

This is just the right half. The left is your regular 123abc sampler and I don't care much for those.

That brown bit is some random dirt and not part of the design!

Actually this photo is just horrible. The green is not khaki-green. It's a very bright 369, and very subtle in person. I wanted the words to stand out, not the motifs around them.

I had everything except the top and bottom blue borders done. I didn't like what was charted and didn't really want to do it myself because I was convinced that I'd miscount it and muck it up horribly. Several pins, a pencil, an eraser, scrap paper, a calculator and lots and lots of counting later, I got the border to look symmetric and that itself is a mini dance!

I'm waffling between making a pinkeep or a bellpull...any suggestions?

Nearing Cloud Nine

Last progress on Christmas day~

Pre backstitch and beads:



And 17 hours of backstitch and beading later:



The green beads haven't arrived at my LNS and I ran out of the transparent ones so that will be later. I still have about 3 snowflakes to go.

I made quite a few changes
Some of the snowflakes are supposed to have grey centres but I didn't like it, so they're all transparent.
No halo because I think it looks better without.
No french knots because a)I hate them. b)It seems fine without.
No backstitch on the sleeves. I may go back and add that in.
I also used 002 instead of 102 for the inside of the wings.
Replaced the transparent beads in her earring with white ones.
Hmm, that's a lot more minor modifications than I thought!

Edit: I just realized that the white around her waist is missing it's beads. I'll just add those when I add the rest...

Other blogs

Now while I've tried to be good about stalking following folks that follow me I'm pretty sure that I've missed a few of you. Can't quite figure out how to find home blogs from the follower widget. So if you could take a quick peek to see if I do and if I don't, leave a comment and I'll get right on it.
Also if you have any that you really enjoy let me know. It's always fun to find new blogs. My future projects list is getting more ridiculous by the day.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

My last final was yesterday and I'm pretty sure that I aced them all. Admittedly almost everything was stuff I'd learnt previously, but still!

Anyway, I apparently left the light on when I borrowed my mum's car yesterday and the battery died. So today my dad and I used his car to jump start the other one. On the one hand I feel like a moron for forgetting the light. But on the positive side, I now have practical experience using jumper cables to boost a car!

Lastly a plug: Julie over at I'll Cross That Leg When I Get To It has posted pictures of her Christmas village. It's incredible! Go look.

Karyn's Giveaway

Karyn over at The Teakettle Corner is having an amazing New Year's Giveaway. Check it out

Angels weep

No, this title has nothing to do with carols, but it's probably quite true.

The most crushing part of my guilt:
I went from 18.5 hours to 50 hours on Christmas Angel.



All the cross stitching is done, except for that missing blue and a metallic where I managed to buy the completely wrong colour.

And because I'm lazy and want to get back to my audiobook, today's angel fact is a link to the insanity that is angel hierarchy.

A win

Adding to my guilt is the fact that I completely forgot to mention that I had won Nita's giveaway when I won it. It arrived on Friday.



Dimension's kit "Palm" which my mum has already demanded for her kitchen (why? no idea). And G.P.Taylor's "Shadowmancer" and "Wormwood".

My guilt is slightly lessened by the fact that I haven't started reading them yet. I have self-control. *pats shoulder smugly*

Crippling guilt

For the last few days I've been reading and commenting on blogs, but studiously avoiding my own because of a horrible sense of guilt.
Why?
I mentioned having finals (week of December 14).
I also have several assignments etc. due right before.
I have not been working on them.
Guess what I've been doing instead?

When I stitch I sometimes listen to music but usually listen to an audiobook. This is perfect because I feel doubly productive. Currently it just doubles my guilt.

I started listening to Jim Butcher's Codex Alera. Fantasy-stuff. Lots of cliches, but still so entertaining! It's a series of 6. I'm on book 3 right now. It's very gripping and I'm putting off studying to listen.

As a bonus I get a lot of stitching done. On the downside I can't do much else.

Item one: my first floss tag
Dragonfly fob from Cross Stitch Happy.
I used my own choice of bright blue and pale yellow to come up with this truly mutant insect.

Don't look at the edges too closely if you're obsessive-compulsive. There are little bits of fabric sticking out.
It was fun to make. But I don't like finishing small finicky things. I kept dropping it and had trouble getting the edges lined up and I think I went though the wrong backstitchs a few times and...wait, why am I saying that I had fun?

Success at last!

Actually, success was last week, but after dancing like a madman around my sofa I put it away carefully and forgot to take pictures.

What am I babbling about? Why this:



Ages ago (October to be precise) I mentioned that I was trying to make a patchwork bag which wasn't working out too well. Meari demanded pictures, I nodded my head, and ... didn't follow through (I'm sorry, but it's all done now~~~)

A short while ago, I whined about my Space Invaders having problems. A lot of people told me to buck up and take it like a man. (OK, no. They said that 3rd time's the charm and they were right!)

I went back to my patchwork and finished it~



The "S" in the middle is from Passione Ricamo's free Arabesque alphabet. It's on 18 count aida with two strands of black. The dimensions of the bag are 10.5" x 11/5" x 2.5"

It has a layer of heavy sew-in interfacing so it stands up by itself, even with the heavier-than-they-look handles. It has one pocket inside, which I placed a bit too low. I also cut the inside and the outside to the exact same dimensions, but when finished the lining is actually a tiny bit bigger, so it's a little loose on the inside. Next time I'm going to make the lining smaller, so that it fits properly. I forgot to take a picture of the inside, but it's the same fabric as the handle loops.The handles can be slid out of the loops so I can switch them onto another bag.

I haven't actually taken this out of the house. It's getting colder here, and I like to keep my gloved hands in my jacket pockets, so no handbags in winter. But when summer comes this will be going places!