Finally a finish for the year!

Phew finally I find five minutes to be able to share with you all that I finished Maggie!!!!!  Yes finished.  At 12.02 am on the 6th of September!

Life has been so hectic since I finished that I haven't had time to share the news until now. My first finish since 2012 and what a finish!  The photo is not the best I was very bleary eyed at 12 am lol.

Maggie the Mess Maker - Dimensions Kit

Started March 2011 - Finished September 2014

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

Marvelous Maggie update.

Welcome to my  new followers,  I hope you enjoy reading my updates and I always look forward to hearing from you all :)

Would you believe I have been sitting on a Maggie update from the beginning of the month. How slack of me! So a quick update just to show you the latest  progress photo as there will be another one at the end of the month.  I spent all of July working on Maggie and have kept going for this month too.

Last update Maggie looked like this

As of the first of August she now looks like this

I have made a heap more progress since this photo and I am hoping I get all the stitching finished this month. Fingers crossed!

Don't forget this weekend coming is IHSW. It is suppose to rain here in Brisbane all weekend so it is a perfect weekend to sit and stitch! I am planning on doing a bit more on Twisted band sampler this weekend. 

Until after the weekend

Happy stitching everyone, 

Deb

Maggie the Mess Maker update

It's time for a Maggie update.  I have been working steadily on Maggie for well over a month and not following my normal rotation, this caused me to kind of hit a wall on Friday last week. I found I kept getting "lost" in a particular part of the chart and knew it was time for a change.
 I love many of the designs that come in the Dimensions range but I loath working with their charts.  In fact I have done two of their wizards in the past and took great delight in destroying the charts once I finished them as there was never a chance I would stitch them again!

I am now just under 3/4's of the way through Maggie and am hoping after some time this month on Taj Mahal I can get my Maggie mojo back as I would love to finish it this year.

On the weekend I put Taj Mahal Mandala Garden on a scroll frame and loaded it on my new K Creations large lap base.  Love it love it love it! It did take a little while to get used to after working with my hoop seat stand but it didn't take long at all to get back into using a scroll.  Now I have the perfect setup for all those many designs requiring beads. 

Happy Stitching everyone
Deb

May 2014 IHSW and recent stash enhancements

Another weekend of hermiting and stitching has passed. Boy they seem to go so fast and my best laid plans of not doing anything but stitching don't always go to plan.

Most of Saturday was a complete bust. I spent most of the day doing housework and de-cluttering. I seem to be spring cleaning in the wrong season seeing as it is Autumn here in Australia!

I did manage to pass away a few hours on Saturday night and Sunday day blissfully with needle and thread in hand and have made a good amount of progress on Maggie since my last up date. So here she now sits as of Sunday 18th May 2014.

I also started kitting up what could possibly be my next few starts .. once I finish at least 1 work in progress not before....but so tempting. 

I picked up my very first Just Nan chart recently off eBay -  Silver Needle http://www.justnan.com/jn024-silver-needle.html. I'm not normally a Just Nan fan, but this one speaks to me and I can see it hanging on the wall above my cross stitching chair. I'm planning to do the dmc version rather than kit it all out with the Soie d' Alger silks which would prove costly and I don't have many charts that call for these silks. 

I also purchased the digital chart for Passione Ricamo's Prosperity Fae, and ordered some hand dyed Jobelan fabric from Polstitches for this design. Can't wait to actually get a start on this one!

Happy stitching everyone, 

Deb

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My very late April 2014 IHSW update

It is so amazing some times how time gets away from you given I'm a week late with Aprils IHSW report.

So here goes a quick update. IHSW fell on a great weekend. Easter weekend which meant I did manage to find heaps of time to stitch. I certainly hope everyone had a good Easter with their families and got to hermit some what during the weekend.

All of April I have been working on Maggie the Mess Maker and below is my progress as of 23rd April

I have seen heaps of progress and enjoying a stitching groove on this piece at the moment so I am sticking with it and dropping my normal rotation on to Taj Mahal Garden Mandala until I either get sick of looking at Maggie or finish her which ever comes first. 

Just about to sign off for the night and do some stitching and remembered I saw this on face book tonight. Anyone know where you can get them from I so need this! 

Happy Stitching everyone, 

Deb

WIP's updates and its IHSW again yay!

I'm a bit behind in my Taj Mahal Garden Mandala  updates, and seeing as I get to rotate back on to Taj this weekend, there is no better time for a quick update.

I've almost finished part 3. Which means I will have part 3 finished and onto part 4 this weekend.  Notice there was no "should" in that sentence. Seeing as its IHSW **insert happy dancing here** I have major plans for nothing but stitching all weekend or at least most of it. For some reason the family does insist on me doing some housework,  plus the washing and ironing at some time over the weekend. Not to mention dinner on occasions. Maybe I should go on strike.. what do you think?

Ok here is Taj Mahal Garden Mandala at present. Progress photo as of the 2nd of March. Told you I was behind.

Now for Maggie. Heaps of progress made again and Maggie herself is starting to make an appearance.

DD number 2 asked me the other day why do I have more than one project going at once. I'm sure I heard a collective gasp from stitchers around the world that day! 

I explained that only having the two projects on the go at the moment was  better than my normal 10 or more. That I was trying to scale it down so I could get some finishes. 

But also that seeing as Maggie is so intense in colour changes at times and such a busy design I find it keeps my interest renewed every time I rotate back on to her after a week or so on Taj Mahal Garden Mandala. Not to mention it calms me from wanting to start new projects every few days! 

Officially I have 6 WIP started at the moment -  4 large, Maggie the Mess Maker, Taj Mahal Garden Mandala, The Sewing Room, and Fire Fly Fairies (not much stitches in this one) plus 2 smaller ones,  but only working on these two rotating every two weeks. Who's willing to fess up to how many WIP they have at the moment.?

Maggie the Mess Maker as of 21st March 2014.

Alas the hungry hordes will be wanting dinner soon. So I hope everyone who is participating has a good IHSW and gets to hermit like crazy. 

Happy stitching everyone

Deb 

Maggie the Mess Maker WIP update

I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms!   I have had such a busy week I have not been able to find any time to stitch since last Sunday. Every evening once all the errands and appointments after work have been done I have been way to tired to do anything but crash.
This means poor Maggie has been neglected so far for the start of the month. I am hoping for a quiet weekend so I can do some serious catch up. This is the latest progress photo as of 20th Feb just before I rotated on to Taj for the rest of Feb.

I'm rather enjoying my 2 project a month rotation at the moment. While I have so many screaming to start, (plus a few half finished) I am not listening to them.. so far lol. I am keeping to only two reasonably large projects and maybe a small carry anywhere project on the go at any one time.
This does not how ever stop me kitting up for the next start.. or the one after that or even the one after that! Stash enhancement.. just as therapeutic as stitching itself!

Happy stitching everyone
Deb

January 2014 IHSW

This weekend I took part in my very first IHSW. While I did not get to hermit and stitch as much as I wished I did get some time to myself on Sunday and managed to get quite a few hours stitching on Maggie the Mess Maker, my WIP for the week.

This is what it looked like before I rotated back onto this project on the 6th January.

And this is what it looks like as of the 20th. 

While never needing a reason to do nothing but sitting and stitching and watching the odd DVD or 3,  it certainly doesn't hurt to have an excuse like taking part in the IHSW. I'm  certainly looking  forward to next months!

Happy Stitching everyone

Deb