Wood Sprites and Gingerbread Houses

This is my wood sprite. He makes things grow and looks after the garden, or at least he will do from next spring onwards. He's only a few weeks old and is still a little bit too vulnerable to be left out in the December frost. Until then he will be wintering on my mantelpiece, where it's safe and warm, and wherer everyone can admire him properly.

He doesn't have a name. He's a wood sprite - they don't believe in names.

And here is my finished gingerbread house for tomorrow's 'event' in the office. Apparently my house is too 'plain'. I disagree - I like it just the way it is (and besides, I've ran out of royal icing and the sweets just won't stick on with plain glycerine).

(I had a bit of a Photoshop moment with the sky there - I don't know whether your noticed. I didn't feel the kitchen cupboard was the right sort of background for my gingerbread house.)

Since this photo was taken, a car has been added which is brilliantly cute - a bit like Noddy's car except with Liquorice Allsorts for wheels, a chocolate button for a steering wheel and two Jelly Tots for headlamps.

Taking it into work tomorrow will be interesting, it's on a very large and slightly wobbly board. I'm torn between wanting somebody to help me take it into the building, and being a little bit ashamed of being seen...

I'm really looking forward to sseing everyone elses though - I've had a sneaky preview of a couple of them, and they're awesome - they completely put mine to shame! I will take photos to show you.

The first ever Cross Stitch Patterns Blog Carnival is now up at crossstitch4free.com, and my red mushroom is one of the ones up there. There are only a few patterns up this time, but I hope it will grow, as it could be a great resource for stitchers.

Speaking of cross stitch - here's a quick update of my current WIP - she's coming along, but I'm afraid I've abandoned all hope of getting her finished in time for Christmas!

A new free cross stitch pattern

Ok, maybe it's not 'properly' new - but there is now a green version of the free downloadable Mario Mushroom cross stitch pattern available to download (over on the right, there).

I have created and posted it response to a request via etsy from Rachel (Hi, Rachel!).

A request! Can you believe it? I'm so chuffed... :o)

I will probably expand the collection with a blue one and/or a yellow one in the following weeks, depending on time and stuff.

The First Annual Office Ikea Gingerbread House Decorating Competition

I am becoming a tiny bit obsessed with my pottery at the moment - and I'm loving it! I'm afraid I still don't have much to show off, as I have several projects in different stages of construction / firing / glazing in the studio, and many of the pieces I have thrown on the wheel seem to have wanted to collapse while drying - or else I've pushed them too far on the wheel and had to duck as thick strips of clay fly off the pot and across the room.

I have completed my first cake stand through, and I love it despite (or because of?) its imperfections. I haven't brought it home yet to photograph because I wanted to show it off in my Tuesday class first.

I do have a small collection of thrown items sitting on my mantlepiece at the moment that have been biscuit fired and that I want to sand down and tidy up before glazing on Tuesday, so here is a picture of those...

As you can see, I'm not yet what you would describe as a 'skilled' potter, (what with wonky bases, wibbly edges and all...) but I'm having the best fun learning.

I haven't done much cross stitch this last week, although I did do a fair bit in the week previous, so she's starting to shape up now. I'll try to do more this week, as I'm keen to have it finished and frames in plenty of time for Christmas.

And in other news - we're having an 'Ikea Gingerbread House Decorating Competition' in the office this Christmas (well, on December 8th to be exact). The only rules are that only one Ikea Gingerbread House may be used (no supplementing it with other packs to build extensions and turrets!), and all decorations must be edible (with the exception of supporting devices such as cocktail sticks).

Not that I'm getting at all carried away with this idea, but I've already bought two kits to practise with, and have already completed a basic build on the first house. I've learnt some important lessons on construction (e.g. using a piping bag to control the icing is much more effective than a teaspoon and fingers), and have glazed each window with a different colour boiled sweet (you melt them for a few minutes in the oven) so I can choose my favourite for the final piece.

I agree that it's a bit dull-looking at the moment, but that's because I haven't begun to stick on the sweeties yet. I have to wait for the icing to fully dry before weighing the roof down with dolly mixtures, otherwise I may be faced with a collapse. I know that the window outline icing is a bit poor - I have no excuse for that, I'll try to do beter next time. I hope to be able to start sticking some decorations on tomorrow afternoon after my ice skating lesson.

Oh yes, haven't I mentioned? I'm starting a 6 week course of ice skating lessons tomorrow. I can't wait! (Jiggling around excitedly in my seat).

Loupe

One of my most recent, most amusing and most useful ebay purchases has been a clip-on jeweller's loupe, consisting of two magnifying glasses on swivelling arms which clip onto my specs.

I love them because they make me look like Icabod whatsit from Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp's character in the film), and they've proven really useful for those times when the tiny, dense stitches in my cross stitch have been too much for me to cope with and I've been unable to find the next hole for my needle.



I don't think I'd recommed them for continued, prolonged use though - that would make you a bit squiffy-eyed.

Stitch-aholic!

I can't help it! I don't seem to be able to stop stitching...

My first was a mini-project, to stitch up one of the patterns I have for sale at Etsy, both to show it stitched up and to sell the panel itself (it's getting closer to Halloween, after all - somebody might fancy it). I gotta say - it was really quick to stitch up, it only took a couple of evenings and (if I do say so myself) it looks quite good.

I haven't put the finished panel up on Esty to sell yet, I'll have to get it pressed and take some decent photos to do that this week.


And just as I was finishing the pumpkin, lovely Mr. Postman delivered my ebay purchase of 28-count evenweave and a load (100 skeins!) of DMC. Just in time for me to get started on my next project - a portrait of Lil' Big Eyes, stitched 1x1 with 1 strand of DMC on the evenweave. It's to fit in an already-purchased photo frame, and I hope it will be fantastic.


I haven't really been able to put it down this weekend, but I'm thrilled with the progress. And look how tiny the stitches are! They're less than 1mm across!

I'm not sure how much time I'll have for stitching this week - we've increased pottery classes to twice a week (I will post photos as soon as some stuff's been fired), and I will be starting French evening classes this week, too. I've also agreed to convert a photo to a cross stitch pattern for somebody on Ravelry, but I'm going to have to spend a bit of time tweaking the photo first, because it keeps coming out too dark.

Hmmm..... Busy busy busy..... I couldn't be happier!

A day off

I had a day off work today to make up for my Saturday being taken over by work (boo - work!), and spend the day clothes shopping (yaay - shopping), going to the dentist (!) and finishing this little cross stitch...

Isn't it cute! It's my little Nintendo/Mario cross stitch pattern. I will update the pattern to put the cross stitch photo on the cover. I reckon I'll put this panel up on Etsy to sell, though - as I don't have any use for it now that I've finished stitching it.

Wow - it's been nearly two months since I blogged!

I have intended to blog, but the longer I've left it, the harder it's been to come back - kind of like if you haven't done your homework for an evening class...

We've had a couple of birthdays since my last entry. We went to Londong for my 33rd in August, went to see Spamalot and Avenue Q in the West End, met up with some friends, and did the whole tourist thing, it was lovely.

J lost me for quite some time in the embroidery section at the V&A museum - I took loads of photos for reference which was a bit difficult in subdued lighting without a tripod, but I coped by bracing myself against frames of embroidery and holding my breath for the long exposure times. I absolutely feel head-over-heels with one piece of embroidery, a detail of which is below.

A couple of weeks after my birthday was lovely J's birthday, we went exploring the west Wales coast in the camper van. The weather was a little bit less than ideal, but we had a fabulous time, and I would definitely go again. Here is a picture of Molly, on the dashboard, watching the rain at Aberystwyth sea-front.

Our gifts for each other were the holidays (hotels, camp sites, meals, etc.), but I couldn't resist making a little present to give him on the day...

Craft and hobbies-wise, I'm afraid I have nothing much to report. I've returned to a boring pair of brown socks which I've been knitting for over a year and which I WILL finish before the end of the month (I've nearly finished sock #1 as I type). After that I want to finish the green bag and a cross stitch of my mushroom pattern (there's a link to the free download on the top right on my blog), which I haven't touched since I discovered a mistake in my counting. Silly me.

Tomorrow is the start of a new term of evening classes, and the return to pottery. Yay! This term I will get good at working on the wheel, and I will make cake stands.

House-selling frustrations

Weeks ago, probably about 4 or 5 weeks by now, I accepted an offer on my house. I don't think I blogged it at the time, for fear of jinxing the sale.

Time has passed, and we're no nearer completing the sale. The buyer has been having trouble getting a mortgage. There had been a mark on his credit record from a late payment on a mobile phone bill, which has apparently now been sorted out with Experian, but it seems he still doesn't have his finances fully in place, and we haven't heard anything about a surveyor coming round to value the property. I'm getting worried - the longer it goes on, the greater the chances he'll pull out of the sale regardless of whether he gets a mortgage agreed.

Aaaargh!

On the plus side, we spent yesterday at Lovely J's house. We mooched around the house, garden and the neighbourhood. We went for a walk round some of the villages, had a very nice meal out in a local chinese, and sat in the conservatory with some music playing to enjoy the last of the day's sunshine as I carried on with my stitching. I gotta tell you, I can't wait til my house is sold and we can move in to his!

Here is my cross stitch as it was yesterday afternoon. Nearly there! If I keep at it I might be able to prepare it for framing by the end of next weekend....

Some sums...

This morning I timed myself doing a short row of cross stitch. I didn't rush, and I didn't dawdle, I just wanted a fairly accurate idea of how long the stitching takes.

I took 5 minutes, 35 seconds to complete one row of 20 stitches. This averages out at 16.75 seconds per complete cross stitch (both directions).

My Kewpie pattern measures 200 x 166 stitches. A total of 41,500 stitches.

On that basis, it would take me 695,125 seconds to stitch the entire pattern. (193 hours, 5 minutes and 25 seconds).

This estimation doesn't take account of the additional time needed to thread needles, bind off thread, count, un-pick and re-stitch, swear and re-count, un-tangle thread, etc. With this in mind, I have rounded the figure up to a very reasonable 220 hours.

If we were to consider a working week is 37.5 hours, it would take a couple of hours shy of 6 working weeks to complete the pattern.

Considering that the minimum wage in the UK is currently £5.52/hour, it would cost £1,242 in minimum wage man-hours to stitch this pattern (not including the purchase of materials, etc).

For the benefit of my American readership (I know you're out there - Google Analytics tells me so!) - this is US $2,462.89 at today's exchange rate.


Wow. I dread to think how much that would work out as on my actual salary. :oS

French, Kewpie and photos

This week I am taking French lessons. I'm doing a 2 week french conversation summer school at the university, 3 hours a night, 3 nights a week for two weeks. So far I've had two classes, and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm finding it much easier and much less stressful than Japanese!

The end of my mammoth Kewpie cross stitch is in sight! Nearly. I have a lot of stitching ahead of me , still - but, look....



See! I'm definitely getting there!

Also - d'you remember a while back I mentioned that some Schamp, an online travel guide, was considering using one of my pics? Well, they did. You can see it here - mine's one of the pics of Blenheim Palace.

How awesome is that? But wait - it gets better... I had another email from them, letting me know that they're considering including another of my pics. Yay me! It's this one of Barry Island...

(Doesn't Barry Island look lovely!)

Felting, Moos and Stitches

Quite a photo-heavy post today, I'm afraid. But not very many words, I have too much stitching to do!

I went to a felting class on Tuesday. It was brilliant fun, but was only an one-off class. I hope there will be more classes, but in the meantime I might have to try to teach myself. Because it was the best fun ever.

I made this...

Which would have been a bag, but we were running out of time, so it's just a spiral-y swatch. And I made this...

Which would be a bangle if it wasn't so big (I put the biro in the picture to show its scale). Apparently, if I continue to felt it it should shrink some more. I might do that over the weekend. And if I don't, or if it refuses to shrink further, then it was obviously always inteded to be this size, was never supposed to be a bangle - any fool could see that it's a bag handle.

When I renewed my Flickr Pro account, I was offered 10 free moo cards. They've arrived. I think they're fantastic. I want more moo cards. I'm just not sure what I'd do with them. Calling cards? I don't visit enough people to need any. Business cards? I don't have a business. As toppers on greetings cards? Perhaps, but I don't make a huge amount of them.

I might just have to have a box-full just because I like them.

And I've picked up the Kewpie cross stitch again. I've done loads over the past couple of evenings, but it probably wouldn't look like a huge amount - so I present to you some detail shots instead of the usual progress pics. Just for a change.

(A strawberry in the shade)

(An eye).

So much to do...

I feel I've become very slack recently, both with my blogging and my crafting... So this morning I'm forcing myself to make a public note of where I am, what I've been up to, and what I want to do.

I am full of good intentions regarding finishing my unfinished - but newer, younger and shinier projects and activities keep attracting my attention. I am an activities / crafting / hobbies tart. I don't think I can help it. The best I can do is recognise my weaknesses and try to mitigate for them... or something.

The main work in progress is The Cross Stitch. It could have been long finished if I'd have continued with the same enthusiam that I had when I started. Of course, that level of dedication isn't really sustainable, and may have had detrimental long-term implications on the health of my neck, back and shoulders, my eyesight, and my relationship. But I haven't abandoned it. Here it is as of this morning, you'll notice that not much has really changed since my last post. But it will. For the coming week I pledge to dedicate a portion of time to the stitching every day.

(Edit: I pledge to try to dedicate a portion of time to the stitching every day.)

I'm afraid I have many, many hours of stitching ahead of me! :o)

Also above, is the bag I blogged about last week. It's getting there, but I'm caught in a cycle of knit/frog with the handles, which aren't quite working out for me. I want a cable pattern running the length of the handles, but I haven't settled on a pattern and width that I'm happy with yet. I may have another go at that this evening...

Below is my first attempt at embroidery. It isn't very even, elegant or refined, but I have an excuse already prepared - I didn't want to iron the vintage iron-on pattern my mum gave me, so I very cleverly traced it using and iron-transfer pencil, but I can't have pressed hard enough with the pencil because the transferred image is the faintest purple line I have ever seen in my life. Don't believe me? See for yourself! I was spending more time squinting for the line than concentrating on even stitches.

However, despite this, I am secretly a tiny bit pleased, and am even happier again that I've cracked the french knot, which has eluded me since childhood. Apparently it's all in the twist. No pic of my French Knots here today, though, sorry...

The next embroidery will, I hope, be a little bit less clumsy, and I will show it proudly on this blog as and when it is stitched.

Moving away from fabric and yarn for a moment... we went to pottery class! It was brilliant! We made these....

I think they're pretty ok for a first attempt at the wheel... The pots at North, Centre and South-West are mine, at North-East, South-East and South are J's, at East is the teacher's. The catastrophe located at the Western corner is one of mine, which I swear was an absolute masterpiece - the entire studio had gathered around to 'Ooooh' at my natural skills and ability at the wheel (at least they had in the fluffly pink warmth of my imagination), when something happened which had absolutely nothing to do with any lack of skill on my part, and it fell over. I tried to rescue it, but just made matters worse.

We're going again on Tuesday, I'll let you know how it goes.

Cross stitch patterns

I've gone cross stitch crazy since opening my little Etsy shop yesterday, and have added two new Cross stitch patterns - Little Kokeshi Doll and Sir Terry Wogan. Seriously - Terry Wogan - I'm so excited! I really, really hope somebody buys it and stitches it, and if they do, I really really hope they send me a picture of the finished item!

I've had to drag myself away from the cross stitch software now, because I have to do my Japanese coursework. But my mind is a-buzz with cross stitch ideas... They're mostly based on my own photos, so I don't need to worry about copyright - but I really ought to read up on copyright law if I'm likely to want to use anybody else's images.

Can anyone recommend a good, concise and easy to understand guide to international copyright law?

Here's a free cross stitch pattern to download. I made it, but the image belongs to Nintendo so I can't take any credit for that!

I have a shop!!!!!

Look - I have an Etsy shop! There's a button / widgetty-thing over there on the right, if you fancy having a bit of a nosey.

I don't quite know what I'm going to make to sell there yet - I suppose that'll be whatever I'm fadding about at the time...

I have many, many fantasitc ideas... and I'm excited!

I've already put up one of my cross stitch patterns to sell (a Kewpie pattern, naturally) - the same pattern in two versions (b&w for easy printing, or colour for easy reading).

I haven't done a banner yet. But that'll be awesome, too.

From now until October, all income generated from my shop sales will be donated to my sister's Patagonia Trek in aid of Mencap (a UK learning disability charity).

Oooh, I've had the lurgy...

And it was bad.... I was near enough on death's door. I was so ill that, at one point on Monday, I PUT DOWN MY CROSS STITCH...

(Pause for dramatic effect)

It's true. But fear not, I have recovered and am well again.

I don't have a huge amount to report - except I had a parcel from Amazon through the post today... the new Craft: magazine. Yay! Here's a picture, along with that cross stitch again.

There are many exciting things in there that I want to make. But there are many exciting things everywhere that I want to make, and I can't possibly make everything I fancy. The worry is that I won't get to make anything.... but I suppose that's fairly unlikely.

Other news - Blue Pointy Kitty has gone to her new home.

The cross stitch is looking good, don't you think? I'm just about half way there (there are a LOT of strawberry leaves to stitch) - so, by my reckoning I have another 3 months of green stitching until I finish it. But it'll be awesome when it's done!

Daffodils

A prety picture of pretty daffodils - because they're pretty and I like them. I bought them on Friday in the hope that they'd be open for St David's day - but they only really opened up today. Aren't they lovely and beautiful and cheerful? (Please don't pay any attention to the grubby window and the pots in the back garden - the house is still a work in progress...)

... And a quick update on my cross stitch, which I picked up again recently after a bit of a break. I have a lot of green stitching ahead of me. A LOT of green stitching.

Standing over the Kewpie cross stitch is a new little Pointy Kitty. She will also be a gift, so will not be named today. She's very interested in the cross stitch, but is also a little camera shy, because neither of us is convinced by the choice of buttons used for her eyes. She has agreed to pose prettily for the camera only when I've been to the market to get some of the black buttons the previous Pointy Kitty had for eyes.

Edit to add: the buttons in the market are actually brown, not black. This is important.

More cross stitch, some Japanese and a slice of cake

The mega-cross stitch is still plodding along, here is is so far:

There's still loads left to do - I'm not even half way through it yet - I have at least another 2 or 3 months stitching ahead of me, assuming that I don't get fed up and abandon it part-way through in favour of new, more exciting and faster projects.

I've got to say though, she's looking good!

I've also been hard at work learning my Katakana (a japanese alphabet) following my first Japanese lesson on Tuesday. It was brilliant and has got me all enthused. So far I can write 8 of the 46 characters without cheating. Yay me! This is my homework so far...

In other news - I have discovered a fantastic blog that deserves a mention... Cake Toursim is a fantastic blog dedicated to cakes. We like cake. Here is a pictuer of cake. I've blogged it previously, but I have no other cake pictures yet. I will have to take some.

It's been a little while since my last post, I'm afraid. I haven't really felt I had much of interest to blog about - not that I haven't been busy... Oh, deary me - no. Quite the opposite, in fact.

For example, I am fast developing a square arse due to the number of hours I'm putting into the cross stitch. There's a big, me-shaped dent on the sofa under the lamp.

I hadn't really thought how long it would take me to stitch this pattern. I was so excited at having the shiny new software, that I launched straight into making a humungous pattern from the first photo I could lay my hands on. It seems it might take me a long time. Not much has been done on it since I went back to work after the Christmas break - but happily I have another 2 weeks off work now (I'm using up my annual leave from the old job before starting the new job).

There are many exciting things due to happen in the next fortnight, including my first Japanese lesson, a long weekend in Malaga, and preparing the house for the damp-proofing man to come and make my house watertight. I suspect there may also be some time for cross stitch during this time, so I hope to show you some progress by February.

In a recent post I lamented the fact that I can't allow myself to get any other little projects started until I finish the cross stitch beast.

Well, "Pish!", say I. I can't be excpected to plod through a mammoth project like that without some little fripperies to keep me amused and entertained!

So, I covered my diary. It was a miserable, black leatherette diary with "Unison" emblazoned across the cover. It was an ugly diary. The sight of it made me sad and un-inclined to go to any of the appointmets within its miserable plastic covers. (I don't know whether un-inclined is a real and valid word, but I'm using it anyway.)

Here is my new, pretty diary. It's covered in red and cream floral cotton, and is tied up with a purple embroidered pink ribbon, which attaches around a button and an embroidered white felt flower. I replaced the dreary grey ribbon bookmark with a cheery pink one to match the cover. If I had easy access to my entire fabric-and-bits stash, it would probably have looked very different, but I like it very well as it is. And it didn't involve any cross stitch!

Modelling it for me are Jini (in a hat which I knitted for a friend's baby 3 years ago, but I got the tension all wrong resulting in a teeny-tiny, itty-bitty little hat, so Jini got to keep it. There's a lesson in there, somewhere), and these little monsters that I knitted some time ago. They're good little monsters, and posed very well for me in photomarathon 2006 .

I do have more I want to say... I want to show off the lovely gifts I got when leaving my old job, and I still want to show off the exciting stuff I got from my parents house at Christmas, but I haven't photographed them yet.

And I need to go now to shower and head into town to do some shopping.

(And yes, I do know that it's gone half past ten on a Monday morning, but I'm on holiday and perfectly entitled to play on the computer in my pyjamas if I want to. So I refuse to feel any guilt whatsever.)

Happy New Year

I seem to have done nothing but cross stitch this holiday - and it's starting to make me cross eyed. Not least because I keep being inspired by other quick, easy and colourful crafting ideas... I really fancy making a softie or two, and I want to experiment with needle felting, and I want to cover my diary with pretty fabric. But I won't. Not yet anyway. I have too many half-finished projects cluttering the house, and this won't be one of them!

Here's a picture of it so far...

I'm very pleased with it, but am a little concerned that the colours aren't as bright as I'd intended, and that it looks a bit like a Victorian cherub - which is really not what I was after. It's a pattern generated from this photo of Kewpie in my strawberries.

Still, at least it's moved away from beige (I've used pink and brown as well!), and fairly soon I'll be on to green. Which will be brilliant!

I went sale shopping yesterday. I bought some recipe books from Borders for casseroles and stuff (slow cooking's my current favourite) at half price, and a notebook which I'm thrilled to pieces with.

I've already used it to compose a shopping list, copy down a recipe for Cawl, make a note of picture frame sizes and prices, and to price and plan the layout of how I'm going to frame the robot cross stitches. I can't put it down - it's too lovely. There has been nothing particularly impressive of inspired put into the book as yet, but it's only a matter of time. In years to come I expect it to be auctioned for a kerjillion pounds, after I earn my fame and fortune doing something good and interesting. I haven't decided what that thing will be yet. In the meantime, here's a sneaky glimpse of the notebook you might find yourself bidding on in the dim and distant future...



I also bought a lamp. It wan't in the sales, but it was very reasonable (an Ikea purchase), and I'm loving it. You might have noticed that the pictures of my front room in this blog are a bit dark. This is because my front room tends to be a bit dark. This might have something to do with the dark yellow I chose to paint it when I moved in. I'm starting to think about painting it a lighter colour, like white - but definitely not (never) magnolia.

The dark cross stitch in a dark room was starting to strain my eyes a bit - but not any more. Behold, my lovely new lamp!

The room is still dark (this photo was taken at 2pm today), but my corner is gloriously bright and lovely.

Beige-tastic

"Can you guess what it is yet?" (In my best Rolf Harris voice)



Here it is today - my work-in-progress masterpiece. Is it me or does it look dreafully... erm... beige? I'm not letting it worry me though - nope, not at all. I'm still completely confident that it will look fantastic when complete.

Yes it will.

No more stitching for me today though, I have some internetting to do, and then I have to go and have a wash to off-away-out to celebrate my BIL's birthday. Curry and a beer. Lovely!