While I've been out of action

While I've been out of action with recovery from gall bladder surgery and then even more out of action this week - back in hospital with pleurisy, I've been able to start and make a fair bit of progress on this Christmas Boot ornament on plastic canvas for my nephew Royce. It was a nice little project that fitted ina small plastic bag and I find I can go really quickly on the plastic canvas as it is so easy to hold. There isn't too much actual counting involved so while I was under the influence of a few different drugs I could still manage to work on it.

With my enforced period of rest over the next few weeks I reckon I stand a Pretty good chance of getting the thing finished.

I have been stitching

But I'm back in hospital again having been ordered back to Emergency on Monday night with a suspected blood clot on the lung. It turned out that I "only" have pleurisy but that has proved to be serious enough. Anything that compromises your breathing is very inconvenient! I've been kept in hospital on IV antibiotics and bed rest but I've got the go-ahead to go home tomorrow.
I've been working on a Christmas ornament on plastic canvas which has been great because it's easy to hang on to in bed.
Judging by this afternoon's effort - when I was exhausted and having lots of pain after a trip to the hospital coffee shop I won't be doing too much when I get home anyway so I might get to finish the thing!

A BIG Finish

Noah's Ark is done as of about 30 minutes ago. I finished the lettering and "signed" it this afternoon. I'm very happy with the result and am looking for

ward to having it framed - when I save up enough money.

And a Little Boy Paints

Even more random colours here but lots of them and a lot more thna what big brother would have done at the same age.

Paint Your Own Money Box

E (aged 6.5) has been really enjoying this even though the colours are a bit random to say the least.

The Good News and the Bad News

The bad news is that I hate doing them and there were heaps in my Noah's Ark project. Mental note - do them as I come across them next time! Anyway the good news is that they are all done, plus lazy daisies plus 9 out of about 12 brass charms.

I've got three charms and some lettering to finish tomorrow. I'm thinking about 2 hours work at most. It's very exciting!

Up My Sleeve - Part 2

This is one of the Christmas stocking kits I have for my own boys and I'm bit nervous that I can't find the other one at the moment!

Up My Sleeve

There is undoubtedly some cross stitch jargon out there for Projects that haven't been started yet but when I was labelling my photos before I just put "UMS" for projects that I still have "Up My Sleeve". I have previously stuck to some very strict rules about never starting a project while another is in progress but I'm seriously considering starting one of these smaller projects so that I can take it with me for "waiting" type situations. I often find myself in a doctor's waiting room wishing I had something craftly with me instead of flicking through magazines with the same stories about the same celebrities. In fact I've found myself in doctor's waiting rooms far too often lately so it would be great for it to become a more productive time.

These are a couple of Christmas ornaments that I think I'll do for my niece and nephew. I did a similar one for SIL a couple of years ago and it was very well received. These would be good for taking on the road I think.

Noah's Ark - Progress - As of March 17

I've put in two pictures here - one showing my work held by the Q-Snaps and another of the whole piece so far. The oatmeal aida was tricky to locate but then a craft shop at Indooroopilly ordered in the exact fabric I wanted and then sold me a piece in exactly the dimensions I needed even though I was very happy to pay for a metre of the stuff. With the "natural" colours it looks really good I think and I'm looking forward to eventually getting it into a frame although I've got no idea what colour mat I'd put with it (suggestions welcome!)

Easter Paper Bags Part 4

These are my favourites although I couldn't make more because of the lack of foam letters. E doesn't like them as much because "they don't have mouths" but I think they are pretty funky in their foamie boots. I've had a bit of a spend up at the Art and Craft shop and have bought some noodle boxes as well which I'm going to keep for our family celebration of Easter. We've got plenty of feathers and eyes etc to do something cute on them and I bought of bulk pack of foam pieces a few weeks ago that I think will prove to be very valuable.

D was very happy with his work but I'm going to have to let them loose to do their own bags at some other time because they didn't always enjoy following my instructions.

Easter Paper Bags Part 3

The ones with letters provided a bit of a literacy learning opportunity. Here E sorts out foam letters to spell "HAPPY EASTER". They felt very important being special helpers.

Easter Paper Bags Part 2

I'm not too sure about the Bunny Bags but we're quite pleased with our Easter Chicks. I drew the feet for those and the boys did the rest with careful instructions from me.

Easter Paper Bags Part 1

First we cut some polystyrene eggs in half and painted them. Then we decorated them in a variety of ways to make bags which can be used for prizes in our school's Easter raffle in a few weeks. More pics coming!

A Journey Just Begun

This was Noah's Ark on May 10, 2005. Since then I've been to another Stitches and Craft show and bought a set of "Q-Snaps" which I just adore.

Noah's Ark - The Beginning

This is the chart label for Noah's Ark which I began some time in 2005. At the moment I'm down to the red letters near the bottom

And A Blog Begins...

I'm currently recovering from laproscopic gall bladder surgery and feel the need to hide in the air con for a few days because of itchy incisions and so forth. Somehow or other last night I ended up searching for "Cross Stitch Blogs" and found heaps of them which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Then of course I thought I'd set up my own blog to show the world what I do in my little corner of it. I need my cross stitch. It has seen me through some dark times in my life when there literally wasn't much else I could do. Fortunately I have some lovely reminders of those dark times in the form of completed framed pieces which I will display on this blog eventually.
But to the present. One of my other "life projects" at the moment is trying to lose weight and get back to my WW goal weight where I was exactly a year ago today. One of my main obstacles to this is my constant grazing at night. So over the next few weeks I'm aiming to conquer a few demons by getting back into the cross stitch and I have few other craft ideas up my sleeve as well. Well to be perfectly honest I've ALWAYS got craft ideas up my sleeve but I'm determined over the next few weeks and months to carry out some of these ideas in order to beat my eating demons and to spend some more quality time with my boys.
Project in Progress - A large Noah's Ark Cross Stitch Piece on 18 count oatmeal aida fabric. It's nearly finished! I'm back stitching near the bottom on the piece, there is some lettering to finish and the dreaded french knots. Photos are on their way.
Among cross stitch projects "up my sleeve" are two plastic grid Christmas ornaments, two Christmas stockings for my boys and a "good fortune" saying in chinese characters for a dear friend who has married into a Chinese family.
As far as other crafts go this very afternoon I'm going embark on decorating some Easter bags for our school's annual Easter raffle - most likely with the help of E (aged 6.5) and possibly D (aged 3.75). I also bought cardboard noodle boxes (shrugs) they just looked good! I'm not sure if I'll use them for the Easter raffle or just within the family. I'm back to the cross stitching now (while the two boys are unconscious) but there will be photos coming!