HUGE Stash Delivery and Rose Lady Progress

Arrived from Black Sheep:

Hang in there, the sorceror, the sorceress

mademoiselle and pretty in pink,

tinkerbelle, prilla and rani (fira out of stock for a while)

...and...

From Tandem Cottage:

supplies to stitch art deco lady who looks like this up close:

...and...

also from Tandem Cottage ALL THE DMC COLOURS!!!! I'm so excited about this!

Look how pretty the colours are!

and I wasn't expecting to get the variated colours too!!

Meanwhile, here was the progress at the beginning of todays (yesterdays?) night shift, I've done a bit more on her skirt since but not enough for another photo!!!

I've also asked to join Hooked on Exchanging (Too) so hopefully might be getting involved in the wonderful world of stitchers postings and receivings :)

Stitching away on Rose Lady

This is where I was 2 night shifts ago,


and this is where I am now :)

I also received the latest Cross Stitcher in the post from DB's mum :D

I loved the coverpage project of a 20's style lady and knew I'd want to stitch it. I've ordered the materials for it through Tandem Cottage Needlework Ltd. They also do an offer for the entire range of DMC standard colour skeins in 2m lengths wound onto bobbins for £63. I thought that was brilliant so ordered those aswell :

Corrimec Decoration and Post!

OK, this is what our corrimec (portacabin-style room) used to look like.

... and this is after decoration. For those who might be confused, our beds are underneath the wood covered section. They are basically brick cubby-holes with mattresses in. They protect us from all the bad stuff :)

I added nicer sheets of wood, covered the bricks with green fabric, and ordered 'picture wallpaper' which I 'hung' this morning (with industrial strength double-sided sticky tape!

The only money spent was about £30 on the posters (I still have two left) and £8 on the green fabric, but my 'home' is so much nicer now!

I then put up some rather sparse christmas decorations, but they still look nice...

twinkles... and a card line but I hung crackers on it as I only have 2 cards so far and both are inside my bedspace!

AND... guess what came in the post!

...and what I stitched on night shift 1...

Uh Oh...

I had a bit of a splurge.

I ordered rose lady a while back and checked again on their site where it said the designs might not be in time for Christmas as their supplier is on a two week break. Not there for Christmas in the UK means not here for a long time in Iraq :(

I'd also been thinking it was quite a big design and didn't I want something smaller?

So I decided I'd order the Disney fairies and as they seemed to be hard to find I ordered all four.

Then had a look at the sales section...

.. and ordered The Sorceress and The Sorcerer from Dimensions kits, Mademoiselle and Pretty in Pink from DMC kits, and Hang in There from (which I think I'll stitch without the words). All were from the Black Sheep.

BUT I did manage to stop myself from buying any more when I looked at the 'New' section even though I saw some lovely things I'll have to keep my eye on, and might have to update my wish list with!

Crafters Itch

AAAaagh!

SO much browsing on crafty sites and nothing to do! I ordered Rose Lady but it is taking a long time to come. The aircraft coming into us here are so stuffed full of Christmas mail that there is a long backlog. I hope the kit comes soon so that I have something to do! I might order some smaller kits too maybe, or hope that the cross stitch magazine I've begged for will have a free kit!

Dreaming...

I've finished work early today, and as I'm on night shift I've decided to stay awake and browse for the rest of the night! As a result I've found loads of things I'd like to do one day maybe....!

I've also spent hours making a post which didn't save - with perfect layouts for pictures and everything :( I think I'll post this to make sure it works then come back to it to add the images that didn't save
- if I can find them again!

-Edit - I think i've found them all again now :)

I know I'll never do all of them but maybe I'll look back for inspiration on what to get next, and update this 'wish list' along the way!

Big

Just Nan - Barnabees Quest
Nimue - Clair de Lune

Miribilia - Mother's Arms, Santa's Magic, Midsummer Night's Fairy ( I think I may already have her chart!) and the Season Queens

Medium

Lanarte - Marjolein Bastin - Brush/Bird
Lanarte - Marjolein Bastin - Vera the Mouse - Dressing (though this was hard to find, might have to get it from abroad)

Nimue - The Swing

Small

Just Nan - Royal Butterflies
Nimue - Fairy Dust
Disney Fairy Series

Other

A Stash Photo album- what a brilliant idea! Organisational and crafty in itself!
I've decided I'll treat myself when I get home to the entire DMC/Anchor (both?!) standard colours range. That way charts and little "I'd stitch it now if I had the stuff" magazine projects are easily accessible to me too. Now I need to think of a pretty and practical way to store them. I wind them onto the cardboard flat bobbins but don't like the plastic boxes they then get stored in. I don't want to shell out for one of those expensive wooden chests you see advertised in the magazines all the time though!

Also - if I stitched so many needlerolls, emerys and biscornus, where do you display them without the decorations looking 'bitty'?!

I've discovered a few things about my tastes when it comes to designs: I'm loving:

-Pretty women

-Blue tits

-Butterflies

-Bright greens and blues

-Smaller designs generally from magazines and larger from purchasing kits and charts

I'm not loving:
-Repetitive designs - haven't I just stitched this fourteen hour long section?

-Large photo-like designs (I would never in a million years finish that!)

-Really really old looking designs - I don't want my walls to look like a victorian grandmothers!

Photos I love

I took these photos from the top of the tower, I took loads and loads as you can imagine, but I love these for 'artistic' reasons! Even though they are bleak in colour I find them really pretty!

I also got my poster for the corrimec! It comes in 8 posters so plenty of greenery to remind me of Britain :) This is the picture it makes up.

I've reorganised my page a bit (I have to go on different computers to do different things!) and added blogs that I've found so interesting so that I can see when new posts come in... I'm sure I'll try to completely overhaul the blog when I get home but till then, it'll have to stay nice and simple!

What I've been upto

So I was mooching along here in Basra feeling fairly uninspired by all the sand and sand coloured surroundings so I decided I'd turn interior designer and try to doll up my room which I share. It looks like this:...which of course is very very dull. [at this point in typing I have had to put on my body armour and helmet - it is very uncomfortable!] I ordered some massive posters of forest and some green fabric to hide the bricks and padding. We've also replaced that one sheet of wood with two, nicer, sheets of wood to even up the top and 'clean it up a bit'. Hopefully will post the finished article in a few days or so.

I also received recently two magazines from my DB's mum:
Which was fantastic, and got me back into the crafting mood! Especially as the CrossStitcher magazine had a free kit with it!

Of course, I sat and stitched the free kit on night shift. It took me around eight hours as I was working at the same time, but I loved every minute!

I converted a 'with sympathy' card into this Christmas card, I had to cover the greeting on the inside with a patch and doodled to cover the join. Then I decided I'd doodle on another card too :)

As I was stitching away, in amongst the boys typical comments of 'old before your time' and 'would you like your tea cosy and blanket with that?' Some of the girls actually expressed interest as they'd done some stitching as young girls. One even decided she'd join me in ordering a kit when we spotted some designs we'd like advertised in the magazine! She is getting Our Wedding Day (Tatty Teds) by Anchor And I am getting Rose Lady by Design WorksI can't wait to get them in the post and to have another project!

First Post

I've decided to create this blog to show off my craftings to the Internet Craft Blog surfers out there. In 'real' life I don't usually show off my crafts as my hobbies aren't shared by many of my peers. However, I know there are plenty of brilliant people out there just like me and who might share in my happiness at little things like seeing prettiness in something 'ugly', or the big things like finishing a project that has been years in the completing...

I'm going to write out my 'rules' - these are my reminders and an explanation to readers of the philosophy I try to stick by...

1) Never work to a deadline unless others require it (i.e. Round Robins, exchanges etc). This includes gifts as the recipient doesn't even know you are making it for them - you can always get something different and complete it for next time!
2) Do not oversubscribe to anything that requires working to a deadline.
3) Never worry that your 'stash' is too big.
4) Never worry that your 'stash' is too small.
5) If you don't feel like creating anything, or posting on the blog, don't. Never start a post with 'I'm sorry I haven't posted for so long'. Even if it has been a year, breeze on in with what you want to say.
6) Try to be original and design things yourself - try not to use a pre-coordinated pack of papers and embellishments or create a pre-designed card. That is more 'assembling' than creating! It is OK to be inspired by others though!
7) Share ideas and encourage others.
8) Never worry that your work 'isn't good enough' or that others might not like it.
9) If you think something you've just created is rubbish, acknowledge the lessons or skills learnt!
10) If someone praises you, believe them and say thank you nicely!
11) Don't worry about piles of unfinished items or 'works in progress' they can sit till you are ready - you have a lifetime to pick them up (or your descendants can)!

I have been a 'crafts' person as long as I can remember, I've tried a lot of things but the things I return to over and again are:
embroidery and cross stitch, sewing clothes and soft furnishings, scrapbooking, pixel art, beadcrafts and jewellery making, photography, drawing/doodling

That's all for the first post, I'll return soon with what I have been up to recently!