Cushions

No stitching or knitting occurred last night, but you get nights like that. We had a function after work and didn’t get home until around half 7.  By the time dinner was done and dusted it was almost bed time so it was telly and relax night.

So today I am going to share some cushions that I made last year.

2013 was a bit of a rough year in our house hold. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer at the end of 2012, about a month after we moved to the Mount. If we had of know that was about to happen we would have postponed the move until later but what was done was done. My husband and I did what we could for her and towards the end alternated nights with her so that she was never completely alone. As we entered the final stages of Fay’s life my own mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Although her prognosis was much more favourable she lives alone and so need some support as well. At one stage I would kiss my husband good bye at a coffee house where we had met for a catch up and he would head to one hospital while I headed to another.

During this time I tried to stitch but found it difficult. Bad lighting didn’t help but, quite frankly, my mind was not on the job. After attempting the HAED storykeep approximately 3 times and cocking it up so badly that the fabric is now useless I found a hardanger Christmas table runner that became my hospital/chemo/bedside take along. I put it aside after we got through all this and it’s yet to reappear. One day it will resurface 🙂

A few months after Fay’s passing, while mum was still in chemo, I found that my stitchy bug had vanished. She wasn’t just on exhaustion leave it seemed but had packed bags and moved on to better climates. It took me about 6 months to realise that she was completely uninterested in returning at all so I was going to have to entice her back with smaller projects if I ever wanted to see my daughters 21^st present finished. By this time Kayla was approaching 22 and I had barely picked Cats up in a year.

So I started trawling the internet for something/anything that would perk my interest. Around this time I also heard the infamous story of Dame Judy Dench and how when on set she has been known to embroider cushions with rude says like ‘You are a c#@t’ and give them to people. This lead me to discover the world of subversive cross stitch and from there I found some awesome sayings that I decided to turn into cushions.

I created the stitching on calico fabric using waste canvas so my squares would be even then I pulled out my dusty old sewing machine that had only been used about 5 times in its entire life and I made cushion covers 🙂

 

With Kayls’s 22 birthday about to occur and Cats was another year not completed I made her a cushion as well 🙂

By this time my stitchy bug, who now has the name of Sydney or Syd for short, had decided life with me was not that bad at all and returned with a vengence and I couldn’t put Cats down again. Page 4 took 6 months to complete but we got there in the end. Christmas was approaching but I had just one more cushion that needed to be created.  It was for my son Levi’s christmas present.  This one I stitched straight on to a purchased euro cushion cover again using waste canvas.

Its slightly lopsided but looks pretty good.  One day I will make it again for me 🙂

So now I am back to stitching full force and trucking along nicely.  My gorgeous cousin came to stay a couple of weekends ago and has asked me to make her a couple with nice uplifting sayings so back to the internet I shall go.  Might have to take a weekend or two off of my current projects and build her some 🙂

Till next time xx

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Weeknights

I work very long days.  I get up at 5 and am at work by around 6.30-6.45 every day and then usually get home around 6.  By the time the chores are done and dinner is made it’s usually 7.30 or 8 o’clock before I sit down.  Most night’s I am rather weary and over the past few years it’s become a bit of a habit on a week night to blob with a glass of wine (or 3) and the remote.  Not much stitching gets done during week nights.

For the past 3 years I have done “Dry July” which is, for those unaware, when you do not drink alcohol for the entire month of July and raise money for the Cancer Society and Chemo units through sponsorship.  So far, over the 3 years, I have raised around $1000, something I am a little proud of.  This year I really noticed that I get lots of things done when I don’t sit down with a glass of wine before, during or after dinner.

This got me thinking.

Kayla’s 21st present took me around 3 years to stitch (you will see this one soon in an upcoming post). I have approximately 20 BAP’s (Big Ass Projects for those not in the know 😉 ) that I would like to complete before I fall off my perch.  Based on the assumption that I don’t lose my eyesight, wheels or add more ‘need to be done’s’ to my list I currently need to live to approximately 100 in perfect health to achieve them all.  Some one hand me the elixir of life please.

So I decided to minimise some of the drinking.  No I haven’t gone soft or become a born again teetotaller.  We now have a glass of wine or 3 on a Wednesday night and a Friday night.  Sometimes on a Saturday night if I have gone all fancy with the dinner as cooking is also a bit of a passion. And of course socially if it’s not my turn to drive 🙂 And I started stitching at night.

I soon found that sometimes my brain is just too tired to be stitching such tiny little stitches at night after I have been working all day but didn’t want to slip back into old habits. Right about this time I stumbled across a free knitting pattern for a simple blanket on http://www.stuff.co.nz in the lifestyle section.  It was awfully pretty but I can’t knit. I have tried many many times to learn but I just didn’t get it.  About a year ago I found some loopy wool at Kmart and knitted a scarf out of it using YouTube as the teacher.  It was 6 stitches wide until the end of the ball.  It turned out quite well but then loopy wool hides all mistakes.  There would be nowhere to hide if I decided to try this.  Normal wool is much less forgiving.  Could YouTube be my teacher again?

Turns out she/he could 🙂 I am currently knitting a blanket at night when I find I am too tired to stitch 🙂 I can usually get a stripe done a night and I am loving it.  YouTube has made it so easy to learn and I am rather pleased with the way it is looking.  It’s not perfect by any means but it’s not a disaster and I think it’s going to look fantastic. Kind of hope that its done by next winter so it can be my couch cuddly 😉

Progress so far

Till next time, keep safe and knit on xxxx

First post

Good morning all (or just me as I am pretty sure this is the only person who will read this).

It’s time to start keeping track of my journey so this is going to be more of a diary of things that I make and/or do.  This will not usually be a record of what I eat or what my kids did to annoy me, but this could creep in occasionally as sometimes stuff that happens to us is hilarious :).  It’s going to be about my self-growth and the things that I learn and teach myself every day.  Only positives are allowed! There is enough negative in the world that we (and by we I mean me) need to focus on the positives.

Currently I have two cross stitches on the go.  This is unusual for me as I am a ‘one at a time’ type girl.  The reason for this is so I can hide one of my projects as it is a surprise for one of my most favourite people in the world.  She would think it was rather odd if she visits and I don’t have a stitching project on the go, hence the dual stitching.  I stole a photo of her with her boys and had it made into a chart.  Started the stitch of it this past weekend and we are now about 1000 stitches in 😀

The stitch is more sepia tones.  I so hope that she likes it when done :s. Have to admit that I am a little nervous about it as I have never done something like this before.  Fingers crossed 🙂 Stitching 1 over 1 full crosses on 28 count Lugana.

The second project is for my sister.  She’s currently living in Perth and building a new home with her partner Bel.  I wanted to make her something for her home that she will love so let her pick the design off the HAED site.  She selected Warm My Heart by Selina Fenech.

I am keeping this one in our second lounge and will stitch her whenever I am there.  Of course once Tash’s project is complete she will become my main focus and travel between lounges but until then I will alternate projects based on which ever lounge I am in.  That way she will grow and I can circumvent any possible suspicions.  I made a start on her 2 weeks ago and she is about 600 stitches in. She is also being stitched 1 over 1 full crosses on 28 count Lugana.

Not only but also I am currently teaching myself to knit, thank you YouTube.  I was browsing through my favourite news site when I stumbled across a knitted blanket pattern in the lifestyle section. I thought to myself ‘that looks lovely and the pattern appears to be basic.  Let’s give this a go’ and off I went to a knitting shop.  Purchased a fortune in wool and needles and other knitting things and met some really lovely people.  The staff in the shop could not have been more helpful when I told them what I was up to, although I suspect that they think I am mildly bonkers.  They may have a point hahaha.  I have been working on this project on some week nights during the past few weeks and am currently feeling rather proud of myself.  It’s not the raving great big disaster I feared it could be and seems to look rather good 😀 So far no major holes or mishaps although it’s not perfect and I have somehow gained a stitch but it looks like the picture and you can’t ask for more than that really can you 🙂

Till next time, live long and prosper xxx