Update Butterfly Wood 6

It has been a while since my last update. Lots happened in my personal life. Lots of worries. It's funny, as soon one problem solves another one arises. We are hoping for a good outcome but the Mr and I both feel 2014 will be an interesting year!

So yes, I've been stitching the last few months, but not as much as I wanted to!

Girl1 has found a love for my embroidery scissors so I really have to hide it for her. LOL I can't have more accidents!

And now I have to find a solution for my broken washing machine. Yes, two days for Christmas it broke. Argh.

Happy Holidays everyone! May 2014 be gentle for all of us.

Update Butterfly Wood 5: why you should never leave your sewing out in the open

I wish I could give you a very happy update but no. Yesterday I let my sewing unattended in the living room, I was baking pancakes in the kitchen. Just when the Girl was bored. I know she truly just wanted to help but she used my scissors and cut three times in my Butterfly Wood. To say I was pissed is an understatement. Maybe you can see the thin red lines I added with my photo software?

I was really mad. She got scared, she cried, I almost cried and we went outside for a walk in order to cool off. You can't really punish (no more pancakes for you!) a kid with autism because they (she) really don't (doesn't) understand why it is wrong what they did and what pancakes have to do with it.
We talked about what she did. "I cut your sewing Liesbeth", "Yeah, and were you allowed to do that?", "No", "So you did something naughty?", "Yes", "Did I like that?", "No you didn't", "What will you do in the future?", "Not cut your sewing". "Good, come and give me a hug. I still love you". "I love you too, Liesbeth".
And then we walked to the park and played on the swings. She still talked about cutting my sewing so we repeated our talk a few times and then we went home.

When I got home, I started working on the repairs. I knew the first and last cuts were easy repairs. But the middle one? Ugh.

So this is what came out of it. I am not really happy but it will have to do. Embrace imperfection right?

Let's just say I learned my lesson!

Update Butterfly Wood 4

It's windy outside, we have our first autumn storm and I am inside my cosy house, together with my two loves. We are loving our new space!! I am glad the main work is done because at the end I was seriously questioning my insanity LOL. It didn't help that it was also busy at my work and that the Mr. has a high demanding job! But I'm glad we survived hahaha

Now I have time to stitch again and I worked hard!

As you can see I finished page 1 and have almost finished page 2. I am flying through page 2 thanks to the color 3865! I didn't expect the first butterflies to appear, but here they are!

Thank you all for reading and have a lovely Sunday!

I'm still here!!

Hello my dear friends!

I realize it has been a while since my last post. I have been busy busy busy. First I was on holiday and after that I got the keys of my new house! I had to do tons of work: with the help of some friends we've painted all of the upstairs and downstairs, our bathrooms got mildew treatments and I got a couple of new heaters (the old ones were leaking). We are also in the process of putting in new floors. The upstairs (laminate floors with a whitewash/greyish look) is already done and we have just started downstairs. The downstairs floors are a bit of a pain (whitewashed oak floors), but we still have a week untill moving day! In between we celebrated the birthdays of the Girl and myself.

I already moved lots of stuff to the upstairs and attic. I promised the Mr. I will downsize on my craft supplies. I moved an insane amount of stuff I know I will no longer use. Also: I still had text books from high school! I have no energy to purge right now, so I just dumped it all in the attic. The Mr. has to purge as well, he has too many shirts he doesn't wear and I swear he collects old computer parts! I moved it all

For me it is really empowering to see I can DIY and move lots of things myself. The Mr. has huge deadlines at work so he can't help all the time. I feel like a strong woman!

Don't let me fool you, it is the most stressful experience I've ever had and at times I really loose it. I try to look at it as a race: the end is almost there!

Next month: a "normal" update of my stitching!!

Update and some big news!!

Goodmorning!!

Today probably is the hottest day of the year in the Netherlands and I am home, packing my bags. Tomorrow we will leave for France, I cannot wait!!! We are all very excited! Too bad tomorrow is one of France's Black Saturdays, when the roads are so busy it sometimes takes hours just to travel a few kilometers. Thank God we have no deadline for getting at our destination!

Ofcourse Butterfly Wood will travel with me! Just like the previous vacations, my cross stitching is packed in a laptop bag, it fits perfectly!

On the left: my floss box and pattern, on the right: my HAED, some extra floss and I have a pencil tucked in.

In other good news: yesterday I signed the lease for a new apartment! I cannot believe how much luck I have in my life right now! The Mr. has been high fiving me a lot lately LOL.

The day after we come back from vacation, I get the key and I will start cleaning and painting. The Mr. will put in new floors. In the Netherlands we can paint the walls of a rented property and install our own floors. We also bring our own appliances. So basically when you rent, you get a bare space (unless you agreed with the previous renters to take over floors, curtains and other things). Allthough I do not have a lot of budget for a move, I've decided to do it because the rent is acceptable and the apartment has a lot more space than I have now! As soon as the Mr. gets a permanent contract from work (probably in April), we will get married.

Ofcourse I have been stitching this past month! I also ordered a qsnap huggie (actually, I ordered two) from Christine and I like it a lot! It's still a bit of a pain to roll up the fabric nicely but now it doesn't rub my skin anymore. Plus I LOVE the fabric (Hawaiian flowers).

I have almost finished my first page of Butterfly Wood! I am loving the shades of beige and green I am using. It is not too much confetti so it's a pretty easy stitch so far!

Maybe after the vacation I have a page finish to show, but I'm not going to give myself a deadline this vacation!! I only know I will drink a glass of French red wine in two days, woohoo!!

Hope to check in soon, but it will probably take a few weeks! Enjoy the summer, enjoy stitching and talk to you later!!

Butterfly Wood, update 2

Oh how addicting is a new start! I am stitching any moment I can!! Right now there isn't too much confetti and I am just enjoying myself. 

Untill next time!

And so the journey begins...

Thank you all for your comments on finishing Train of Dreams!

I spent last weekend wrapping floss around bobbins and preparing the fabric for Butterfly Wood. The fabric is huge!!!! I worked 27 months on Train, so this will be a five year project?? Also, the colors are so different than Train! I am still missing a few colors but when the rain stops, I will walk to the store to get the remaining colors.

These are my supplies: a DMC floss box (with room for my bobbin winder, scissors, thimble, extra needles and my gridding thread), my ORT-jar (basically an empty creme brulee pot), a magnetic pattern holder, a pencil so I can cross off the sections I've done (I try to switch colors every two pages, just to keep it fun) and the color codes.

 I bought the large format and it has 56 pages. A substantial amount of them are partial pages

Tuesday I made my first crosses, this is the result of two days stitching:

See what I mean by totally different colors? It is hard to take a picture! The fabric is 18ct Ivory Aida.

Talk to you later!

Celebrations!!!

About one hour ago I finished Train of Dreams!!!!
It took me about two and a half years and oh my gosh I am so proud!! The Mr. loves the result and I am sure my stepdaughter will adore it. She is a big fan of the dragons, little crocodiles she calls them.

Tonight this baby will be washed and dried. I am already looking for a nice frame!

Now I have a lot of floss to wrap on my new bobbins. Butterfly Wood uses lots of pretty colors!!

Almost there.... and plans for the future!

I am so so close to the finish of Train of Dreams!!

I am already thinking about the next BAP I am going to tackle. I have two in my stash calling my name. Basically they are the only BAPs in my stash LOL, I try to keep my stash as small as possible.

The first one is Butterfly Wood by David Penfound. Yes another HAED. I believe I have been talking about it before:

I have ordered all the floss and fabric (18ct Ivory Aida by Permin of Copenhagen) for it. I was thinking about using pre-gridded Aida from DMC but I could only order a huge amount that would cost me more than 100 euros! Since I am happy with the 18ct Aida by Permin of Copenhagen I am using for Train of Dreams (color: Stone Grey), I decided to order from Permin again. I also ordered a new floss box. This morning I printed the pattern. I am almost ready!

The second BAP is this sampler from Permin of Copenhagen:

This was a gift from my MIL, the fabric has a rust colour. Since the fabric and floss are included, the only thing I still need to order is another Q-snap frame!

I have joined a local Stitch 'n Bitch group. They come together in a pub every Wednesday night. So far I have met only two members and they were very nice! Unfortunately the pub is a bit dark so I cannot work on my HAEDs. I still have some little freebies from a magazine to work on, so that's what I do on those nights! Since the sampler uses a lower count fabric I hope I can also work on the sampler during the meetings! I will work on Butterfly Wood at home.

Have a cuppa...

I haven't picked the sunniest days to take off from work, but oh well!
It is very cold around here and I am still wearing some of my (thinner) winter clothes. Unbelievable! Just this weekend I turned on my central heating system! I am so ready for warmer weather!
In order to get a bit of relief from my boss (did I say that out loud?) I have taken this week off. I was hoping for nice weather but it's still nice to stay in bed a little longer and hang around. I have been doing all kind of things in and around the house. Some of them fun, some of them not (paperwork, yuck!). I am still hoping I can visit a local museum tomorrow for fun, but I also have the ingredients for banana bread so I haven't decided yet!

I have been stitching as well!! It provides a nice break between the house work. I still haven't finished the piece but I'm getting there! I have finished the train and am now working on the tea cup!

Maybe next time I can reveal the full picture? I hope so!!

Not an update

Today is an historic day for my little country! We now have a King, for the first time in 100 years. I'll admit, I had tears in my eyes when the new King and Queen and the former Queen, now Princess appeared on the balcony and the anthem was heard. It's the end of an era.
A couple of years ago I met the Princess (well we were eye to eye, and she said hello to me and I said hello back). I hope the new King will be a good King, good for the country. He is a smart man and has a smart wife, so I think the country will be well represented.

The ceremony is almost over now and I can go party! I work for the government so I always follow these kind of events with a lot of interest. Tonight I finally can have a good glass of wine or maybe even some Oranjebitter, a kind of liquor. 

Yesterday the first paycheck of the Mr. came in. As promised, he took me out for dinner. For the first time in a couple of years! I was so happy.
The last couple of weeks my body has been acting very weird. Almost two weeks ago I found two lumps in my neck. I had blood tests done but they showed nothing. The lumps are still there (but smaller) so now I have to wait another week before I can go back to the M.D.
I believe a lot of it has to do with stress. For three years I had to stay strong and now my body is letting go.
My hand has been acting up as well. I have had a lot of nightmares about free falling into the endless deep, which scares me a lot. Even though I hear a voice telling me "do not be scared, you are safe" I wake up afraid and from excruciating pain in my hand.
The Mr. is in great spirits and I am so happy to see him happy again! He's also taking care of me and that is a relief. I am not on my own anymore!

Needless to say I haven't done any stitching. I really don't know when I can pick it up again. I am sure I will not get bored, it gives me more time to explore other stitching blogs!

Untill next time!

Finally, Spring is here!!

We've been waiting a long time for Spring to arrive, but finally: it's here! It's hard to believe two weeks ago we still had snow. Now, the temperatures are lovely! There are lots of boats in the canals today, everybody is enjoying the sunshine.

I've been working hard on Train. I finished page 10 and 11 and am now working on page 20 and 21! Looking back, the confetti on page 10 wasn't too bad. I just worked block by block, filling the gaps. Funny, now I see the picture I finally see the face. I really don't see the face while working on it! The brilliance of a HAED I think!

I'm now working on the lower half of my frame and I am starting to feel my neck again. So, the timer is out again for the last pages!

Stitching on!

This picture was taken a few days ago. I love to see the books again and am a bit sad because these are the last books of Train I will stitch! On the other hand, I cannot wait to kit up another chart..

As you can see I've reached the magical mirror. It looks a bit like confetti horror so I've decided to stitch the books first. It is much faster (and I want to see results)!

I am also happy to report the Mr. has been offered a job! After such a long time we were a bit shocked by this news and still feel like we need to be pinched! If everything goes well he will start in April. Maybe, just maybe we can go on a summer vacation this year! I think this is what thrills us the most. But, like I said, we're still shocked. The Mr. has promised to take me out for dinner when the first pay check is in, I cannot wait!!

Page 20 and 31 finished!

In the past weeks I finished page 20 and 31 and have started page 10 and 11. Page 11 really is only 2 stitches wide and in my opinion could easily be printed on page 10. But maybe it's because the US page size is smaller than the European page size.
Stitching is going fine. I sometimes cheat a little and stitch longer than my timer tells me. So far, my hands work fine!

Seven hours of stitching will give...

this!

Every day I have been stitching for one hour. It's not going as fast as I would like but I am happy to work on this piece again!

I've also changed my stitching "work place". I used to sit on the couch, but I have now moved to the dining table and sit on a desk chair. I also only stitch with my right hand and hold my frame in my left. This seems to work, my right arm is now constantly moving instead of cramping up. I cannot wait to order my floor stand (I hope in a couple of months).

Some other great news: I weighed myself for the first time in 6 months and I was so happy to see that I've shed 10 pounds!! I now weigh as much as I did 10 years ago. I knew I had lost some because all my clothes were too big and lots of people were asking me if I lost some weight, but I didn't expect it to be this much. I think I've lost a total of 15 pounds in 2012. I haven't been dieting but have changed my attitude towards food. According to the Boyfriend I am more balanced now mentally so it might have something to do with it as well.

That's it for now. Have a great week and let's stitch some!

What an exciting day!!

At this very moment, my country is anxiously waiting for the speech of our Queen. Common belief is that she will anounce her abdication. In less than 30 minutes we will know. This would be the first abdication for me to witness and I am so excited! Whether I am happy with the new King, I don't know yet.


Last week was a dark week for me and the Boyfriend. We decided to let our beloved cat Ms Mikey go and went to the vet on Thursday where she died. Ofcourse being the feisty girl she was, she had to hiss at and hit the vet after the injection was given. It made me laugh through my tears. This ruined my chance of holding her while she was dying but we comforted her as best as we could. She was my baby and full of adventure and loved her humans. The last few days the only thing she wanted to do was to lie on my or Boyfriend's lap. She would hiss and growl if we only moved a muscle and in general she was feeling horrible, constantly asking with her eyes for our help. It was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life, but in my heart I know it was the right decision. My house is so empty when I come home every day. It's quiet and I hate it. We have decided however, not to bring a new cat into our family untill we live in another (bigger) house.

Bummed, but still an update

So, after the last update my sweet kitty got sick. We went to the vet who told us that kitty has a polyp in her nose, which is connected to a tumor. The tumor has been there for a while, since kitty has been sneezing and has fluids coming out of one eye for about six months now. The vet is able to operate her, but it will not help. Basically what we were told was: she's not getting better, it could go fast. We decided not to operate.

We were, but especially I was, devastated by this news. She's has been my baby and little friend for 7 years and I had such big dreams for her. All we can do now is to watch her health. The vet told us what to look for in order to see if it's time for her to go. Unfortunately my hand reacted to all this stress so my injury is back. Soooo this is where I ended last week:

I need this!!!

I know right, two posts in a day? I must be crazy. I just discovered something and I want to remember this so I'm blogging about it!

So after stitching for an hour it started again, the pain in my shoulder. I now know why. It's because my Q-snaps are resting on my right arm and since I am stitching with both hands my right arm is in a weird position: it tries to keep the frame in place and in the same movement it tries to stitch. And since Train is nearing the end there is a lot of weight. All in all: my shoulder gets cramped!

I am happy to know what's been causing my pain, because now I can look for a solution. I think I need a floor stand so my right arm can move freely. I have looked at floor stands before but never seriously considered buying one. Most of them are so big and expensive! I have no money to buy one now and I have no room for one.
This time I searched again and found a Dutch plan to build a floor stand myself. Looks nice and I have a friend who could build it for me, but again, it's too big.
So then I found a floor stand by Stitchmaster. I got really excited, this looks exactly like I needed! Plus it is cheap!!! I searched for some reviews, lots of positive ones but some people also wrote the stand couldn't bring the work close enough and then read about the Lowery floor stand. I looked it up and I am convinced: I need this. It's made of metal (so it's easy to clean), it's easy to adjust the height, it takes almost no space and the price is agreeable. So now I am going to save for it! I have no idea when I am able to buy it, but I am so excited!!

So my goals for 2013 are now:
1. To finish Train of Dreams
2. To get a Lowery floor stand!
3. Start a new project

Happy 2013!

Happy 2013 to my dear readers! I hope this new year will bring much happiness to all of you!

We've just got back from a small holiday with the in-laws. We had a wonderful time but are happy to be back home! I've just finished all the laundry and I also put all the Christmas decorations away. The only thing left are the Christmas cards, I just love to look at them!

This is my latest update from 2012:

I'll work on it tonight and I can't wait!! I am so going to finish this in 2013!!!

I've been home from work now since Christmas. I needed this so much!! I am finally feeling relaxed again. I will go back this Monday and I am happy to do so. I have so much more energy (and positive feelings!) than before.