Preparing for Butterfly Wood

So this morning I decided to start make a preparation document for Butterfly Wood. I calculated the amount of fabric I need and I made a list of the floss I need to buy (42 new colors).
I know it's silly, because I've said here I'll start after I finish Train of Dreams. Prepping is fun!

Now back to Train of Dreams.

Awesome sale at HAED: 50% off till Midnight EST!!

OMG, I did it: I bought Butterfly Wood!!

Bob and Michelle at HAED have an awesome sale going on, only today everything 50% off. Because it's a leap year.

This was too good to be true so I went and bought it. I am so so happy with it. It's now in my stash, waiting to get started. I looks like it has a lot less confetti compared to Train of Dreams but maybe I'm dreaming? LOL

In the mean time I am still stitching away on Train of Dreams. It's going well! I hope to give another update this weekend.

Train of Dreams

Here I am with the newest update on train of dreams. I am now working on page 6 of the chart and since I am working in coloms this means I have finished 10 whole pages and 5 teenytiny pages.
I find the lower pages much easier to do, there is less confetti stitching and my needle is almost on fire!!

In other stitching related news: I inherited another book on cross stitching from my MIL. This one is in German. I also got my hands on a Cross Stitcher Special: the Best of Margaret Sherry! I love her funny designs and having this in my stash... oh wonderful!

The last two weeks have been cold in The Netherlands. We had snow and even ice on the ponds! I live next to a canal and it was fun to see people ice skating. I don't own a pair of ice skates anymore so unfortunately I haven't skated. It brought back fun memories from when I was a kid.

My cat have been ill for a month now. She started sneezing a few weeks ago (it sounded so cute) so we had to take a trip to the vet. She is a sweet cat but when we go to the vet for her vaccins she will turn into a firered fury!! This time she really was sick, the vet's assistant could get her out of her cage without any problem! We left with nose drops. We faithfully used this and after 10 days she stopped sneezing and there were no running noses again! Victory, we thought. WRONG. Four days after we stopped using the medicine the running nose was back and this time it had color (I know gross). So another trip to the vet followed and this time we also got anti-biotics. She also had infected gums? I really don't know how she got that but if this doesn't get better she has to get more visits to the vet (and possibly a photograph taken). The anti-biotics helped the sneezing and running nose but of this morning the little Miss started to sneeze again! Ugh, I know sneeze decease can take awhile to cure but I am not happy with it! So far it has cost me about 100 euros! I love her so I pay this without regrets but still it is expensive. I've started her on the nose drops again, so cross your fingers!

See you next time!

Train of Dreams - update January

January is almost over, I cannot believe how time flies!! We celebrated a birthday and a job anniversary this month. All in all a good month.

Here is my update of Train of Dreams. Another page finished.

I must say I still enjoy stitching this piece. I think this is because of all the vibrant colours. I see lots of lovely designs, like this one, Snow by Maxine Gadd:

It is gorgeous, but I think this would end as an UFO. I like variation and color changes. Thiswould need a lot of will power to finish.

Stilll I dream about purchasing this one, Butterfly Wood by David Penfound:

This piece almost has a sort of spiritual meaning for me. In the last year I have been under a lot of stress and I have lost a bit of my "zest for life". At work I had the opportunity to follow a mindfullness training. I was a bit apprehensive about it, I thought it would be too woolly (there are lots of Bhuddist elements and I am a Christian and a bit of a strict Calvinist), but I am finding myself again! It looks like I have fewer headaches. I am starting to enjoy pretty things again. I am also starting to feel support and comfort from God again. Butterfly Wood is pretty and I kind of feel like the butterflies are flying to their Master. It's a bit like me.

So I have decided to buy this one, after I finish Train of Dreams. I know last time I talked about the sampler and I am definately going to stitch that as well. But now I am used to stitching a HAED so I think stitching this sampler will be much easier (and faster)!

Untill next time my friends! I am going to update my list of blogs now!

Gifts in December

Hello again!

I completely forgot to tell about the gifts I received last December!

For Sinterklaas/St Nicholas my MIL gave me a lovely sampler and some evenweave. She used to cross stitch but is now a quilter. So slowly she is giving me her cross stitch stash! She also gave me a wonderful book with sampler patterns and more information about the patterns. I am really happy with it. I would like to design a sample in the future with our story in it so this book is perfect! It explains what every flower or animal stands for. I think it would be nice to write about this and will see how and in what form I am going to do this.

Below a picture I found on the internet of the sampler I received. It's from Permin and it's called Sampler 1763. Lovely colors aren't they?

I hope to start this later in the year. I want to finish (or almost finish) Train of Dreams first!

New Year's resolution and another update

2012. Hello. A new year. A chance to start fresh. I am hoping for many good things. 

Like a job for my love. 2010 and 2011 were not cool. 

Like a very small & cheap wedding at the town hall after my love earns some money again.

Like finding a bigger house. Three bedrooms would be nice. So the lovely girl has a room of her own and there's a room for maybe a new addition?

So is it going to happen, 2012? Three big wishes. But wish no 1 is the most important one. It will make the other wishes possible. I am tired of being the breadwinner. It's not cool. It is so much cooler to both earn the bread.

Anyway. I also changed the look of my blog. I like it. It's clean and fresh.

After the last update it took some time before I got my mojo back. I forced myself to stitch because I knew it would make me feel better. And lo and behold, it did! It also helped I had nothing to do at Christmas. We had a simple dinner and after that we just hung out. Boxing Day was spent at my parents and after that I had a week off. Lovely. Just what we needed. We spent time with the in-laws and enjoyed a few days away from home. My MIL even brought her craft lamp with her so I had no problems stitching at night!!

After our short holiday I have been stitching nearly every evening. This is how it looks right now!

At the HAED forum I wrote down my goal for 2012: to finish at least 10 pages. I know I can do this, I stitch about 1 page a month and I have about 10 pages and a few tiny pages to do. Maybe I can finish this piece in December?

Update - sortof

Usually I can update every month but this month is different.

That is because earlier this week we had to bury a dear friend of us. His unexpected death is a massive blow to our circle of friends. Our heart is broken and we miss him terribly. 

Mourning about someone so close to you is a strange thing. Every day I come home with a terrible headache and sometimes I cannot find the most simplest of words. Silly things like playing Tetris on my mobile is impossible. I also haven't been able to lift my needle yet. For my boyfriend the pain is even so much worse, it was one of his best friends. It is really hard to give this loss a place.

We know our friend is at a better place now and we are happy for him. We are incredibly sad but have to find a way to move on. Celebrating Christmas is so weird, almost "alien" to us. I still have to decorate! I am going to try though. I have taken a few days off till after New Year. I hope I'll find the love for cross stitching again. I know I will. It might take some time.

So, my wish or advice or whatever you want to call it: please hug your family and friends. All the material things of this world are not important. Really, there is no need to have a big house, a nice car, vacations abroad or lots of Christmas gifts. The most important things are health, family and friends. Have a merry Christmas. Remember what Christmas is about: not Santa but the birth of a little Child who brought hope to the world.

Merry Christmas to all of you and may 2012 bring good things!

With love, Liesbeth