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!