Sophia's Ruminations

WIPocalypse - WIP focus piece #1

2012-01-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

TW Guardian at 280 hours last year and as it is now without a single stitch being done in over 4 months. I plan to focus on this on Monday's TWSAL and inbetween Round Robin commitments. I will upload starting shots for the other WIPs when I dig them out over the weekend.

WIPocalypse progress - January 9th

2012-01-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

Well the only progress so far is digging all WIPs out of storage and making a list of them. I'm sure there are probably more as the list seems rather short and I'll add them as I find them.

The list is in working order as I really want to finish off Guardian which has only needed the final bits of backstitching since last Easter.

Two days in a row

2011-08-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try and be a bit better at blogging about my stitching and maybe a bit more. I have found that seeing as DS has to blog every day for school that I should possibly show a better example than I have so far.

No stitching since Sunday when I was working on an Autumn Band for a Band Sampler Round Robin. I enjoyed using Thread Gatherer silks for it and need to not be so tired in the evenings so I can get some stitching in. Computer time - more precisely iPad time can't increase or I'll get no stitching done at all.

Long Term Amnesia

2011-08-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

More than a year has slipped by with some major life changes. A change in jobs, interstate relocation and divorce finally in late 2010. Still waiting for financial settlement but otherwise life is looking great back in Sydney.

Temporary amnesia

2010-03-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

I have just realised the value of recording favourites in places other than web browsers. For the last year I've been pretty busy and *knew* I had a blog but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called or where it was housed.

Tonight I had a brain attack and remembered so here I am. There's too much to forget about last year so I won't even try to recall it. I stitched, I spent money, I worked and continued to raise my son as a single Mum while waiting for my ex to get it together and start the divorce process. I'm still waiting for that one so while a year has passed not much has outwardly changed.

Holiday Stitching

2008-12-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

I've spent the first few days of the holidays just unwinding.

Which means I've pretty much stayed home, after all why would I want to go anywhere near the shops with Christmas shopping mayhem. I've done lots of stitching - probably about 30 hours or so across 4 days whilst watching episodes of Dexter and the Tudors.

I also finally succumbed to the Dragon Cave and here is my first incubator and then after a few more days:

I've also had the chance to get my diet back on track - I'm not waiting for New Year this year. I'll allow a small blip on Christmas Day, but this way I won't put on a few kilos over the holidays that I have to shift next year. It is bad enough having to shift the constant conferencing kilos (about 6 or 7 I think) from Term 4. It also means I won't get a gall bladder attack and feel awful for a few days.

So stiching wise here are some of my recent projects:

My Teresa Wentzler Guardian at 78 hours after the Monday SAL December 15th

Shannon's Winter Neighborhood RR (I stitched the house bottom left from merged "By the Bay" patterns) December 18th

Cari's Band Sampler RR (I stitched the orangey tan band of leaves and wheat from Teresa Wentzler's Harvest Sampler) December 7th

Kristin's Santa for the UFORR December 6th

Debbi's Winter Neighborhood RR (I stitched the house at the top left from a Prairie Schooler Pattern) November 25th

Another hectic month and holidays are in sight - YAY!

2008-12-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

Well just like last month I worked frantically. In fact between October and November I worked 40 days straight with only a few hours off on Sundays to spend time with my son, catchup on housework etc.

Stitching during that time was minimal if at all. However this week with the massive reduction in workload I was able to finish off Krisitin's UFORR piece

Some Round Robin Progress

2008-10-30T02:10:00.000-07:00

I've been flat out at work so very little stitching has been done lately. I've mostly been working on Round Robins if I've had time.

My Band Sampler Round Robin which is on the way to the USA now.

Allie's Fairys as they left me.

Stitching Update

2008-10-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

I've been busy finishing off Round Robin pieces so they could be mailed.

The Winter Neighborhood one went on Monday. It is Tami's and it's winging its way to Arizona

I've been working on my piece about to start a Band Sampler RR. I'm doing a Teresa Wentzler Band Sampler. No photo yet but hopefully I'll finish it tonight.

I also collected my nephews' stockings whilst in Sydney. They are ready to go to their respective new owners.

Frightfully Busy

2008-10-09T06:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a month just flew by. I've been so busy I only just realised.

Things I've been busy doing:

1 week of preparation for a 1 day workshop for 160 teachers
Cleaning up loose ends after the teacher workshop
Editing powerpoints and audio files to make vodcasts of the workshop for those unable to attend and reminders for those who did attend
2 weeks of Spring Holiday in Sydney with Family
Visiting and getting to know 3 new babies in my family / friend network
1 day workshop with 40 teachers
Wading through emails, mail, voicemails that piled up while I was doing the above things

I think that's it. I know I didn't do much stitching during this time but I've learnt a heap of new technologies such as audio editing, Powerpoint Producer, mpeg to avi conversion which will make these jobs faster in the future. So back to getting more stitching time :)

Danger broken glass!

2008-09-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

Angus accidently knocked my very large shell vase off the kitchen bench this morning. It made a huge crash and big mess. He was very upset for most of the day despite me assuring him that accidents happen. Luckily I have a spare vase and after a bit of glueing of the shell balls I'll be able to put it all right.

The scene of the mess. I had glass splattered across four rooms and it took nearly an hour to ensure it was all gone. Luckily no tiles were cracked either.

This afternoon I did a few more hours of stitching and my TW Guardian is at 60 hours

I need sleep!

2008-09-02T01:29:00.000-07:00

After a couple of unsettled nights I'm really tired. Seeing as Angus has gone to his Dad's for the next 2 days I'm thinking of going to bed shortly and then sleeping in.

No stitching today but I posted the RR off to Canada. Maybe tomorrow I'll do some more on Guardian.

It's Monday and the first day of Spring

2008-09-01T04:40:00.000-07:00

Started the day well with my weekly weigh in and have lost 3kg :) so diet is working and will reward myself as promised with a Pandora bead. I'm thinking this one:

Another bead at 95kg - so 3 more to lose.

It was a busy day at work, lots of paperwork the usual emails, phone calls and faxes to deal with. Then I got to play with a Primary class as they quizzed me about Space and Gravity.

Had a brief nap before picking up Angus and getting into the usual evening routine. Angus chose to watch a David Attenborough episode of "Life in Cold Blood", lots of pretty froggies. I finished off my Winter Neighborhood RR piece for posting tomorrow while watching it with him. Here it is:

After Angus went to bed I did an hour or so on my TW Guardian. Monday being the TW Stitch along day. Here he is at 48 hours:

Only 2 more hours to go on the border then back to stitching the main picture. I've decided every 10 hours to work on the border for 10 hours. The border is actually quite easy to stitch I think.

Finished Fergus's Stocking

2008-08-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

I've finished my 10th Shepherd's Bush Stocking. This one is for Fergus my 3 week old nephew born August 8th. It would have been done last week however I ran out of one thread :( It's now off to Sydney for finishing.

I've also uploaded the progress on my TW Guardian - here he is at 44 hours on the 8th of August.

And finally here is my TW Regal Peacocks finished on August 17th.

So with Fergus's Stocking I've now completed 33 of 50 in my Stash reduction challenge.

Why did I avoid it for so long?

2008-08-30T02:03:00.000-07:00

I've been updating my blog all day. Listing all my things in one place is such a convenience.

Which got me to wondering why I didn't do this earlier?

I also did 2 hours of weeding, in preparation for putting the house on the market next month. Still more weeding and lawn regeneration required. Also planted the spring veggies but have no idea if I'll get to eat them.

Found two baby water dragons in the veggie patch.

Watched "The Goonies" earlier and now "Muriel's Wedding" as I start stitching for the day.

I'm finally blogging

2008-08-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well after many years of watching and reading blogs I've finally succumbed.

This is just one of the technologies I'll be learning this week. My other goals are to learn to use a digital video recorder, then how to edit video and audio segments and finally how to embed video segments in powerpoint.

Last week I learnt how to record and download digital voice recordings and how to save you-tube and other flash videos.

Stitching wise:

I'm about to finish my 3 week old nephew Fergus's Christmas Stocking and I have to grid fabric ready for a Winter Neighborhood Round Robin.