1 day to go!

We're off to the Craft and Quilt Fair tomorrow! Yippee!!!

I have my spending money all ready and waiting, and I am thinking about what is best to wear. I'm probably going to wear runners for comfort, I think. Not sure I could last all day in my heeled boots. I'm also thinking about what to take for lunch. We've decided to take our own rather than pay the expensive prices of the food there. I am thinking I'll either take tuna and crispbread or I'll take a pasta salad, along with a couple of pieces of fruit.

I am soooo looking forward to all the fantastic things we'll see tomorrow, and to helping Belinda and Cassie choose patterns. Belinda is looking for a baby sampler for her baby, which is due at the end of January, and Cassie is looking for a small design to begin cross stitching with, as she has only done long stitch so far. I'm just going to be looking for anything that catches my eye! :P Seriously though, I usually look for Lizzie*Kate designs, and I would like to see if I can find Passione Ricamo's Romantic Stitcher.

Here's to a successful day :D

Progress report

Well, the first week of stitch and slim is down, with mixed results. I managed to lose 2.5lbs this week, which I am really chuffed with. Hopefully I'll do the same next week, and get on to a cracking start. I actually looked at my diary from the beginning of the year, and since January 25th, I have dropped 1st 1lb altogther. Not bad, at all. Can't believe I didn't end up putting that weight back on, but I'm not going to argue with it. Maybe looking after Caitlyn has stopped me from regaining. Who knows? I have really enjoyed some of the nice things I have had this week, and feel satisfied that I am making healthier choices.

On the stitching front, things haven't been doing so well. I only picked it up on Wednesday when I went to visit Cassie for some stitching time. I was happily stitching along, and then discovered that I had made a mistake. So what do I do? Not what I should have done, lol! I should have worked out where the mistake was, but I haven't been brave enough to find out how much I have to rip out. Instead, I went to another part of the pattern and started some backstitch :P No doubt I'll brave it soon, when I can sit and concentrate on it, and I'll post another picture soon too.

My stitching time is about to get rudely interrupted though, as I have just got myself a full time job, starting on Monday. I am going to be sooo tired for the first couple of weeks that I don't think I'll be stitching much during the week. I might get chance at the weekends though, if I am lucky.

Stitch and slim

I have decided recently that enough is enough, and I need to lose some weight. So, in true stitchaholic style, I am going to use my stitching to help me out! I figure that if I aim to be stitching every night, I will be much less likely to snack my way through the evening (who wants stains on their stitching?). I made a bit of a start on Thursday by swapping the sugar I was putting in my cups of tea for sweetner. I also swapped the Coco Pops at breakfast for Weetbix with banana. I tend to find that bread is one of my trigger foods, so I am aiming to cut back on that almost completely. I have re-discovered Cruskits with flavoured tuna for lunch too - yum!

A friend and I are going to be trying to do this weight loss thing at the same time, so hopefully we'll be support for each other - I find it so hard trying to be good by myself, and I think once the first few weeks are out of the way, it should get easier.

Hubby and I also took Caitlyn and our dog, Buster out for a walk this afternoon. Hopefully that'll start doing me good, and it'll certainly wear the dog out - we were out for 45 minutes today and he was so tired when we got home that he was trying not to fall asleep whilst he was sitting up! It was very cute. :D

Stitchy meet

The stitchy meet I went to at Melody's house yesterday was fantastic. I'd almost forgotten how good it was to just sit and chat and stitch and eat yummy foods! There was me, Belinda, Melody, Cassie and Melody's very cute 9 month old daughter so there was plenty of chatter going on. I got a little bit stitched on my WTP design, so I made progress but not much. I think because of all the fractionals I probably need to do that at home and take a simpler piece to the stitchy meet.

I can't believe that there was so much sweet stuff to munch our way through - too much probably! I took my slice, Belinda baked a banana bread with a caramel topping, Cassie bought Lammingtons and Melody supplied Oreos and cupcakes. Thank goodness she also supplied salsa with celery and carrot for dipping! I'm thinking next time, I might do something savoury for a change. I only have a few weeks to decide what I'm doing though as the next one is mid-August. Bring it on! :D

Tomorrow, tomorrow....

.... I love you, tomorrow, you're only a day away! I am so looking forward to catching up with the stitchy girls tomorrow - it's very exciting. There will be lots to catch up on, and probably more chatting will happen than actual stitching, but it's been so long since we've seen each other that I am sure no-one will mind.

I made my rice krispie slice tonight to take with me to the meeting. It was supposed to be individual rice krispie cakes, but I don't have a cupcake pan. It'll taste the same anyway. The recipie I found online is different to how I remember it turning out as a kid, so I might have to have a go for the next stitchy meet - that'll be a shame! :P I'm sure it'll taste fine, but the look is not what I remember. I think sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good...

Well, I better head off and get some more stitching done before the big day tomorrow :D

WTP update

It's not the best picture, as it was taken in fading light, so I had to use the flash, but it gives you a good idea. This is my progress so far on "Let's Bounce". It was surprising to see how much I had actually done, once I unrolled the scroll frame. Still, I'm not really looking forward to stitching Tigger... He's my favourite WTP character, but he has far too many fractional stitches in for my liking! I'm thinking of starting to do some backstitch on it soon, so that I don't have it all to do at the end. I think it also helps the design to come alive, so might spur me on to accomplish more of the design in a shorter time. We'll see. :)

OK, I'm off to move the dog from my stitching end of the sofa, and start making some more progress :D

Stitching friends

I am getting so excited now that the month of July is rolling on. I belong to a group of young stitchers (young as I am the oldest one!) and we try to meet about every 4 weeks to have some stitching time, a good gossip and some yummy food. Unfortunately, it has been about 6 months since our last meeting, as 3 of the girls have got married and honeymooned in the first part of the year, makign it difficult to find a free time, what with all the preparations for the weddings, etc. Our meeting day is finally going to be happening on Sunday, even though 2 of the girls are unable to make it. :( I think we were all hanging out for a meeting so badly though, that we couldn't let it go any longer. I think it's one of those unfortunate things that when you get a larger group, it's going to be difficult to find a date that suits everyone. That will just make the meetings where everyone can get there all the more special. :D

There will be 4 of us on Sunday, so it's a nice number. As we meet for the afternoon, we all bring along a snack to share with everyone and the snacks have been unbelievably yummy! A couple of the girls really love to bake, and they never disappoint! I think it encourages all of us to try something new too. I'm going to be taking Rice Krispie cake this time. They are supposed to be done in little individual serves, but I am going to be making one big one and slicing it. Hopefully it'll work out ok!

Good company, good food, and quality stitching time - what more could a girl ask for? ;)

Stitching time

I am very happy that the past few nights, I have made time to do some stitching :D This is mainly because I have decided not to go on the computer once I have put my daughter to bed. I was finding that once it was on, it was on all night and I didn't get anything else done. It feels good to be free from it, and to be able to spend my time more constructively. One of the nights was hubby's night off work, so he was catching up on some TV whilst I stitched. It felt less anti-social than us both being on different computers. My next goal is to find my iPod and listen to some podcasts while I stitch. Now that would be my idea of indulging myself for the evening!

My Winnie The Pooh design is coming along, although I am finding the progress slower than I'd like due to it being on 18 count. I'm so used to stitching on 14 count and the stitches covering a larger area. It also makes it more difficult for those pesky fractional stitches... I am pleased with how it's looking though, and hope to post a picture soon.

My first post

So, I've been persuaded by my good friend Belinda to create a blog for my cross stitch. Well, here I am! I'm hoping that it's going to spur me on to do some more stitching as my stitchy bug has been AWOL for a while...

I have lots of stash to work my way through, and I am feeling like I am finally getting on top of my addiction - I haven't bought any new stash for quite some time. However, with the Quilt and Craft Show soon to hit Melbourne, I am not sure how long that is going to last. I am going with Belinda, and another friend, Cassie, too. I am looking forward to it, it should be a fun day. Of course, I can't promise not to buy any more stash - it's just so tempting! I have a pretty good method for controlling what I buy though. Another friend (Bek) and I take a notebook with us and note down everything we are interested in on our first circuit of the show. Then, when we stop for lunch we take the time to look through our list and choose only the things that we still really can't live without. It also makes it easier to navigate the show at it's busiest time if we only have a couple of stalls to go to. It's a shame that Bek can't come to this show - hopefully we'll be able to go together next year though!

Stitching wise, I have only just started picking it up again in the evenings, now that I have my daylight lamp organised. I have done a quick little Lizzie*Kate design which features the phrase "Home is where our story begins". I love stitching LK designs as they are quick and simple and come to life very fast. It's a good way to get back into stitching. Tonight I decided to pick up a WTP design that I started working on quite some time ago. It's from the Tigger movie and called "Let's Bounce". It's all the characters holding onto Tigger's tail to try and stop him bouncing. Very cute, and it'll probably end up in my daughter's room when it's finished.