Taj progress

Some more progress for you...

It's very exciting to get to my first Taj at last!

I've not felt good the last week or so. It started with a migraine last Thursday and then I thought I had flu on Friday. Yuck! I stayed at home all weekend to try and shake it off, but now seem to have some sort of chest infection that has lasted all week, so I'm off to see the doc tomorrow.

We have a college skills day tomorrow on 'presentation skills'! We have to pick any topic we like that we can talk for ten mins about, so I'm going to talk about cross stitch of course! The idea is that we learn our skills in the morning and we all do our presentations in the afternoon. Could be interesting! I think I will have to do a bit of show & tell with mine. ;o)

A bit of Taj

Yes! I have a lake and a door and a bit of outline....

Such pretty silkies! I can't wait to see the first Taj come to life. Thank you all for such lovely comments - you ladies really do keep me motivated!

I have a college assignment due this evening after a few weeks off, oops, I mean 'reading weeks'! This time last week I was really thinking of giving it up, but somehow this week it really has all come together and I finished my assignment last night. As long as it passes and I don't get referred I will be very happy. All that's left now is the BIG work-based project which is double the size of the assignment I've just completed. It has to be submitted on 25th April and I also have to do a presentation of my project to the rest of my class. Eeeeeek!

I don't think I mentioned that I have been successful with the Wimbledon ticket ballot this year and I have got tickets for Centre Court for the middle Saturday! I'm so pleased as they usually do special events on Centre on the Saturday - they've had parades of champions in the past. It's something to look forward to for after my course anyway.

Have a great weekend folks & keep on stitching! :o)

Taj update

Yes, it's that time of week once more! Here is this week's progress:

Yes, it's still on the Q-Snaps, but I won't be able to keep it like that for much longer! Once I've finished doing the Woven Scotch stitches around the border, I am looking forward to stitching the outer parts and the Taj's! :o)

College work is still taking up lots of time. My next written assignment is due in a week's time and I'm trying my best to pull all the parts together. I'm not so confident with this one...

I spent last weekend at my brother & sis-in-law's which was great. My SIL cooked some delicious dishes for us and it was nice to relax and switch off from college work for a while. I felt very spoilt indeed :o) Enjoy the weekend folks!

A teensy bit more progress...

I haven't had much time to stitch this week as I need to do lots of college work at the moment:

I absolutely love stitching this project & will definitely be adding some more Chatelaines to my stash in the future when funds allow.

An amusing tale to share. Andy went shopping a couple of nights ago to the well-known food retailer just around the corner and who should he see perusing the cheese section, but Mr Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim! He and his wife Zoe Ball live about 10 mins walk away and like to keep things local I guess ;o)

Taj Tuesday once more

Here is this week's progress:

The fabric colour has come out slightly truer, although it still looks more blue than it does IRL. I love how Taj seems to change shape each week. I saw a programme the other evening where Monty Don (a British gardener) is going 'Around the World in 80 Gardens' and this week he was visiting the actual Taj Mahal garden! He spoke about an area behind the Taj Mahal which they have discovered was originally also part of the entire garden and the tomb itself was to have been the centrepiece of the garden. Most interesting indeed....

I was amazed and thrilled to have been one of the finalists in the Silkweaver Showcase 2007! My Crescent Dreams was there, along with two other CDs. Congratulations to all the winners. I loved the large category winner - the fabric that the stitcher chose for 'The Kiss' was absolutely beautiful.

Andy loved his framed Mabel & Bee by the way. Thank you for all your lovely comments!

A bit more Taj

Here is this week's progress:

I love stitching with the silkies - they're so soft and pretty!

I'm off to sit in on an employment tribunal in Croydon tomorrow with my college class. I'm looking forward to it - hopefully we'll get an interesting case....

Taj progress 29th Jan

A bit of filling in this week.....



.....using some delicious 'Green Tea' Wildflowers and 'Lemon Lime' Dinky Dyes!

College news: I got a distinction last week for my Recruitment & Selection practical assignment - yay!! When I saw the 'D' written on the front, I honestly thought that the tutor had missed the stalk off of a 'P' (pass) and it wasn't until I read the grading details inside that I realised that I actually did have a distinction. Onwards and upwards with my 2 written assignments now. ;o)

Taj Tuesday

The weeks seem to be flying by! Here is my latest Taj update:



I love the gorgeous colours of the silks in this! :o)

I've just heard about the death of the actor Heath Ledger on the news which is very sad. He was a great actor and had so much more to give. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.

A bit more Taj

Yes, it was Tuesday Taj yesterday once again, so here's this week's progress:

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments - I really appreciate them :o)

Sally - the fabric I'm using for This Heart of Mine is SMF's Impressionism Belfast linen.

I haven't got any news to share really..... I will have to be concentrating on my college work quite intensely over the next few weeks, so I will probably just pop in for the odd update once a week with Taj. I may even have a Snow Princess update soon, watch this space...

More stitching

Here's my progress from this week's Taj SAL:

I didn't get much stitching time in after work unfortunately. I really love working on this - the silkies are sooooo soft and lovely!

I've also been stitching on my Ink Circles WIP whilst at work during my lunch break. Here is 'This Heart of Mine':

I'm hoping to finish this quite soon. Things have quietened down somewhat at work, so I actually manage to fit in all my lunch breaks now! It also helps that my stitching mojo is back and I'm lovin' it ;o)

We're receiving our second written assignment at college tomorrow. I'm really not enjoying college which I think has alot to do with our tutor. I'm just going to hang in there & do the absolute best I can.

Taj SAL has started

So every Tuesday we will be stitching Chatelaine's Taj Mahal Garden and I will probably bore you all rigid week by week with my progress.... ;o) Anyway, this is what I did yesterday:

I just cannot get an accurate scan or photo of the fabric, but it's a gorgeous purple IRL. The silkies are wonderful - such pretty colours. I am looking forward to Tuesdays now!

Stitchy progress

Hello everyone - I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Mine was quiet, but in a nice way and I got a fair amount of stitching time in. Here's what I've been up to....

Some progress on TW's Egyptian Sampler which I've been working on for eons! I've stitched the left and top borders and stitched some of the details in the corners of the border. I was so sick of those colours by the time I finished the top border, I just couldn't face starting the final part on the right! It has been one of my new year's stitching resolutions to finish this for about the last 3 years, so I declare that 2008 is the year! I'm stitching much more frequently on it now that it's the project at my Dad's house, meaning I get to work on it weekly!

The other WIP that has been getting some attention is Titania:

2007 has been a real non-Mira year. I have 3 Mira WIPs and the only one I had picked up was Lady of the Mist which I started way back in Guilt-free January. I have fallen out of love with Miras a bit and wanted to stitch a few other projects this year. After I finished Tatty, I wanted to pick up something to work on during Dec and I noticed Titania fluttering her eyelashes at me from the WIP drawer. It was quite nice to work in large blocks of colour for a while and I do really love this one. Who knows, she may get another turn on the Q-Snaps before too much longer. ;o)

What are your stitching plans for 2008? I'm starting a Taj Mahal SAL with Gill and Kathy on 1st Jan. We will be stitching every Tuesday. Other than that, I want to stitch the 2nd row of Snow Princess and I have a couple of HAED QS's I'd like to stitch: Peridot by Meredith Dillman and Dragonfly by Jessica Galbreth. Both have such beautiful colours in. I did start Dragonfly in the summer & decided to try tent stitching using 2 strands on 32ct fabbie, but wasn't happy with the result, despite test stitching beforehand. I preferred my tent test stitching of 1 strand on 32ct but wasn't sure how well it would cover. I may try a higher count fabric using 1 strand and see how that turns out.

I'm looking forward to seeing lots more stitching from you all in 2008, so all that's left to say is have a very happy new year!

Ted HD

Yay! He's finished!! :o)

I'm really pleased with Ted's new look. The backstitching was neverending though. He will be off to his temporary home next week with my boss. He's going to be a birthday gift next April, for my boss's partner's mum. I'm not sure which of my WIPs I want to work on next.... I may pick up my Dracolair draggie for a while as I've not worked on him since last Dec!

I've also done a floss toss for Taj:

The fabric is gorgeous - it's Amethyst from Lakeside Linens which is a glorious deep purple shade. I'm afraid it's not much of a floss toss as I didn't actually get the flossies out of their baggies... ;o)

We had our interviewing assignment at college last night and thankfully we all passed. The candidate my team interviewed was a bit of a waffler and it was quite difficult to keep her on track, but it seemed to go ok. Our tutor is giving us feedback next week. Well, that's 2 assignments down, 3 more to go. I say 2 down, but I still have some work to do on the interviewing assignment, as I have to write a 1000 word reflective statement about it now it's finished!

Anyone in the UK watching Strictly Come Dancing? I love it! Much as I wasn't a fan of Kelly Brook and Brendan Cole, I was sorry to hear that her father had passed away and as a result she had left the show. I'm really rooting for Alesha and Matt to be in the finals - both of them are great dancers and truly deserve to be there.

Have a great weekend everyone! :o)

Ted update

Amongst all my recent college work, I've had a bit of time to work on my Tatty Ted WIP:

I love how he's turning out! The colours seem to look fine against all the others in the background. I've got a bit of time off this week, so I'm hoping to try and finish this one off. I'm dreading all the French knots though!

College is going well. I've been informed that for my first major written assignment I have not been 'referred', which means I've got a pass, merit or distinction. Phew! The tutor hasn't marked the ones that aren't refers yet, so I should find out my results in a couple of weeks time. This week we have an interviewing assignment. I spent last week devising a job description and person specification for a ficticious job. I'm in a team of 3 people and this week we have to interview a person our tutor has requested to come in. I've done interviews before, so I'm not nervous about it, although I suspect our candidate will be quite hard work - either so talkative we can't get a word in edgeways, or very, very quiet and hard to get information out of.

Well, it looks like Gill and Kathy are up for a Chatelaine Taj Mahal SAL in January. Anyone else want to join? Shall we stitch one day each week, or over a particular weekend each month? I'm happy to do either. I have some gorgeous rich purple fabric all ready to go. I'm looking forward to starting this one!