I'm back from camping...

Well we came home early because the kids were coming down with something but it seems like its not them we should have worried about. Both me and James have been knocked for six! Though I'm finally getting better and feeling kinda human. It was just a sinus infection but.... with the heat we've been having as well we've both been dehydrated. It was meant to get to 34 yesterday and today is meant to top out at 41! (about 105 Farenheit!)

So basically I'm trying to stay cool and hope I can ride it out. So glad we got a pool yesterday. I may need to make a lot of use of it!

While we were camping I did actually get some stitching done. I took Maskerade Pale Dawn with me and I set up really well on my camp chair.

It looked like this:

And after quite a bit of work it became:

Once I got home I wanted to work on a small so instead of starting a new one which I was so tempted to do I worked on one of the Joan Elliott ornaments.

Its close to finished with the stitching but then I need backstitching and beads... I'll get there eventually!

But I'm turning my computer off because it's too hot and going in the pool!

Stay cool everyone!

Caitlin

Christmas Baking Adventures!

Our Christmas baking adventures! I almost forgot to tell you guys about this!

I've always admired gingerbread houses but I have never made them before because it looks so hard. But this year we were looking through cookbooks and found one and I didn't think it looked that hard!

Oh how wrong we were!! We started looking and then went shopping for lollies and stuff to make the dough.

We made the dough then realised it needed to sit in the fridge for 2 hours.

We rolled out the dough and cut out the pieces then had to move them to the trays without breaking them... it sometimes worked!

Then we baked them and let them cool.

Once they were cool we made the royal icing from scratch and started to ice it with make shift piping bags because mum couldn't find the real ones.

We then realised it had to set before we could actually build it into a house.

This whole process took a day and we still weren't finished. I actually collapsed the next day and vegetated I was SHOT!!!!

But come sunday we put it all together and drum roll please!

 The proud decorators... they helped all the way through and loved eating it on Christmas day!

It's very wonky and has been decorated by a 7 and 9 year old but it was extremely yummy and full of good sugars!

That was all the Christmas baking I could handle!

Happy Baking,
Caitlin

Last WIPocalypse 2013

I've been really bad and forgotten all about the WIPocalypse. With my life going stupid this year is was much better forgetting about it. But I figured I did need to sum up my achievements or lack thereof! I haven't done a WIPOCALYPSE post since APRIL!!!! I'm well overdue then!

I'll start with the easy ones. I've already taken pictures of these.

'99 is no longer on my list. It was going to be a gift for my partner instead I handed the partial work to my friend who showed interest and the pattern and she is finishing it in time. It will be hers. 

Maskerade Pale Dawn

It was only just started in April. I'm still loving this piece especially since I got my millenium frame to hold it tightly!

Now it looks like this :D

Quite a bit of work considering how little I've actually worked on it! I have done more than I showed you last night I did another 100 stitches today :D and undid one colour too as the last one I put in last night was one two high.

I want to have a page finish by the end of next year maybe two. Any more is a bonus. It is easy to work on when I start fiddling.

Afternoon Tea

Last time I showed you this.

I've done a little bit more but nothing near what I expected to be at!

I did hope to be finished the top row by the end of the year but that plan bit the dust... Maybe by the end of next year!!

Winter Fairy

I really haven't done much on this one.

I haven't done much more. I bought what I thought would be the right size millennium frame and its too small because when they cut the fabric they didn't cut it evenly! There is a 2 inch difference between top and bottom and silly me didn't measure both sides. But I think Baroque will fit but I haven't started that one. An excuse to start another project! Now I have all three projects on millenium frames the afternoon tea

As you can see I have made some progress with all my pieces but I haven't done as much as I would have liked. My life kinda changed a lot this year.

But better plans next year. I'm going camping for a couple of days tomorrow so I probably won't respond for a while. Have fun and Happy New Year!

Caitlin

Being Organised ...

I'm not what you could call the most organised of people. I seem to crave organisation to function well but can never manage to be organised to do it.

I am trying to avoid writing an assignment very diligently so am actually managing to organise other stuff. Kinda... I may just be making more of a mess... It is technically meant to be organising my patterns but ... I don't know how well it's working!

I took my collection of World of Cross Stitching and had a look inside and realised how many patterns I like and how many I really don't. So I pulled out the staples, cut the magazines down the centre (not as easy as it sounds.) and started organising the patterns. I pulled out all the filler pages and then organised the patterns into keep and don't keep. The keep pile was quite high but so was the don't keep. Some patterns I liked went in the don't keep because I can truly never see myself stitching them.

Then comes the fun part. I bought a pile of display folders and sorted the patterns. They aren't sorted by designer except my Joan Elliott Collection. I love her patterns though I haven't stitched many of them. So now I have to go through the rest of my magazines and then I'm going to have a big giveaway. I have a couple of piles of cut out patterns that I no longer want that I think someone must want somewhere. They are gorgeous patterns I just won't stitch them.

So when I get all my stuff sorted into folders I will be having a pass on giveaway and pass on a whole pile of patterns to other people. Just because I won't stitch them doesn't mean someone else won't! That will be in the new year though before I get them all sorted. I have to go through a few magazines... and other stuff.

 I've got eight folders like this. I had to add more pages to most of them. It's interesting what I like and what I don't

 The cross stitch gold magazines are a pain! They are wider than a normal magazine so they won't fit in the folders I have to cut down the patterns. Annoying! Also annoying because I had a lot of Joan Elliott patterns in them.

Here is my pile of giveaway patterns. I've got to sort them into rough categories so that will take time. I also need to ask a couple of my friends here to look through them so hopefully I'll have less to post around.

I've just handed in my assignment for the first unit so hopefully I'll have time this weekend for actual stitching :D
Happy Stitching
Caitlin

Almost finished doily

I have almost finished the doily. I only have the butterflies to finish. I have done one but I have another five to go.

I'm loving how it has turned out, the colours are beautiful :D

The butterfly looks gorgeous laid on the edge. The problem is it takes ages to make just one butterfly as it's in 5 parts. I was debating giving it as a gift but I don't know whether I love it too much. 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin