Update on the Band Sampler

Here's the weekend's progress on the band sampler. For information, this is 'Silver Frost' by Patricia Ann's Designs. I like many of her sampler designs and own at least another 2 to do later on. Some of the parts (those with lots of backstitch) are a bit of a pain, but, in the main, it's very pleasant and easy to work. It'll be made up as a bell-pull and given as a very belated 20th wedding anniversary gift to friends who have now been married 21½ years!! Not as bad as the dog, which was meant to be a ruby wedding gift and made it to it's final desitination a couple of months short of the couple's (my aunt and uncle) 44th wedding anniversary!!! So, at this rate, there's hope that something might be ready on time yet!

I hope to get on with some of my colour module work today as my teacher, Diane, suggested that it would be good to get that finished and signed off as soon as possible and that that completion would spur me on for the rest of the stuff and I think she's right. I'm even looking forward to the work I need to do. I have to do the actual stitching on 2 samples and a few pieces of art work for the resolved design piece. Please don't ask me what a 'resolved piece' is as none of us really understand it - including those who did it all in previous years!

I'm reading Mary Elizabeth Braddon's 'The Doctor's Wife' at the moment, but not finding that I'm getting into it as much as I have the others I've read by her. Perhaps that's partly because I kind of know the story - it's meant to be her version of Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', and partly because it's rather a slow starter. Doubt I'll be finished it in time to take back to the library on Weds, (only a 7 day loan), but at least you can renew them these days. You didn't use to be able to renew 7 day loan items. I plan to get quite a few more out then too, both from the 7 day and main collections (which, as an academic member of staff, I can keep for up to 6 months per loan!), including the 'Ever After' book, some of Wilde's plays and so forth.

Post Zusammenfassung in Deutsch:

Mein Sampler geht jetzt weiter und gibt's nur 8 Teilen übrig. Leider bin ich immer noch krank, aber heute hab' ich ein bißchen Berufschulestickerei gestickt und hoffentlich kommt bald einige Fotos.

Ich hab' kurzlich viel gelesen, viele gute Romans vom 19-Jahrhundert, von Anthony Trollope, Elizabeth Gaskell und Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Krankheit gibt mir die Möglichkeit zu lesen.

Am Freitag fliegen wir nach Frankfurt, bis um Montag. Ich hoffe, dass wir die Zeit haben dort etwas interesantes sehen werden. Ich war nur 2 oder 3 Stunden in Frankfurt und würde gern mehr sehen.

Music exam today!

So, I took my Grade 3 Theory of Music exam this tea-time and was pleased that, amongst all the kids doing that grade, there was another adult - a 40-something looking chap who sat behind me and who I was sorry not to get a chance to have a post-mortem with afterwards. I managed all the questions OK, but realised on the way home that I'd wrongly identified one of the performance directions in the last section. Not badly wrongly, I got some of it right, but not right enough for full marks, so I doubt a 100% score will be mine this time either. I got 98% for my Grade 2 and DH said I might have to take Grade 1 if I want to get 100% on one of them!!

My desk partner, (were we cramped together in that room, or what?), was a kid doing his Grade 5, but he didn't really seem to know many of the answers and did more fidgetting than anything. I saw a few of the questions on his paper and felt glad that I'd decided not to take any more theory exams for a good while yet! There seems quite a jump between Grades 3 and 4 and I really have too much on - esp. being so behind with college work - to take on anything more at the moment.

No stitching to showcase at the mo as I just haven't done any lately. I tried something with silk paints last week - working on a college sample I was keen to do as it was a nice idea and one I could do without needing to ask for any more details etc - but it went horribly and irretrievably wrong. Basically, both the silver and clear guttas (resists) that I'd used let paint through and the whole thing was just ruined beyond repair! The bottles of gutta had way too large openings to be able to apply direct to the fabric (silk habotai) and the clear one even had a sharp bit on it that would have ripped the silk! So, I had to use a small paintbrush to apply it, which I did with great care and making sure there were no gaps. After it dried, I started to wet the sky area as I thought to dilute that a bit, but noticed that it was bleeding badly into the main design - the Taj Mahal. I let the fabric dry again and painstakingly and plentifully re-applied the gutta only to discover that I may as well have not bothered with it at all as every single line bled! I was livid! I haven't sent them yet, but the 2 bottles are going back as they don't work and the applicators are very poor quality, and I'll include my ruined work as proof. Over 2 hours work there totally wasted!=(

Post Zusammenfassung in Deutsch:

Kürzlich hab' ich meine Musiktheorie Prüfung gemacht. Es geht so. Ich nicht es 100%-ig richtig gemacht, aber soll ziemlich gut sein. Es war die dritte Stufe und für die zweite hab' ich 98% gekriegt.=)

Keine Stickerei hab' ich auch gemacht, aber im Moment hab' ich eine Virusinfektion, oder so was, und hab' ich natürlich keinen Bock irgend etwas außer lesen zu tun. Mein Stickereikursarbeit geratet mehr und mehr in Verzug und hoffe ich am Donnerstag etwas mit meiner Lehrerin zu arrangieren. Vielleich könnte ich das Texturmodul nächstes Jahr fertig machen. Ich würde sehr gern bald mit einem Hardangerkissen anfangen und auch einige einfachen Kreuzstich und Bandstickerei Bilde sticken. Hoffentlich....

Goldfinch happy dance!

Yippee! I finally finished something! First 'proper' stitching finish of the year. Actually, I don't think I finished any C&G pieces yet, did I? Can't remember. Suppose I might have.... Yes! I did one on 2 Jan, according to previous posts. Anyway, here are the goldfinches. Started 24 March 2008 in Amstersdam airport and finished last night at about 11pm 18 February 2009. It was the least 'important' of all the things on the go at the moment, in that it's for us rather than an either overdue gift or an overdue C&G sample, but it feels good to have something finished. I plan to have a go at washing out both it and four other XS pieces that have got browned around where the frame was, or have got funny marks on. There's a really yacky, oily looking mark on the bluetits pieces.=( Anyway, let's see how well Ecover's hand washing liquid deals with those.=) Pattern etc has gone into my 'For Sale or Trade' folder on Webshots, if anyone's interested. 'Bluetits' is still there too, although I sold 'Chaffinches' on E-bay a while back.

Nothing done really on the C&G front. I meant to put in full days on in Monday and Tuesday of this week, but ended up under the weather again, (a colleague asked yesterday what the weather had done for me to be under it, but I suppose we all are, in purely logistical terms, aren't we?) Anyway, feel better now and should be able to get on today and press further forward tomorrow as well as next Monday and Tuesday. The substitute teacher we have at college at the mo, (ours had an accident on the ice, poor thing!), recommended that both I and another student whose just come back from 7 weeks in New Zealand where her daughter lives (and has recently had a baby!) and is as behind as I am on balance, just get on as quickly as we can, work small and simple and start to enjoy it again when we're caught up. I certainly agree with her small and relatively simple idea, but I do want to enjoy it as far as I can, even though I'm pretty clueless on most of what I'm doing, so I might take it a bit slower, but it won't matter greatly if I do. So, I want to get the bits of bobs of the old line and colour modules finished ASAP, do the sample from last week's class (today is half term, so no class - phew!), and finish the project I started last week by the time we go back next Thursday. It's quite a lot of work, but it may be possible - IF I get on with it!!!

Had a funny experience the other night. I was wasting time answering silly questions on Yahoo Answers. Later on I found one had been selected as the Best Answer, so I went back to look at it. The poser of the question had been really insulting and stupid in his response saying something like, 'I'm only doing this for the points anyway' and then putting some insulting quote, (that made him look a far bigger prat than he intended me to look!!) as his reason for why what I said was dumb. What cracked me up was that he said he only wanted the 3 points he got from selecting a best answer, but he had to pay 5 to ask the question in the first place. I earned 2 from answering and 10 for being voted as best. So, he ended up with egg on his face both by publicly proving himself narrow- and small-minded and by losing an overall 2 points whereas I gained 12!! HA-HA-HA!!! In yer face, pal!ROTFL! Hope he realises too..... I'm not at all a vindictive type, but I enjoyed this one!!! Tee-hee!=)

Postzusammenfassung in Deutsch:

So, mein Kreuzstich Distelfinken sind endlich fertig. Ich hab' diesen Projekt am 24. März 2008 angefangen (im Flughafen Amsterdam!) und gestern hab' ich es fertig gemacht.=) Schön, nö? Es ist auch schon gewascht und wartet jetzt auf einen Rahmen.

Musikstudium geht ein bißchen besser. Der Bach ist ein bißchen besser geworden (ich lerne Bratsche zu spielen) und die verbunden gespielte Tonleiter auch. Aber die Theorieprüfung ist am 5. März und hab' ich noch nicht genug studiert. Morgen, morgen!!=)

Hab' kürzlich überhaupt keine mehr Berufschularbeit gemacht und momentlich interessiere ich mich nicht so viel für das. Ich liebe Stickerei, aber wenn ich malen und sticken muss, dann ist das ein andere Sache!!

中文：

刺绣课程最近作得不好。因为最近常常生病了，所以没办法画画，设计和绣等。
我把金翅雀十字绣绣完了。我已经把全3个这个系列的飞鸟十字绣洗好了，等买框锯。

刺繡課程最近作得不好。因為最近常常生病了，所以沒辦法畫畫，設計和繡等。
我把金翅雀十字繡繡完了。我已經把全3個這個系列的飛鳥十字繡洗好了，等買框鋸。

Lots of college work done

Spent much of yesterday and some of the evening before getting well on with my C&G work. It's often just 'getting around to it' that's the problem here. Yes, like someone commented, some of the stuff isn't to my taste, but I just bear in mind that I'm learning techniques that I can apply to things I do like in the future. I don't really count much of the C&G stuff as stitching, so to speak, it's just college work!! Stitching is the projects I choose to do!! Yes, I have been known to get sick of gifts as well, although I never make and give something I personally don't like. I can be quite particular about designs, (although I find that less now that I've moved away somewhat from the cross-stich world, with all its holiday and patriotic designs that all leave me cold), but I do like a lot of things and can always find something nice to do for someone. If not, I can design it!=)

Anyway, here's what I did all clumped together in one photo for the time being as no one piece has been completed. There's work on 3 samples/designs here - artwork for all of them (I did one drawing, which isn't finished yet - I want add more detail and make it more 'mature', one pastel picture and 2 collages, although one of these has as much gouache painting as anything!! And I spilled my dirty painting water all over it....) and fabric preparation for 2 - one painted and one bonded. Both of these came out a bit brighter than I really wanted, but it's supposed to be a learning process, so I don't mind that much. I'm more concerned about getting the dratted stuff done, to be honest!

Post Zusammenfassung in Deutsch:

Gestern und vorgestern habe ich viele Arbeit für mein City & Guilds Stickereikurs gemacht. Nichts ist jetzt fertig, aber ich habe der Design und Kunst für 3 Sache fertig gemacht und der Stoff für 2 vorbereitet. Ein ist gemahlt and ein zusammen geklebt.

Ich studiere diesen Kurs bei Harrogate College (eine Berufschule). Es macht mir viel Spass, aber manchmal gefällt es mir nicht so was wir tun muss - zu modern für mich. Ich hab' tradionelle Stickerei am liebsten und fühle oft, dass ich sticken muss was ich nicht besonders mag. Tja, so ist es eben! Ich lerne viele neue Sache die ich später für etwas schöner nutzen kann.=)

中文:

我昨天和前天作了很多学院的事。这种事算是‘功课’吗？=）我读的是刺绣课程。挺喜欢，可是有时候太现代式。我更喜欢的是比较漂亮的东西。

这张照片是最近作的艺术事（设计部分）和准备快要绣的布。

我昨天和前天作了很多學院的事。這種事算是‘功課’嗎？=）我讀的是刺繡課程。挺喜歡，可是有時候太現代式。我更喜歡的是比較漂亮的東西。

這張照片是最近作的藝術事（設計部分）和準備快要繡的布。

Goldfinch update

This is what the goldfinches look like right now. I've finished the background half-cross stitching and put in the top stitching on the birds. There's just the top stitching on the thistles to do now - a few details on the leaves and then the old gold thistledown details. Should have that one done very soon now.=) It'll be nice to finish something. When you have such simple WIPs hanging around for months on end, you feel like you're never doing anything, despite having done all sorts of other things.

My college work (C&G stuff) is horribly behind and I don't seem to be able to find the uumph to get on with it, despite how much it stresses me out! I'll no doubt feel much better once it's done, but I just don't want to. Oh, how contrary we can be! I've been lusting after a C&G course for years and now I'm doing one.....

Actually did some viola practice yesterday and will do more today. Something is moving forward at least and, well, I do have a nasty cold! Thanks for all the kind well wishes and, yes Von, I will try and be sensible and recover fully. Nothing really strenuous (except a bit of housework) or demanding this week, so shouldn't be too bad.

Hier sind meine Distelfinken - fast fertig! Es gibt nur ein bißchen 'Langstich' übrig, dann ist dieses Bild endlich fertig.=) Ich bin im Moment stark erkältet, aber lebe noch!!

我快把我的金翅雀十字绣绣完了。这个画是在3月开始的，可是挺简单绣的。可以说学院的事阻止我早一点把金翅雀绣完。 我现在感冒了，很麻烦啊！

我快把我的金翅雀十字繡繡完了。這個畫是在3月開始的，可是挺簡單繡的。可以說學院的事阻止我早一點把金翅雀繡完。 我現在感冒了，很麻煩啊!