Ends... and Beginnings

September is over. My parents leave from here in about 10 days time, and i am already feeling sad. Emptiness looming. I know i will miss them terribly, and they will miss T for sure.

Looking at the bright side, my sister and her family will pay my parents a visit in the middle of October. I plan to take a week off to be with her. We meet after 6 years.

We have a day off on Friday on account of Gandhi's birthday (Gandhi Jayanti as we call it here). So this being a 3-day week, there is hardly anyone in office. That translates to hardly any meetings, hardly any work. Well, as far as we are concerned, all this translates to more ebay search.

Apart from ebay and more importantly, i am busy doing a school search for T. I am putting all the information in a spreadsheet. Some schools have Montessori (or pre-school as some of us might call it) option, while some start only from kinder garten. He is 18 months now, and in about a year from now we are thinking we will start pre-schooling.

This morning i took a pic of my lilies, which i will most likely show on the coming Monday.

My First Applique project and A Happy Shelf!!

Finally i get to show you my first applique project. This is from Vicci's BOM called Notions of the Heart, and i picked up Block 5, as that was closest to my heart:). As mentioned earlier, my Mother had got me the fusible interfacing. She assisted me in cutting the fabric too. I am so very happy at the outcome. Well, the sisterhood is definitely a YES and this bonding is here to stay:)

I did a li'l bit of work on the finishing part of OHD, but since i have still not received the September chart, we will wait...

The BOINK was taken up as per the rotation plan, and i have finished about 50% of the block. I would have finished another significant amount beyond what you see here, except that i slept too during my son's nap time.

The weekend past and the one before have been long weekends - the extra days away from work helped me finish my first applique. I was also able to make one shelf very happy. I know the photo could have been better, and am not that great to have avoided the shadow of the top shelf on my new friends (when clicking i did not even realise about the shadow...) but i digress...
I got not 5 nor 10 nor 15 books, but 19 of them in total - a mix of classics and contemporaries. Halleluia!!

Mid-month Milestone - Updates Galore!!

It is time for my mid-month update on Lilies, and coincidentally i have pics of all my WIPs this time round!!

To begin with is Lilies, i am almost half done with Page 5. I am enjoying doing this page, as i can continue with one color for a good amount of time!! Also Page 5 completion will be an important milestone - i complete the first row. That is an accomplishment!, even if i say so myself.

Next is an update on OHD January SAL, i had completed this way back but the pic-time is now. If you remember i had only the text August, and li'l bit of backstitching remaining when i decided to hit the sack on the last day of August as it turned into early September, lol. This remainder got done in my morning-sneak-time in the next couple of days. I will now request Tonia for the September chart. And Yes!!! Tonia is back in the OHD group.

BOINK - This weekend was AT time, but i had just a little pending in the BOINK block that i decided i will have a dig at it as well. So here is how it looked by Sunday evening. If i do not get the September chart (of OHD) by Friday, i will work on the next block (the top block in the middle column) of BOINK.

And lastly i have AT to show you - i am positive i can complete this page in the next AT rota. Just like i thought, it was Page 1 that had a lot of xs to stitch!

And yes, i also received the floss from Mary-Anne from Canada for the Monopoly game board. Happy Happy!!!

As you will be knowing i have landed in Applique World and am mesmerised by what i find there. This is my progress so far.

• I have been watching/following several Applique blogs for over a month now.
• I have even finalised on taking this up as my first applique project.
• I have gone through this tutorial and now have this for reference.
• I have also been approved to be a member of the yahoo group Applique Addicts.

Wish me luck on my Applique Journey - I have to start from scratch with whatever materials (apart from fabric, floss, scissors and needles of course!) are required. So far, I only have the Interfacing material!

Puttering

I am continuously improving my repository of my two passions - reading and stitching. If i get a minute or two at work, i Alt - Tab to the spreadsheet(s) ( yes they are open most of the time) and see what other aspect of book-keeping can be done, lol. I never seem to run out of ideas;-) I either add another worksheet to capture an interesting aspect OR in an existing worksheet i try my hand at depicting information newly. I guess puttering fits well for what i am doing? I love it, and then it energises me for whatever activity i have lined up next..

Look at the worksheets i have for my reading passion

and my stitching passion

This is the immediate puttering i have lined up!! - i have to fill in three columns in XS XLS in the Stash Worksheet - Amount, Currency and INR. I started feeding my cross stitch hobby 'onlne' from June 2008. The first for me was a kit via ebay US. I got it for 17$ and another 5 something $ for shipping. But my memory fails me for all the OTHER purchases i have made since then. All payment has happened via PAYPAL, barring one (i think) which was via my credit card (i think). I thought it is best for me to maintain the monetary outflux;-) Let me see how long it will take me to accomplish this!! I will give up on just one aspect though - i will not enter any purchases done locally - which is anyway only limited to the limited floss, ha!

I am not overly worried about my spending on this hobby. In fact my credit card bill amount each month is always an innocent figure. You see small drops are making an ocean!!. For instance if i say, i need a chest of drawers for my charts and kits (and there is a need as they are eating on my closet space, LOL), then eyebrows are being raised. So some idea on the monetary outflux is good for me. Dont you agree??

Have a nice weekend, all and let them frogs stay in the pond!!

Stitchin' and Stashin'

This Saturday?? Well i worked. Yes had a 6-day week. So my daytime stitching got almost entirely cut off. It was to be BOINK, and together i must have put probably 20 stitches on the Sunday. Sunday, we went shopping in the morning time (with our son) for things i needed, and my son slept on our way back, and for couple of hours after we reached home too! Those 20 stitches were done on Sunday afternoon amid chatting with my parents, so that felt very nice for all three of us!!

The Cross Stitch Gold magazine is now a great friend of mine. Apart from Anchor's MajesticHeron, there is another bird chart - rather it has 4-5 birds in it, and also a kitchen sampler that am sure will be done. There is an afghan pattern too that covers letters from A to P (or is it O), the remainder letters covered in the next issue. No, there is no way i will be buying that issue, lol. All the same i am happy with this purchase, and thanked Lyn again for the wonderful discount!! And yes, i went ahead and did another ebay purchase of another bird theme chart this weekend. This is a Maria Diaz chart. Some one stop me from buying any more please. I am not sure i like the bird (isnt that the wood pecker?) so much, but the rest of the scene fits well for my bird-theme.

I have got to force myself to some applique, before my Mother goes back to her place. She has got me the much-needed interfacing, so some trial and error required from me. Since this is going to be my very first applique project, i am looking for some push from somewhere!!

I am reading Anne Tyler's Back When We Were Grown Ups, and i like her writing so much. As i turn page over page, it amazes me how she depicts things that happen to you and me - those innermost thoughts you do not even share with anyone, but only note to yourself, those 'feelings' that have never been written before, you get what i am saying? The other book i read is The Accidental Tourist, and have felt exactly the same reading this book.

Thanks Annie and Meari for your helpful comments. Meari - i think your suggestion of taking up a small project in between will help me:)

A small happy dance!!

Edit: I have received the Cross Stitch Gold Magazine:))) A BIG Happy Dance for that!!

Yes i completed Page 4 before August faded away!! Here it is and i am so happy with the progress. You can see some threads dangling too. Page 5 is a delight, very little confetti stitches *and* lesser (by over a 1000) stitches to do compared to the previous 4 pages. This fact enthuses me no end!!

Then there is the OHD January SAL - August that i have almost completed. As you can see in the pic, I have two windows of the vehicle to be backstitched and the text August to be brought in. Post-pic, i have completed the windows and the first two letters in time sneaked-in this morning.
That is it from me. This weekend will be BOINK time, and there is no way i cannot get the current block done. Let us see.