Should I be committed?

Or maybe "I should be more committed"  or even " I need to commit to less". LOL

Committing myself to new things is never a problem  - it's just finishing them that takes me a bit longer!  So after committing to finishing some WIPS this year, and actually crossing some things off my list it's probably about time I committed to starting some new ones too.   :-)

And so.................... here is some of my weekends work.     This is one of the cutest little birdies I've seen in a while ........ and I'm a sucker for anything with little birdies.  This BOM is designed by Little Miss Shabby and the blocks are being released on the 1st of the month.  I bought a charm pack of Moda's Hunky Dory by Chez Moi a while back and when I saw this BOM decided it would be perfect.  So now I've bought my first ever Jelly Roll - if I'd known they were so easy to work with I would have started a long time ago. LOL.    I've always admitted to being a slow learner!

Isn't this wee fella a sweetie?

All these pics are clickable, cos I know you'll want to have a closeup look, then head on over and download the pattern  and go running for fabric and thread immediately(and I wouldn't blame you)

I enjoyed the cutting and piecing so much, I made up the next block ready to go too - and that is not like me - normally my sewing machine and I have a very delicately balanced relationship.  The original is stitched with 6(!) threads of DMC, but I'm sticking with my normal 2 threads for a softer look.

I've also confirmed today to Chookyblue that I'm keen to carry on with this years SAL for Tis the Season by Natalie Bird.  It doesn't start till March, so I have exactly a month to get lots more done on A Gardeners Journal.   Of course, the realist in me knows it won't be finished by then, but a girl can dream.  And thankfully, my Vignette threads haven't arrived, so I can't rip into that one yet either!  A blessing in disguise, I think.

I hope wherever you are, you're not being blown away or fried in the heat, sounds like weather extremes all over the world at the minute, we've had a very windy, wet few days, so my gardening days turned into stitchy ones - it's not all bad then!

Thanks for visiting today..................happy stitching......Nicky

Back to the daily grind

Firstly I want to apologise - in my last post I neglected to say thanks for all the lovely comments and good wishes for my 1 year blog anniversary a couple of posts back.  Oops - so THANKS for stopping by to visit with me both then and now.

It's been a while since I shared any sheep pics here - after having our US relatives visiting, I now really appreciate how fascinating some of you out there find sheep!!  I could say I wonder why - most of the time they are lots of hard work, and not always that well behaved - but they are also our livelihood, and it's something to be proud of to have bred a flock that is performing well.

This is rounding up a mob of about 800 lambs a few days ago, they are improving with age, a month ago they were not at all fun to work with, running in all different directions, and almost impossible to get through gates and into the yards.  Very hard work for farmers and dogs!

Sorry about this next pic, sun was at the wrong angle, but this is following them up the lane........

and finally, got them, safely shut into the yards.

 We spent the day weighing these and two other mobs, the heaviest ones were trucked the next day to the works, and the rest were sorted into two lines of medium and lighter weights in preparation for shearing them next week.  If I get organised I'll try and get some pics of shearing.

Ok, will catch you again soon, thanks for visiting here today.......Nicky

January plans

So far so good - my January plans are working out.  It's been a long time between drinks, so to speak, but finally I have another A Gardeners Journal block done(just pretend it was finished in August!)

I finished up this wee needleroll yesterday, took about 20 minutes, only it had to wait 2 and a half years to get done.  Better late than never!

  

Isn't the little dragonfly button sweet.

 

In My Garden Needleroll - Shepherds Bush

Fabric and threads as kitted

Our camping trip was fabulous, got home and realised I have no tent or campsite photos, but here are some lake photos I did manage.  The weather was great while we were away, though we were worried when it started to pour on the way there!  But it stopped to let us get our tent up, and by the next morning all the rain was over.  Everyone came home with a bit of sunburn - Ouch.  Lots of fun, swimming in the lake, boating and time spent with friends.   The girls start back at school next week, so that brings the summer holidays almost to an end.  :-(

 

 

And last but certainly not least, I have joined Peg and Kris with their OPAM challenge for 2011, lucky I finished the needleroll yesterday, or I would not be off to a good start. lol 

Now I have to set up a list and button for my sidebar and get busy!  Between OPAM and Sew It's Finished I want to get more done than my miserable dozen or so finishes from last year. 

Lovely day here today, I'm off to the garden for some much needed weeding.......have a great day, Nicky

It's been a year......

...........and time has flown.  A year ago today I started this baby, and look how far we've come.  I can't say thanks enough to all of the lovely people I've met and got to know just a little through blogging.

I've recently discovered the magic of scheduled posts, so hopefully we're still away camping and will catch up with you all next week!  Here is a collage of a few bloggy(and some not) pics from the last year.

So thankyou to all who've stopped by here for a visit this past year, left a comment, followed my blog, emailed me, you've all helped make this a wonderful first year for me.  Bring on the second year!

Thanks so much for stopping by - till next time, take care  ............. Nicky

A quick catchup

It's been a busy couple of weeks so far in 2011.  We've been sorting up lambs, weighing, drafting, drenching and dagging them, and yesterday brought all the ewes home to the yards and sorted them up into different mobs.  Hot and smelly work, I'm glad we're finished in the yards for a week or so.  Today we are having some cousins of my husbands arriving to visit.  They are from the US and haven't visited NZ for about 40 years(She was about 8 and my husband was 2!)  So we're looking forward to meeting them and spending some time together. 

Later this week we are off camping with the kids for a few days.  The holidays have flown by as usual, back to school in a couple of weeks.  :-(     Hopefully there will be some stitching time for Mum while we're away. :-)

I'm not doing too bad on my January plans - Raewyns SRTB piece should hopefully be with Janis now, and I have finished up the stitcheries for another GJ block, just need to get it pieced now, and one little cross stitch ornie is finished.  Will get some photos when we get home again.

And because a picture makes a post, here are this seasons pet lambs, taken just before Christmas.  Charlie on the left and Joanie on the right.  These girls are a Texel/Romney cross.  They are still pretty friendly even now we aren't bottle feeding them, and love coming up so you can give them a good pat.

My thoughts have been very much with those suffering from flooding in Australia over the last couple of weeks.  What I've seen on TV here looked dreadful, so I hope life can begin to return to normal soon.

Till next time, take care .................Nicky

Making a list and checking it twice

Well, its finally done, I've hauled out bags, baskets and shoeboxes from all over the house and had a good sort out.  I've ended up with only three things to give away, one finished cross stitch and two half finished ones which will find new homes soon.

My list is on a separate page - see above - a total of 30 things.  Not great, but I think in my mind I was expecting there to be a lot more.   It feels less overwhelming already, just to have them written down! 

Among the cross stitch to be framed or finished into something I found this wee beauty.  You'd think with pansies being my favourite flower and all, that I would have finished this up ten years ago when I finished stitching it...... but never mind, it's been discovered again, so the chances are improving.

I've put a few stitches today into my Fruit & Floral Wreath I, which is definitely a looooong term project, it has so many stitches in ones and twos all over the place, but I do still love it, and I guess its about 1/4 done.  I remember now why I put it away in the first place, a lot of time spent stitching, with not a lot to show for it.

Priorities for January are:
1. Finish SRTB piece for Raewyn
2. Finish another A Gardeners Journal Block
3. Make up In My Garden Needleroll

That should do for now, anything else will be a bonus!  I'm going to head on over to the Sew Its Finished blog later and post my list there.

Thanks for stopping by...........take care,   Nicky

2011 ...... the year of the WIP.........

Happy New Year all - wishing you the best of the best for 2011!

After a year of muddling along stitching a little of this and a little of that, and actually finishing very little, I have decided, along with a lot of others it would seem, that 2011 is going to be my year of the WIP!  Bold statement isn't it. lol

Don't for a minute think that I won't start anything new, in fact I have a few things I'm keen to rip into- think Vignette and the Tis the Season SAL - but I will also attempt to tidy up a few things that have been lurking for a few(or sometimes even 10+) years.  The first part of this plan is to locate and list all of the WIP's that I own.  This is a really scary thought, as they are lurking everywhere.  Being a Type 2 crafter, I have projects in bags and baskets in at least four different rooms of the house, so just finding them all will take some time.

I'm also sure that there are several things that I just don't love now like I did when I started them, so I think there might need to be a bit of a biff out/donate to charity/give away pile also.  That might seem like cheating, but I think I just need to cut my losses on some of the things that I am not feeling the love for anymore.

Thanks to Michelle for pointing me in this direction, a bit of motivation is at hand. A challenge - and of course another blog - should be the kick in the butt I need.

Top of the list will be the Stitching Round the Block pieces for Leanne(now done), Raewyn(almost done) and Janis, and then I will try and prioritise my list of UFO's.  I'm thinking I will put my list on a separate page on my blog, I don't think my sidebar could cope with this list!

Here is a little sneek peek of Raewyns block -  I love her fabrics and gorgeous Aurifil threads she has chosen.

Some projects need so little done on them it's almost ridiculous.  I made this little cushion(from a Country Threads magazine, I think) five years ago for a friends birthday, didn't finish it and ended up just buying her a gift.  For goodness sake, it only needs stuffed and the opening at the bottom stitched up - what is wrong with me!

 And there are others like this wrinkly piece The Potting Shed by Shepherds Bush, that need a lot of work.

I have a lot of small pieces of stitched up cross stitch that need made up into 'something', not sure whether to add them or not.   I probably will list them as they are mostly within my limited finishing skills to do something with them. lol.  I'm definitely not listing the finished big cross stitches waiting for framing as that is more a matter of the cost of framing them, than me needing to do any more to them!

I don't even mind if the WIP total at the end of the year isn't a lot less, would just be nice to finally finish some long neglected projects and then feel less guilty about starting new ones.

So hopefully, confessing all of this publicly will keep me on track - how many Works in Progress do you have?  Let me know if you plan on attacking your pile this year too.

Have a great day ............. happy stitching........... Nicky