Here is another batch of ribbons and other materials I brought from Norway. Now I can't really say I am missing any of that. Though I must say I followed one or two major color schemes - but these colors clearly reflect those I like most. Certainly lots of Christmassy and fall colors.
Big yawn. It is past 10 am, I am (still) working for a few more hours. Uncounted coffee cups. I had to delay the huge horror text till Monday, but this can't be delayed more. I have to deliver one part tomorrow morning and the rest on Monday. Oh, if you knew how this one is tough. Basically, I am translating the new international financial reporting rules for a company, from Polish to French. Idiotic work, since somebody based his work on the French/English version. And boy is it tough. I have to skim through endless reports, EU texts, European Bank databases etc. I am extremeply pleased with the result, but there is still *alot* to do. I am telling myself that if I get to Monday sane and alive, a new life awaits LOL! I've been working on that assignment since weeks. Already sent a xstitch order :)
Now, I need to wash my face with cold water, walk doggie and type a bit more.
I have tons of things to post - but that'll happen on Monday.
Thank you everyone for your comments! Cheryl, the key to stitching that much while having so much work is simple - I'm doing nothing homewise. The joys of living part of the year alone :) Next week however I'll have to do a big decluttering and cleaning. Brenda, that was so sweet of you to say :) We can always do a private exchange sometime! :)
And for a bit of morning fun, see this short movie. I especially liked the bit "If you are stolen, call police at once". Heh, some fellow translators don't do their work well.
I just can't wait till next Friday night, that's when I'll deliver the huge job, the last one on my plate. I just got news that the pipe works will happen in November in my flat and that they'll mean more destruction in both the kitchen and especially the bathroom. Also the heater in the living-room is dead, which also means extensive work - moving large furniture to access the pipes etc. BUT somehow I can't seem to stress over that :) My perspective stops on Friday. I will only work like mad for 6 days more. 6 days more! You bet I'll sleep long afterwards! :)
In the free time I can allow myself daily I've been in a stitching frenzy. Here is part of the projects I stitched, there are more but I can't show them yet. Most of them are for gifts but two will stay home. Devil stitcher as I am, most are done in my choice of threads, usually a mix of overdyes, silks and plain 'old DMC.
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And here's my progress on one of my WIPs, LHN's Necessities Sampler:
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I have such a feeling of accomplishment today. Somehow I managed to reach today even though it meant sleeping 2-4 hours per day over a week, working double work hours for the last few weeks etc. The last two days, the end client (a famous lawyers firm) was constantly making changes in the 40 pages agreements I was translating and they were driving me nuts but hey, they are paying good money and I like legal, so in a way I enjoyed working on this. I am going to allow myself two week-end days of sleeping, stitching and (sigh) cleaning the flat. My brain is fried. Then on Monday I will start the next intense 12 days of work - more intense that ever, on 180 pages of heavy finances and accounting. The challenge is to be able to finish it in time for the 26th, which at this moment I can't even imagine. Not my cup of tea :( and the volume is enormous. I'll fight it! :)
I did a lot of stitching recently but I want to do the finishing first before I show them. Some Prairie Schooler ornaments for gifties, a set of napkins with a freebie pattern adapted, and I made progress on The Blessing (Examplars...):
I'm waiting for a refill of several colors to arrive but I'm now trying to work the details which colors I have.
I mentioned some weeks ago that Stitchesnthings were selling some shop models. I couldn't afford many at that time - the nicest ones sold out fast, but I got these two. I absolutely fell in love with this punchneedle Blackbirds Designs piece and I could not let it go. I am unsure of the fabric but it looks like 48 ct at least. Tin, tiny, tiny!!! Fabulous work. I don't do punchneedle, somehow it doesn't tempt me, but I admire some beautiful projects I see. So, this is the first punchneedle piece I own and hopefully it's not the last, though I haven;t seen many samplers done in this technique. For 15 usd finished and framed, what a bargain it was! I looooove the frame. The colors are brighter and cleared in real, a genuine gem.
The other piece is that one. It even has the year written on the back: 1994. What, 1994? It looks like new! I always wanted to stitch that piece, even bought the leaflet, but I am delighted to have it done and already framed. I might change the frame one day, it is too dark black for my taste but for the time being, it stays that way on my wall! :)
Talking about techniques other than cross stitching, I so admire needle felting. See this beauty . How I wish I was tempted a little bit more to try it! I'd looooove to have this squirrel and its nuts on my shelves but what, I don't think I am gifted for that technique. I know I already posted it here but that's an excellent occasion to remind everyone on the work Rainymoon does. I find her projects absolutely amazing and check on her blog regularly to see the new arrivals!
When I finally returned to Warsaw in September, I was so surprised to bring from the post office several unexpected birthday gifts! I left for Norway just two days after my b-day so many parcels didn't reach me. What a delight it was to see and open many envelopes that I didn't know were waiting for me! I'll post more of them over the next days...
At the end of my stay in Norway, I bought and ordered lots of finishing supplies. Here's part of what I got directly at the shop:
And once packed into a brand new box...
I guess everyone knows what my favorite colors are now! LOL
More when I have time... or when I need to procrastinate again! :)
From the day of my return to Warsaw I've been extremely busy. Here's a shortcut of what happened since my last post here. I was in Switzerland to visit my brother/nephew++, great food, great wines, great trips, great moments with everyone. Then back to Norway. Then flight back to Warsaw with part of my luggage and The Queen (cat). Busy, busy week. After which H. flew in with rest of my luggage and Happy (dog) for two days. Great time again but very busy. Trip to visit my family. After which work, work and more work. It doesn't stop coming in. I am booked till end of October and spent time working on the computer sometimes 20 hours per day. Won't complain, after several empty months this will fill in huge gaps in the budget.
Will be very very very busy this month but will try to post a lot of late pictures here. Also, in some days the works in the building will start : changing all water pipes - which means my kitchen will be demolished. I don't mind the bathroom works that much, it was planned to be reworked or at least repainted soon, but my kitchen was all made per individual measurements, and I fear they will simply ruin it all. And I still don't know how to cope with that and the Himalayas of work I need to deliver end of month... I still haven't heard when they will attack ;-) my flat, but I will try to talk them into doing mine after the end of the month. Will I be able to delay it? Not sure... so this month is far from being easy. The only thing I do except typing very, very fast many hours per day is stitching - sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a few hours when I manage to organize a whole evening free of work. Little crosses can be sooo relaxing after many hours of work! :)
PS. Thanks Michelle for kicking my b-tt and to Mylene!
Here are a few pictures from a Sunday mountain walk in the Haute-Savoie (Sixt Fer à Cheval, a 1-1,5 h drive from Geneva). A great time was had :)
You might want to click to enlarge the picture below and the 5th one... maybe you'll feel the beauty of the place, the magic of that afternoon...
(above: big brother, nephew and a person from the family)
(much delayed)
On Thursday (10 days ago) H. drove a bit later to work so we could exchange a gift I bought for my nephew (and which my brother told me he already has) when the shop opened, in the big commercial center in the town nearby. Happy waited in the car. Then H. left for work and I walked home. I wanted to 'explore' this way too :) From the town to our village it is only 5 km + 1 km till our home. The sun was strong, the day gorgeous. Yeah right...
On of the farms on the way... The system is the following in Norway: the white building is always the house where people live, the red one is the barn or other farm building.
The cycling/walkers path goes along the road all the time, so it was totally safe, nothing special about it. There were not that many cars passing at 11 am. At one point, there was a forest path leading deep in the woods. And when I arrived there, there was a man standing. I immediately noticed that there was no car behind him on the path, and thought that was weird. I was right. The man came closer and asked in English - without knowing I was not Norwegian, so he was obviously British or English-speaking anyway - if I can help him. I answered I hope so, but I kept my reserve. Well, he asked if I can do a little thing, actually just a little thing ... Can I show you my p.-----s? I thanked him with my special smile number 12,5 and tried to leave, but he followed me and said it would just take a few minutes. I was totally alone with a weirdo on a secluded path, not funny. I smiled again but with a firm thank you and went. I did not want to behave like if I was scared, I was not. But this man had something in his eyes that was scary. This path is used by many young girls - and I had just met several. The man did not look like one that just wants to 'show'. As soon as I was out of sight, I called H. at work, he called the police, I waited for them to arrive, talked to them, gave a detailed description of the guy and well, they were quite fast and decided in the way they reacted. Four more cars arrived with lights and all sounds on at full speed, with dogs and they went in the wood to find him. I don't know if they did, H. always forgets to call. But I was asked if I could recognize him, even from a picture and the police have all my data.
I was a bit stressed for a day or two, kept thinking about the guy. I've met numerous such types in the park near where I live in Warsaw, but this one was disturbing. I hope he'll get caught.
But I don't feel that much for walking around in a forest alone now... Not being hysterical by nature though, I hope I'll stop seeing perverts behind each tree very soon :)
Now to be serious, we had marvelous walks with H. over the next days, but I 'm always short of time so I'll post pictures later, much later.
I wrote this last Tuesday but with what happened later this week, my initial euphoria about lonely expeditions has a bit diminished :(. I am posting this anyway.
A creek in the forest where I also found ruins of an old mill (this is a historical path) from the 18th century in the water.
Then I reached the lake (one of the two closest to home, this one is maybe a 10 minutes walk from the door). You can see in the picture a small white infrastructure to go down to the water. Contrary to Poland, Norway does not have sand beaches, so even to go bathing in fjords, they put some "stairs" for people.
The full lake, not very big:
In the evening I made one of my favorite 'diet' salads:
- 100 ml of tomato juice,
- 1/2 tsp of olive oil,
- 1 tsp of red wine vinegar,
- hot pepper sauce to taste,
- a pinch of paprika,
- 60 g of pasta (uncooked weight),
- half a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds
- 60 g of sweetcorn
- 1/2 a green pepper and 1/2 a red pepper,
- 90 g of roast/grilled chicken
- 1 spring onion,
- a tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander
Combine the tomato juice, olive oil, vinegar, pepper sauce and paprika and put aside. Prepare the pasta without fat or salt. Mix with the tomato juice mix. Put in the fridge for around 2 hours. Mix the other ingredients with the pasta and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Happy was just.... HAPPY!
It look me a little over a week because I chose to do her with one thread over two on 40 ct. She surely will be one of my very favorite pieces once framed!
Design: The Sampler Lady by Little House Needleworks
Threads: Crescent Colours and DMC
Fabric: 40ct Lakeside Linens
Stiched with 1 thread over 2.
And I'm so glad with the way it looks! Here it is, at last, a 2007 summer finish!
Rain, rain, rain and more rain. I remember telling H. by the end of July that it just can't rain more than 2 full months, that August would be lovely... yeah right! ;-)
The good side of the bad weather is that I cooked and baked a lot, almost every day. Today I've baked a 4-corns bread and I'm preparing a delicious spicy pasta with chicken, tomato sauce, different types of seeds and more. Looks yummy! :) This week H.'s mother made some "rolls" (that's how my totally cuisine-challenged darling called them and there was no way to get more information out of him LOL!) and don't be put off by the look, they were de-li-cious!! So soft and tasty, I just have to ask her for the recipe and make them myself. I don't think I've ever eathen such type of "rolls" before, they're too sweet to be eaten as bread for breakfast but delicious eaten alone of with something on them...
Some are quite cute actually. Stitchesnthings have put some of their shop models for sale, and I really can't understand why this Prairie Schooler gorgeous one still hasn't found a buyer http://www.stitchesnthings.com/detail.cfm?ID=19394
There is also a PS Santa made in specialty floss, one with blackbirds.
Oh, I just love these two pieces of work. But I can't justify the purchase at the moment :)
If you really have nothing better, I mean nothing better to do, you can see what are the Top 10 most selling Norwegian souvenirs here. Pure horror but what? This must reflect tourists' tastes, right? There's been a discussion on the media last week based on the general reflection that something has to be done to improve the style, the quality, the nature of what's been sold as "typical of Norway. Not to mention that the same "viking" items are sold as Swedish or Danish across both borders, just that the wording is changed. And that all this is manufactured in China.
I must say, though, that I love Barbie's dress on picture #4. Guess why? :)
Thank you, Mary Kathryn and Cheryl! :)
Nath - Je m'en vais passer tour chez les Helvetes histoire de visiter mon p'tit Suisse de neveu fin aout, mais je serai de retour sur Varsovie tard le 9 septembre ! Je me languis un petit peu de revoir mon minuscule chez moi, va savoir pourquoi ! :)
Indeed not being able to stitch was part of the initial desastrous mood I had LOL! I remember the first evening, I sat down, looked sadly and said to H.: "Heh? What am I going to do? I can't work, I can't stitch, I can't type, I can't help at home, so WHAT am I going to do all these weeks? Heh?" But you know how it is, we humans learn to cope with everything if we have to. A few days later I was typing with 2 fingers of the right hand and the left one, just that work took me three times longer, was much uncomfortable and involved shoulder pain, but so what. I learned how to do most things with the left hand and I swear that if it had to last longer, I'd have learned to work and stitch with the left hand. I even tried once :) but it went too slow to my taste. Once in a while I picked the needle in the right hand and put in a few slow stitches by making lots of weird large movements with the cast in the air. H. looked desperated and asked: - do you reeeeally have to? - yes I do! - was my happy answer. I guess I as a stitcher needed my cross stitch (drug) fix because after a few stitches I went on to house chores with a broad smile! :) But I swear that after seing me stitching with my cast, H. lost the last hope he had that I am normal. You should have seen his face and his rolling eyes! LOL
Now... Now that I can stitch, I intend to do a lot of that :)
Norwegian (the airlines) had a nice 2-day promotion this week for a few destinations which included Oslo, Geneva and Warsaw and we jumped on the occasion. It was a tough job to coordinate all that but within 2 hours I communicated with my brother in Switzerland at his office, H. checked his work obligations in September, and we played fast with the dates which had promotional prices (19 usd! all costs included). We weren't able to get all the segments for that price, of course but all in all, it was a real bargain. So here's how it goes. On August 28th I fly to Geneva for a week and back to Oslo on Sept. 4th, H. stays here to take care of the furry part of the family, then I return to Warsaw on Sept. 9th with The Queen, and H. will do a fast 2 days trip to Warsaw with the rest of my luggage and Happy. I will only be flying with minimum luggage to protect the hand. That'll be a lot of travelling very soon, because as soon as I am back home, I should travel to see my aunt and father, in two different towns, as well. Busy, busy!
Okay, now to stitching. I am almost done with Awake the Dawning Day, just that I received one wrong color of WDW with the kitted chart, so I'm currently waiting just for that skein to finish the two birds. I decided against posting a picture because it will look much nicer once the birds are there :)
I have one Bent Creek project waiting for the finishing part to be done since June, I'm working on it and I'll post details later. Plus several WIPs which I should put the last stitches on but somehow don't feel inspired to right now.
Today I started LHN's "The Sampler Lady". I chose a lovely piece of dusty pink Lakeside Linens in 40ct and I'm so happy with the choice. The original on the cover page was done on Light Examplar but I put the threads on several pieces of fabric and really loved the way they looked on this old' pink. It should take me a week, I think. I'm doing it with one thread over two. Lovely, lovely, lovely this chart! I had to order it as soon as I saw it :) I often wondered why I don't see it being done on many blogs.
Here is the start as of today:
The colors are distorted in artificial light but the general idea is shown :)
Oh, not that that's the news of the millenium, but I forgot to mention I'm in a cooking/baking period of mine and fresh bread is served regularly for breakfast. Here's two I baked yesterday, the left beeing a darker flour variation of the right one. They are soo good! :) Nothing beats a homebaked bread, I tell you!
From Wikipedia: Lefse is a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread made out of potato, milk or cream and flour, and cooked on a griddle. Special tools are available for lefse baking, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves. There are significant regional variations in the way lefse is made and eaten, but it generally resembles a flatbread, although in many parts of Norway, especially Valdres, it is far thinner.
If you want to read more, click here.
And here's what Happy meant to say about it:
And today I baked a yummy banana bread per Mary Kathryn's recipe. H. is not so fond of cakes in general and when your man swallows one slice after another like he did today, it sure makes you smile, doesn't it? :) Anyway, one hour later over half of it was gone! My version looked different from MaryK's photo, it was brownish in color but what do I care? It was YUMMY and that's all that counts. I had to work a bit on the cup to metric conversions but it worked. The main problem was when I asked H. to get me a pack of baking soda one day after work with the daily shopping. A pack of what? Baking soda. Whazzat? (sigh) You don't know what baking soda is? No. I think I heard about it but I am not sure. Okay, right. Baking soda is baking soda, right? :) Multiple dictionaries later I was able to tell him that baking soda is 'natron' according to the wise authors and success! The next day I found 'natronpulver' in the shopping bag, proudly brought in by a very smiling H.. He deserved his treat today, me says! :)
- what broke was not the bone itself, in which case the cast would have had to be on for a double period (iiiiick!) but a sort of tubercule this bone has in its upper part - so I had the cast for about a month, I think. After the MRI, the blue version was replaced by a red version of my choice (there were 6 colors to choose from :)) which freed my thumb ans was thus a little lighter. I had a lot of work during this period and my work involves typing all day so I certainly appreciated a little less weight to carry, my shoulder was really hurting at times. With this version I could type with 4 fingers of the right hand, which was neat but of course I had to be careful, so I only typed what was related to work or otherwise urgent. Don't ask me why the thumb was freed, the orthopedist said that the lenght of the cast provided enough support for the wrist and indeed it did. It felt weird however and I had to be much more careful in not hurting it.You biscornu lovers, you just have to see this one:
http://kissycross.twoday.net/20070712/
Isn'it is just amazingly beautiful? I have yet to make a biscornu myself and I only own one (thank you Mylene!!) ... they sort of intimidate me. I know, I should try my hands on one. However, inspiration is lacking for the moment. But if I ever try to make biscornus, I will surely remember this one. Oh you know, you see a cross-stitched piece and you just know you have to... :) I am just stunned by the beauty of this one!
There's a simple blue one here too and lots more:
http://misst.canalblog.com/
