Busy busy busy!

As I am sure we all are especially those with family.  Seems like every year that passes the more busier I become, mind you I don't suppose it has helped that the whole family has come down with a nasty virus and we had a moment of temporary insanity and decided to go down to the pound and adopt a dog.
Now you don't want to adopt an energetic street dog that's used to doing it's own thing when you are sick and looking after 3 sick children who are also sick, it's only been two days and I've spent the whole time cleaning up dog doo doo and pee, cleaning up children's vomit, mopping floors, vacuuming excessively due to the dog malting also excessively (I have polished tile on the ground floor there is no hiding that dog hair which of course is not the dogs fault but after a bath and a groom, really?!) and walking the dog every 2 hours trying to convince the dog outside is a good place to pee, not in the comfort of my home!  Anyhoo the timing is wrong I think to adopt an animal, I thought I could handle kids and dog but obviously I can't, nice dog but I will be taking the dog back Monday when the pound opens - don't worry this place dosn't put animals to sleep and is one of the busiest places for adoptions so hopefully someone with a but more energy than myself will come along and give this dog a chance.  Sometimes I hate myself for the decisions I make, I guess I am used to the living conditions in NZ where we have front lawns and backyards and footpaths to walk on, a place not only more ideal for dogs but children also.
  I have a couple of Samplers to show today, one (yes I am complaining here) the dog jumped all over not once but three times no matter where I put it! but despite this received no damage and this Sampler is The Humility Sampler by Carriage House Samplings which I really love working on as you become used to working the letters and can set up a rhythm without having to search for the next symbol.

Excuse me for not taking it out of my hoop but I'm still working on it and it's in a good position for me.  Just a note here as well, even though this is in a hoop I do use the method of one hand under one hand on top to stitch, I do this by sitting the hoop off to one side on my lap, I hope that makes sense.

 Mary Ann Farmer by The Scarlett House

This just arrived in the mail, happy me - Metta Putfarcken 1848 by Samplers Berlin

Something for the year 2014 :)  

I heard of a lady finishing her Metta in just 3 months!  Hear me choking!  Well I am not sure how long this one will take me but just lettin you know, don't hold your breath!  Probably be working this one in HDF silks and use her linen as well and do a tea dye on the linen.

Anyone else have an exciting new project they can't wait to make a start on for the year 2014?

Much love,

Amanda

Sampler Sunday

Okay short post tonight, the wee ones have worn me out for the day ..
.. the first photo was taken friday daytime but I managed to do a bit more the same day so I just took a quick snap now - I do love this piece so and wish I had more time to stitch on it but then I guess that is always the way isn't it?

Mary Ann Farmer

The Scarlett House

xxx

Amanda

Hope everyone is shopping to save money -

If you havn't already pop on over to ABC Stitch Therapy they are having an awesome 20 percent off everything!  Their shipping rates are reasonable for people like me who don't live in the USA - I just managed to save 35 dollars on my order!  Awesome!!
Want to know what I put in my basket?  Well I decided to join the Sampler World Snooty Parrots SAL 2014. so supplies for that went in - anyone else going to join me?  Plus I put in a half yard of Sheeps Straw Linen for a couple of BBD charts I have and a fat quarter of Cashel Linen for a project I saw in Cross stitch and Needlework Magazine - Now I had better get off this computer and clean the house :(
Love to hear if anyone else saved some money shopping the sales this week - any good deals?
Amanda

Sampler Sunday

What do you think of the post title?  I think I will make Sunday my post day for whatever Sampler I have picked up during the week and made some progress on - also I have put up some pages for my Samplers that I have either finished or am currently working on that I will slowly add to over the next few days, kinda organize my blog a bit.
So here it is - Sampler Sunday

Hey and thanks to everyone that made a comment about some paint colours for my house, it really helped clear my head a bit on what would look good - I have narrowed my paint choices down to just a few so will pick up some paint samples to see how they look in my home.

I am also hoping to pick up some bug off frog spray, my home has been really badly infested with the little buggers lately - Bug off Frog!

Happy Stitching - 

Amanda

Paint color ideas - anyone?

 Not much stitching to show I'm afraid - another new start this time on Mary Ann Farmer from The Scarlett House - this one is gorgeous, how could I resist?  Stats: 40 count Antique White Newcastle Linen - NPI Silks 2 over 2.

I have wanted to paint the interior walls of my house for several years now, a couple of weeks ago I decided to go ahead and do it myself - after agonizing over paint colors I decided to take it slow and paint room by room before deciding on the next's rooms color - I thought this pale blue was the way to go for my dining room and my stairs - now that it's done I don't like it at all - I have a lot of dark wood in my house and this pale blue makes everything look cold.  So I've put my paint brush down and am scratching my head on what would look good with all this dark wood?  I am thinking perhaps some strong colors - red keeps popping into my head, but do I want red?  Turquoise?  And then what shade?  I've ordered a green paint from the paint shop too but now realize that no that won't work either - Any suggestions from anyone?
Yes my living room is a mess - I have been painting - so a lot of stuff has been moved up to second floor and I'm a bit behind on house duties so I've been trying to play catch up on some washing etc so please ignore the chaos!

 As some of you know I recently purchased a new car and mentioned that I would share some photos - unfortunately I couldn't get a photo without my husbands butt sticking out from the car!  Wish he would leave the car alone, he's installed everything known to man in the thing and keeps going onto the Ford Fiesta forum to see what other modifications he can do, it's starting to look a little boy racer's car, not a 39 year old mother's of four.

On another note I want to thank everyone for their kind words and support in my last post - we went to court yesterday and manged to walk away with just a warning - a big sigh of relief!

Please help me with some paint ideas - I have my entire house to paint yet and I'm stuck on the 1st floor!

Much love,

Amanda

Sometimes life ain't fair.



 

 

 

Sometimes life isn't fair.  It's my birthday in a couple of weeks I will be turning 39, I decided it would be a good idea to clean out my wardrobe and get rid of anything that I wouldn't use or couldn't get away wearing anymore, so with that intention I cleaned out my wardrobe donated a lot of my clothing and some accessories to a charity organisation and the rest I decided to take photos of and put up on the local auction pages here in Taiwan as I had a fair bit of stuff I didn't think was suited for charity. 

Now one of the items I listed was a imitation Louis Vuitton bag which I bought on my first trip to Taiwan 13 years ago, this was my first trip to an asian country I was from a small town in New Zealand and we didn't have any big label designers like Louis Vuitton in the country at that time.  So I was out doing the tourist thing and shopping at one of the big department stores here in Taipei called Sogo, I walked outside and down the street a little and there on the side of the road were a few people selling things and one of these people were selling bags lots of bags I would say several hundred and these bags were gorgeous, we had nothing like this back in New Zealand so I stopped to have a look and realised these were copy bags of many well known bag designers, I mean once you were up close you could tell straight away they were copy even me who had never seen a real one could tell this, however it was night time on a very busy street and I was very excited to be in such a developed city and was having a great time so with much convincing by the salesperson I bought myself a imitation LV bag. 

During my first visit to Taiwan I became friends with a Taiwanese man whom later would become my husband :)

I had second thoughts about my LV bag purchase and decided I didn't want it and left it in it's dust jacket at my Taiwanese friends home and went back to New Zealand, after a few more visits to Taiwan the man that was my friend became my fiance then 5 years later my husband - fast forward to present day 3 kids and 13 years later, my fake LV bag remained in it's dust jacket never once removed and used in the back of my wardrobe until that is I decided it was time to get rid of all and anything not wanted or used!

I put this bag up for auction making it clear that this bag even though it had written all over it Louis Vuitton it was in fact not a genuine article and the giveaway price also reflected this, this item was listed alongside other unwanted personal items and the very next day the police showed up at our door and arrested my husband for illegaly selling a fake LV bag - which okay our or at least my bad - unfortunately it gets worse, a lawyer called up yesterday and informed us that Louis Vuitton is suing us for two hundred thousand Taiwanese dollars or $6,800 US dollars !!!!!

 

So sometimes life ain't fair and that's my story for today and I have just made myself a bourbon and coke and after posting this plan to go blog reading all the while feeling very sorry for myself.

 

hope everyone out there is having a better day than me - see told you, feeling sorry for myself.

Much love,

Amanda

A Christmas Theme: PS Santa's - Xmas Teddy's - A Christmas Sampler and a New Car!

Hello, hope today finds you in a good mood, I know I am ... and you will find out why at the end of this post ... first up - finished stitching another PS Santa and started another ...

... got side tracked by Fizzy Moon and his little friend rushing out into the snow to play...

 ... just have to finish the back-stitching ...

... started a Christmas Sampler by Scarlet Letter, been a slow start with this one, I am new to counted satin stitch and just couldn't get that flower looking right - I stopped counting after I got to 7 as to how many times I cut the flower out and restarted and I actually completed the whole flower twice before once again cutting it out and restarting - anyhoo.. the threads on the fabric did become weak in that area, I took a weeks break from it and woke up one morning determined to conquer all - 3 hours later flower done!! Also ripped out the eyelet border that I had stitched with one thread and restitched with 2 .. I still have a long way to go with this one so hopefully I have gotten a good understanding of counted satin now otherwise it will be a few more christmas's to pass before this will be completed ...

... now, on to why I am so happy today - New Car, New Car!  Went out and bought myself a new car and get to pick it up today - so excited!  It won't be blue like in the picture, I chose white and also will be having the windows tinted fairly dark like in the photo because we saw a customers car at the shop done this way and it looked really good.  So happy day!

 Had better get ready to go pick up my new ride - my daughter wants me to pick her up from school so she can come with me as she's excited too - I told her she can talk to the car and the car will respond that's why she's so excited - modern technology can be so much fun - so that's all from me for now, will share photo's - take care and hugs ~
Amanda

Prairie Schooler - Old World Santas

I recently got side tracked by some Prairie Schooler Santas - they are just way too cute - was just going to stitch one ... but you know how it is ... what can I say?  Way too cute ...

XXX

Amanda

Writers Block? Blogging Block?

Well whatever you want to call it I seem to have it, time to get over it and post my stitching works - warning this post contains a lot of wrinkles! - without further awaiting first up -

Violet's Blue

Blackbird Designs

30ct Iced Cappuccino - R&R Reproductions Linen

GA WDW & CC threads

(waiting on threads to finish)

Sweet Humility

Carriage House Samplings

40 ct Pear - Lakeside Linens - NPI Silks

(long and skinny this one, just how I wish I was)

.... hmmm I know I put that magazine somewhere ..

well as you can see it's a bear with flowers, I know he's

an Anchor design and he's from Cross Stitch Crazy Magazine

if anyone really wants to know more information I will hunt down the magazine for you

and let you know what issue - I did this as a gift to my daughter for her daycare graduation

or leaving daycare starting school  (awaiting framing).

14 ct light blue Aida with DMC

 Tea Shop Cut Thru Design

Bothy Threads

So close to a finish, oh and it would be so nice to have a finish on this one.

More tree to do, backstitching and french knots and a darn good wash and iron needed!

Whoo hoo, I did it!  I think I may have gotten over my writers/ blogging block - I have started a Scarlet Letter Sampler called the Christmas Sampler, will show that next time.

Take Care,

Amanda

A Sunny Morning by Lanarte - progress report

Here is where I am with my Lanarte Kit - A Sunny Morning - click here to see my original posting on this.
The fabric I am stitching on is a cotton evenweave that is wonderfully easy to stitch on, the downside for me is because it is a kit I am worried about running out of threads - fingers crossed I don't.
On a different subject, do you want to see a dress that has been almost entirely cross stitched?
 Go check this out :)
All I can say is this lady is very brave!
Amanda

Sarah Day Sampler Finished!

Here she is in all her loveliness - Sarah Day 1827 - stitched from the Sampler & Antique Needlework Magazine Summer 2013.
  I did have plans to turn this into a bag as shown in the magazine, but realized as I was about to do that, that I have nowhere to put her!  Unfortunately where I live is very humid and dirty which causes me stress on a daily basis trying to keep my house in a comfortable living condition - so the sampler would have to be stored away somewhere protected away from bugs, dampness and dirt but then unfortunately I would never get to see her - so my decision is she shall be framed and hung on my wall where I can keep a close eye on her.
I want to thank everybody on your lovely comments yesterday about my progress on my Bothy Threads tea shop - I have been fortunate lately to have some serious stitching time on my hands due to the fact my youngest has joined the rest of his siblings in daycare and my husband has a new business project keeping him busy, so he is not bugging me all the time ... and I mean that in the nicest possible way, honey if you ever read this.
I will be showing my progress on Sunny Morning by Lanarte tomorrow so don't forget to check back in.
Smiles and hugs,
Amanda

Bothy Threads - Tea Shop update

Always fun to work on - here is my Tea Shop by Bothy Threads

I have also been working on my Sarah Day Sampler and Lanarte Kit and will post updates on those over the next few days.

Much love,

Amanda

Good for a laugh!

My mum is always sending me these kinds of funnies to me via email, these made me laugh so thought I'd share - enjoy :)