Being thankful November SBQ

When was I most thankful for being able to stitch. Hmmm, the death of my mom comes to mind. Her death was completely unexpected and it hit me hard. Very hard. I was absolutely devastated. But being the oldest I had to function and get the things organised that you are required to do at a time like this. I can tell you, my stitching kept me sane. I don't know what I would have done or how I could have survived without stitching. It helped me to wind down and relax after the horrible job of cleaning out her apartment which made me feel like a grave robber. It also gave me comfort because my mother always loved my stitching and somehow I felt close to her although she is not here anymore.

Again, the last second...

Somehow it seems to take a lot of thinking for me to answer the SBQ's. But again just in time here is my answer:

Wouldn't you believe it, I am also a firstborn. As for the effect it had on my hobby: I think I started kinda late on my stitching journey. My first piece dates back to 1988. I was 24 at that time. Since then I have done quite a lot of stitching, with a couple of longer breaks in between. I didn't stitch a lot while I was going to evening school or while I was in a relationship.

When I was in school and we had to do crafts for school, I hated it. My mum ended up finishing whatever needed to be done more than once.

I honestly can't recall what started my interest in crafts. Besides cross stitching, I also learned quilting, tatting, bobbin lace. I do hardanger, I knit and crotchet. But like I said, I don't know what got me started.

Happy stitching
Billie

Quirky habits!?

Boy, am I late in answering this month's SBQ. I was so busy at work and on the road almost every evening that this month has just flown by. But just in time here is my answer:

I do watch DVDs while stitching or listen to ZRock.fm, my favorite Hardrock music station on Webradio. When stitching smaller projects, I start with one color and finish this color before moving to the next. If the projects are bigger I start with the first symbol on the symbol list and stitch all of the stitches I can get to (meaning without a lot of counting and jumping around) in this particular color and then move on to the next symbol and so on. When I am at the end of the list I start again at the top.

Weird!?

Happy stitching everyone!!!

Facebook September SAL week 1 and 2

Here are the first two finishes for September. I decided to stitch 4 small designs which will all be framed together in one frame. They are called "Indian Egg green/yellow" and "Fall Tree". Both design are from Liebevolle Kreuzstichentwürfe.

August SAL on Facebook

I participated on a month long SAL on Facebook. I decided to stitch on something that I could finish during that time. So here it is: "Delicate Patchwork Hearts" Kit from Sunset.

August Stitching Bloggers Question

Very interesting question - and very challenging. Luckily I do own one or two charts ;-) Actually I have already stitched most of the designs, some are still on my list.


1. Are you male or female? Cross Stitch Bitch (Dolly Mamas by Janlynn)

2. Describe yourself: It's 5 pm somewhere (Sue Hillis Designs)

3. How do some people feel about you? Born to shop - forced to work (Design Works)

4. How do you feel about yourself? Irony is not Dead (Subversive Cross Stitch)

5. Describe your interest: Share a pot of tea with a friend (Bobbie G. Designs)

6. Describe your best friend: Bite Me (Dolly Mamas by Janlynn)

7. Describe where you currently live: Tea Shop (Bothy Thread)

8. Where would you rather be? Old Irish Blessing (Linda Myers)

9. Describe what you want to be: Not older, Better (Janlynn)

10. Describe how you live: It's my mess - and I love it (Designs Works)

11. Describe how you love: Apache Marriage Blessing (Bucilla)

12. Share a few words of wisdom: Life's Journey is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to slide in sideways totally worn out, shouting "Holy Cow" what a ride. (Bobbis G.)

13. Now use a title to say goodbye: Stitching forever - Housework whenever (Lizzie Kate)

50th post!!!!! Better late than never...

Well, I finally made it! My 50th post will be my answer to Lake Stitcher's July stitching question. I am so sorry that I have been such a bad blogger, but life does get in the way...

Since my teenage years I tended to be a loner. I had and still have a very different music taste than my friends and I also like(d) different movies. So I started to spend my spare time doing things I could do by myself: jigsaw puzzles, reading, sports etc. So when I discovered cross stitching I did it by myself. Of course living in Germany does not help. Cross stitch is not very popular over here. There are stitchers of course, but they are far away. I don't even have a LNS for literally hunderts of Kilometers around. Without the internet I would be doomed. I do envy all you gals out in blogworld that can drive to a store and actually look at stuff and touch it before buying. Stitching alone keeps my sane. It is my means of winding down after work. I can let my thoughts wander and rehash the day. Watching a movie or listening to my favorite music makes my needle move even faster. Stitching does not make me a loner. I do enjoy going out with friends although in the last couple of weeks that had gotten "kinda outta hand". I am so addicted to stitching that sometimes I rather not go out so I can stitch.

For the second part of the question: There was this group at our adult education place (VHS). It was not a stitching group but a crafts group. The initiator was a woman who taught bobbin lace. So people did what they wanted. I stitched, some knitted but most of them did bobbin lace. The age level was very old (50>). I was one of the youngest there. There was this old lady and not a meeting would go by without her telling about the war and how hard everything was (you know, walking to school through deep snow for hours on end and stuff like that. You get the idea). I finally stopped going because I couldn't listen to it any longer.

I am a member of the International Womens Club in Stuttgart. We just started a Stitch n' Bitch and had our first meeting in July. I know all the ladies, everybody is more or less in the same age group and we had a ball!!! It was a totally new experience for me. First of all I wasn't the only stitcher and what was much more important, the other stitchers are as crazy about it is I am (one lady called it being anal ;-) How true). So I am looking forward to the next meeting in August. The conversation was very interesting. Most of the ladies have been living in different countries for long periods of time so there was a lot to tell. I think I found my perfect group.

It has been a while...

... since I finished something. This month I managed to finish Nora Corbett's letter "S" Samantha. I enjoyed stitching her very much. It was my first experience with overdyed floss but I did like it. I already have the first two kits of Nora Corbett's new series in my stash: The Stitching Fairies. They are also stitched with overdyed floss. I was hoping to get a lot of stitching done because my boyfriend was gone for 8 weeks, but unfortunately the weather was much too hot to stitch. My apartment is right under the roof and hardly isolated. So you can imagine the kind of temperatures I had in my apartment when I got home after work. I think it would have been a lot cooler if I had gone to the sauna at my gym ;-).



I also managed to finish this bookmark kit from Textile Heritage or rather I finished stitching it but the actual finishing still needs to be done. I love stitching but I am not so great on the finishing front. I will see how it goes.

Birthday present

I went to a little stitching retreat a couple of weeks ago. Since the birthday of a very dear friend from this group was coming up soon thereafter, we decided to surprise her with scissors fobs for her very extensive scissors collection. During the retreat she mentioned that her goal was to make a fob for all of her scissors. So on her birthday she received seven scissors fobs. This is my contribution:





Both motives are out of the "Red" resp. "White" books.

Since I have never done a scissors fob or something similar before, I was quite tense doing this. The stitching was the easy part but the finishing... There was more than one occasion when I came this close to throwing everything in the next corner! My respect to all those fabulous finishers out there. It is simply incredible what you can do!!!

May Stitching Bloggers' Question

Lake Stitcher brought this meme back into life. Thank you for that!!!

Suppose we say that there are two types of stitchers.

There are those who enjoy the “process” of stitching. They stitch for stitching’s sake and if something gets finished, so much the better, but it’s not necessarily the end goal. Primarily, it’s the application of needle and thread to cloth that makes them happiest.

Then there are those who are “project” stitchers. They move steadily through their projects, certainly enjoying their stitching time, but finding their greatest joy in the completed stitching.

If you had to pick one to describe yourself, which type of stitcher would you be? I imagine that we could all say that we fall somewhere in between, but really think hard about this and try to pick just one. And once you’ve decided whether you’re a Process or Project stitcher, tell us if your recognize that approach in other parts of your life.

After a lot of thinking I came to the conclusion that I am "process" stitcher. I really like it and enjoy it when I finish a project, but I do believe for me the getting there is more important. Although my blog does give another impression, I am a "BAP"-Stitcher. This is the reason only small "in between so I can show something" pieces are on my blog right now ;-) I am still waiting to win that jackpot so I can devote my life to stitching. My "starteritis" does not really help to get things done, either. I just love to start new kits or charts and find out how everything comes together. I have over 70 charts already kitted and ready to go and maybe close to 50 kits as well so that leaves me with a lot to look forward to.

I truly admire stitchers who are able to put out a piece almost every other day (Jennifer of Feathers in the Nest comes to mind). You are so fast and the designs and especially the finishing are blowing my mind.

Applied to real life, I would have to say I am very project oriented and want to get things done. Well, this is business and stitching is pleasure, right!?

My Needle and my Floss...

... They do comfort me. While stitching this design I often thought about how often stitching really helped me to soothe my soul and help me through difficult times. For me stitching is therapy; after a hard day at work, nothing is better than holding the Q-snap in my hand and creating something lasting.

I finished this design on a small stitching retreat in Austria last week. Since I really like the "travelling sisterhood" of that chart that is currently going on in blogland, I thought of something similar.

I gifted a fellow stitcher with the chart and asked her to stitch it and then send it to another stitcher from our forum and so on, thus creating our own "travelling sisterhood". The girls really liked the idea so we will see how it develops.

And now, here she is. I stitched the design with the suggested colors (Weeks Dye) on the recommended fabric.

Happy stitching
Billie

A christmassy Easter finish ;-)

Mill Hill Button & Bead Kit "Needlework Shop"

This was not planned... Needlework Shop was just the last in line. This is another of Mill Hill's Button & Beads Kit. I just ordered another one "Hydrangea Wreath" What can I say... I just love them *sigh*

Kerzenschleife zur Kommunion / Candle bow

Eine gute Freundin hat mich gefragt, ob ich die Kerzenschleife für die Kommunionskerze ihrer Tochter sticken würde. Das habe ich natürlich gerne gemacht. Hier das Ergebnis.

A good friend asked me if I would stitch the candle bow for her daughter's communion. Here is the result.

In Memoriam

One year ago today my mum died very suddenly and unexpectedly. Standing at her grave today was so much harder than the day we had to bury her. She is not buried in a graveyard but in a "Friedwald". This is a forest designated as a "graveyard". The urns are buried beneath trees. There is no cross or fancy decoration like in a graveyard. Just a little sign on the tree with the names of the people buried beneath it.

I miss her so very much. She was such a great cook and I regret not having written down all her secret recipes. My mother never had a lot of money but still she was very generous and gave us (my sister and myself) what ever she could. She loved my stitching and always complemented on my works. I miss not being able to call her and share with her. I miss going shopping with her. One of the worst things for me is that she never knew I found a new boyfriend. I never got around to telling her. Ever since she died I have been asking myself when was the last time I told her I loved her. Did I spent enough time with her? I am still so mad at the hospital because they didn't inform us about the deterioration of her condition. By the time they called me and I got to the hospital she was already dead. Cleaning out her apartment I felt like a grave robber. It was such a horrible experience.

Yet, for all my loss, I have not been able to really grieve. When she died, there was so much stuff to take care off. When things cooled down, I just couldn't bear the thought of her not being there anymore and I kept and still keep pushing the thought of her being gone out of my brain every time it creeps in there.

The Little Ship

I stood watching as the little ship sailed out to sea. The setting sun tinted the white sails with a golden light, and as she disappeared from sight a voice at my side whispered, "She is gone".

But the sea was a narrow one. On the farther shore a little band of friends had gathered to watch and wait in happy expectation. Suddenly they caught sight of the tiny sail and, at the very moment when my companion had whispered, "She is gone" a glad shout went up in joyous welcome, "Here she comes!"

Author Unknown

I firmly believe that she is with her boyfriend who died a couple of years before she did and that she is looking down on me. For me March will always be the saddest month of the year.

I miss you Mum!!!!!!

Second finish for 2010

My second finish for 2010 is "Winter Wonderland" (Mill Hill Buttons & Beads Kit).

Blogoversary!!!!

Today is my first Blogoversary. How fast this year went by. Let us see what the next year will bring...

Last finish for 2009

(Kit von Janlynn "Dolly Mamas")

Nachdem ich meiner Freundin nun ihr Geschenk gegeben habe, kann ich es auch Euch zeigen. Es gefällt ihr sehr und sie hat so gelacht, als sie es gesehen hat. "Bite me" ist ihr Lieblingsspruch und von daher paßt es perfekt.

After I gave my friend her gift, I can now show it to you as well. She liked it a lot and laughed so hard when she saw it. "Bite me" is her favorite saying and so I just had to stitch this for her.

My last finish for 2009 and my first finish for 2010

(Kit from Design Works)

Well, it has been finished for quite a while, but it was missing the BS. I finished them last night and boy, what a change. I hate BS, but they do make the picture come alive, so I think I will just have to live with them ;-).

There is also a last finish for 2009. But since I stitched this for a friend who does look on my blog occasionally this will have to wait until she got it.

Naja, fertig war es schon länger, aber der BS hat mal wieder gefehlt. Den habe ich jetzt gestern Abend fertig gestickt und wow, was für ein Unterschied. Ich hasse BS, aber da sie wirklich den Unterschied machen, werde ich wohl mit ihnen leben müssen ;-)

Es gibt auch ein letztes Werk für 2009. Aber das habe ich für eine Freundin gestickt, die hier ab und an reinschaut. Deswegen gibt es das Bild erst nachdem meine Freundin es bekommen hat.