Another Week

HandsOnHobbies has been moved back to the old server and is open for business as usual. I am trying to find out why it isn't happy with the new server. It should be fine, all the software requirements are met and there are no obvious errors. I really hope it can be sorted out as I spent a lot of time this week looking into different software and nothing was suitable, without a load of re-writing that is.

Once HandsOnHobbies was back working I managed to get a newsletter out about the new Clear Magic Stamps. The new stamps are a huge hit. I thought they would be as there are some lovely designs.

I am really excited as I have designed some software and it is currently being developed. I am not sure when it will be ready but as soon as I have further details I will let you know.

This week I have stitched on only one design, Diane Graebner's - Home for the Holidays. It is lovely to stitch. It is a quick and easy design with no confetti stitches!!! I love the larger designs but it is nice to take a break once in awhile. I needed this project this week as it doesn't take much concentration and was easy to keep picking up and working on for the short spaces of time that were available to me. I was working all day and a lot through the evening, so it was lovely to see the picture developing so fast. This is where I am up to at present:

I have decided to stay with this project until completion, which hopefully will be this week. I am then moving onto HAED's - The Pink Rose.

"Chain of Friends"

This was from Velda's blog. Please copy the verse and photo for your blog and carry on the chain of friendship! Leave a comment so we can all follow the chain!

Holding Hands

This picture shows a line of little girls holding hands facing the immensity of ocean waves.

Alone they might be washed away, but together they stand strong.

Thank you for holding my hand somewhere along the way when I was facing a wave of my own. I hope you will reach for my hand when your own wave threatens.

All of us girls...

Old and young...

Near and far...

Hold special memories of good times we've shared.

We've had our share of hard times when our friends were there to make us feel better.

We've shared...

our hearts

our time

our secrets

our fears

our hopes

and our dreams.

Let us never break the chain of friends!

Weekly News

This week our main water tap into the house developed a leak. I noticed a strange patch on the wall (which was recently decorated) which turned out to be caused by the leak. What could have been a quick repair turned into a saga, but thankfully it is fixed now. Although the wall does need to be sorted out!

We decided to move HandsOnHobbies to a new web server but it didn't go well and we haven't been able to get it to work correctly so the shop has been closed since Thursday evening. We decided to move it back to the old server for now and then probably start the shop from scratch using new software, which should be fun! Watch this space.

On top of which my PC is still throwing tantrums. Considering everything that is going on I am somehow managing to keep calm.

My sister is starting a new chapter in her life as she has just got the keys to her new house and is in the process of moving in. I wish her luck with her new start.

I have adapted my cross stitch rotation. I wasn't enjoying stitching on Sleigh Ride and Celtic Winter for just one evening a week. I prefer to spend at least a few days on a project before packing it away. With Sleigh Ride in particular I never looked forward to starting it and when I had to pack it away I had just started to get into it, so it wasn’t progressing very quickly. I have therefore adapted my rotation so both Sleigh Ride and Celtic Winter have slots every month and I can spend longer on them than just one evening. Also I wanted to have Tomboy as more of a focus piece. My new rotation looks like this:

Diane Graebner - Home for the Holidays
HAED - Pink Rose
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
Diane Graebner - Christmas Eve
Solaria Gallery – Girl from Alhambra
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
DMC - Tiger and Cub
HAED - Cabin in the Woods
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
HAED - At First Sight
L&L - The Quiltmaker
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy
CNSC - The Visitor (Fox)
HAED - Invariance
HAED - Tomboy
Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
L&L - Celtic Winter
HAED - Tomboy

I have now also got a list of "Office Projects" which are smaller designs that I will stitch on when I have a few minutes to spare. They are:

Waxing Moon - Bring on the Snow
Lizzie*Kate - Winter Boxer
CSC - Holly Cottage
Derwentwater Designs - Cliff Top
Lizzie*Kate - Flip-it Blessings

My progress photos for the week include Celtic Winter which I did still stitch on Tuesday as usual:

and Tomboy:

I stitched half a page.

As soon as I get a chance I am starting Diane Graebner - Home for the Holidays. I am looking forward to this one. It should be an easier stitch. I wonder if it will make me feel Christmassy in March!

Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary Mum and Dad!

Being married for 50 years is quite an act to follow.

Back to the story of my PC. I spoke too soon, although not as drastic as the week before I did lose a day's work. Although it is working I am having to be very careful as it could crash at any time. It is slowing up my work so much it is driving me crazy.

I did manage in the end to get some of the new stock entered into the webshop, but not all of it. I did get all the new Clear Magic Stamps entered and the gallery with examples of some cards made with the stamps. To see the stamps click here and the gallery click here. There are so many lovely new designs I can't wait to start using them myself.

Now for my stitching update. First of all Sleigh Ride:

Although I didn't get too much done this week the picture doesn't show my progress very well. I did do more than it looks.

Then Celtic Winter:

I think a few more weeks and I will have the cloak finished and I can start on the dress.

Last of all is Evening Lights by Mystic Stitch:

I started stitching this last Saturday. There were a lot of confetti stitches! Hopefully when I finish the trees there will be more patches of one colour. I was delighted to start stitching with a different colour - yeah for pink.

I forgot to mention last week that I have started Bring on the Snow by Waxing Moon Designs (Design 11 - Position 5 in my rotation) I haven't taken a progress pic yet. As it is a smaller design I am stitching on this gradually when I have a few minutes here or there.

I am going back to Tomboy later today, so hopefully will have an update next week.

Thanks for all your comments. I will be visiting your blogs later - PC willing!

What a week! It started off with me feeling terrible with the tiredness being joined by a sore throat, ear ache etc. Then on Monday evening my PC went wrong. I have no idea what happened but it was working fine when I left it to do some stitching on Sleigh Ride and when I went back an hour later to do more work it had crashed. Richard (who is a computer genius) came to look at it but he couldn't get it to start. We spent hours trying things and in the end had to leave it to sleep as it was around 4am. I was doing my best to keep calm but it was a struggle as I realised my backup was out of date and I would have lost my years accounts which I had only just got up to date and balanced as well as so much other important work. Tuesday after only a couple of hours sleep was spent sorting out my PC. In the end Richard managed to get it working and I spent the remainder of the week re-installing software and generally getting things set up. It was such a relief when I found out I hadn't lost anything important. I have now done a full backup and plan to keep it up to date. I don't want to go through that again! Thankfully both of us (that is me and my computer) are feeling much better now.

Thank goodness for stitching! Without it I think I would have gone crazy by now - OK more crazy than I usually am.

This week I found that Sleigh Ride stitched up quickly. I am pleased with how much I completed:

Celtic Winter is coming along nicely as well:

I also started The John Clayton Collection - Mountains And Lake. I am adapting it as it has the strange fractional stitches that Heritage Stitchcraft loves using. I personally think they spoil this design so I am removing them. So far I am pleased with how it is working out:

I promise I will introduce a new colour soon! Blue is one of my favourite colours but even so...

Last night I did the gridding for Mystic Stitch - Evening Lights and am looking forward to starting this later today. Although guess what the first colour is? Yep, BLUE!

I have been too tired this week to do a blog entry. I don't know why I have been so tired, but it has been such an effort to do anything.

Monday evening my mum came to visit, we had a great time. I did do some on Sleigh Ride, it was lovely having someone to chat to while stitching even though at times the conversation was reduced to "one, two, three, four ..." Here is my progress on Sleigh Ride:

Mum showed me some of the coasters she has stitched, they were beautiful and I am going to set her up an online gallery to show them off - just need scans.

Tuesday evening I stitched Celtic Winter as usual. This one is stitching up quicker as it is an easy stitch. I love working on this and watching it grow:

Yesterday evening I finished page 14 of HAED - Tomboy, that brings my total of finished pages to 11. It also means I have completed a third of the design, so only two thirds to go. I am pleased how it is stitching up:

Today I am looking forward to going back to my rotation. I have decided to work on the next three projects: Waxing Moon - Bring on the Snow; John Clayton - Mountains and Lakes and Mystic Stitch - Evening Lights before going back to HAED - Tomboy.

I hope this tiredness goes away for next week as I have a lot to fit in to the week. A lot of new stock is due and I need to find time and energy to enter it into the shop system. I am looking forward to it arriving as it looks good in the pictures!