Framed

The place where I get most of my frames and the mats cut, had a nice sale a week ago and as I had a voucher as well, I went and had a custom frame made for the Northern Lights sampler which I finished back in January. It is a bit of an unusable size (though, after I got the frame home, I discovered that the frame for the Legends of the Dragons is almost the same size) and we debaded a while if I should have a mat or not, but in the end we decided not to have one. I brought the frame home on Friday and imidiately went on putting the whole thing together. The there was the part where I had to decide where to hang it. The space I first thought about didn't work, so now it found a home in the little corner next to the window where I have my stitching corner.

The picture is a bit on the smalish side, I know. With a double click, you shoudl get a bigger picture.

As I was actually at home last week (having a training in our home office) and not at a hotel somewhere, I've made quite a bit of progress on King Tut.


At the moment I'm working on the lady in the the right hand corner. All in all think it's about 35 ~ 40% done. At the moment I really enjoy stitching him - I love the colors and how the whole picture is done.
I've ordered the Kreinik that will replace the gold thread that was in the kit - have to see when it will arrive.

Next week the light house will get some attention again.

Here a little (very little actually - it's about one inch across) thing I've also made last week. I was doodling a bit in the training and then decided that I should try and convert it into a cross stitch pattern.


Ah, almost forgot, the LotR symphony was quite impressive, really. A large orchestra, three choirs (boys, women and men - around 40 people each) and the drawings of Alan Lee. I really liked it and it was a wonderful experience.
Only 'complain' I've had was the fact that because I know the soundtracks of the movies so well, I did spot a few (really only a few) not quite perfect notes in the brass section. And the men's choir fell a bit short on the choir used in the the films.
The boys soloists (they had two), on the other hand, were really good and the soprano soloist was very good - I liked her version of 'Into the West' better than the one from Annie Lennox.

Sound of Music

Tonight I'm going out to see the Lord of the Rings Symphony in the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt. I've saw that this event was on when I went to something else with my parents after Christmas and we got our ticket pretty soon after. The tickets we got are actually some left over tickets - the show was pretty much sold out by then. We didn't know that they would go and schedule a second concert the same day (at 3pm) - we might have gotten better seats there.
I guess I'll let you know how it was next week :)

Quite a few things have happened last week.

I found out that I'm going to Japan for a week in three weeks.

I've booked a flight to Seattle in summer to visit my friend in Alaska (I managed to get a bonus flight, so it's really a good bargain, even if I had to buy some extra miles to get there - on the other hand I still need to buy the flight to Alaska - this one couldn't be arranged through the bonus program I'm in)

I decided to buy a new camera and use the voucher I've got from the company for 10years for it - got a pretty sweet deal, really.

I've got some trouble with my credit card - I need to call the bank to find out what the problem is.

I've finished another pair of socks:



My own pattern, a simple knit 3 purl 3 with a shift every four rows (one direction in one sock, the other direction in the other sock). The wool is Wollmeise Sockenwolle in the color 'Gewitterhimmel'.

And I made some good progress on King Tut since last week.


I've started with the gold bit (upper left), but there's never enough gold in the kit to stitch all of it - so I ripped it out and subbed it for Kneinik 102 braid I've got in my stash. A pretty good match to the gold in the kit, but I don't think I have not enough of it either. I have to see how far I get.

And, last but not least, I've went a saw '300' - I was reluctant at first, as it is a pretty violent picture, and I've read a lot about about controversity how the Persians are shown. But, with this in mind (it is the addaptation of a graphic noval after all), I did enjoy it in the end. And I was very pleased about the part David Wenham got to play (I've liked him a lot in Lord of the Rings) - I didn't know it was to be so large.

And with this the circle closes and I'm off to see the wizard ... of Middle Earth ;)

1st Communion

My middle nephew went today to his first communion. So the whole family (except my sister in Sweden) and friends came together to celebrate this event. In the restaurant we sat out in the garden and after a while everybody started to search for the shade - it's the middle of April, but it was already over 27°C (80°F). If this isn't global warming I don't know what is. It is certainly not normal for April.

The Easter feast I've prepared for the family went well and (at least I didn't hear anything different) everybody enjoyed the food.



On the needle craft front, I've finally made some progress on King Tut


I've did all that background stuff right side of his head and am now back to the mask itself (which is more fun)

So, gotta run. Still need to pack for the next couple of days and I haven't watered the plants yet.

A Happy Dance Not to Forget

Yeah!

Not Forgotten is done *bounce*


My version of the rainbow and I skipped the title, but else there are no changes. I even used the recommended fabric (which was really nice to stitch on)
Next thing is to get is framed and then find a nice place for it. At the moment I've got no clear idea where to put it.

Even though it's a long weekend and I should be working on my 'at home' project (aka King Tut) I've staying with the lighthouse. Just more in the mood for it, I guess.

Easter weekend (btw, happy easter to everybody) I'm enjoying the time off and use it to do a hundred little things around my place. Fun things like finishing my photo album from New Zealand (hey, it's been only two years I've been there) and less fun things like window cleaning.
Also, tomorrow (which is still a holiday here in Germany) the family is coming over for lunch. It was decided last year, as I finally have a large enough place I take over the cooking on easter (x-mas is at my sister's and then on my parent's place). It will be my parents and my middle sister and her kids and husband. I'm pulling all the stops and plan on a fancy dinner with a three course meal and a cool decorated table. I even bought a new table cloth with matching napkins. And I've made napkin rings :)



The pattern is from Knitty (where else) . I've used silver wire and some larger beads I've found in Dresden last week. The seed beads I've got in my stash.
I've made six of those little suckers (well, actually, seven, as the first one was a bust and I needed to re-think the pattern)
I think they are pretty cool :)

Close to finish

Even though 'Not Forgotten' is officially 'only' my travel project, I've worked on it all weekend. I'm sooooo close to finishing it - but still just close. Still got to do some back stitching and stitch the yetis (with rainbow wisper). I did hope to finish today, but somehow I don't think I will manage - I've got a pile of ironing to do *sigh*
So, no pictures today.

I did pick the next traveling project: 'Mariner's Light' from Dimensions' Gold Collection. I've only swaped the aida for some 36ct evenweave. It will be a companion to 'Voyages at Sea', which I stitched last year on the same fabric. (pic here)

Other then that the week was pretty un-exciting. Work, some more work, and, yep, work.
Yesterday, I went and spent some of my hard earned money, got a new bathing suit, a blouse and a pair of new sweat pants to hang out in (need to shorten them though)