Author: Anne S

Brightening my life one stitch or one card at a time, and sharing my joy of needlework and card-making.
Cross Stitch, Stitching Smalls

Pyramid Etui update

Anne S

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments – I think KarenV hit the nail on the head, the problem I have with the colours are that they really are “drab”! I’m usually quite a bright person where colours are concerned, so I was really disappointed when I opened up the kit to that not-so-wonderful array of colour 😦 And that pink just sticks out like a sore thumb – and of course just happens to be the one shade of pink I absolutely abhor!  Anyway, I’ve scanned a small piece of the colour piccie that came with the kit so you can see the difference of the photo piece and the threads sent (and the scan is pretty accurate for the colours).  I think even in the scan of the stitched panel the pink sticks out like a sore thumb – and the colours are sure as heck a lot different between the scan of the stitched panel and the threads! 

The first instruction is to do the 4-sided stitch around the outlines in the blue thread … right … um, blue … I guess that’s the drab greeny-looking thread second from the right.  I like the idea of perhaps finding a peach thread to soften it a bit, but I have to admit that if I’m truly honest with myself, I want the change the whole lot!  The problem I have is I spent every spare cent I have, pretty much, on the kit costs for these two projects and still have to pay for the airfare etc, and I don’t think I have enough silk in my stash to rekit the whole thing from scratch – I may hunt through my variegated silks, though, to see if it gives me any ideas for rekitting (in the back of my mind, though, I’m thinking rich jewel tones – not blues for a change haha).  I could always stitch up one band in the current colours, but replacing the pink with peach, and see how I feel about it stitched up, as the way I’ve gridded the fabric I’ve been very frugal and have enough left over for one more panel …

In the meantime, though, I may follow the good advice of a few of you and stitch up the peacock one first while I’m mulling over my options for the other one.  I also may re-chart up the design in my XS program and play with the colours on there to see what would work, ie with the peach vs powder blue etc.  I don’t have much time to play with, as I was supposed to have one panel stitched by the end of the weekend, so I’m behind the 8-ball already timewise oops.  Luckily the fact I’m on leave at the moment gives me chance to catch up, though.

Edited to add:  Actually Mum and I have been playing with the colours, and think if we just tone down the pink with a more muted and ‘dusky’ version I could live with it … barely … so we’ve decided DMC 778 is do-able, as long as I can find a silk in similar tonings.  We tried a couple of different colours, and the muted blues/turquoises all mean we’d have to change the variegated silk, and I don’t have anything in my stash that would suit.  I really liked the apricot on the screen, but IRL it was lost between the ‘ecru’ and gold … so, I guess the pink it is for now mutter mutter mutter LOL.  If everything turns pear-shaped trying to find another pink silk, I’ll just use the original pink and stitch with my eyes closed

Edited again to add:  My apologies for not posting this before, but here is a piccie of the actual project I’m harping on about … The photos are compliments of the Needle in a Haystack class they held – you can click on the link for further info and a description of the project itself.  Here’s a photo of the Etui both open and closed (and in fact probably show the colours closer to what I actually have now … perhaps she’s changed the colours since the original photos and instructions were done?).

 

Right now, though I’m off to get my Quaker RR stitched up … fingers crossed my thread choice turns out OK for that one! 😉 (and it’s certainly not drab LOL)

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Pyramid Etui

Anne S

Yesterday afternoon/evening I finally started laying out all the pieces for my CA Wells class for the Pyramid Etui – no mean feat in approx 36C heat, and I hate ‘gridding’ at the best of times. Anyway, my next challenge is to make a decision before I can start stitching. I keep thinking of the Sesame Street song “one of these is not like the others” … if you know me well, you’ll know where my dilemma is when you see the following piccie:  

I just can’t bring myself to have that dreadful lolly pink in my stitched Etui … in fact, if I’m honest I’d personally change ALL the colours to richer yummy ones, and one day I may stitch it again and do just that.  Anyway, the next piccie is what I’m thinking of doing, and wonder if it will look OK?  I had in the back of my mind that I’d rather substitute the pink, which is a stark contrast to the other colours in a way anyway, to a muted duck egg blue or very light turquoise – I found this NPI silk in my stash and think it might work out OK, what do you think? It’s either that, or find a pastel blue from somewhere, but there’s definitely no way the pink is staying! 😉

On the other hand, the Peacock Needlecase colours are just totally scrummy, and I can’t wait to stitch with them!  Check these out … it gets a resounding “mmmmmm, yummy” from me! 😉  I’m going to stitch the Etui first, mainly because I know I won’t enjoy stitching with those muted colours as much, and my treat at the end will be to stitch with these yummy ones!

Rightio, time to get motivated and put a few stitches into something – thankfully the heat is a lot lower today, so it should be a more productive day.  We still have a couple of DVD’s left to watch (we got ones that we can keep for 2 days), so that sounds like another perfect day of stitching and movies … at least for part of the day anyway.  Then we have to have a tidy-up session (there’s stitching stuff everywhere LOL) before we make a call to kick real estate agent butt! 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Melbourne

A Walk on the Wild Side & an unexpected gift

Anne S

Actually the title should probably be “Animal Quackers” ‘cos there are a few birds in these shots (surprise, surprise haha).  We survived a day at Healesville Sanctuary yesterday in the sweltering heat (38C), although we were exhausted by the end of the day.  We finished the day off with a quick stop at Emerald Lake Park, but we were so tired from the heat by then we just took a couple of duck photos and left again.  Anyway, we thought we’d share a couple of our favourite shots of the local wildlife from yesterday … makes a change from stitching 😉 (all the piccies are clickable for bigger versions)

 
An Aussie wildlife park just wouldn’t be the same without a Wallaby or two!


A Lace Monitor – he chose the time of our visit to clamber around, so it was hard to get a photo of him sitting still … but I love the pose in this one!


The pelicans reminded me of a holiday in Greece – two were casually walking among the visitors … I went a bit pelican-mad photo-wise, so I’ve just chosen one to share.


A male Lyrebird – first time I’ve managed to catch sight of one – the last time I visited I couldn’t find him in the aviary!


A Kookaburra taken through fine mesh wiring, so it came out really well considering … I really love this shot.


I’m not sure what type of duck this one is but she’s cute!


Awwww, I just love this one – my favourite type of all ducks, she’s just beautiful!!

Today we braved the elements outdoors for a shorter period of time and just walked up to the local Video Ezy store to pick up a few DVD’s to watch – even with just an hour in this heat and we were ready to retire in front of the electric fan for the afternoon.  I had an unexpected birthday gift left by my apartment on our return, though … it decided to give me a piece of the architraving – such a generous gift, but I really wish it hadn’t!  So tomorrow will be spent giving my real estate agent a kick in the pants, as well as phoning the landlord directly because the agent is doing sod all about these cracks … I took a few other piccies as well of cracks that are worsening, but I won’t bore you with those.  I will, however, share the lovely birthday gift we came home to … or at least where it “used to be” 😦

PhotoHunt

PhotoHunt – Antique

Anne S


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Not being into ‘antique’ items, such as brooches, furniture etc (I’m more of a modern girl at heart), I struggled with this week’s theme – I thought of putting Mum’s photo up, but she wasn’t amused 😉 (actually she did suggest it later when I was still struggling).

This is the best I could come up with … some ‘antique’ buildings from a visit to Egypt about 10 years ago.


Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel (an extremely long day trip from Aswan, but sooooo worth it!!)


From the Temple of Kom Ombo on the banks of the Nile


Inside the tomb of Ramses IV in the Valley of the Kings

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Melbourne, Stitching Smalls, Works in Progress

Leporello & more birthday gifts

Anne S

As promised yesterday, I can finally share Nicki’s beautiful gift with you – every time I’ve seen one of Nicki’s gorgeous over-one stitched letters I’ve drooled … now I can drool over my very own one!  I just adore my pinkeep, it’s stitched and finished perfectly as always … and once again very scrummy colours! 😉  As well as my gorgeous pinkeep, Nicki also sent a really cute notebook too, which will come in very handy! 😀  Thanks again Nicki, I love everything and will treasure my pinkeep always! And I love the clever personalisation on the back! 😀

   

The other photos I have to share are of my Stitching Leporello – part one is now all finished.  I just realised I had the stitching on a bit of an angle, so the camera has blurred the bottom part of the ‘frontal’ photo as I used my SLR, but you get the idea … also I tried to take one photo on an angle to show up the beads.  I really need to get a tripod so I can take better photos – another challenge for the year, I think, to improve my photography skills!  In the meantime, though, these’ll have to suffice.  As usual with this sort of design, the photos don’t do the project justice whatsoever … it’s just gorgeous in real life!  Unfortunately, though, it won’t see the light of day for at least another 3 months, as my upcoming stitching time will now be spent on the CA Wells class projects plus a birthday gift or two.

 

And on that note, I’ll shut down for the day, as Mum and I are off to Healesville Sanctuary for the day – and if we have time we’ll call into Emerald Lake Park before coming home.  It will be nice to have a day out in the fresh air.

Thanks again to everyone who has left me birthday wishes – I really appreciate all the comments, e-cards, and private emails I’ve received … thanks for helping to make the day extra special {{hugs}}.

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stitch-alongs

Wonderful birthday today

Anne S

Today was officially my birthday (the 16th), and I had a very very restful day … it was spent unexpectedly stitching with Mum, watching DVD’s and just generally relaxing – I now only have 15 beads left to go on part 1 of my Stitching Leporello … I was so hoping to have it finished today, but I ran out of time before we had to sprint out the door.  I have to say those little pieces are very deceiving – it’s taken me forever to finish that one square, but I did enjoy having a spot of selfish birthday stitching 😉

This afternoon we drove into Camberwell early to clear the PO Box of its contents, and do a bit of shopping to kill time before dinner at Cafe Platia (my favourite Greek & Mediterranean restaurant).  I bought about 12 big packets of chocolate bars (individual little Mars bars, Snickers, Malteser bags, Bounties etc) and took them into work for my work colleagues … they thought it was crazy me going into work on my annual leave just to bring them in choccies for my birthday when I’m not even there to share them, but I couldn’t wait until my return in a week and a half!  Fraze was almost in the dog-box when he rocked up to dinner well over an hour late, but he redeemed himself by bringing me a birthday card 😉  Mum and I shared a bottle of Yellow sparkling wine, and we stocked up at Dan Murphy’s for a day in tomorrow … with another two bottles of wine for me, and a “slab” of Victoria Bitter beer for Mum haha 😀

During the week I received some gorgeous birthday gifties from Katrina and KarenV – my sincere apologies to you both for the delay in posting my gift piccies … I meant to do it yesterday, then realised the piccies I’d taken weren’t very clear against the blue of the sofa, so I re-did them today against my turquoise pashmina.  I also received another beautiful gift from Nicki this afternoon, but the light is shocking in my flat in the evenings so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to take a piccie.

The first piccie I have to share is of my gorgeous pillow from Katrina … it’s in the most scrummy blue colours, and I just adore the little tassels at the corners!  I feel very honoured to have this beautiful gift, it’s just sooooo lovely!  And to top it off Katrina also sent me a home-made birthday card too, which is just awesome 😀  I love everything Katrina, and feel very spoilt … and how perfect are those colours for me?  Yep, they’re definitely Annie colours! 😀 

Next up is a beautiful pillow from KarenV … it’s quite funny because I’d just sent Katrina an email asking if she would be willing to offer a tutorial in making one of these little flanged pillows for the new finishing blog, ‘cos I’d love to make one myself (and Katrina is the Queen of Pillows, not just Needlerolls!) – and here I have one in the flesh!  The first thing I did was to be nosey to work out how they’re made, and I think I finally have it worked out 🙂  I just adore the fabric and threads used (it’s my all-time favourite Anchor variegated thread), and the design is just so “me” 😀  I adore my little pillow, but to top it off Karen also sent one of the charts off my wishlist, Grandma’s Stitching Accessories, which I can’t wait to stitch (I’m already thinking about silk threads I can substitute for the Dinky Dyes ones) … but there was an added little extra that I truly LOVE – a little ducky keyring!!  How gorgeous and perfect is that??  I’ve been looking for years for a nice duck keyring, and now I have one.  I love everything, Karen, thanks again so much 😀 

I also have a couple of stitching updates for the week – it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve shown my progress of the Macaw SAL with Carina … I can finally show some actual progress after this week’s stitching on Wednesday – it’s even starting to look like something more than a blob!  It’ll be a long long time before this one is finished though!

Next up is my progress on the Bordeaux Sampler – I did my stitching earlier in the week, and there’s not a great deal to show for it … I unpicked the errors I’d made in the previous band and restitched the leaves in green – probably no point showing a piccie, as it looks no different than last week really … aside from band 3’s leaves, I just added a bit more of the green grapevine ‘stems’ on the left-hand side.  Hopefully next week will show more progress on this one.  Carol has now almost caught me up … I told her it wouldn’t be too long before she’s overtaking me on this one, but she thought I was joking haha.

I was hoping to show my Leporello finish today, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow now after I’ve attached those last 15 beads – then I can also unveil Nicki’s beautiful gift as well.  For now, though, I’m going to check out Healesville Sanctuary online, and see if it’s close enough to Lake Emerald to visit both in one day … as that’s possibly in the pipeline for tomorrow, if I can get out of bed early enough … especially seeing as it’s midnight already! 😉

Finishing

A blog is born … “Focus on Finishing”

Anne S

Yes, the time has come when our new blog can finally be revealed in all its glory, and the welcome mat is officially laid outside the front door! 


You can either click on the piccie above, or follow the hyperlink to our new blog home:
 http://focusonfinishing.wordpress.com/

I’ve copied our information from the blog to remind you what it’s all about:

“This blog has been set up as a resource both for stitchers who already enjoy finishing their own stitching creatively and want to develop and share their skills and also for those stitchers who would love to do so but don’t know where to start. It aims to be a place where you can learn new techniques, receive and give finishing help and advice and share pictures of your finished items with everyone. It also aims to provide a centralised information resource of finishing techniques, with pages dedicated to both tutorial links and links to websites/online albums for inspiration.

We hope to organise regular finishing classes where people can learn specific finishing techniques and also have regular FALs (Finish-A-Longs), where we set aside a certain time every week or month to finish up some of those stitched-but-not-yet-finished projects using any method you like. More information can be found on the Class/FAL schedule page.

If you wish to contribute to this blog as a poster rather than just a commenter, you’ll need to create a WordPress account (no need to create a blog, unless you want to) and then email Anne or Karen with your details (including the email address you signed up with).”

This is a blog that will be assisted greatly by your contributions – especially in feedback as to what you’d like to see included by the way of tutorials and finishing techniques, and sharing any finishing you’ve completed yourself.  Also, if you know of any finishing tutorials online that we don’t have included, or any stitcher’s albums that have some great inspirational finished items, we’d love to hear about them … sharing is definitely to be encouraged!

We hope this will turn out to be a great place to hang out with friends and learn something new, as well as those with more experience sharing that experience with others.  We look forward to seeing you there, so please do visit and make yourselves at home!

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash

Birthday joy & Finishing blog

Anne S

My face must have told a 1000 words yesterday if you’d seen me open my birthday parcel from Carol  … certainly the girl next to me at work got to share a fair bit of the excitement! 

Thank you so much my dear friend for my gifts – as I said to you via email, I absolutely adore everything!  I’ve never seen a tin-topper in real life, and this one is absolutely perfect in every way!  Carol says the design is reminiscent of New England, her home, which makes it extra special to me.  She was also thoughtful to send the stitching details along with it (what a great idea!) – it is Down East Tin Topper by Samplers & Such, stitched on Dirty Belfast linen with DMC … and I just adore it! 

Not only the tin topper, though, Carol also send a darling pair of scissors and some needles inside the tin (I forgot to take a piccie, sorry) – and I’m going to add the wee scissor fob Carol sent me for Christmas to the scissors, as it’ll fit nicely in the tin … which is going to take pride of place next to me on my stitching table.  The tin topper would have been plenty enough, but I also received a large selection of Crescent Colour threads, which are one of my favourite overdyed threads, and the most scrummy turquoise fabric (that I’m planning a use for already, so you’ll have to watch this space later in the year!) … I still can’t believe it’s all for me!! 😀 

hanks again, Carol, you are a total sweetheart, and I love everything!!

 

My free time over the last couple of days has been spent playing with my photo editing program to get a header together or our new Finishing blog … and Karen and I have been tweaking it a bit so we’re not far away from being able to publish details about it.  I’m really looking forward to this new venture, and already thinking of finishing techniques I’d like to learn.  Anyway, watch this space for the details soon!

The rest of my time this week has been spent on finishing two birthday gifts (which unfortunately will be arriving belatedly at their new homes), and planning my stitching time for the next two months in readiness for the CA Wells class in April.  There is an exceptional amount of work involved, and I’ve worked out what I’ll need to get stitched by the end of each week between now and then to have everything finished in time … all I can say is I’m grateful I’ve got two weeks off work as at 11pm tonight, as I think I’m going to need it!!  I also have to get cracking on another birthday gift … I’ve got my heart set on a project, but it might be a bit ambitious going by the timeframe hmmm.

And on that note I’ll sign off again – partly as it’s now time to go to work (last day for two weeks, yippee!!), and partly ‘cos I have nothing else to say LOL.