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, Finishes, M Designs, Needlerolls

Thistle Needleroll

Anne S

I’ve been planning projects for a formal rotation, but truthfully haven’t had the mental energy to put it all into place as yet … I need to put everything onto Qsnaps and/or scrollbars and to ensure everything is kitted up properly before putting it all in order into a designated project ‘tub’.  In truth I get more enjoyment about of sorting through my stash to narrow down the potential suspects for the year rather than doing the stitching itself … but I’m sure over the New Year I’ll find some mental space to do it all properly and get the rotation kicked off for real 🙂

For now, though, I snuck in a new start over the last week, and did most of the stitching over the weekend to finish it off.  This was supposed to be the next project for my ‘small to medium sized projects’ in my rotation, but it jumped out at me early – probably only because I had the fabric and threads ready to go (including the fabric being nicely ironed in advance) … so what’s a girl to do?  I actually have the 2nd needleroll ready to go as well, but might wait for a couple of rotation slots before starting that one again so soon – this version is the “vibrant” colourway, and I still have the pastel version to complete.

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“Thistle Needleroll” by M Designs (vibrant colourway)
stitched on 28ct Lugana ~ colour Miracle Mint
with recommended threads (except used DMC alternatives for Anchor 898 and Olde Willow Antique Violet)

I won’t get around to doing the “finishing” of this one until the New Year, so for now it’s been added to the ever-mounting finishing pile.  As for what to start stitching next, that’s a very good question!

Seeing as I’m only in Oz for another working day (hopefully), my next new start will take place in NZ while I’m visiting with my folks.  I’m probably going to just take a couple of small ornaments and/or kits with me to work on, as I doubt I’ll get much stitching time in … but fingers crossed I’ll get to hang out with a group of lovely stitching ladies in Auckland on Sunday at a LNS.  I say fingers crossed, because it all depends on whether I can actually GET to NZ … the joys of staff travel and being on stand-by, and the flights are all almost 100% full to capacity as it is.  I’m limiting myself to 2 full days sitting at the airport – after that I’m going to stay home and try again on Christmas Day … but in the meantime I’m hoping for a miracle that a few people sleep in and miss their flights (very selfish of me, I know!).  Time will tell … and in the meantime I’m off to go choose a couple of projects to throw into my bag with me … if I choose something small enough I can get some stitching done at the airport, especially as it’s likely I’ll be there for the entire day each day!!  And otherwise I’ll be making sure my Kindle is full charged up, along with my iPhone … if nothing else I’ll be able to keep myself amused somehow, that’s for sure! 🙂

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Canvaswork stash on its way

Anne S

I’m a bit excited that my latest stash order (and final one for quite some time!) is on its way!! Woohoo!!! I thought I had the threads for all those Canvaswork designs in the previous post but it seems my database report failed miserably and lied to me … bah humbug … every chart was missing at least one thread … and one of them about 8 threads!

I had to order from Nordic Needle as some of the threads are Rainbow Gallery ones and hard to find online … and while I was as it I ordered a couple of pieces of colored canvas that I didn’t have and can’t find locally … and I heard last week the box has been shipped! Yippee!!!

Oh yeah I also ordered a couple more sets of stretcher bars so I can mount the canvas as soon as the box arrives as it seems I’m also short on those! I really hope it all arrives before the 17th but I’m guessing that will be wishful thinking … I bought a couple of designs from a stitcher in the US 3 weeks ago and that still hasn’t arrived yet! Oh well it will be a new year treat to come home to! 🙂

I have to admit to not picking up a needle for over a week now – I started a Canvaswork piece last weekend only to find out I’d been sent #5 WDW pearl cotton instead of #8 so the stitches look lovely but are too chunky and I can’t get the adjoining stitches to fit … of course I only found AFTER I’d finished stitching the whole skein! That put me in a bit of a funk … but the good news is that I had ordered another skein in my Nordic Needle order as I couldn’t find it when I was kitting it up … so at least I know I’ll be able to frog it all and start again when my threads arrive. Flossy has also been sitting on my bedroom lap stand taunting me to finish her … but I don’t have any desire to do so right now, but I don’t want to take her off the frame and start something else as I know she’ll not see the light of day again for quite some time … the end result of course is not stitching anything at all!!

Instead of doing actual stitching I’m thinking about next years stitching plans. Along with that are thoughts about setting up a formal rotation like I used to have in Melbourne. I haven’t managed to stick to one for years and think I need to set my rotation up like I used to … I used to have all my rotation pieces sitting in there all kitted up in their own project bags and in order of being stitched. I’d start working on the front project and continue for 10 hours … sometimes that would take a day and sometimes a fortnight … then I’d put it to the back of the tub and start on the next project now at the front of the tub. It did wonders for my productivity!!

And this is what my Canvaswork looks like now prior to being frogged … I’ll only start frogging when my thread turns up so I can frog and stitch progressively and save on counting 😉 !!

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Secret Egg Hunt

Anne S

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“Secret Egg Hunt” by The Trilogy
Stitched on 32ct … um … can’t remember!!
with recommended GAST and WDW threads

I don’t celebrate Easter at all but I had a real urge to stitch this one … it was a fun stitch over the weekend (minus one bit of frogging of the one egg I managed to stitch last night). So all-in-all a relatively quick stitch as well while catching up on recorded TV 🙂

Canvaswork

Canvaswork Dreams

Anne S

After finishing my Ebb Tide canvaswork piece, I have a major urge to get more canvaswork pieces kitted up and ready to go … I’ve been slowly adding to my thread stash for a number of years now, and it seems I finally have enough in my stash to finally kit a number of pieces up (including more Rainbow Gallery thread stash that arrived this morning from a recent sale). The problem I will have, though, is that I don’t have enough canvas in my stash … will have to do a hunt under the bed for my canvas stash and see what I’ve got sitting around … but sadly not very much I don’t think. Canvas is like hen’s teeth to find ‘down under’, so I always have to order from Nordic Needle (or I used to buy from Nancy’s in Wellington, New Zealand). Looks like a New Year stash purchase may be in order, although I’d better make it a decent one as postage for canvas always bumps the price up astronomically, even though it doesn’t weigh very much it usually ends up being sent in a big box, pffft.  I guess it will mean giving me an incentive to order the remaining threads I need for some other canvaswork projects at the same time … sadly threads like Rainbow Gallery are also like hen’s teeth to order down under!!

Anyway, on close inspection of my thread stash inventory on the PC (assuming it’s correct!), it seems I should have all the threads for the following designs, so the biggest problem I’m going to have is actually DECIDING, ‘cos there are actually a lot more now than I realised!!  WOOHOO!!!!! 😀

Laura J Perin-Flying GeeseFlying Geese by Laura J Perin

Laura J Perin-Holly and IvyHolly and Ivy by Laura J Perin (freebie)

Laura J Perin-Holiday SquareHoliday Square by Laura J Perin (freebie)

Laura J Perin-SpringFling400Spring Fling by Laura J Perin (freebie)

BlueBird200Blue Birds by Laura J Perin (freebie)

Jens Jems-Polynesian Paradise_0001 - CopyPolynesian Paradise by Jen’s Jems (I have the black canvas ready)

GRACE-LG11Grace by Orna Willis (except I want to do the purple colourway)

summerdrinkgreenlarge1A Summer Drink by Orna Willis (I want to stitch both the Lime and Mint/blue versions)

Laura J Perin-Reflecting Pools1Reflecting Pools by Laura J Perin

Northern Pine-Blue Bayou Blue Bayou by Northern Pine Designs (I have the blue canvas cut and ready to go)

1890744Mallard Collage by Laura J Perin

Northern Pine-Earth Spirit_0001Earth Spirit by Northern Pine Designs

Northern Pine-Surf & Sand_0001Surf and Sand by Northern Pine Designs

If you’re interested in getting started with canvaswork yourself, the following are some of my favourite websites for drooling and building up the wishlist:

A couple of additional links for designers, although I haven’t tried any of their designs yet:

Canvaswork, Crazy January 2013 Challenge, Finishes, Little House Needleworks, Northern Pine Designs

Not one but TWO finishes!

Anne S

I lived up to my word and poor old Flossy (well, she’s a babe really, to say she’s only been around for a week or two!) has been put on the shelf for now … the urge got to me yesterday and I spent the afternoon catching up on recorded TV while finishing off two of my WIPs I mentioned in my last post.

First up is Ebb Tide by Northern Pine Designs.  Oh boy, this was a fun design to stitch!  I can’t say I’ll be in a hurry to stitch with Rachel thread again, but once I got clever and used some nail polish across the top of the thread where I cut it, it was a lot easier to use!  It’s the first time I’ve ever done Jessica stitches, and they’re really quite cute, and easy to do once you get the hang of them!  I did them slightly differently to how the instructions told you to do them, as I’d seen them done on some other needlepoint blogs … by tucking the last two stitches inside and underneath the previous stitches, so they sit perfectly.  All-in-all I’m thrilled this one is finally finished … and I spent no time at all popping the next Northern Pine design onto the bars to start a new one!

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“Ebb Tide” by Northern Pine Designs
stitched on Leventeen Blue canvas
with recommended threads

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While I was trying to take a photo last night my camera was struggling a bit to focus … imagine my delight at the colours showing on the viewing screen when it will still a blur … it made me smile so I captured the image! 🙂

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Here is the next design ready for starting … just need to find a couple of the missing threads (geez I hope I actually have bought these ones, otherwise I guess it won’t be started soon! LOL).  If not, I’ll just have to find another canvaswork design to throw onto some bars … I think I always need to have a piece of canvaswork ready to go at a moment’s notice, it gives me such pleasure! 🙂

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Then I decided to put the final stitches into LHN’s Acorn Hill – it didn’t take too long at all to pop the final words into place, and it became my second finish yesterday evening.

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“Acorn Hill” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 28ct antique ivory coloured Jobelan 
with recommended Crescent Colours cotton floss

After that I decided to go back to old Flossy, and managed to put a few more stitches into the top wings – I didn’t bother taking a progress piccie as there wasn’t really too much to show … perhaps the next time you see her she will be finished … or maybe not … LOL.

Stash, Works in Progress

I take it all back … sorry Flossy!!

Anne S

I thought today I’d be stitching merrily away all day, but truth is I’m just not in a stitching mood … and seeing as my foot is only slightly tender today I decided to check my PO Box … also not conducive to finishing off Flossy!  You see the contents unexpectedly contained my last order from 123stitch – which means the missing threads I’ve needed to finish off two earlier (loved) projects that had to be put to one side until the threads arrived.  So now I’m REALLY torn between treating myself to some self-indulgent stitching with projects I love …  Perhaps I’ll quickly finish off Acorn Hill while I have the lounge to myself this afternoon, then back to Flossy this evening after the flatmate returns home … oh decisions, decisions!!

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The two projects I can now finish are LHN’s Acorn Hill, and Northern Pine’s Ebb Tide … plus I now have the proper beads for Victoria Sampler’s Fire Sampler, so I have no excuse not to go back and pick that one up again either … I now just have to suck up the mental energy and confidence to go back into that one and withdraw threads ready for the next drawn thread band.  This is how they all look now, while waiting to be returned to the stitching frame:

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I really need to get my confidence back in my stitching, there are so many of the projects that I have to work on that I find intimidating now, and I NEVER used to let my stitching intimidate me … I really do want to get back into my non-XS stitching and back to doing some class pieces again.  We had a stitching get-together with friends on Sunday, and Rowena was stitching on a piece doing hardanger and whitework, and I had a real yearning to get back into it myself.  I think I’ve just got so over-tired and overwhelmed this year with work and home that I’ve felt permanently drained.  One of the things I’m really excited about is that the department that I work for is moving back to Mascot to join the rest of the corporate departments, meaning my 2-3 hours a day commuting will be reduced to 1 hour maximum.  That in itself is brightening up my mind, and it’s bursting at the seams thinking of all the possibilities that opens up and getting back into my old routines.

Hopefully the latest cortisone shot did the trick as well, which also means I can get back to walking before or after work once again and start burning off some excess weight and getting fresh air … there will soon be no excuses I can fall back on!!  So time to suck it up Shackles and get cracking on getting life back on track once again, both with my stitching and my health!! 😀

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Update on Flossy

Anne S

Old Flossy here is getting a fair bit of ‘love’ at the moment … mainly because I just dearly want to have her finished so I can move on to something that gives me pleasure. I’m also worried if I put her down I’ll never pick her up again. Tomorrow I have a day off work with my feet up so I should hopefully be able to put it in some decent stitching time … I’d be thrilled to see her finished by the end of this weekend!

As for why I’m having an enforced stitching day, it’s all thanks to my latest cortisone injection I had in my foot today … and they generously used a local anaesthetic and ultrasound guidance so it was MUCH MUCH less painful than the last one done by my butcher GP! As long as the pain stays away tomorrow it’ll be a great lazy day at home! 🙂

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Christmas Ornaments, Mirabilia, Mum's stitching, Works in Progress

Miss Valentine, aka “Flossy”

Anne S

I don’t know what possessed me … I purchased Miss Valentine by Mirabilia when I truly dislike the colour pink.  Her dress on the cover picture looks extremely pale, with just a hint of pink really, so for some reason she appeals to me.  Even though she’s not my usual choice, I thought she was lovely, truly delightful … until I started stitching her this week.  I feel like I’ve just pushed myself through the gates of hell … stitching hell …  OK, perhaps an exaggeration, but I seriously didn’t expect the vomit-inspiring candy floss pink to be the main colour of her dress … I’m hoping like heck that when the other colours are added that the colour will tone down somewhat!  The way I’m looking at her now is that she may just end up on Etsy or something at the end of all this!!  Poor Flossy, I do hope she tones down a little bit … I guess the alternative is that I just suck it up and unpick what I’ve done and do an entire colour conversion … which I suppose is kind of early enough to do this … or to finish her off and put her up for sale on Etsy … or gift her to a dear stitching friend when it’s finished … oh decisions decisions, what to do!  Poor old Flossy, I don’t mean to be so cruel to her, but she’s … well … she’s just not “blue”!!  Or lilac … Or frankly any other colour that’s not putrid, poxy, candy floss pink … !!

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After my little whinge, I’ll brighten up a bit to share what I did two weekends ago, and hadn’t realised that I haven’t shared yet.  While getting the scissor fob tutorials ready, and making up cording for the tutorial, I also dragged out a few pieces that are half-finished but just waiting for cording to be done and had a major cord-making session.  I now have a bunch of ornaments etc that have cording all ready to go … but, um, yeah, they’re still sitting in the finishing pile the same as they were before {{cough}}.  But they have cording now, so that’s closer to being finished than before, right?

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I also managed to sit up one evening and quickly completed the ladder stitch closures on this bunch of ornaments.  Some of these were stitched by my Mum and I did the finishing of them all.  Not entirely sure I’ll bother putting up the Christmas tree this year seeing as I won’t be here, and I don’t spend any time in the lounge any more with the flatmate taking it over, so they may not see the light of day until next year … but at least they’re finally out of the finishing pile and into the ornie box!

Here are Mum’s ornaments:

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And mine:

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Finishes, Freebies, Lizzie Kate

A few small finishes

Anne S

Not much housework was done over the last weekend … instead I spent the weekend stitching a few small freebie designs, and a wee spot of baking on Sunday.  I’d been doing a bit of baking recently – Red Velvet Cupcakes last Monday to welcome my colleague back to work (and to celebrate being able to go back to a single person’s workload once again!).  Then I found out the same colleague has his birthday on Halloween, so I spent a few mid-week cooking hours in the kitchen making two fruit flans.  After this week’s delicious baking attempts I’ve now been officially dubbed “Team Chef” … but not entirely sure I want that title!! LOL.

Last week I also managed to stitch a small chart I’ve had kitted up for a long time:

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“Duckling” freebie by Lesley Teare
(was on http://www.cross-stitching.com, but no longer there sorry!)
stitched on 28ct hand-dyed ‘sky’ Jobelan
with recommended DMC threads

Then this weekend I decided to stitch a letter “A” on the same fabric to use as a backing for a scissor fob:

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Freebie chart from an old french Sajou chart (Sajou 361) – chart still available here
stitched on 28ct hand-dyed ‘Sky’ Jobelan
with DMC floss

The other freebie stitching I managed to finish was as follows:

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“Spring” freebie by Lindy Lane Designs
(sadly it seems they are no longer in business, so I can’t provide a link to this one)
stitched on 28ct hand-dyed ‘sky’ Jobelan

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“Bloom” freebie by Lizzie*Kate
Chart still available here (scroll down to the middle of the page)
stitched on 28ct hand-dyed Lugana (not sure by who, it’s a VERY tight weave!!)
with recommended GAST/WDW threads, with the exception of Harvest Moon
(I subbed with a Ltd Edition GAST thread)

As for what’s next?  I need to do one more scissor fob tutorial quite quickly to help out a fellow stitcher with a specific finishing method … otherwise I just might have to pick up a new start!  My latest order is on its way from 123stitch, which means my replacement thread for LHN’s Acorn Hill is on it’s way – I figure I can probably sneak in one more new start/finish before it arrives and I ‘have to’ concentrate on my WIP … haha, first time I’ve said that, that’s for sure!! 😛