Anne S

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Freebies, Piecework magazine, pincushions, Quaker

Pin Pillow Exchange part 1

29 March, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I haven’t heard from my exchange partner directly, but I noticed on Becky’s blog today that the list shows that she’s received my pin pillow exchange for her. I hope she liked it 🙂

Anyway, I’ve decided to go ahead and show the pillow I made for her now I know it’s been received, ‘cos I’ve been champing at the bit wanting to share the piccies. My recipient was Jayne, and I read on her blog that she likes the colour purple, alphabets and quakers, so this was my choice for her (I personalised one side with both of our initials):

“Quaker Heart” freebie by Piecework magazine
Stitched on 28ct Lavender Bliss Cashel linen
with Carrie’s Threads “Lavender”
finished with a beaded edge

Now I’m considering joining up for Becky’s next exchange – a scissor pocket … I love it ‘cos it’s a “no extras” exchange again, which is really appealing to me, rather than sending extras than people may not want.

Adelaide, Blue Monday, Food, New South Wales, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Scenic Sunday, Travel - Australia

Photo Meme catch-up

29 March, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

PhotoHunt | PhotoHunt

This week’s theme is ”Fresh” – here are some fresh limes just before being squeezed for their juice. I love buying fruit in bulk from the fruit markets – especially fruits that can be frozen to keep the love happening throughout the following months!

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Here is my choice for this week’s Scenic Sunday – Glenelg, Adelaide.

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Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – Timberland, NSW.

Canvaswork, Chatelaine, Cross Stitch, Egyptian Garden Mandala, Laura J Perin, Sapphire Star, Works in Progress

Resurfacing old U.F.O.

28 March, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

We spent the evening watching some TV and Supernatural episodes while I split my time between trying to resurrect my laptop (it keeps dying) and my stitching. I managed to stitch as far as I could on Sapphire Star, and realised I am missing yet another thread somehow … will have to check my stash to make sure I haven’t just forgotten to add it to the ‘kit’. Anyway, it’s looking great, if I say so myself!

Then I decided not to start anything new, but to pick up a very VERY old UFO that hasn’t been touched since … um … well … since April 2007 … yikes!!! I haven’t touched any of my old UFOs since I finished Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello last year, so I decided it was time to put a few stitches into it … I didn’t manage a great deal, but did manage to finish the stitching of the ‘bird band’ on the outside. I still hate the over-one section in the middle, and would dearly love someone to wave a magic wand over it to make it be “finished” … perhaps I’ll make myself do one strand of over-one stitching each time I pick it up before I stitch more on the fun parts – but then again that may put me off picking it up full stop – hmmm, maybe I should just leave it until the end, so it has to be done before the beading, that should be incentive enough! The “Before” picture shows the fabric colour more accurately.

Before

After

Today I’ve been struggling on and off all day with a nauseous migraine, so have been in bed most of the afternoon. I was getting restless so thought I’d tempt fate and sit up for a few minutes – but now I think it’s time to go back to bed again …

Canvaswork, Laura J Perin, Sapphire Star, Works in Progress

Sapphire Star Update

24 March, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I didn’t have the energy and attention span to start a new project tonight, even though I’ve got a few kitted up and ready to go … so after rummaging through my WIP basket for a while, and finding nothing else that took my fancy, I pulled out Laura J Perin’s Sapphire Star.

I managed to complete the filling stitches of most of the outside border, and will probably fill in the little squares next with the relevant metallic threads … then it will have to go to one side yet again, as I’m still awaiting my thread to arrive from the US. This is from a ONS who is notoriously slow in posting, BUT they did have the thread in stock at the time (and not many places stock Rainbow Gallery threads), and of course they have regular 20-25% off sales, which is what I used at the time … alas, according to the order status online we’re still awaiting the arrival of back-ordered embellishment kits (teeny white buttons from Lizzie*Kate so I can finally finish my Boo Club piece from last year – as the charts were used, on loan from a friend, I’ve had to find my own embellishments and let’s just say it’s been an ongoing challenge, so I was excited to see them for sale on sale ONS site … of course now I’m playing the waiting game … still … ho-hum …).

Anyway, without further ado, here’s my latest update of Sapphire Star – I still drool over the colours in this one every time I pick it up and have started to fantasise about how I’ll get it framed … assuming my thread turns up while I’m young enough to do the framing! LOL.

Ruby Tuesday

Ruby Tuesday – Timberland

23 March, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Here is my choice for this week’s Ruby Tuesday – a cart at Timberland, NSW.

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Rosewood Manor

Last finish for a while

22 March, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I think I may be at the end of my record-breaking run of wee finishes now … I stayed up late tonight to put the final beads onto my little ornie, making 4 finishes in as many days – woohoo! 😀

“Red Berries” by Rosewood Manor
from Issue 11, December 2006, Gift of Stitching magazine
with DMC 221 and Hand Dyed Fibers premium silk “Jewel Weed”
stitched on 28ct white Cashel linen

I really should learn to take photos in daylight, instead of 11.30pm under bright light globes! It really doesn’t do this piece justice, as the beads are a beautiful metallic red. I have to admit, though, if I were to do this piece again, I would probably forget about the ‘star/snowflake’ things in the corners, as it seems a bit overcrowded and overpowering to me … but all in all I’m relatively happy with it 🙂

Now I have the quandary of what to work on next … I’m pretty keen to work on a number of projects, and the main ones that are calling me are probably the following:

Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls – Just Nan
Hocus Pocus – Lizzie*Kate
Winter Snapperland – Bent Creek
Ladybug, Ladybug – Little House Needleworks
2008 Halloween Fairy – Mirabilia (magazine chart)
Halloween Needleroll – Shepherd’s Bush
Quaker Huswif – Sampler Cove

And the list goes on … and on … and on …

Ah, decisions, decisions … 😛

Blue Monday, Santorini, Travel - Greece

Blue Monday – Santorini

22 March, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – Santorini, Greece.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

Crikey!!!

21 March, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

The needles have been flying tonight – although to be honest there really wasn’t much stitching left to do on this one. Tonight I managed to put the final stitches into Boo! My absolute favourite part of this piece is the wee scissor fob – I love, love, love it!! I need to wait for my sewing machine before I can do the finishing on this one, but I’m taking an extra two days off work after Easter, so perhaps I can get my machine back before then and have a mini finishing frenzy 🙂

“Boo! Scissor Keeper and Fob” by The Drawn Thread
stitched on 36ct Sand Edinburgh linen
with recommended NPI Silk threads (with the exception of black,
which I substituted with a Hand Dyed Fibers silk)

Before I called it a night tonight, I also started a new ornie, only ‘cos it was sitting here all kitted up in my bedroom, laying on top of a pile of books … so I figure it was as good a time as any to finally get it stitched up and out of the way! It’s supposed to be stitched with 1 strand of DMC 501, but to be honest I wasn’t thrilled with the coverage whatsoever, so I went back into my bedroom and rummaged through my silk piles … and ended up using a skein of Premium Hand Dyed Fibers silk called “Jewel Weed” which is almost identical to 501 but much, much thicker … personally I think it was a great choice, and I’m enjoying seeing this come together – I guess this will take me a couple of nights to complete this week, then I need to start thinking of what project to start next.

I have to admit I’ve really been enjoying having a bunch of small finishes – after having a bit of a ‘dry spell’, it’s been great seeing that finishing pile start to build up again over the last two months 🙂

Of course there’s still one more finish to show you, but it still hasn’t been received by my recipient yet, so I can’t share yet … geez I wish the postman would hurry up, though, ‘cos I want to share! 😛

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Periwinkle Promises

One more for the finishing pile

21 March, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I guess you can tell that I found the elusive little teeny packet of beads (they were hiding inside the chart in the stitching bag!) … which means all the stitching is now finished, and I just have to do put it all together … but that’s for another day …

“January Accent Sampler” by Periwinkle Promises
stitched with kit materials (Au Ver a Soie silk)
on 28ct natural Cashel linen

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, JBW Designs

Prancer

21 March, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Here’s my latest wee finish – I was able to complete the stitching last night after picking up the elusive DMC 368, then I put the beads on this morning. It was supposed to be stitched 1 over 1, but I wimped out and stitched it over-two on 28ct, then just increased the bead size from 40123 to 00123 instead.

“Prancer” by JBW Designs
from 2004 JCS Christmas Ornie issue
stitched on 28ct white Cashel linen
with recommended DMC and Mill Hill beads

Now I’m off to find the ever-elusive bag of beads that I’ve already lost once, then I found them last weekend and put them somewhere safe … I should have known I was in trouble at that point, as “somewhere safe” usually means the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle … only I can lose something twice in as many weeks!!! … ho-hum

In fact, I might just hold off the search party and go and have some brunch across the road first, then I may even put together my bookcase … and then I’ll decide whether to start the search party again for my bead bag, or whether to sit in the lounge and finish off Boo! 🙂

Updated: Hmmmm, I’ve just decided to check out my camera settings to work out why all my photos seem to be washed out just lately … sure enough at some stage I’ve managed to change my exposure settings permanently … now I’ve put it back to “0” adjustment, the photos are coming out more more crisply, so I’ve re-uploaded the Prancer photos – slightly darker fabric, but definitely a lot clearer on the beading detail!