Challenges & SALs – Page 11 – Feather Stitching

2012 WIPocalypse, Finishes, Framing, Little House Needleworks, Mirabilia, Stitching Smalls, The Floss Box, Valerie Pfeiffer, Waxing Moon Designs

October 2012 WIPocalypse update

29 October, 2012 Anne S

Not as much stitching done all up as I’d like over the last month, although I’d thrilled to show that I did manage to get one 2-year-old UFO out of the “hiding in shame basket” and back onto the Qsnaps … over the last month I not only managed to put the final stitches into it, but last night I even finish-finished it! I also stitched a little scissor fob to match it yesterday, but it’s still not sewn together yet. I hope to do that over the next day or so though 🙂

Biscornu 458 by The Floss Box — **“Biscornu 458” by The Floss Box**
Stitched on 32ct Thunderstorm Belfast linen by Zweigart
with DMC threads

Scissor fob matching biscornu 458_incognito1 — Scissor fob to match Biscornu 458, personalised with recipients details (not shown)

The other stitching I did was to put the bi-cones onto Letter S … still have to add the name to this one, but I’ve bought a frame for it in readiness and need to get this one finished sooner rather than later, as it’s a gift for a work colleague’s daughter (instead of a birth sampler) who has now left work!

Mum came over to visit for just over a week last the week before last – unfortunately we didn’t have a great deal of time together due to not being able to get time off work, but the first weekend she arrived we had a wonderful time and got out and about quite a bit. We took a drive to a picture framers about an hour’s drive from home, and came home with 9 different frames and 2 huge pieces of mat-board, ready to go crazy and do some framing jobs. I’m still waiting for 3 of the frames to be made up yet, then I’ll go pick those up … but in the meantime I did manage to frame up the following:

Freesias framed — I managed to get this framed while Mum was here so she could take it home with her – she was so thrilled she is going to take it into the rest home where she volunteers to show everyone – it’s lovely when your stitching is appreciated! Freesias are Mum’s favourite flowers, so I’ve always wanted to stitch this for her 🙂

Trick or Trick fairy framed — **“Trick or Treat Fairy” by Mirabilia**
Technically not finished framing yet, as I’m waiting for spacers to be added beneath the glass, then the backing put back one … but I couldn’t resist sharing early, as I just love this one! 🙂

And that’s probably all I have this month for the WIPocalypse … while my fingers aren’t necessarily flying every night (usually just the weekends these days), my stitching still remains my most favourite pastime on the weekends for unwinding from a stressful working week – I don’t know what I’d do without it! Sadly my hours mean the only blog reading I’m getting to do is on the morning commute, and it’s too hard to comment on my phone, but at least I’m still getting the odd bit of blog reading in – and the WIPocalypse is at least motivating me to post at the moment at least once a month … who knows when that’ll change, as work is particularly stressful at the moment, but “que sera, sera”, “what will be, will be” 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Finishes, Freebies, Halloween, Judi Utter, Sweetheart Tree, The Goode Huswife

October WIPocalypse and a small finish (Updated)

1 October, 20121 October, 2012 Anne S

Not much stitching was done on my WIPs this month … instead I was focusing on stitching a gift for Mum … but I’ve also just joined up for another smaller challenge which starts today and that is to complete 3 WIPs by the end of the year. I may not be able to complete it entirely, as I have another couple of commitment pieces to work on before year-end, but I’ll try to focus each week on getting at least some stitches into those 3 selected WIPs … but the ones I’ve chosen are relatively small, so you never know your luck in a raffle, and I may be able to get them completed in time …

In the meantime, here is the only update I really have on my WIPs this time round – a couple of extra swirls put into With My Needle:

I started a page on my blog here to keep a track of the progress made during the year on my various WIPs – sometimes it’s hard to forget how much you manage to stitch over the course of a year when you put one stitch in here and one stitch in there, so I placed a progress piccie of how everything sat at the start of 2012 – once finished they get their final piccie added and get moved up into the “Completed” section … but for now I can easily see how my WIPs/UFOs currently stand, and it’s a reminder to pull my finger out and get some more moved into the finished section! I think this will continue to be a feature on my blog until I start moving the bulk of my projects out of the In Progress section!

The other small finish I have is a little freebie that I started yesterday morning when staying at a friend’s place, and finished today:

“Jolly Pumpkin” freebie by Jodi Utter
Stitched on 28ct Mushroom Meran fabric
with recommended DMC threads
(The chart is still available from the Cyberstitchers website here)

Updated to add another finish: Thanks to a public holiday in Sydney today, I also just managed to put the final stitches into my Halloween Fob by The Sweetheart Tree – it’s surprising how long that backstitching takes on these little projects, but it sure does make a massive difference to the end result! One more WIP knocked off for the year, which is awesome! 😀

“Halloween Fob” by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads and Mill Hill beads

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Stash, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

August WIPocalypse update – part 2

3 September, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Not much stitching taking place throughout August on my WIPs where a finish was the result … although I did almost manage a finish of some ornaments that have been sitting around for months, and months, and well many more months – the first one below got put to one side ‘cos I wasn’t enjoying stitching with the threads … I decided to finally suck it up on 26 August and get them finished, until I realised I didn’t have the Mill Hill beads I needed to finish them! Stitchy friends to the rescue, though, and some will be winging their way to me soon so I can get them finished next month 🙂 (Thanks again Amanda, you rock!!)

The “before” shot as they stood at the beginning of the year and start of the challenge …

The “after” shot as they both stand now … just waiting for the beads to be added now 😀 Was hoping they’d be finished during the week last week, but I was working mental hours so too tired when I got home, then I was house-sitting the weekend just gone with an active border collie and 3 kitties, and decided not to chance beading!

I did manage to finish one other WIP, though, which was another small Christmas ornament – I don’t know why I put this to one side for so long … once I put my mind to it it didn’t take too long at all to add it to the “finished” pile on 20 August. I really like the colours in this one.

“Christmas Tree Quilt Ornament” by Handblessings
stitched on 32ct antique white Belfast linen
with recommended Needle Necessities/Threadworx threads

Another WIP I worked on a little bit is a Sweetheart Tree scissor fob … another one where I’m missing some beads, but hopefully they’ll arrive in a few weeks and I can finish this one off before the next update is due 🙂 Once again I’ve put the before and after photos here 🙂

The last piece of stitching for the month was actually a new start … it only took a few hours and this one was put into the finishing pile – I just love it, it’s so sparkly in real life! 😀

“Ice Blue Snowflake”, Tiny Treasured Diamonds kit by Mill Hill
Stitched on kit fabric, with MH beads and DMC

And when I wasn’t stitching over the last month I was labeling beads, using what have now become my favourite bead storage units … so much so I’ve had to try and track down some more so I can finish the job 😀

And the other hobby over the last couple of weeks is increasing my XS stash (well, that of myself and Mum to be exact) … which is sadly a hobby that is short-lived and I’m back on a no-stash diet (although I still have a few things yet to arrive, such as those wonderful bead storage units) 😀

All-in-all a lot more productive this month than I’d realised … a few stitches here and there really do make a difference, it seems! 😀

Crazy January 2013 Challenge, Cross Stitch

2013 Crazy January Stitching Challenge

26 August, 201226 August, 2012 Anne S

I have managed to finish one whole WIP for the August WIPocalypse challenge, but I’ll leave the details of that for my challenge post in a few days time … sadly it’s only a Christmas ornie, so that shows you just how much stitching has been done over the last few weeks!

While I haven’t been doing much actual stitching throughout August, I have been kitting up some projects and planning projects to join the 2013 Crazy January Challenge … same rules as normal where you choose 15 projects and start one a day for the first 15 days of January. That part I don’t think I’ll be doing, as I often only get chance to do one strand of thread on an evening if I’m lucky, so that’ll just make me discouraged right from the get-go … instead I’ll just choose 15 projects that I intend to attempt and finish by the year’s end, and have created a Facebook folder to track progress. The only problem so far is that I just can’t seem to stop adding projects to the pile that I really really want to stitch up … I’m supposed to narrow the choices down to just 15, and as you can see from the choices to date I’m not doing too well on that score!! If my mojo returns soon, I might make a start on a couple of them before the challenge starts. I’ve tried to keep most of them quite small to medium in size to make the challenge a little more manageable, but I’ve thrown one or two larger pieces into the mix as well. (And the Christmas Quaker one shouldn’t be in this gallery, but I don’t know how to exclude it!)

As well as the 2013 Crazy January Challenge, I’m also hoping to work on at least 1 or 2 of my older UFOs to at least make some progress by the end of the year, even if they aren’t finished. And finally I’ve also joined up with a SAL of Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – this is one huge mother of a project, so it may take me 10 years to finish … but I figure I’ll just try to do a set amount of stitching on it each month, be it one day or weekend, so eventually it’ll get stitched up 🙂

And last but not least I also went a bit crazy and finally succumbed to stashing a few HAED charts … who knows when they will ever get stitched, but they’re pretty to drool over in the meantime. This is all because I saw a finished version of the Egyptian Temple one, then found out they currently have a 25% sale happening … and, well, the rest of PayPal blitzing history! 😉 I’ll add a piccie of my selections later 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Exchanges, Finishes, Just Nan, Stitching Smalls

August WIPocalypse

8 August, 20128 August, 2012 Anne S

Too late at night to put any words for now ‘cos I’m going cross-eyed from lack of sleep … will post my month’s progress piccie, though – I managed to finish this little Just Nan piece (stitching-wise anyway).

I also completed 2 biscornu pieces for an exchange, but yet undecided which one to use so I can’t show and tell those properly yet …

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, The Goode Huswife, Works in Progress

July WIPocalypse progress

5 July, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Been a quiet month stitching-wise, with only a small section of stitching done of one of my WIPs that has been sadly neglected – I’m probably halfway on this one now, though, and while I’m not enjoying stitching the stems leaves on the flower very much, I’m enjoying the rest of it. Most people who know the design will be thinking “what is she talking about, she’s probably halfway? that is one big-ass design!” … basically I really don’t enjoy the ‘primitive’ samplers and style of stitching myself, and the whole design just isn’t “me” – but for some reason I really really fell in love with the bottom section with all the gold swirls after seeing someone else stitching it, so I’ve decided to just ignore the rest of the design and am stitching the bottom section only 🙂

I also had a new start and finish, which was one of the charts I bought when I was in Paris – I think I might stitch this one again in traditional red threads, but for some reason I had the sudden desire to stitch it with white silk on a blue linen, and it turned out pretty enough 🙂

The other stitching I did was for an exchange – I truly love this one, and definitely have to stitch it again for myself!! I had a devil of a time deciding which “bird” ornament to stitch, hence there have been a few bird ornie finishes over the last 2 months and not much else, but in the end this is the one that I chose because it’s quite different to what others would have chosen I think, and I really love it! It was one of the Gift of Stitching issues, but I’ve just mislaid my working copy for now and can’t remember which issue it was in. I’ll try to update with the details later 🙂

The rest of my stitching time was taken up not doing actual stitching, but doing a whole big bunch of finishing over one long weekend, and I had a blast! Here were the results – most of them are waiting to be stuffed and have their ‘bottoms’ sewn up, and others need cords to be made and attached, or felt backings and hangers attached, but it’s still a great start to seeing them finished off properly:

I also started another couple of ornie tutorials while I was doing my finishing frenzy, and once I get the cords etc made up I’ll be able to finish those and publish them 🙂

The other non-stitching news is that my flatmate leaves tomorrow … so much to tell on that score, so I’ll leave that for another day … and Mum has offered to come over and help out with cleaning the place in case I need to move out (which is possible) and also be there for moral support. Our last visit here wasn’t perfect after my flatmate had a temper tantrum and was slamming doors etc so it will be really awesome to send a couple of weeks chilling out with no-one else around. And this could be a good opportunity to sit up in the lounge each evening getting some of those ornies finally stuffed and sewn up! 😀

I have other news as well, with photos of a couple of gifts/exchanges received, but I’ll leave that until another post as I need to head off to work now …

2012 WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse update for June

4 June, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Following is a summary of stitching completed over the last month:

Walking in a Winter Snapperland by Bent Creek – managed to 100% complete this one (insert happy dance here)
Into the Night by Shepherd’s Bush – managed to 100% complete this one too
Crimson Fire Sampler by The Victoria Sampler – managed to stitch on 3 more small bands
With My Needle by The Goode Huswife – commenced stitching her bodice

I also managed to stitch a few ‘extra’ small projects not on my original WIPocalypse list – the following were all started and finished:

Golden Partridge and Pears ornament – Needle Maid Designs, Inc
Partridge in a Pear Tree ornament – The Prairie Schooler
By the Full Moon ornament – Ink Circles
Peace Joy Love ornament – Lizzie*Kate
Coffee Break freebie – Cross Stitch Happy
Duck ornament from Fall Fields leaflet – The Prairie Schooler
Penguin Hugs ornament – Paw Printings

2012 WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse update for May

3 May, 20123 May, 2012 Anne S

Some reasonable stitching effort put in over the last month due to being off work with ongoing illness, what between a dreadful head cold/flu, followed by pneumonia, and finishing with a cortisone injection in my heel … I may have felt like crap for weeks, but it’s the most stitching I’ve managed to do in an awfully long time, and I loved every single second of it!!! The last month saw the following updates take place (the only exception is that I had a Prairie Schooler exchange ornie included at the beginning of last month, but can’t show it yet as it’s only just left here on the journey to its new home):

Tiger Reflection by Dimensions – this was 100% finished
Walking in a Winter Snapperland by Bent Creek – got halfway through another block, taking it to approx 60% completion

I also started some new projects, which have to be added to the WIP list until I receive some missing silk threads:

20 Flowers by Just Nan – 70% completed
Into the Night by Shepherd’s Bush – 90% completed

As a visual reminder, here are the projects I worked on during the last month, and their state as we go into the month of May:

During the next month I hope to get more stitching done on “Walking in a Winter Snapperland”, and also work on at least one more older WIP/UFO – I’m leaning towards Mirabilia’s “Enchanted Mermaid”, Ruth Schmuff’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” or Just Cross Stitch’s “Le Jardin Silk Sampler” … although I can’t guarantee what the final pieces will be ‘cos I change my mind 20 times a day! Seeing as I’ve mislaid my stitching mojo for a while, I just want to stitch whatever takes my fancy at the time, and whatever builds my stitching enthusiasm up once again 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

April WIPocalypse update

10 April, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Just a really quick drive-by posting for my WIPocalypse update for April – sadly, due to illness, long working hours and our trip to the other side of the world my stitching was almost non-existent this month … I managed to put a few hours into this WIP, but that’s all (and it’s a really dreadful photo, sorry):

Since then, however, I’ve managed to do some more stitching on this one thanks to picking up a dreadful flu bug thing on the flight home, so at least I’ll have some more progress to show next month! 🙂

Other than my WIP pile, I did manage to start the following freebie on my 2nd to last night in Paris, and have managed to finish it off as soon as I got home while getting over the jetlag (and letting those flu bugs slowly fester and take hold).

And now I’m heading back to the comfort of my stitching chair with my Nurofen and Ribena – will post an update about my whirlwind trip at some stage soon! 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Bent Creek, Cross Stitch, Enchanted Mermaid, Finished Items, Jardin Prive, Mirabilia, Paris, Stash, Travel - France, Works in Progress

2012 WIPocalypse update for March

9 March, 20129 March, 2012 Anne S

I started drafting a post during the week, but it seems that the WP app doesn’t automatically store a draft … so I lost the whole thing. And today I’m fighting a dreadful head cold that I’ve been struggling with since Sunday, so it will be a lot shorter than originally planned. But there are few things to write about, so I’ll try to get to the point quickly …

First up, though, is my stitching update for the 2012 WIPocalypse challenge. As seems to be the norm these days, I have had absolutely minimal stitching happening over the last month – I almost need to continually do a ‘before and after’ shot so you can actually see what the progress is … I’ve always been a prolific stitcher in the past, so this is something I’m just not used to. Anyway, here are the two pieces that have seen slight progress since last month …

First up is Bent Creek’s Winter Snapperland – the entire progress consists of two whole snowflakes and the wording … I know, hardly worth blogging about really, but I guess two snowflakes and some words are still taking it closer to a finish at some stage!

Then the other UFO/WIP to be dragged back into daylight is Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid – this poor love hasn’t seen daylight for an awfully long time … I can’t remember the last time I dragged her out to be worked on. Anyway, she’s had a tiny bit of love in February and is getting closer to having her backstitching done on her face so she doesn’t look so dreadful (her cheek looks like it has a terrible skin disease!!). I may also start beading as I go, which just may give me a kick in the pants to stitch on her some more.

UPDATED TO ADD: Oops, I forgot that last month I also put the finishing stitches into Jardin Prive’s Christmas, and I hadn’t posted a piccie yet. So, here you go, here is my first big finish for the year …

The next news is that I finally managed to catch up with my dear friend Alison to pick up my Christmas gift to myself – I basically gave Alison $100 to spend during her USA trip last year, along with a huge wishlist to choose from, and I picked it up last weekend. It was a wonderful treat to see what goodies she managed to find, and I absolutely adore the choices she made … I can’t wait to start on the SB kits, they’re awesome!! Thanks once again Alison, I really really appreciate you doing this for me, it was a really nice surprise!

The next piece of HUGE news is that I’m heading off on holiday … not just anywhere, but we’re off here:

Well, OK, truth be told we’re not off to see the Doncaster Rovers, but rather just the Doncaster part!! It was very hard to find a website image that actually has the word “Doncaster” in it!! BUT more exciting for me, we’re also off to visit here, and I’m just ever so bursting with awe and excitement that I’ll be going back to visit my most favourite city in the entire world to date:

Mum’s youngest sister is basically going through her final fight with throat cancer, and Mum and I have decided to head over to spend some time with her, and my other family members, before it’s too late. Being blunt, it’s much nicer to be able to visit when she’s alive and not to be flying over to attend a funeral. Then after a few days visiting with our family, we’re off to fulfill one of my dreams to return to Paris once more. I have cheap airline tickets from my employers in celebration of my 10 year anniversary with them, so we felt it was a good time to cash them in and make good use of them. The downside is that we have had absolutely zero time to get spending money together so it will be very very budget with whatever is available on the credit cards … but very very fun!! And it’s all happening one week tomorrow, all going well (we’ll be travelling standby so we just have to keep our fingers crossed!).

Initially I thought of taking one of the SB kits with me to start on holiday, but now I’m thinking I also may take two Parisian charts to start as well … the freebie “Souvenir de France” by Blackbird Designs, which is still available for download here …

And the other choice is “Eiffel Quaker” by Jardin Prive, which is available for sale directly from the designer as a PDF here … ah decisions, decisions. Plus I have an exchange that is due for posting while I’m away, so I’ll be kitting that to be stitched while I’m in the UK visiting with my Aunt.

The other news that I haven’t mentioned yet is that along with my trip to see my Aunt in the UK, we are travelling by train back south to London and apparently have to pass by my dear friend’s home … which means we get to spend a night with Nicki, Martin and their lovely furbabies – it’s going to be wonderful seeing Nicki again after so many years 🙂