And this one really IS a wee one!! Unfortunately I don’t have any of the right width ribbon to finish this one off, or I would have managed the finishing today too. I’ve got my heart set on using a ribbon for the hanger, so it’s being put on the side now until I can buy some. This is a really cute, really fast finish!
“Autumn Scissors Keeper” freebie by The Drawn Thread
Stitched on 36ct hand-dyed Edinburgh linen in Pipi by Countrystitch
with WDW Whisky, Silk n’ Colors Autumn Honey, and GAST Dried Thyme
The photo doesn’t do justice to the lovely fabric colour – unfortunately the glare from the daylight bulb tonight has washed out the fabric colour and made the other colours a bit extreme … when I take the next photo I’ll do it in daylight (hopefully then it’ll be an actual fob!).
Yep, “Thank God It’s Friday!!” – it’s been a long week, with some medical visits and loooong working hours. Not really in a chatty mood, and not a great deal to share, really, except that I’ve picked up an old favourite project once again to try and get closer to a finish. I’m not sure whether I’ll get much chance to stitch this weekend, as I’ve ended up bringing a big pile of work home with me … depends on how I feel on Sunday whether I’ll do work or have some ‘me time’ instead hmmm. Here is the latest update photo of where I’m at with Laura J Perin’s Sapphire Star. I decided I truly detested the pale blue thread that is used, and instead substituted with a pale DMC perle cotton and I’m much happier stitching with that instead 😀 Not much more to go before this one is finished now! (Sorry, but the photos are really weird – not sure what the camera has done, but it’s certainly not accurate!! – The bottom ‘blurry’ one is the closest to the colour in real life.)
The other news is that FINALLY my border packs have arrived from a certain ONS. Alas, this is a really popular and well-known ONS, but for me this has been an extremely arduous ordering process and one that I’ll never repeat with said ONS. Hard to believe that these little items were ordered way back in January of this year!!! Oh well, it does mean that I can finally now clip in the little snaps and sew on the little buttons and my Summer Snapperland can then come OFF the scrollbars where they’ve been residing for 9 whole months 😀 I really can’t wait for that one to be done and dusted – then I just have to save up to buy some framing supplies for it and get it all framed up to go on the wall 😀
The final good news is that, after about 5 months (!), TiVo have also FINALLY come to the party and replaced my TiVo that was faulty … which means tonight I’m making an effort to get it set up so that it can be taping all my shows while I’m away on holidays … which is now only 3 working days away WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!
And on that note, it’s time to go back to Mr TiVo so I can get an early night … I need to be up at the crack of dawn (yeah, OK, 8am then!) to get my hair cut – it’s all excitement at Chez Annie here 😛
This month I took part in a private Autumn Exchange, and Lisa V was my ‘victim’ for some autumn goodies. I just heard from Lisa that my little parcel has arrived safe and sound on the other side of the country, so I can now share my finishes. As this was a no-extras exchange, my little postal box to Lisa contained two items … the little humbug REALLY wanted to stay home here with me, so I’ll just have to restitch this one for myself I think 😀
< “A Very Merry Autumn” by JBW Designs stitched on 28ct Antique Ivory Cashel linen
with Crescent Colours threads
“Hootzi Humbug” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Antique Ivory Cashel linen
with recommended DMC threads and Delica beads
No housework or excitement here today – just my little size 28 tapestry needle, Vikki Clayton premium silk floss, and Season 1 of ER on DVD … can you say “happy as a pig in mud?” 😛
Not a great deal of stitching done, but it’s still one step closer to an actual finish. With any luck I’ll be finished with this one by the end of next weekend, and then soon afterwards my missing threads will have arrived so I can go back to picking up some of my older WIPs once again (although the urge to stitch a million new things is still around!) 😀
And I’ll finish with something I haven’t done regularly for a while … here is my choice for this week’s Scenic Sunday – a Parisian garden.
It’s been a rewarding day today – sat on my fat bottom pretty much all day watching DVDs and stitching on Gracie … leaving her looking like this at the end of the day:
I did manage to get off my fat hiney for a short while this afternoon, and whipped up a batch of coconut biscuits … yummo 😀
And now it’s time to hit the hay for the night, for another week of testing at work …
Yesterday I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders – my feral and miserable mood finally disappeared, plus I had reconnected with my one and only “regret” in life overnight.
I had lost contact with a dear friend (who was, in all honesty, the one true love in my life from those early days – and most definitely the one that got away, or at least that I pushed away – he was the only guys I’ve ever thought I could have married … oh how I wish I had the strength of character and wise mind back then that I do now!) – anyhoo, I got a Facebook request from an old school chum from when I was about 11/12 years old, along with links to some old school class photos, and it brought all those childhood memories flooding back, and that old regret came bubbling back up to the surface … as well as the romantic regret, more so the regret that I had lost a rare and special friendship all those years ago.
Well, I did a quick Google search and found Glen surprisingly easily. He has his own animal dermatology business in Florida, where he lives with his wife and two kids. I received an email back from him on Saturday morning touching base and telling me a little about his life since leaving home. So perhaps that has been the biggest contributor to the weight being lifted from my shoulders, or perhaps it was just coincidence … but I do know it was lovely to share a couple of childhood stories and touch base once again. Mum always thought of him as the son she never had – I’m really glad to hear he’s OK and happy, and knowing that he’s happy may just let me move on too 🙂
Anyway, for the first time in ages my mood gave me a jolt of mental energy – I had an urge to stitch something ‘new’, and put my hand into the kitted up drawers to find something … that “something” ended up being a stumpwork correspondence course from the Embroiderers’ Guild of America. I’d forgotten just how long it takes to stitch one little item in stumpwork (at least it does for me!!) – even with chunky Brazilian embroidery threads being used, it took me the entire afternoon just to stitch 1 1/2 leaves! But I have to say I really enjoyed it, and am about to go and finish off that 2nd leaf.
Here you can see the entire design – called “Gracie”, it’s a big chunky goldfish when it’s finished. The colours are eye-popping vibrant oranges/reds. The leaves are outlined with stem stitch (there is LOTS of stem stitch in this project), padded with chain stitch, then covered with sloping satin stitches. It was quite hard to stitch last night in the poor lighting, so hopefully it will be easier this morning with the natural daylight coming in as well … fingers crossed I’ll get that 2nd leaf finished by lunchtime, to give me time to do some baking (see, I told you I had energy all of a sudden! haha).
In continuing to try and find a stitching element to my photo memes when I can, I ended up having a mini photography session this morning after taking the first photo … but hopefully it ties in well with the theme!
Here is my choice for this week’s Theme Thursday, where the theme is ”Brush” – I use an eyebrow brush to fluff up my turkey knot stitches in stumpwork to make fluffy little insect bodies. This one is my old UFO not completed yet, but pretty much ready for a trim back into the body shape 🙂
When it grows up, and it’s trimmed back, it’ll look something like this little bee:
Here is another piece that is brushed up and fluffy – gorgeous thistles!
And while I’m showing you the brushed-up parts, I thought I’d share details of the rest of this piece … this is Elizabethan Roundel by Jane Nicholas:
I just love how all the piece stand-up 3-dimensionally on the fabric with the padding and wires.
On a different note, thanks to everyone who has left comments with your preferred ONS. Unfortunately the ONS I’m currently having issues with (accessory packs ordered in January, charts ordered in March) is one of the ‘good’ ones you listed … so I think I just lucked out. Never mind, I’m going through a mini financial crisis with some major bills coming up that I can’t afford, so I won’t have to worry about stitching orders until at least the beginning of next year!
It also may mean I’ll finally have to clear out my stash and put a lot of it up on Ebay, along with my scissor fobs … I have about $1,500 to find in 10 days for my car registration, which is hilarious (both the actual cost itself, which is twice as much as living in Melbourne, but I also have to buy local licence plates which bumps the cost up, along with the hilarity of finding $1,500 in itself in such a short time). So my guess is that my car will be taken off the road until I have the funds available – oh my, I’m sooooo not looking forward to being a bus passenger again 😦 I really need to get my car up and running again by the beginning of October, though, as Mum’s coming over to visit and we’ll need it for running around in. Oh well, I’ve lived on tinned tomatoes once before, I guess I can do it again for a while!
Anyway, enough of these woes and troubles … time to shake it off and jump in the shower for another day of torture in the office … I was feeling so stressed yesterday I almost burst into tears at the end of the day when yet another hurdle cropped up, which almost immediately burst into anger with the next email … this PMT is a right royal b*tch, I haven’t missed it whatsoever over the last few years – and now it’s back, it’s back with a vengeance!! Maybe I should start booking in annual leave every month? LOL.
Following is a tutorial that I’ve just completed for the Focus on Finishing blog … I started this before my sewing machine went bust the last time, but finally completed the finishing a few weekends ago, and now the actual tutorial is done and dusted! 😀
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The following is a very basic pillow Christmas Ornament tutorial designed, in particular, for beginners.
Supplies needed:
Stitched project (if you want to you can also iron on some light interfacing to the back of the stitching to add some strength and stability as well as giving a smoother finish
Backing fabric
Approx 6″ (15-16cm) of ribbon to coordinate with your stitching for the hanger (I normally use 7mm double-sided satin ribbon)
Stuffing
Sewing machine with coordinating thread to match your fabrics
Complimentary sewing thread and needle
1. Start off by laying your stitching piece on top of your backing fabric, with wrong sides facing, as shown below:
2. Now we need to cut the fabric so that all sides are equal. The amount of margin that you leave is up to you, here you can see that I’ve allowed 3/4″ margin on each side. I line up my ruler along the edge of my stitching, and cut the fabric with my rotary cutter (both my stitched piece and backing fabric at the same time).
3. You continue this same way until all four sides are cut away. Remember that your backing fabric is underneath, so you need to be careful when you are moving your stitching around on the cutting mat that the fabric doesn’t move out of place or your pieces won’t match at the end. Once you have finished cutting all four sides, remove the backing fabric from your stitching fabric.
4. Next I attach the piece of ribbon to my stitching – the ribbon must be attached to the right side of your stitching. Adjust the size of the loop to match your own preferences, then pin in place. I like to have a slight angle to the top of the ribbon where it is pinned in place, so that it hangs nicer when it’s finished.
5. Next place your backing fabric on top of your stitching/ribbon, with right sides facing, as shown below. Pin the pieces together around the edges.
6. Now we need the sewing machine – once again, it is up to you to choose how much fabric margin you’d like to leave around the stitched piece
It’s quite hard to see the stitching threads because they match the fabric so well, so I’ve doctored the photo and drawn a line to show you the stitching line of where I started and finished – hopefully you can see clearly now that I have left an opening of about 1 1/2″. I like to leave a long tail of the sewing thread at one end, which I don’t trim off, so that I can use it for stitching up the final seam opening.
7. The next step is to trim the fabric at the seams, so they aren’t as bulky when you turn the ornament inside-out. The first photo below is my bottom seam – some fabrics tend to fray a lot when you are trying to pull the fabric through the opening, so I’ve learnt to leave the bottom seam a tiny bit wider than the other three seams. The second photo is the usual amount that I trim back the main seams.
8. Then you should trim off each of the corners – once again, this allows you to get a crisper point on the ornament corners once you’ve turned it inside-out and improves the look of the ornament. Just be careful not to snip the stitching!
Your ornament should now look something like this:
9. The next bit can be a little bit nervewracking if you haven’t done it before! You need to reach in and pinch a little bit of the backing fabric between your thumb and forefinger, and then slowly and gently pull the stitching and the backing fabric through the opening so it’s facing the right-side out. Take your time when doing this, and just pull your fabric through little by little – it seems like it will never come through, but then all of sudden a miracle seems to happen and you have it all turned inside-out. I often enlist the aid of a chopstick to help me get the corners nice and pointy once I’ve finished turning my ornament inside out.
Your ornament should now look a little something like this. Of course it was at this point that I realised I’d forgotten to attach my little gold charm to this particular ornament so I had to add that quickly before finishing the next stages … doh! I usually give the ornament a quick run over with an iron at this point to remove most of the creases caused by turning inside out.
10. The final stage is to stuff your ornament with stuffing of your choice. I tend to just use polyester fibrefill from my local craft store. Once you’ve stuffed it to your satisfaction (my preference is to fill it to a medium level – if I fill it too much it doesn’t sit quite as well on my little tree), you need to thread your sewing needle with sewing thread (if you didn’t leave a long tail from the seam stitching). You should use a sharp needle here, not a tapestry needle, so that you can pierce the backing fabric easily.
I use a ladder stitch to sew up the opening. As you can see from the photo below, I start off by slipping my needle into the seam of the backing fabric, then coming back out about 1/4″ along the seam (about 3mm) and bring my needle out.
I then take my needle directly opposite where I just came out of the backing fabric and slip my needle into the linen and follow the seam along for about 1/4″ (3mm) and bring the needle back out again.
I’ve left the stitches nice and loose in the photo below to help illustrate how the stitches follow along opposite each other, like rungs of a ladder.
When you pull the thread tighter, the stitches almost disappear into the fabric, giving a really nice clean finish – this is definitely my favourite stitch for closing up openings for that reason!
Once you reach the end of the seam opening, you need to finish off your thread with a couple of teeny stitches – I then bury the needle into the seam and come out somewhere about an inch way and bring the needle back out again – then clip the thread close to the fabric so that my thread tail does’t appear easily.
And here’s the final seam all finished off – see now nice and tidy that ladder stitch is in the opening? 😀
Your ornament is now finished, and ready to hang on the tree 😀
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial, and found it useful. I would love to see any photos of ornaments you’ve completed using this tutorial so please do drop me a line or leave a comment with a link to your pictures 🙂
Here’s my latest stitching finish that I’ve been working on during this week – I put the final stitches into it last night while Katie and I watched the last episodes of Dark Angel (great series, shame it got axed at that point after the 2nd season). This design is supposed to have all the white stitches overlaid with a half-cross of blending filament … I managed to do the snow beneath the penguin’s feet, then got totally fed up with it (I truly detest BF), so I didn’t bother doing the BF in the border – I think it still looks alright to me that way 🙂 (The fabric looks kinda grey in this photo, but it is a lovely light blue in real life.)
“Penguin Hugs” by Paw Printings from 2004 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Lugana
with recommended DMC
PhotoHunt
Feather Stitching 