Crafts – Needlework – Page 12

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Lizzie Kate, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Still in New Zealand

6 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I wish I could say I was here doing lots of stitching, but I can’t truthfully tell you what I’ve been doing other than sitting in front of the gogglebox and computer and just letting the hours of the day disappear before my very eyes. I’ve got the car boot filled with boxes of junk to take to the Salvation Army over the next few days, and some not-so-junk to be picked over by family friends – then the leftovers will also get taken to the Salvo’s.

The only stitching I’ve managed has taken place over the last 24 hours or so, and are as follows:

“Chatrouille” freebie by Nathalie
(the freebie is still available here)
Stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with DMC threads (except I messed up and used 310 instead of 3799
for the cat and lettering … oops)

“Welcome Baby” by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 28ct pink/white checked Graziano linen
with DMC threads
(have to say I MUCH prefer the boy’s version of this one!)
I still have to add the little rose button when I get home before framing

Here are a few piccies of Auckland from our first day of driving around after a visit to The Embroiderer … where we were VERY restrained and only bought two copies of this year’s JCS ornie magazine (Mum kindly treated me to my copy, as I’ve bought one for her the last few years). Rightio, here are some snippets from Auckland:

Auckland skyline from the harbour bridge (north side)

Kiwi (New Zealand) flag at Ponsonby

Art sculpture at a city park in Auckland – these ‘buried’ buildings have always intrigued me

Sidewalk mosaic with Polynesian style

Rangitoto Island – an Auckland icon that will always make me think of home

Auckland skyline from Doug Myer Robinson Park

And a couple of Kiwi foods that we don’t often see in Australia …
first Kumara (Kiwi sweet potato), and then Tamarillos (known as the Kiwi tree tomato)

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Waxing Moon Designs

One more wee pumpkin

28 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Here’s another quickie that I’ve stitched over the last two nights, and which is now sitting in the finishing pile for when I come back from holidays:

“Boo Pumpkin” freebie by Waxing Moon Designs
stitched on 28ct Light Taupe Lugana
with recommended DMC & GAST threads
however, I used 2 strands of DMC for the stars instead of 1
to make them stand out more

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, scissor fobs, The Drawn Thread

Another wee pumpkin

26 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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!).

Canvaswork, Cross Stitch, Laura J Perin, Sapphire Star, Stash, Works in Progress

TGIF

24 September, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

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 😛

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Humbug, JBW Designs, Just Nan, pillows, Stitching Smalls

Autumn Exchange

22 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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 😀

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“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

Cross Stitch, Flowers Trees & Gardens, Paris, Quaker, Scenic Sunday, Travel - France, Works in Progress

Sunday stitching & Scenic Sunday

29 August, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

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.

Food, Stumpwork, Works in Progress

Gracie progress and Biscuits

22 August, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

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 …

Berrima, EGA, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Stumpwork, Works in Progress

Photo Hunt & a new start

22 August, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

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).

PhotoHunt | PhotoHunt

This week’s theme is ”Numerical” – here are some numerical signs outside a shop in Berrima.

And in trying to tie-in some stitching into my photo meme themes, here are a few stitched numbers:

Jane Nicholas, Stumpwork, Theme Thursday, Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday – Brush

19 August, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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.