Crafts – Needlework – Page 14

Cross Stitch, Food, Mirabilia, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, Works in Progress

Photo Hunt & Halloween Fairy WIP

26 June, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I flew down to Melbourne with work on Wednesday, which meant a 4.30am wake-up call and being on the road at 5.00am … getting home a 7.30pm … yikes. Being absolutely shattered, and on the first day of my ‘cycle’, I thought it would be best for all concerned at work if I took yesterday off as an RDO as my mood would be FAR from perky yesterday morning 😛

Anyway, on Thursday I came home from work and was in bed by 6.30pm as Katie flew home that night … and I curled up with book 2 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series (Lover Eternal – Rhage’s story). I didn’t put the book down again until I’d consumed the very last sentence – I’m now starting book 3 (Lover Awakened – Zsadist’s story), which I’ve been told is possibly the best book of the series to date.

I’ve tried to ignore the new book calling to me, though, and yesterday spent the entire day in my PJs sat in my stitching chair watching DVDs (Hart’s War with Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell, and disc 3 of season one of The Unit) and clearing the DVR of TV shows that Katie doesn’t watch. That meant a relatively big chunk of stitching time on Halloween Fairy – I’m almost at the point where I can’t stitch anymore until my two missing metallic threads turn up (they’re on back order), and I need to run to Spotlight to pick up one pack of Mill Hill beads that I apparently don’t have in my stash. Here is the updated piccie in the meantime – I probably won’t take another piccie until I receive my threads and beads and manage to finish her off. Oops, just noticed the photo isn’t quite in focus … I took it in the not-too-well-lit lounge with no lights on … ah well, you can kind of see the fabric better this way, though – it’s being stitched on 28ct Desert Sky hand-dyed linen by Silkweaver. I was originally a bit worried it would be a bit pale for the stitching, but actually I really like it!

Today I’ve been relatively busy after having a lazy day yesterday – the morning has been spent attacking the bathroom tiles with Exit Mould and scrubbing the grouting with a toothbrush. Then I popped a load of washing into the machine before heading across the road to grab a bit of grocery shopping so I can bake some muffins – and picked up a large skim cappuccino as an afternoon treat. Now I’m awaiting the next load of laundry to finish it’s cycle so I can throw the final one in for the night. Then I’m thinking of dragging an old UFO out of the ‘bin’ to work on in the lounge while I’m waiting for my Halloween Fairy supplies to turn up … I woke up thinking about this piece, so perhaps it’s only right that I finish it off.

Then I need to kit up my final two PIFs, along with two exchanges that need to be stitched over the next couple of weeks – that could keep me out of trouble for a while! Plus I have a couple of picture frames that I still haven’t put together, although I may save those until next weekend.

I’ll finish off my saga for the day by doing this week’s Photo Hunt …

PhotoHunt | PhotoHunt

This week’s theme is ”Purple” – and this week I’ve chosen a spot of purple from Robyn Drayton’s winery in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

Cross Stitch, Stash, Works in Progress

Sydney Craft Show

21 June, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

On Saturday I spent most of the day with some of my stitching buddies – Alison, Amanda, Rowena and Karen … and as per usual it was a day filled with good times and laughter, and a teeny bit of stash enhancement. I actually felt like I was buying things left, right and centre, but when I got home I was sadly mistaken … but the wallet was much, much thinner, so I think I did alright!

I actually didn’t buy too much – in fact, this is a photo of my entire spoils from the day: Some acid-free double-sided tape, 11″ Q-snaps and extender kit, Yazzi bag (the colour sucked me in and I couldn’t resist!!), Issue 61 Inspirations magazine, pair of turquoise scissors, 1m of large black ric-a-rac, a packet of Bohin quilting pins, some Christmas glass beads for fobs or something, a ‘tombie’ thread winder from The Gift of Stitching, a piece of 36ct hand-dyed linen from Stitches & Spice, and a scrummy heart pendant made of Apatite.

The only thing I wanted but couldn’t find was a nice thread substitute for the Rainbow Gallery nightmare thread to finish off Sapphire Star … but I did get two things in particular that I really wanted to buy … some more Q-snaps and some 36ct hand-dyed linen for Sampler Cove’s Quaker Huswif (a chart that KarenV gifted me with quite some time ago). I’ve been hankering to make a start on this one for a while and some weeks ago made a start on 32ct natural linen but didn’t like the thread coverage, then tried again on 36ct hand-dyed Pipi linen from Countrystitch but didn’t like the colour … now it’s like Goldilocks, this new linen is “just right”. There was another fabric that was probably slightly better, but it was a mix of blues and pinks, and it was just a tad too pink for me, so I went in a different direction.

The one I ended up choosing is a dove grey colour from Stitches & Spice (thanks to the girls for helping me decide), and it suits the thread colour just beautifully (I’m using a premium silk floss by Hand-Dyed Fibers in the colour of “Midnight”). I couldn’t wait to try it out, so late last night I put a few stitches into the fabric to start it off again, and went to sleep with a smile on my face 😛

Tonight I stitched more of the pumpkins on Halloween Fairy, and I’ve completed all the DMC stitches and now have to stitch the metallics … I can’t say that’s being my favourite part of the stitching really – I’m looking forward to having all the metallics stitched so I can get on and do the beading, which in my eyes is much more fun! Seeing as there isn’t a great deal of progress, I’ll hold off taking a progress piccie for another day or two 🙂

Cross Stitch, Mirabilia, Works in Progress

Halloween Fairy update

18 June, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I may not get another chance to post this weekend with an update piccie, so here goes with a really quick drive-by post and piccie – I’m moving along slowly but surely with Mirabilia’s Halloween Fairy. Once I’ve finished the pumpkins I’ll be able to complete the green swirls on the bottom half of the design and perhaps some of the beads, then I’ll be flipping her over onto her ‘head’ to start stitching her upside down to complete her upper body … then she’ll have to sit on the shelf until her missing threads arrive, as I think it’ll be at least a month before they turn up …

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Mirabilia, scissor pockets, scissors, Stitching Smalls, The Cat's Whiskers, Works in Progress

Weekly Update

12 June, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Another week has gone by, and not much stitching has been completed in that time – the only thing I’ve been working on this week has been my Halloween Fairy with a few more stitches put in Mon-Thu this week. I’ve made OK progress on this one, but it’ll be a few weeks yet before she’s finished (not just stitching-wise, but I realised I’m missing two Kreinik braids which I’ve had to order and wait because they’re out of stock – I had a store credit to use up with Needle in a Haystack, so I decided to put it to good use with my braids). I have to admit I’m enjoying stitching her with her decent sized blocks of colour 🙂

The only other news is that my Scissor Pocket Exchange arrived safely at its destination during the week, and thankfully Lillie likes it, which is the important thing 🙂 It was supposed to be a no-extras exchange (love those exchanges), but I couldn’t resist adding a little pair of scissors that I’d bought at the last craft fair we went to, which I used as my basis to choose a thread from my stash to match. I didn’t think to take a photo of the inside flap, where I stitched both our initials, so I’ve borrowed one of Lillie’s photos (hope she doesn’t mind).

“Alyssum 2007 Ltd Ed Scissor Pocket” by The Cat’s Whiskers
stitched on 32ct Bo-Beep Pink Belfast linen
with Needle Necessities thread 196

Rightio, time to head off and do something – I need to kit up a Lizzie*Kate Welcome Baby sampler for a colleague’s new daughter, and find a Halloween cape in the depths of the garage for an upcoming fancy dress party for Katie, as well as head out to a shopping mall to actually find a top to wear tonight!

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Works in Progress

Scissor Pocket exchange received

5 June, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

And oh boy, what an exquisite exchange piece it is!! I was absolutely gobsmacked when I opened my little parcel at the post office this morning – inside was the most gorgeous stitched and finished scissor pocket ever! This is a design I have lusted after for years now, and have attempted to buy a few times, but I’ve never managed to get hold of it … well now I don’t have to, as I have an awesome finished piece instead! I honestly did get a bit choked up when I opened up the box, as it was so amazingly perfect for me. Thank you Michelle from the bottom of my heart – I will truly treasure this always! 😀

My apologies for the piccies, but it’s almost midnight in a wintry Sydney and I couldn’t wait to publish them 🙂

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The only other photo I have is my latest minimal progress on Halloween Fairy – but this pales in comparison to my awesome new scissor pocket!

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Jane Nicholas, Stumpwork, Works in Progress

Back from a mini blog break

1 June, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Thanks to those of you (including Mum) who have enquired as to my whereabouts, and wondering why I’ve been absent for an entire week – and also where the photo posts have disappeared to. To be honest I’ve just felt a bit burnt out computer-wise (and therefore blog-wise), and haven’t felt like sitting in front of the PC much over the last week or three … the Photo Hunt themes haven’t really inspired me much over the last couple of weeks, and I usually sit and post all my photo posts for the week at the same time as doing my Saturday Photo Hunt post … so therefore no other photo posts either.

Anyway, other than that life is OK – just very hectic at work, and there hasn’t been much energy left over at the end of the day to do much at all. I can’t even say there has been screeds and screeds of stitching done … although I do have two small finishes – one that I can share, and one that I can’t … and one new start.

So, first up, here’s the one I can share:

“Snow” freebie by Whispered by the Wind
(freebie is still available here)
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed opalescent lugana
with DMC B5200

Just love the sparkly blue fabric – the photo in no way does this one justice … although the opalescent fabric is a total b*tch to stitch on, and I’m not in a hurry to repeat the experience …

And here’s the one I can’t share:

Scissor Pocket Exchange
Mystery design by Mystery designer on Mystery fabric with Mystery thread … to a Mystery recipient …

Then I started a new project, trying to stitch up some of the projects that I’ve entirely kitted up with DMC, just so I can return all my skeins to my master collection … meaning I won’t be forever “losing” the colours I need to kit up a new start. Here’s my very VERY minimal start on Mirabilia’s Trick or Treat Fairy (magazine version) … currently also known as “The Blob”. I managed to add another three whole rows tonight, but didn’t think it would make much difference to the photo!

And lucky last, here is a very very VERY old UFO that hasn’t seen the light of day since, well quite frankly I can’t remember when … all of a sudden I started getting the urge to finish off one of my oldest UFOs, and choose a project to challenge myself, and this is probably the closest to an actual finish of any of my ‘big’ stumpwork pieces … so I’m thinking perhaps I should bite the bullet and finish this little baby off. It will mean, though, getting my Jane Nicholas reference books out and jogging my memory on how to do all the stitches, but that’s what challenges are for right? Here are how all the various components look at this stage … with many more little petals and insects yet to be stitched up and finished! (Unfortunately the fluffed up bee body is looking a bit worse for wear after being in storage for months and in and out of boxes … but it should hopefully all work out once it gets trimmed back into the little bee body shape … fingers crossed anyway!)

So, be warned, and don’t expect too much progress too quickly … the one thing I find with stumpwork is that for me it seems to take an absolute aeon to finish one teeny tiny little piece of stitching, so this is one project that you won’t be seeing finished any time soon!

And on that note I think it’s time to bid you farewell again for the night – no guarantees when I’ll be back online again … but at least you know I’m still alive 🙂

Boo Club, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Lizzie Kate, Plum Pudding NeedleArt

A little touch of Love

23 May, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I didn’t end up getting much stitching done yesterday, and still haven’t finished my little snowflake ornie … I forgot I still had my Love freebie sitting on my bedroom lapframe, so rather than removing it, I decided to put the final stitches into that one instead … and now the snowflake ornie is in its place ready for finishing off this week (in fact I may try and put a few stitches into it tonight). Apologies for the poor piccie, but I threw it on the scanner instead of trying to take a photo in grim evening light.

“Love” freebie by Plum Pudding NeedleArt
Stitched on 32ct cream Belfast linen (I think) with DMC

Yesterday I tried to take some photos of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club all finished and in one piece … unfortunately I now notice that my “in one piece” photo is a bit blurry, so I’ve done a bit of a cut-and-paste job in three sections instead. I didn’t have many of the recommended threads, as I don’t have a great stock of WDW or GAST threads to work from, and I wanted to stitch from my stash as much as possible, so I substituted quite a large number of threads in this piece. The details are at the bottom of the photos.

“Boo Club” by Lizzie*Kate
Stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed linen by Countrystitch
Using a mix of recommended and substitute threads as follows:

Recommended ~ My Choice
WDW Mascara ~ WDW Mascara (but DMC 310 in the border)
WDW Whitewash ~ WDW Whitewash (but DMC white in the border)
WDW Taffeta ~ DMC 3740
WDW Guacamole ~ Crescent Colours Eve’s Leaves
WDW Purple Majesty ~ Needle Necessities 195 Coronation
WDW Carrot ~ DMC 3853
WDW Havana ~ WDW Havana
WDW Ocean ~ DMC 3809
GAST Tomato ~ GAST Burnt Orange
GAST Butternut Squash ~ Crescent Colours Finley’s Gold
GAST Ohio Lemon Pie ~ GAST Ohio Lemon Pie
GAST Forest Glade ~ GAST Forest Glade

The rest of the weekend has been spent helping Katie to set up our new flat electronics, and putting a Beef and Red Wine casserole into the slow cooker – I love winter for ‘slow cooker season’ 😀

And now I think I’ll sign off, and jump into my PJs ready for an early night – time to catch up on a few taped Cold Case shows, and perhaps a few more stitches into that little snowflake ornie (although it’s very hard to see the holes in the fabric this time of night).

Finishes, Halloween, Just Nan, Works in Progress

Happy Dance

22 May, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Yay, I finally have a happy dance with my finish of Just Nan’s Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls. It’s taken me a while to finish this one, but it was fun stitching – and I ADORE the little coffin charm that opens up to show a little skeleton inside … too COOL 😀

“Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Cashel linen tea-dyed by myself
with DMC threads and Just Nan coffin embellishment

Seeing as we still had the double-banger finale of Dawson’s Creek to watch last night while I’d reached the happy dance part of my stitching, I ran into my room and grabbed a kitted up ornie that was within arm’s reach, so I made a small start into this one as well. This is being stitched on a hand-dyed sparkly Lugana I got in a grab-bag from somewhere (had to be either Silkweaver or Countrystitch). I may be anti-social in my bedroom today and catch up on a bit of ‘Anne TV’ (ie that Katie doesn’t watch), and get this one finished. Then I need to finish off my scissor pocket exchange ready for posting this week.

I need to remember to try and take some decent photos of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club this weekend so I can roll it away until I turn it into a quilted wallhanging. I don’t have any fabric that’s suitable (Halloween fabric over here is pretty impossible to find in good prints), so that might take a while. I may end up just giving in and using some complementary plain fabrics, but there’s no hurry for this one to be finished for a while yet.

The rest of the weekend will be spent taking Katie shopping to buy a TV and TiVo for her room, and just generally being lazy. Work is so exhausting during the week I almost need boring mindless weekends to keep my sanity in check!

Cross Stitch, Just Nan, Works in Progress

Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls

18 May, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Without further ado, here’s the latest WIP photo of Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls – it’s also likely to be the final work in progress photo, as the next time you see it it will hopefully be an actual finished project – I reckon just one more night, maximum two nights, in front of the gogglebox will see this finished off – there are just 3 froggies, a bunch of eyes and pumpkin backstitching, and 2 teeny ghost heads at the bottom plus 2 over-one kitty cats, and 4 yucky spiders in the corners … yeah, 2 nights should do it, easy!

Of course now I’m fantasising about which project to pick up next – while I still have a huge pile of UFO’s to work through, and some other projects I’m in the middle of, the call of the “new start” is screaming very very loudly in my ear! I’m almost tempted to start stitching Just Nan’s “Witchy Way”, yet another Halloween project, because I’ve got a lot of the threads already out from GGG, but then again it’s perhaps time for a break from Halloween designs … I’m really not entirely sure where my stitching passion will lead me this time … there are so many wonderful projects in my stash, I’m truly spoilt for choice and right now nothing is screaming any louder than anything else! 😀

I do have to finish off my scissor pocket exchange ready for mailing this weekend, so I have some time available yet before I have to make the ultimate decision on what project to pick up next … and I still have Sapphire Star to finish yet as well – I kinda came unstuck a bit ‘cos I absolutely abhor one of the threads used in the final sections, and am thinking of replacing it with a standard pearl cotton instead … maybe …

Anyway, for now it’s time to hit the hay for the night – I’m off to read another few pages of JR Ward’s Dark Lover before I officially wilt … I managed a whole 10 pages last night before my eyelids were too heavy to keep open … at this rate I should be finished with the entire series in about 2018! 😛

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Just Nan, Lizzie Kate, Works in Progress

Where did the weekend go?

16 May, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Well, I guess I know where … I spent the entire day in my PJ’s on Saturday ‘cos I was just too tired to do anything else – I sat up in bed most of the day and watched DVDs while doing a teeny bit of stitching. After playing in my stash for a little while (dragging out all the kitted up projects in my drawers) I managed to start and finish this little project (but couldn’t face leaving the American spelling of “favorite” so I added a little “U” to Aussie-fy it):

“My Favorite Time” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 28ct mystery Cashel linen (probably Clay or something similar)
with recommended GAST threads except Oatmeal where I subbed with DMC B5200

Then I started on a freebie by Plum Pudding Needleart – which will only take one more bedroom stitching session to totally complete it. In fact, I reckon about 2 hours of stitching will likely see it completed … but seeing as it’s now my ‘bedroom project’, and I don’t often stitch in my room, this may not see the finishing pile until next weekend again.

This morning Katie and I wandered over to the restaurant on ‘our’ beach where we had a leisurely brunch – I had the Eggs Benedict with a side of mushrooms, pineapple juice, and two skim cappuccinos … we were in heaven for a wee while. On the way home we picked up a couple of bags each of groceries from the local supermarket, then came in to vege out in front of the gogglebox for a few hours watching Flash Forward and The Amazing Race while I did a bit of stitching. After that Katie deserted me to go to her bedroom to read a book, while I cleaned up another episode of Good News Week, Fringe and Medium.

Thanks to our TV viewing session, the result is that Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls now looks like this:

I have to say I think the colour choices in particular for the two small pumpkins seem rather “odd” … but they’ll be staying as they are …

And now I’m going to open up Audible Manager and pop on an audiobook for an hour or two while I do some tidying up in my room, which is currently like a pigsty! 🙂