Category: Crafts – Needlework

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

Resurfacing old U.F.O.

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
EG-01May07

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

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.

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

Crikey!!!

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 🙂

Drawn Thread-Boo Scissor Pocket and Fob
“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)

Drawn Thread-Boo Scissor Pocket and Fob

Drawn Thread-Boo Scissor Pocket and Fob

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, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

A bit more Boo!

Anne S

I managed a tiny bit of stitching again last night, and was able to add one little ghostie to my scissors purse.  I also managed to add a bit more to the fob by finishing the pumpkin vines and little black cat plus 2/3 of the wording – I’m hoping to have this one finished by the end of the weekend (stitching-wise anyway!).

Tonight I’d really like to see the scissor fob stitching finished – anything else is a bonus, although I should probably be able to get the back ‘panel’ finished on the purse as well … that just leaves the front panel to be stitched over the weekend … and the finishing – although I don’t know if I have any suitable fabric to use for the lining yet … will have to check the stash, but I’m pretty positive it’ll entail a trip to Spotlight or a quilting shop somewhere!  Yep, I’m pretty sure this one will have to sit in the finishing basket for a wee while yet!

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash, Sydney, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

Boo!

Anne S

Boo! Scissors Purse and Fob by The Drawn Thread is my current Work In Progress – so far I’ve managed to get almost halfway down the scissors purse, and about 1/4 of the scissor fob stitched.  I’m still really tired in the evenings, so my stitching is going r…e…a…l…l…y s…l…o…w…l…y.  Here’s my progress to date – once again, very washed out under the daylight bulb and even Photoshop Elements is struggling to get the colours right with a ton of manipulation!  I started this one in about the middle of last year, but hated the feel of one strand of silk, and just never found a rhythm … I stopped halfway through completing the little pumpkin on the ‘flap’, and it’s only this last week that I’ve pulled it from the depths of my WIP basket and decided to give it a little bit of love again.  And before you ask, yes, the “Boo” part at the top is supposed to be upside down … you see, it’ll fold over and then be the right way up again 😀

On Sunday I had a really lovely day out with my favourite Sydney ladies – Alison and Amanda … as always it was a riot, and much laughing and chattering was to be had.  We went to the new craft show that was held out at Homebush at Sydney Olympic Park.  I was on a stricter budget than normal, and there wasn’t too much to tempt me this time, but I still managed to come home with some great wee treasures … more in the shape of BIG floss rings for my threads (which are like hens teeth to find here!) and some more scissors (hey, a girl can NEVER have too many!!).  I also bought a strand of beads that I think will be awesome as a scissor fob for the Gingher Roberta scissors … plus some necklace ‘thongs’ to put together some chunky style necklaces for myself and Katie.  Hmmm, sorry about the green shopping bag that was used for the photography … not the best choice as a background to show off stitching scrummies! LOL.

And just LOOK at my favourite splurge of the day … I’ve been drooling over these Eiffel Tower scissors for the looooongest time, and that was my parting gesture to the show … and without doubt my very FAVOURITE purchase – I love, love, LOVE them, and don’t begrudge the AUD25.00 it took to procure them! 😀

Saturday was spent doing a bunch of tidying up in my pigsty of a bedroom, and tidying up my threads and stitching things – I finally grabbed a few of my kitted up projects that actually have DMC in the bags and entered all those threads into an Excel spreadsheet.  It seems that these days I’m constantly putting projects on hold part-way through stitching ‘cos I’m one or two threads short, so hopefully this will help me know where to start rummaging when I’m hunting for an elusive thread!  One other GREAT thing about tidying up my thread inventory is that I found the teeny tiny bag of embellishment beads for my January Accent Sampler by Periwinkle Promises … which also means I now have no excuse not to get it finished.  All I need to do is to add the little beads, and my initials/year, and stitch the back-stitch border on the backing linen, and I’m all set to do the finishing … not much, right? … well, let’s just say it’ll get done some time soon either before or after I finish Boo! 😛

I’m hoping to take Friday off this week so I can run a couple of errands like FINALLY picking up a bookcase from Officeworks that I bought late last year (they didn’t tell me it had arrived then shipped it back to their warehouse again … bless them!) … which also then means I get to play DIY with my power drill (LOVE that thing!), and I also just might FINALLY finish unpacking those final boxes in my bedroom that are full of embroidery books etc … which will then perhaps FINALLY lead me to putting a bunch of my books I no longer want on Ebay … perhaps 😛

Work has been ‘challenging’ over the last couple of weeks – just for a change LOL.  I’ve had it hinted from my boss that there could be a sort of new opportunity on the horizon that I should put my hand up for as it could be good for my career (and builds on the good relationship I already have with this group) … not really any different to what I’m doing now, just more focused on one area … time will tell if it actually pans out and goes ahead, and if so whether I get it or not, as there are obviously no guarantees.  I have already stated openly to him, though, that I would be interested if it went ahead.

Anyway, talking of work, I guess I should hurry up and post this and get into beddy-byes … an extra half hour of sleep just could make all the difference for me tomorrow 😉

The next finish you see will hopefully be my Pin Pillow exchange piece, which is hurrying across the oceans as we speak, and hopefully won’t be too far away from its destination … 😀

Cross Stitch, Elizabeth's Designs, Finishes, Needlebook, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Gifties received

Anne S

I heard from Becky today that the Postman worked overtime over the weekend, and my little gifties arrived safe and sound.  I’ve had the stitching done on these for 3 whole years (!!!) – the pinkeep has been sitting around finished ever since then, waiting for it’s companion needlebook to be finished.  As soon as they became a matching pair officially (finally!!!), they were parcelled up and sent over to the US to their new Mum.  Becky has a lovely photo on her blog, but here are a couple more from before they were made up into their finished versions (and these show the colours much more accurately):

As you can see, I had all intentions of getting them both finished the year they were stitched, so they still have 2007 stitched on the ‘backsides’ 😉  I have to agree I really love the little backstitched bees, but for the life of me I can’t remember which design I borrowed them from!  And here’s the finished duo together all finished, just before packaging them up:

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Quick catch-up

Anne S

It was a busy weekend – started by Friday night’s shenanigans being dressed up as a nun for the Sound of Music Sing-a-long.  I only managed to get one paltry photo taken without the flash, while in the office, so it’s incredibly unflattering (like most photos of me) … anyway, it gives you an idea of how I wandered around Sydney train stations and streets for the evening.  We had a blast, and really enjoyed our meal at Retro Cafe next door to the theatre before the show.

Saturday I went with Katie to my hairdressers for a MUCH needed haircut!!  I had to cancel a couple of weeks ago due to my vertigo/virus.  I am now thrilled to be sporting a fringe once again, along with a couple of inches off the length … woohoo!!! 😀

While we were there we also decided to go the whole hog and had a beauty session while the other person was having a haircut.  I got my eyebrows shaped and had my … shock, horror … first EVER pedicure!!!  Oh boy, was it lovely – I enjoyed every minute of the pampering.  I’ve been a tad stressed at work fairly recently, so it was really good to chill out and do nothing for the morning.  Unfortunately, though, I was so exhausted afterwards (thanks to an early morning start) I ended up having a nana nap in the early evening … which didn’t help with the evening sleeping ritual … I ended up getting back up at 10pm and continued stitching my pin pillow exchange piece!

Sunday saw me getting up relatively late, but the entire day was spent in front of the gogglebox clearing up the hard-drive and watching Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Fringe and Good News Week episodes … but I DID manage to get the final stitches into my pin pillow exchange, and made it up in the little pillow … now it’s sitting in its padded envelope waiting for a visit to the Post Office during the week 😀

After finishing my exchange piece, I started a new Christmas ornament from an old JCS issue that I’d already got kitted up from a couple of years ago – I made an OK start into that one while watching TV last night … and I’ll put a few more stitches into it tonight.

Tomorrow I’m heading off to my GP to check a few things checked out – my lightheadedness continues, unfortunately, so I’m going to ask to get my blood pressure checked out.  I’ve also had really bad acid reflux over the last few months, so that’s also on the list … better to be safe than sorry, I guess!  And on that note, it’s time to go get some soup for dinner and settle in front of the TV for an hour or two 🙂

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash, Works in Progress

Nunning and … What, more stash????

Anne S

The parcels have been coming in thick and fast this week … from orders that were placed right after Christmas but finally arriving – these are all from big sales held from two separate stores … and I’m still awaiting for my recent order from SB&B with my missing thread so I can continue with Sapphire Star (gotta make the most of that postage – although I have already braced myself for a looooong wait!!!).  Let’s just say that these orders are what prompted me to declare I’m going on a stash diet … ‘cos when I have a splurge I don’t do it by halves (although I don’t have one that often these days, so perhaps it does me good to have a big blow-out once a year)!!!


Back row:  Heart in Hand-Snow; Imaginating-Seashell Silhouette; The Cat’s Whiskers-Queen Anne’s Lace; Laura J Perin-Halloween; M Designs-Miss Mary Mac’s Pins & Needles Pincushion
Centre row:  Heart in Hand-Wee Santa 2008; Erica Michaels-Random Thoughts of Spring; Cross-Stitch & Needlework Nov 07 & Jan 10; JABC button packs-Christmas wreath & lights, SB’s Be Attitudes, Bent Creek’s Autumn Snapperland
Bottom row:  Heart in Hand-Birds; LHN-Loving & Faithful; LHN-Gentle & Kind; LHN-Queen Bee; LHN-Pear Tree

Prairie Moon-Merry Xmas; Laura J Perin-Mallard Duck Collage; Shepherd’s Bush-Baby Bug Ball; Milady’s Needle-Peacocks Rule (and the ruler needed for it); GAST-Brethren Blue; JABC button pack-Waxing Moon’s Halloween Stack; WDW 30ct Guacamole linen; Shepherd’s Bush-Mummy button

The Prairie Moon design is for my friend/flatmate’s Christmas gift – she’s not quite a ‘goth’, but she loves Green Day and a LOT heavier music than I do, and she loves skulls and goth type stuff … and she joked that she really really wants to have a white Christmas tree with black ornaments on it, with a skull instead of a fairy/star on top of the tree … well, as soon as I saw the Merry Xmas chart, I just HAD to get it for her!!!  Hopefully she’ll like it 😀

One of the orders above, I placed it just so I could receive the Bent Creek snapperland border accessories (ie snaps and JABC buttons for both Summer and Winter Snapperlands) – these were ordered the same night I finished stitching Summer Snapperland … alas the order just arrived this week … withOUT the borders packs – they hadn’t been ordered right from the start, even though I’d sent clarifying emails with the product code etc … hmmm, oops 😦

I picked the second of these orders up a couple of days ago, and haven’t managed to get back to the PO Box since … I’ll now have to wait until Monday before I can go back there again, as Katie and I are taking a cab into work tomorrow … ‘cos it’s Sound of Music night tomorrow night!!! … and I’ll be dressing up as a Nun and getting a little bit tipsy (I wonder if I could hide a hipflask under those voluminous skirts?? LOL).  I’ll get Katie to take a photo tomorrow so I can share it with you all.  Alas Katie didn’t want to come to the store to try on the outfits tonight so I had to try it on and send her photos via the mobile camera – unfortunately she tried hers on tonight when we got home and she hates it, so she’s a bit unhappy about it.  I feel bad that she’s lost her $50 hire fee for nothing … but I’m really happy with my nun’s outfit (I had my heart set on going this year dressed as a nun, even if it meant getting dressed up on my own), and I’m looking forward to the night out 😀

We’ve been really tired this week, so haven’t really been online much at all – sorry Mum, I haven’t obviously uploaded the photo memes this week either – maybe over the next week I’ll load up a few advance ones so I won’t have to keep missing out 🙂

I have managed to get 2/3 of my exchange stitching completed this week, though, and hopefully should see the rest finished by the end of the weekend.  Alas I can’t share until it’s finished and the recipient receives it – fingers crossed she likes it … here’s a teeny tiny sneak peak … really teeny tiny! LOL 😉

And on that note, it’s time to hit the mattress, as my alarm will now be going off earlier than normal and it’s gonna be a really busy day  …

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishing

A spot of Christmas ornie finishing

Anne S

At least I managed to stitch up 7 ornie sides before my sewing machine packed up … here are 6 I managed to fully complete last night – the last remaining one is for my tutorial, and I prefer to wait until the weekend when I’ll have better daylight for the photos … now I’m off to sit in front of the goggle box for an hour or two to chill out – TGIF tomorrow! 😀

PS: I should add that this isn’t all my handiwork – only the top left and top right ornaments were stitched by my own fair hand … the other four beauties were stitched by my Mum 😀

Elizabeth's Designs, Finishing, Needlebook, Stash

Needlebook finish … finally!

Anne S

This has been sitting around since 2007 for it to be turned into a needlebook – how do I know? ‘cos I dated the back!!  I was panicking about doing the finishing, and as you can see from the below photos attaching the lining is FAR from perfect, and well it just doesn’t sit as nicely as I had hoped … but it’s done now, which feels awesome!  I haven’t touched much of my finishing pile since everything got put into storage 2 1/2 years ago, but eventually now I’d like to start building up my finishing confidence once again and get back into the saddle …

Needlebook front

Needlebook inside pages

Needlebook inside lining

I also started doing a quick cushion finish of a few Christmas ornies yesterday, and have been using one of them for a tutorial – that should be completed over the next few days, depending on what time I get home from work this week!

I also started doing a quilted wallhanging of Mum’s Prairie Schooler Santas, but a spool of thread I’d had sitting on the machine fell into the bobbin spooler while I was loading up a new bobbin on the top of the machine, and all of a sudden it started jamming and the entire bobbin spooler popper up … now my machine is just jamming all the time, which is a real bugger … so off to the repair shop it goes, and my quilted wallhanging and all those other finishing jobs that need the machine are once again put on hold, ho-hum.

Oh well, to brighten the day I did unpack my teeny tiny stash splurge from The Ribbon Rose – as you can see I didn’t buy much, just a couple of ribbons, some beads, some size 22 needles (for my canvaswork) and some red fabric for my finishing of Random Hearts into a little cushion – and some hand-dyed pearl cotton for hardanger class I’d like to start this year (for a cushion).  Next time I go I’ll be armed with my wishlist 😉

Ribbon Rose stash 18Feb10