Crafts – Needlework – Page 18

Canvaswork, Laura J Perin, Sapphire Star, supernatural, Works in Progress

Shhh, don’t tell anyone … New start

25 January, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I don’t usually take part in “guilt-free January”, but this weekend I just couldn’t resist starting something new – I’ve had a hankering to start a canvaswork piece for weeks now, and I finally succumbed to the temptation late yesterday. The photo is dreadful and blurred, but you can at least guess from the colour of the stitches of this one that I’m in love already!!! 😛

This is Laura J Perin’s Sapphire Star (or at least it will be once I get cracking a bit more on it – I’ll take a better photo, ie non-blurry, when I’ve stitched a bit more on it) … I’m about to head off into the lounge to watch Dawson’s Creek (yet again) with Katie … I’m starting to think it’s the TV show that never ends, but we’re over halfway through the seasons now, and once we finish it means we can move on to something else – namely Season 1 of Fringe. I’ve seen most of the first season before it got pulled from TV, but Katie hasn’t seen any. (Of course, now thanks to Channel 9, it is finally back on TV again – thanks Go! channel.)

Talking of TV shows being pulled, I’m seriously p*ssed at Channel Ten if the information has Katie has just told me is correct – that they won’t be renewing the Supernatural series. As per normal they think it’s just fine and dandy to show about 1/3 of the ‘final’ season of a show only to axe it … and they wonder why people resort to downloading TV shows. Of course ratings are going to be low when you move to late night slots, and of course ratings will be super low when you play in during Christmas week – where did you get your business degrees from??? My thoughts about Channel Ten management are seriously not printable … there are plenty of words rattling around in my head that would make my mother’s hair stand on end! Bah humbug you Channel Ten morons!!! And talking of which, where’s the final bloody episodes of ER???? mutter mutter mutter bloody mutter … 😦

OK, time to head back into the lounge for some calming TV … on DVD, Channel Ten, so you can’t stuff that up!!! 😛

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

New WIP

22 January, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

This new WIP will eventually be a gift for someone … and she reads my blog … and she’ll no doubt easily work out that it’s for her … but I still can’t resist sharing ‘cos otherwise I won’t have anything to show stitching-wise for a while! Here’s as much stitching as I’ve managed the whole last week (it’s a repeat of something I stitched last year or the year before, I can’t remember which now) – the new skein of thread I have is a bit paler than my original one, but I think it’ll still work out OK … I hope so anway!

On the home front, Katie and I have been very virtuous by eating healthily all week, slugging back zero alcohol and replacing it with water, and we’ve been going walking most nights this week (tonight was a write-off thanks to lightning strikes and impending rain). It was Katie’s boss’s wedding celebration today, and Katie baked an awesome white chocolate mud cake for her … we had the tiniest of slices to show our support but at the same time restraining that calorie intake … and we’re definitely feeling very very virtuous after all our efforts this week!! Of course that means there’s been less time for stitching, but it’s all for a very very good cause … ‘cos eventually when I shift some of this weight, I’ll have more energy to stitch, which will probably mean MORE stitching!! 🙂

The other news is that this week at work we were told of a team restructure, along with the results delivered as a fait accomplis … no input from those of us who have been impacted, which is really shitty quite frankly. I spoke up and said how I found the process itself extremely disappointing, and had to laugh to myself that we’re currently undergoing reviews of a staff engagement survey from last year and about to commence workshops on how to improve communication and engagement … well, duh, people … I wonder what will come us as a prime example of lack of communication and collaboration by people directly impacted!!! Anyway, all-in-all there are pros and cons of the changes, and at the moment the pros are probably outweighing the cons … I’m hoping it will be a good change in the fact that I will have more of an opportunity to grow and build new skills in the project management arena (I’ll be in the “project team”), and I no longer have to try to juggle lots of ‘operational’ work every day as well, but rather can focus on one type of role (albeit it by taking on more project work than I currently do) … time will tell how things will progress at work, but it sure as hell can’t be any worse than it currently is!!!

Anyhoo, tonight I’m about to catch up on a spot of blog reading … I still haven’t caught up since my Christmas trip, and I’d really love to get that blog feed back down to zero so I can keep on top of things weekly again … I’m tempted to hit the “mark all feeds as read”, but scared I’ll miss something exciting and important! 😛

In saying that, it’s time to head over to FeedDemon to see what lovely treats you have written and displayed photos of to tempt me … 😀

Bent Creek, Cross Stitch, Finishes, JBW Designs, Summer Snapperland, Works in Progress

First finish for 2010 & Snapperland

16 January, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Well, I have gone as far as I can with Summer Snapperland – the stitching was completed last night, and now I have to sit and wait for the buttons and snaps to arrive so it can be ‘finish-finished’ … then I will throw it place it gently into the framing pile for a few months time when I can hopefully afford to order some more frames and mattboards 🙂

After I finished the stitching of Summer Snapperland last night, I pulled out a Christmas ornie I started stitching in about November time, and did a couple of stitches in when I was in Auckland at Christmas … I figured enough was enough, time to get it finished, as it’s only a wee thing – and sure enough two episodes of Dawson’s Creek later and it was all finished … FINALLY an actual “finish” for the year 😛

“Tiny Motif Tree” from Christmas Keepsakes II by JBW Designs
Stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct natural Belfast linen
with WDW Garnet and GAST Dried Thyme
Stitch count 41W x 45H

Bent Creek, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Summer Snapperland, Works in Progress

Shock, horror, a stitching post!!

11 January, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I wish I could say that I was posting my first finish for 2010, but alas that appears to be a few days away yet … hopefully by the end of the week (or weekend at the latest) this one will be finished, stitching-wise anyway. I don’t own the buttons/accessory pack for the border, so I’m having to order those, and while I’m at it I’m ordering the same pack for the Winter Snapperland as I’d really like to stitch that in the upcoming year.

In the meantime, here’s my current progress on Bent Creek’s Summer Snapperland – I’ve finished the final block, and am now working on the outside border. I’m just marginally over half-way stitching the border, then it’s off to the waiting pile until the buttons etc arrive.

This last weekend Katie and I had a lovely weekend away – we drove over to Brenda and Nigel’s late Saturday afternoon (fantastic traffic – or rather lack of it – we were there in just marginally under an hour yippee!!), where we were greeted with an ice-cold Margarita on arrival. We had another friend of ours from work and her two teen sons come to join us, and we were treated to Nigel’s culinary treats of one of his famous BBQ’s. It was a really lovely night with good wine, good food, and really good company! We stayed overnight, then yesterday toodled off to Castle Towers to see Avatar 3D in Gold Class … WOW, what an incredibly awesome movie – I was seriously blown away by it!! One of the best movies of that genre I’ve ever seen, I’d have to say!

Eventually we headed back home again, after a detour via JB Hi-Fi for Katie to spend her Christmas prezzie vouchers, then we sat and watched Katie’s Dawson’s Creek DVD’s while I did a little bit of stitching. I have to admit the characters etc are growing on me, and I’m enjoying the lighthearted viewing for a change, but it’s probably not a series I’ll ever re-watch again … but if nothing else, it’s getting me to sit down at the end of the day and get a few stitches into fabric, so that’s all good 😀

Bent Creek, Cross Stitch, Summer Snapperland, Works in Progress

Summer Snapperland progress

4 January, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Yesterday my lack of sleep caught up on me, I think, and I didn’t do any stitching all day – but tonight I sat down for an hour or so after a healthy dinner (scotch fillet steak, mushrooms, fresh asparagus, carrots and baked potato wedges – yummo) to sit and watch a bit of TV with Katie … which means I got to put a few stitches into Summer Snapperland. I’ve now completed 3 of the 4 blocks, with just one block and the border left to go.

Unfortunately I only have one strand of Brethren Blue left, which won’t be enough to complete the border, so I’ll just replace it with the DMC equivalent in the chart … I also miscalculated quite badly the side margins of the fabric and there will be about 2 inches left on the left and right hand sides, yikes! To be honest, I think I may have made a judgement call when I originally chose that fabric from my stash, as I thought it would be perfect for it, and didn’t want to have to buy any more … and I figure I can add a strip of calico to each side to allow me room for lacing and a mattboard or two 🙂

The photos look really washed out as it’s taken under my daylight bulb which is quite close to the fabric – I’ll take another photo in daylight once it’s all finished, as the colour of the fabric is really pretty 🙂

Right now it’s time to hit the hay for the night for another day at the mill tomorrow – but gee it’s nice to see a photo of stitching for a change 😛

Bent Creek, Cross Stitch, Enchanted Mermaid, Mirabilia, Works in Progress

A bit of stitching

21 December, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

WOW, did you see the snow in Sydney yesterday? Yep, I caused so many miracles yesterday, I even made it snow! The first miracle was that I actually put needle to fabric and did a few stitches on Saturday … and in the end, more than a few, by the time last night came around!

Unfortunately my poor Mirabilia Mermaid has been neglected, and my stitching slump has seen my 10-hour rotation slot dragged out across two entire months … here’s the progress over the last two months – just pitiful! First up on the left is how she looked on 31 October – followed by how she looked a month later on 22 November:

And now, how I left her before I put her away on Saturday night – I figure I’ve pretty much completed my 10 hours stitching on her, and fingers crossed the next time I pick her up my stitching mojo will have returned a bit more and I’ll get a few more stitches done in my next 10 hours!

After I put her away, I managed to get a LOT more stitching done on Bent Creek’s Summer Snapperland – I’m really loving stitching on this one, although I’m not overly keen on the fabric, as it’s quite ‘stretchy’ on my scrollrods. I do, however, really love the colour (the 2nd photo is a lot nearer the actual colour as I took that this morning in semi-daylight), and think it’s a much better choice than the ugly one recommended in the chart. I can’t guarantee this one will be finished in 2009, as I’ll be pretty close to my 10 hours on it soon – I figure, though, that I’ll keep working on it a bit longer, as so far I’m really enjoying it … I’ll probably stop after completing both of the ‘boxes’ on the right … maybe 🙂

I haven’t quite met my stitching goals this year, in the fact that I have only stitched 10 out of planned 12 ornies … but who knows, maybe I can squeak in a couple of quick ones before the year’s end, heck I have a whole week left to do it in! LOL – yeah, sure … maybe not.

I think my goals this year were relatively realistic, and were as follows:

Complete at least 3 of my existing WIP/UFO projects (Works in Progress/UnFinished Objects) – DONE – Completed 5 projects 🙂
Complete at least 10 of my kitted up projects – DONE – Completed 11 projects 🙂
Complete at least 12 Christmas ornaments – FAILED – Completed 10 out of 12 as at 21Dec09 😦

Next year I think I’ll keep the same goals, as they seemed to give me the freedom to stitch what I wanted to stitch, with a mix of both new and old projects … and I probably would have met the final goal if I’d been stitching as ‘normal’ over the last two months.

It has to be said, though, that any amount of stitching that gets some actual stitches into fabric is a positive year, all-in-all, and I’ve had some pretty decent finishes over the course of the year, even if the last two months has seen a major decline in stitching action 😀

Canvaswork, Cross Stitch, Finishing, Framing, picture framing

Back briefly

11 December, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Sorry I have been AWOL for a while … all I can say is that I’ve been struggling emotionally, I guess, for a number of weeks now, and I’ve been in a bit of a ‘black fog’ for want of a better way to put it. Anyway, I have been planning a trip back down to Melbourne for about 2 months now, but it was then put on hold indefinitely after Erin passed away until I heard about when her service would be held in NZ – as that is now likely to be the middle of January, on Monday night it was all of a sudden ‘full steam ahead’ and Katie and I started making plans once again for the trip. It’s taken me probably until yesterday before I started feeling brighter and looking forward to the trip, but now I think it will do me the world of good … getting away from home and away from the stress and pressures of work will be great. Of course it just may make me more homesick for Melbourne and those friends I left behind …

When I get home I think I may need to take a quick visit to the GP as well … according to my hairdresser the itchy scalp I’ve been developing over the last few weeks is likely caused by stress and upheaval, as opposed to a reaction to my conditioner … I guess my body’s trying to tell me something! Oh well, only two weeks left and I’ll get some TLC at home when I fly over to Mum and Dad’s for Christmas – something else that I’m really looking forward to. Recent events brings it home even more that family is really important!

I haven’t picked up a needle for weeks now, so I guess that gives an idea of my mindset of late, as that’s super super unusual! I did force myself to do a bit of home DIY, though, as I had a gift I needed to get ready for my trip to Melbourne. Unfortunately other gifts still aren’t done, so I guess those’ll have to go in the post later.

Here’s the results of my labours that I finished last night (just have to have the hooks/hangers screwed into the back):

A framing job I did first, but in a ready-made mat and frame from Target:

The gift I needed to get finished for this weekend (as it would be too hard to post) – this is for my ex-flatmate and friend Lisa for her birthday:

Then this one is especially for me – LHN’s Hannah Purington, to match our lounge’s marine/blue theme):

The piece de resistance – Graeme Ross’ Tiger … I’ve been waiting many many years to see this one framed!

And, finally, the one frame that I cocked up a bit (this was my 2nd framing attempt) … the corner shifted slightly when I was tightening up the clamps and I didn’t notice – c’est la vie, I still love it 🙂

These are all photos taken prior to adding the glass – I can’t believe it only cost AU$29 for 5 pieces to be cut, and the canvaswork and tiger pieces are decent sizes! Anyway, I’m really quite proud of these for first attempts – it feels wonderful to be able to say “I did all that” … from the stitching to the mat cutting, frame making, and the actual framing itself. I think I’ll be doing more in the future to give myself some more practice, and get some items out of the finishing pile.

Anyway, I’d better go get my packing done … it’s 8pm and I still haven’t even started yet! Maybe there’s still a bit of reluctance hanging around under that black cloud, but I’m sure that’ll be shaken off by the morning 🙂

Boo Club, Cross Stitch, Enchanted Mermaid, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Lizzie Kate, Mirabilia, Works in Progress

This used to be a stitching blog

22 November, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

This blog appears to be a photographic blog just lately, as I haven’t had the energy or the time to post an update – the only reason I have the photographic ones regularly is thanks to “post-dating”, as it means I can bulk publish for a couple of weeks, then go away and forget it! … Anyway, here’s a bit of proof that I have put the occasional stitch into fabric every now and then over the last week weeks, albeit not much!

Last weekend I had an extended weekend and had 4 days off work, and I spent the weekend housesitting on the other side of town (approx 1 & 1/2 hours drive away) for my close friends Brenda and Nigel – I had the distinct pleasure of spending the weekend with 4 furry pals … 3 cats (Comet, Ernie and Obi) and Dusty the dog (border collie). It was really lovely having animal company again, and lovely to see B&N as we’ve been strangers for most of the year due to my ill health and being too sick to travel far.

Anyway, while I was housesitting I sat in front of the huge TV and stitched away while working my way through B&N’s DVD’s and episodes of The Mentalist and ER that I’d missed. The main result of that was that I completed all of the stitching of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club – now all I need to do is attach some buttons, but that won’t be happening any time soon. I changed loads of threads in this piece, substituting for those I didn’t have in my stash … when I publish the final finished piccie with the buttons, I’ll add all the substitution details, along with the fabric etc 🙂

I also finished off the back of a little piece of gift stitching that I’ve been meaning to finish for the last two years – I wanted to personalise the back a little bit, which I’ve now done … and now I just have to put it all together – once it’s been received I’ll show a piccie (although I still have to finish-finish it, so don’t hold your breath LOL).

Over the last week I’ve had precious little stitching time, and this week will be even worse! This is as far as I’ve managed to get with Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid … I think it’ll be an entire month stitching up one rotation slot of 10 hours stitching! I wish I’d hurry up, ‘cos she looks distinctly creepy to me right now!

This week, though, my time will be focused on the following:

Yes, Mum, here’s proof that I’m actually doing some sewing … clothing sewing … on the sewing machine … for real!!! And as you can see, I’m even following my training and measuring from the side of the fabric to ensure that I’m following the grain of the fabric correctly! Ha, I guess those gruelling hours of being lectured about how to do things ‘properly’ really did sink in! I haven’t sewn clothes for over 20 years, so I’m incredibly nervous and reluctant about all this, but I did make a calico ‘dummy’ test to check the pattern, and I’ve been able to adjust the sides to fit semi-OK.

This outfit is for our work Christmas party which is this coming Friday – I’ve only just decided very last minute (aka this weekend) that I’d give it a go to dress up … unfortunately being a fatty boomba it makes it really difficult to go to fancy dress shops, and op shops are just out of the question … it was even a struggle to find a dress pattern that could be adjusted to my broad rear end, and just as hard to find fabric … BUT it seems this might just work … maybe! If nothing else, Katie is highly motivated for me to dress up along with her for the party! 😛

The theme is to dress in the decade of your birth … of course I had to be born in the decade of the mini skirt/dress, didn’t I? As it turns out the tunic top I’d decided to make to wear over trousers doesn’t seem to look too bad as a dress, so I’ve added an extra 3″ to the bottom, and it sits marginally below the knee now – I had to let it out slightly at the hips (thank goodness for the overlocker which will hopefully still work when I try it out tomorrow night), and I had to take it in a little bit under the arms – I haven’t tried it back on again yet since making the adjustments, but fingers crossed it’ll work out OK. Then I’m off to buy some big black false eyelashes, and a flick-up-bob kinda wig … and I’ll make a chunky purple necklace and earrings, I think – the only problem I have is with shoes – I think knee-high boots were all the rage back then, but I don’t have any … oh well, what am I stressing for, there’s still one night of shopping left, right???!!! 😛

Anyway, time to hit the hay for the night – we’ve been sweltering in a 42C heatwave all day today and I have to say I’m a bit exhausted from the whole melting day. It’s been a real effort just standing up in our little flat today, never mind anything else, and everything you touched around the flat was hot to the touch … even the stems of my poor ‘fresh’ lilies in their vase. I think both Katie and I will be sleeping with the electric fans on tonight, and praying for a reprieve from the sweltering heat tomorrow, we have too much to do!

Charity, Charity Stitching

Scissor fobs for a good cause

9 November, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

As I mentioned yesterday, I am now selling some of my scissor fobs via an ArtFire store – I have only managed to load up about half of my stock so far (that took me all the rest of the day yesterday), so not all colours and styles are available yet.

The first ten sales will have the proceeds donated to Coral and her family, in aid of baby Timothy.

Timothy ribbon

Timothy was born on April 16th this year and diagnosed with a rare form of Juvenile Leukemia on the 1st of July. The money will be going towards Timothy’s escalating medical costs.

Please do come and support a good cause, and help me sell those first ten fobs! Just click on the ArtFire link above, or the thumbnail below, and it should take you directly to my storefront 🙂

Alternatively, if you want to make a straight-out donation, I’m happy to take any and all donations and add them to the “bucket” to send to Coral. I can accept funds via PayPal (my email is shakatak @ iinet . net . au – just remember to take the extra spaces out).

Also, if you’re able to advertise on your own blog for this good cause, I’d be really grateful – if there’s enough business generated, I may be able to offer the proceeds of more than ten fobs 🙂

Canvaswork, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishing, The Drawn Thread

Small ornie finishing session

8 November, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

This week I’ve been a bit anti-social at home, rather being glued to the Ghost Trappers chat room and radio in my bedroom, so yesterday I made an effort to catch up with Katie while watching a bit of recorded TV, and decided to finish off a couple of old stitched ornies while sitting around. The following are the results of my wee finishing session – some were stitched by Mum (those on Aida), while the others were stitched by me.

The skiing Santa was one of the first XS pieces I ever stitched many years ago – Mum accidentally took it out of its hoop frame holder, so I made it into an ornie instead 🙂

I still have a HUGE pile of finishing yet to be done, but I figure if I just pull a few out every now and then it will eventually get whittled down. I’ve really lost my confidence with finishing over the last couple of years, so I think I need to just not think about it, and just do it – seems to be working so far! 😀

I also finished a pinkeep last night too, but I’m not happy with it this morning when seeing it in daylight, so I’m going to replace the ribbon used on it today, and hopefully will like the finished result a bit better.