Christmas Ornaments – Page 3 – Feather Stitching

Brown House Studio, Christmas Ornaments, Crazy January 2013 Challenge, Finishes, Hillside Samplings

Another WIP bites the dust!

3 September, 2013 Anne S

I managed to put the final stitches into another one of my challenge pieces for this year (although I’m no longer actively completing the challenge!) … this one has always put a smile on my face when I’ve seen it, and I was very lucky to be gifted with this chart from my wishlist some time ago – it’s great to see it finally stitched up, and still puts a smile on my face with the scrummy colours and delightful charm 🙂

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“Little Blue Potting Shed” by Brown House Studio
stitched on 32ct pewter Belfast linen
with recommended WDW/GAST threads

I also forgot that I haven’t shared another wee finish from a few days ago – this was my first attempt at getting back into stitching after being sick, and unbelievably took two whole days to stitch (yep, definitely feeling sick!). This is supposed to be a Xmas ornie, but I’ve opted to leave off the border and remaining stitching and I’m going to turn it into a scissor fob instead 🙂

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“Star Topiary” by Hillside Samplings (2000 JCS ornie issue)
on 32ct mystery hand-dyed linen
with recommended threads (WDW & GAST)

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Little House Needleworks

Peppermint ornament

27 August, 2013 Anne S

After having an afternoon ‘nap’ of 4 hours, I decided to try finishing my Peppermint ornament by LHN and surprised myself by managing it 🙂 It’s supposed to have a JABC peppermint cane button attached, but when I placed it on my ornie it didn’t suit it at all (not to mention it seems I had bought the wrong size!). Unfortunately I chose a fabric that was a bit too light so the DMC 3865 didn’t show up clearly – I had to sub it with DMC B5200 to allow it to show up at all. But that also means the colour doesn’t match the button at all … never mind I think I prefer it without the button anyway, so this is how it will stay 😀

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“Peppermint Twist” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Lugana by Countrystitch ~ colour Pipi
with recommended threads (DMC, Crescent Colours, Weeks Dye Works)

I really need to stop being lazy and taking my photos on my iPhone late at night … note to self, start taking photos using your camera in the future!!!

Brown House Studio, Canvaswork, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Northern Pine Designs, Works in Progress

A touch of vertigo and stitching

27 August, 2013 Anne S

Finally my work project launched recently, but not until I’d had a few weeks of really long hours – including a 2am finish and a few 10-11pm finishes in the final week. To say I was a touch mentally and physically exhausted at the end of it all is definitely an understatement. My boss very kindly offered for me to have a few days off work in lieu of all the extra hours I put in … so I decided to take 3 days off at the start of last week, 2 days of which were in lieu from the previous month’s project … only to fall ill on day 3. I had a wonderful couple of days off where I managed to stitch up a Christmas ornament, and did a whole lot of cooking for the freezer … but then on day 3 I woke up with severe vertigo, and have been bed-bound for almost a week since then. The last couple of days I’ve managed to sit up in bed and watch TV, but I have only managed to walk over to the doctor’s surgery once yesterday, and came straight back to bed again … I did, however, manage to put a few stitches into a canvaswork project – it was a nice calming distraction, and didn’t tax the eyes too much with the nice large holes in the canvas etc.

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“Folk Art Topiary” ornament by Brown House Studio (2004 JCS Xmas ornie issue)
stitched on 28ct Golden Needle Country French linen
with recommended Crescent Colours threads

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“Ebb Tide” by Northern Pine Designs (work in progress)

Today I’m going to attempt to try and finish off another ornament already started, but in truth the fabric holes are really hard to see, so I may give it up as a bad joke pretty quickly … but if nothing else I’ll be catching up with the final episodes of Season 3 of True Blood … I hadn’t watched any of them before, but they were ‘free’ to watch on Quickflix (as part of my monthly membership), so I’ve been glued to the gogglebox watching all 3 seasons over the last couple of days … it looks like seasons 4 and 5 are on there too, so I know what I’ll be doing for the next week or two … I knew there was a good reason to up my internet quota, I’ve certainly been making good use of it at the moment, that’s for sure!!

Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Glory Bee

Snow by Glory Bee

28 July, 2013 Anne S

I just felt like doing a bit of stitching that didn’t tax the braincells too much yesterday – I’ve been working long hours again at work, and Dad’s back in hospital again, so I couldn’t handle doing the beading on my Enchanted Mermaid (which has sadly been languishing in the corner with all my other stitching in recent weeks). So I decided to drag a partly kitted ornie out of the ‘kit box’ (these all have the fabric ready and cut to size, but don’t have the threads) … once I pulled the threads I had a very slow stitching session … it took me almost 6 hours to stitch this little ornie, but at least it’s better than no stitching at all, and I think it’s a cute little finish. I was unsure of my fabric choice on this one as I was stitching, but kept plugging along anyway. I guess it didn’t turn out too badly after all 🙂

Glory Bee-Snow

“Snow” by Glory Bee
Stitched on 28ct mystery hand-dyed linen (can’t even remember which company!)
with recommended GAST threads

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Theme Thursday, threads

Crazy January Challenge #1 and other Finishes

13 January, 201313 January, 2013 Anne S

I picked up my needle for the first time since returning home yesterday and managed to put the finishing stitches into two pieces – one a VERY overdue travelling pattern, and one I started over the Christmas holiday in NZ. I would have got a lot more stitching done yesterday if I hadn’t chosen to watch almost the entire season of So You Think You Can Dance (season 9) that had been taping while I was away … that show is definitely NOT conducive to stitching!! I’m really thrilled, though, to see both my favourite dancers were given “winner” status … the male winner brought me to tears on a number of occasions in the last couple of episodes! Anyway, I’d better get on with what I came on here to post … here are my two finishes for yesterday, starting with Easter Treat by The Trilogy. This was originally going to be a Crazy January Challenge pieces for 2013 but I started it earlier than expected while I was in NZ – I was never happy with the lack-lustre thread choices, as the ‘sweet pea’ border was really wishy-washy and everything just looked so ‘blah’. I also wasn’t happy to have pink as the predominant colour and of course had to replace it with blue – the problem being there wasn’t enough of the kit thread, and the only colours in blue I had with me were a lot brighter … in the end I bit the bullet and ripped out the entire border and re-did it in a brighter fuchsia silk I had brought with me and used a brighter blue. I’m so happy that I did that as I now really love the brightness and colour combinations in this one!

“Easter Treat” by The Trilogy
stitched on 32ct Summer Khaki Belfast linen
but substituting a couple of threads from the kit choices

The next one is a travelling pattern that has been well overdue for stitching – I have to admit that I’m quite unhappy with my colour choices for this one. I chose a rich blue/purple Stef Francis silk for the centre text and border hoping to then add other blues to the mix – sadly, though, when it was stitched the purple colour overpowered everything and none of my colour choices seem to work (not helped by the fact I chose an ice blue linen to stitch it on!). In the end I chose a dark purple for the contrasting text and just forgot about trying to use blues … I think I’ll definitely be stitching this one again in the future, but next time it’ll be on a plain white Belfast with blue threads! In the meantime I have other commitments to complete, so that won’t be happening for a little while yet … I have to admit, though, that I still like the finished version, it’s just not how my mind had planned it! 🙂

“Good Things” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Ice Blue hand-dyed linen by Countrystitch
with a mix of Stef Francis silks, Carrie’s Creation threads and DMC

I’ve also heard that a couple of finished pieces were received by their recipients, so I can finally show the finished products here (sadly one ornie exchange has gone missing in the mail so I have to stitch a replacement this week to send over to them).

“2010 Ornament” by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched with recommended threads and beads for ornament exchange on Aussie Facebook group

“White Christmas” freebie by The Drawn Thread
stitched on 36ct Pipi hand-dyed linen by Countrystitch
with recommended threads except Kreinik braid and GAST Claret (used substitutes for both)
I can’t find the ‘finished’ photo, which seems to be a regular occurrence for me lately!
(freebie is still available here)

“Joyeux Noel” by Monsterbubble
(my version choosing my own colours)
(I forgot to take a photo of the finished version, so I asked the recipient to take one for me!)

And that’s it for me for now stitching-wise … this afternoon I will be kitting up my next travelling pattern, as well as ensuring all my upcoming rotation pieces have all the threads and fabric kitted up ready for ‘action’. I’ll be heading back over to NZ again in a couple of weeks, so I want to be much better prepared for it this time round – even though I’ll be working while I’m over there, we fully intend to have some leisure time in the evenings, which for us means stitching time 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes

Final WIPocalypse post for 2012

29 December, 201229 December, 2012 Anne S

Unfortunately I can’t show piccies of the latest stitching I’ve been working on, as I’m on holiday with my parents in NZ and didn’t bother bringing my laptop with me … and of course I left the cord for the camera … and Mum’s PC is so old it doesn’t have a memory card slot … so the only stitching I can show from the last month is an ornie that I quickly whipped up in my last weekend at home before I flew out that I’d uploaded to Facebook – it was a gift for a work colleague who had had us over for lunch the previous weekend – hopefully she likes it as I didn’t get to see her before I left, and I could only leave it on her desk for her on Xmas Eve. I also just realised that I never took a photo of it finish-finished, so I’ll have to get Pauline to do that for me!

“Joyeux Noel” by Monsterbubbles (I think)
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with totally different Au Ver a Soie and Belle Soie silk threads from the design
(I wanted a more traditional look for Pauline)

The other stitching I’ve been doing is a little bit on a Bent Creek Easter design, and I am about 2/3 through Blossoms and Blackbirds by LHN (most of which was stitched last night). My Dad was taken into hospital 2 days after I arrived home and we’re just awaiting a surgery date for him now – it was supposed to be on this coming Monday, but now there is doubt that it will happen, and we were told to come pick him up from the hospital today and to take him back again tomorrow night. I’m glad I’m here as a support for both Mum and Dad even if it’s just for playing chauffeur service to/from the hospital and taking Mum shopping etc. At least he had a really great Christmas Day with our extended family before he went downhill again 🙂

And on that note I guess it’s time to head back into the lounge and pick up my stitching once again for some more family time – better make the most of it again before we head back to the hospital again tomorrow night!

Christmas Ornaments, Country Cottage Needleworks, Finishes, Heartstrings, Mum's stitching

Feathered Friends Santa

9 December, 20129 December, 2012 Anne S

I finally managed to get this ornie finished today – it’s only taken me pretty much an entire month to stitch this one … I was supposed to work this afternoon, after spending a few hours at a work colleague’s home for pre-Christmas festivities, but I was feeling a bit “over it” and decided to give work a wide berth for the night … I might regret that decision tomorrow, but it’s something I needed I think.

Anyway, here’s the finished product:

“Feathered Friends Santa” by HeartStrings/The Artists Collection
Stitched on 28ct Vintage Wichelt linen
with recommended GAST, DMC and Kreinik threads, except for 009HL which I subbed with 009

Last month I also finally put the finishing touches into one of Mum’s stitched ornies – I just had to add the mouths and the French knots, and it’s all done now ready to go back home to Mum once again.

“Season of Love by Country Cottage Needleworks
Stitched by my Mum
(from JCS Christmas Preview issue 2010)

And on that note I’ll call it a night … I might blog more often again soon, as Mum has got her PC up and running again, so my main audience member is back online – and perhaps doing that will keep me off of Facebook more, which is my biggest time waster these days!

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Works in Progress

Sorry for the missing photos everywhere! & WIPocalypse update

6 December, 20126 December, 2012 Anne S

Really sorry that there are “Temporarily Unavailable” pictures everywhere on my blog … I forgot all my photos on here were hosted on Webshots which has just shut it’s doors … and I need to find the time to upload everything somewhere else and re-add them into the posts once again … that is obviously going to be a MASSIVE undertaking seeing as how long I’ve been blogging for 😦

Unfortunately I’m also working 12-14 hour days every day at the moment, so I don’t have the energy at night to fix the pages up just yet. I apologise for any inconvenience, but I’ll return to fix the blog as soon as I get some spare time, but that may be a couple of weeks away yet.

As for the WIPocalypse, I can also blame my woeful working hours that I’ve barely picked up a needle in the last month. The only stitching I’ve really done has been two ornie finishes for exchanges (which I can’t show yet), and half an ornie for myself that I started about 3 weeks ago and still haven’t finished! If nothing else, I guess I can show you my ‘half an ornie’ for the month … maybe that’s better than nothing, and proof that I did at least pick up a needle at some stage towards the beginning of this lunar cycle!

And here are two little snippets from the exchange ornies that I completed (which I’ll be able to share in the final post for the year I guess):

Beading, Chatelaine, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Freebies, Lizzie Kate, Paw Printings, Stash, Stitch-alongs, The Floss Box

Some more pre-biscornu finishes & some stash

15 September, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Thanks to a little bonus from work, I spoilt myself with some stash as a treat before putting the rest on bills … here is the result of my latest mail run – Quaker Christmas II ready for a SAL starting on 1 November, along with a couple of potential silk threads for it (In the Burgundy by Silk n’ Colors/Threadgatherer, and Warratah by Dinky Dyes). I also picked up a big piece of 28ct Lugana for my first HAED start, some 35ct Parchment WDW linen, 38ct Cream Bellazia linen, and a few replacement threads and beads I needed. Then finally there is some 30ct Tin Roof WDW linen for my Lizzie*Kate Mystery Sampler which Mum has gifted me for Christmas (and the final instalment is here in this pile too).

As for stitching, I can show the previous biscornu finishes, although they’re still waiting to be turned into actual biscornus … I can’t show the final one, as that’s still waiting to be received by my exchange recipient.

“Violets” by Chatelaine
stitched on 28ct white Cashel linen
with recommended threads, Kreinik braid and beads

“Free Biscornu #34” by The Floss Box
stitched on 28ct white Cashel linen
with recommended DMC threads

And lucky last, I recently put the final touch to my Christmas ornaments by Paw Printings, by adding the little red beads.

“Golden Garland ornaments” by Paw Printings (from 2005 JCS Christmas Ornie issue)
stitched on 28ct mushroom Lugana
with recommended threads and beads

No more stitching done this week, due to some long working hours, but I did manage to be entirely lazy this morning and start putting some more Mill Hill beads into new containers … one more big batch yet to be done, but I need to get some more little containers before then (they’re hopefully due to arrive very soon).

Mill-Hill-Beads

Not much else to write about this week, really, so I guess I’ll leave it at that for now 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Stash, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

August WIPocalypse update – part 2

3 September, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Not much stitching taking place throughout August on my WIPs where a finish was the result … although I did almost manage a finish of some ornaments that have been sitting around for months, and months, and well many more months – the first one below got put to one side ‘cos I wasn’t enjoying stitching with the threads … I decided to finally suck it up on 26 August and get them finished, until I realised I didn’t have the Mill Hill beads I needed to finish them! Stitchy friends to the rescue, though, and some will be winging their way to me soon so I can get them finished next month 🙂 (Thanks again Amanda, you rock!!)

The “before” shot as they stood at the beginning of the year and start of the challenge …

The “after” shot as they both stand now … just waiting for the beads to be added now 😀 Was hoping they’d be finished during the week last week, but I was working mental hours so too tired when I got home, then I was house-sitting the weekend just gone with an active border collie and 3 kitties, and decided not to chance beading!

I did manage to finish one other WIP, though, which was another small Christmas ornament – I don’t know why I put this to one side for so long … once I put my mind to it it didn’t take too long at all to add it to the “finished” pile on 20 August. I really like the colours in this one.

“Christmas Tree Quilt Ornament” by Handblessings
stitched on 32ct antique white Belfast linen
with recommended Needle Necessities/Threadworx threads

Another WIP I worked on a little bit is a Sweetheart Tree scissor fob … another one where I’m missing some beads, but hopefully they’ll arrive in a few weeks and I can finish this one off before the next update is due 🙂 Once again I’ve put the before and after photos here 🙂

The last piece of stitching for the month was actually a new start … it only took a few hours and this one was put into the finishing pile – I just love it, it’s so sparkly in real life! 😀

“Ice Blue Snowflake”, Tiny Treasured Diamonds kit by Mill Hill
Stitched on kit fabric, with MH beads and DMC

And when I wasn’t stitching over the last month I was labeling beads, using what have now become my favourite bead storage units … so much so I’ve had to try and track down some more so I can finish the job 😀

And the other hobby over the last couple of weeks is increasing my XS stash (well, that of myself and Mum to be exact) … which is sadly a hobby that is short-lived and I’m back on a no-stash diet (although I still have a few things yet to arrive, such as those wonderful bead storage units) 😀