Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Just Nan

More pumpkins

Yesterday I had a productive day that started off with planting up some parsley, thyme and chives into pots, along with a stunning velvety red pelargonium, followed by 3 loads of laundry, and finishing with a few hours of quality stitching time while sitting in front of the goggle-box clearing out some taped movies and TV shows. This is the end result of my stitching efforts last night (plus the final 15 minutes of backstitching this morning):

Just Nan-Horrified
“Horrified!” by Just Nan
Stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads
(but used B5200 instead of Blanc)

Then this morning I started another Just Nan ornament, which I forgot to take a photo of … it will probably only take me a couple more hours to finish it off, so I might as well wait until it’s finished now before taking piccies.  That one is called “Scream Girls” – just perfect for my Sunday Halloween SAL with Shelleen 🙂

And on that note, I’m heading off to put the electric fan on, and put my feet up in bed and stitch for a couple more hours 🙂

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, The Trilogy

Final (?) Halloween finish

I really do think this will be the last Halloween stitching that will get completed, as I’d really like to finish up two of my previous stitched pieces into flat-folds in time for Halloween this year – I managed to cut up one set of matboards yesterday, but that’s as far as I got … this afternoon I’ll go ahead and glue the batting on and the backing fabrics, and with any luck by next weekend I’ll at least have one flat-fold finish-finished ready for display.

Rightio, on to my next finish – I started this when we were on holiday in Cairns last week, and put the final stitches into it on Friday night while Katie and I caught up on a couple of TV shows (the only thing that is missing is the little silver pumpkin charm, which I don’t have, and not sure I have anything suitable to sub for it just yet):

The Trilogy-Halloween Spots
“Halloween Spots” by The Trilogy
stitched on 32ct Pipi hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended WDW threads, except Mascara (subbed DMC 310)

Mum flew home on Friday afternoon, but before she left she managed to stitch the backing fabrics and ribbon hangers onto the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments for me, which means I just have to trim the seam allowances, turn inside-out and stuff with polyfil.  Thanks for your help Mum, it’s really appreciated!

We also frantically got 3 lengths of cording completed for Mum to take home with her … which she unfortunately left sitting on the chair arm when she left, along with her DMC.  A quick trip to the Post Office just before they closed saw them winging their way home again to Mum in the post 😉

We did manage to get one more length of white cord completed for my ornaments – which means I can now get at least one ornie finish-finished very quickly … but the only problem is that a new start is diverting my attention from my finishing duties … a Halloweeny stitch that I’m finding really really hard to resist – hence the reason for the title of this post!  The tempting design is “The Bittersweet Season” by Heartstrings.  I’m soooo tempted to start stitching this one, as I don’t think it’d take that long to stitch being only 2″ wide (although in saying that, it would probably take a full weekend at least as it’s 11″ tall … hmmm).  But I really would like to get at least one flat-fold finished this week … oh decisions, decisions, LOL.

One thing I did manage to do yesterday was to mend my beautiful Greek mug.  I bought this little treasure on a trip to Greece about 11 years ago – due to a mix-up at airport check-in after being rebooked from a cancelled flight (after 7 hours waiting) I was told I had to pack some of my hand luggage into my suitcase (then got told oops I’ve made a mistake, you’re fine, you can go through now but you’d better hurry the flight is boarding) – this poor thing had its handle smashed into 3 pieces during the flight (it had to be put into the suitcase).  I never did get around to fixing it, and it’s been languishing in a box in the Mum and Dad’s garage ever since – I rescued it on my recent trip home, and glued the handle together again yesterday with superglue.  Unfortunately I’ll never be comfortable using it as an actual mug with hot liquids, but it is now happily holding pens and scissors on my computer desk so I can sit and appreciate its beauty every day! 😀

The other thing I haven’t done over the last month is to complete the Photo Hunt posts, so I’ll rectify that shortly and do a mammoth catch-up with those soon!

In the meantime I have some TV viewing I need to catch up on, and a million other things I should be doing rather than sitting on the PC, so I’ll leave it at that for the time being …

Ooh, before I forget, I had a number of questions about the designer for the 12 Days of Christmas ornies that Mum stitched – I’ve updated the previous post with the details in case you’re interested.  If there are any others that you want to know about, don’t hesitate to drop me a comment/email and I’ll give you the details.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Just Nan, Little House Needleworks, Lizzie Kate

More pumpkins … but no chatting time

Sorry for the drive-by post, but here are my latest pumpkin finishes for the Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010 while spending a week away from the computer away from home … I’ll update the blog more later when I have time to sit down properly, in the meantime here are the latest round of teeny finishes:

LizzieKate-Boo Squared
“Boo Squared” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with recommended Weeks Dye Works thread (except for Lucky,
which was substituted with recommended DMC)

Just Nan-Moon Riders Jinx
“Jinx ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

Just Nan-Moon Riders Jack
“Jack ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

Just Nan-Moon Riders Jasper
“Jasper ~ Moon Riders” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct Silver Birch hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended DMC threads

LHN-Pumpkins
“Pumpkins” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct Merino hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch
with recommended Crescent Colours threads

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010

One more little pumpkin

As you can see I have been sat on my backside all afternoon, and have managed to start and finish another wee pumpkin for the Great Pumpkin Challenge 😀  This will probably get turned into a scissor fob, which is what it’s designed to be … either that or an ornie … I’ll decide when I get home and have my finishing fabrics etc within reach.

Casey Buonaugurio-Jack O Lantern Scissors Fob freebie
“Jack-O-Lantern Scissors Fob”
freebie by Casey Buonaugurio Designs
stitched on 32ct dirty Belfast linen (from my mystery linen bag)
with recommended DMC threads

This was originally suggested to be stitched on light purple fabric … I think I may just have to restitch this one again as I think that would really make the colours pop even more than they do now!  The threads are really bright in real life, so once again my late night photography efforts under the Ott-lite have washed the fabric and thread colours out.

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

Still in New Zealand

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:

Nathalie-Chatrouille freebie
“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)

LizzieKate-Welcome Baby
“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)
2010 10 02_4437

Kiwi (New Zealand) flag at Ponsonby
2010 10 02_4438

Art sculpture at a city park in Auckland – these ‘buried’ buildings have always intrigued me
2010 10 02_4443

Sidewalk mosaic with Polynesian style
2010 10 02_4451

Rangitoto Island – an Auckland icon that will always make me think of home
2010 10 02_4458

Auckland skyline from Doug Myer Robinson Park
2010 10 02_4470

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)
2010 10 02_4439

2010 10 02_4440

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

One more wee pumpkin

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:

Waxing Moon Designs-Boo Pumpkin freebie
“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

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!

Drawn Thread-Autumn Scissors Keeper freebie
“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!).

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Lizzie Kate, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010

BeckySC has offered a challenge to post as many Pumpkin finishes as we can until 25 November as part of her Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010.  While I may not be able to contribute too many by the cut-off date, I’ve already kitted up a dozen or so potential designs to take with me on holidays, so I should hopefully get at least another couple of small ones completed by then.  And it’s a great motivation to get some Autumn and Halloween stitching done (Halloween stitching would seriously have to be my all-time favourite theme to stitch, if I had to choose one).  I have loads and loads of designs that include pumpkins, so this is a really fun challenge to participate in 🙂

While I’m not stitching pumpkins yet, though, I did find a Halloween stitch from earlier in the year that contains a wee pumpkin, so I decided to sit and finish it into a pinkeep today so I add another “finish” into the challenge. Don’t you just love the “Boo!” ribbon?  We found this at a local craft show last year 😀  Unfortunately, I only own one Halloween fabric which is really crappy, so I haven’t shared the backing fabric with you … I really, REALLY need to order some Halloween fabrics from the USA, so I can do some more finishing!  Plus I really need to turn some pinheads lime green! 😉

LizzieKate-Hocus Pocus

And now it’s time to get back to catching up on TV viewing while I potter around and do housework … and start packing for my upcoming holiday 😀

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

Autumn Exchange

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 😀

<JBW Designs-A Very Merry Autumn
“A Very Merry Autumn” by JBW Designs
stitched on 28ct Antique Ivory Cashel linen
with Crescent Colours threads

Just Nan-Hootzi Humbug
“Hootzi Humbug” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Antique Ivory Cashel linen
with recommended DMC threads and Delica beads

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Mirabilia

Happy dancing before bedtime

I was trying my hardest to get this piece finished on Saturday, but alas it is now 1.10am on Sunday morning and I’ve just put the final beads on, so I didn’t quite make it!  But it doesn’t matter, ‘cos regardless I’m doing one HUGE happy dance for this one! 😀  I couldn’t wait until tomorrow for decent daylight to take a photo – it looks much better in real life 😀

Mirabilia Nora Corbett-Halloween Fairy
“Halloween Fairy” by Nora Corbett
(from Cross-Stitch & Needlework magazine)
Stitched on 28ct hand-dyed Desert Sky linen by Silkweaver
with recommended DMC threads and Mill Hill beads