Finishes – Page 13 – Feather Stitching

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Halloween, Just Nan, Little House Needleworks, pillows, Twisted Threads

Pillows Galore!

28 November, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

The title sounds a little bit like a James Bond girl – however 007 has nothing to do with the title whatsoever … it DOES have to do with a mini finishing frenzy I’ve had this weekend (well, just today really). This is what part of the sofa looked like earlier today as I was planning out the backing fabrics etc:

And here are the results of my efforts today – not quite everything finished yet, but still a lot closer to that goal than when I started (including three ornies that weren’t in the above photo). Unfortunately the weather is rainy and revolting today and it was really dark in the lounge, so I couldn’t get really nice crisp light photos. The first pillow is probably my favourite with the little black buttons – but truth is I’m pretty pleased with them all 😀

The rest of today was spent doing a mercy run across the road for some serious junk food to stave off my cravings (definite proof of what time it is for this female, as if I hadn’t worked it out already) … and helping my elderly neighbour by climbing up on a chair and lifting her suitcases etc back up into the top of her wardrobe (I got them all down for her yesterday so she could go through them and throw out what she didn’t want – tonight’s job was to put all the cases and bags back up again).

I haven’t done any stitching at all over the last few days – just too tired at the end of the day, I think … which is probably why today was so satisfying to me, as it was proof of still doing something stitchy even without actually stitching.

Anyway, I’ll sign off by saying thanks so much to everyone for sharing their stories and comments from my previous post – it felt really wonderful to hear such positivity and helped me to keep my spirits high this week, higher than they’ve been in months! Thanks again everyone for your candour and your acceptance 😀

And on that note I’m skulking back off into the lounge to do a bit of a tidy-up session before Katie comes back from being out of town (which is usually the only time I get into ‘finishing mode’) … and to polish off a bit more of that junk food 😛

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, Great Pumpkin Challenge 2010, Halloween, Homespun Elegance, Twisted Threads

Halloween continues

23 November, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Thanks to the dreaded lurgy I’ve taken one extra day off work to catch up on some R&R, and catch up on some stitching. I have to admit it was the best thing I could’ve done, as I feel 10 times better already just by relaxing and chilling out in/on my bed. When I haven’t been sleeping, I’ve been stitching, and have managed to get another two small finishes under my belt.

“October Boo Mini Gingham” by Twisted Threads
stitched on 28ct beige/cream checked Graziano linen
with recommended GAST threads
(except Black Crow which I substituted with DMC 310)

“Boo Tyme” freebie by Homespun Elegance (available here)
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Lugana by Countrystitch – in colour “Acorn”
with the following thread choices:
Crescent Colours – Cocoa Bean
Crescent Colours – Pumpkin Harvest
GAST – Brandy

Bent Creek, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Summer Snapperland

Summer Snapperland – finally finito!

21 November, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

After waiting for 9 months to finally receive the little buttons needed to finish off Bent Creek’s Summer Snapperland, I then kept forgetting to blow off the dust and put the finishing touches into this little beauty. I finally pulled my finger out today and stitched on the 4 little sand-dollar and seashell buttons and this piece is now finish-finished. I’m totally thrilled with this piece – I adore the fabric I chose (a hand-dyed lugana), and the colours of the project itself … it won’t be long before I get this one framed, I think, after Christmas 😀

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

More Just Nan finishes

21 November, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I managed to get a whole heap of stitching done yesterday – I put the finishing touches into Scream Girls, then started and finished Pretty Wicked, also by Just Nan.

“Scream Girls” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch – Kiwi Illusions colour ‘Pipi’
with recommended DMC threads

“Pretty Wicked!” by Just Nan
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch – Kiwi Illusions colour ‘Butterfly Dance’
stitched with recommended DMC threads

This afternoon I intend having another lazy afternoon stitching, as I’m still trying to catch up on a month’s TV viewing from when I was on holidays – hopefully by the end of today I’ll be relatively caught up!

And while I’m catching up, I just may pick up one of my old WIPs to try and get one finished (only only has buttons left to be sewn onto it!)

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

More pumpkins

14 November, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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):

“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

24 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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):

“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

19 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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:

“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)

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

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

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

“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

6 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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.

“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

6 October, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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:

“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)

“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)

Kiwi (New Zealand) flag at Ponsonby

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

Sidewalk mosaic with Polynesian style

Rangitoto Island – an Auckland icon that will always make me think of home

Auckland skyline from Doug Myer Robinson Park

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)

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

One more wee pumpkin

28 September, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

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:

“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