Here are the next group of fobs that have been completed – I’m just in the middle of creating a few more then the bead boxes will be going away for a while and it’ll back to stitching again:
Category: Finishes
Finished needlework
Scissor fobs galore (picture heavy)
Here are the latest collection of beaded fobs for the collection – some of these will be winging their way to friends home soon, but some may end up in an Etsy shop … maybe …
The next group will go into a separate post.
No Photo Hunt this week
… Because the week’s theme is “Garbage”, and to be honest I don’t feel like taking photos of rubbish bins or its contents, and I can’t think of anything clever that’s not actual rubbish … so for me this week’s theme is garbage and I’m not playing …
Instead this weekend I took Thursday and Friday off, and caught up with a friend from Melbourne on Thursday night before she flew out to Tokyo – then on Friday I managed to pick up yet ANOTHER blasted viral infection and over the last 2-3 days have had a blocked nose, raging sore throat, and today have added sore ears into the mix … never ever in all my life have I had such a rotten run with viral infections – I’m starting to think the boy in the bubble had a brilliant idea!!! At least I have plenty of cold & flu tablets left over after the last bout, so I’m well set up!
Due to feeling not too crash hot over the last few days, while my stitching has been relatively non-stop during the day, my pace has been very very slow – I have, however, managed to meet my UFO challenge for this month by completing the final of the 4 larger pieces of Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello. I have to say this is definitely my least favourite piece of all of them – I really don’t like much at all about this section. The colours, in my eyes, are quite washed out, and an odd blend, and I really detest the acorns and leaves – they seem almost ‘clumsy’ in the middle there. Unfortunately I wasn’t clever enough to try to replace them, and by that stage pretty much “over” stitching it, so I just wanted to get the darned thing finished and off the Qsnaps to be replaced by something else. Only two more ‘medium’ sized pieces to go and it’s all finished. I’m a bit tempted to just keep stitching until it’s finished, but after the totally unenjoyable stitching session I’ve just finished, I feel like something simple to cheer me up in the meantime.
I’ll leave you with photos, before I head back into the warm cozy confines of my bed once again …
A Little Bit of Quaker
After finally charging my camera battery up on my point and shoot, I can show piccies of KarenV’s Quaker RR – this is round 3 of our RR, which means we’re just over the halfway mark, with just 2 more rounds left to go. Unfortunately not true to life colour, but the best I can do on a dark winter’s night with no natural lighting. I have to admit I found this a challenge trying to work out which bits classed as which bits for the designated colours, and it’s definitely slower to stitch this way, but it really is worth it in the end result! Karen does an awesome job of selecting colours! This is one really pretty Quaker!! 😀
(Sorry, but it’s also quite blurry … my hands obviously weren’t entirely steady at the end of the day!!)
If you want to see the other finishes for this month and previous month you can check out our blog here.
As well as taking photos of the Quaker pieces, I also snapped a couple of new photos of Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello, which are as follows (and shows the stitching and colours much more accurately):
As for what project I decided to pick up next, I opted to make a start on the final ‘large’ piece of the Stitching Leporello as this month’s UFO challenge … which I think means after this one there are only two medium-sized pieces left … and then I have the major challenge of finding some lining fabric and attempting to put it all together – perhaps a job I’ll save up for when the Dragon comes to visit next month, with an excuse to go fabric shopping 🙂
Following is the paltry start I managed on the final large section tonight – woohoo, hold me back! 😛
At the moment I’m struggling to make a decision on my new start project, and the choices in the pile are currently:
- LHN – Ladybug, Ladybug
- LHN – Travelling Stitcher
- LHN – Home of a Needleworker 2
- LHN – Dear Diary, Abigail Winslow (I think – don’t have it in front of my right now – the one with the lighthouse/ocean theme)
- Sampler Cove – Quaker Huswif
- Just Nan – Winter in the Square (just need to coffee dye the fabric first)
Ah, decisions, decisions … Mind you, at the rate I’m stitching these days, I’ll be lucky to get my Chatelaine square finished by month end, never mind anything else … I’m feeling a “stitching RDO” coming up (and definitely a stitching weekend away at the end of the month – yippee!!).
Anyway, time to hit the pillows for the night before the alarm clock screams its head off at 5.30am (yucky!!) – I’m loving my gym workouts already … perhaps next week we may even start doing some of the classes like body pump etc … 😀
Missing in Action … Again
Finally over the last two weeks I’ve been feeling ‘normal’ again – after two months of being as sick as a dog, it feels great to finally get some of the old energy levels back and feel like doing things again.
Two weeks ago Katie’s Mum came up to visit for the weekend, so I drove us down to Bowral and Berrima for the day. I managed to pick up some darkish fabric to complete the set of fabrics of a potential quilt top … now I just need to find the original pattern for it, or work out how to use my quilting software that I bought years ago to replicate the design – one day…
This week saw me getting up before the crack of dawn with Katie to head out to the gym before work – which then had the effect of seeing me in bed exhausted at 9pm every night … which hasn’t been particularly conducive to stitching of late! It will, however, (assuming I can keep this up) be conducive to shifting some of this weight and getting me healthier overall … which will also help to give me added years to do my stitching with any luck 😉
Unfortunately my camera battery died over a week ago, and I keep forgetting to charge it up again, so the following stitching finishes are compliments of my scanner, which means they’re truly, truly dreadful photos! These were finished over a week ago, with the Christmas ornie just finished in time for June’s monthly challenge. Once my camera battery is charged up, I’ll take proper photos of them and replace the ones below.
Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello
Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello
“Heartfelt Harvey” by Imaginating, Inc
from 2008 JCS Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 36ct vintage blue evenweave
with Gloriana silk in Deep Blue Sea
Last night I put the final stitches into KarenV’s Quaker RR piece, but I’ll wait and charge my camera battery up today before I show a photo.
Friday night saw farewell drinks and dinner for the member of our team who was made redundant in the recent job cuts. He’s been one of the few people in the office that has helped me to keep my sanity – he’s a bit of a geek, and very introverted, and reminds me a lot of myself … we’d both often work late and that’s when I’d get to know him more, when others weren’t around. I will miss him incredibly … and wish him all the very best for whatever direction life takes him into next. The room spun in his honour on Friday night when I got home … so I guess we gave him a good send off!! 😛
Rightio, that’s about all the news here – not very exciting at Chez Feather Stitching at the moment … I am, however, really itching to start a new stitching project, I just can’t decide which one for now. Perhaps I should put a poll up, or just draw numbers out of a hat … either way, the month will be spent on more of Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello (I only have a couple more pieces to stitch now), the next instalment of our Quaker RR, and two Christmas ornies for this month’s challenges, and starting whatever new project screams the loudest (or is the luckiest to get drawn out of the hat!).
Beaded Scissor Fobs and some Stash
I’ve just managed to pop into the lounge to take photos of the scissor fobs I made last night – as you can see from the main photo, they ended up a real mixed bag in terms of length … there definitely will be more coming ‘cos they’re so much fun to make! Now I know why some of my other stitching pals (Hi Cindy!) find these so addictive!! 😀
And here’s an individual photo of each fob so you can see the bead choices more clearly.
I really do need to go shopping to get more clear beads etc, though, as I have an over-abundance of blue beads (funny that!) but not so many ‘fillers’ … I’m soooooo tempted to go back to the craft show today!! 😛
And finally, here’s all I have to show from the Craft & Quilt Fair yesterday – including a piece of the world’s largest ric-a-rac, and some more Swiss lace for Shepherd’s Bush needlerolls (can never have too much!!), and my squillions of ‘pandora’ beads … many of these beads are destined for other uses, eg fobs, but I did buy a bracelet while I was there yesterday too … and yes, there is rather an overload of turquoise and blue!! 😉
Finally, here’s the sum total of my week’s stitching – one more tiny addition to Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello. I just had the border left to stitch and the beads/metallics on it’s companion piece, which will hopefully be finished by the end of tonight … after that I will be trying to make some more progress during the week of my Sweetheart Tree UFO, Wildflowers Needleroll (which I started here in the flat while waiting for my furniture to arrive!).
And now I’m about to, sadly, mark all my feeds as read in my feedreader, as it’s depressing the heck out of me – I’ve been trying hard to catch up on the backlog, but still have over 1700 unread feeds … I’m finally going to bite the bullet and wipe the slate clean, so I can continue to keep up with everyone’s news without feeling overwhelmed every day. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but couldn’t bring myself to do it … but today is the day! I want to get back to commenting regularly again! So, in advance, I apologise if I’ve missed any major personal news, but I look forward to reading about you all regularly again 😀
Couple of small finishes
After having one whole half week of feeling fantastic and over my viral bugs, on Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat, and have been a snot factory for the last 48 hours yet again … too much information, I know … fingers crossed this round won’t hang around for quite so long! Having a ‘cold’ for the last 6 whole weeks was just a teensy tiny bit too much, especially when two of those ended up being without pay 😦
Anyway, over the last week or two I’ve been sitting and stitching a few tiny projects, and here are the results:
First up a freebie from IHLE-Design, stitched in a DMC variegated floss:
Then a wee freebie from My Aunt’s Attic, stitched in a Carrie’s Threads floss:
Afterwards, in need to something else to stitch, I decided to finish off a Christmas ornament that I started when visiting Mum in Auckland back in April:
“Christmas Cheer” by Heart in Hand Needleart
Next up this weekend was Folk Heart Needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush:
“Folk Heart Needleroll” by Shepherd’s Bush
And lucky last, Ice Blue Snowflake ornament by Mill Hill:
“Ice Blue Snowflake” by Mill Hill
Long weekends are great, especially when you sit up in bed all day with the sniffles!! 😀
Latest finishes
Following are my latest finishes, thanks to me damaging my ribs further after another coughing fit yesterday morning, and having to be escorted over the road to the doctors by my flatmate … the only way I could get comfortable is sitting propped up in bed … perfect for stitching … (sorry for the dreadful photos – all taken at night under indoor lighting)
“Spring Garden” freebie by Indigo Rose
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with recommended threads (DMC)
This one is a typical Just Nan special … lots of colour changes and details – certainly not a quick stitch! This has taken me a couple of full days stitching. The colours are definitely not true to life in this one – might have to try taking a new photo in daylight …
“Autumn in the Square” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Light Mocha Cashel linen
with recommended threads (DMC)
Now it’s time to put some clothes on and walk over the road to pick up the repeat script of my antibiotics – and time to take some more Voltaren and Panamax … bless those darned drugs, is all I can say (it’s a killer being allergic to codeine and digesics, no decent heavy-duty painkillers that I can take … when I had my eyes lasered I could only be given Paracetamol, and that’s two days I never ever want to repeat in this lifetime!).
Missing in Action
I’ve been giving my computer a wide berth over the last couple of weeks … I’ve had a set-back with my health, after going back to square one with a viral relapse two weeks ago and feeling like death warmed up. I’ve been struggling to get through work every day, and after a full 4 weeks of feeling like cr*p, I ended up back at the GP’s office this week after dislodging a rib from trying to cough up my lungs on Thursday morning. After finding I had a temperature (which is totally unheard of for me), and kept bursting into tears all morning I’ve ended up off work again to try to recuperate. My “immunity is knackered” (direct quote from the GP), so I’m taking it easy, and continuing to take some time away from the PC.
I think my Mum is missing my blog posts, however, so I’m making an effort to catch up quickly with my latest stitching before switching off again. I owe some people emails, and will get on top of that shortly …
While I’ve been offline I’ve managed the following stitching finishes:
“A Christmas Song” by Full Circle Designs (2008 JCS ornie magazine)
Stitched on 32ct Days Gone By Silkweaver linen
with a mix of threads substituting those of the
recommended threads I didn’t have
“Stitching Leporello” by Chatelaine
“Snowflakes in Abundance” by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched on 32ct white Lugana
with recommended threads,
but substituting the snowflake charm
Viruses can be good :D
I still feel a little bit stunned and shell-shocked, but having 3 entire days of uninterrupted stitching thanks to a poxy virus means putting the final stitches into my Winter Queen … I still can’t believe it!!! The photo doesn’t do her justice! And this is one piece that will definitely be getting framed for my walls 😀
“Winter Queen” by Mirabilia
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC, Mill Hill beads and Kreinik metallic braids
Started November 2005 – Finished 28 April 2009
Feather Stitching 