Finishes – Page 20 – Feather Stitching

Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Finishing, Flatfold, Food, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, sydney flat

Where does time fly? (photo heavy)

30 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Here we are – Christmas is past and the New Year is almost upon us … blimey, how did that happen?!!!

I spent a wonderful few days with Brenda and Nigel over in the northwest suburbs of Sydney for Christmas. As usual Nigel did an exceptional job of Christmas dinner and we dined on turkey breast, baked ham, new potatoes, fresh beans and peas, followed by Nigel’s famous pavlova (the best I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying something as I’ve tried many; it was always my fave dessert growing up). Nigel doesn’t drink, so Brenda and I made up for his allowance, and we definitely imbibed a fair bit over those few days … including a bottle of Iron Gate Sweet Shiraz that I brought back from the Hunter Valley, and now Brenda is in love with it too 🙂

Santa was very very generous to me this year – my flatmate Lisa spoilt me rotten with some yummy chocolate dessert sauces, whisk and tea-towel set, a little tub of Mango Daiquiri mix (ie just add booze and chill), a Frangipani calendar and a beautiful bottle of Chocolate Port from Flaschengeist in a Christmas tree shape … boy she has a good memory, and Brenda and I had to sample it on Christmas Day to complete our Christmas dinner festivities. My other friend (who is about to become my new flatmate – see more below) bought me a beautiful blue and gold necklace and earring set, but I forgot to take a photo of it as I’m wearing it today!

Mum bought me a stunning greenstone (NZ Jade) necklace (I chose it when I was in NZ), with a fish hook shape with a whale’s tale at the end … very pretty 🙂

I also spend my Christmas money on an exquisite piece of glass sculpture – we hunted for the entire day for one with ‘just the right colourings’, and just as we’d given up we found one in downtown Auckland. This is a “Koru”, or Silver Fern frond, and I just adore it to death. Unfortunately the photo was taken without a light shining through it, so you can’t see the beautiful colours … I really must try to get a good photo of it. Brenda really loved this one too. Eventually I want to have a glass display cabinet which will house my stitching smalls, and this will sit on the top shelp with a spotlight on it to highlight the colourings 🙂

Brenda and Nigel gave me something that I will truly treasure always – Brenda does ceramic classes, and she’s done some incredible pieces … and this year she made me a Christmas keepsake that will bring years and years of happiness while it’s proudly on display. Handmade gifts are the best, and I feel truly honoured to have one of her pieces to call my own!! 😀

Talking of exquisite hand-made gifts, I also finally remembered to take a photo of the stunning ornie that Katrina gave me for Christmas, and it’s proudly hanging on my hand-made ornie tree. Thanks again Katrina, I really really love it!

Today I went shopping after dropping my mobile phone off to be sent off for repair, and unexpectedly picked up a new Christmas tree with 75% off at Myer, which means this year is the final time I will have a teeny tiny wee tree … next year I will have a big 2m tall tree overpowering the lounge space … and I can’t wait!! haha. Next year that should mean I can combine my bauble ornies with my hand-stitched ornies 😀

I did take a couple of photos of the various Christmas displays in my wee lounge to show Mum, including my set of 3 tables that the removalists tried to demolish (they broke 3 entire legs off of the largest one) – Nigel managed to glue them back together for me over Christmas, bless him, so I’m thrilled to have my tables back on display again yippee 🙂

Mum, this is the centrepiece display I was telling you about on the phone … I really love it!

And I finally “finished” another piece and put the ribbon around my flat-fold that I made quite some time ago (probably 2 years ago now!) – I love the bright red of the ribbon.

While I was shopping today I also scored a couple of cans of English Heinz Tomato Soup … ah, I’m in heaven! The Aussie version of Heinz soup isn’t quite the same, so I had a wee splurge. Not in the photo is also a bag of lemon sherbet bon-bons and box of Black Knight licorice 😉

I also picked up a couple of other treats … including a “fish on a stick” … this is also a photo for Mum’s benefit! I made a decision after visiting a shop with a marine/ocean/beach theme months ago that I really want to have that sort of theme for my lounge, and have been buying a couple of pieces every now and then (I think Susan set the seed with all of her dream home decor photos months and months ago, and it must have been sitting at the back of my brain all this time!) … first of all I bought some starfish for my coffee table when I had my girlie weekend away with Brenda and friends, and I’m now thinking of stitching some small shells along the edge of my sheer curtains … but now I have my own blue fish on a stick too! I also bought a wee tub of coral and shells to place in a plain glass bowl, but didn’t take a photo.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On a different note, last night I had a right royal treat – Tannia and her OH came to visit and stay the night. Even though it was a whirlwind visit, it was so lovely to see them both again – I miss them here in Sydney! I actually felt a bit flat after they left, and ended up taking the day off work to make up for a day I worked while in Auckland during my annual leave. Hence the reason I spent the day shopping, I think! I did feel really bad, though, ‘cos Tannia was her ever-thoughtful self and brought me some luscious gifts, and I had nothing to give in return … I’m such a bad friend! 😦

Thanks so much again Tannia, I love everything, and I miss you loads! {hugs}

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The final news that I intimated about earlier, is that my flatmate Lisa is heading back to Melbourne at the end of January. Her secondment is up then and she’s not interested in renewing it for different reasons … some job-related and some personal reasons. I’m going to miss having her around the place, as we’d become quite close over the last couple of months especially. All is not lost, however, as Katie is going to be moving in instead – her own living situation isn’t great (her flatmate is a druggie and, although quite good fun, is quite strange!). At least I won’t have to find someone else that I don’t know, and don’t have to struggle to make the rent on my own, which is great! Fingers crossed it’ll all work out, and we find living together OK.

Rightio, I think that’s just about all the news for now … I’m a bit scatter-brained at the moment, so I’ve probably forgotten something! I thought I’d better hurry up and make a post, though, as New Year will be here in 2 nights, and it’s unlikely I’ll be back online until we’re already into 2009!

On that note, I’d like to wish you all a prosperous and wonderful 2009!! 😀

Calico Crossroads, Cross Stitch, Finishes

Summer Grace

2 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick note to show my latest finish – the final stitches went into this piece on Sunday night, but I haven’t been able to take a good photo of it yet … so these photos will just have to suffice. It doesn’t do the colours justice, as the green fabric is a lot richer. Oh well, crappy photos are better than no photos at all … and it’s possibly going to be the final photo (if not post) before I head off on holiday.

“Summer Grace” by Calico Crossroads
stitched on a 32ct hand-dyed linen by Silkweaver
(whose name escapes me right now – Summer Meadow maybe??)
with recommended threads and MH Treasure (sheep)

I may try and scan this one later, or use my Nikon camera and see if I can get a more accurate result – my Lumix does a fantastic job of the close-ups, which is why I bought it, but the colour representation leaves a lot to be desired most of the time for these types of photos 😦

Cross Stitch, Finishes, The Drawn Thread

Autumn Arbor

24 November, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post before I jump in the shower and head off to work, to show my biggest recent finish – yet again I found the colours more ‘drab’ than I expected, and these photos actually don’t show the true colours well at all, but here it is in all its glory:

“Autumn Arbor” by The Drawn Thread
stitched on 32ct Summer Khaki Belfast linen
using recommended threads and beads (kit)

Here are close-ups of some of my favourite parts of the design – it was really fun doing the various stitches:

Surprisingly I ran out of two of the silks in the kit, even with being a frugal stitcher – thankfully, though, I had those two colours in my stash for a Chatelaine, so I could continue to stitch. I was also disappointed with two of the Gloriana silks that came with the kit – the threads were so very very skinny you could hardly see them on the fabric, so I ended up stitching with two strands for the cross stitch – I continued to use 1 strand for the specialty stitches, and I guess they look OK … the queen stitches were OK anyway (my first attempt at this stitch) 🙂

While I’ve been offline I can’t say I’ve done much stitching at all apart from Autumn Arbor – I have finished the stitching on my In the Dark Needleroll, and just have to put beads on, plus I’ve finish-finished two ornies (one for Christmas and one belatedly for Halloween). By the end of this week I hope to have finished “Summer Grace” by Calico Crossroads. I’ve boo-boo’ed by one stitch on the tree on this piece, but I’ve decided I can’t be bothered unpicking 8 rows of smyrna crosses to fix it, so I’ll be adjusting it where necessary and it’ll just be one stitch too close to the border on the right … no biggie, as it’s for me. It’s really pretty colours, and I’m looking forward to getting that one finished – I won’t bother taking photos until it’s 100% finished 🙂

Rightio, time to jump in the shower and get ready for another thrilling day in the office! 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Just Nan, Stash

Frightful Finish

26 October, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I stitched my little heart out yesterday and didn’t leave my stitching ‘chair’ except for toilet, food and drink breaks … and this is the result of the weekend’s stitching – a new finish, just in time for Halloween 🙂

“Frightful” by Just Nan
stitched on a mystery linen
with DMC & Just Nan’s embellishment kit

I just LOVE the colours on this one … it was great fun to stitch, although at times I wondered if I’d ever get through all the backstitching …

While I was uploading the photos I also came across one that I’d forgotten to post – this was my recent stash haul from the US … I put all the various packets of MH Treasures into one container to save space – and it means I now have all the Treasures needed to complete Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid (once I make a fabric decision of course).

Country Cottage Needleworks, Cross Stitch, Finishes

Home Sweet Home

19 October, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

One pink house with its little pink roses is now all finished – and I have to admit I really like it! I’m almost tempted to keep this one! 😀

“Home Sweet Home” by Country Cottage Needleworks
Stitched on 28ct Ivory Annabelle
with recommended threads

As for what’s next … I’ve had my heart set on stitching a Halloween project before the end of the month, and I’ve got a massive urge to get some of my UFO’s finished after publishing all the photos recently, so I’m going to re-jig my rotation projects short-term … My focus piece will be Frightful by Just Nan, and my Large/BAP project will be Mirabilia’s Winter Queen – once my Halloween piece is finished I’ll move Winter Queen into the focus piece slot until it’s finished … then I’ll start on my CA Wells pieces for next year’s class 🙂

Cross Stitch, Finishes, The Drawn Thread

Hallelujah!!!!

4 October, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

A few hours glued to the TV set with a needle in hand, and I’ve finally put the last stitches in that dratted sampler. I have to admit it doesn’t look too bad now it’s all finished, but I’m really glad it’s all over now!

“Garden Recipe” by The Drawn Thread
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with recommended threads (DMC) and kit embellishments

Sorry for the crappy photos but it’s a rainy overcast day today and not much natural light to be had – even using Photoshop Elements I can’t get a decent representation of the colours ho-hum …

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Just Nan

Just Nan’s “Evening Star”

12 September, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Yippee, I can finally post a “finished” piccie of this piece. This time the photos are crappy because they’re taken at night instead of early morning haha. I still remain very disappointed in the finished result purely because of the colours involved – I love some of the bands, but it just doesn’t “do it” for me.

“Evening Star” by Just Nan (class project)
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with recommended threads and beads (embellishment kit)

Going by some of the comments I’ve received during the stitching progress it appears there are a few people out there that do seem to like it, so I am pleased to finally be able make the “big announcement”…

This finished project is “free to a good home” – if anyone would like to go into a prize draw for this piece, please leave a comment stating this clearly, and at the end of September I will draw one name out of the hat to send this piece to.

I will finish it as a quilted wallhanging so it’s ready to hang in it’s new home (you will just need to provide the hanger itself). While it is quite lovely, I guess, I just don’t feel compelled to display it on my walls, and probably never will, so I’d rather it went to someone who would appreciate it 🙂

Now I guess it’s time to work out what to stitch next … I’m seriously considering going back to a mini-rotation, as I have some BAP’s that need to be worked on, so I’ll have to put some serious thought into that soon … for right now, I have no idea what I feel like stitching on next. Might have to sleep on it and see what the new day brings … 🙂

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Darling Harbour, Finishes, Finishing, Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Lizzie Kate, Stash, Sydney, Val's Stuff, Works in Progress

Ah, Bliss …

27 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Today I walked out from work at 5.10pm … and felt like a little kid skipping out of school early! It feels really fantastic! Helped that today was the first day that I haven’t been pulled in a million different directions due to urgent things being thrown at me, I managed to actually get some of my own work done for a change … serious bliss!

My rant did me good last night – on top of the productive day, and normal working hours, I feel much brighter today. Apologies to Mum, as this is not how it sounds ‘cos I love having Mum visit, but it’s been really nice to come home to an empty place and not having to have a conversation – I have been anti-social for two days and have found it a great chance to unwind properly at the end of a stressful day without having to chat. I’m hoping by the end of the week to be a bit more back to normal again 🙂

Mum returned home on Monday morning, but we had a wonderful weekend before she left. On Friday we spent the afternoon visiting craft stores – although neither of the stores we visited were really ‘fantastic’ we did manage to find something at each one to spend a couple of dollars on. At Lyn’s needlecraft I managed to buy some pink and cream fabric (yeah, me, pink!! LOL) … and a duck!! (I don’t have space for the ones I currently have, but that makes no difference LOL). At Hobby Sew I bought a smaller version of the wire hanger I use for my embroidery scissors – this one is to hang my junk jewellery on, and was proudly hung on the side of my computer desk tonight.

Friday night saw us having dinner with Brenda and Nigel, and it was really wonderful to catch up with them again. I’ve had to promise to visit again soon and stay the night – that’s no hardship, as I’m looking forward to it.

Saturday morning saw us up bright (OK maybe not) and early (most definitely) and driving into the city. That’s my first attempt in driving into Sydney city itself, and I have to tip my hat to my TomTom GPS ‘cos he managed to instruct me perfectly and painlessly to the parking building I wanted. We picked my friend Jason up at the airport then went to Darling Harbour in the freezing cold where we stuffed ourselves on a cooked breakfast, followed by the compulsory stop at the Lindt cafe for takeaway delices and a Mochaccino … yum!! It was really nice to see Jason again, and I’m really glad we changed our plans to visit with him (he was transferring through Sydney on the way to Asia on holiday).

As soon as we showed Jason the way to the train station for his return to the airport we hot-footed it down the motorway to Rosehill Racecourse to the Stitches & Craft Show, where we met up with my good pals Alison and Amanda, and met some new ladies Karen and Rowena. It was really awesome to catch up with these ladies again – they’re always such fun to spend time with. I was pleasantly surprised with the contents of the show … we parted with a fair amount of cash, although when we got home we didn’t seem to have as much as we remembered 😉

My biggest splurges were two pieces of hand-dyed fabric – one from Peppermint Stitches (for Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid hopefully), and one from Stitches & Spice (36ct mottled/vintage neutral colour), plus a big Santa for my main Christmas display this year (thanks to Dodgey Brothers R Us removalists, I no longer have my beautiful ceramic Christmas tree centrepiece, as it arrived in a squillion pieces). Here’s a photo of the full stash haul (combining both mine and Mum’s purchases). I nearly squealed with delight when I saw a butterfly charm (Susan Clarke design) that will match my Just Nan Dragonfly scissor purse … I didn’t care about the $27 price tag, I HAD to have it!!! (The Christmas items aren’t in the photo as I can’t be bothered unpacking them from the box.)

Other purchases were some metal charms for scissor fobs, some Dress It Up buttons (snowflakes and stars), cheapo scissors for travelling, and the most adorable metal hanger for my Christmas quilted wallhanging. Doesn’t it look perfect?

Crikey, I barely blog for two weeks and now I can’t shut up!!!

I’ll finish for the night by showing my very minimal stitching from the last week or so – here is my latest finish:

“Life’s a Stitch” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct natural Belfast linen
with recommended GAST threads

And here is my current work in progress – I’m trying to stitch predominantly those charts that I’ve bought special threads and embellishments for and are essentially kitted up. Once I get through a few of them, I’ll add the designs to my trade list (I’d better hurry up and get stitching or you’ll be waiting for a while!). This project is Just Nan’s “Evening Star” which is a retired class piece. At my current stitching rate it should be finished some time in the middle of September haha.

Last night I was in such a cranky mood I vented my frustration by doing the finishing on my August Christmas ornie – if that’s the result of being angry with work, I should keep it going every night!! LOL. I added a little white pom-pom-thing with glue once the pillow as finished 🙂

And now it’s time to settle in and get some stitching in (after once again lugging up my next round of laundry washing – I figure the more I get done tonight, I won’t have much to do at the weekend).

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Heart in Hand Needleart, Works in Progress

A WIP and a finish

9 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

First up is my “In the Dark needleroll” – if I were to do this again (which I wouldn’t do) I would definitely make some changes! Firstly I think I would squish the wording up closer together and have it more centred, then I’d bring in the stars closer to the moon. The way this is designed when it is turned into a needleroll you won’t see the full wording and definitely won’t get to see the sparkly stars, which seems such a waste as they’re so lovely! Unfortunately by the time I worked that out I was too far into the stitching to be bothered unpicking everything. I think it would be much prettier that way, though (mind you, I haven’t done the finishing yet, so I could be wrong).

One change I did make, however, was to leave off the ‘smiley faces’ on the stars so it didn’t look quite so ‘juvenile’, and because of that I left off the bead ‘nose’ on the stars and just used the metallic braid. All-in-all not my most favourite piece to stitch, but I do like the finished product – the colours and the sparklies do look very very pretty in real life … my Mum kept ooh-ing and aah-ing over it throughout the stitching process 😉

It still isn’t finished, though – I need to find some beads to substitute for those listed in the chart, and I’ve decided to do the bargello and buttonstitch bands for the top and bottom hems … yesterday I’d decided to leave it and finish it with a normal hemstitched band, but today I’ve had a change of heart, so back on the Q-snaps it goes …

When I opted to leave the bead selection for the needleroll until today, I couldn’t just sit and do nothing, so here is a very quick ornie stitch that I managed to stitch up in a couple of hours last night.

“Christmas Peace” by Heart in Hand Needleart
stitched with recommended threads (GAST)
on 32ct opalescent Lugana by Silkweaver (the colour escapes me right now!)

This fabric is one of the worst fabrics I’ve ever stitched on in my life – I truly detest this fabric, both the colour and the feel of it. I bought this originally to stitch Chatelaine’s Egyptian Garden Mandala on it, and hated it, so unpicked what I’d done and started again on a hand-dyed linen instead. Unfortunately I was left with all this revolting fabric and I didn’t know what to do with it … my idea to use for ornies instead – truth is I still hate it, and think perhaps I should try dyeing it myself. The photo gives no idea of what the colour is actually like – it is almost peachy/apricot in colour, yuk!!

I have no idea what will be stitched next … nothing is screaming at me right now … I had the day off yesterday due to feeling crappy, so Mum and I sat in my bedroom and stitched all day – today I woke up with my mind turning about work issues, so perhaps I’ll go in tomorrow and try to get some work done, as obviously it’s preying on my mind under the surface hmmm. I’ll see how I feel when I wake up in the morning … in the meantime it’s time to go stash diving for a new project I guess … or perhaps I should have a day at the sewing machine … or perhaps I should just have a day off … oh, so many choices 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Lanarte, Sea Life

Lanarte – Sea Life finished

5 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I put the finishing touches to the final part of the Lanarte Small Sea Life series while Mum and I sat watching an hour of TV tonight. I really love the colours of this series – and adore the little fishing net at the bottom of this piece.

“Small Sea Life #1” by Lanarte
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC cotton floss

Here’s a quick shot of all four together:

Not entirely sure what I’ll start stitching next – it’s likely to be a needleroll that’s been kitted up for forever and a day … I’ll be working late hours yet again this week, so will only get an hour in each night if I’m lucky (if I’m awake enough to concentrate on it when I get home!).