Finishes – Page 21 – Feather Stitching

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!).

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Lanarte, Sea Life

Lanarte finish – part 3

4 August, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

We had a stressful day on Saturday thanks to spending a couple of hours with a technician from Harvey Norman … during that time the internet also decided to spit the dummy and our wireless connection stopped working, which was necessary for the technician’s visit. After a few frazzled hours we managed to send the technician on his way, and we settled down for a few hours stitching – then yesterday I spent the day in my PJ’s and we stitched all day.

I managed to finish off the third part of my Lanarte Sea Life series, and decided I was so close to getting this set finished, I thought I might as well just keep on stitching the final part as well. I just have 4 little backstitched seagulls left to stitch before the whole series is finished … Here is the first one finished from the weekend:

“Small Sea Life #2” by Lanarte
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
using DMC cotton floss

Hopefully I can get the seagulls finished tonight, which means there will be another finish photo very very soon.

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Full Circle Designs

July Christmas ornie

30 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post as I’m really dead on my feet – I didn’t get home from work until 8.50pm … isn’t it nice to see my work has slowed down a bit? Hmmmph …

Anyway I’ve made what feels like a superhuman effort to stitch my Christmas ornie for this month, and the final bit of backstitching went in tonight during my hour’s ‘home time’.

“The Decorator” by Full Circle Designs
from 2007 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 28ct mystery linen (rue green maybe?)
using DMC plus Carrie’s Thread (Gold Glow) for the hat trim

Cross Stitch, Finishes, scissor pockets, Stitching Smalls, The Cat's Whiskers

Alyssum Scissor Pocket

28 July, 20089 August, 2024 Anne S

My stitching mojo seems to have deserted me over the last week or so (in fact every kind of mojo has, I think, including my blogging mojo) – I’ve been too tired to do much at all, but I forced myself to put the needle to fabric yesterday and put the finishing touches into my scissor pocket.

“Alyssum Scissor Pocket” by The Cat’s Whiskers
Stitched on 32ct Blue Ice hand-dyed linen by Country Stitch
using Dinky Dyes silk from the kit

I have to say I think the silk colour is a strange choice for these scissors, as there is more turquoise blue than the greeney-blue of this silk – I was actually tempted to replace the silk, but then I thought it would be a waste of money, so I just bit the bullet and started stitching … It may not be the perfect match for the scissors, but I still really love it 🙂

I also made a start on this month’s Christmas ornie late last night, but I may not get it finished by the deadline of Thursday – will give it a go, though.

Just a short post, as I need to finish getting ready for work.

Bellpulls, Cross Stitch, Finishes, The Drawn Thread

Sunflowers galore!!!

13 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve had a lazy day sat in front of the goggle box today – no Christmas ornies completed, but I do have one other very happy dance! I’ve managed to finish off my Sunflower Sampler – I was surprised how long it’s taken me to get the final bands finished, but finally it’s off the scroll bars … that block roll will have a new resident for a while 🙂

Unfortunately the photos are grotty again, as it’s early evening and I can never get a good shot at night 😦

“Sunflower Sampler” by The Drawn Thread
stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen by Wichelt
using recommended threads (DMC and WDW)

Here are a few closer photos of the individual bands:

I think this very last ‘triangular’ band is my absolute favourite of the whole piece … followed by the house and birds.

I just love the beading accents on this piece, it really brings it to life a bit more 🙂

Now is the big decision what to stitch next … I have no major urges to start anything in particular, so goodness knows what I’ll come up with … I’d offer a poll to help make a decision, but WordPress won’t allow polls (one of the very few things that is annoying about WP – everything else I much prefer over Blogger). Never mind, I’m sure I’ll come up with something to stitch over the next week! 😉

Block roll, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Pauline's Needlework, pillows

It’s no wonder the weather has changed!

12 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve been little Miss Homemaker on my time off … up early this morning (although still in my PJ’s now at lunchtime haha) I yanked the shower curtain off the rail and chopped about 3″ off the bottom, then turned up and stitched a new hem on the machine. Our shower curtain has needed a trim since we moved in in January, but 6 months later it is finally done. That means once Lisa and I have had our showers today it can go in the washing machine, and for once we won’t be tripping up on it in the bottom of the bath!

After finishing the shower curtain, I was all set to put a beef and red wine casserole mix into the slow cooker, but alas the meat still hasn’t defrosted yet, so a change in dinner plans tonight, I guess. What I did manage to get done, though, is my first ever flanged pillow – I think it’s WAY too over-stuffed, but I guess I’ll know better next time. All the same, I still think it turned out cute. If you’re interested in knowing what the design is, you’ll have to look back through previous posts – for obvious reasons I’m not re-posting that information now. I think I’ll have to re-do the girls’ hair ribbons, though, as they got a bit mutilated while I was turning the pillow inside-out.

I also managed to take some clearer shots of the Block Roll, including one of it opened up – half a dozen projects are now comfortably residing in the rolls, ready to have some more playmates once my needles get back into action again. (I’ll go back and replace the photos in the previous post as well.)

Updated to add: Thanks for the question, Joanne – the centre of the roll is a pool noodle cut into an 18″ length. I think I might make another longer one so that it’ll cater for my Mirabilia finishes (once I have done!). The white fabric is actually felt, which grips like glue onto whatever you place on it … not entirely sure how much I like that, but at least they won’t slip and slide while rolling it up! Each pool noodle will give you enough length for 3 block rolls, so it’s likely you’ll see another one or two popping up on the blog at some stage … especially as the noodles came in a pack of 3 as well! 😀

As for ‘what now?’ … I’m not entirely sure what I feel like doing – I know I have a whole bunch of ornies to be finish-finished, but I think I may have a break from finishing today and do a tiny bit of stitching on my Sunflower Sampler – hmmmm, perhaps I should have my shower and get dressed then decide … I really do need to get those ornies finished … hmmm …

Block roll, Finishes, Stash

Sunflowers are AWOL

11 July, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

So much for spending my day off today stitching my little heart out … I managed to stitch for just over an hour when I first woke up and almost finished the ‘wording’ band of the Sunflower Sampler – but I haven’t bothered taking a photo of it. I did, however, have a relatively productive day in other ways.

My day was made special by having an electrician finally turn up after a month of having no kitchen light – we’ve been surviving by using a bedside lamp on the kitchen bench, and swinging my Ott-Lite into the kitchen doorway for an extra special bit of a light. Now, however, we have a beautiful white glowing bulb that seems bright enough to light up the entire neighbourhood. That also means that I’ve been able to use the sewing machine after 5pm, as it’s getting dark by then (the dining table is in the kitchen, and that’s the only place available to set up the machine).

Anyway, today (after a trip to Spotlight to pick up some felt) I finally managed to put together a Block Roll – I’ve been wanting to make one of these for what seems like forever, and after receiving one from Katrina as a gift I’ve been in dire need of a larger one … poor Katrina’s one is almost bursting at the seams from all the stitching I have crowded inside it – so now I can split out my ornies etc from the larger pieces. It’s literally taken me all day to make this – partly ‘cos I kept having to find all the supplies, and partly because I’ve hardly touched my sewing machine since buying it last year, and I’m still not comfortable with using it. I’m pretty pleased with the overall result, though – I didn’t take a photo of the whole roll unravelled, but it’s really quite long (about 35″ in length).

The pattern is called “Block Roll” from That Raggedy One (by Kate Hampson, Australia). Unfortunately taking the photo at night means the colours/photos aren’t fantastic …

I remembered after finishing the stitching that I’d actually bought that butterfly fabric to make some summer pyjama pants … oops, I guess that won’t be happening now! 😉

I was originally going to finish my ‘infamous’ piece of stitching from a couple of weeks back into a pillow today, and got my fabric all ironed and ready, but ran out of time … instead, I took a photo of the fabric along with the other items of stash I bought from Berrima when Mum was over visiting last month. I was thrilled to find the quilt hangers, and even though I didn’t need it, I just couldn’t resist that little duckie tape measure!

And ‘just for the sake of it’ I took a photo of my fabric stash … quite pitiful compared to many people’s, I’m sure, and it never seems to hold that ‘exact’ shade of fabric that I need, and invariably a trip to Spotlight is needed … (which of course always has a truly pitiful selection of fabrics anyway)

Anyway, it’s time to go clean up the kitchen table from all the fabric scraps before Lisa comes home in the morning (not that she’ll really care!) and then hit the hay for the night – seeing as I only have two whole words left to stitch on the Sunflower Sampler, I may make that my mission before I curl up in bed, and given my electric blanket time to take the chill off of the sheets 🙂