Finishes – Page 25 – Feather Stitching

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Small finish and lovely visit

27 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post to show my latest small finish – I’m thinking of picking up a bigger project next, so it may be a while before there’s another finish … as well as the fact that I’ll be losing my internet connection again in a few days time. I’ve just spent a couple of hours uploading piccies for the next couple of months for the Photo Hunts, for that exact reason – I’m not sure when I’ll be up and running for the internet again, and uploading and downloading is a tad harder at an internet cafe than it is at home … anyway, if you don’t see me online for a while soon, you’ll at least see one post a week, as I’ve uploaded posts for the Photo Hunt right up until 3 November – I know I’ve said it before, but I seriously LOVE that functionality of WordPress!!

Anyway, onto the piccie – here is my latest finish:

Miniature Bellpull Ornament by The Drawn Thread
from 1999 JCS Christmas ornie magazine or 10th Anniversary issue (which is where I got mine from – the 1999 JCS ornie mag is the only one I don’t own … {pout})
Stitched on 36ct summer khaki Edinborough linen
using DMC and Needle Necessities threads as recommended

In other news – my foot is perfectly fine … I had a lot of stiffness and pain in it on Saturday, and went to see a GP as I felt quite worried about it – but she said I hadn’t done any major damage and I still had relatively good mobility, so just to keep applying the ice packs. Well, you’d never believe it, I woke up on Sunday and hardly had a twinge!! It feels fantastic! 😀

The other great news from Sunday is that I caught up with Tannia and had a lovely relaxing stitching day (hence the reason my Drawn Thread ornie got finished – I just did a couple more hours when I got home and finished it up). As always, Tannia is wonderful company, and it was great to just kick back and relax with needle in hand, and old movies on TV, without a care in the world. There’s also a treat in store for you, Mum, next time you come over – Tannia has very kindly given me some Christmas ornie magazines for you 😀

Not much else to report apart from that … I’m now off to the lounge room to watch a couple more episodes of series 3 of Moonlighting while I put a few more stitches into another ornie, then tomorrow is “clean up” day when I start packing my things away again in preparation of moving out. I have another week out in Seaford, then I’m looking after a place in Edithvale for 3 weeks with an elderly (and apparently well behaved – that’ll be a nice change) kitty.

Rightio, time to get cracking again …

(Updated to add:) Forgot to say, I finished reading Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows yesterday morning – couldn’t put it down in the end! Even though I haven’t read any of the others yet, I have no regrets whatsoever for reading it. It’s unlikely I’ll sit down and read the other books yet, and I wanted to read it before I knew what the ending was. I’ve seen all the movies to date, so at least I knew all the characters and the terminology … although after seeing the movies, I have to say all the characters in the book were now ingrained in my head as the actors who played them … much less imagination needed haha. Anyway, I have to say I loved it! 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Round Robins

Stitching progress

21 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a seriously fast drive-by to upload these stitching piccies … I’m on 5am shifts at the moment, and I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I’m going to go lay down for a short time – but wanted to post these while I’ve got them on the computer screen …

First up is the latest progress shot of round 4 of our Quaker Friendship Sampler RR. This is the piece belonging to Barbara, and as normal the photo does the actual piece no justice at all, it’s truly gorgeous! Love the choice in colours! 😀 I can’t believe we’re actually 2/3 of the way through this RR now, with only 2 more stitching sessions left! That means I must have Nicki’s arriving on my doorstep next, followed by the last in line (for me), Katrina’s. I’ve loved stitching this, my very first full quaker design … and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Next up is a tiny wee finish, that believe it or not took me three whole days to stitch (yep, my mojo is well and truly lost – I’d normally sit and stitch that in less than a day hmmm). Anyway here goes – here’s Snow Faces by Just Nan:

Sorry for the crappy photography just lately – I always seem to be taking photos at night and the lighting here is appalling … but you get the general drift.

Rightio, I’m off for a kip/reading/TV session … no doubt his nibs will be wanting to use me as a cushion as well, so I’d better get my battle gear on ready. Not sure whether I’ll be reading the final Harry Potter book (thanks to Daniel for buying it, I’m starting my first Harry Potter book by reading the final one – dopey? probably!) … or whether I’ll be watching season 3 of Moonlighting (also compliments of Daniel and Jason – Jason especially LOVES old TV shows, so I’ve been watching seasons 1 and 2 all week) … but either way I won’t be sitting upright! 😉

The GREAT news is that I cashed in some gift vouchers at Officeworks and bought a 2GB flash drive so I’ve FINALLY been able to download this month’s Gift of Stitching magazine – the DVD/CD drive won’t let me copy files on Daniel’s PC, and I won’t have the internet after I leave here for a while … now I’m very very happy as I’ve been able to download and copy the August issue .pdf file plus a couple of online freebie charts back onto my laptop – yippee!!! 😀

Rightio … off to my sofa in the corner I go before I fall asleep in a pile of drool on the keyboard! …

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Update & technical help needed …

19 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

It’s a good job I preloaded all those Photo Hunt shots, or my blog would be looking quite bleak at the moment (well, bleaker than it really does anyway) … which reminds me, I must get a few more shots taken, as I only have two more week pre-loaded up! I have been distinctly missing in action – and haven’t felt like blogging at the end of the day after travelling and making dinner. I’ve tried reading a few blogs, but it’s incredibly hard work ploughing through so many and never seeming to get anywhere – I still have well over 1000 feeds to read, and that’s something that won’t be improving in the near future either, after I leave here. It also doesn’t help that when I come into the ‘computer room’ I have to put up with Sean meeowing his head off and bouncing off the door trying to get in … but if I let him in he’s a typical cat and just wants to sit all over the keyboard, desk, or mouse, and throws a tantrum if you don’t give him 100% attention or if you move him out of the way …

I’m still looking at alternatives for replacing my mobile internet, after telling Unwired to shove their crappy service, but I’m not hastily jumping into anything this time but checking out options.

“Three” have a new service where I can use my Nokia mobile as the modem (just have to work out how to download the software etc, as I’m going to need it on my laptop, and for some reason Daniel’s PC won’t let me save anything to disk), and I wouldn’t have to buy a new laptop modem (a USB one is $299 and a card is $399). The connection speeds are much much lower (up to a maximum of 384 Kbps hmmm), but if it saves me $399 short term, it could be worth considering … The costs are $29 for 1GB (which includes both downloads and uploads, which is a pain), $49 for 2GB or $69 for 3GB per month. I think I need to think about this one some more, but I’m likely to settle with this option after looking at others, mainly because I wouldn’t have to buy a separate modem, and it’s like an ‘add-on’ to my current service, meaning I can cancel at any time without incurring costs.

Now this is where I need some technical help …

The great news is that I’m getting my GPS, thanks to my company giving us a bonus – yippee! I’ve decided to upgrade from buying just a standard GPS on its own and get either the HP iPaq 5765 or 5965 which is a PDA with built-in TomTom GPS – for only a small difference in price, I get many more benefits (including not having to lug around a bulky diary everywhere with me with my phone contacts etc). Now here’s my dilemma … I could pay $180 extra for the 5965 which has 2GB memory instead of 1GB, and it has WiFi (the cheaper one doesn’t) … would it be worth the extra money?? I’m thinking I could take it to a cafe in the city, and download my emails (it has Microsoft Office Mobile 5.0 loaded up) without having to lug my laptop around … then synchronise my emails to my laptop at the end of the day. Would that actually work??? I’m thinking that way I could just sign up for wireless internet at the ‘basic’ level of 1GB downloads/uploads … as long as I had an alternative to downloading my emails if I ran out of downloads etc … ??? And I could just make a trip into the city and enjoy a coffee somewhere while downloading my emails – sounds like a dreadful proposition hahaha.

What else have I been up to? Here’s a picture of the fur-babies I’ve been living with recently – first up is Alice and Hugo looking serene and peaceful in the sunlight (you’d think butter wouldn’t melt in Hugo’s mouth, would you?)

Then there’s Sean … I’m very happy to report that Sean now follows me around the house like a shadow, and has ceased all of the hissing over the last few days – he’s back to being a very cuddly and friendly kitty who’s a pleasure to be around. It’s a shame that he’ll probably be back to hissing after a single day of Daniel being home again (although I have to update that – he did it again last night after I moved him, and I got cranky with him and wouldn’t let him back up onto the sofa with me – he sat and sulked for a while on his chair, but I’m not going to put up with his temper tantrums, the little bugger!!) 😦

Anyway, here he is propping himself up on the sofa arm, waiting for me to come and join him in my stitching corner the other night! 😉

Talking of stitching, here are two teeny projects I’ve finally managed to get finished. I have to admit I’m still finding stitching a major chore, and I’m not enjoying it at all – I’ve forced myself to sit for a couple of hours over three nights this last week to try to get myself back into the swing of it, but I can’t say I’ve loved it one iota. I’m going to try to get some more done today, and get a wee Just Nan one finished (updated … it’s now finished, but piccies will have to wait). My Sailor’s Valentine kit will be heading over my way from Perth very soon for the CA Wells class next year, so I’d better hurry up and shape up and get my mojo back again!!! I also need to get the latest round of the Quaker Friendship Sampler RR completed (updated … it’s 2/3 done now). Anyway, here are my two teeny finishes to date:

planted hearts needleroll 1
Planted Hearts Needleroll by Lavender Wings
Stitched on 32ct waterlily Belfast linen
using recommended threads (DMC)
replaced Mill Hill treasure with another glass bead I had to hand

biscornu side 2
Side 2 of my biscornu using Debbie Draper’s design
from Gift of Stitching Magazine
stitched using Carrie’s Creation threads in Ocean Blue and Lavender
(after Jenna’s recent comment this will always be the Jenna/Anne biscornu now!!)

I also have a gift to share but I need to contact the sender first … I’ll try to update soon with the latest stitching finishes and my gifts sooner rather than later – mind you, I’m on 5am shifts this week, so it could be a good thing to keep me awake in the afternoon! 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes

Just a quickie …

17 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

No time to really chat – just a brief update to show my latest finish … after posting that pitiful progress report the other day, I pulled my finger out and went out to pick up some cheap DVD’s to watch (namely the first season of Medium, and the films Music & Lyrics, Invincible, The Guardian and another one whose name escapes me that I can’t be bothered getting up to check). Anyway, the result is this:

A Tiny Rose Garden Mandala – freebie by Chatelaine
Stitched on white linen with recommended threads

I also started a needleroll, seeing as it was the Needleroll SAL weekend this weekend just passed, although I don’t have too much to show for it. I’ll keep stitching on it until it’s finished, though, even if it means getting it finished after I move out from this housesitting job. I only have one more week left, and all my stash will be going into storage some time over the next couple of days boohoo. I haven’t joined in with any of the needleroll SAL weekends to date this year, so it was nice to start it up again now. I’m making sure I have at least one more needleroll within access from the storage container door, along with a couple of Christmas ornies to try to keep a couple of smaller projects on the go throughout the next few months.

Rightio, back to it again … no time to chat – time to get a few more chores done, and watch two of those movies before it’s bedtime. And seeing as I bought the missing 2 DMC threads at lunchtime today, I can get back to finishing off the top half of my needleroll …

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Finishing, Gifts TO BE FIXED

Quick update

10 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Not much time to blog, as I need to get dinner cracking (aka defrosting and reheating in the microwave LOL) … after having a really horrendous time over the weekend, I’m taking it easy this week. I spent almost the entire day in bed again yesterday, only surfacing at about 7.30pm hmmm. Today, though, I feel quite a bit better – and definitely better tonight than I did this morning!

I received some more yummy mail today, but I haven’t had chance to email a thank you yet, so the piccie will have to wait for that … what I do want to post is that FINALLY my gift for Tessa is ready to go in the mail! Only a couple of months after meeting each other, and I can get it mailed out. You see, my original drama had to do with not being able to find any suitable pins …

First of all, I thought I had some at home already – when I proved myself wrong, I went out and bought some …

These turned out to be waaaaay too small head-wise, although the colour was pretty good (but they’re incredibly sharp and the small container now fits perfectly in my stitching bag as a handy tool).

Back to the drawing board, and I bought 4 wheels of pins so I could pull the red ones out … well, don’t ask me what the heck I did with them, ‘cos they disappeared from sight until I was packing up the flat last month – but the colour turned out to be wrong (ie too pale for the ribbon, and a totally different shade to the stitching) …

Another shopping trip and two more packets later, and the colour STILL isn’t right …

BUT today the mailman brought me some pins I ordered online (thanks Andrea for advertising that shop on Ebay!) … and FINALLY the pins are just perfect!! If anyone local needs any pins at any time, scream out, ‘cos I bought a bucketload of different colours (blue, red, purple, beige, and white, from memory – I haven’t opened the box up properly yet) ;P

Here’s the final version of Tessa’s pinkeep … and believe it or not I finally managed to upload the photos off my phone of our meeting in Acland Street – my old PC would never acknowledge the upload cable, but my new laptop seems to play nicely and they’re finally off the phone and into the computer memory woohoo!! (Thanks to my housesitting job for the lovely interesting backdrop!)

Anyway, my sincere apologies, Tessa for the delay, but it will be winging its way to you some time this week! 😀

Rightio, off to the lounge for dinner and a bit of a tidy-up ‘cos there’s packing stuff all over the place and I need to get everything into storage again this weekend … It’s getting closer to moving day, and I’d like a week of rest beforehand, if I can. Plus I need to do all the housework too, of course, and next week I’m on overnight shifts yucky 😦

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Stitch-alongs

Bless being bunged-up with a head cold!

30 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

‘Cos it meant taking an extra day off work today so I put the final stitches into Bordeaux. Thanks to my SAL buddy Carol for getting me started on this journey … it’s been a fun ride, and it looks great all finished (photos in no way do it justice at all). It’s quite a long piece, with the stitching measuring 19cm wide by 49cm long.

Bordeaux Sampler by Sampler Cove
Stitched on 36ct white Edinborough linen
with recommended threads (Vikki Clayton silks)

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

For the Birds finished

12 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick post, as I’m still not really in blogging or chatting mode right now. I woke up feeling the best I had all week, and headache-free which is a minor miracle this week … then a phone call from Fraze’s Dad killed all that, my thoughts are back in turmoil, and my headache has returned … roll on GP visit, is all I can say, ‘cos it didn’t take much at all to knock me back down again! Today at work is not going to be a fun shift for my first day back!

Anyway, here’s my finished For the Birds – the chart will be winging its way to a blogging pal soon, as I know she loves DT designs, and doesn’t have this one. The colours are a bit more ‘drab’ in real life than I would have liked, but it’s still a nice project – not sure how I’ll finish it, probably just add it to the ‘framing pile’ for later, I guess.

For the Birds – the Drawn Thread
Fabric: 32ct natural Belfast linen
Threads: As recommended (Needle Necessities & DMC)

Tomorrow Mum arrives, and we’re having a Mother’s Day lunch as soon as we get home from the airport, before I head off to work. Then next week it’s ‘all go’ I guess … although I’m on overnight shifts, so it might be a week of going slowly. And now I need to go visit Fraze’s Mum next week some time as well, as she’s in hospital at the moment, so I’m not sure how I’m going to fit that in as well, as it’s on the outskirts of the city at the other end of town, and I’d have to come home again to drop Mum off before going back into work – oh well, something will work itself out. I also need to go there when I’m feeling really good, as sometimes it can be hard work smiling through the moaning and carry-on even when I feel 100% perky (I won’t go into further details here).

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, SBQ

SBQ and another ornie

3 May, 20073 January, 2019 Anne S

Thanks for the words of advice and comments about my shoulder – I tried Nurofen and stretching etc for the first 24 hours, but it didn’t do anything. The last time this happened I put up with it for a couple of weeks and felt like a wreck due to the lack of sleep etc – I eventually got the name of a ‘nerve manipulator’ in Heidelberg, and she fixed it. It’s not very pleasant while she’s manipulating it, but it’s all over with in a couple of minutes and well worth every single cent spent. I checked yesterday, though, and I had a crappy pay (my overtime comes on next payday) so things will be extremely tight for the next fortnight … mind you, Jan (the manipulator) told me that if you don’t treat a trapped nerve it can eventually affect your breathing and you could end up being hospitalised, so now I’m more educated about it I’m happy to get it fixed as soon as it happens (but I’ll always give it 24-48 hours to see if it clears itself first). It just means I’ll stocking up on essential food only for a fortnight again 😦

Anyway, I sat and had a glass of sparkling wine last night to help ease the pain (yeah, OK, the truth is I just really really felt like having one! LOL) … and I managed to finish one last ornie for the day (even I have to admit my needles have been smoking the last 2 days!). This one is so much prettier in real life in the magazine photo – the DMC 498 is so rich and scrummy, I love it! 😀

Elizabeths-Design-Christmas-Rose-a-02May07

“Christmas Rose” by Elizabeth’s Designs
from 2002 JCS Christmas ornie issue
Stitched on the same 28ct ‘mystery’ evenweave as yesterday using the recommended threads

Now, before I head off and do some tidying up and general housework for the day, I’ll answer the last two SBQ’s, ‘cos as per normal I’m behind in answering …

2 May – Today’s SBQ was suggested Kathryn and is:

How many WIPs do you have? How many UFOs do you have? When does a WIP become a UFO?

Hmmm, good question … first of all I guess I class a project as a UFO when I haven’t touched it for about a year. As for how many WIP’s I have, I’d say 8 in my current rotation, although three of those technically became UFO’s as I hadn’t touched them for just over 12 months (Egyptian Garden Mandala, Winter Queen and Le Jardin Silk Sampler) … as for other UFO’s, I’ve managed to finish a few over the last two years, and I’m down to a sum total of 30 now – but there is a pretty big mix of what type of project they are, ie they’re not all XS. Breaking them up into categories, I have:

5 Stumpwork (all by Jane Nicholas) – Needlework Accessories set; Dragonfly; Pomegranates and Beetle; Honesty and Heartsease; Oriental Poppy
13 Cross Stitch/Counted Thread – TW’s English Garden Sampler; Mediterranean village scene; Love and Affection by JBW Designs; TW’s Noah’s Ark; Nature’s Resting Place by Stoney Creek; Topiary Tree bookmark by Textile Heritage; Christmas Welcome on plastic canvas; Butterflies & Hearts needleroll by Lorri Birmingham (I’m going to unpick and change the colours); Apricot Elegance by Cindy Valentine; Hussif by Martha Schmidt (class project); Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine; Winter Queen by Mirabilia; Le Jardin Silk Sampler from JCS magazines
1 Beading – 3-dimensional beaded fish
2 Quilting – Golliwog applique quilt (from a class – just has the binding to be finished, but I can’t remember how to do it); cot quilt (my first attempt – I really need to get this finished!!)
1 Goldwork – Goldwork pea (class project)
6 Surface/Wool Embroidery – Summer Fruits pincushion from Inspirations magazine; Hussif by Monica Hunt (class project); Bullion rose facecloth (likely to just unpick and start using it!); Wool hotwater bottle cover (class project); Berry Delightful Bag (class project); Wool beehive needlebook from Inspirations magazine
2 Canvaswork – Frogs in longstitch; Ornamental Delights (Group Correspondence Course through EGA)

19 Apr – Today’s SBQ was suggested Danielle and is:

Are you on “The Wagon?” If so, how long have you been on and how “serious” are you about it? If not, have you considered it?

I’ve been on The Wagon for about a year now – more for financial reasons than anything else. I’ll occasionally buy something if I truly truly love it, but I haven’t been buying charts for a while now. Once I complete my 50 Project Challenge, though (if finances permit), I’ll be doing one reasonable sized order … the key thing being “finances permitting”. I have been buying any threads for charts already in my stash that I can’t find a substitution for. In the meantime I’ve been really enjoying stitching from my stash and re-discovering the awesome charts I already have 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes

Christmas is finally here

2 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, maybe not Christmas itself, but the Christmas ornie SAL is here anyway … I’ve finally managed to get an ornie stitched up … in fact TWO ornies to make up for lost time (I’m only a week late!). I managed to hit these out in 5 1/2 hours today while listening to an Audible book – I’m tempted to try put the starting stitches into one more, but I’ll see how I feel once I’ve cooked dinner. It was annoying that both of these charts had minor errors in them … which I only found out later, so both ornies had a small amount of frog-stitching hmmmm.

Cardinal Snowflake by The Victoria Sampler
from 2004 JCS Christmas ornie magazine
Stitched on 28ct Kiwi Illusions Jubliee in Alpine Spring (Countrystitch)
using my substitute threads from my stash
(this is such a teeny little ornie – very cute!)

Merry Christmas by Glory Bee
from 2003 JCS Christmas ornie magazine
Stitched on 28ct mystery evenweave
using recommended threads except substituting Crescent Colors Toasted Marshmallow for GAST Porcelain

I managed to trap a nerve in my shoulder blade during the night two nights ago, and I must have aggravated it doing so much stitching yesterday so I had a bad night’s sleep last night thanks to it … perhaps it’ll do me good to have a relaxing night with a break from the needles … but maybe not 😉

Thanks for all your wonderful comments as always – your visits and words are always very much appreciated 🙂

Cross Stitch, Finishes

Two Sheep grazing

21 April, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

A tiny stitching triumph today – I put the final stitches into Two Sheep, a freebie by LHN … I really like how this one turned out, but I’m amazed how long it took me to stitch it! Usually I have turbo needles, but it’s taken me almost an entire week just for one wee freebie! 😉

(Updated to add this was a printed freebie I received from Stitching Bits & Bobs with my monthly ‘bits’ – I don’t think it’s available as a download anywhere, at least not on their website anyway.)

Next up is some time to be spent on Bordeaux, seeing as I’m really late stitching on this with Carol and Leslie this week, thanks to a zero desire to stitch. Anyway, hopefully I can make a small dent in it today 🙂 I’m a very bad SAL partner just lately!