Category: Finishes

Finished needlework

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes

Down, Down Under

Anne S

Well, I managed to arrive safe and sound on the shores of Auckland city at 3am on Monday morning … which was absolutely exhausting seeing as I’d worked a 6am shift on Sunday and hadn’t had any sleep at all since then (as well as working 6 days straight) – unfortunately the plane was late leaving Melbourne, so a late arrival into Auckland. Got into bed at about 4am and managed to get about 4 1/2 hours sleep before an unexpected wakeup call hmmm. Let’s just say I was a bit of a zombie, and to be honest I still feel quite wrecked 3 days later! I’ve slept for 10 hours both the last two nights … fingers crossed I’ll be starting to feel a bit more ‘normal’ again soon …

I haven’t managed to get much done … although my priority has been to parcel up all my XS charts etc, ready for freighting, and I’ve nearly accomplished the mission – still have to go through my books as well … and I think there will be quite a number of charts heading over to Ebay when I get them home. There are LOADS of rip outs from magazines that I know I’ll never stitch in a month of Sundays, so they’ll all be free to a good home for the cost of the postage if anyone wants them …

The rest of my time has been spent trying not to get Dad’s blood on the carpet … to say it’s been “trying” at times would be a serious understatement. I had to jump in the shower last night before I lost my cool at him. I love my Dad ‘cos he’s my Dad, but I don’t always like him very much. I’d forgotten when I come home that usually by the 2nd day here my tension levels are sky high, and my patience levels are very slim. Mum and I went out for dinner in Auckland city last night for her birthday, which was lovely … and much to my Mum’s disgust it was my shout yay. Dad, of course, being the miserable sod that he is, refused to come out with us, even though we chose a steak restaurant that he would have enjoyed. Considering we had a party for his 70th birthday two years ago, Mum had already been warned we weren’t allowed to have one for her … I’ll leave my comments unwritten on that score, but I think it’s pretty poor … but then again, that’s my Dad to a T – very very selfish. Oh well, we still had a good time out, and to be honest it was probably more enjoyable with just the two of us …

As for stitching, I didn’t even get out of my PJ’s on Monday, so did a bit of stitching instead to try to keep my eyelids open … I started Santa’s Stash by Full Circle Designs, as part of the Ornament challenge/SAL on the Welcome Friends BB. But I forgot to pack the Mill Hill beads, and needed to buy some buttons and two of the DMC colours before I could finish it, so Mum and I popped out to Spotlight on Tuesday, and by midnight Tuesday night the final stitches were put into place.

If you were wondering why there are amazing shifts in weather patterns at the moment, you can blame my Mum! At the grand old age of 70 she’s finally decided she wants to learn how to XS haha. So we bought her a little kit of Frangipani (gee whizz, I wonder who chose that?!!), and she managed to put a few stitches in before I got chance to teach her … she’s keen! I bought some aida cloth offcuts over for her to try stitching on, and we’ve been looking for some easy Christmas designs for her to stitch some ornaments – now I’ll have to start hiding my stash from her teehee. She used to do tapestries and she knits, so she’ll be just fine 🙂

Mum’s dial-up connection is absolutely appalling, but I finally managed to get Blogger to upload more piccies – I just have to share these before I get home … these photos are of a scissor fob that Pauline stitched for me as part of the StitchNZ scissor fob exchange, and posted to Mum’s address … it is the most awesomely exquisite fob ever! The colours are just to die for … they are so “ME” … totally stunning! I will always treasure it – thanks so much Pauline 😀


Rightio, I suppose it’s back to the salt mines again … aka “the garage” … groan … Mind you, by the sounds of it, Dad’s already brought more boxes into the lounge for me to sort through – a less than subtle hint! haha. If I manage to find my way out again, I’ll see if I get time to post again – otherwise it won’t be until I get home again. I think I need an entire month to go through all my stuff – I’m starting to wonder how in heck I’m going to get everything done that I’d planned 😦

Hope everyone is having a good week 🙂

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes

Three sleeps to go & an exchange (updated)

Anne S

(Updated to add the following piccie etc) Just quickly popped over to see if any new exchanges had been received on the SBEBB, and it looks like Annette has received the biscornu I stitched for her … as I mentioned before, it turned out to be a lot bigger than I expected, but it still looks OK. I used a DMC variegated thread (which is one of my favourite colourways) and added some beads for extra effect. It’s another conglomeration of a few designs – the infamous Indigo Rose freebie that I can’t seem to get enough of just lately (you may recognise elements from my pinkeep in the centre) – as well as part of a cushion design in a Stitchers World magazine from years ago (Earth Laughs by designer Anne Stanton). I ended up leaving off the tassels because it looked too fussy. Here is the photo of the finished front, and the actual stitching (I won’t bother showing the back).


I can’t believe that’s all there is to go now, before I fly out – 3 sleeps, woohoo!! And during my visit I’ll hopefully be meeting Nicki and Kerry from the blogging world in Auckland – that will be wonderful! 😀 As well as that, I’ve got an appointment set up already for me to see my old Physiotherapist, who is going to manipulate my back/neck and hopefully help to get it back in alignment again – I used to see him just for 1 or 2 visits yearly, and that would get me through the whole next year … but I haven’t been for 2 years now, and my neck has been giving me grief for months now – every morning I wake up with neck pain and feel like I haven’t slept properly … and sometimes the pain wakes me up during the night … can’t wait to get that ‘clicked’ back in again, it’s going to be sheer bliss!!

Nothing really to report – there will be no blog reading tonight (or stitching, for that matter), as I’m on a short turnaround time for my shifts, ie I finish work at 6pm (and won’t be home until about 7pm), and have to be asleep by 9pm at the latest in order to try and get 8 hours sleep, as I move to my 6am shifts. I think I’ll be sleeping my first 24 hours in NZ haha.

No stitching or blogging done yesterday either, as I forgot I had a training day in the city from 9-5, and met up with a friend for drinks after we finished, as she works in the same building as the training – we then decided to have dinner at the Rose Garden in Elizabeth Street … a very cheap and ‘nasty’ Asian eating place that has very very nice food – it was a great treat, and a wonderful night catching up. Unfortunately Hayles has decided to move to Perth, though, so she will be winging her way over to the west coast in July. Just means I’ll have to make an effort and go for a holiday over there – which I’d love to do, as I’ve always wanted to visit Perth.

I also managed to visit the Post Office the other day, and picked up my stitching treat that was sitting there waiting for me – it was the M Designs Christmas needleroll from Katrina from a recent trade … woohoo, another one to stitch for my collection! Thanks heaps Katrina! 😀

I’m still waiting for my SB&B orders to arrive – using my birthday money, plus a second treat in the next sale not long after … in both cases there is just one thing that is out of stock – one item has been “in transit from the supplier” for quite some time now (I didn’t realise you still use the Pony Express in the US haha), and the other one still on back order … there were some items in there I wanted for my last two exchanges, plus I’m getting a bit impatient, so I’ve asked for everything else to be shipped, and have the others sent later with some extra fabric I’ve just ordered (a fat 1/4 each of 32ct and 28ct Lavender Bliss). Hopefully they’ll arrive some time soon after I get home from NZ.

Anyway, time to shut up and get ready for work – I’m really rambling on about nothing just to wake up, I think, and I didn’t sleep too well last night … maybe I should head to work early and pick up a cappuccino on the way to truly wake up!

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Needlerolls, Stitch-alongs

Finally able to post a piccie :) (updated)

Anne S

It appears from the SBEBB that Paula has received her Melanie’s Exchange I stitched for her, so I can post a piccie. I have to admit, I really really struggled with the choice for this one … I was originally going to stitch a pinkeep for Paula, and had the design all mapped out, then Jo beat me to it by stitching a pinkeep for the Spring exchange (which was beautiful!), so it was back to the drawing board again (but at least I got to keep the mock run one, which you’ve now seen!) … in the end I decided on a needleroll, and the design is a collaboration I made from various design sources – there are bands from Just Nan’s Evening Star, Dragonfly Stitches freebie needleroll (for the blackwork ‘flowers’ and other bands), Indigo Rose online freebie for the Rhodes hearts, as well as another freebie online chart for inspiration for the beaded bands. The only thing is that I struggled to find some narrow ribbon to match for it, and ended up using something that I had on hand … and I wished I’d waited to check out a few more stores before posting – but it looks OK. Here’s a photo of the actual stitching, and the finished needleroll. I tried stitching our names inside the back ‘flowers’, but it’s very teeny tiny LOL. I really enjoyed stitching it 🙂


I should also have another photo to share a bit later on today – I’m in the middle of stitching The Sweetheart Tree Strawberry needleroll, for our weekend needleroll SAL … I started it last night, and slept in this morning so missed the charity walk (oops! – mind you, it turns out we were all doing it ‘on our own’ so it probably doesn’t matter – the money is still being donated anyway) … so I’ve been sitting up in bed catching up on taped TV programmes from during the week and doing a bit more stitching. I was originally going to start a Shepherd’s Bush one, but I needed to stitch some calico to the sides as the fabric is quite small, and I can’t stitch in hand … the Strawberry fob was the only one basted up and ready to go 🙂 It also means that I’m now inadvertently copying Katrina, as that’s the needleroll she’s planning on stitching too 🙂 It’s really pretty so far – the colours are lovely … the DMC 816 is such a rich red, it’s gorgeous! I’m about 2/3 finished, so should be able to post a piccie by the end of the day 🙂

I should be stitching my fob for the scissor fob exchange on StitchNZ, but I just wanted to take some ‘time out’ from commitment stitching and stitching something else – and the needleroll SAL is the perfect thing to a quick “me” stitch 🙂

(Update before day’s end) And here’s the final piccie for today – the finished stitching of my strawberry needleroll … which also means I met the 24 hour challenge on the FGBB as well yippee! 😀 Leaves me tomorrow free for working out my scissor fob yay 🙂

Charity Stitching, Finishes

Nearly there … (updated)

Anne S

Managed to get a reasonable amount of my Batman square stitched last night, and more tonight, so I think my deadline will easily be reached to have it in the mail on Wednesday … I’m starting to get a bit goggle-eyed tonight, after my early shift (it’s amazing how quickly you get out of the habit!!), so I don’t know how much more I’ll get done tonight – I was originally hoping to finish it off, but I don’t think my energy levels are going to stand up to the pressure LOL.

Tomorrow after work I intend to find a button or something to finish off my biscornu, then it can get posted on Wednesday too – it feels sooooo0 good to have those commitments off my shoulders. I still feel really bad about not reading blogs, but I’m glad I made that decision, or I’d still be struggling with the first deadline! Hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll be back to normal again, and my deadline stitching will be easily fitted around my normal routine 🙂 I look forward to seeing what you’ve all been up to while I’ve been “M.I.A.” 😀

UPDATED!!! OK, I don’t know what happened, but I got a second wind and managed to find the energy to finish my Batman logo – woohoo!! What a relief to finally get that out of the way … I think I’ll be sleeping soundly tonight! LOL. Now I just have my scissor fob exchange and mail art exchange pieces to get done … 😀

Finishes

A small happy dance & an apology

Anne S

Firstly I want to apologise that I haven’t been reading blogs for a few days – well, since Easter in fact … truth is, I really want to make the most of my stitching time at the moment to get my deadlines met – and I know when I sit in front of this PC I’m here for hours, and my stitching time goes out the window! So, I’m make a real effort to start stitching pretty much as soon as I get up, after I’ve had brekkie … I feel bad, as it’s been a voluntary decision, and not circumstances that have stopped me reading – but I hope to catch up on Wed/Thu after work before I start socialising for the weekend 🙂

I managed to get a few more stitches into my ‘trial run’ biscornu … which might end up being the ‘real thing’ for my exchange if my other idea doesn’t translate well in the stitching. The trial run one is from a chart I bought a while ago, and really wanted to stitch, so I thought it was a good opportunity. The exchange one, fingers crossed, is a collaboration effort from about 3 different charts … I’m just not 100% how it’s going to work out – it looks great on paper, but it’s always a different story when it’s stitched! Anyway, hopefully today I’ll get a good amount of stitching done on both … and tomorrow is a public holiday, so one more chance for stitching before I have to put the needles down the for the week.

Gina, now I’m on a permanent roster, and I know exactly what shifts I’m doing until approx November, I can work out which Sundays I can get to the Guild – it would be lovely to see you there too 🙂 I’ll send you an email once I’ve sorted it out, if you like, and we can go from there 🙂 Have to admit, I thought of ringing you yesterday morning, but it wasn’t much notice to give you … plus I have to admit, I only really bit the bullet at 10.08am and got moving (I’d been um-ing and ah-ing for 2 whole hours!!).

After coming home from the Guild, I managed to finish my ornie last night while watching The Biggest Loser (Australian one) – it’s the Golden Garland design by Paw Printings from the 2005 JCS ornie issue. This might end up being my ornament for the ornie SAL on the FGBB as well … I’m not sure if I’m going to get time to stitch my Noel one as well – but I’ve said that before, and still managed to meet the deadline, so who knows? haha.

Rightio, now I’m off to put in a book on tape, grab some brekkie, and make a start on the day … I’m currently ‘reading’ H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton, which will be closely followed by Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs – makes a change from DVD’s ;P

Finishes

2nd post today …

Anne S

Well, I did it!! I’m no longer a Guild Guidance Group Virgin!!! Yup, I bit the bullet and dragged myself along today to the Blackwork/Counted Thread group, and I’m very glad that I did. As well as other reasons, one of the ladies brought in her finished Mermaid Treasure Box (Chatelaine design) – wow, what a stunning piece, and incredible to see it in person!! There were about two ladies there similar to my own age, with the others a lot older, which is pretty standard for most Guild groups, I know – and I love listening to the older ladies discussing embroidery, as they have so much experience to share 🙂 Anyway, I was made extremely welcome, and actually managed to get some stitching done … managed to do a LOT of frog-stitching on my Marine Elegance piece – so I gave that up as a bad job, and put it away again.

Luckily I also took some other pieces along to stitch ‘just in case’, and popped across the road to Spotlight at lunchtime for some ribbon that looks OK, so I could finish my pinkeep – I just ADORE the colours of this pinkeep, and now I’m thinking of using the same design to make a needlebook or a pincushion to go with it. It’s an online freebie chart by Indigo Rose that I downloaded ages ago, with some modifications of my own … and I’m pretty pleased with it – especially since this is the first pinkeep I’ve ever tried to make. It’s stitched with Jewel of the Nile Needle Necessities thread, which is so so scrummy 🙂 I wasn’t sure how to finish the top of the pinkeep off, so I may end up changing it a bit, but that’s all I could think of while I was out …

Aside from that, I also managed to get a bit more stitching done on my Christmas ornament RR piece – I figured I might as well try and get some more of my ‘commitment’ stitching pieces done so I can tick one more thing off my list for this month, and this one was nice and portable. Only one more project to go after this one, and I get to receive my leftover threads etc … which is great, because I need the red Kreinik braid for another ornie. For once I haven’t got my Christmas ornie stitched for the FGBB … I have everything more or less kitted up ready to go, just haven’t gotten around to stitching it – I think the exchange pieces have taken up every priority at the moment.

Anyway, I’m now going to sit down and do a few more stitches while I’m in the mood – I might try and get the Christmas ornie finished, so I can get back to starting my next exchange piece 🙂 I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow to post my piccies ;P

Charity Stitching, Finishes

Echidna happy dance

Anne S

Woohoo, managed to get my little Echidna square finished … but it took me all day, literally!! I was exceptionally lazy today, and didn’t even get out of my PJ’s all day … and spend the day superglued to my recliner and my needle 🙂 I just have my Batman logo to chart up and stitch, then all my current charity blocks are all finished. I’ll stitch some more later, but I really need to get back into my rotation again. It’s gonna be hard to give this little guy away … he’s so cute! 🙂

Thanks everyone for your supportive comments, as always 🙂

Finishes

Happy dance #4 for the weekend!

Anne S

Crikey, I’m surprising myself with my stitching marathon this weekend – in answer to your question, Jenna, I’m not joining in with the Stitch-a-Thon this weekend, as today (Sat) it’s the last day of my visitors being here, and we’re supposed to be meeting up with another friend who’s down visiting from Brisbane some time during the day, then out for dinner tonight with Fraze and Hayley … and I’m working 4 hours overtime tomorrow … so I didn’t think it left me with much stitching time. Now, if I’d classed my Stitch-a-Thon for 24 hours from Thursday night, I’d be laughing!! 😀

Anyway, last night I still couldn’t stop stitching – I was laying in bed, with my ornie magazines next to me and the fabric and threads for another very small project, and watching Medium on TV … well, let’s just say the temptation got too much for me, and at 10.30pm I picked up the needle again for a while. I got half of it stitched last night, then woke up early and finished the other half this morning while my houseguests are still sleeping their heads off. Don’t know what time they came home, but it was at least after 2am – goodness knows when they’ll eventually surface … probably just in time to have a quick coffee with Tom. Anyway, here is my last finish for the weekend … yeah, I know, I said that yesterday … haha. It’s the Peace*Joy*Love ornament by Lizzie*Kate from the 2002 JCS ornie issue – and I stitched this to complete a challenge on the Friends Gather BB to “broaden your horizons”. A different theme is set each month, and this month’s was L*K/Mosey ‘n Me style.

OK, off to do some quiet housecleaning and some computer software upgrades while my guests sleep everything off ;P

Finishes

3rd happy dance for today!

Anne S


Yes, that’s right, yet another project has hit the finishing pile today – the latest one is Bilberry by Shepherd’s Bush … this has been a UFO for a while, as I couldn’t work out how to do the hemstitching bands. After completing my Love needleroll at the start of this year, and using a different instruction book I have, I decided it would be a quick project to finish off, seeing as I’ve now tried and succeeded in hemstitching, and I wasn’t in the mood to tackle my Marine Elegance today as my concentration wasn’t quite ‘up to it’. I can thank KarenV partly for this – after seeing her latest Shepherd’s Bush finishes, it reminded me I had this in my UFO pile, and it wasn’t too far off finishing, so I thought it was time it saw daylight again. I put a sheet of coloured paper behind the fabric while I was scanning it, so the fabric looks off-white, but it showed up the hemstitching etc better that way.

Phew, three finishes in 24 hours … don’t expect to see any more for a while! LOL.

Finishes

Two little Happy Dances

Anne S

I’ve been very very lazy in that I’ve been sat up in bed all day stitching my little heart out, while clearing my taped TV programmes … thanks to House, Desperate Housewives, Lost, The Amazing Race and NCIS, I have managed to complete not one, but two ornaments over the last 24 hours – yippee! I put the final stitches into Star of Wonder before I went to sleep last night, from the 2002 JCS ornie issue – this is a design by Ellen Chester, of With My Needle, and I really love it … a bit challenging to stitch, with the over-one sections, but a fun stitch 🙂

The second ornament is Herald Angels from the 2003 JCS ornie issue – designed by Pamela Byrd Smith of The Prairie Schooler, Inc. This was part of the Christmas Ornament challenge on the Friends Gather BB, as there is a chosen designer each month, and we choose any design we want to stitch by that designer – and I chose the Herald Angels. I have to admit, I was very worried about it while I was stitching it, as it was so so dark – but as soon as the metallics were added it really lifted it, and I like it again. Perhaps in hindsight I might have used a navy blue instead of the black, though, to lighten it a bit more. Anyway, off they go to my finishing pile for later in the year …

My next challenge is to stitch my Marine Elegance piece – followed by my charity pieces, then back to my rotation again … as well as the Bunnies in my Garden SAL that’s starting with the StitchingSmalls Yahoo group next month … so much stitching, so little time LOL.


Today’s SBQ is:


“Do you stitch “over-one”? If so, describe your experiences. If not, have you considered it?”

Hmmm, I have a love/hate relationship with over-one stitching. I really don’t enjoy the stitching part, but I love to see the finished product. That being said, I really want to stitch Graham Ross’ Macaw and Rainbow Lorikeets over-one, as well as a green tree frog I’ve already stitched over-two. The best tip I learned from a class with Jodi Merusi – and that was to stitch it like a tent stitch, except you come back across the row with the top stitch (which I also use a tent stitch for) … it saves the floss threads slipping under the fabric threads, and gives you more space to slip your needle under when anchoring ends on the back. You can’t do this with overdyed threads, though, as each stitch has to be done individually, darnit!