Finishes – Page 5 – Feather Stitching

2014 WIPocalypse, Canvaswork, Charity Stitching, Finishes, Green Apple Co, Jardin Prive, Lavender & Lace, M Designs, Needlerolls, Northern Pine Designs, Periwinkle Promises, Rotation, Ruth Schmuff, Stoney Creek, Works in Progress

Aug/Sep WIPocalypse (late as normal!)

7 September, 20147 September, 2014 Anne S

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Only 2 days to go before the September WIPocalypse post is due … oops … life sure has a way to interfere with plans, and my memory is shocking, so yet again I’ve missed the deadline. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been stitched, although I have to admit I haven’t been stitching as much as I normally do. Work pressures have yet again put a hold of any mid-week stitching, although each weekend I’ve made sure I’ve had one day dedicated to stitching my little heart out.

So, here goes … here is what I’ve managed to get up to stitching-wise over the last two months. I figure I may as well just have this as my September WIPocalypse post as well, as I can’t see me doing any further stitching between now and two days time that will be worth shouting from the rooftops 😉

First up I decided to just keep on stitching on my Eiffel Quaker until it was finished – I just love this one!

“Eiffel Quaker” by Jardin Privé
Started 11 January 2013 – Finished 28 July 2014
Stitched on 36ct antique white evenweave from Sewitall
with French Au Ver A Soie Soie d’Alger silk threads
Stitch count 150 wide x 143 high

I then decided to be responsible (unusual for me!) with my stitching and get a charity quilt block out of the way that I had committed to – I absolutely adore this one, and I’ve left the DMC threads etc all sitting with the chart in readiness to stitch this one again for myself … I love, love, love it! 🙂

“Chambered Nautilus” by Green Apple Co (artwork by Janet Powers)
Stitched for Love Quilts Australia
Stitched on 14ct white Aida with DMC threads

Then last weekend I started back loosely with my rotation, and picked up my pastel needleroll to finish off:

“Thistle Needleroll – Pale Colorway” by M Designs
Started 26 January 2014 – Finished 31 August 2014
Stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen by Wichelt
with a mix of Olde Willow, Crescent Colours and DMC threads
(I had to substitute some threads and mix the colours as my Olde Willow threads
had faded so much over the years they were almost white!)

And then my final finish took place yesterday – I only had about 3 hours of stitching left in my ‘small/medium projects’ slot, but I opted to just keep stitching until I finished it (hence my comment about ‘loosely’ following my rotation!). This was a real joy to stitch, with some good challenges, and it just needs to be made into a little pincushion now.

“Blue Bell Sampler Accent” by Periwinkle Promises
Started 31 August 2014 – Finished 6 September 2014
Stitched using kit threads (AVAS silks) and linen fabric

Inbetween working on my rotation slots, I have opted to leave my current focus piece project sitting in the lounge on my floor frame. Every 2nd weekend I spend one day stitching my little heart out on her while catching up on recorded TV … which means I’ve sort of taken her out of my rotation, and I just stitch on her when I feel like sitting in the lounge. The rest of my rotation stitching is done in my bedroom sat up in bed stitching (my most common stitching location these days – I got into the habit of that with my last flatmate as I hated spending any time in the lounge when he was home). Anyhoo, here she is in her current glory (well almost anyway, I’ve actually done a bit more since this photo was taken – she’ll definitely be finished by the end of this year, which is awesome). Angel of Love by Lavender & Lace:

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After I’d finished my Victoria Sampler’s Crimson Fire Sampler, I needed to find another old UFO to take its place, and I chose this piece stitched on Congress Cloth. I managed to finally finish the darned bees on the left-hand side of the fabric, but my thread snapped while I was stitching the 2nd side of the hemstitching rows so I decided to give it a miss for a while and started stitching over on the main pain of the stitching. I hadn’t realised just how much metallic thread is used on this project, and it was a relief to finally get to the bee’s head and have something lovely and soft to stitch with. I opted to stop, though, at the end of the 10 hours rotation slot, but look forward to seeing that slot come around again in the future 🙂

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And next up in my rotation is Quaker Christmas II – this hasn’t seen the light since I did one rotation slot on it back in February, so it will be nice to add a few more stitches to this one … and that’ll give me something to show for my October WIPocalypse post 🙂

Talking of which, I guess I also need to answer the WIPocalypse questions for these two months as well, so here goes:

10 August:

“Tell us about your oldest and newest WIPs.”
Well, I guess my oldest one now is probably Stoney Creek’s Natures Rest. This is possibly one that will never ever be finished – aside from making a massive blue on the tree stump and the need to frog a huge section, because I can’t work out what was wrong and what was right, it was also using some older threads that I no longer have so there’s every likelihood that I will have mis-matched dyelots and this will show, especially with the greys. I don’t have too much love for this old project (my first ever on evenweave fabric, and I didn’t follow the instructions properly so I used 2 strands of thread in the background instead of 1 strand …). Whatever could go wrong with this piece, it certainly did – and it remains relatively unloved because of it!

My newest WIP according to my rotation records is a canvaswork piece called Sand and Surf by Northern Pine Designs. My canvaswork rotation is coming up soon, so I can’t wait to get back into working on this one again. I have a feeling I won’t stop until this one is finished, as canvaswork tends to go quite quickly with some of the big chunky stitches.

9 September:

“Who is your favourite person to stitch for, or do you prefer to keep your stitching yourself?”
I have to admit over the years I’ve given most of my stitching away – over the last 10 years, though, I tend to stitch more for myself with the odd gift given out. I like to stitch gifts for people, but as soon as I make a commitment to do something my brain goes into meltdown and it removes the enjoyment of stitching for me – I’d much rather stitch something then decide after it’s finished to gift it to someone.

2014 WIPocalypse, Finishes, Lavender & Lace, Lizzie Kate, Stash, Uncategorized

June/July WIPocalypse

12 July, 201420 July, 2014 Anne S

If you managed to read my previous post, you probably have an idea why there was no WIPocalypse post for June … and I’m back online again just in time to complete my post for July … which means for the 2nd time in a row I’m well and truly late … c’est la vie, such is life I guess!

Anyway first up is the piece that I started stitching a week ago, that I managed to finish today. I started kitting this one up a few weeks ago but couldn’t make a decision on the threads and fabric. Last weekend I started it and still wasn’t 100% happy with my choices – I put the last stitches in today then opted to pull one colour out and re-do it, and I’m so glad that I did, because I absolutely ADORE this one now! As you can see, it really doesn’t look anything like the original version … I much prefer my choice of threads for this one!! I’ve listed below the threads that I ended up using:

“Dance in the Rain” by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on 32ct Shell Wichelt linen
with my choice of silk threads (see below)

The threads that I chose to use were: Belle Soie Beanstalk, Belle Soie Ocean Tide, Silk n Colors Aged Plum, NPI Silks 471, 336 and 991BB, and Rainbow Gallery Splendor S870.

The other stitching I managed to do over the last couple of months was to finish my charity quilt block for Love Quilts Australia:

“Butterfly Quartet” – a Stitch Simple kit by DMC

While I was trying to work out how the hell to pay the rent until I found a new flatmate I start making up stitching rolls to sell … I’ve managed to finish 6 since then, although still haven’t worked out how to price them yet – once I do that, though, they will go up for sale, and I’ll also start taking orders for people who want other colours etc (and different sizes). I’ve been a bit tired the last couple of weekends, though, so haven’t taken photos and worked out the final costings yet (I also had to go back to Spotlight to price up the fabrics etc that I use). Here’s the first one I made, though, as a sneak peak:

For the last two Saturdays I’ve also managed to get a few more stitches into my L&L Angel of Love – she is probably what finally kicked my butt into gear and brought my stitching mojo back again to be able to stitch my Lizzie*Kate finish. I was primarily beading the top part of the skirt this time round, and oh boy is she stunning!! Photos will never do this baby justice, that’s for sure!!!

Even though I was on a total stash diet (and still am effectively) for the last couple of months, I did receive a small amount of stash that I’d already ordered previously. One was a kit that I’d posted about previously that I’d been trying to track down for a few years, and managed to find on one Ebay – don’t even know what made me go put the search words in, but one came up straightaway so I just had to buy it … I’m glad Ian hadn’t moved out at that point or it would have killed me not being able to buy it and knowing one was available!! The other items were a drawn thread book from the Book Depository and a delightful French design, with the cutest little wooden hoop button. I bought two copies because one copy is for a dear friend.

And I think that’s probably all my stitching news for the last couple of months … really not too much to show compared to how I normally stitch, but I guess life became more of a priority for a while. Hopefully now I’ve managed to put needle fabric semi-regularly over the last two weeks (even if it was just at the weekends), my mojo will continue and I’ll get back into it once again. It had better do that, as I have another quilt block I need to stitch by next month now!!!

I’ll finish off with the last 2 WIPocalypse theme questions:

13 June – Have you ever been to a stitch gathering such as a retreat or a festival? If so, tell us about it!

Yes I have – way back in 2000 I flew to Sacramento, California for a CATs stitching festival. It was the most amazing experience where I got to meet some online stitching pals and had about 6 classes with well-known American designers/needle artists. It was my first introduction to pulled thread (I thought I was learning drawn thread so I soon found out I didn’t know what I was talking about, and learnt a new skill I hadn’t expected to). I went a bit crazy at the shopping mall, meeting some more designers face-to-face, and went to a local stitching shop where I was beside myself with all the thread choices etc. I think I came home with pretty much an entire suitcase full of class projects and stash, along with my first floorstand and mat cutter! It was an amazing experience that I’m ever so grateful I got to experience!!

12 July – It’s halfway to Christmas. Do you start your holiday stitching this early? If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?

Truthfully I stitch my holiday stitching whenever I feel like it. I always used to try to stitch a Christmas ornie a month, but now I just do it when I get the urge, or when I have a rotation slot dedicated to ornie stitching. It doesn’t bother me stitching Christmas items throughout the year, although I have to admit the closer it gets to Christmas the stronger the urge to stitch something for the festive season! This year I have no lofty goals, I just want to continue enjoying to stitch – and hopefully have a few finishes by the end of the year 🙂

Canvaswork, Finishes, Northern Pine Designs

Blue Bayou finished … and I’m in love with it!!

29 April, 201429 April, 2014 Anne S

The title says it all … a few days ago I put the final stitches into Blue Bayou, and oh my goodness I am so in love with it, it’s just not funny!! I ended up substituting DMC 991 pearl cotton for the charted Anchor pearl cotton, as I just couldn’t find it quickly locally, and I was impatient to get it finished!

“Blue Bayou” by Northern Pine Designs
with recommended canvas and threads
Exception: Substituted Anchor pearl cotton with DMC 991 pearl cotton

I still had 1 1/2 hours left of my canvaswork rotation slot, so I immediately put another Northern Pine Designs project on the stretcher bars and made a start on Surf and Sand … much more subtle colours on this one, and a little too much pink for my liking so far, but I’m hoping once the light turquoise blue gets added it’ll balance the colours out a bit more … it’s very pretty so far, though, even with the pink! 😛 I’ve actually stitched half of the next bargello band as well since this photo was taken, but will show more photos later! Surf and Sand

As for the rest of the week, I’m finally starting to feel a bit more ‘normal’ after recuperating at home and being a hermit for a few days. Today has been spent in the kitchen all day, which means I have a brown rice slice/pie (technically called “Ham Cheese and Leek Pie”) for the freezer for lunches, and a Red Wine, Beef and Mushroom Stew bubbling away in the crockpot for dinners this week … I still have a Pasta, Beef and Mushrooms dish to whip up for the freezer but my feet are killing me thanks to my stupid plantar fasciitis, so I think I’ll call it a day cooking-wise and finish the rest up tomorrow 🙂

And that means for the rest of the day I’m going to settle in and catch up on some more recorded TV in the lounge (thanks to the flatmate being at work), while starting on my next rotation slot … “Finishing”. Hopefully by the end of the next 5 or 10 hour rotation (whenever I get fed up with it), I’ll have a few more finished items under my belt and out of the finishing pile, even if they’re just ornaments 😀 I also have some comments to respond too as well, which I’ll do shortly 🙂

Canvaswork, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Little House Needleworks, Northern Pine Designs, Shepherd's Bush, Works in Progress

Stitching Hermit

26 April, 2014 Anne S

The title says it all really … in the last 2-3 days since being home I’ve locked myself away from the world and just stitched my little heart out. It has really done me the world of good and today I feel a lot more relaxed and back to ‘normal’ again (what ‘normal’ actually is!).

I’ve tried to get back into my rotation slot once again, and it’s done me the world of good to have some sort of discipline again with my stitching – it really helps me to ‘focus’ and I get so much more one than I would normally. The first rotation slot consisted of Christmas ornaments/freebies, and in my 10 hours I managed to finish 2 ornaments, and almost finish another one (I just had to put it to one side because I can’t find one DMC thread I need to finish it … yep, story of my life!!). The two that I finished are as follows (I won’t show the other one until I’ve actually finished it!):

“The Merry Skater” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen by Countrystitch ~ colour Haystack
with recommended threads, except substituting DMC 712 with 3865
Started 21 Apr 2014 ~ Finished 24 Apr 2014

“Joyful Night” by Shepherd’s Bush
from the 1998 JCS Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 32ct Lambswool Wichelt linen
with recommended threads, except substituting DMC Ecru with 3865
Note: the chart called for pink DMC for the sheep swirl, which seemed to be an error,
so I replaced with DMC 3865
Started 24 Apr 2014 ~ Finished 25 Apr 2014

Then I moved on to my Canvaswork rotation slot … the last time I started this one (Blue Bayou by Northern Pine Designs) I found the WDW pearl cotton that was supposed to be PC#8 was actually PC#5 (it was mislabelled), and it really showed up with my stitching … so my first job yesterday was to unpick the original pearl cotton stitching … which ended up being a challenge in itself! Because the waffle stitch has so few threads on the back to weave into, I’d managed to thread through a few stitches adjoining it, and it ended up being such a tangled mess trying to unpick I just ended up frogging those as well … which left me with 3 very small bands of metallic threads left. Once I started stitching, though, I set the stopwatch going and really got into the rhythm of this one. It’s one of those projects when you wake up in the morning and turn over to see your stitching on your stitching stand and it makes your spirits soar straightaway!

Unfortunately, though, I hadn’t realised I didn’t have one of the pearl cottons for this design, so I’m a bit stalled now … I originally hadn’t worried too much knowing that I should be able to get pearl cottons locally, until I realised last night that it’s actually an Anchor pearl cotton that I need. I’ve decided, though, to just try and get a DMC equivalent as I really don’t think it’ll make that much of a difference. Today I’m going to head out to my local Spotlight to see if they have what I need (although truthfully don’t hold out much hope!!). If not, I’ll just start up a different canvaswork piece to start work on for the remaining 3 hours of my rotation instead. Here is how Blue Bayou looks right now, along with some close-ups of those amazing stitches in it so far:

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Cross Stitch, Finishes, Mirabilia

Flossy is finally finished!!!

21 April, 201421 April, 2014 Anne S

I haven’t been doing much of anything at all while staying with my parents, as I just don’t have the mental energy to “get up and go” … so the last few days I’ve been glued to the TV re-watching The Tudors DVDs while doing a tiny spot of stitching. The weather has been abysmal over here, so it hasn’t been the weather to get outdoors (even the waterfront was flooded last week thanks to the tail end of a cyclone), and we’ve all been stuck in front of the TV in various rooms. My Dad watches his TV at number 63 on the volume, whereas I usually have it between 10-15, so I often run away to the bedroom to avoid a migraine and frayed nerves … which also means not spending time with my folks as there isn’t enough comfy room for both Mum and I in the bedroom … not the best use of an airfare really, but I suppose if nothing else I’ve had a very lazy relaxed time I guess …

In saying that, though, I did spend a couple of days being a ‘techno geek’ for Dad and writing up a 28-page user guide for his mobile phone. It’s a real ‘mobile for dummies’ with lots of screenshots and captions and step-by-step instructions for how to use his phone. I guess if nothing else at least I’ve managed to do that for him this trip, so it wasn’t all wasted time 🙂

I also made a batch of my favourite Red Velvet Cupcakes for a treat, but I was really disappointed with them – not sure if it was the batch of flour Mum had, or the fact they don’t have digital scales making it hard to measure the 10g of cocoa properly, or the fact that the Organic Buttermilk here is quite ‘clumpy’ and a totally different texture to the buttermilk we have in Aussie … but whatever it was that was different, they were quite heavy compared to how I make them at home, so not a great treat really

The GREAT part of the trip so far, though, has been having a ‘stitching day’ with some Kiwi stitching pals … while not much stitching actually happened, it was lovely to have show and tell of people’s stitching finishes, and just having a general fun chat. If I move back to Auckland again, I know this is one group of ladies I’ll definitely be spending more time with, they’re great fun! Thanks again to Zeb, Jennie and Paula for a really fun day … and to Zeb for some really scrummy Trifle 😀

While I’ve had minimal stitching time I have managed to “almost” finish Fern Pixie by Nora Corbett. I’ve managed to finished all the actual stitching, but I hadn’t realised there was one whole green bead on one of her shoes, and I didn’t bring those with me to NZ, so she won’t be 100% finished until I get back home again …

But one piece I DID manage to finish was the stitching of Nora Corbett’s Valentine Fairy – I finally frogged the different dyelot in her legs and restitched, then did the remaining metallics and beading … and now she’s 100% finito!! I still don’t particularly love her, as she’s WAY too pink for my tastes, but I haven’t decided yet whether to throw her on Ebay or not. Mum’s actually said that she likes her, so it’s quite possible that she’ll end up staying here in NZ and living the rest of her days in Mum’s bedroom … maybe 😉

“Miss Valentine Fairy” by Nora Corbett (Mirabilia)
Started 6 Nov 2013 – Finished 20 Apr 2014
Stitched on 28ct Lavender Bliss Cashel linen
with Crescent Colours kit threads
(exception: replaced the Crescent Colours thread for the skin with DMC)

2014 WIPocalypse, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Rotation, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

February WIPocalypse

15 February, 201415 February, 2014 Anne S

It’s been a reasonable month for both stitching and blog posts … probably the most regular I’ve been in quite a few years! Who knows how long it will last for, but I’m enjoying it so far that’s for sure!

As for my stitching progress, here are the progress piccies from the last month’s efforts, and comparing how they looked last time vs this month:

First up is a new start, which is a gift for someone if I can get it stitched up quickly enough! Unfortunately, though, I just noticed a mark on the fabric so it’s off to spend some time in a tub and hopefully it will come out … if not, I guess I’ll be ironing up some new fabric and starting again …

And my other WIPs/new starts were:

Crimson Fire Sampler

“Thistle Needleroll (pale colourway)” by M Designs Started 26 Jan 2014

And then there were a couple of new starts that were also finishes:

Beyond XS 5-3 Christmas Heart by The Victoria Sampler

All-in-all it was a pretty amazing month of stitching … my work department moving closer to home again is doing wonders for my productivity, that’s for sure!!

And now this month’s topic: “Topic: How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time? Tell us about your one-at-a-time or rotation habits!”

I have to admit the high number of UFOs I have has started to bother me in recent years, so I’ve been making an effort to slowly work through them. I’m starting to become more of a one-at-a-timer, but then when I get bored with a project I tend to just stop stitching, or I put it down and never come back to it again because I feel burnt out with that particular project. This year I’ve tried to be more disciplined and have gone back to a formal rotation once again, and it’s really working on the whole. I have 10-11 project slots, with a Focus Piece slot every 3-4 slots so that I can focus on one project to get stitched up more quickly (generally assigned to one of my BAPs or SAL commitments). I’ve managed to stick to my rotation really well so far, although I’ve just decided to start a new gift for someone that needs to be stitched up really quickly before we meet up in early March, so my rotation has been temporarily put on hold. It’s funny, though, I already miss my rotation and the discipline I’d built up, and I’m almost ‘resenting’ this project because of it … isn’t it funny how our minds work? So far I’ve managed to finish up one old UFO this year thanks to my rotation slot and being disciplined … I’d like to see another 1-2 of my UFO list joining the finishing pile this year, but either way I’m just doing to enjoy working through my stash pile on a regular basis! 😀

As a matter of interest, here is my “rotation tub” … all of my projects are on their own scrollbars or Qsnaps, and sit in order of being stitched, along with their chart/threads in a plastic envelope or mesh project bag … this really helps me to keep organised during the rotation and I’m not running around each 10 hours trying to find the next project kit …

Finishes, Lizzie Kate

Cross Stitcher in Residence

2 February, 20146 April, 2014 Anne S

I just realised that I didn’t post my latest finish – which I put to rest before I picked up Quaker Christmas II. I was supposed to stitch this last year then donate the chart to a Facebook group where we passed it along between a group of online pals … with everything that happened with Dad last year and all the stress at work I just couldn’t bring myself to kit it up and stitch it – all the commitments at the time seemed to overwhelm me. Well it seems one of the group’s charts has since gone missing and the stitcher it is sitting with has gone offline … so I was asked if I’d mind bringing the chart back out of hibernation and doing it for the group – I was more than happy to do this, and decided that I would include the chart in my “small project” rotation slot so that I wouldn’t break the rhythm of my rotation, but would be able to get it done quite quickly in that slot. Here is the finished product:

“Cross Stitcher in Residence” by Lizzie*Kate”
Stitched on 32ct Ivory Lugana
with threads of my own choice
Started 30 Jan 2014 – Finished 1 Feb 2014

I pretty much changed every single thread bar one (GAST Shutter Green for the trees) – I just chose various threads from my stash for everything else. My thread choices were as follows:

Crescent Colours – Blue Beatrice, Cocoa Bean, Cool Azul, Razzleberry
Dragon Floss – Saying it with Thread Peace
GAST – Shutter Green
Needle Necessities – Grecian Olive

Finishes, Hardanger, Victoria Sampler

UFO no longer … Ecstatic Happy Dance!!!

29 January, 2014 Anne S

I finally plucked up the courage to just “do it” and finish the hardanger band at the top of my Crimson Fire Sampler. I wouldn’t go to sleep last night until I’d put the very last stitches into this piece, and just managed to put the last ones it before midnight … I’m so thrilled with this one, it’s not funny! My lack of confidence saw this end up as a UFO for 3 years … crazy, because I used to be an incredibly confident stitcher and my learning knew no bounds. Not sure what happened really over recent years, so it felt amazingly good to prove to myself that I really can still do new things, and to ignore my inner voice in the future!! Anyway, this is finish #3 of the year, and definitely the finish I’m most proud of since finishing off my Enchanted Mermaid last year!

Now I’m back to my “small projects” rotation slot to finish off the last 5 hours … but I won’t be stitching until midnight this time round and happy to stagger that one over a few nights! 😉

Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Hardanger, M Designs, Victoria Sampler, Works in Progress

2nd Finish for 2014

27 January, 20146 April, 2014 Anne S

In readiness for completing the hardanger band on my Crimson Fire Sampler, I decided it would be wise to do a ‘refresher course’ on hardanger first, seeing it’s been so many years since I did my actual beginners class! I rummaged through my ‘small project’ rotation filing box and managed to find the appropriate Beyond Cross Stitch kit by The Victoria Sampler. Added to that I also dragged out the book by Janice Love called “Hardanger Basics and Beyond” for some extra clear photos and descriptions. This book is without a doubt an absolute god-send for the basics of hardanger!!

Anyway, I finally put needle to fabric, and managed to start and finish this little sweetie in a day (4 1/4 hours of stitching to be exact … gotta love the stopwatch function and a timed rotation!!). My woven bars aren’t perfect, as I still need to work on my tension a tiny bit … but overall after not doing hardanger woven bars for about 20 years I can’t complain really, and I’m pretty chuffed with it!

“Beyond XS 5-3 Christmas Heart” by The Victoria Sampler
Stitched on 25ct white Lugana
with kit threads and beads
Started 26 Jan 2014 – Finished 26 Jan 2014

I was getting a bit tired by the end of the day, so I opted not to do any more hardanger last night, but instead did an hour on another “small project” for my rotation slot … leaving me with another 5 hours to go. This is the ‘pale colourway’ of the Thistle Needlerolls by M Designs (I stitched the vibrant colourway before Christmas).

I forgot that I’d meant to stitch up Lizzie*Kate’s Cross Stitcher in Residence in my small project rotation slot this time round, so the poor old needleroll may end up looking like that until the next rotation. I have to say I wasn’t enjoying stitching it last night, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing!!

Cross Stitch, Finishes, JBW Designs

First finish for 2014

4 January, 2014 Anne S

Yesterday I spent the afternoon getting all my first rotation projects onto scroll rods and Qsnaps and they’re now sitting in a but with their charts and threads … maybe my rotation is finally off to a good start this year!!

I made a tiny start on L&L’s Angel of Love, but had a slight mishap so she had to be put away for a while … it was super humid here yesterday in my room, which for me means having to get up and wash my hands regularly … well I was in the middle of a TV show so I was too lazy to get up and go to the bathroom, and grabbed some hand sanitizer to keep me going until the next ad break … or that was the plan! I ended up accidentally dropped 3 gloops onto my stitching!! Thankfully I had only done a teeny bit of stitching, and it was DMC threads only, so I rinsed the area under the tap and popped it onto the balcony to dry. A few hours later I went out to check on the progress, only to now find I had a lovely ‘tide mark’ where the water had spread. Time for the whole thing to come off the scroll bars and it went for a thorough dunking in cold water, and once again put out on the balcony for an overnight drying spell. It looks OK this morning, and has been ironed ready to go back onto the scroll bars once again. Guess who will put my TV show on “pause” next time instead of taking a supposed “shortcut”?!!! I had managed to get a teeny bit more than the below shows, but it’s still not really worth warranting a photo … but I figure at least it’s a start!! 😉

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After yesterday’s stitching disaster I decided this morning to finish off JBW’s Plum Pudding … freeing up the last set of Qsnaps I need for my Christmas Ornaments rotation slot. This means this is my first finish for 2014, and it’s time to get back to my rotation again (but not until I’ve pulled my finger out and got some housework done, seeing as it’s laundry day for me … gotta love having dedicated laundry days in our shared laundry).

Plum Pudding by JBW Designs

“Plum Pudding” by JBW Designs
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Belfast by Countrystitch ~ colour Pipi
with my own choice of threads:
GAST Roasted Chestnut, DMC White, Needle Necessities 153, WDW Holly