Cross Stitch – Page 27 – Feather Stitching

Canvaswork, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Jens Jems, Paw Printings, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt

Penguin Hugs & Photo Hunt

7 August, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Here’s my latest stitching finish that I’ve been working on during this week – I put the final stitches into it last night while Katie and I watched the last episodes of Dark Angel (great series, shame it got axed at that point after the 2nd season). This design is supposed to have all the white stitches overlaid with a half-cross of blending filament … I managed to do the snow beneath the penguin’s feet, then got totally fed up with it (I truly detest BF), so I didn’t bother doing the BF in the border – I think it still looks alright to me that way 🙂 (The fabric looks kinda grey in this photo, but it is a lovely light blue in real life.)

“Penguin Hugs” by Paw Printings
from 2004 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Lugana
with recommended DMC

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PhotoHunt | PhotoHunt

This week’s theme is ”Colourful”.

Cross Stitch, Quaker, Queensland, Scenic Sunday, Travel - Australia, Works in Progress

Quaker Update & Scenic Sunday

1 August, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick drive-by with a Quaker Huswif update – Katie has her Mum and sister staying with us this weekend, so I joined them in the lounge last night for a pizza and DVD night … which meant a couple of hours of stitching time for me 🙂

Oh so close now to finishing off this section – just that tiny bit of border left to go, then I can roll it up to start stitching on the final two quaker sections – over the halfway mark now, with 60% completed woohoo! Have to admit I’m really LOVING stitching on this one – I’m not normally a huge fan of Vikki Clayton silks, but this Premium floss is really great to stitch with one strand on 40ct fabric … an absolute dream! So much so that I’m considering getting some more for future projects … once I’ve stitched some more of my existing stash first LOL 😀

Now I’m about to wander across the road for a decent bucket of cappuccino and maybe some lunch ‘cos my tummy’s rumbling and I don’t have much food in the house! Then when I get back home again I need to get my head back into work mode and pick up my project work documentation again for work – if all goes well, and I can get everything pretty much finished today, then tomorrow I may just have to go into the office to finish off a couple of screen shots that I didn’t bring home with me from the reservations system, and email the document off to all the key stakeholders so they have time to review and finalise by the end of next week. While normally I’d be brassed off having to work during the long weekend, I have to admit I’ve really enjoyed working on it – and it’s been so much easier to concentrate at home!

And just because I haven’t done one for a while, here’s a Scenic Sunday post to finish off the day … from the coastal drive between Cairns and Port Douglas, Queensland.

Cross Stitch, Edfu, Exchanges, Freebies, Nadi, Photo Hunt, PhotoHunt, pincushions, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, Travel - Egypt, Travel - Fiji

NZ Exchange

31 July, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

I have absolutely nothing to show stitching WIP-wise this week, as I’ve been clocking some mental hours at work, with a few 12 hour days. My new all-time record was a 16 1/2 hour day yesterday – 12 of them in the office, then I came home and did the remainder at home, finishing at 1.30am this morning. I still have enough work to keep me going for one more entire day, but I thought I’d take a break for a bit – although I have a major deadline looming, so I have to do it over the weekend to get it finished in time for review on Tuesday morning (it’s a long weekend here in Sydney this weekend).

Seeing as I don’t have any WIP updates, I thought I’d go ahead and post the exchange I posted off last week. I haven’t heard that it’s arrived, but it should be there by now 🙂

You will remember that I shared the ‘back sides” last week, well here are the fronts. I was very sad to see these ones leave home … I think I just may have to repeat this exchange all for myself – love, love, love the colours – I just hope my recipient likes it too!

Freebie from My Aunt’s Attic
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC 4030 thread
(homemade tassel & cord also in DMC 4030 thread)

Freebie by Le Petit Monde de Vavi
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC 4030 thread

And seeing as I have nothing else to share today, I’ll end with this week’s Photo Hunt, as I ran out of pre-published posts last week and have to think of this one from scratch. Alas, no future themes are out yet either, so I guess next week’s will be from scratch too…

PhotoHunt | PhotoHunt

This week’s theme is ”Public” and I went with the following dictionary definition:

“Definition:Open to common or general use; as, a public road; a public house.”

In saying that, here are my choices for this week … Here I am waiting for a bus at the public bus depot in Nadi … during a flood (and no, I have no expectation that a bus will really arrive!).

Or perhaps a public road at Edfu markets, Egypt…

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Hardanger, Just Nan, Periwinkle Promises, pillows, pincushions, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls, Works in Progress

Exchanges, WIPs and Finishes

25 July, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

In my overflowing mailbox this week I received an exquisite exchange from Elaine in NZ (this was an exchange hosted by the StitchNZ Yahoo Group). I’m absolutely thrilled with this exchange – I really adore hardanger, although I still haven’t kicked myself in the pants enough to get back into it myself again … and this one is just gorgeous! Elaine made it into a stitching pocket so I can hold my needlework tools and supplies – and sent along a matching wee pincushion (so gorgeous!) and packet of needles. I’ve taken loads of photos so you can share in the beautiful stitching detail of this piece – while photos never do stitching real justice, I’m sure you can imagine that the finished piece is even more exquisite! Thanks Elaine for a wonderful exchange! 😀

My exchange piece unfortunately left a little bit late (actually a whole week late, ahem!) … thanks to not being able to get to the Post Office. As I’m pretty positive the recipient doesn’t read my blog, but perhaps I’d better play it safe and not post details about it yet … I’ll tempt you with a photo of the ‘backside’ in the meantime, and will post more when it’s received 🙂

What’s next??? Oh yes, yesterday I sat in the lounge with Katie watching Dark Angel DVDs, and doing a teeny bit of finishing – I managed to get the Christmas Ornament tutorial photos completed (very basic ornie) which also means one more ornament off the finishing pile, my Just Nan Ladybug Santa is now in its little Whimzi frame, and I completed the Periwinkle Promises January Sampler Accent into its little pillow, complete with little corner tassels (I ran out of silk for the backing fabric/joining, but luckily had a skein or two in my stash that I was grab to finish this one off).

As for my WIPs themselves, I’ve done very very little stitching over the last week or so – I managed to put a handful of beads into Chatelaine’s Egyptian Garden Mandala (3 nights of beading and I’m still not even halfway finished the one band of beads – the row on the edge of the lotus flowers) – it doesn’t help that the beads don’t sit nicely with that poxy fabric that I’m using, so I’m having to squeeze the beads in and offset them every 6 or 7 beads:

Then yesterday I managed to complete some more of the border of the Quaker Huswif, and am now working on the bottom quaker band. Once this section is finished, I’ll be flipping the design upside down and unrolling the scrollbars to work on the final two sections at the other end – I think at this point in time I’m pretty much sitting on the halfway mark of this piece 🙂

And that’s pretty much it for now … not sure what I’ll be stitching on this week, if anything … I’ve got some big deadlines at work over the next fortnight, so I may be putting in some longer hours, which means less mental/physical energy for stitching …

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Stash

A week of highs and lows

25 July, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Starting with the lowlight of the week … 😦

I was incredibly saddened this week to learn that an old colleague from Auckland passed away this week – every time I go home and visit my old workplace I always make sure I stop by and have a chat. He was made redundant from his job a number of months ago, which saddened me, but the news this week was really devastating. The world is an emptier place without you, Toni – I will always remember you fondly and with love, and will miss your beautiful smile and wicked sense of humour … Rest in Peace my friend xxx

This photo of Toni (in the top left with the blue shirt on) is from our last Christmas party before I moved to Australia to work, and that beautiful smiling face is how I’ll always remember him in my mind 🙂

Moving on to the highs of the week … all pretty much postage related! I haven’t had chance to pick up parcels from my PO Box for a couple of weeks or so now – I did one pick-up the day after I returned from sick leave a few weeks ago, and haven’t done it since! To say my mailbox was overflowing is an understatement!

I’ll start with the best stuff … I received friendship gifts from two of my close online pals, and I love, love, love everything! 😀 I’ll show them in order of when they would have arrived, had I managed to get to the PO Box sooner…

First up is this wonderful gift from Margaret in NZ, the founder of StitchNZ Yahoo Group, and a dear online friend. I agree with you Margaret, that I too hope we will get to meet F2F one day! Margaret treated me with a chart from my wishlist (LHN’s Spot of Coffee), pearl cottons threads in scrumptious colours (oh so me!), and a gorgeous piece of fabric that I’m already matching up with an overdyed thread from my stash in some future stitching plans 🙂 Thanks again Margaret for my parcel of goodies – I love love love everything! 😀

Next up is another wonderful gift, this time from my “northern twin” Jenna in the US. Jenna was one of the first online pals that I “clicked with”, and remains one of my dearest friends online. When I stitched my turquoise and purple biscornu a couple of years ago, in my mind it was ‘me and Jenna’ in that biscornu, as that’s the blend of our two favourite colours. And to prove just which colour was MY favourite, see if you can guess from the scrumptiousness of this photo! LOL. Yep, you guessed it, turquoises and blues (if you didn’t know already) make me scream with joy (and both Margaret and Jenna know me incredibly well, as they so proved with their gift choices!). These turquoise threads are scrummy enough on their own (and I just want to keep playing with them and stroking them), but Jenna also included a really gorgeous beaded fob as well. I’m going to see if itwill fit on my mobile phone so I can carry it with me each day, but if not I have a pair of scissors itching to be adorned too 🙂 Thank you again my dear friend – as always your taste is impeccable, and I love everything! 😀

The next part of my overflowing mail was expected … I went on a bit of a spending splurge on the Bay of Evil, and with the exception of one item none of it was stitching-related, but rather DVD related instead … here’s the biggest piece of exciting shopping (and biggest splurge) … the entire series of ER on DVD – seeing as I keep missing episodes because the TV channels changed or the TV channel just opted not to play an episode or three, I’ve missed lots of the last couple of seasons … so now I get to re-live all the fun from day 1 of the show – I can’t wait! 😀

Of course I had to get the first three seasons of Little Britain as well, plus a couple of movies that Jensen is the main character in (My Bloody Valentine and Ten Inch Hero), and a couple of movies from my youth … of which I don’t think I’ll embarrass myself and spill the details … 😛

The one stitching related item I bought was the set of Valdani threads for Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor … Love, love, love this design 😀

Talking of which, I have to say I’m really loving being “out of fashion” where designs are concerned these days – I think I’m just about the only person in blogland that can’t stand the ‘historical’ or ‘primitive’ samplers and designs out there (with the odd exception every now and again) – and that seems to be the main focus by stitchers these days. While I enjoy seeing them being stitched on other blogs, I have no great urge to run out and buy one, and it’s saving me lots of money this way! It used to be that every blog I opened there’d be some new design tempting me – now it’s only one every now and again … oh the joy of not running to update the wishlist on a daily basis, and enjoying the existing stash I have already – such bliss 😀 Anyway, I digress … moving on from my eccentric stitching tastes and back to the mailbox goodies …

The final stitching thing that I had ordered during a recent stash sale at The Stitching Post arrived – a handful of Delica beads, a couple of JABC buttons and a packet of Mill Hill beads for my Halloween Fairy (to replace the packet I already own that have somehow gone AWOL – of course now I’ve bought a new packet they will arrive out of nowhere someday soon …)

Then one last non-stitching item of greatness … I misplaced my glasses that I use for driving, and now the evening are dark as soon as we leave work I was straining my eyes driving home … I finally opted to buy a cheap pair from Glasses Online, not really caring how they looked as a fashion item, and I’m pretty darned pleased with them … AU$150 including the frames, lenses and anti-glare coating, you little beauty!!! Of course, Murphy and his sodding law proved correct as always, the day after I send my credit card whizzing through the computer cables I found my old glasses sitting in their glasses case under the bed … I’d only been searching for them for 2 whole months!!! Pfffft……. 😛 Obviously I don’t really “need” them (the prescription is only 0.75 in one eye and 0.5 in the other) otherwise I would’ve been shopping a whole lot sooner! … but boy, oh boy, it feels good driving and having that focus tightened up just that fraction more sharply! 😀

I also have an exchange that I’ve received (and sent) and a couple of small finishes, so I think I’ll open up a new post as this one is getting pretty lengthy!

Chatelaine, Cross Stitch, Egyptian Garden Mandala, Works in Progress

Egyptian Garden Mandala

12 July, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

The only stitching done this weekend was on EGM – I spent a reasonable amount of time on this one on Saturday, then had a break while I polished off book 4 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (Butch) … then managed a few more hours last night while Katie and I watched a few more episodes of Dark Angel. TV viewing has been appalling just lately, with many of our favourite shows now off the air, so we’ve been working our way through our TV shows on DVD instead. Initially we dedicated Friday night each week as our TV DVD night (and what felt like never-ending weeks of Dawson’s Creek initially) – but lately we’d rather watch our DVDs than anything on actual TV.

Tonight was no exception, and I managed to put another couple of hours into Egyptian Garden Mandala (“EGM”), bringing the latest stitching effort to look like this:

I can honestly and truthfully say that this is a true “labour” to stitch … not a labour of love, just a “labour”. I truly detest the fabric I’m stitching this one on … I will never ever in all my days choose an opalescent fabric to stitch on again – and don’t get me started on trying to stitch little over-one fishes in metallic thread in the centre of this piece, ‘cos I’m seriously VERY close to ripping the whole lot out, filling in the centre with normal cross stitches, and stitching on some mother of pearl fish buttons or something similar! I keep getting tempted to scrap the whole thing and start over again on a new piece of normal Belfast linen, but the fact is I’ve come so far with the stitching now, I don’t know if I’d ever bother picking it up again … so I continue to force myself to stitch, and hope like hell each time that I’m getting closer to the edge of the next section, as each section that gets completed takes me one step closer to ending this stitching journey (which will, alas, be quite some months in the future I fear!).

No sign yet of my back-ordered threads arriving at the overseas store, much less leaving the US, so this one will continue for a while longer yet (even though I have to strain to see over the top of it a bit in my stitching chair) … unless the urge to throw it out the window grows so loud that I’m starting to take notice …

I guess the good news is that it’ll be like motherhood when it’s finished … all the pain of the actual childbirth will be forgotten, and the beautiful creation that remains completed at the end will wipe all the memories of pain and suffering away … and it’ll all be worth it in the end … especially once it gets is sparkly beads stitched on. In fact, I tried adding some more of the shitty over-one fishies over the weekend, ‘cos once they’re stitched up I’m going to start adding the back-stitching and beads as I go … and I think once they start getting added it’ll add a bit more ‘spring to my needle’ 🙂

Chatelaine, Cross Stitch, Egyptian Garden Mandala, Quaker, Works in Progress

Egyptian Garden makes a come-back

9 July, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Back to work again for me today – still not 100% healthwise, but I managed to survive one day at work before the weekend is here again … the bad news is I’m so far behind in some work it means I’ll probably be going into the office over the weekend for a couple of hours to catch up, because deadlines are looming and I’m in meetings most of the day on Monday … c’est la vie 😦

Stitching-wise I managed to re-stitch my Quaker Huswif section while I was off work, and am moving on to the bottom section … which means it won’t be too long before I’m at the halfway mark on this project. Unfortunately I took the photo this morning in dark light without much indoor lighting and the photo is dreadful … c’est la vie once again … Once I’ve finished this project I’ll try to take some decent photos during daylight that will show off the colour of the thread and fabric nicely.

Then tonight, also in poor lighting but this time only using my daylight bulb immediately over the fabric, I managed to take yet another appalling snap of my stitching update with Egyptian Garden Mandala (this time totally washed out!) … but I can’t be bothered waiting until daylight to take another one 🙂

Each time I look at EGM I think the little border of birdies just isn’t ‘right’ – the blue/green birds blend in too much into the border background, so I think at the end I’ll backstitch the tops of all the birds to add a bit more emphasis to their shape. I almost didn’t bother taking a progress piccie because I don’t feel as though I’ve made much progress, but when I look at the last progress piccie I guess you can see some headway made … just 😛

Egyptian Garden is such an unwieldy project on its huge Qsnaps that it’s a right royal pain to handle, so I’ve decided it will be sitting on my lounge stitching frame for a wee while longer … at least until my back-ordered threads arrive to complete Halloween Fairy anyway. Quaker Huswif, as much as I don’t want to stop stitching on it, will continue to be my sitting in bed stitching project, so it may now take a lot longer to get much further along with it.

Anyway for now it’s time to stop gabbing and take my ringing ears and blocked sinuses off to bed … maybe time to read a chapter or two of Book 4 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (Butch) … depending on whether the tumbler of port and brandy that I consumed this evening will allow me or not (for medicinal purposes, you understand LOL).

Cross Stitch, Quaker, Works in Progress

Quaker Huswif update

7 July, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve been sick all weekend, so my usual stitching time didn’t happen over the weekend, but I did manage to get a bit done last night while watching DVDs (Hostage with Bruce Willis, great movie) – after going to the GP today I’ve been given another 2 days at home while my infected sinuses and fluid-blocked ears are recovering, so today I’ve been making the most of it and putting my needle to fabric. This is how it looked last night before I rolled up the scrollbars (love, love, love this project, and the photo in no way does it justice!):

Then, this is how it looked at lunchtime today after a few hours decent stitching time:

And this is how it looks now after I unpicked all this morning’s stitching thanks to having a blonde moment and starting the entire section in the wrong place … ho-hum …

Now it’s a case of putting all those stitches back in again – I was originally hoping that I could finish off this entire block by tonight, but having to restitch everything again is putting that a little bit in jeopardy … oh well, tomorrow is another day … 🙂

And hopefully tomorrow there will be none of these … ‘cos I’ve done enough frogging for the week!

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Oops … I forgot …

27 June, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve had a couple of questions about my old UFO in my recent post, wondering what the project is. This is what it will grow up to become (apologies for the piccie, I just ‘stole’ it from an overseas Ebay site, ‘cos I can’t be bothered finding my original copy and scanning it!):

This is “Le Jardin Silk Sampler” from really old issues of JCS magazine (it was originally printed in two parts) – the designer is Sandy Orton.

As you can see, I’m a looooong way from a finish on this one – from memory I completed one 10-hour rotation on it, then my rotation went out the window when I packed everything up to go into storage, and I haven’t picked it up since (not to mention I’m absolutely detesting one of the Kreinik silks, which also put me off stitching it). Time to “suck it up, Princess” and get on with making some headway with it … it’s got plenty of specialty stitches thrown in with the XS to give some challenges along the way (not to mention that grotty revolting silk thread which provides a challenge on by itself!).

Cross Stitch, Food, Works in Progress

Last day of the weekend

27 June, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Darnit, I’m sure someone stole some hours from this weekend, ‘cos even with an extra day it’s absolutely flown past! Mind you, at least I have something to show for it … a freezer full of the following:

Banana and Date Muffins

Spicy Apple Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Plus I have 3 servings of Spaghetti Bolognese in the freezer now ready for upcoming dinners, and 2 servings of Rice Pudding in the fridge (of which 1 is about to be consumed, leaving 1 more for tomorrow night – yummo).

While I’ve been busy in the kitchen, I’ve been listening to another book – Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It’s very slow starting, but starting to get a bit more interesting, I guess. I’m almost halfway through the book now – I’ve really enjoyed having the book nattering away in the background while I’ve been busy.

Last night I put a few teeny tiny stitches into my Quaker Huswif, but not much more to show for it – this will be a loooong project, as I don’t often have time to stitch in bed on an evening, but I want to leave it here in my bedroom as my ‘bed project’.