Cross Stitch – Page 38 – Feather Stitching

Beading, Finishes, Finishing, scissor fobs, Stash

Beaded Scissor Fobs and some Stash

14 June, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve just managed to pop into the lounge to take photos of the scissor fobs I made last night – as you can see from the main photo, they ended up a real mixed bag in terms of length … there definitely will be more coming ‘cos they’re so much fun to make! Now I know why some of my other stitching pals (Hi Cindy!) find these so addictive!! 😀

And here’s an individual photo of each fob so you can see the bead choices more clearly.

I really do need to go shopping to get more clear beads etc, though, as I have an over-abundance of blue beads (funny that!) but not so many ‘fillers’ … I’m soooooo tempted to go back to the craft show today!! 😛

And finally, here’s all I have to show from the Craft & Quilt Fair yesterday – including a piece of the world’s largest ric-a-rac, and some more Swiss lace for Shepherd’s Bush needlerolls (can never have too much!!), and my squillions of ‘pandora’ beads … many of these beads are destined for other uses, eg fobs, but I did buy a bracelet while I was there yesterday too … and yes, there is rather an overload of turquoise and blue!! 😉

Finally, here’s the sum total of my week’s stitching – one more tiny addition to Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello. I just had the border left to stitch and the beads/metallics on it’s companion piece, which will hopefully be finished by the end of tonight … after that I will be trying to make some more progress during the week of my Sweetheart Tree UFO, Wildflowers Needleroll (which I started here in the flat while waiting for my furniture to arrive!).

And now I’m about to, sadly, mark all my feeds as read in my feedreader, as it’s depressing the heck out of me – I’ve been trying hard to catch up on the backlog, but still have over 1700 unread feeds … I’m finally going to bite the bullet and wipe the slate clean, so I can continue to keep up with everyone’s news without feeling overwhelmed every day. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but couldn’t bring myself to do it … but today is the day! I want to get back to commenting regularly again! So, in advance, I apologise if I’ve missed any major personal news, but I look forward to reading about you all regularly again 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Heart in Hand Needleart, Mill Hill, Needlerolls, scissor fobs, Shepherd's Bush

Couple of small finishes

8 June, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

After having one whole half week of feeling fantastic and over my viral bugs, on Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat, and have been a snot factory for the last 48 hours yet again … too much information, I know … fingers crossed this round won’t hang around for quite so long! Having a ‘cold’ for the last 6 whole weeks was just a teensy tiny bit too much, especially when two of those ended up being without pay 😦

Anyway, over the last week or two I’ve been sitting and stitching a few tiny projects, and here are the results:

First up a freebie from IHLE-Design, stitched in a DMC variegated floss:

Then a wee freebie from My Aunt’s Attic, stitched in a Carrie’s Threads floss:

Afterwards, in need to something else to stitch, I decided to finish off a Christmas ornament that I started when visiting Mum in Auckland back in April:

“Christmas Cheer” by Heart in Hand Needleart

Next up this weekend was Folk Heart Needleroll by Shepherd’s Bush:

“Folk Heart Needleroll” by Shepherd’s Bush

And lucky last, Ice Blue Snowflake ornament by Mill Hill:

“Ice Blue Snowflake” by Mill Hill

Long weekends are great, especially when you sit up in bed all day with the sniffles!! 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Indigo Rose, Just Nan

Latest finishes

19 May, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Following are my latest finishes, thanks to me damaging my ribs further after another coughing fit yesterday morning, and having to be escorted over the road to the doctors by my flatmate … the only way I could get comfortable is sitting propped up in bed … perfect for stitching … (sorry for the dreadful photos – all taken at night under indoor lighting)

“Spring Garden” freebie by Indigo Rose
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with recommended threads (DMC)

This one is a typical Just Nan special … lots of colour changes and details – certainly not a quick stitch! This has taken me a couple of full days stitching. The colours are definitely not true to life in this one – might have to try taking a new photo in daylight …

“Autumn in the Square” by Just Nan
stitched on 28ct Light Mocha Cashel linen
with recommended threads (DMC)

Now it’s time to put some clothes on and walk over the road to pick up the repeat script of my antibiotics – and time to take some more Voltaren and Panamax … bless those darned drugs, is all I can say (it’s a killer being allergic to codeine and digesics, no decent heavy-duty painkillers that I can take … when I had my eyes lasered I could only be given Paracetamol, and that’s two days I never ever want to repeat in this lifetime!).

Chatelaine, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Full Circle Designs, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stitching Leporello, Sweetheart Tree

Missing in Action

16 May, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve been giving my computer a wide berth over the last couple of weeks … I’ve had a set-back with my health, after going back to square one with a viral relapse two weeks ago and feeling like death warmed up. I’ve been struggling to get through work every day, and after a full 4 weeks of feeling like cr*p, I ended up back at the GP’s office this week after dislodging a rib from trying to cough up my lungs on Thursday morning. After finding I had a temperature (which is totally unheard of for me), and kept bursting into tears all morning I’ve ended up off work again to try to recuperate. My “immunity is knackered” (direct quote from the GP), so I’m taking it easy, and continuing to take some time away from the PC.

I think my Mum is missing my blog posts, however, so I’m making an effort to catch up quickly with my latest stitching before switching off again. I owe some people emails, and will get on top of that shortly …

While I’ve been offline I’ve managed the following stitching finishes:

“A Christmas Song” by Full Circle Designs (2008 JCS ornie magazine)
Stitched on 32ct Days Gone By Silkweaver linen
with a mix of threads substituting those of the
recommended threads I didn’t have

“Stitching Leporello” by Chatelaine

“Snowflakes in Abundance” by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched on 32ct white Lugana
with recommended threads,
but substituting the snowflake charm

Acorn Needlebook, Cross Stitch, Periwinkle Promises, Works in Progress

Acorn Needlebook update

1 May, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Over the last 2 nights I’ve managed to put a few more stitches into my Acorn Needlebook WIP – my French knots and queen stitches are far from perfect, but they’ll do … I don’t want to see another French knot for a wee while!!!

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Mirabilia, Winter Queen

Viruses can be good :D

28 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I still feel a little bit stunned and shell-shocked, but having 3 entire days of uninterrupted stitching thanks to a poxy virus means putting the final stitches into my Winter Queen … I still can’t believe it!!! The photo doesn’t do her justice! And this is one piece that will definitely be getting framed for my walls 😀

“Winter Queen” by Mirabilia
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with DMC, Mill Hill beads and Kreinik metallic braids
Started November 2005 – Finished 28 April 2009

Ackworth Friendship Book, Cross Stitch, Quaker, Round Robin, Round Robins, With My Needle, Works in Progress

Case of the Blahs

27 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I’m just killing time for a few minutes before I head over to the local GP. I’ve been suffering from the worst head cold I’ve had in years over the last week, which saw me staying in bed for the entire weekend. I walked into work today, only to have my entire team tell me to go home, making me feel even worse … anyway, after an hour I’ve succumbed to the fact that I’m not welcome at work, and probably time I saw my GP for a quick check-up. This is also the first time I’ve been online for days.

Over the weekend I did manage to get quite a lot of stitching in – both finishing up the 2nd part of Nicki’s Ackworth Friendship Book pages for our friendship RR, and getting a pretty decent chunk of stitching into Winter Queen. By hook or by crook I’m going to have this old UFO finished by the end of May!

Here’s the final photos of Nicki’s finished piece – I tried to tweak the colouring in Photoshop Elements on the “whole fabric” photo, as the colour just doesn’t get captured at all with the camera … the colour is definitely more true to life in the 2nd photo 🙂

After stitching on hand-dyed 40ct linen, stitching on 32ct Belfast for Winter Queen was a breeze, and even felt like 28ct it seemed such large! Anyway, here’s Winter Queen as I left her last, along with the progress up to last night … she doesn’t have too much more left on her to go, yippee 😀

Once Winter Queen is finished, I need to decide which UFO to tackle next. After joining a local UFO XS group online, I like the idea of having one UFO in my ‘rotation’ all the time, so I can finally get some of those pieces finished up.

I did manage to find a website that offers downloads of the Supernatural episodes, so I spent most of last week’s down-time downloading all those, and that gave me something to cheer me up over the weekend – an entire day watching Supernatural Season 4 (right up to episode 17 anyway – the others aren’t ready for downloading yet … and I can’t wait!!). It’s been years since I’ve been so batty about a TV series, but I just can’t get enough of those boys!!! 😀

Anyway, time to get my A into G and head off to the GP. Have to admit, if it wasn’t for having a public holiday on Saturday, I wouldn’t bother wasting the GP’s time, but alas coming home from work after a public holiday means I either get a GP’s note or lose a day’s pay … you know what I obviously chose! But it means now I can get a few more stitches into Winter Queen … and where did I put my Supernatural Season 3 DVD’s??? 😀

Ackworth Friendship Book, Cross Stitch, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Quaker, Round Robin, Round Robins, supernatural, Sydney, With My Needle

Why does this perfect day have to end?

20 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

What a way to spend a Sunday … this evening I managed to put the final stitches into part 3 of our Ackworth Friendship Book which is being stitched as a round robin, which means I’ve now halfway through stitching on Nicki’s piece.

That in itself is a good achievement at the end of the day, but certainly not what all the excitement is about … Oh no, no, no, it was FAR more exciting than that!!! No, today was the day that I spent in the company of Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins at the Supernatural Convention … and THAT is the reason I wish it didn’t have to end!!! I’m still feeling a bit shell-shocked after the whole experience – in a good way! 😀

I’ve got oodles of photos, but thought I’d share the experience with you with a select few … well, OK, about a dozen!! 😛

First of all, it was worth going just to get to watch about 5 of the upcoming episodes of Supernatural that haven’t been aired in Australia yet – how awesome to see them up on the huge big theatre screen above the stage!! Apologies for most of these photos – they were taken in bad lighting from halfway back in the auditorium (although the photo of the big screen below came out suprisingly well!).

Then we had chance to ask questions of Misha Collins for an hour – what a superb and fun speaker he is, and a great addition to the show.

Afterwards it was time to start getting called for autograph sessions, and I took along my favourite computer wallpaper that I printed off at home, for Jensen Ackles to sign. After just signing stock standard publicity photos he was apparently really impressed with my photo choice as he hadn’t seen it before, and had to pass it around to his offsiders before signing it … gave a great chance to have a quick chat with him {{insert heavy sigh of dreamy pleasure here}}.

After queueing up for an hour in the lunch queue, it was time to head back to the Auditorium where we signed up to buy a copy of the DVD covering the weekend’s events, and had chance to catch one final new episode of Supernatural before we were graced with the presence of Jared Padalecki … this was Katie’s chance to drool heavily, as Jared is her supreme favourite.

Next up came my chance to drool and slobber, and I’m sure the reason I felt dehydrated coming home had nothing to do with the fact we hadn’t had a drink all day, but rather that I was sat with my mouth gaping open in awe at seeing Jensen Ackles in the flesh on stage! {{insert another heavy sigh of dreamy delight}} Yes, I know, I’m like a love-sick teenager, but I just can’t help myself 😉

Jared and Jensen spoke individually on stage for 1/2 hour each, then we had the pleasure of having the two of them back on stage together, while Jared acted like a child with ADD and the two of them stuffed themselves with Fantales candies. They did manage to field a few more questions from the audience inbetween clowning around and taking cracks at each other.

The day finished with Misha Collins coming to join them on stage, and Jared and Jensen drew on T-shirts to auction off for charity … at $3,000 a pop I’d say the auction was a huge success, and the Starlight Foundation will be thrilled with the proceeds.

So, what can I say, aside from “WOW, what an awesome day!!!” – a perfect finish to my fortnight of annual leave … and I’ll definitely be having fun memories for years to come. Now all we need now is for Channel Ten to pull their fingers out of their proverbial behinds and get Episode 9 onwards onto Australian TV – Misha Collins couldn’t believe we were only up to episode 8, to which he got a thunderous response in agreement from the audience … so, come on Channel Ten, come to the party!!!

Christmas Ornaments, Finishing, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls, tin topper

Final finishes for the day

17 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

It’s been a very productive day, finishing-wise – I’ve really enjoyed getting a few pieces into a finished state, and look forward to having a few more days like it in upcoming weeks. Following are the final pieces (except for one ornie which is still drying, after gluing the cording on – I’ll take a photo over the weekend when I can):

First up are a couple more Christmas ornies finished off:

Then another wee pinkeep:

And finally my first attempt at a tin topper – this is FAR from perfect, and there are many things I’d do differently next time, but it’s OK for a first attempt I guess. It was supposed to be a gift for someone, but I’m not entirely sure it’s good enough for that … I’ll have to think that over, I think … In any case, I need to find my magnetic strips to add to the inside lid, but they have so far eluded me today! I do like the little ‘bow’ on the front of the lid, made from two loops of velvet ribbon 🙂

Beading, Cross Stitch, Finishing, Mill Hill, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Another finish-finish

17 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Oh my goodness, I’ve had this piece of stitching sitting around for years and years … it was a Mill Hill kit that I bought back in the days when I used to stitch on Aida (shows you how long ago that was!) – it was also the first attempt I ever made at beading. Unfortunately the silver beads have discoloured somewhat, and there were grubby marks on the sides of the fabric from when I used to use a hoop that would never come out … I decided today to finally make something out of it and opted for a pinkeep. Who would’ve known such a scruffy piece of stitching would look so beautiful made up??! I was pleasantly surprised with the result – and knew that lovely ribbon trip would come in handy one day! 😀

Here are a few piccies of the resulting piece – I love this one!! 😀