Cross Stitch – Page 47 – Feather Stitching

Chatelaine, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Prairie Schooler, Stitching Leporello, Works in Progress

Lazy day stitching

15 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

It was a perfect Saturday – sitting up on my bed all day stitching my little heart out. I started stitching The Prairie Schooler’s “Duck” last night, and put the final stitches into it today – I just love this little fella!! It’s intended to turn him into a tin topper, but I think he’d look nice in so many different finishes I’m now undecided!

After my Duck finish, I also polished off part 3 of Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello – this was just a small design, but it still took me a wee while to stitch. Thank goodness for Season 1 of Supernatural to keep me company all day (thanks to Katie at work for loaning it to me). I must say I think the colour choices for this one are quite “strange” … hmmm.

I also put a couple of stitches into part 8 of the Leporello, which will eventually be the pincushion – I might even get that one finished tomorrow, as it’s quite a small piece to stitch.

Christmas Ornaments, Mum's stitching

Lots of stitching to share

12 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

… but not a single thing stitched by me!

All the following stitching is what my Mum (aka June, aka The Dragon) has stitched so far this year – she’s crazy about Christmas ornaments, as you can tell – these are a mix of well known designers (namely Prairie Schooler), magazine designs and freebies 😀

Believe it or not, there’s also a similar sized pile of ornies that are almost finished – she’s an ornie machine!!

Also, here’s proof that Mum has stitched a bookmark kit that Sharon gifted her with as we were leaving Melbourne … it still has to be finished into the bookmark itself, but all the stitching has been done now.

It’s amazing how much Mum’s stitching has improved over the last 12 months – she has only been stitching since she turned 70, and her stitching is great (and I’m very proud to now have a pile of her Christmas ornies left here to grace my tree … although I’m not too sure about the fact I have to finish-finish them haha).

Mum flew home yesterday morning, so the flat is quiet once again … I’ve brought work home the last two nights so that’s taken my mind off being sad for too long. Fingers crossed we’ll get another chance to catch up before the end of the year 🙂

Now it’s time to get a few more things done before I hit the hay for the night … Don’t expect as much stitching from me for a while as work is frantic, and it will just continue to get worse between now and the end of June – ah, I miss the days when we got paid overtime back in the call centre for the extra hours {sigh} 😉

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

Part 2 of Stitching Leporello finished

9 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Mum and I spent the day out yesterday enjoying the sights of Mittagong, Bowral and Berrima, and had a great day out! Unfortunately it’s getting down to the last couple of days of Mum’s visit … it’ll be really quiet round here after she’s gone!! I haven’t had time to sort out our photos from yesterday yet, and seeing as it’s now just after midnight here I might leave those until a later time … I will, however, share the photos of my latest stitching finish …

Here is part 2 of Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello … I had a sneak look at the finishing instructions today and nearly had a heart attack … luckily I don’t have to think about it too much for a while yet as there is still loads of stitching to be done, and I only intend to stitch these inbetween other stitching such as Winter Queen. I must say, though, that I really love this block, and in particular those little flower urns! 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

Ornie finish … and WIP

6 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Here’s my latest ‘small finish’ that I put the final stitches into yesterday (this was my holiday stitching piece that had an attack of the frogs the first night):

Twisted Oaks-Christmas Tree
“Christmas Tree” by Twisted Oaks Designs
from 2005 JCS Christmas Ornie magazine
Stitched on 28ct opalescent white Cashel linen
Some substituted threads – instead of NN Lemon Delight I used
Carrie’s Creation Gold Glow, and instead of DMC 349 for
the hearts I used Carrie’s Creation Scarlet

Also my progress from yesterday after finishing the ornament … I chose something already kitted up and ready to be picked up at a moment’s notice … this is the stitching of part 2 of the Stitching Leporello by Chatelaine … perhaps I will finish it today? Or perhaps not … 🙂 (sorry for the bad photo but I took it after midnight last night and can’t be bothered taking another one)

Stitching Leporello WIP 05Jun08

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Sydney Stitchers Get-Together

5 June, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

We’ve been out of town for a few days, and I didn’t take the laptop with me, so I’m only now catching up on the last week’s events.

Last Sunday (1 June) I held a get-together at my place for 6 lovely Sydney stitchers (8 including Mum and myself) – even though my place is only small, it was a lovely day catching up with everyone and seeing their finished works and those that are in progress. Some even managed to do some stitching, but I certainly wasn’t one of them 😉

Here’s a photo I took on the day … apologies to those that aren’t 100% perfect in this photo but it was the best of a bad bunch! Working round the room from left to right are Robyn, Margaret, Mum (June aka the Dragon), June (Alison’s Mum), Alison, Amanda, and Karen.

I’ve also stolen Alison’s photo from her blog (hope you don’t mind Alison), as her photo is much better than mine and of course the giggler in the pink T-shirt is me (I know, ME in PINK!!! LOL) 😉

There was plenty of chatter and plenty of eating happening, and the time just flew by. Thanks again ladies for making it a really enjoyable day! Now I can’t wait for the next one to be held! 😀

One thing I did do on the day was to dismantle my scroll bars on Winter Queen so I could take a quick photo of her – not the best photo, but nice to see her in all her current glory, even if she does look washed out! I might try to take a better photo before I roll her back up again.

The rest of the week has been spent driving to Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, so I’ll document each day individually as there are quite a few piccies to share …

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Finishing, Stitching Smalls

Biscornu finish

31 May, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Did you hear a lot of muttering and cursing down under last night? If you did, it was likely to have been me!! I was all set to finish-finish my beautiful red tuffet/biscornu … and had the pieces freshly ironed ready to go, with the perle cotton and threads ready to start making wee tassels … Remember my joy in finally finishing this project??

Well, as soon as I started to thread needle through the backstitching on the sides, I thought to myself “hey, those fabrics feel totally different in hand” … and lo and behold on finer inspection and measuring they have been stitched on two different thread counts so the sides don’t match up!!! Lesson to self … do not take thread count on labels as gospel, always check before stitching!!! To say I was less than thrilled was a HUGE understatement last night – I was absolutely gutted … that means I have to either stitch the big piece again on the new fabric, which I have plenty of, or I have to try to find other fabric to match … considering I had such a bad run on stitching the main piece previously I have absolutely NO desire to stitch that again. Anyway, it’s been thrown in the corner to sit in disgrace until I decide I have the motivation to look at it again and decide what the heck to do … ho-hum 😦

Luckily I had another design ‘in reserve’ to finish as a biscornu for the Monthly Finishing Challenge that Becky has been organising … this one seemed to go relatively hitch-free, although I wish I’d left a bigger margin of “clear” fabric at the edge of the design before starting the backstitching for the whipstitch join, as it looks a little ‘busy/crowded’. Never mind, I still like it, nonetheless … So, here’s my attempt for this month, just in the nick of time! 😀

“Mystery Sampler” design by Debbie Draper
from Gift of Stitching Magazine (issues 6 and 7, 2006)
stitched with Carrie’s Creations threads
finished with seed beads from U Bead It (Sacramento, CA)

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED

Happy mail day

30 May, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick post to thank Ally for her kindness in sending me this wonderful chart off my wishlist – I’ve drooled over it big time already, so it’s a good job it’s in a plastic covering! LOL. The design is Maidens of the Sea by With My Needle – which comes with some very very cute little fish thread holders.

And I absolutely ADORE the Paris postcards – I’ve decided to put a couple of them up at my desk at work to give me a smile every day … Paris remains my favourite city in the world to date, so looking at those postcards will always evoke wonderful memories of my visits there. Thanks again Ally for your generous gift! 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Finishes

May’s Christmas Ornie

29 May, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Yesterday I started and finished my Christmas ornament for the monthly challenge on XSers Yahoo group. Unfortunately I chose to stitch on 32ct instead of 28ct, which means my teeny buttons look overpowering on it, so I’m not bothering to put them on … I may still add larger red ones to the corners when it’s eventually made up into an ornie though – in fact, I think I’m due to have a large ornie-finishing session soon! 🙂

“Spool Ornament” by Sue Hillis Design
from 2007 Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine
Stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen with DMC

Stash, Works in Progress

Bit of Stash and Progress

28 May, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Not much has been happening over the last 24 hours – Mum and I spent the entire day at home stitching our little hearts out (I didn’t even get out of my PJ’s until we went out to buy petrol at 7.30pm!!!). I managed to quite a fair bit of stitching done on Mirabilia’s Winter Queen, which seems to be all I’ve been stitching on this month. It would be lovely to actually get her finished, but I think once I’m back to work again that goal will still be quite some time away. I’m probably just short of halfway through the stitching (you can see the full piccie in my sidebar). In the meantime you’ll just have to get bored seeing her skirt in various stages of completion! Although I may soon unroll her and take a full photo … even I haven’t seen her in all her total glory as yet! 😉

I’ve decided to take her off the floor stand for a few days, though, so I can work on a couple of smaller items for a short while – including finishing my biscornu, my monthly Christmas ornie, and something I want to stitch as a model for Karen.

Today we’re doing a bit of housework – the washing is in the machine, and the dishes are done, now we’re about to strip my bed and put freshly ironed sheets on … while it’s a pain in a patootie to iron those darned things, it’ll be sheer bliss to slip between them tonight!! They’re pure Egyptian cotton with a very heavy thread count, and unfortunately no polyester so they crease like hell in the washing machine.

Anyway, rather than bore you stupid with our mundane tasks for the day, I’ll leave you with a photo of our spoils from The Stitching Post on Monday … the only things not in the photo are the DMC skeins that Mum bought. I don’t tend to buy too much these days – although in saying that there are some items on order from Karen that haven’t arrived yet … can’t wait for them to arrive!! 😀

Cross Stitch, Sydney

Just a quick post with a few piccies

26 May, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

We just walked in the door after being out all day yet again … we were originally going to drive up the coast tomorrow, but we’ve opted to put that off for a few days, and have a day or two relaxing at home instead. Today we called in to pick up some drying racks for my washing to go on the balcony, then headed out to the Blue Mountains for the day.

We started off my stopping at Leura, where we spent plenty of time drooling in the imported lolly shop – I’ve never seen so many lollies in one place in my life!!! We were very good and only bought a couple of items (some Walkers treacle toffee, Barratt’s nougat, and lemon bon-bons), then sat and had a lovely lunch (albeit damned pricey!) at a local cafe. Mum had pumpkin soup while I had a sandwich with smoked salmon, capers and lettuce etc.

Only one side of the Leura lolly shop – there is another wall on the other side and in the middle!

After our stop at Leura we drove over to Katoomba and took a short bush walk to the Cliff Top viewing platform to watch the Katoomba SkyRail head across the ‘canyon’ – and I then tried to kill myself off by taking another very short bush walk to see the Katoomba Cascades (although this one was a steep walk, hence the knackered state I arrived in back up top!).

Walkway from the carpark to Cliff Viewpoint

Katoomba SkyRail car on its way back from the viewpoint station

View of the Blue Mountains from Cliff viewpoint

Our final stop today was to visit Karen at The Stitching Post – here Mum bought a Just Nan chart, some DMC and Aida fabric, while I bought some Dinky Dyes and Gloriana silks, GAST and Crescent Colours threads I needed, plus a holiday treat from my wishlist, The Drawn Thread’s Spot of Winter.

The Stitching Post, Katoomba

I also managed to take a couple of really crappy photos of the first three of the pieces that Karen has framed for me – they look great in real life! 🙂

“For the Birds” by The Drawn Thread

“Geranium House” by Country Cottage Needleworks

“Necessities Sampler” by Little House Needleworks

Now we’re blobbing out at home, about to put the TV on and put needle in hand, once we’ve had our turkish bread and dips for dinner … washed down by my new favourite Chardonnay … “Stonier” Chardonnay from the Mornington Peninsula – ooh, yummy!!! 😀