Stitching Smalls – Page 3 – Feather Stitching

Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Finishes, Mirabilia, scissor pockets, scissors, Stitching Smalls, The Cat's Whiskers, Works in Progress

Weekly Update

12 June, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Another week has gone by, and not much stitching has been completed in that time – the only thing I’ve been working on this week has been my Halloween Fairy with a few more stitches put in Mon-Thu this week. I’ve made OK progress on this one, but it’ll be a few weeks yet before she’s finished (not just stitching-wise, but I realised I’m missing two Kreinik braids which I’ve had to order and wait because they’re out of stock – I had a store credit to use up with Needle in a Haystack, so I decided to put it to good use with my braids). I have to admit I’m enjoying stitching her with her decent sized blocks of colour 🙂

The only other news is that my Scissor Pocket Exchange arrived safely at its destination during the week, and thankfully Lillie likes it, which is the important thing 🙂 It was supposed to be a no-extras exchange (love those exchanges), but I couldn’t resist adding a little pair of scissors that I’d bought at the last craft fair we went to, which I used as my basis to choose a thread from my stash to match. I didn’t think to take a photo of the inside flap, where I stitched both our initials, so I’ve borrowed one of Lillie’s photos (hope she doesn’t mind).

“Alyssum 2007 Ltd Ed Scissor Pocket” by The Cat’s Whiskers
stitched on 32ct Bo-Beep Pink Belfast linen
with Needle Necessities thread 196

Rightio, time to head off and do something – I need to kit up a Lizzie*Kate Welcome Baby sampler for a colleague’s new daughter, and find a Halloween cape in the depths of the garage for an upcoming fancy dress party for Katie, as well as head out to a shopping mall to actually find a top to wear tonight!

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishing, Gift of Stitching, Pay It Forward, pillows, pincushions, Stitching Smalls, tin topper, Works in Progress

Final day of finishing

26 April, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

Wow, what a spectacular weekend I’ve had finishing-wise – I’ve really enjoyed sitting around in my PJ’s and scruffy clothes on my own all weekend and concentrating on my finishing efforts. As the hours went on, I felt more confident again in doing finishing – and I’m thinking perhaps I should assign one weekend a month to doing the same thing …

Here are the final efforts from today’s finishing session – there is still one pincushion left to show, but I still have to stitch on the cord edging before I can claim it as being finish-finished 🙂

1 more Christmas ornament
(excuse the greenish tinge, it’s actually white fabric!)

1 tie-on Easter pillow (certainly not my best ever finishing!)

My first Pay It Forward completed (with my tea-dyed lace)
(name removed so the recipient can be surprised)

1 Tin Topper – LOVE this one –
I’ve been meaning to turn this into a tin topper for EVER!
(now I just need to find some magnet strips for the lid –
I’m sure I have some hiding away somewhere)

And I also ‘forced’ myself to sit and watch a bit of vintage TV tonight while I sat and stitched for about 2 hours … I’ve been working my way through The Professionals on DVD – from waaaaay back in the 70’s, this used to be one of my absolute favourite shows in my youth. I had the biggest crush on Bodie (Lewis Collins) at the time … and now just giggle a bit at the outlandish clothes and tight pants 😛

At least that vintage TV session gave me chance to put a few more stitches into Just Nan’s Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls – I managed to complete one side of the garden fencing, and planted a tree (well, OK, maybe HALF a tree!) 😀

And do you remember I said I’d mislaid my teeny white buttons for Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club? Hmmm, I guess I was a bit smarter than I thought – I found them hiding where they actually should be … in my embellishments box … hmmm. Anyway, I’ve now thrown in my little black buttons with them too, so during my next stitching session I’ll be tossing up between Sapphire Star, Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls and Boo Club – oh, decisions, decisions 😛

Tomorrow it’s time to back to work again – where I will be putting my hand up for another 12 month secondment (that is of course if I actually get offered it) … it’s basically doing the same job that I’m doing now, and working within the same team, but being paid for by another department and working purely on their projects for 12 months – which means additional exposure to a different side of the business and chance to become more focused (plus it’s a side of the business I’m the most knowledgeable about). It’s going to be a massive 12 months, going by what I’ve heard about so far, but at least it’ll be a subject I enjoy … I guess I can only stick my hand up and say I’m interested and then see what happens … 😀

Boo Club, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Little House Needleworks, Lizzie Kate, pinkeeps, Prairie Schooler, Stitching Smalls, Works in Progress

A very productive start to the weekend

25 April, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

During the week I managed a little more stitching on Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club – I’m definitely much happier with the project with the border on it. I’ve now halted progression as I can’t find (so what’s new these days???) the little while buttons I bought weeks ago for it. As soon as I find the little buttons I’ll pick it up again. I’m being difficult to myself and wanting to finish-finish each section as I roll it up the scrollbars … yes, I can be quirky and pedantic when I have my heart set on something! So this has been deleted to the corner basket while I continue my search for the little white buttons 😉

This weekend is a long weekend for us in Sydney (and most of Australia) – and with Katie gone all weekend, I’ve had my heart set on doing some finishing this weekend while I’m free to make as much mess as I want and be able to concentrate on what I’m doing, and so far those plans have come to fruition.

On Friday night I managed to finally finish 10 Christmas ornies that Mum had stitched for me – these have been in various states of finishing for the last few weeks, and it’s really lovely to see them finally finished 😀

I also managed to finally finish-finish my Blueberries by LHN into a pinkeep – this has actually been finished for a couple of months now, but I was never happy with the trim I used – finally I decided to rip it apart and used a plain ribbon that matched the thread colours instead … while it’s a lot plainer than the fancy trim I originally used, I’m much happier with it now 🙂

Yesterday pretty much my entire day was spent doing this …

… doing hemstitching on 4 x Shepherd’s Bush needlerolls (and the rest of the finishing). I really hate doing hemstitching because my left hand cramps up when I’m holding onto the fabric – I enjoy doing the stitching itself, though, as you get into quite a good rhythm once you’ve done the first few stitches … I just hate having to hold it in hand and having to de-cramp my hand every 10 stitches! Anyway, at least I have another 4 items out of the finishing box. I’ll add the photos to a separate post as this one is quite picture-heavy already!

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Freebies, scissor fobs, Stitching Smalls

Roberta’s Flowers Fob

18 April, 20106 April, 2014 Anne S

Here’s my latest finish – and even completed immediately into an actual scissor fob … I think I may need to lay down for a while LOL.

“Roberta’s Flowers Fob” freebie by Sharon Manspeaker
www.xstitchhappy.com
stitched on 32ct Flax Belfast linen
with DMC threads

Unfortunately the lighting is dreadful again tonight, so crappy snaps of the finished fob follow.

Cross Stitch, Elizabeth's Designs, Finishes, Needlebook, pinkeeps, Stitching Smalls

Gifties received

9 March, 201025 February, 2012 Anne S

I heard from Becky today that the Postman worked overtime over the weekend, and my little gifties arrived safe and sound. I’ve had the stitching done on these for 3 whole years (!!!) – the pinkeep has been sitting around finished ever since then, waiting for it’s companion needlebook to be finished. As soon as they became a matching pair officially (finally!!!), they were parcelled up and sent over to the US to their new Mum. Becky has a lovely photo on her blog, but here are a couple more from before they were made up into their finished versions (and these show the colours much more accurately):

As you can see, I had all intentions of getting them both finished the year they were stitched, so they still have 2007 stitched on the ‘backsides’ 😉 I have to agree I really love the little backstitched bees, but for the life of me I can’t remember which design I borrowed them from! And here’s the finished duo together all finished, just before packaging them up:

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Finishing, Stitching Smalls

Acorn Needlebook all finished

10 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

A very big happy dance today as I not only put the final stitches into my Acorn Needlebook, but I also spent the entire day curled up in my stitching chair doing the actual finishing – not 100% perfect by any stretch of the imagination, as this is my first attempt at this style of finishing, but I’m pretty pleased with the end result 😀

So, without any further ado, here is my Acorn Needlebook by Periwinkle Promises…

Finishing, Stitching Smalls, Wishlist

Pinkeep Finish & Eye Candy

13 September, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I don’t think I’ve ever posted a photo of this finished pinkeep – this is one I’ve finished as a model for Karen to use at her shop, which has been sitting around for months before finally being placed in a bubble envelope today ready to be posted to her:

“Life’s a Stitch” by Lizzie*Kate

Also, I’m not sure if you’ve seen the following designs, but I personally think they’re all wonderful 🙂

My Lady’s Quaker by Jardine Prive; Amber Ocean Lights by Chatelaine

Afraid of the Dark; and Black Cats & Flying Bats by Blue Ribbon Designs

Born to Stitch by Glory Bee; Hearts & Flowers Casalguidi Needlebook by Half Moon Handwerks

Peacocks Rule by Milady’s Needle; Spirit of Vierlande by Vierlande Samplers

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!! 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, scissor pockets, Stitching Smalls, The Cat's Whiskers

Alyssum Scissor Pocket

28 July, 20089 August, 2024 Anne S

My stitching mojo seems to have deserted me over the last week or so (in fact every kind of mojo has, I think, including my blogging mojo) – I’ve been too tired to do much at all, but I forced myself to put the needle to fabric yesterday and put the finishing touches into my scissor pocket.

“Alyssum Scissor Pocket” by The Cat’s Whiskers
Stitched on 32ct Blue Ice hand-dyed linen by Country Stitch
using Dinky Dyes silk from the kit

I have to say I think the silk colour is a strange choice for these scissors, as there is more turquoise blue than the greeney-blue of this silk – I was actually tempted to replace the silk, but then I thought it would be a waste of money, so I just bit the bullet and started stitching … It may not be the perfect match for the scissors, but I still really love it 🙂

I also made a start on this month’s Christmas ornie late last night, but I may not get it finished by the deadline of Thursday – will give it a go, though.

Just a short post, as I need to finish getting ready for work.