Works in Progress – Page 6 – Feather Stitching

Christmas, Cmon Monde, Debbie Draper, Finishes, Little House Needleworks, The Trilogy, Works in Progress

Last finishes for 2012 & First for 2013

1 January, 20131 January, 2013 Anne S

We managed to have a wonderful Christmas Day with some of our closest family friends (who are closer than family to us in most respects), and Dad managed to have a good couple of days before he was whisked away to hospital by ambulance late on 28 December. Here is our ‘gang’ on Christmas Day:

With Dad in and out of hospital like a jack-in-a-box the last week we haven’t been able to leave home much at all … which has meant a reasonable amount of stitching time for me. Unfortunately I was incredibly unprepared for this trip home and I just quickly chucked what I thought were some fully kitted up projects that were relatively small into my carry-on bag … only to find when I got here that one was totally missing fabric, and almost all of them were missing half the over-dyed threads! I had ordered them from 123stitch and they had just arrived a bare 24 hours before I left, but I forgot to pack them as well so they’re still sitting at home in Sydney …

In the meantime, though, I’ve managed to start and complete a couple of small projects over Christmas after raiding Mum’s stash of DMC so I could finish kitting them up (at least I’d brought a couple that used DMC!!) 🙂

“Blossoms & Bluebirds” by Little House Needleworks
stitched on 32ct Lambswool Wichelt linen
with recommended DMC
(but I’m thinking of removing the 3371 border and just back-stitching it instead
as it has totally overpowered the pretty blue border)

“Ma Boite a Tresors” by Cmon monde
stitched on 32ct white Belfast linen
with recommended Atalie and DMC threads
(just need to find some ABC buttons for it)

I also made a start on a small Easter one (my first stitching choice for my holidays) but I’m really unhappy with the colours in the kit – I want to change the big pink egg to be blue, but there isn’t enough Old Blue Paint in the kit threads and nowhere to buy from locally over the Christmas holidays. I’ve looked at some of the other blue threads that I brought with me and some are great, but just don’t suit the other kit colours. This morning I woke up feeling very tempted to just change some of the other colours as well, but that would probably mean unpicking the entire border … will have to mull that one over a bit further, I think … but in the meantime I’ve placed another 123stitch order with some things for Mum and I with some other threads, so fingers crossed they arrive before I fly home again!

The final finish I have is my first finish for 2013 – I managed to put the last stitches into it at 12.30am this morning, just after the New Year was celebrated (which for me was me in the bedroom wishing the TV a Happy New Year as the oldies were both asleep). This has been a UFO for longer than I care to admit … I tried to replicate a biscornu I’d already stitched, but the purple thread was much, much paler than when I originally stitched it and seems to have faded over time as well – the turquoise I’d originally used was WAY too bright so after stitching about half of the first side I chucked it into the naughty corner where it sat forlornly for at least 2 years. I (well actually Mum) finally unpicked all the bright turquoise and after deciding I didn’t have any well-matched over-dyed threads in my stash I resorted to pulling some of Mum’s DMC out and opted for 597 as my colour of choice. It’s really nice to finally have this one out of the stitching pile and into the finishing pile – as soon as I get home it will get made up into its final form and sent off to a new home along with some long-overdue promised goodies.

I still have another few projects left to be stitched, but sadly they really need the missing threads – in the meantime Mum and I popped up to the local Spotlight store for a piece of 14ct Aida and 32ct white Belfast linen so I can at least start my Round Robin which is due for posting out on 1 February and also start a charity quilt square (will have to raid Mum’s DMC yet again, though). I have a lot of SALs and other challenges to work on this year, but they will all have to be delayed until I return home, as I didn’t bring any of my SAL challenge pieces with me … we find out on Thursday whether Dad can have surgery and if so when that will happen, and will probably work over here for a short while (I brought my work laptop with me just in case). Either way this week will likely be my final free week for lots of stitching time … it’s been wonderful while it’s lasted, though, and I really need to make more time for it in 2013 to give myself a bit more work/life balance! 🙂

Finally, here’s hoping that 2013 is a better one for many of us who struggled in 2012 … I hope for everyone it is a year filled with stitchy goodness, lots of fun and laughter, love and friendship, not to mention good health and prosperity!

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Works in Progress

Sorry for the missing photos everywhere! & WIPocalypse update

6 December, 20126 December, 2012 Anne S

Really sorry that there are “Temporarily Unavailable” pictures everywhere on my blog … I forgot all my photos on here were hosted on Webshots which has just shut it’s doors … and I need to find the time to upload everything somewhere else and re-add them into the posts once again … that is obviously going to be a MASSIVE undertaking seeing as how long I’ve been blogging for 😦

Unfortunately I’m also working 12-14 hour days every day at the moment, so I don’t have the energy at night to fix the pages up just yet. I apologise for any inconvenience, but I’ll return to fix the blog as soon as I get some spare time, but that may be a couple of weeks away yet.

As for the WIPocalypse, I can also blame my woeful working hours that I’ve barely picked up a needle in the last month. The only stitching I’ve really done has been two ornie finishes for exchanges (which I can’t show yet), and half an ornie for myself that I started about 3 weeks ago and still haven’t finished! If nothing else, I guess I can show you my ‘half an ornie’ for the month … maybe that’s better than nothing, and proof that I did at least pick up a needle at some stage towards the beginning of this lunar cycle!

And here are two little snippets from the exchange ornies that I completed (which I’ll be able to share in the final post for the year I guess):

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Stash, Stitch-alongs, Works in Progress

August WIPocalypse update – part 2

3 September, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Not much stitching taking place throughout August on my WIPs where a finish was the result … although I did almost manage a finish of some ornaments that have been sitting around for months, and months, and well many more months – the first one below got put to one side ‘cos I wasn’t enjoying stitching with the threads … I decided to finally suck it up on 26 August and get them finished, until I realised I didn’t have the Mill Hill beads I needed to finish them! Stitchy friends to the rescue, though, and some will be winging their way to me soon so I can get them finished next month 🙂 (Thanks again Amanda, you rock!!)

The “before” shot as they stood at the beginning of the year and start of the challenge …

The “after” shot as they both stand now … just waiting for the beads to be added now 😀 Was hoping they’d be finished during the week last week, but I was working mental hours so too tired when I got home, then I was house-sitting the weekend just gone with an active border collie and 3 kitties, and decided not to chance beading!

I did manage to finish one other WIP, though, which was another small Christmas ornament – I don’t know why I put this to one side for so long … once I put my mind to it it didn’t take too long at all to add it to the “finished” pile on 20 August. I really like the colours in this one.

“Christmas Tree Quilt Ornament” by Handblessings
stitched on 32ct antique white Belfast linen
with recommended Needle Necessities/Threadworx threads

Another WIP I worked on a little bit is a Sweetheart Tree scissor fob … another one where I’m missing some beads, but hopefully they’ll arrive in a few weeks and I can finish this one off before the next update is due 🙂 Once again I’ve put the before and after photos here 🙂

The last piece of stitching for the month was actually a new start … it only took a few hours and this one was put into the finishing pile – I just love it, it’s so sparkly in real life! 😀

“Ice Blue Snowflake”, Tiny Treasured Diamonds kit by Mill Hill
Stitched on kit fabric, with MH beads and DMC

And when I wasn’t stitching over the last month I was labeling beads, using what have now become my favourite bead storage units … so much so I’ve had to try and track down some more so I can finish the job 😀

And the other hobby over the last couple of weeks is increasing my XS stash (well, that of myself and Mum to be exact) … which is sadly a hobby that is short-lived and I’m back on a no-stash diet (although I still have a few things yet to arrive, such as those wonderful bead storage units) 😀

All-in-all a lot more productive this month than I’d realised … a few stitches here and there really do make a difference, it seems! 😀

2012 WIPocalypse, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, The Goode Huswife, Works in Progress

July WIPocalypse progress

5 July, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Been a quiet month stitching-wise, with only a small section of stitching done of one of my WIPs that has been sadly neglected – I’m probably halfway on this one now, though, and while I’m not enjoying stitching the stems leaves on the flower very much, I’m enjoying the rest of it. Most people who know the design will be thinking “what is she talking about, she’s probably halfway? that is one big-ass design!” … basically I really don’t enjoy the ‘primitive’ samplers and style of stitching myself, and the whole design just isn’t “me” – but for some reason I really really fell in love with the bottom section with all the gold swirls after seeing someone else stitching it, so I’ve decided to just ignore the rest of the design and am stitching the bottom section only 🙂

I also had a new start and finish, which was one of the charts I bought when I was in Paris – I think I might stitch this one again in traditional red threads, but for some reason I had the sudden desire to stitch it with white silk on a blue linen, and it turned out pretty enough 🙂

The other stitching I did was for an exchange – I truly love this one, and definitely have to stitch it again for myself!! I had a devil of a time deciding which “bird” ornament to stitch, hence there have been a few bird ornie finishes over the last 2 months and not much else, but in the end this is the one that I chose because it’s quite different to what others would have chosen I think, and I really love it! It was one of the Gift of Stitching issues, but I’ve just mislaid my working copy for now and can’t remember which issue it was in. I’ll try to update with the details later 🙂

The rest of my stitching time was taken up not doing actual stitching, but doing a whole big bunch of finishing over one long weekend, and I had a blast! Here were the results – most of them are waiting to be stuffed and have their ‘bottoms’ sewn up, and others need cords to be made and attached, or felt backings and hangers attached, but it’s still a great start to seeing them finished off properly:

I also started another couple of ornie tutorials while I was doing my finishing frenzy, and once I get the cords etc made up I’ll be able to finish those and publish them 🙂

The other non-stitching news is that my flatmate leaves tomorrow … so much to tell on that score, so I’ll leave that for another day … and Mum has offered to come over and help out with cleaning the place in case I need to move out (which is possible) and also be there for moral support. Our last visit here wasn’t perfect after my flatmate had a temper tantrum and was slamming doors etc so it will be really awesome to send a couple of weeks chilling out with no-one else around. And this could be a good opportunity to sit up in the lounge each evening getting some of those ornies finally stuffed and sewn up! 😀

I have other news as well, with photos of a couple of gifts/exchanges received, but I’ll leave that until another post as I need to head off to work now …

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

I’ve been Framed!!

26 May, 201226 May, 2012 Anne S

Well actually some of my projects have been framed!! 😀 Last weekend I had some of my old energy levels back again, and I put it to good use doing some old jobs that have needed to be done for ages … one of those jobs was to get some framing completed.

There was lots of this happening last Sunday … lacing, and more lacing …

A couple of home-made frames were put together ready to be filled (but not done yet, as I need to cut mats for one of them and it was getting too late at night to do that safely):

Then a few el-cheapo bought frames were given a lease of life with some projects popped inside of them … first up my Tiger Reflections piece – it took me ages to decide between a black frame and a brown wooden one, but in the end I decided the brown one brought out the tiger colours the best – this now sits next to my stitching chair in the lounge.

Next up was a well overdue project – Katie’s Christmas present from 2010 (oops!) – it finally became officially finished in this plain black frame that I picked up in recent sales at Lincraft. Katie is moving out of the flat in about 6-8 weeks time, so I thought I’d better hurry up and finish it so she can take it with her because I probably won’t see much of her after she moves out (not that I really see much of her nowadays even when she still lives here).

Next up was a frame that I bought from a framing shop a while ago – it wasn’t big enough for the project I had in mind for it, but then as I was picking through my finishing pile I came across “Gold” by The Victoria Sampler and it seemed to fit perfectly. Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do this one justice – it just glows with all the metallics and the frame suits it beautifully.

Lucky last were two more small projects popped into simple cheap plain black frames … a great pair of finishes to top off the framing session – I especially love the Halloween one!

Then today I managed to fix up one of Mum’s lovely stitched ornaments – she’d accidentally missed one row of stitches in the border, so I grabbed the 3371 and popped the last row in to allow this to go into the finishing pile. That also means that I also score it t go onto my tree – that’s my payment for finishing it into an ornie haha.

I also stitched another Christmas ornie myself this week, but it’s likely to be used for an upcoming exchange, so I can’t share until I decide on the project that I’m going to send away. Lucky last I’m currently stitching another ornie that I swear will be the death of me – it’s from the 1998 JCS ornie issue and uses that dreadful old DMC metallic floss (DMC 5282 and 5269) – it’s seriously doing my head in, and I’m amazed just how long it’s taking me to stitch this one little ornie (the entire day today, and I’m still not finished). I was determined to not put it down until it was finished, but I think it’s finally got the better of me tonight, and I’m quite grateful it’s now bed-time so I can forget about it for a while. I’m sure I’ll love it when it’s finished, as it really does glow and sparkle in the light of my Ott-lite already, but I just wish it was already finished!! Just all the metallic leaves left and then all the beading and it’ll be finished … eventually …

And on that night I’d really better switch off and get some sleep, as it’s almost midnight and I have to be up relatively early tomorrow to head to the Supernatural Convention to listen to some of my favourite character actors from the show (Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer and Misha Collins as Castiel). The Convention is being run by Hub Productions once again this year – which is where I borrowed the below screenshot from. Feel free to visit their website for further details on the convention.

Bent Creek, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Exchanges, Prairie Schooler, Works in Progress

Prairie Schooler Exchange received & Winter Snapperland

2 May, 20122 May, 2012 Anne S

Due to sickness I haven’t managed to get to either a Post Office to post off my Prairie Schooler Exchange to my recipient, or to pick up a couple of weeks worth of mail from my PO Box – finally this week, though, I managed to do both (and my PS exchange is finally winging its way across the oceans).

I was thrilled to find an absolutely gorgeous ornie from Edgar hiding in my PO Box – it is absolutely exquisite, both in its stitching and finishing, and it will be treasured on my Christmas tree every year. Thanks Edgar for a really wonderful exchange! 😀

The other stitching news this week is that I managed to put a few more stitches into my “Walking in a Winter Snapperland” WIP with a new block well underway. Sadly I ran out of DMC 3865 for the snow, but I managed to find a couple of skeins at lunchtime today, so I can continue with this one again shortly (it would be really nice to be able to continue with this one until it’s finished, although I have to admit all that white stitching is doing my head in, and I have to admit I’m not enjoying stitching this one as much as I have done the other Snapperland series that I’ve done).

When I went DMC hunting at lunchtime today I actually popped into Lincraft in the city, as it’s only 2-3 small blocks from where I work – as usual, though, they had a pitiful selection and didn’t have the colour that I needed (I so hate that store, it’s not funny!). Anyway, I had to pop to Officeworks as well, so after I posted off some more mail I walked on the other side of the road further up the block … and lo and behold, what did I see? Needlework on display in a shop window, that’s what!! I cannot believe I’ve worked in the city for 6 months now and never walked that way in daylight, and had no idea that Morris & Sons was in the same block … well colour me stupid!!! They may be a bit pricey, but I did manage to get the DMC I needed and at least know where they are now …

On another note, my flatmate will be moving out in a couple of months to move into a new flat with her boyfriend – which means finances are going to be critically tight from then on while I decide if I can continue to live here on my own (which is doubtful) or whether I’ll have to find a smaller/cheaper place to live … so, what do I do in the meantime, knowing that I need to be saving money? That’s right, I go shopping!!! I decided to take up a sale at Country Bumpkin which gave 50% off a floor-standing Ott-Lite … I have one in the lounge, but I’ve been stitching in my bedroom more than ever of late, and decided rather than having to move it between rooms all the time I can have the 2nd one in my bedroom permanently (and Mum can use one when she visits). Not only that but I’ve also gone a bit mad buying a few extra pairs of Dinky Dyes scissors that are on sale this week at Colours Down Under … I figure they’ll make nice gifts for exchanges or gifts etc in the future … it also meant I could buy an extra WDW skein of Bark and Havana, which I’m going to need to finish off Walking in a Winter Snapperland … which means I really don’t have any excuse not to finish it now (except for lack of desire).

All-in-all that’s probably all from me for now … I’m sure there were a few other things I wanted to talk about, but I’m absolutely shattered and my head is a bit “all over the place”, so I figure I should leave it there … sadly I’m still getting over this stupid pneumonia so I’m getting really tired as the week’s gone on … but still feel so much better than I have been!! 🙂

Cross Stitch, Halloween, Shepherd's Bush, Works in Progress

Into the Night – new start

29 April, 201229 April, 2012 Anne S

My new start yesterday turned out to be Shepherd’s Bush’s kit, “Into the Night” … sadly, though, the kit contents were extremely frugal and I’ve managed to run out of two of the threads – even though I stitched right down to the last 2″ of thread of each of the strands. So much for thinking I could get the whole project completed this weekend because of having ‘all the threads’ required. Oh well, it means it’s now put to one side while I contact Shepherd’s Bush for some replacement threads 😦

For now I guess it’s time to return to an older WIP for the rest of the day – I can’t be bothered working out a new project again today so I figure that’s the easiest thing to do to keep me in the stitching mood for my last day of proper recuperation.

Next week my job will be to sit up at my PC and catching up on emails, of which there are well over 1000 unread emails 😦 I really do need to set up my laptop for my emails, as it’s so much easier to sit up in bed to catch up … it’s a real pain to sit up at my computer desk late at night when I get in (and when I’m not feeling well), so I find I tend to forget about reading them 😦

Cross Stitch, Just Nan, Works in Progress

Twenty Flowers – new start

27 April, 201227 April, 2012 Anne S

This morning I had a cortisone injection in my heel for my plantar fasciitis … not something I want to repeat again in a hurry – but that means following Dr’s orders by sitting with my foot elevated for 3 days. Such a hardship having to sit up in bed with my stitching 😀

I decided that I wanted to make a new start, and silly me had to choose a project that I don’t have all the threads for. This is the companion piece to one I’ve already stitched, so I wanted to use the leftover kit threads from that one before I could work out which threads I needed to order (I did a previous trade with a fellow stitcher with our used charts) … I’ve now reached the stage where I can’t go any further until I order the threads I need. It’s a pain in the neck in that most of the threads I just need one strand, but I have to admit to absolutely loving stitching with these threads, so maybe I’ll continue to use those that I end up buying 🙂

Anyway, here’s my progress to date (Just Nan’s 20 Flowers):

Not sure what I’ll work on next – it’ll be as much as a surprise to me as you!

Cross Stitch, Paris, Stash, Travel - France, Works in Progress

Stitching update & Parisian stash

17 April, 201217 April, 2012 Anne S

I’m still battling my flu bugs, so no big updates as yet from me – I’m sure I’ll get around to it over the next weekend or two, along with a write-up of our Paris and UK jaunts … but for now this will have to suffice 🙂

Following is the latest WIP piccie of my tiger XS – it’s been hard to see the black fabric when my eyes have been blurry anyway with being sick, so progress has been pretty intermittent and slow, but it’s progress nonetheless and it’s still closer to becoming a finish … for now, though, I may give it a break and try stitching on something a bit more enjoyable and easy on the eyes and come back to this one at a later stage.

Next I thought I’d show our XS stash spoils that Mum and I bought while we were in Paris recently – this is pretty much the only shopping we did apart from picking up a couple of pairs of Clark’s ankle boots in the UK, a new luggage back-pack with wheels, and a Parisian painting … and probably the only thing that we fully intended buying while we were away. So, without further ado, here are our spoils from Des Fils et une Aiguille in Paris (we had such a lovely time during both of our visits there that Valerie and I are going to keep in touch via email – she’s such a lovely person to visit with!). I’m sharing a quick photo of the outside shop-front and part of the shop interior – it’s a real treasure trove of French stitchy goodness, and I am guilty of spending some substantial Euros in there! After going here we didn’t bother going to Le Bonheur des Dames, we were happy to just spending our money in this little piece of heaven! 😀

We also went to the Marais district one day and visited Entrée des Fournisseurs which had some wonderful ribbons and trims – I only bought a few pieces of scrummy felt from there, along with one length of trim that I couldn’t resist, and some ‘knit’ cotton for crochet in a yummy teal blue.

My dear friend Nicki kindly gave me a pair of her grandmothers crochet hooks and some wool to practice with to start learning to crochet while I was away, but sadly the lighting in the apartment wasn’t conducive to any form of crafts, and truthfully we got home too late in the evenings to really have the energy to do anything but fall in a heap and quickly upload the day’s photos to make way on the memory card for the next day … this is on my list to start trying shortly, though, as I have a beginners crochet book on my Kindle all set to work my way through – fingers crossed I’ll be able to master it, as it’s something I’ve wanted to try doing for many many years!

The last ‘crafty’ items that we bought were a couple of lace bookmarks from Bruges in Belgium (we took a day-trip there from Paris, which was wonderful). Sadly Mum took hers home before I managed to take a photo, but I’ll try to get one next time I visit home, or I’ll get her to bring it back in October so I can take a photo of it then. Here’s my one anyway 🙂

The only other stitching I’ve done lately I can’t take a photo of as it’s for an exchange, although I can show a little snippet, I guess …

And on that note, it’s time to take my snotty head (yeah, I know, too much information right!!) and ringing ears back to bed … with a nice simple XS project to cheer me up … I managed to go back to work for a day yesterday, but it nearly killed me, so I’ve decided to take one more day pottering around at home and resting up a bit more … what better way to cheer myself up than with a tiny bit of stitching 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

April WIPocalypse update

10 April, 20126 April, 2014 Anne S

Just a really quick drive-by posting for my WIPocalypse update for April – sadly, due to illness, long working hours and our trip to the other side of the world my stitching was almost non-existent this month … I managed to put a few hours into this WIP, but that’s all (and it’s a really dreadful photo, sorry):

Since then, however, I’ve managed to do some more stitching on this one thanks to picking up a dreadful flu bug thing on the flight home, so at least I’ll have some more progress to show next month! 🙂

Other than my WIP pile, I did manage to start the following freebie on my 2nd to last night in Paris, and have managed to finish it off as soon as I got home while getting over the jetlag (and letting those flu bugs slowly fester and take hold).

And now I’m heading back to the comfort of my stitching chair with my Nurofen and Ribena – will post an update about my whirlwind trip at some stage soon! 🙂