Hatched and Patched, Marg Low Designs, Quilting & Sewing, Uncategorized

Patchwork stitching retreat

Anne S

As I mentioned in my last post, in early October I attended a Patchwork & Quilting Retreat in the Blue Mountains, NSW, organised by Linen and Threads. It was such a wonderful day away, I’m so glad I made the effort to attend in the middle of all the turmoil at home. I can certainly recommend the retreat – the organisation was great, the tutors wonderful, and the other attendees really lovely and welcoming.

These are all the great projects that were taught over the weekend, and the progress I managed to do in that week or two after I moved apartments. I love how each of the projects is big enough to give a challenge or two, but small enough to be totally manageable and more likely to actually get finished post-retreat!

The Little Things Pencil Case by Hatched and Patched

The Little Things Pencil Case by Hatched and Patched
The Little Things Pencil Case by Hatched and Patched

I was so chuffed with this one, my first ever wool appliqué project. I was a bit nervous about the construction, but actually managed it all without too much trouble. A huge shout-out to Anni, the designer/tutor from Hatched and Patched, who took me through all the key requirements one-on-one seeing as I wouldn’t be there the following day. Her tips were invaluable when I got home to start working on it! My rotary cutter now resides proudly in this wee case away from the elements. My very first wool appliqué project, and a finish no less!!

Snowmen & Santa Decorations by Hatched and Patched

The next project I attempted (and again actually completed) was another wool appliqué kit by Hatched and Patched – and I really, really love these wee ornaments! I will definitely do some more of these, they’re so much fun! I managed to whip through the stitching of these really quickly, and definitely will be looking to do more wool appliqué in the future! I guess that also means another stash pile of fabric will be starting very very soon 😉

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Snowmen & Santa Decorations by Hatched and Patched

The next couple of projects were by Marg Low Designs – and once again it was lots of fun challenging myself with new types of stitching, as well as doing the finishing by hand. I’ve managed to finish the first project, but still have to complete the last two.

Thread Roll by Marg Low

This is the one project of Marg’s that I’ve managed to entirely finish – however I changed my colours entirely from the designer’s version (mainly because of the pink colour being so prominent, and it’s by far my least favourite colour … so true to form I made mine in blues and greens instead). The picture below shows a sneak piccie of the original design, in the top left corner of the first picture, along with my fabric choices:

Thread Roll by Marg Low – the original design with my choice of fabrics
Thread Roll by Marg Low
Thread Roll by Marg Low
Thread Roll by Marg Low

Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low

Then I did the stitching on this one – but my initial thought of having teal/turqoise background fabric didn’t quite work out, I think … when I put the finished stitching onto the blue fabric it looks a bit ‘off’. I’m now thinking I might have to revert back to a red background fabric instead, hence why this one isn’t “finished” and frame yet. Seriously, how cute is that wee red reindeer button?!!

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Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low – the original chart with my choice of fabrics
Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low
Make a Christmas Wish by Marg Low

Hearts & Berries by Marg Low

The final design by Marg Low was another one I opted to kit up myself – and as always I chose to have blue tones in my fabric … I tried to follow the designer’s recommendations to a certain extent, though, and ensured to have a checked red fabric for the trim. These colours are a bit out of my comfort zone with the red/brick highlights, so I’m still pushing myself a wee bit with my choices. I’ve only managed to get as far as stitching the heart for the outer of the bag so far – one day soon I’ll get the actual bag itself constructed and finished, though.

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Hearts & Berries by Marg Low – the original design and my choice of fabrics and embellishments
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Hearts & Berries by Marg Low

Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig

And lucky last, the project that scared me the most from the weekend away – doing wee quilt hexagons … yikes! To say I was out of my comfort zone for this one is a total understatement. I didn’t have to do that many hexagons in the scheme of things, but I have to admit this was the least pleasurable of all of the projects and I’m not sure why. Perhaps doing hexagons while trying to match all the stripes wasn’t the best way for me to learn this skill! I have to say, though, I was pretty chuffed with the results, even though not every hexagon is perfectly lined up. This one also had me running to find a thimble, which I don’t normally use, but crikey my poor wee fingertips took a pounding with this one. I’m also not keen on the quilting job I was doing as I couldn’t get the tension right on my machine and couldn’t find my machine manual, so it ended up getting put away at this stage. I’ll get back to this one again soon, though, because I found a digital machine manual I could download, and as soon as I unpick the last stitches and tweak the tension, I’ll have another crack at it (and this time start a bit closer in to the hexagons for the first quilting line). It’ll be wonderful to have it finished as it’s a really useful tool to use (it holds your power cords etc for travelling) – it’s a gorgeous wee project, that’s for sure. And maybe in the New Year, I’ll be ready to tackle another hexagon project again … maybe 😉

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Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig – original design and my choice of fabrics
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Travel Cord Buddy by Michelle Marvig

So there you have it – a really stunning selection of projects from three terrific tutors. I enjoyed myself so much even having just one day of attendance, that I’m already booked in for next year’s retreat on the Central Coast of NSW. I can’t wait to see what projects will be awaiting us next year … and by then I should have all these projects finished too 😀

 

Mill Hill, Mirabilia, Rosewood Manor, Uncategorized, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

WIPocalypse November 2017

Anne S

Wow, where did the time fly? It certainly wasn’t spent doing cross stitching, I know that much!! Not much stitching to share for the last three months I’ve been AWOL, at least for my WIPs anyway.  The only WIP updates I have are to the following, and even the progress here is pretty minimal.

First up there was Roswood Manor’s ‘Quaker Diamonds’ in early September – before and after:

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor
Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor

Then there was Mirabilia’s ‘Red’ (in blue) later in September – before and after:

Red (done in blues) by Mirabilia

And lucky last I managed a few hours on Mill Hill’s ‘Starfish’ kit a week or two ago:

Starfish by Mill Hill

The rest of the time has been spent unexpectedly moving apartments as the owner of the apartment I’d been living in for almost 11 years decided to sell. In the middle of moving I also had a stitching retreat to attend, so I decided to still go to one day of the weekend retreat anyway – partly because I’d paid for some kits and and prepaid all the costs and accommodation … but partly because I thought I deserved the break. My mum flew over to help me pack/move, but sadly her early signs of dementia made that add a bit more stress to the proceedings and actually slowed things down – it was fantastic having her company, though, in saying that. Anyway, I’m all moved in now, and only about 20 boxes left yet to unpack (!). Most of the stitching stash has been unpacked now, so at least I’m free to go back to picking up the odd WIP or two when I feel like it.

After moving I couldn’t find my XS stash for ages, but the good thing is that I had the retreat projects handy and ready to go. As soon as I’d returned home from taking Mum back to NZ, I gave myself a week off from unpacking and had a week full of doing some wonderful ‘new-to-me’ crafts. It was really awesome, and just what the doctor ordered. There was so much to post about, I’ll make a separate post for these projects – mind you, they’ve now become WIPs, so a couple of them may reappear again in the future as non-XS WIPs for WIPocalypse …

Anyhoo, to finish off the post, here are the outstanding questions:

September 24 – Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?
I adore Gloriana silks, and about six months ago signed up with a floss stash program where I’m sent four skeins every month with no postage costs. If I could choose them all to be BLUE skeins I’d be in seventh heaven, but having an envelope each month with luscious-feeling silks in any colour has been heavenly in itself. Obviously anything blue is something I’m always wanting … and every time I go to find a blue silk or floss I still never have just the ‘right’ shade to use …

October 29 – How did you begin stitching?
I used to try different crafts out all the time when I was in my ‘teens. At some point I decided to try cross stitch, and bought a small kit on aida to make for our office receptionist’s retirement gift. It’s the only craft I’ve continued to do year after year, while all the other crafts have fallen by the wayside over the years.

November 26 – What finishing style have you never tried but would love to do?
I have so many ‘smalls’ that I’d like to try finishing the list would be endless … I can’t truthfully think of just one that stands out above all others, though.

 

Mill Hill, Rosewood Manor, Uncategorized, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

WIPocalypse September 2017

Anne S

Thanks to my rotation ticking along swimmingly, I’ve had another month with relatively good progress on my WIPs 🙂

First up is where my latest start finished up at the end of my rotation slot – this is Mill Hill’s Starfish, which was technically a new start last month, but I guess has migrated into the WIP definition now … Here’s how it looked like at the end of August’s WIPocalypse, and how it looked at the end of the rotation slot:

Next up was my “Large/BAP” rotation slot, so I dragged out an older WIP to get a bit of love. This is Rosewood Manor’s Quaker Diamonds, and what it looked like before and after 10 hours of work on it.  Lots of colour changes in this one, but it’s quite enjoyable to stitch on the whole – at least it looks like some decent progress was made anyway!

Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor
Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor

And now for the question of the month:

Which floss (or color of floss) do you absolutely adore and want to stash constantly?

That’s a no-brainer for me … anything blue! Every shade and deviation possible!! And whenever I stitch I never seem to have just the ‘right’ shade of blue … but it doesn’t matter, just flicking through my blue silk stash in particular gives me joy. As for threads themselves, Gloriana and Belle Soie silks are probably my ultimate favourites to stitch with, followed by Au Ver a Soie d’alger, and Rainbow Gallery Splendor silks.

Finishes, Hands On Designs, Mill Hill, Uncategorized, Works in Progress, Works in Progress

A small finish Ahoy, and starfish overload

Anne S

On Sunday I managed a new start, which also ended up being a new finish – gotta love those small projects and a good audiobook to keep the momentum going all day! 😉

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“Square.ology sandcastle.frame Ahoy” by Hands on Design

Stitched on 32ct hand-dyed linen by Countrystitch ~ colour Blue Ice
(the photo looks grey, but it’s actually a delightful pale blue!!)
with recommended threads – the felt star and button came with the chart

Next up is yet another new start – I only got one hour’s stitching into this one on Sunday night, and another 40 mins last night, but I have a feeling it’s going to be another quick one to stitch up as it’s nice and blocky on the whole! Hmmmm just realised it’s another starfish – there seems to be a theme happening this week! 😀

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ByGone Stitches, Canvaswork, Mill Hill, Mirabilia, Quaker, Ruth Schmuff, Uncategorized, WIPocalypse, Works in Progress

WIPocalypse August 2017

Anne S

My goodness, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? I can’t believe it’s check-in time again for the WIPocalypse … although for once I finally have some decent stitching to share!

This month I’ve decided to go back to doing a formal stitching rotation, with 10 hours stitching in each rotation slot. The first time I did this religiously I noticed I got a heck of a lot more stitching done, and it seems like this time is no exception 🙂 My rotation contains a mix of old and new projects to mix it up a wee bit, with plenty of opportunity to give some older WIPs/UFOs a bit of tender loving care. It also now means I have a number of new WIPs to add to my WIPocalypse pile, as most of my projects are ones that will take a few rotations to complete. My rotation is basically as follows:

  1. Focus piece – currently Mirabilia’s Red (done in blue)
  2. Medium-sized projects – new start Jim Shore/Mill Hill’s Three Kings
  3. UFOs
  4. Focus piece
  5. Small to medium-sized projects – something to get a quick finish or two under my belt, and primarily new projects already kitted up
  6. Large and BAPs – currently Rosewood Manor’s Quaker Diamonds
  7. Focus piece
  8. Stitching smalls & Christmas ornies
  9. Canvaswork
  10. Non-cross stitch – to give myself a regular challenge

First up is my focus piece – this one appears in rotation slots 1, 4 and 7, so it will be getting lots of love regularly until it’s finished. My current focus piece is Mirabilia’s Red done in a blue conversion by Beverley and available here. Here’s the before photo on the left, and after two rotation slots on the right – it was very exciting to move the scroll bars up a bit!

Next up came a new start for me – Three Kings by Jim Shore/Mill Hill. This is stitched on the recommended fabric and has been kitted up for a wee while now. I figured it was time to get it started and some return on my hard-earned $$$ spent 😉 Here’s how it looked at the end of the rotation slot:

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Next in line was the UFO slot in my rotation – and the one slot that’ll likely give me lots of WIPocalypse fodder in the future. I summoned up the courage to finally get the stitching finished on a very old WIP – Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff. It’s not 100% finished yet, as I can’t find my Access Commodities gold spangles to finish it off. I also couldn’t find the bee charms, but managed to dig those up last week woohoo. Spangles are on their way from a US store, and it means that by the time the UFO rotation slot appears again, I can use it to finish this delightful labour of love. I have to say I never EVER want to re-do that drawn thread border ever again on canvas … that was a lot of love with not much love 😉 I really do adore this project, though, and so thrilled to see how far along I managed to get it this month! Once again a before and after shot:

Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff
Flight of the Bumblebees by Ruth Schmuff

Because I still had six hours of my rotation slot left over after not being able to finish Flight of the Bumblebees I dragged out another UFO – I really struggle with this one, so those six hours felt like forever. Not sure I’ll continue to keep this in the rotation next round, or maybe I’ll do half the rotation slot on something else and half on this one … I dunno, will see how I feel closer to the time …

Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches

Next up was of course my focus piece again, which I’ve already covered – and then it was into the small-medium sized projects, which are new starts, so I’ll do a new post to cover those. All-in-all though a VERY productive month stitching-wise, which feels awesome! Before I sign off, though, here’s the question of the month:

How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

Truly I don’t stress about it anymore – if anything I tidy up my stash, fill up my wishlist online, and just look through the pictures in online stitching groups. More often than not, though, if my stitching mojo has gone it also affects my energy for everything else. I always know, though, that it will return … so I don’t stress and just do whatever my heart tells me to do until my mojo returns – and it has always returned at some point 🙂

 

Finishes, Hallowe'en Ornie SAL, Halloween, Prairie Schooler, Uncategorized

Hallowe’en SAL – all caught up with Jul/Aug!

Anne S

Halloween ornie SAL

Wow, I really got ‘in the zone’ this weekend with my stitching – I think I even surprised myself yesterday!!  Here are my choices for July and August.

July – Ghosts

20638661_10154797585668148_4050567271399719620_n “Happy Halloween” by Simple Stitches (freebie)
Stitched on 32ct summer khaki (or dirty?) Belfast linen
with my own choice of DMC threads (similar to the charted GAST)

 August – Creepy Trees

I once again went back to Prairie Schooler’s When Witches Go Riding to stitch the main tree – this is where I can see the colours are very different between the witch and the tree, so I guess I’ll have to re-stitch the witch etc before I’m 100% happy with it – will see how I feel at the end …

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Now that I’m al caught up with the Hallowe’en SAL, I’m about to start kitting up four months worth of Christmas ornament stitching – as usual I’m also behind on my Just Cross Stitch ornie SAL for this year too (using last year’s ornament issue).

Finishes, Hallowe'en Ornie SAL, Halloween, Prairie Schooler, Uncategorized, Victoria Sampler

Hallowe’en SAL – May/Jun catch-up

Anne S

Halloween ornie SAL

I’ve been pretty useless keeping up with my SALs again this year – gee, what a surprise!  Eventually, though, I do put needle to fabric and do a bit catch-up session.  That’s what I’ve been doing this weekend, starting to catch up on my Hallowe’en SAL with Jo and the team.

May – Black Cats

For the black cats theme, I continued working on Prairie Schooler’s ‘When Witches Go Riding’. Unfortunately I’m chewing through the Crescent Colours Blackbird thread way more quickly than expected, and I only have one skein left, which isn’t enough to do all the dark areas … so I opted to use DMC 3371 instead for the top banner and the borders. Also unfortunately, the colour is very different to the Blackbird thread, which leaves me in a quandary … whether I should unpick all the other three elements I’ve stitched and re-do them all again in DMC 3371.  If I do end up doing that, it’ll be at the end of the year, I think. You can’t even tell that the dark thread is an overdyed thread, so in hindsight I should have just used 3371 in the first place … but that’s the thing with hindsight, it only seems a good idea after you’ve already put the effort in! 😉

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June – Something Green

Oh my goodness, it took me a very long time to decide on what to stitch for this theme. As it turns out I’d made my decision, but when I was in my stitching room I spied a totally different design, and ended up stitching that one instead.  This was my chosen project, and I have to say I really love it! The colours are a lot deeper/brighter in real life, though.

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“Jack o’ Juggle Spell” by Cathy Dean for The Victoria Sampler
Stitched on 32ct summer khaki (or dirty, I can’t remember) Belfast linen
Stitched with recommended threads, with the exception of replacing Kreinik #4 braid 010HL with 011HL.
I also subbed the black beads with ones I had in my stash, and added two extra legs on the dangling spider.

Next up is July, and the theme is Ghosts – another theme with lots of project choices, but I’m opting for a very quick stitch option to help me catch-up. With any luck it won’t be long before that one is sitting in the finishing pile, as I fully intend to start stitching that one tonight 🙂  Then I’ll be all caught up, and it’ll be back to When Witches Go Riding for August’s theme of ‘Creepy Trees’.

Mirabilia, Uncategorized, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse May-July 2017

Anne S

Oops, looks like life got in the way over the last few months – lots of things happening that took me away from my stitching, and what stitching I did do was basically non-WIP related … although I do now have additional WIPs for future months 😉

So, what took me away from stitching? First up in early May was a stitching retreat in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains of NSW. We were very lucky to have Nora Corbett join us, and I got to meet a few stitchers in real life that have been Facebook friends for a wee while now. It certainly got me out of my comfort zone meeting so many new people, but I felt like I’d known them for years. I couldn’t stop chatting and laughing my head off with the ladies at my table – very unusual for the introverted stitcher, that’s for sure! It was really awesome, and so much so I’ve already signed up for next year’s retreat in February 😀

I’ve managed to stitch the retreat design since attending (I started it on the Sunday while I was there) – I decided not to add the words (Mirabilia, Australia, 2017) to it, but in hindsight I think I’m going to add them in as it’ll be more of a personal momento of the weekend … which means this is probably no longer a finish but rather a WIP 😉

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I even managed to win first place honours with two other talented ladies in the judging for best non-framed category. I was absolutely gobsmacked by this one, and still feel dead chuffed to this day. My Enchanted Mermaid has been one of my all-time favourite stitched pieces, so now I have even more reason to love her to bits 🙂 Here I am with my prizewinnings, a lovely scissors and tape measure set 😀 (Note the theme for the weekend was ‘tiara and pearls’, hence the tiara … it’s not my normal choice of attire haha.)

After the stitching weekend, I had a visit from my dear Mum for a couple of weeks which normally means lots of stitching time, but instead we were out and about seeing the sights and no stitching at all.  After she’d gone home, though, I made up for lost time, and the last month or so has seen me working on a WIP that I started early last year. After putting this into my Qsnaps I haven’t felt like working on anything else, and I’ve just kept plugging away at it until two days ago when I put the final stitches into it – woohoo, a HUGE happy dance happened at home, that’s for sure!  Here’s my 2nd finished HAED hot off the Qsnaps.

Daisy Blue copy

“Daisy Blue” by Jo Lynch (HAED)
Stitched on 28ct Lugana, 1 over 1 using full crosses
with recommended DMC
Finished size = approx 7″ x 5″

Next up is my Hallowe’en SAL project for the year that’s well overdue – this is the section I was supposed to stitch in May, for the theme of ‘Black cats’. Oh well, better late than never. I’m stitching with my choice of overdyed threads close to the original charted DMC, although I’m not not 100% sure of my choices. Oh well, “she’ll be right”… Here’s the ‘before and after’ – yeah, not that much to look at really 😉

And now onto the missing WIPocalypse questions – as usual, there’s the backlog responses here too …

April 2017:

“What projects are in your UFO pile?”

Pretty much everything down in the bottom of my right-hand sidebar are old UFOs with a few newer ones thrown in for good measure. Below are where they’re currently at, and why they stalled where relevant:

  • Monica Hunt: Hussif – 95% – this only needs the feather stitching done to attach the pieces together, and to add the button etc, all the individual pieces are completed. It’s quite pathetic why I haven’t done this one yet!
  • Homespun Elegance: Starry Snowman – 90% – this will only take an hour or so to finish, I think I just keep forgetting it’s there.
  • CA Wells: Sailors Valentine – 85% – I need to be in a good headspace to get back into the groove with this piece, and can’t even remember how to do the simple joining stitch, so I feel intimated by this one, especially with the finishing!
  • Teresa Wentzler: English Garden Sampler – 80% – I want to replace the alphabet with a nice saying, but can’t make a decision which saying to use.
  • Cindy Valentine: Bee Keeper Scissor Keeper & Fob – 80% – the scissor keeper is finished, I just need to stitch the matching fob which shouldn’t take that long to do.
  • Jane Nicholas (stumpwork): Stumpwork needlework accessories (thimble pip) – 80% – I’ve lost my stumpwork mojo and really need to find it again! I’m not 100% happy with the tension on this one or the fabric used, and not 100% sure this will ever get completed because of that reason.
  • Ruth Schmuff Designs: Flight of the Bumblebees – 80% – I was waiting for a skein of Kreinik #8 to arrive, which it now has, so this will be joining my stitching list very soon, watch this space!
  • CA Wells: Cottage Etui – 75% – see the Sailors Valentine above.
  • Stoney Creek: Nature’s Resting Place – 70% – there are so many mistakes in this one it’s not funny – also the very first piece stitched on evenweave so about 30 years old and using older DMC colours – not sure I can be bothered salvaging this one.
  • Mediterranean Village scene – 70% – not in love with this at all, tried changing the colours from Anchor and don’t like the choices – not sure it’ll ever be finished.
  • Jane Nicholas (stumpwork): Dragonfly – 70% – see thimblepip above.
  • Jane Nicholas (stumpwork): Honesty & Heartsease – 70% – see thimblepip above.
  • Cindy Valentine: Apricot Elegance – 65% – unpicked the buttonhole edging so many times it isn’t funny, so it was thrown into the naughty corner over 10 years ago.
  • Hardanger Scissor Fob – 60% – not sure why this isn’t finished yet, it won’t take too long to do.
  • Berry Delightful bag – 60% – not feeling the love.
  • Beaded fish – 50% – can’t remember how to do the stitches!
  • CA Wells: Pyramid Etui – 50% – see the Sailors Valentine above.
  • Wool hotwater bottle cover – 50% – don’t like the colours chosen, and want to start again.
  • Summer Fruits pincushion – 40% – not feeling the love.
  • Jane Nicholas (stumpwork): Oriental Poppy – 40% – see thimblepip above.
  • Jane Nicholas (stumpwork): Pomegranates and Beetle – 35% – see thimblepip above.
  • Teresa Wentzler: Noah’s Ark – 35% – too many other things I love more.
  • Wool beehive needlebook – 35% – not sure why I stopped this one.
  • Chatelaine: Egyptian Garden Mandala – 35% – really dislike the fabric chosen, but gradually adding a few stitches this year as I’m determined to finish it if only because I spent so much money on the kit!
  • Shepherd’s Bush: Finch Song – 20% – missing some threads to kit it up (the chart was secondhand from a friend on loan).
  • ByGone Stitches: Quaker Christmas II – 20% – not 100% keen on my fabric choice, but I do a few stitches every now and then.
  • Country Threads: Paris – 20% – a newer UFO that will see daylight every now and then. One letter down, four to go.
  • Goldwork pea – 15% – I made a mistake right at the start, and not sure it can be fixed.
  • JCS magazine: Le Jardin Silk Sampler – 10% – really hate stitching with the Silk Serica, so it stalled and I haven’t picked it back up again.
  • Martha Schmidt: Hussif – 5% – don’t like my thread choices, and want to start again.
  • Rosewood Manor: Quaker Diamonds – 5% – love this one, just other projects have jumped up the priority queue – hope to do a bit more of this one this year.
  • Textile Heritage: Topiary Bookmark – 5% – can’t stitch in hand, so I need to attach somehow to a frame.
  • Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches: Raphael’s Raspberries – 5% – just got side-tracked with other projects.
  • Moss Creek Designs: Schwalmwork Pinkeep – 1% – got side-tracked with other projects I like better.
  • Mirabilia: Bluebeard’s Princess Mirabella – 1% – dislike my fabric choice, and want to start again.
  • Lavender & Lace: Celtic Summer – 1% – can’t decide what threads to use to replace the duck-egg blue Needlepaint ones that are no longer available.
  • Country Cottage Needleworks: The Tea Room – 1% – not sure why I haven’t done any more on this one.
  • Longstitch frogs – 1% – I just fell out of love with this one, and don’t enjoy doing longstitch anymore – I should really just give it away.

May 2017:

“Which designer’s projects do you absolutely love, but are too intimidated to try?”

I can’t say one designer in particular, but I do know hardanger filling stitches etc fill me with dread, so I’m definitely intimidated by those. I love specialty stitches on the whole, though, and enjoy the challenge … but these intimidate me more than normal 😉

June 2017:

“Show us your stitching space! Where do you sit, and what is going on around you while you stitch (TV, audiobooks, etc)?”

The blue recliner in the bottom corner is my stitching chair in my lounge – it usually sits a bit more off to the left, and you’ll normally find me watching TV or with my iPad plugged in listening to audiobooks. Actually the room has had a small shuffle since this photo was taken a few months ago, but it’s close enough to how it is today anyway.

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July 2017:

“What are your oldest and your newest WIPs?”

My oldest WIP/UFO definitely has to be Stoney Creek’s ‘Nature’s Rest’ (see comments in April’s FAQ above). And the newest one is probably the blue converstion of Mirabilia’s ‘Red’. Here they both are as they stand today:

Nature’s Resting Place by Stoney Creek
Chatelaine, Egyptian Garden Mandala, Uncategorized, WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse – April 2017

Anne S

The only WIP I worked on during April was my Egyptian Garden Mandala. Here’s what it looked like at the start of the month:

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And what it looks like now:

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Yeah, not that different really, other than a bit of work done on the pyramid in the bottom corner. I haven’t had much time or energy to stitch this month, and needed to spend some time catching up on my SALs for the year, as well as getting a new start kitted up – that’s Mirabilia’s “Red”, except I’m doing a blue conversion. I’m going to a local Mirabilia retreat where Nora’s attending, so I was hoping to have it stitched before then … but seeing as it’s not started yet, and the retreat kicks off on Friday 5 May, I think I’m a bit out of luck on that score 😉

Hallowe'en Ornie SAL, Halloween

Hallowe’en SAL – spiders and cobwebs

Anne S

Halloween ornie SAL

After having an extra long weekend I managed to catch up on my Hallowe’en Ornie SAL by completing the missing March design.  I ended up stitching a smaller ornament instead of starting a larger project, which was my initial plan.  Anyway, here’s my final choice – a freebie design by Jacquie Morris.  The March theme was “Spiders and Cobwebs”.

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“Owl” freebie by Jacquie Morris (design still available on her website)
Stitched on 32ct Frosted Pumpkin Belfast linen by Silkweaver (the real colour is more red/orange than the photo shows)
Stitched entirely with DMC 310