Blackbird Designs, Christmas Ornaments, Exchanges, Finishing, Friends & Family

Mental health alert … I’ve been doing housework!!

Anne S

It’s been an interesting few weeks, with not a stitch happening in this household except for Mum’s stitching while I’ve been busy doing things she can’t help with.  Rather we’ve been pulling out cupboard contents and chucking old things out and doing a general decluttering – all in readiness for when I start advertising for a new flatmate, or in readiness if I have to parcel things up and put everything in storage and move out.  Without going into too many details, I can only say that the last couple of weeks have been incredible not feeling like I’m walking on eggshells at home, and I feel a lot less tense at home.  It’s just a shame I have to get someone else in to live with me, ‘cos this is definitely a feeling of bliss I want to continue.  Oh well, maybe I’ll have to start buying Lotto tickets!

Anyway, a fortnight ago we had the lovely opportunity of meeting Cathy who was over visiting from WA – while I’ve been following Cathy’s blog for a number of years now, this is the first time we’ve met in person.  It was really lovely to finally meet up, and she managed to survive the day (and car trips) with me and my crazy Mum, so she’s pretty resilient! LOL.  We drove down the coast and met up with our other stitching pals in NSW and spent the day at Kiama – as always it was wonderful company, and we had a great day stuffing our faces with munchies and laughing the day away.  It was a really great day, and I’m already looking forward to the next one! I’ll ‘steal’ one of Alison’s photos from the day to share here … which stupidly sparked a tirade of hatred from a cousin in the UK on Facebook … I won’t go into details here, but let’s just say it was ‘interesting’ to say the least!!

While we were at Kiama I didn’t get any actual stitching done, but I took a pile of ornies that just needed to be stuffed and sewn up, so Mum and I did a shared job of it – Mum did the stuffing and I stitched their bottoms up.  Here are the results – there would have been a few more, but we ran out of stuffing 🙂

I also mentioned in my last post about an exchange that I’d received – this is what I received from Karen at The Stitching Post.  Funnily enough I’d only just been thinking about her recently, and I was surprised when an envelope arrived in my mailbox with her name on the back!  Karen chose a Blackbird Designs ornament for me, and the theme was “birds” for the exchange so it fit the bill perfectly!  She also included some extra little goodies that will come in handy.  Thanks Karen for a lovely exchange 🙂

And on that note it’s time to get back into cleaning and decluttering mode – we need to get everything finished by Monday at the latest so I can get carpet cleaners in to clean the carpet in Katie’s old room … it looks like she’s thrown up or something in there at one point, and is an absolute disgrace.  Bless Mum for offering to come over and help to clean things, as we’ve ended up doing everything again in that room.  Oh well, that’s all a part of history now … time to move on … and I have to admit the decluttering has been really cathartic 🙂

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

July WIPocalypse progress

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 🙂

Brin par Brin-Citation de Brodeuse No 8

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 🙂

Nancy Pederson-First Day of Christmas a Jun12

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 …

2012 WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse update for June

Anne S

Following is a summary of stitching completed over the last month:

  • Walking in a Winter Snapperland by Bent Creek – managed to 100% complete this one (insert happy dance here)
  • Into the Night by Shepherd’s Bush – managed to 100% complete this one too
  • Crimson Fire Sampler by The Victoria Sampler – managed to stitch on 3 more small bands
  • With My Needle by The Goode Huswife – commenced stitching her bodice

I also managed to stitch a few ‘extra’ small projects not on my original WIPocalypse list – the following were all started and finished:

  • Golden Partridge and Pears ornament – Needle Maid Designs, Inc
  • Partridge in a Pear Tree ornament – The Prairie Schooler
  • By the Full Moon ornament – Ink Circles
  • Peace Joy Love ornament – Lizzie*Kate
  • Coffee Break freebie – Cross Stitch Happy
  • Duck ornament from Fall Fields leaflet – The Prairie Schooler
  • Penguin Hugs ornament – Paw Printings

Bent Creek-Walking in a Winter Wonderland Cross Stitch Happy-Coffee Break
LizzieKate-Peace Joy Love Ink Circles-By the Full Moon Prairie Schooler-Partridge and Pears 2005

Needle Maid Designs-Golden Partridge and Pears Paw Printings-Penguin Hugs 2012 Prairie Schooler-Fall Fields Mallard duck
Shepherds Bush-Into the Night

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Paw Printings, Prairie Schooler, Shepherd's Bush

Into the Night

Anne S

Thanks to Shepherd’s Bush sending me replacement threads recently, I managed to put the final stitches into one of my favourite projects tonight.  Sadly, though, the photo is totally washed out thanks to a late night photo taken under the bright Ott-lite lamp – I’ll try to take another photo next weekend during daylight, if I remember.

Shepherds Bush-Into the Night
“Into the Night” by Shepherd’s Bush (kit)
stitched with kit fabric and threads

During the last week I’ve also managed to start and finish a couple of other small projects … I think perhaps my stitching mojo is returning properly … it’s certainly been helping me to keep my sanity in recent weeks.

Paw Printings-Penguin Hugs 2012
“Penguin Hugs” by Paw Printings
stitched on 32ct hand-dyed Jobelan
with recommended DMC threads, but without the Kreinik Blending Filament
(this is the 2nd time I’ve stitched this one, and still love it to bits!)

Prairie Schooler-Fall Fields Mallard duck
“Duck” by The Prairie Schooler from the leaflet Fall Fields
stitched on 32ct Shell Belfast linen
with recommended DMC threads

Celebrities, Corin Nemec, Entertainment & Activities, Jim Beaver, Misha Collins, Richard Speight Jr, Supernatural, Traci Dinwiddie, TV shows

Hanging out with the “Idjits” (picture heavy)

Anne S

Yesterday I spent the whole day at the Supernatural Convention in Sydney – my 2nd time in the last 3 years (I missed last year).  I was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to have my photo taken with two of my favourite characters and actors, and it’s taken ages for me to come down of my high from yesterday 🙂

The first photo I had taken was with Misha Collins – truthfully it was a last-minute splurge on the credit card to have photos taken, but I’m really glad I did it as it’s possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.  We saw Misha for the first time at the 1st convention, and it was even better seeing him the 2nd time round … he is a very entertaining guy and a real pleasure to listen to (plus he was a little more risqué this time with his language and anecdotes … I loved it!).

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I have to say that Jim Beaver in particular is the most lovely person in real life!  After stuttering how lovely it was to meet him in the flesh after being a FB follower for a while he replied that it was wonderful to meet me too … such a gentleman 🙂  Here is my photo with Jim (aka Bobby Singer from the show, and the reason for the “idjit” comment in the subject heading, as he’s always calling the 2 main characters idjits).  He was one of the main reasons I signed up for the convention, seeing as I didn’t get to see him last year … it was oh so worth it!!

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The other three guests were Traci Dinwiddie (who plays Pamela Barnes the Psychic), Richard Speight Jr (who plays the Trickster) and Corin Nemec (who plays a Demon).  They were all really interesting to listen to on stage, although I didn’t get photos taken by them.  I have to admit I’m not a huge Trickster fan, but Richard was wonderfully entertaining and has a really big personality – he had us all laughing our heads off.  Traci plays one of my favourite female characters in the earlier seasons, I was sad to see her character get killed off so early in the piece, although of course that was when Castiel first came into the season and we were treated to seeing Misha Collins on a regular basis afterwards, so that more than made up for it! 😉

P1060183 P1060187P1060190 P1060192P1060196 P1060199P1060202 P1060203P1060204 P1060211P1060212 P1060213P1060216 P1060219P1060225 P1060233P1060222 P1060236P1060238 P1060240P1060241 P1060242All-in-all a most wonderful day … I went on my own and took stitching and books to keep me entertained, but I didn’t end up needing any of them, they played blooper reels and favourite episodes on the big screen during the day, then the Q&A sessions went on for quite some time with so many guests.  I ended up not staying for the final autograph signing as I’d already blown my budget, but my memories will serve me well for many years to come 😀

The other great news is that Jim mentioned writers are working on Season 8 as we speak, so hopefully that means there WILL be a Season 8 to look forward to.  Even though I think Season 7 wasn’t as good as other seasons due to not having a really gritty underlying story (other than the leviathans), I’ll still always be a fan and will tune in regardless (at least while Jared and Jensen are in the show anyway) … I just hope they manage to keep Bobby in the show as well … even if he’s not ‘living’, I’ll be happy 🙂

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Needle Maid Designs

Short stitching nightmare is over!

Anne S

Before heading out to the Supernatural Convention I managed to get a wee bit of stitching completed over the last few days – I can’t show the first finish I have, as it’s likely to be used for my upcoming exchange piece (I can’t decide yet so I’ll stitch one or two more and then decide on the final one to be sent).  The subject heading, though, is in relation to my next finish – while this one glistens and glows in the light due to all of its metallic floss and shiny gold beads (MH 02011), it is a real PITA to stitch … actually I should clarify that statement, and say that the DMC metallic floss was a total PITA to stitch!!  Geez I really hate that stuff, how it shreds and frays – and I used a bigger needle to try to cut down on the friction and rubbing.  Sadly I couldn’t find my Thread Heaven to help out, but I think even that wouldn’t have made the stitching any more enjoyable.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any Treasure Braid or Kreinik in the same colour green to use as a substitute … oh well, at least it’s now all finished!  And I have to admit I really love it now it’s finished, while it sits all sparkly and shimmering gold in the light of the daylight bulb – in saying that, though, I never want to stitch it again!! 😉

Needle Maid Designs-Golden Partridge and Pears
“Golden Partridge and Pears” by Needle Maid Designs, Inc
(from 1998 JCS Christmas Ornament issue)
stitched on 28ct white Jobelan
with recommended DMC threads (cotton floss and metallic floss) and MH beads

I was originally going to send this as my exchange piece, but I opted not to do so in the end … now it’s time to settle in for another few episodes of Supernatural on DVD while I stitch another possible choice for my exchange – after yesterday’s experience I’ve had the urge to go back and watch all 7 seasons again, starting with Season 1 😀  Photos to follow from the convention first though 😉

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Works in Progress

I’ve been Framed!!

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.

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Halloween, Ink Circles

Halloween finish

Anne S

It’s been a challenging week this week, so I’ve tried to make an effort to put a few stitches into fabric when I can in the evenings – I came across this ornie kitted up in my suitcase (which I still haven’t finished unpacking – oops), so it’s had a lovely trip around the world and back … I decided to just stitch it up rather than trying to find space for it in my WIP/kitted up ready to go pile.


“By the Full Moon” by Ink Circles
stitched on 32ct Pearl Grey Belfast linen
with GAST as charted, with the exception of Onyx being substituted with Anchor black

The rest of my day today was spent doing the laundry (my normal Saturday chore), and cooking up a big pan full of beef stew, along with a little batch of Chocolate Banana Brownies (of which there isn’t much evidence left – my elderly neighbour had some and I made a huge dent in the rest … more-ish doesn’t remotely cover it!!).

And on that note I’m starting to go cross-eyed with tiredness, so it’s time to fall into bed for the night – I have loads of things in mind to get completed tomorrow so I’d better rest up to have some energy to tick that list off!