Feather Stitching

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! 😀

HAED, Stash

No longer a HAED virgin

26 August, 2012 Anne S

As mentioned in my previous post, I finally succumbed to starting a small collection of HAED charts … I’ll be lucky if I complete even one in this lifetime, but I couldn’t resist the temptation and fell in love with each and every one of these … plus a few that are waiting in the sidelines in my wishlist basket! I was clever, though, and bought mainly Quick Stitches and Minis … although I still think they’re pretty massive in their own right!

Crazy January 2013 Challenge, Cross Stitch

2013 Crazy January Stitching Challenge

26 August, 201226 August, 2012 Anne S

I have managed to finish one whole WIP for the August WIPocalypse challenge, but I’ll leave the details of that for my challenge post in a few days time … sadly it’s only a Christmas ornie, so that shows you just how much stitching has been done over the last few weeks!

While I haven’t been doing much actual stitching throughout August, I have been kitting up some projects and planning projects to join the 2013 Crazy January Challenge … same rules as normal where you choose 15 projects and start one a day for the first 15 days of January. That part I don’t think I’ll be doing, as I often only get chance to do one strand of thread on an evening if I’m lucky, so that’ll just make me discouraged right from the get-go … instead I’ll just choose 15 projects that I intend to attempt and finish by the year’s end, and have created a Facebook folder to track progress. The only problem so far is that I just can’t seem to stop adding projects to the pile that I really really want to stitch up … I’m supposed to narrow the choices down to just 15, and as you can see from the choices to date I’m not doing too well on that score!! If my mojo returns soon, I might make a start on a couple of them before the challenge starts. I’ve tried to keep most of them quite small to medium in size to make the challenge a little more manageable, but I’ve thrown one or two larger pieces into the mix as well. (And the Christmas Quaker one shouldn’t be in this gallery, but I don’t know how to exclude it!)

As well as the 2013 Crazy January Challenge, I’m also hoping to work on at least 1 or 2 of my older UFOs to at least make some progress by the end of the year, even if they aren’t finished. And finally I’ve also joined up with a SAL of Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches – this is one huge mother of a project, so it may take me 10 years to finish … but I figure I’ll just try to do a set amount of stitching on it each month, be it one day or weekend, so eventually it’ll get stitched up 🙂

And last but not least I also went a bit crazy and finally succumbed to stashing a few HAED charts … who knows when they will ever get stitched, but they’re pretty to drool over in the meantime. This is all because I saw a finished version of the Egyptian Temple one, then found out they currently have a 25% sale happening … and, well, the rest of PayPal blitzing history! 😉 I’ll add a piccie of my selections later 🙂

2012 WIPocalypse, Exchanges, Finishes, Just Nan, Stitching Smalls

August WIPocalypse

8 August, 20128 August, 2012 Anne S

Too late at night to put any words for now ‘cos I’m going cross-eyed from lack of sleep … will post my month’s progress piccie, though – I managed to finish this little Just Nan piece (stitching-wise anyway).

I also completed 2 biscornu pieces for an exchange, but yet undecided which one to use so I can’t show and tell those properly yet …

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

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

21 July, 201221 July, 2012 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

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 …

Animals & Insects, Photo Hunt

Photo Hunt: Clean

9 June, 2012 Anne S

PhotoHunt | PhotoHunt

This week’s theme is ”Clean” – my choice is a tiger cleaning itself at Mogo Zoo, NSW.

2012 WIPocalypse

WIPocalypse update for June

4 June, 20126 April, 2014 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

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

Into the Night

3 June, 20126 April, 2014 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.

“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.

“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!)

“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)

27 May, 2012 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!).

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!!

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! 😉

All-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 🙂