Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, JBW Designs

Prancer

Anne S

Here’s my latest wee finish – I was able to complete the stitching last night after picking up the elusive DMC 368, then I put the beads on this morning.  It was supposed to be stitched 1 over 1, but I wimped out and stitched it over-two on 28ct, then just increased the bead size from 40123 to 00123 instead.

JBW Designs-Prancer
“Prancer” by JBW Designs
from 2004 JCS Christmas Ornie issue
stitched on 28ct white Cashel linen
with recommended DMC and Mill Hill beads

JBW Designs-Prancer

Now I’m off to find the ever-elusive bag of beads that I’ve already lost once, then I found them last weekend and put them somewhere safe … I should have known I was in trouble at that point, as “somewhere safe” usually means the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle … only I can lose something twice in as many weeks!!! … ho-hum :/

In fact, I might just hold off the search party and go and have some brunch across the road first, then I may even put together my bookcase … and then I’ll decide whether to start the search party again for my bead bag, or whether to sit in the lounge and finish off Boo! 🙂

Updated:  Hmmmm, I’ve just decided to check out my camera settings to work out why all my photos seem to be washed out just lately … sure enough at some stage I’ve managed to change my exposure settings permanently … now I’ve put it back to “0” adjustment, the photos are coming out more more crisply, so I’ve re-uploaded the Prancer photos – slightly darker fabric, but definitely a lot clearer on the beading detail!

Cross Stitch

So much stitching I’m exhausted! :P

Anne S

So much for the high hopes of completing my scissor fob stitching tonight … the sum total of my stitching entailed stitching the final 4 legs on my spider, and attaching the wee spider button body … um, and that’s it … kinda not worth taking a progress piccie really 😉

Tonight, though, was very productive from another perspective – I drove out straight from work to my old Chiropractor and FINALLY dropped off Boaz’s birth sampler gift, and as it turns out the girls are visiting Erin this weekend for Boaz’s … ahem … 1st birthday … ahem …  To be fair, the fabric took a number of months to arrive, but I was also then very slow to actually get it stitched and framed, and it’s been sitting gathering dust in my bedroom for the last few months while working out how the heck I was going to drop it off!  Oh well, it’s finally done and dusted, and one more ‘chore’ off the list 🙂

The 2nd stop was then to Officeworks where I picked up my little “slimline bookcase” – poor Katie had to resort to sitting in the back seat so I could fit the bookcase in my car, and I was clever enough to carry it into the apartment buiding, then took the box contents apart and brought them up in two trips up the stairs … a hernia is something I didn’t feel like tempting tonight!

Lucky last was a trip to Spotlight so Katie could pick up some cake decorating supplies, and I could pick up some ribbon and lining fabric for the With My Needle Quaker Friendship Book we did as a round robin last year.  I must say, I think the fabric is VERY pretty … and while the ribbon isn’t a perfect match, it’s still very VERY scrummy … and blue, of course … “Lapis” to be exact! 😛 

I also picked up one whole skein of DMC 368 that I couldn’t find at home for love nor money, which means I can now finish the latest ornie I got halfway through last weekend before having to throw in the towel.  Maybe I’ll even get that finished this weekend too … although going by tonight’s stitching efforts, perhaps I should just keep quiet about my stitching goals LOL.  I did manage to remember to pick up some plain white flannelette fabric that I use as lining on my metallic ornie forms, so that also means a couple more Christmas ornies can get finished soon …  And finally I was able to buy 3 of the reels of sewing machine cotton that Mum wanted me to buy for her – sorry Mum, but they don’t sell the Molnycke thread any more 😦

As for now, it’s time for an early night … and fingers crossed my pin pillow exchange turns up soon, ‘cos I’m champing at the bit to post a piccie! 😛

Cross Stitch, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

A bit more Boo!

Anne S

I managed a tiny bit of stitching again last night, and was able to add one little ghostie to my scissors purse.  I also managed to add a bit more to the fob by finishing the pumpkin vines and little black cat plus 2/3 of the wording – I’m hoping to have this one finished by the end of the weekend (stitching-wise anyway!).

Tonight I’d really like to see the scissor fob stitching finished – anything else is a bonus, although I should probably be able to get the back ‘panel’ finished on the purse as well … that just leaves the front panel to be stitched over the weekend … and the finishing – although I don’t know if I have any suitable fabric to use for the lining yet … will have to check the stash, but I’m pretty positive it’ll entail a trip to Spotlight or a quilting shop somewhere!  Yep, I’m pretty sure this one will have to sit in the finishing basket for a wee while yet!

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash, Sydney, The Drawn Thread, Works in Progress

Boo!

Anne S

Boo! Scissors Purse and Fob by The Drawn Thread is my current Work In Progress – so far I’ve managed to get almost halfway down the scissors purse, and about 1/4 of the scissor fob stitched.  I’m still really tired in the evenings, so my stitching is going r…e…a…l…l…y s…l…o…w…l…y.  Here’s my progress to date – once again, very washed out under the daylight bulb and even Photoshop Elements is struggling to get the colours right with a ton of manipulation!  I started this one in about the middle of last year, but hated the feel of one strand of silk, and just never found a rhythm … I stopped halfway through completing the little pumpkin on the ‘flap’, and it’s only this last week that I’ve pulled it from the depths of my WIP basket and decided to give it a little bit of love again.  And before you ask, yes, the “Boo” part at the top is supposed to be upside down … you see, it’ll fold over and then be the right way up again 😀

On Sunday I had a really lovely day out with my favourite Sydney ladies – Alison and Amanda … as always it was a riot, and much laughing and chattering was to be had.  We went to the new craft show that was held out at Homebush at Sydney Olympic Park.  I was on a stricter budget than normal, and there wasn’t too much to tempt me this time, but I still managed to come home with some great wee treasures … more in the shape of BIG floss rings for my threads (which are like hens teeth to find here!) and some more scissors (hey, a girl can NEVER have too many!!).  I also bought a strand of beads that I think will be awesome as a scissor fob for the Gingher Roberta scissors … plus some necklace ‘thongs’ to put together some chunky style necklaces for myself and Katie.  Hmmm, sorry about the green shopping bag that was used for the photography … not the best choice as a background to show off stitching scrummies! LOL.

And just LOOK at my favourite splurge of the day … I’ve been drooling over these Eiffel Tower scissors for the looooongest time, and that was my parting gesture to the show … and without doubt my very FAVOURITE purchase – I love, love, LOVE them, and don’t begrudge the AUD25.00 it took to procure them! 😀

Saturday was spent doing a bunch of tidying up in my pigsty of a bedroom, and tidying up my threads and stitching things – I finally grabbed a few of my kitted up projects that actually have DMC in the bags and entered all those threads into an Excel spreadsheet.  It seems that these days I’m constantly putting projects on hold part-way through stitching ‘cos I’m one or two threads short, so hopefully this will help me know where to start rummaging when I’m hunting for an elusive thread!  One other GREAT thing about tidying up my thread inventory is that I found the teeny tiny bag of embellishment beads for my January Accent Sampler by Periwinkle Promises … which also means I now have no excuse not to get it finished.  All I need to do is to add the little beads, and my initials/year, and stitch the back-stitch border on the backing linen, and I’m all set to do the finishing … not much, right? … well, let’s just say it’ll get done some time soon either before or after I finish Boo! 😛

I’m hoping to take Friday off this week so I can run a couple of errands like FINALLY picking up a bookcase from Officeworks that I bought late last year (they didn’t tell me it had arrived then shipped it back to their warehouse again … bless them!) … which also then means I get to play DIY with my power drill (LOVE that thing!), and I also just might FINALLY finish unpacking those final boxes in my bedroom that are full of embroidery books etc … which will then perhaps FINALLY lead me to putting a bunch of my books I no longer want on Ebay … perhaps 😛

Work has been ‘challenging’ over the last couple of weeks – just for a change LOL.  I’ve had it hinted from my boss that there could be a sort of new opportunity on the horizon that I should put my hand up for as it could be good for my career (and builds on the good relationship I already have with this group) … not really any different to what I’m doing now, just more focused on one area … time will tell if it actually pans out and goes ahead, and if so whether I get it or not, as there are obviously no guarantees.  I have already stated openly to him, though, that I would be interested if it went ahead.

Anyway, talking of work, I guess I should hurry up and post this and get into beddy-byes … an extra half hour of sleep just could make all the difference for me tomorrow 😉

The next finish you see will hopefully be my Pin Pillow exchange piece, which is hurrying across the oceans as we speak, and hopefully won’t be too far away from its destination … 😀