Christmas Ornaments – Page 7 – Feather Stitching

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes

A small happy dance

27 January, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Yesterday’s plan of taking the day/afternoon off was a perfect one! I did a lot of tidying up in my bedroom late at night, then today I’ve pulled out all stops and almost finished off the kitchen by packing away all the Tupperware and baking trays etc (believe me, the Tupperware in itself is a massive feat haha). I also rearranged the lounge furniture today, and ironed the duvet and pillowcases to make Lisa’s bed up for her arriving tonight. She won’t be arriving until about 8pm, after spending the entire day driving from Melbourne on her own, so at least she doesn’t have to worry about where she’s going to sleep when she arrives. I’m also going to cook a roast chicken and baked potatoes with a salad ready for her arriving – and the wine has been chilling ever since the first day the fridge was switched on 😉

Anyway, following is the sum of my stitching efforts yesterday – it was a bit hampered by the fact my threads were all over the place, so I had to ‘un-kit’ a project to find the DMC 814. The only GAST threads I had were Flax and Raspberry Parfait, everything else was substituted with a DMC equivalent. It’s stitched on 28ct mystery Cashel linen (in a light taupe colour) from my stash – which means I’m now up-t0-date with the Christmas Ornie SAL on the XSers Yahoo group – yay 😀

“Fill With Love”
Designs by Cathy Jean
2007 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue

I’m unsure what the next project will be … I should probably finish the Sweetheart Tree needleroll I started last week, then I think a wee LHN or CCN project might be in order before I start committing myself to my CA Wells class pieces – now I (will soon) have my own stitching space again, I guess it’s time to start tackling those class pieces when I can concentrate on them properly 🙂

Hopefully next week I’ll also have time to start sitting down and catching up on everyone’s blogs again! 🙂

Christmas Ornaments, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

A bit of Christmas stitching

26 December, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day – here in Sydney I spent a lovely day with Brenda & Nigel, and Brenda’s sisters, nieces and cousin. As always Nigel did an awesome job with the food, and we all ate like Kings. The rest of the day was spent, in my case, stitching in front of the TV while we watched Scrooged and the final episodes of the Vicar of Dibley. I’m glad I went prepared and took a wee LHN design to start – it gave me something to do while everyone else was snoozing at odd times during the afternoon. And if I’d got all the DMC threads to hand, I would have almost finished it!! My needles were definitely smoking yesterday (and until 3am when I got back ‘home’ as I still couldn’t put it down). Here’s my progress so far – I just need to buy some more DMC (3371, 739 and 3011) then I can get it finished. Unfortunately I took a drive out to the shops today, forgetting that everything is still closed for Boxing Day, so it will be sitting unfinished for a wee while now as I’m back to work tomorrow.

Necessities Sampler by Little House Needleworks

Seeing as I can’t finish my LHN piece, I have no choice but to start one of my CA Wells pieces … which means I have to start concentrating on my stitching again yikes!!

On Christmas Eve I managed to finally put the finishing touches to a couple of ornies that were stitched during the first part of last year. I really really need to get back into my stitching routine so I can stitch a few more for next year! Anyway, here are the latest ornies in their finished state (I forgot to take a photo of one, which I gave to Kerrie at the weekend).

And here are two that Mum stitched for me, that I’ve also finally finished into ornies:

I’ll finish this post with photos of my friendly flatmates right now – they’re both so incredibly friendly and cuddly … the photos were taken from their visit onto my bed this morning 🙂

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishing, Works in Progress

Oh heck – I made a big boo-boo!!!

10 December, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Note to self – don’t post your new address on the blog until you’re 100% concentrating and awake!!! My address is NOT PO Box 1306, but rather PO Box 688!!! Sorry ’bout that – a seriously major blonde moment!! Now you know why I don’t blog at the moment – I’m usually too shattered to think about it … and that’s the result!! Doh!!!

Anyway, just a really quick post again, to post some stitching piccies while I get the chance – I finally managed to put the finishing touches to these FUFO’s a week ago:

That may end up being the only ornie finished by me this year … such is life I guess …

Also, here’s the latest two finished blocks of Snapperville, plus the teensy start on block #5 – you’d never believe it’s taken two weeks to stitch just this part, would you? Yep, smokin’ needles is definitely a thing of the past for me for the timebeing – the only stitching I’ve been getting is about 2 hours on Sunday night ho-hum 😦

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Stitching Smalls

Two more small “finishes”

30 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I managed to get a couple more small finishes done last night – as well as taking a better photo of my finished needleroll today (so I’ll replace the photo in yesterday’s post). I’m finally trying to make up a close pal’s gift that is months overdue, so I did this as a trial run first – definitely not my finest finishing ever done, but it’ll do …

Then I sat and finished off my Pansy Magnet Pillow into a finished pillow. I just adore this piece – it’s a shame to see it go into storage now it’s finished, as I just want to sit and admire it … I just love looking and playing with all the beads in the fringe! 🙂

Lucky last, I used the sewing machine to stitch the binding on my oldest quilting UFO, and it’s all pinned ready to do the hand-stitching on the back of the binding – I’m coming up to almost 4 weeks of late shifts, so I thought it could be the perfect project for the office on the overnight shift. Mind you, one week will be spent training a new person on the Hotline, so I might not get quite as much done as expected hmmm. No piccies yet until the whole thing is finished anyway … I have no idea what I’ll do with it when it’s finished!

Rightio, back to packing up … so far I’ve cleaned out my car boot ready for loading everything into it again – done the laundry washing for the week, all apart from my bedding which I’ll probably do next week in Seaford, and most of my stitching is put away again. My sewing machine will be packed away tonight, in readiness to going back into storage again either tomorrow or Saturday before work. Only two more sleeps left before I head back to Seaford again for another week, then off to Edithvale for 3 weeks.

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Needlerolls

A tiny spot of finishing

29 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Today I started putting together a needleroll tutorial for use later next year on the Focus on Finishing blog – and managed to get the following needleroll completely finished (excuse the very poor photo, it was getting dark and I couldn’t get a decent shot without flooding the whole stitching with the flash), plus one more to the stage where I just need to add the ribbon and stuff it (this was actually my subject for the photos, but I realised when I got to the ribbon stage that all my ribbons are in the storage unit, except for the one I kept out for the Planted Hearts one ho-hum). Anyway, it means this one is finally completed and can be sent on its way to a new home somewhere 😀

While I was at it, I also decided to keep going with the hemstitching, and finally put together my Thistle Bag that Tobie kindly sent me the kit for ages ago. It’s about time I pulled my finger out and got this bag made up – and once I put my mind to it, it didn’t take too long whatsoever! 😀

That means I can finally say I’ve contributed to the monthly Finish-a-Long on the Focus on Finishing blog, instead of just being on the sidelines cheering everyone else along 😀

I may try and squeak in one more quick ‘finish’ tonight … something that will be super quick to finish off and won’t take up much room in storage (that’s something I started taking into consideration today – I was going to make a tie-on pillow using KarenV’s tutorial, but I decided I’m probably better off leaving everything ‘flat’ rather than stuffed, as I just don’t have space for it at the moment).

Lastly here is my latest stitching finish – I completed this yesterday afternoon … and I just love the colours and shimmering gold metallic thread – the photo doesn’t do it justice whatsoever. The red is deeper and richer, and the metallic just glistens and twinkles 🙂

Christmas Heart by Birds of a Feather
Stitched on 32ct white Lugana
with WDW and RG gold Petite Treasure Braid
(instead of Kreinik #4 gold braid)

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Small finish and lovely visit

27 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post to show my latest small finish – I’m thinking of picking up a bigger project next, so it may be a while before there’s another finish … as well as the fact that I’ll be losing my internet connection again in a few days time. I’ve just spent a couple of hours uploading piccies for the next couple of months for the Photo Hunts, for that exact reason – I’m not sure when I’ll be up and running for the internet again, and uploading and downloading is a tad harder at an internet cafe than it is at home … anyway, if you don’t see me online for a while soon, you’ll at least see one post a week, as I’ve uploaded posts for the Photo Hunt right up until 3 November – I know I’ve said it before, but I seriously LOVE that functionality of WordPress!!

Anyway, onto the piccie – here is my latest finish:

Miniature Bellpull Ornament by The Drawn Thread
from 1999 JCS Christmas ornie magazine or 10th Anniversary issue (which is where I got mine from – the 1999 JCS ornie mag is the only one I don’t own … {pout})
Stitched on 36ct summer khaki Edinborough linen
using DMC and Needle Necessities threads as recommended

In other news – my foot is perfectly fine … I had a lot of stiffness and pain in it on Saturday, and went to see a GP as I felt quite worried about it – but she said I hadn’t done any major damage and I still had relatively good mobility, so just to keep applying the ice packs. Well, you’d never believe it, I woke up on Sunday and hardly had a twinge!! It feels fantastic! 😀

The other great news from Sunday is that I caught up with Tannia and had a lovely relaxing stitching day (hence the reason my Drawn Thread ornie got finished – I just did a couple more hours when I got home and finished it up). As always, Tannia is wonderful company, and it was great to just kick back and relax with needle in hand, and old movies on TV, without a care in the world. There’s also a treat in store for you, Mum, next time you come over – Tannia has very kindly given me some Christmas ornie magazines for you 😀

Not much else to report apart from that … I’m now off to the lounge room to watch a couple more episodes of series 3 of Moonlighting while I put a few more stitches into another ornie, then tomorrow is “clean up” day when I start packing my things away again in preparation of moving out. I have another week out in Seaford, then I’m looking after a place in Edithvale for 3 weeks with an elderly (and apparently well behaved – that’ll be a nice change) kitty.

Rightio, time to get cracking again …

(Updated to add:) Forgot to say, I finished reading Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows yesterday morning – couldn’t put it down in the end! Even though I haven’t read any of the others yet, I have no regrets whatsoever for reading it. It’s unlikely I’ll sit down and read the other books yet, and I wanted to read it before I knew what the ending was. I’ve seen all the movies to date, so at least I knew all the characters and the terminology … although after seeing the movies, I have to say all the characters in the book were now ingrained in my head as the actors who played them … much less imagination needed haha. Anyway, I have to say I loved it! 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, SBQ

SBQ and another ornie

3 May, 20073 January, 2019 Anne S

Thanks for the words of advice and comments about my shoulder – I tried Nurofen and stretching etc for the first 24 hours, but it didn’t do anything. The last time this happened I put up with it for a couple of weeks and felt like a wreck due to the lack of sleep etc – I eventually got the name of a ‘nerve manipulator’ in Heidelberg, and she fixed it. It’s not very pleasant while she’s manipulating it, but it’s all over with in a couple of minutes and well worth every single cent spent. I checked yesterday, though, and I had a crappy pay (my overtime comes on next payday) so things will be extremely tight for the next fortnight … mind you, Jan (the manipulator) told me that if you don’t treat a trapped nerve it can eventually affect your breathing and you could end up being hospitalised, so now I’m more educated about it I’m happy to get it fixed as soon as it happens (but I’ll always give it 24-48 hours to see if it clears itself first). It just means I’ll stocking up on essential food only for a fortnight again 😦

Anyway, I sat and had a glass of sparkling wine last night to help ease the pain (yeah, OK, the truth is I just really really felt like having one! LOL) … and I managed to finish one last ornie for the day (even I have to admit my needles have been smoking the last 2 days!). This one is so much prettier in real life in the magazine photo – the DMC 498 is so rich and scrummy, I love it! 😀

Elizabeths-Design-Christmas-Rose-a-02May07

“Christmas Rose” by Elizabeth’s Designs
from 2002 JCS Christmas ornie issue
Stitched on the same 28ct ‘mystery’ evenweave as yesterday using the recommended threads

Now, before I head off and do some tidying up and general housework for the day, I’ll answer the last two SBQ’s, ‘cos as per normal I’m behind in answering …

2 May – Today’s SBQ was suggested Kathryn and is:

How many WIPs do you have? How many UFOs do you have? When does a WIP become a UFO?

Hmmm, good question … first of all I guess I class a project as a UFO when I haven’t touched it for about a year. As for how many WIP’s I have, I’d say 8 in my current rotation, although three of those technically became UFO’s as I hadn’t touched them for just over 12 months (Egyptian Garden Mandala, Winter Queen and Le Jardin Silk Sampler) … as for other UFO’s, I’ve managed to finish a few over the last two years, and I’m down to a sum total of 30 now – but there is a pretty big mix of what type of project they are, ie they’re not all XS. Breaking them up into categories, I have:

5 Stumpwork (all by Jane Nicholas) – Needlework Accessories set; Dragonfly; Pomegranates and Beetle; Honesty and Heartsease; Oriental Poppy
13 Cross Stitch/Counted Thread – TW’s English Garden Sampler; Mediterranean village scene; Love and Affection by JBW Designs; TW’s Noah’s Ark; Nature’s Resting Place by Stoney Creek; Topiary Tree bookmark by Textile Heritage; Christmas Welcome on plastic canvas; Butterflies & Hearts needleroll by Lorri Birmingham (I’m going to unpick and change the colours); Apricot Elegance by Cindy Valentine; Hussif by Martha Schmidt (class project); Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine; Winter Queen by Mirabilia; Le Jardin Silk Sampler from JCS magazines
1 Beading – 3-dimensional beaded fish
2 Quilting – Golliwog applique quilt (from a class – just has the binding to be finished, but I can’t remember how to do it); cot quilt (my first attempt – I really need to get this finished!!)
1 Goldwork – Goldwork pea (class project)
6 Surface/Wool Embroidery – Summer Fruits pincushion from Inspirations magazine; Hussif by Monica Hunt (class project); Bullion rose facecloth (likely to just unpick and start using it!); Wool hotwater bottle cover (class project); Berry Delightful Bag (class project); Wool beehive needlebook from Inspirations magazine
2 Canvaswork – Frogs in longstitch; Ornamental Delights (Group Correspondence Course through EGA)

19 Apr – Today’s SBQ was suggested Danielle and is:

Are you on “The Wagon?” If so, how long have you been on and how “serious” are you about it? If not, have you considered it?

I’ve been on The Wagon for about a year now – more for financial reasons than anything else. I’ll occasionally buy something if I truly truly love it, but I haven’t been buying charts for a while now. Once I complete my 50 Project Challenge, though (if finances permit), I’ll be doing one reasonable sized order … the key thing being “finances permitting”. I have been buying any threads for charts already in my stash that I can’t find a substitution for. In the meantime I’ve been really enjoying stitching from my stash and re-discovering the awesome charts I already have 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes

Christmas is finally here

2 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, maybe not Christmas itself, but the Christmas ornie SAL is here anyway … I’ve finally managed to get an ornie stitched up … in fact TWO ornies to make up for lost time (I’m only a week late!). I managed to hit these out in 5 1/2 hours today while listening to an Audible book – I’m tempted to try put the starting stitches into one more, but I’ll see how I feel once I’ve cooked dinner. It was annoying that both of these charts had minor errors in them … which I only found out later, so both ornies had a small amount of frog-stitching hmmmm.

Cardinal Snowflake by The Victoria Sampler
from 2004 JCS Christmas ornie magazine
Stitched on 28ct Kiwi Illusions Jubliee in Alpine Spring (Countrystitch)
using my substitute threads from my stash
(this is such a teeny little ornie – very cute!)

Merry Christmas by Glory Bee
from 2003 JCS Christmas ornie magazine
Stitched on 28ct mystery evenweave
using recommended threads except substituting Crescent Colors Toasted Marshmallow for GAST Porcelain

I managed to trap a nerve in my shoulder blade during the night two nights ago, and I must have aggravated it doing so much stitching yesterday so I had a bad night’s sleep last night thanks to it … perhaps it’ll do me good to have a relaxing night with a break from the needles … but maybe not 😉

Thanks for all your wonderful comments as always – your visits and words are always very much appreciated 🙂

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishing, Quilting

Finish-along weekend

4 March, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

This weekend was the first FAL weekend on the Focus on Finishing blog, and it was a pitiful effort on my part … although the fact that I’ve been at work both days and been home for a sum total of 3 hours all weekend (ie tonight) might have been the key factor in that. Seeing as I set the date, and supposed to be leading the FAL, I just had to finish ‘something’ before I went to bed tonight! I managed to finish two Christmas ornaments – one of the first ornies Mum ever stitched for me (Prairie Schooler Santa), and a Lizzie*Kate ornie I stitched early last year some time. Not the most flash finishing ever, but at least it’s two items out of the to-be-finished/FUFO pile!

I also forgot to post a piccie of some goodies that Mum and I picked up while we were out thread-hunting at the LNS’es last week … some gorgeous navy and turquoise fabrics that scream out to be made into part of my proposed quilt (I grabbed every little bit I could find in the remnant bins – Mum and I had the entire contents tipped out going through them, as there was nothing left in a bigger piece on the bolt), as well as some other turquoisey fabrics that just screamed my name. We also picked up some Altoid tins from the USA Foods shop (both shops in Bentleigh) – there’s actually another red Altoid tin floating around somewhere, but Mum’s pilfered it so she can eat the mints 😉

I’m determined to attempt my first quilt this year, along with dear Isabelle, and these fabrics are one teeny tiny step closer to that goal 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Stitch-alongs

Christmas Ornie SAL

25 February, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

This month I cheated a wee bit – instead of stitching a new ornie from scratch, I pulled out a half-finished one and put the final stitches into it. I can now say I’ve set a new record for myself for the smallest piece stitched! The ornie used a Just Nan charm frame, which I didn’t have, so right from the start I thought about stitching the middle part on a separate piece of fabric but using a Nun’s stitch around the sides and attaching it at the end. Last night I stitched the wee over-one section and did the Nun’s stitch tonight before putting it all together. Now it’s headed for the finishing pile with the rest of the ornies 🙂

“A Little Joy” by Just Nan, Inc
from 2002 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue
stitched on 28ct Mushroom Meran, and 32ct Flax Belfast
using recommended threads and beads

Here’s a couple of photos using Mum’s hand as a model, and a packet of Piecemaker needles, to show just how tiny this little centre piece is. I was originally giving this one away to an online stitching buddy, but I have to say I don’t think I’ll face doing that over-one section again, so I think now I’m going to be keeping this one for myself! 😉

The other stitching news is that I FINALLY finished off my Peace needleroll ornament into a needleroll – but I forgot to take piccies, so I’ll have to do that later. It’s been pinned together for so long just waiting to have the seam stitched, I’m surprised the pins haven’t gone rusty! LOL.

Nothing else to report, really – I’m partly through my Etui stitching, but not entirely happy with my colour choices, as they seem a lot paler with just a couple of strands … I need to replace my Soie Cristale blue with something a tiny bit deeper, so tomorrow we’re hoping to drop into Bustle & Bows in Surrey Hills to check out their silk selection – ideally I’d like something similar in colour to Needle Necessities 101 floss (or just slightly darker), so fingers crossed we can find something. It means there’ll be a bit of frogging to do, though, as I’ve almost completed 3 of the little pyramid triangles (apart from the edges, as I’m still waiting for the threads to arrive from Hand Dyed Fibers). I won’t bother showing you a piccie until I’ve got all the colours to hand and I’ve got at least one piece totally stitched.

Rightio, off back to the TV where I’m pretty sure Mum has just fallen asleep … I think I’m going to have to start taping her favourite TV programmes for her – every night we’ve watched CSI ‘cos she loves it, she’s fallen asleep halfway through! She’s a worry!!