This has been sitting in my finishing for a couple of years – awaiting the back to be personalised … I managed to finally do the personalisation before Christmas when I was housesitting across the other side of Sydney, but I then misplaced the backing board which was already cut out with batting attached. Finally today all the pieces came together … literally … and I put the finishing touches to my pinkeep for a stitching pal that I haven’t seen for quite some time. The name has been removed to keep the surprise, but hopefully it will be in the mail some time soon 🙂
This is a freebie angel by Lavender and Lace, stitched on 32ct Waterlily linen by Wichelt.
I have to admit to growing a little tired of Dawson’s tonight – the endless squabbles and melodramas of a group of teenagers is finally wearing on my nerves … BUT I swore I’d sit and watch the entire collection of DVD’s and I will continue to do so even if it kills me or drives me to the booze cabinet! The GREAT thing, though, is that it’s good to stitch by, ‘cos you don’t really have to look up all that often and can just listen to them all drivel on amongst themselves on the TV screen 😀
Which means, therefore, there’s some reasonable stitching progress from tonight … the close-up shows the colours relatively well, considering it was taken in a darkened room, directly under my Ott-Lite … unfortunately the ‘whole’ photo looks exceptionally washed out thanks to the Ott-Lite 😦
Tomorrow is a public holiday for Australia Day (well, I guess technically that is now “today”, so happy Australia Day to all my Aussie friends!!) … I said I would join the throng of hooligans at The Rocks for a free music concert, but truth is I really just want to sit around all afternoon in front of the goggle box with my honking great tapestry needle in hand, working away on getting some more colour into my Sapphire Star … sounds like a blissful plan … all I need now is some really bad weather to force me indoors 😛
Well, I have gone as far as I can with Summer Snapperland – the stitching was completed last night, and now I have to sit and wait for the buttons and snaps to arrive so it can be ‘finish-finished’ … then I will throw it place it gently into the framing pile for a few months time when I can hopefully afford to order some more frames and mattboards 🙂
After I finished the stitching of Summer Snapperland last night, I pulled out a Christmas ornie I started stitching in about November time, and did a couple of stitches in when I was in Auckland at Christmas … I figured enough was enough, time to get it finished, as it’s only a wee thing – and sure enough two episodes of Dawson’s Creek later and it was all finished … FINALLY an actual “finish” for the year 😛
“Tiny Motif Tree” from Christmas Keepsakes II by JBW Designs Stitched 2 over 2 on 32ct natural Belfast linen
with WDW Garnet and GAST Dried Thyme
Stitch count 41W x 45H
Yesterday my lack of sleep caught up on me, I think, and I didn’t do any stitching all day – but tonight I sat down for an hour or so after a healthy dinner (scotch fillet steak, mushrooms, fresh asparagus, carrots and baked potato wedges – yummo) to sit and watch a bit of TV with Katie … which means I got to put a few stitches into Summer Snapperland. I’ve now completed 3 of the 4 blocks, with just one block and the border left to go.
Unfortunately I only have one strand of Brethren Blue left, which won’t be enough to complete the border, so I’ll just replace it with the DMC equivalent in the chart … I also miscalculated quite badly the side margins of the fabric and there will be about 2 inches left on the left and right hand sides, yikes! To be honest, I think I may have made a judgement call when I originally chose that fabric from my stash, as I thought it would be perfect for it, and didn’t want to have to buy any more … and I figure I can add a strip of calico to each side to allow me room for lacing and a mattboard or two 🙂
The photos look really washed out as it’s taken under my daylight bulb which is quite close to the fabric – I’ll take another photo in daylight once it’s all finished, as the colour of the fabric is really pretty 🙂
Right now it’s time to hit the hay for the night for another day at the mill tomorrow – but gee it’s nice to see a photo of stitching for a change 😛
Instead of providing my usual list of finishes for the year, I decided to follow Su’s lead and provide a montage of photos of this year’s finishes – thanks to Picnik and Webshots for making this so much easier to do! I’m just missing one Christmas ornie that for love nor money will not display, so I ended up leaving it off …
Here are my goals for 2010, a little bit expanded from my previous thoughts – I’ve been mulling things over the last couple of days, and figure I might as well chuck them into the mix:
Complete at least 3 of my existing WIP/UFO projects (Works in Progress/UnFinished Objects)
Complete at least 10 of my kitted up projects (or charts I already own)
Complete at least 12 Christmas ornaments
Complete the finishing of at least 12 items – either by framing them or doing the actual finishing (excludes Christmas ornaments)
Send at least 6 RAK’s (Random Acts of Kindness) ‘just because’
De-stash my old charts/books – either via Ebay or giving them away
Join the New South Wales Embroiderers Guild
Start at least one EGA correspondence class project (please note I didn’t say “finish” here LOL)
Comment more regularly again on all your blogs – after all, we all need encouragement every now and then 🙂
OK, I think that does me for the year – hopefully the goals aren’t too lofty and I’m able to meet the challenge.
I’m currently working on getting my first finish for 2010 completed, which will be Bent Creek’s Summer Snapperland – so far I’ve managed to complete two blocks yesterday evening, and made a start on the third block. I’m about to have my shower and settle into my stitching chair for a while, so hopefully that means seeing the finish of block #3 today, as it has a lot less stitching than the other blocks 😀
WOW, did you see the snow in Sydney yesterday? Yep, I caused so many miracles yesterday, I even made it snow! The first miracle was that I actually put needle to fabric and did a few stitches on Saturday … and in the end, more than a few, by the time last night came around!
Unfortunately my poor Mirabilia Mermaid has been neglected, and my stitching slump has seen my 10-hour rotation slot dragged out across two entire months … here’s the progress over the last two months – just pitiful! First up on the left is how she looked on 31 October – followed by how she looked a month later on 22 November:
And now, how I left her before I put her away on Saturday night – I figure I’ve pretty much completed my 10 hours stitching on her, and fingers crossed the next time I pick her up my stitching mojo will have returned a bit more and I’ll get a few more stitches done in my next 10 hours!
After I put her away, I managed to get a LOT more stitching done on Bent Creek’s Summer Snapperland – I’m really loving stitching on this one, although I’m not overly keen on the fabric, as it’s quite ‘stretchy’ on my scrollrods. I do, however, really love the colour (the 2nd photo is a lot nearer the actual colour as I took that this morning in semi-daylight), and think it’s a much better choice than the ugly one recommended in the chart. I can’t guarantee this one will be finished in 2009, as I’ll be pretty close to my 10 hours on it soon – I figure, though, that I’ll keep working on it a bit longer, as so far I’m really enjoying it … I’ll probably stop after completing both of the ‘boxes’ on the right … maybe 🙂
I haven’t quite met my stitching goals this year, in the fact that I have only stitched 10 out of planned 12 ornies … but who knows, maybe I can squeak in a couple of quick ones before the year’s end, heck I have a whole week left to do it in! LOL – yeah, sure … maybe not.
I think my goals this year were relatively realistic, and were as follows:
Complete at least 3 of my existing WIP/UFO projects (Works in Progress/UnFinished Objects) – DONE – Completed 5 projects 🙂
Complete at least 10 of my kitted up projects – DONE – Completed 11 projects 🙂
Complete at least 12 Christmas ornaments – FAILED – Completed 10 out of 12 as at 21Dec09 😦
Next year I think I’ll keep the same goals, as they seemed to give me the freedom to stitch what I wanted to stitch, with a mix of both new and old projects … and I probably would have met the final goal if I’d been stitching as ‘normal’ over the last two months.
It has to be said, though, that any amount of stitching that gets some actual stitches into fabric is a positive year, all-in-all, and I’ve had some pretty decent finishes over the course of the year, even if the last two months has seen a major decline in stitching action 😀
Sorry I have been AWOL for a while … all I can say is that I’ve been struggling emotionally, I guess, for a number of weeks now, and I’ve been in a bit of a ‘black fog’ for want of a better way to put it. Anyway, I have been planning a trip back down to Melbourne for about 2 months now, but it was then put on hold indefinitely after Erin passed away until I heard about when her service would be held in NZ – as that is now likely to be the middle of January, on Monday night it was all of a sudden ‘full steam ahead’ and Katie and I started making plans once again for the trip. It’s taken me probably until yesterday before I started feeling brighter and looking forward to the trip, but now I think it will do me the world of good … getting away from home and away from the stress and pressures of work will be great. Of course it just may make me more homesick for Melbourne and those friends I left behind …
When I get home I think I may need to take a quick visit to the GP as well … according to my hairdresser the itchy scalp I’ve been developing over the last few weeks is likely caused by stress and upheaval, as opposed to a reaction to my conditioner … I guess my body’s trying to tell me something! Oh well, only two weeks left and I’ll get some TLC at home when I fly over to Mum and Dad’s for Christmas – something else that I’m really looking forward to. Recent events brings it home even more that family is really important!
I haven’t picked up a needle for weeks now, so I guess that gives an idea of my mindset of late, as that’s super super unusual! I did force myself to do a bit of home DIY, though, as I had a gift I needed to get ready for my trip to Melbourne. Unfortunately other gifts still aren’t done, so I guess those’ll have to go in the post later.
Here’s the results of my labours that I finished last night (just have to have the hooks/hangers screwed into the back):
A framing job I did first, but in a ready-made mat and frame from Target:
The gift I needed to get finished for this weekend (as it would be too hard to post) – this is for my ex-flatmate and friend Lisa for her birthday:
Then this one is especially for me – LHN’s Hannah Purington, to match our lounge’s marine/blue theme):
The piece de resistance – Graeme Ross’ Tiger … I’ve been waiting many many years to see this one framed!
And, finally, the one frame that I cocked up a bit (this was my 2nd framing attempt) … the corner shifted slightly when I was tightening up the clamps and I didn’t notice – c’est la vie, I still love it 🙂
These are all photos taken prior to adding the glass – I can’t believe it only cost AU$29 for 5 pieces to be cut, and the canvaswork and tiger pieces are decent sizes! Anyway, I’m really quite proud of these for first attempts – it feels wonderful to be able to say “I did all that” … from the stitching to the mat cutting, frame making, and the actual framing itself. I think I’ll be doing more in the future to give myself some more practice, and get some items out of the finishing pile.
Anyway, I’d better go get my packing done … it’s 8pm and I still haven’t even started yet! Maybe there’s still a bit of reluctance hanging around under that black cloud, but I’m sure that’ll be shaken off by the morning 🙂
This blog appears to be a photographic blog just lately, as I haven’t had the energy or the time to post an update – the only reason I have the photographic ones regularly is thanks to “post-dating”, as it means I can bulk publish for a couple of weeks, then go away and forget it! … Anyway, here’s a bit of proof that I have put the occasional stitch into fabric every now and then over the last week weeks, albeit not much!
Last weekend I had an extended weekend and had 4 days off work, and I spent the weekend housesitting on the other side of town (approx 1 & 1/2 hours drive away) for my close friends Brenda and Nigel – I had the distinct pleasure of spending the weekend with 4 furry pals … 3 cats (Comet, Ernie and Obi) and Dusty the dog (border collie). It was really lovely having animal company again, and lovely to see B&N as we’ve been strangers for most of the year due to my ill health and being too sick to travel far.
Anyway, while I was housesitting I sat in front of the huge TV and stitched away while working my way through B&N’s DVD’s and episodes of The Mentalist and ER that I’d missed. The main result of that was that I completed all of the stitching of Lizzie*Kate’s Boo Club – now all I need to do is attach some buttons, but that won’t be happening any time soon. I changed loads of threads in this piece, substituting for those I didn’t have in my stash … when I publish the final finished piccie with the buttons, I’ll add all the substitution details, along with the fabric etc 🙂
I also finished off the back of a little piece of gift stitching that I’ve been meaning to finish for the last two years – I wanted to personalise the back a little bit, which I’ve now done … and now I just have to put it all together – once it’s been received I’ll show a piccie (although I still have to finish-finish it, so don’t hold your breath LOL).
Over the last week I’ve had precious little stitching time, and this week will be even worse! This is as far as I’ve managed to get with Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid … I think it’ll be an entire month stitching up one rotation slot of 10 hours stitching! I wish I’d hurry up, ‘cos she looks distinctly creepy to me right now!
This week, though, my time will be focused on the following:
Yes, Mum, here’s proof that I’m actually doing some sewing … clothing sewing … on the sewing machine … for real!!! And as you can see, I’m even following my training and measuring from the side of the fabric to ensure that I’m following the grain of the fabric correctly! Ha, I guess those gruelling hours of being lectured about how to do things ‘properly’ really did sink in! I haven’t sewn clothes for over 20 years, so I’m incredibly nervous and reluctant about all this, but I did make a calico ‘dummy’ test to check the pattern, and I’ve been able to adjust the sides to fit semi-OK.
This outfit is for our work Christmas party which is this coming Friday – I’ve only just decided very last minute (aka this weekend) that I’d give it a go to dress up … unfortunately being a fatty boomba it makes it really difficult to go to fancy dress shops, and op shops are just out of the question … it was even a struggle to find a dress pattern that could be adjusted to my broad rear end, and just as hard to find fabric … BUT it seems this might just work … maybe! If nothing else, Katie is highly motivated for me to dress up along with her for the party! 😛
The theme is to dress in the decade of your birth … of course I had to be born in the decade of the mini skirt/dress, didn’t I? As it turns out the tunic top I’d decided to make to wear over trousers doesn’t seem to look too bad as a dress, so I’ve added an extra 3″ to the bottom, and it sits marginally below the knee now – I had to let it out slightly at the hips (thank goodness for the overlocker which will hopefully still work when I try it out tomorrow night), and I had to take it in a little bit under the arms – I haven’t tried it back on again yet since making the adjustments, but fingers crossed it’ll work out OK. Then I’m off to buy some big black false eyelashes, and a flick-up-bob kinda wig … and I’ll make a chunky purple necklace and earrings, I think – the only problem I have is with shoes – I think knee-high boots were all the rage back then, but I don’t have any … oh well, what am I stressing for, there’s still one night of shopping left, right???!!! 😛
Anyway, time to hit the hay for the night – we’ve been sweltering in a 42C heatwave all day today and I have to say I’m a bit exhausted from the whole melting day. It’s been a real effort just standing up in our little flat today, never mind anything else, and everything you touched around the flat was hot to the touch … even the stems of my poor ‘fresh’ lilies in their vase. I think both Katie and I will be sleeping with the electric fans on tonight, and praying for a reprieve from the sweltering heat tomorrow, we have too much to do!
This week I’ve been a bit anti-social at home, rather being glued to the Ghost Trappers chat room and radio in my bedroom, so yesterday I made an effort to catch up with Katie while watching a bit of recorded TV, and decided to finish off a couple of old stitched ornies while sitting around. The following are the results of my wee finishing session – some were stitched by Mum (those on Aida), while the others were stitched by me.
The skiing Santa was one of the first XS pieces I ever stitched many years ago – Mum accidentally took it out of its hoop frame holder, so I made it into an ornie instead 🙂
I still have a HUGE pile of finishing yet to be done, but I figure if I just pull a few out every now and then it will eventually get whittled down. I’ve really lost my confidence with finishing over the last couple of years, so I think I need to just not think about it, and just do it – seems to be working so far! 😀
I also finished a pinkeep last night too, but I’m not happy with it this morning when seeing it in daylight, so I’m going to replace the ribbon used on it today, and hopefully will like the finished result a bit better.
Unfortunately I don’t think the Just Cross Stitch ornie magazine is very clear with their finishing instructions for ‘newbies’ so I thought I’d make one up myself to help people out that haven’t done this type of fnishing before – and show just how simple it is 🙂
CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT TUTORIAL
(the way Prairie Schooler finishes them)
Materials needed:
Stitched ornament
Felt in coordinating colour
Cardboard (I use matboard)
Batting (I prefer cotton)
Ribbon for hanger
Glue
Thread for lacing (I use crochet cotton or pearl cotton)
1. Firstly measure your stitched ornie for the size that you want the cardboard to be.
2. Next, cut out your cardboard/mattboard to the desired size. Add glue to one side of the cardboard, and place glue-side down on your batting. Even though I don’t show it in the photos, I actually smooth down the glue with a little offcut of mattboard so that the glue covers the cardboard evenly – that way you don’t feel ugly bumps on the front when it dries.
3. Once the glue has dried, cut around the cardboard shape and cut off the excess batting (my mattboard is black on one side, it just happened to be the piece that our local framers gave me).
4. Now it’s time to attach the stitched piece to the padded mattboard.
Turn the stitching over so the good side is facing down – place the padded mattboard padded-side down on top of the stitching.
5. My instructions for the next part are in relation to lacing the ornie together – I’ve found that this gives a much cleaner finish on the front of the ornie, and in particular in the corners. If you don’t want to lace, you can just use glue to stick the sides down in the same way – you’ll just have to be careful that the glue doesn’t dry before you have the stitched piece nicely centred on the front.
7. Next I start lacing – I usually start with a couple of little anchor stitches at the start, but here I used a waste-away knot first (this will be cut off later) – then you just work from one side of the ornie to the other, as you can see from the series of photos below.
8. At this point turn the stitched piece over and check that the stitching is sitting nicely centred over the mattboard. If it’s not centred perfectly, just give it a little jiggle around until it is nicely centred.
9. Turn the ornie back over again, and continue to lace the remaining two sides. Now I usually stitch up the mitred corners, as this really tidies up the corners and gives nice clean points.
10. The finished version should look something like this if you’ve laced it according to my version.
11. You now have the choice of adding your ribbon hanger now, or at the end. I always used to add my hanger at the end, but decided to try it this way for the tutorial, and have added the ribbon prior to adding the felt backing.
Cut a piece of ribbon to your preferred length – I ‘twist’ my ribbon to give it a nice loop, if you just fold it in half the ribbon doesn’t sit quite as nicely. Hopefully that makes sense, and you can see what I mean from the photos! Attach the ribbon with a couple of little stitches to attach it to the fabric – I prefer to stitch it rather than just gluing to ensure the ribbon hanger doesn’t fall off in a hurry.
12. Next, turn your ornie over and add glue to the back – I usually use Tacky Glue and once again I use a little offcut of mattboard to spread the glue out all over the backing, but this isn’t essential. I figure this will help to keep the glue stuck down for longer than just having a little bit on the edges 🙂
13. Now place your glued ornie down on the felt backing and ensure the felt is pressed down nice and evenly onto the glue. Then, using pinking shears, cut around the ornie shape – don’t forget to hold your ribbon hanger out of the way so it’s not accidentally lopped off!
14. If you prefer to add your ribbon hanger at the end, this is an example of one of my older finished ornies that I completed this way 🙂
15. And you now have a beautifully finished ornie – all you have to do is to hang it up on your (or a loved one’s) tree! 😀
I hope that’s easy enough to follow – if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to scream out and I’ll try to answer them.
Feather Stitching 