Cross Stitch – Page 22 – Feather Stitching

Cross Stitch, Finishes, JBW Designs, Needlerolls, Sweetheart Tree

Anne, the UFO Slayer

15 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Thanks to my dearest flatmate leaving me her entire collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD’s to watch, my eyes are now square, and I think I have almost OD’ed on Buffy over the last few days (I’m now up to Season 5 – not bad going in two weeks!). For someone who’s lasted 40+ years without having Buffy in her life, I have to say I’ve rather enjoyed it! I’ve shed tears over the ‘Angel-thing’, and laughed out loud at poor old Spike, and slobbered a bit at good ol’ Giles (who I’ve always adored as the Prime Minister in Little Britain – had I known he was in Buffy, I would have started watching years ago haha). Anyway, watching all this slaying has been good for the soul, and good for the stitching – I’ve been doing a bit of slaying of my own today, and managed to finish two old UFO’s – I’m not quite feeling up to tackling the sewing machine just yet, so the needleroll will get finish-finished later.

“Wildflower Needleroll” by The Sweetheart Tree
stitched on 32ct Lambswool linen by Wichelt
using recommended DMC threads and Mill Hill beads

This really, really old one just needed to have one heart bead attached for it to be finished (after unpicking and restitching some of the beads in the outer border), so within 1/2 an hour today this one is also finished. Unfortunately it’s really hard to get a good photo of it, as it’s all pretty much monochrome. I’m going to attempt to frame this one myself, I think 😀

“Love and Affection” by JBW Designs
stitched on 32ct antique white Lugana (I think)
using recommended threads and beads

This “rotation” business is really helping me to keep focused on my stitching goals – no more dithering between stitching sessions, I know exactly what I need to be stitching next … although right now I can’t decide whether to tackle the start of yet another UFO, as I have a few hours of my rotation left, or whether to just move on to my next slot, which is my Boo Club focus piece … ah, decisions decisions … 😀

Still not feeling 100% today, I asked my boss if I could reinstate the two days leave I’d just cancelled last week, so I have the next few days off to recuperate more fully … which means more stitching, yippee 😀

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

A lot of illness and not much stitching…

14 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Unfortunately when I was finishing off my Acorn Needlebook on Saturday, I was also fighting off a viral infection/flu-bug that had been kicking me for a couple of days last week. On Sunday it hit me full force on the side of the head, and I spent 3 full days in bed either in my bedroom or on the sofabed in the lounge – a high fever and blinding headaches as well as a beautifully phlegmy chest and nasal congestion have put paid to any major stitching on my days off work … I hate being so sick you can’t even stitch! 😦

Today, though, I finally managed to stay upright all day, albeit in my stitching chair and not wandering around. Still feel pretty grotty, but certainly not as bad as I have over the last few days. I did, however, manage to get a little bit of stitching in today. I forgot to take an ‘in progress’ photo of this piece that I started weeks ago, so you can’t see the minimal stitching I’ve actually managed, but I’ve now stitched as far as I can until a skein of Crescent Colours Cocoa Bean turns up … sorry, but the photography is really bad as I had my stitching light directly over it and it’s washed the colours out really badly.

Then I started on my next rotation slot (WIPs/UFOs), and picked up an old UFO and added a few beads, as well as doing a spot of unstitching of the satin stitch band ‘cos I’d miscounted the last time I touched it – 1 3/4 years ago sitting on the floor of my empty flat here while I was waiting for the removalists from hell to deliver my furniture days later than planned. This is the “before” picture, but I won’t bother taking the “after” picture yet as there’s really not much to show aside from a few beads – with luck it won’t be long before you see the finished product – the way I’m feeling, I think I won’t be doing a great deal over the weekend, just taking it easy and continuing to recuperate and recharge the batteries again … Hopefully then I can get a better photo!

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Finishing, Stitching Smalls

Acorn Needlebook all finished

10 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

A very big happy dance today as I not only put the final stitches into my Acorn Needlebook, but I also spent the entire day curled up in my stitching chair doing the actual finishing – not 100% perfect by any stretch of the imagination, as this is my first attempt at this style of finishing, but I’m pretty pleased with the end result 😀

So, without any further ado, here is my Acorn Needlebook by Periwinkle Promises…

Beading, Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

Updated pic of Acorn Needlebook

6 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Here’s a better view of the finished section of Periwinkle Promises’ Acorn Needlebook:

You may/may not be able to tell, but the different green is in the final leaf on the top right of the centre acorn section, along with the backstitching on the top half of the same stem.

So far no more stitching done tonight as I ended up taking photos of my scissors fobs (I’d actually made more over the weekend than I remembered) – and I made another two identical copies of one of them tonight as I love the blend of the beads together … unfortunately I’ve now run out of those beads, which is a shame 😦

And I’ve also run out of camera battery … now all I have to do is find my battery charger … LOL – I feel like I’m living in the Bermuda Triangle right about now!!! 😛

Before my battery ran out, though, I did manage to grab a really quick of two pairs of earrings I made for myself recently too … there just may be a few more pairs in the making soon too – I’d forgotten just how much fun making jewellery can be! 😀

P1020814

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Nearly Hump Day already!

6 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

happy_hump_day_camel

I still laugh when I think of that term … “Hump Day” – I’d never heard of it before moving to Aussie, and remember the first time I ever saw it … sitting at my desk in the call centre, a ‘flasher’ went up on the wall advising it was Hump Day today … bearing in mind, a Flasher isn’t some pervert in a raincoat (well, not in this situation anyway!) – in the call centres many have a neon display on the walls on which messages flash up during the day. Mostly it is in relation to the number of calls on hold etc, so you can time your rise in blood pressure according to the colour of the wall display – green static text means all is good in the world and customers aren’t getting hot under the collar (aside from those that awake in a whingeing state and continue like that 24/7 regardless of the situation) … when the text turns to red, wait times are starting to build up somewhat … then when the red text starts to flash, it’s time to reach for the blood pressure medication (which is probably what the customers are doing at the same time!).

Anyway, I digress … I remember sitting at my desk watching that little neon board glowing green with “Welcome to Hump Day” text, and smiling to myself while raising one eyebrow (I’m so multi talented doing two things at once), thinking how cool it is that Aussies are so organised that they have an entire day devoted to … um … humping. It also means that everyone has a fair chance at it LOL. It was days later before I finally had to cave in and ask someone what it actually meant – giving them no end of amusement at my expense!!

For enquiring minds, according to Wikipedia they have the following to say about Hump Day:

An American English idiom for Wednesday is “hump day”, a reference to making it through to the middle of the work week as getting “over the hump.”

Quite boring when I found out the true meaning … I much preferred my version (even though I did realise there was not a day dedicated to humping – just my perverse sense of humour interpreting it that way) 😉

Anyway, enough of the waffle and twaddle – and on to MUCH more important things! Tonight I managed to find my temporarily misplaced Lumix camera (perfection-plus for those stitching macro shots – I’ve missed it heartily!) … which means I can finally take some decent photos of recent scissor fobs and stitching … aaaaand I’ve decided to offer a little giveaway just for the hell of it (well, kind of a mini blogaversary, seeing as I actually missed my anniversary a couple of weeks ago!) of one (or maybe a couple) of my scissor fobs. I’m going to create a separate post just for the prize draw comments, so watch this space very very soon …

In the meantime, I’m off to find a glass of Chardy and put my final stitches into my Acorn Needlebook pincushion – might even squeeze in another episode or two of Season One of Buffy 😀

Cross Stitch, Works in Progress

A bit of a Rotation happening

6 October, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Today has been the perfect weather for being lazy and having a ‘crafty’ day – I spent a few hours making some more scissor fobs and working on my stitching rotation while watching Season 1 of Buffy (I’m new to Buffy – my flatmate left me the whole series to watch while she’s away, bless her). The weather has been shocking all weekend, with wind and rain present for prety much the entire long weekend, but it brought out some lovely rainbows in the late afternoon today 🙂

Stitching-wise I finished my first rotation slot by completing 4 sections of Boo Club – these are sections 5-8 … unfortunately I still haven’t put my hands on my little camera that I use for all my macro/stitching work, so the photos are really bad (not to mention they’re taken at night) – the colours in these one are WAY different to the piece in real life. With any luck I’ll find my camera before I finish it all … I’m really missing my little Lumix!!

After I put Boo Club away, I managed to put a few more stitches into my Acorn Needlebook by Periwinkle Promises, finishing the main piece of stitching. This was put on hold originally because I ran out of the dark green silk in the kit. I did find, however, that the new skein of silk that finally arrived is a totally different colour to that that was in the kit … the needlebook is for me, so I just stitched it in the ‘odd’ colour – I can tell the difference, but it’ll be fine. I then stitched up the three pieces that will be the needle pages – I just have the pincushion left to be stitched, then it’s time to put it all together I guess (once again, sorry for the dreadful photos).

Not sure how much more stitching I’ll get done this week – I guess time will tell …

Cross Stitch, Stash, Wishlist

Gay Ann Rogers – upcoming class

27 September, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Enabling alert – This one is really really pretty … Check it out, if you dare! 😀

http://www.gayannrogers.com/site_2/Pre-Week_2.html

But I think the cheaper price is this week only (it’s for an upcoming class).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I’ve also just been really bad and finally enabled myself, after seeing so many people stitching this first one … but I couldn’t buy one without the other, so these two have just taken a trip through PayPal and should be arriving via email shortly 🙂

Jardin Prive-My Lady's Quaker

Jardin Prive-Gentleman Quaker

You too can buy these from Jardin Privé 😀

This one I haven’t actually bought yet, but it most definitely HAS to go onto the wishlist – love love love this one, don’t know why I haven’t seen it before now! And now I’m going to stop looking!!! … Back to cleaning out the bedroom 😛

Nora Corbett-Bluebell Pixie

Beading, Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, scissor fobs, threads

HUGE mail day coming up! and a Giveaway

26 September, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I don’t know what has been wrong with me this last year – I’ve been exceptionally terrible at fulfilling promises, and have a HUGE pile of items and gifts that need to be posted to people – I have a massive desire to get rid of the backlog, as it is cluttering my brain (not to mention my bedroom!), so I’ve been making a large effort today to get a few things parcelled up ready to go into the mail next weekend.

Along with that, I’ve realised that I will never stitch with the following threads – I apologise to the kind-hearted soul who sent me these as part of a “summer” theme exchange years ago, but I’m just not a pastels girl, and I just can’t see me using them. To that end, I have a card already filled out, and the threads are sitting in an envelope, ready to join the rest of the pile to be posted out next Saturday morning (the only chance I can usually get to the Post Office) – and I’m offering a prize draw for these to go to a more fitting home.

Soooooo, if anyone would like these threads, please leave a comment on this post only stating that you would like to go into the draw (if there is more than one comment – if only one person enters then they get the threads automatically). The closing date is this coming Thursday 1 October – that way I can draw the name out of the proverbial hat on Friday morning and it will give me chance to chase a mailing address on the Friday if I don’t already have it, so I can meet my mailing deadline.

As for the other parcels, there are a number of threads and scissor fobs heading around the world on Saturday … here is the only one I can show you so far, as I’m pretty sure Karen doesn’t read my blog. I just had to choose a dragonfly charm for her fob in honour of her old shop name of Dragonfly Dreams – I made this one this morning just in time to get in the mail today, along with the Lizzie*Kate pinkeep from a few blog posts ago 😀

This one has gone to Karen at The Stitching Post

I’ll post piccies of the others that have been posted out once I hear that they’ve been received … I don’t want to spoil the surprise in the meantime.

Cross Stitch, Rotation

Rotation Alert

21 September, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Thanks to a Yahoo group I belong to, and a great discussion thread, I’ve become very very keen to get my rotation back underway again – I tried to do this earlier in the year and continued illness kept putting things on the backburner … now I’m all fired up to start it up once again, and have worked out the following rotation for now. The first project in the list is the current project to be worked on, with the following couple of projects next in line to be stitched (subject to changing my mind on a whim…):

Focus Piece
– Boo Club by Lizzie*Kate
– Egyptian Garden Mandala by Chatelaine
– English Garden Sampler by Teresa Wentzler
Medium to Large
– Acorn Needlebook by Periwinkle Promises
– Summer Snapperland by Bent Creek
– Halloween Fairy by Mirabilia
WIPs & UFOs
– Love & Affection by JBW Designs
– Wildflowers Needleroll by The Sweetheart Tree
– Cottage Etui by CA Wells
Focus Piece – Boo Club
Small to Medium
– Boo! Scissors Keeper & Purse by The Drawn Thread
– Winter in the Square by Just Nan
– Mermaid Heart by Just Nan
Large & BAPs
– Enchanted Mermaid by Mirabilia
– Golden Garden Sweet Bag by Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches
– Bluebeard’s Princess by Mirabilia
Focus Piece – Boo Club
Christmas Ornaments & Freebies
Finishing – Trying to whittle down a pile of finished-unfinished objects … will be great to see them made into their final shapes!
Free Choice – whatever takes the urge at the time, but at this stage the following are screaming the loudest:
– Ladybug Ladybug by LHN
– Ghastly Ghostly Ghouls by Just Nan
– Dragonfly Scissor Purse by Just Nan
– Is it Too Late? by Lizzie*Kate
– Quaker Flowers emery by Anita

Rightio, now I’m off to find all the charts, threads and fabrics, and make sure I have enough scrollbars etc for them all, then they can get organised in my stitching tub ready to start that rotation! I’m just waiting until the end of this week so I can get my Quaker Round Robin out of the way (should be arriving any day now, hopefully), then it’s full steam ahead! I want to get the Quaker finished as soon as it arrives, so it can be shipped straight off home to it’s Mum without waiting for the official posting date 😀

Oh shoot, I just remembered I have a couple of pieces that I “need” to finish first … hmmm, me thinks I might just have to start my rotation with the “Free Choice” slot and add those into the mix first …! 😛

Chatelaine, Cross Stitch, Finishes, Stitching Leporello

Happy Dance

20 September, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Yippee, I just put the final stitches into Chatelaine’s Stitching Leporello!! (Sorry, the colours are dreadful in this photo!)

I shouldn’t get too cocky yet, though, as I still have the actual “finishing” to go yet! 😉

The only thing I did change in the above piece is the style of alphabet used for my initials above – unfortunately Martina’s chosen alphabet just didn’t appeal to me, so I found something a lot simpler to use instead – and I opted not to do the initials over-one, mainly because I’m not a huge fan of over-one stitching with variegated thread … but I think it worked out OK anyway 😀

Here are all the pieces together in one place (sorry, some pieces are a bit ‘cut-off’ due to the shape):