Glue, Tack, Baste, Cut, Measure, yes MEASURE, Stick, Snip

Bar my hockey game (3-1 loss, don’t ask), and a VERY expensive *tears* trip to the VW garage, I spent every spare second this weekend finishing up a number of smalls. I didn’t even take time to change out of my jammies on Sunday in the final push to get everything done (oh how I love a jammy Sunday). Finishing holds a fair amount of peril for me – I try to measure 4 times and cut once, but sometimes, sometimes I just measure wrong 4 times. You know? But I had given myself a deadline, and a list (something else I love, a list. And don’t even get me started on an alphabetised list – bliss) so I was determined to get everything done. And, I’m proud to say, with only a few minor hiccups, I did!

Now I can’t show you everything, because I posted off Edda’s return Crazy Exchange to her on Monday, and it wouldn’t be fair to ruin the surprise here. And I finished 2 secret stitchings which I will reveal to you very shortly (maybe even as soon as tomorrow).

But I can show you the last two.

First, it’s a needlebook that I stitched back in 2007. (Once they’re stitched, things tend to languish in my finishing drawer for quite some time before I finally get around to finishing them off. It’s just the way it is.) It’s not really very spring-y, but I will think of it as being ahead of the game for autumn 2009, rather than 2 years behind since autumn 2007.

Design: A Touch of Orange Needlebook by MTV Designs
Linen: 32ct Vintage Country Mocha
Floss: Gloriana, Atalie, Kreinik
Beads: Mill Hill

And, second, I finally got around to stitching the first Just Nan tin from last year – Hop. It stitched and finished up really quickly, which is encouraging me to stitch the rest of them this year too. (Yes, of course I’ve signed up on an auto for this year’s lot…I’ll stitch them next year.) I’m now stitching the companion piece, the Hop needlebook fob, so that will undoubtedly sit in my finishing drawer for a few months before I get around to completing it :)

Design: Hop Tin by Just Nan
Linen: 28ct Lilac Grove by Countrystitch
Floss: DMC
Beads/Charms: included with kit

Oh, and nearly forgot, I picked up Their Song from the framer’s – I was in two minds about whether to have a matt or not, went into the shop, chose a matt and a frame, walked out of the shop and immediately began second guessing myself. I nearly walked back in and cancelled the order. But in the end my pragmatic and shy streaks won (too time-consuming and would look like an eejit going straight back in the shop), and I’m delighted they did:


It was a bit expensive (as in, framing in general, not that this framer is any more or less expensive than the average), so I’m going to wait a bit before dropping in the next thing to be framed. Perhaps Awake the Dawning Day which I finished back in July 2008, to match Their Song?

Happy stitching!

More Rain, More Stitching

The weather is proving to be quite unseasonably changeable, although I suppose with Wimbledon now upon us, the showers are to be expected. So with a partly gloomy, partly sunny weekend in prospect, we didn't make too many plans and mostly did household chores and shopping for the weekend. Such is life, these things always need to be done!

Friday night I worked on Love Is Patient, and have managed to get a large portion of the border done. No more words, but lots more border and further outline of the heart.

Also, on Friday night - yess! - more stash arrived on my doorstep. This time from Wye Needlework - the 3 Shepherd's Bush charts - and from Lekker Threads and the very nice Tina, the linen - 36ct Lakeside Linen in Bittersweet (the pinker one) and Strawflower (the creamier one).

This was immediately followed on Saturday morning (isn't Saturday morning delivery a great old thing? And unfortunately they are thinking of taking it away...) - the wonderful Karen from Millennia Designs sent through some beautiful threads, and a package from Naomi at Stitches and Spice in Australia arrived containing the fabrics for this month's Gift of Stitching antique pincushions - the fabric is Antique Rose and Hannah's Rose (the darker). Both are absolutely gorgeous.

My Saturday stitching was on Paradigm Lost. I'm finding this difficult to photograph effectively, and the variegation of the thread doesn't really show up. So here is what the thread should look like (courtesy of Crescent Colours):

Bejeweled

Anyway, here is my progress thus far...so NEARLY done the whole alphabet!

On Saturday afternoon, we were going to walk up to a plant sale being held at the local manor house - but it started raining again, so we drove. There are definitely some things I do love about England, such as driving half a mile out of the village and finding yourself here:

We came away with a single canna, which I'll pot on this afternoon.

Sunday was a great day, because I finished my very first biscornu!! Here it is in all it's glory:

Biscornu - freebie design here from Better Homes and Gardens

Stitched on 28ct Permin/Wichelt in Lambswool

Fibers: Needle Necessities Island Butterfly (#1343)

We spent the afternoon on the sofa, half watching the England/West Indies cricket test, half watching the F1 race from Indianapolis, and I was also half paying attention to stitching on Silver Needle - luckily no harm done from the lack of total concentration.

And phew, that's about it. I really must remember to bring my camera lead home so that I can try and blog over the weekend, otherwise my Monday posts end up being VERY LONG!

Happy stitching!

Their Song is Finished!

Still all abuzz about my stash booty, I whizzed home after work and picked up Their Song straight away. I knew if I had a few hours on it, it would be all done - and so it proved! I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out, and only missed my goal of completing it before the next Loose Feathers came out by one day - that's not too bad!

Now I need somethign to fill up my Thursdays... I'm going to wait for a few days and see if my hunch about my parcel from Wyndham Needlework comes true, as it should contain a whole lot of linen, and will provide me with a wider choice of new starts. Watch this space!

I carried on with putting together my biscornu once I'd finished with Their Song - I've sewed up 6 sides now and am preparing to stuff. I'll probably go back to this at the weekend to finish it off, so possibly photos then. I have yet to work out whether my camera will download to H's laptop, so given that the weather forecast for Saturday looks like this:

...I may well get an opportunity to test it out at the weekend! Happy stitching and have a lovely weekend everyone!

A Busy Weekend

Phew. What a busy weekend we've just had!

First, on Friday, I came home after a busy day of work to find 2 wonderful packages on the doorstep - having just got a nice little bonus from work, I had decided to treat myself to a bit of stash shopping - so there are a few more packages soon on the way :) Friday's post included these lovely fabrics from Sew & So:

L-R 40ct cream, 36ct Antique White, 32ct Antique White, 32ct Confederate Grey, 32ct Misty Blue, 28ct Raw, 28ct Light Sand, 28ct Light Mocha, 28ct Confederate Grey, 28ct Sage (not from memory, I may add)

After the fun of opening this parcel, I carried on with Paradigm Lost, and managed an H, an I, a J and half a K - I think I might try and stitch this on a Saturday or a Sunday, as doing an hour here or an hour there just seems to get me nowhere. This is more likely due to my slow stitching than any design flaw!

Saturday morning I spent with the second of Friday's packages - some beautiful scissors from the wonderful Leena and her shop Violarium. I've used these to finish the Heart Throb scissor fob - my first ever attempt at such a thing - and I'm immensely pleased with the results:

Front is stitched on 32ct cream with recommended DMC fibres, back is stitched on 32ct Permin/Wichelt English Rose with Silk 'n' Colours Pink Elephant

The rest of Saturday was spent in finally building the BBQ - which took a surprising amount of time, but is done done done! I picked up Love Is Patient that evening, and carried on with that. Previously it had just been one straight line, and now it's several. Plus a large red area which, believe it or not, will be the top left part of a big red heart, but currently looks more like a looming eyebrow. So I've added a photo below, but it isn't really much to look at yet:

And then on Sunday, after a wonderful round of golf (ok, actually half a round of wonderful golf followed by half a round with quite a bit of swearing and tantrum-throwing by my good self, having lost several balls and found a really irritating creek which insisted on meandering through the fairway exactly where my ball kept landing - yes on 3 holes in a row), H manfully fired up the new BBQ and cooked us a delicious dinner. And I sat down to my final stitching session of the weekend, and carried on with Their Song. I just love this design and am really looking forward to the next Loose Feathers instalment!

I hope you all had wonderful weekends and enjoyed the weather as much as we did - happy stitching!

Quite a Satisfying Weekend

Well, this was a good weekend. Not only did the weather behave remarkably well (and far better than advertised), but I managed to finish Busy Bee (hurrah!) AND frame Mum's Heart II (double hurrah!) and also spend a good deal of time in the garden, which I find quite rewarding. Also, FIL was over from Ireland and we all went to watch the Heineken Cup Final at Twickenham on Sunday which was a lovely day out.




So, first to Busy Bee. The photo unfortunately hasn't come out all that well, but this design, by The Sweetheart Tree, was done on 32ct cream fabric with DMC threads, Mill Hill beads and a bee charm (not the bespoke ST one, but one I found that was the right size as was finding it difficult to track down the one that was called for) and some crystal paillettes (again, not the 'proper' ones but some Gutermann substitutes which are just fine). I love the twirly delicate backstitched vines on this one, I think they turned out beautifully (if I do say so myself!). I have a couple more Sweetheart Tree designs in my stash, so will definitely dig those out - they are so quick to finish (this design is about 2.5 inches across and 8 inches high).




Also, I framed MIL's A Mother's Heart. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to come over this weekend as originally planned as they are off to Australia tomorrow, and thus she had a million and one things to sort out before they left, and there wasn't time for everything. So FIL is going to take it back to MIL and I guess we might get a call tonight when FIL gets home. Hopefully she will like it!




I spent a good deal of Saturday in the garden - we only have a small L-shaped raised bed in an otherwise paved garden, but there was enough to keep me busy for most of the day. I was happily weeding, forking over, adding topsoil, pulling out some of the horrible plants left by previous owners, pruning, planting a new clematis (it's a gorgeous mostly-white-but-faintly-pink colour with striking purple stamens, and I of course forgot to take a photo of it), and planting a dozen or more different types of seeds - since it is our first growing season at the new house, I'm mainly planting loads of annuals until I decide what I want to do with it more permanently. Meanwhile, H and FIL watched the *yawn* FA Cup Final. So everyone was happy! Below are some photos of the (old) clematis already in the garden. I can't remember exactly what it's called.

A Finish!

Excellent news, I have finished Mum's Heart II for H's mum! I have only to pop it in the frame and wrap it in some suitably cheerful birthday paper and it's complete!

I love a finish! Hopefully one or two more this month on some of the smaller projects I'm working on...

Happy stitching and have a lovely weekend!

Happy Happy Easter!

Sorry I've been away for so long - the Easter weekend was absolutely gorgeous, so we spent lots of time in the garden, in the park, in the house spring cleaning... I just couldn't bear to get the laptop out (we are not particularly good friends, the laptop and I), but today I'm feeling up to the task, so here is the weekend update!

Friday

It was 20C! Gorgeous for April, so H and I headed off to the park for a picnic lunch and a lazy afternoon. Truly a spectacular day. I love spring, I just feel like I suddenly have bags of energy! We bought some flowers for the house to cheer it up - tulips, my absolute favourite. I spent my stitching time working on a sweet pea bookmark as a birthday present for my mum - it only took me a couple of days, and I hope she'll love it! Also, I've had a bit of trouble locating enough Crescent Colours 'Bejeweled' to finish Paradigm Lost (although at this stage finishing is a LONG way off), and the very kind Sharon at Crescent Colours pointed me in the direction of Attic Needlework in Arizona, who agreed to take my very large order, and send it on to me as soon as possible. Hurrah, there's one project nearly unblocked!

Saturday

I love Saturdays, because we get post on a Saturday, and this Saturday's post held a special surprise! After waiting for nearly 6 weeks, my backordered Waterlilies thread FINALLY came through the door! So I'm no longer stalled on Silver Needle, and to prove it, this is what I accomplished over the weekend - not bad considering I had only part of the 3 large flowers at the top completed prior to the weekend. (I also worked a bit on Mum's Heart II, but for some reason the colonial knots have got me in knots - I actually threw the frame across the floor - very carefully mind you - in frustration because I can't get them to work properly. And last time I stitched this, I had absolutely no problems at all - sod's law I reckon.)

Sunday

Easter Sunday - after Easter Mass, I made H his easter treat - he's not over fond of chocolate, so I baked him a cake instead, which turned out beautifully, but was very very rich, so there is still tons of it left as we can only eat a sliver at a time. He, I'm quite happy to report, bought me a lovely huge egg made of dark chocolate which also came with three further bars of chocolate. Gorgeous! We spent the day spring cleaning and pottering in the garden - I planted the sweet peas for the summer, and potted up some bedding plants, and cleared the garden of a couple of minor pests - we bought the house about 8 months ago, and a previous owner had put in a vinca minor and it was rampaging around most of the very small plot. It's now history!

Monday

The last day of our magical weekend saw me finish up the bookmark for Mum and spend lots more time in the garden and with H - a truly lovely end to the weekend. In fact, we were so relaxed that we weren't even disheartened when we realised, halfway through building our new BBQ, that the instruction booklet is missing pages and skips from step 9 to step 14! Such is life, and I'm sure the manufacturer can send us a fresh copy. I hope you all had magnificent Easter weekends!

Tuesday

Back to work today, but a treat on my return home - my stash enhancement parcel has arrived from Traditional Stitches! I'm very excited about my first packet, which contained:

3 beading needles
2 charts (one tulip, one birds and balloons - of the hot air variety)
1 project for a stitched fortune teller - you remember folding up squares of paper into those four-cornered cone shapes, flipping up the flaps to tell your friends their fortune?? I do, and this is a neat fabric version - including charms
3 cute stitching-themed fridge magnets

I can't wait for next month's!

Well, that's enough for tonight - happy Easter to all!

Miss Kitty's Dragons

Here's a photo of my first proud finish! I really enjoyed stitching this one, and it only took me a few weeks - not bad for me, as I'm no champion speed-stitcher. Before this, I'd finished some smaller projects - cards and little things - so I was really pleased with how this turned out. I decided to frame it and contacted Sue at SDS Framing who was a wonderful help. I bought one of her 'Stitch-It Frame-It' kits - do-it-yourself framing which works out much (much!) less expensive, and I think the result speaks for itself (there's no praise like self-praise...). It's now proudly hanging on our bedroom wall. Since this one, I've finished 2 others - A Mother's Heart (also a pretty quick finish) and Titania (a Mirabilia fairy design that took me about 6 months), but I don't want to post photos yet in case my mum or sister happen to see this - they're presents for our long-awaited trip back home to BC this Spring.