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!

Stash-tastic!

Oh, it was a WONDERFUL evening when I got home from work last night, as there was a plethora of beautiful padded envelopes waiting for me on the doormat! I even took a moment to record my happiness in song (to Jingle Bells):

stash, stash, stash

stash, stash, stash

how i love the post

full of all the things i love

in a big padded envelope - HEY!

Okay, enough foolishness :) Here is what came:

From the lovely Kate at Thread Bear: Loose Feathers #25 - Awake the Dawning Day, plus 28ct R&R Iced Cappucino fabric for same. Also Little House Needleworks - Home of a Needleworker.

Then, from the wonderful Janice at Traditional Stitches, my monthly SEP (Stash Enhancement Programme) pack, which this month included a skein of Gloriana Petit Princess (similar to perle, only in silk), some 28ct Cashel linen in Golden Sand - which is going to be perfect for all the small projects that are scudding around in my brain - a couple of freebie charts, and a beaded chatelaine, which has currently been attached to my stitching drawer.

AND THEN! Also from Janice, half of the big order that I put in just after we got paid our annual bonus (credit card abuse? never!), which included several skeins of Au Ver a Soie and one of WDW Louisiana Hot Sauce, a cut of Glenshee Cottonfields for Celtic Banner, and the three remaining charts from Examplar Dames - the limited edition Quaker series - Humility, Peace and Faith (Prosperity came last month, and it was so beautiful, I couldn't resist ordering the other 3 in the set).

Phew! It was all very exciting. So by the time I'd unpacked, admired, forced H to admire, and put everything away, there wasn't much stitching time last night. I dedicated what there was to finishing off my inaugural biscornu. Or, working towards finishing it off. After a false start and a bit of ripping (I realised that I really needed to start the backstitching an even number of threads away from the stitching, rather than an uneven number, so that the corners worked out properly and there was a proper 'middle' to the design), I merrily backstitched my way around and began to put the whole thing together - I've finished about 3 sides out of 8, and here is my progress thus far - hopefully to be finished off in style on Sunday.

Happy stitching!

Busy Week!

It's been a hectic few days, but here I am to update you on my progress over the weekend.

Friday is Love is Patient, and I have managed to stitch the first few words on this design, as well as put a significant(ish) dent into the heart shape around all the words. This is tricky stitching, my first attempt at 36ct linen, and this design entails very careful counting. I stitch a short row, whip out my highlighter, mark off the stitches on my blown-up image of the design (the original was printed so small that it gave me a headache before I even started), and then pick up the needle again. I find myself squinting a lot. Attractive, I'm sure. But it's worth it because the threads in this design are so gorgeous (Crescent Colours in beautiful rich tones), and of course the verse is part of a reading that we had at our wedding.

Then on Saturday, the grey and dreary weather persisted so we didn't get up to much bar our weekly trek to Sainsbury's. (During which trip we discovered pear cider! It isn't quite like BC pear cider, and in fact it tastes a little more like syrup than pears. But nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose.) On our return, I renewed my efforts on Paradigm Lost, and nearly - o so nearly - finished the first row of the alphabet, all the way to starting the 'T', leaving me only that and the 'U' and a flower motif before going to the next 'row'. This is a really enjoyable project, but it's slow going. (This is a theme that I'm noticing about all my stitching projects. I am resigned to being slow. Unfortunately the list of projects that I'd like to stitch is careering somewhat out of control...)

So Sunday, we had grand plans to go out and challenge the golf course again, but somehow the drizzle wasn't encouraging, and it was so muggy...so yes, we pottered around the house again. Weekends are for relaxing right? I think we'll have to push ourselves out the door a bit more though, much as I love curling up on the couch with the remote and my stitching. In the morning I finished off the last few stitches on the biscornu I'm doing (again, slowly!), which means that come Wednesday I'll be doing the 'finish finishing', which I'm quite looking forward to, my first ever biscornu.

Sunday night, I decided to press on with Their Song, as I am so nearing a finish. I've decided to do only a 6-day rotation so that I either can catch up with missed stitching at the weekend, or really go for it on something that I'm nearly done. I'd run out of WDW Moss for this design, and my order hadn't arrived yet, so I concentrated on all the others colours, and now I'm left with only (lots of) Moss stitches and a few Havana (brown) stitches. I'm feeling quite proud of this project - I'm definitely looking forward to the next Loose Feathers design.

And that was it really for the weekend. Little sun, little exercise, lots of stitching, lots of films watched. A nice dinner with some friends on Saturday night. Can't complain I suppose.

Last night (Monday) I carried on with Northern Lights, finishing the backstitching on the eagle and completing the next row, which was all satin stitches in 'Inuit colours' rather than being anything tangibly representatitve of the North. The next band is the Alaskan Pipeline - looks like a quick one as it's simply long and skinny :) I've lent my camera to a friend so she can take photos of her car to put on eBay (long story), so hopefully will have photos of this for tomorrow.

Happy stitching!

Cotton Pickin' Bunny

Monday night I was back to Northern Lights, and after looking at it critically, I decided that 2 strands of Wisper thread were not in fact what was required, so I frogged the bunny (it sounds like animal abuse!) and started over with a single strand - the design didn't specify, and I hadn't used the fibre before so I wasn't too sure. But now it looks much better. I'll have to find an old toothbrush or similar to really fuzz it up, but so far so good. I finished most of the 2nd eagle on this band as well.

Last night I spent doing more unpicking - this biscornu went fine on the first side, but the second side has been tedious, probably due to my short attention span, and the implications of stitching the same design all over again. I've nearly frogged as much as I've stitched! But finally last night, bar a few short spurts in the reverse direction, I've managed to actually get a lot accomplished, so I'm well on the way to finishing my first biscornu! I can't wait until I get to the finishing stage, that will be much simpler I reckon!

H has been away on a course, learning to be a leader, so I'm looking forward to his return tonight. Happy stitching all!

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!

Half a Finish

Yippee, I finished the first half of my first biscornu last night! I did, however, forget to take a photo this morning in the rush to get out of the house and to the train, so apologies that no photographic evidence accompanies this post. I will post a photo this weekend if the hookup thingy for H's laptop is delivered today as it is supposed to be. Otherwise I will be silent until next week - and we've a Bank Holiday weekend this weekend, so I'm very much looking forward to that! Golfing, stitching, gardening, stitching, assembling the new BBQ, stitching, using the new BBQ, stitching - we have lots of relaxing plans!

Oh, I also started the next band on Silver Needle last night, but there isn't much to show yet so I'll post that once I get somewhere more tangible on it.

Great news came through yesterday - Jean from Attic Needlework has confirmed that she is going to re-send the large order of Crescent Colours 'Bejeweled' that has seemingly disappeared into thin air earlier in the spring, which is WONDERFUL news as means I can soon carry on with Paradigm Lost. And Kate from Thread Bear has confirmed that the new Loose Feathers chart is on the way. And I've also ordered the 'Home of a Needleworker' chart by LHN from Kate, so a bit of stash on the way - hurrah!

Happy stitching and have a wonderful weekend to everyone!

Nearly There

Last night I worked a little on the biscornu design (my first) I'm doing - I'm still not convinced about the thread colour, but I am forging on regardless just to see how it turns out. It was only a little while, because H and I got out the golf clubs and made our way up to the local driving range - now that our interest in golf has been renewed, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the local golf club does in fact have a driving range, and is tucked away in the fields just north of the village. It only takes about 5 minutes to drive there, mainly because you have to drive around the village to get to it - it's less than a mile as the crow flies. We had a very pleasant evening as the sun was shining and there are countless birds and other wildlife living in all the fields around the course - very peaceful. Until, of course, you hear me cursing my 7-iron, or H applauding himself for hitting a straight drive. The joys of golf!

So anyway, I've not much more left on this, the first side of the biscornu. I am toying with the idea of using a solid colour for the reverse side (same pattern) rather than carrying on with the very lurid (see, I am convincing myself more and more that I don't like it so much) thread I am currently using. We shall see! Tonight is the Champions League final, and H is out for dinner with some work contacts, leaving me in peace to carry on stitching this, so it's quite possible I'll make a decision tonight on the thread for the reverse.

Happy stitching!

Welcome to BC

We've arrived! After months of anticipation, we're finally in BC. It's wonderful.

I had decided to bring my stitching on the plane to keep me distracted and amused, so I found a couple of freebies to start stitching - a scissor fob design from Drawn Thread called 'Heart Throb' and a small square design which I'm hopefully going to turn into a biscornu - my very first attempt at one, so we'll see how that goes. And, just in time, the threads at left arrived in the post (Silk 'n' Colours Pink Elephant and Needle Necessities Island Butterfly). On Thursday night then, having confirmed on our trip to Dublin the week previous what stitching implements could be brought on board (sewing needles yes, scissors no), I cut all the threads I'd need for these two small projects into useable lengths, got the linen ready, and found a small frame. The 9-1/2 hour flight from Heathrow to Vancouver passed quickly enough, and my progress (Heart Throb top, biscornu bottom) is here:


I'm intending to use the Pink Elephant to replicate this design for the back of the fob, and the Island Butterfly is used for the biscornu. I'm now not convinced that such a dramatically hand-dyed thread was the way to go, but hey it's only my first try and we'll see how it turns out - live and learn.

I'm hoping to finish at least the scissor fob design whilst I'm here as Mum is a champion sewer, and I'm not 100% sure that I understand exactly what the finishing instructions are trying to tell me.

H's flight wasn't quite as comfortable as mine. He'd had a bit of a sniffle before we left, and Thursday was spent on a teambuilding exercise with his company. Whoever was organising it must have a small sadistic streak ... I know, what we'll do is we'll take a number of office-based staff who have minimal DIY skills, give them some rope, barrels, and twigs and ask them to McGyver up a raft! And then they can race that raft on a lake! In April, yes! ... Well, I guess you can imagine what happened next: having far more confidence than was warranted in their floating barrel(s), H and partner set out on the race, only to capsize at the furthest possible point from shore and then have to swim back towing what was salvageable of their former raft. A bit of discussion ensued ('No, just because you were first back with a broken bit of your raft in your hand doesn't mean you won' - 'But the rules didn't say you had to actually be on the raft to win the race' - etc), followed by a prize-giving, and suddenly H had been standing about drenched in lakewater in April temperatures for the best part of an hour. Throw in a bit of chilly recycled air for 9-1/2 hours, and I guess neither of us should have been surprised that he woke up with a full-blown fever and the worst cold he has had in 4 years on our first day here. But he's cheering up, helped no doubt by the gift of a set of golf clubs once we'd arrived!

We spent a couple of days with my sister and her boyfriend, and they took us to Little Mountain, aka Queen Elizabeth Park. Vancouver is beautiful at the moment - all the spring shrubs and plants are in full bloom, and the rhododendrons and tulips are particularly gorgeous. Right is H, sharing some sunny weather in the park with BC's emblem flower - the dogwood. Sister T and A are below, with a bit of the mountains behind them.

I spent a bit time on Sunday doing some stitching - apart from the small designs for the plane, I brought Their Song with me as it has a small number of colours, making it easier to travel with, and frankly I am just loving this design and can't wait to spend even more time on it! An early start on Sunday (for some reason T and A weren't up at 6am...) meant I could devote a few hours to it, and then our trip over to the Island on the ferry meant I had a couple more, so progress is on the left. In fact I'm going to finish off this post and find a quiet spot to get this out again.

Once we arrived on the Island last night, I gave Mum her joint birthday and Mother's Day present - Mum's Heart I. And she loved it! Photo - FINALLY - at right. I'm so glad she loves it, and so glad I can finally post the photos from this project! I'll also now post the Mum's Heart II progress photos, as I know that H's mum will never stumble across them by accident.

I also gave T her (extremely) belated Christmas present, which is a Mirabilia design - 'Titania, Queen of the Faeries' (at right) is I think the full title of it. T has had a life-long fascination with fairies, and also a life-long streak of middling to poor luck, so hopefully this fairy will look out for her and keep her safe. I'm taking it to a framer in Saanich in the next week, and Mum and Dad will pick it up to bring to T for her to finally put on her wall. It's the first big design I ever stitched, and it was so rewarding to see her face light up when she saw it. I have two more Mirabilia charts in my stash pile, and although I was still learning most of the way through it, it still took me 5 months, so I don't know if I'll pick up the next one in a mad hurry. I'll maybe give myself a bit of a rest!

So I think that's brought you up to date for our trip, and I'll hopefully post a bit more when I'm here. I wish everyone as relaxing a time as I am having!