Needles and Thread, not Yarn and Hooks

Guess what? I’m stitching again!

My inspiration over the new Chatelaine designs lasted longer than the time it takes to get home, play with the girls, feed them and get them to bed! Yippee!!

I actually went and got out Medieval Town Mandala, set it up on q-snaps, and got stitching!

Gosh – I’m so d@mn pleased with myself! I’m loving every second!

Here’s roughly where I’d got to the last time I shared a pic –

I’d finished part 5 (of 12) and was making a start on part 6.

And here’s where I am now. Still part 6, obviously, but a little further on, I'm working on the big building in the centre of the north side of the square.

I’ve gone back to working on Gay Ann Rogers idea of 12 stitches per day, or as I do it, at least 12 stitches a day or as many stitches as I can fit in to the time slot I’ve allowed for it. So, what I’ve showed there represents almost a whole week of stitching.

It doesn’t make for fast progress, but it’s wonderful just to be doing it again!

D@mned inspiration!

Ooh I'm so inspired at the mo'! If only I had the time ...

I want to stitch these - NOW!

• Martina Rosenberg's Spring Watergarden 
• Martina Rosenberg's Springy Micro Medallions
• Martina Rosenberg's 15th anniversary design - Sleeping Beauty's castle

Can you see me drooling?

Anyone want to give me some time and money as an early birthday present?

Hmmm ... might dig out MTM when I get home ... until I get distracted by something else!

The 7th day of advent

Today I’m joining in with Jo’s advent calendar – a wonderful idea to feature some wonderful stitchers and Christmas stitching in the days up to Christmas – thanks Jo for organising it!

For Christmas stitching, I’m going to share my Celtic Christmas, stitched many years ago (probably late 1990s) well before my blogging days!

I do love this design, and all the Celtic Ladies, although this is the only one of these designs I’ve stitched. I love Celtic designs – the swirls and knots.

I think this design represents a number of firsts for me – first time on evenweave, first time with beads, and first time I made changes to my version of the design, swapping the word Noel for some made-up patterned squares so that I could have it out all year round without it being a specifically Christmas thing. And it was the first time I had framed something so big myself! Phew!

I dug her out recently to show Iona, as Iona is a typically pink girly girl obsessed with princesses – she loves it! Even Niamh took one look and called her Cinderella! Now she has pride of place on Iona’s bedroom wall.

At Christmas, I also think of my Granny – my maternal grandmother. Her birthday was 27th December – she would have been 110 this year, had she not died in 2000! She was a strong character who was widowed in 1942 with a 3 year old son and a 4 month old baby. The last time I spoke to her was to tell her I was pregnant with Alexander. I made her this cushion as a Christmas present one year, and when she died, it came back to me.

Christmas was also very special to me as a child – I have very fond memories of rushing home from church on the Sunday around 10 – 14 days before Christmas and then heading along to a local farm to choose a Christmas tree. It was a family event – we all went and marched around the farmyard and round a field to pick the perfect Christmas tree! Then home again to get the box of decorations from the loft.

Decorating the Christmas tree is still something special I love to do, although these days, it involves a lot more negotiation with certain small people! We haven’t done it yet this year, but I’m looking forward to heading up to the loft next weekend!

Tossing the Floss

Hi everyone,

Thanks very much for all the lovely comments on my last post - I'm glad you like him as much as we all do. Certainly finding him brightened up a grey day, and your comments brightened up another dull day!

All images via my trees board on Pinterest.

Not that I'm complaining about dull days! From now until Christmas is just about my favourite time of year. I love watching the trees change colour and the leaves fall. I've been noticing recently that the area around where I live and work has quite a lot of trees and a walk outside always throws up something worth looking at. I have to keep reminding myself to carry my camera with me all the time!

All images via my trees board on Pinterest.

I have a couple of stitchy designs in my stash featuring some gorgeous trees and they've been calling out to me recently so much that I've dug them out!

La Pineta di Classe by Renato Parolin

Il bosco di Bengtsson, Renato Parolin again!

I've planned, since before I bought it, to stitch Il bosco di Bengtsson on a greyish background using white floss with a touch of blending filament to give a frosty feel. But I've suddenly started thinking about doing La Pineta di Classe in autumn colours.

Don't you just love those autumn shades?

But which to choose? I've managed to narrow it down to about 5 colours, but none is exactly right - I can have greens and golds or browns and reds, but not all at the same time!

Choices, choices! I'm not quite sure what to do yet - a mixture is probably the answer, but how? Any ideas, suggestions or useful thoughts welcome!



And how do you like my latest new start? Shock horror - it's knitting! I've been planning to knit a monkey for a nephew's Christmas present and got started yesterday. It was very strange to be knitting at 10.55pm last night, and enjoying it!

See you next time!

Brief and to the point = my Wednesday WIPs

Hairy things, their purpose yet to be revealed!

A little something I'm trying out for my Mum's birthday.

And, shock horror! I've actually done some stitching!

Laura J Perin's Color Study - Starry Night

When you look at the before pic, it looks like I've been making good progress over the last couple of weeks!

And a final hello from that other WIP, the photographer's assistant!

Revision

Remember this? I blogged about it in February.



I wasn't too happy with the way the sides worked out.


Well, over the 14 weeks since Niamh was born, it has gradually become this.


And I'm much happier now. Now it looks like the box I wanted to make. And reworking it was fun, and I got away with reusing the thread I used in the previous version without needing to buy any more.


I'm especially pleased with the box lining which I crocheted. After a quick look round, I couldn't find any fabric I wanted to line the box, so I crocheted the lining as I has some conveniently coloured cotton yarn. In fact, I think the lining has to be my favourite part of this box now!



Now I can hardly wait to start Twilight Pearls this evening!

15 again

Here it is! Sue Hawkins 15 sided canvaswork biscornu from the current issue of Stitch magazine. As soon as I saw it, I just couldn't resist it!



The stitching itself was fun, and I loved stitching each of the little squares. I particularly like the embellishment - just that little bit over the top for a pincushion! And I was really glad of the excuse to give Shisha a go. I really have been meaning to try it for a long time, but, as usual, never got round to it until now.



I did change the design of one square which originally included Queen stitch. I'm not a fan of Queen stitch and just didn't think it added anything to the design here, so I used Star stitch instead.

However, there is one thing about the design and the magazine article that really annoys me. I've seen it in other magazines and other articles too-it's the use of obscure thread brands that are difficult to get hold of. The design as published uses Oliver Twists thread and I know from previous experience that few shops stock this brand. In the past I've completely given up on getting any. This time I tried a bit harder and managed to get hold of one of the required threads, but in the end I still gave up and used Watercolors instead. Don't mistake me - I love the end result, but I did start out wanting to use the original colours.

Who is the target audience of these designs and the magazines? Perhaps professional embroiderers might have access to a wider range of threads. However, I wound have thought that the casual, hobby stitcher like me would prefer to use materials that are readily available. What do you think?


I know that some magazines will suggest stockists of materials, but even then they don't necessarily stock everything that's required. In this case, Stitch magazine does not even go as far as suggesting stockists.

So this project has ended very well - I love the Swarovski buttons I've used - but it started out very frustratingly and I had to spend more money getting threads in the colours I wanted than I would have wished. I think a letter to the magazine may be in order.

Hellooo!

Still here - still pregnant - still working (but only until the end of this week) - still stitching? (Umm, not recently). Still blogging? I just haven't felt the inclination to share the thoughts rattling around inside my head.

Anyway, I've seen the rebirth of the SBQ on several blogs and thought I'd join in!

Suppose we say that there are two types of stitchers.

There are those who enjoy the “process” of stitching. They stitch for stitching’s sake and if something gets finished, so much the better, but it’s not necessarily the end goal. Primarily, it’s the application of needle and thread to cloth that makes them happiest.

Then there are those who are “project” stitchers. They move steadily through their projects, certainly enjoying their stitching time, but finding their greatest joy in the completed stitching.

If you had to pick one to describe yourself, which type of stitcher would you be? I imagine that we could all say that we fall somewhere in between, but really think hard about this and try to pick just one. And once you’ve decided whether you’re a Process or Project stitcher, tell us if your recognize that approach in other parts of your life.

I think I'm a 'process stitcher' - I do enjoy thinking about the what, how and why. But for me the process extends beyond just the stitching itself into the finishing too - I just love trying out different things!

Thanks to Lee for getting things going!

Talking about trying out different things - I've been having lots of fun trying out different things in crochet over the last 6 weeks or so! Here are a few of the things I've been working on.



The thought of stitching has been floating around over the last few days, but hasn't been persistent enough yet for me to actually do anything about it!

Not in the mood

 
I just don’t seem to be in the mood these days for blogging – don’t really have anything I want to say.
 
I’m struggling a bit with this pregnancy too – I’m sick of people telling me how wonderful it is to be pregnant or how wonderful it is that I’m pregnant  when I didn’t choose to be pregnant in the first place and even at the best of times still feel rather ambivalent about it. And with the tiredness, grumpiness, lack of sleep, breathlessness, wind and heartburn it just feels like heavy going. I feel like I’m already the size of a baby elephant and I still have over 3 months to go. And this baby really loves to give me a good kicking!
 
We also have builders in at home extending the house to give us a much larger kitchen and dining room plus extending one bedroom and adding a new one. It’s quite exciting seeing what’s going on, but I’m not particularly looking forward to all the work that we’ll have to get started on in 6 weeks or so when the building is finished. I think we’ll need to get one bedroom finished and the kitchen sorted before the baby arrives.
 
Anyway, here are a couple of recent finishes.

 
This hanging ball of roses (from a Betz White tutorial) is dedicated to Alexander who persuaded me to persevere, that it was worth finishing, one evening when I was feeling particularly apathetic.


Peaches and Cream sampler from the Victoria Sampler - love the design, but I really lost the inclination to work on it when I was in the middle of stitching it. But I really love the drawn thread bands - I was surprised just how much they lift the whole thing.
 
I’m now working on a bit of crochet, inspired by something Lucy at Attic24 was working on.

The Production Line

My stitching mojo seems to be back with a bang - I'm rather amazed at what I've achieved over the last 10 days! As the nausea lifted and the desire to stitch returned, I promised myself that I wasn't going to push myself too hard, just make a point of enjoying the stitching.

I seem to have stretched that promise a bit more than I expected with 3 Shepherd's Bush finishes in the last 10 days!

First up is my Family Sampler, although I've realised that I can't finish it completely before June as it includes the initials of my family!


(Not ironed as it is just being folded up and packed away again until the summer!)

Next, while I was waiting for a stash order to arrive, comes Sweet Pea which I also have the Jill Rensel mat for.


Then, as Sweet Pea didn't fill all the waiting time, I started Quaker Heart which I finished last night. Much as I do like the others, I really love this one. And, at this point in time, the words really appeal to me.



I'm still waiting for some floss to arrive, so it's on to something different tonight, but not another SB piece!

First finish of the year

And here it is, Medley by Carol Tinson of Heirloom Embroideries! It was started on Christmas Eve and finished on 2 January.


It had been in my stash for a while and I'm glad I finally got round to stitching it. I found stitching the border a bit tedious, but enjoyed stitching the inner motifs. The only difficulty I have with it now is that I find the colours very cold!


After my finish, I drifted a bit, not sure what I felt like stitching next. However on Friday, after admiring Karen's Holly and Ivy Sampler, and having drooled over someone's Quaker Heart (oops - just can't remember where I saw it now, I know it was in a blog header - gorgeous too!), I was in the mood for some Shepherd's Bush stitching. So, over the weekend, I rediscovered my SB Family Sampler! I haven't stitched on it since early last year, but am quite enjoying it so far. Most of the motifs are complete, and for now I'm working my way round the border.

Quick hello

Just popping in with a quick hello! Sorry I haven't been around much recently. I wasn't well a couple of weeks ago and have been feeling rough ever since. Hopefully things will get back to normal before too long.

For now, here's a pic of my Bluebird box.


I haven't made the bluebird for the top and I'm not sure that I will. For now, it stays as it is.

And perhaps the fact that I've felt like blogging today is a good sign!

Unexpected

This week has taken on a slightly unexpected twist as I'm now having my second day at home with Iona. I'm loving having all the extra time with her, she's such fun to be with!

Anyway, I just popped in here to say that I've finished the stitching on my bluebird box.



I'm slowly getting round to the finishing. Slowly for 2 reasons, the first being that I want to stitch one or two sample ornaments for the after school club which will start a week today. My second reason for only getting round to the finishing slowly is that I think I'm going to have to do some blocking. I've never blocked anything in my life and it sounds way too scary! But at the moment, the stitched outline of the design does not quite match up with the outline of the card for the box (that was part of the finishing kit).


So I'll just have to block it into shape! Oh well, at least the box is stitched in DMCs and so it should at least be colour fast! But don't hold you breath if you're waiting to see the finished box. Maybe I'll just avoid the blocking issue completely for now and go and stitch the bluebird for the top!