Peace ....

absolute peace !  For me, the days after Christmas are the ones that really spell out Christmas.  The hustle and bustle leading up to the big day are over and there is a quietness everywhere that is just a wonderful time to slow down, relax, smell the roses, and recharge our batteries before the new year dawns and we are once again embroiled in the myriad of normal daily events.

I have not only smelt the roses, but I have pruned them, weeded parts of my overgrown garden and actually sat in the garden on a couple of occasions to just enjoy it.  I have also made a small inroad into cleaning out piles of papers that were threatening to take over the whole of the floor in the study.

So feeling reasonably virtuous, I decided that the time was right to update the blog.  Not that there is a lot to show in the way of stitching, but more particularly I wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who have posted to your blogs.   I have popped in from time to time to check up on all of you, often without the time or energy to leave a comment, and see all your beautiful finishes and I leave with my passion for stitching still alive. 

THANK YOU !

Suffice to say the ninth day didn't get finished !!

I did manage to stitch SB Love scissor fob for a friend way back in July and liked it enough to do another one for myself.

About the same time I started DT English Garden Pocket and that has been the only other item I have worked on since.  It is not finished, and although I optimistically picked it up last night for the first time in ages, it will not be finished in 2011.

and, that, I am afraid, is it.  Not much to show but at least I have a clean slate for 2012.

I hope you have a very healthy and happy 2012.

Mary

Ninth day

I have been spending my stitching hours working on the 12 Days of Christmas project and here is the Ninth day nearly finished.  It does need a few more tiny red beads but then this square will be done.

This is  a lot of fun just adding bits and making it up as you go.  I have been moving between the different squares/days as the mood takes me but none of the others are finished yet.

Cheers

Mary



12 Days of Christmas

When I said I'd be back with some photos of my current project, I didn't expect it to be so soon, but I am having a really good catch up on lots of bits and pieces today.

I bought the material for this back in December 2008 - very much a spur of the moment purchase as there was a finished one on display in the shop and I thought it was delightful.   I actually started to stitch on it in May 2009, thinking it would be done by Christmas !!! ho ho ho !  I worked on it until July 2009 and it got put aside.  I picked it up again in May 2011 and have been spending my all stitching time on it. 

The vine on the outer border is stem stitched in gold with red beads all along it;  the "12 Days ..." is outlined in chain stitch; all of the pale green borders have two rows of running stitch around them. 

I haven't been doing it in any particular order - just whatever takes my fancy.

The photos are not very good, but you should be able to click to enlarge them to see the detail.  The snowman's jacket has some stitching; most of the main bits are outlined, including all of the pears, birdcage, duck, gingerbread man etc.  I have started to add ribbons and trims here and there.

Satin stitch on the candy canes; the clock is outlined in stem stitch with metallic thread (not fun stitching with that!) and chain stitch on the gold rings.

The partridge is outlined in gold thread and has blue beads at his throat; red ribbon sewn on his wings and I have done some ribbon leaves too.  The birdcage is outlined, as are the birds, but they need something more to lift them a bit.

It is a fun project - but I am finding the stitching much harder to do than cross stitching on lovely soft linen. 

As always, thanks for popping in,

Mary

The lovely Elizabeth

Finally a photo of Elizabeth.  I finished her in early April - well, finished except for the words.  I still have not decided what will go there - I had intended to put my Daughter's name there but not sure now and will see what she prefers.

I know some of you will not appreciate that I have changed the pattern so it is all symmetrical, but it would have driven me mad as it was.

I do love this one - the colours are so pretty.   I look forward to seeing it framed one day soon.

This little one was also finished a while back  - it is BBD Pins and Needles.  I have added it to the pile waiting to be made into something.

A very wonky photo - not sure what angle I was aiming for there - probably in a hurry as usual.

I am off to take some photos of my currect project.

Mary

Two birds in the basket

I started La D Da's "Bird" way back in January.  I have no idea when I finished it, but finished it is - well, the stitching anyway.  What it will become or when, is quite another question.  It is really too big for a pincushion and I won't be getting it framed, but here it is. 

The second is this sweet little red bird.  Pattern by BBD using the called for threads and linen from my stash.

Again, I don't know how I will finish it off.  I am getting quite a pile of finished pieces. 

Mary



It's true ...

... the longer you leave something, the harder it is to get back to it.  Oh my, I can't believe that it is nearly two months since I posted anything.   I sat down an hour ago to start this but then had to stop and take a couple of photos so I could show you my meagre efforts.

I did enjoy following a couple of the ladies doing the Crazy 15 challenge and loved seeing some of the patterns they were starting - quite a few of those same patterns are sitting at the top of my pile.

My stitching hs been very limited, mainly because we have had some very humid weather.  Melbourne does not usually get more than a day or two of high humidity through our summer, but this year has been very different (as it has all over the world really) and we are just not used to it and it certainly is not good for stitching.  We have had more rain than we can remember as well, which was badly needed because we had been in drought conditions for a few years with water rationing etc.

While checking out all those lovely blogs I saw a gorgeous black cat on Karen's blog and just had to get Jardin Prive ABChat.  So much for my resolution of not stitching anything at all until I had finished Elizabeth!!  I wanted it for a scissor fob so stitched it over one with DMC black.  Thoroughly enjoyed doing this one.

 

I did have a week away in the country at the end of January and instead of taking Elizabeth, I took a couple of small things with me which I managed to get done. 

A nice small one to start with - BBD Bluebird - stitched on Belfast Light Mocha with the called for GA Uniform Blue - not quite sure what I will do with this one.

I loved "Hare's Christmas" from Plum Street Samplers and would love to get it for next Christmas, but then I found this lovely freebie from Paulette and decided to do it for my friend for St Patrick's Day.  I had thought I would make it into a card, but it is rather large for that so maybe a stand-up.

As I was on a roll, I started La D Da's "A Bird in Hand" but my week away ended and I am sad to say I have barely stitched at all since returning home. 

February is a very busy month for birthdays in our family so I have been catching up on the birthday cards and cakes, and hopefully I will get a bit more stitching done in March.

I thought I would leave you with this beautiful King Parrot, who let me get quite close to him when he popped in for a feed.

Cheers,

Mary

Stitching Gifts

I want to share with you some of the lovely stitching related gifts I have received for Christmas. 

From my dear friend Chrissie in Queensland, I received this lovely parcel of goodies.  Wonderful fabric all folded into a tree shape and topped with a gold star and beautiful silk ribbons;  lovely black and white scissors and  matching tape measure; a wonderful handmade Christmas card and also a lovely tag in the shape of a dressmaker's dummy which has more ribbon and a lovely heart shaped clip.

Chrissie has been bitten by the papercrafting bug and I am sure you will agree that her cards are very special.  Thank you so much for my terrific parcel, Chrissie.

Now these goodies came all the way from England.  Even before I opened the package the perfume of the lavender was wafting through the house - wonderful.  I have some beautiful moda fabric with the sweetest birds and some lovely narrow ribbon for needlerolls, and needles too.  Thank you so much Sandra for all of these goodies and for all the others through the year.

By the way, I WAS very good Sandra, and I DIDN'T open the parcel before Christmas, in fact I didn't open any of the gifts I had received from stitching friends until late on Boxing Day.  By then I had restored order to my house after the last few weeks of card making, cooking, Christmas preparations and gift wrapping etc.  Then I sat down and savoured them in peace.  Great fun!

My next show and tell is from Marg.  I met Marg through stitching (through a Shepherd's Bush message board actually - not sure if it is still going or not) quite a few years ago now.  She contacted me and we found out we were only a few minutes away from each other and she invited me to a stitching evening at her house - I thought it was lovely and it was the first time I had been to anything like it.  She is still inviting me to her stitching nights each month, and she is, most importantly, a wonderful, caring and sharing friend, and her stitching is absolutely beautiful.

So, having said that, look what I got: 

the Christmas ornament is lovely - I know you can't see the beads, but they are there. I love the idea for the hanger.  The card has not photographed well. (That really should read:  I have not taken a good photo of the card! )  It is an angel, stitched in gold thread, with tiny beads around the base of her skirt.  So delicate.  A lovely little crystal angel to hang on the tree as well and a very Christmassy linen napkin.  Thank you so much Marg for all of these things.

I did receive some other lovely goodies from stitching friends but they were not of the stitching variety.

Although it is not a Christmas gift - you may remember these lovely scissors Marg gave me for my birthday in November - well I have paired them up with a fob which was also stitched by Marg a few years ago and I think they are a perfect match.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my gifts.

I love to pop in to your blogs and see what you have been up to and feel that I "know" some of you quite well.  I guess this is the modern version of 'pen pals'!

I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that 2011 will bring good health, much happiness, and lots and lots of stitching. 

Love

Mary

Finishes, framing and frustrations

Well Christmas preparations certainly put paid to any stitching from me.  I have been put to shame after seeing so many beautiful stitched gifts and ornaments.  There is so much talent out there in blogland.  It never fails to amaze me how much work some of you get through and the pleasure you give others by sharing on your blogs.

I did finish off the SB St Nicholas needleroll a few weeks back.  I was in such a hurry to get it stuffed and finished that I forgot to go back and stitch the white beads on the santas hats as I said I would, but I wasn't about to undo it.  This has turned out to be a rather plump little needleroll - I must have cut the linen too wide - but it looks just fine. 

I collected my framing last week and usually this is very exciting, but I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed this time.

For BBD Tis the Season, the framer and I choose a slightly 'shabby chic' stark white frame which I felt picked up the white snowflakes well.  The framer said that when the framing arrived they had changed the colour but she thought it looked ok.  I don't agree - I think it makes the whole piece look rather dingy and uninteresting, so that is really upsetting me.  I will wait and see what my stitching friends think - maybe I could paint it, but not happy.

As you can see my photography has not improved and probably never will - either it is too bright and sunny or I forget and then have to take it indoors with the light on.  I have fiddled with the photos in Gimp this time trying to crop them but now I have large white borders - not sure which is the best.

So, moving on to Blessings sampler - I just cannot make up my mind about this one - I can't seem to get enthusiastic about it at all.  The framing is fine and as we chose, but I kept looking at it and knew something was wrong.  It suddenly dawned on me that it isn't centred perfectly - it's only a quarter of an inch out so I am probably just being picky.  I have been using the same framer for years and although she is expensive I have always been very happy with her work until now.

The last piece I picked up was DT Teaching Band Sampler which I stitched years ago.  It was hanging at my Daughter's house and the frame got broken during renovations - unfortunately it had to have a whole new frame but at least it will not sit in the cupboard now.

I must say that this one has not been one of my favourites, but I think it could be because it has been hanging with two SB samplers and it didn't really belong with them, so hopefully we will put it somewhere else when the house is finished.

I am off to update my card blog and then it will be time for some serious stitching. 

Cheers

Mary

Buzz buzz buzz ...

.. what a fantastic buzz.  It's such a great feeling when I finally finish something and last week turned into a really great week when I finished 3 pieces THREE PIECES!!! 

The first piece finished is SB Queen Bee Sampler which I actually started way back in January this year, but it got put aside when I started the SAL on the Blessings sampler.   This one was a kit from SB so it uses AVAS - not my favourite silk, because it is not very forgiving and you need perfectly smooth hands - which mine aren't! 

I sat for ages trying to work out where all the beads in the kit went but in actual fact there were far too many, unlike the Medieval Mulberry silk for the writing and one of the greens, of which there was not enough, but luckily I had more of them in my stash.

I waited for a sunny day to take the photographs and now it's far too bright.  In my usual manner, I managed to cut the bee's head off so here is another shot of the top part and quite accidentally I have managed to get a bit of an arty shot.  I should go for this angle more often.

So, like I said, I was tickled pink to have a finish and I immediately picked up CHS Diminutive Dutch and finished it off over the next few days.

Such a tiny piece - not sure what it will become.  I really like it, so I am tempted to get it framed and sit it on the buffet, but that is probably an expensive option.  I did enjoy doing this despite all the backstitch on those letters.  This is my first attempt at 40 count and I am pleased to say it was much easier than I had expected.  This is stitched on 40ct R & R Abecedarian blend with the recommended NPI silks.  Just love the NPI silks.

A close up of it to show the colours better.  I know it is out of focus, but I am trying!

By now I was on a roll so I decided to sort out the pile of works in progress and lo and behold I found this next little project.  I started this needleroll last year as a gift for one of my Grandson's teachers - got the schoolhouse one finished (for about the third time) but the end of the school year happened before this one was done.  All it needed was the beads, hem stitching and finishing.  I do need to buy some ribbon for it but I am calling it done now.  Technically, it was a 2009 finish, but I am claiming it as 2010.

I have enlarged the photo but you still can't see the beads.  I think I will go back and put a white bead on the top of their hats - it doesn't look right without a pom pom on the top.

And yes, that would be my boof head in the photo!

So, now, what to do next ??  there are only two started pieces on the go now: 

A Secret Garden:

which I am afraid could be in the bottom of the box for quite a while yet - it has been at the "putting it together stage" for a couple of years now, so a bit longer won't matter, and

Elizabeth:

which I love dearly, and have not stitched on since October, but am itching to get back to it.  She is more than half way finished and all the pattern alterations are worked out, so it is all downhill now.

I have many projects all kitted up and ready to go, but feel guilty that I have not done any stitching for friends for Christmas and it's almost too late to start any now ... or is it ?  maybe if I just got off this computer ........

I'm going ...

Mary

Oh and a small amount of stitching!

I got carried away showing you my Birthday gifts and forgot to show you the small amount of stitching I have managed to do.  I didn't want to take "Elizabeth" to Darwin because it is always so hot and sticky there, so instead I took SB Queen Bee Sampler.  I did get a bit done whilst in the air conditioning at the hospital each day.

and there's my nice new scissors just popping in to the picture.

I had already done the Queen Bee so did from there down, the writing is over one so that wasn't a bad achievement for me - I actually quite enjoyed doing it too.  I may just continue on and finish this one now.

I have taken my Blessings Sampler and Tis The Season to be framed so they should be back before Christmas.

Mary