TA DAAAAAA

Well here is my Blessings - all finished.  My first finish for 2010. 

I have been looking at it for the last couple of days to make sure I hadn't missed out any more bits of it.  I stitched my initials and the year on it last night and finally removed it from the frame and got to see the whole of it for the first time, and I love it, and I am happy with the choices I made - glad I only did half the blackwork panel as well. 

It is large - the actual stitching measures 21" X 7.5" (53 X 18.5cm).  I don't have anywhere to hang this one but I would like to get it framed and maybe I will just lean it against the wall somewhere.

I started this on 19 November as a SAL with Chrissie but I got left behind in December when I had visitors staying with me, and I knew that if I got too far behind I would lose heart and it would never get finished, so I just concentrated on this to the exclusion of everything else (even my cards took a back seat).  This is the largest sampler I have ever stitched and I have done it in 4 months - that is a record for me - I would never have done it on my own, so Thank You Chrissie - I don't know how you have managed to do two SALs at the same time.

There are lots of firsts in this sampler - first SAL; first time I have altered nearly all the colours on a sampler; first time I have altered the pattern; first time using a frame, and of course the biggest first was starting this blog so I could record my progress, so all in all a real learning curve.

The blog itself has been great - 'meeting' other stitchers and seeing their beautiful work and of course, wanting to stitch so many of the pieces they have done - many of which I had never seen before as I had mostly stayed with my favourite designers, Shepherds Bush and Drawn Thread, and I certainly hadn't ventured into the world of antique samplers and such. 

I still have two SB WIPs (and maybe a few others tucked away) and although I have put in a few stitches on the needleroll I really need to START SOMETHING NEW.  I have a small one in mind for today.

I have ordered the beautiful Elizabeth Savilles and I can't wait to start that one.  I didn't order the Olde Willow threads specified for it because I have so many different ones already that I don't want to start another collection.  I looked at the colours on their site and I am hoping I can match them with the Gloriana ones I have.

Have also ordered some Blackbird patterns, but decided against the new Honeysuckle Manor and I am already regretting that decision but I can order it later I guess. 

My foray into large pieces has led me to believe that maybe I could manage to do Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow - I loved it when I first saw it but ruled it out as too big and also specifically Christmas, but now I am feeling a little more confident, and having read the pattern through I think I will aim for one block a month like a lot of the girls did, so it is in the line after Elizabeth.

If you are still here after this monologue - I thank you - I am sure you can tell I am well and truly doing the happy dance here.

Mary

I have an antique !

Perhaps that should read "I am an antique" since I have had this object since it was new!

I called in at Alma's blog and saw her post re the tomatoes she had found and they looked very familiar so I opened my sewing box and this is what was in there:

It has the same little green top as hers which you can't see for all the pins, and mine came attached to this little stand (some 47 years ago).  The sewing basket that came with it from a very dear friend has long ago gone to God (as has the friend) but after all these years it has made me stop and remember her.  I don't think anyone will want to buy mine as because as you can see it has been well abused used - I should  say 'well loved' because it is used whenever I sew anything and it still has lots of the old fashioned pins in it.  Who would ever have thought that this very ordinary pin cushion would become a collectors' item ??!! 

No gold medal for me

I had hoped to have finished Blessings by this weekend, but that hasn't happened.  I seem to have been stitching all week but with very little progress, and the reason is that I have been watching the Winter Olympics at the same time !!?? well, the idea was that I would just watch whenever the skating came on, but I found myself watching (and enjoying) quite a few other sports as well.  Because we are not on the same time zone, some of the footage  is shown here in the morning and then again after 9.30 at night, so I've had a few late nights.   However, I am on the downhill run with this now and here is my progress:

As you can see I have used yellow in this bottom section - I changed from the WDW Curry to Gloriana Sunflower and I think it looks OK.  There are two more sections of pink satin stitch flowers to do on the bottom left and right and there are meant to be beads in the centre of the four diamond shapes but I think I will replace the beads with stitches - probably more smyrnas.  The last band is another row of that gold cross stitch.

I left a couple of sections higher up because I couldn't decide what colour or stitch to do so will need to go back and finish them off.

I am so looking forward to stitching something different but have been good and have held off ordering some of the wonderful things I have seen lately until this one is done.  Sooooo, next post I should have a finish.

Cheers

Mary

PS.    Don't you just love that face ?  She was a gift from my friend Rosalie who bought her while on holiday in Queensland - her tag says; "Pincushion for sewers with Attitude"

Hallelujah

I finished the blackwork panel last Saturday whilst watching the Winter Olympics and that amazing song from K D Lang has been embedded on my brain ever since.  And oh boy, that rendition of the Olympic Anthem was something else as well.  I was so glad I watched it.  I must have been still on a high when I stitched Band 24 because I got right to the end before I realised I had started  one stitch too far over, so out it came and got stitched again. Band 25 was the last line of the little poem and  I breezed through that anxious to get onto the very last panel.  No dramas with band 26 yesterday so I moved on and started the next - I did look at the pattern and thought it was ok so stitched the first vine all the way across to find that it is not quite "ok",  It will be easy enough to correct the problem, but I don't understand why there are so many errors in this pattern.

Blessings Sampler by Wild-Heart Designs

I have been itching to start something new and fell in love with Siobhan's 'Wheeler', I think it was mainly because of the colour, but I have found myself looking at a lot of the old sampler reproductions since then.  Last week I saw Terri's 'Elizabeth Saville' and although I am not really a pink person I thought it was lovely, definitely a 'must have'.  I have been going back for a look every day, so I think I need to give in and get the pattern.   I don't know the Olde Willow Threads called for in the pattern, and I would prefer to use some of the many threads I already have, so will see if I can find a conversion somewhere. 

I know I have quite a few wips that need to be finished before I start another new one, but I guess that will depend on how quickly I can get hold of the pattern. 

I have caught up on my card making in the last few days, so that means more stitching coming up.

Well, that's all folks, I am off to bed - I'm overdue for an early night (or at least one before midnight for a change).

A lovely day ..

Today has been a very pleasant one.  I went with friends to a house in inner Melbourne to see "the Johnston Collection" http://www.johnstoncollection.org/ (yes, sadly I don't yet know how to do that "click here" to get link thing!!).  Their Christmas display entitled 'We Three Kings of Orient Are' was still on show and we saw some amazing stitching, lace work, patchwork, porcelain painting etc. all in the most beautiful of settings.  We followed that with a leisurely lunch before returning home for another cuppa. 

We were also blessed with some rain in the late afternoon and it was so nice to be able to open up the house after quite a hot spell, and when my friends left I sat down by the window and did some stitching.  All in all a very pleasant day. 

I have started on the dreaded blackword band and I am learning - I have started this one in the middle and adjusted it to fit evenly.

Once this blackwork row is done I will be on the home run and I would like to get it finished by the end of the month before I have a cataract removed - I may see too many mistakes I have missed.

I forgot to tell you in my previous post that those 'two minute smyrnas" actually only took about one minute - I mis-calculated the time I spent on them and had finished another band as well, so not quite as slow as I had thought.

Thanks for popping in.

Not such a lovely surprise ...

If this were not a stitch along I think it would have been thrown retiring in the wardrobe by now.  I am really annoyed with myself because I was just plowing along with band 19, quite enjoying the blend of colours, then much too late I realised that the last flower is incomplete.  Part of me wants to unpick it but then I remembered how difficult those smyrnas were to undo on band 14.   Bands 11 and 15 are not symmetrical either but it is not as obvious as this band.    It was 11 pm - far too late to contemplate unpicking - but also far too late to start on the french knots that are still missing from the centre of those flowers, so I opted to move on and stitch band 20.  Maybe if I ignore the sampler for a while the problem will go away ??  OR MAYBE NOT !! just moving head out of sand !!  Not sure why I am obsessing about this as I don't have anywhere to hang it anyway.

I have a free day today to stitch but somehow I have lost interest so will probably catch up on some card making instead.  I need cards for some little fairies and princesses this next week, as well as for my darling Son.  It is going to be a very hot day here again so I will stay inside in the cool.

Thanks for listening,

Mary

Two minute smyrnas.

Seven hours and four dvd's later and I have finally finished one of the smyrna bands on Blessings.  Helmut Lotti, Russell Watson and Andre Rieu all kept me company as I plowed through this row and I was so excited when I finished it until I remembered that I still have another row the same to do.  I must be the slowest stitcher around - 240 smyrnas !!! nearly two minutes to stitch each smyrna - seems incredible - maybe I should get some faster music for the next row.  I have actually changed this row - it should have been done with two colours and that would have meant 480 smyrnas!!  Off to tackle the next 240.

I'm back ....

... although it took me longer than I expected!  I have been up the bush for a few days holiday.  We had very hot weather for most of our stay but half way home the cool change hit and the temperature dropped to about 16 degrees - a huge change from the 43 a few days earlier.

I didn't take the Blessings sampler away with me because it is on a frame and too bulky.  Instead I took  SB's Happy Day Needleroll and worked on it a couple of the cooler nights - the colours are very bright after the sampler and of course it is stitched with two threads.  It's nice to have a smaller project on hand as well.

I did post a photo (on my album) of my progress on Blessings before I went away, and since my return I have been fiddling with colours for the next band.  These are the colours I have chosen today, but they could change by tomorrow !!  I am thinking I may omit the second colour,  leaving a space where it should be, it may not look so dense.

  

And since I took a photo of my other WIP while I had the camera out, I may as well show you SB Queen Bee Sampler - it's a sweet little one too - she's been in the stash for quite a few years now and has finally seen the light of day.

Off to put in a few more stitches (read that as fiddle with more threads !) lol

I think I've done it ..

I think I've finally managed to put this blog together.

I have spent many enjoyable hours looking at other blogs but until now I wasn't convinced I would be able to set one up.  The thing that finally pushed me on was that I am doing a stitch along with my lovely friend Chrissie and now I can post my progress in words and pictures.  So, here I am blogging world, ready or not ... and now to see if I can post a picture for Chrissie.

Blessings Sampler by Wild-Heart Designs

The colours are not true - I will do better next time.