Summer round up

Every post this year I seem to be apologising for my lack of posting.  As per usual though, there has not been a lack of stitching.  In no particular order, this is what I have been up to since last time.

Firstly the Easter Quadrielle from The Sweetheart Tree.

This came as a kit and is stitched on 28 ct Buttermilk linen with DMC floss.

Here it is made up.

Next The Drawn Thread's Summer Jumble. This was stitched on 34 ct Cafe au Lait Legacy Linen, I think, not the recommended Devonshire Cream linen. it was stitched with the recommended silk floss.

I replaced the Stars and Stripes heart with a butterfly of my own design.

Next up are three Just Nan finishes. Firstly Sherry's Scissor Pocket, an exclusive design for Country Crafts in Colorado.

This was stitched on 28 ct Zweigart Opal Rainbow Dreams Cashel Linen with the recommended DMC floss.

Next is Oakley Owlet.  I stitched this last year. this one is for my mother in law, who took a fancy to my one the last time she came to visit. This is stitched on 32 ct Platinum Belfast Linen rather than the suggested Stone Grey linen with the recommended DMC floss.

The final Just Nan finish is Lorelei Lamb. This was stitched on 32 ct white Belfast Linen again using the recommended DMC floss.

And finally, my last two finishes to share with you. These are both from Shepherd's Bush. Firstly A Full Heart followed by My Home Fob. These are parts one and two respectively of the Shepherd's Fold project. these both came as a kit and are stitched on 32 ct hand dyed linen stone stems with the recommended silks and other floss.

I an eagerly awaiting the next art of this project and some new arrivals from Just Nan.  There are still a few weeks of the school holidays left and I have another two projects on the go, both of these are from Lizzie*Kate. Hopefully I will be able to show you those next time, which, fingers crossed will not be in another four months!

Happy stitching!

Progress since January

So  much for the New Year resolutions! Despite the lack of blogging there has been activity on the stitching front.  This is what I've been up to.

Firstly I have a number of Just Nan finishes to show you. As per usual these are stitched on the recommended fabric with the recommended DMC floss. Lets start with Love Birds Tree, the first in the Charmed Heart Trees series from last year.

When I finished this project my next Just Nan one was Little Princess Snow, one of this year's limited edition ornaments.  Here she is before finishing.

And made up.

My final Just Nan finish was the Porch Garden Mice humbug, again before finishing and then made up.

I finished, but not in time for Valentine's Day, B My Valentine from The Drawn Thread.  This was stitched on 34 count Cafe au Lait Legacy Linen with the recommended NPI and over-dyed silks.

Each of the blocks are just under and inch square, the magnifier was needed to stitch this one!  I will probably finish this as a bell put when I find some suitable backing fabric. I enjoyed stitching this one so much that I decided to start the Spring Jumble also from The Drawn Thread. With it being the school Easter holidays I finished it in three days!

This one was stitched on 34 count white Legacy Linen again with the recommended NPI and over-dyed silks.  I do not have a massive stash of silks. These two projects came kitted up from The Nimble Thimble.  I did frame this myself putting it into a wooden photo frame from Wilkos.  The other Jumbles in the series are the same size so I will swap them in and out of the frame according to the season, when I have finished them.

And finally, some Halloween finishes.  This is the Hocus Pocus Freebie from Shepherds Bush, the chart came free with the button.  They recommended stitching this on 19 count Cork Summer Khaki linen.  I do not have any 19 count anything but I did have some 28 count Summer Khaki left over from another project.  To make this approximately the right size, so the button did not seem too big, I used three strands of floss over three strands of the fabric.  I tried to use the suggested over-dyed floss. Where I didn't have the correct colour I substituted on that was almost there.  Again I framed this myself in another photo frame from Wilkos. This took a day to stitch.

Another project that I will frame myself will be this next one, The Boys are Back in Town, a freebie chart from Just Another Button Company which you get when you but the button pack.

This was stitched on over-dyed linen, the chart suggests 30 count graphite from Weeks Dye Works but I don't think this was the fabric used.  It was stitched in the correct suggested floss with the exception of the spider's web which I did with glow in the dark white thread from Krienik.  I also finished the remaining circular Halloween ornaments from JBW Designs that I had been working on but then photos were not very good so I will need to redo them.

At the moment I have three things on the go, one of which is near completion.  That leaves a space on the rotation, which has gone out the window, and it will be taken by the my latest Shepherd's Bush acquisition! More about that next time, hopefully, and fingers crossed next time will not be in three months!

Happy stitching!

New Year stitching

It's now two weeks since the end of the school Christmas holidays and a return to work.  I'm please to say that I have managed to do some stitching in the evenings. For ages now stitching has been confined to weekends only.

In looking back at my last post I noticed that I did not post  a picture of the completed Emma and Eliza's Christmas Hat.  Here it is complete with hat box stand.

So far this month I have two finishes and two new starts.  My first finish of 2014 was The Green Snowman from Shepherds Bush.  This came as a kit.

My second finish was The Cat's Meow from The Drawn Thread.  This was stitched with the recommended DMC floss on 32 ct Belfast linen sand/light sand? I can't remember.

So back to the rotation.  The first week of the month will be Christmas stuff, I don't have too much of this in my stash so  this could change during the year.  My first new start was Waxing Moon's Snow Days bell pull.

This is stitched on Mill Hill blue-checkered stitch band with the recommended DMC and overdyed floss. I have stitched this with two strands of floss instead of the three strands suggested. I'm also using a sparkly PB thread instead of Krienik Pearl Ombre for the snowflakes basically because I don't have the Krienik in my stash.

Week two of the rotation is a Drawn Thread or Sweetheart Tree project.  So first up this year is B My Valentine from The Drawn Thread. This is stitched with one strand of silk over two threads of 34 count Cafe Au Lait Legacy Linen.  I have left the needle in place in this photo so that you can get an idea of the size.

I'm really enjoying this project because its not just done in cross stitch.

So week three of the rotation, starting next week, is either a Halloween project, I have masses of these in my stash or a Just Nan project,  I have quite a few of those too.  As I have signed up for the Just Nan Stitch Along 2014 and the first posting date is Friday 31 Jan then it might need to be Just Nan's Valentine Tree.

I'm off to do some more stitching on  B My Valentine as it might be quite nice to have it finished by Valentine's Day itself.

Happy stitching!

I'm still here, honest!

OK, so two months since my last post, not good.  I did have lots of good intentions, new school year, post every week.  But along with the new school year came a new job and it's taken up more time than anticipated.  Stitching in the evening has become a thing of the past and the weekends are my only opportunity to get anything done.  Time spent blogging is less time stitching so this blog has been neglected.  However, you'll be glad to know the stitching hasn't!

Last time I posted it was The Drawn Thread coming up next on the rotation. I did manage to make some progress on The Cat's Meow but not as much as I'd hoped as there was some frogging to do.

The noses on the mice are black beads, I think the ones I have used are too big and need replacing with smaller ones.  I have not stitched on this project since the beginning of September.

I have been having fun with some Just Nan ornaments.  Firstly Oakley Owlet

This was stitched on the recommended 32ct Stone Grey Belfast linen with DMC floss.  Here he is made up, sitting on a wine cork so you can see how big he is.

Secondly, Gingerbread Jingle Mouse

This was stitched on the recommended 32ct Antique Almond Belfast linen with DMC floss. Here he/she is finished.

Another Just Nan finish was Christmas Cheer

Again this was stitched on the recommended fabric, 32ct  Zweigart Summer Winds Opalescent Belfast Linen and stitched with DMC floss.  The frame is the one designed for this project.

I also continued stitching the Halloween ornaments from JBW designs and finished them in small frames from Framecraft.

And finally, some Christmas stitching, Poor Robin from Shepherd's Bush.

I'm not quite sure how I will be finishing this one off.

Next week on the rotation it's back to Halloween stitching.  Will I finish the remaining six Halloween ornaments from JBW Designs, who knows!

Anyway I hope it was worth the wait.

Happy Stitching!

Holiday finishes!

The school holidays are over so it was back to work today.  During the second week of the holiday I was able to a lot of stitching, so here we go with the progress pics.

I decided to change the order of the rotation.  The last time Just Nan's Lady Scarlet's Journey was on the rotation very little got done as I was stitching it during a school week, so to avoid the same thing happening again I worked on this last week, finishing Part 3 and making good progress on Part 2.

I was also able to finish The Drawn Thread's Have a Heart.

This chart came kitted up from The Nimble Thimble and was stitched on 30 ct Dower Quality Legacy Linen, Custard Cream with the recommended NPI floss.  I did make a modification and that was not to add the phrase 'Have a heart' to the border but to continue with the heart one.

A fun finish was the cover kit from the latest edition of World of Cross Stitch.  Called Always Time for Tea I changed the fabric to Aida band and added a tassel with the remaining floss.

Here is a close up.

So on the rotation this week is something from The Drawn Thread. I still need to sort out the fabric and floss for this one, so I'm off to do this now.

Happy stitching!

It's that time of the year again!

Apologies for the lack of posting last week but at school it's that time of year again with lots of coursework to be marked before the Easter Hollidays, that's if I don't want to spend my holidays marking!

So first up my progress on Lizzie*Kate's Halloween Rules.  I managend to do more than I thought on this, partially due to having to take a few days off work because I had a bad inner ear infection, which caused my ear drum to perforate! The infection has cleared up but I'm still slightly deaf in one ear.

Last week on the rotation it was The Drawn Thread week.  Not much progress was made in the evenings but over the weekend I made up for my lack of stitiching.  Here is my progress so far.

I just need to complete the border on this one.

This week it's Just Nan week and I'm starting a new project, Lady Scarlet's Journey.  It's another busy week work wise this week so it will be interesting to see how I get on!

Happy stitching!

The first Santa is finished - totally!

After a slow start last week I finished, and I mean truly finished, the Blue Santa.  Truly finishing meant completing the remaining backstitch (most of it), beading (I am replacing the French knots with beads for some extra sparkle) and the couching (a first for me).  Here he is followed by some close ups.

On Friday evening I made an unexpected new start. Every other week we finish school early, 2.30 instead of 3.35. These weekends tend to be 'Railway Weekends' and the weekend just gone was no exception.  As we are still living in two houses I meet up with DH late on Friday evening. So prior to this I go and visit my Mum and Dad who live about twenty minutes away  from the railway.  Whilst driving down to my parents the traffic news was reporting that the M62 Westbound was closed due to a serious accident. It later transpired that the road was not due to reopen until  nine o'clock, too late for the DH to travel down. So I had an unexpected evening at my parents, but I hadn't packed any stitching.  My Mum came to the rescue and I started 'Have a Heart' from The Drawn Thread, this will be on the rotation next week.

Today I made up Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll.  Here it is with Lady Scarlet.

I have a finish of a different type of finish to show you. I saw the kits for these handbags in October, when we spent a few days in Bruges. I came home and put one of them on my list for Father Christmas.  This was a very quick stitch and my Mum, who has made handbags, offered to make it up for me. I have to say she greatly improved the original design.  Yes I like the pattern, but was the kit (Vervaco) worth the money? No. I could have bought a Cath Kidston bag for the same price, but I do have a one off and I'm sure I'll get lots of use out of it.

This week it's back to Halloween Rules.  More progrss ics next week.

Happy stiching!