Thursday 28 February 2008

Have Ewe any wool


Am making good progress on this set of smalls from Dames of the Needle. The stitching for the emery fob is done and I'm almost complete on the cover of the needle book. Just the inside pages and then the strawberry pincushion to go. The three sheep should appear next so look out for a progress report.

Monday 25 February 2008

Monochrome Fob

My monochrome fob on 28 count cashel linen and Silk N Threads Royal Blue is all done now and here's the photos. This was a freebie from Pieceworks Magazine that I've been aching to do for ages. Doing it over one on 28 count meant that the pincushion became a scissor fob! This is my first ever venture into Quaker and I am quite hooked.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

To Kathy with love

My good friend Kathy turns 50 this year and her husband Andy is taking her to France for a month as a celebration. Lucky Kathy! She is determined to be in Paris on the day and although only February now the anticipation is at high levels. We often talk about it and have so many ideas but Andy is the one paying the bill so he has veto rights :)
I have stitched the cover of an album for her ( a Rouge du Rhin chart called Coeur de Provence stitched in DMC threads) and today my friend Wayne came and took it to his print factory to cut the paper to size, drill the holes, insert the Chicago screws and generally work his magic to turn it in to a finished album. Wayne is such a sweetie - he even went to the trouble of sourcing a textured recycled paper and then as a bonus he got it for free! Don't you just love friends like that! I am looking forward to the completed album but meanwhile here is the cover all done ready for Wayne to work his magic. Now that has put me into a more positive frame of mind. We have had a major migration on to a new computer system at work and life has been fraught. Several more grey hairs and higher blood pressure later I think the end is in sight and tonight I will go home at normal time and stitch until my stress levels are back to normal.



Monday 11 February 2008

The rain has come at last!

Yesterday the promised rain has come and for a day or two I won't need to water my garden. The extra minutes of stitching will be very useful although I must admit so far 2008 has been good for my stitching and I have a deep sense of satisfaction at several completions.


Until I can get my perpetual calendar framed I am trying to do only non-framed pieces. I did finally finish this hussiff - a task which took some considerable time I am almost ashamed to admit.
Next Saturday is the first Embroiderers Guild meeting for the year and I am so looking forward to catching up with what all the others have been doing over the break - and probably signing up for some classes if anything takes my fancy. I'll keep you posted!

Tuesday 5 February 2008

In love with Lynne

I just love Lynne Nicoletti's designs and have done several -
especially her mail art envelopes. This is the picture of the one I did twice! Yes, the first was to give away and I couldn't bear not to have one myself. The red robin envelope for Christmas was responsible for my addiction and probably shows how much of a traditionalist I am as we have neither red robins nor white Christmases in the Antipodes!

Tomorrow is a public holiday in New Zealand and my mind is on that and not my work today. I am a person of lists who enjoys the satisfaction of crossing off the items one by one and my list for tomorrow is already well underway. But I better stop here and get some things crossed off my list for today!

Monday 4 February 2008

Finished cracker!


Where on earth did the weekend go to? I didn't get everything crossed off my list and have already started the list for next weekend!! But the Christmas Cracker did get completed and here is the promised picture. My local store didn't have the exact colour of ribbon I wanted so I had to compromise but the finished effect is still satisfying don't you think?
I do love Hardanger but cutting away the excess fabric from buttonhole edges is hard on the nerves. For that reason I really prefer the 'lacy edge" which at first glance is what I thought this cracker was. How wrong I was!I used Pearl #12 and Dentelle 80 in shade 712 for the stitching as the threads indicated in the instructions aren't available in New Zealand and, because I don't like two colour hardanger, mine is monochrome relieved only by a few beads which unfortunately don't show in the photo.

Friday 1 February 2008

A good Friday

This has been a long week! Oh no Not Friday, I thought to myself as work is usually exceptionally busy that day. But Wyndham Needleworks had sent my new 'stash' so it was a pleasure to open the mail today. Do you want to see? Back orders of the Christmas Ornament issues ( there are some "absolutely must haves" there. And then a couple of charts. I excuse myself by saying this is preparation for retirement when I will have all day to stitch. Funny that when retirement is still a decade away!!