Getting ready for Christmas

 I’ve yet to decide on a ‘proper project’ for this year so meanwhile have tagged several Christmas ornaments from the 2020 Just CrossStitch ornament issue and have made a start on them.   

This pointsettia will be finished as a flat round and have silver cord and hanger.

I intend to finish Joy to the World as a flat rectangle with a thin ribbon to edge it and a broader matching ribbon as a hanger.

The diamond was three by three in the original chart but I scaled down as I didn't want such a big ornament to finish.   I think a small padded pillow finish for this one.

And the last one for this batch is the Festive Jersey.   I intend to make a small wire coat hanger from florist wire to attach at the neck so that it can hang on the tree with a ribbon - possibly a narrow white ribbon I think.

This is a great way to economically use up scraps of linen (of which I seem to have many) and floss from stash.   I still have spare fabric on the left hand side and will make a couple more ornaments before I call it quits with this piece of linen.   

And I admit to a certain feeling of righteous satisfaction at making full use of a small scrap of linen and in having a head start on this year's ornaments.   But still no decision on the 2021 project :(

Beading is Over

The Mill Hill Bead and Button kit is now finished.    I backed it with a piece of felt stitched on with a running stitch in toning blue DMC as this piece is destined for a shelf in my display cabinet so will not be framed.

I have to admit it looks quite splendid now all the decorations are on ;)

And today the only named rose in my garden bloomed -  "Mum in a Million" - so here is the DBEM holding 'her rose'. 

Beading will not become my new obsession

 Last year I won a Mill Hill Beaded Kit as a prize at Embroiderers Guild and immediately felt the pressure to get this stitched ready for the Show and Tell after the summer holiday break.   I didn't immediately feel the love for this kit.   Perforated Paper, Beads (lots of beads) etc etc   But I followed the excellent instructions and eventually reached the point of sorting out all the colours of the beads from the mixed packs.   Then a day or two of stagnation before today deciding to sit down at the table and bead.  So I did.  A good part of the morning and a good part of the afternoon.   Just as well it was not really the weather for gardening:)

And, this is progress so far.   The weather forecast is for rain tomorrow so I am hopeful that this piece will be completed.   As I don't intend to frame it or use it I will be gluing stitching a piece of felt to the back and placing this at the back of the display cabinet.

And now the confession -  I am a little over absorbed and would almost be persuaded to stay up through the night to get this finished.  Not that I love it or even really like it but I have to admit that the beads make it shine and add a certain pizazz to this piece.

Lessons learned -  I will not be adding beading to my list of crafts nor the supplies to my stash.  And it is not a good idea to try to stitch on perforated paper with beads if you have a splint on your right thumb and are right hand dominant :(

Happy New Year and...

 Happy New Year.   I have trawled through tidied up my stash cupboards and found two forgotten WIP.   One I have decided to continue to forget and the other has been placed in the queue :)   But before I can attend to that or even think about starting anything new I have the temperature chart to mount for hanging, the hardanger apron to complete and the dratted Mill Hill kit won as a prize at Guild to finish off.

I am making good progress on the stitching and now comes the dreaded part -  the beading.

Why oh why do Mill Hill put the beads in mixed bags and expect the stitcher to sort them out only providing generic colour descriptions and the warning "some colours are very similar".   Correct!!!! 

Some of the colours are very similar.   Tonight I spent ages sorting out one bag which is supposed to contain six different colours.   In the artificial light I could only find five colours and am assuming a) from the quantities,  I have mixed up the blue and purple and b) the light yellow and the apricot are probably requiring further sorting out.

Well, that's another job for tomorrow's list.