Ta da!!

I promised a photo of the finished zipper purse so herewith.   I think it will be useful and I’m happy to have it completed in time so win win :)

Now I am working on completing another of the sewing sets for my great-nieces.   The needle book, scissor fob and pincushion for the Sollerosom set are mostly done and I need to mark up the linen for the bag.   This is being done on 34 count linen so counting is best done in daylight on a sunny day.  Currently it is mid-Winter in New Zealand so those days are few and far between.   

That's it for tonight - back to my needle and thread.

Ready for Final Finishing

 At the beginning of August my friend K has a birthday.  She loves cats and so I've stitched this to make into a Zipper Purse for her.   The pretty gingham check Graziano linen has been in my stash for ever so it was great to find a use for it.  I saw something similar on the internet so set to with graph paper and a pencil and am pleased with the result.   Here's hoping that I can make up the bag to look professional!

Tomorrow I plan to complete this and also to get my Black Quilted Jacket to the buttonhole stage.   My local sewing machine shop have told me they will do the buttonholes for me (I don't trust my ancient Elna for this) but that I will need to cut them open.   First I need to choose the buttons although I am still dithering as to whether to go buttons or to use sew on press studs.   I may trial the latter and see how I feel.

Thank you to all who left comments of sympathy on passing of my Mother.   Life seems rather empty and some days I feel a little downcast.  But I am cheered by the cards, emails, blog comments and the sympathy of so many friends.   Thank you so much.

Counting Correctly

 I wanted to try an Aztec Stitch Scissor Case from instructions off the web but I didn't use canvas and instead experimented on a scrap of linen.

Tired eyes, tired brain and recent stress combined to make even the four sided stitch edging difficult and then I came to grief badly when cutting to draw threads.   

So pen and paper to hand I did some mathematical calculations and started again.   Success this time - well enough to make a passable imitation of side one.   I'm using threads from deep stash for this as it is only an experiment but so far so good.  Navy, Red and White seems a patriotic choice.

I've also started a gift for the next new baby in the family and hope to have some progress on that one to show in a day or two.  

Somehow I can't seem to settle to stitching much at the moment but at least I have needle in hand again.  I may have to go through my stash cupboard and find a new project that will grip my attention.