This week's round up....

I have had such a busy week that by Friday I was over tired and it sure was a struggle to get out of bed this morning.   Saturday I always have a list of chores and currently we are having temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius and around 90% humidity so getting the baking done early in the day is essential!

Today would have been the  HD3QBEM's 62nd wedding anniversary so a day out was in order.   We went for a road trip today to Ngatea -  around 90 kilometres south east of the city.   We packed a picnic lunch and a good supply of cold drinks and off we went.   Why?   Well Ngatea has a cute little shop which stocks jigsaw puzzles and second hand books (satisfies me) and wool (satisfies the HD3QBEM).  Strange mixture I know, but just right for us.   We called at the supermarket and did the weekly shop, picked up sushi for dinner and came home to a very hot house.   Tonight the temperature will drop to 20 degrees which is not good for elderly persons who live at this address!   I keep iced water in the refrigerator for mid night snacks for both of us ;-)

On the sewing front I have completed my Hardanger Sewing Pod and am rather pleased with this.  

Considering that I first saw the chart in a magazine in 1987, this pod has been a long time in the making.  

I lined it with red matte satin, quilted with small red beads and am pleased with the rich effect.

I also made a start on the Mermaid's Sewing Chest.   When ordering the threads from ABC Stitch I was sure I double checked the list but obviously not and Bijoux Smoky Topaz is not available at my LNS.  Oh dear what to do? Given that it took two months for the order to come to me air mail post I am reluctant to order on line again so decided to go with a smoky grey DMC for the 'studs' and am more than happy with the result.

But tonight it is just too hot to comtemplate mermaids or their chests and so I have made a start on a small Christmas scene.

Marty kindly sent me a couple of the watch fobs I had been fruitlessly seeking and I am attempting to recreate the snowstorm effect of Vonna's ornament.  A house, some trees, some snow and then some beads floating ... well we shall see.   Hopefully I can get this finished tomorrow and as the weather man says the humidity levels will be less tomorrow we may be back to mermaids and their chests.

This week....

This week I made a mouse -  well both sides of a mouse!   February's ornament is this delightful mouse shape.   Such fun to stitch and hopefully easy to construct.   I used scraps of 28 count cashel linen, DMC threads and odd beads from stash.   A mouse freebie you might say - stitched from the chart in the JCS Christmas 2012 issue.  Here' s the front and back.

It was Embroiderers Guild meeting yesterday but we had a Sashiko Workshop so no chance to do any of my 'Guild Project' .   Instead I made an effort through the week to make progress on 'Ring O Roses' which I chose for this year's project.  No visible evidence of roses yet but at least a couple of the alphabet letters have appeared.   I am stitching the letters in dark navy and the rest in a beautiful cranberry shade of Threadworks floss.

The three sides of the hardanger sewing pod are now put together as separate units.   Each needs twisted cord around the edges and then to be joined into a pod.   Hopefully this week!

Pamela was asking how my hexagons are progressing.   Slowly but surely.   I find I am interrupted in these by other clamouring stitching projects and many dropped stitches from the HD3QBEM's knitting.  I have 140 precut hexagons and will continue to tack up until these run out at which stage I will begin to join them together.   I want a completely random "granny's quilt" type look so don't want to begin the joining too early.

Am I alone in finding evenings short after a day at work?   Despite finishing promptly at 5pm, by the time I have an hour at the gym, water the garden, cook dinner and wash up there are not all that many minutes until it is time for bed.   I don't want more days in the week -  just a couple of extra hours in my evening.   Is that really too much to ask?
Hope the week ahead is better than the last one.   Off to get dinner preparations under way now....

Frugal??

This week I have been patiently working on my piece of cream linen.   Initially I tacked this out for the Hardanger Sewing Pod and followed the instructions to the letter.   Well!   There were huge areas of unused linen and at such a high price per metre I was not happy, so decided to make small  items to fill in the gaps.
Inspired by the fob watch ornaments that Vonna made I went to my local Spotlight store (thinking it was similar to Joanns and Michaels) and they looked at me as if I were off another planet.   Three attempts and no luck so I searched out an old hardanger book and found the charts for little book mark tags.   These will go in to the sale of work at our Guild later in the year.   I've also managed to fit in one hardanger tassel -  I think this is the 25th one I have made of this pattern.

The threads I ordered in October have finally arrived so I made a start on the Mermaids Chest -  the back stitch outline.  

I will need to keep my wits about me with this one as the instructions are not all that comprehensive and the chart is hand drawn which always makes me feel it is more prone to error.
But the threads look lovely and some of these are new to me so I am looking forward this project.

Yesterday the HD3QBEM and I went for a road trip to Hamilton (about a one hour drive south) to visit Dave's Emporium (cheap buttons) and Browsers Bookshop (cheap secondhand books) and Spotlight (for fob watches - no luck!).   A great day out on a warm day.  

A long weekend

Monday is a public holiday in Auckland so this weekend is relaxed.   I know I have time to complete all my chores.  However the weather man had promised only one fine day so I rose early this morning to make a start on the "outside jobs".   The runner beans have finished fruiting so they were pulled, along with numerous weeds and in the company of two really tame starlings, I tidied up the garden.  Fertiliser was sprinkled on and hopefully the promised rain will wash it down into the soil.   However the rain may mean that the car does not get washed.   Oh dear ;-)

Next, the HD3QBEM and I went to the butchers shop.   We go and stock the freezer every three months.   I had determined to clean and de-ice the freezer so today was the day!   All done and I feel satisfied to cross that item off the list and to have a basic menu planned for the next weeks.

As a reward we went out to sushi for lunch (again!) and on the way home I called at my LNS for some more DMC perle for this.

The Hardanger Sewing Pod is coming along nicely. Currently I am working on the third side.

I followed the instructions exactly for the tacking out but there is a lot of 'waste' linen so I plan on making a hardanger tassel and will stitch the pieces in these excess waste areas.   Surely such frugality means I can add an item as small as a tassel to my 2014 list?

Town and Country

Today I enjoyed an outing to what we call "Town and Country".   Hosted by the Embroiderers and Lacemakers' Guild in Auckland, this day long event heralds the start of our Guild year.   Although numbers were down a little it was fun to meet up and be inspired by seeing what others have done and are doing.  
One of the speakers was Lesley who had been a model stitcher for Mary Hickmott of "New Stitches" fame.   I was particularly interested to hear her as that magazine was responsible for me extending my repertoire from 'fancywork' and cross stitch to other forms of embroidery such as blackwork, hardanger and pulled thread.   I owe Mary Hickmott a lot, and after listening to Lesley today I am convinced that I am indebted to the wonderful model stitchers too.   Lesley had created this huge blackwork masterpiece.   Isn't it spectacular?

While listening to her interesting talk I managed to progress on my Hardanger Sewing Pod.   Admittedly my needle rested when I was particularly engrossed in what Lesley was saying!

A fellow New Zealand embroiderer Lee recently mentioned a design she had done years ago for a set of small stitching tools.   Read all about it in her blog post here.   Today at Town and Country I found an autographed copy of the original book containing the design.  

On sale as a fund raiser for Embroidery 2016 conference to be held here in Auckland, I decided it would make an excellent giveaway.   If you would like to stitch this set (and the new addition mentioned on Lee's blog), please leave a comment on this post.   I will have the HD3QBEM draw a name out of Grandma's bowl on Monday 27th.  
I'm off to watch Antiques Road Show now :-)

And the scars to prove it...

Today the HD3QBEM has been unwell so it has been a very quiet day chez nous.   Enforced seclusion for me meant that I crossed another couple of items of The List.
First up the Christmas Tree.  
This kit was an impulse purchase a few years ago.  

Such a simple idea really but stitching the corners of the triangles together was really hard on my fingertips - and on my thumbnail which got used as a thimble to push the needle through.

I have several thimbles but find them very hard to use.   Even when wearing one I tend to push the needle with the next un-thimbled finger!   How contrary is that?!   I shall have to moderate my efforts for a day or two and let the fingertip recover.
Second, I managed to complete the first side of the Hardanger Sewing Pod and while fighting my hatred dislike of picots I decided on what I shall stitch as a small gift for Little Brother.   On the whole men are hard to stitch for I find,  but I think my inspiration will hit the spot.   Little Sister loved her journal book cover with the Floral Embroidered 'H'.  

Monday I go back to work and settle back into a regular routine.   That will surely be better for my eating habits but fewer items will be crossed off The List - oh dear, sob sob.   Next weekend I have an Embroiderers Gathering to go to and am looking forward to that.   Maybe the anticipation will make Monday to Friday go by quicker?
Tonight Phryne Fisher will keep me company as the HD3QBEM has gone to bed.   And as a treat I am going to choose a Christmas Ornament as a new start.   Surely today's scarred fingertips mean I deserve a new start!

A good start to a good year

Fine weather for the midnight fireworks last night and then wet weather for the garden for part of the day today.   We are off to a good start!
And on the stitching front too.   I have made enough progress on the Acorn Stitching Roll to qualify for a photo and the first side of the hardanger Stitching Pod is almost completed too.

The hardanger is stitched on 28 count cream linen in DMC Perle #8 and #12 colour 3823
And the Acorn Stitching Roll is also on 28 count linen in a vanilla colour.   I have used the specified DMC equivalents for the solid colours and Thread Gatherer 'Autumn Honey' for the variegated floss.   As I don't want "historic needlework guild" to be the lettering in the next band I will spend some time with a pencil and graph paper tonight.   Yes, I admit this is a delaying tactic as I must return to the ecru queen stitches and finish off the tudor roses in the floral band :-(
A new venture for a new year is contained in this box.

I hope to make a quilted top for our blanket box -  the current one is very old and the fabric has not stood up to the heat of the sunlight it receives.  What is more this project will use up a lot of the small cotton fabrics that currently occupy space in my stash cupboard.   I can think of a lot more interesting objects to fill that space!
Tomorrow I plan to get sewing again - the fabric is cut out ready to stitch so it shouldn't take me too long.   As I don't need to go back to work until next week I am determined to make good use of this free time but the HD3QBEM insists that she wants to go and see Judi Dench in "Philomena" with me so I may be persuaded to abandon the sewing machine.  What a luxurious feeling this is - looking forward to the free time of the next four days.  

So from a warm and summery New Zealand, the HD3QBEM and I send you all good wishes for a

Happy New Year