Two are better than one

Last Saturday I bravely left my embroidery spectacles at Mortimer Hirst to let the handsome Grant make me new lenses.   So all week I struggled with clip on magnifiers.   I have been almost too tired to stitch but managed to make these "doubles".   Why does everything have two sides - even an argument?!
My mulberry Mary Stewart Hussif is turning out well.   The hardanger decoration is backed with a small square of cream calico and the lining is some ancient cotton quilting fabric from stash.  Now I need to buttonhole stitch all the way around both pieces before joining them together.

I wanted to make fancy toggles on the ends of the draw cords but the only scraps left of the linen fabric are a few stray threads that frayed off the edge.   This has been a truly frugal project!

And both sides of the red and green blackwork strawberry are done so I hope to get this finished over the weekend.   They have both to be lined with wool batting and laced over a more strawberry (oval) shape before being stitched together and then the search for red headed pins will begin.  There remains a strawberry scissor fob and a needlebook for this set but not just right now.

My list for this month is already drawn up in my mind so I will courageously commit to paper - well to blog anyway
1.  Finish off strawberry pin keep
2.  Complete Mary Stewart Hussif
3.  Finish hemming quilted placemats
4.  Construct Advent "candles" for  Christmas Gift
5.  Tack out linen for hardanger jewellery roll
6.   Lace linen panels of Sampler Casket
Now I am off to put Chicken Soup into the slow cooker and Sweet and Sour Pork Casserole into the oven.  I try to do the week's cooking over the weekend leaving the HD3QBEM to heat up meals through the week.   She feels she's helping and I get a meal quickly when I get home after work then gym. A win-win wouldn't you say?

Back From Holiday Part 2

I promised to show you my purchases while on holiday so here we are:

Some quilting fabric to make aprons (top left), a bag (bottom left) and the Noddy fabric is to line a cross stitch Noddy bag which is on my "to do" list.

Then these were the stitching related purchases -  bottom left is a disc to make Japanese Kumihimo (well actually from the $2 shop and to make friendship bracelets but it will suffice for kumihimo); top left is a Lauren Sauer chart  which really appealed and was on sale; bottom right is a bookmark kit for a gift; and top right is a Just CrossStitch magazine.

'What! A Just CrossStitch magazine?' do I hear you say?   Well look what was inside -  and I have the shaker box to suit.

And a close up of the Paisley Elegance -  can you see why I fell for this?  It is blue, has specialty stitches and won't require framing,

And to prove that I did do some stitching while on holiday

The Mary Stewart Hussif looked like this when I packed it

and then like this when I came home.   Today it left on an overseas journey so I will show closer details in photo when it arrives at its destination. 

And Kelly's Growth Chart has grown!   There is a name to go on top but other than that the top half is complete.   Only a Zebra and a Lion and the remaining numbers to go.   Sure is bright but also quite cute.

 A few final photos tomorrow - meanwhile I am going to enjoy stitching strawberries tonight.   Have a great evening everyone.

A Tour For Amy Part 1

Today is a public holiday here and I have enjoyed the beautiful golden Autumn day.My long list of "jobs to do" is now all crossed off and I am looking forward to some stitching this evening.
Amy suggested she might like a "tour" after I posted a shot of my cabinet so here we go.  I'll start at the front of the house and work through - so sorry Amy, but the cabinet will be last.
First up are two pieces that are in the HDHBEM's bedroom.   This framed piece was done for Mother's Day many years ago.   I well remember how hard it was to keep this a secret  while stitching it.

Then I made this long runner (nearly 1.5metres) for the top of the large chest of drawers.   It has faded a lot but to the HDHBEM it is precious and she will not part with it.

In around three weeks we are going for a short holiday and I am preparing my stitching already.   Today I parceled up one stitched item to complete, edged the linen of another piece and sorted through the basket of "2012 projects" to find some others.   After all, I will be gone five days and I will need a lot of stitching to keep me going for that time:-)

And so the sun sets on another day.  Have a good evening everyone.

Strawberries at Easter??

Easter weekend - a time of reflection, holiday from work, stitching and generally relaxing.   Despite the dire weather forecast, today was bright and sunny but I was only briefly outdoors.  Top of my list was sewing and I cut out and sewed (about two thirds anyway) a dress in black merino fabric.   Once completed I will have the local "logo shop" embroider our company logo on the left hand side of the bodice and my take on our company uniform will be complete.   The General Manager doesn't seem to feel the cold and all our uniform pieces are cotton and polyester =  Margaret freezes in the winter!   With all those merino sheep running around the green pastures of New Zealand why should I freeze in an imported cotton uniform so this year merino it is and I shall be warm.  And on a more colourful note I completed the Mary Stewart Hussif.  

Yes!!   Ever since I first saw one of these I have wanted to make one  - this is stitched on 32 count pink linen, in DMC floss.  The cords are finger weaving and the small toggles are an adaptation of those in Gay Eaton's Wessex Stitchery book.  For the lining I was unable to find fabric with strawberries on it so small roses it had to be.

The needle book is merino flannel.  Eight years ago on a visit to Adelaide (Australia) I bought two metres of this and have been using it gradually every since.   What an economical decision that was!

A few weeks ago I completed my "copy" of Riona's bookcase bookmark and at that time Shiela and Ann both asked how I had finished the back.  I decided to stitch another one and this time to take photographs of the process rather than try and convey it all in prose.   So today I stitched the bookcase and hopefully tomorrow will fill the shelves with books and will then take photos of the construction process.   Sorry to keep you waiting so long for a reply Shiela and Ann, but I should be able to answer fully within a day or two.

Mother has her nose in "The Winds of Heaven" (Monica Dickens) and I am engrossed in "Faith"(Peter James) so when we are not stitching there is total quietness at our house!  

On the morning of  May 12th I will spend  "An Hour With Peter James" at the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival and then in the evening  "An Hour with Stella Rimington".   Written that way it sounds like a personal encounter -  if only!   No, I am attending a couple of sessions of this

Stella Rimington I have already 'met' in a couple of books but my first encounter with Peter James was only this week in "Perfect People" which I found raised both questions and goose bumps.  "Faith" is similarly riveting in concept and scary to read and I am looking forward to seeing just what sort of person writes those sort of books.   Neither books have an author mug shot on the back and as I want him to have the rugged handsome looks of say, Nigel Havers, I am resisting a google search so as not to spoil the surprise. 

Have a wonderfully joyous Easter.

Unstuck!

Yesterday was busy!I baked a Walnut Date Loaf for the HDHBEM's lunch treats this week, did the grocery shopping, and then we both went off to the local mall.   A walk around the whole of the complex before a lunch of sushi was the day's exercise for the HDHBEM who by then deserved a rest.   So we went to ....

Are any of you like me - committed fans of Maggie Smith and Judi Dench?   You must, really must, go and see this movies.   It is great fun and plays to the strength of Judi and the acerbic wit of Maggie.   We had a great time (and I lowered the average age in the picture theatre!!)
A quick trip to the local haberdashery on the way home to get backing fabric for the Mary Stewart Hussif mean that after dinner, I created two shepherds, two lambs, three trees and the gaps for some snow!

and did all the pinning and folding required to get to this

Buttonhole stitch is not the most stimulating but I am making slow progress and hopefully by the end of the long Easter break might have this completed.   

However I am planning on doing some dressmaking too as I need a warm winter dress for work - I bought this pattern over the internet and am now being bombarded with emails from Vogue, Butterick etc etc  One at a time I say!

I also want to dosome gardening so will need to timetable each minute of every day to accomplish all the items on the list!

Stuck!

The stitching is now completed and I know why I don't 'design' -  when the artistic genes were handed out I missed my turn and so became destined to be a good follower of instructions and a poor creator thereof!
However, for better for worse the stitching is now done.   But I am stuck.   In all my stash of cotton fabrics there is none that is suitable as the backing for this.   I need to buttonhole separately around both the front piece and the back piece thus attaching a backing to each and then buttonhole the buttonhole stitch to attach the two pieces together.   Got that??   So I am stuck -  like Piglet in the hole.  I cannot go forward and I cannot go back.   I wait, stuck until I can get to the store and hopefully find a suitable fabric.

In despair I looked in my "to complete this year" box which sits on the shelf of the coffee table.  
No,  I don't want to do another animal on the Growth Chart. 
No, I don't want to do another bookmark.  
No, I don't want to start another project. 
Okay, the Heirloom Nativity Sampler it is.   And I fished that out and then decided that I wasn't even going to do that this evening.   I am too tired.   A busy day at work and then a highly demanding session with the trainer at the gym means I am tired and I want a rest.   So it's off to bath and bed.  Goodnight everybody.

Weekend Catch up

This weekend has been delightfully satisfying. 
I woke early on Saturday so got up to do my weekly baking -  a spicy fruit loaf for the HDHBEM's lunches and some ginger crunch for her morning and afternoon teatime snacks.
Then we went on a road trip to Hamilton (one and a half hour drive south) to visit the HDHBEM's favourite dress shop.   Her haul was a jacket, a pair of trousers and a sweater.   Winter weight clothing so it's too warm for the necessary photo.   I promise one later.
After a picnic lunch of sushi at the lovely park beside the might Waikato River, we drove on the Hamilton's only large shopping mall and I succumbed to temptation in a dress shop there.   Two funky tops to wear to work and again I promise a photo later when I can find someone to oblige.  The HDHBEM says her hands are too shaky to take photos now!
Last night I completed the tassell on my bookmark.   I love this and will make another and they will depart on journeys to fellow book enthusiasts in time for Christmas.   Meanwhile I will enjoy looking at them.   Who knows I may make two more and keep one myself.

And then a new start for me... well this too will probably be a gift for an unsuspecting "friend".   Do you remember back in February, Shiela sent me a package containing lots of wonderful lengths of linen fabric?
I put a picture here.  Last night I started this,

 with the pretty pink 32 count linen that Shiela sent.  This hussif design is from Gay Eaton's Wessex Stitchery book pictured at right and here in New Zealand is known as a Mary Stewart Hussif.   An oblong shaped drawstring bag with a tiny needlebook in the base, this is a design I have always wanted to stitch and Shiela's linen has been 'scratching that itch' since February. 

Somehow the pink linen didn't seem to suit Wessex Stitchery so from my stash I 'stole' a border from the Strawberry Season Sampler.   However in the true spirit of Wessex Stitchery I will put a quotation on the reverse.   That seems a happy compromise -  linen somehow seems to call strawberry to me not daisies or poppies.

My TV last night was Midsomer Murders - such fun to see Barnaby and Scott arrive at the solution after there have been three or four murders.   It's a wonder there is anybody left alive in Midsomer!   Next week a series of Miss Marple begins and I expect to fall in live with Agatha Christie all over again.   Whodunnits are great stitching companions.

And the final achievement for the weekend was starting another book.   The Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens.  Somehow I fear this may not be to the taste of a lot of folks but for me it brings back happy memories of reading The Shell Seekers (Rosamund Pilcher) some years ago.   Poor Louise is suddenly widowed and equally suddenly, finds that her husband Dudley has, through foolish speculations, left her impoverished.  She is condemned therefore, to shuffling between her three, more or less unwilling, daughters on perpetually uneasy visits.   Published first in 1955 ( and recently reissued by Persephone), The Winds of Heaven is perhaps slightly more sentimental than we would expect from a more modern book but Monica Dickens has an endearingly astute way of describing family relationships.   I haven't yet finished reading this but have already enthusiastically recommended it to several people.   Your local library will probably have a copy - do read it and enjoy it too.

Hoping that you have all had an equally enjoyable weekend.