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.  

Progress

The thumb splint has put a stop to a lot of stitching although I have managed to complete the daily requirement for my Temperature chart.   Hard to believe that will finish in a couple of weeks.   I promise to show a photo of the completed piece.

Today the physiotherapist was pleased to see that the swelling of the thumb had gone down a lot so I have a new splint, some exercises to do three times a day and an appointment for the new year.   But best of all he said that so long as I don't remove the splint I can stitch a little :-)

Tonight I put a few stitches more into the Basket Band.   The date is on this now and I would like to complete the stitching before the end of this year so it will have to be a case of little and often.   There really is not much further to go.  Here's the situation as at today...

Also, with splendid advice from my stitching buddy Sophie I have completely finished the Angels' Song wall hanging and have agreed to enter it in the Regional Exhibition in August 2021   I had such a lot of pleasure stitching this one and am thankful that Sophie badgered me into fully finishing it or it might otherwise have languished in the Drawer of Doom.

I have made a small start on the Mill Hill kit which was my prize from The President's Challenge.   My first foray into stitching on perforated paper and I can tell you already that I much prefer linen.   But so far so good and I am on track to have this completed by the time of our next Guild meeting in February.  Isn't it wonderful we have a long summer holiday during which I will be able to complete all my projects and have plenty for the Show and Tell at Guild meeting.  Ha ha ha. 

For the remainder of this week we have a succession of visitors and I plan on doing a major cooking day on 24th as for that day my Electricity Company have graciously given me a "free day" so I intend to make maximum use of my oven and will stock up my freezer with baked goods and meals.

Until next time.