Five New Starts and Four Finishes

Hello all.

Long time, no see! I really enjoyed my blogging break after the madness of April but thought it was about time I returned - with an apology and a long post to make up for my absence.

The apology is for being way behind on reading and commenting on your posts (again). Due to family circumstances I am having to cut down on the amount of time I spend on the blogosphere. I shall continue to read each post I follow but it is likely I will be leaving and replying to fewer comments for a while. Sorry. but I know you all understand that family has to come first.

Anyway, as the title of this posts suggests, I have lots to show you from the last three weeks.

First up are two new starts and finishes stitched as gifts for Ingrid and Justine. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the actual finishes but can at least show you how they looked before being made into little hanging cushions. Although they are the same design they do have subtle differences so I'm going to show both:

 

I Solemnly Swear and Mischief Managed by stitchedupbyleona (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Tumbleweed over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitched with Threadworx 1033 Ice Tea

Stitch count 133 wide by 107 high

Started - 20th March 2016

Finished - 3rd May 2016

Total stitching time - 20 hours 45 minutes

Plus 7 hours 30 minutes to finish off

Harry Potter fans among you will of course recognise these phrases as those that open and close the Marauder's Map. The words on the original chart were not backstitched. However, the Threadworx thread I chose as a substitute for the original colour did not show up as much as I had hoped so I had no choice but to backstitch each letter. The extra time and effort was definitely worth it and, let's face it, this kind of backstitching is quite easy!

Information as above except:

Started - 30th April 2016

Finished - 11th May 2016

Total stitching time - 19 hours 35 minutes

Plus 4 hours 15 minutes to finish up

The fronts and backs of each one were stitched together into a cushion using whip stitch. The cushion was stuffed, brown braided cord attached as a hanging loop and around the edges (as per my Christmas Ornaments) and a Harry Potter charm added as a finishing touch. The first one took much longer to finish and was not to as high a standard as the second (learning curve) but each recipient was happy.


Next up is another new start and finish which I have called Summer Bird:

Bird by Hobikolik (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Lime over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitched in Threadworx 11511 Jam Rock

Stitch count 80 wide by 80 high

Started - 14th May 2016

Finished - 17th May 2016

Total stitching time - 7 hours 15 minutes

I had the inspiration to stitch this design four times in seasonal colours as a good excuse to experiment with some hand-dyed threads. Hence I have matching fabrics and threads ready and waiting to stitch Spring (lilacs/pinks) Autumn (browns/yellows) and Winter (blues/purples), although goodness knows when that will be. The colours have turned out quite "blocky" but then there are very distinct colour variations running through the thread. Spring and Winter should be more subtle and Autumn somewhere in between.


Then we have a little Lizzie Kate start and finish:

Boo Club - Ghost

Stitched on 16ct Tangerine over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 78 wide by 38 high 

Started - 13th May 2016

Finished - 22nd May 2016

Total stitching time - 9 hours 10 minutes

The ghost was stitched in glow-in-the-dark E940 instead of the recommended pale cream to give it more of a spooky feel. I also had to swap out the black buttons as the ones provided had minute holes for which I did not have a small enough needle. I'll swap them back one day.


Finally, may I present my last new start:

Ocean Critters - Seahorse by Janet Morningstar

Stitched on 16ct Ocean over-dyed aida by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 98 wide by 122 high

Started - 15th May 2016
Stitching time to date - 6 hours 50 minutes

I have had my eye on this rather cute design, and the matching Dolphin, for quite some time so was not surprised when I finally bought them (there are also a crab, turtle and octopus in the collection but I'm not so keen on those). I doubt you will have to wait long before you see this one finished and/or the Dolphin appear as another new start (stitching plans for the year be damned - if I want to start something new I jolly well will!!) This colour fabric has to be one of my all time favourites.


And that's all for now. Thank you for making it to the end of this post!

Take care everyone,
Rachel x

New Start - Scarlet Macaw Preening (third time lucky!)

Good morning!

I have a break from the A-Z Challenge today so thought I would reveal my exciting "new" project. It is, of course, the gorgeous Scarlet Macaw Preening.

OK, I know it's not strictly a new project as it's a re-re-start but it is new in the sense that I'm starting from scratch again.

To cut a very long story short (extended version available on it's own page if you wish to read it) I've finally found a fabric I am happy with (remember, I'm not stitching the background so finding the perfect fabric was extremely important). After two years of searching, and many disappointments, I was beginning to think that perhaps I was destined to never stitch this project. It wasn't just me being fussy either, it was sometimes being let down by companies who couldn't produce the fabric they claimed they could.

Most of the fabric I use for my projects nowadays comes from sewitall.com an extremely friendly and helpful bunch of people who agreed they would be willing to try to create a suitable background. What they came up with was something much paler, plainer and more subtle than anything I had previously considered. Initially I was disappointed as I wanted a deeper and more colourful background, but when I understood the angle they had approached the design from that disappointment quickly disappeared, especially once I had laid out the threads.

Basically the fabric represents the tree canopy but in much paler colours in order to make the parrot "pop" off the fabric.

Once the fabric had been trimmed to size and put on my scroll bars I just had to make a start! As (yet another) reminder, here's the original chart:

And here's my first 10 hours of progress on the gorgeous new fabric:

Scarlet Macaw Preening

Shinysun's Cross Stitching

Stitched on 16ct custom-coloured over-dyed aida from sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch Count - 400 wide by 532 high (260 by 470 without background)

Started - 22nd March 2016

Stitching time to date - 10 hours

This represents about 1.5% stitched..... so not much left to go then!!

My plan (!) is to stitch on it regularly for an average 30-45 minutes per day for the next 2-3 years. This will allow me to continue with my many other projects at the same time and hopefully prevent me from feeling burdened by the scale of this one. And, of course, a project this size means I can once again return to being a Ten Hour Stitcher!

Naturally, plans are all well and good but I've got so many deadlines to stitch for in April that he may already have to be put to one side! We'll see though as I'm fairly certain that now he's started he won't ever be neglected!

Having read all of this back, my posting sounds quite deadpan but I can assure you I am really excited and soooooo happy to be stitching him. The wait was definitely worth it and FINALLY my parrot will come to life. His name's Sherlock, by the way, not because of the detective or TV programme..... I just thought the name suited him.

Back to the A-Z Challenge tomorrow.
Rachel x

Owls In Love - finished!

Hello all!

It's Happy Dance time!!!

Yep, Owls In Love is finished! In my last post I estimated 5 hours to finish this project. It was in fact 4 hours 55 minutes - not a bad guess then?!

So, without any more yapping, here are a finished Hedwig and Errol, along with all the usual boring details:

Owls In Love

FluffyFuzzyPatterns (etsy)

Stitched on 16ct Cloud Grey Aida with silvering by sewitall.com 2 over 1

Stitch count 250 wide by 152 high

Started - 16th October 2015

Finished - 6th December 2015

Total stitching time - 54 hours 55 minutes

Oh boy, did I enjoy stitching this design and watching the owls take shape! You would have thought that stitching three shades of grey on grey fabric would have been boring but it wasn't. Quite the contrary. It was actually very relaxing. I loved every stitch, LOVE the fabric and would happily stitch the whole piece again, right now! Don't you think browns on brown would look good? Just a thought!

The mounts and frame have already been ordered and should be delivered by the end of the week. I know they are supposed to be a Christmas present but do you honestly think I'm going to wait another two weeks to frame this piece? I think not!! Honestly, this is more exciting than Christmas itself!!!

Oh, and while I was ordering the frame for this piece, a couple more just "happened" to slip into my basket. You know how it is! I'll show you all of the finished-finishes as soon as I have framed them.

My stitching for the rest of 2015 now consists of finishing the LK December Stamp and trying to finish a couple more January/February Challenge pieces. Wonder how I'll do?

In the meantime, thanks for joining me in my blog postings and thanks for all of your comments. I know a few of you have really been waiting to see this project finished - I hope you are not disappointed, although you haven't seen it framed yet!!

Back soon!

Take care one and all,
Rachel x

A Trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show

Hello all!

Yesterday I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, London. It's about seven years since I last went so was a perfect opportunity for a browsing day out.

My daughter accompanied me as she was interested in soft wool for making scarves and fabric for her quilting and dressmaking hobbies. It was also her 14th birthday so mummy's credit card was an added incentive for her to accompany me!

I tried not to stash too much as I really don't NEED anything else (I know, I know, what's NEED got to do with it?) and I was aware of my virtual SFS budget.

I bought a little box with individual screw-top jars for my spare Mill Hill beads, two cute little charts from an independent retailer and five over-dyed Threadworx threads suitable for Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Christmas projects. These are (shamefully?) the first over-dyed threads I have ever bought. Now all I have to do is find projects suitable to use them on!

Charts - Odd Dog - Sleepy Book and Balloon by Lili of the Valley

Threadworx colours - 10592 Mercy's Spring Bouquet, 11511 Jam Rock,

1076 Honky Tonk, 1140 Moonlit Skies and 1085 Christmas Time

I also bought a couple of other things which I cannot show as they are gifts for people who I know read this blog - hi girls!

Budget wise, so far so good. But then I found the sewitall fabric stall. Uh-oh!

Some of you may recall that a number of my Challenge pieces are stitched on over-dyed aida by Fabric Flair. When I discovered the only supplier that I knew of in the UK had stopped selling it I was devastated. But a bit of sleuthing led me to sewitall.com who, I found out, are the actual manufacturers of Fabric Flair! At the moment they don't have over-dyed on their website but they do have a similar cloud-effect fabric as well as patterns such as snowflakes, holly leaves, paw prints and love hearts. AND everything comes in various aida or evenweave counts AND with the choice of added sparkles. Heaven! Go check them out - you will not be disappointed.

I could have been a very naughty girl but, luckily for me, their selection of my favourite 16ct aida and 32ct evenweave was limited and very few had sparkles. Nevertheless, I bought a good selection, even doubling up on some. Not all are in the photo, nor are all for me as I was purchasing for two others as well. So in fact I think I was actually very restrained!

Aida - Antique White with Sparkles, Cloud Green, Cloud Lilac and Cloud Brown

Evenweave - Cloud Blue, Cloud Blue and Pink, Cloud Lilac, Cloud Grey

Talking of being restrained, I did NOT buy these two kits. I cannot express how much I love the autumnal-coloured artwork of Leonid Afremov. I know that Love Thy Thread and Heaven and Earth Designs have charted some of his pictures but these are by Golden Fleece (Zolotoe Runo in their native Russian) and were £54 each which I could not justify. If they are ever released as just charts I may reconsider.

Romantic Walk and Aura of Rain (my favourite!) 

And here are some more, slightly smaller kits, by the same artist which I may purchase one day:

 Autumn Melodies, Tryst and Autumn Blues

So all in all a good but tiring (and financially fairly restrained) day out! Now to use some of my goodies.....

Happy stitching :)
Rachel x