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Sunday 30 October 2011

TWO LITTLE BUNNIES . . .


TILLY & OSCAR WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU . . .


A
HAPPY
HALLOWEEN
xxx
Please note ~ Nobunny was hurt or distressed during the making of this post and are currently in full sleeping mode after consuming a large reward of carrots & watercress for their perfect posing!!!



Thursday 27 October 2011

HOW~LO~WEEN . . .

Happy Thursday everyone!
It's Half-Term here and as normal the weather is pants!!!
DS's are busy revising German for a forthcoming test next week and DD is writing her personal statement for University applications so a little time for me and this was my quick and easy stitch for this week . . .

'How-lo-ween' freebie by Cherrywood Designs
stitched on 28count 'Shades of Autumn' evenweave with Mascara Weeks Dye Works

Pillow finish (no surprise there!) with Halloween Witch fabric, ric rac and bronze beads

I'm fully absorbed by a 5-book series by Virginia Andrews at the moment.
I read the first one ~ Flowers in the Attic ~ many years ago but never read the following four ~ I'm hooked and by sitting up to 1am last night have nearly finished book three.
The library are ordering them in for me as and when I'm ready for them and they've just rung to say book four is there ready and waiting so guess where I'm off to and who will be burning the midnight oil again tonight?

Thanks for stopping by
HAPPY STITCHING
xxx

Saturday 22 October 2011

THESE PINS WON'T GET AWAY . . .

Hi everyone ~ hope you're having a lovely relaxing stitchy weekend?

Thank you for all your comments on my last post concerning 'Fa' and 'La' (aka Snowmen)  and whether to backstitch or not!  It seems that most of you have no particular preference and like both with or without ~ mmmmmm? now what do I do? Well, put it to one side and leave them alone for a while whilst I put my mind to something else ~ hope they don't melt!

Missing needles and pins!  Drives me mad and always a worry that one of the bunnies will try and eat one so how about this solution . . .

Toby Tortoise

Isn't he cute?  I found the pattern on line and he knitted up really quickly, a little longer to put him together but love him!

The pattern had instructions for his shell to be knitting in 2 colour plain stripes but I thought this DK wool would be great as it knits as a fairlisle pattern as you go . . .


even his underside looks good . . .


and best of all ~ if he trys to escape he won't go very quickly!

Thanks for stopping by
HAPPY STITCHING
xxx

Monday 17 October 2011

WITH OR WITHOUT? . . .

Just a quickie . . .
My intentions of building the final snowman of 'Deck the Halls' just didn't happen this weekend and after picking it up this afternoon I've decided I'm not sure if I like the backstitching or not around 'Fa' and 'La'!
So I've unpicked 'Fa' and left 'La' so you can tell me what you think, I just feel the snowman should look soft against the fabric and not have a harsh line around them, perhaps I'm just going la-la!!!


Other insignifant news . . .  I set fire to my oven Friday night and although repairable the part will not be with us until end of this week ~ good job we have a microwave and I've failed my blood pressure test yet again and now have to be fitted with a 24hour monitor to find out what's going on ~ I did tell the doctor about the oven and the indecision on building snowmen but looks like the diabetes is the culprit - dam diabetes!

Thanks for stopping by
HAPPY STITCHING
xxx

Saturday 15 October 2011

'MUM! WE'RE GOING' . . . .


Thank you to everyone who responded to my last Post and has sent me back pieces of my missing mojo!!!
I think I'm basically just a bit down in the dumps at the moment with too many worrying things going on around me but that doesn't make a good post to read does it?  so here goes with my progress on 'Deck The Halls' snowman trio and it's really coming on rather well . . .


As you can see I'm still missing the final 'La' but will make a start on that this evening and then it will just need the wording underneath so a Happy Dance in sight I think!

Last weekend was the Knitting & Stitching Show at The Alexandra Place in London and not having been before I had been counting the days down on the calendar and itching to get there and have a nosy!
My mojo and self-esteem on a bit of a downer I went to bed the night before and thought I just can't be bothered and I get so fed up that I don't have any stitchy friends to go with, I'll go next time!

Well, that was until DS (aka Twin II) woke me up and said 'Mum, WE'RE going, get yourself ready, our train leaves in 1 hour and we're take a picnic!'
Bless him, how could I refuse?

The Palace and park grounds were beautiful (annoyingly I forgot to take my camera with me) but the goodies inside were even more beautiful and in the 4 hours we spent there we only got round half of the exhibitors!
'Hand-dyed' was the order of the day for me ~ when you have no needlecraft shop in existence around you and you have to order on-line the whole time, it's so difficult to choose hand-dyed fabrics and threads so this really was heaven for me . . . .  OK I'm rambling . . . . here's the stash . . . . 

100gsm hand-dyed cotton thread

Hand-dyed 28-count fabrics in Midnight ~ the one on the left is Brittney with silver flecks and the one on the right is Lugana ~ it's amazing how different the same dye looks on two different fabrics!

More hand-dyed sample pieces ~ perfect size for small ornaments

Hand-dyed felt squares in Autumn shades, 2 rustic FQs and ric-rac

Christmas Fat Quarters ~ I think the brown heart one will go well with the snowmen I'm stitching?

And because DS insisted ~ Augustus the Tortoise who comes as a kit and has rather a lot of buttons to sew on his shell when finished!!!

So all in all a lovely, lovely day and all down to my kind and very caring DS.
Thank you DS, I know it was a hard choice ~ needlecraft or football (not!) and we could count the number of men who were there on one hand and you were so outnumbered that we were even using the Men's Toilets BUT it was a special day for me and I've marked it on next year's calendar already so you don't forget !!!! xxx

Sunny days here in the UK but very chilly . . . 
Guess it's okay when you can snuggle up like this!

Thanks for stopping by ~ enjoy your weekend
HAPPY STITCHING
x x x

Thursday 6 October 2011

IT IS AN OWL, HONESTLY!


Well it was nice whilst it was here but now it's gone!
Our mini, mini heatwave has moved on and now we have much chillier days with autumn sunshine and winds blowing all the leaves off the trees ~ just how it should be :)

A mini, mini Happy Dance to share with you . . .

'Night Watch' by Heart in Hand
stitched on 28-count Barely Bronzed Linen with my choice of Sampler Threads

It is quite a cute little finish but my family all struggled to realise that it actually was an owl sitting in front of a pumpkin and suggestions of both a cat and a dog were offered???  I do agree it does look a bit of a mash-up of animals and the fact it looks as though it's wearing a neckerchief and a lot of lipstick doesn't seem to help.  I thought if I finished it with a pumpkin fabric it might help give it some identity, what do you think?

I think my mojo is on the downward slope at the moment and as much as I sit going through all my stash nothing seems to appeal BUT I thought I might tackle one of the charts I purchased last year in America . . .


This is a Charmed Flakes design by Hinzeit called 'Deck The Halls' and although it's a little early for snowmen it seems to be quite an easy design and I do have all the right ingredients to make a start!

If any of you seem to have had a sudden surge of mojo, please check whether it belongs to me and kindly SEND IT BACK ASAP :)

Thanks for stopping by
HAPPY STITCHING
xxx


Sunday 2 October 2011

I'M CONFUSED . . . .

I turned the calendar yesterday . . .
and Big Nutbrown Hare definitely said it was October?


I looked out into our back garden . . .
and there were definitely leaves and conkers dropping from our Horsechestnut Tree?


SO  . . .


Why when I listened to the late news last night did they say the UK had had its hottest day on record for the 1st October ~ 29.5 degrees?


Why when I went down the bottom of the garden this afternoon and heard rustling from one of the shrubs . . .
did this little fellow appear?


YEP, I'm confused ~ we have Autumn, Summer and Winter all rolled into one, how's that meant to help a cross-stitcher choose their next project?

Ooooooh well ~ sunshine and Autumn ~ what a wonderful combination!
 I don't think any Artist's pallet could ever portray the natural beauty of this time of year but perhaps this little Happy Dance can have a good try . . .


I did have a frame for this one, the right size as well, but I also had many fabrics that so complimented the thread colours that it seemed a shame not to use them so this is the final finished Happy Dance . . .


'Gather a Harvest' by Lizzie*Kate stitched on 28-count 'Barely Bronzed' linen with my choice of hand-dyed threads finished as a pillow with matching fabrics & leaf buttons


OK now my admission to my guilty pleasure .....
NO, NO, NO now behave you lot!
I'm talking  S T A S H,  ahhh! see, you all know that word!


My long awaited on-line orders have started to arrive and whilst they are going to give me sooooooo much pleasure, OMG! do I feel guilty as well!


I chose some charts for different times of the year ~ 'Nightwatch' for Autumn, 'Sixteen Gobbles' for Thanksgiving, 'Birdie Holiday' for Christmas, 'Red Snowman' kit for Christmas, 'Ah 'tis Spring' for (no guesses here) . . . Spring! and 'I Thee Wed' to commemorate our 25th Wedding Anniversary (but could be 26th, time I get round to doing it!)


Hand-dyed linen to try and suit the charts above!


Naughty aren't I?? But they were all in Sales and desperately needed (well that's a whopper Jane, if ever you told one!)


SO what shall I stitch first and on which gorgeous fabric . . .


Well, you'll have to come back and see!!!
(or to be honest, I've now over~indulged so much, I can't make my mind up!!!)


Thanks for stopping by
HAPPY STITCHING
xxx