THE FINISHING LINE . . .

I've been confined to virtually one room most of this past week as the decorators are here again working on the hall, stairs and landing and there are dust sheets, ladders, artex and pots of paint everywhere.
Artex, now that's a horrible word and any of you that have ever experienced it will know about the pungent smell that comes with it and remains until it has completely dried and been painted!  The decorator's tell me that the nearest comparison to the smell is cat pee but not ever having had a cat I wouldn't know but feet and cheese seem more appropriate to me!  Thankfully the weather has been lovely and hot so all windows and doors have been permanently open and fresh air reigns.

So confined to one room what should I do?  I know open that draw that contains all those finished stitches that I occasionally hear saying 'Finish Me, Please!'.

First up ~ Happy Bunny Bunny Day which I stitched a few weeks back but had no suitable fabric for finishing.  An unplanned stop at a Patchwork Fabric Shop found me debating over two fabrics which I thought might match, not sure I bought both and still not sure when making a pillow finish yesterday I used both!  The polka dot fabric is the backing and I found some matching buttons to put on the front :

Next, Heart in Hand 'Summer Bird' which DH bought a new frame for.  HIH added a bee button on their design but I couldn't find one so I stitched a trailing leaf from his mouth (as shown on their other seasonal birds) and added a small flower embellishment at the bottom of it :

Frame hunting at the local Charity/Thrift Shops found a finish for the next one.  This Wildlife Sampler was stitched so long ago I don't even remember doing it but as the hare reminds me of Buttons I have always wanted to frame it and this washed-wood effect frame matches perfectly and now hangs proud in the Dining Room :

 

Last post I had just started a Lizzie*Kate, this was a really quick and easy stitch and again has a pillow finish with backing fabric shown on the heart pegs and matching ribbon:

Lizzie*Kate 'Stitching forever' stitched on 28count white evenweave with my choice of DMC colours

Are you still there?  I've been confined to that room for a long time so digging deep to the bottom of the forgotten draw found this one and again it's another pillow finish :

HIH kit 'Rise and Shine' stitched on 28count Platinum Linen with threads provided (I think!!!)

So, lots of finishing and the sewing machine has been busy BUT I still squeezed in new stitching as well.  I've looked at 'Man's Best Friend' so many times since my last post but I just can't find the enthusiasm for it at the moment.  Hidden at the bottom of the stash box were some little Mouseloft Stitchlet kits which DH bought for me some time ago, they are too small for individually framing so I have decided to make them into a patchwork cushion and have completed 4 of them just using fabric scraps in linen, I shall make up the remaining patchwork squares in some rustic burgundy colours :

and finally a start on 'Washing Day', a Forever Friends design which will eventually hang in the Utility Room and match my own white wicker laundry basket (with so much time devoted to stitching recently my laundry pile is as big as this one!) :

Celebrations tomorrow as someone small, furry and adorable reaches the grand age of 10.  Buttons continues to do well after his tumor and tomorrow will celebrate his birthday with his favs ~ carrots, watercress and green beans (not much of a feast for the rest of us but he'll love it!!!)

HAPPY STITCHING . . .

A COLOURFUL SPICY HAPPY DANCE!

WOW!
 A very colourful happy dance - Mexican Gecko - a definite colour overload!  I need to wash and press this one as I do not work on a frame or hoop and it's a little taut so fingers crossed that the colours don't bleed - can you imagine! I did stitch it all in DMC threads so it should be okay.

Mexican Gecko stitched on 28count white evenweave in suggested DMC threads

It's been a funny couple of weeks . . . the calendar was pretty empty at the start but suddenly seemed to fill up!  As the weather was poor last week the decorator's were unable to work on their outside jobs and came here to decorate my kitchen and utility room.  I'm really pleased with the results as we have been living with pink plastered walls since the new kitchen was installed some time ago and the door frame and skirting boards were still in bare wood ~ now we have soft cream walls and white woodwork and the kitchen is lovely and bright.  I have several completed cross stitches that can now have their finishing touches and be displayed (more on them next time).

Our new oak dining room furniture was delivered at the end of last week and I'm thrilled with this too ~ this room was decorated some time ago and has also been waiting for the finishing touches and this is a W.I.P. which I know will look lovely when finished, it's called Man's Best Friend and is a complete kit by Dimensions:

This design uses lots of thread colours which are combined and also uses different numbers of strands throughout to create depth and colour shading (too much concentration  needed!) ~ I think this is probably the reason it may have been hidden for some time but now it has a reason to be finished so I hope I can get in to it again?

Last Sunday was Father's Day so we visited our respective Dads on the Saturday so the kiddies could spoil their Dad rotten here on Sunday.  Twin I helped out in the garden with weeding and mowing, Twin II was on 'unlimited cups of tea' rota and cooked the BBQ in the evening and DD gave him a lovely manicure and pedicure.  I have a very happy DD at the moment as today is her last day of exams, she has sat her German exam this morning and has a Graphics exam this afternoon and to celebrate the end of 12 years of studying a fellow friend is having a celebration BBQ afterwards.

In case none of you have heard (LOL) it's the World Cup at the moment (ughhhh!)  Having grown up with a sport-mad Dad and two brothers I'm not the keenest of fans of sport so have paid little attention to it so far but with England playing this afternoon and 3 more sport-mad men in this house, I'm told they need a very good win so I may have to suffer it, actually I don't mind Wimbledon but as I see it if I'm sitting down relaxing to watch TV then I can be cross-stitching and for me the two don't go very well together!

I'm squeezing in a small Lizzie*Kate at the moment ~ Stitching Forever ~ another one that will hang in the newly decorated Utility Room, I have also ordered Forever Friends Washing Day kit and the Postie has just arrived WITHOUT IT! (don't you just hate it when you think something should arrive and then nothing?)

Have a good week everybody, we have gorgeous sunshine here at the moment, very unusual for Wimbledon fortnight but I'm not complaining!

HAPPY STITCHING . . .

DON'T BE SCARED . . . DEEP BREATH . . .

GO FOR IT . . .

and I did!  Following on from my last post and my find of old cross stitch magazines at a Charity/Thrift shop I found a chart that I couldn't resist, a completely different choice from my usual favourite American designers and a little scary for me with colour overload so

Firstly to soften the blow to you all, here are the threads:

Secondly, here's the chart:

and Thirdly here's the W.I.P. in full flow:

This is not a difficult stitch but there are only a few solid areas of one thread colour so it's fiddley more than anything with lots of colour changes.  The suggested finish in the magazine is to surface mount the design?  They have used a white mount and a white textured frame and it really does look stunning.  My plan is to hang the finished piece up on our landing so when everyone opens their bedroom doors in the morning yawning and very dozy they are greeted with a rainbow colour infusion and are instantly fully awake (how cruel am I?)

The weather last week was lovely ~ sunny and warm and we DID all have our day out at the Zoo. We chose Marwell Zoo in Hampshire which we had been to before when the kiddies were a lot younger and  is run by Marwell Preservation Trust and dedicated to the conservation of wildlife habitats both locally and internationally.  There's a great variety of animals at the Zoo and a lot of our favourites, the only trouble was the weather was sooooo hot that the animals were all being very lazy and there was a lot of daytime snoozing going on!  Here's a few pics, hope you like them:

A lovely mover but a bit fishy!

'Mum, is it safe to come out?'

'Whatever!  I will not look at the camera'

'I couldn't make up my mind today - Gazelle or Zebra?'

'Why's the queue for the Ladies always so long?'

Why have one horn when you can have two!

'I'm a Snow Leopard ~ what's with the Sun?'

This is what he should have looked like ~ Snow Leopard' from the Gold Collection stitched and framed in 2004

'Wake me up before you go-go!'

Another sleepy cat ~ 'Too Pooped' by Dimensions stitched and framed in 2008

AND FINALLY:

Three unknown species, not known to be dangerous, but beware known to have HUGE appetites!

HAPPY STITCHING . . .

THREE WEEK CATCH-UP . . .

Where did the last 3 weeks go?

Well firstly a 'BIG' event on our calendar which was full of mixed emotions.  DD, no, DDD - my 'Dear Darling Daughter' officially finished school on Thursday, 20th May and now only returns to school to sit her exams, the last of which will be on 23rd June!   Now when I say Where did the last 3 weeks go? ... Where did the last 16 years go?  It really does seem like only yesterday when she tightly gripped my hand on her first day of school and since then all the Christmas Nativities, Sports Days, Dressing-Up Days (we've done Hermione Granger, Pongo from 101 Dalmations, Victorian Maid and Fairies), School Trips, Parent Evenings and now it's all over (hold on : tissue box needed yet again!), I will miss it all.
Now College Days and Independency begin . . .

The following day was her first School Prom and I don't know who was more nervous!  We have spent months hunting out THE dress, THE shoes, THE bag, THE jewellery and transport and thankfully it all came together as we had hoped.  The weather was beautiful and sunny and the afternoon was spent at the hairdressers having her hair dressed for the occasion with curling tongs, diamond hair decorations and a cream flower and when at 6pm she came down the stairs ..... (yep, tissue box again please!)

Her dress was pale gold satin with jewelled front skirt and bodice and laced back.  Her sequined clutch bag matched and her shoes were cream to match her hair flower with jewels attached.  DH and I were the proudest parents ever!

Now to stitching!  'When Witches Go Riding' is complete and I'm really pleased with it, I was so unsure about the fabric colour but persevered and now it's complete I'm happy.  The design is a busy one with strong colours so I feel the fabric colour helps lift it without losing any definition ~ I really recommend this stitch to everyone, it's easy and fun and progress is quick, I did change the faces on most of the pumpkins to smiley mouths but other than that I stuck to the chart.

'When Witches Go Riding' by The Prairie Schooler stitched on 28 count Antique White Jobelan with suggested DMC threads

Next was a quickie!  I had the suggested fabric and all the GAS threads so it is as it should be.  The only nitpick I had was that it said on the chart to do the Smyrna stitch for the eye in the same colour as the body which meant it just didn't show up at all and it is definitely not shown in that colour on the front of the chart.  I have all the charts for this series of birds and the eyes are all stitched in a light colour different from the body and after trying that and still not liking it I stuck to good old Black and I like the result!  For once this has stitched up to a standard size for framing and yesterday DH bought me a lovely pair of wooden frames so this birdie will be framed and on show soon and I can replace with the appropriate bird as each Season comes and goes.

'Summer Bird' Wee One by Heart in Hand  stitched on 32 count Summer Khaki Belfast linen with suggested GASTs

Next I did something very daring . . . . I opened the 'hidden from sight ~ but know it's there lurking' ... W.I.P. box. I always feel very guilty when I open this box at the expense of the items waiting in there to be picked up again but being ignored whilst others get chosen first. BUT I did find probably the smallest project started, over 2 years ago I think, which were 3 little circular snowmen faces taken from a past cross-stitch magazine. I had completed one and half-started/finished another so after recently completing both Halloween and Summer projects (a little Seasonal confusion at the moment) I finished a Christmas stitch as well. I love their little cheery faces, the magazine suggests finishing them as cards but I think I will make 3 little stockings (one for each of my babies with their name on - Oh Mum! how embarrassing!) and add these faces to the front of each one.  The gaps in the blue background should be white stitches but I'm going to add silver beads to sparkle them up for Christmas.

'Cool Yule Snowmen Trio' stitched on 28 count various shades of linen with DMC threads

I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks.  The boys are now on Half-Term for one week and DH is on 2 weeks holiday so we shall be able to spend some good times together.  I took a chance and suggested to the gang that we might have a day out at the Zoo and take a picnic like old times (I really was expecting 'no way Mum, do you know how old we are now?') but it was greeted with approval and I was really chuffed (tissues please!), not sure if DH had had a sneeky word with them beforehand but who cares, a family day out, it will be fun!

I'm hoping in the second week DH and I will be able to hunt out some bargains at the Charity Shops, I was lucky on Saturday and found an unused kit with damaged canvas but 25 unused skeins of DMC threads for £2.  I also found a bundle of old cross-stitch magazines and in one is a chart that has really wet my appetite, not one I would ever choose before so I'll leave it 'till next time to show a pic just in case I have a change of mind!

Thinking of all of you who are commemorating Memorial Day overseas.

HAPPY STITCHING . . . .