Summer Garden - Little House Needleworks - FINISH - 30th August 2015 - TRAVELLING PATTERN - MOVING ON

Well today I have finished Summer Garden from Little House Needleworks which was a travelling pattern I received a LONG time ago!  I am so sorry that I didn't get round to stitching this pattern sooner but all I can say is life got in the way and this poor little pattern got put at the bottom of the pile.

However it is now stitched up and ready to move on to it's next stitcher.

I stitched it on a hand dyed fabric from KLT Charting called January's Boy a lovely mix of blue and white giving the impression of a cloudy summer sky.  I stitched it with the recommended Crescent Colours hand dyed flosses.  I would say however that Magnolia Blossom, Roasted Chestnut and Queen Bee had no visible variegation that I could see and any future projects that call for these threads I will be substituting the DMC.  The Clay Pot and Weeping Willow threads had a subtle variegation which I was happy with.

There was a group of flowers that was charted to have petals stitched in Magnolia Blossom (the white thread) with long stitch and french knots.  I tried to stitch them as charted but they weren't working out for me so I just made up my own little flowers with a combination of Magnolia Blossom and Clay Pot and was pleased with the outcome.

Here's my finish:

So if you would like to be the next recipient of the travelling pattern please leave a comment on this blog.  I will leave entries open for a month to allow people time to enter so will choose a winner on 30th September 2015.

The random number generator has selected Plum Pudding by Glendon Place to be my next project to stitch on.

Keep stitching and smiling

Seaside Mystery - Chatelaine - 16th August 2015

I've been stitching on my Chatelaine - Seaside Mystery this week.  My aim was to finish part 1 but I haven't quite got there yet.

Here is my before picture

and this is after stitching on it this week

I've been working on filling in the swirly sections which are outlined in the bright green.

I've nearly finished the one I was working on and I only have one more left after that one.  So hopefully next time I stitch on this I will finish filling those sections in.  The spaces you can see will be filled with beads.

I love the colours on this design and can't wait to get further on with it.  However I have decided to go back to trying to stitch it part by part.  Last time I wanted to see what all the colours looked like so did a bit of all the sections.

I've been using my Lowery frame adapator while stitching on this as it is a long frame and it's taking quite a bit of getting used to.  I honestly think I would have got more done on it if I hadn't used the frame but then I would have ended up with a sore shoulder again.  I'm sure with more practice the adaptor will become easier to use.

I currently have a list of 29 projects that are either WIPs or new starts that I have kitted up.  So I am using a random number generator to pick which project I will work on for the next week.  So this next week I will be stitching on Summer Garden from Little House Needleworks.  I am ashamed to say I have had this travelling pattern with me for nearly 12 months now but various things have happened over the year which have meant I haven't got round to starting it but now I finally have the fabric and threads and will stitch on it next week.

Keep stitching and smiling

Violet - Mill Hill Owlet - FINISH

I recently purchased the set of six Owlets from Mill Hill.  This was my first time doing a Mill Hill kit and the first time in a long time that I had done any beading.  I think this took me about four evenings to complete with three evenings of stitching and one of beading.  The best thing about these little kits is that the thread is DMC and the beads are of course Mill Hill - this means any extras left over of which there was quite a lot can be added to my existing stash.

Here's my completed owlet.

I bought some small canvases and easels from the Works recently for £1 each and the owlet fits perfectly on it.

I haven't backed it with anything yet but I think I will at some point just to ensure that none of the stitching or beads come unravelled.

I am very pleased with my little owlet and look forward to stitching the other five.

Keep stitching and smiling

Haul - July 2015

I've recently sold some of my stash that I know I will not stitch with mainly due to changes in my tastes and preferences.  So what does any stashaholic do with any money they get from selling stash?  Why they reinvest it in more stash!  So there's quite a lot to cover here so bear with me.

I purchased Frosty Knotgarden from Chatelaine as it is a chart I have wanted for a very long time and has just been re-released on Martina's new site.

I signed up for the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - A Very Merry Christmas Town which is a mystery SAL - part 1 has been released now and looks like this.  This will also be my first chart from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

I also bought my first chart from Eclectic Bloke Designs.  It is called Edna the Owl and is by Caroline Lord.  Unfortunately this chart has now been retired but I believe the artist may be doing her own cross stitch conversions in the future.

I also purchased a messenger bag with this design on from Zippi - it's a great bag was delivered really quickly and was a very reasonable price.

I bought my first chart from Nikki at Charting Creations.  It's called Imagination Unleashed.  I knew this chart was a must have when I lost two nights sleep thinking about how I could stitch it in different colours with speciality stitches.

I've wanted to stitch a biscornou for a long time so when I got an e-mail from Sew and So telling me they had 10% off their biscornous I took the plunge and got three!

The first is Knotted Garden.

The second Sunflower Fields.

And the third Flower Power.

I then bought some Needle Paints threads from a stash unload group on Facebook.  I have some of these threads but as I plan to stitch the Celtic Ladies from Lavender & Lace I thought a few extra might come in handy.

I bought myself a needleminder from Katty's Crafts.  The only thing I would say is that the magnet isn't really strong enough for my liking so I am going to add another magnet myself.

I bought myself some fabric from Chromatic Alchemy.  This is the piece I am going to stitch the Frosted Pumpkin piece on and it is absolutely stunning.  Whenever I take pictures of fabric they never come out properly so I am just going to link to the fabric so you can see the photo on there.  I bought the Opal Jazlyn in Nimbus and it is perfect.

I bought myself some threads from the Patchwork Rabbit.  There are two in here for the Frosted Pumpkin chart and the rest are for the Santa's Village charts from Country Cottage Needleworks.

I then placed another order for Sew and So.  

I got an adaptor for my Lowery stand as I was finding my longer frames were not as stable as I would like them to be.  The adaptor definitely helps with the.

I also purchased a chart from Just Nan called Christmas Elegance which is another one I have wanted to stitch for a long time.  I also bought some of the threads needed for this project.

I also got Celtic Autumn from Lavender and Lace.  This is a chart that I used to have and sold a long time ago but now I want to stitch it so have bought it again!!

And last but by no means least my gorgeous monthly threads from Jodyri Designs.

I have managed to do some stitching which I haven't show on my blog yet this month so will do another post later this week with my July stitching.  

If you've managed to make it through this massive haul post thank you for indulging me.

Keep stitching and smiling

Jodyri Mystery SAL - Part 6

The latest part of the Jodyri Mystery SAL was released today.  As I am model stitching it for Michelle I completed my part a few weeks ago.

Here is part 1:

And here is part 2:

And part 3:

And part 4:

And part 5:

And finally part 6:

I hope you are enjoying these updates as much as I enjoyed stitching them.

Keep stitching and smiling