I promised...

Don't let it be said I live in fear of Anna the Stitch Bitch, but I think she was expecting an update on my finishing weekend!

So, without further ado, here it is...

So, here we have two framed finishes, six pinkeeps and a scissors fob!

I confess, I used Spraymount and double sided tape rather than lacing, but I think I redeemed myself slightly by stitching up the sides of the pinkeeps rather than go for more glue. Glue and I don't get on. Spraymount and tape are about my limits...

This is a design by JBW Designs, French Country IV - Pumpkin. I love the colours of autumn, and I will possibly display this most of the year round as it goes with my living room decor.

The frame was a charity shop (thrift store) find, complete with double mount - it had a dull cheap print in it and it would have cost me less than £3 (US$5). Of course, I'd stitched the pumpkin on a piece of fabric a little too small for this, so it took quite a while to centre it up and to make sure the edges were hidden! The ripples you can see I think are from the glass, as the piece is actually smooth in real life!

This design is Easter Cracker from a kit by Bent Creek. I finished it last year but it's been sat in my drawer ever since. So only a year or so - that's not bad going by my standards!

The frame is another charity shop find, even cheaper. It was destined for another piece, but when I tried it against this one, it seemed to go so well to me that I can't now remember what I originally had planned for it!

Lack of fabric wasn't an issue with this, but it still took a while to centre and square up!

I'm so lucky to have four charity shops within a ten minute walk of the flat, I have come across some great finds.

I'll show you the other finishes in another post, time is getting on and I'm supposed to be getting dinner ready...

September Sampler Accent - Periwinkle Promises

Design: September Sampler Accent
Designer: Periwinkle Promises
Threads: Silks as charted (provided in kit)
Fabric: 28 count Glenshee linen

This was a quick construction to make the sampler accent into a little mini pillow to co-ordinate the others I have made from this designer. I didn't make the little tassels for the corners as I think the design is busy enough as it is!

Bloom Where You Are Planted - The Victoria Sampler

Design: Bloom Where You Are Planted (freebie available here)
Designer: Thea Dueck, The Victoria Sampler
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

My partner in the HoE Biscornu Exchange was Gabi, and having looked at her blog, I thought that she might like a design from The Victoria Sampler, so I chose one of the freebies and set to work.

I also liked Just Nan's way of using two different fabric colours for a biscornu. Isn't it amazing though just how different a design can look on a different background?

I used DMC threads through out, and I personalised the back with our locations and the blog name - our names were a bit too small to fill the space :o) I used beads to fill in the corners.

This was taken with my old camera, so it's not a very good picture of the top - the flash has washed out a lot of the detail, but the none-flash photos were too blurry to use!

Here is a close up of the back. For some reason, this photo came out fine!

And this is the full package I sent to Gabi - I went for nice flowery things to complement the stitched piece.

I do enjoy making biscornu, and receiving them too - my next post will show the one I received!

Rescued Stitching - Pincushions

I was rootling through the picture frames in a local charity shop, and found one that was the perfect size, finish and shape for one of my projects. Aha! So I pulled it out of the box, and saw that it already had stitching in it. Which made me a little sad, that someone could give away stitching, but the stitching and frame cost me only £1 and I knew both were going to a good home...

The multi aperature mount for the stitching was pretty poor - badly cut out and faded - so I took the whole thing apart, and - as planned - used the frame for something else. The stitching had been attached to the mount with double sided tape, and on looking closer at it, the stitching itself was uneven, with crosses going in both directions, and some stitches hadn't been completed either, and left half finished. The pieces were all on different sizes of fabric too. I wondered at the story behind them, and wondered what I could do with them...

A trip to my fabric stash found the perfect oddment of fabric with a garden theme, and I made them up into pincushions. This wasn't as easy as it seemed, as the borders on each piece weren't even, and on some I only had 2 or 2 aida blocks as a seam allowance...

But I do now have a trio of pincushions, and the colours match my living room decor! (as you can see - the photo was taken on my living room carpet)

Be Merry

Design: Be Merry
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count cream evenweave

I finished this up a while ago, with three other co-ordinating designs. I used beads for the "confetti" stitches, and put this together using the method The Drawn Thread use for their scissor fobs.

Valentine's Day Exchange

Design: All You Need is Love
Designer: The Drawn Thread (freebie available here)
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

I stitched this for Staci on the HoE blog.

The freebie from The Drawn Thread was originally much brighter - more reds and deep pinks - but I wanted something softer, so used the palette from the Heart Throb (below) and added a couple of my favourite greens from the 50* range of DMC. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Like all DT designs, it was a pleasure to stitch, and the stitch diagrams are so easy to follow.

I finished the piece as a mattress pincushion, but used a quilting fabric for the sides and base, instead of an evenweave. I think if I do this another time, I will use four shorter pieces instead of one long one, as I think there is room for improvement in the corners, but overall I like the effect, and Staci has told me she likes it, and that's all that matters!

These are the rest of the goodies I sent along - I had a good time finding pink and flowery things. I'm not normally so girly, but sometimes one has to be girly! I found the heart in a gift shop which specialises in 'Fair Trade' goods and it's got me thinking about whether I could do something similar ... LOL

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who reads my blog - may you feel loved and blessed today.

Heart Throb - The Drawn Thread

Design: Heart Throb - freebie available here
Designer: The Drawn Thread
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

I love The Drawn Thread designs, and whilst I was looking through my charts for ideas for the HoE Valentine's Exchange, couldn't resist stitching this up for myself!

Despite all the speciality stitches - and I even did the dreaded Queen Stitches! - it's a reasonably quick stitch, and the result is so pretty :o) Because Cathy gave me a wonderful Valentine fob (see previous post) this is now hanging from a drawer knob :o)

Snowman - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Snowman (from Tiny Tidings IV)
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

The snowman originally had white metallic snowflakes, but I don't think they stood out very well. Rather than frog them. I stitched white beads on top before making the ornament up as per the others.

Noel - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Noel (from Tiny Tidings IV)
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

Another ornament made up - done in exactly the same way as the snowman, but a few threads different in size.

Sheep - Lizzie*Kate

Design : Sheep (from Tiny Tidings IV)
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

This sheepie had been hanging around for a while, and finally this Christmas, got beads on the wreath and finished into an ornament. I used the method that The Drawn Thread use for their fobs, as there was a lot of spare fabric round him.

Advent Calendar

I made this advent calendar six years ago for The Hermit, before I realised the extent of his allergy to Christmas. I already have an advent calendar (with huge pockets!) so this has been languishing in a drawer for some time.

This year, I decided that it deserved a good home, so I stuffed the pockets with chocolate and gave it to my dad :o)

Design details: An Avon kit, probably 8-10 years old

Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge

As the office is going to be closed from Christmas Eve to 5 January, I will have Twelve Days to (hopefully) do not very much apart from stitch, read and get a head start on next semester's work.

So, I've decided that my focus will be to get as many Christmas UFOs and making up as possible done, so that I can enjoy them this season!

To make up:

Be Merry - Lizzie*Kate - to add beads and make into an ornament
Ho Ho Ho - Lizzie*Kate - to finish into a wallhanging
Noel - Lizzie*Kate - to add beads and make into an ornament
Peace Joy Love - Lizzie*kate - to finish into a cushion cover
Sheep - Lizzie*Kate - to add beads and make into an ornament
Snowman - Lizzie*Kate - to add beads and make into an ornament
A Merry Tree for Thee - to finish as a pinkeep
Winter - Trail Creek Farm - to finish as a scissor fob
Winter ABCs - Lizzie*Kate - to frame

UFOs:

Christmas Felt Wallhanging - Bucilla
Hearts of Joy No. 2 - Charland Designs
Holly Berries - DMC
Metallic Christmas Decoration - DMC
O Christmas Tree - Prairie Schooler
Sequinned Ornaments x 6 - Bucilla

Merry Christmas!

Floss Tag Exchange - What I Sent

This is the exchange I made for Ina (no blog) over on the Hooked on Exchanges blog.

The first floss tag is made with motifs from a Brenda Keyes book in my own choice of floss colours. I chose a tulip because Ina lives in Holland :o)

The second tag was also from an alphabet in a Brenda Keyes book, but much more modern in style, and trimmed with buttons.

The goodies included some stitching band, floss bobbins and rings, threads, a homemade card, and some scissors made in Sheffield, my home city. Sheffield is world famous for steel, but these days it is mainly specialist engineering steels that are made here, and very little in the way of cutlery and other blades.

Edited to add: for some reason, Blogger is cutting photos at odd places when I upload them from photobucket. I'm not sure how to fix it!

Quaker Hedgehog - The Workbasket

Design: Quaker Hedgehog
Designer: The Workbasket (freebie available here)
Threads: DMC 4130 Color Variations
Fabric: 28 linen, cream

I stitched this little chappie for a private exchange with Karen and it was hard to part with him, but he went to a good home! He is stitched over one, as I wasn't sure how big a floss tag should be - I think it would have been okay over two, and I might do that when I stitch him for myself.

And this is the back ... You can just see I whipstitched the edges, which gives a decorative effect and means no struggling with turning a piece through a tiny opening!

Fall Into Autumn - Rainbow Gallery

Design: Fall into Autumn Designer: Erica Michaels for Rainbow Gallery (freebie available here) Threads: own choice (mainly Anchor stranded cottons) Fabric: 14 count aida, cream Finishing: Pinkeep

Although I'm currently not active on the Crazy Exchange group, I recently completed a birthday exchange for Marlies there - I had already received you see, my birthday being in February. It was really nice to have another exchange to put together and I found lots of nice autumnal themed items to add to the package - it's amazing what one can get in a fairly small padded envelope! LOL

The card is one I made myself, as is the floss tag. Also added to the package were two small charts, a small kit, some backing fabric, beads, rayon floss, metallic floss, multi coloured floss and a small spring hoop!

Marlies told me she felt very spoiled, so I feel my work is done :o)

Prairie Schooler Exchange

Design: From the Pins and Needles Chart, Book 115
Designer: Prairie Schooler
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

I've just heard that Ulla has received my HoE Prairie Schooler Exchange. I really loved stitching this - just looking at it brings back memories of the Olympics - which is perhaps why I didn't stop at just one item, I was so immersed in listening to the Games!

All the designs come from Book 115, Pins and Needles. I modified the construction of the scissor keep - it is lined with red felt and backed with the fabric you can see in the photo. It was a bit of 'suck it and see' finish and I nearly didn't send it. The pinkeep is also backed with the printed fabric. The thread fob uses an element from the design and I added Ulla's name to it - the reverse has another fob and my initials and the year. To complete the exchange, I added a PS chart - Welcome Home.

Needleroll - Cathy Bussi

Design: Needleroll (from an old edition of Needlecraft magazine, sometime in 2000)
Designer: Cathy Bussi
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, bone

I stitched this piece for the recent needleroll exchange over on Hooked on Exchanges. I'm not normally a big stitcher of delicate pieces in pastels, but I really enjoyed making this for Amy, and I'm so glad she liked it! I added beads and an irridescent heart from my stash, and my LNS sells irridescent ribbon which matched perfectly :o) I do like making needlerolls, even the hemstitching is fun (now!)

Below you can see the complete exchange I sent, which included one of my floss tags:

Ontario Heart - Victoria Sampler

Design: Hearts of Canada: Ontario Heart
Designer: The Victoria Sampler (Thea Dueck)
Threads: DMC as charted, Kreinik braid
Fabric: 25 count evenweave, white

I made this design into a pinkeep for The Hermit's birthday as he was born and brought up in Ontario. I'm not completely happy with it, as I think it is a little large and not taut enough, but I've used glue and I don't know whether it will come apart without ruining the stitching. If I do dismantle it, I was thinking of remaking it in a heart shape - would that work, do you think?

The Bees - Eventide Designs

Design: The Bees
Designer: Eventide Designs
Threads: DMC and GAST Clover
Fabric: 28 count linen from Silkweaver

This piece was originally framed, but it dropped off the wall and the frame broke! Rather than re-frame it, as nice small square frames are hard to find, I made it into another pinkeep :o)

Bee Hive - Elizabeth's Designs

Design: Bee Hive
Designer: Elizabeth's Designs
Threads: Gentle Arts Sampler Threads
Fabric: 28(ish) count linen, antique white - but not even!

I hope that you're not fed up of the pin keep finishes yet, as I'm not - it's a great way of finishing small pieces, and they don't then take up my limited wall space - I can pop them on a shelf, in a basket, almost anywhere!