Finish or Fling? - Emerald Mermaid

 

One day, The Hermit was with me when I was in my LNS (now closed) and was flicking through the charts as I chatted to Maureen, and had some fabbie cut. He admired several of the Mirabilia mermaid charts and as he doesn't often ask for me to make him stuff, I rashly said I would stitch him a mermaid ... and he picked this one ...

This is probably one of the biggest guilt magnets in my UFO piles because it is for my best-beloved. He does have several pieces I've done for him, but this was one *he* chose...

  

One day, it may look like this - you can see how much I have to do...

Pros:

• It's for The Hermit
• It's on linen
• It's not blue

Cons:

• There's a lot of work to do
• Beading and metallic threads
• Size for handling

So - Finish or Fling?

Verdict: Finish. Although possibly not this year!

Finish or Fling? - Daisy Chain

 

This Anchor kit came to me in a bag of bits acquired from a charity shop. I possibly know why the original owner discarded it - there's been a few counting errors. Well, we all know that's a reason for more than a few of my own UFOs...

Pros:

• Not of a lot of stitching to do

Cons:

• Not really my style
• Wouldn't fit my niece's room
• On aida
• Mostly backstitch to do
• Will have to fudge a little

So - Finish or Fling?

Verdict  - I don't really know on this one. Would anyone like to adopt an elephant and finish it?

Finish or Fling? - February Block Flip It

 

This is a more recent WIP - I remember working on it during some journeys to work in Chesterfield in 2008, and losing the bag of threads on the bus :o( - which is why it got set aside.

The design is  February Block Flip It, by one of my favourite designers, Lizzie*Kate.

Pros:

• Like the design, and have the set of charts
• Not a lot of stitching to get a finish

Cons:

• Can't think of any, hopefully the design isn't jinxed though!

So - Finish or Fling?



Verdict: Finish

Finish or Fling? Country Cottage

 

This cute little design comes from Jolly Red, and I bought it from eBay a number of years ago - at least seven years ago, because I remember stitching it on the tram to work from my old house. I put it aside because I made an error on it.

Pros:

• Very cute design
• Would look great in my niece's room
• Simple to work - no backstitch

Cons:

• Need to work out where I went wrong
• Stitched on aida

So, Finish or Fling?

Verdict: Finish

Finish or Fling? Christmas Felt Wallhanging

 

Finish or Fling has had a bit of a break, while I've been thinking of new stuff to work on - even if that's not quite what designating 2010 "The Year of the UFO" was all about...

This was something else I bought in Havant, I think. So it dates back to 1998, if not earlier. It's quite a big piece, it's designed to have three strings of Christmas cards hanging from it.

Pros:

• Quite a lot has been done
• It's very cute

Cons:

• Beading is fiddly
• It's going to annoy The Hermit and aggravate his allergy to Christmas!

So ... Finish or Fling?

Verdict: Finish.

Valentine Biscornu - Linden Bee Designs

 

Design: Valentine Biscornu - freebie design available here

Designer: Linden Bee Designs (i.e. me!)

Threads: DMC in three shades of pink - I've used the "antique" colourway on the chart

Fabric: 16 count aida, grey but overdyed with tea by me.

My design style seems to have settled into incorporating words with little sampler motifs, and the word on this Valentine biscornu is "amour" ... seems a bit more glamorous ;o)

Again, I used some tea dyed aida to give it an antique feel and chose the colours to go with it. I thought about beading the edge, but it seemed a bit too much, as the borders are quite busy.

 

The middle is drawn in with just a single bead, which was quite fiddly!

Valentine Fob - Linden Bee Designs

Design: Valentine Scissor Fob - freebie design available here

Designer: Linden Bee Designs (i.e. me!)

Threads: DMC in three shades of pink - I've used the "antique" colourway on the chart

Fabric: 16 count aida, grey but overdyed with tea by me.

This little fob is stitched from my own design, and I dyed the fabric too. So perhaps I can be excused my little glow of satisfaction :o)

The fabric was some I got in a grab bag, and it was rather a drab grey/blue colour. So I stewed it in some very strong tea and it came out looking suitably aged. Hence my decision to work the "antique" colourway on this.

I was surprised by how much more delicate the 16 count looks to my previous fobs on 14 count.

 

You can't see it very clearly, but there's a heart shaped charm attached at the top, which says "Made With Love" on it.

February Goals

Well, if there was a groundhog in my garden yesterday (not likely, they don't live in the UK!) it would have seen it's shadow in the morning. And then at teatime, it started snowing... there's not much, but looks like winter isn't over ...

So, what better to contemplate getting through a wintry month than my stitching and knitting goals? Here's what I want to achieve in February:

Sew charms onto:

• Bee Joyful
• Bee Merry

Finish:

• Bless The Baby
• D is for Drum
• February Scissor Fob
• Sew Red for Your Heart Exchange
• Ripple Wave Socks

Start and Finish:

• February Biscornu
• 28 Innocent Smoothie Hats
• One quilt block

Frog or Finish:

• Colonnade Wrap

Frame or have Framed:

• Bathroom Plaque
• Alphabet Sampler
• Bee My Honey Bee

Giveaway:

• One to celebrate my birthday!

Fundraising:

•  £20 for the MS Trust

January Review

I didn't specifically set any goals for January - apart from not making any new starts until I had completed some of my outstanding UFOs.

That resolution got broken. Big style.

I blame my new addiction to designing, and the need to stitch up models. I'm going to have to work on a better balance for this...

Anyway, I managed seven finishes for the month:

• Valentine Biscornu - Linden Bee Designs  
• Valentine Scissor Fob - Linden Bee Designs
• January Snow Biscornu - Linden Bee Designs 
• January Snow Scissor Fob - Linden Bee Designs
• A is for Anchor - Prairie Schooler 
• New Year Biscornu - Linden Bee Designs
• New Year Scissor Fob - Linden Bee Designs 

Charts for all my designs are available - follow the links in the sidebar.

Knitting has slowed because of all the stitching, but I did manage some finishes:

• Innocent Smoothie Hats = 37
• Knitted Netbook Cover
• Tardis Washcloth 

However, only one item from my box of finished pieces got made up:

• Alphabet Sampler - Needlecraft - Long Pillow  

There's great news on the fundraising front though - donations to the MS Trust have reached £43! A big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed, it really is appreciated. Considering I set a target of £100 for the year, to have got to 43% of the target in the first month is fab!

So, now to plan my goals for this month ...

Katie's January Biscornu

Katie - find her blog here - has just sent me these pictures of her finished January Biscornu. Hasn't she done a great job?! I love how she's taken some of the design elements and created her own reverse to make it really personal. Katie chose her own colours - DMC 799, 3078, and 3756 - and they work really well together with the navy fabric.


And thank you Katie for your kind words about my blog! I've emailed you to get your address, so look out for a prize coming your way soon ;o)


If you'd like your own copy of the chart, follow the link above and leave a comment. If you already have the chart, you too could receive a prize if you send me a picture of your finished article!