An Old Finish, Emily Peacock’s HUG cushion

I finished the cross stitch on this cushion ages ago, there is even a post about it. Yikes, that was 2 years ago! Well you will be happy to know it did not take me two years to finish it into a cushion, I got a sewing machine as a wedding anniversary gift in October 2011 and made it up shortly after that. But it has taken me since then to blog about it.

I love the light brown and ivory striped ticking cotton fabric I used for the backing and while the pom-pom trim was a pain in the backside to stitch on (and is nowhere near perfect) I’m glad I persevered with it. I bought the fabric from a fab eBay seller, they had the most amazingly gorgeous fabric (expensive though), but they don’t seem to be selling any more, which is a shame (don’t worry, I did stock up quite a bit while they were in business).

It took me forever to find an inner for it, if making a cushion cover I would definitely suggest finding an inner and making the cushion cover to fit it rather than the other way around. My inner is not a perfect fit, but it was cheap (from ikea) and the best I could find. I love my HUG cushion and I wish I had my KISS one finished as well since they would look so great together but that particular WIP has not been touched for a while. To be honest I haven’t even stitched since last summer, completely lost my bug. I have a feeling it will be back soon and hopefully it will stay for while, long enough for em to finish some WIPs at any rate.

First cross stitch finishes of 2011

I have my first two finishes of 2011. The first one is a long time coming, I’ve spent almost exactly one year on it.

It is of course the Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion.

It still needs to be made up into a cushion, but I’m leaving it until the hot water bottle cover and wall hanging is stitched so I can have a finishing day with Paul’s nan and get them all done. I haven’t actually bought fabric for it yet, in the instructions they use pale pink cotton, but I was thinking maybe a fuchsia silk fabric (I was eying some up at Abakhan the other day). I’m so relieved it’s done, it’s been hard going from start to finish really, the big stitches and the block colors really drove me crazy, it made it so boring to stitch. It looks great finished though, and once it’s a cushion it’ll look even better. Now I just need to finish ‘KISS’ so I have a match set, that thought is the only thing which will make me finish it. As mentioned before, this was stitched on 11-count aida using the charted DMC floss.

My second finish was far more fun, and quick. I started it as part of the Crazy January Challenge, it was my day 6 project I believe.
It’s a Lizzie*Kate design called Time for God, which I stitched over one on 32-count linen so it would be the perfect size for a bookmark. I had seen a fellow Crossstitchforum member do it, and was immediately inspired. It will be a gift for my SIL’s mum, who will be 60 in the next few weeks. She is the only person I know who is christian (not just Christmas and Easter), so I just knew I had to stitch this for her. I used the charted Weeks Dye Works with this design, and the fabric was DMC 32-count Raw Linen.

I have a couple of other finishes too, but the pictures for those will have to wait until they arrive at their new homes.

I’m off to do my Happy Dances

2011 WiP List

I thought it might be a good idea to list my current WiPs now that my 15 projects from the ‘Crazy January challenge have been started.

I’m listing my quick finishes first, once they are out of the way (most of them only need a day or two really)

1.Lizzie*Kate ‘Time for God’

2. Valentine’s Biscornu

3. Snowflake Biscornu

4. Christmas Ornament (Sampler Girl freebie)

5. Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion

6. Wall hanging mail organizer

7. Lizzie*Kate ‘All You Need Is Love’

8. Blackwork Lady

9. Solo Brode SAL ‘En attendant l’été’

10. Hot Water Bottle Cover

11. Wedding Sampler

And here are the bigger projects:

12. Jungle Scamp

13. Sleepy Hollow Sampler

14. Emily Peacock ‘KISS cushion’

15. PINN Stitch ‘Tranquille Valley’

16. Panda Baby

17. HAED ‘QS Rose Dreaming’

18. Stitcher’s Sampler

I’m thinking week long rotations once I’ve finished the deadline ones, one of the big project a week plus one small one for distraction. Of course the Christmas Ornament and Snowflake biscornu will be replace with by a new biscornu for February and a new ornament as well.

For now I’m focusing on finishing the Time for God bookmark and biscornus.

What’s Your Goal?

You might have noticed I didn’t bother with New Years Resolutions this year. Last year’s were ok, I kept to most of them, but didn’t want to do it like that again this year. For 2011 I’ve decided I want to go with monthly goals. On the 1st of each month I’ll post my goals, some will be the same month after month, others will be month specific. On the 1st I’ll also post a summery of how I’ve done on the month just gone, just to keep score.

I realize we’re almost at the end of January, but I really think I should post the goal for this month, after all one should start as one means to go on.

Every Month:

1. Post on my blog at least once a week
2. Post picture of my TUSAL jar on each new moon
3. Stitch a biscornu for my Basket of Biscornus (I haven’t bothered joining the official blog, I’m just gonna do it on my lonesome)
4. Stitch a Christmas ornament
5. Plot 3 new stories/plotlines
6. Write 10,000 new words (either on existing novels or new stories)
7. Read 4 books a month, and write reviews for them

January Only:

1. Start and complete the first 15 days of the Crazy January Challenge 2011
2. Finish Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion
3. Start and finish Lizzie*Kate ‘Time for God’ design as a bookmark
4. Start c25k (Couch 2 5k) training plan

I’m sure I had a few more, but those are the ones which came to mind. Please come back on the 1st to see February’s goals and so how I got on with this month’s list.

Do you have any goals for this month, or this year?
Tell us about them!

Cross Stitching Update: Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ Cushion January 2011

You really are due an update on this project, to be fair I did leave it for a while. Once we got back to the UK I picked it up every now and again, but it wasn’t until Christmas that I began stitching on with more of a purpose. I really want to have it finished now!

For the Crazy January Challenge I added the KISS cushion as one of my projects, this has spurred me on as I have decided HUG needs to be finished before I can do serious work on KISS. So today I knuckled down and got the ‘G’ done! I only have one colour left now, and that is white. I need to fill the flowers in the brown border from ‘U’ onwards and I also need to fill the leave or paisley figures after the ‘G” with white. Then I’m DONE DONE DONE. Well with the cross stitching at least 🙂 If I get this finished by the end of January I’ll have finished this in a year, hope KISS doesn’t take me as long.

The whole as it looks now

Just the ‘G’ and the end bit

Crazy January Challenge 2011 – DAY 8

Today I decided the time had come to start Emily Peacock’s KISS cushion. However, I had previously decided that my HUG cushion needed to be done before work could commence on KISS. So, to keep to the challenge I stitched a little bit on KISS and then went over to HUG. Here is my KISS start, not much at all, but at least it’s a start. I should be able to work on it some more in the near future though. Like the HUG cushion I’m working this on 11-count aida, such a change from the projects I’ve had so far during this challenge

Watch out for an update on HUG…

2010 in review

Below are the blog stat’s for 2010. I want to thank everyone who comes by my blog for taking the time to visit, and I hope you’ll come again in 2011.
I should also mention that these numbers are hugely inflated, I currently get about 100 views a day 90% of which are from people searching for the Emily Peacock HUG and KISS cushions. Maybe I should send a thank you letter to Kirsty Allsop since this trend only developed after she featured Emily Peacock on the “Homemade … ” show.

Happy 2011 everybody!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2010. That’s about 24 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 63 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 142 posts.

The busiest day of the year was November 16th with 642 views. The most popular post that day was Cross stitching Update: Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were crossstitchforum.com, en.wordpress.com, facebook.com, claire93.wordpress.com, and search.bt.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for mcsteamy, hyacinth gardens, classic winnie the pooh, emily peacock hug chart, and mc steamy.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Cross stitching Update: Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion May 2010
10 comments

2

McDreamy, McSteamy and McChicks July 2009
2 comments

3

Cross Stitching Projects: Classic Winnie the Pooh and Piglet Complete January 2010
2 comments

4

RIP Hyacinth Gardens January 2010

5

Cross Stitching Update: Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion August August 2010
9 comments

Revised List for Crazy January Challenge 2011

Made a couple of changes (changes or additional info in bold) so provided I get my new stash in time this is it now, I have until Day 9 before I need any of the supplies though so it should be fine.
Starting with item 3 today, my mother’s wall hanging. Will give you an update at the end of the day. Now it’s bed time though, so nighty, night!

1. ‘Jungle Scamp’ by Maria Diaz from Cross Stitch Collection February 2010)

2. KISS cushion by Emily Peacock

3. A cross stitched wall hanging mail organizer (is there a better name for them?) My mom wanted one so I’ve found an alphabet I liked along with some motifs.

4. Blackwork Lady from WOXS Summer 2010

5. Baby Panda by Pollyanna Pickering from Cross Stitch Collection June 2010

6. Wedding sampler
Stitching this freebie (scroll down a bit for Coeur), and adding the names and date inside the heart.

7. All you Need Is Love by Lizzie*Kate

8. Snowflake biscornu by Faby Reilly – Decided I want to do a Basket of Biscornus this year so it’s a good a time as an to get started.

9. 2011 Christmas Ornament – I’m planning on doing one a month so a great time to kick start this
The Sampler Girl – Christmas Eve Flight Freebie

10. Tranquil Valley by PINN Stitch

11. Sleepy Hollow by Raise the Roof Designs

12. 2011 Birthday Cards – will try and do better this year with cards out at the right time etc.
First up, hubby’s birthday I’m thinking this one, but over one on evenweave to make it smaller

13. Time for God by Lizzie*Kate

14. Hot water bottle cover – will be stitching this straight on to fleece using waste canvas. Going to use a few different monochrome motifs, winter themed.

15. En attendant l’été by Solo Brode
This is a SAL I signed up to Summer 2010, I ended up not having the time to stitch it then so though this would be a great time to stitch it. Plus my list needed something summery.

Crazy January Challenge 2011

In a fit of madness I’ve signed up to the Crazy January Challenge 2011, masterminded by Minna.

The rules of the challenge are as follows:

1. Start stitching a new design every day, from January 1st to January 15th. So by January 15th you have 15 new WIPs to stitch!

2. Finish everything you started stitching during the year 2011.

3. Show photos in your blog if you have one, in January and during the whole year while you stitch.

4. Have fun stitching!

I have a few projects I want to start so this is the perfect excuse, I haven’t quite put 15 together yet though, but I’m sure I’ll have it sorted before it’s time to stitch it. Will just stitch the sorted and kitted out ones first.

So here is my almost complete list:

1. ‘Jungle Scamp’ by Maria Diaz from Cross Stitch Collection February 2010)

2. KISS cushion by Emily Peacock

3. A cross stitched wall hanging mail organizer (is there a better name for them?) My mom wanted one so I’ve found an alphabet I liked along with some motifs.

4. Blackwork Lady from WOXS Summer 2010

5. Baby Panda by Pollyanna Pickering from Cross Stitch Collection June 2010

6. Wedding sampler
Stitching this freebie (scroll down a bit for Coeur), and adding the names and date inside the heart.

7. HAED A Favour by Edmund Blair Leighton

8. Snowflake biscornu by Faby Reilly – Decided I want to do a Basket of Biscornus this year so it’s a good a time as an to get started.

9. 2011 Christmas Ornament – I’m planning on doing one a month so a great time to kick start this

10. Tranquil Valley by PINN Stitch

11. Sleepy Hollow by Raise the Roof Designs

12. 2011 Birthday Cards – will try and do better this year with cards out at the right time etc.
First up, hubby’s birthday I’m thinking xbox related.

13. Time for God by Lizzie*Kate

14. Hot water bottle cover – will be stitching this straight on to fleece using waste canvas. Just need to decide on motif

15. Undecided

Cross Stitching Update: Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion August

I’m a little ashamed to admit this, but the poor HUG cushion has been neglected during previous UFO weeks. It hasn’t been touched since the last update I gave you in May, so when August UFO week came along I knew I couldn’t put off stitching on it any longer. My goal was modest, extend the border to cover the space where the ‘U’ would be and stitch the outline for the ‘U’. I’m happy to say I out did myself, not only did I reach my goal I actually managed to finish the entire ‘U’. That means I’m over half way there.

So here is the whole design as it’s now looking now

And here is just the ‘U’

The ‘HUG’ cushion is designed by Emily Peacock and stitched on 11 count white aida using three strands of DMC floss as recommended in the chart. All colours used are as charted.