CJC – 7th finish of the challenge, a Christmas ornie and some WIP updates

Let’s start with the finish, really should have posted this last week, but just didn’t have the time. The Crazy January Challenge (CJC) finish is the cross stitched part of the wall hanging mail organizer I’m making for my mum. Now I just have to sew on to some fabric and make it into a wall hanging. Should have it in the mail for my mum next week (fingers crossed)

I also finished my Christmas ornament for March last week, it’s a Liz Almond design which was in the free Christmas design booklet which came with The World of Cross Stitch issue 170. I used Madeira Decora and Silk floss in green, red and gold, and some red Gütermann beads, and stitched it on plain old 16-count white aida. The pics aren’t great for this one, so I put in two (excellent logic, no?).

I’ve also been working on two WIPs.

Mostly it’s been my Sleepy Hollow Sampler by Raise the Roof. I really do love this one and can’t wait to finish it and frame it. There is still quite a bit to do, the story excerpt at the bottom and of course the border, but every single stitch is a joy!

This last one it’s been a while since I worked on, it’s the Stitcher’s Sampler. It’s a little slow going as I’m having trouble making the changes I want to it, but I’ll get there eventually. At least all the borders are done now.

Stitcher’s Sampler – 2nd Update

I haven’t been able to work on this project much, which is a shame as I love the design, but other projects must take precedence. It is especially the wedding project which is taking me away from this design, after all it has a deadline, a quickly approaching deadline.

Keeping that in mind I’ll show you the little progress I have made. Most of the border is done and since the first update I also finished the hearts in the inner most box. This project has not turned out as I had imagined, when I first got the chart from Rosemary I started planning the colours etc., but when I got my hand dyed floss from Polstitches I knew I had to included it. Then I won a giveaway with some other hand dyed cottons (Pomme de Pin) and knew I had to included them too. All of a sudden the sampler became not just a celebration of stitching, but also of colour.

So here is where I’m up to.

A closer look at the border colours.

The hearts in the inner box are stitched in Polstitches Dragonfloss – Seawitch and a bright yellow cotton, the inner border is stitched in Pomme de Pin Pimprenelle and the lighter outer border is Pomme de Pin Evanescence. I’m seriously loving hand dyes!

New Cross Stitch WIP – Stitcher’s Sampler

The other day I finally made a start on my newest project, The Stitcher’s Sampler. The chart is from World of Cross Stitching (WOXS) issue 146.
This is what it will eventually look like, with a few changes to make it more personalized to me.

I’m stitching my version on a piece of 14-count hand dyed aida I got in my grab bag from Polstitches. I think it’s ‘Rustic Rhubarb’, but can’t be sure. I’ve only managed to stitch the middle words so far, and for this I used Polstitches Dragonfloss – Outragous. Just love the colours in that floss.

ATC exchange – Winter/Snow themed

I recently joined a xstitch forum, and once on there I just had to join their various exchanges. This one is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) exchange, with the theme Winter and/or Snow. ATC’s are restricted on size, they should always be 2.5 x 3.5 inches, so I chose to do it on 16 count aida so I could fit more on to it. The motif is from a Luxury chart book which I believe was a freebie with World Of Cross Stitching in September or October, I changed the colours, stitching the snowman with white DMC metallic thread. It was a pain but it looks much better than the charted pale blue. The stars and writing was made with Madeira metallic thread which were also freebies except I can’t remember from where, and the border was made with a mix of madeira metallic and DMC cotton.

And here is the picture
Front

Back

Cuddly Bears

There is nothing quite as cute and cuddly as a bear (not real ones of course, I wouldn’t advice anyone to cuddle them). World of Crossstitching (WOXS) as a series going with patriot bears and when Australia Day came around I just knew I had to stitch the Aussie Bear for her.

Here he is, in some nice yellow card.

The newest WOXS has a Norwegian bear, so I’m off to stitch her next 🙂

2009 Christmas Cards

What was that? Do I know it’s February? Of course I do, it’s not like I’m showcasing next years cards (if I do that before August you may have me commited).

The reason I’m putting these up so late is that I sent them out late and I wanted to be sure everyone had theirs before i put the pictures up.

Here we go then

This was made for MIL and FIL. They used to have the cutest westie in the world, so this is in memory of her. The design is adapted from a Joan Elliott design ‘Santa’s Helpers’ which appeared in WOXS – World of Cross Stitching ( I think), The original had several cute puppies surrounded by pressies and x-mas decorations, but I just stitched two of the pups seperately. So here is the Westie

The other pup was stitched for my mum, a Golden Lab I think it is. I was really looking for a rottweiler, but couldn’t find one. Maybe I’ll try and design one for next christmas

The third card was a freebie design from Crossstitcher issue 220, I made it for my big brother, SIL and nephew. It’s just soooo cute and perfect for kids. I changed the original text to say Merry Christmas in Norwegian instead of in English.

The next two cards are from the same design, from Crossstitch Collection if I remember correctly. I just love that cat, it’s so cheeky.
The one on the right is stitched in the colours given in the chart and was for my little brother and his girlfriend, and the one on the left is for my BIL and future SIL. The colours were changed to match their newest kitty Mogli.

This next one was from a X-mas card chart book from WOXS, and was for my dad. It looks so much nicer in real life, the purple metallic card really suits the design, but taking pics of metallic card is a b***h

I don’t have individual pic of the last three, and dad’s raindeer main it onto this card too 🙂 The two bird ones were from the same chartbook as the raindeer and were for DH’s Grandma and Nan, while the Happy Christmas one was from one of the magazines, Crossstitcher I think, and for DH’s aunt and uncle.

Well that was it, next year I’m aiming to do more cards. There were so many designs i never to around to and I’m sure the mags will have plenty of great designs this year as well.

New Year’s Resolutions – Part Deux

 

While NYR1 (New Year Resolution 1) comes with a lot of hard work and the possibility of failing at my chosen career, NYR2 is a little more frivolous, although it still involves some work. So without further ado…

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION 2

In short, cross-stitching.

Ok, maybe a longer explanation is required. Apart from writing and reading I have never really stuck with a hobby. Then this summer I got bit by the stitching bug and I’m still going strong, even though I have yet to finish the first project I started. Now, I know myself very well, and I can be as brutally honest about myself as I can about other people. I get lazy, I get lazy and I quit whatever I’m doing, essentially I’m a quitter. So my second resolution is not to quit, it might seem simple to you, but for me it will require work. First of all I know that if I start a lot of big projects I’ll never complete them coz I’ll get bored. I have so many things on my to-stitch list, but I can’t do them all of course and I can’t do them all for me, that would just be a waste. So I’m going to pick ones to stitch for my family’s birthdays, that will give me deadlines, and to have some smaller projects on the go I’m going to stitch a card a week; birthday, mother’s day, father’s day, Valentine’s day, anniversary and Christmas cards. This way I’ll have cards for all occasions and I’ll have a feeling of accomplishment while struggling along with the bigger projects. It also means I’ll avoid the X-mas card fiasco of 2009. What was the problem you ask? Well I finished stitching the last card on New Year’s Day. Luckily this is exactly what my family expects of me, I’ve been know to hand over x-mas gifts in July, so x-mas cards in January isn’t really all that bad. Pictures of the 2009/10 batch will be up shortly by the way, I almost don’t want to give some of them away. In fact hubby doesn’t think I’ll actually send them, but more on that in a later post.
So NYR2 is this: stitch presents for birthdays and other occasions, the main stitching project will be a wedding sampler for BIL and SIL-to-be, Charlie’s Ark pictures for my nephew, something as of yet undecided for my mum, a cushion for my MIL and a picture of a baby orangutan for hubby (specially requested) In addition everyone will receive stitched birthday etc cards.
For myself I will start the year stitching the Emily Peacock ‘HUG’ cushion, as well as doing Joan Elliott’s spring and summer fairies with the recommended Polstitches hand dyed fabric. In addition I have to finish my own wedding sampler aka the 1st project aka the bane of my life, and the Foxgloves from “The country Diary of an Edwardian Lady”. I’m sure some more stuff will pop up through the year as well.
That’s that for my New Year’s Resolutions, I’ll keep a steady update on both resolutions, with pictures of the stitching and plot info for the stories, so keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck …

WELCOME TO 2010