DIY framing

You may remember last year I finished a UFO that I'd had hanging about for years and hated stitching but at the time my Mum said that she would quite happily give it a new home. I was going to give it her for Christmas but never got round to get it laced and framed, today while I had the cutting mat etc out to put together an exchange I also cut the mount board for this and got it laced (I'm making the most of Mum and Dad being in Wales) Apologies for the bad pic but try as I might I couldn't get a decent one quite poss. because it's very cloudy here today

A much better pic of the frame

There is a reason for the background but all will become clear in a few days and besides it's much interesting than the carpet on my bedroom floor :)

Now go on own up who fell off their seat with the shock of a post 4 days running :)

I'm glad it's finished

On and off for the last month I've been working on this birth sampler for a customer of my craft shop and I put the final stitch in just after lunch today.

I feel so sorry for the little girl saddled with that name, she's in for a rough ride at school (whatever happenned to giving you child a fairly normal name?).

And I also vow that I will never again stitch an Anchor kit! Stitching the x's was a doddle but the backstitch was a nightmare and frequently had me going crossed eyed which is why something so small took me a month to do. I tell you I am going to through my stash and get rid of any of their kits I have and I'm considering writing to them and asking them if the person that designs for them has ever tried to stitch one of them on aida with the stupid BS they have.

This evening I finished the card for my parents as well so 2 HD's in one day but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for a pic of it once I've finished finished it.

BTW sorry for the bad pic, that was the best of the dozen or so I took. The aida is actually cream and the colours are quite bright.

Chrsitmas Stash and HD

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas

I thought I'd share a pic of the stash I received from Secret Santa, I don't yet know who it was but it will be revealed some time over the next few days. The fabric is SMF Moondust and I have a project in mind for it(must of been fate when I ordered the chart at Nimble Thimble a few days ago!) and the pink skien is NN #5 perle

Not long before Midnight Chrismas Day I finished Bigger Stash, my Birthday start this year, and fingers crossed I'll get a couple more things done by the end of the year.

My Stash is Bigger Than your Stash

Forever in my Heart

Started May 16

Finished December 25

Finishes I can share :)

I finished this about 1/2 hour ago, yay. Tomorrow morning I'll get it made up then I can drop it off with my Hairdresser. Every year she does a raffle for something/someone local and all the prizes are donated by her customers, this year I decieded that I would do an ornament for her.

Jingle Sparkle Joy

Freebie from Midsummer Night Designs

Last night was WI craft night and we made a Magic Wallet, this is one of the rare times I've actually finished the project! It's really quiet simple to make, the hardest part is getting the tension on the ribbon inside

A little Happy Dance

I took part in my first SAT over on Let's Stitch last night and I carried on working on this years ornament for my Parents. I didn't quite finish him by Midnight but an hour this morning to add the beads and the stitching is done.

Prancer

JBW Designs

2004 JCS Ornament Issue

Second HD of the day

A freebie from Sparklies that I started when I helped man the stand at a stitching show in Bakewell back in August
It's on Sparklies Slightly Buttery using their Fuschia floss and DMC 3607 for the BS

I've moved onto Living with Charm now and at the rate it stitches up I may well finish the Love block today as well

Yay, Happy Dancing

Excuse the slightly wrinkled look I took them straight off the scrolls and up stairs to lay on my bed to take a pic without pausing to get the iron out.
I had hoped to get them finished yesterday but the fading light beat me in the end, a mere 45 mins this morning saw the last bit's of BS and background done

I'm off to do the BS on another project now that's been waiting for me to sort out a colour that works with the overdyed floss so I'll be back later with a second HD for the day

Now for that Happy Dance

White Tiger Eyes and it's for Mel, I bought the kit earlier this year with her in mind for it when it was done but she saw it and started dropping very large hints that I should stitch it sooner rather than later, I gave in last month. Most of the stitching was done in the caravan in Wales last weekend, I've found that when I'm in the caravan aida is easier to work on even with my portable daylight lamp.
I've signed up for the next round of the UFORR and the first mailing date is Monday so this afternoon I went through my WIPs and pulled out the candidates then got Mel to help me choose which one. She went for the Celtic Cross so off it goes on it's travels for the next 8 months looking like this

While I was going through my WIP's I made a decsion about a couple of them and that was to retire them completely and recaputre the stash. Both are TW's, Millennium and Holly & Ivy Sampler, with Millennium it's been a case of hoping the stitching turns up (it's got lost in one of my moves over the last few years or it could be buried somewhere at ExH's) and if it does then I'll reinstate it. With Holly & Ivy I've come to realise that while I do still like it I don't love it enough to finish it and as there's very little time invested in it I think it's time to call it a day with it.

So while it appears I've cut my WIP list done by 3 I've only cut it by 2 in reality because I came across a partly done kit in a bag of things that came down form Ex's but it's only small and won't take long to finish it, I may do that one next after I'm done with Charmed Hearts (current UFO SAL projects)

A Happy Dance and a new WIP

I've been trying to do this for a couple of days now but Blogger has been having one of it's I don't like you very much so you can read blogs but not post on your's phases, I thought I'd give it one last try before bed and wayhay it like's me :) (for now at least)
So the HD, as you know I've been working on Little House Needleworks Winter Wonderland for the SAL on the LHN/CCN yuku board and just before midnight on Thursday I finished it.

It's on Sparklies Frosted Midnight and I've used the called for Crescent Colours apart from the blue I subbed a GAST for that one as the CC was too pale for the fabric, I'm really pleased with it and it's my 18th finish of the year so far.

On to the new start, I decided a couple of days after we'd moved that a new house deserved a new WIP so I started the Quaker a 6 mains freebie by Gigi & Carinne, it's been sat on my printer for a few months glaring at me because I wouldn't start it. I'm using Lakeside Linens 40 count Navy Bean and DMC Colour Variation #4210

Mel has gone off to spend the night at a friends house before they both go off to Cadet Annual camp tomorrow so I have 2 weeks on my own without the Mum said only the way a teenager can say it that you instantly know they are after something. Tonight is my first night all alone in the new house (apart from Toby but he doesn't really count and is already asleep anyway) and it feels really odd, maybe that's why I'm still up at gone 1am!

Evening entertainment and a HD

Last night Mel & Sheena took over my TV and Wii for a few hours, they worked their way down the list on Wii Sports and ended up with boxing
My stitching chair is just to Mel's left and I had to duck a few times to avoid being smacked in the head while she beat the heck out of Sheena on the screen!

I was busying working on March Birthstone fairy for SOLAK so I could get it finished and in the post today, it's the last one needed for a quilt (I volunteered to stitch it to complete the set, I did May's a few years ago when they where still available as freebies)

I put the last bit of BS in this morning and she's about to go out the door to the Post Office while I go back to Winter Wonderland for the SAL

Some stitching and a house update

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on helping to fill in an RR and I've finally got round to posting a pic, I did 3 French Hens
And as a whole it now looks like this, sorry for the poor pic but I really couldn't take a decent one no matter how hard I tried

I was suppossed to go and sign for the new house yesterday but late Thursday afternoon I had a call off the agents to say it had to be put back :( My new Landlord wanted an inventory doing and had left it until the last minute to say anything, no record of a Gas safety check could be traced so one of those has to be organsied and the Landlord works away from home and wasn't able to remove the furniture and other bits that I don't want/need until this weekend. So fingers crossed I'll be signing at 10am on Friday and moving in sometime the following week

A UFO bites the dust

Back in January I signed up to a UFO SAL and my first victim was Dimensions Angel of Light, I promised to spend an hour a week on her until she was done and late last night she was.

Her face is a little demented and I've left off the french knots coming from the candle but she's done after ???? years, I can't even remember why I started her in the first place as Angels aren't my normal cup of tea. The next victim of UFO killing is Shepherds Bush's Charmed Hearts, I gave up on it when I couldn't get one of the borders to match up but it's been done for me now and there's only the outer border to go.

Cookie Dragon Finished

Hot off the Q snaps, another goal reached for this month
He's last year's Birthday start, stitched with DMC, Dinky Dyes cotton & #4 braid (be frugal with 5007 if you stitch this one, I used the entire reel and ony just had enough), the fabric is an early Sparklies Solitaire

Home of a Needleworker(too!)

It's that time of year when I try and finish as many WIP's as poss by the end of the month ready for my rotation/active WIP list to be rearranged on July 1st, that's why I have a few finishes listed as goals this month. So in that vain I finished Home of a Needleworker (too) earlier this evening and have now met 2 of my goals for the month.
I've used the called for Crescent Colours and an oddment of fabric from my pre labelled fabric days so all I can tell you is that it's cream and 28 count. It's my 13th finish of the year so far and I've moved onto what will be #14, a part on an RR to help get it finished for it's owner

MY Treasure

The before scan of the stitching in my previous post, I remembered that I'd scanned it before making it up

Fantasy Exchange

The weekend in Derbyshire was fantastic, we laughed alot, stitched alot, some went on a trip to Bakewell, some did a dyeing class with Kate from Sparklies, alcohol was drunk (no pretzels this year :( ), late night's were had and we all learnt a little more about each other. Roll on next year is all I can say, I've not laughed so much since last year's weekend GTG.

I came home to find that Lisa had received the Fantasy Exchange I sent to her, I stitched MY Treasure from Dragon Dreams and made it into a Pinkeep, my first one ever

If you'd like to see a better pic than mine go here Lisa's pic is better and there's one of the goodies as well

The chair is done

I still have to do the fob but the chair and parasol are finished, the fob's the really easy bit.
Even with the top chopped off this is the best of the bunch of the chair (I'm still half asleep so my brain hasn't caught up yet)

And one with it's Parasol

It was so much easier second time around putting it together although the card for the drawer box is a little thicker this time so a little harder to score and bend. Oh and if you do decide to stitch it there's no wiggle room in the ribbon, if you make a mistake like I did you won't have enough

Garden Chair part 1

I finished the stitching last night
The pieces are all cut out ready and those that need batting have it, I'm off now to get the scissors and iron out ready to start to putting it together in a little while

Flatfold Exchange

I heard from Velda that the flatfold arrived safely so I can now share a pic

I picked Heart in Hands Wee Angel for her and really enjoyed stitching it, not bad for a first effort at a flatfold

Be a Dragon HD

9th one of the year so far, not bad going
Enchanting Liar design on Dying4u Fuchsia Fizz and I subbed NN Calypso for the wording (love that floss!)
The fabric was a gift several years from a friend after a trip to the US and at the time she said something along the lines of I'd have a hard time finding something to stitch on such a bright pink, well it's taken a while but I proved her wrong :)