Not so mysterious now

Do you remember a piece of needlepoint I'd started?  I was calling this tapestry as that's what we'd call it in the UK, but I've since found out that it's not correct as a true tapestry is woven.  Anyway, I was working the Mini Mystery needlepoint design from Laura at Two Handed Stitcher, a free needlepoint design presented to us in 3 parts. 

While I was ill, and broadbandless I set to work on part two.  It was obvious by this point that I'd made some major mistakes with my counting - I'm pretty sure the zigzag stitches should have been 4 threads wide and I only did them 3, but I blundered on regardless.

I filled in the rows between zigzags with the eyelet stitch.  I was a bit disappointed it didn't make more of a hole, but maybe I wasn't pulling tight enough.

My stitching looks dreadful close up, I think my canvas was also too big, but I'm not sure!  The silver line in the border was supposed to be a narrow ribbon, but I went with what I had and used a silver "lamé" which is basically a 6-stranded metallic thread that is an absolute BUGGER to sew with.  Everything else is Perle 5, a mixture of DMC and Anchor.  I love Perle cottons.  When I was almost finished stitching this, I had the urge to sort out my threads.  The stranded cottons have 3 thread boxes - blue/green/purple, yellow/orange/red/pink and black/brown/grey/white.  I now also have a box of Perle cotton, sizes 5 and 8, and a box of assorted other threads including tapestry wools, crewel wools, metallics, and blending filament.  If I keep up this embroidery obsession, I'm going to need a bigger house...

For part 3 I added the white zigzaggy-type line.  I had a job chosing a colour as I think I truly messed the piece up with the purple!  Never mind, this is a practice piece, it's not destined for a show!  I loved this stitch method, the line looks fab close up, it really has depth to it.

It's couched down at the intersections with a Madeira metallic thread.  Oh, the other type of thread I have is silk thread.  It is luscious!  I want to buy some more then just sleep on a bed of silk thread...

Anyway, needlepoint finished.  Much practice is definitely needed!  I really enjoyed it and have only scratched the surface of all the stitches there are out there.  I have a book - Stitchopedia with some needlepoint in it so that might be my next point of call.  I perhaps also have to do some more research as I don't like all the canvas on view for this piece but suspect it's the canvas size I used rather than the design as Laura's stitching is gorgeous.

T'is done!

Today is a momentous day.  Well OK, it was one day last week actually that was momentous, but today is momentous as I'm telling you about it.  Nope, not on about my Broadband being fixed... it still isn't... I'm talking about the giant granny square blanket.  The one I started YEARS ago*.  The one I thought would never be finished.

*July 2011

It's finished!!

And it's not as big as I hoped/planned it would be.

I didn't stop because I was bored (I was bored of it in August 2011!), I stopped because I was nearly out of wool and had to save enough for the border.

Here it is stretched out on our double bed, looking a bit washed out, but I suppose the colours are a bit washed out.  Must remember not to wash it as it really IS wool.

For the border I chose #32 from Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman.  I was planning on doing the whole thing in purple, but I realised I wasn't going to have enough, so did two sides blue and two sides purple.

This was my first time doing spike stitches.  Those purple Vs amongst the green are spike stitches and they're sort of outlining the puff/popcorn stitches.  It looked better in Edie's example.  It's also not supposed to be so frilly.  I was aware as I was working that I was adding stitches.  But you know what?  It's my blanket and if it wants to be frilly then that's fine with me!

I wish I'd used cream instead of beige for that 4th round...  Ah well, 'til done and I can safely say that crocheting a giant granny is one of the most boring activities known to man, it's only slightly less boring that knitting a scarf.

WIP #2 - done!

none of these colours

Well hello!  I'm scheduling this post as I don't want to fall off the face of the internet again!  I've dropped in to show you the red scarf I sewed.  This is WIP #53 which, if you were inclined to check is labelled as "red scarf with beaded fringe".  No, it's not an invisible beaded fringe, I haven't done that yet, but I have sewed the red scarf and decided to show you anyway.!

It's a simple piece of chiffony material, hemmed on all four edges.  It is not that colour above.  I thought the snow would make a good backdrop and the natural light would show the correct colour.  No.

It's definitely not that colour. So indoors with the light off and a dark background didn't work either.

How about with the electric lights on?  NO!  Definitely not.

Back outside... nope, not that colour either.  It's actually red with a bit of a gold sparkle.  Hopes are not high for the photos of the scarf with the beaded fringe attached...

Wipocalypse check in #1

I'm back!  Temporarily...  I don't even notice if anyone noticed I was gone!  Our broadband at home went down over a week ago and I've spent most of that time trying to get it fixed.  An engineer came today and said we need a new router, so now we have to wait for that...  I usually check in from work on my lunch break, but I've been off work since Wednesday.  I'm not sure what was wrong with me - but basically everything hurt and I was exhausted so I think it was the flu.  I started feeling a little more human yesterday but couldn't get online!  I have escaped to my mum's where I'm being plied with coffee and Cheeselets whilst I catch up on my blogging.  Ladies, I apologise in advance, Google Reader tells me I have 1000+ posts, I'm going to be doing some major skipping through so apologies if I don't comment, I think you'll all understand!!

So, I had a blog title in my drafts for the WIPocalypse check in today.  Reading through, I was meant to introduce myself and my goals today!  Well, I've already done that, so I'm going to take stock of what I've done instead.

Let's start with what I've finished:

My Wips
2. giant granny square blanket - 20/01/13 (not blogged yet!)

10. Small vintage embroidery - 07/01/13

15. Bathroom curtain - 03/01/13

16. Picnic napkins - 04/01/14

17. Wiggly bags - 04/01/14

crafts /projectsI have supplies for
48. Lavendar sachets from hankies - 13/01/13

So that's 6 WIPs from a total of 67 done -  9%.  Now that doesn't seem much, but over the year, if I manage 6 WIPs a month, I'll do them all (not going to happen!).  I also need to remember that some projects are a lot larger than others.  Of the above, 3 were small projects, 1 was medium and 1 was a big project (the blanket).  Not too shabby.

So which projects have I made progress on but not finished?

My Wips
1. The Mackintoshesque window

crafts I have kits for
26. Mosaic house number kit

crafts /projectsI have supplies for
53. Red scarf with beaded fringe - I haven't blogged this yet, I got this post ready earlier in the week and assumed I would have done.  It'll give you something to look forward to!

Which leaves me with:
My WIPs
3. Cotton granny squares - originally intended to be a blanket, now a footstool cover
4. crochet rug
5. crochet Yoda
6. crewel Jacobean pattern
7. Crewel fire guard
8. Beaded embroidery dress
9. Dancers cross stitch
11. Necklace kit from Spellbound
12. Necklace kit mum bought me
13. Tea wallets
14. Alphabet chart
18. Chair covers
19. Sewing machine mat with thread catcher
20. Ungar #2
21. Fleece baby hat
22. Applique tea cups

crafts I have kits for
23. Enamelling
24. Punch needle

25. Lace making27. Mosaic tray kit
28. Beaded santa ornament
29. Silk painting
30. Origami

31. Hessian reindeer
32. Lynette Anderson needle case
33. Silhouttes cross stitch
34. Scraperboard rabbit
35. Latch hook kit
36. Beaded lillies

crafts /projectsI have supplies for
37. Clay + Pebeo paint
38. Cathedral Windows
39. Tatting Course
40. Beaded Boxes
41. Sharp crochet hook
42. Extruding clay
43. Hammering wire
44. Bead loom
45. Lino cutting
46. Friendly plastic
47. French knitting
49. Lunch bag
50. Chair covers for mum
51. Jacob's quilt
52. Beaded bird panel
54. Crochet cardi
55. Crochet bag
56. Wedding memories box
57. Mega chunky cowl
58. Crochet fat friends
59. Decopatch
60. Lucet
61. Crochet hat for me in Hug
62. UTEE
63. Hat for Samantha
64. Embroidered tablecloth
65. Kitchen curtains
66. Bunny jewellery - charm and ceramic beads
67. Paper beads

29th December 2012 = 67 projects.
26th January 2013 = 6 completed.  67 projects total.  61 to go

Next update: 25th February.

smelly drawers take two

Or should that be "even smellier drawers?"  I'm not sure how well that little pun translates anyway.  My British readers would realise what I meant - over here drawers is another word for a lady's lower undergarment...  did you get that?

I wrote about my smelly drawers the other day and showed you the lavender sachets I'd made from hankies.  I still had 6 hankies left, so I got sewing.  I really wanted to do a ruffle edging, the internet wasn't working (and still isn't!  Driving me MAD), so I turned to my massive stack of craft books had instructions for a ruffle edging!

So I wung it.  I think I've sewn ruffles before, but I can't for the life of me remember when or what for.  I made a tube and turned it, then sewed a long stitch on one end before pulling on the top thread to ruffle the fabric.  It is at this point that I made a discovery.

I've seen a lot of Bloggers raving about Aurifil thread.  I'd always used Guttermans, but bought some Aurifil white to try it out.  It snaps a LOT easier than Guttermans.  Believe me as I had trouble ruffling these babies up.  Hmmm, back to Guttermans for me.

I did one in each colour, then finished them off with some lavender and some very wobbly top stitching!

Pretty!  The backs match the ruffles.  The blue is an Amy Butler print, I have no idea what the yellow is and the pink is from a line called Hushabye.  I recently heard a rumour that this was a Tula Pink fabric?  I suppose I could google it... hang on ... yes, it is!  How strange, I like this line, I bought a load of FQs for a quid each ages ago, but I don't like Tula Pink's other lines.  I know people rave over them but they really are not my cup of tea.

At this point I was 9 hankies down - 3 quilt blocks (1 failure), 3 using trims in different ways, 3 with ruffles... I wanted to try something new, a different technique... I couldn't think of anything!

Log cabin it is!  In the very same fabrics!

So I now have 11 lovely lavender sachets scenting my drawers.  Shame I've run out of hankies as I could do with some more and some to hang in my wardrobe.

I love how they're all different sizes and some are different orientations!!

WIP #48 - done!

craft class

No, I can't do it.  I'm trying, but I just can't think of even a vaguely interesting title for this post.  Craft class it is.  I don't know if any of you noticed, but I was absent from the online world this weekend.  I got sent home early on Friday (just a little early) as I'm one of the ones that commutes to work, and so I thought I'd catch up on my blog reading and prepare a few posts.  No broadband.  I called our provider and he started asking me all kinds of techy questions that I couldn't even understand, let alone answer.  I passed the phone to Mr CA.  He's even less techy than me but does have more patience and wasn't shouting at the poor man after five minutes like I was!  The upshot?  No broadband.  I'm waiting for an engineer to call.  I actually didn't think I'd survive the weekend and was planning on going over the parents' to cadge some free wifi, but 2 migraines, one each day, put paid to that!

So, that was Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but what about Thursday?  Vigilant readers may remember that I was due to go to a beading class at The Bead Shop, Nottingham.  It was actually a double whammy as there was a knotting class in the afternoon. 

The morning session was working with tila beads, which are beads with two holes.  Follow that link if you want to see what they look like.  We started with a Swarovski crystal cabouchon and made a bevel to go around it using the Tila beads, seed beads and Swarovski crystals. 

My apologies for the appalling photos.  We had no sunlight at all this weekend and it's very hard to take photos of crystals!

The crystal is actually clear AB (i.e. shiny!), not yellow as it looks in this photo.  Creating the bezel setting for the crystal was hard and took us a couple of hours.  Doing the zig zag chain was much easier.

That's the back, I'm not sure why I thought you might like to see a photo of the back!  My poor mum had beaded her chain completely when she realised she'd got the pattern wrong so it didn't zig zag.  She didn't mind too much, but when she put the calotte on the end to hold the knotted beading thread, it slipped off and the knot came undone and all her beading came off!

Wow, that's a particularly bad photo!  Terrible light, bad background and blurry too!

The afternoon session was macrame, using the underwriter's knot with beads to create a bracelet.

I didn't actually finish my bracelet as I don't like the colour combination and the knotting is too messy.  I spent some time practicing the knot afterwards, I really should have done that before.

I started on the left and you can actually see the improvement along the length.  I must have another go at this and create a bracelet, but one I'd be pleased to wear rather than a child's effort!

glass update

Morning ladies!  Well, it's been snowing for hours - yay!  I hope it either snows so much that they let us go home, or doesn't snow that much as they won't let us go home and I'll end up trapped in Lufbra (i.e. the arse-end of nowhere*) all weekend...

* my apologies to people who live in Loughborough, I may be being a bit harsh so bear in mind I work on the industrial estate and don't really leave that area other than to flee back to Nottingham.

I didn't get a chance to show you my stained glass window update yesterday as my internet connection was being an arse.  I often have to turn the computer and modem off and back on again several times (record being 10 times) but after 4 times yesterday I got bored and watched Hoarders instead.  I love that programme!

Without further ado, let's have a look at WIP #1.  This is where I was at before Christmas.

When I cut the pieces, I didn't cut the curved bits for the leaves and nuggets, so all that is having to be done as I go along, slowing me down considerably.  Also slowing me down is the necessity of having a good old gossip with the other glass classers every week.

Here's where I got to in the first class of the year, last week.

Oh dear, did I really only put two pieces in?  I must have been gossiping madly!

Yep, definitely only two pieces!  Below are some terrible photos showing this week's work.  I'm so sorry the photos are rubbish, there's the usual excuse of not seeing daylight, also my downstairs windows have a special film on to stop people staring in and it does block the daylight a little.  Because of this, I tend to take photos upstairs, but I can't be lugging this upstairs for a photo op - it's over a metre wide!

Now that feels like progress.  I have to spend the first 10 minutes of each lesson replacing bits of glass and lead pins as the board no longer fits in my car.  It fitted in the boot of my Focus, lying down.  It clearly doesn't fit in the boot of the Mini, but it also doesn't fit on the back seat.  It ends up tilted to one side and over the course of my journey (I live in speed bump city and it's windy, hilly roads to Lufbra) it ends up propped up behind the front seats, pulling out pins as it goes!  I think I'm going to have to borrow the Focus off Mr CA next week, I'm sure he'll be gutted! 

Not bad work there, I even did that nugget.  Piece number 1 - the green one on the left - is the first piece I've found that's actually cut to the right shape and size and doesn't require bandsawing down!

Before I go, I've been awarded a blog award by Anna.

There are rules ...

1. Answer the 11 questions posed by the person who nominated you
2. Give 11 facts about yourself
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers for the award
4. Post 11 questions for your nominees to answer
5. Tell them you have tagged them and pay it forward

I'll answer the questions, after all I know I'm just completely fascinating, but I'm not going to pass the award on, there are too many bloggers that don't like awards and I don't want to risk offending anyone.

So, here are the questions Anna asked me:

Sweet or salted ? Sweet, though I do love salt too and could drink soy sauce out of the bottle if it weren't deemed socially unacceptable

Day or night ? Night, I'd be nocturnal if I could

Happy or sad ? I'd like to be happy but I'm often sad

Generous or selfish ? I hope I'm not selfish...

Winter or summer ? I live in England, winter and summer are the same thing.  I'd pick a real winter over a real summer anyday, I hate the hot weather.

White or black ? Black, I'm a fatty!

Beach or mountain ? Neither.  I don't do lying on the beach (I'm very blond with very white skin.  The sun burns me without the tanning stage.  I have to wear factor 50.  In England) and I don't do crazy exercise like mountain climbing

Warm or cold ? Right now I'm quite chilly

Religious or not ? Absolutely not

Crochet or knit ? I think you all know the answer to this question!

Champagne or fruit juice ? Hmm, I don't really like alcohol, though champagne is the exception.  I can't stand fruit juice, it's gross. 

So, 11 facts about me.

1. I'm allergic to oranges, plasters (band aids), detergent and soap.  Oh, and anti-histamines.

2. My first pet was a Russian hamster called Dribble.

3. I got shouted at by a Russian soldier for having my hands in my pockets while viewing Lenin's body.

4. I now own 7 Cath Kidstone mugs.  Yes, I like the designs but I also love the massive size of them.  I love Orla Keily but won't buy her mugs as they're the silly little ones.
5. I can't use a pen without getting it all over my hands.  I'm like a child.
6. I only own three pairs of work trousers.  The zip is broken on one and I have to keep it up with a paper clip, or spend all day zipping it back up.
7. I love chips, cheese and gravy.  English chips and English gravy - not the American versions which would be crisps with some kind of grey sauce.
8. I have nearly 12,000 pins on Pinterest.  No, I don't intend to make them all.
9. I am currently eating a mini chocolate donut.
10. I am only 5"1.  I used to be 5"2.
11. Onions are the work of the devil.

Workin' on it

Morning ladies.  I don't have anything completed to show you, so today I've got some shots of what I'm working on.  I'm afraid I snapped some of them this morning before work in the poor light.  You'll have to live with it!

Yep, it's a new project, but it's also part of Wipocalypse, this one is WIP #27.  All the stones are glued in place, I just need to add the grout.  I spent a couple of hours laying out the number and getting it right, then adding a few of the white tiles around it.  The borders were done in short bursts as I alternated between that and the computer.  I found this better to do as if the glue was not dry, I'd risk nudging them out of place.  I finished it off after dinner on Sunday waiting for Junior CA to finish her dinner (I swear that girl is the slowest eater in the world) so I could sit at the table with everyone but still have something to do.  Oh, it was from a kit I got for Christmas.  More details when it's finished.

 

This is a secret project and it may be a few months before I post about it.  This is really a sneak-peak for Jillayne.

 

This one is completely off the list and took me by surprise!  I randomly decided to have a go at the Mini Mystery hosted by Laura of the Two-Handed Stitcher.  I wanted to try needlepoint again, as my first attempt was quite paltry, containing only tent stitch.  Wow, this is really hard!  I think most of what you see there has be unpicked and restitched at least once!

And last, but not least, the giant granny is still being worked on.  I'm getting very close to the end on this!

 

I also have my stained glass window, but I'm going to class tonight so I'll post about that later, I have some pictures from this morning and I'll take some tonight so you can see the lack of progress.  I've got two beading classes tomorrow (day off work, yay!!) and will try to write another post tomorrow, depends how things go.  Bet you can barely contain your excitement.

smelly drawers

Morning ladies, we had snow yesterday!  I always get excited about snow.  I lived in Poland for 2 years, during that time the country had the worst winter in 100 (or something) years and it snowed everyday for 4 months. I got excited every single day.  English snow is nothing like that, but it was good whilst it lasted!

Saturday caught me sewing again.  This time I broke out WIP #48 which is one of the ones that isn't a WIP, it's a set of hankies.  My great aunt bought these for me about 10 years ago.  I've never used a hanky, I find them a little bit gross, you know, the idea of carrying snot around in your pocket, then putting it in the washing machine with your knickers...

But, they were a gift and too pretty to throw away and so they sat in a procession of drawers for many years.  No longer!  I knew I wanted to make lavender sachets, for me for a change, so lavender sachets I made.

I started by cutting one out in a circle, sewing it to a plain backing and adding a white cotton trim.  I backed it with a patterned fabric (below).

A pink one was cut in a square, doubled as the fabric is so think, and a pink lace border rather unsuccessfully added!  The back is plain white.

 

The blue one was given the same treatment, but smaller and centred and using this lovely blue trim I found in a box. 

On a quick side note... rummaging for the blue trim lead to a 2 hour sort out of all my ribbons and trims.  Trims were wound onto cards and pinned, ribbons were put in big jars according to colour.  Longer lengths of ribbon were wound onto empty ribbon bobbins (which I keep for some reason), and then sewing spools when the bobbins ran out.  It was a time consuming detour.

I wanted to experiment whilst making these sachets as it didn't matter if they didn't look great as they are just for me, so I decided to try some patchwork.  This block is from 200 Quilt Blocks.  This is number 182, plain block.  The pink one was successful.

So was the blue.  The yellow one was not.

I don't even know how I managed to do that??  I mean, how does that happen??

The two successful blocks were backed and stuffed with lavender.  The yellow block is now living in the bin.  He's very happy there he tells me.

Both are backed with plain cotton.  I would show you a photo but Photobucket says no.  They've revamped it and it's dreadful.  It's always been slow, now I have to go into each and every photo to get the link whereas before I could do it from the index page.  Now it's died completely.

There were 12 hankies in the pack, 5 are now sewn, 1 is in the bin, so that leaves 6...  I sewed again on Sunday... I'll show you the results soon.