Cross stitch bird in tree

This little kit is on my 17 kits in '17 list.  It is, despite it now being July, the only thing that I have touched this year from the list!

I had made a mistake on the border, about halfway through, so I had to do quite a lot of unpicking to sort it out!  You can see the mistake in the photo above, the left hand side of the top line.  I was going to leave it but it bugged me, so out it came!

The stitching is now finished... now to make it up into a pincushion.  I think I'll schedule that for 2021 at my current rate!!

17 in '17 update

I haven't been very good at linking up my finishes for the 17 in '17 challenge hosted by Anne and Meredithe, and this month will be no different!  Except, I have made some progress on one of my kits!



I decided to do 17 WIPs and 17 kits in '17 (and it's not going so well so far!).  You can see my 17 kits in '17 at that link.  This is 4. Pincushion, Christmas present from my parents.

I've made a reasonable amount of progress as I've only stitched on this for about 3 evenings.  Since I became single, I have developed a rocking social life and I'm not in to stitch very much any more!

I stitched the border round from the bottom to the top left, then round from the bottom to the meet that point.  Oooops.

That was NOT a good plan!  I've fudged it, but it may well come out.  I found the mistake, it's near the bottom!!

Meridithe and Anne, I hope you don't mind me joining in with this?  I will have a WIP update on Sunday as it's time for the SAL check in and the piece I'm working on is one of my 17 WIPs.

You can see my 17 WIPs in '17 here, yes, I know I've only completed one of them in 3 months!!

tiny kit finish

Remember I'd listed 17 kits for '17? Well I finished one!  OK, it's the smallest kit ever and took about 4 hours...

It was a cover gift with an issue of CrossStitcher magazine, in 2016 I think.  I'm not sure what I'll do with it, possibly add a ribbon loop and hang it on a drawer handle.

One down, 16 to go...

a bookmark and a bunny

I must have finished this at the beginning of January.  I know I was planning on showing it to mum when I next saw her, but then I never did.  I think now that mum has gone, you really are the only audience for my makes as very few people are interested!

This is a Michael Powell design, I bought the kit from his stall at Harrogate.  I've always wanted to stitch one and so I went with a bookmark as that was within my budget.

The two pictures above show the bookmark with all the cross stitch done.  Doesn't look great, does it?  All you need to do is add a little magic... i.e. backstitch...

Much better!  The kit included the tassel to add to the top, and the felt for the backing.

I just carefully stitched this in place so it was neat on the front, not so neat on the back, but considering no one will ever see it, it doesn't really matter!

I bought a panel and a layer cake of Thicket a while ago.  I finally got round into making one of the bunnies up into a simple little stuffie.

I used my Sew Together bag to give you an idea of scale, because of course everyone has one?!?

And here's his back side.  Thankfully clean, unlike poor Harry's.

17 Kits in '17

Hot on the heels of my 17 WIPs in '17 challenge, I also want to work some of the kits I've bought or been given as presents over the years.  Some of them are new, some I've had for many years, but I'd like to work them all and make some space in my house for new kits!

Embroidery

1. Sarah Homfrey goldwork kit, bought at one of her classes

2. Sarah Homfray crewel kit, bought for me by my parents

3. Mini Chatelaine and Scissor fob kit, Christmas present from my parents

4. Pincushion, Christmas present from my parents

5. Laurelin Montmellick kit, a birthday present from my parents

6. Beetle wing embroidery kit, birthday present from my parents

7. Bunny cross stitch kit, cover gift with a magazine

8. Boothy Threads Love Tree, a present from my ex-in-laws
Misc

9. Spellbound necklace kit, bought at the Knitting and Stitching show

10. Beaded Christmas tree, present from mum

11. Metal styling.  A gift a few years ago, I don't remember who from

12. Cold enamelling.  Another kit I've had for years

13. Copper leaf starter kit, again, a present a few years ago

14. Gel candles.  A gift from my parents

15. Lily's Mosaics mosaic kit.  I bought this at a class earlier in the year.

16. Screen printing on polymer clay.  A present for Christmas 2015.

17. Sheila the Sheep bookmark.  I won this in a giveaway.

Whilst writing this post, I thought of a few more kits I have, but they will have to wait until next year!

Birdie embroidery

Eagle-memoried viewers may remember a little birdie embroidery kit I wrote about back in February.  I got three little kits from Nancy Nicholson for Christmas.  Nancy didn't buy them for me (she didn't buy me anything, can you believe that??), they were from Mr CA and wonderful parents.

I finally finished another one.

I actually stitched it in just a few evenings, but it took me a while to get started.  The kit contains a piece of cotton with the bird printed on in colour.  You get some embroidery floss and a stitch guide, but of course you can go it alone and do whatever you like.

Oh - I meant to put a little yellow french knot in the middle of those blue flowers, I'd completely forgotten!  The tail is a six-strand of floss couched down.  I haven't really done couching before and I was thinking of lots of possibilities for this technique as I was stitching it.

It's mounted in a plastic hoop.  The reason being that the first kit I did was oval shaped.  I assumed they were all oval shaped so went on line to find an oval hoop.  The wooden ones are the wrong proportions/ratio, only the plastic ones came in the right size.  When I then discovered some of the embroideries are circular, I had to buy matching frames.

The kits come in a little bag with a design printed on the front.  I embroidered this one.  I can't find the last one but when I do I will embroider that too, oh and I have another kit too!

When I showed you my Silk Ribbon, I promised to show you a shot of my "gallery".  These embroideries aren't in the gallery, they're on the opposite dining room wall along side my beautiful glass piece that the wonderful parents bought me for my birthday one year.

I might have to rearrange a bit when the third one is done, especially as I can't remember if it's round or oval!

On the opposite wall, where there is an arch through to my living room, is my gallery and here it is.

You can just see my printer in the bottom right hand corner, this is where I'm sitting to blog right now.  I'm putting loads of different embroidered hoops on this wall.  Square or rectangular "art" (hahahaha, I just said art.  About the crap I make!) is hanging on the stairs.  One day I will show you a shot of that too, but it's a bit sparse at the minute.  I need to get my finger out, get hanging and get embroidering.  

I haven't been very consistent with my blog post tags, so I can't link to all of the posts on these individual hoops, but you can find some of them here and here, if you're interested.

smalls SAL February

I finished my small for the Smalls SAL back at the beginning of the month!  Yay, look at me being organised!   I will succeed in all my challenges...*

The small for this month was another cover kit, this time from CrossStitcher sometime early in 2013.  It's a rose stitched on a wooden blank.  

This was my first time stitching on a wooden blank and it was pretty easy.  The only thing is when you're putting the thread through a hole for the first time, going from back to front, quite often the needle drops back out again before I had a chance to catch it!

There was enough of the threads, though I was right up to the last few inches of the aqua and was relieved I had just enough.

It's supposed to be a keyring and came with a keyring and lobster clasp.  I don't see how it could be though as this is the back!  OK, it's not the neatest back in the world, but after a few rows I realised I couldn't use it as a keyring and so stopped caring about being neat.  Instead, it will be a hanging thing.  Yes, that's right, a hanging thing.

* or perhaps not...  I seem to have accidentally started working on the Quilty Stitches Sampler at Little Miss Shabby, not quite sure how that happened, but this is my Swoon block.

Now I need your help.  All of you.  I've finally visited every blog on the GYB hop and wanted to start on my new followers, but Google displays them randomly for me.  I don't recognise some of the names, so not sure if you've just never commented, but, I want to visit you back!  If you read my blog and I've never visited you, or haven't visited you for a while, will you please leave me a comment so I can come and visit you back?  Thanks!

smalls sal january

So, I mentioned in my last post that I'm joining in with The Smalls SAL at Stitching Lotus.  I'm hoping it will motivate me to make some of the cover kits and small charts I have. There are no hard and fast rules - you can stitch what you like and you yourself decide what is small.

This was a cover kit with an old copy of Simply Homemade.  I chose it as it was first in the little tub I put all my cover kits into!  It will also make a lovely thank you card for Nana CA for our Christmas presents.  Yes, I'm a bit late with it!  

Strangely enough, there were enough threads in the kit to complete the stitching!  I was surprised at that.  It was a quick stitch, maybe 4 or 5 hours over a few evenings.  I made a few booboos.  The middle roof has extra bits at the side and the top butterfly is just plane weird.  I can't see Nana CA looking at it and saying "you've cocked it up girl!", so we won't worry.  

Now I have to decide which one I'll stitch for February...

Rosebud necklace

Yep, more beadweaving.  I promise I'll show you something else soon!

This is another kit from Beadmerchant, purchased at Harrogate.  Again it was a beginner's kit, but I loved the pattern.  Another great kit with all the supplies needed, far too many beads in fact, and a full spool of Nymo thread, these kits are great value.  No, I'm not sponsored by them, maybe I should be!

This design was called Autumn and it fits the colours perfectly.  I had a bag of the small brown seed beads, size 11 I think, and a bag with mixed beads that I used for the buds.  I had size 15s, size 11s, Delicas and drop beads which makes a lovely variety.

It was very easy to do, the hard bit was making the buds "random".  I'm not good with random!

More beadweaving to come!

Round Cable bracelet

Between Christmas and New Year I was looking for a project, something quick and easy that didn't involve me going upstairs to my craft room to fetch anything.  I chose this Round Cable bracelet kit from Beadmerchant which I bought at Harrogate.

It was a great kit and the instructions were good, I'd recommend these kits.  This one was a beginner's kit, but they also do intermediate and advanced.  I chose it for the pattern rather than the difficulty rating as I have done some bead weaving before.

The kit included the beads (size 11s in 2 colours), a full spool of Nymo thread, the needle and the little buttons for the closure.  It was quick and easy to put together and I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed it so much I started the other one straight after...

Oh, I have a new challenge - see new ridiculous, unattainable challenge at that link or on the "The List" page!  It's not a challenge for 2013, it's for life and will be added to.  That means I can't do percentages :0(