My Celtic ladies

I'm not taken with many of the Lavender and Lace designs, but I really liked the Celtic Christmas design.

I bought it pre kitted from a company called Leisure Craft Tewkesbury which included all the threads, beads and gold braid. I loved stitching it and got it framed by Edinburgh Arts and Picture Framers, where I used to get all my framed.

I had thought it was a one off but subsequently found that there are the four seasons also available. Over time I bought Spring, Summer and Autumn from Leisurecraft too.

When I went back to buy the Winter one more recently I find that although still trading Leisurecraft are no longer doing as much as they were. I am yet to find  it already kitted up elsewhere, though haven't tried too hard, and have delayed buying. I will get round to buying it, but then will need to think. The thread key is in DMC and all my stash is Anchor, so the degree and intricacy of the shading will determine whether I convert or not. Fortunately Sew and So list the colours required on their website so I will be able to have a look and consider before I buy the pattern.

As if I need any more! Just succumbed to a pattern from Mirabella that I have been looking at for ages too - The Dressmakers Daughter. Lovely - even though the print is a bit small.

 

 

 

More fantasy

Lakeside Needlecraft fantasy SAL hit my interests right on the head. I've always been one for fantasy stories, wizards, dragons...

Over the years I have stitched a number of designs, from small and simple to more in depth and complicated ones. One of my favourite designers for these is Teresa Wenzler, these have been stitched on evenweave which makes it much easier to do any (or should I say the many) fractional stitches

I don't tend to keep a note of how long each piece takes me to complete, though I do try to remember to put a date on them somewhere.

This one I have a distinct recollection of stitching when I was in a shared flat as a student, so that would have been 1992 probably and it was the first of this complexity that I finished. Typically, once I got it framed I noticed a missing stitch, sigh.

I really should start noting the designer/pattern on the back of the frame, it would be nice to know more detail looking back, and I have remembered to do that on my most recent completions.

I'm not one for naming my characters (I know a lot of people are doing on the Fantasy and Under the Sea SALs) but for some reason this unintimidating dragon ended up being called Andrew!

 

 

 

 

 

Not entirely cross stitch for a change

I am running out of wall space, and friends to give stitched things to. (One of my motivations for starting to sew for Love Quilts initially actually) But I also try to think how else I can use and display my sewing.

A couple of projects were started out as being educational cross stitch pieces for S&P and have been finished off as quilts.

The numbers quilt takes elements from the number blocks designs that were originally published in New Stitches. In addition I did applique number blocks to intersperse on the quilt top.

The alphabet quilt takes the letter patterns from Margret Sherry .

I do some straight patchwork and quilting too. I'm not sure where the design or this one came, but it was a fat quarter bundle that I bought with no plan for. It is a bit larger than I am used to doing on my domestic machine and I actually sent this away to get it properly long-arm quilted.

This one is big, and I did between finishing University an getting a job. It was quite fun to do, with the variety of different blocks. This one I quilted myself, but I went away for the day to a local quilter's who let you use their long-arm quilting machine. An enjoyable experience and made me wish that we had both the space and the money to house one myself. A pipe dream would be to be able to set myself up and do it for others, but it does not strike me as being a viable option when you need to make a living.

The last one here I tried out a different technique. I did it quilt-as-you-go. So each block I pieced, then layered up with wadding and backing, and then quilted individually. The front and back sashings were then stitched on together, sandwiching a wadding strip between them when stitching the second seam. I used a different colour to the backing for the sashing on the reverse, I think it makes for quite a good effect.

Happy stitching, xx

What did April bring?

Good Friday, I was off work, and it was the penultimate insect day, what a happy occurrence! S and P were in nursery too, so a "me day" for a change, and no pressure to study. So Insect stitching and I, Claudius to start. I followed this up by making some felt masks for the girls.

I've been doing most of my own framing for a while so got my mount cut and materials ordered so that I could frame my insects straight away, no real reason why I needed to, I just wanted too. I've got my mount measured and cut for the fantasy one too. So once the final Insect arrived I got him stitched up before work. A bit disappointed to get a beetle, I was hoping for a dragonfly, but it was a quick stitch and actually looks OK stitched up, and in keeping with the pattern. I got it framed at lunchtime, much to my delight. The designer of the Insects SAL, Sara Abdelmageed (a fellow twin mummy) trades as  Little Beach Hut on Etsy - have a look, her designs are lovely, I am hoping to see mare Lakeside collaborations with her to come.

I made some headway with Stitchrovia this month, finally settled on colours I liked. Though they do remind me of Neapolitan ice cream! I'm not up to date, but making progress. Next two months have been bought and are in the queue.

For the Fantasy SAL we got a dragon this month at last, though  I not quite dragony enough for my taste. I'm not going to make too many changes though as I worry that it would  a look out of style  a with the rest of the design. I started it on Monday while the girls were busy and cracked on with it in the evening, to realise that I was using the wrong colours and it all had to come back out. So am doing the UTS first instead this month, delighted with the seahorses and they stitched up quickly. 

I decided I wanted to make the girls little trinket boxes, so I commissioned a local crafts man to make me a couple of bespoke wooden boxes to fit the fantasy circles. Posy wanted the goblin, I think probably because of a current obsession with the incredible hulk, and Squirmy asked for the flying pony. OK, I mis-measured and ended up having to stitch on 18 count, but I think they look really dainty on the finer gauge, and enjoyed stitching them again. I wouldn't have expected to hear myself saying I enjoyed using 18 count, but it feels OK after using the 25 for the One Ring. If I go for the Lakeside new SAL I'm thinking that I might go 18 for that for a change. The 3rd box is for me as the cunning artisan offered me a third for less than half price! 

I mentioned last month that I was having trouble getting an order I had placed in February, a month down the line and it still hasn't been received despite 3 assurances it has been sent, I have checked they have the correct address, no excuse for such poor service - next stop to cancel via PayPal.

These coupled with study for my next exam all mean that there has been little progress on the One Ring this month. Oh well...

Geekery

Who says that cross stitching has to be all hearts flowers and bunnies? Though looking at some of the publications you would be forgiven for thinking that is the case. Etsy in particular has opened the market place up to independent designers and it is possible to get a whole range of things to stitch whatever your taste, subversive, snarky, rude... you want it, the chances are you can probably get it.

Some of my projects recently have made a turn to the geek side. I have these three hanging in my kitchen, points if you can tell me what the molecules are for. (More points to me if I can remember which is which?) These ones are from Robin's Designs on Etsy. There are some really different and fun designs on here. I particularly like the 3D cross stitch figures she does, amongst which she has done a range of Dr Who figures, though I have not yet attempted one of these. The "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" design is also one of hers.

As an additional point, I can't fault her customer service.

My large project for 2015/16, and I mean large (82cm x 43cm) is the periodic table. I did it for myself, simply because I wanted to, it's colourful, informative and an iconic image. This one comes from Holly's Hobbies UK. I'm not 100% happy with the framing on this one, it was very difficult to get laced straight. Will just have to see how much it starts to annoy me, and whether I can find time to have another go at it.


Given some of these pieces you might be forgiven for thinking that I come from a chemistry background, but no. Unless you count school chemistry 30 years ago! My education is history, language, law. I hoping however that Squirmy and Posy will show some curiosity in these and interest in science once they get older.

Have a good week, happy stitching, Xx

* Caffeine, Chocolate and Ethanol

Progress

The start of March saw me having to concentrate on getting a couple of sign up's finished for Love Quilts, they were done and in the post on Tuesday so fingers crossed the Royal Mail has got them to LQ HQ in time for the end of month deadline.

Disappointing customer service meant that I struggled with thread for one of them, I ordered on the 28th Feb from a company that claims to despatch in 24 hours, chased up 10 days later, then again after a further week with no response. I had an email on the 18th March to say that it would be sent the following day, but still not arrived by 30th, lets see if the most recent email manages to get my goods! OK I was a small order (though I did add a couple of extra things to increase the value as I felt mean only ordering one skein) but if that causes problems with them or their free postage on all orders, they should have minimum order value.

As a result of that I wasn't as quick off the mark with the Fantasy SAL for this month. March's design was a vibrant Phoenix and once I was able to start it took me two good evenings sewing (I can quite happily sew for 3 hours once the twins are in bed, especially as DH is so shattered at the moment he tend to go about 9pm too). It came together very nicely.

Then April was a gnome, I'll admit I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a dragon for St Georges Day, but he's sweet nonetheless. I was able to get a good couple of nights in on that too with DH having a weekend away and he was finished within 48 hours. Indulging myself for a few weeks with intensive sewing before I need to get stuck back into study, which seriously cuts into my sewing time!

The Insects is a fortnightly release, so we got a fly in the middle of the month, and a shield bug for the end, I took inspiration from a fellow stitcher and added legs to this one.

Not the most adorable things to stitch, but they actually looks quite nice once done. They only took about an hour and a half each to do, so 30 minutes snatched pre-work and a sewing lunch hour had them completed before I even got home for the day. For a change I actually stitched these from the pattern still on my table, I normally prefer to work from printed copies. For something that small and simple it worked, I'm not sure I could be convinced for a larger project though.

Under the Sea - if I was a little disappointed with the fish for March, then I was anything but  with Aprils submarine (which due to a MailChip error, came out early). I know some fellow SAL-ers have been good and left this to do in April, but I couldn't hold off and did both sections together, though it does mean a longer wait until the next section. I've seen some people have changed the sub to be yellow - I wish I'd though of that. It is nice to have the Facebook group where we can all see what everyone else is doing, some people are so imaginative - Not me,  I'm a pattern follower.

I've fallen out with the Ships Manor SAL so have made no progress on it, I will finish it, I hate leaving things incomplete, but am not inspired to keep up any more, sorry Erik. And I'm still struggling with colour choices on the Mind one, I'll come back to that I'm sure.

That just leaves the One Ring for this month - I nearly have another page finish, I'm left with one colour to fill in and that gets the page (and row) completed. As the design is only 5 pages by 3 that also means 1/3rd complete. There's more detail (and colour) on the next row, so I don't expect progress to be quite as fast

Happy stitching, Xx

Love quilts

I haven't done an awful lot of me stitching over the last couple of years.

2014 saw me obsessed with stitching for Love Quilts. I completed 50 squares for them over the course of the year. Some were more involved than others and they were a mix of nominated child squares and Any Child ones, most of which have now been used on quilts.

I started off the year thinking that I would send in at least one square a month, I was doing more though and at some point in the year my internal goal became 4 a month, when I got to October and saw how many that I had done I saw that it was possible to get to 50 for the year, and felt I had to make that my challenge.

I was feeling unfulfilled in my job and it seemed to give me a purpose and focus in addition to being a mum and wife. The pleasure of doing something I enjoy that would be appreciated by others. I found time to sew before work, and at lunchtimes, so even if Squirmy and Posy didn't give me time to stitch at home I managed to get at least an hour done while out of the house.

I haven't done half as much over the last year, I'm happier in my new job, but am still sewing for them on a more random basis. I have sent my most recent 4 sign up squares so this brings my current tally up to 132 squares submitted since I started sewing for them in 2011.

Progress so far

Where am I at with my stitching this month? We were away on holiday so I came back to 3 lovely emails from Lakeside with the latest instalment of the SALs.


Unfortunately I am unable to whack straight in to them, another exam (yes a bit mean, only 5 weeks between exams! I've a longer break until the next one now) meant that I needed to prioritise study over sewing. Plus I have a March deadline on two Love Quilt squares so these need to be finished before I can work on my SALs. Realising that it is actually March has focused my mind on them, as failure to get them sent in is letting down more than just myself.

I couldn't however resist totally. I was lured in by the Lakeside Insects. This is just a small one, with parts coming out fortnightly. The first part was the ladybird and border pattern, I really like how this stitched up and had the border done within 4 days. The second pattern, a butterfly, didn't take too long either, one evening of sewing (including a bit of frogging).

There are six circles to this pattern. We've had ladybird and a butterfly, so what else is there going to be? There was a sneaky peak of a bumble bee in the edge of the model stitching piece so I imagine that is for the next part, then what? I'm guessing a dragonfly, some kind of beetle, maybe a grass hopper, what else might there be?

There is going to be a delay in starting the Fantasy (a gorgeous phoenix, perfect for spring, and still keeps me hoping for a dragon in April) and the Under the Sea (sparkly fish) but I still hope to be able to do them before month end. I know it is not a race or competition, and I know that I don't have to get them done by any set time. But you set your own targets and goals, and I sometimes find that the more I do the more I can be motivated to do.

I'm starting to think about framing for the Fantasy and the Insects. I might see about embellishing the mounts I use. Hoping to be able to prepare these in advance so that I can get them framed as soon as possible after they are finished.

I  haven't made much progress on The Stitchvovia piece, with the next pattern out already; and purchased and printed. I'm also behind on the Beautiful Sea one, but that'll not take much to get back up to date. 

I did get another page of the One Ring finished last month. It's all grey/brown background, so not particularly inspiring, but you can see some shading and it's worth following the pattern properly (well almost, I'm not going to fret about a stitch or two being off at this point in the design)

Happy Stitching, have a lovely week, xx

 

 

 

Dragons and dinosaurs

Ages ago I downloaded a series of patterns called Dragon Virtues from Dragon Dreams, always liked them but didn't know when they would get stitched.

I started on them, initially for myself, in 2009 when my dad was first diagnosed with cancer, but had no firm plan for their use. As well as the concentration I could apply to them when sewing, I would recite, Arya like, the list of design names at night to keep my mind distracted. I didn't finish them at the time, but when my twins came along I decided to finish the series and make them into quilts for them. There are two others which I didn't include on the quilts.  Strength (which I felt had too much red in it for these) and Love (I didn't want to put this on one and not the other)

After the girls were born my mum treated me to a new sewing machine which does embroidery and applique.

One thing I often mutter about is that dinosaur patterns/fabric/ clothes are all boyish, so I decided to make them 'girly' dinosaur quilts. I normally steer away from pink for them, but in this case, the girlier the better.

I made them, and want them to be special and appreciated, and while I don't want them to get trashed I do want them to be used. I have been rather touched recently that Posy wants to use them on her bed at night rather than her duvet, she loves to be cuddled up with her dragons.

Squirmy's dinosaur - illustrating that even a dinosaur likes to look pretty.

As an aside I have recently found that JoJo Maman Bebe does occasional girls clothes with dinosaurs on. Rawr

Last month's progress

It has been a busy month, with studying for an exam (long wait for the results) and DH working away for much of it, but that doesn't mean that there has been no time for sewing. It is what keeps me sane, and if necessary sewing will take priority over housework!

I can't believe how far we are through the Fantasy SAL now, February, month 7, is a delightful little mermaid. I have stitched this pretty much to the pattern but with the addition of Kreinik blending filament in her tail to make it look a bit more iridescent. It took a bit longer than usual (4 nights rather than 3!) as I ended up having to frog about an hour and a half of stitching so that was a full evening wasted. Finished on the Saturday night, so Sunday stitching can be something else.

On to month two of the Under the Sea SAL (oh great, I'm now humming the tune from the Little Mermaid). We have a shark for this one, "fish are friends, not food"! It looks like he will be a nice quick stitch then there are the surrounding flurry of tropical fish - think this might be the place for a bit more sparkle to be added.

The Irresistible Insects SAL doesn't start until next week, but I have treated myself to the bespoke fabric that Lakeside had prepared for this one. It's a lovely vivid green fabric, not something that I would ever choose to stitch myself, it looks like a leaf, and there is a speciality silk thread too, I'm looking forward to stitching with this one. Thank you Kate, and for the sneaky peak that was given last week. Can't wait to see what is in store for this one.

Beautiful Sea, parts 8 and 9, up to date on this one too, kind of, I have left the two partial motifs to start once the adjoining section comes out rather than doing part of it and leaving threads hanging. I am almost at the point where I am going to trust that the border is symmetrical and complete that in advance of the patterns coming out.

And finally for the SALs - Stitchrovia's Mind SAL. I have finished the first quote and made a start on the banner at the top. My problem, and this is why I so seldom change colours, is that I am unhappy with my changed colours. I have swapped out the blues for browns, and am using an oatmealy colour fabric. I thought I had my colour swaps sorted, but on stitching I'm not happy and keep unpicking. There is insufficient differentiation between the two shades of brown I am working with, but I can't find a second one that I am altogether happy with. Then there is the problem that part of the border is in two shades of grey, and they don't work with my fabric choice. So I'm swithering between changing these for golds or more browns. I guess I need to get into some good light and set out some more options.

And then there is The One Ring. I have just about finished page 3 (of 15, so not too big). The next two pages are pretty much all shades of grey and brown, So are not going to be the most inspiring to stitch. Having said that, once I get to the detailed bit I'll probably be longing for sections where I can stitch 20+ stitches in the same colour!

The rest of the month in summary:

• Exams sat - 1
• Exams passed - 1 (sat in November)
• Marmalade made - 25 jars
• Meals cooked - sufficient, 
• Hugs received from cubs - many
• Rooms cleaned - few.

Have a good week, and happy stitching, xx