Monday, August 29, 2011

Hurricane Stitching

Continuing with last week’s 'eventful week' theme, we can add experiencing a hurricane to our list! Yes, we were in Hurricane Irene's path. Luckily we only experienced the edge of the hurricane, but it was still strong enough to cause considerable damage. Luckily we had cleared our patio of the garden furniture, plant pots, birdbaths etc and had stored them in the garage, otherwise we would have been collecting them from several streets away!
Since Sunday was such a dark and miserable day, it made good sense to just sit and stitch. Bliss! Hubby watched the football while I concentrated on my other fella…..my Samurai. I felt as though I got quite a bit done, although it would have been significantly more if those dratted frogs hadn't come in to escape the hurricane! Even though I had to unpick the same spot several times (I had made a mistake cross stitching the sleeve and couldn’t figure out why the couching wasn’t right) I feel as though I made good progress. I have decided just to use the cart as a guide and not follow it exactly, after all, no-one else will know – well, you won’t tell will you?
This is how my Samurai is looking now....


I aslo re-did the border accross the shoulders as I wasn't too happy with that either! Gee, I'm such a fusspot!




And as a wonderful surprise, this is what my son gave me before he went back to college.


Aren’t they wonderful? (And isn’t he a sweetheart!)

Anyway, time to get on with the rest of the day. I did think about doing some housework but I managed to talk myself out of that! Phew, that was a close one! Maybe some more stitching?!!!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Thursday, August 25, 2011

An eventful week.


Between dropping my daughter off at college, experiencing an earthquake and getting everything ready for the grand opening of the Tangled Threads web site this has been was one eventful week!
For anyone who hasn’t read or heard about the earthquake (where have you been?!!! lol) details can be found here.   Suffice to say, I have experienced it and if it were on my bucket list I would quite happily cross it off the list and not experience it again…..very weird!
As for Tangled Threads, I am still in the process of converting my design charts in to pdf’s – it’s rather a slow process.  It doesn’t help that I decided to re-do all the ones I had made so that they would be easier for stitchers to read. Anyway, I’m getting there! I have been collecting ideas for different ways to use the designs, and now just need an extra few days in the week to be able to get everything done! Doesn’t that sound familiar?
So, here is the finished flip flop design….with the right colour of backstitching!

I think this would be so cute stitched to a towel or on a child’s swim bag….you can see why I need the extra days in the week!

And I haven’t forgotten about The Mighty Samurai, or the fact that I hate metallic threads! But here’s the progress with him so far.

I have actually done a fair bit of stitching on him but as it’s just the odd stitch here and there, it’s not too obvious. Here’s a close up of the backstitching on the sword. I think he’s coming along nicely!

I’m still trying to catch up with my blog reading, I'm so behind! But that's what you get when you go away for two weeks! So, I will eventually get round to reading and commenting on all the wonderful blogs I follow. In the meantime, a big warm welcome to the new followers and a big thank you to all of you who leave comments for me.

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, August 22, 2011

Almost back to normal!

Well, I still feel like I’m going round in circles, but if I can mix my metaphors, I can see light at the end of the tunnel (which must prove I’m not going in circles! lol)
Today, after much preparation and lots of hullabaloo, we dropped our daughter off at university. We met the room-mates and took her for lunch before saying a tearful (at least on my part!) goodbye.  She felt so small when I put my arms round her to hug her. Like most Mums, I can’t believe she’s old enough to fly the nest! I did leave a surprise under her pillow…. quite literally, an emergency bar of chocolate! I forgot to take a picture of it, but it can be found here.  It actually states on the wrapper that it is for for "immediate relief of: chocolate cravings, lovesickness, exam pressure, mild anxiety and extreme hunger" At least I know she will eat something tonight!

So, on to stitching news.
While we were on holiday in Scotland we visited The Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh . This amazing museum has all sorts of wonderful children’s toys etc and also this little collection…







These amazing samplers were stitched by children some time during the 1800’s. I did scribble down the details but, in true Rhona fashion, have lost them. Still, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Aren’t they amazing?
Now my stitching looks rather pathetic compared to the wonderful samplers done by these children! This is what I am (still) working on.

I have managed to add to my collection of ort’s by having to unpick the backstitch that I did using the wrong colour! I really should listen to that little voice in my head – it kept saying that colour wasn’t dark enough but I thought it was just because it was late at night and the light was poor. In the morning, I realized I was wrong, and had to unpick all the backstitching, which I hate having to do. Anyway, it will look good when finished using the right colour…or so the voices tell me! lol

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Another hectic week!


I was hoping that things would return to normal after our holiday (and after I had got caught up with the washing and ironing.) But life never seems to work the way you plan it. I seem to have been running around in circles and getting nowhere! Sound familiar?!!

My daughter leaves for university on Monday, and I have been desperately trying to get everything I think she will need. I have to remember that she is not going to the far side of the moon and whatever she doesn’t have, she can easily go to the local shop and buy…. or do without! But, it’s that ‘being a mum’ thing that makes you worry and fret over every little detail. No doubt I’ll be off to the shops again tomorrow as there’s bound to be something else I have to buy for her! lol

Phew! No wonder I have grey hairs!! Lol

So on to some stitching news….
While back in Scotland one of my dad’s neighbours very kindly asked if I would like some old cross stitch patterns she had. I was very excited to see them as this neighbor is originally from Sweden. She explained that the charts were very old and probably very out of date…..but to me, that made them all the more interesting! This is what she gave me….




Aren’t they wonderful?
And this is what I’m stitching just now. It’s a summer alphabet for Tangled Threads.

And since I haven’t done much stitching this month, my ort jar looks like it belongs to “Old Mother Hubbard”, in the sense that it’s bare, except for two or three sad looking thread ends! I’d better get cracking otherwise I will certainly win the prize of ‘least filled ort jar’!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Friday, August 12, 2011

Lots of photos....you have been warned!!

With the magic of Blogger, the last few post appeared while I was away on holiday. I have to admit that I did have my fingers crossed that I had managed to schedule everything correctly!
To those of you who commented, I will eventually get round to replying (still desperately trying to catch up with laundry etc!), but thanks to everyone who left a comment, I really enjoy reading them!

So….. as for the holiday, we went back to Scotland. My first trip back in almost ten years. It was wonderful! (Apart from the weather, I had forgotten just how much it rained over there!)
This is me and my daughter sporting the typical Scottish summer attire!! lol

 Anyway, it was lovely to see family and friends again and to be able to visit some wonderful historic sights. I had packed some stitching to do while on the plane and for doing in the evenings, but as they say, the best laid plans etc etc! lol
This is what I took with me, although it didn’t look quite so battered when we left!

There were three new charts, threads for each design, fabric, needles, and since I couldn’t get a clear answer about taking scissors on the aircraft, I took this……

a dental floss thingy! It wasn’t brilliant for cutting the threads but at least it worked and there were no hassles about getting it on the plane. I did manage to get some stitching done on the flight over as the entertainment system wasn’t working, but as it was a night flight I ended up snoozing for a good bit….you know the way you do on a plane until your neck hurts or you wake yourself up when your head falls!
The plan for stitching in the evenings went out the window as we were far too busy being tourists as you can see….
 Broughty Ferry castle....cold and windy! Me in the middle with son Robert and daughter Eirinn.

Me and my not-so-little boy, Broughty Ferry beach...cold and windy!

 Broughty ferry beach...finally warm and windy!!

 Edinburgh castle from the top of the Scott monument...a lovely wet summer's day in Scotland!

 St Gile's cathedral Edinburgh...the same summer's day!

 Arbroath Abbey


Robert and me after climbing what's left of the stairs!

 Stirling Castle...windy, cold....but sunny!

I did manage to finish one of the designs I had taken with me, and had high hopes for getting lots of stitching done on the seven and half hour flight home, but yet again, the stitching gods had other plans. The flight home was so rough that we had to have our seat belts on all the time! There was so much turbulence that there was no way to get the needle to go through the fabric! Thank heavens for the in-flight entertainment system and movies on demand!
So this is the sum total of my stitching for the last two weeks!

As you can see, it's still in need of washing and ironing......just what I need, more ironing!

So, hopefully things can get back to normal and I can catch up on all my blog reading which is far more enjoyable than the ironing! Hope I didn't bore you with the family photos!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona


Thursday, August 4, 2011

I know a secret……


…..and I’m going to share it with you!
I have a friend who is a quilter and she makes the most amazing quilts like this one she gave me…


She asked me if I could pop into Joann’s for her and pick up some quilting supplies. For non US readers, Joann’s is a huge craft store, which by itself is wonderful, but here where I live, it’s nestled between a Target and a Marshalls (every shoppers dream stores!! lol)…….sheer heaven! How could I say no?!! So, after wandering around the sewing aisles and not being able to find anything on the shopping list, I then discover that Joann's actually has a quilting section…duh! And this is where the secret comes in. The quilting section has the most amazing stuff that us cross stitchers can use….even better than the bits ‘n’ bobs in the cross stitch section. I found the most wonderful needle threaders, scissors to die for, beeswax for those pesky metallic threads and wonderful magnetic needle boxes.  Sadly, I was unable to get my friend's quilting supplies, but I was able to ‘enhance’ my cross stitching stash! Just don’t tell my hubby!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, August 1, 2011

Tusal


Here’s this month’s collection of ort’s. Note that there’s a distinct lack of metallic threads!! Lol




Having said that, I have been good and have made sure that every time I sit down to do some backstitching on the Mighty Samurai, I have also done at least one lot/length of metallic threads.  Maybe next month’s collection will have more metallic inside!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona