Monday, July 30, 2012

A bit of this, a bit of that….and another magazine!


Happy Monday everyone, hope you’re having a good start to your week.

I want to show you some finishes that have finally happened!

So you may remember the knitting that I started, well I finished it in what I thought was record time (for me just finishing it was an achievement!) Here’s what it looks like finished.
   

I enjoyed doing it so much that I’ve started another one! I’ve been taking my knitting with me in the car and can squeeze in a good couple of rows while I’m waiting for my daughter to finish work. I leave a few minutes earlier than I have to, to make sure I can knit even a couple of rows. It’s amazing how much you can get done just squeezing some extra craft time into your day like this! This is the new scarf, which will be a Christmas pressie for a friend....


 This was just two evening in the car! Just don't tell anyone how quickly they knit up!

My next finish was the Grain of salt design you may remember from here
Ta-da….


...all finished! I'll detail everything in another post and hopefully I'll have this all made into a gift giving package. I have the idea, but just can't find all the little bits to make up the package....sooooo frustrating!

And after all your wonderful words of encouragement about the ice-creams, I did manage to finish it, and enjoyed stitching it too!


I just have to decide what to make this into….I’m thinking that maybe a small pillow, but it would look equally as cute as a wall hanging for the kitchen! I can feel a Pinterest session coming on so that I can get some finishing ideas for this one!

And can you believe it…..another magazine in the post! I could get used to this! Sadly, I’ll probably not get another one for about a month! I can feel the withdrawal symptoms already! 

World Of Cross Stitching Issue 193
Immediate Media company

This one is The World of Cross Stitching issue 193. The unusual thing about this issue is that although I contributed to the magazine, I didn’t design anything. Confused? Let me show you….



My top ten tips for holiday stitching! Ruth, the editor, asked me for my top tips for travelling with your cross stitching. So no design, just words. The picture they have of me is quite old, and sadly I have a  lot more grey hairs and quite a few more wrinkles!! lol

Until next time...happy stitching!
Rhona


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Another magazine!


Yes….another magazine turned up! I’m not complaining, mind you – I love reading them – it’s just that this housework is never going to get done! You can tell how upset I am by this fact, can’t you?!! Teehee!



This magazine is Craftseller issue 13, and I had this cute little door sign in it. The door sign is reversible so that kids can show whatever side they think is most appropriate.



Anyway, Craftseller asked me to use the phrases 'No Entry - homework in progress' and 'Enter at your own risk'. Here are some close ups of the finished stitching.



I think I should probably stitch signs for my kids rooms, but they should read “keep out – bedroom is a disaster area!’....far more appropriate!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, July 23, 2012

I won!

After a couple of weeks of things going wrong, something wonderful happened! I was the winner of the HAED chart from Pull The Other Thread blog giveaway! Woohoo!


I'm not one of these people who can say 'I never win anything' as I did once win something. When I was about sixteen or seventeen  (many moons ago!!) I won a T-shirt and I was sooo excited about having won something, but as I got handed the t-shirt there was also an apology of  'sorry we didn't have any small t-shirts left but here's an extra large one!'  It turned out to be an XXL size - totally useless and I was so disappointed.


But there's absolutely no disappointment this time! The very generous prize was to pick my own chart - so you can guess how I spent my weekend! Yes, I was glued to the computer trying to decide which Heaven and Earth chart to pick - no easy task, I can assure you. 


I finally decided on this one...


http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160_344&products_id=5858


Isn't it delightful? I just love these little dragons and this design reminds me of my children when they were younger and used to play make believe. (Now they just fight and argue!!!) 


I have to say the service from Michele at  Heaven and Earth Designs is second to none. I cannot praise her highly enough. I had a problem downloading the charts (all my fault!) and contacted her explaining what had happened and she responded almost immediately. You may not think that this is anything exceptional, but you have to realize that this was on Sunday afternoon! What great service. The chart is now safely downloaded and saved to my desktop.


Now I'm trying to gather all the threads and fabric that I will need to stitch this design....more fun!


I've also got my eye on another couple of Heaven and Earth designs (naughty me, as I've just started a new piece! More of that later). So be warned...browsing this site can be addictive and add greatly to you wish list!


Anyhoo, this is what I'd love to stitch


http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160_255_261&products_id=4061


and if I live long enough, this one as a companion piece...


http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160_255_261&products_id=4060


...although I've no idea where I would get fabric big enough to tackle these designs...or how I could afford the fabric and the threads! I'd better start doing the lottery!


So once more a big thank you for my prize from  Pull The Other Thread blog and also Michele at HAED. I'm one happy bunny!!


Until next time...happy stitching!


Rhona

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Magazines are like buses!

Just like buses, you wait for ages for a magazine,  then two come along at the same time! That's just what happened with my magazines. I had World of Cross Stitching issue 191 and issue 192 delivered the same day......and you just know that no housework got done that day!!!

World of Cross Stitching Issues 191 & 192
Immediate Media Co.Origin Ltd

Here's the alphabet I had in issue 191....

World of Cross Stitching issue 191
Immediate Media Co. Origin Ltd

This was a lovely alphabet to design, all those sweet little bird houses in such lovely pastel colours. A joy to design and, hopefully, a joy to stitch!

And in issue 192....

World of Cross Stitching issue 192
Immediate Media Co. Origin Ltd

.....a lovely summery barbeque alphabet! Bright bold colours with all those quintessential BBQ supplies and, of course, hot dogs and burgers!!!

So having read both magazines from cover to cover,  I now have to decide whether to get some stitching done or to catch up with the housework that didn't get done earlier. Can you guess which one I'll choose?!!!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona










TUSAL



Here's this month's collection of orts. There's a real mixture in here this month - christmas orts, summer orts...you name it, it's in here!!! Pictures to follow shortly....which might mean two posts in one day - shock, horror!

Until next time...happy stitching!



Rhona

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Jumping in at the deep end!

I have been working on my little ice-cream design, but I really don't have much to show! It's been one disaster after another....and all my fault! First of all, I started stitching late one evening while keeping one eye on some movie that the rest of the family was watching. Not a good idea. In the morning when I looked at the stitching, I realized that I had been stitching with the wrong colour! How on earth I didn't notice it at the time,  I have no idea. So after unpicking (everyone's least favourite task) I started again - this time double checking that it was the right colour.  After almost completing a whole ice-cream cone , I realized that I had started stitching the design one square too high!!! Uggh. More unpicking! So after starting at the right spot with the right colour, here's how it looks now....



So I was feeling a bit better about the design until I looked at Cross Stitcher magazine's website and saw that they had an ice cream cone design in the magazine this month! Grrr.

So feeling a bit deflated, I decided it was time to try something new.....knitting.

Off I toddled to the local library where I discovered they had a huge selection of knitting books. Knitting seems to be the 'in' thing just now. So I took out a book about Victorian lace knitting....hence the 'jumping in at the deep end' title! It looks awesome....but complicated. So realizing I have to take baby steps, I started making a scarf (got to start somewhere!)

So this is what I bought on Tuesday....



and this is how it looks now....


The yarn or wool (not sure what it should be called) is really fancy and knits up looking like lace. There's only six stitches on the needles!

Here's a close up...


Isn't that fantastic? I can see me making some more of these as Christmas gifts.

So until next time, (when normal, stitchy service will be resumed) happy stitching!

Rhona


Sunday, July 8, 2012

A hasty finish!

This week has been much better than last week – no more disasters, but maybe I’m tempting fate by saying that, so I’ll just hurry on and show you my latest finish.

Since its summer, it’s time for flip flops…



….except maybe for those of you living in the UK, perhaps wellies would be more appropriate! (Hope the sun shines soon for you!)

This is one of the letters from a new alphabet that will be available. I stitched this one a while back, but have only just got round to actually doing something with it (story of my life!!)

Summertime (in my household anyway) always means kids going swimming and the inevitable mix up of towels and swim bags. I thought this little alphabet would be just the thing to attach to swim towels and swim bags – anything to try to keep things a bit organized!  Just one letter, or even a whole name stitched to a band and attached to a towel, would look super cute and also keep things from getting mixed up at the pool.



You could easily change the colour of the letter to match the colour of the towel. These little designs can be stitched up quite quickly and you can also use up some of those left-over threads from other projects, making each design unique!

And if you don’t fancy using the designs for towels or swim bags, they look great as cards too! I used the same design (quite literally) and popped it into a card - another little cutie!



So with this being made into a card, I’m still managing to keep up with my goal of making at least one card per month! Yayy me! I think I might add some embellishments onto this card as I think it needs a little bit more, so you might be seeing this one again!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona




Monday, July 2, 2012

Whodunit?

If the Grinch stole Christmas, who stole last week?!! I can't believe the week has gone and I didn't post anything!

Well last week was busy, eventful (or maybe disastrous would be a better word!) and expensive! Busy, because I had lots of work – yippee! Eventful because the car broke down, then the washing machine started to leak and because bad things always come in three's, expensive as the fridge freezer packed up. Since the three bad things have all happened, I’m sure this week can only get better! I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed that this is true!

So, I have been stitching like crazy to meet deadlines and the most frustrating thing is that I can’t let you see any of it until it’s published in the magazines. At least I’ll have some things to post later in the year!

So you may be wondering how all the ‘O’ went last week. Well after jealously looking at all the wonderful craft rooms on Pinterest (you can see some of the here, just be warned that you might lose many hours browsing on Pinterest!) I finally realized that....

a)      I don’t have  a room big enough to hold anything like most of these pictures
b)      I don’t have enough cash to be able buy half of their storage systems
c)    These rooms are just too neat and tidy for them to belong to ‘real’ crafters

And sadly…

d)     I don’t have enough stash.

Thankfully I can, and will, work on the last one! *wink, wink*

Anyhoo, I did manage to rummage through my stash and re-acquaint myself with everything that I have. I did try to organize things a bit better but I think that deep down, I’m just a very disorganized stitcher/crafter. C’est la vie!

This is what I’m working on at the moment…



Not much to see L

I do have quite a few pieces that need to be finished off. I really must make a point of not leaving them to pile up. My mid-year resolution should be to finish them off as I go along……mmm, we’ll see what happens! Hopefully this week will be more productive with things I can show you.

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona