Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Sequins and thank yous!



Thanks to everyone who offered advice about getting pictures on my blog even though I have used up all my free storage space. As you can tell ....it worked! Thank you. And just as a little warning....there's a bit of a picture overload here now - well now that I know how to do it, I might as well make the most of it!

So  now, on to the sequins....

I’ve had my fill of sequins! I NEVER want to sew another sequin again until at least after Christmas. For the last two weeks I have been stitching hundreds and hundreds of sequins…. and as the pictures will prove, that’s no exaggeration.

I not only finished the snowman stocking that I showed you earlier, but I also finished another two! Yes, I know, I’m a glutton for punishment but they were so cute that I couldn’t resist - and with 50% off I just couldn't walk out the store without them. I thought it would be nice to stitch them for my daughter and her college room-mates. 

Here’s the snowman stocking all finished….


Sadly the camera doesn’t capture the sparkles of the sequins. Here are some close ups….




And I love the way the name is stitched on to a little dangling snowflake! So cute!



Then there’s a Santa stocking in more traditional Christmas colours….


 ...and some close ups....





And finally a Gingerbread house……


The last one I only managed to finish as my daughter helped sew on all the sequins for me. She decided that there wasn’t quite enough sparkle if she followed the chart (a girl’s got to have her sparkle!) so she covered all the snow on the roof with sequins, a mammoth undertaking,  and I have to admit that it looks really so much better with all that shimmer as you can see...




And then, just as I had taken all the pictures and my daughter was getting ready to put the stockings in her suitcase to go back to uni, I realized that I had forgotten to add a bow to the wreath! Of course, these things annoy me so I just had to hastily add a little bow!


Ahh...finally finished!

I’m sure the three girls will find that their dorm room will be a bit more festive – and certainly more sparkly - when they hang up their stockings.

So after all that sewing, I’m actually looking forward to getting back to cross-stitching! Yayyyy!

Thanks again for the advice about the pictures.

Until next time…happy stitching!
Rhona


Monday, November 26, 2012

Arghhh!

Anyone else having trouble with Blogger and pictures? After having loads of pictures of some stitching to show you, Blogger is telling me that I have used up all my storage space and I can't add any pictures.....unless I want to upgrade....at a price.

I even went back into old posts and deleted some pictures in the hope of getting round this, but to no avail. 

Anyway, I'll read the fine print later and hopefully will have some pics to show you soon.

Until next time...happy stitching.

Rhona

Monday, November 19, 2012

Everything stops for tea!


  
Well I finally managed to get another gift almost finished! I know that sounds a strange thing to say…almost finished…but read on and you’ll see what I mean! This is the Everything Stops for Tea design that I showed you a few weeks ago and will be a gift for a fellow Tea Jenny, just like myself. The name ‘Tea Jenny’ is a Scottish term for anyone, male or female, who drinks lots of tea, and being a devout ‘Tea Jenny’ (it could practically be my middle name!) this design is soooo me! (I’m even typing this one handed as I have a cup of tea in the other hand!)

Here’s the stitching all framed up…


I’m having trouble getting a frame that I really like. I had originally bought the same one that I had for the coffee themed gift  but it didn’t look right so I went and bought this darker frame, but I’m still not 100% happy with it. I think I might go and buy one of those plain pine frames and paint it a similar green to the teacups.

So, along with some coasters that match this design, I’m also adding some homemade cookies…..but not just any old homemade cookies….tea bag shaped cookies! I had a little practice run of making the cookies and this is how they turned out…


Too cute! The idea came from here, but I used a lemon shortbread recipe instead…total yummy. Of course, I’ll be making a fresh batch of cookies to put in the gift nearer to Christmas….stale cookies don’t make good gifts!

Along with the sampler, coasters, and the cookies, there will also be some more tea themed fun…


Heehee, they’re just regular teabags but with the original label cut off and a tiny envelope attached and a handwritten message inside. To make a tiny envelope like this all you have to do is find a template of a regular sized envelope (thanks heavens for good old Google!) and then re-size it on your computer. Print off the re-sized envelope and use it as a template to cut out the teeny tiny ones. This sounds quite a fiddly and time consuming job, but I sat and cut out and folded all these (and more) while watching suffering through ‘The Walking Dead’ on TV last night. Once you have made all those little envelops you just have to attach them to the teabag and then add your little note…


The little note can be anything you like - an inspirational quote, something funny or personal – I’ve made mine a mixture of each.

There are plenty of other tea themed ideas that you can add to this type of gift, and if I end up having some time before Christmas (yeah, like that’s going to happen!) I might add to this gift. As it is, this is the way the gift should look by Christmas…


And if my stitch bug returns in time, there will also be two coasters to add this too.

The charts for this Tea design and also a similar Coffee design (you can’t leave out your coffee loving friends!) can be found at www.TangledThreadsOnline.com.

Phew! Time for another cuppa! Milk and sugar?

Until next time…happy stitching!
Rhona











Tuesday, November 13, 2012

TUSAL and other updates

Although my cross stitch bug has abandoned me and shows no sign of returning, I do (surprisingly) still have a few orts in my jar to show...


Most of the orts come from the felt stocking I have been working on, but more of that later! The little bear and the diary and address book were a lovely surprise from Michelle at Shells Stitching for being her first guest blogger - thanks Michelle, that was a lovely surprise! Do pop over and check out her blog  -  she's having a fab giveaway too!

So, onto the threads that were in the ort jar. Most of them were from my stocking which looked like this the last time you saw it...

...but now looks like this....


After what feels like a million sequins and a million and one of those oh-so-tiny beads that refuse to  do what they're told, I'm almost finished...yay! Unfortunately, I have run out of those annoying little beads and also one colour of thread. Of course, stitchers law...every blue thread that I own doesn't match the thread that's in the kit! 

Anyway, here are some close ups of the stocking. Unfortunately, it's such a miserable rainy day here and the light isn't good to catch the sparkly effect of the beads and sequins.



So just the arms, mittens and the top part of his scarf and he'll be done!

And in the hope of tempting my stitchy bug to return, here are the updates of the WIP's, although I'm not sure if technically they can be called WIP's since I haven't worked on them in a couple of weeks.

Simple Treasures....


Geisha...


And last but not least, the good old Granny Squares!


This angle makes it look like there's even less than last time, but there's a couple more piles hiding behind the ones you can see!

And this is how it looks when they are all laid out...


Now I just have to figure out how to join them all together...YouTube, here I come!

Phew! For someone who has lost their stitchy bug, I'm quite surprised at how much I have to show you!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

LOST...one cross stitch bug.

If you find him, please send him home!

Yes, it's true I have lost my cross stitch bug :(  I just can't seem to get enthusiastic about the two projects I have on the go at the moment. I do want to see them finished, but I have no desire to pick them up and work on them.So, if you have any tried and tested ways to get the stitching mojo back, please let me know!

I do have to confess to starting another project....yes, I'll admit it, I'm a serial starter! Another confession is that I can't stand to be doing nothing, so..... I had seen this kit in the craft store and thought it could be an interesting little project and when Joann's emailed me a 50% off coupon....well, how could I resist?


So as you can see from the green sticker the kit was reduced to $11.99 and then with the 50% off coupon....you have to agree, I would have been mad not to splurge out (if spending $6 plus tax could be described as splurging!)

So, while watching the election coverage last night, this is what I did...



It's a bit fiddly, and the instructions are, well, lets be diplomatic and say they are not the clearest I have ever read, but I think this will be a fun project to do.

Here's a close up of the top part of the stocking...



The camera doesn't really capture the sparkle terribly well. There is a clear bead on every sequin, so it really does catch the light! My hand sewing is not the best, I really do need the little holes like aida to know where to put the stitches! I'm hoping that when it's complete no-one will be looking at the stitches and checking how evenly they are placed.  Now the burning question is....will I get it finished in time for Christmas!!



And one last thing, Nancy from The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having yet another amazing giveaway. Head over to her blog here to join in the fun - don't forget to tell her that I sent you!


Until next time, (when my stitchy bug will hopefully have returned)...happy stitching!

Rhona


Thursday, November 1, 2012

Organizing….again!



This organizing malarkey sure does take some time, but I’m getting things done, slowly….very slowly! My excuse reason for not getting it all done in one fell swoop is that, apart from the fact that I don’t have time to do it all in one go, I have to admit that I’d be too confused as to where things were! Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! Anyway, I managed to rummage through the old battered biscuit tin that held all my ‘not used very often’ threads – you know, the variegated, Madeira’s and the drive me crazy metallics.  I sorted them all out and purchased some stacking plastic containers that were the perfect size and this is what it looks like now…



There are still some random threads in the old biscuit tin, along with some buttons beads and charms, but my little old brain can’t cope with too much change at once. So…baby steps!

Anyway, did you notice all those metallic threads in the middle container?  Some of these were used for this….

 The World of Cross Stitching 
Issue196
Immediate Media Co


…an article in The World of Cross Stitching magazine.  Ruth, the editor, asked me to write an article about metallic threads as it was getting to that time of the year when all our stitching begins to include that all important festive sparkle. The free gift with the magazine that issue was two sets of metallic threads along with a free chart booklet. Ruth very kindly mailed me some samples of the different threads to play with ahem, I mean, do some research on….it’s a tough job, but someone had to do it.*wink, wink* So my collection of metallic threads increased with some new and untried threads. It was great fun hard work to try out these different threads and I was really surprised at the differences in the threads. Some of them were a joy to stitch with…yes, I actually said that! Me, that normally runs a mile at the thought of stitching with metallic, actually enjoyed stitching with them! Who would have thought that?!!

So I guess the moral of the story is to try out different types of metallic threads till you find the one you like to work with, and since adding to your stash is always fun, it’s win/win situation.

Until next time…happy stitching (even with metallics!)

Rhona