Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Finished…..just in time for Christmas!


Yayyyy…my little cardinal decoration is all stitched up and finished as a wall hanging just in time for Christmas….




Isn’t it adorable? I love the heart hanger and those little bells are just too cute!

Kit details-
Mini banners by Dimensions
Stitched on 14 count aida
Finished size approx. 13cm x 25cm

I searched on-line for some more designs in this mini banners series, but unfortunately couldn’t find any. I did manage to find some other wonderful designs that I would love to stitch. Guess it’s too late to ask Santa for them….so...... I’ll just have to treat myself!!! Heehee!

Hope you all have a wonderful festive season.

Until next time…happy stitching!


Rhona

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Almost finished!

Here's the progress that I've made on my cardinal design....



....I'm almost done, just finishing off the back stitching and the french knots!



Those pesky marks from the hoop should be banished when the iron makes its appearance. I would normally wash my stitching when it's finished, but with all that deep red, I'm really reluctant to wash it in case I end up with pink fabric! Let's hope that the iron alone can vanquish the hoop marks.

For anyone who's tried to stitch while traveling, you'll know how awkward it is to pull a length of thread from a skein, cut it, and then try to separate it into however many strands you need for your stitching. This was one of my dilemmas for having my stitching stuff organized when I went on holiday. Stitching in the confines of an airplane is not an easy task. Luckily for me, I came across a rather nifty idea on Pinterest. Click here to go to the original post.




Unfortunately I can't show you the inside of this little thread holder as my camera batteries have just died, so now you HAVE to go to the original post!!! :) Anyhoo, it's a cute and easy to make project. It works quite well as long as you have the threads cut to the size you like and already separated into single strands. I'm not sure if this is the best method of storing threads for stitching on the go, so if you have any other methods/ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, December 9, 2013

Trusting in the postal services!

I've got my fingers firmly crossed that both the US and the UK postal services will be able to deliver my little niece her appliqued stocking in time for her to hang it up for Santa visiting. Being that she's not even one year old yet, I doubt if it will bother her too much if the postal services fail! Heehee!

Here's her stocking, it's the third (and last) stocking that I have made this year...


Phew, I'm glad there's no more sequins and beads to be stitched....those beading needles are such a pain to thread!

With all the felt applique that I have been doing over the last few weeks, I have been experiencing serious cross stitch withdrawal symptoms! So, while I was on holiday I bought a small kit to stitch. I started working on this while I was in Scotland and now that I am back home and have finished the last of the stockings, I can now finish of this festive hanging...



The kit contains a decorative hanger and some small jingly bells. I'm looking forward to being able to get some more stitching done....and maybe have a finish before the end of the year.

And speaking of festive stitching, here's some of my designs that are in this months Card Shop magazine...


Cross Stitch Card Shop Issue 93
Immediate Media Co.

...unfortunately there's no way that I'll have enough time to stitch any of them for this year's cards....ah well, there's always next year!

Until next time...happy stitching!


Rhona

Monday, December 2, 2013

Phew!!! I'm back!

Sorry for the sudden and unannounced absence. As usual all plans are tossed to the wind when life starts throwing you lemons!

My plan had been to write a couple of blog posts and let blogger do it's magic by scheduling them to appear while I was away on holiday. Then the lemons started to appear leaving me with only the Thursday morning to write the posts...and since we didn't leave till lunch time, it seemed quite do-able. So I was up bright and early on Thursday morning, all ready to do the last of the packing and write these blog posts. A quick check of the weather and emails and all was well.......until I looked at the airport departure boards to discover that the one and only flight to be cancelled from out local airport was , yeah you've guessed it...the one we needed to be able to catch the international flight. So, all hell broke loose as we tried figure out the quickest way to get to Newark airport. To cut a long story short we ended up catching several trains and making it just in the nick of time to board our plane. And that dear friends, is why there were no scheduled posts.

Anyway, we had a fantastic time. We spent a week with family in Scotland. I gave my niece the two stockings for her little boys. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera the day I gave her the stockings. I'm sure she'll send me a picture of the two kiddos with their stockings nearer to Christmas.I was still working on the second one in my last post, but here it is completed....



And here's both of them together...


I'm working on a third one for my other little niece (I'm just a glutton for punishment!!) I had wanted to do a one that was a bit more girlie, but the store didn't have a great selection. I was going to order one on-line, but surprisingly they were more expensive on-line! So, because of the cost and the fact that delivery would take approximately a week (and I'm rapidly running out of time), I decided just to do the one with the three snowman again. So I'm busy working on that so that I can get it posted off to her in time for Christmas. I'm just hoping that the Christmas mail doesn't take too long!

Anyway, after our week in Scotland, it was off to Prague to visit our daughter, Eirinn. And now I understand why she doesn't want to come home....it's such a beautiful city. She marched us everywhere so that we could see as much of the city as possible. We walked so much that I had to have my boots re-heeled!

Here's some pics of our trip...


At the John Lennon wall.




 The cathedral in Prague castle.

And now you'll have to tilt your head to the left as for some strange reason, blogger is not showing the next couple of pics the right way up!

The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town square...


Close up of the clock...



Eirinn and me at the top of the tower...


Charles Bridge and Prague castle at night...


Definitely a city worth visiting and I'd love to go again....just have to save up more pennies!

So now I have to get back to the normal routine and catch up with all my blog reading.... it may take me a while!

Thanks for visiting.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona