Monday, April 27, 2015

A rainbow of owls!

Well....almost a rainbow of owls! I still have more owls to do, but they are looking wonderfully colourful...




The top two still have the back stitching to be completed and, hopefully, I can get started on that tonight. I'm thinking of doing the next owl in shades of green....I have to do each one a different colour otherwise I wouldn't have my little rainbow of owls! (Also I get bored doing the same design over and over again! Changing the colour makes it a bit more enjoyable) I'm planning on personalizing each one by back stitching the recipients name on the bottom plank of the little sign.....I just have to hunt out some graph paper to make sure the names are centered.

Twilight fairy hasn't been entirely neglected, although I haven't been able to do much with her....but there is some progress...this was her last week...


...and this is how she is looking today...


...I'm getting there...albeit slowly!

Anyhoo, I'm off to hunt out the next batch of owl colours!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, April 20, 2015

TUSAL and the continuing saga of my PhD

Another TUSAL rolls around again.... and I'm sure I must have forgotten to empty my jar from last month....again!


So on to my PhD....I'm still chipping away at that pile of Projects Half Done!

Remember this gorgeous design....


 ....well you probably don't, and I'm not surprised if you don't, as it was finished such a long time  ago!  It seems criminal that such a gorgeous design, (and not to mention the hours and hours of stitching involved), has been left neglected in the PhD pile. 

Well not any more! I finally got it framed. 

Since getting it framed professionally was just a bit too expensive (at least for just now) I went and bought a frame and framed it myself. What made it even better was the fact that all the frames were half price!



I went for a distressed look for the frame....I thought it had that kind of beach feel to it.... and the blue colour really made all the gorgeous thread colours pop. I wasn't able to get a good photo showing the whole thing,(too many reflections even although it's not a particularly sunny day!) but you see how lovely the colours are with the blue frame in this picture. I'm so pleased that it is now hanging on the wall for everyone to see.

Next thing I tackled in my PhD pile isn't stitching, but will be used with some stitching (that I still have to do!) to make a little gift basket....eventually!

I made some coasters using some beer bottle labels and some white ceramic tiles...





...they still have to have one more coat of modge-podge to finish them....but they're almost done....and that's a great start for the gift basket I have planned....watch this space :)

And since this is a stitching blog, I will  end with the rather feeble amount of stitching that I managed last week...


...this little owl is from my 'oh-my-goodness-I'm-quickly-running-out-of-time -to get-this-done' pile :) 

And if I don't find a turbo charged needle soon, I think I just might run out of time for all those graduation cards I need to do....so guess what I'm off to work on now?!!!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona





Monday, April 13, 2015

Working on my Ph D :)

Yup, lots of hard work to get through my PhD ......projects half done ! 

I have a rather large pile of stitching that is completed but not 'finished'. The pile keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the bigger the pile gets the less inclined I and to do anything about it (apart form ignoring it!) So, a while ago I made a list of everything in the dreaded pile and how I wanted to finish each of them. It was awful! There was just soooo much to be done that it was off-putting. And that's just what I did....put it off and did nothing....sound familiar? Anyway, last week I looked at the pile on my desk and, apart from feeling a bit guilty, realized that some of the projects really wouldn't take too long to complete, so I decided that last week I would finish two of these projects....any two, it didn't matter what they were, how long they had been sitting there....they would be finished. And I did it....I finished two of the PhD's....yayyy me!

So here's what I finished.....

...first of all, a mug rug that only needed only a few little bits added and some blanket stitch edging....



....why oh why didn't I do this ages ago....it didn't take long at all...


...and now I have someplace for my cuppa and biscuit! OK, the biscuit is gone... I was peckish...what can I say? :)

And remember the book mark I stitched last week? Well, the stitching took only a few nights and since I was in the middle of a good book without any way of keeping my place, out came the scissors and some felt....



...nothing fancy....just trimmed and attached to some lilac felt...and then put to good use!


Wow....I feel so productive....must be the spring air!

And as for Twilight Fairy? She hasn't been neglected either!  Told you I had been productive :) This is where I was with her last time I posted a picture....



....and this is her now...


Stitching all the black was a bit of a chore, but it has to be done!

So my goal for this week is to finish at least one more of my PhD's as well as working some more on Twilight Fairy. 

I WILL conquer my projects half done.....I'm feeling determined.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, April 6, 2015

More little finishes!

Phew....for someone who's still feeling under the weather, I seem to be stitching up a storm! 

So while working on these free kits and other small designs in my stash, I was quite happily adding to a stock of cards to use throughout the year. Then I started to think about who I would need to send cards to so that I could make them specifically for each person, and then realized....to my horror....that I have quite a lot of family and friends who are graduating high school and university this summer! Mmmm, time to look  for more graduation designs... about half a dozen or so!

Anyhoo, here's what I've  accomplished so far. 

The troublesome bunny made in to a card...


...the first of many graduation cards stitched up....just the name and greeting to be back stitched...



And then, using the threads that were left over from my lighthouse finish, I stitched this lovely bookmark, the chart was a free gift from The World of Cross Stitching mag...


...aren't the colours gorgeous? And such a pretty design too.




So, my hope is to get back to stitching Twilight Fairy in between stitching all these graduation cards that I will be needing soon....I'm itching to get my hands back on her :)


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona