Monday, August 29, 2016

More Max!

With the end of summer in sight (sadly!) and the humidity returning to a level that's not too uncomfortable to be outside, I have been trying to catch up with all the chores in  the garden.....the weeds are taking over! 

With all this work in the garden, it means that I haven't had as much time to stitch as I would like to (again!) this week. Max was picked up and dusted off.....



I really want to get him finished off quickly as I have so many things on my "I-want-to-stitch-this" list and I know that if I put him aside he probably won't get picked up and finished for, well.....who knows how long! :)

I was also working on some crochet this week. We have a new baby arriving in our family soon and there's no better excuse to get the old crochet hook out!

I found this adorably soft chunky wool in a colour combo that I thought would be just a tad different for a baby. The pattern that I had seen called for three balls of a chunky baby yarn, but when I saw this one I fell in love with it. 


It crocheted up beautifully. Unfortunately in my haste to get on with the blanket, I didn't check the length of yarn in each skein.....BIG mistake. Yeah, I ran out of the yarn. Thank heaven for online ordering!


Since we don't know if baby is a boy or a girl, my plan was to pick one of the bright colours, maybe the orange or the green and do a couple of rows of the solid colour as an edging all the way round.

Buuuuttt.......you knew there was a 'but' coming there, didn't you? :) The new yarn that arrived was a totally different colour! I know that you can expect a slight shade variation, but this was awful, as you can see.....


I have emailed Lion Brand about the significant colour variation, but as yet (a whole week later!) I still haven't had a response from them. Needless to say, I'm so disappointed and kind of at a loss as what to do. I don't want to risk buying any more yarn as I can't be sure what colour I'll get. 

I guess the moral of the story is to buy more than you think you'll need.

Think I'll use that motto for cross stitch supplies too!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

It's unheard of!

Can you believe it....I've had a week without stitching! Crazy uh? 

Hopefully I'll make up for it this week and have lots to show you in my next post.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, August 15, 2016

Lots of little bits!

It's been one of those weeks where I have been flitting from one project to another! I blame the heat....it's too hot and humid to be able to concentrate on any one thing for too long :)

I was also a bit naughty this week.......a new kit just happened to come home with me from the craft store....I have absolutely no idea how that happened * wink * wink* !


And of course when you get a new kit, you just have to start it....it's a rule. 


Unfortunately, this kit doesn't come with the threads all pre-sorted....and we all know the pain of having to distinguish all the different shades of threads. Luckily Design works give you the DMC equivalents of their threads, but even that wasn't a help for some of the colours, so I ended up just using DMC threads from my stash. At least the kit wasn't expensive so I don't mind doing that.....so much easier than having to unpick half way through when you realize the colours are wrong.

Anyhoo, I think this might be a design that I stitch for my Dad as he's been talking about getting his kitchen redecorated, so a cross stitched picture will be nice to add to the newly painted walls....when I eventually get it finished!

Max made a brief appearance this week too!



Slow progress with this poor kitty, but progress nonetheless.

And the last of the little 'bits' that I worked on this week is, quite literally just off the hoop.....


Yup, another Christmas card all stitched up! This was a fun design to stitch and was completed really quickly. Of course, the hoop mark will be ironed out. It will be added to my ever growing pile of things to be 'finished'. Maybe one rainy weekend I'll get round to that mammoth task!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Watching the sun rise

Well I was all set to post yesterday till I realized that the SD card from the camera was missing! DH had left it in his laptop after looking at some pics.....needless to say, I called him a few choice names! :) 


Last week, hubby and I decided to have a few days away so we headed off to the New England coast. The weather was wonderful, and although it was really hot the beach breeze kept it comfortable.  

My birthday was spent watching the sun rise over the Atlantic...




Another item crossed off the bucket list!

I did enjoy the New England sense of humour. The signs were honest funny.....


...and another one that made me giggle....



So no stitching was done while we were away, but I did manage to finish off the 'ugly' Christmas jumper when I got home...yayyy!


...a close up of the jumper...


 ....and the little coat hangers for (eventually!) finishing it off ...


The hangers aren't exactly what I thought I had ordered......next time I will take more time to read the description of an item! These will work though....I'll make them work ;)

So quite a few items to be finished ....maybe I'll spend the weekend  just 'finishing' all the recent stitching. Wish me luck!


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona 

Monday, August 1, 2016

It's been a busy week.....

....but not with stitching! 

For one reason or another,  this past week hasn't been a good one for stitching. Hey ho, that's life!

I did manage to get a little bit more done on my cute, but ugly, Christmas jumper....and I do mean a little bit....


Not as much progress as I would have liked to have made....but it is only August, so it's not as if I'm running out of time! :)


Max was a bit of a guilty stitch for one night....I felt so bad that I had come so far with him and then put him on the back burner so to speak!

This was where I was last time he made an appearance...


....and this is him now...


I should try to do a bit of him at least one night per week, but I'm just not that organized ......or disciplined! :)

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona