Cute card finishes

I've had a stinker of a cold this past week.....but I can't complain - life could be worse! 

I couldn't concentrate on Twilight fairy and kept making silly mistakes so decided to put her aside till my head didn't feel like it was filled with cotton wool! I hate sitting in the evening without doing anything, it seems like such a waste of time....anybody else feel like that? So I looked out some of the free kits that come with the cross stitch magazines and decided to stitch some of them....it fits well with my 'buy less, waste less'  challenge for this year.

I made the flowers from my last post into a little card....

....then I stitched a cute Margaret Sherry design......

I love the 'stitched by' on the back of the card....

Isn't that perfect?

Normally I would make my own cards, but in the spirit of not wasting anything, I used the cards supplied....and they are so cute!

Then I started working on this  design...

This one turned out to be quite the problem design! How can something so small be such a problem? First of all, I started stitching with the wrong colour of thread and had to unpick it. Then when I stitched the inside of the ears, the colours didn't look right . According to the chart they were supposed to be stripy, but mine just looked like the same colour....soooo.... more unpicking! After checking that I am in fact stitching in the right colours, I start again....but the ears don't look stripy at all..... the two shades of thread were too close and the difference didn't show up, arghhhh....more unpicking! So by this time, I decide just to do the ears a totally different colour just so that I can get it finished. Phewww....that was hard work :)

This design came with a cute little patchwork card mount, but unfortunately I have run out of double sided tape so I can't finish it yet. 

So, all in all, three little finishes in a week is rather good, especially when full of the cold!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

PS. I seem to be having lots of emails returned when I respond to blog comments. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I do try to reply to all comments  - sometimes it takes me a while :) so thank you for commenting and apologies if you're not receiving my replies.

Happiness is.....

.... some new needles and......

 ......a cute little finish!

Simple things make me happy :)


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Ahh......the guilt!

It's not often that I feel guilty about starting a new cross stitch project - or any project for that matter - but guilt got to me this time!

After finishing off the lighthouse design (see previous post) I was eagerly anticipating a new start and trying to decide which of my three new kits I would start on....each of them wonderful and all crying out to be picked first! Unfortunately...or maybe it's fortunately, I'm not sure.... I only have two scroll frames that are the correct size for any of the new projects, and guess what....they both have WIP's on them. And that, dear friends, is where the guilt comes in. One of these WIP's  would have to vacate the scroll frame for the new project to be started....so which one?  One I want to finish...and will finish (eventually!) and the other I kind of want to finish but would need to frog quite a bit of it ( I'm not happy with the shading) and I know that if I take it off the frame, I'd probably never go back to it.
So...what to do...remove one that I want to finish, or remove the other knowing that it would be relegated to a UFO?

Guilt, guilt, guilt!

Since I'm fortunate enough to have a few projects to keep me busy for a while, maybe the best thing to do to banish the guilt would be to actually complete at least one of the WIP's.....logical, uh?


Soooo, I'm back working on Twilight Fairy!

Here's where I left her....

...and I can't believe that it was November when I last worked on her (oh, more guilt!) ....and here she is now...

.....ahh...feeling a bit less guilty now! I WILL get her finished!

And in case you're curious to know what the design on the other scroll frame is (my almost UFO)....it's this one...

...and the strange thing is, I have seen other bloggers working on this and it looks wonderful....so why does the shading on the bodice part really bother me? Maybe it's something as simple as I've used the wrong colour of thread! :) Anyhoo....hopefully this Geisha won't end up as a UFO...but I can't promise!!!


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

It's finished!!!

Woo hoo...the lighthouse design is now completed!

The design makes me long for those warm, sunny, summer days...

....sand between your toes...

... listening to the waves ...

.... basking in the sun on  those long glorious summer days....

 ...you can tell I'm fed-up of winter....can't you?!!!

So while I'm shivering in what feels like sub arctic temperatures here, I'll look at the lighthouse and know that Spring will eventually come and summer won't be long after!

The design is a kit by Dimensions and is one of their Gold Collection Petites, called 'Cliffside Beacon'. It's stitched on 18 count cream aida with....wait for it.....enough threads in the kit!!!! In fact, this is what I had left over....

...can't complain at that!

Soooooo, what shall I start on now.....?!!!

Watch this space! :)


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Arghhh.....no time to stitch!

Can you believe that I have gone a whole week without finding time to do any stitching? Not a single stitch at all....unheard of! I'm beginning to suffer some serious withdrawal symptoms....my fingers are itching to pick up a needle......especially as I'm almost finished the lighthouse design. Hopefully this week I'll be able to carve out some time for myself and get even a few stitches done. 

Fingers crossed.

So although I didn't get any time to stitch, or crochet....or do any crafting at all....I did manage some stash enhancement (if you could only see me sitting here with a big grin on my face!)....funny how stash enhancement always makes you smile!

I went to the craft store as I had a $5 off coupon (even bigger smile on my face!) and decided to buy some yarn for my next crochet project....forward planning on my part as I haven't finished my current crochet project! I had gone in with the intention of buying greys and dusky pinks and came out with this colour scheme....

The colours are actually a lot darker in real life....I think all the snow reflecting the sunlight has made them look quite pale! 

I was quite pleased with my choices and even more so when I got to the check out and discovered that they were on sale....yayyyy! Don't you just love it when that happens?

Hopefully, next time I post I will have managed to get some stitching done (or crocheting)....and maybe even the lighthouse design finished!

Until then...happy stitching!

Rhona

Fudging, frogging and another late TUSAL !

Oops....I'm late again at posting pics of my ort jar. Not only am I late at posting the picture but I think I might have forgotten to empty my orts from last month as there seems to be quite a lot of threads for the amount of stitching that I have accomplished since last time.

I have almost finished my lighthouse stitching. Just the french knots and the dreaded back stitch to do....

Unfortunately I had  to do some fudging and some frogging as I had made a mistake somewhere, but couldn't figure out where it was...arghhh....don't you just hate when that happens? Since I can't find where the mistake is I figured no-one else would know....well except you, my blogging friends! Hope you'll keep my secret!

The little french knot flowers add a bit of colour....and (gasp) I like doing french knots! Weird huh?!!

Can't wait to finish this, but then I'll have to make a decision about which of my new kits to start on next....such a nice problem to have :)

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Stitching time? What's that?

Well it's been another week where life has hijacked my stitching time! I didn't really get a chance to stitch during the week, but I made up for it at the weekend....although I really should have been doing other things, but hey....what's life without stitching?!!!

I'm still not loving stitching the white, but I did force myself to do some more of it. You can see it better in this picture...

....unfortunately for me, there's still quite a bit of the white to finish off.  Arghhhh.

Did you notice my little scissor holder (go on...scroll back up and you'll see him!)...isn't he cute?

I spotted him in the clearance section of my local craft store just before Christmas...can you believe he was reduced to only $3.  So of course, he had to come home with me! Cute and functional and best of all....didn't break the bank!

Well, life is calling....tons to do! Thanks for popping by to my little corner of the blog world :)

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Still snowing!

I think mother nature is playing a cruel joke on us as it's snowing again! The forecast for this storm is anything between 6 to 10 inches....we await (snow shovels in hand) to see just what the final total will be!

So being stuck inside should have meant plenty of stitching time but, alas, not. I managed only a few stitches in the lighthouse design....but, progress is progress no matter how little!

I did manage to get some of the dreaded white completed!

I also managed to finish the free kit from this month's World of Cross Stitching magazine.

It's a sweet little design that was quick to stitch and I think might end up being made into a card. I love the free kits as they are perfect for stitching up quickly. You can pop them in your bag for stitching on-the-go knowing that everything you need is there (minus the old specs....can't forget them!) and then you have a supply of stitched pieces for last minute cards! 

So with all the snow we've been having, the poor birds have been rather hungry and flocking to the bird feeders in the back garden. It's a bit of a struggle to get out and clear all the snow off the feeders, but the rewards are some wonderful birds that we don't normally see....

...a rather large red-bellied woodpecker (I think!)....

...and a slightly cold looking Carolina wren with his feathers all puffed out trying to keep warm! Isn't he cute?

Speaking of trying to keep warm, that's what I'm about to try to do as I shovel more snow off the drive! Roll on Spring!


Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Time to hibernate!

I love snow....on Christmas cards and on Christmas morning...maybe a few other times....but when it gets to this amount....

...it's time to hibernate. The snow is still falling so goodness knows how much we'll end up with. Here's to staying inside and stitching!


This is my progress on the lighthouse design...

The sky seemed to take forever and I was getting a bit bored with it (the fact that my new kits were calling didn't help either!), but once I started the cliff side, it just seemed to really come together and I felt I was really progressing. There's quite a bit of white stitching to be done, which I'm not really looking forward to doing...three strand on 18 count seems to be quite a slow going chore! Maybe the lure of the new kits will be too much competition for the awful  three strands of white....we'll have to wait and see :)

My crocheting has been coming along nicely too....although I have had to undo quite a few rows .....

It's getting quite large now and not so easy to photograph! I've finished the first ball of yarn but I'm wondering if I'll need to buy a third ball to complete this to the length that I'll need. Fingers crossed that the store has more of this brand and colour.

Well I'm off to get the snow blower out and clear the drive (or maybe just leave it till hubby gets home and let him do it!)....then settle down for some stitching!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

TUSAL 2015....late already!

So here we are with the very first TUSAL pic of 2015 and I'm already late with it! Oh dear! Not a good start at all.....hangs head in shame.

For anyone who doesn't know about the TUSAL please head over to Daffycat's blog here to find out all about it, and hopefully join in with the madness!

So here's my ort jar for January...

Sadly, not many orts there....but it could be worse...it could be empty! Hopefully there will be more orts in the jar in my next TUSAL picture next month.

So this month my son headed off overseas to do his masters degree. Of course, something like that deserved a good luck card....

The stitching was quite simple and my plan was to do layers of coloured paper on the card to make it a bit fancy. Unfortunately, we were forecast a major snowstorm and I really wanted to get the card in the mail before the storm hit so that it could be on it's way while we hunkered down to survive the blizzard conditions predicted. So, due to lack of time ( and lack of planning on my part!) it ended up a bit less fancy than I had intended. Anyhoo, it's the thought that counts!

So while the snow storm rages outside, I have been working on a some crocheting. One of my Xmas gifts was two balls of the most gorgeous yarn....so soft and wonderful colours. And in true Rhona fashion,  I decided to pick a rather complicated pattern...why walk when you can run?!!!

Here's my progress on a wonderful shawl pattern...

I'm not sure if there are some mistakes in the pattern (it was translated from German) or if I'm just a bit thick when it comes to reading crochet patterns, but the pattern doesn't seem to be  symmetrical ...so I'm just kind of winging it on the bits that don't seem to be right. Of course, that could be a recipe for disaster and lots of rattling down of hours and hours of work. Fingers crossed that it works out for me! Hopefully this won't take me months and months to finish...but who knows!


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

It's been a while!

I can't believe that we're more than half way through January and I'm just getting round to writing my first post of 2015!

First of all.... Happy New Year!

Well things have been a bit manic in my household which is why I haven't posted. Lots of changes....some good, some not so good, but life goes on.

On to some of the good stuff. I have to show you some wonderful stitchy goodies that I got for Christmas. My daughter gave me these beautiful embroidery scissors....

They are wonderful! They feel heavy and solid....and cut like a dream!  The company does quite a few different styles (all absolutely gorgeous) so I can feel a collection obsession coming on ;)

And then my wonderful hubby, who ignored our rule of 'let's cut back on our Xmas spending', bought me three gorgeous cross stitch kits...

I'm amazed that he managed to pick the perfect designs....although I have a sneaking suspicion that  my Amazon browsing history kind of helped!  Now I have to make the difficult decision of which one to start first....and that's a good dilemma to have!

I have managed to get some stitching done and have been working on something that I started ages ago and have had sitting in my stitching basket gathering dust....or as I like to call it... a hibernating WIP  :)

This design isn't very big but seems to be taking me ages! There's lots of blending of colours and various numbers of strands to stitch with which is why I think it takes me so long....as well as the fact that I'm the Queen of slow stitching!

Now that I have managed my first post for 2015, I hope to be able to get back to reading and commenting on all your lovely blogs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  

I think everything is done.....just the last few little gifts to wrap, and then some family time with some Christmas cookies and an old movie or two!

I haven't managed to get much stitching done this last week or so, but there was one thing that just had to be stitched.....

... a congrats card for my son who graduated university. Of course, you know how superstitious we Scots are, so I didn't want to stitch anything until he had all his final grades! My needle was smoking as I had only one day to get this done before he came home.  My son was delighted that I had used one of my own designs....which really pleased me too!

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures but it's a miserable rainy afternoon here. 

I also framed some stitching that I had completed earlier in the year...

...again, the pictures are not that great :(

This is a Christmas present for my son's girlfriend....hope she likes it!

Well, I think it's time to indulge in some Christmas cookies!

Merry Christmas everyone....hope Santa is good to you!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona