Almost finished.....but....

Don't you just hate it when you have to add 'but' to the end of a sentence?  I'm almost finished stitching Beacon at Daybreak.....but..... the thing that every stitcher hates happened.... I ran out of one colour of thread! Grrrr.  Now you have to understand that I, like many other stitchers, have millions of colours of threads stashed away in boxes and tins (ok, maybe  millions is a slight exaggeration!) but of all the threads I have, not one is a close match to the colour I need! How can that be?!!

All that's left to do is that small area in the bottom right hand corner...

I've contacted Dimensions for replacement threads, and they've always been good at getting replacement threads out quite quickly....hopefully this time will be the same. I'm planning on bashing on with the back stitching so that when the threads arrive it won't be too long till I can call this one done!

And speaking about back stitching, here's the Christmas stitching that I was working on in my last post......

...and here it is now...

What a difference the back stitching (and good lighting!) makes! I added some silver blending filament to the white on the snowflakes, but unfortunately the camera doesn't pick up the sparkle....it is rather subtle! 

So at least I have one finish for this week...and it's in time for Christmas...woohoo!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Yayyyy....it's finished!

Finally! For such a small project, this seems to have taken such a long time to complete! The fact that I had to go home for a while didn't help either.....but at last I can reveal what the mystery stitching is.......

....it's a kitchen memo board...

  
And not just any memo board..... a chalkboard one!

I'm going to remove the rope that's attached to the board and add one that holds a piece of chalk so it's always there when you need to  write down some shopping to remember or an appointment etc.

I'm planning to make the same thing again (in a different colour scheme) for another friend for Christmas .....hopefully the second one won't take quite so long to complete!


Thanks for all the well wishes for my Dad....it's lovely to know that so many people are thinking of him......bloggers really are the most wonderful and caring people! 

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Phew...what a week!

Well, so much for having my mystery stitching project finished.....it just didn't happen. I ended up flying back home to Scotland to see my Dad. He was in hospital for a second hip replacement but had complications during the start of the surgery and ended up in the CCU. Thankfully he's home but will have to wait a while before the doctors can attempt the surgery again.

I did manage to grab some threads and fabric and pop them into my bag so that I could do some stitching while with my Dad. Luckily for me, The World Of Cross Stitching mag had arrived a few days before with a cute Christmas chart that was perfect for stitching on the go.  There's not much stitching to show for a whole week, but at least it's the start of some Christmas stitching.....

It really shouldn't take too long to have this Christmas cutie finished....at least I hope not!

And now some good news! I was the lucky winner of  the giveaway from Miistitch. Please do check out her blog here, you'll not be disappointed! Not only will you see some gorgeous stitching, but also some delightful finishing techniques. This is the kit that I won....

 Isn't it lovely? I can't wait to get started on it. 

So, as for the mystery stitching....that will be completed as soon as I get caught up on the mountain of laundry that has appeared....I'm sure it breeds in the suitcase!!!


Until next time....happy stitching!
Rhona

Mystery stitching!

I didn't post yesterday (my usual day for blogging) as I was hoping to have this little project completed today. You will note that I said 'hoping'....that should be your clue that things didn't go quite to plan!

So instead of showing the completed project it's more of a 'to be continued' type post :)

Here's everything that I am using...

...and here's the stitching that I did...

...a close up of the little teapot...

...and that's as far as I got! Don't you just hate it when life gets in the way of your stitching?!!

So...any guesses as to what I'm making? Leave me a comment to let me know what you think it will be.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

1 stitch, 2 stitch, 3 stitch....and not much else!

I feel a bit of a fraud posting what's supposed to be an 'update' of my stitching as I haven't managed to get very much done this week. If I were to show you a before and after picture, it would look more like one of those 'spot the difference' type pictures....yup, it's really that bad! So instead of showing you the before picture, I'm just going to say here's the lighthouse design so far....

... a bit more of the grass stitched....but not much else! Hopefully this will be the week that I find the turbo charged needle!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Lack of stitching time.

Goodness...where does the time go? I can't believe that another week has flown by.....things seem to be so crazy busy at the moment and the Christmas madness hasn't even begun yet!!!

So what have I been up to? Since I didn't manage to post last week, I have two weeks worth of stitching to show....although it's really not much, but still anything is better than nothing. Not being able to pick up a needle and get a few stitches done is my idea of torture!

I have been working on Twilight Fairy which is soooo close to being finished. Here's how she looked last time I posted....

...and here she is now....

Getting close to being done! If only I could get a few days of uninterrupted stitching time I could have her finished....but sadly, that's not going to happen ;(

Last week I worked a bit on Max the cat....he looked like this last time ...

....and here he is now....

...slowly but surely he's beginning to appear....or at least the background is anyway!!!

This week it's back to stitching the almost finished lighthouse design....if I can carve out some stitching time for myself.

Hope you all manage to get some uninterrupted stitching time.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Making great progress.

Gosh....having three different projects on the go at one time is a major undertaking....I can never decide which one to work on! This week, the lighthouse project was the winner and I managed to get quite a bit done as you can see....this was the last picture I showed you....

....and this is what it looks like now...

...lots of rocks and stormy seas...

....colourful autumn foliage

...and a footpath that I really want to walk along! You can tell I have a thing for lighthouses, can't you?!!

Since I'm getting so close to finishing this design, I don't know if I'll be able to leave it for  a while and work on one of the other WIP's that I have....does anyone else have the same problem in deciding what to work on? I've got to say though, it's a good kind of problem to have.  :)

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Oh, the feelings of guilt!

Yup, I'm feeling a bit guilty. I started another project. But just to make things clear, I'm not feeling guilty about starting another project, I was feeling guilty for NOT starting it!

My hubby surprised me last Christmas by giving me not one, but three wonderful cross stitch kits...and thanks to the wonderful invention of Amazon's browsing history, he was able to get the kits that I had been drooling over. So last week while I was stitching some more of the lighthouse design, I mentioned to him that Dimensions had sent me the replacement threads for Twilight Silhouette and that I could finally get back to stitching it. He then looked at what I was stitching and asked if I hadn't liked the kits he had got me for Christmas as I hadn't started any them....didn't like them?....I loved them! And that's when I felt guilty about not having started any of them. So...the only thing to do was....

...to start stitching!

The design is called Max the cat and it's by Dimensions. The cat looks so like one of our cats (one of the reasons that I had been looking at the kit), the only difference being the eyes....Smokie's eyes are a bit more green, so I think I might try to change the colours and make them more like Smokie's!

So I am now the proud owner of another WIP :)  (It's such a hard life!!! )

I did also manage to finish something else this week!. I had heard that the local women's shelter were looking for warm hats, gloves, scarves etc for both the women and the children. So decided that it was time to get the old crochet hook out ......

....hopefully this will be the first of many that I can donate. Isn't it cute? This was made using a free pattern that can be found here.  A big thank you to Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me for sharing the pattern (and many others)  for everyone to use.

Now all I have to do is decide what project I'm going to work on (guilt free!) each night!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Free chart!

Here it is....the free chart for the holly design....enjoy!

The DMC colours I used were...green 700 & 702,  red 666, white B5200 ....but feel free to use whatever colours you have in your stash.
                                               

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Christmas stitching

I have been reliably informed by a rather smug very organized friend (who has already started her Christmas shopping!) that there are less than 100 days until Christmas....YIKES!!!

Sooo...even although we are still basking in the sun (yayy!), it's probably time to start at least thinking about Christmas stitching.

Using a small Christmas motif I decided to start with making some things to decorate the house at Christmas.  Using an old jam jar, some coloured wire and ribbon here's what I made...

...an adorable little candle holder!

 ...I think a few of these across the mantle piece at Christmas time will look  great....

...and the Epsom salts to hold the candle in place looks like snow and sparkles wonderfully when the candle is lit.

If it wasn't quite so warm and sunny, I could almost get into the Christmas spirit! :)


Hope you like my little Christmas candle holder....pop back later in the week as I'll be posting the chart of the holly motif for you to print off and use.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Twit twoo cute!

A corny title for this post,  but that's the title in the magazine and once that was in my head, I couldn't think of anything else! So here it is.....

Craftseller magazine Issue 54

Immediate media co.

....my little owl design as featured in this month's Craftseller magazine.

Here's a close up of the stitching that I did...

...I even had to dust off my sewing machine and make it into a cushion....always the scary part for me.......

...but the sewing machine co-operated and it turned out rather well!

This week, I managed to get some more stitching done on the lighthouse design... this was last week's picture....

....and here's what it looks like now....

...it's really coming together! All these Autumn colours in the design are perfect for stitching at this time of year!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Ahhh...the joys of a long weekend!

A long weekend means plenty of guilt free stitching time, and then tonight, having family and friends over for an evening of beer and pizza (yeah, we're a classy lot!)


So there will be no stitching for me tonight....pizza and stitching probably isn't the best combination, but luckily I managed to get quite a bit of stitching done earlier this holiday weekend. I was able to finish off the free kit form the World of Cross Stitching magazine....

..the back stitching was a bit fiddly but well worth the effort! The printed card that came with the free kit  is just super-cute...

 ...so now Christmas card number 1 is finished! Just another one or two or three to make! It's a good job it's still only September.

I've also been working on Beacon at Daybreak, which is coming on a treat. This is where I was the last time I showed a picture of it...

...and this is how it looks now...

...all those wonderful colours in the sky have been a delight to stitch...

At the risk of sounding like a McDonald's commercial ...I'm lovin' it! Heehee! (sorry, I absolutely hate McDonalds, but their slogan is just so appropriate!)

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona