Max the cat.....

......has a bit more of a face!

I'm afraid it's been one of  'those' weeks, and I didn't get nearly as much stitching/crafting time that I had hoped for. Still, each little X finished means a stitch closer to completion.  Maybe this week I will be able to carve out some time for myself.....fingers crossed!

I do have a fun project to share with you....this is from this month's World Of Cross Stitching magazine, which has literally just arrived. I've been looking forward to seeing my little fishy designs all stitched up....and here they are....

....do you remember playing this game when you were young? Back in the day (haha!) we played it with paper fish with a paperclip attached, and then little magnets to 'catch' the fish. I remember making the paper version of it for my children to play and they always had so much fun. 

A cross stitch version of the game is perfect....and a bit more long lasting than the paper ones!

Cute huh?


Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

It wasn't my fault.....

....she made me do it! Yes my terrible daughter has become a stitcher and she encouraged forced me into buying new stash. Isn't she dreadful? I just don't know where she gets it from. Hee hee. 

This is the new stash that she forced me to buy....she really did have to twist my arm....

My daughter bought the wedding sampler to stitch for her friend and since she was paying postage for one chart it seemed silly not to add one or two...or three...or more.... charts ....makes perfect sense, doesn't it?!!  I also have to confess that there's one more design that isn't in the photograph....don't know how I managed to miss that, but I did! It's a beautiful design called Leap of Faith and you can see it here.  Isn't that gorgeous? 

Now my only problem is which one to start first? What a wonderful problem to have!

Until next time....happy stitching!
Rhona

Kokeshi doll

Do you ever get those longings for a quick stitch, just so you can have a finish to feel good about completing something? That's the way I felt at the weekend.....soooo...this month's World of Cross Stitching mag to the rescue with their fab free kit....

Although these cuties came with threads and fabric (and everything else you'd need) already in the packet, they are a great way to use up those left over threads that we all have saved, so they can be stitched many times. I also love the fact that you can change out the different patterns/hairstyles etc and make the designs really unique.

As you can see, I decided to alter the colours used in this design. It shouldn't take too long to make this in to a card.  

So that was my quick almost-a-finish for the weekend!

I haven't neglected Max the cat either! He almost has a face now....

....can you tell why I wanted to stitch this design? My very own real life version (times two) of Max!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Baby feet!

Poor old Max the Cat has been put on hold.....again! I have a perfectly good excuse for putting Max to the side.......stitching for the birth of a baby :) My son's friend and his wife are expecting their first child in a few weeks times, and what better excuse can you get for having to stitch something ?!!!

As you can tell, they're having a boy! I'm not so keen on the teddy in the picture so I'm going to leave it out and rearrange the lettering and make it into a wall hanging (easier to post than a picture!) I just love those little baby foot prints.....you can almost smell the baby powder!  

So this was quite a quick little stitch, although a bit boring! I just have to finish the border and wait for  baby to make his appearance into the world so I can complete names, dates, weight etc!

I have been working on my crochet blanket/afghan and making progress with it, although it doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as I would like....

The gorgeous yarn bowl was a present from my daughter....

The spring weather seems to be approaching rather quickly.... so I had better get crocheting so that I an get some use out of the blanket before it's too hot to use!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

It's a marvelous night for a moon dance!

Hello dear friends...thank you for popping by! I hope you have your dancing shoes on so that you can join me in my moon dance happy dance. :) Yes, Twilight Silhouette, or twilight fairy as I usually call her, is finished......

....doesn't she look gorgeous?

 ....you can see the textures created with the different stitches and the french knots...

....and if you look closely....you can just see some of the sparkles in the fairy dust!

I love her....but I'm so glad she's finished! Now I just have to get her framed....that could take a while!

So with Twilight fairy finished it was time to get back to working on Max the cat...remember him? This is how he looked last time I did any work on him...

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

I seem to have been able to get loads done......don't think that I'll be able to keep this pace up though....life does seem to get in the way of stitching time.....unfortunately!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Almost finished!

I have finished the back stitching and french knots on the left hand side of Twilight fairy....only the right hand side to so!!! Can you feel my excitement? 

Unfortunately, no matter what angle I try to take the pictures from, the sparkle just doesn't show up....but the cat hairs do!

I think dinner just might be put on hold tonight so that I can get this finished!

Can you blame me? :)


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

A few stars and some waves

For various reasons, I haven't managed to get very much stitching or crocheting done this week....nothing exciting has been going on, just the usual boring Mum stuff that takes up valuable crafting time! 

Twilight Fairy has a few stars shining in the sky now.....

...there's still lots of back stitch to do around the fairy and the grasses...and, of course, more stars!

My crochet afghan is rolled up in my basket out of the prying paws of a very curious cat who seems to think that the blanket is for her! She loves to snuggle underneath it while I'm working on it....she's too cute!

Here's the front of it......all those lovely sea waves patterns...

....still lots to do to get this to the length I want.....if I can find some free time to do it!!!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Back stitching and missing stitches....

....that's what I have been working on! Here's the back stitching that I did....

...what a difference it makes! This cute little bear really did come to life......and here he is all made up as a card...

.....just in time for valentine's day!

And the missing stitches? Well I brushed off all the dust form twilight fairy (again!) and really got to work on her. There seemed to be quite a few odd stitches that were 'missing'....you know the ones when you have three or four stitches left to do in one colour but have only an inch or so of thread and no matter how hard you try, you just can't get them all done with the last bit of thread. I always leave them and start another colour....a new colour seems much more exciting than finishing off two or three stitches with the old colour you were using. Anyone else like that? Anyway, I decided to do all those missing stitches....

It's probably hard to see any difference from the last time I showed pictures of this design, but there are fewer gaps now! :)

The end really is in sight for this beautiful design....I can't wait to add the sparkly thread and bring this design to life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Almost a finish!

I was hoping to have this little freebie finished in time to post pictures today.....but it just didn't happen!

Hopefully the back stitching won't take too long and then I can add another card to my stash for use throughout the year.

I have been busy crocheting my afghan....it's such an addictive pattern......now that I have worked it all out and can see the repeats etc.

Unfortunately the colours don't look as pretty as they do in real life. I'm also struggling to figure out a way to photograph it so that it looks more interesting than  this...

I've also just realized that I have photographed it upside down.....what a dope!!!

I really must get my act together!!!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Somebody can't measure.....

....and it's not me! 

I went to the craft store to buy some frames for my two lighthouse finishes (normally my finishes languish in a pile that I keep meaning to deal with, but never do! ) and found the perfect frames. Unfortunately they weren't made in the size of the finished stitching, but since I like a mat with the stitching, I went with the bigger sized frame and bought a couple of plain coloured mats to fit.....or at least I thought I did. Now the thing that you have to understand is that I'm really fussy (and a bit indecisive) about picking colours for frames and mats. It takes me ages to decide. You have no idea the problems I have with picking between white, winter white and off white....I kid you not! Any way, after  the trials and tribulations of making such a momentous decision, I get home unwrap each of the frames and mats to discover that......the mats don't fit!!!! Arghhhh! 

The mat which came with the packaging description of 'fits an 8" x 10" frame for a 5" x 7" picture', actually only measured 4½" x 6½ ".....cutting off some of the stitching that I wanted to be seen!

A few night later I was in the local Wal-mart and happened across some (much cheaper!) mats....same problem....they measured only 4½" x 6½"...but..... they also had double mats that when you remove the inner 4½" x 6½" mat, the remaining mat measures.....wait for it.....yayyy, the desired 5" x 7"!!!

And here's how these two stitched pieces look now...

I can't get a photo of the two pictures side by side as the reflections look awful. I think the distressed blue wood is perfect for the sea/ beach subject of the stitching....I'm so happy!

Now all I have to do is find a hammer and some nails and get these two lovelies on the wall.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

It's finished!!

Woo hoo....I've finally finished 'Beacon at daybreak'! And it's gorgeous......

I'm so pleased with the finished result. The mixture of full and half cross stitches done with different numbers of strands of threads give it a lovely textured effect.

And here it is with it's sister design 'Cliffside beacon'. Both these designs are kits by Dimensions....and wonderful to work on :)

I think they look great together. I really would like to do a third design like this as I love sets of three's (strange, I know!) Unfortunately none of the lighthouse designs that I have come across would fit in with these designs, the colours etc don't match.....but I'll keep looking!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Forget the sewing basket.....

....I have a new project in the yarn basket!!!

All those lovely shades of blue.....even lovelier (is that even a word?!) since there was 40% off the yarn....sweet!

This is the afghan pattern that I'm working on...

 ...and this is the back of it....

The free crochet pattern can be found here. Just be aware that there is a mistake in the written instructions. I only realized after spending several nights crocheting and rattling down all that evening's work thinking that I had miscounted.....only to eventually read the comments and see that other people were having problems getting the pattern to work too!

Anyway, this is going to be a long term project for me. Not knowing how many chains to make in the foundation row, (I thought it would be better to be too big than too small) it's ended up the size of a football field! All the better to snuggle up with a loved one, that's my excuse :)

So this one's not going to be finished any time soon.....I'm slow at crocheting as well as cross stitching!


Now on to some stitching!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona