Seashells and Santa

I worked a bit more on the seashells design and got the bottom border design completed....

I wasn't in the mood for concentrating and counting, so the large sea shell was abandoned in favour of the quicker and easier bottom border of sea shells! This week I'll have to bite the bullet, turn off the tv and just get on with stitching the last large shell.

Since I had completed another section of the seashells design I decided I would reward myself (any excuse!) and start another small design. I was tempted to do another Halloween design, but I have an old biscuit  tin that I keep for storing some of free magazine kits, and since the lid no longer stays shut as it's so full,I decided I should do one of these instead.  This little Christmas freebie was calling my name...

The design is from CrossStitcher magazine Issue 324.....yes, this kit has been siting waiting to be done for almost a year - but don't ask me how old some of the other kits are that are still waiting to be stitched :). 

At least I will have it finished in plenty time for Christmas this year! Now I feel the urge to start playing Christmas songs and stitch more Christmas designs, but I'll sing quietly till after Halloween!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Fun Finds Friday....glow in the dark threads

There's so many ways to add a little something to your stitching....what about Glow in The Dark threads.....have you hard of them....have you used them?

I have to confess that I haven't used them, but I have added them to some of my designs....

....the lettering was outlined using glow in the dark threads - of course you can't see it in the photo but I think it adds a little something and is perfect for Halloween!

Since I haven't used these threads before (my local needlework store doesn't carry them and I can't justify ordering them online!) I did contact DMC (one of the manufacturers) to get some info on the threads and they sound easy enough to use. I stumbled across this helpful article about using these threads and thought I'd share it today as this week's Fun Finds Friday.

Do let me know if you've used glow in the dark threads and how you found them, I'd love to know. 

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Doing a wee happy dance here!

Yayyy for me! I have a finish....and when I say a finish, I mean a finish finish...all done and dusted...complete and ready to display...

 ...doesn't it look great?

I love the little ruffled ribbon edge. The black and white ribbon worked perfectly...

....not too fussy and doesn't take away from the stitching.

Now that I had a little break from the seashell design I'm eager to get back working on it and get this completed too...

I did some more of the border design ......always a great bit to do when binge watching something (and this week it has been 'Banished'  - anyone else watch this? Too bad there isn't a second season)

The seashell is a bit more complicated than the border as there's more colour changing and no repeating pattern  so it's not as easy to do without concentrating....so no getting caught up on what's on TV - unless of course you don't mind unpicking :)

Now all I have to do is pick another program to binge watch and get some more little X's done on the seashell!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Fun Finds Fridays...more freebies!

I've found some more super cute Halloween freebie charts that seemed perfect to share with you today...

Image form Plaidonline.com

....isn't this one so cute! You can find the free charts here. I'm sure this wouldn't take too long to stitch - even for me, the queen of slow stitching :)

I love the vintage feel of this next freebie....

Image from threadworkprimitives.blogspot.com

The 'All Hallows Eve' design looks wonderful as a small cushion .This is one of those designs where changing the fabric or thread colour would change the look of the design completely. Click here for the chart.

And I just love this last design....even though I hate spiders!

Image from StitchedModern.com

The spiders webs are printed on the fabric used in this design, but you could easily draw some spider's webs with a pencil or felt pen to achieve the same effect (and at about half the price!) The chart can be found here.

I've managed to finish the free owl chart that I shared last Friday, so pop back on Monday to see how I've finished it ....yes, I've even managed to finish, finish it!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Seashells, seashells!

A day late, but with lots of seashells to share! I spent yesterday with my daughter who is suffering from Mono (or glandular fever for us Brits!) This is the second time in a year that she has succumbed to this ....last time was so bad that she ended up in hospital, with a very rare and serious reaction to the virus. So I'm sure you can understand why I was concentrating on her well being and the blog post was postponed till today.

Anyhoo.......lots of progress to show on the seashells design....

....not only did I finish the large seashell, but I also managed to get some of the smaller seashells in the bottom border done too...

....those little shells stitched up pretty quickly, they were much less complicated that the bigger ones.

But now I'm wishing that I had done what I had originally intended to do, which was to back stitch each seashell as it was completed. Now I have all the back stitching to do and you know how tedious that can be.

I also completed the Halloween owl....yayyy.....

....and just have to decide on how I'll finish him.....definitely with more back, that's for sure!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Fun Finds Friday....Halloween!

 I found a great little Halloween freebie that I just couldn't resist starting......

...not only is it cute, but it's quick to stitch and only requires one colour of thread....which of course since it's Halloween, that colour is black!

This design would look wonderful stitched on some hand dyed fabric, but alas, I have none, so mine is stitched on plain, boring white aida....but still looks good!

As you can see I still have a bit more to so before this is finished, but I'll certainly get this design finished in time for Halloween.

You can find the free chart (and many others!) at www.cross-stitching.com. You will have to become a member to log in, but it's well worth it, there's so many wonderful free charts available.

Until next time... happy stitching!

Rhona

Slow progress...

Progress on the seashells design has been really slow this week.  For health reasons, the hubby and I have been trying to get out and walk every evening which means that by the time we've had dinner and cleaned up there's less time to stitch.  If only I could walk and stitch at the same time :) But I keep telling myself that slow progress is better than no progress....wouldn't you agree?

There's a bit more been done on the third seashell as you can see here....

....and the amount of threads that are left on the thread card is getting lower (always a sign of progress!)...

...the only thing that I'm disappointed in is the colour selection of the threads. There are three 'gold' colours of thread and the dark and medium shades are very close to one another. When you see the threads on the thread organizer, there's a difference in the two, but when  you stitch with them they seem to be the same,  so some of the pattern on the seashell is disappearing. 

My aim this week is to complete this seashell....fingers crossed I succeed.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Fun Finds Friday...

All I can say is....if only!

Image from Facebook.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Oh dear!

I'm at that stage in a project when I'm beginning to think about starting something new.......does that happen to anyone else? I'm more than half way with the stitching of the seashells designs (I'm not even thinking about all the back stitching that has to be done!) so really I should have my sights set firmly on finishing off this project....but no....I can feel my fingers itching to start a new design.

This week I worked on finishing more of the border design, which is a bit boring but great to do when you are binge watching something on Netflix as it doesn't require too much concentration...

And with these before and after pics you can see my progress. This is from last week....

...and here's this week's picture...

Now I just have to concentrate on finishing this off and not get distracted by a new project.....wish me luck!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Fun Finds Friday....fall pattern

The end of summer is almost here and the leaves are beginning to change, so now is the perfect time to start on some fall/autumn stitching - if you haven't already! I found a wonderful little free chart that would be a quick and easy stitch....

Image from Plaidonline.com

Perfect colours for this time of year! The free chart can be found here.....along with links to more free charts☺I'm such an enabler, aren't I?

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

No speedy stitching this week!

I think I have exhausted that speedy needle that I was working with last week....this weeks progress is quite a bit less than last week's, but hey-ho....progress is progress.....

I managed to complete a bit more of the border and finished the shell on the top left hand side...

And a third shell is beginning to emerge! 

I also pulled out one of my UFO's and managed to finish it....

It's been so long since I worked on this blanket that I couldn't even remember the pattern....how bad is that?!!! I thought I had pinned the pattern on my Pinterest page but it wasn't there (although I did find some other wonderful projects that I had forgotten about - that to-do list just became much longer!). In the end I had to track back on my blog to find out the source of the pattern - and to my horror, I realized that I started this blanket in January (hangs head in shame) The pattern can be found here and the yarn that I used was Bernat Pop in the colour Blue Blaze.....such pretty colours, don't you think?

Another reason I didn't progress much with the seashell stitching is that I was out with my camera, snapping at the last of the summer dragonflies...

  
...the light was just perfect and the dragonflies were quite happy to pose for me...

Now it's time to get back to those seashells!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Fun Finds Friday...

Here's another 'funny' that I couldn't resist sharing....

Image copied from Facebook.

Do you agree? :)

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona