Huge Catchup Coming ...

I don't know where to begin I have so much catching up to do!  Let's start with my latest projects - somehow I have got myself absolutely addicted to crochet.  Not quite sure how this happened.  A friend was expecting a baby recently - and with a week to go I decided to learn how to crochet properly (I've dabbled a little before making crocheted flowers) and make a baby blanket!

And here it is:

I had a little wool left over so I made a hat too:

And packaged them up together just in time to visit a lovely little three day old baby called Joshua:

I really enjoyed making these so much, that I decided I really wanted to make a much bigger baby shawl.  I managed to find a pattern I really liked on the wonderful website Ravelry and have been crocheting it non-stop for the last month or so.  I've even been stitching at lunchtimes at school and have enticed one of my colleagues to start on the same pattern. (She stitches amazingly fast so finished it first, but that's another story).  Anyway here it is - I finished and blocked it last weekend and am so delighted with the result.

That's all for now - more coming soon!

Back Again

This project took a bit of a dip over the past two weeks.  Funny how you get ups and downs, but possibly holidays and ill children just meant I wasn't in the mood.  I started stitching again over the past few days and am really enjoying it once more.  So here we are, only one more band to go!!

Anticipation

I love getting to this stage, with four boxes just waiting to be filled!!!

Autumn Promise Update

I finished band 2!!

I am loving working on this project and the threads are so beautiful to work with.  This band uses more Thread Gatherer silk on the diamonds and the little zig-zag band.  The blue / grey flowers are Kreinik Silk Mori and the pink is YLI 2000 denier silk.  This is similar to #8 perle, but is more like a silken cord, a really lovely thread.  Here's a close up of that area, you can see the little peach rice stitches too:

Autumn Promise

I had such a lovely day on Saturday.  I was lucky enough to go on a one-day workshop with Judy Dixon, stitching one of her new designs.  Six hours of uninterrupted stitching (apart from a quick half an hour break for lunch!) - how great is that :-)

Looking back at it now though I think - how could I have stitched all that time and have so little progress to show for it??  Here's what I managed on the day:

I have though made quite good progress since - maybe we chatted too much on Saturday :-)  :-)  (why can't you get proper smilies on blogger, it really annoys me).  Anyway here's the latest update - I've completed Band 1 apart from the cutting and beads.

It's been really challenging. The YLI silk (peach) is very fine and I had to work hard at getting it to lie flat. I thought I was going to love the Pearsall's silk (green). It's beautifully glossy and well, silky but I found it really difficult to work with as it's also very springy. I tried using some Thread Heaven with it, but it took the sheen away so I had to persevere without.


The variegated Thread Gatherer Silk n' Colors was a joy to use. Judy Dixon had suggested we should iron each individual strand before using it as the floss is quite tightly wound. At the time I thought that sounded ridiculous, but I tried it and could hardly believe the difference. It's well worth the little extra time it takes to do - athough when my husband saw me do it he thought I had finally flipped!

Hardanger Class Finished

Sorry, I should have posted this last week, but kept finding other things that needed doing - working so gets in the way of stitching doesn't it :-(

But I finished the Judy Dixon hardanger class from Classic Stitches and am now totally hooked on her designs.  Here it is with half of the cutting completed:

And now finished, complete with all the beads too. 

Judy Dixon Class Update

This is a lovely project to work on and for once it's not taking me too long to do.  So here are my latest update photos.

And my latest one has everything done but the cutwork and beading (okay, so only the hard bits left then!!)

I've just joined Judy Dixon's Yahoo Group and hope to start another of her designs after I've finished this one - but you'll have to wait to see which one!

A finish - and a new start

I have finally finished my Roses Runner project!!!  And I'm so delighted with it.  The hardanger parts weren't too difficult after all the practise with the Classsic Embroidery Tiles, but I was worried about cutting around the outside border.  However, when I finally plucked up the courage to get on with it, it cut easily and as you can see, didn't fall apart when I did it! 

So, what next?  Well something I've wanted to try stitching for a while now - a Judy Dixon design.  This one is a class from Classic Stitches magazine, and I haven't been able to put it down :-)

It started out last Monday as a lovely delivery from the postie:

Those threads are lovely :-)  Two colours of Gloriana silk, a Kreinik silk mori, Petite Treasure Braid and DMc perle.  The fabric is 28ct Jobelan and the beads, Mill Hill (of course).

Within a few hours of starting I had a WIP like this:

And up to date today (unbelievably quick for me!) it now looks like this:

More updates soon on this one I think :-)

Hardanger Practise

So, I've been doing lots of practise hardanger and enjoying it so much too.  I can thoroughly recommend the Classic Embroidery tiles from SewAndSo as a great way to learn.  I've now completed two of them.

Pearl was first (here it is without any cutting):

and finished:

Then I started on the second one, Peridot:

I decided to have a go at making this one into a cushion and have been sooooo pleased with the result that I can see myself making lots and lots of cushions now!!!!

What do you think?

So now it's back to my Roses Runner project - more photos soon .....

Roses Runner

Roses Runner is a beautiful little table runner kit I was given by my Mum for my birthday.  It's also my first real try at stitching Hardanger.  Here are some updates of it so far.  The first is simply satin stitch worked in no 5 perle with some cross stitched bordering:

Here's a close up, showing the stitches:

Here I've added some cross stitched roses - there are also two more now on the other side and upside down:

Next came the edging in buttonhole stitch.  This was easy to do, but I'm terrified I've done it wrong and the whole thing falls to pieces when I cut round the border :-(

And lastly, here's an up-to-date photo showing the satin stitch being worked for the hardanger cut area. 

For me, I've flown through this and really enjoyed stitching it. But now I'm terrified to go any further as the thought of cutting the wrong threads is not funny.  I think I'm going to leave this one for a bit now and complete some small Hardanger kits I have in my stash, just to get some practise in first :-)

Stitch Club Stitching Basket

This year in stitch club, we're starting a new project - a Stitching Basket. We'll have the basket (obviously!) and lots of stitchy bits and pieces to keep in it. Our first project is a fan shaped floss keeper. Here's what I managed yesterday:




And today we've had a snow day at school, so I've had a lovely morning finishing off the stitching:



Now I have to figure out how the finishing is done. I have lots of wadding and fabric and not much idea what to do next! I'll post the finished floss tag soon (honest Mum, I will!!!)