last finishes for January

update

Time goes on, January has almost come to an end... Here's one finished piece for January, I really like it! I think it was called Daisy Lane Cottage by Little House needleworks. I'd like to start Home sweet home by Country Cottage needleworks soon but I need Crescent colours and Gentle art for that and my LNS didn't have them (the biggest shop in Brussels doesn't have that good selection I think, mostly DMC fabric, kits and threads, then some specialty threads like Atalie, Soie d'Alger and Gloriana. But not my fav, Vikki Clayton...

And here's what I've managed to stitch so far with Opus 2. I stitched it last week mostly on the train, I didn't get to do much stitching during on the evenings.It's also my first work where the backside will look fairly decent (I hope...), I try not to use any knots.

And here are two closeups of the Vikki Clayton silk I'm using. I ordered some more from Bricolart (luckily they have a sale...), I ordered only 5 skeins a few weeks ago because that's all they had. Now I ordered 6 and thanks to my order, they are again out of stock with Dragon Claw:)

Then finally another start, La~D~Das Bo Beep, I like it cause it's a bit different from anything I've done before. And it progresses very swiftly, only the tree is still missing. I'm using DMC threads and the linen is bought from the flea market in Finland, I think its 28 count.

On Thursday a few more pics of my last finishes for January, at least two pieces, hopefully three!

a few (very dark) photos

First, Opus 2, so far. The colour of the silk isn't as dark as in the photo.

Then even a darker picture, Papillons Mary queen of Scots, I haven't done this for a few weeks now. then 2 pictures done in half stitching that I bought over the holidays in Finland. They are not that beautiful, but they are very Nordic. And I wanted them because of the subject: the other one has a woman and a landscape from Lapland and the other one has birch trees and a violin player.

Then finally long overdue: three skeins of thread that my Secret cross stitching pal sent me for Christmas, Dinky dyes, Crescent coulours and Gentle Art, thanks! I've only tried Dinky Dyes before, never the other two brands. In the picture are also the two books I bought right before Christmas.The other one has 4oo different kind of stitches, I think it will be quite useful as I've never really done any specialty stitches.The other one has some nice designs for linen, I mostly like the monogram-designs.

Hi, this time without pictures, I promise promise promise pictures tomorrow... Here's a short update:
+I have a second finish for 2008, DHC's Red Monogram, done with DMC 815 and a bit of gold
+ I have completed (almost...) the outer border for the Wayward garden
+ no progress with the supposed-to-be-Christmas presents...
+ I've been a very bad girl... I've started yet another piece despite of all the WIPS around my house: Long Dog Samplers Opus 2... I started it a few days ago and it's going quite well. I'm using a variegated blue/green Vikki Clayton silk called Dragon Claw, I love VC silks:) Originally I thought I would start Long dogs Bois le Duc before Opus but I'm not yet sure about which thread to use for the BlD. I ordered some Clayton silks a few days ago from http://www.bricolart.be to try a few (and at the same time the DMC thread needed for La D Da's Bo Beep), though I promise I won't start Bois le duc before I have at least two big finishes/atleast two of last years Christmas presents done.
(PS Last evening was a nice evening for stitching, outside it was really windy and raining, so I made myself a cup of hot chocolate, some pan cakes and stitched:)) )

Happy New Year!

The holidays are over but I think I got a lot of stitching done:)
Let me proudly present to you: the first work of 2008, "My angel", a Finnish design done in half stitch. I got it from a friend of mine (Kiitos Satu! http://hitaus.blogspot.com/ ) just before the New Year and it was quite quick to make. I like it and sent the finished piece already back to her (note: in my case a "finished" work always means finished stitching, not framed or anything...). I added a little bit of gold thread though it doesn't show very well in the picture.


And here is my last finished piece of 2007, by Little House Needleworks if I remember correctly. I've wanted to make it for a long time and it was very quick to stitch, I'll probably make it into a pin cushion or some sort of an ornament (Sorry for the bad picture quality)

And all of this below I bought over the holidays, Daisy Lane Cottage by Little House Needleworks (which I've almost finished already) and Home sweet home by Country Cottage Needleworks, some frames and a lot of fabric. The big pile of white linen I bought at the fleamarket, 5 rolls of it, one really big piece and the others were something like 40cm x 80cm, the price was11€.

I also bought the 2007 Christmas Ornaments magazine and the latest World of Cross stitching. I think the latter didn't have very interesting charts in it , but with it came All of our Yesterdays Alphabets. I used to dislike AoY immensily, but now I've kind of grown accostumed to it... The Christmas Ornaments magazine I bought because I fell in love with the Christmas Lace Snowflake by Rosewood Manor that I saw on Leena's page (http://lennuntekeleet.blogspot.com/2007/12/ornaments-cadeaux-joulukuusi.html). It's utterly gorgeous!

I spent a lot of time during my holidays stitching Mary Queen of Scots and almost finished DHC's Red Monogram. In fact, my father asked me on one occasion "don't you have any other hobbies?"....I guess I don't:)

And then a few old pics.
This one, Cote Coeur Ouest, I gave to my mother for Mothers Day last May, she had it framed and I think it looks nice! Though it bothers me I didn't do a very good job with the backside: you can see lots of loose threads through the white aida...

This one I stitched a few years back, it was a pre-stamped table cloth that I bouth from Linea Broderier

And this last one I also got from Linea broderier, I gave it to my father a year or two ago (he loves fishing, has a beard and occasionally smokes a cigar).

For Christmas I got 3 shades of brown thread from my Secret Stitch friend (Gentle Art, Crescent colours, Dinky Dyes) so I'll try to get a photo of them tomorrow, as well as a picture of the two charts she sent me last year.

PS I think the January issue of the Gift of Stitching wasn't very interesting...I have to read it again, maybe I missed something.

Menu for Hope

I take back what I said about Creative Poppy. I sent a third e-mail yesterday and got a reply and a new password and now George and Dragon opens fine, they even gave me a small discount for my next visit at their shop. By the way, the George &Dragon sampler is meant to be stitched with.........DMC 815!!!

One thing, if you're obsessed about food, or just generous otherwise, how about taking part in this years Menu for Hope?
It's a raffle with great prizes (all food-related), each ticket costs 10$ and what's most important, the money goes to charity, to nourish school kids in Lesotho.
All the info you'll find here
http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2007/12/menu-for-hope-4.html

Let's begin!!!!!!!

So, I guess I'll start with some pics of my most important Wips and of a small finish.

The finished work first, it's Bouncing Annie by Marie-Anne Réthoret-Mélin that I bought from the internet shop Creative Poppy. I think it's a simple but pretty design, was very quick to make and a little girl in Seinäjoki, (somewhere in Finland) has already reserved the finished product for herself. I used DMC 815.

This was by the way my first bought item from Creative Poppy, I bought 4 charts and instead of sending them by snail mail, they send you the chart files to download and passwords to open the files. My only problem is that I can't open one of the files, a nice sampler called Saint George and the Dragon. I get repeatedly the message "your password is incorrect" and the shop won't answer my e-mails...

Then next we have another chart from creative Poppy, a red Monogram, also stitched with DMC 815. Though I was thinking about mixing it with one strand of gold. The monogram will be probably for myself as I did early on a small mistake that causes the borders to be a bit unsymmetrical...

Then follows one of my favourites, Papillons Mary Queen of Scots, also stitched with -surprise surprise- DMC 815! I've had it on the shelf for a few weeks now as I got a bit fed up -due to two mistakes that I've done: the lowest outer border should have the same ornament in the middle than the upper border. I'm not yet sure if I'll redo it. Then the stitching just above the text, on the left has a mistake that requires a lot of unstitching...

Another one that I like a lot is de Fil en aiguilles apron with a cute cat design on it. I was meant to do two of these, one for my aunt and the other for my boyfriends' mother. This one was supposed to be ready by tomorrow as it travels to Sweden but I guess it'll be a New Years present. The other one I haven't even started yet. But the design is very cute.

One of my favourites is Drawn Threads Wayward Garden, sooooo beautiful, stitched with one strand of Needlepoint Inc silk so very slow to do...But I have patience!

Next one, Papillons Blossom Time. This I'm stitching with Vikki Clayton's silks, two shades of Jadeite. I ordered earlier this year her silks to try them, in seven or eight colours altogether and when I got them, I though the Jadeite was the least attractive. But it ended up being the first one I used... But the silk I had wasn't enough so now the Blossom Time is resting on my shelf until I by some more.

And Fuji, the bird pic was supposed to be a Christmas present for my grandmother but as you can see, will be more likely a birthday present for February...

Then finally a really great childish design, Rainbow Ride. I started it last year I think, and then didn't do it for months until last week I picked it up and continued. I can't wait to get it ready and give it to some kid!

Quite a list, I guess "my most important Wips" covers nearly all of my Wips...


(P.S I'm sorry but I haven't quite figured out yet how to post first text and then a picture, then text and another picture instead of all the pictures one after another... And sorry for the bad quality of the photos, I've never tried Photoshop or anything similar)