Peacock Happy Dance

It's finished!! I added the last beads on Tuesday night, washed it last night and I've just pressed it and taken this photo (not the best, but it's very dark)...


Art Nouveau Peacock Firescreen
(c) Barbara Thompson

Phynix asked where the chart was available from - Barbara has her own web site, and I think quite a few general online needlework stores stock them too.

I've picked up another WIP from the pile to try and make some progress. I started Eeyore's Problem by Designer Stitches ages ago - I'm not as keen on these Disney Winnie to Pooh kits any more, but this depicts one of my all time moments in the Pooh stories, so I HAVE to finish it - despite the bright blocky colours and aida fabric not really being my thing any more. I did a little over the last 2 evenings, and I think I've done about 1/4 of the cross stitch:

Stitchy weekend

After a busy week at work - which started, fabulously, with a promotion and pay rise - this weekend I've had nothing much planned - other than my crafts of course!

I've been flitting between crafts based on what is on TV, which goes something like this:

TV I want to watch - Peacock Firecreen
TV with subtitles - green cardigan
TV I'm not fussed about (i.e. the 6 nations) - quilting

It's working quite well! I'm enjoying the variety of crafts, and I'm focusing on the three projects I really want to finish soon! Does anyone else find that certain types of craft suit certain types of TV? I find it hard to separate TV and crafts - I don't like crafting in the quiet, and I really can't settle down to the TV without my hands being busy doing something - If I can sit and watch TV without a craft on the go, then I'm either ill or extremely tired!

Anyway, I took these photos of Peacock Firescreen yesterday evening, when I was rolling it on the frame - so the photos are when I hit the 1/2 way point. I'm heading towards 3/4 of the BS now... getting close!!!




So what about today - well, pretty much the same as yesterday. Without the need to go to the supermarket or vacuum, which means even more stitching time. Yeah!

Happy Stitching x

A Little Lace

Thank you for your comments on my last post - I'm glad I'm not the only person who's immediate reaction was 'WHAT??? Backstitch with TWO strands???'... Although there is a lot of BS on the piece it is going really quickly. I've probably done somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 now - it's hard to assess accurately as the design isn't very even over the size of the piece.

Last night I took a break from the BS and pulled out my lace pillow. Louise came over - I cooked us a scrummy Bill Granger chicken dish, and then we carried on with our Beds. Lou and I are both Bedfordshire lace fanatics - but from two very different schools!! Lou was taught by people who really follow the traditional methods of making lace - where people made as much lace as they could as quickly as possible, as they got paid by the inch (or by the pin - hence 'pin money'), whereas I've learnt Bedfordshire lace from Christine Springett, who adapts traditional patterns and 'borrows' techniques from other laces, to make as perfect a piece of lace as possible. Lou and I spend hours discussing the different ways we do things - and neither of us quite gets the other one, which is actually really fun!

Anyway, last night I finished off a small motif that I was doing. The pricking was by Christine, but I didn't have the working diagram, so I just had a bash. I'm really pleased with the result - apart from my messy finishing, something I really want to improve - although I used 18 pairs of bobbins, not the 14 Christine noted on the pricking...



This weekend we're off to my parents for a family gathering. I can't decide whether I need to hide a small project in my bag. I don't have anything little kitted up, and I probably won't have time... but it would feel odd not to have something with me, even for one night!

Stained glass flowers

I finished all of the xs on the Art Nouveau Peacock Firescreen this weekend. I took a quick snap before I started on the backstitch:



I'm pleased I had a look at the chart before I started the BS - it's done in black with TWO threads. I have to say I wasn't all that convinced as I started the flower in the top right corner. But as soon as I started the long straight lines of BS, making the design look like a stained glass window, I was delighted, and my faith in Barbara Thompson (the designer) was restored. I'm making pretty good progress with this so far - so long as I don't get bored I should get this done fairly quickly, which would be lovely.



In other news - it's FREEZING here. Well, probably not that cold on a global scale, but pretty nippy. I'm so pleased our heating was fixed last Thursday - it's on full blast right now, and my fingers still feel chilly! But I can't wear gloves and stitch, so I'll just live with it...

Thanks for popping by my little corner of the web - I love reading your comments, or just knowing someone stopped by and had a read and a look-see.

Happy stitching

Christmas Mandolin

My mum put a couple of pretty Mill Hill kits in my Christmas stocking this year, and I finished the first one a week ago. I would have posted it earlier on, but the photos I took at home in the evenings were DREADFUL, so I had to wait until I remembered to take a photo during daylight hours! Luckily today was really sunny, and I remembered to get the shot before it got dark (although the light was just beginning to fade!).

Anyway, here it is:


I've been busy today - shopping, doing some work etc - but now I've got all that done I think I'll ignore the housework (because I never do that ;) ) and enjoy some stitching time. I'm trying to get all the xs done on the peacock firescreen - which is looking achievable, and I'll probably do some more knitting as we're planning on watching some more of The Killing.

I hope everyone else is doing something they love this weekend!

Swathes of Blue and Green

This weekend has been pretty chilly. Not the weather - but our boiler (temperamental at the best of times) has decided to finally pack in for a while, and until the spares arrive we are sans heat and water...

The good side of this was that we had to sit in all day yesterday and wait for the repair guy! We caught up on quite a bit of TV that we have recorded (including the first part of Treasure Island, which I really loved, and more of the Killing). So, of course, I stitched!

While watching the Killing I knitted some more of my cardigan - I've now done the back and both fronts - so just 2 sleeves and a collar to go! When watching anything not with sub titles I have been working on Peacock Firescreen - I'm working on the lovely blues and greens of the tail that drew me to this piece initially:



On Wednesday night, Lou came over for another lace evening - I've started a little Bedfordshire motif, as I wanted a quick fix after completing the butterfly. This is also something of an experiment, as I don't have a photo of the finished piece, or a working diagram - I'm doing this deceptively tricky motif just from the pricking. It must be even trickier than I thought though, as the pattern called for 14 pairs and I used 18...



I should finish this on Wednesday, once I have decided how to chuck out 4 pairs during a windmill crossing...

I hope everyone has had a lovely, crafty weekend too - if a little warmer than it has been here!!

First happy dance of 2012 and an overdue ORT report

I have finished something!!!! And not just anything, but the Bedfordshire lace butterfly I started back in May 2009! I am unbelievably proud of this little bit of lace, I have learnt so much during Christine Springett's courses, and it really shows in the pieces I am producing.



I'm also very proud to say that I have finished my first quilt top. Of course I've not finished the quilt yet... I have no idea how I'm going to successfully quit it using my basic sewing machine and my very small dining table... But here is a photo of the top as it was when I completed the pattern.



I decided that I wasn't entirely happy at this point. When I started this I somehow misinterpreted the pattern and used the plan cream in the setting triangles in the blocks as well - instead of another pretty print. So there is WAY too much plain cream. So I decided the play a bit. But I didn't take a photo of the quilt top once I'd made my additions - so that will have to be a surprise! Since then I have pinned by batting and backing cloth to the quilt and folded it up carefully. Hopefully I'll be able to start the quilting process at the weekend.

And now for a very late ORT report. Last year I took part in the TUSAL - the totally useless stitch along. I religiously collected all of my ORTs (old ratty threads) into a pretty vase, and at each full moon posted a picture of the vase and my collection on my blog. Until September, when I went temporarily AWOL from blogland.... BUT, I did remember to take a photo of the ORTs before I cleared the vase out to start my 2012 collection:



I am VERY late with my first ORT report of 2012, but here it is. The green at the bottom is from Peacock Firescreen, the red layer is a surprise, and the browny-gold layer is from a little Mill Hill Christmas ornament kit - a mandolin - that my mum popped in my Christmas stocking this year, and that I expect will be my second happy dance of the year.



Happy stitching everyone!