TW stitching

Well, I think it's fair to say that the xs world or at least my little corner of it) was rocked by Teresa's announcement that she was giving up designing. I've made lots of comments about this on various BBs, so I'll just say I'm sad to know that there will be no new TWs released, but I've got plenty to keep me going. This is a tough time to make a living from many crafts, including designing.

Anyway, it was odd timing for me, as I had finally picked up FT again - I've not worked on it since our holiday to Wales! As you can see I've made significant progress with the Knight:




Fanstasy Triptych, by Teresa Wentzler

On Wednesday I came down with a flu/virus thing. Probably not swine flu, but I did have a temperature (and major shivers). I came home at lunchtime and curled up in bed, Thursday I was a little better and parked my bum on the sofa all day - I managed a little, supposedly simple, xmas stitching,but ended up frogging several bits - clearly the virus had affected the stitching part of my brain! Friday I was feeling mostly better, so went in to work and did some gentle admin!

Today has been a day of chores - I scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom, attacking areas of mold etc. We then replaced the toilet seat (a hinge had broken) and are in the process of resealing the bath. We then encountered unexpected areas of mold on a blind, and on the curtains in the spare room, and mildew in the spare wardrobe.... it's not a damp house, but we don't have a tumble dryer and we do get lots of condensation. I had a random idea about getting a dehumidifier about 2 hours ago... we had a look online, and I think we'll buy one tomorrow. Maybe that will solve the problem.

Right, back down stairs to pick up FT, watch some rugby and order takeaway pizza...

Birth Band Happy Dance

Here's a photo of the newly-pressed Birth Band, which I finished on Friday:


Birth Band by The Drawn Thread, stitched in Needlepoint Inc Silks on Edinburgh linen

I have to say I really enjoyed this - even though it's the second time I've stitched it this year!! Amanda said how much she liked it when I stitched it for Monty, so it was an obvious choice when Hugh was born!! I hope they like it as much in the flesh!

Dani asked about our pumpkins - we did all use the same seeds - we bought a pack and split it 3-ways (and also scanned and printed off all of the growing info on the packet) - so it was a fair contest. Except we were rather late planting everything this year, as we didn't build the veggie patches until Easter... plus quite a few seedlings were eaten by magpies and slugs this year... I can't quite remember what happened to the pumpkins, but we were pretty certain we wouldn't win! We fed it with bottled organic plant food and home-made compost. And we took all the smaller pumpkins off the one plant, so it focused all it's growth energy into our largest pumpkin. I'll have a good web search for feeding techniques if we repeat the competition!!! Diane and Nial have won twice now!

Last night we tried out this recipe for pumpkin tart - after a search on the BBC food web page we decided this one sounded lovely, and wasn't too tricky. We served it with ice cream, not the ginger cream in the recipe, and it was delicious... we gave half the tart to our neighbours, who hadn't had a pumpkin tart/pie before - I've not seen them yet to see if they enjoyed it.

Yesterday and today I did a little bit of Fantasy Triptych, but the frame was a little wide with us both sat on the sofa, so I switched back to Dracolair's Gaelic Banner, which I am really enjoying.

I hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend!

Halloween Harvest

Today seemed an appropriate day to harvest our pumpkins:


Our pumpkins - scissors for scale!

We don't tend to eat pumpkins, but grew these as a copetition, between us, Diane and Nial, and Mandy and Carl. I think Diane and Nial won - our largest pumpkin weighed in at a measly 7 kilos. There biggest was 22 kilos... so unless Mandy and Carl have a pumpkin monster in their garden.... Tonight we are going to make a spiced pumpkin tart (recepie from BBC food webiste).

On the stitching front, I finished Birth Band last night, but it needs pressing, so no photo yet. I picked up Fantasy Triptych, which means I almost met my October goals:

1) Finish Birth Band yes
2) Get more beading done on Waiting for Ships yes
3) Pick up Fantasy Triptych again yes
4) Stitch an ornie yes, the Mill Hill kit (which also soved goal 5)
5) Snap out of whatever restlessness is bothering me today. Hmm, maybe that should be number 1. yup, see above
6) get the next wing started on my lace butterfly yes (after 1 false start!)

So goals for November:
1) Finish waiting for ships
2) stitch an ornie
3) work on Fantasy tripych
4) work on Gaelic banner
5) a new start, yet to be determined!

Happy Halloween and happy stitching!

more beads...

I've spent a lot of my stitching time putting beads on to Waiting for Ships, as you can see, she's coming along nicely:



I've also been getting on with Birth Band, maybe I'll actually finish it this week. If I do I'll have one more goal outstanding for October, If I'm focussed I may actually meet them all this month!

A new necklace

I finished the necklace I was beading on Sunday:


I was really impressed with the kit, from Spellbound Beads. (I'm not responsible for any stash enhacement that occurs as a result of following the link!!)

I'm going to give this away as a present. I'm pretty certain the recipient doesn't read my blog, but she won't be named, just in case!

Crafty weekend

This weekend has had a very crafty feel to it - just what I needed!!!

Phyllis came to stay on Friday night, as Saturday was Pudsey Not Just Lace Fair, and she was manning the stall for the Lace Guild. Eddy and I (mostly Eddy) cooked a selection of Mediterranean food, and after we ate we sat around chatting, Phyllis did a little lace, and I showed her recent cross stitch finishes.

Phyllis left for the Civic Hall around 8.45am to set up, I meandered over just after 10, when the general public were aloud in, and met up with Sonia. We had good fun looking at the stalls, and of course buying stash. It was nice to chat with Stuart Johnson (who makes my favourite bobbins - always an expensive stall for me) and is teaching Sonia (and next time Eddy) to turn bobbins in May. I also stopped to have a chat with Christine Springett about Bedfordshire lace, and to warn her that Eddy is vegetarian well in advance of our May weekend. Sonia discovered that the lady who runs spangles is an old archaeology friend, both were a little perplexed to see each other 'out of context'!! I filled in for Phyllis so she could have a look around, happily selling lace bobbins and booklets, along with the occasional calendar.

So what did I buy?? More than I should have of course:

Bobbins by Stuart Johnson. I love the one with the Llama bead...


Bobbins by Lacewing designs. I love her dragons, opal will have a few friends in my bobbin box, and I spotted Sapphire on my pillow today!


I got these lovely semi-precious stone spangles from spangles. My taste in beads is too expensive... most of the ones I wanted were £2 a spangle... But I made sure I also picked a few less expensive ones!


I got these wool variety packs so I can make myself a lace scarf (don't hold your breath on this latest master plan!!)


This wonderful African fabric is the thing I really shouldn't have bought. But is was so lovely... I have NO IDEA what I'm going to use it for. Maybe quilting (although I never actually DO any quilting, just buy lovely fabrics for it...). But I couldn't resist. I could have spent A LOT more on this stall....

Sonia and I left around 1pm, and she popped by for a cuppa before going home - at which point Eddy and I enjoyed the leftovers form the night before! Eddy's had a nasty cold and now has an ear infection, so we opted for maximum laziness (a common pattern on the weekend for us), and I settled down with a beading kit I bought from Harrogate Knitting and Stitching last year, to make a pretty necklace. I've never beaded anything before, and I have to say the instructions by Spellbound beads were fantastic! I'm about 1/2 way done, and hope to do some more in front of the Grand Prix this evening:


I also did a little lace (having got the pillow out to show Phyllis). I re-started the wing tip that I'd kind-of started on Thursday night at Louise's - having worked out what I'd done wrong. My biggest problem is where to put the spare bobbins as I work this next wing - something that is only going to get worse as I get further on this piece:
Bedfordshire lace butterfly, by Christine Springett

Last night I was tired of beading, and didn't feel like lace making in front of the TV, or any of my current XS projects. So of course I started something new... here are the first few stitches on Dracolair's Gaelic Banner:


So after all this craftyness, where am I supposed to sit and eat????:


That'll be in front of the TV I guess!!!

Finally, thank you for your comments about coffin buzz - I was mostly curious to see how many people would have left it (I knew it was a tricky mistake to spot if I didn't say anything - especially in a photo), and how many would have frogged it :)

Happy stitching (right, off to work on that necklace...)

Happy Dance!!!

I finished Coffin Buzz (by Plum Street Samplers) on Sunday night, but haven't had chance to post all week:



The mistake is on the gaps between the writing - there should be 3 lines with no stitching between each line of writing, but somehow I mis-counted, and there are only 2 lines between 'sleeping body' and 'as lifeless'... but I'd done so much (and frogged so much) I decided to leave it.

Anyway, this is sitched on Sugar Maple Fabrics 32 count Lugana 'Summer's End' in Weeks 'Chestnut'. I'll get it framed and hang it at work - I'm a coffee fiend at work, but generally drink tea everywhere else. I blame the stress!!