Happy Dance and an ORT Report

I spent last weekend at the flat in Nottingham with Eddy. I've had a small piece stashed behind his sofa down there for any time we spend the weekend there and I've not taken anything down with me - a little kit of Lincoln Cathedral that I bought in a LNS in Lincoln a few years ago. While I was down in Nottingham I finished all of the xs, bar a small area where I'd run out of the right colour floss. Knowing I'd never remember to take the floss down to Nottingham with me, and being so close to finishing, I brought the piece home with me. And here is the finished piece:


Lincoln Cathedral from Castle Grounds
(c) Needlecraft Centre, Lincoln

Since finishing this I've not had much time for stitching - last night I went over to Lou's and tonight I've only just made it to the sofa. Partly because I remembered I needed to take a photo of my ORT jar for the TUSAL:



When I popped outside to empty the compost while I was cooking tea the sky was a lovely deep indigo colour, with just the smallest crescent moon showing - a beautiful view and a brilliant reminder to me to join this month's TUSAL!

It's been a long week, but this weekend we have a lazy one planned. Eddy will watch the rugby and I hope to finish quilting my first ever quilt... Providing I remember to pop out tomorrow and buy some more of the thread I ran out of!

Happy stitching x

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!