Here's the latest.....

...on the Poppies and Mallow:

Hope to finish it today.=)

Thanks for all the lovely comments.=) I've added some links to the blogs of regular visitors and commenters, so I can keep up with your work more easily too.

What's a laying tool, Terri?? Never heard of one! Should I be offended or flattered??? LOL!!!=)

Well, Lili, that shows that I am not a good linguist - it was your 'Automne' I was talking about! I haven't done one yet, but I have a Lizzie*Kate series of seasons waiting to be stitched up ..... along with another few dozen things!!! My French is really poor at the moment. I need to spend some time on it, but Chinese, German and Italian are higher up my list right now. Having said that, I have 3 French ladies visiting this blog and leaving kind remarks, so I should try harder with my French, shouldn't I??

Happy Sunday to one and all!

Well, I'm in a ridiculously good mood this morning! There are no dishes hanging around to be washed, my book-keeping work is all done, the flat is passably clean and a lovely day ahead, finishing nicely with a visit from a lovely friend.=) Who could ask for more??

Oodles of thanks for all the very flattering comments, esp. you Terri! Wow!

Here's the current status on the poppy and mallow piece in close-up of the part that's changed the most:

May possibly get a bit more done on it today, but there's only the two big leaves, (bo-oring!), to do after finishing off the mallow flowers. Then, the hoop is free for the 'Welcome' sign, which I still need to design properly......

Progress Report!

The Helen M Stevens' 'Poppies and Mallow' design is coming along nicely. I hadn't touched it, (apart from to move it around the room a lot), since the last photo posted here on 29 Dec, but have managed to get quite a lot done within the last two evenings. About 4 hours work on the colourful stuff shown here:

Hoping to have it finished over the w/e. Should be about another 6 hours' work left there. I confess that this one is getting down so fast now as I need this hoop for the 'Welcome' piece and, well, if I took this piece out to get on with another, there's a danger this one would never get done!!!

I've now bought a nice piece of ivory silk to work the 'Welcome' on and am toying with the idea of not using silks to do the embroidery, or at least not Pipers' flat silks. Bit too much perhaps - a shiny silk background and a high gloss foreground. Also, I have a better selection of colours in my Madeira silks (less glossy) and Anchor cottons and can do the tiara lily in more lifelike colours. Haven't decided yet....

Haven't sewn up mum's bookmark yet either, but I will get on to that v soon. I can get things pressed ready for sewing up with the regular ironing today or tomorrow. Wow! Getting busy again! Shock!

Mylene, the hardanger cushion pattern came from Mary Hickmott's 'Flowers with Hardanger' booklet which is available from Sewandso or from her own New Stitches/Stitch Direct on-line shop. She does a kit form of it too, (i.e. a materials pack), but only direct from her company though.

I finally finished something! WOW!

Got the Golden Meadow hardanger cushion sewn up actually into a cushion cover proper and here it is:

Just need to send it off to my friend now.=)

I think that one of the reasons that I've been so sluggish with my stitching of late is that I've had so many things on the go and nothing completed for a while that I've lost my umph. Hopefully this will help on the motivation front and I plan to get mum's bookmark sewn up next. Watch this space.....

Thread Fetish!

Here are some of my latest stash buys:



The Helen M Stevens' Pipers silk Project Palette plus the Black & White Essentials pack, (both colours in regular and very fine guage), several packs of beads and trimmings from Mill Hill and some goldwork threads which cames from Dinsdales Embroideries last week. Excellent service there and good value stuff too. I paid about 3 times as much from a shop for some Bright Check Purl stuff last time! In future, I go to Dinsdales and recommend them highly to anyone wanting goldwork threads, (which they do in gold, silver and copper shades), as well as other types of threads.

Thanks Mylene, things are OK. Life is well, umm, interesting right now!!!!! I'll be fine though and am keeping cheerful as always. Well, too cheerful!!!!!=)=(

More from the archives

I still haven't got anything new done or progressed! Dunno what's up with me of late, but it coudl have something to do with having physically over-done it so much that I've been to tired to even sit up for long over the past few days. Not too much brighter today, but I'll live.=)

So, here are some more older pieces of work, a wedding sampler:

And a couple of baptism cards:

"And here we are again for 'Show and Tell'"

Feel like Sally Brown doing this! That's Charlie Brown's lil' sister, btw!! Love 'Peanuts'.=)

So, a few more older finishes before I get stuck into finishing off all the WIPs and WTBSUs ('waiting to be sewn up's):

Here's the Victoria Sampler 'Heart to Heart' friendship sampler design I adapted a bit and made into an anniversary bellpull, (with a wonky bottom, rats!), and the largest hardanger card I ever stitched, which is about A4 sized!!

I just ordered some goldwork threads for my friend's wedding present, a 'Welcome' sign for their porch done in goldwork with a silk-shaded flower. Yup, real silk too.=)

Some stitchy photos....

... for a change! Getting back on topic now!=) Here's the current status on the Orange Blossom needlecase:



And here are the things I bought at the Stitch and Creative Crafts Show in Manchester last Friday:

Armes Mäusle!!!

That's what my husband calls me when I'm feeling low or poorly, (so I hear it a lot!!!!). It means 'poor little mouse' in his native south German dialect, (Schwabisch). I knew what he would say as soon as I showed him the half done version of the latest work of art ......!!!=) Here's the completed piece, a pastel painting of a little mouse. I'm learning to be quite pleased with him!!=)

Art attack!

No stitching showcase photos today, but one of my very beginner-ish pastel paintings instead. I did this at art class on Monday night in half an hour. The teacher had given me a photo of Venice to copy, but I just wasn't in the mood for that, so I found a textbook, (we work in a science lab!), and came across the ideal photo: Igneous rock formation, (aka volcanic eruption).


I think it portrays my feelings at the moment just about as perfectly as one could wish for! (Yes, I know, it's rubbish....)