Category Archives: Counted Stitchwork

Who Me, Obsessed?

Posted on July 22, 2005 | 2 comments

This could be one of those “You know you’re addicted to stitching when…” kind of funny blogthings*. It isn’t. Firstly because I can only think of 3 things, and secondly because they’re not actually terribly funny (not that the blogthings are, mind you). But I just wanted to mention how stitching-distracted I seem to have become. Observe:

Item 1 – Occasionally I drive to pick OtherHalf up from work (or take him there). On the way is a house with a lovely set of black ironwork gates. Whenever I see them I am immediately taken with how lovely they would look done in blackwork (I don’t even do blackwork btw), or perhaps worked into one of Martina’s large Mandala Garden designs.

Item 2 – A few streets away from our home is a large warehouse with “Truswell Imports”. I have no idea what they import, but I am always immediately reminded of Summer Truswell, of Truswell Needlework Design.

Item 3 – On one of my many different routes home from uni, there is a tennis shop. The logo for this particular store kind of looks like a tennis ball cropped to be a square. Can’t envisage what I mean? Well, it looks exactly like the negative space between the knots in the border of TWs The Storyteller :giggle:

So… are there totally unrelated objects you come across in your day-to-day life that make you think of stitching? Or is it really just me?!

*As a total aside, this “You Know You’re From Australia When…” is 90% completely irrelevant to me and at least 50% seriously offensive. I do, however, say “no worries” quite a bit… enough in fact for Finn to have picked it up!

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, General Ramblings

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Seasonal Exchange HD

Posted on July 19, 2005 | 3 comments

Lilacs_lg

I can finally show this HD to you, since it has been safely received. This is Lilacs from Lavender Wings. It was my Seasonal Exchange piece for Annette. I really enjoyed stitching this – yes, even all those Colonial Knots! I finished it off as a cube-it, inspired by a couple of other stitching bloggers who had recently done the same. I was kind of winging it though, as I only had some vaguely remembered instructions to go by (I think they might have been from Summer Truswell’s stitching pages, but her articles are no longer available since they all went into her book, which I really must buy sometime). Anyway, it turned out quite beautifully, but being Miss Forgetful, I didn’t manage to take a picture of it finished before sending it off, duh! Annette has since supplied me with one though, which you can see here.

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Finished

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Protected: Opinions – Good, Bad, Ugly

Posted on July 18, 2005 | Enter your password to view comments.

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The New Start

Posted on July 15, 2005 | Comments Off on The New Start

stbby01

A first glimpse of the new start I allowed myself while we were away. It’s Blackberry Jam from The Sweetheart Tree, and the kit was from my most excellent Seasonal Exchange Partner, Annette. It was great to take on a trip, because the kit came with everything except scissors, so I just threw my pair in the nifty little case, and off we went. I think OtherHalf was impressed that it was the only stitching I took with me :giggle: You can see the finished product here. I’m trying to start a few smaller things, to include in my (screaming) rotation. That way I can hopefully have another finish or two this year, fingers crossed.

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, In Progress

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My Mermaid, She Grows

Posted on July 14, 2005 | 1 comment

mdwfs04
You have no idea what I had to go through to bring you this simple image. I quite forgot that my laptop was recently rejiggered, and was therefore missing all crucial software. Dagnammit. Anyway, feast your eyes. As usual, image links to a closer look. (Hmmm… gotta tweak my javascript that does that though – the windows aren’t opening up exactly as they should…)

Have sorted out the beads to my liking. The best pale blue delica I could find in my stash is still a little bit too close to the fabric colour, but the better size means they don’t disappear quite so much. The substitute I have for the cool darker peacock-blue beads is not quite as nice, but should still work really well. Now I just have to hope I have enough beads! A-beading-I-will-go…

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, In Progress

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Can’t Talk – Stitching

Posted on July 13, 2005 | Comments Off on Can’t Talk – Stitching

So I know you’re all on the edge of your seats waiting for that picture I promised! But to tell the truth, that ‘little bit of braid’ I had to stitch was almost the whole darn lot of the emerald #4 braid. I decided to wait until I’d finished it to get a picture, and, well, it took a whole darn lot of time. I don’t normally have an issue with stitching braid, but I’ve never stitched so much at one time (except on Celtic Christmas, where I used Petite Treasure Braid, which is a dream compared with Kreinik). Thank goodness for Thread Heaven and my needle threader, or I would have cursed more than I did! Anyway, the braid is finished now, but I’m too tired to get a picture, and besides, it will look better taken in daylight. So you’ll just have to wait some more… meanwhile, you can go check out Mindy’s HD of the same design, if you like 🙂

Oh, I also started the beading – I attached 30 or so beads before I decided they’re all coming off and being substituted. The petites are too small on my 28 count fabric, and in addition, the pale blue beads totally disappear on the colour. I’ve got a sizeable Delica stash, so I’m going to have a dig in that, and hopefully come up with some substitutes tomorrow, and begin beading in earnest. Fingers crossed I can still get this finished before next Thursday (back-to-uni).

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, In Progress

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Just Call Me Smokey!

Posted on June 29, 2005 | 3 comments

Angels_lg
My needle is on fire! Another finish, and this time you get photos 🙂 This is Little Angel Birth Sampler by Sisters and Best Friends. It’s not something I’d usually stitch, and I kind of lost interest for a while, but I think the parents-to-be will like it. I stitched almost all the lettering today, plus 3 of the stars, half an angel, and attached all the charms. Obviously the baby’s name and birth details are yet to come, but that’s only a little bit of backstitching below the house. The babe is due in a month, so I’m pleased I’ve finished early. The image links to a closer look. But wait, there’s more! Check out who actually did the stitching. What a cutie!
finn-stitching-angel
There’s not likely to be much stitching going on in the next day or two. I’ll be doing the finishing on Annette’s gift, and then planning for our camping trip next week. I don’t think I’ll be taking WFS away, but I might treat myself to a new start – something small perhaps.

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Finished, Kid Crafts, The Kids

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Dance With Me

Posted on June 28, 2005 | 3 comments

Well it’s about time I had a HD! I’ve only finished 5 other pieces in 2005, now I can add another. Sadly, I can’t share it with you yet, but I can tell you it’s lovely. This is my piece for Annette, for the Seasonal Exchange. When she’s received it, I’ll post pics here.

On a related note… where does floss go? Is it the same place as odd socks and ball-point pens? I spent an hour last night looking through all my stash, WIPs and kitted projects, trying to find a skein of DMC712. I know I have it… I have every colour on stitchbows, I labelled every darn one myself. So where the heck is it? Eventually, I had to give up, and buy a new skein, at the outrageous price of $0.95. Grrr. I never like to pay full Australian price for floss. And don’t worry, I didn’t fall off the wagon for this – since it’s for gift stitching, it was an allowed purchase. Still annoyed me though.

Anyway, that’s #1 of my 3 planned HDs for my month off. Onwards and upwards!

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Finished

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World’s Biggest Sook

Posted on June 27, 2005 | Comments Off on World’s Biggest Sook

So my weekend plans included a 30th birthday party, and a trip to Mum’s to see my sister for her birthday. And fitting some stitching around those things, with any luck to finish my seasonal exchange piece. We ended up going shopping Friday night and Saturday morning, so no stitching there. Saturday morning, I also noticed a tickle in my throat. By Saturday afternoon, it had morphed into a full blown flu-ey, cold-y thing. I rested a while, dosed up on paracetamol, and then we went to the 30th birthday party. Not such a good idea, in hindsight. Sunday I spent most of the day in bed, feverish, drifting in and out of sleep, and just being generally miserable. I don’t deal well with being sick – before Finn was born, I rarely caught a cold. I don’t believe I ever had a day off work for anything other than the occasional migraine. Now, we collectively seem to catch everything going :ouch: Anyway, happily, this lurgy seems to be going as quickly as it arrived. I’m still a bit of a misery guts, and have done little more than sit on the couch doing puzzles with Finn. He seems to have a milder dose of the same, so he’s not demanding we go to the playground, thankfully, but he’s pretty happy as long as I wipe his nose every few minutes!

I did also finally take some time this morning to learn how to do the Colonial knot. The piece I’m doing for the seasonal exchange calls for quite a few French knots, and while they don’t generally bother me, getting a bunch of them to be uniform size is not my forte. I’ve heard the Colonial knot is easier to do, and easier to reproduce. And now I can do it. It wasn’t as easy to pick up as I thought it would be though. Probably a left-handed v right-handed thing. If I’d had real problems, I could have mirror imaged the diagrams, but I did eventually get it. Now, on to finish the piece, and get it made into something before Friday (eek)!

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, General Ramblings

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25 Questions: 21-25

Posted on June 25, 2005 | Comments Off on 25 Questions: 21-25

Oops. Midnight just squeaked by me. I’ve been stitching – working on my seasonal exchange piece, so yay me. Here’s the final installment of the 25 questions:

21. Do you use stitching enhancers (lights, scroll frames…etc)?
I have an Elan lap stand, given to me by OtherHalf last Christmas. It is wonderful, and my stitching has improved both in speed and quality since using it. When I started stitching I used hoops, but never again, after being unable to shift the hoop marks left behind on a few projects. Now, I love my Q-snaps, and pretty much everything gets stitched in those. I do also have a collection of Lokscroll scroll bars, which I love the look of, but find tricky to achieve the tension I like on the fabric. Behind my stitching chair I have a regular floor lamp, fitted with a daylight lightbulb. That helps the eye strain a bit. I would love to have one of the magnifying lights we used for surgery when I worked in the lab, they are fantastic. Cost the earth though.

22. How many pieces that have been stitched but not yet framed or finished off in some other way do you have at this time?
Well, given that I answered I had finished around 50 pieces, and I think 8 are framed, and about 12 ornaments “ornamentified”, that leaves about 30 waiting. Meep! Most are ornaments which I had vowed to finish by last Christmas. Oops.

23. Do you have a craft/stitching room?
Sadly, no. Only in my dreams. We live in a small 2 bedroom unit, and my stash is in several places – a blanket chest holds a lot, and a large plastic tub, and my red box. I would love to have a spiffy organized room, or even part of a room. I am very much looking forward to my father-in-law building me a stash cabinet that I designed. That will solve a bit of the clutter.

24. Why do you stitch?
For relaxation. For sanity. For the love of creating beautiful things. For something to do! Mostly for sanity, it really helps me to have a hobby I’m passionate about. I also greatly enjoy the online stitching community, it’s something I’ve not experienced before, and has been a major factor in my continued interest. On a side note, I was asked recently why I didn’t want to design my own pieces. I was slightly offended – I felt there was an insinuation that stitching in itself is not a valuable way to spend my time. I equate it with asking a reader why they don’t write their own books! Stitching, the actual physical act of stitching, is the pastime I love.

25. What is your most memorable time related to cross stitching?
I don’t know whether I even have an answer to that. I haven’t attended any stitching events as such. Perhaps it might be the whole of 2003. During that year, I became involved with the TWBB, and started to discover online needlework shops and cultivate my stash. A time of discovery and growth :giggle:

And there you have it. A brief history of me as a stitcher. And off I go now to do a bit more of it before bed 🙂

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Memes

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