Summer Stitching

Summertime brings a feeling to stitching like no other season. The light is brighter, the air is warmer, and your mood is happier. Stitching in Summer leaves you filled with joy at the soft colours you create.

I'm filled with happiness at what I'm creating with Angel In Your Heart. The colours are working well and I love the combination of pinks and greens. The lighter pink I've chosen is a Crescent Colours called Little Pink Peony. My progress from yesterday...

This is such a pretty design and I think I've settled on all the colour substitutions I'm making. Even the centres of the flowers have a basket weave stitch to add interest.

I only wish I had more time to spend on this project. On the plus side though, I get to enjoy it for longer.

Snow Hill ~ With Mats

Well finally I'm showing you the Jill Rensel mat I bought at The Silver Needle sale. It's for a design I finished back in 2004 called Snow Hill by Shepherd's Bush. Because of the shape of the design, framing it was probably going to be the only way to go with it so I thought the mats would be lovely to enhance the overall look.

Jill's mats are the best I've seen. I don't know anyone who does them any better. They will compliment a design without distracting from it. Her beautiful hand painted artwork always ties in with what appears in the stitched design.

As mentioned, I stitched Snow Hill back in 2004. Such a pretty little pattern which comes in kit form including all silk threads, fabric, and clay button. The fabric is 32ct Creek Bed Brown by R & R.

The colour of the mat was a wonderful surprise to me. I thought it was going to be more of a blue/grey tone but turned out to be brown/grey. This will go with my decor at home much better and appeals to my own taste more.

Now all I have to do is find a frame for it!

A New Project ~ Angel In Your Heart

I've made a start on something new! It's by Ewe & Eye & Friends (Twisted Threads) called Angel In Your Heart.

I'm still working out the final thread colours as I begin stitching on it. Since this photo was taken, I have changed a few of the threads over. The main stumbling block is the yellow they've used for the stars. I'm not 100% happy with the shade so I'm trying to come up with a substitute for it.

For the dark pink I'm using Crescent Colours Prickly Pear (which doesn't really sound like pink), instead of GA Pink Azalea. The green is what's called for being GA Avocado.

Angel In Your Heart - started 26 January 2010

I've chosen 35ct WDW fabric in the colour Linen for this piece. It's quite a lovely muted, off white shade. With more emphasis on the 'off' than the white. It's a hard colour to describe. Being 35ct, it's wonderfully soft too.

My next post I'll show you the Shepherd's Bush mat I got from The Silver Needle. I've taken a number of photos for your pleasure. Please come back to visit them next time.

Part Two ~ Silver Needle Stash

Here are some more pictures of the stash I received from The Silver Needle's New Year's Eve sale.

SB Witch's Treat and Halloween Night charts

JABC Buttons for these charts

Witch's Treat Buttons

Halloween Night Buttons

SB Holly Night chart with Buttons

Holly Night Buttons

SB Santa's Coming chart with recommended linen cut

Santa's Coming Santa Button

28ct Lambswool Linen pieces

JABC Buttons for SB Bethlehem Christmas and Santa's Christmas charts (already have the charts)

SB Sail Away and Snow For All kits

HE 'Spooky Stuff' Button Sampler chart with two pumpkin buttons (need four), and four flag buttons for Freedom House Button Sampler chart (already have the chart)

SB Egg Button which goes with their Hide and Seek chart (don't have this chart yet)

I also got a couple of other linen cuts. They were 32ct Cafe Mocha for CCN The Bakery, and 28ct Pearl Grey for CCN Forest Snowfall. The Cafe Mocha I thought would be a little lighter than what it is. It's a darker, natural type of linen. The Pearl Grey is more grey than I would have thought too. I was expecting slightly more blue to it but I guess it looks similar to what the chart shows.

The other things I got were CCN Princess Parade and LHN Fa La La charts, along with some various threads for different projects.

Oh, and the Jill Rensel mat for one of my SB finishes. I'll show you that another time because I've done a whole range of photos for it which will be better displayed on its own.

The needlework markets are always exciting to see what comes out. The upcoming one later in February this year will have some interesting things, I'm sure. I'm itching to see what new designs are going to be released!

Thanks for your comments as always, and have a wonderful stitching week.

First Finish for 2010 ~ Summer Iris

My first finish for 2010 has come slowly but here it finally is.

I've enjoyed stitching Summer Iris. The thread colours went well with the fabric and with the personalising of the year and my initial, I'm pleased with the end result. There's no graph if you want to change these two features from what's on the original design so I've had to create my own 'J' and work out which way I wanted to do the '1' in 2010. It took me about five attempts for each before I was happy with them.

One day I'll complete this little piece and turn it into a pincushion or the like.

DESIGNER ~ Blackbird Designs

PATTERN ~ Summer Iris

FABRIC ~ 30ct WDW Baby's Breath

THREADS ~ WDW Dove, Fawn, Cappuccino, & Rum Raisin - GA Grecian Gold (2 over 2)

STARTED ~ 3 January 2010

FINISHED ~ 22 January 2010

I'd like to try to do the wool strawberry for which instructions also come with this pattern, one day.

Photo courtesy of Blackbird Designs, One Stitch At A Time blog

In the meantime I will show you some more pictures of my stitched Summer Iris.

Thank you for taking the time to look and comment.

A Little More of a Glimpse

Here's more of a glimpse into what I got from The Silver Needle this week. The latest designer to join my list of favourites is With Thy Needle & Thread. I adored stitching Miss Snow Fairy and there's a number of their charts that have captured my eye. I was able to get some of them through The Silver Needle.

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Along with these I ordered the Witch scissors to go with the SB Scaredy Sheep Scissor Fob (which I have bought previously), and a purse size Crystal Nail File by Dovo. I have the larger version of the nail file already and I love it. It's supposed to never dull down and is gentle on your nails.

More goodies to show next time!

Silver Needle Stash ~ Sneak Peek!

OK, here's something to tantalise your taste buds and will leave you drooling. I'm going to show you a sneak peek of my Silver Needle New Year's Eve Sale order.

There's hidden treasures underneath what you can see, but you'll have to wait a bit longer to get a glimpse of everything I ordered. It arrived in the mail today and it's something I look forward to receiving every year. I've been placing an order with them on New Year's Eve for the past four or five years. I usually get things that can be hard to order through other needlework shops since The Silver Needle site is so comprehensive. Plus they allow the discount on everything in the shop so I can always be guaranteed of getting some Shepherd's Bush kits/charts. I was also able to get a Jill Rensel SB mat for a piece I have stitched a number of years back. I'm so pleased with it and I'll show you some pictures when I get the chance.

I also wanted to thank you for your compliments on my photos and stitching. Some of you are under the impression I have finished Summer Iris. Sorry, but I still have a little to go on it. Though this will mean I'll have more photos to show when I do finish it!

As for my photo presentation, there's always room for improvement. I'm just wanting to try a few different ways to present them to make it more interesting. It enables me to bring out my creative side too.

Just to reply to your comments about my last post: Susan, my photo collages are done through Picasa software. There's a link in my sidebar if you're interested in downloading it. Let me know if you need any help with it. Melissa, I'm still deciding what my next project will be. It may be a Ewe Eye & Friends chart (you'll know which one) but I just have to make a final decision on the threads.

Thanks again for you kindhearted comments. I get such delight in reading them. Have a happy week with needle in hand!

Weekend Stitching

I made good progress with Summer Iris yesterday. I'm loving the colours of this one and it's such a sweet, simple design. A real pleasure to stitch.

I'm trying to get a little more creative with my photo presentation. Thanks to Tammy giving me some help on where to put new downloaded fonts on to my computer so I can have access to them, I've been able to get more interesting fonts to use. It's a bit exciting when you discover new ways to do things. I'm not what you'd call a whiz when it comes to computers, though I get by. I'm learning a few other things that I had no idea you could do also. :)

Now I know you'll all be wondering how I'm going to 'finish' this one once I finish it. Not being overly into the side of finishing things off into something right now, I will probably put this aside until the time comes that I am creative and confident enough to turn it into a lovely needlework item. We'll see anyway. I've said it before, but the stitching is what I get the most pleasure from.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend (mine's nearly over now) and your stitching projects are coming along nicely, giving pleasure to your hearts. Thanks for stopping by and for your beautiful comments. (((Hugs)))

Needlework Accessories

This is the latest thing I'm hooked on - needlework accessories! Apart from scissors, I'm now interested in all types of items to compliment my sewing. I received a parcel during the week from Down Sunshine Lane with some lovely goodies in it.

Scissors attached to fobs, previously purchased.

The mini Lift 'N Snip silver scissors are a smaller version of my favourite scissors. This type I use all the time for my needlework as I love how the little hook at the end lifts up your threads away from your stitching for ease of cutting.

The needlework magnets are so cute and the magnets are quite strong on them. A great idea to keep your needle handy. The Made With Love charms I've seen on other blogs and have been wanting to get some. These will be great when I get more in to the finishing side of my stitching.

Fobs are a major attraction to me at the moment. I have lots of kits to make my own out of linen and threads but the jewelled variety appeals to me also.

The Patriotic Fob is my favourite.

I'm now moving along with Summer Iris. I got some stitching done today and can see the finishing line not being far away.