Man and Woman Stand Together

Some more progress to report on BK&BT. This is from Friday when I was able to complete the man and a couple of letters, Z and W.

BE KIND & BE TRUE - 26 February 2010 (SAL with Melissa)

Now man and woman are standing together, apart from the tree separating them that is. :)

I was out for most of the day shopping yesterday and today I've been to a 50th celebration for one of my work colleagues, which hasn't left much stitching time. Last night I felt tired after walking around for so long at the shops and tonight I think I'll have a quiet one. There's a show I want to watch on TV so I think I'll do that instead of my stitching. Plus I want to give Melissa a chance to catch up with me since she's been a bit under the weather lately (feeling sick). Sending good health to you Melissa, I do hope you're feeling much better and full of energy real soon. I'm having so much fun with this SAL and looking forward to our next step with it.

Thank you all for your comments. They're just a joy to read and fill me with pleasure!

Branching Out

Here's some photos to keep you up to date with my SAL with Melissa. Yesterday I started working on parts of the tree. A couple of branches, a few leaves here and there, even another birdie and some more letters in the alphabet.

I love how the more you progress with a design the more interesting it gets.

BE KIND & BE TRUE - 25 February 2010 (SAL with Melissa)

Today I've started working on the man. I plan on stitching tonight, so we'll see how far I progress with it.

Melissa is working on the opposite side to me and has completed the woman now. I think she plans on showing her progress on her blog tomorrow, all going well. For me, I'm off to stitch some more!

Linen & Nashville

I bought some linens recently from Wyndham Needleworks since they were on special. Mostly R & R linens as they're not always available 'on hand' at a lot of needlework shops. You know, I find it hard to buy linens online because sometimes when you receive them the colour looks different to what you were expecting. Overall I'm quite happy with these.

Top to Bottom - R & R Reproductions 35ct Kansas City Blend, 35ct Liberty Gathering Gray, 40ct Liberty Gathering Gray, and 32ct Zweigart Golden Sand

Left to Right - R & R Reproductions 30ct Mink, and 35ct Park City Blend

It's nice to have a few linens on hand to go with a new project. Keep in mind though that R & R linens tend to be on the stiff side.


Now onto Nashville Market. I'm sure most of you are up to date with what's been released by now? So what's your favourites? I absolutely love SB Blue Snowman!!! I'm a real sucker for these snowmen series they do and this one is just gorgeous.

Other favourites of the new releases are:

SB - My Land, Liberty Pincushion, Liberty Scissor Fob, and Lucky Sheep
BBD - Honeysuckle Manor book, and Snow Garden
SHAKESPEAR'S PEDDLER - Jenny Bean's Humble Servant Sampler

They're the main ones I like. I'm not going to race out and get them now though. I can wait.

Onto my SAL with Melissa. I really didn't get much done yesterday as I didn't have a lot of free time. I've stitched a few letters to the left of the woman and made a start on the tree. Melissa hasn't been feeling the best so she didn't get a lot done either. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon and next time I'll have some pictures to show.

Moving at a Fast Pace

Melissa and I are working our way through BK&BT and yesterday I was able to get the woman, flowers, and a couple of birdies done. I ended up stitching day and night until 12am to get this far! I really wanted to finish her off before I went to bed. Her eyes will come later as they're done with French Knots. Melissa has started work on the tree and finished the man, so she's doing the opposite side to me.

BE KIND & BE TRUE - 23 February 2010 (SAL with Melissa)

I've had a busier day today with things to get done so I'm only going to get a few hours in of this SAL tonight. It will be a few hours well spent anyway.

Now I have some new/old scissors to show you, which I'm sure you've noticed in the photos above. They're genuine antique style which I bought on eBay recently. I thought they looked a bit like the ones Stacy Nash uses in her photos. They just have a bit more detail on them. They're only 3 3/4" in length and are more for decoration rather than proper needlework scissors.

I better head off now as I've got stitching to be done. Drop by Melissa's blog and see where she's up to on her progress. I'm sure she'll be glad you did!

What an Honour!

As you know I'm stitching BK&BT as a SAL with Melissa. She's brought to my attention that Brenda, who designed this chart, has mentioned our SAL on her blog! How cool is that and what an honour to have this mentioned in such a way. Now the pressure's on, Melissa. :)

Anyway, I'm trying my best to keep up and hold my end of the bargain. I'm just glad we chose to do this while I'm on annual leave from work and Melissa herself is on a break. Actually I think a SAL is good every once in a while. It really drives you to want to stitch more. I surely wouldn't have done this much in a short space of time if it wasn't for Melissa, so thank you my stitching buddy! She has since got a bit further with hers as she's now working on the tree and man.

This is where I got to after yesterday's session through the afternoon/evening.

BE KIND & BE TRUE - 22 February (SAL with Melissa)

Melissa and I are both working with one thread. The original design calls for two on a 32ct fabric. Since we're working on 35ct we thought the one thread would be enough. You could quite easily do two threads on either count though. We'll call ours the more primitive or frugal version shall we say. :)

I'd really love to finish mine off with walnut crystals as Brenda has hers, to give it that aged look. Has anyone used this technique and how did it turn out? What would be the best way to do it? I'd appreciate your thoughts and ideas.

So as I head off for another session of this wonderful sampler, I hope you're all having fun with what ever your working on. Enjoy!

Counting To Ten

I'm able to count to ten, now that I've stitched these numbers! :)

Be Kind & Be True - started 20 February 2010

I made a start on BK&BT yesterday and was able to get a number of hours of stitching time done on it. I'm starting from the bottom and working my way up. As a coincidence, I hear Melissa is doing the same and has completed as much as I did. How's that for synchronization? I think she's going to post her progress in the next day or so.

I love WDW fabrics and the 35ct is my favourite. The colour Linen which I'm working on is very versatile and would suit a lot of designs. Some fabric colours you're limited to what it would go with but this colour could blend in well with many colour palettes.

The scissors in my photos, I got from Yuko. I thought they looked lovely with this style of design.

I've been out most of today so I'm going to have a quiet night at home. I'll pick up this project tomorrow and work some more on it then.

Thanks for stopping by and checking up on my progress.

On To Something New

I've put aside Angel In Your Heart for now and am working on my SAL with Melissa. It's With Thy Needle & Thread's - Be Kind & Be True (BK&BT). Here it is all kitted...

With Thy Needle & Thread - Be Kind & Be True

It uses all DMC threads and the fabric I've chosen is WDW 35ct Linen. This is the same as what I've been working on Angel In Your Heart with. It will be interesting to see the same fabric with a different thread palette. I'm stitching 1 over 2.

Please make sure you drop by Melissa's blog to watch her progress on it too!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish up Angel but I will continue with her along the way. She's so cute and this is where I left her...

Angel In Your Heart - 19 February 2010

I'm off to stitch more on BK&BT and will post some progress photos soon!

All You Need Are Words

These pictures are from my progress of a couple of days ago. I completed the wording on Angel In Your Heart.

Angel In Your Heart - 18 February 2010

The chart calls for two DMC thread colours. I decided to change to a variegated GA Sampler Thread called Cidermill Brown. It's softly variegated but I am still happy with the way it looks.

I've been working some more on it last night (as it's now early Saturday my time) but have not been able to finish it yet. I'm going to be starting on another project with Melissa, so I'll try to complete Angel while I'm doing the SAL at some stage.


More pictures to come...

Smyrna Cross

Today I've been working on the wording for Angel In Your Heart and thought I'd take a break to update my blog. The Angel has her wings and eyes now...

Angel In Your Heart - 17 February 2010

For her wings I've used WDW Snowflake which has the softest of pink running through it. I've also used this thread for her legs.

The wings are outlined with cross stitches then filled in with Smyrna crosses. A really lovely effect which makes a feature of them. This is probably my favourite part of the design.

Well, I better get back to it. Thank you all for your compliments on my thread choices. For some reason this design has been easy to choose a different conversion. I've even done the words in a variegated thread. More about it next time.

Progress Update on Angel In Your Heart

I'm working away on the Angel but there's more to her than you may think. It seems to be taking me a while to complete her. The whole project has been so enjoyable and I can't wait to see how it looks finished.

Angel In Your Heart - 16 February 2010

Another thread change for her face. I chose WDW Whitewash which has a soft cream tone running through the white. Oh, and I haven't put any eyes on her yet. Don't worry, they're still to come.

I'll have to get a wriggle on to get it all finished because Melissa and I are itching to start our SAL. We're going to make a start on it by the end of the week. Melissa informed me that Kellie has done Be Kind & Be True, so I had to have a look and it's turned out terrific! So I hope you'll join us on our fun little adventure and keep up with our progress on it.

Stacy Nash ~ First Kit for 2010 Girl Club

I'm still in the SN Girl Club for the moment and I received her first kit for 2010 recently. It's a heart needlebook and the fabrics you get with the kit are just divine. The red patterned fabric that goes inside already has an aged tone to it and the red piece of wool is wonderfully soft.

Here's some pictures I've made up to show you the kit...

Stacy Nash Group Kit - Country Sampler Heart Needlebook

There maybe some places left if you're interested in joining this group. I know they had some at the start of the year. Contact Jeanne at Country Sampler if you're interested. Just be aware that if you're wanting to order other items from her shop to be sent with your next kit, you may not be successful. It also ends up being pricey when the kit alone is sent out if you're from overseas.

On another note, I went to see It's Complicated at the pictures on Sunday. I am happy to say I loved it! So many little funny moments throughout. Meryl Streep's acting was wonderful (just a look on her face and you knew exactly what she was thinking), and the setting of the movie was lovely. She lived on this large property in a character filled house, and had the most perfect looking vegetable garden I've seen. A really enjoyable movie, I'm so glad I got to see it.