Baby Bug Ball ~ Finished

I have finally finished my Baby Bug Ball! There wasn't a lot to go when I left it last and I was able to finish it all off yesterday afternoon. What a happy looking trio of bugs they are.

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This one I stitched along with Loraine from Sew Be It. She was able to finish hers last week and sounds as though she had as much fun as I had with it. She'd started this design a while back and didn't continue with it. When she saw I had decided to stitch it, she asked if she could stitch along so she could be inspired to pick it up again. Thank you for joining me on this journey, Loraine. It was so fun and we'll have to pick something else one day to do together. I know there's a few things we both have the patterns for so it shouldn't be too difficult to decide. Anyway, here's my finished Bug Ball.

SAL with Loraine from Sew Be It

DESIGNER ~ Shepherd's Bush

PATTERN ~ Baby Bug Ball kit

FABRIC ~ 32ct Light Sand Belfast Linen

THREADS ~ Threadgatherer Silk, Soie D'Alger Silk, Gloriana Silk (1 over 2)

EMBELLISHMENTS ~ Petite Glass Beads (black, gold, and ivory), JABC Buttons

STARTED ~ 17 October 2009

FINISHED ~ 28 November 2009

This next picture's for Loraine to show her my crow button is all intact. You see, she had a problem with hers. It broke in half! Fortunately for her though, she doesn't live very far from Shepherd's Bush actual shop, and was able to duck in one day and pick up another. How delightful that sounds to someone who lives so far from them. :)

My favourite bug was the lady bug on the right, which was Loraine's favourite too. She is so pretty looking, with the lace at the bottom of her dress and the flower sticking out of her hat.

The other bugs are gorgeous too of course.

There's so many eye catching things in this design. From the sun, the flowers, the bees, the buttons, and the little flower sticking out of the girl's hat.

I hope you've had fun keeping up to date with my progress on this one. It took me longer than I thought it would but I'm so delighted with the outcome. Such a cute one.

Now to the next project!

Just the fun bits to go

Sorry I haven't posted until now. Things have been fairly busy lately and I haven't had the proper time. Bet you've all been wondering where I've got to with BBB? Well, I still have some more to do but I'm down to the decorating, shall I say, with it. The bugs need antennae, a few bees flying around, and some beading and buttons are still to be added.

I've had a hard time trying to get good colouring when taking photos of this one, so for this post I have resorted back to my scanner for the picture. I was able to work on it last Friday and Saturday nights and have managed to get all the bugs completed (apart from a few little extra bits).

Baby Bug Ball - 21 November 2009

My stitching friend who worked with me on this, Loraine, has managed to do so well with hers and has finished it. It was such a pleasure to share this project with you Loraine, and maybe we can do another some day. Please drop by her blog to see her finished piece of Bug Ball, along with another Shepherd's Bush winter sampler which is so cute. Both are beautifully stitched pieces. Well done, Loraine! (You know I secretly envy her because she lives so close to my favourite designers, Shepherd's Bush, and can drop by their enchanting shop at a whim. What a dream that must be, I can only imagine.)

Well, enough dreaming for now. I have a stash order that should arrive any day, which will have my next project in it. Sometimes you know exactly what to do next and other times you don't get the inspiration so easily.

Looks like I'll be waiting til the weekend to finish BBB so please watch out for my finished photos. Don't you love that sense of accomplishment that comes from another finish?

Happy stitching everyone!

The Best Til Last

This is going to be my favourite Bug, I can tell. I'm onto the last one and I'm loving her outfit already. Some beads will go along the bottom of her dress which will create a little more interest and make it look lacy. I'm only getting about one stitching session in a week lately so this project is taking shape at a slow pace. Anyway, here's were I'm at...

Baby Bug Ball - 15 November 2009

I can be a bit spasmodic with my stitching at times. There's occasions where I get a lot done in a short space of time, then other times I seem to go at a snails pace. Needless to say, I'm a snail at the moment. :)

Two Down, One Bug To Go

I'm moving along with BBB, albeit at a slow pace. I've now stitched the second Bug with its wandering flower so it makes me about two thirds of the way through.

Baby Bug Ball - 8 November 2009

This progress was from Sunday. I'm leaving all the beading and buttons until I've finished with the stitching part.

I'm hoping my stitching friend who's working on this also, Loraine, has made more progress than I have now. How are you going with yours, Loraine? What a fun piece it is to do and I'm loving each flower that pops up.


The weather here is still so hot. This is quite rare for November in Victoria. We may get the odd hot day here and there but never a stretch like this. It made it very hard to get some decent sleep last night. The worst thing though, is now the authorities are worried that the bush fire season looks like it's going to be early. After the terrible fires in February, we don't want to see a repeat of those extreme temperatures like we did then. We just need some more of that rain we had early on this Spring.

Another Bug

Well, I'm slowly working my way through BBB and I've been able to get most of the middle bug completed.

Baby Bug Ball - 3 November 2009

I'm leaving the beads and buttons until last, which is what I usually do because I work with a hoop. So if you see any parts missing, it's due to this reason.

Please drop by Loraine's blog and see where she's up to on hers. She's stitching along with me on this one and it looks like we're going at the same pace, which is good. I thought I would fall behind because I don't get a lot of stitching sessions in over a week. So I'm pleasantly surprised to be on par with her. It's such a thrill to be stitching with you Loraine, and I'm so looking forward to your next progress pictures.

I'm feeling pretty tired tonight so I won't make this a lengthy post. We had a very busy day at work today, so my energy levels are low and I'm in need of a good night's sleep.

Before I go, can I just say a big thank you for your lovely comments on Mum's Snow Treat Bag. I will let her know how much you liked her work - she'll be thrilled. I do love how we both share an interest in needlework. Even more so that we both love Shepherd's Bush so much too! :)

Thanks for passing by my blog. *~*

A Flower for Thee

I have a little more progress to show you on Baby Bug Ball.

The Bug has something to hold on to now, instead of just standing there with its arm out for nothing. :)

I love it when you add something to a piece and you can see it come alive. The poor Bug was looking a bit boring there on its own.

I went to see Mum and Dad today and I've been able to bring home a few of Mum's finishes. I'll take some pictures and show you in future posts. Included in them is the BBD It's Berry Time.

Well, that's all for now. Here's hoping those of you who celebrated Halloween have had a ghastly time of it!

A Baby Bug

I managed to complete one of the Bugs the other night on BBB. This one's on the left side.

Baby Bug Ball - 28 October 2009

I've tried to interpret what the instructions say, and have done her wings using a half cross. This will also be done with the middle boy bug. The bug on the right will have her wings in full crosses. I have seen a number of people's finishes of this one with variations of either full or half cross (mainly full though). It wouldn't matter which way you did the wings really. Both styles would look just as nice.

Wings done in half cross

I have a stitching/blogging friend Loraine (from Utah, USA), who's also working on this design with me. We're trying to encourage each other with our progress. I haven't stitched anything with someone else before, so I'm quite looking forward to see how it goes. With each others support, we will complete this gorgeous design together. Thanks Loraine for joining in with me and I hope we have some fun on this one! Please drop by her wonderful blog called Sew Be It! and help her with her journey on Baby Bug Ball.

Before I go, I just wanted to mention that I received my order of new stash from Needlecraft Corner today! A few charts, fabric and threads. Just what the doctor ordered for my stitching obsession! I'll take some pictures tomorrow and show you what I got.

What a cutie!

This is a new design by With Thy Needle And Thread called Miss Snow Fairy. I discovered it while looking on the net recently and fell in love straight away. So whimsical looking with soft colours. So of course I couldn't wait to get the chart, and have placed an order for it. I'm thinking of doing it on 35ct Parchment by WDW. Can't wait to see it in real life!

With Thy Needle And Thread - Miss Snow Fairy chart

I also did a little more (emphasis on the little) with Baby Bug Ball yesterday. Not so much progress as I'd like to see, so here's just one picture to show you my progress.

Baby Bug Ball - 18 October 2009

With the Aussie dollar doing so well at the moment, some stash enhancement is looking very enticing. I'm already trying to get some SB newies from the recent market. There's also another chart that caught my eye from the market. It's called Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler. There's limited edition threads for it too. They're by Gentle Art with names like: Parched Bones, Coffin Lid, Dried Blood, Witch's Wart. What ghastly names, but I love them! Something to sink your teeth into, this one. I love waiting for new stash to arrive. Will make sure to show you these treasures when I get them.

With Thy Needle And Thread - Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler chart

Happy stitching to all!

A start on Baby Bug Ball

The weekend's been pretty drab here so I've taken the opportunity to start on Baby Bug Ball.

Shepherd's Bush - Baby Bug Ball start

While I started on one of the Pudgies last night, I realised I had stitched the wrong colour for part of her outfit. I did the combination of dark and light blue when it should have been pale green and light blue. Don't know how that came about - not concentrating properly I'd guess. Fortunately there wasn't much there to rip out, so I ended up doing it in the charted green.

The thread used for the bottom Satin Stitch is from Threadgatherer called Meadow Grass.

Well, I might stitch a little more on it today. Try and get more of this Pudgie girl finished.

It's a Bug Ball!

This is going to be my next project to work on. It's from Shepherd's Bush, called Baby Bug Ball. They're all dressed up for Halloween in this one.

Shepherd's Bush - Baby Bug Ball kitted

Included in the kit is 32ct Light Sand Linen, silk threads, handmade clay buttons, and glass beads. Just delightful!

I wasn't sure whether to stick with the chosen fabric, or try something else. I decided to stay with the Light Sand colour in the kit because I think it will suit the sun in the top right corner of the design. Other colours I was looking at in my stash may not have shown this feature clearly enough. I'm sure I'll be happy with it anyway.

I'm glad you enjoyed my Spooky Sheep finish. Such sweet comments you gave and I loved reading them! Thanks for taking the time to look. :)