Something a little different

This is another of my mother's finishes for this year. It's by The Nostalgic Needle and is a chart called The Queen's Sweet Bag. She's had this chart for years and has only recently decided to stitch it up.

The Nostalgic Needle - The Queen's Sweet Bag (stitched by my mother)

It's a little different and one that I'm not sure I would do myself, but I love it all the same. I really like the specialty stitching throughout it with the grapes, strawberry, and the centres of the flowers. It raises them higher than the rest of the design and emphasises their appearance.

The chart shows it finished off as a sweet bag and Mum may still complete it this way, but she won't dress it up as much. She has left off the small gold discs sewn throughout it and I'm not sure whether she will add the tassels. She has also changed some thread colours to the chart. Mainly with the blues. These were a little bright for her liking and she's toned it down with some bluey/grey variegated threads. I'm not sure what colour substitutions she's used as she grabs whatever's in her stash at the time. She always ends up with great combinations by using her own choice of threads.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy viewing this finish of hers. She was thrilled with your responses over her other two finishes (Snow Treat Bag and It's Berry Time), and she wanted me to thank you all for your kind words. She is now stitching Victoria Sampler's Tea Party Sampler and she's going to finish this one as a tea cosy. I'm sure I'll show you photos of her completed work when it's done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mum's finish of It's Berry Time

It was my mother's birthday in September and for a present I gave her BBD It's Berry Time chart kitted up. Since a few of you wanted to see the end result once she'd stitched it, here are some photos of her work for you.

BBD - It's Berry Time (stitched by Mum) with recommended fabric and threads.

This stitched part will become a berry emery.

She thinks she will turn the main piece into a cushion, though like me she enjoys the stitching of a design the most, and takes a while to finish it off as something.

I'm going to the pictures again tomorrow night. This time to see The Time Travelers Wife. I'm looking forward to seeing this one. Eric Bana (from Australia) is in it, and it's a different type of movie for him. He actually started out here as a comedian originally, for those of you who didn't know. Anyway, I'm sure I'll enjoy this movie.

More next time...

A Treat from Mum

I've taken some photos of a few of Mum's latest finishes. Here's one of them from Shepherd's Bush (yes, she likes them too!) called Snow Treat Bag. It comes as a kit with everything needed to finish it off as you see in these photos.

SB Snow Treat Bag - finished by my mother

I managed to get a bit of housework done yesterday, then later in the afternoon I sat down to work on BBB. I have most of the second bug finished but haven't taken any photos yet, so I will show you my progress next time.

I also wanted to thank you for your comments and enthusiasm for my blog and stitching. You don't know how much it means to me. :)

Mum's on a roll

Mum's been stitching again and has a few finishes to show you. They're all Shepherd's Bush and come as complete kits.

Christmas Treat Bag, Americana Roll, Shepherd's Roll, and Violet Roll

These next photos feature Shepherd's Roll. She has also completed Shepherd's Purse which she did a number of years ago. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

This is Mum's too

Here's another of Mum's finishes. She did this a while ago and has chosen her own thread colours. It's a Prairie Moon design called Gardenin' Angel.

Prairie Moon - Gardenin' Angel

Fabric - 32ct Creek Bed Brown

Threads - own choice

Framed by Dad

Stitched by Mum

Dad has handmade the frame while Mum did the stretching.

This pattern I have in my stash, which comes with the tin pieces. I have been wanting to do this for ages but cannot decide on the threads to use. Some of the colours it calls for don't appeal to me, so I want to change to something else. I love the threads Mum has chosen, but she can't remember which ones she used. Oh well, I'll get round to doing this some day.

Another finish for Mum!

I dropped into Mum's and Dad's yesterday since I haven't visited them for a few weeks. Mum and I caught up on what we've been stitching lately. I showed her Little Ballerinas, which I've done for my niece, and she loved it.

She had been working on and has now finished Lizzie Kate's Double Flip series Living With Charm. She's stitched all words together in the one piece going downwards. The fabric she used is from the Stitches And Spice range. It's a hand dyed evenweave called Celtic which is the palest pink tone with metallic speckles going through it. She asked me my opinion on how to finish it off. I suggested turning it into a bell pull. I think it would really suit this design. It becomes so costly to frame everything, so it's good to alternate a few options. Here's her finished piece, but you'll have to excuse the creases as it hasn't been ironed.

LIZZIE KATE - Living With Charm

Stitched by Mum and finished July 2008

Button, Button and another finish for Mum

Mum and Dad dropped by for a visit yesterday and Mum brought with her a couple of her latest needlework finishes. Love seeing what she's been doing.

One was a design she's been working on for a while. Fairly large and includes some intricate work with tree shading. It's by Juniper Designs and it's called Strahan. This is a town in Tasmania - Australia, which she has visited on holidays there with Dad. The same designer which created The Rocks in Sydney that she's stitched.

The other item she completed which I was excited to see was the pattern I'd given to her for Mother's Day. It's an Erica Michaels design called Button, Button. She has made it into a button bag with a pretty floral fabric for backing. She hasn't quite finished it as she wants to line the inside with some soft pink silk fabric (which is underneath the bag in the photo). I think it looks so pretty and since I bought myself the kit as well, I will look forward to stitching it one day also. Here's some pics I took yesterday of it...

ERICA MICHAELS - Button, Button bag (stitched by Mum)

Backing fabric of the bag

That's all for now. Hope you're all enjoying your stitching projects. Have fun!!!

Random Thoughts

I haven't done anymore stitching since I started back at work this week, so I thought I would show you a pic of my mother's latest finish. It's Random Thoughts by Drawn Threads. She has used her own fabric (it could be light mocha), and her choice of silk threads. She's basically gone by what the colour on the photograph looked like that came with the chart.

She really liked stitching this one up. Her favourite piece on it is the ladybug. The border she also enjoyed doing. It was a real pleasure for her to stitch though, because it's got so many different little pictures in it which keeps the mind interested.

Drawn Threads - Random Thoughts

Sleigh Bells Stitchery

This is a picture of a stitchery that Mum did a couple of years back. It's by Carol Newton from Neverending Thread (pattern can be purchased from their website) called Sleigh Bells Stitchery. The pattern was originally printed in a magazine called Australian Homespun (No. 30 Vol. 6.4). I really love this one and admire it whenever I see it at Mum's house. I was at her place today and thought I would take a photo of it to post for other people to see how lovely it is.

CAROL NEWTON (NEVERENDING THREAD) - Sleigh Bells Stitchery

AUSTRALIAN HOMESPUN MAGAZINE - No. 30 Vol. 6.4

Off the track a bit, but it's a question I've had from Lori about the song I'm playing on this blog called This Love. It's by the Australian twins The Veronicas. They're from Brisbane, they're 21 years old and they've had quite a few hits here in Australia. This is their latest song that's been released only recently, and one of my favourites at the moment. I've put a couple of other songs of theirs on my mini iPod (bottom of blog), called When It All Falls Apart and Untouched. I love most of the songs they've released so far.