Another finish ~ Wooly Winter

Here he is, my little Wooly Snowman. I sat down to a lovely stitching session yesterday afternoon and added him to this Winter design. He didn't take long at all to do. Such a joy to stitch up and I love the tassels at the end of his cap.

There weren't a lot of embellishments to add to this piece, so I was able to finish it all up by late afternoon. Then some photos were in order to compliment this cute design.

DESIGNER ~ Shepherd's Bush

PATTERN ~ Wooly Winter (released in 1994 as a kit)

FABRIC ~ 32ct Twilight Blue Linen

THREADS ~ Au Ver A Soie silk (1 over 2)

EMBELLISHMENTS ~ Beads - Creme and Carrot, Charm - Silver Snowflake

STARTED ~ 7 August 2009

FINISHED ~ 16 August 2009

My photos show the joy I have when I get to finish a project. Hours of work involved needs to be captured in pictures.

Now I'm at the place again on deciding what to do next. I'll need to have a look through my stash to see what jumps out. This time I haven't decided what's next, before I completed my latest finish. It's a wonderful choice I have to make though. :)

Til my next project... keep those needles flying with all those gorgeous creations, everyone!

Caps Of Wool

I got a bit further on my progress with Wooly Winter yesterday. Better than the previous night's session. Hearts, specialty stitches, and little caps of wool were completed. I love the woollen hats, and they were a lot easier to do than the mittens. :)

Wooly Winter - 15 August 2009

Now I can work on the snowman and all his trimmings. Think I'll do some more today as the weather is ideal for it. We had such strong winds last night (I kept waking up because of them), and today they're still around though not so strong, but there's also quite a bit of rain falling. Well, I guess it still is Winter here, so I can't complain too much. The plus side to it is that this type of weather does allow me to stitch more. So I'm going to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon stitching and keeping warm inside.

Til next time... happy stitching!

Mittens Bright

Not too much progress on Wooly Winter to show. I worked a little on it last night and managed to get the row of mittens done. This took me longer than I thought it would. The only other row I managed to finish was the wording above 'Mittens Bright'. I had to stitch this row twice, since I started it in the wrong place and didn't realise until I got virtually to the end. Some frogging was done on the row of mittens too, so with all this pulling thread out, you can understand why I didn't get very much done.

Wooly Winter - 14 August 2009

I hope to get more completed over the weekend.

Look what a day's stitching achieves!

Yesterday I managed to get some gardening done in the morning, then I was free to partake in a little needlework for the afternoon. What an enjoyable day it was. Mid afternoon I sat down to stitch. I seemed to be working my way through this small sampler, so I kept at it into the evening. Have a look at it grow!

Wooly Winter - 9 August 2009

Those pesky snow flakes came up again. This time they were a different variety, but no easier than the last ones. In fact, a little harder. I worked through them though and fortunately I didn't have too many to do with this narrow design.

The photos I took were done this morning before I went to work, so they're a bit darker than the last post. They're probably more true in colour to the actual piece though.

I've also just realised what the next stage will involve... MITTENS!!! Yes, those darn little hand warmers have popped themselves up in this design too. They were finicky things to do in Snow Patch, but hopefully practice makes perfect. I'll let you know how I go.

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and been able to get all the things you wanted done. I know it doesn't always happen. We can live in hope though.

Happy stitching and til next time, keep those needles flying!

A Wooly Winter it is!

I made a start on Wooly Winter last night.

Wooly Winter - started 7 August 2009

I was cruising along until I got to the snowflake. There's three of these that go along the row and I have completed just one so far. Stitching it in the night light (although I do work with an Ott-lite) wasn't helping, as it was very fine work. I'm still not convinced I have done it with no mistakes, so I'm going to look over it again before I move on to the rest of them.

Nina has just informed me that there's a SB Village Blog which I wasn't aware of. Thanks for letting me know about it, Nina! I'm thinking of joining it because they are by far my favourite designers. I haven't joined any other groups since I don't have the time to get too involved, but I think I should make an exception with this one, don't you think? I remember Tammy telling me about another group a while back, but I never got back to her about it (sorry). So thanks as well to Tammy for passing on this information. You're looking out for me which I really appreciate. This is what I love about the information you can get from peoples' blogs.

I'm snuggled up inside today since it's quite chilly out. Though the sun is shining, there's not much warmth to it. I think I've picked the right time to be stitching on my Wooly Winter because it's certainly been one of those here this season. Can't wait for Spring!

What's next and Awards

Ok, so I've been having a bit of a break from stitching this week. I've sort of known what I was going to do next, but have had a few nights relaxing after work to get my needle hand back into gear and ready for my next project.

I'm probably like a cracked record but I've picked another Shepherd's Bush winter themed kit. This one's called Wooly Winter and it's a long, narrow sampler but not a very big one.

SHEPHERD'S BUSH - Wooly Winter

The linen is a 32ct Twilight Blue, with Au Ver A Soie silk threads (no variegated one this time).


I was tossing up whether to do this or Snow Patch for my last start, and Snow Patch ended up winning. So instead of looking at what else I could do, I decided to pick Wooly Winter as the next project.


I've also received a few Awards lately from some lovely ladies. It's so kind of them to send them my way.

The first is from Hilda ~


Another from Natalie ~


Then a third from Lucy ~


You're all very sweet to send these my way. I don't seek any accolades when doing my blog, only enjoyment for myself and others who want to drop by to see what I'm doing. It's also a way to share information on my favourite hobby, needlework. I love that people are inspired by my works, and that I too, am with theirs. Please drop by these ladies blogs to see what delights they may inspire us with. I am not passing on these awards as I do find this a difficult task, but believe me when I say that I am honoured to have received them. :)

Happy stitching!

My finished Snow Patch

Here it is, my finished Snow Patch!

DESIGNER ~ Shepherd's Bush

PATTERN ~ Snow Patch

LINEN ~ 32ct Summer Khaki

THREADS ~ Au Ver A Soie, and Thread Gatherer silk

EMBELLISHMENTS ~ Purple button, assorted beads, and bird charm

STARTED ~ 19 July 2009

FINISHED ~ 1 August 2009

I absolutely loved doing this one. The colours are gorgeous, the design is cute with all those various patches, and who wouldn't love that well dressed Snowman at the top? Such fun to do!

I began my final stages on it yesterday afternoon, and continued working through the evening to get all the embellishments attached. I was not going to let another day pass to finish it off. :) I'm so pleased with the end result. It's patterns like these that make me realise why SB are my favourite designers. I can't get enough of them!

Can I also say a big thank you to everyone that's dropped by my blog for a look, and those who have commented. It's inspiring to me to have that support and encouragement. Hugs!

Almost done

My Snowman is stitched with his scarf and mittens, now all that's left is the missing variegated thread, beading and embellishments.

Snow Patch - 31 July 2009

I must admit, the mittens were a bit fiddly to do. Needless to say this wasn't my favourite part of the design. Though I still think he's looking pretty cute!

I'll let you in on a little secret - I have actually finished it all off today. So I'll take some photos tomorrow and show you the finished result.

A number of you commented on the scissors I had in my photos on a previous post. They are a Gingher brand from 2005 (actually released in 2004 and now retired) called Olivia. I purchased them direct from Shepherd's Bush along with their 2005 Fob kit. They are engraved with Shepherd's Bush on one side of the blade, and 2005 on the other. Each year for the last few years or so Shepherd's Bush have designed a fob to go with the latest release of Gingher's Designer Series scissors. They have them engraved, but you need to buy them directly from SB themselves. Since they're my favourite designers, I just think it's a great collectors item.

Don't forget, my finished photos of Snow Patch I'll post tomorrow. :)

My thread arrived

The missing thread for my Snow Patch kit arrived from Shepherd's Bush on Wednesday. Though I haven't filled in any of the gaps with it yet.

Threadgatherer - Southwest Sands

I've been making progress on Snow Patch. Didn't stitch any early on in the week, but have picked it up again last night. I think last Saturday I finished the patches and started work on the snowman. Then last night I worked a little more on him.

Snow Patch - 30 July 2009

I'll post again tomorrow, since I have more progress to show after tonight. It's getting late and I'm feeling sleepy, so I'll say bye for now. Thanks for all your comments - they make me happy just reading them! :)

~*~* Cast Your Spells ~*~*

I received my third Stacy Nash 2009 Group kit last week, and as I promised to show you, here's a few pictures of it.

Third 2009 Stacy Nash Group kit - Cast Your Spells

I guess you could say it's got a Halloween/Witchy theme to it with its title being Cast Your Spells. Stacy's made the pattern into a pincushion with a striped backing fabric in black and tan. There's also a piece of black wool to place a heart shape on the back of the pincushion.


The linen that the design is stitched on is a flax colour and also included with the kit are three DMC threads.

At first I wasn't sure whether I liked it that much, but once stitched and finished, I think it will look good.

My plan was to stitch each kit as I received them and finish it off before I received the next one. With only one finished so far, two to do, and one left to receive, that theory's gone out the window. I'll do them when the whim takes me. I like to go with the mood I'm in when deciding what project to do next. If I change my mind, that doesn't bother me. It is a hobby after all and is meant to be enjoyed. No use doing something because you feel you 'need' to. You need to 'want' to do it instead.

Before I go, I thought I would mention that I did get to see The Proposal at the cinema yesterday. I loved it! I'm not usually a big fan of Sandra Bullock, but she played a great part in this one. It had a well chosen cast, and Ryan Reynolds was a bit of eye candy for us girls. Lots of funny moments to have a chuckle at too. If you're a fan of romantic comedies (as I am) then get yourself to this one if you haven't already. You won't regret it!