Thursday, September 27, 2012

A great postie day!

Look what arrived in the mail for me.....



What a wonderful surprise! This was part of the prize that I had won from Pull the Other Thread, not only was the HAED chart part of the prize, but this lovely parcel was too!

And just look at these handmade cards....


Aren't they gorgeous? And I just love the detail of the stamped envelope...


And some lovely wool to add to my collection along with a fat quarter of 25 count Laguna...


Trust me to have the fabric upside down when I took the picture!  And the secret from everyone else in my household is the Lindt white chocolate....mmmmmm, my favourite choccy bar!

So, I have to say a big 'thank you' to Pull the Other Thread.  What a wonderful and generous blogger. Please pop over and check out her blog....you won't be disappointed!

Until next time...happy stitching!
Rhona


Monday, September 24, 2012

Stick the kettle on......it's a long one!


Sometimes when it comes time to write a blog post, I struggle to find something to say or to show. But today I have lots of bits to show and tell! So as I said in the title...stick the kettle on, and have a cuppa while you read!

First of all, my ‘shows’….





  
I’ve actually finished the penguin and the holly as items but will show you those finishes in my next post.




My next show is from this month’s World Of Cross Stitching magazine…

 The World of Cross Stitching
Immediate Media Co.
Issue 195

My merry elves! And don’t you just LOVE the card format they have used?

 The World of Cross Stitching
Immediate Media Co.
Issue 195


 I’ve made easel cards before (see mine here) but I adore the shaped front they have used….certainly something I’m going to add to my ‘to-try’ list! 

And I have to show you some progress on the Geisha…


 I’ve been trying to get some of her done while I watch the second series of Downton Abbey on DVD, but I’m afraid that I do too much watching and not enough stitching! Sadly I have to wait till the new year for the next season to hit our shores, so I should be able to get quite a bit of her done before then!

Phew! That’s my ‘shows’ for today.  Now might be a good time to top up that cuppa! 

Now to get on with the ‘tell’ part!

Did you notice I’ve got 200 followers! Yayyyy! So, welcome to those new followers and a big thank you to those who have been with me over the past (almost) 2 years.
I’ve met some wonderful people through blogging…I don’t know why I was so hesitant to start blogging! I think the 200 mark should be celebrated with another giveaway - don't you?!!! (More news to follow.)

And now, I would like to introduce you to a relatively new blogger, her name is Michelle and this is her blog here. Please pop over and visit her and if you click on her ‘My Guest’ pages, you’ll find….well, I’m not going to say, you’ll have to visit and find out!!!


And last of all, I have to tell you that I have made…..drum roll…


 .....seventy one granny squares!  And with all those loose wool ends, I might have to change my blog name to Tangled Wool!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona




Thursday, September 20, 2012

Penguins and scary things!

Scissors are such scary things, don't you think?  And I don't mean when you are snipping off the end of your threads. I mean when it actually comes to cutting something up or cutting into something....especially if that certain something is a piece that you have taken hours to stitch!

I have to admit that when I have to trim my stitching  to fit a coaster, or a card or even a cushion insert, I get a little bit nervous and worry that I might have miscalculated the measurements etc. The old rule of measure twice, cut once certainly comes into play. Actually, for me it's usually measure twice, check again, walk away, come back, find another ruler or tape measure and check again! Yup, I'm a bit neurotic about making sure everything is correct. Well, can you imagine the anguish I was feeling when I had to cut into my stitching? This is the little cutie I had stitched up.....


....and I wanted to make him into a card. My idea was that since his list to Santa is so long that it would look super cute if it was bursting out through the aperture of the card. I could have cut the aperture to fit the shape, but I didn't think I would be able to cut the precise shape that I needed......hence having to cut my stitching!!

So, gathering my courage in both hands (well only one hand as I had the scissors in the other!) I snipped....and snipped..... and snipped some more!

And this is the result....



Cute or what?!!! And much less scary than I had originally thought.

Here's some close ups of how I made the card.


I used some iron-on interfacing to stop the aida from fraying when it was cut.


Pop the scroll part through the aperture to the front of the card.



Glue in place!

And if you think this little penguins list is long, you should see my stitchy wish list!




Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

TUSAL

I'm a bit late with the picture of my orts this month, but better late than never!

Here's my collection for this month....


I thought I'd take the picture from a different angel so that no-one thought I was using the same photo over and over again! The only good thing about this shot is that you can't tell just how few orts there are again this month. Since Christmas is fast approaching (oops, should have warned you that I was going to mention 'that word' - sorry!) and I have lots of cards and gifts to make, I'm hoping that the next few TUSAL pictures should have quite a collection of orts on view. I will, no doubt, revert to the side on view to show off my collection!

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, September 17, 2012

Time to announce the winner!



And the winner is.......



                                            ....The Merry Stitcher!


Congratulations Merry Stitcher, please let me know your email address so I can send you the chart.

Thank you to everyone who took part.

And since there's only 98 days till Xmas (yikes!) I think I might have another giveaway with some Christmas designs....so do pop back!!! 


Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

It's time for a giveaway!

Let's have some fun!!!

There's no particular reason for the giveaway, I just feel like adding to someone's stash!

So, what's up for grabs? The chart for this design.....


 It comes with  two matching designs that are suitable for cards or coasters. I'm in the process of making this design into my next Make It A Gift project....so you'll see more of this one again!

So, usual giveaway rules apply -

1. You must be or become a follower of this blog
2. You must leave a comment on this post

If you want to mention this giveaway on your own blog, that would be great and I will add your name a second time to the draw.

You have until midnight Sunday 16th September to comment, and the winner will be picked on Monday 17th September 2012.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona



Thursday, September 6, 2012

The long journey to being organized!



Do you ever have those moments when after you have agreed to something, you suddenly wonder why on earth you said yes? After agreeing to take some pictures of my stash for an article in  The World of Cross Stitching magazine, it suddenly struck me just how unorganized I was….you may remember me blogging about trying to get organized, well that was the reason why! 

I know I’m unorganized and I’m quite happy to admit to it, but I’m pretty sure that most people don’t realize just how bad I am (hangs head in shame) and to be honest, saying it is one thing, but having everyone see it, is another matter entirely! Yes, a picture really does speak a thousand words! Luckily, in the end, all Sarah asked me for was pictures of how I store my threads….YIPPEEE….the one and only thing that I am well and truly organized with!
Here’s how I store my threads….


All neatly tucked away in DMC stitch bows and organized by colour families.

Here’s the article as it appeared on the World of Cross Stitching issue 194


Lots of great hints and tips!

And here’s the picture of me with my organized threads…


Please ignore the messy desk in the background...that mess will be conquered too...one day!!

So, after feeling rather guilty about my lack of organizational skills, I decided to remedy that point - albeit rather slowly.

So all my magazines were just piled up on some shelves and were occasionally always falling over, so I decided that this would be where I would start my journey to being super organized.

I went out and bought some magazine holders to try to coral all the magazines. Unfortunately I had more mags than I realized and the five magazine holders that I bought just weren’t enough! Of course, when I went back to get some more magazine holders, the shop was sold out of the ones I had bought….so much for being neat, organized AND MATCHING!!!! This never happens to Martha Stewart, does it?!!!

Anyway, here’s how the magazines look now….



Rather neat, don’t you think? The rest of the shelves aren't this tidy, but I will get there!!!


So that’s the progress so far on my journey to be organized….I’ve pulled over into a motorway café for a bit of a break!

Until next time…happy stitching!

Rhona

Monday, September 3, 2012

A quick update!



Although I've been  stitching like mad, it's been on designs that I can't show you until they're published so, sadly, there's not much progress on these two designs.

Here's the Geisha progress...



I normally leave any white stitching until the end, in the hope of keeping it clean, but for some reason, I decided to stitch the white as I came to it....I hope I don't regret this decision later on!!!

And here's Life's Simple Treasures.....


There would have been more progress to show you on this design, but I stupidly didn't read the chart correctly and was happily stitching away using two strands of thread only to realize (once I had completed the whole area) that I should have been stitching with only one strand of thread! Grrrrr.  I did think about leaving it as it was, but it was an area that was supposed to be a shadow and it really didn't look right, so I had to unpick a whole night's worth of stitching....I'm not a happy bunny! There's still a bit more there that has to be unpicked so my next update might have even less stitching to see!


An finally (well for cross stitching!), here's some stitching that I was working on a while ago but couldn't let you see it till it was published....


Obviously it's supposed to be above a dog's bed or kennel, but since we don't have our little pooch anymore I just had to hang it on the door! 

Here are some close ups...



This design was in Craftseller magazine issue 14.

And just in case you were wondering, here's  the granny squares update.....

Total to date....50!!!!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona