A single strawberry!

It's been one of those weeks where I haven't been able to get any stitching (or anything else, for that matter!) done. Ah, such is life. I did manage to start stitching yesterday on Etudes aux Fraises ....

....just one single, solitary strawberry.....

....but it's a start.....and does feel good to pick up a needle again!

As you can see, I decided on plain, crisp, white aida as the fabric of choice. I looked out some 28 count white linen, then decided that the old eyes really couldn't cope with it....not if I wanted to enjoy stitching this design....which I do!

Hopefully I'll have some more strawberries to show you next time!

Remember there still time to enter the giveaway for the chart of this gorgeous dandelion design ....

....details can be found here. I'll announce the winner next week.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona

Snowpocalypse and a giveaway!

Happy first day of Spring! After the major snow storm we had last week, I''m really looking forward to Spring and some spring like weather. This is how much snow we had last week....

 ....yes, that's a 24 inch ruler! It was so deep at the bottom of our drive that my poor hubby couldn't even get the snow blower to work as there was too much snow! We even had to dig out the bins..

So what is there to do when  the governor declares a state of emergency and no-one can get to work? Yup, that's right....you craft and get some of your WIP's finished. Every cloud has it's silver lining :)

So the brain hat was first on the to-do list .....

 ......pins, pins and more pins required...

With so many pins holding the cording in place, the hat ended up being quite heavy! There was lots of sewing involved and it took quite some time to get it finished ....

The lighting is a bit funny in this picture, but you can see the end result. Now I'm trying to decide if I should crochet a bright green Futurama brain slug to go with it! Time to check out the yarn stash to see what's there or if I have to go yarn shopping :)

Next to be completed was the dandelion stitching.....

Yayyy.... another finish!

I loved the fact that there was no back stitching involved in this design and that the date (or year) is stitched too. Not my usual style for stitching, but it was a nice change and I love the saying. Another piece to add to the ever-growing pile of stitching that has to be framed or 'finished' in some way.

So now that I have finished this design.....would anyone else like to stitch it? If you would like to stitch it please comment below saying that you would like to receive the chart. If there's more than one person, then I'll put the names into a hat and draw out a name. I'll leave it open for two weeks so there's plenty of time to add your name to the list. So, last date to add your name will be Sunday 2nd April and I'll announce the winner on Monday 3rd April 2017. Please feel free to share this on your blog if you would like to.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

It's been a busy week!

Phew....what a week it's been! But at least I have some things I can show you....and some things that I can only show bits of....such is life!

So it was my daughter's birthday and I realized that I hadn't stitched a card for her....what an unorganized Mum I am!!! Anyway, thankfully I had a free kit from The World Of Cross Stitching magazine so I hastily got out the needle and threads and started stitching....

I think this was supposed to be a Valentines Day card, but I thought it worked well for a birthday card too :)

Here it is in the printed card that was supplied...

Cute...don't you think? The colours were a bit tricky to work with as they were quite close to each other, but the end result looked great. 

So, number one son asked if I could crochet brain hats for him and his girlfriend as they are participating in the March for Science where they live in California. Luckily they gave enough notice and it shouldn't be one of these projects where it's a mad dash to get it finished in time! So I crocheted just a plain hat and then made two really long crocheted cord 'things' which will be attached to the hat so that it look like a brain.....or at least, that's the plan :)

Now I just have to pin each cord on to look like a brain and then stitch the cords in place......I have a feeling that I might not be so happy half way through that part of the process.


I have a couple of projects that are taking up a bit of time, one I can't show as there's no way to take a picture without revealing what it is.....once it's published I'll show the pics of the work in progress and the finished item. Here's another project that I'm still in the beginning stages of .....this one will be such fun to get on with....and it will involve a trip to the craft store where I'm sure I'll be very good and not buy anything that I don't need ;)

The dandelion stitching was put on the back burner this week, but I did manage to do a little bit of stitching on it last night.....

One thing that I am enjoying about this design is that there is absolutely NO back stitching involved! I don't think that I have ever stitched a piece that didn't have even a little bit of back stitching in it, which seems quite surprising.

I also managed to look out all the threads for the glorious Etudes aux Fraises design...

I just can't decide what fabric to use with this design. I have seen it stitched on crisp white linen and it looked wonderful. I've also seen it stitched on a very pale grey fabric too which also looked wonderful but gave a very different look to the piece. I have a large piece of fiddlers oatmeal which might look nice and give the design that old antique illustration look.....so many choices....think I might have to stitch a trial size on each fabric then make up my mind.

Hopefully this week will be as productive as last week!

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona

Oh my!

I just had some wonderful news that I had to share with you....

Yes.....this little blog of mine was runner up in the British Craft Awards...what a wonderful surprise! I would like to say  thank you to everyone who voted for me....and a big thank you to all of you who read my  posts every week and leave a comment...no matter how small, it's truly appreciated. Thank you.

I'm not sure who the winner was, but when I do find out, I'll let you know.....definitely a blog worth visiting!

So what else has been happening this week? I've been working on a few different things, but my camera battery has died so I can't take any pictures for you to see. I did however take a quick snap using the camera on my phone....

The light isn't too great but you can see that I have made some progress, although not too much! Time  to look out that turbo charged needle and get this finished! 

Hopefully lots of pictures for my next post.

Until next time....happy stitching!

Rhona