Work in Progress Wednesday - 31st July

This is what I've been working on this week, it's now 71% complete. My aim for this year was to get it to 75% and then move on to the next project in my pile of WIPS. It may be that Four Horses of the Apocalypse sees daylight sooner than I expected.

A new adventure in finishing today...

I'm hoping to turn this into a cover for the folder that I use to organise my household affairs. It's a new adventure as I've never done a book cover from fabric before but I'm sure it will all work out in the end!

July Stitchathon is over!

  And here is Blumenweise Im Raster @ 67% complete :)

There are some things that make painful days better

A yummy red velvet cupcake for afternoon tea (thanks Costco)

And new stash found at the Swallowfield Car Boot Sale & the new buttons from the Community Furniture Project.

I found another treasure

Another treasure found in the curio/junk/antique shop in town. The maker is BB Wells. I found out he is Benjamin Blake Wells who was born in Dunstable in 1817, he lived at 431 Strand and had his shop there (the address is on the scissors) and died in 1881. The case originally had a thimble but this was missing. I love the wear caused by stitcher's taking the scissors out of their case over the years. They were probably gold plated but this has almost completely worn off.  

I don't give a hoot!

  This is going to be my "I don't give a hoot" owl because there are definitely days when I don't ;)  

I changed a few things - I used a dense blackwork fill pattern for the eyes, added a tummy in yellow and changed the feet & beak. He looks very 70s to me and I love him! 

Stitched on 28ct white monaco with various hand-dyed threads Sarsparilla (Gentle Art), Ohio Lemon Pie (Gentle Art), RIP Purple (Olde Willow Stitchery) & Nabimbi Sunset (Windy Hill Designs - from the Rainforest Dyer's Collaboration Pack). He's finished into a small pillow so he can be displayed in a box/shelf I found the other week.

You can find the chart for sale here from Coma Stitch on Pinterest

Gorgeous Give Away on Snowflower Diaries Blog

You could win 1 of three packages of 10 gorgeous threads from Nina and rick-rack braid - just click the picture to find out the details  

Finishing Frenzy July 18th

It's been so long since I stitched this quaker stocking that I can't remember the designer name but today I turned this into a stocking to hang up at Christmas time. One more Finished Unfinished Project (FUP) bites the dust!

Pre-Stitchathon picture of Blumenweise im Raster

There's a Stitchathon over on the Cross Stitch Crazy Board from tomorrow 15th July to 21st July. Here's a picture of Blumenweise im Raster today at 64.5% complete. I'll be counting my stitches - will you?  

Thursday Finishing Frenzy - 12th July

First gather your materials, I chose two toning fabrics, ribbon and a wooden button to make a book bag from this Brightneedle design stitched over 1 on linen

Cut your fabric pieces, I used the following:

2 strips of light fabric to go on the bottom of the bag (back & front) 23cm x 7½cm

1 piece of light fabric 23cm x 14cm to make the main part of the back of the bag

2 strips of dark fabric to go on the bottom of the bag (back & front) 23cm x 7½cm

2 pieces of dark fabric to make the lining 23cm x 29cm

2 pieces of dark fabric to make the handles 23cm x 5cm

Iron all the pieces of fabric

Pin the light strip and the dark strip, right sides facing, in place on to the stitched piece and sew together along the bottom & top edge

Iron the piece again, repeat the pinning and stitching with the back piece. Pin the two lining pieces right side together and stitch together along three sides, leaving the top open

Fold the two handle pieces right sides together and sew together on the long edge, turn right side out and iron flat

Place the lining, inside out around the bag with the right sides together, handles pinned in place. Sew together around the top edge leaving a gap of about 2-3" open

Pull the bag right way out through the gap, iron again

Add a ribbon to wrap around a button and sew the opening shut with small hand stitches. Sew on a button and it's all done 

New Stash!

I was a little bit naughty and bought some more fabric - thanks to Crafty Rahenna for the superb transaction, she included the Good Huswife chart to offset postage from Texas.   Behind you can see a display box that I found in the local charity shop for £4.00, I'm hoping to eventually have a few season pieces to put in here at different times of the year - better get stitching!

Work in Progress Wednesday - 10th July

Here's the latest update on Blumenweise im Raster - progress is slow lately

Another finished finish...

This is the below freebie stitched up and finished as a tote perfect for carrying a small project, there are two pockets in the lining and a ribbon for a handle.

Heart of my Hearts

This is a freebie from Papillon Creations - I was stitching it as part of a SAL on a facebook group "Our Love For Blackwork & Celtic Knots"  

  I'm going to finish it into something and if it works I'll post again when it's done. I've drawn my own pattern on paper so fingers crossed. The three fabrics I've selected are shown.

Chopped again... a fresh new look for summer

Now that it's finally arrived and I was feeling particularly blah so a new hair cut for a fresh look  

Finishing Triumph

I'm not thrilled with the way it turned out but I do have three squares joined on the same length of ribbon - I didn't include the squirrel as it was larger than the other three, that one I'll finish some other way another day.

Finishing frenzy or frustration...

I've seen a cute idea for where a chain of pillow ornaments were attached on the same string and hung and now I'm trying to work out how to do that with these...  

So far it's not going well as the fabric the mole is stitched on is fraying badly and I'm going to have to dig out some interfacing. More later...

A few essential new purchases in the house recently

Firstly my old petrol lawn mower finally vibrated itself to death and a rather crucial bit fell off (the fuel tank) so we decided to invest in a new one. Here is Alan trying it out on my meadow (sorry lawn). I can just about start it myself which is good news as sometimes he's away and the grass needs cutting  

Second new (well new to us) purchase was a sofa and two armchairs from the local Community Furniture Project as the ones we had were well past comfortable. Here's Tom & Alan sitting on the old leather recliner in the garden. When it was moved some of the springs fell out the bottom - no wonder it was uncomfortable.  

And here's my very empty living room, I took advantage of the emptiness and the carpet was shampooed and is now a bit more respectable

    And finally here's the room all back together with the new furniture.