Slate Frames & Sisterhood

I am so blessed to be a part of the stitching sisterhood. The group of women who enjoy the gentle art of creating with a needle and thread.The worldwide community of women who just 'get' you and your passion. I have made some lovely friends over the past three or so years since I have been blogging and have been able to indulge my passion full time. Many of those friends are online and I have never met them in person, others I have met but the miles do not seem to make one jot of difference to how close you can become and to feel like you know them and have known them for an age and just 'get' them too.

My life took an unfortunate turn of events in March this year when my husband and partner of twenty years was killed in a work accident ~ it's taken a while for my daughters and I to adjust but through that time my needlework sustained me as did the kindness and caring of those 'like minded' friends, many of whom sent such kind thoughts and gave with such generosity ~ I am so lucky to have such a fabulous passion and to be a part of such a great community and I do so appreciate you one and all. 

As I headed back to the workforce this week, for the first time in three years to my vocation as an accountant, the girls and I are  adjusting to our 'new normal'. Things are busy and there will not be anywhere as much time now to indulge my passion ~ the evenings will be my only stitching time ~ but no matter how small the snatching's of time, the satisfaction of such a great past time will endure.

This week when I came home from work one day a parcel was waiting for me on the step ~ it must be karma ~ this parcel had been trying to get to me but customs had interfered and slowed the process ~ but that meant that this fabulous meaningful parcel was to arrive as the pace of my life shifted and to remind me of the personal joy in life received from the hands, time and generosity of others ~ I commissioned Rachael of Ladies Repository Museum to make and decorate a slate frame for me to fit the size of the fancy mirror from Thistle Threads I will one day embroider. It's not so easy to find a frame this size and so I was delighted when Rachael started offering them and with the added bonus of being decorated in your style of choice by her elegant and mega talented hands. My request to Rachael when asked what design was ~ and I quote ~ 

Here's where my head is at the moment....I love the floral twirling style vine around you twin been skep palette and was thinking maybe something like that (or berry vine) all around and maybe threaded into two needles coming towards each and on either side of my 'fancy pants' name....or it could be two little birdies holding the needles in their beaks with the vine threaded. Also like the idea of ribbon's and bows, swags or tassels intertwined with the vine. Lots of bees all around and of course a skep would be a treat and maybe a butterfly or two and I adore owls.....and I love squirrels too....told you I couldn't stop...

Please interpret at your leisure and it will be interesting to see how you de code my head...

~ blah ~ blah ~ blah ~ it was all a bit much of a request to be fair to fit on a not overly large area and I just left it up to Rachael and her talent really ~ but no matter what ~ when I received that frame back from Rachael I just knew I would love it whatever she did ~ AND I DO ~ Rachael has put so many personal touches into the frame for me, the girls and Craig and I just love that the flowers she chose were Tiger Lily's and Jasmine ~ for my girls Tiger Lily and Jazmin ~ Fabulous ~ Fabulous ~  Fabulous ~ thank you so much for your talent Rachael and for being my friend and for the sisterhood across the miles ~ I feel like I know you so well and yet we have never met ~ one day maybe ~~~~

Here's some eye candy for those others in the sisterhood who A) know just what a slate frame is and b)appreciate awesome talent when they see it ~ isn't it fab ~ but do please excuse the orientation and the sneaky foot ~

~ Not easy to get these very long pieces in the frame ~

~ Bee skeps, bees, roses,  tassels and bows ~
~ Yummy ~

~ Needles and ribbons, Tigerlilys and Jasmine AND
butterflys ~ & a mermaid ~ Gorgeous ~

~ If you look closely the bees are busy away from
the hive too with those roses ~

~ I feel blessed to have made such neat friends with
so much amazing talent ~ The glass is always
half full no matter what life throws at you ~

As for what I have been up to with my stitching  it's all Sue Spargo BOM and I'm not allowed to talk about that until she releases it as a pattern next year and so lucky  for me Rachael's not so precious so my blog can dust off the cobwebs and have something to talk about ~ have a happy weekend ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Fun ~ Fun ~ Fun

It's supposed to be Spring BUT the days are not getting warmer or dryer or the skies less grey. The days might be getting longer and the daffodils and magnolias might be opening their pretty heads but it has not felt the least like Spring here in Auckland since it was supposed to have sprung on September 1st ~ still ~ it does mean that stitching of a cosy inside evening with wool and threads is still warm and fun, fun, fun ~

Sue Spargo's vases are starting to fill up with blooms and this project is just ever so much fun, fun, fun ~

Here's a peek at what my stitching fingers have been up to in the last little while ~

~ Two finished ~

~ Top row nearly done ~

I am doing my best to stick to a palette of blues, greens and golds ~ doing well so far ~ the trick has been to isolate my threads into their colour groups and put all the others in the spectrum out of site and out of mind ~ far too tempting to digress otherwise ~

~ Wool, velvet & cotton ~ makes you feel
like diving right on in to that stash ~

~ Blues, blews and more bloos ~

~ Fibre classification & seperation ~

I do hope that wherever you are in the world you are having fun, fun, fun  with your stitching too ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

What's Been Rocking My Little World

Well that would be the fabulous retreat I went on for three whole days. Three whole days of nothing of a domestic nature, no small humans to organise and just ladies, chatter and stitching. That is sure to be what rocks my little world. Just being free to unleash the creative being inside was a major highlight of the retreat. Not to mention spending time with ladies who are as passionate as I am about all things made with a needle and thread.

Thank you Mum for looking after my babies so well while I was gone. AND an even bigger thank you for helping to create this little beauty  for one happy little girl while I was otherwise engaged. Grandma and Grandaughter time wisely spent ~

~ How adorable is that ~

I met so many nice ladies at the retreat and Sue Spargo is so awe inspiringly talented. She brought along a trunk show of most of her work. It was just fabulous to see all the quilts for real and the dimension is just amazing. The appliqued elements just pop out from the quilting and it was such fun to be able to get hands on with them. Wool is such a neat medium to work with. Anyway I will let the photos do the talking while I come down off cloud nine ~

~ Day #1 and heads down ~ no time to stop and

admire that gorgeous view of Long Bay Beach

from Vaughan Park ~

~ That's Sue passing on her knowledge with a

pile of her finished work in front ~

~ Just look at ~

~ the state ~

~ of that ~

~ room !!! ~ Stash everywhere ~

~ Sue encouraged us to do random
cutting of paper leaves and flowers and place
them on the piece ~
~ no drawing with a pencil first ~
~ it was really rather liberating ~

~ Just look at the result but then folk art is
fabulous for imprecision and the
odd bit of quirkiness ~

 ~ First the paper shapes, then the wool
applique and a teeny 1/4 inch hexie
flower for good measure ~

~ Then for the really fun part ~ the
embellishing with all those gorgeous
threads and mega dimensional
stitches ~

I'm on my way with this project ~ acres of stitching to go but this project's a keeper so I will continue to wile away many, many, many hours making this my own ~ What's not to like!!!! A fun hobby and a satisfying result ~ gotta love it ~ thanks for coming to NZ Sue ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Hi Ho Hi Ho ~ it's off to retreat I go ~

Can't wait ~ some me time ~ three day's to spend doing what I love the most ~ creating with a needle and thread ~ My Mum has kindly offered to come take care of my babies while I go off stitching for a few days with the amazingly talented Sue Spargo ~ the excitement is brewing ~ the pile of things to take is growing and soon the car will be overflowing ~

Lucky I have a decent sized luggage capacity in my car and this is only the crafty stuff!!! ~ you have to take absolutely all your Sue Spargo type stash when you are relying on your imagination and the project embellishment is not predefined ~

~ And this is only the stash ~ no personal items in this pile ~

~ Indigo Vases ~ Homework Done ~

~ The background is all prepped ~ now to fill those vases ~

It'll look a little different in a few days ~ Woo Hoo

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

World Embroidery Day

It's already in it's 5th year and I didn't even know until today. I'm a day late here in NZ as it's made it to the 31st. Thank goodness for facebook alerts from later timezones, where it's still the 30th, for drawing my attention to this auspicious day. The 30th of July  is also World Embroidery Day. An initiative started by the Swedish Embroidery Guild the celebration is growing in momentum through the Global Embroidery Network. Here's a copy of the manifesto ~ 

What a fantastic idea and I thought to add my little bit to the celebration I would blog about my embroidered achievements over the past few weeks ~ Creativity for the sake of Peace, Freedom and Equality ~

Since I am ahead on the 2015 BOM for Sue Spargo I thought I would get on and applique the butterflies onto the background for another piece I am working on. I just don't feel right these days unless I have a wool project on the go. It's such a satisfying medium to work with. Can't wait to get to the embellishing/embroidery bit ~ so vibrant, colourful and fun ~ less than a month's sleeps now until the Patchwork Passion Sue Spargo retreat ~ can't wait ~ LOVE meeting the designers in person ~

~ A riot of colour ~

~ Texturising the background adds dimension ~

 I promised last time I blogged that I would have the third instalment of Colmar finished and I have. The latest Quiltmania has arrived with instalment four so I need to get prepp'd to start that soon ~ 

~ A gorgeous bouquet ~

~ LOVE those pretty little hearts ~

~ Amazing how the embroidery makes a piece sing ~

I managed to slip in a little sustenance during the week, Check out these cheeky little Nutter Butter's from Craftsy ~

~ Aren't they cute 'n' tasty too ~

AND, I also had a finish, finish ~ my May Your Hands set is complete. So nice to have an item removed from the 'awaiting finishing pile' and all set up in the display cabinet for admiration. It feels like an absolute age since I did the embroidery on this project ~

~ Such a sweet set ~

To round off the week I tried my hand at something very non embroidery but creative nontheless and a newby technique for me ~ I have had the supplies to make some needle felted pumpkins from Sarafina Fiber Art for yonks and finally decided to give it a go ~ it was such fun ~ now I need to progress to doing armatures and some real animals ~ 

~ It's super quick and super fun ~

~ Gotta love this trio ~

~ And witchy poo pumpkin too of course ~

~ This one's going to a friends home if she'll have him ~

~ Had to put this one under glass ~

~ Oh, I managed some needle punch too this week ~

Hope you managed to do some embroidery this week too ~ Happy World Embroidery Day ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Piddling Along

Well that's what it feels like ~ things ain't moving particularly fast ~ 

Managing car selling and car shopping and school holidays are sucking up my mojo ~ it's been a wet and cold holiday for the first part but even hanging around at home things ain't getting done ~ these peeps are ALWAYS wanting to eat ~ OR ~ wanting this, that or the next thing ~

This project (May Your Hands) has been hanging around in my studio completely stitched for months maybe a year waiting to be dealt to by the 'finisher' ~ uh hmm ~ that would be me ~ decided to get it out and darn well finish finish so I can file all away into the prettiest Betsy Krieg Salm personalised box I received ages ago ~ even though I pulled it out for completion asap it's all been sitting on the desk for days now ~ one day!!!

~ Even Craig's sick of waiting for me to finish ~

Next project has seen a bit more of my attention, mainly because I can tend to it whilst watching TV. In typical 'me' style I didn't choose an easy project to start learning this particular skill (rug hooking) on but then I just cannot bring myself to work on boring starter kits that don't excite me so over challenge myself I will ~ actually it's not hard apart from learning to pull the wool evenly and how to execute nice start/stops and corners ~

~ If I pull finger I might get it done before winter's over or halloween for that matter ~

Been also doing a little of Colmar ~ next piccie I WILL have this done cos the next blocks out soon ~

~ Fixing's done ~ onto the more fun embellishing ~

My Ort pile is growing and showing my many and varied projects~

 ~ The ends of the wool worms are outgrowing the threads ~

Right ~ back to May Your Hands ~ ~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Chuffed With Myself

Whoop, whoop ~ I have a finish ~ I have a finish ~ 

My bag turned out fab ~ thanks so much for the wonderful inspiration and for the pattern Sue Spargo ~ the project's been embellished by me to within and inch of it's life ~ LOVE IT!

 ~ A fantabulous riot ~

~ The handles from Cindy's Button Company are awesome ~

~ Of course,  I had to add my det's in Sue's new Eleganza #8 ~

~ The lining's a real blooming oasis ~

~ And the back, although modest is still a riot of pattern ~

She's totally over the top and I'm thrilled ~ great way to round off a weekend ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~