My Eldest Turns Fourteen

When your kids turn another year older it feels like we turn older with them ~ such is the passing of time ~ but it's cool to see the next generation flourish and grow and to know that you were a massive part of that magical adventure ~ my dear departed husband Craig was a huge part of that influence ~ he may not have made it to see her turn fourteen but he sure influenced the first thirteen ~ I see him in her every day in a hundred ways ~ I will always remember how precious that gift is that he gave to me each year she meets another milestone ~ Happy Birthday to Tiger Lily and we love you Craig ~

Tiger Lily having the perfect number fourteen birthday with her sister Jazmin ~

~ Gaming Shop ~

~ Gaming ~

Gotta slip in a little sneaky peek ~ slowly, slowly getting there ~

~ A little something 17th C ~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Winter's On It's Way

The weather has turned, it turned about a week ago now, been sometimes raining and sometimes windy ever since and more to come. We have apparently survived the biggest weather pattern currently on the earth although they did get it way worse down in the southern climes of New Zealand ~ the coldest this year thus far! Only 6 more sleeps until winter ~ only 5 more sleeps until my beautiful Tiger Lily turns 14 on the last day of Autumn ~ and it's a long weekend coming up being  the official celebratory day of the Queen's Birthday ~ weather's looking set to throw us another pile of rain so some hunkering down looks to be in store ~ what more could a crafty girl want at the onset of winter this weekend ~

But my stitching fingers have not been idle whilst waiting for it to chill down, my evenings have been productive and even my days have found me preparing my projects and I have even recovered some small 17th century mojo ~

The Sue Spargo BOM is all caught up and I am awaiting the next instalment. Can't show that as per Sue's lack of permission but I can share a little prep. Sue is coming to New Zealand for a retreat in August. The retreat is hosted by Patchwork Passion and Sue has designed a project especially for us ladies attending. We now have the kit in order to do the necessary prep. The prep involves texturising the background and the applique of the vases. I've made a start, pinned it all on and it's ready for adhering by my chosen method which is hand applique ~ 

~ Busy, busy ~ Indigo Vases ~

I've also been spending quite some time with my Colmar Block 2, piecing the block together with those dratted flying geese had me tearing my hair out until I found my rhythm. I had never attempted foundation piecing until now and I'm not hankering to do it ever again, it's SO darned easy to get it out of whack ~ must be the most time consuming background I have ever attempted ~ still it looks good now it's done and the embroidery has started to appear ~ excuse the first few photos, the iphone has a habit of shifting around on you even though it looks right at the time so these should be landscape ~

~ Flying geese are gathering ~ there's a little piece of my dear departed Craig inside the
sphere, I'm sure he's enjoying helping me with my projects! ~

~ The geese are beginning to multiply ~

~ The flock foundation ~

~ Ready to migrate to Colmar ~

~ Pieces of the puzzle ~

~ aaaahhhhh ~ 

~ Makes all the difference adding a little colour ~

~ Applique x 1 attached, 3 to go then it's onto trapunto and embellishing ~ Block 3 is already
published, need to move along ~

So after all that fabric I managed to find a small piece of the week to retackle something 17th century. Many months ago the fact that I had to do a second canopy on my door'd mirror had me stalled in the starting blocks. Well  I have decided enough is enough so I'm going to 'knock the bastard off' and get it done. I'm on my way, two side curtains finished and the canopy to go in the detached needlelace and then I can background stitch the mirror and attach the curtains. That way I will be able to happily move on with another element of the mirror. I am seeing so much activity and awesome achievements on the Thistle Threads forum that I am feeling vey left behind ~

~ Left curtain completed, right curtain nearly completed ~

~ Canopy cordonet'd and ready to begin ~ 

I'm off to stitch ~~~~~~

~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~

Small Doings

Things are all but trickling along in my little messed up world. Managing the detangling of my husband's estate and all it's little nuances has been consuming my time but I am over the hump I think. Dealing with machinery minded guys and disposing of heavy machinery has not been entirely in my comfort zone but they're now disposed of and it's time to turn my mind to things a little bit more appropriate for my talents. I am hoping to now again be able to spend time during the day on my creative pursuits cos that's what really makes me happy ~

So with only stitching in the evenings I don't have a whole heap of progress but it's progress nonetheless ~

I managed to complete the embellishing embroidery on the first part of Colmar and can put this rather beautiful piece aside until the mystery unfolds over the year, time to pick up part two and get cutting, piecing and stitching ~

~ Doesn't Colmar look so pretty ~

~ So colourful ~

~ So flowery ~

~ So textural ~

~ So 'poofy' ~

~ So happy with the result ~

I also finished off the Sue Spargo BOM, oh I so want to show, but can't, and so whilst waiting for the next part to arrive, which is has now and is awaiting my prep, I picked up an ongoing Sue project and continued on with the embellishing ~ my way !

I am in love with the result thus far ~

~ Two flowers 'nearly' done ~

~ A riot of colour ~

~ First flower, finished ~

~ Second flower, nearly finished ~

~ Tree branch has received it's bark like texture, love trying all these stitches in all
these different threads , such fun ~

Hope you've had loads of stitchy fun in your week ~
~ May Your Days Be Filled With Salubrious Stitching ~