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 ~

~ Merry Xmas To All ~

I cannot believe that this is my last post before Xmas 2014 ~ where on earth has the year gone! It's Xmas Eve already!!! The kids are restless and the excitement is building and I am super duper glad that I am not one of those people trying to finish my Xmas shopping today ~ imagine the horror of that!

I am also super duper glad that I have been lucky and privileged to have achieved some super duper crafty stuff this year. My achievements have been many and varied this year and I have also been working through my finishing pile of shame this past week ~ you know, that pile where all the stitching is done but the creation is not assembled, that pile's been amassing over the year! It's feeling good, revisiting finshes and putting them together into something pretty to display my handiwork, but today, Xmas Eve 2014 I want to share my Prims, my Xmas themed Prims that is.

These guys are so neat and I am chuffed to bits at how they all turned out. This week saw that last duo join the gang, Santa & Elmer the reindeer, a creation from Pineberry Lane .

~ Bare Skin Santa ~

~ Bare Skin Elmer Nestled On Santa's Clothes ~

~ Dressed And Ready For Xmas ~

~ What A Pair ~ And I Found The PERFECT Antlers For Elmer In My Garden ~

~ A Face Only A Prim Hound Could Love ~

~ Loving Elmer's Blankie ~


Santa and Elmer are all ready to join the gang

~ Attending The First Of Many Group Gatherings To Come  On Our Dining Table ~

~ From Left To Right ~ Gingee, Grungee, Santa, Elmer, Pinee, Santa & Poker Face ~
~ One Can Never Have too Many Santas! ~

~ Two Santas and Two Snowies Chillin ~

~ Santa And His Prim Fir Tree With Bells On ~

~ Poker Face ~ There's No Reading That Expression ~

~ Gingee and Grungee Sharing A Cane ~

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog this year as I have your's.  Your encouragement is amazing as I continue to learn and grow whilst enjoying and sharing my varied crafts!

~ The Xmas Tree is Awaiting Pressies ~ After The Kids Are Asleep Of Course ~

~ The Cute Little Reindeer Made Out Of A Cup By My Eldest Many Years Ago Still Sits Atop ~

MERRY XMAS TO ALL

~ A Santa Quilt Made Many Years Ago By A Much Younger Me! ~

Somethins' A Cookin'

It's a production line at my house, a festive season production line....stitched, painted & stained & cinnamoned, dryed in the oven, sandpaper rub down, finishing touches....it smells so yummy at my house....all that coffee and cinnamon....loving these prim guys coming to life out of my studio and my kitchen....

Prims are in the oven ~ drying off ready for finishing ~ Santa & Elmer (Pineberry Lane)

 I love the look and feel of the muslin (calico in my neck of the woods) when it has been painted and sanded to a lovely smooth but perfectly grungy prim patina....this is what happens to you when you are a snowman and you make it out of the oven....

Snowman #1 ~ Perfectly Grungy

Loving that barrel chest ~

Snowman # 2 ~ A statuesque guy at 18" on his Kauri plinth, repurposed
 from our 130 year old church homestead ~

Poker Face ~

Look at that patina ~ loving it!

and Snowman #3 ~ a sweet little festive pin cushion ~

He's a happy wee chap ~

My prim collection is certainly growing, from zero to a small gathering in just a couple of weeks, I really have achieved something of late, despite....the renovation, amped up time of the year social  & kid activities and a bad case of sciatica making it very painful to sit for any length of time.......

Soon the crowd will be two stronger.... Santa and Elma are in the finishing queue....after that I need to knuckle down and finish a quilt as I have two new quilt BOM's starting in 2015....my scissors and applique shapes....here I come....

Happy Festive Time & do watch out for all the  prims posing for a collective christmas time selfie next post!

Culmination

What a week. Mostly wacky spring weather again apart from the odd day or two and stoppers in the house, gib stoppers, plasterers, tradee's, what ever you want to call them ~ mess makers!!! To be fair they did clean up after themselves pretty good, they had plastic booths they erected around opens areas to minimise dust, but you know plaster dust, it just has a knack of floating anywhere and everywhere. But it's mostly the invasion, strangers in your house for a week. The guy had to sack his lazy worker for not turning up to work one too many times and so he roped his partner into helping with the job but with that things got prolonged. This was what my place looked like for most of the week....

At least they had a meaty size vacuum to clean the floor of plaster bits

I had to uncover my stitching chair, the TV and the cat's chair each night

Most of the mess was up in the mezzanine 

But my bedroom is on the mezzanine

So uncovering my bedroom each night was necessary

It is over though. They have gone and I have started the long process of cleaning all that white dust up....not good for my poor stitching fingers as plaster dust is dry, like rubbing chalk all over your hands loads and loads of times. Still, it's nearly painting time. Things will have to be covered again but at least I won't have to 'super dust'. We are getting there slowly....living this close to a renovation is not so much fun when you are in the thick of it!

Flip side of the week has been fun though. My studio is secreted away in a remote part of the building and has already been renovated so me and the dog could hang out there and create most of the time and create we did. We also spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen, brewing up coffee stain, painting and distressing. 

I decided that I wanted to make a few primitive festive characters this year and since I want to put the xmas tree up on December 1st I figured that I had better get on with it. Besides, I needed something other than renovation to be the culmination of my weeks efforts ~

Using a Threadbare Primitives pattern as my base I worked up the calico/muslin form for Santa. Gingee is a Peach Bottom Primitives pattern ~

What a mess! Coffee stain with a pinch of vanilla and cinnamon to rub in for that dirty primitive look I was after ~ and the kitchen was smelling very festive while all this was going on ~

Here's Gingee after he's been painted, coffee stained, cinnamon'd, dried in the oven and had a rub with the sandpaper for that well loved look ~

Here's Santa undergoing the same beauty therapy at the day spa ~

The two friends exfoliated of cinnamon bits and awaiting costuming and makeup ~

Gingee's good to go on display ~

Doesn't he look like you could just catch him and eat him, just like the fox ~

The pals, already to sit about for the festive season ~

Think I will make him the primitive xmas tree to hold now, all wrapped with rusty wire and bells ~

That was fun, next is a snowman or two and maybe another Santa, you can never have too many Santa's at Xmas ~ Ho, Ho, Ho

Only two sleeps until the 1st of December and Summer!