Thank Goodness

I have finally completed all the cross stitch for the saw tooth border on the May Your Hands. What a mission. Still working with the 3226 grey but doing the words now in tent over one.

 

May Your Hands - Thistle Threads 

 

May Your Hands - Thistle Threads

 

The Needleworker's Pocketbook is coming along real slow. I am only working on this one currently when the girls are at swimming so is only about 1hr a week. Still it is progressing although I am working on the eyelets now so takes a while but love the lacey effect.

 

 

 

Needleworker's Pocketbook - Amy Mitten

 

The Mermaid Treasures has moved along somewhat. I have completed all the stitching since Amy sent the additional threads and have made up two of the pieces. The little fish needlekeep/pinkeep is so darned adorable and the scallop shell thread holder has turned out real neat. Amy's finishing instructions are soooo detailed that the finishing process is nowhere near as daunting as it could be.

 

Mermaid Treasures - Amy Mitten

 

 

Mermaid Treasures - Amy Mitten (scallop shell back)

 

 

Mermaid Treasures - Amy Mitten (scallop shell front)

 

Amy posted a new tutorial this week to start on 21st December at the winter solstice although it is the exact opposite down here south of the equator. Of course I have signed up. It is called 'Casket Keepsakes' and we will be making two bellows shaped casket smalls. One is a pin keep and the other a thread winder keep. Neat and hopefully we can assume we might have a new course for all four seasons if we are lucky.

 

The1st of the month rolled over again and I received four more lessons from Tricia for all the courses I am taking. Takes a while to do all that saving and printing out. Need to do the next bit for the floral glove first I think so I can stay on track with at least that one.

 

Margriet at Essamplaire also posted the next lesson for the casket. I haven't done anything on that lately as trying to finish up the very time consuming Mermaid Treasures. I need to plan some time for this project as I do enjoy it.

 

I did make a start on another small for the Cabinet of Curiosities, the 'Rose Glove' so I can try the background in gold thread technique, but haven't taken a photo. yet Next time!

A finish

This week I managed to FINISH a project. The Butterfly Pinkeep that is a small project for the Cabinet of Curiosities course is completed and looking as pretty as the butterfly stitched upon it. The point of this was to learn the casket technique for shading with tent stitch. It served that purpose well. However the linen used is a closely woven Montrose 1750 24 count so not all background has to be filled but where you do stitch needs 3 threads in the needle for good coverage which means you need to use a laying tool. Fortunately I have a true gem of a laying tool made by JRCrafter that is fantastic in the hand even when using two hands on a roller frame. It is perfectly balanced and I totally recommend getting one if you do not have one already.

 

I have started keeping a record of the time spent on projects. This little piece took 27 hours.

 

Butterfly Pinkeep - Thistle Threads

 

I managed also to get some more done of the sawtooth border for the May Your Hands. It doesn't seem like much but this is slow going linen and needs magnification. I now have the cross stitch for the borders completed for the scissor book, needle book and scissor fob and have started on the pillowbook. A ways to go yet and then I need to fill the border in with satin stitch.

 

 

May Your Hands - Thistle Threads

 

I made a small start on the Needleworker's Pocketbook body piece. Amy Mitten has sent a newsletter to tease us with a new project she is releasing for the winter solstice. Can't wait to see what that is. I also ordered a couple of her workshop samplers from her during the week. The Final Soliloqey and Queens Secrets I. I received the additional thread I needed from Amy  today to carry on with the seed stitch on the Mermaids Treasures and start putting the pieces together, hooray!

 

 

Needleworker's Pocketbook - Amy Mitten

Life Is Back To It's Routine

The girls and I had a lovely term break. Dad worked through it. My parents live in Rotorua so we went down that way for a visit. We stopped on the way at Hobbiton near MataMata which is where they filmed the movies 'The Lord of the Rings' and more recently 'The Hobbit'. The movie set, come tourist attraction, is situated on a pristine working sheep farm with rolling hills and sparse but massive old pine trees. Perfect for hobbit houses built into hillsides. Can see why Peter Jackson sourced this site. It is spring time and the day we went there was sunny with blue skies. It is lambing season and there were white dots everywhere. There are normally 6000 head but with lambing it goes up to 14,000 head. The guided tour lasts 2 hours and the houses are soooo quaint with little gardens out the front which are all maintained.

You get a complimentary jug of ale or cider at the 'Green Dragon' at the end of the tour.

 

 

The Party Tree

The Green Dragon Inn from afar

The Green Dragon inside

 

We also went to visit the recently refurbished 'Rainbow Springs' at Rotorua. It is very nicely done with a super playground and 'Big Splash' log type ride where you do indeed get wet! You can also feed the huge trout which is pretty cool for the kids and they have all sorts of birds including the nocturnal Kiwi on display.

 

The All Black Kiwi

 

Now, to the stitching part of the past two weeks. I did manage to get some in along with shopping for some more at the local patchwork shop, a favourite for many years. Jill at Cottage Flair is lovely and I have signed up to do a dimensional quilting course in early November. It is called a Kereru Wall Hanging and the photo does not do it justice. The Kereru is a native pigeon and is big and fat.

 

 

So, to my achievements...... I am up to date again with the Floral Glove having stitched the petals of the rose and the leaves in the roundels. Ready for the next lesson at the start of November. I love this project as the monthly achievements are doable in the timeframe.

 

Thistle Threads - Floral Glove

 

I have also made progress on the Butterfly Pin Keep. I outlined the butterfly in tent stitch before filling and have now started on the sky. This project is part of the Cabinet of Curiosities course and is designed as a practice piece for 17th century shading with tent stitch. It is done on Montrose 1750 linen with 3 strands of Soie De Paris for good coverage as it is 28 ct. As the thread splits so easy I am using a laying tool and would not by choice use this linen for a larger project as would prefer to work with 1 strand in the needle. Still the colours are vibrant and it will look pretty when made up.

 

Butterfly Pin Keep - Thistle Threads

 

I made some small progress on the cross stitch saw tooth border for the May Your Hands. This linen has been washed heaps prior to being kitted and the threads are compact so is slow going.

 

May Your Hands - Thistle Threads

 

I have run out of thread again on the Mermaid Treasures. I still need to do some seed stitch around the top of the mirror. Amy has published the finishing instructions for the Fish Pin Keep and the Scallop Shell but I need this same thread I have run out of to do much of this finishing so I am at a road block and will have to wait until Amy sends the threads. This has been a full on but very enjoyable project and the results in reality are amazing with all the awesome threads.

 

Mermaid Treasures - Amy Mitten

Calf Club And School Holidays And A Little Needlework!

OK, so the school holidays are now upon us  way down south of the equator. It is supposed to be spring but I think it has sprung off somewhere else! It feels like it has been either, windy, rainy or cloudy for several weeks now. No big highs in sight to bring us some brighter sunny days. Oh dear! I hope that is not going to last all holidays!

 

The girls finished up school on Friday and we had the annual calf club day on Saturday. Thank goodness that is all over for another year. It is a major fundraiser for the school. The kids have to prepare quite a few items for the day, among them, painted rocks, vaseline saucer's with petal display, miniature gardens, decorated cup & saucer, decorated CD and a floral table display. They also have to do a project or animal rearing for practically all of the third term. Here's a snippet of their achievements.....

 

Jazmin chose to do a garden project again this year. She is in the junior school year 2. Not a winner this time but there was much more competition this year. There were so many lambs for judging last year that I think people elected to do something else.

 

 

Tigerlily chose to raise a chicken this year. She is in senior school or intermediate year 7. Athena won a 'highly commended' or 4th place ribbon and Tigerlily won a '1st' rosette for her chicken diary which is the project that accompanies the chicken. Go girl!

 

 And now for my proud mother momment! Tigerlily and all the seniors painted a corrugated iron picture to sell at calf club or to parents first of course. Isn't it fabulous. The bird is a Saddleback and the flowers are Kowhai. Both are native to New Zealand.  The green 'koru' along the left side are a national symbol and represent an unfurling fern frond.

 

I did manage to get some needlework achieved during the week. I am stretched across projects so is not quick going and I didn't manage to work on the Essamplaire casket at all.

 

The back stitch and cross stitch are comming along on the Mermaid Treasures mirror frame. You can now see the cloud, wind & sun up the top and the face and torso of the mermaids with one still bald. I am getting there!

Mermaid Treasures (Amy Mitten)

 

The Needleworker's Pocket book received a little attention while I watched the girls at swimming lessons on Friday. I got the eyelet stitch done on the edge of the flap. Need to backstitch around this now and start on the next bit.

 

 

Needleworker's Pocketbook (Amy Mitten)

 

I made a ridiculously small start on the May Your Hands. I am not sure that I can cope with the roller frame and might have to whip it out to stitch in hand for the cross stitch and maybe put it back in for the satin stitch. It is just so awkward! There are numerous pieces to do the sawtooth border around.

May Your Hands and Shady Bower (Thistle Threads)

 

I did achieve my  stitching goal for the foral glove. I am up to date with lesson #1.  Yeah!

Floral Glove (Thistle Threads)

 

I wonder what I will manage this week stitching wise with the kids being off school. Today was cleaning, tomorrow is food shop and Wed/Thurs/Fri off down to Rotorua/Tauranga to see my parents and take the girls on a tiki tour. Looking like I should aim ...... not too high! :P My mum is a stitcher too and there are always the evenings and I won't have to cook for a couple of days at least.

 

Happy stitching to anyone out there reading my ramblings.

It's Raining, A Perfect Day To Do Needlework, But......

My sister want's to do lunch as she is not working today and I haven't seen her for a while, so I will have to put the needle down. I can feel things creeping onto the backburner as the school holidays edge closer and closer until Friday they are here for two weeks. We also have the school calf club day on Saturday and there are always loads of projects/animals that the kids/mum have to prepare!

 

Still you and the kids are always tired at the end of term and it will be nice to have a break from the routine.

 

So onto my project gains this week. No parcels from the postman to add to my stash this week, how boring!

 

I finished lesson #7 for the Mermaid Treasures and have started the backstitching for lesson #8. This is the last lesson with needlework prior to commencing the finishing. The finishing.....should I be scared!!!!!!

 

Mermaid Treasures Lesson #7

 

I completed the satin stitching on the Essamplaire Casket frieze and the detached buttonhole body for the butterfly. Margriet emailed to say she was posting the next lesson last week. I wanted to be further ahead before she did this but alas not. I tried not to look ahead but I finally gave in. Looks like fun and will be nice to be working on a larger motif rather than lots of tiny ones for a bit. First, I need to finish the frieze!

 

Essamplaire Casket

 

I made a start on the Floral Glove. I backstitched the two carnations and put in the first row of long and short satin stitch into the first carnation. I think I will have to get out my magnifiers to do the second row as cannot clearly determine where to place the needle. The needle in the kit has a burr on the end which I have tried to emery and might need to file....very annoying as it catches just a little on the silk thread when going back through it for the satin stitch.

 

Thistle Threads Floral Glove

 

I also placed the Thistle Threads May You Hands into the Millenium Frame ready to start and have marked the start point, not stitches yet though. It will happen.

Accomplishments

I didn't feel like I had a particularly fruitful week needlewise this week past but posting this blog is showing me otherwise. Diarising your needlework accomplishments no matter how small the progress certainly motivates you and encourages you to keep going no matter how small the stiching window. And even though the vast majority of my current projects are longer term and there are no quick finishes, I like that, it feels worthwhile. As I read other blogs and see others achievements the same inspiration happens.......

 

This week I traced  the outine on the linen for the Thistle Thread's Floral Glove and got it all framed up ready for stitching. I really want to try and put some stitches into this before the next lesson is posted on the 1st October.

 

Floral Glove (Thistle Threads)

 

I also managed to complete the backstitch and satin stitches on the butterfly for the Essamplaire Casket. Lots of thread changes here. Next will be the satin stitches on the flower to the left and the round forms to the immediate right of the butterfly. As I stitch this project I am getting a real sense of just how long it will take me to design and stitch the Thistle Threads Flat Top Casket I have ordered let alone the double I want to order. I do so love the look & effect of the stumpwork so will likely go down that track and so will be a real labour of love. 

 

Essamplaire Casket

 

I also traced the outline onto the linen for the Butterfly Pinkeep ready for the next Thistle Threads Cabinet of Curiosities lesson on 1st October. I would have rather done this piece on an Evertite frame but I am waiting for some more to arrive and thought since it seems a quick piece I will stick it on the Millenium frame I wasn't using. Just need to lace the sides......soon! 

 

Butterfly Pinkeep (Thistle Threads)

 

On Friday I receive the ginormous box containing the Mirror form ordered from Tricia. It's way bigger and more substantial in reality. I intend to do this prior to a casket. Tricia has no larger mirror slate frames at the momment. Not sure if I want to break it up and stitch pieces or to do it as one piece. There is a DVD that came with the mirror. I still need to watch it. Maybe that will help.

 

I found a blog where a mirror is being stitched and I like her ideas.

 http://lasoffittadeltempoperduto.blogspot.co.nz/

 

 

Mirror Form (Thistle Threads)

 

Hinges and DVD ....... just loving the look of that hardware

 

Inside the mirror box were a few other items...... the kit for the May Your Hands and the kit for the Goldwork Master Class that both started 1st September. Now I need to read those lessons and figure out what I need to do to get started. Whew, busy busy and it's school holidays in a couple of weeks! 

 

 

May Your Hands (Thistle Threads)

 

Goldwork Master Class (Thistle Threads)

 

Acorn forms included in the May your Hands kit. Aren't they just so adorable!

 

There were also some supplies I ordered from Tricia including the Silver Tape I ordered for the Flat Top Casket. The tape is quite a different colouring to what you see on the website and is almost greeny looking, still like it though even though the cost was right up there for trim.

 

 

Acorn, pear, orange & lemon forms, parchment, silk pear purl in purple's & waste canvas linen. Looking forward to the lesson with the use of waste canvas. Tricia has explained to me what it is so have some idea that it is a cool idea.

 

 

Silver Tape (Thistle Threads)

 

Oh and after all that excitement I did get some further stitching done. The Mermaid is comming along once the unpicking of the start of lesson #6 was done due to the graph errors and I started on Lesson #7.

 

Mermaid Treasures (Amy Mitten)

 

Double running stitch in sparkly and blingy 'Bijoux Obsidian' to replicate the scales. Love the names Amy gives to her threads! This particular job is a little tedious but still better than that 'darn' shell was.

 

I also did a tiny bit on the Needleworker's Pocketbook. Those little Norfolk style deer are just so teeny tiny cute.

Needleworker's Pocketbook (Amy MItten)

 

And to top all off this morning I see my cheque has been presented that I sent to 'Timeless Treasures' in Napier so I must have got in! Haven't had an email yet! This is to enrol to do the Fruit of the Vine Sampler Huswif with Ellen Chester a visiting American designer. Quite appropriately the venue for the day is the Mission Estate Winery. The course is costly but it is not often we get these opportunities down here in NZ. So now I have to figure out... do I fly to Napier for the day or drive with the family for more than a day. It is a 4 hour drive or and hour's flight from Auckland. I haven't been to Napier since I was a child. It's not until March 14th so a bit of time to decide but not much if I want cheap flights.

Inroads

I made some inroads into my current needlework projects this week. I didn't make inroads into my constant adding to my stash though.....

I have had fun for the most part this week but a little gutted that I had already done some work on Lesson #6 for the Mermaids when Amy announced that there were some errors in the charts....bugger!

 

This is how far I got before Amy notified the errors. So looking at the revised charts I now have to unpick the two lines of blue backstitching at the top and tail of the mirror and redo the basting circle in red. Frustrating as the backstitching takes ages and is easy to miscount the threads......aarrrrrggghhh but at least I hadn't done more stuff that is much harder to unpick.

 

I have made progress on the Needleworker's Pocketbook. The eyelets are quite fun and really make for a lacey look on the piece. There are rather a lot more though so might not think of them as so much 'fun' in the near future as they certainly progress slower than the cross stitch. This is a nice relaxing piece to stitch in the evenings as I can see the threads just with my normal glasses and watch TV without getting lost.

 

 

.........and onto the Essamplaire casket. I have been plugging away at the needlelace on the top of the piece at my desk during the day as the pieces are all detached and small and fiddly. I was a complete novice to needlelace at the start of this course but learnt to do it while stitching the Mermaid. Like all things, the more I do the better I get. Thank goodness for Amy Mitten's Mermaid instructions for learning this technique as I didn't realise when I took this casket course that it really is assumed that you know how to do this stuff and there are no detailed instructions. I am loving how it all slowly comes together and  this is a 2 - 3 year course so loads to do. I am now ready to start the frieze beginning with the satin stitch on the butterfly. I am treating this casket course, which is a reproduction of 'The Burrell Casket', as a stumpwork practice piece so when I finally design and begin work on my own casket using the Thistle Threads wooden form I will be adept at all the techniques. Also really looking forward to being a part of the Thistle Threads stumpwork course which is to commence next year. We are up to lesson #5 on the Cabinet of Curiosities course and I am loving every minute of the history and technique. Next month we get to do some stitching for the course, what fun.

 

 

Detail of the flower on the left hand side of the top which consists of detached leaves and petals. There are also detached wings on the moth above the flower and the body is padded needlelace..

 

Detail of the flower on the right hand side of the top which also consists of detached leaves and petals. The stem is couched gimp and the caterpillar is padded needlelace.

 

He is totally factually not the right colour for a leopard but I adore him just the same. Love that smirk.....

Now for the lack of inroads......

 

I ordered the DVD of the SANQ collection from Silver Needle. Looking forward to wiling away the hours with my 'cup of contemplation' and reading all these back issues. What a great idea for those of us who are new subscribers to this magazine.

I received my order of goodies this week from Inspired Needle. I have also placed another order this week with Cathy, who is super helpful, for some more GigiR charts (including the latest offering of 'The lady in red spinning her wool'), some Weeks Dye Works Linen's, Gentle Art Sampler Threads to stitch the GigiR Sampler from Saxony chart I have already and some more Evertite frames. I just love these frames, they are so light and allow you to practically 'work in hand' as they are super comfortable to manoeuvre and hold the work tight well. I have not yet come to terms with the whole concept of lacing several expensive slate frame's for a complete work on a casket.

 

I got my latest issue of the british magazine 'Homes & Antiques. I am still in love with all things historical and british chocolate boxey!

 

I also got the kit for the 'Mute but not silent' sampler that Amy Mitten offers as a workshop. Being as I live in  NZ and could never attend her kitting it up for me means I can still do it...yes!

http://www.amymitten.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=26_27_37

 

Then, just to top off the week Tricia from Thistle Threads emailed me to say that my Mirror form is on it's way along with the two outstanding kits for the Gold Master Class and May your Hands and some supplies I ordered. Yippee! Next will be the flat top casket which when I last asked her maybe a month ago was looking to ship September. It's close anyway and I am in the third lot to go. Oh joy!

 

Even if the design process takes ages, there is nothing like having the actual form in front of you so you can stick designs onto it for a true visual. Well at least that's how I like to work. Just need to find the $$$ now for the double casket and that will be the next couple of decades stitching sorted........