Christmas ornament exchange

Hi everyone,
Wow where does the time go? Today it is New Years eve in Australia but before 2014 starts I thought I would like to share with you all some of the Christmas celebrations of the past week.

Each year we stitch ornaments and gifts for our Guild friends and for friends at The Common Stitch in Surrey, England. 
Here is a group photo of some of the stitchers who sent ornaments in our UK exchange.

EGSA members with their Christmas exchange
ornaments 2013

And a close up of some of those ornaments we received from the UK.

Christmas ornaments from members of
The Common Stitch, England

Each year there  is a wonderful surprise in each package and every piece becomes a treasured possession. This year there are a few missing from the picture as some of our members couldn't make it on Christmas party night in all we exchanged 21 ornaments. I hope to catch up with them at our next meeting on the 2nd of January and snap a few more photos.

As the Guild rooms are closed for the holidays, we were very kindly invited to meet at a guild member's home for dinner and to stitch. The trusty camera went with me to catch the night and Anne's wonderful Christmas tree with all the handmade ornaments from previous exchanges.

"The Tree" and a very proud owner 2013

Here are a few close ups of the ornaments on the tree.

Lots of goodies

but wait there's more

More goodies

And lastly a quick snap of the gift exchange of the Guild Thursday night group.

Gift exchange EGSA guild members Australia

On the stitching front I still haven't been able to stitch for very long so not much to show at the moment. I will have some exciting news about a sampler which is being sold through the Embroiderers' Guild in 2014 in the next post. I promise it won't be so long a wait this time.

Have a wonderful and safe New Year, all the best for 2014

bye for now, Carol

Stitching at last

Hi everyone,

It has taken a while but the thumb has improved enough for me to stitch. Yipppeeee............

On Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December 2013 is the Greek Glendi Festival with lots of good food, dancing and embroidery. This year a few friends and I will be having a stall at the Festival to promote the Embroiderers' Guild to demonstrate stitching and for me to sell some of my designs.

These are the two pieces I designed for Glendi with a Greek flavour.

Glendi Humbug
Carol J Young Designs

and

Glendi Pincushion
Carol J Young Designs

We are hoping for weather below 30degC but at this time of year it may be a vain hope as usually temperatures are above this. Keep your fingers crossed as we will be under a tent.

If you are in Adelaide drop by and say hello.

Bye for now, happy stitching, Carol

Royal show needlepoint

Hi everyone,
I still haven't been able to stitch much yet. The thumb is very slowly getting better but this will obviously not be a quick fix thing.

Last week was the South Australian Royal Show (similar to a State Fair in the USA) and after many years of not submitting entries into the Craft displays I finally had something framed and finished at the right time of the year. I put in 2 entries, 1 in the canvas section and another in the cross stitch area. To my surprise both pieces won ribbons.

Dowigiac by Jean Hilton

and

Me petite ambres by Keslyns Designs

The photos are a little on the little side but they both now have glass added so taking the photos without shadows was a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately taking photos at the show venue is not allowed so sorry no photos of other lovely pieces there but with over 300 entries. I am so very happy about receiving 2 ribbons considering the standard of work on display this year.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Stitching along nicely then bam.................

Hi everyone,

Murphy's Law: When you don't want something to hold up your stitching projects along comes Murphy and plants his big foot so you trip and fall face first into a heap. I was happily catching up and designing new pieces and wham, my right thumb decided not to work properly. All my own fault I might add. It was natures way of saying "Aye slow down chump and smell the roses".  It is called trigger thumb and is a tendonitis problem. So lots of stretching and massaging and swearing for being so stupid it is improving very slowly. So at this point may I say a few words of warning to all my friends. You, must take breaks, yes you, you know who I am talking to. Or dire consequences may be the end result. Enough said.

A little while ago I asked my friend Karen if she would be interested in helping finish some of my long term works in progress and because she is a very generous person and I might add has a wicked sense of humour (she paid me out big time for the bits I had stitched) she agreed.

Here is the first finish, 1 third me 2 thirds Karen's work.

Rosewood Manor - Quaker Diamonds
32count mottled linen and Valdani threads

and

Lower section

and finally the whole piece

The finished design

I haven't managed to stitch much in the last 2 weeks just to give the thumb a rest but I am having to sit on my hands to keep my fingers out of my stitching box. At least I can enjoy all of your lovely work. Take care friends.

Bye for now, Carol

PS: Hello to my Spanish speaking friends. Thank you for your kind words.

Nearly one whole year since ANG Conference

Hi everyone, 
I can't believe it is nearly a year since ANG Philadelphia. Although I would love to attend again one day it wont be for a few years unfortunately. Can I wish everyone who is going this year a great conference and I would love to see what you stitch.

Friends and I spent a lovely day sorting over 400 skeins of beautifully coloured silk into dark to lightest shades ready for packing into kit size cuts. We had four long trestle tables with rows of rainbow colours silks, just beautiful. Needless to say it will take a couple more days of work to get them completed. Being a threadaholic this was just thread heaven.

Another beautiful orchid to share

Sorry no stitching pictures today but I hope the beautiful orchid above will make you smile. As I am typing this the wind outside is howelling and the rain is coming down sideways. So a reminder of sunny days and pretty flowers is just what is needed to brighten grey skies.

Happy stitching, bye for now Carol

My first class in Queensland

Hi everyone,

The booklet for Koala Conventions 2014 has just been printed. This week long convention runs from 28 June to 6 July 2014 in Brisbane, Queensland and I have 2 classes on offer.

"Elegance" in two colourways

"Egypt" by Carol J Young Designs

Each class runs for 2 days so there will be plenty of time for relaxed and fun class time. I haven't been to Queensland for quite a few years so I am looking forward to my time there. The way this year is flying by it will be 2014 before we know.

The little Periwinkle Promises pillows have their tiny tassels and I have added to the collection of near finishes.

Mexico,Italy,Sweden and China
Periwinkle Promises,35/36ct ,silk threads

This last 6 months has been a very trying time for a few of my friends and my family with sickness and bereavement marring 2013. To you all a big hug. Last night the girls got together and talked, reminisced and laughed. Thanks to Anne for being the host who makes the best Tuna Mornay in the Southern Hemisphere and thanks to the company of great friends.

Here is a flower spike from a beautiful Green (favourite colour) orchid grown by Joan. Isn't it beautiful.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

  

Goodies from the Craft Show

Hi everyone,

Our girls day out at the Stitching and Handcraft Show was fun. Not as much hand sewing items for sale as I would have liked but I did manage to snaffle some lovely evenweave and overdyed threads.

Overdyed 32count evenweave by Sewitall
Threads by Country Cottage Threads, Threadworx and Thread Studio
overdyed cotton fabric by EGSA

This year the Thread studio from Western Australia had a stall. This is where a bought most of this lovely thread. The Cottage Garden threads on the left come in a beautiful range of colours with very Australian sounding names. This little collection of blues are to complete a whole in my collection of their colours. Blue is not a colour I usually buy so now the space has been filled nicely.

This week the post delivered some little pincushion charts by Periwinkle Promises. I found out about these little treasures from Just Carol's blog (from my bloglist). As these are all older charts I tracked down the designer Barbara Rakosnik and asked if she still had them for sale. The answer was yes and as long as she has access to the materials all of her charts are still available. There are lots and lots of delicately patterned pieces to chose from. I challenge you to chose just one. 

Here is the two I have managed to stitch this week.

Periwinkle Promises charts by Barbara Rakosnik
stitched with enclosed silk
changed out fabric from 28count to 35/36 Count Linen

These two are Mexico and Italy from the Country Accents sets. I love the little tassels and the finished design size on 36 count (Italy) is about 3 x 3.5". Really nice pieces for gift giving.

Not much progress on the counted canvas pieces as I have injured my right hand thumb pulling the thread through the canvas for way too many hours. 

Note to self: I must learn moderation....quickly and pace my stitching time.

Bye for now, Enjoy your stitching time, Carol

Where have I been?...............

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since we chatted. There is no hidden mystery to my absence, just that I needed a little break and time to catch up on some class pieces and a sampler for a Guild project. 
Here is my latest class piece, which will be in September 2013

Needlework Accessories Class coming up in Sept 2013
at EGSA, South Australia
Copyright Carol J Young Designs

It seems the stitching brain switched to canvas pieces for some light relief. You can only do so much one over one cross stitch before your eyes become permanently crossed and your fingers cramp into twisted stumps. So I pulled out a couple of pieces I bought last year in USA. One is Seasons by Amybear Needlepoints and the other is Rio by Needle Delights. Both of these are quite different colourwise and because there is a lot of satin stitch they have grown quite quickly.

Seasons by Amybear
18 Count eggshell canvas using
Watercolors threads, original colours

The colours on this piece are much brighter in person. The chart did offer several other colourways but as I was quickly shopping at the time I fronted up to the LNS and said please kit it up as is. So this is a really different palette which is always a good thing and got me  out of my colour rut of purple/green.

Now Rio is another story altogether. Bright, bright and bright. Beautiful clear shadow dyed Threadworx silks. Yummmm.

Rio by Needle Delights
18 count canvas, original colours

Rio is only a small piece so it has become my travelling project. It comes and goes to Guild meeting days. 

Tomorrow is Friday 19th here and there is a Stitching and Craft Show over this weekend. So the girls and I are off to see what treasures we can find to bring home. Hopefully I will have some stash to share next time we chat.

May I welcome my new followers and thankyou for all your kind words about my work. I love to share and always enjoy reading and seeing all of your own wonderful creations through your blogs.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Michael Boren's "Frankie" WOW...............

Hi everyone,

Well winter has surely hit with a vengeance in South Australia. The days are still warm if you find a sunny patch but  the nights are just made for stitching in front of the fire with a hot drink and a furry pair of slippers.

During the past two weeks (eek that long) I have had the privilege to stitch a wonderful canvaswork piece by Michael Boren called "Frankie". Anne and I were very lucky to met Michael and Carole Lake at the ANG seminar in 2012 and while we were talking we asked if it would be possible to purchase Frankie which was still a teaching piece at that stage. Well, he kindly agreed and this is the end result.

Frankie, Michael Boren stitched in the original
colours Monet

The colours are more luscious in real life and it has a sparkle in the background. The good news is that the Shining Needle Society is now offering this piece as a cyberclass. Registrations have just been extended. So if this piece calls to you act now and don't miss out. You won't be sorry.

Little House Needleworks, Hometown Holiday Series
35 Count Natural linen, specified colours except the Red
Cardinals DMC321

Here is the continuation of my Christmas tree pieces, The Little House series stitch up really quickly and the Olde World colours on the natural are just right. I haven't made these up yet but I am thinking about using them in a wall quilt with some christmasy quilting fabric as the sashing. This will require a sewing machine so a friend will be called on to lend a hand to guide me through the mine field. Yes Anne, I mean you.

Happy stitching, and for more great stitching check out some more blogs from my bloglist. Margaret's (Margarets Blog) Hardanger tassel and one over one England piece, Kevin (Cabbages and Kings) interview about male stitchers and Liz's new Bargello design.

Bye for now, Carol

M Designs finish

Hi everyone,
Late I know but some months are like that, you just cant plan anything life just happens.

I had one left over finish from last post to share with you

M Designs - Rose Mosaic Needleroll
32 count Antique White, own colours, crystals and beads
finished with overdye silk ribbon

These needle-rolls have gone out of fashion a little but I still think they are a great way to finish a piece if you don't want to frame it or make a flat ornament. They look good in a large bowl or basket together as a display on your favourite tabletop. There are a few more in the stash waiting to be stitched at a later date.

This week was my second date with the Back to Basics course at the Guild. I finished the pincushion and it has gone in for assessment  Now the wait to see what I could have done better. The second piece is a Needle-book with flannel sheets between the covers to hold your needles. This is all hand stitched with a handmade cord around the outside and a loop closure. I have chosen some pretty lavender quilting fabric and a darker lavender for the cover. I will share a photo next time as I have to set up a sampler of stitches first. The front cover has my initial C stitched in 3 types of chain stitches which is a real stretch as I don't do much  (none) surface stitchery. The girls tell me it will grow on me but I have my doubts. I miss the holes in the fabric very much and the evenness of the counted stitches. I am a counted girl through and through but it's good to get out of your comfort zone occasionally, I think.........

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Santas Village and lots of finishes

Hi everyone,
This week has been a busy one and very productive. Monday I joined in with a stitching group who come together to stitch samplers on the second Monday of the month, Tuesday I played around with some new linen and quilting fabric, Wedneday was a fabulous lunch with the girls at a favourite cafe called Cena and there is still 2 more days of this week to go. Lucky me.......

Santas Village is growing. I am currently 2 behind, but here are the current completed 4 ornaments.

Santas House,North Pole Post Office,
Poinsetta House, Mr Claus Cookie Shop
Country Cottage Needleworks

Only 8 more to go. Ekkkkkkk. I am considering having a shadow box made with 12 compartments in the shape of a christmas tree to display the finished 12 pieces. What do you think?  I am thinking they will get lost amongst the branches of a real tree.

Catherine Strickler of Indigo Rose has always been one of my favourite designers of all time. This week I managed to complete and finish 2 of her designs.

Indigo Rose, Needle holder
Just Cross Stitch magazine June 2002

the inside of the needle case

Inside holds wooden need cases
with 24,26,28 needles

Both pieces are stitched on 28 count Antique white linen using some threads from and English thread company, 21st Century yarns. There was some left over linen some I adapted the design and made up the mattress style pincushion. Then added a buttonhole loop and pearl bead as a closer for the needle holder. Great fun.

The second piece is another Indigo Rose that I bought from the USA as a kit on sale last year.

Indigo Rose, Bead Blanket Sampler
28 count linen, au ver a soie silks and
Mill Hill beads

Inside there is a rectangle of bead mat material so you can keep your beads from rolling away.The edge is finished with 2 colours of beads and makes a really nice finish to the edges.

There is one more finish but I will keep that one until we chat again.

Bye the bye Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has released some fabulous new boutique hand dyed threads called the 1795 range. Lots of beautiful sampler style shades and the great thing is they come in 20 yard skeins. Click here and join in the fun to win 5 skeins or just enjoy the eye candy. I have used the thread before and I can happy recommend the quality.

Bye for now, happy stitching, Carol

Wessex embroidery class work

Hi everyone,

A little late with my post but there is lots to show you all.

Sunday the 28th was the second of the Wessex Embroidery classes. I had 5 students and we all had a great time stitching, learning and chatting.

Jackie, Margaret, Diane and Joyce (1 student missing from photo)

I am always amazed at the way colours can change patterns and the colours the students chose were really an eye opener.

Wessex embroidery -class pieces

More

Another colourway

And still more

Lots of choices of colourways

Thank you to all the girls for making the class so enjoyable and I hope to see some finished pieces on display at the Embroiderers' Guild in July. (No pressure, lol.................)

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

You can teach an old dog new tricks.......

Hi everyone,

This Sunday 27 April is the 2nd part of my Wessex class. All went well last Saturday and everyone went home happy with the colours they had chosen and with samples of the stitches ready for homework if time permits. I am hoping to show some photos if the girls will allow me and my camera in class.

There was a little stitching done during the week, some more birdcage and santa's village but not enough to show. But.....

I have been thinking about joining an Embroiderers' Guild course called Back to Basics for sometime. It is self paced and focused on construction. Some by hand and some by sewing machine. You might say why? Well me and my sewing machine have had a love/hate relationship for many years so I thought with a lot of help from fellow tutors at the Guild we may fix this.
The first piece is a pincushion, the original was on Aida cloth but the group have allowed me to use 32 count linen. After tacking construction lines we were asked to embroider the top with straight stitches with some that were whipped. The construction edge is then created using a row of chain stitch. The pincushion will be filled with real sheep's wool so I hand stitched an inner liner bag. (Yep I know I skipped the sewing machine, don't worry I wont get away with it for long)

Back to Basics- Project 1, Pincushion

The photo shows the sampler of stitches, my inner lining and the pincushion outer piece. The next course day is the 4th Monday in May when I will filling the cushion and closing the final edge. This then goes to the assessors of the course and I will get back a critique of my end result. So you see I will learn lots and lots. There are 6 projects in all, so by the end my sewing machine and I will be great friends. (well that's my hope anyway).

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

PS: Silkstone Designs Australian houses can be purchased and Ozstitch.com.au

A little quiet time

Hi everyone,

No I haven't emigrated to Santa's Village. I have been quietly stitching and working on several projects which have deadlines so there was not a lot to share.

I managed to finish the diagrams and notes for my Wessex class on the 20th April which I had left until I knew if the class would go ahead. It is, so everything is ready to be photocopied for the students. Here is a little bit of the design.

Part of Wessex Embroidery class piece
Carol J Young Designs, 2013

This week I had a lovely day out with a couple of friends at the Adelaide Central Market. All sorts of yummy foods and goodies. For anyone that has been to the Philadelphia Reading Market this would be the sister of this market. We had Asian food, I opted for Sushi (tuna of course) with no wasabi. Friends had Chicken with plum sauce and Tofu with vegetables and noodles. Topped it all off with green tea and Korean custard tarts. Yum Yum, this is making me hungry. Great day but no stitching, so here is what has been stitched this week and a bit.

Milady's Needle
All stitched up waiting for construction

and

Indigo Rose-Peek a Boo Pin Cushion
All stitched up waiting for construction

Pretty designs aren't they. Indigo Rose has always been a great favourite and I have enjoyed stitching many of Catherine's designs over the years. Love the idea of using a canvas stitch on linen. Catherine calls the stitch "Jack in the pulpit" and canvas folks call it "Amadeus stitch". There you go its official anything is possible.

I had a comment about Silkstone Designs, unfortunately I wasn't able to find them on the net. Like so many Australian designers they don't seem to have been able to continue designing. Sad because we need more Aussie pieces.

Thank you everyone for your kind comments and although I don't always get around to posting comments on your blogs I do read them all.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

PS: Sending my best wishes for a speedy recovery to all people injured in Boston and to the families that have paid the ultimate price of losing a loved one.

Aussie house stitching

Hi everyone,
This week has been a very good one. I caught up with family and my Aunt from Western Australia for a lovely lunch and chat. Found out that I will get a income tax refund (Always a good thing) and received some special emails from friends overseas.

I have managed a little stitching. The first one is an Australian design by Silkstone Design called "Oaklands"

Oaklands by Silkstone Design
Blackwork on 26 Lugana

Stitched with DMC brown 839 on a Platinum Lugana. This is a very familiar style of Australian house with its wide front verandah and leadlight panes of glass alongside the front door. The only  departure from the reality is the shingles on the roof most of these homes have corrugated iron roofs. I enjoy blackwork and its grows nice and quickly.

The second piece is a set of needlework accessories.

Le Jardin Accoutrements by Milady's Needle
40count Ivory linen 2 over 2, DMC cotton

This has been in the to do box for quite a while the chart is dated 2009. It has been in and out of the box several times but this time it made it out for good. It would have been nice to stitch it in the Soie Cristale silks but I am trying to use up what I have in the stash so cotton was the go. When they are finished there will be a scissors holder, pinkeep and a Needlebook. I have stitched 2 other pieces by this designer which are always very pretty and feminine patterns. Click here to go see more of Gloria's designs, her website in undergoing update so I have linked the blogsite so you can see her designs there.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Needleroll experiment

Hi everyone,

Happy Easter to you and your family! Try not to eat too many chocolate easter eggs, just keep it  down to no more than 10. Well, what do you expect from a chocoholic, abstinence? NO WAY, this is the only time of the year they tell me that chocolate has no calories and is good for you. Well this is my story and I am sticking to this myth.

This week I dug out of the mystery to do box a needleroll by Mary McLeon of M Designs, this one is called Country French. I decided to play around with the finishing. The design was stitched using the DMC colours recommended and are perfect summery colours.

Country French Needle Roll
M Designs
35 count Antique White with DMC colours

The original was stitched on 30 count White linen so I changed it over to 35 Count Antique White. The long seam was finished as a french seam so the edges don't show then I withdraw 3 threads and replaced them with stranded cotton to form the stripe on the edge. The outer edge is a row of double backstitch then a row of 4 sided stitch with gives a nice crisp edge and you can cut away the excess linen right back to this edging. Next I made up 2 long twisted cords and threaded them into the withdrawn thread space and tied them off. The ends of the cords looked a little woeful so I attached 4 tiny hand made tassels to finish. Viole!!! its finished.

As this took a bit of time I was only able to stitch a start on Santas Village, North Pole Post Office.

Country Cottage Needleworks
Santa's Village, North Pole Post Office
35 count Natural,  1 over 1

The colours in this one are quite interesting with names like Bluecoat Red  and Louisiana Hot Sauce (Weeks Dyeworks). Don't you just love the inventiveness of the person who named these. So clever.

Well I am off to tidy up some notes and photos for my next class I will be teaching in April for the Embroiderers' Guild of South Australia. A Wessex embroidery linen mat on 30 count linen with stranded cotton.

Bye for now, Happy stitching, Carol

Christmas? but its only March...........

Hi everyone,
This week I finished up my Christmas exchange piece for The Common Stitch Group in Camberley UK and the piece for our Thursday night guild group. Wow, this is the first year I will not be stitching until midnight before the exchange time. Mary will be sooooo pleased but sadly I will be called an overachiever by some others (Sorry Anne I know). Lol...................... Well girls the challenge is up so set to it. Here are the pieces.

Santa- UK exchange, Lizzie Kate, Merry Friends Santa 03
Scissor fob- Aust exchange, The Sweetheart Tree,
The stitchers favorite fob

The Sweetheart Tree designs are great but they always have lots of part stitches so they look really delicate but do take time to stitch. I have tracked down a companion piece to this one so I can stitch another set. This design is double sided and so as not to miss the other side I stitched them separately. The Sweetheart fob was stitched on 32count Antique Linen over 2 threads and the Lizzie Kate on 32count Natural linen over 1 thread. 

My next installment of Santas Village arrived so I have 2 more waiting to be completed, North Pole Post office and Mrs Claus's cookie shop. Looking forward to these they are sooo sweet.

I dragged out my canvas piece for the exhibition to work on this week. It took a while to get back into the swing of canvas stitching and to work out where I was in the pattern. Here is where the piece is currently.

Threedles, Looking Glass
18count yellow (Buttercream) canvas

I had a try at fixing the colour image to a more realistic yellow but this the best an amateur photographer like me could manage. The canvas is a very bright yellow with orange,gold,copper,purple,brick red and turquoise threads. Very bright indeed. Kurdy the designer has just released 2 more new designs. Click here to see more of her beautiful works of art. Be prepared if you love canvas designs this may be dangerous to the budget.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Yippee the roadwork is complete

Hi everyone,
Yesterday the roadwork outside my window was finished. It has taken a couple of weeks surprising really as the weather has not been kind to the council workers. 11 days straight of above 30degC. Finally my world can get back to some sort of normality, well the housework at least. No more grit and dust everywhere.

On the stitchy front there has been an addition to the christmas ornament tree stash.

All six tree ornaments
New ones Fa La La and He's a Flake
on 32 count Natural 1 over 1

I decided to switch over to 32 count linen on these to make the stitching a little easier and to save my sanity. It makes them every so slightly bigger but they still are a great size for hanging christmas tree ornaments.

Also I dug into the mystery box of things to finish and came up with this one.

Textile Heritage Collection
Arts and Crafts, Carnation and Feather

This was at the 2/3rd finish mark so it got a little more love and attention and voile it is now in the finished basket. These little designs come from Edinburgh Scotland and they have lots of pretty and small designs to chose from. It was supposed to be a scissor keep but because of the finished size it makes a better pin pillow. Pretty blues, they are so blue the colour shines.

I managed to stitch a little more on my 3D house, so this is where this one stands at the moment.

The Nutmeg Company
The Castle Inn

March is always a busy time in my family with lots of birthdays and family celebrations and currently we also have our nephew visiting from the UK. So lots of good food, drinks and great company. Looks like I will have to add a few more minutes to my daily walk to compensate for all the goodies eaten over this time.

Our Guild has an exhibition next year with the theme of Venice. Although I don't have anything really Venetian I was thinking Kurdy Biggs Looking Glass canvaswork piece might fit as it is really colourful and it would hopefully fit the theme. So I am off to do some work on this piece so I don't have to stitch it at the last minute (well that's the intention, LOL.................)

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol 

More little house stitching

Hi everyone,

This week's stitching is a little on the light side. I did manage to do a little more on my birdcage and do so more finishing on the box class, but there was not enough to show.

Here is a finish and a near finish of two of the new charts bought recently.

Little House Needleworks
Needle and Thread, 32count Natural over 2
Deck the Halls
32count Natural over 1

I am trying to use linen from my stash and I seem to have accumulated a lot of Natural linen in various counts, luckily it works well with christmas stitching which have lots of whites, reds and greens.

Thursday night is Embroiderers' Guild stitching night and I found out some great news for Australian stitching friends. There is a Needlework cruise around New Zealand in 2014 for 14 days. Two of the tutors on the cruise are Christine P Bishop and Fiona (Peaceful Threads blog). Check out the post by Fiona to see information about the cruise and the classes offered.

Both tutors are listed in my blog list to the right. Click and enjoy. 

Happy stitching, bye for now Carol

More of the birdcage accessories finished

Hi everyone,
This week my new steam iron arrived. Wow it just about does everything except a cup of tea. It is a Tefal Aquaspeed autoclean 5375 and looks like a light blue spaceship and is just as speedy.

I have been waiting to sew up some of the accessories for the birdcage but I needed to press the embroideries to bring them back into alignment and freshen up the linen.
The class notes were great and helped a lot which made the making up a lot easier. Thank you Christine for a wonderful class and project. 

Here are the nearly completed accessories. I still have to add a closing loop and crystal onto the needle-case.

French Birdcage by Christine P Bishop
Needlecase,Pincushion,Thimble holder bag,Laying tool
holder,Needle threader fob

The red is DMC 814, one of my favourites, my friend Lis in stitching her birdcage in a wonderful shade of a blue Finca thread. Just yummy. It will be onto the actual birdcage next after I finish the scissor holder which is the final piece to the accessories.

Last Sunday was another class with Christine at the Guild of SA. we learned how to construct a fabric covered box, all stitched with no glue. It was a 1 day class and we all managed (20 very busy ladies) to reach the halfway point. At the end of the day my hand was telling me to have a rest. It was the first time I have used a curved needle and I think I stitched enough of my finger into the box to make it contain a sizeable DNA record. I will post a photo soon.

The second ornament in Santa's Village is finished and I snapped another photo, sorry it is a little overexposed but I have workmen digging up the road out the front of my home and the dust is just incredible so I changed my photography spot and it is not as good.

Santa's Village, Country Cottage Needleworks
35 count Natural , one over one
Santa's House and Poinsetta Place

These ornaments are so great. They are really fun to stitch and being small it intensifies the colours really well. This week I found out that Little House Needleworks are starting a 12 month series of little houses the first one is called My House and can be personalised with your own family name. Take a look and enjoy.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol