Biscornu finish

Did you hear a lot of muttering and cursing down under last night?  If you did, it was likely to have been me!!  I was all set to finish-finish my beautiful red tuffet/biscornu … and had the pieces freshly ironed ready to go, with the perle cotton and threads ready to start making wee tassels …  Remember my joy in finally finishing this project??

Well, as soon as I started to thread needle through the backstitching on the sides, I thought to myself “hey, those fabrics feel totally different in hand” … and lo and behold on finer inspection and measuring they have been stitched on two different thread counts so the sides don’t match up!!!  Lesson to self … do not take thread count on labels as gospel, always check before stitching!!!  To say I was less than thrilled was a HUGE understatement last night - I was absolutely gutted … that means I have to either stitch the big piece again on the new fabric, which I have plenty of, or I have to try to find other fabric to match … considering I had such a bad run on stitching the main piece previously I have absolutely NO desire to stitch that again.  Anyway, it’s been thrown in the corner to sit in disgrace until I decide I have the motivation to look at it again and decide what the heck to do … ho-hum

Luckily I had another design ‘in reserve’ to finish as a biscornu for the Monthly Finishing Challenge that Becky has been organising … this one seemed to go relatively hitch-free, although I wish I’d left a bigger margin of “clear” fabric at the edge of the design before starting the backstitching for the whipstitch join, as it looks a little ‘busy/crowded’.  Never mind, I still like it, nonetheless …  So, here’s my attempt for this month, just in the nick of time!

“Mystery Sampler” design by Debbie Draper 
from Gift of Stitching Magazine (issues 6 and 7, 2006)
stitched with Carrie’s Creations threads
finished with seed beads from U Bead It (Sacramento, CA)

 

Busy Little Beaver!

I can’t believe how much I managed to cram into one day yesterday … it’s most unlike me, as I’m the Queen of time wasting at the weekends!!  First up I decided to get the garage tidied up and out of the way, and I was surprised I managed to complete the entire thing in less than 2 hours woohoo (well, apart from Lisa’s futon mattress that I can’t move on my own)!  That means we can finally park one of the cars in there, and we won’t get told off for hogging more than one carspace!

Next up, my downstairs neighbour (70 yr old Barbara) hollered out that she had finished with the laundry, so I could get my washing done early yay - once I’d filled the machine to capacity and set it going, I came back upstairs and spoke to Mum on the phone for 2 hours … minus 15 minutes when I ran back downstairs to put the washing out on the line and put the last few towels in to wash.

After chatting to Mum I cooked up a pot of Hearty Minestrone Soup from a recent Weight Watchers cookbook ready for lunches, followed by the making of a low-calorie orange and mango jelly, and a vanilla blancmange … just that word “blancmange” makes me go weak at the knees and start salivating!!  You can tell I’m actually a Brit by birth, as you can’t buy blancmange over here (although come to think of it, you can probably get it in the UK import shops, I’ll have to check it out!) … this batch is from a previous donation from my Aunt in the UK, and I’ve never got around to making it.  Well, yesterday I made my very first blancmange, and couldn’t wait to sink my spoon into it after it set … yummo!  The great thing about WW is that I can still eat these things in moderation if I get the urge, and just work it into the daily points total … although that’s also one reason for making the soup, ‘cos it’s very very low in points but very filling - blancmange and soup, the perfect balance! As of yesterday it’s ’that time of the month’ when I get some serious sweet cravings, so I also figure eating blancmange is better than eating a big block of chocolate or packet of Tim Tams!!

Here’s a photo of the soup simmering (dunno why I took a photo really) - but no photo of the blancmange, as it didn’t sit still long enough in one piece to get one haha.

I can’t believe what a fantastic day I had yesterday - I’m LOVING this weekend, and LOVING having energy again after feeling so crappy for so long … I feel as though I had a new lease of life yesterday

The next job I tackled was to glue together 5 Christmas ornies just sitting ready to be finished (they were already laced onto the mattboard etc) - they’re currently sitting under a pile of books after drying overnight and just have to have cording added (which might be a while yet before I do that). Then I cut up strips of calico and neatened the edges with the overlocker, ready to stitch onto the edges of my CA Wells project (there is only about 1-2 cm space at each edge, and I can’t stitch in hand), plus I made quite a few more strips ready for other kitted up projects that I can’t wait to start.

Before I started my stitching for the night, though, I finally did the finishing of two needlerolls that were just waiting to be ribboned and stuffed … and they are now sitting here in all their finished glory

“Summer Solstice Needleroll” by Eventide Designs
Stitched on 28ct hand-dyed Dried Thyme Jobelan with recommended threads
but changed the months to be Dec-Jan-Feb to be in line with the southern hemisphere seasons

“Snow Fall Roll” by Shepherd’s Bush (kit)

Feeling the best I’ve felt in months, I also brought out a teeny tiny pinkeep (about 2″ in width) that I meant to finish for Becky last year (!!), and finally did the finishing … originally this was designed to be a scissor fob, but then I changed my mind once I read Becky adores pinkeeps. Even if I say so myself, it looks really cute! I still have a needlebook to finish yet to go with it, so it won’t be posted for a while yet … but at least I can see it happening this year!!

After all that activity, I finally sat down in my stitching chair, switched off the goggle box, and cranked open a talking book for a couple of hours (The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver - love his books!) … and FINALLY put the first stitches into my Cottage Etui piece for the CA Wells class. OK, I have to admit, it’s not much so far, but at least I’ll have one thing that can be finish-finished in class if nothing else haha. This will eventually either be a scissor fob, or if I manage to get some more stitching done, it will be the pincushion/thimble pip ends.  I must say I really do like the choice of Gloriana silk for this pice - very rich and scrummy colours in there, with even a hint of yummy blues

And that concludes my wonderful day yesterday - today I’ve woken up quite tired, but still positive, and I’ve decided to sit and stitch a short while this morning on some more CA Wells before tackling any housework … on the first day of my cycle I always feel ‘blah’ so that seems like a perfect day to me yet again!

Oh heck - I made a big boo-boo!!!

Note to self - don’t post your new address on the blog until you’re 100% concentrating and awake!!!  My address is NOT PO Box 1306, but rather PO Box 688!!!  Sorry ’bout that - a seriously major blonde moment!!  Now you know why I don’t blog at the moment - I’m usually too shattered to think about it … and that’s the result!!  Doh!!!

Anyway, just a really quick post again, to post some stitching piccies while I get the chance - I finally managed to put the finishing touches to these FUFO’s a week ago:

That may end up being the only ornie finished by me this year … such is life I guess …

Also, here’s the latest two finished blocks of Snapperville, plus the teensy start on block #5 - you’d never believe it’s taken two weeks to stitch just this part, would you?  Yep, smokin’ needles is definitely a thing of the past for me for the timebeing - the only stitching I’ve been getting is about 2 hours on Sunday night ho-hum

Quick update

Not much time to blog, as I need to get dinner cracking (aka defrosting and reheating in the microwave LOL) … after having a really horrendous time over the weekend, I’m taking it easy this week.  I spent almost the entire day in bed again yesterday, only surfacing at about 7.30pm hmmm.  Today, though, I feel quite a bit better - and definitely better tonight than I did this morning!

I received some more yummy mail today, but I haven’t had chance to email a thank you yet, so the piccie will have to wait for that … what I do want to post is that FINALLY my gift for Tessa is ready to go in the mail!  Only a couple of months after meeting each other, and I can get it mailed out.  You see, my original drama had to do with not being able to find any suitable pins …

First of all, I thought I had some at home already - when I proved myself wrong, I went out and bought some …

These turned out to be waaaaay too small head-wise, although the colour was pretty good (but they’re incredibly sharp and the small container now fits perfectly in my stitching bag as a handy tool).

Back to the drawing board, and I bought 4 wheels of pins so I could pull the red ones out … well, don’t ask me what the heck I did with them, ‘cos they disappeared from sight until I was packing up the flat last month - but the colour turned out to be wrong (ie too pale for the ribbon, and a totally different shade to the stitching) …

Another shopping trip and two more packets later, and the colour STILL isn’t right …

BUT today the mailman brought me some pins I ordered online (thanks Andrea for advertising that shop on Ebay!) … and FINALLY the pins are just perfect!!  If anyone local needs any pins at any time, scream out, ‘cos I bought a bucketload of different colours (blue, red, purple, beige, and white, from memory - I haven’t opened the box up properly yet) ;P

Here’s the final version of Tessa’s pinkeep … and believe it or not I finally managed to upload the photos off my phone of our meeting in Acland Street - my old PC would never acknowledge the upload cable, but my new laptop seems to play nicely and they’re finally off the phone and into the computer memory woohoo!!  (Thanks to my housesitting job for the lovely interesting backdrop!)

Anyway, my sincere apologies, Tessa for the delay, but it will be winging its way to you some time this week!

Rightio, off to the lounge for dinner and a bit of a tidy-up ‘cos there’s packing stuff all over the place and I need to get everything into storage again this weekend …  It’s getting closer to moving day, and I’d like a week of rest beforehand, if I can.  Plus I need to do all the housework too, of course, and next week I’m on overnight shifts yucky

Finish-along weekend

This weekend was the first FAL weekend on the Focus on Finishing blog, and it was a pitiful effort on my part … although the fact that I’ve been at work both days and been home for a sum total of 3 hours all weekend (ie tonight) might have been the key factor in that.  Seeing as I set the date, and supposed to be leading the FAL, I just had to finish ’something’ before I went to bed tonight!  I managed to finish two Christmas ornaments - one of the first ornies Mum ever stitched for me (Prairie Schooler Santa), and a Lizzie*Kate ornie I stitched early last year some time.  Not the most flash finishing ever, but at least it’s two items out of the to-be-finished/FUFO pile!

  

I also forgot to post a piccie of some goodies that Mum and I picked up while we were out thread-hunting at the LNS’es last week … some gorgeous navy and turquoise fabrics that scream out to be made into part of my proposed quilt (I grabbed every little bit I could find in the remnant bins - Mum and I had the entire contents tipped out going through them, as there was nothing left in a bigger piece on the bolt), as well as some other turquoisey fabrics that just screamed my name.  We also picked up some Altoid tins from the USA Foods shop (both shops in Bentleigh) - there’s actually another red Altoid tin floating around somewhere, but Mum’s pilfered it so she can eat the mints

I’m determined to attempt my first quilt this year, along with dear Isabelle, and these fabrics are one teeny tiny step closer to that goal

A blog is born … “Focus on Finishing”

Yes, the time has come when our new blog can finally be revealed in all its glory, and the welcome mat is officially laid outside the front door! 

You can either click on the piccie above, or follow the hyperlink to our new blog home:
 http://focusonfinishing.wordpress.com/

I’ve copied our information from the blog to remind you what it’s all about:

“This blog has been set up as a resource both for stitchers who already enjoy finishing their own stitching creatively and want to develop and share their skills and also for those stitchers who would love to do so but don’t know where to start. It aims to be a place where you can learn new techniques, receive and give finishing help and advice and share pictures of your finished items with everyone. It also aims to provide a centralised information resource of finishing techniques, with pages dedicated to both tutorial links and links to websites/online albums for inspiration.

We hope to organise regular finishing classes where people can learn specific finishing techniques and also have regular FALs (Finish-A-Longs), where we set aside a certain time every week or month to finish up some of those stitched-but-not-yet-finished projects using any method you like. More information can be found on the Class/FAL schedule page.

If you wish to contribute to this blog as a poster rather than just a commenter, you’ll need to create a WordPress account (no need to create a blog, unless you want to) and then email Anne or Karen with your details (including the email address you signed up with).”

This is a blog that will be assisted greatly by your contributions - especially in feedback as to what you’d like to see included by the way of tutorials and finishing techniques, and sharing any finishing you’ve completed yourself.  Also, if you know of any finishing tutorials online that we don’t have included, or any stitcher’s albums that have some great inspirational finished items, we’d love to hear about them … sharing is definitely to be encouraged!

We hope this will turn out to be a great place to hang out with friends and learn something new, as well as those with more experience sharing that experience with others.  We look forward to seeing you there, so please do visit and make yourselves at home!