Friday, January 28, 2011

Finally.....

...a finish!

So here’s the German Shepherd finally finished.


The backstitching  was something I really wasn’t looking forward to doing and actually put off doing for a couple of nights. Then I got annoyed with having something so close to being finished just laying around, so last night decided to get on with it. And wouldn’t you know, it was sooo easy.  There are a couple of white french knots at the eyes and another one on the nose that were supposed to be done in two strands of thread but I thought they would look too big and bulky done with two strands, so I very carefully did them with one strand and I think it came out just right. There’s only one thing that I might change and I didn’t notice it until I looked at the picture (it’s ok, you can go back and have a nosey at the picture and see if you can find the mistake!) When I stitched the name ‘Aquila  I forgot the little tail part of the U so it looks more like a V. I think the brain just knows that a U would follow a Q so reads it as a U. Anyway, these little things really annoy me so I will have to change it! Ah, the curse of being a perfectionist!

Not much to tell you today, so I will leave you with this amusing little song that I shamelessly copied from one of the cross stitch forums.



The Stitcher's Song
(to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad")

Hi, my name is _______ and I'm glad you're here today.
I'm a stitchaholic, and I live from day to day.
I can't control my habit -- supplies just pile up on the shelf!
All I do is pass a shop, and that car turns by itself!

(Chorus)
Oh, I'm a stitchaholic with too many UFO's...
I've tried to kick the habit time and again, God knows.
DH says he'll leave me if the pile gets too much worse,
But I'm gonna try to take em with me in that big black hearse.

I go in the shop for just one skein, and boy, I think I can!
I pass the new releases rack and ignore the new Just Nan.
I get into the thread boxes... and see the sampler wall...
I run out with an Emie Bishop, fabric, threads and all!

(Chorus)

I sneak my stuff into the house as quiet as can be,
I wait until DH is napping or watching the old TV.
And when it's time to bring it out and stitch with it, I say,
"Oh, this old thing? I've had it forever and a day!"

(Chorus)

I sit and stitch and watch TV -- well, listen more than watch.
DH tells me what I miss and doesn't complain too much.
And when it's time to go to bed, he turns out all the lights --
He doesn't believe "just one more stitch" before I say goodnight!

(Chorus)

I finished up a project -- it's framed and on the wall!
Now I can start another one -- or two more, if they're small!
I go through all my charts to pick and end up with a pile --
I've got so many UFO's, you'd think I'm an Xenophile!

(Chorus)

I'm a charter member of the HUGE Stash Society --
I've got a stash so big that I can't find my Christmas tree!
She who dies with the most stuff is dead, and that's a fact!
Now, where's the sale, when does it start? I'll be in line for that!

 


Now, does that sound like anyone you know?!!!

Until next time…happy stitching.

Rhona

Monday, January 24, 2011

Tea or coffee?

It’s always a great day when a cross stitch magazine appears in the mail box! Everything stops, the kettle gets put on, out come the cookies and I’m in heaven! Come and join me, pull up a chair.... there's plenty tea in the pot or I can make you a coffee if you prefer!

I’ve just received my copy of Cross Stitch Card Shop Magazine which is one of my favourite mags. This one is issue 76 which is the Jan/Feb edition, and…..woo hooo….my designs are on the cover! I’m officially a cover girl! lol



I always get really excited to see my designs in print, and after all this time, the novelty hasn’t worn off. I love the way the designs have been finished and made into cards.

 This is a closer view of the finished cards.


I have to say a big “thank you” to whoever stitched up the designs. There’s a list of stitchers at the back of the magazine, but it doesn’t specify who stitched what. So, as we all know the work that goes in to stitching any piece I would like to thank each one of the following stitchers (I know they are very unlikely to read this, but I feel I should thank them anyway) Sally Adams, Annette Baker, Barbara Clarke, Barbara Cox, Judy Davies, Karen Gautier, Claire Haines, Debbie Harding, Debbie Hart, Chris Humphreys, Alison Love, and Cathy Vines.

I have to admire these stitchers because although we all think that stitching for a magazine (getting paid to do something we love) would be awesome, it also must be really hard. Just think…you might be asked to stitch something you really, really disliked! I for one would find that very hard. And then of course, there are the dreaded deadlines. I wonder how many of these stitchers end up burning the oil to get everything completed?  Yup, I know how that feels! lol

So. I take my hat off to all these stitchers and with much appreciation say thanks for doing such an amazing job.

Thanks also to everyone for visiting my little blog, and especially to those of you who become followers and also those who leave me a comment…..that gets me sooo excited too! Thank you!

Until next time…happy stitching

Rhona

Friday, January 21, 2011

Almost Finished


Not as far on with the German Shepherd as I had hoped to be. I have spent this week playing Florence Nightingale as we have all succumbed to a sickness bug that is doing the rounds. Still, there is some progress, and there’s not too much more of the cross stitching to do, just the dreaded backstitch! Having said that, the backstitch should be a doddle after all the three-quarter stitches on Aida! Why did I follow the instructions in the magazine instead of listening to that little voice in my head?


As for designing for Tangled Threads, I have been working on a cute housework sampler. This one is such fun, I can’t wait to stitch it and let you see it…..but, (you knew there was a 'but' coming, didn't you?!!) you’ll just have to be patient!

Sorry it’s such a quick post, but I have to find my lamp and become Florence again!!

Until next time…happy stitching.

Rhona

Monday, January 17, 2011

Busy weekend...but not with stitching.

So…. not much stitching done in the last few days, but I do have a good excuse! Saturday was a really big day for me and my daughter. Twelve years ago we both started TaeKwon Do, a Korean martial art. I only started because I really wanted her to do it and being the stroppy five year old that she was, she threw down the challenge of “I’ll do it if you do it”.  I thought I would just have to do a few classes then I could drop out, and as long as she was still taking classes that would be fine. But guess who got hooked? Yes, it was me. So twelve years later we are both still very much involved with TaeKwon Do, and Saturday saw us both testing for the rank of 4th degree black belt. It was truly wonderful to be able to test for this with my daughter at my side. How lucky I am!
Since we were both testing, we couldn’t take any pictures but there were plenty of cameras there, so hopefully I’ll have pictures to show you soon. My daughter’s friend (who also takes classes with us) sent us this as a congratulations gift. Wasn't that sweet? It's almost too pretty to eat!


So, since the last few days have been spent preparing for this test, stitching hasn’t been on the top of my ‘to-do’ list. The German Shepherd is coming along, albeit slowly. I think it’s the colours that are making this one of ‘those’ projects! I’m the type of stitcher that likes to keep changing colours and I like brighter colours.


Still, there’s not much to do, so hopefully I will have it completed in the next couple of days then it’s back on to the Mighty Samurai and brighter colours.

Until next time…happy stitching.

Rhona

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Poor birds!

I love snow....on Christmas day and on Christmas cards.

Actually, I don't mind the snow too much as long as I don't have to go out in it. This is what we woke up to this morning. This is, or or maybe I should say was, the bird bath in the back garden!

 It looks more like a huge ice-cream cone!


As promised in my last post, I have some stitching to show you. This will be my DH birthday card, if I get it done on time (bit of a recurring theme here, don't you think?!!) The chart is from Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine, issue 64, and the designer was Debra Page. It's one of a set of six dog designs and I chose to do the German Shepherd. 


Sadly, just before Christmas we had to say goodbye to our German Shepherd, Aquila, who was the biggest goofball to ever walk this earth. (The UPS man didn't have quite the same opinion of her though!!!) Wow, could that dog bark. The house seems very quiet and empty without her. I'm going stitch her name at the bottom and make it into a card. I might put the stitching in a frame afterwards as I'm sure hubby would like to keep it.

I'm busy working on some designs for Cross Stitch Card Shop at the moment, some lovely summery designs, but that's all I can say at the moment, I'm sworn to secrecy.

Until next time...happy stitching.

Rhona

Monday, January 10, 2011

One of those days!

My computer is being temperamental. Sometimes it works great, other times it’s just so slow and some times it just plain refuses to do what I ask. Honestly, it’s like having another teenager in the house! So, here I am, all prepared for a nice long read of everyones blog, tea and biscuits at hand, and my computer decides to be moody and slow. If I didn’t know better, I would say its rolling its eyes at me, you know the way a teenager does when you ask them to do something? Yup, that’s my computer. It's quite old....maybe computers age like dogs, one of our years is like seven doggie years, maybe computers are like that…that would explain a lot. And if  that's the case, my computers not a teenager at all - it’s probably going through menopause!

Until next time (when there will be some stitching to show!)…happy stitching.

Rhona

Friday, January 7, 2011

TUSAL

I'm sure many of the visitors to my house wonder why there's a jar in my living room containing odd bits of threads. Luckily other stitchers don't think I'm crazy, they know exactly what it is and why it is there. This year I feel more justified in having it as I am joining in with Sharon's Totally Useless Stitch A Long! Hop on over to Sharon's blog to get all the details.

So here's the first picture of my jar.


I have plenty of projects that I want to stitch so there should be no shortage of threads to add to this!

Happy Stitching.

Rhona

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Sneak Peak!


Here it is, the first sneak peak of some of the designs that will eventually be on my website (assuming that the book 'Building a web site for Dummies' is for dummies as dumb as me!! lol)

Here's a picture of the chaos while I work. I have to confess that I'm not a neat, organized person. This was the first year that I didn't have 'Be more organized' on my list of New Year resolutions. I figure if it hasn't happened after all these years of being on the list, it isn't going to happen in 2011!


Anyway, this design is one from a set of 4 different card designs. Along with the card designs there will be a selection of matching motifs that can be used to make tags, insert designs etc.



Note to self, next time either have a manicure before taking pictures or make sure fingers are not in the picture!

I thought a little insert design was a cute touch to finish off the inside of a card. There will be several insert type designs to choose from in this set.

The next card is made by using one of the matching motifs. I found the instructions for this cute little teabag card while doing what I like to call 'research'... but most people call it browsing the web.


There's a little pocket inside the card to insert a couple of teabags - what a great idea for a Get Well type card.

I had a this adorable teapot charm in my stash that just finished the whole thing of nicely (and justified my habit of buying bits and bobs that take my fancy!!)

Hope you like the designs and the way I have finished them. (I certainly have to learn how to take better pictures... another thing to add to my list of New Year resolutions!)
This set will have over twenty designs in it, giving you lots of stitching possibilities.
So...what do you think? Let me know!
Until next time...happy stitching.
Rhona
P.S Thanks for all the comments and suggestions - I really appreciate them.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Today is a great day!

Woo hoo…I have my first follower! I started this blog with great dreams of having lots and lots of people reading it (why I thought I would be so interesting I don’t know!) but at the back of my mind there was always the nagging doubt that nobody would read it. I would essentially be talking to myself, not that that would be anything unusual mind you, but just not the way I wanted this venture to go. So today I am feeling totally buoyed by the fact that at least one person (ever the eternal optimist) has read my blog. Thanks Rowyn for being the first person to comment and being my first follower.

As for the update on the Mighty Samurai, well… (you can hear an excuse coming, can’t you?) it’s one of those designs that you stitch and stitch all night but when you stop to finally go to bed, you look admiringly at all the work you have done and it just hasn’t grown at all! Every night I hold it up and ask DH “Can you see the difference?” he responds with a blank look, a grunt and a shake of the head. Gee, such encouragement! This was actually supposed to be an anniversary present for him, but I didn’t quite get it done on time. Then I thought I would have it finished by Christmas and I could get it framed and then it could be a Christmas gift instead of an anniversary gift. Luckily I didn’t specify which Christmas it would be done by. Maybe this year?!! Watch this space. lol

Anyway, my plans for today are to get some of my designs that I have already stitched up, made in to cards, tags etc and photograph them for the world to see. Exciting, but a bit scary also, I just hope that other stitchers love them as much as I do.

Until next time…happy stitching.

Rhona

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Hello!

Hello, and welcome to my blog!

I have finally taken the plunge and decided that 2011 will be the year that I finally start doing something about my dreams instead of just talking about them. So, here we go…my plan for 2011 is to put my cross stitch designs on the web for stitchers to buy. Sounds great, but is kind of scary (totally terrifying would be more appropriate) for me as I have absolutely no idea about how to set up a web site, how to change my charts into pdf’s etc etc. Please bear with me while I learn to navigate through this techy jungle!

Anyway, onto the exciting stuff….the stitching. I have been very busy the last few months designing and stitching pieces just for me, for my new venture – Tangled Threads. I have felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store….no deadlines, no thread restrictions, I could do whatever I wanted, sheer heaven. I love the designs that I have come up with so far and hope that you will too. I will be posting some sneak peaks of the designs to whet your appetite while I get the website up and running. I would love to hear what you like to stitch, what occasions you stitch most for etc so that I can design with your needs in mind. So, please feel free to leave a comment or email me about what you like/would like to stitch. This journey will be more fun with stitching friends by my side.

Well, enough rambling – don’t want to bore you on my very first post, I will leave you with a picture of what I am stitching at the moment as I always love to see what other stitchers are working on and I’m assuming that most stitchers are just like me!! Please take note of the tangled thread...what can I say?!!

Until next time..happy stitching.

Rhona