All Our Yesterdays!

Hello again!  I have another small finish to show you.  This one came as a free gift in the latest issue of World of Cross Stitching (Issue 178).

The design is one of Faye Whittaker's "All Our Yesterdays" designs.  As soon as I saw it I knew that I had to stitch it.  It is such a sweet design.  The free kit also came with a card to mount it in.  However, I actually have another idea to finish this one off. 

I have stitched a couple of small "All Our Yesterdays" designs now and I am thinking of putting them all together as a cushion or even a small quilt.  But at the moment, the imagination hasn't quite come through with the final result.

All Our Yesterdays - Day at the Beach
World of Cross Stitching, Issue 178

My next stitching update will, surprise, surprise, be an update on my Culinary Cat!  Over the last couple of days I have been managing to get some stitches done on Cat #2.  He is now nearly finished so an update is imminent!

Til next time, happy stitching

Shoes... and what happens to them when you're not home!

Morning Everyone!  How's your week going so far?  It's great how quick Wednesday comes around!  Of course having Monday off does make the week goes faster!

Last weekend Hubby and I had an extra long weekend as junior step-son came to stay for the weekend.  It was really nice to see him.  DSS has been living in Melbourne for the last 2 & 1/2 years so Hubby hasn't seen much of him, and now DSS is about to head back to the UK to study at St Martins Art College for 3 years... so we won't be seeing much of him over the next few years either.... Oh well, kids grow up and move away from home.  At least in this day and age of technology it is easier and quicker to keep in touch over great distances than it was many years ago!

So the title of this blog is about shoes... and what can happen to them you're not at home!  When I came home from work the other day this is what I found in the wardrobe....

Who's been in mummy's shoe box then??

I can only assume that one of the cats knocked this box off the pile of shoe boxes and the lid came off... and wow, in the box was lovely tissue paper!  One of Felix's favourite things to play with!!

Now I ask you would these 2 innocent looking kitty cats do anything like that??

What do you reckon they are doing out there in the dark??

The other night when Daisy dog went out for her bed-time constitutional the boys both sat by the door and waited for her to come back in.  They are so sweet.... and they do so love watching their favourite doggy!

Til next time, happy stitching!

"Bee Happy" Hedgehog

Finally another small finish, and I really do mean a finish!  After I finished stitching the Margaret Sherry "Bee Happy" hedgehog design I decided to "finish" him off as a little hanging pillow. 

For some strange reason the image of this cute hedgehog as a pillow had been "brewing" in my imagination since I started stitching him.  I knew exactly where to find the perfect piece of fabric to back the pillow with too.  In hubby's stash!!

So I had everything ready to go: one finished piece of stitching, beautiful backing fabric, needles and thread, and a couple of spare hours on a Sunday afternoon.  As sewing machines and I don't generally get on as a rule, I hand stitched the first three sides and then stuffed the pillow and blind stitched side number 4!

Voilà!  We now have a lovely finished hedgehog pillow.

"Bee Happy" designed by Margaret Sherry
Cross Stitcher, June 2010

 

Love this fabric!
 Hubby used it as the border on his "Cat's Meow" quilt.

This is such a happy design, don't you think?  I really loved stitching this design and enjoyed finishing it off as a pillow.  It's not very often that a design gives my imagination such a thump as this one did!  I am really pleased that I allowed my brain to "go with the flow" so to speak.  I do hope that my imagination keeps on bringing ideas to the surface as it might mean I will "finish" off a few more stitched items rather than filing them away in my completed project file.

Til next time when I will have some more stitching updates for you, take care and happy stitching!

All can be revealed!

Hello again!

Remember when we last left our intrepid crafty circle it looked like this:

Well, now I can reveal the final product!  Amber has emailed me to say the parcel arrived safe and sound in the UK so I can now show you all what I made.



Finished thank you gift for Amber



All packaged and ready to go!



To create the wall hanging I painted the background with a cream colour and then overpainted with a crackle medium.  Once that was dry I sponged on the blue around the outside to leave the centre cream, but unfortunately the crackle didn't work!  So after the blue dried, I then sponged on some silver paint to give it a bit of oomph! 

Then I raided my box of stamps and found the Adam Prescott stamp with the zebra.  I specifically wanted to have a zebra theme as zebra's are part of the EDS motto.  (For those of you that read Amber's blog "Relentless Stitching" you will know that she suffers from EDS.)

After stamping the image on the wood I then painted it - this turned out to be trickier than I first thought as my brushes weren't thin enough.  But I decided to try a bamboo skewer for some of the smaller and thinner parts of the image, and the writing - and my improvisation worked!

I spent a couple days trying to think of the right wording when finally I got one of those light bulb moments.... I went to my cross stitch mags to see what might be in there!  And low and behold I found the perfect words.... good old Newton's Law came to the rescue!!!

Hey presto!  A few hours later and we had a very happy Noni because the little wall hanging was finished and turned out pretty darn good!  Amber has put up a post on her blog showing it off as well... so pop on over and say hi to Amber at Relentless Stitching.

Before I sign off I have one more thing to do.... I haven't told you what I bought with the HAED gift certificate that Amber sent me.  Most of you will know that HAED has just had a sale... yippee!  More bang for your buck so to speak!  I bought 3 gorgeous new charts (2 by Randal Spangler and a Melissa Dawn cat).  Oh, and I just noticed that they have another sale on right now until midnight 17/8!

"High Tea"
Randal Spangler

"Medieval Shelf"
Randal Spangler

"Phantom of the Masquerade"
Melissa Dawn

Aren't they all so gorgeous!  Thank you so much Amber for your very generous giveaway prize.

Well my dear friends, it is time for me to go and get a nice cuppa and something to eat for lunch...  Hopefully I won't leave it too long between posts next time.  I do have a stitching update to for you so watch this space!

Til next time, happy stitching!

It's Hump Day.... Happy Wednesday!



Hello dear friends!  Happy Wednesday.... finally hump day has arrived....  I hope that everyone has survived the week so far.  It's all downhill to the weekend now!

Giveaway Shout Out Updates

Goodness gracious me, I have won the wonderful Nia's blogoversary giveaway.  Happy Dance.... thank you Nia, I look forward to seeing the parcel from Portgual dropping into the post box.  Will post a pic once it arrives.

So while I am smiling and patting myself on the back for winning Nia's box of lovelies, I thought I'd let you know who won the other giveaways that I have recently mentioned:

Measi's Musings (Ramblings of a Geeky Witch) - being drawn today so will check back in the next day or so to see who is the lucky winner of that one.

Bec's Cross Stitch Creations - winner is Rachael from Stitchabilities.  Well done Rachel!

Lady of the Floss - winner is Carissa from My Musings.  Well done Carissa!

Now speaking of giveaways..... I have heard that there are some more happening around blogland so why not drop in on these lovely people and say hello and join in the fun.

Giveaway Number 1:

Nicola at Stitchworks is having a lovely Christmas inspired giveaway.   Lots of lovely stash enhancing bits including some DMC bead and cross stitch designs, emblishments, threads and more.... So why not pop into Nicola's blog and say hi before 15th August 2011.  Winner will be drawn on 18th August 2011.

Giveaway Number 2:

Julie at Julie's and Yes Dear's Ravings is having a giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers.  Fabulous reason to have a giveaway.  Her gift to the lucky winner is "winners choice" of a HAED chart (or 2 if they're cheap!) or a $20 giftcard at 123stitch.com.  Very nice.....  Julie is closing her giveaway on Saturday 6th August so you'd better get your skates on and drop in to Julie's blog and sign up!

Ok, so that's it for the giveaways for the time being.... how about a crafty update!

Over the weekend I did do some stitching, but I also got itchy painting fingers... haven't opened up the paint pots for many years.... (and I do mean years!).  And yes, while some of them were a bit thick... they do all still work - except for my crackle stuff!

I won't tell you what I have made, or show you the final result yet, as it is a secret and needs to go for a ride in a bubbly post bag before I can show you what I did.  Below is a taster just to whet your appetites...

Front side... crackle didn't work too well... but the final result looks good!
The points at the top aren't horns - they are to stop the holes filling up with paint!

Rear side - painted in Antique Gold

Finally, the last of my Elm Creek Quilt books have arrived!  Woo hoo!! Can't wait to start the "Master Quilter".  I have nearly finished the "Fall of Giants" by Ken Follett so it won't be long before I get my nose back into an Elm Creek Quilts book.

Last of the Elm Creek Quilts order finally arrived!

Well, my little lovelies, it is time for me to go.... must get back to work as lunch break is over and work is beckoning!

Will see you all again soon, so til next time happy stitching!