Stitching finishing

It's been a busy month with bits of stitching nearly completed as well as a new little project started. I made a number of snap trays so that was a bonus and hope to sell them. It started with making one to match the snappy bag I made for Maree. She really liked it so that was cool and I am hoping to make a couple of kiwi ones to take to Los Angeles in August.

Card demonstration at Sarah's and the wonderful items they made. All different but from the same starting point.

Finished pieces from night class project.

Night class have finished with our Christmas tree project. It has been a really stunning project to stitch and I have enjoyed mine on the 45 count Florence and single strand of silk as well as the 100 count silk for the hardanger sections. You can see the difference in the fabric count quite markedly as mine is half the size of the other pieces.

May also saw the cold weather return with a vengeance and we had snow settle on the ground on the 22nd May.

Tulip flower for Mary V.

This is the latest piece that I have done for the Creative Stitchers 12x12 challenge. I have been doing beadwork on each of these and also using these as part of my beaded journal project items for this year. I made the decision that I would bead something each month and so this is the piece I have finished for May. I am not certain if I have a copy of Aprils face but I will be able to take a photo at another stage.
For March I completed a snowflake on Rosalind's piece and for this month I have a pear to complete.

A busy month.

Life seems to have got very busy and I am not sure where the time has gone. March was a busy month with a weekend trip to Wellington with Stephanie encompassing a visit to the zoo with Loreece, dinner with Alice and seeing David's party flat. On the way home an overnight stop with Liz was a welcome break, before seeing Jennifer on the way home.


Christmas in the Heartland.



Night class has been busy with most of the class working on a linen piece. Below is my start on the piece "Christmas in the Heartland". I am working on Florence linen, using a Kathy McLauchlan red silk, Gloriana green silk and Kreinik copper blending filament with some #15 beads as well as Corticelli silk for the finer stitches. I am really enjoying this piece and looking forward to the end result. Sorry about the photo but it won't turn around.

Our embroidery guild have moved locations so it was nice to be in a smaller room that will be easier to heat. During the last month I also received this package of wonderful silk ribbons from Trish http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/blog which was a real surprise.

I am also doing a cyber class with SHEAR Creations and have stitched the first two samples so need to get on with the next ones so as not to be too far behind. It is called Pot Porroui and through the shining needle society which has lots of interesting classes. It is a study of 12 stitches using some interesting threads and I am stitching extra samples using the extra threads. It will look good with my thread notebook.

Ashley's quilt.



Our chicken dinner.



Christmas wreaths sent on swap-bot.



Easter has just been and I had a visit from Liz and family as Ashley wanted to make a quilt of her travels. It was fun to talk about places that she has seen and done with so much changed since I was in the same part of the world. She has been in some random places due to her time with the Royal Navy. Also this weekend I had dinner with Cheryl and Maree, with a lovely roast chicken dinner. Good night watching twilight movies, and did a bit of knitting. I am making a couple of entries for the Institute Arts Festival so need to get the knitting of dolls clothes, placemats and fabric brooch finished so I will have at least three entries. Also I have a picture of my Christmas wreath that I swapped with Swap-Bot. It was well received by Brenda so I was pleased.

Below is my latest christmas decoration design. This is for the ANZEG embroidery conference in 2014 so I am hoping it gets selected. Otherwise I will have a new decoration to teach next year and several other ideas for decorations to make.

My latest ball design.

Weekend Retreat and Stitching

Well the holiday break has come and gone and some stitching has happened. I spent one weekend in Auckland with Stephanie which was a nice break away. This weekend just gone was our annual embroidery retreat held in Opunake. For the first time the weather was shocking and it meant that we could not go for a walk.
Our project this year was another one from the Stitch Magazine (England). It is a number of years old and one that has been on the wishlist for a while. It involves spray paint, leaves, blackwork and being creative which was difficult for a couple of our members. Only six of us were staying and we had no visitors from the Opunake Guild (either the weather or project put them off)


My 15 sided biscornu nearly there.

 

latvian work has nearly all the flowers stitched - outlines and boxes to come



inventive spray paint with leaves.

 I decided to do mine on a piece of linen that I had with me - I was intending to spend the weekend finishing projects. I will turn it either into a notebook holder or a pocket for my clamps. You can see it in the centre of the photo above.
It was a good weekend and I loved all the stitching so hopefully next weekend as a holiday weekend will provide some more opportunity to stitch.

Creative Stitchers Challenge

Our creative stitchers challenge for the next two years is a round robin challenge with a shape of your choice. The first swap has taken place and I have had Mary's piece which is a tree with an oak leaf shape. Here are a few of the thoughts about this leaf.

Mary Garlick – oak leaf shape, September 2012

I decided to use some silk paper I had made as it reminded me of the new spring leaves. I couched the edge but when I cut out the shape it was too flimsy for a detached leaf so I have quilted the leaf onto the background fabric. A small ladybird reminds me of them during the spring growth in the garden. This picture is upside down so it hangs on Mary's tree at the bottom. For a change I have not used any beads on this piece of work.

WOW What a weekend

Just home from the PA's conference which was held in Nelson. This is a well renown artistic, creative, winery and orchard area of the country and home to the World of Wearable art show and museum. It was a great conference and time to catch up with friends from the past and make some new ones. I loved the session on Office products and have found a couple of things that I can use so will be trying them out over the next couple of weeks. Our thursday night dinner was a blast from the past with an 80's theme and I have seen Daisy's pictures so fortunately I am only in a couple. Nice one of the SWAT group with protestors. Discovered a new artist Brian Strong but after a big walk uphill to his studio we discovered it was closed.
Dining out was fun as Stephanie (who travelled down down for the weekend) and I tried the thinnest pizza with great toppings and wonderful eye candy tossing the dough in the kitchen, to the Thai with her friend and the Saturday market where lots of taste testing, as well as purchasing (aside from the chilli oil and great pancakes) it was a fun foodie weekend. Tried to go to one of the many cafes for brunch on Sunday but it was closed.
Had a wait at the airport but that was fine as we used the Koru lounge which was nice and relaxing - both of us on the Ipads and sending messages to each other as well. My flight home was the quickest layover ever - in one door and back in the queue to go out the next door. Definitely think this could be a place I could visit again so thanks to Ros and Alicia for organising a great long weekend.

May 2011 BJP done

 May 2011 BJP piece completed. This project had stalled after april's but inpiration was gained from our recent creative stitchers meeting where we talked about the theme "Power and Protection". We then constructed a felt image of the protecting eye used in many belief systems. My next piece will be the :Power piece and then comes the evil eye.

Below are the five months of this project done so far starting with egyptian eye (january), precious eyes (February 2011), jealous eyes (March 2011), red eye (April 2011) and Protection (May 2011).

Five months completed.

I feel strange that i am still naming these as the months but that helps me keep the project in line. My book is filling with all the thoughts that revolve around each so i am hoping it will be a nice table cetnre piece at the end. These pieces will go to Christchurch in July for the Extensions exhibition at the ANZEG conference.

more work done

I have been a busy beaver and completed a tiny kit from School of Beadwork - Double Delish - onsie. It is lime and blue and very cute. I am attaching it to a key ring to give away as a christmas gift on my travels in December.
Maree and I went to St Mary's Cathedral in New Plymouth last night for the unveiling of the completed Peace Altar Frontal. We went one night to stitch as guild members so it was nice to be at the end to put another stitch in. Now the construction phase begins and in two months they will have the dedication ceremony. It was a nice service with reminders about Parihaka, Sept 11 2001 and the way of peace in the world.
Also made the new decoration in Bead and Button and now have put the magazine away carefully so cannot make another one. oh well I will find it.
Nearly completed the next month for my BJP so going to watch some tv and stitch some more on it.

Sudoku Finished

Yeah I have finished stitching Sudoku. Mum finished hers and the rest of the class have also finished this piece. I loved doing it. it is from the ANG magazine Needlepointers and designed by a lady we met last year at Columbus "Marilyn Owen". A great project. now to finish stitching on colorific and then onto walk on the wild side.

I will also have time to make up my book cover that I stitched very quickly using cornpad embroidery. I will also endeavour to get another ATC card done so I can send one off to Karen who I am sure is waiting for one to swap.
It is supposed to snow again this weekend although I don't think we will get any but you never know - weather forecast is snow to low levels on the eastern shores of new zealand and we are in the west but not much land between us and the Antarctic.
Diane

Holiday catch ups

Adding the beaded face.

It is time for the end of the school term and holiday time. I have six days off this time and busy completing my entry into the national exhibition. I am busy getting all the elements stitched and added onto the base goddess. Hopefully I will be completed by next thursday when I go back to work. Soduku has been getting a couple of squares stitched each day so I have finished 5 sets and onto the 6th set of nine stitches.

Also I have been completing a few other jobs over the past weeks. I made 4 baby bibs (with one to complete) so that is a job of the list. I have my notebook to make for our trip away - we have tickets to the ice hockey in New York but no trip up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
I have my cake mixer fixed (not doing to badly for something that is 30 years old) and purchased a pizza stone so that is the next cooking element. This afternoon I am going to try out the Tarte Tartin recipe from Masterchef as I have a suitable dish now.

On the book front I have been listening to the new audio books from the public library. They come on a little MP3 player and really great to use. Have another which is on CD's so that will take a couple of days to listen to but makes the beading and hand stitching go faster.

The bike riding has started and I am off this afternoon for a 20 minute ride around town while I get my confidence back. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up. Certainly I am more confident in changing gears and using the hand brakes. The weather is not very conducive to riding bikes but it will improve as we move nearer to spring and summer.

Busy working

A busy fortnight has seen me make a number of coffee cup holders for small coffee cups but I am going to make some larger ones now. They have been really fun and I sold about ten of them so was pleased with the effort. I have made a number to give away as presents for Xmas so that is a start.


The next exciting thing that has happened has been my attendance at a creative stitchers play weekend. Jo and Anne from Creative Craft Supplies came and showed us how to use lots of their products; rubbing plates, polysol dyes, shiva stiks, xpandapaint as well as using some new materials polysuede and evalon. It was loads of fun and I have painted lots of paper with colour to start making some little goddess dollies. Think that they will look really cute and hoping to spend next holidays on making them.

Also I have started the ANG needlepointers piece of work “Sudoku” by Marilyn Owen. We met Marilyn at the seminar in Ohio and I am looking forward to doing this with the class. The class members have chosen the colours that Marilyn used (or slight adjustment) but mum and I are stitching differently. Mum is doing hers all in greys and I am using orange and black so it looks quite vibrant.

Went to see “Mozart’s Sister” last night at the Kings Theatre in Stratford and it was really great. Lovely costumes, sets and even the inside of Versailles I am sure.

Diane

Latest stitching

I have had the weekend in bed with a dreadful cold. Started on Friday with a sore throat, saturday I had the rudolph nose and sunday the achy joints etc. Monday I spent most of in bed so not much stitching done.
Friday night I finished another part of Stephanie's birthday present and I will post the pictures next week after she recieves it at Easter.
Saturday was a busy day - I did a bit more on my Latvian mat as I had to spend 2 1/2 hours at the hairdressers on Saturday morning so I was pleased with that time being useful. Saturday afternoon I spent with Maree sorting out colours for Soduku and Crystal Waters.
Saturday night I was determined to sew up my biscornu and made great strides. Unfortunately sunday when I looked at it I did not have the pattern right and some of the squares would have matched. Backwards stitching and restitching later I am onto the last five squares and will be able to stuff it this week.
Sunday I also did some work on my colourific piece as well as starting to write my story about my goddess. I hope she turns out okay. I could not find the bead pieces that I have made but they will be somewhere and I do have more to make. I also completed the February BJP peice except for the hand stitching and applying the back (still undecided as I think I will put them into my book).
I also sent of three swaps for swap-bot - two tea swaps and one christmas decoration so I am excited to recieve parcels. I received one today from Europe and it is full of lovely teas that Suzie and I want to try.
Keep stitching everyone.

Busy Stitching week

Busy ten days.
We have had our Latvian class with 21 attending the two classes and lots of progress made by various stitchers. Lots of colour choices as well with some changing colours halfway through (Lee). I have only stitched in class and pleased with my progress and colours chosen by Maree as an accident selection.
          I have all but finished the stitching on my canvas biscornu and will sew it up over the weekend. I am very pleased with it despite having problems following the pattern and colours. Should have had four threads and I used five or six. Should have had five patterns with three of each stitched the same to make the 15 sides but I managed to only do two the same of each pattern and then add in my own stitches. I think this comes from having too many favourite stitches. Ann (tutor from weekend) showed us her little blackwork biscornu with 15 different patterns stitched on it. I may have to do something like that with my Florence fabric and a silk thread.
          I have started doing a couple of swaps with swap-BoT.com and sent my postcard off on Monday. This week I have two more to send off – need to put eyes on a Christmas decoration before I can put it in the post on Friday so that is tonight’s task. After that it will be to start the decoration for next months swap. Think I will be in advance of this one as I have my idea and want to get it made.
          The holidays are looking to be busier than ever and hoping to have a few days at the beach with mum at some stage so that will be lots of stitching time on walk on the wild side.


Ann showing the weekday class some of her finishing and other designs.



My colours.  I have nearly completed one half of the holbein stitching.

          As far as beading goes I have completed febraury BJP (no photo taken yet) and it seems like the ATC size is the go for this year. I am trying to complete a couple of some of them so I can send them to Karen Cohen for the ATC swap so holidays will mean that another couple will be completed and can be posted off to her. I have the May page for 2010 to do and I am thinking about whether to continue with that series as I enjoyed the process from each person but it was really hard to get inside their heads.

A Busy day

I have had a really busy day today with starting to make icicles for my winter goddess, complete the background for an ATC and a beaded journal page. also I have spent 15 minutes at a time cleaning up my ipod and deleted over 500 duplicate songs and spent all day listening to the Kings of Leon. Think they will be my band of choice at the moment.
Also spent 15 minutes at a time cleaning up my desk area and have nearly taken every thing off it to dust off the dust bunnies (the power of 15 minutes at a time - http://www.flylady.net/)
Also I have spent time tidying up all my photos from seven years so they are all stored onto a remote hard disk and then hopefully I will be able to get my computer fixed or sorted as I am not able to do anything with adobe files, quicktime or flashplayer so I cannot download any e-books onto my e-reader.
two more days and work starts again so going to spend several hours beading and stitching now and then to bed. Shopping tomorrow for new clothes (since I have a stylist I have discovered a love of nice clothes) and then gardening and house cleaning weather permitting.
Enjoy the weekend.

Finished work

Yeah! better late than never. I have finished the February page for my BJP (still to mount it in the book) and also finished Stephanie's present and given it to her. I will photo the BJP piece and post it later tonight or tomorrow (the zumba class and making cookies for morning tea tomorrow are tonight's treats).

front of Stephanie's needlebook - the printed image reminded me of Jane Austen (one of our shared favourite reads of all time).


The back of the needlebook. labelled and dated I was impressed with myself and also using the #15 beads to cover the tassel bead.

Both sides now! She was thrilled with it on Monday when I delivered it to her.

another square half done

Heart of the cabin
another sqaure is done and block 6 is half done. I have completed the fourth log this week and with easter on the horizon am hoping to complete the block and also block 3 this weekend.



here is the half of block 6. the rust colours look really great so I am pleased and we are using threads as we go as do not have all the recommended threads. Some are difficult to get here so we are substituting mostly for silks etc.



I went to our regional embroidery retreat last weekend and this was a piece of completed work that caught my eye. i love the free ness of it and also the colours. perhaps i can complete it in beads. the big circle in the centre is a covered marmite lid so about 2 1/2 inchies across. quite a large piece

these are the cards we made at the weekend. Mine is not that flash but this one i really loved for its simplicity.

another square completed

This week has been a very busy week with my goddaughters 21st birthday last weekend and a public holiday. On tuesday we had the announcement of our new principal, http://www.shsinfo-centa.blogspot.com/ so that was very exciting and took up a lot of my time.

I have completed another square on heart of the cabin. That makes three complete and two started. only 13 to go. I am really pleased with this one as it has been a real struggle to get the right kind of threads - we have made lots of substitutions but that is okay we are still getting the colour values right. Mum has completed nearly four squares so she is ahead of me.

I have half done the first month for BJP and will take a picture to post later. It looks good but very simple.

Life has been really busy with most of this weekend I was at WOMAD and it was great fun, i have 3 great cd's of music to listen to now - jazz, irish and arabic. wonderful mix of things although I only went to two of the three days as I have too much to do at home.
diane

It is here!

The final day is here and Warren has departed the shores for another land. Very sad to see him leave and hope that all his dreams are fulfilled.
School will be a quiet place on Monday without his John Lennon, Arsenal, Yoda and other esoteric references.

This weekend having the second christmas function of my year on. The A&P show is on adn Sunday will find me at the Gallery watching the Art exhibition. I intend to take some beads to make a couple of beaded balls as I need to make more for christmas presents.

If you manage to read this enjoy life, while it still shines and when the rainy season starts, don't live in the memories or regrets but go out and find more sunshine.

Been to see maree about finishing hte BJP pieces for 2009 and have an idea so hoping to find time in the next month to do it. I will then manage to post the pictures of the finished pieces.
Next years work has also been under consideration and extending the inspiration could be my theme.
Diane

christmas is coming

It is now only a month to go before christmas arrives and it seems as if there is so much to do.
school has been really busy with lots going on and only three days before Warren finishes. The board is also in a bit of turmoil with a couple of people resigning before the elections next year. It should be fun.
I have done the first christmas cards. I spent most of sunday making cards and did a whole lot using one of the kits I had purchased from Megan. Saturday was exciting as I finally purchased a kitchen whizz and spent the afternoon unpacking it, then went for a walk to Marilyn's and did some stitching on my stocking. I will try and upload photos of the various pieces I have nearly finished as soon as I get the photos off the camera.
We have the homes for hospice in a couple of weeks and things are getting busy with getting prepared. Went today to see about the furniture for the room.
I still have two beaded journal pages to finish beading but have decided that I will not do one and get the August piece done and then can spend some time in the holiday break framing them up. That is my job for tomorrow - I am walking to Maree's and asking for her advice about the finishing of them.

Creative canvas comes alive

embellished canvas class at the weekend was great. This is my book cover half done so I am getting excited about it. I have four more nights that I can stitch on it before I have to put it aside for another piece - Pukeko Patch. It has been fun using stitches in a more random way than I traditionally do.


Inchies number 2. This is the set that I have sent to Cheryl in USA. I hope she likes the beaded stars done with #15 beads. I love these stars and have made lots using plastic beads for christmas trees.

January Man is well travelled.

Here is the little January man with his mickey mouse ears because that is where he went with all the family. Also his colours were decided because we were in the snow and ice for new years day and then LA so some fireworks (hence the background fabric).

After that mum and I went to San Antonio - his little brown dusty feet and he picked up a wonderful horse shoe while there.

When he arrived home in New Zealand after his travels he had a party (more fun in the background) and settled into a little beach holiday as well.

I hope that you love him, he has been finished for a month but i have been able to get onto my computer to post his picture.

I have april and may to do but I have completed a couple of other things including nearly all the satin stitching on a piece of whitework. - yeah for me that was my goal to finish it in May.

Diane