Charming or Tedious

My thought for the day is:

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious” Oscar Wilde.

Some days my stitching is in the same frame. It is neither good nor bad, but I am charmed by the development and thoughts that happen as I stitch (currently on the ANZEG mystery sampler which is having a lot of stitch development in my case) or I find that the pattern or colour is tedious and I want to get this out of the way.

I have just finished a hardanger scissor case and needlebook and I realised why I have not done large scale hardanger projects. The buttonhole edge drove me nuts and I could only do one thread at a time. This for me was some tedious stitching but others find it charming. How are you viewing your stitching this month?

I will find time later this month to post pictures of the completed stitching and also the Wessex needlebook that our guild is creating. I am slightly behind but getting there.

Summer holidays are different now

Summer holiday this break has been several days at Oakura beach including new year and the Festival of Lights, then Stratford and now Auckland for a friend’s niece wedding. Enjoyed the summer sun at the Chelsea sugar factory cafe for brunch and having a doughnut for afternoon tea today.  Relaxing is great when you have a good book, bit of embroidery and a friend to share it with including cups of tea and coffee. We have semi binge watched Bridgerton which was great. I have read the books and they are really fun.

    

Lunch at Mokau. 

Oakura beach 

Lunch at Chelsea sugar factory. 

A long time missing

celebration dinner

One of my aims this year was to blog at least once a month but I find that a third of the year has gone and nothing written. It's been a busy start to the year with my brother and his wife visiting for my dad's birthday and a celebration weekend in Wellington. It was really fun and we had a wonderful time with them here and they had a great trip down the south island for his 60th birthday.



Stitching has been continuing and a new project has come along but more on that later. Night class is still going and we are doing a tiny tin of treasures project this term hopefully. Some photos of that are here:

             

 Next project on the go is the piece for Taranaki Creative Stitchers: I was given Kenya as my county but quite a difficult one. There is no definite style of embroidery or stitching (only ndebele beading stitch could be called african) so I am exploring the african aesthetic and hopefully will produce a piece for the october exhibition.  As part of this process I have been doing some machine embroidery and made this couple of birthday cards which I will sell or use. I have also been making some christmas decorations using a similar technique so once they are finished they will get photographed. If successful I will make a few for the end of year Percys Place shop.

Card making has also been featuring and a neighbour is hosting the occasional afternoon of card making so I am taking advantage and going. I then come home and use a bit more of the card/Stampin Up stash so here are some that I have created (tiny gift cards) for Mackays Pharmacy to sell. Its been a great way to use up some of the stash and I am trying to do more.

This is the start of the next project. Our guild is having a Casalguidi workshop in June and the preparation foundation needs to be stitched first. The colour is looking grey but it is very similar to DMC 504 colour so that will be fun.

Well that's the catch up and here's to a term two with a principal who is on sabbatical and an open evening that is not too far away and no organising started. Oh dear just another year at school.

latest gems

Project pockets: made for Betsy Morgan class.

It’s been a bit of a busy month with the biennial embroidery conference come and gone in Auckland. I now have to settle back into life with a really short term at school. The photo below are the pockets that I made for us to use to attend conference so I have also completed one for Marilyn for her class this week. They were fun to make and I have three more ready to go, just needing to choose the fabric and sew.

Night class has started and we are continuing on our Christmas wreath but also stitching our guild project of Montmellick and conference projects as well. I have done a bit more on my acorn etui and thought that I was all the way around the base of the biscornu to find that I still had two sides to go. Oh well, it has been pleasing to see Maree and Sue’s progress on the toy chest pieces. A new pattern has also arrived with Explorations by Debbie Rowley my current cyber class. I am going to be choosing the threads for it over the next month so that I can possibly start it at Christmas.

Christmas earrings. I sent one pair overseas

My next photo is of the Christmas earrings that I have made myself. I sent one pair off on a swap for Swap-bot so hoping that Cynthia likes them. Rally hard to make something so personal but if she can’t wear them I am fine with her repurposing them as dangles on a decoration. I have not done many swaps this year but am trying to do a couple every month. Lots of Christmas decoration ones and tea or postcards which are not too hard to post.

 

Making coasters with Anne

My next activity has been a couple of hours spent with Anne making Santa coasters. I think my check ones look like Santa pyjamas and after the sequins were put on it looked great. I will have at least two or three more to cut out to add to the cup bags that I have made for our Christmas party. I find that a mug bag, mug and some tea bags is a great parcel for a secret Santa or an extra raffle present. Currently I am still using up fabric so that is fine.

Other things that are still going on are the banners from Grandmothers Garden and I have got the next one sorted so it is ready to cut, sew the background then cut out the pieces to applique on and oversew. Shady colours version two has stopped once again as the conference stitching is going on and I am looking at trying to make some yellow brooches for sale as it is daffodil month for cancer research. I will see what happens on Sunday as it might be a movie marathon this week with a friend. Creative Stitchers is this weekend and the start of a year long project so I need to find some images to print to cut up. Last but not least is my BJP piece which is to be a glasses chain for a friends birthday. That is my task for tonight so hoping that it goes together well.

Embroidery conference

Well finally the conference is here and I have had two days of classes so far. It has been a bit of dega vu today with Betty Morgan 's class but still we learnt some new things and did finish our little small to go with the Gathering for Winter etui.

Saturday saw Cheryl, Marilyn and I drive to Auckland to arrive at Stephanie's in time for a cuppa and then all off to Ellerslie Event Cetnre for the exhibition and merchants mall where we managed to spend a bit of money. Maree met us just after three pm and we wandered into the exhibition to see maree's pieces on display. It was fun choosing the ones that we thought might win. Marilyn and Stephanie went out for dinner while I attended the conference dinner with Maree and other members of our guild and region. The highlight of the day was the winning of the traditional award by Maree for her white work Angel. Really lovely. She was also given a merit award for her Founders piece so very successful evening for her.

Sunday saw Marilyn, Stephanie and I visit Sylvia Park for retail therapy then to Bean There Cafe for lunch before I went back to the conference to see if I could get into her Jo Dixey speak. Unfortunately I could not so Cheryl and I had another round of retail therapy and I purchased some extra things for Marilyn. Stephanie had taken Marilyn to the airport, but we were alerted that her flight was delayed and her arrival at home was about an hour later than expected.

Monday - up early to drive to the event centre and only had one hiccup being the wrong lane on the grit south road. Got to class in plenty of time to find a nice space with good light. It was pleasing to see that all 21 of us had completed our pre stitching and I was not the only one to use the pumpkin thread instead of the gold one. Betsy's notes are excellent and really detailed. if you read them through, it sounds like she is talking to you. 

Day 2 pincushions completed for gathering for winter etui

Waxer box for "its for Betty" etui

Day 1 class: waxer box for etui but still no cords to tie it together.

Day 3 and 4 sees me doing a class with Alison Snepp - a miniature white work sampler. Due to her requirements no photos will be posted but this piece is lovely and I am enjoying the stitching all though I have not spent five hours stitching for a long time so today was a long day. After class we went up to Silks Cafe to discuss class, have a drink and take part in a short quiz evening, where Cheryl ended up getting the highest number of points while Maree and I were in the next group. We all came home with a box of woollen threads but Cheryl did get a little wooden pincushion form which is cherming. I also got another dmc thread so that was nice but same pattern as the one I already have so disappointed. Well off to bed now so will post this hoping that the pictures work and if not I can fix them at the weekend.

Got Second Place & Catching Up.

This past week was a busy one with catching up with some embroidery projects and friends.

During the week I had book club and institute. At institute they finally talked me onto the committee and I am the vice president, which means Valma best not be away. I don't really want any more responsibility as I still have a couple of other positions on boards that I undertake. also great celebration as I managed to take some flowers and I got second prize for one of the roses which I picked from the neighbour's garden. 

Friday – lunch date was great and I nearly had to bring a little girl back to work with me, though the washing fairy did go to my place and bring in the washing before the rain arrived. What wonderful friends I have.

Saturday was a busy day with sit’n’stitch at my place and we had an excellent turnout of guild members during the day. A variety of projects were being stitched with some older projects brought out of the closet including our Fisherton-del-la-mer mat. This is a nice stitch and I think I will get mine out for the next couple of weeks. I progressed a bit more on my nametag (needs to be ready for April 5^th) and now have to work out my alphabet for my name.

The next bout of stitching that I have done, is my Christmas wreath but I think I will be pulling out the last lot of stitching as the thread is very bulky and I am not sure I like it. I will finish the rest of that particular parcel this week so then I can judge.

Sunday was a day of rest. A leisurely start to the day saw the laundry completed and kitchen duty done then just as I was off to walk to mum’s she arrived to collect me for our lunch and afternoon out. We met with several of the institute members at the Windsor Cafe in Inglewood for lunch. I decided on the French toast option along with Kay and it was delicious. Bacon, maple syrup, berries and lovely toast which was actually very filling. Karen and Marie joined us and we took off on our tour of Inglewood gardens. These were private gardens and wonderfully done. All had lovely areas and the warm weather made for very pleasant wandering through shade, sun, over bridges, around ponds and through a native walk. A cup of tea stop at our second location was a delight and raffles were purchased but no I didn’t win any of them. At our last stop we caught up with an old friend of my sisters so that was a nice surprise.

Back home and the evening was spent in my own garden planting some flax grasses that I had purchased and digging up a bucket of potatoes which I made into potato salad. A busy end to the weekend.

I am now currently looking forward to a nice lunch and a leisurely long weekend, hopefully doing some nice shopping, walking, eating and visiting.

Conference is over

Well conference is over for two years and it was a success at least for me. I came home with something that is finished today and even wore it out of the classroom.  Marilyn and I did felted flowers and butterflies with felicity Willis and both got them finished. I made a butterfly while Marilyn did a red flower. Here is a photo of our classes work from today. It was loads of fun and we used this amazing stuff called wash away fabric. It just dissolved in hot water. Most exciting part of the day.

My butterfly is the one in the middle. 

A busy day

It's nearly a month since I last posted and I think this will be a long on written over several days.

Only ten days left to work and then tidy up for the Christmas and wedding anniversary party. 

Today, Saturday had a visit from Marilyn with some need for scrap booking experience is that was a first. The dad came in to use the facilities, no time for a cuppa and then we had mum to visit and chat. Discussion about Christmas and what to eat ensued so now sorted I think. (But I will need to write it all down for my reminder list.) have shopping list for New Plymouth so that will be in a fortnight I think.

 This is what I have spent most of the day doing some thank you gifts for my Stampin up ladies and bits and pieces for a Xmas present. Hope they all enjoy.

There will be more to write about embroidery, night class, and exhibition so keep coming back.

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.

Busy weekend

It has been a busy weekend and although wet and rainy on Saturday, Sunday has been a nice day.


The weekend started with Stephanie arriving on Friday night to stay for the weekend and also getting tow birthday presents (cups from Harrods and England with 2012 / Stratford on them). Thanks guys it was great and the chocolates have been tasted by Stephanie and myself. Saturday I spent the day the Regional Embroidery retreat in Eltham with mum and about 35 other stitchers so caught up with a few friends and finished my patchwork placemats for the arts festival. Also stitched a couple of mittens for Christine for the arts festival. Dinner at the retreat was wonderful and I finished with the most delightful brownie but paid for it in the middle of the night as it was very rich.

On Sunday Stephanie and I started off with a nice breakfast in the conservatory before we were overtaken by the Nintendo fans. Luke, Callum and Virginia came to visit so the boys tried out the Nintendo Treasure Hunt game which was fun.

I took Stephanie to her mum’s after lunch then came home to stitch and complete some of the projects needed for the arts festival in two weeks. I have sewed handles on my tote bag, made another snappy bag after undoing it as I sewed the wrong seams first, made my mittens and nearly completed my fabric brooch for the arts festival. Also here is a picture of my latest two swaps – tea cups and mitten so enjoy them.

Stitching on Christmas tree is coming along but unfortunately I have not done any more on Pot Pourri but hope that Thursday will see more samples done.  Sorry about the sideways photo but I cannot turn it around today. Think I will have to go back to taking the photos with the camera not the ipad.

enjoy your week.
Diane

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 away

Travelled to Palmerston North with Sonia on Friday to go to the Craft Fair. We stayed a really nice motel for the night and I spent a couple of hours visiting friends Liz and Gary. A good nights sleep and up early to a nice fine day. After breakfast and a quick stop at Countdown for tea and muesli bars we were off to Arena Manawatu.

Scissor lanyards made from our purchased pattern. Two each in an afternoon.

Still Stitching.

Several pieces of stitching have been done since the opunake retreat. I nearly finished all the flowers on my latvian piece and only have the borders to do. managed to get the finishing instructions for our linen biscornu and have the night class group onto that over the next weeks.
I have started one of the ANG auction pieces which is fun and mum has also started a piece as well.
Made several patchwork things for the guild christmas party and nearly have my door prize sorted. Next thing to do is my gift as well as secret santa gift for school. My institute box is nearly finished so only needs wrapping and labelling (tonights job which is running late).
I am hoping to put the pictures of the night class ornaments that have been stitched and one was finised with a lovely tassel and candycane cord by Fiona who has not done any of these things. I am so proud of her.

Scissor keeps made in class.

Add caption

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.

April BJP

Mostly beaded but a bit more of stitching to do.

Been doing the beading on my pocket piece of embroidery. This is a project that I started last year with a local member of our guild, Lee. I did the embroidery part but it got put away so decided that for April I would get the beading one for this project. This is a photo with most of the work done. I am just fiddling with it now before I see it up.

Spent two hours today trying to order something on the internet with a voucher. If anyone uses spreets it seems to be a torturous project to use their vouchers. Hopefully I will get some feedback from the company.

A Busy Week

The week since I have been home has been really busy and it does not look like easing up any until after the holidays. I arrived home rested and with the precious for Stephanie so delivered it and received lunch with her mum and dad in return. My ladies arrived for class so we had a catch up before two of them were off to Australia for a craft and shopping marathon.

Not much had happened on the school front but I managed to not have a desk weighed under with paperwork – Ina had put it all in a box for me. Took most of the first couple of days to clear it and the emails which I had tried to keep up with.

The weekend was nice and on Saturday had our creative stitchers group meeting with a catered morning tea and lunch. It was delightful and the ladies have asked for it again. I have nearly finished my piece for the guild extensions exhibition so just the finishing to do and then I can give it to Maree for display in Christchurch in July.

Power and protection pieces but not certain if I will put all into the exhibiton.

I went to Marilyn’s for tea and to watch the first all blacks game for 2012. Conrad smith scored the last try so we were excited about that. It was a good game and the next two games against the Irish should be good.

Sunday was a fine day so the washing got hung out and I found time to start digging the potatoes. Last year I only had little ones but this year I have dug this small section of the garden and already dug a whole bucket full. This will keep me going for at least a month. I was most impressed with them and it will be nice to have some large potatoes to bake whole.

My bucket of potatoes

This week we have chicks at the flicks so it will be a fun night as seeing a preview movie is always good.

Things are Finished

I forgot to post the picture of the Xmas decoration that I swapped last month. The person I swapped with was Ina from the Netherlands and she did not have any preference for colour or design so I was free to play with my stitching. I really enjoyed this little decoration and think I will make a few more for Christmas presents.

Decoration sent to Ina for Swap=Bot

This photo is the coathanger and dishcloth that I made/ finished for the recent Arts Festival for Woman's Instittute. I got a first for my coathanger but nothting for the dishcloth which I am currently using.

My next finish and Beaded Journal Project finish is my bracelet from a kit by Carol Wilcox Wells entitled whirling pinwheels. It was my challenge to finish it in april before we went to Hawaii but I have now finished it in time for San Francisco. This is My March piece for 2012 so I am only two months behind but keeping stitching and beading on lots of other things.


The finished bracelet.



detail of the pinwheels which i loved doing.

Well I am off again on another holiday. This time the family (extended) are all meeting at the beach. Most of our joint holidays are at a beach or have swimming involved. This time the beach is in Hawaii and we are at Waikiki. I will not be trying the surfing although I am sure the children will. Alice has got a week of events planned so we should get to see several of the main attractions, do some shopping (Sarah and Alice are ready to shop) and even do the beach thing. Stephanie has been so she has been giving me some advice on some of the things to see and do. Marilyn and thought we were flying business class – that is what is says on our itinerary but Stephanie checked my booking and it says economy. Thought I did not pay enough. Oh well business class will have to wait a month or so.


Alice is devastated that she is not flying business class as the last two trips she has had to Ewan’s have been in the business or premium economy which is great but she is not paying for it.

We are flying on Air Pacific so that is another airline to add to the list. I am wondering about lists at the moment and have seen on another blog 101 things in 1001 days. It sounds like a great thing to do but at the moment I can’t even think of one thing to do.

Having a fun evening with Stephanie as she is house minding for the long weekend while her sister is at her mum’s for Easter. We sat up just like we were still on holiday, planning the next excursion.

School has been really busy and this week rushed through with non-stop happenings. We had the annual Shakespeare Festival competition at our school and it was exciting to see all these students from other schools coming into our venue. It makes a change as we usually have to travel to New Plymouth to events. Relay 4 life was a wonderful time although we were ankle deep in the mud. All the kids really enjoyed themselves and I was very proud of myself as I walked a total of three hours which was good. There is a great report on our school blog www.shsinfo-centa.blogspot.com. I raised over $70 myself so that was above the target set for each person. Our final total donation will be known at the start of next term.

Dad and Rusty Barrett at Rusty's recent 80th birthday.

My prize winning exhibit at the North Taranaki Institute Arts Festival on 26 March.

Busy weeks

Life has been exceptionally busy for the past couple of weeks but I have been inspired to take part in a couple of swap-bot exchanges. Lots of fun I did a tea-bag swap, fabric swap and am currently doing a blog and christmas decoration swap. It is loads of fun to get envelopes in the mail and new tea to try. I find that this time of the year is best for me to swap but I want to try and do at least one every month this year. I have my christmas decoration to make this weekend and I am looking forward to cutting out all the leaves for the christmas wreath.
my two ideas for my christmas decoration.

 

I am busy stitching on thefelt  wall hanging for Neil and Cathy but do not think I will finish it before we go to Hawaii. only three weeks to go and six days on the beach. Stitching is continuing on my 15 sided biscornu for night class and I am managing to keep up while trying to learn the new stitch programme that I purchased for my computer. This weekend I would love to complete the instructions for "D's the Letter" but I will be at embroidery weekend for saturday then as part of the Relay 4 Life team for our school from 5pm on Saturday to Sunday afternoon.

I will post a picture of D's the letter when i get home as i do not have a copy at school.