Chatelaine Weekender – Butterfly Lace Mandala

I forgot to post the last time I did a weekend stitch on my Chatelaine, so what you are about to see is two weekends worth!

 This is where it was at when I picked it up on the first weekend.

I finished off the 1 over one butterfly 

 and then went on to add some of the specialist stitches, namely some Blackwork, Algerian Eyes and dense Rice stitches.

This weekend just passed, my aim had been to finish off the bottom right hand corner, and despite painting the inside of the cupboard in my craft room, which is undergoing a complete revamp at the moment, I still managed a good amount of stitching.

I hit my goal and then went on and made a start on my third 1 over 1 butterfly.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Snowy Owl Snowman - Mill Hill

 Alas, no Chatelaine Weekender for me last weekend because I was away for a few days and my chatelaine was too big to take with me.

More about the trip at the end of this but I did still take some stitching with me.

I decided it was time I stitched my first Mill Hill kit and settled on Jim Shore’s ‘Snowy Owl Snowman.  Because it’s stitched on perforated paper, I didn’t need to take a hoop or magnifier with me, so it was the perfect little project.

As you can see, I didn’t get a great deal done while I was away but at least it was a start and I managed to finish him off last night.

All I have to do now is get something to back him with.

Now on to the trip………

I was lucky enough to be invited to a very special House Party to celebrate my cousin Ken’s 70^th birthday.  In fact we were celebrating three birthdays, because there was also a 50^th and 60th, so very special indeed!

Twenty one of us made the trip South Wales on Friday and stayed at ‘The Whole House, a beautiful restored house and barn situated on a 400 acre working sheep farm, not far from Telgarth, in the Brecon Beacons.

The house had everything you could think of, from a 22foot oak table, so we could all sit and eat together, a cinema room and a hot tub and an assort course complete with zip wire in the garden.  There were even fairy’s living in the house!

 

Note the Fairy Door....there were lots all over the house and outside.

On the Saturday evening we had cocktails and someone came in and prepared a lovely meal for us. 

After that, moved across to the barn for the rest of the evening, were we danced the night away (well not me because my hip pain wouldn’t let me) to a great duo called ‘It Takes Two’. 

It was a fabulous evening, even the fairies had a good time by the looks of things!

Sunday we all did our own thing, exploring the surrounding area, or just relaxing in the beautiful 4 acre gardens before all enjoying an amazing BBQ….and more cocktails!!

We headed home on Bank Holiday Monday and fortunately the traffic was kind to us.

So now you know why I didn’t get a lot of stitching done.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Chatelaine Weekender – Butterfly Lace Mandala

 This is where I left it last Sunday.

For my Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday stitch this weekend,  the plan was to do one of the twelve  1 over 1 butterflies and then add some more to the lace background……. as I said, that was the plan.

Unfortunately, despite stitching until midnight on Sunday, I didn’t even manage to finish the butterfly.

I don’t think I had given a thought to all the colour changes in it and I’m not good at parking threads, I just end up with a big tangled mess, so I was having the keep turning my Omanik scroll frame over which was a real pain.

In the end I decided to put it on a Q-Snap and it was much better to deal with.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x x x

‘Souvenir’ Band Sampler Sal – The BIG Finish!

 Well, I had a total disaster with the last part of the band sampler.

Why I never noticed it last week I’ll never know, but when I went to start cutting my threads this week I realised I’d stuffed up my Kloister Blocks. 

I worked down the left side just fine, but when I began the right side I managed to work my satin stitched in the wrong direction.

No problem I though, I hadn’t started cutting, so I could simply frog them and re stitch the Hardanger.  

But what do I go and do……as I’m cutting the stitches to pull them out I somehow managed to through the fabric.

My first thought was that was weeks of work wasted and I was ready to throw it in the bin, but I left it for a day or two and went back to it to see if I could salvage it.

What I ended up doing was cutting off the fabric below the last flower band.  I then carefully hand stitched another piece to the bottom and re-stitched the Hardanger over the seam. 

I fully finished it on 26th April and it didn’t turn out too bad but I’m sad you can see the seam on either side if the point.  At least I didn’t have the scrap the whole project.

Thank you Thea, for the fun project.  It was my first Victoria Sampler Sal and I can’t wait for the next one!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

The Snow Flower Diaries – Joyful World Sal – May

 Here’s my latest ‘May’ panel, complete two cute kitties and a sweet little bird.

Having finished  ‘May’ I’m actually more than half done with these panels, that because I’ve already stitched June and July. 

 

I did them as part of my Stitch Maynia last year, so I just have  five more to go.

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

xxx

 

Chart – Joyful World – May

Designer – The Snowflower Diaries – Maja Matyas

Fabric – 32ct Murano Evenweave – Beige

Threads – DMC (called for & substitutes)

Chatelaine Weekender – Butterfly Lace Mandala

 I hope everyone is having a lovey Easter break and is getting lots of stitching in, but a word of caution……..

Keep the chocolate eggs away from your stitching; we don’t want chocolaty finger marks all over our projects, do we!

 

Although it’s a long Easter weekend break,  I’m keeping my ‘weekender’ to Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday as I usually do.

Here’s where I was when I picked her up on Friday evening.

My goal was to finish the outside flower border, made up with backstitch in the dreaded EdMar, rayon thread that I had so much trouble with last weekend and tiny little Jessica stitches for the flower heads.

Thankfully, I finished it with no visits from the frogs this time, and then I went on to start the lacy background, ready to place my second 1 over 1 butterfly.

 Happy Stitching!

Sue 

xxx

‘Souvenir’ Band Sampler Sal – Part 15 – Victoria Sampler

 We are getting very close to an end with the ‘Souvenir’ stitch-a-long from Victoria Sampler.

This week we have created the pointed end to our bell pull and introduced some Hardanger Kloister Blocks  into our stitching as well as some Algerian Eyelets.

Hardanger is usually stitched with Perle cotton thread but as I didn’t have any, I decided to try doing mine with the Weeks Dye Works thread that I’ve been using for the rest of the design and use three strands, which seemed to be about the right thickness.

I also added some small seed beads at the end.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

Stitches so far:- 

Cross stitch, Back stitch,  Lazy Daises,  Rhodes Heart, Colonial Knots,  Bargello,  Satin Stitch,  Hem stitch, French Knots. Blackwork, Double Running Stitch, Honeycomb Stitch, Silk Flowers, Double Rice Stitch, Double Herringbone Stitch, Bullion Knot, Algerian Eyelets, Hardanger Kloister Blocks.

 Threads

Weeks Dye Works,

Classic Colorworks,

The Gentle Art

Madeira Glissen Gloss

Anchor

DMC

Beads

Mill Hill

Brass Charm

Silk Ribbon (4mm)