Mum's second piece - finished

well I received these scans from mum a couple of days ago. She has finished this piece now. Sorry the scan of the framed version is not so good - but it does show the mount that came with the kit. She;s already started her third piece and I should be getting a scan of that tomorrow. OK off to stitch Mystery IX now.

Getting the hang of metallics

Well its Friday night - the neighbours are annoying and Paul is in the grip of his muse!

I spent most of the week struggling with the Kreinik filament before being given some helpful hints! Thanks Larene, Kristina and Paula! I was planning on getting more done on the weekend - but Mystery IX part 5 was just released so I will work on that now and come back to Rhiannon later. Hopefully I will get Part 5 of Mystery IX finished by *next* weekend so I can get back to Rhiannon.

I loathe metallics

I've just started the metallics and now I know why not many people have completed this design - the metallics are awful! Two strands of Kreinik blending filament on their own. They slip, they slide, they tangle, they knot, they split apart .... just awful. I'm having to grit my teeth and persevere. My stitching speed has slowed to a crawl while I wrestle with these threads!

I've given myself one more week to wrestle with this. If I haven;t finished the design by next Sunday then its getting put away. Did I mention that I'm starting to loathe the Kreinik blending filaments ......

Rhiannon update

Well Mum's shown me hers, so here's me showing mine. Rhiannon progress as it stood 10 mins ago.

Mum's second piece - so far

Mum's second piece - a cover kit from a Cross Stitch Collection magazine. It has lots of shades very similar colours and she is finding this a real challenge. I think so many similar shades on such a small project is an advanced project! She plans to finish it over the weekend! She's been working on it on and off for four nights so far.

Would you believe there are four shades of red, three shades of purple, three shades of yellow, three shades of flesh tone etc ..... I admire mum;s tenacity - I would have thrown it away and done something else by now.

Stashing! From the ONline Needlework Show

Spent a few hours online last night perusing the online needlework show.  Bad thing to do ... verry bad !!!!

I've asked Laura at Crafty Frog if she can order the following for me:

*Livres Chat Rouge
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?agd402-17

**Mappemonde Colors
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?agd402-02

**Dragons Welcome**
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?cek314-02

**Principia
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?cek314-17

**What part of cat don't you understand? (with charms)
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?dbl227-07

**Do You See What I See? Illusions
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?fkw301-18

**Flying Monkeys**
http://www.theneedleworkshow.com/cgi-bin/detailc.pl?glb228-06

I'm waiting to see what she can and cannot get in for me - and then I think my wallet and credit card will be screaming for dear life!

Moonflower Designs

Moonflower designs, the designer of the Best Friends chart I completed this year, now has online ordering.  Although her postage rates are for US, she will sell overseas too.

www.moonflowerneedleart.com 

I ordered two more designs from her this morning.

Gothic: 
http://www.moonflowerneedleart.com/html/smallscapes_7.html

Love Creates Magic:
http://www.moonflowerneedleart.com/html/charts_5.html

Hugs
Mel. 

The Rhiannon problem

Here's the actual problem with pictures in case anyone is interested ....

On the cover pic:
In her black worked hair, on the extreme right of the pattern, just above and to the right of her earring, there are three strands of hair falling from top right to bottom left. The ends of these three strands are in line with the downward pointing moon, the sun and then the upward pointing moon on the edge of her cloak.

On the chart:
The whole side of her headdress appears further away, and the middle of these three lines appears to be divided into two (making four in total for this section, with a strange vertical line going up from there.

Have you seen this before? Have you re charted this section to correct this discrepancy? I'd really like the pattern to match the cover pic as I prefer it in this instance, to the chart .

Hugs
Mel.

Mum

Hmmm, is it enabling when all of their acquisitions come from *your* stash ??? Mum went home with 8 or 10 little kits (mostly cover kits from magazines and Cross Stitch magic kits) a couple of charts from Cross Stitch Magic, all of my duplicate magazines and my copy of Rosemarkie from LongDog!

We also did a run to the local Spotlight store before she went home and bought her, her own scissors, needles, set of three hoops, some DMC floss including two variegated skeins, two packets of precut Aida cloth (white and cream) and a box to wind and store her bobbins.

As Paul said when we got home - "You are so proud, aren't you". My answer was YEP!

Here's a pic of her first design. She changed the count size, and the colours. It was originally all in dark royal blue, but Mum decided to split the design into two colours to "highlight" the birds.

She's rung me each night since she returned home to tell me her progress on her second design. This one has lots of colours and most are similar shades, so she's finding it a bit of a challenge, but she's still having lots of fun.

Finished pieces

My very first ever cross stitch done in 1991. Bought this and the bluebells as kits and done them both up at the same time. Mum had these in storage and showed me today 13 May 2007.

Cross stitched pieces I have finished over the years (and remembered to take photographs of).

From 1993 onwards. Current calendar year's finishes are in its own album.

First post

Well here it is - I've been thinking of using a blog for a while - but then I've thought its been a bit pretentious thinking everyone will want to read whatever drivel I've spouted :) And there are some people in the world who I don;t want reading whatever drivel I've spouted. So this place seems like the best place for me. I *think* I've set it up so that only my contacts can see my posts and I'll be sharing with like-minded individuals. Lets see how long this lasts :)

Incidentally here's the first letter of the bookmark I'm working on for Paul's mum's birthday in June. Its my next secret stitching project.