Wednesday, 20 November 2024

BFF RAL week three

 still working on the same project both in "camera" time and off.

So the progress here is not just from our slightly shortened session.

Due to the colour and directional changes I am enjoying the repeated or perhaps reflected motifs.


I think that the different colours show better in this weeks picture.

I don't have a before and after shot as an example but the impact the burgundy backstich has on the colours it is outlining is quite surprising.


















Here is a wider view.     
                                                                                   

My BFF is also working on her RAL, she has a lot on work related at the moment but pop on over to her blog for an update.









Thursday, 14 November 2024

Quilts on the line

 just because they looked pretty hanging there with the low Autumn sun shining through. I took pictures.


The quilt with the dark pink backing is Sampler Quilt


 


The other is Chorley-postage-stamp-quilt.html







Wednesday, 13 November 2024

BFF RAL week two

Although at the moment its not that random as we are each sticking to the same project of choice, we just are not working jointly on a project.

 I have made reasonable progress and this is an adventure as the illustration for the finished look is just that, an illustration not a picture of a finished piece.

As such the colours are being somewhat unexpected.

It is a little hard to tell here but those checked sections are in different colours.

On the illustration they look exactly the same.

I have added a close up for reference.

Doing the backstitch as I go is working for me on this so I will keep doing it that way..





Pop on over to my BFF's blog to see how things are going on her time sensitive project.

CLICK HERE

Sunday, 10 November 2024

Sunday Stitching 10 November 24

 this week the additional tome is due to watching the remembrance ceremony at the cenotaph   (other than the two mins silence of course)


I think it has gone from a bit scary to sad ?












I also did a little on the project I started on Wednesday BFF session. There is less to show than there was sewing done. Yes the frog had to help me out of a counting mistake. Ah well I enjoyed stitching it in the first place so I get double the fun having to do it again.  I have also learned that with this pattern doing the backstitch as I go is going to help with the counting.





Friday, 8 November 2024

BFF RAL

 whilst we still have the backstitching to go on SAL 16 and have a maybe plan for 17 (gosh yes 17) this week it is a RAL  (Random Along).

I felt like starting something new, so I did. Not what I might consider my normal style, but a change can be fun.


hmm well not looking like much at the moment but it was very relaxing.

I did do a little more on the  pattern I was working on last week off camera, as that is allowed for a RAL.


my BFF has not posted as I finish this so I can't link to post but if you click on the link at the side of my blog it will get you there. 

Sunday, 3 November 2024

Sunday Stitchings November 3rd 2024

 I thought I would do the next shade of brown, that there would be something viewable at the end. Oh and the brown stood out, erm perhaps a bit much. Oh too much, I had sewn with the darkest shade and it was the wrong one.

So out it came, faster than it went in, I managed to get all of the incorrect colour out and a little start on the right shade within my normal Sunday sewing time.



When I got home, and after lunch I went to take the update picture and there was not that much to show. I decided to apply BFF Sal rules when frogging has been required. Going back to where I would have been at the point the mistake was spotted.

However, I got a bit carried away as as those stitches were in the ! I will just finish this length of thread" lie popped into my head. Followed by "there are only a few stitches left in this section" on loop.

The result quite a bit more progress than I would have made within normal Sunday  Stitchings time.

There was nothing made in our Primary lesson at Church today, but my candle is still in place.

Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Halloween link up 2024

 Usually at this time of the year I join in the Trick or Treat Blog hop hosted by Jo over at https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/  but organising the hop is a lot of work for Jo and this year life is busy so instead of the hop it is a link up.

I like to try and do something new for the hop each year and happily had something finished ready so it can be added for the link up.

It is a modification of a design in issue 350 of The World of Cross Stitching. One of four designs by Fiona Baker, intended  to be a coloured cross stitch with a blackwork frame.

For speed I decided to just do an outline of the central image and added a little bit of gold blending filament  I have a little bit of that to use up



after the picture there would normally be the letter for the hop and a link to the next blog. If you did not come here from Jo's blog then use the link at the top and see what other themed stitches are about.

If you are still craving more Halloween themed stuff  you can link to previous years hops click on the Halloween label link at the bottom of the page.


Oh and I have shared this particular Forestella song before but as a ghost story it fits




Sunday, 27 October 2024

Sunday Stitchings back on track

 it has been a few weeks without Sunday Stitchings due to a cold that settled in that I did not want to spread and then a migraine.

Its nice to be back at Church. 

Added some light grey this week 


not easy to see on this picture, but it is there on the ears and just a few stitches in the middle.

There was a bit of crafting in Primary as well, we were learning about letting our light shine and being like Jesus. So we made candles from sticky backed foam.

The children were tasked with pitting their finished candle somewhere they could see it to remind them to each day try and be a light to their friends and family by doing good things.

I got to make one for myself (in between being in charge of the scissors and cutting the pieces as instructed by the children who are mostly still too young for very sharp scissors) and of course I have the same task as the children.


I just happen to have a wall sconce so out came the wax candle that was in it and in went the foam one.  Oh and the back of the card has a holographic surface you can see reflected in the mirrored section of the wall sconce.

I quite like the fake candle in place of a real one, although perhaps not quite the colour scheme I might have chosen, this was based mostly on the bits left after cutting pieces for the children.

Perhaps at some point I will make a fake candle more reflective of the sconce and the other items displayed on the same wall.

But for the moment it is certainly going to catch my eye and act as the intended reminder.



Saturday, 26 October 2024

BFF SAL 16 or is it ?

 I finished that last little bit of sky off camera.  Not that it looks like much difference from the last update but here it is ready for the backstitch.


 I was quite looking forward to the backstitch and getting this into the frame I had measured my section to fit.

The best laid plans...

Issue one my BFF had other life things occur and let me know she would not be ready to backstitch in time.

That was fine, change of plan, I would work on the frame and sort out the mount.

Of mice and crafters...

The frame was a charity shop purchase and had been waiting in the loft for its opportunity. It had a print in it, "so many sales so little time" so taking that out to make way for a cross stitch was an improvement, well it might have been.

But it had been finished very securely on the back. Under the masking tape it was proper framer staple fastened. I have worked with such before successfully but this was not budging and I got the feeling if I persisted all I would end up with was a broken glass.

oft go astray..

and broken glass can have other consequences, so I have given up on that framing plan and the frame itself with its print, well it will be going to a different charity shop, perhaps someone else will want it for the print. I have not replaced the masking tape so that another  re-framer will be able to see the issues with it for that purpose.

That leaves the question of what I did with the rest of our evening?

The answer is 


any guesses?

as for my BFF well Click Here for a delightful double update.

you may notice that I am late with my blog post, that was due to a combination of our stitching session overrunning a little followed by my being ill the day after our stitch session and a catch up on the Friday.

However I shall consider it serendipitous as it means I am posting on the day that Forestella have released a new original song. So whilst my frame issue is not quite at the level of the title of the new song I shall shoehorn it in!


If you follow K-Pop at all you might feel that this is something that Hong Seunghan  formerly of the group RIIZE might sing. It makes me happy that the fan group I belong to Soopbyeol is made up of a differently minded fan base that is supportive of the group being real people with lives and relationships.

Back to the stitching, as my BFF noted she has a scheduling conflict for next week, so that backstitching is going to wait a bit longer. Which will give me time to got frame shopping, initially in the loft and my stash, fingers crossed one of the frames I have will suit. If not it might be awhile finding one the right size.


Wednesday, 16 October 2024

BFF SAL 16 substitutions

 how annoying is it when you know you have a particular shade of thread and it is not in its place in the box, or in any of the ongoing projects it might be with!

Very that's the answer to that. So there were substitutions and I am nearly almost done ! Ah so near and yet so far! All the full cross stitches are done, just half stitches in one or two strands of the same blue remain to do before backstitching can start.


The big white space, or slice of cheese as my BFF referred to it is now filled in and looking much more boat.

The little houses are all done.

I anticipate it will be backstitching next week and then we will change to BFF randoms till the New year I expect when BFF 17 will need to be chosen.

I am not sure yet if this is for me or if it will be gifted. 

I might add a little something to the design either way, but the what is going to depend on the for whom!

Click Here to pop over to my BFF's blog for her update.