as I think that I misses posting the last progress picture at all.
Some grey some white and this is where I am upto.
There is less to go than has already been stitched but reaching that point where time slows and progress does as well.
Here is a link to one of the tracks on Forestella's new album. I did not immediately recognise the piece, probably because I have only watched the film it comes from once. Do you know it?
Oh and a little investigation and the lyrics are a constructed language. If you are new to my blog and to Forestella then there are other links to you tube content for the group on my blog, just pick the Forestells links, or do a you tube search there will be lots to see and hear.
to the Charity Shop. It came after taking my mother for Covid Jab and that new one, then whilst we were there a quick visit to the Stray Aid charity shop. It is large and most of the area is navigable in a wheelchair,
I spent £4.50 on the items as shown below.
The cover kit bottom right is missing the pattern I will need to try and figure it out from the picture. The frame is Laura Ashley. Tatty Teddy came with the storage box, the threads material and needle (which is threaded and the piece has been started. And the DMC pattern, I might have left that but my mother noted she liked it.
There are projects stacking up so when they will get done I am not sure but for a bit of retail therapy it was a reasonable amount of expenditure.
that resulted in something quite different than the item I went up there for.
I was looking for some heavy white material with a touch of grey to fix the lid of my washing basket (post of its own of I find it and get fixing) However, it was not to be found. It has not been found in several places already and may continue not to be found all over.
Whilst looking I got my eye on a jungle themed panel I was given by a lady at work and some other bits and pieces, which I think were from Nikita.
Had them for quite some time indeed, hmm sounds familiar. But all of a sudden I knew what I would do with them all.
I cut the panel up into six blocks that each had all nine jungle images in them.
I had a bit more of the lighter toned material and it made for the sashing between the panels and for the middle and sides. The darker material did the bottom and top.
I had four small pieces of the sashing material left over. (they might go into bits-a-quilt repairs or the next bits-a-quilt. Or they might sit in a bag awaiting for some other project. But as you can see there is not much left at all.
Oh I also have four strips, each with three sets of animals on them . Two with the lion at the top and two with the elephant.
I will decide if they are to be a coordinating cushion or form a decorative back. I think that will wait until I have decided what to use as backing...in a little bitty. Or potential several very large bitties to be honest.
Oh and Forestella released a new album today with a new song at the same time.
loosing count, of the weeks and the days but happily not the stitches this time.
I started off with the pink I finished with after last weeks corrections. Then it was back to brown as I finally got around to checking if the two shades I was missing ( I hope it was just the two) were in with Millennium. They were.
Click Here to pop over to my BFF's blog and see what she has been up to. Mind at the moment the link will probably take you to her most recent crafting zone until she gets the SAL posted.
Oh and if you are visiting and don't see your flag on the right and want it added, you need to click on the flag counter. It looks pretty, which is why it is still there. However, it does not count the number of views to my blog from different countries, rather it counts the number of times it is clicked on from my blog and where those clicks originate.
The follow button works, as does the comment via e-mail and the normal comment option. A quick Hi would be nice so I know if any increase in views are from people or robots.
Although at the rate AI is going it won't be long before "they" are capable of leaving comments.
This project had less than auspicious beginnings in very late 2025.
A very blustery day as Winnie the Pooh would say and the wind snatched the gate and slammed it shut in such a way that it twisted the catch jamming it shut. It had to stay that way whilst I took a trip to A&E with my dad in an ambulance. As I fixed the jammed catch the next day the wind played again, another slam and the gate post split.
So a new post and a new gate were required.
An opportunity with the new gate to create access to the garden for hedgehogs.
I asked for a hole to be left in the new gate.
For ease and as they forgot until after the gate was hung the hole is simply the bottom of one of the lats cut off.
It should be sufficient for the intended purpose, but it looks a little unintentional, like a broken bit. That nagged at me and I thought perhaps I could add a small sign over the top of the hole to indicate its purpose.
Hedgehogs welcome, so it was obvious why the gap is there.
"hedgehogs can't read" my mother pointed out. That logic did not take the idea out of my mind.
Indeed having not immediately done something simple my mind then began to Deborahize it.
Not just a sign a frame like a little doorway, with the notice over the top.
Sketched it out then being me started doodling, little plant pots and plants coming up from them and then remembered! I remembered buying a bag of little wooden shapes, there were plant pots, leaves, flowers oh even butterflies in that set. It became something more doable, and perhaps an achievable family project. Something my parents and I could do together.
A trip to the loft and a little strip of thin wood that looked promising for the frame. Found the wood shapes where I thought they were (always a wonderous win) and at the right width to go on my wooden strip.
Choosing which leaves and flowers to add, My mother took over that part of the planning. Quick photo to keep the order in mind.
Back to the loft to get the one long bit of wood into three bits as per the sketch. Glue them together.
My mother coloured in the shapes using water soluble pencils. She found it a bit frustrating as the colours on the pencil was not quite the colour that appeared.
There was a slight design deviation during the colouring process which came to light when I glued the shapes in place.
I added the words..
Then off to the loft, half a tin of clear varnish was sadly solid, the gold tinted varnish was not going to work. None to buy in the local shops so I had to order some on line.
I would note it might have been wise to check that it was going to fit the space, given I had done a quick measurement of it on a bit of brown paper. Sometimes I am not wise.
Fingers crossed then
Varnish arrived project delayed a bit more, more paternal health concerns. Then a lack of energy for clambering into the rather cold loft.
First coat on, then well its cold and a bit damp in the loft so more time for that to dry than suggested on the tin.
A couple of bright and sunny days then snow..even colder in the loft but had to go up to get the containers down to put the Christmas decorations in so second coat done. With hopes it might be dry by the time I actually get around to putting the decorations back up in the loft.
Nope still too cold for a speedy dry, but then the gate is not itself dry enough at this point for attaching the sign (which still have my fingers crossed for it fitting) and with the first named storm of the year approaching with some snow on the ground more waiting it is then.
And waiting equals contemplating, glue it on or screw it on? ?
And more snow, and rain and wind and it being very cold, so extra contemplation time.... and a TV program with David Attenborough about the wildlife in London, and people cutting holes in fences between gardens for hedgehogs and calling it a hedgehog highway . And oh, they have little signs up over the gaps saying that. So perhaps not as mad an idea as I thought.
The way the weather is going, and it is the time of year for poor weather the gate might get painted , we are onto the third named storm of the year and still in January.
As is oft the case the initial hurry hurry has become ah no rush perhaps better wait for the better weather and being able to get the gate painted first.
February comes and goes with lots more inclement weather, March comes with a couple of promising sunny days and then back to the wet weather.
even more of the hurry hurry has faded even with my mother asking about it.
April and I have the green paint for the gate, which only leaked a little bit (I bought it off the internet and some reviewers had a less successful and much wetter delivery). I am waiting foe some sunny days to dry the gate so I can paint it and for it to dry.
So sunny days, not many, but very warm and the gate is dry and perhaps enough for the paint to dry, and my brother visiting because of my Father health and my Mother decided that we should paint the fence together as he is taller and could paint the top.
.
All nice and green, now and it dried fast. Fast enough to get the sign attached. Drilled some holes, not necessarily all in the right places. Glue and tacks (which my brother had to knock in as all that painting apparently weakened my arms )
Hopefully now we have the sign up and the weather is getting better the hedgehogs will come a visiting.
And that the sign stays in place a good long time, it being a family effort in design and make and placement, and my poorly Dad managed to pop outside for a moment and provide quality control. He deemed it as quite smart looking.
Oh and it fit, crossed fingers were successful. And yes the path ended up with its share of green paint.
I expect the slugs and snails that live in our garden will be hoping the sign is a failure.
is something that comes up on both Facebook groups and I have a feeling there is a blog that promotes that as well.
So my dragons, from the WOX and designed by Anne Stokes, the backstitch on the teal dragon was somewhat slower going than on the blue. Nothing to do with the change in thread , it just was.
The eyes were supposed to be French knots but instead I just did little black stitches and a teeny stitch of gold blending filament. I may have mentioned before that I have a Little BIT of gold blending filament.
I had decided that behind the warm toned linen I would put some gold card. Actual I started out thinking I would use some dark gold sparkly wrapping paper. and that looked rather good the sparkle came through in a delightful manner. But, you could feel that but coming couldn't you, I was a bit concerned the glittery part would come off the paper and do weird things to the fabric over time. So time to hunt for the gold card, I was pretty sure I had some, and indeed I did.
If you have visited before then you know I save stuff, I make do and mend and recycle where I can. Therefore it will not be a surprise that the gold card had a life before adding to this piece. It was the top of a box of chocolates from Thorntons that a former team leader and his wife gifted me many years ago. Thanks Ian and Sue, the box has extended the life and usefulness of that gift past the consumption of the chocolates.
The wide frame I has was rejected and became the home for an earlier finish, as per my earlier post and this thinner frame with a touch of gold felt as if it fitted both the frame and its intended destination much better.
I like the changes I made to the material used, the colour of the knotwork and the thread count that let me use an 8" square aperture for it,
I would have posted this yesterday, but it might have looked like an April fools, that my BFF and I are doing the same pattern as they are looking quite a bit different so far.
I started with the pink and a recount or two as it did not look to be curving as anticipated. However the curve did appear so I guess it was ok.
Onto the green which looked rather brighter than I thought, double check the number and the right one so I guess it is OK.
As I am sort of cross country here and not filling in sections as I go I am trying to make sure I double check the negative spaces as well as counting the stitches as I go.
Looks to be working so far , so I guess its OK.
It looks guessable to me but I have some elements un-started that Roni has begun. Pop over to her blog for her update CLICK HERE all is well that ends well and she is OK.
Forestella are due to release a new song soon, I know the title and at this point would prefer not to have a project that it goes with...Armageddon! The lyrics might be something that lets me tie into a project for sharing. So I guess that will be OK.
Very useful is an OK. Although sometimes "I'm OK" is a bald faced lie.
was always driving me places, including places to buy material, wadding, thread and assorted craft related stuff.
I made him a cushion for the car. well for him to have in the car, you never know when one might come in handy.
The centre diamond was in a satin that was as close to the colour of the car as I could get it.
And why the diamond?
to match the make of the car of course. The car is long gone but the cushion well it is around somewhere. If I come across it perhaps I will take a better picture of it.
on different material but I think the same count this time. (or perhaps not , see her comment below)
I have gone with 14 count white.
Started in the middle and this is my work for the evening.
There was a point it looked a bit like an elephant, then a cat, then maybe a kiwi. Roni thought it had a moment of being a bear cub but now I think it looks like what it is.
There is a phrase from my childhood that my brain offers up in an Australian accent, that the actions of the person to whom the phrase is associated makes its use feel uncomfortable. Yet still when referring to guessing what something might become from scanty visual information that is what my brain offers up as being the thing to say.
as usual we are not saying at the moment what we are working on as some visitors like to guess as we go. Using both my and my BFF's images as a clue as we tend, totally without discussion to stich different bits even when we start at the same point.
CLICK HERE to visit her blog or use the link under my blog list on the right to see her evenings progress.
It was nice to have some thing that was normal routine in this week.
My BFF and I both started with the needlebook. I did a bit of drawn thread at top and bottom then started stitching it to the blue felt. I was halfway across the top when I realised I was stitching it on the wrong part of the felt for it to close as a book,
I was mid sentence when it dawned on me and the exclamation of "I am sewing it on the wrong way up" flowed out into the conversation...I will let Roni tell you her reaction to that Click HERE.
So I unpicked it and started again. However, it was perhaps fortuitous as it gave me pause to consider how to attach the ribbon.
I used crossed stitches with sewing thread and found it very therapeutic, if somewhat slow.
Roni and I agreed that we would finish both the needle case and scissor keeper off screen. I had intended this as a gift and all of a sudden instead of posting it the opportunity for an in person hand over if I finished faster occurred. Plus we have a solid plan for BFF 24
So here they are, with added beads, and initials. Changed the ribbon to go with the little silver L
Snowdrops
I rather enjoyed this one. It has the possibility of being a repeat project. I have felt in the stash, and ribbon and well everything I need I guess.
and wow its like putting on glasses in the morning and the world comes into focus.
The blue on the blue worked and I only found four edge ninjas on the way around.
On to the teal and fingers crossed, tempted to use the blue as it is now a known quantity but going to stick to the plan and teal it is. Now the blue was Moon thread, the Teal is Gutermann so might be just a little bit different.
Backstitching. That tiny detail that somehow manages to be both essential and utterly maddening.
I’d been looking at the special threads people on Facebook kindly recommended, but the only way for me to get them was online. That meant no chance to see them in person, no way to judge how fine they really were. And of course, the postage for one skein cost as much as the thread itself, and without knowing if it would meet my need I was not inclined to order multiples to make the postage feel worth it.
A lot of people suggested using ordinary sewing thread instead. At first glance it looked too thick, but then I started wondering if the problem wasn’t the thickness at all — maybe it was just too black. A few encouraging souls even said the piece looked good enough without any backstitching at all.
I’d never seriously considered leaving it off. But it did make me pause.
So I laid out the options: from left to right, a dark blue, a very dark teal, and the original black. I stared at them, put them away, got them out again and dithered a bit. Eventually I decided to embrace the colours — blue for the blue dragon, teal for the teal one. It felt right, enough contrast without overwhelming the cross stitch.
I started with the blue, and honestly, the difference on the dragon’s face was instantly encouraging. It’s amazing how a few lines can bring a creature to life.
My mother asked why I was studying the pattern so intently when I was “just backstitching”. She had somehow forgotten that backstitching does not mean simply outlining the edges. If only it were that simple
and one of those that the backstitch makes all the difference.
I did have a frame and a mount in mind but nope the mount was just that bit too small. So a full finish is delayed by the framing. As can oft be the case for me.
I finished it on the Monday, which had also included a home visit by what in my childhood I called a vampire lady. In my defence the nurse of my childhood tasked with extracting the red fluid had a very Hammer House of Horror vampire updo. In this case it was my Dad providing the destination for the needle. By the look on his face it did not feel like a "short, sharp scratch", and the nice nurse would have looked out of place next to Vincent Price.
oddly as I had been stitching on my designated Sunday project during the week, and pretty much swooshing along at pace filling in easy to see sections come Sunday and nope.
It was as if I had come to a stop sign and needed to start something new, something small and give the kittens/cats a rest.
Not much to see so far, it is a start, it may have arrived with some seasonal items but this is not so further progress will be shared.
BFF once more a journeying so as planned a RAL. Although not quite as originally planned for either of us .
Roni had intended to sew (on what she may or may not tell you in her blog) but the call of the wool overtook her instead.
I thought to try the wool option myself, but two rows in and it was squeaky and annoying, so it went back into its bag, sans picture and will have to wait once more for Fidgety Fingers and TV loud enough to counter the squeak.
Hmm so then what to do.
Card up some kits ready to start when I feel like it. This kit has one design in it.
This kit has two
Both are seasonal and I think this will be the last I share of them until that season is upon us, all of a sudden and quite a surprise as usual.
If you saw the last update on this project you will notice a lot of progress. That is not due to a super fast session of stitching today,
Nope, there has been some during the week on the basis of not wanting to start something new until the Dragons are completed and they are waiting on the backstitch.
Let me explain. All of the cross stitch is I think finished. There may be some ninjas hiding on the edges that will make themselves known when I am Backstitching.
Ah and that is the reason for the pause the backstitching, I am contemplating what to use.
The pattern of course recommends one strand of 310. However, it also recommended two strands on 14 count Aida and I have not done that. My Dragons are one over one on linen. So small stitches.
I think backstitching with one strand of DMC might be too wide and impact on the detail. I am not sure if my usual solution to this issue is going to work. Both on the basis of darkness and availability. I don't think mid to dark brown will do. I do know someone with the right shade and a decent length but I have only met her a few times, and I am not sure how comfortable I would feel about asking?
So a ? raised on Facebook cross stitching groups to see if anyone has any ideas of what would be suitable. I little space from it might be good anyways.
It does look quite nice as it is in the photograph, but in reality its a bit like looking at something just slightly out of focus and I expect the backstitching will sharpen it all up.
I have recieved some suggestions and then been trying to find somewhere on line to get them, but if anyone visiting has any thoughts please leave a comment.
Stake conference, so more stitching time than a normal Sunday but not quite as much as a General Conference. Watching via You Tube this week and nit via Zoom, I do prefer the former but being able to "attend " remotely via either remains a blessing.
Still stitching with the light grey. I think there will be a change in shade if not in colour for next week.
There is still a paw on the left kitten to do in both white and grey but it just does not feel like a good jumping off point at the moment.
I have not forgotten the dragons. I have been on a ninja hunt, here a stitch there a stitch, two the same shade at the same time bliss.
I think I have under thirty stitches to go, all on the wing struts.
I hope I have spotted all the stitches around the edges. If not well backstitching will no doubt serve its dual purpose and not only add clarity to the design but flush out any lingering ninja stitches.
I am happy with the variegated thread replacing the intended thread from the cover kit.
I am also happy with the result of my initial error. You can play spot the difference between my BFF's version (she followed the pattern except for the variegated swop)
next week we move to the stitching on SAL 23 part two.
Oh Click Here for my BFF's blog and that spot the difference game.
I have been framing today, after the Sunday stitching and before ninja hunting on the dragons.
As the framed items are gifts can't post them just yet. However, when holding finished stitches up for my BFF to see over Messenger she oft asks me to put something behind to stop the light coming through and distorting the image she can see.
That reminded me of the unplanned result of adding yellow paper behind the design on a birth sampler because there were cut out Ducks in the mount I wanted to emphasise. The result was a subtle warming of the cross stitched piece.
So in this instance I thought something much more intentional and reflective of the colours I would want as the subtle shade.
So it does not look like much but here it is.
It is for three finishes , one bigger than the other two. In person, I can see the difference it makes and on pieces that are not full coverage I think I may well do variations on this as a framing technique in future.
I didn't think it would show much on the photographs but it does come through and I am quite pleased with the result. So now to arrange getting them to the recipients.
Then once I can post the full pictures perhaps you will tell me if you can see the difference the back sheet makes or if I am seeing it because I know it is there?
