completed, there were a couple of unique points but still happy with how things are going.
There are points that I have needed to stop and start with thread lengths to get the colour transitions to work at splits of the branches or where one line flows into two. That is part of the fun.
And so onto the last space and the second Wyvern.
Had a late start because I fell asleep. My sleep patterns are a bit off at the moment.
Once awake, well sort of I started with the pink. Managed two shades and some filling before my eyes objected to recognising the symbols on the pattern.
I was going to stop then recalled I had finally got the black thread out so
The mouse has an eye. There is still a touch of white to go into the eye to give it a bit of sparkle. But it looks less like a zombie mouse now.
Then I stopped with the stitching and went to look at the WOX Etsy store. As I get to pick a PDF pattern from there as a thankyou for my published letter. There is a limit to that, can't choose any of the Wrendale patterns. Which given we are stitching one at the moment is somewhat ironic.
My BFF and I looked together, which is fun at times as we do have different tastes BFF SALs or not.
There were some we both liked the look of but did not think we would like to stitch them. Some we liked but did not think the framing would be easy and was a bit essential. Others one liked the other did not and back and forth we went. This is the second time I have been given this opportunity and I've not stitched the last one.
We did eventual reach a decision, and I will let WOC know.
When it gets sewn is another thing entirely.
CLICK HERE to see my BFF's progress
Pink and purple this week.
Things always feel slowed down the closer to finished they get.
And as for a Forestella link, well this rather different version of a familiar song was a must!
on the description of random numbered threads.
You may have seen my posts with the castle and dragon sampler using variegated thread or my Christmas gift box which contains non DMC thread that has DMC compatible numbers.
Some was gifted to me and some I bought from TEMU.
Usually I have bought either the variegated sets or toned sets of teal or skin tones.
I did however also get two packs of " random assortment"
Here they are.
holiday chatting and other discussions and not watching the football.
there was less pink than there might have been as I made an ohps. Which I could not figure out and by the magic of the internet my friend did.
Still it was a pleasant evening of friendship.
Now off to watch you tube videos on attaching piping with a twist, in friendly solidarity.
Click Here to see my BFF's progress.
what fun, actually how funny as I received the mag, flipped through the letters page looking for a different letter and pictures submitted and which I have not bogged about yet and totally missed this.
Only spotted it when I was reading the letter top left and thought oh there is a dragons....oh it is mine.
Always nice to be in the WOX.
In case you missed it, and well you might have a little money from the internet thing I became aware of and s referral link to the Microsoft/ Bing rewards thingy from me https://rewards.bing.com/welcome?rh=pnkaXyr5VKc&ref=rafsrchae.
and two shades of purple today.
I think it will be back to pink next week.
using Microsoft Rewards using Bing search?
Once you have signed up each time you complete a search, or a set activity you get points. When you get sufficient points you can convert them to various gift cards , for example Amazon, Starbucks, Burger King, Etsy and more and spend them. Or you can donate them to a charity, there are a lot of options there as well. How many points you need to redeem varies for each type.
Now if you feel like doing that, you could consider using
This referral link by clicking here
Now I will be clear you don't have to use that, I think you will find it just fine if you google it. But if you choose the link there is a set up bonus of 1,320 points for you, and for me I get something for the referral. I get 1 point each time you make a search. So if you do then many thanks and if you don't well it didn't hurt to ask.
Shy Bairns get nee sweets as they say locally.
Oh and they also do a Microsoft Cashback thing. Of which I understand less, and went to explore as one of the activities in the rewards thing to get more points. Once there, well I guess I had signed up for that at some stage, managed to use it and there was a little over £15 in cash back waiting. For that you do need a paypal account for the cash back to be credited to.
Anyway that was a nice surprise and went towards a PITTA CD, I had been debating treating myself to, and now well it feels mostly free. It includes one of my favourite tracks.
One shade of pink, a little filling in both to the left and to the right.
a bit easier to see the progress this time.
lots of straight lines, no need to try and make curves here. That did not stop there being planning, ground and cliffs and roofs stitched horizontally. The castle walls vertically.
In some ways this was less stressful that the wyvern. There are some design deviations here and there but overall it fits.
This feels by title if nothing else to be a perfect Forestella song.
is so much fun.
I was working in pink again this week ( after a little tech support/ hand holding as my mother
's new phone had arrived) and after adding the dark pink to the almost done flower, then mad a start on the last two, I reached this point.
With a nice just fill it in no counting area.
Perfect for the last little bit of sewing for the evening.
I think the sweet peas are looking recognizable now.
CLICK HERE to see my BFF's progress.
a touch of pink, pale pink. It may not show up that well in the picture but it is there.
A touch of pink makes me think of Audie Murphy, he sang it in one of his films, and if I recall correctly he wrote it as well.
As for the kittens, its mostly blanket to go, there are a few bits around the ginger cats whiskers and paws but other than that blanket.
I am still working on this project but I am not posting it on an "as I go" basis.
I am posting various stages when I feel like it. Either when I have used up another skein of the thread or when an element has been completed.
In this instance it is the latter and there is a dragon , well of sorts, as it only has two legs I think the proper description is a Wyvern but whilst I am splitting threads to sew it I am not splitting them in the name.
It was interesting changing the direction of the stitching to trey and give curvature and movement to it.
I did have a deviation from the design here as I made an unpickable error. However, I am happy with it.
Here is a picture of the whole piece at this point in the project.
Oh a shade of grey I had missed, done now and a touch of red.
There was not as much stitching this week as I enjoyed the Priesthood Choir and the memories they invoked.
time for the fun part I have been looking forward to.
Time to think about how the direction or placement of the stitches in the variegated thread can be used to enhance the flow and movement of the design.
On feeling the curve here.
Not something I focused on for the edge designs.
Now are you wondering what it could be? Ah you know, what else!
the mouse is done, apart from the eye, which I will leave till last.
I can see the shading on this so much better in this picture than in person. The flowers look more complete this way as well. It is odd that even at arms length it does not come together visually, it needs distance.
Click HERE for my BFF;s update.
and Branch conference.
Last of the shading under the kittens is done so turning back to the brighter colours with a touch of pinky red
and two skeins used, the third started and the edges are done.
I so wanted to start the sections that go into the empty squares, but had to keep with the edge designs first.
There is one mistake in the outer pattern, I can see it, I thought it might hide but nope I can see it. I am contemplating if I can overstitch the one X that is in the wrong place with a shade matching the fabric and then add the stitch into the right place.
Maybe by the time the full thing is finished I can revisit that thought, it might have hidden itself by then?
Adding the album version of this Forestella song as I just happen to be listening to it whilst drafting this blog.
so Sunday and more grey.
and a bit of "what now" laughter at myself, all that stitching and this is th first time I noticed the griding on the pattern is five by five as well as the ten by ten.
the Saturday before was a display and share craft evening at Church. Two hours there abouts from 5 ish to 7 ish. I only took two quilts to display as I was not sure of the space I would have, and three cross stitches that were easy to grab, no taking them off the wall.
As got the demonstrate and share so visitors could take something away.
I did felt needle cases. I did the demo one and there were four made. Well three made their own and the fourth was a little boy who told me he was not allowed to touch pins or needles, so he designed and I sewed.
The blue in the middle is mine, with cut out felt flowers, to the left the flowers are pre- formed ribbon flowers I bought and to the right three cut felt flowers and letter beads that were the little boy's mother and father.
Other crafts on offer were candle making, cross stitch, sewn cards, crochet and a drawing class.
brown to start till my eye were fed up with that. Then green, that is the last of the green done and then onto the light pink.
to see my BFF's progress (once shared) Click HERE
We anticipate a RAL for next week.
More brown, a touch of black and some pale grey foreground shading.
so I decided to fix the miscount on the RAL stitch, and add one more colour.
Not sure when I will pick it up again but there is no urgency to this.
makes the thread go a long way. This is one full skein into this pattern. Using Variegated thread.
It runs from a dark grey through a brown to a purple red and a mid then light brown. Not that it is showing up all that well here.
why special? Well most people were on the tech option today as there was a special multi stake conference for the UK and Northern Ireland.
A live broadcast via You Tube.
It was slotted for two hours but was not quite as long as anticipated. However, it did give me a bit more stitching time than usual and after a few stitches of grey I felt up to doing some brown.
Two shades of brown and it feels like a lot of filling was achieved.
Because of the self imposed "when to stitch" time restrictions there are still several weeks worth of stitching to go I think. Still I am already contemplating the question of what next, is there going to be a designated next at all. Originally the Sunday stitching was something to take to church and work on in the Relief Society room whilst listening to the talks and avoiding the migraine inducing lights in the chapel. Things have changed due to my parents health and attendance is via Zoom at the moment.
So I control the lights now. That an all my crafting stuff is available to keep my hands busy so my brain can focus.
Not the time to decide just yet but soon?
and mount for £1 and I thought maybe I know what might fit in that.
Brought it home and fit it did.
And now it is on the wall.
You might recognise it as BFF SAL 14 (and currently on number 24 , just wow!) Click HERE for details of the finish and pattern. As that is quicker for me than typing it in again.
one of the missing browns.
Oddly my BFF and I were working on the same shade, the symbol sounding like a yoga pose, the downward triangle.
The initial stitches went in as fillers between previous stitches, that was nice. Then they moved into areas that did not have that framework. That was a little bit more work. There are still stitches to go in that shade but my eyes were tired of them before our designated time was up.
There were two stitches in "sideways lollypop" which symbol lead to the earworm of the Oh lollypop lolly lolly pop song.
Being a good friend I shared!
Click HERE for my BFF's update.
whichever it is I find that I need a little foot stool to be comfortable. Finding one the right hight was proving difficult so many years ago my father made one for me. From a wooden cutlery tray, four knobs a bit of wood, foam, hinges and some brown velvet. I guess the Mice from the Marvellous Mouse Organ and The Wombles are not alone to blame for my make do and mend thoughts.
Perfect.
After many years of use reupholstering was required.
A stapler gun later (a pink one as it was £1 cheaper in that shade than it was in either green or grey) and a new cover was in place.
I keep my seed beads in here, well and random other stuff like tassels. It rather needs a sort out.
But for the moment I am happy to have my foot stool back.
A little more grey and a little bit closer to getting back to the brown and towards finishing the first kitten.
I am wondering if a local cat shelter might like this? It is quite large and not my style for my home. My brother and his wife whilst liking cats have rapidly reducing wall space so I think on this occasion its not "them" enough to gift.
So either as a fundraiser or perhaps I could add the name of the place. I might investigate further and ask when closer to a finish.
as my BFF was out and about for work again this week.
I could have used an ongoing project for my RAL but instead I decided to start a little kit.
At the point I stopped I had just spotted a mistake so now I need to figure out fixing it. It is just a stitch out but that can be enough on a small pattern.
A very light grey was the thread choice for todays stitchings.
Adding to the black and white kitten. Such a pale grey that it was hard to tell the difference from the white whilst sewing. However, it does feel like it has filled things in a tad.
I would note that this kit notes the thread contained in it is DMC. It came pre-carded with each thread numbered on the card 1 thought to 25. The pattern has symbols, the key notes the number on the card relating to that symbol and provides a description of the colour, black, white, light grey ect in several languages. What it does not do is provide the DMC number for the thread.
I am going to assume this is to stop the pattern being passed on and sewn more than once. Well unless you are very good at colour matching or, or you consider there are no factional stitches and no backstitch and so ? So it would lend itself to being stitched one over one on a very small count? And there looks likely to be sufficient left over to manage that. The thing is cute as they are the kittens are I think for me a once and done stitch. Most of the time that is true of patterns even when I enjoy them a lot and think to myself that I might do them again to date repeats have only occurred for birth sampler patterns. It was a thought though.
Oh and a Forestella link as I am becoming rather fond of this particular song.
that was the essence of my colour choice for this evenings session. The result two shades of pink and a touch of green.
I now have jump off points for the top two flowers. This evenings chatting was a little odd as I was sure there was something I was going to say to my BFF, something to tell that could wait for our face to face chat, not important enough to need immediate telling via Messenger, and I could not recall what it was at all.
Normally we would address this by listing off the potential topics, was it work, or crafts, or food or family. Might it be Church or shopping? And at some point we would hit on something to jog my memory. Tonight, nope still no idea what it was.
Click HERE to pop over to my BFF's blog and her evenings stitching.
Ah well, at some point it will come back to me I guess.
Oh and next week we anticipate a RAL.
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.
always looks so pretty, always tempts me and yet often I have no idea what to do with it, there was a time that the result would be embroidered knots.
However, at the time I bought the knot work tree I also bought a sampler. The pattern is set for completion in a single colour.
I thought that it might fit in the top of my new box. The design is 300 by 300. An although the box is not exactly square it feels right.
So I am stitching one over one on linen. Starting in the left bottom corner.
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.
for an ohps and unpicking.
I was doing the pink tonight, first the pale pink, a bit of green to create a second jump off point for pink.
Then onto a darker pink which was my finish point for the evening which I held up for my BFF to see.
Oh, she said that pink looks so much darker on the white!
I had thought that it was rather bold.
Oh dear, the key has the colours for both this design and one for a Robin...there are two reverse R symbols, one with the opening solid and one open.
Yes, I used the wrong one, so out it had to come.
And then as the rules allow back in with the right shade.
I had mentioned that I was enjoying this one sufficient to consider stitching it twice, I had not meant on the same piece of material.
Click HERE to see my BFF's progress.
