without having any whiskers yet.
The black backstitch has made a lot of difference, it went in very smoothly and quickly. I just have the whiskers to go.
Which will wait for next week, the rest of the time will be contemplating the finish for this and maybe what comes next.
CLICK HERE to pop over to my BFF's blog for an update on her cat.
and where has the green gone? I am sure I had a strand each of dark and light green left, enough to do the last bit of each, and as you can see that's not a lot.
But there is no green in the little project bag?
So till I find it, or indeed as random thread sometimes does, it finds me on to the red and orange.
wish me luck with the green.
well almost, the cushion is growing (even if at the moment it looks more like grass close up) and a the backstitching is going to make so much difference.
We did talk about what next, and I did think perhaps another design from the World of Cross Stitching (we have both subscribed/subscribe) with a new to us stitch to try. But checking afterwards it was not in the gold zone of our magazine ownership.
So that idea has been abandoned. A bit more thought an we may end up with a new twist on our BFF theme of Same but Different.
However, until the last stitch is sewn in this project nothing is quite set.
If you have not visited her directly pop on over to my BFF's blog Click here to see how she is progressing.
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| Two peas in a Pod |
That's what my work friend said about the way our minds operate when trying to sort through work related issues. Or how we react to words and phrases and how much we like a nice cup of hot chocolate (different brands but still) even if we have never shared one in person given our team, developed mid CV19 is geographically all over the place.
That in person cup of hot chocolate has become even more unlikely as Other Pea has happily been promoted but sadly that has required a change of team. Whilst we still have tech to keep in touch I made this little card for her ( the peas in pod fit just nice into this aperture card which is just a perfect size to use as a bookmark should she wish) to giver her a smile or two should she need it in her new job.
I modified a little stamp I have, covering one of the words (literally the word one) so it would not pick up any ink, allowing me to replace it with a word more appropriate to the image on the front of the card.
I had not though of trying that before. And having that thought I also covered the heart, then after the green had been applied removed it and inked the heart in red. It worked reasonably well and is now something I might apply to other stamps in future.
Oh the Peas in pod design comes from Cross-Stich Designs for the Young at Heart published by Sterling Publishing (ISBN 0-8069-7188-6) although the original had a third very small pea which I have omitted and there were no laughing faces in the original I added them as my friend and I laughing at the same thing, well that was part of the pea vibe.
I can share it today as it has safely reached her in the post.
There is something about stitching this pattern that is almost mediative .
the cat is complete bar the backstitch and now the cushion starts to appear.
the funny thing is the cat looks more cat at a distance than it looks stitching close.
Conversation was sparce this evening until we got onto favourite adverts of the past, and how there were stories woven through some of them.
We miss those adverts, and singable jingles.
Pop on over to my BFF's blog to see her progress....CLICK HERE
today is my ten year blogaversary.
I am not as organised as my older (in blog years) blogfriend Joe over at Serendipitous stitching who, as is her superpower, arranged a hop for hers Click here to see my contribution to that which covers a lot of those questions of ten!
I almost forgot this was coming up, so there is no special thing stitched to share to mark the occasion.
It feels rather unreal that it has been that long.
Thank you to those who follow, those that pop in and visit, especially when you leave a comment, those are magic.
I have a very defined backend but not much definition in the face here .
I did contemplate doing the dark shades in the head first but the joy of filling in from the tail called to me.
And it was fun.
Click Here to see how my BFF is progressing.
fast and testimony meeting today. And some very nice hymns.
This is being a very nice pattern to stitch whilst listening. Figuring out the pattern from the picture is going well so far.
Lots of fractional stitches but the repeat pattern makes that less of an issue than you might think.
more, even if it is a bit Cheshire cat in reverse, as there is no grin.
This has thus far been a puuurfect pick for the BFF, we are both enjoying it as we sew, yet not to the point we find it hard to stop and put it away till the next week (unlike the tree) whilst still looking forward to getting it out again.
It was a very companionable evening.
Pop over to my BFF's blog by clicking HERE
a design by Coats Craft UK.
This was in June 2004 Cross Stitcher, It caught my eye as something a bit different and I saved the pattern and added to my mental to do list (as apposed to my actual to do list). It has waited in a plastic wallet and then moved a bit closer to getting done on several occasions, then been relegated again to a one day soon. Although I had not realised I had been thinking about it since 2014)
I bought some random pieces of material from a Facebook group and there happened to be a piece of 16 count of a suitable size. As suggested by the designer name this pattern is intended to be sewn in Anchor thread and my go to is DMC although I have some anchor threads (bought here and there for no particular reason and currently living with my Hark the Herald Angels Project) but not these colours so I turned to the delights of the on line conversion chart. Only to find that I did not have all the colours in DMC either, they are all shades of grey which have taken quilt a hit for Millennium so I thought it would have to wait till I had enough threads required to bother with buying new.
Oh then I remembered Mrs Jackson, the mother-in-law of a friend of mine, I was gifted her crafting bits and pieces some years ago when she was having to downsize and relocate. Most of the items were quilting related but there were also three boxes of bobinated thread stored by colour group not numerical order (that's the way I do it) and I had just put them away with the thought they were spare. So I pulled them out thinking there might be a DMC 415 in there.
There was not, the reason being that it is a set of Anchor! and all four of the Anchor greys I needed were in there.
The day after sorting out the threads I made a start. All the cross stitches before starting the backstitch of course.
I can already see the characters, but that is probably because I know what I am looking at.
On to the backstitching, there were three shades used in the cross stitch, all four will make an appearance in the backstitching.
The instructions for the pattern recommend that the needle used for the backstitching has a sharp point as there is a lot of coming up (or down) in the muddle of the stitches already done and not just in the holes set in the aida for sewing.
This makes the characters much clearer and took me less time than I had anticipated given the fiddley nature of the backstitch placement.
The next shade was restricted to the ballerina's hair.
Surprising how much difference defining the hair made.
Day one working on this came to an end with the hair, although I wanted to keep going. Even thought this is not my preferred style of backstitching I have enjoyed the result.
And now for the penultimate shade.
Hello Mr Bear. Only one more shade to go, and not a lot of that.
Here it is with all the stitching finished, well it is for me so far, it should have "Take your partners Please" at the bottom but I am leaving that off. This is going to sit now in my finished pile till I have any inspiration to do so, and maybe it would make a nice birth sampler for a little girl sometime in the future. The space at the bottom would be fine for adding a name ect. I will see what happens
You could almost play spot the difference looking for the last bits added here.
So after years of waiting, it took just one evening (well make that an episode of Midsomer Murders) and one day (two WWII films watched with my dad) for it to be all sewn up.
It may be years before it is final finished, regardless I am rather delighted to have something move from the to do to the done portion of my mental list.
This (added later in 2024 once I discovered the delights of Forestella is done so on the basis of the ballerina in the animated video rather than the song title or indeed the lyrics, )
