Stumpwork wire!

Finally managed to source stumpwork wire on-line! I got it from Surbiton Art and Sugarcraft, which does cake decorating stuff. It's florist's and cake wire actually, but that's what's normally used. They stock a wide range of guages in 4 colours (as seen in the photo) and ship worldwide. The UK P&P was £2.95, so make sure you get all you need in one go, if you're going to buy from them! There are 50 pieces of wire per pack, so I don't think I'll run out in a hurry!! Once you enter their store proper, you'll find the wire near the bottom of the main contents lists under 'wires and tape'. This section also does flower stamens for those interested in the realistic sort of look for large stumpwork flowers like in Helan Pearce's 'Dimensional Embroidery'.

No, of course I haven't done any of the dog recently! Actually, what with the gum/tooth bug etc then catching up afterwards (which I'm not sure I've really done yet!!), I've done next to no stitching this month.=(

A card, but not a stitched one today

Here's a papercraft card I made for my friend, Caleb, who's been ill :

Only simple, but these work well, I think. You just put the kimono sticker on some nice paper, cut around the whole thing, then stick it onto the card blank. A lot less impressive than it looks, but I really like them.

DSL Parcel!

This is my self-selected Secret Sister package for April:

I got a $25 Gift Voucher/Certificate to chose my own stash, so I picked these 2 Patricia Ann Designs charts (Buy British, yeah! But it's ridiculous that it was cheaper for me to get them from the States, huh?) plus 7 boxes of Mill Hill beads, including 4 of Petite Seed Beads. Yum!

Not getting very far with the dog, but then I don't really enjoy it that much. I will be glad when it's over and done with.....

Woof woof!

Thanks SOOOO much for all the nice comments on the Cataflute.=) So glad you all liked him and his new 'mum' seemed pleased with him too. I'm just waiting for a photo of my friends with their gifts, then I can share it with you too.

So, I got the dog back into commision and here he is to date:

Last night I finished the nose end, (which had been started back in late November), and hope to get the rest of the nose done this week and an ear each week after that with an estimated finish date of the end of the month. That, along with all the cards that need doing (my own designs that I also want to try and interest a UK stitching mag in using.....), would be GREAT!

He's done!

Here he is in all his glory! Hope you like him and, more importantly, hope his new owner will like him when I give him (and the bellpull) to her this afternoon. Such a shame when friends leave and I realised yesterday that Jacquie is the person in our congregation who I've known for the longest!

We sat up watching one of the new Jane Austen productions last night, it was a 2-hour-ish version of 'Northanger Abbey' and was very enjoyable! Love JA, she's fab!

Nearly through with Cataflute

Here's how he
looks right now ->

Not far to go, just the est of the top-stitching to put in. I decided, in the interests of time saving, that I would drop the music stand, thus its non-appearance (for those who are familiar with the design). I've come to the conclusion that I like Margaret Sherry's designs, but they're really quite dull and a bit of a nuisance to stitch. The amount of fractionals - including vertically and horizontally splitting stitches - that are in this is just a pain in the neck, so I've removed her from my wish list and doubt I'll ever do Catafiddle for myself!! If I run out of things to stitch and get desperate, then perhaps I will, but I can't see that, can you??!! Should be able to post the finished Cataflute tomorrow evening. It'll be finished in the nick of time, methinks!

Still recovering slowly, and it is slowly. I obviously still have an infection, but I have reason to beliave that it's been bubbling away in my system at the very least for 3 months before this crescendo (brought on by all the dental work of late). It's possible that, given about 10 mysterious 'viral' epiosodes I've had since August 2005, it's all been the same thing and has been an issue under the surface (most of the time) for well over 18 months already! I suspect I'll need more Penicillin, but I've had to quite the mouthwash as my stomach was becoming upset and I felt sick at the thought of using the wash. Sometimes you just have to trust your intuition - the body knows best what it likes and dislikes!! So, I'm just using the anti-bacterial type of Listerine instead and will see what the Doc says. Will almost certainly need to be seen on Tuesday, but if it brings this 19-20 months of roller coaster health to a better level, then I don't mind one bit.

Slow progress....

Cataflute is coming along slowly, but the good news is that my friends aren't leaving until a few days later than I'd thought, so I have until Sunday, not just until tomorrow. So, he should almost certainly be ready in good time to leave on a 'plane for the Big Apple!! Here he is:

Bellpull complete and ready for viewing!=)

Here it is, completed and finished into a bellpull. The bellpull ends that I had to order were far too big and I then found that I had this odd end in my stash. Actually, it was the other half of the one used on the wedding bellpull. On that one, I just used the top end and so had the bottom one, complete with tinkling little bell, left over. DH kindly took the bell off the hanger for me, leaving the bell intact so that I could attach it to the bottom. I'm very pleased with the effect. What do you think? Click on the photo for the full sized version and more detail.

Here's the current state of affairs with Cataflute. I don't think it'll be finished on time, (I'll see the couple these are gifts for for the last time on Weds evening), but I'm going to try. If it isn't done, then I can post it on to her - it's always nice to get something through the post. Having said that, it's even nicer to meet a deadline and to see for yourself if someone likes what you've made for them!=)

Almost there.....

The bellpull is almost finished now. This is the last WIP shot (click on it to see more detail), the next photo will be one when it's all done and bellpull ends are in place. As you can see (better from the full sized pic), most of the work is done now and I just have to do the filling stuff on the top section plus the second row of 3 big squares and the centre of the star-type thing near the bottom. All of it is the same kind of stitch - Greek Cross filling. Will do that this evening and hope to get the bellpull ends tomorrow sometime.

Nothing else of note to report really, just working and other normal life kinda dull stuff!!

Surface work progressing well.

Hope to have all the surface work completed today, which isn't much more than you can see here. I need to finish those motifs at the bottom, then do a line of stitches underneath them, then there's something similar at the top to go in, albeit a cutwork area that's bigger. Kloster blocks are quicker to do than fancier shapes though. Then there's only 3 'lines' of cable stitch to do and it's onto the scissors bit. Hoping to have it all done over the w/e, but as things usually take much longer than planned, don't hold your breath!!!=)

Tannia, the design is Mary Hickmott's Stitching Heritage Series' 'Hardanger Sampler'. The picture is clickable if anyone wants to see it in better detail at this stage.