Done - TA-DA!

Here's the finished piece:

The waterlily has been adapted slightly from one in Helen M Stevens' 'Embroidered Flowers' p72. That one was all flat work and the flower was white (except the yellow stamens, of course). This one has been done in two shades of pink with the nearer petals being raised slightly - stiched over felt. The water is done in Madiera stranded silk, which is much thicker than the Pipers Silk the flower and leaf are worked in. Wished I'd used only one strand of Madiera as I feel it's a bit too prominent for its role, although you can't see that here, of course.

This is a close-up of the stumpwork damselfly from the side:


Here's the whole piece again, mounted in the frame (by me, for a wonder! Yes, laced properly on the cardboard and so on), and in the postbox I specially covered with fancy wrapping paper!!!

Will give it to the happy couple tomorrow and hope that they like it.=) Have bought a card this time as I really didn't want to be fussed making one.

Oh, I got a lovely new dress and jacket for the wedding today. It was either that or wear one of my old, old-fashioned ones - again! They were most of them 2nd hand when I bought them too, so it'll be nice to have something swish to wear for a change. The groom's sisters were telling me how pretty my old dresses are and encouraging me to wear one of them, but I can't help thinking that, if a friend deserves so much time and trouble as to make him the above, then he deserves that I should get a decent outfit for his wedding!

Waterlily now done and on with the damselfly

Ooof, this one is taking some time and uuumph! Only I could change projects so as to simplify and end up doing something far harder! Other folk would have more sense.... Anyway, here's what the waterlily looks like now. The water is done with Madeira silk, which is much thicker and far less glossy as it's twisted. The pinks are a little less red in reality, but I took the picture under my daylight lamp rather than in real daylight!!!!

When I came in this evening, I was half amused at the state of the living room, esp. my working corner. Just look at how much stuff is on hand to do one little damselfly stumpwork!! Ridiculous!

The groom's sister has now got her/our present for the wedding and is delighted with it. I'm sure he'll be thrilled with it as well as baby sister did so much of it.=) As soon as he sees it, he'll know I helped her, but naturally he'll be more interested in her portion of it. Rats!!!!!!!LOL!

Waterlily still unfinished, but...

<-Here's the waterlily progress so far:

Horrid photo taken in totally unsuitable light, but it doesn't matter too much at this stage, I think.

Anyway, the reason I didn't get too much of this done is that I decided to get on with finishing up this other piece instead.->

This is a co-operation between my 11 year old chum, Ellie, and me as her gift to her brother on his wedding. (He's the groom of the 31 August wedding and who the waterlily and damselfly piece is to be for from me.) It's been about 50/50 really as it was my idea and I did 95% of the designing (well, taking various elements from other designs and adapting them, but isn't that really what all samplers are??), including making a large scale chart for her to work from. I supplied all the materials, oversaw about 85% of the stitching and started off each piece to show how it was done etc. I also did all the cutting out, put in the ribbon on row 3, the filling stitches on the big heart, the whole row of cross stitch near the bottom and did a lot of fixing up loose ends and stitches that were coming out etc as well as all the sewing up into the bell-pull you see here, which took hours on end yesterday afternoon. Anyway, I hope you all like it and that the happy couple will when they're presented with it next Friday!=)

Yesterday's stitching....

Here's what I managed to get done yesterday and I also included the metallic threads needed mostly for the damselflies, but also a little for the water effect:

The flower looks a bit lop-sided to me..... The far petals on the flower are done in one strand and doing it that way made me ready to list my Pipers Silks on E-bay! So, the leaf is being done in two and is much better so far. I do NOT like working with such fine threads in one strand. Yack! Anyway, I'm hoping to ge tthe waterlily done today and even the water effect put in, but I'm not holding my breath. You usually get done less than you want to, right? I also have a LOT of lesson prep to do this morning whilst Sir is at a meeting with a client and I can use the PC freely.=)

New buys and current project

Hellooooooooo! Here we are back from London and this is what I treated myself to from The Delicate Stitches/London Bead Company shop there:

The beads are for this project ->

I forget to put the metallics in the shot... Anyway, it'll be 2 damselflies above a pinky waterlily.

Final SS parcel arrives

My Secret Sister parcel from the cross stitch newsgroup I've been on for a while arrived yesterday and here it is:

Wow-some, isn't it? My SS lives in Malaysia and don't the colours she's selected in ribbons and threads just speak of the vibrant society she comes from? I'm delighted with it all and look forward to putting it to some use over the coming months and years. It's been SO nice to have a parcel to open as the last 5 SS gifts have all been on-line store vouchers. It's nice to pick your own stuff once in a while, but it's so much more fun to have someone else choose for you. They often buy the stuff you wouldn't really get for yourself, (although it's on the wishlist), whereas I always make myself be 'sensible' and try to complete thread collections etc.

Have still barely done any stitching of late, but then I suppose many don't do much over the summer months. I need to get on with a vengeance though as I have only 2 more weeks to finish one wedding gift and then the next wedding is just under 4 weeks after that 'deadline', (I want to give it to the groom a few days before). I've done very little on the first and haven't even done the design for the second! If anyone has seen my motivation, which is currently AWOL, please discipline it soundly and send it back express!

Sniff, sneeze and splutter

Got back from Germany on Mon after a very busy weekend in Hamburg. Brought back some unwanted souvenirs - Sir has brought back 2kg and I've brought back my friend's cold!!!!

Didn't get much stitching done! I did a little bit in each of the leaves and nothing more. I also didn't get the cushion sewn up before we went, but as we're actually going back in mid October, I can take it as my gift for that trip. I did get a bunch more discount Kreiniks at Hobbycraft yesterday and also some of the new DMC colour variation threads and some bugle beads through from SewandSo just before we left as well as some dark blue silk to do some drgonflies on. Bought the bedding for the one of the wedding pressies yesterday, so I need to get on now.

Had my first viola lesson with my new teacher on Tuesday morning and she is GREAT! She's going to be strict with me, which means that progress may be a little slower, but it will be more solid. I'm back on bowing open strings and am only allowed to use first finger with the bow (and maybe 3rd, but if I can't use 2nd, I don't see why 3rd???), but I can do scales etc to keep my left hand work up pizzicato. So, that to do for 2 weeks. Haven't done any prac yet as I've been snivelling and sneezing myself silly (sillier???) ever since, but as Teach is on her happy hols, I have chance to catch up.

Yes, Anne, you're quite right. There is a subtle difference between viola and sax!!!!!=) Ever thought of taking it up again? It's a bit far for us to duo, but it is a lovely instrument. Sigh! Better go and do some dull bowing prac. The sooner I get on with it, the sooner I'll be able to move on.

More leaves

<- Here's the current status on the bluetit picture. There are some advatages to being ill after all! It may not look like much progress from the day before, but, as most cross stitchers will know, these outlines can take time. Also, it's worked in one strand of regular DMC and one of stranded metallic. I think this one is meant to be the wintry one of the suite. The chaffinches was distinctly late spring/early summery with it's lovely pink blossoms.

Met my new viola teacher this morning and she's great! You can tell she was a young person in the sixties as there's something quite 'of that era' about her, but I liked her a lot and I know I can really work with her. She'd already prepared so much material for her teaching, esp. for violin. Why do I find that impressive? Well, she's a violist herself and has put that extra time into the more unfamiliar instrument and clef unlike my last teacher who didn't even sit down and look through my book properly. First proper lesson is next Tuesday (hurrah!) and she's given me some bow hand exercises to correct some slight problems there to be getting started with. We played a short piece together from one of the tutor books. I was only doing open strings, but it was great. SO much fun to play even something so simple with someone else.=)

Good progress on the birdies

As I've been ill either in bed or on the sofa since last Weds night, I've been able to really get on with my latest birds design.=) Here they are ->

The Stitchologist asked where the dog would end up hanging. Well, not at our place, sadly! He was meant to be for my Aunt and Uncle's ruby wedding gift, but I hang my head in shame to say, that was back on March '04! Still, better late than never and promises must be kept, so he'll soon get a new home on my dog loving aunt's wall. I'm sure she'll love him and I will quite miss him myself, although I cursed myself 40 times over for ever having started him. I characteristically bit off more than I could chew at that early stage in my embroidery career!!!

Can't wait to meet my new music teacher tomorrow, hurrah! We're having a new carpet put down in the hall at the same time, so that will be great too. Home is almost finished!=)

Started a new cross stitch

Made a start on the second birds picture for our bedroom back wall, which is totally blank - even the bed has no head!! Have just got a leaf done so far, but it promises to be an interesting/fiddly (!!) stitch with so many of the shades being blended. Also, this leaf is mostly stitching in 1 strand to give it that delicate look that many autumnal leaves have. The outer row is one strand of white and one of silver! So, this will go with the Chaffinches and Blossom design I completed way back in September, then I'll do the Goldfinches and Thistles to complete the trio. Will get a start on the wedding gifts once I have the bedding needed for one and the confirmation that, yes, they would like a ring cushion from the other! The bedding I'll buy on Tues, but the other I think I shall have to chase up as time is ticking away.

I also just took a shot of the framed dog portrait, which I collected on Tuesday. It's not the best photo, but it's hard to take pix of framed work unless it's small enough to go on the scanner. This one certainly isn't! I'll see if DH can get a better shot for me when he has time, but that's a rarity for him, poor man!=(

I'm meeting a new viola teacher on Monday - someone who is a viola specialist instead of a violinist who will teach viola on the side. The last one moved away and I don't think she'll be sorry to be shut of me!! This new one has LRAM in viola teaching and knows all the relevant repertoire. She also has a definite idea of what she wants to teach and using which books. Last time I had to pick my own and, well, I'd never expect my students to go and select their own Chinese learning materials! I prepare long and hard before my classes and I expect my teachers to do the same! So, I'm really looking forward to meeting this friendly Scots lady and getting re-started within the next couple of weeks, given that we're off to Happy Hamburg on Thursday.