Home, plus the latest on 'Branches'

Just got back from our happy hols (vacation) a few hours ago and got all the usual getting-home type sorting out done. DH cooked tea, (bless him!), but he's done a lot of that lately whilst I was ill. Still fighting the nasties off, which I think is getting a bit much now that it's well over 3 weeks, and I was very cross to realise that it was coming back whilst we were away....Grrrr! Still, people have been saying how vicious the current set of bugs are..... Oh joy!

Anyway, managed to get a fair bit of 'Branches' done, although not as much as I wanted. I ran out of WDW 'Bark' thread with a fair amount of tree left to insert. Anyway, got 4 of the other elements stitched on and there are another 3 prepared ready to apply last thing.

I'm most unimpressed with the bird at the top which, as you can see here, is rubbish! I intend to unpick that bit and re-do it else it'll spoil the whole thing for me.

I'm happy with the other 3 elements though, the Yorkshire Rose looks quite nice and the scarf was a lot easier and more effective than I'd feared. Need to do another one, so I won't be so concerned about it.

Have put in a rush order with good ol' SewandSo for 2 more skeins of 'Bark', (although I don't think it will even need a whole one more, I just want to have plenty in as it's a fantastically effective shade), but that won't come until Saturday! I just missed their daily post collection, but that was because we'd stopped in at York to try and get the thread from Viking Loom, but guess what they don't stock!? Tja! More soon..... Most of Fri and Sat will be devoted to getting this baby finished, then I can put it all together on Sunday and hand it over on Monday. Don't you just love tight timescales? If it hadn't been for this dratted bug......

Stitching Review for 2007

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last posting, wow! I haven't had that many responses for a LONG time! Anyway, I'm almost better now, just very tired indeed and looking forward to a week of healthy sea air from this Friday. We've booked a nice little house to stay in and are both ready to go!

Just fished back to the 'goals for the year' posting from early January and, well, let's see how I did:

To finish:

*Dog portrait (freestyle - silk shading) - YEAH! (Photo above)

*Blue tit (cross stitch) - YEAH!

*Delicate Dreams cushion cover (hardanger with beading) - YEAH! (Part photo above)

To start (and finish as well!!):

*Child of Spring (Victoria Sampler counted thread piece) - stitched, but still needs sewing up.

*Blue tits and Seedheads (Derwentwater cross stitch) - WIP

*Cataflute (Margaret Sherry cross stitch) - YEAH!

*Mediæval Flowers (Textile Heritage cross stitch bookmark) - YEAH!

*Baby Quilt (Vintage Quilts book - first go at quilting) -YEAH! And put to good use too!=)

*Hardanger Bell-pull (Mary Hickmott) - YEAH!

*Berry Parade pouch (stumpwork, own design) - didn't get to this one.

*10th & 20th anniversary cards (both hardanger with floral bits and bobs) - did the 10th, but it was bargello with ribbon work, but I had too much on with other stuff to get to the 20th, so that poor couple got neglected!=(

*8th anniversary card for DH (blackwork) - didn't do this in blackwork, but did the stumpwork ladybird you can see in the header photos instead as his card.

Other things stitched during the year:

*5 hardanger sympathy cards and one 5th wedding card in hardanger with floral trims.

*1 freestyle engagement card (part photo in header above - the roses bit) and 1 ribbon work card.

*A bedding set with a monogram on each pillowcase and 2 on the sheet, plus 2 related small motifs in the centre of the sheet.

*A stumpwork waterlily and damselfy picture.

Currently in Progress:

*Bluetits and Seedheads cross stitch pic as mentioned above.

*'Branches' card, on which I've done no more work since the last photo posted as I've been horizontal fighting off viruses most of the time! I'll have to take it on holiday with me, which is a shame as I wanted to hand it over before I went... I've recovered from the shock of finding out that the recipient's wife is 'a professional stitchie who teaches textiles', as a mutual colleague put it and am eager to get on with it!!! At first I was gutted as I wanted it to be something really out of the ordinary, some of which will be lost if stitched things are kinda normal to him, but I decided it didn't matter after all. It's gonna be an original whatever and it'll be out of the ordinary for the majority of the folk who sign it.=)

*Just need to finish up 'Child of Spring' into a cushion/pillow (depending on which side of the Atlantic you speak) and hope to do that whilst we're away too.

Planned for 2008, (other than finishing above WIPs):

*Cross stitch the final in the birds trio, 'Goldfinches and Thistles', which can all be framed together and put on the wall of our newly papered bedroom, (which is what DH has been doing whilst I was too ill to move!!!)

*Learn blackwork. I'm gonna take this from the very simple stages, just as I did with hardanger and get it firmly under my belt. Shouldn't be very hard at all. Trouble with me is that I tend to go at things at too high a level when I need to start much nearer the beginning!

*Do some more of the DMC stumpwork kits that the ladybird came from as well as some more of the those Crafty Ribbons kits I bought. They all fit beautifully into cards too. I have other kits that I want to try as well, such as a goldwork stringed instrument card, a small spray of flowers in Brazillian work and so on. Easier on me than trying to start with something like Ariel's Heart!

*Start a City & Guilds course, probably level 1 stumpwork and, if I get a sewing machine in time, the level 1 patchwork and quilting too.

I really want this coming year to be relaxing on the needlecrafts front and really be a learning year as much as anything.

Progress temporarily halted....=(

No, nothing to do with Christmas, which, as you may have noticed from the lack of seasonal things here, doesn't feature with me, it's just that I've been laid flat in bed over the past 3 days. I had a virus the week before and was stuck in really sick with it from Tuesday night to Sunday. I went out then and wished I hadn't. It might be that it's one of those that you need to totally rest out before it's safe to re-start life or it could be that I got re-infected, but I ended up even worse! So, no more elements from 'Branches' to display at the mo, but I'm beginning to feel better now (can sit up for more than 30 seconds!!!) so I may be able to get the actual tree outline finalised today as well as getting on with the 2 musical instruments. I did get all the elements I needed sorted out the other day in that I made a Word document with correctly sized images to copy in stitch. So, I've done something, just nothing that you can see.....=(

Hope everyone else has managed to avoid the bugs and hasn't over-eaten too badly!!!

Second element completed

Here's the doorplate. Both it and the Uni logo will be 'cropped' down to the outlining by folding back and glueing or stitching the surplus fabric to the rear of the motif. Both are backed with Vilene (isn't that a horrid name??).

In case anyone's wondering what this nameplate says, it's DH's sense of humour. He thought that the chap who this card is for's name sounded like 'octagon', so he translated the whole thing into German, including titles and it came out as Herr Doktor Achteck - (Mr) Dr Octagon. I daresay he will see the funny side of it, thankfully it's hardly insulting and not the kind of thing that any sane person could take offence at!!! DH was once called 'Mr Coffee-Coloured' (brown) as a direct translation of his name into Taiwanese Mandarin!!=)

Finally, 'Branches' goes WIP!

Yes, at last, I've finally managed to get a proper start on 'Branches'. I've done the first of the appliqué/slip elements, the University of Leeds logo worked in white Anchor stranded cotton and outlined in Anchor Ophir on dark green, and it's now safely stored ready for when it can be attached to the main card. Funnily enough, it's one of the last things that will go on!! I'm currently working on the octagonal doorplate, which I don't think will take me too long either. Should be ready to display that tomorrow, then it's on with the two instruments. One will just be a case of cutting out the right shape from a piece of gold kid leather, but the viola will be an interesting challenge!!

Other than that, I've made two 'thank you' cards in papercraft today as well.

End of an era....

So, full-blown teaching is finally over now for me=). Last week saw me out with my post-grad group for an end of class meal together on Monday night. I've had some nice responses from the students in the class about how much they'd enjoyed it etc and that was touching to read. One of my friends told me last night that I was 'visibly relieved' and lighter for the teaching being behind me.


Apart from a few other things that need doing,
'Branches' is the next big project and I got the initial prep of the fabrics done the other day. Each piece has interfacing/Vilene ironed on the back of it to strengthen it. The smaller pieces need it in order to be stiff enough to pass as hard slips and the main fabric won't last at all well without something to make it more durable under the weight of what will be quite heavy embroidery. Hope to get it properly WIP over the next few days.

Haven't done a thing more on the Bluetits. In fact, I haven't put in a stitch on anything for quite a while! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME????!!!!

Back from Scotland with some stitching progress - WOW!

We got home last night at 10:30 after deciding not to travel back today and lose most of the day on the road. Felt nice to be home, although we had a nice time with friends who looked after us very well.=) (Hi Pauline!!!) Back to the regular run of things now though, but at least work finishes for me on 6 Dec until late January and even then some things will be done by someone else - HURRAH!

Did some cross stitching whilst I was away and
<- here are the results so far. Finished the bottom bird and started putting in some of the background half-stitching. There's still one more bird to go in the big gap on the right hand side, but it's not joined to anything other than the background stuff, so I thought it was better to put some of that in (contrary to the normal procedure, huh?) so that I get the last main element in the right place!! I hope to get that done over the next couple of weeks. I want to get both that and the 'Branches' card done before the end of this calendar year and to take both the 3rd birds trio picture and some small, fun kits away with me when we have our hols in early January. We've settled on a cottage not too far from home rather than going abroad. Less fuss, expense and more relaxing. Less fuss about food too!

Didn't spend as much this time....

So, after blowing a good £70 at the last show only about 6 weeks ago, I was a really good girl and didn't part with much more £20 this time.=) I think that everything I bought is actually for the branches card. Even though the GAST & WDWs skeins and the Kreinik cord I got were more 'I like those' and collection builders, I've since realised how useful the 'bark' colour will be on making the tree proper look realistic and that the other might well come in handy too, but we shall see! The card blank also arrived today, along with some re-stockers in other sizes and colours.

Anyway, here are today's buys:

3 balls of Anchor pearl cotton #8 in tree brown shades, one each of WDW, GAST and Kreinik, a peice of gold kid to make a saxophone out of and a piece of gold-ish silk to make the octagonal door plate out of. The real office name plate is a gold colour with lettering in black, so I wanted this one to be similar. I also got a bunch of keys charm to either hang off one of the branches or appear in the 'lost property box' under the tree. Either way, it'll save a bit of work.

I also enjoyed looking at info about various stitching and textile related courses, such as City & Guilds and the display of A Level work from a local school. I hope I get a reply from the local art college about their Textile Design A Level soon, as this is really much more my thing than teaching. Oh, met the new teacher yesterday and gave her copies of everything we've done in class so far and so on. She has no experience of teaching Chinese, but she has done other subjects, (including English to Chinese people - and she is Chinese), and has a fair idea of what sort of work is involved and also a keen and willing to learn attitude. Although someone with more experience would have been better, I think she'll make a good job of it in time.=) She's very enthusiastic and excited about it all in a way I never could be, so that's just got to be good for the students.

We're going away now until Monday and I'm taking my cross stitch with me, so hope I'll have something to report back on there soon! At least with work soon to take up SO much less of my time, strength and attention, there'll be much more time for creative pursuits.

New design as promised

Remembered to get a photo of it today! It's the initial plan, complete with notes, for a leaving card for our team's manager who's also legging it soon to a very fancy sounding job up in Durham. The above is called 'Branches of Your Life' and, although a lot of it isn't quite clear here, it's going to have characters from the various languages we teach interlinked and hanging from some branches. The others have stuff on that remind us of him - mostly sporty things, the fact that he's known for losing stuff left, right and centre, (even managed to lose his bike once, although I dread to think how he managed that!), and some 'roots' things - i.e. the Cornish bird and crown for where he was born and the Leeds Uni logo and Yorkshire Rose for where he's been for the last 8 or so years. I ordered the necessary jumbo sized card blank from Impressive Crafts, who make the most expensive, but nicest card blanks. We're going for the sky blue one. I'm hoping to make a start on the Uni logo and the octagonal door plate soon as they need to be worked separately, then attached. It's going to be a challenging (although not too badly), but enjoyable project.=)

Moira, you asked where I got my Elizabethan Embroidery books. The first two I got from the Viking Loom stand at the October stitching show I went to, but this link takes you (hopefully!) to their on-line catalogue. The other two I ordered from the New Stitches Stitch Direct site. Each book is £12.95. Don't look on Amazon as the sellers there are asking STUPID prices. I even e-mailed one and asked him if he was serious in wanting £200+ for a £13 book!! The thing is though, that I understand they've recently been re-printed, so they're not as hard to get hold of now. At stitch shows, many of the specialist book sellers who have stands there sell them too. I bought mine on the strength of the stitched models that Viking Loom (a fascinating stitchery shop in York) had on display. If you drooled over the photos, you would be positively swooning over the 'real things'! I'll be asking them for some thread suggestions for the thicker metallics when I'm at the Harrogate Halls show next Thursday.

Latest Acquistions

Have I spelled that right? Sigh! The downside to typing and the computer age.

Well, it's been an interesting week and today has been a good old 'duvet day' so far, but now I'm feeling a little more invigorated, esp as the post just came with these->
One of the new Anchor multicolours in light green, 2 of the 3 new Kreinik green shades in the fine cord, 3 DMC Light Effects metallics from the Antique Effects series and 4 reels of DMC fine goldwork thread in 2 shades each of gold and silved. You'd think that there was only plain 'gold' and 'silver', but there are ever so many!

I also got my ticket through for the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show. I wasn't going to go this time as I bought so much at the October Fashion, Embroidery, Stitch and Hobbycrafts shows, but I just really wanted to, so I ordered a ticket and it's just here on the desk.=)

Done no stitching again, but I have sketched the design for a very interesting card that I will post next time as I've just realised that I totally forgot to photograph it! However, below are the 2 latest embroidery mags I bought: I got the French one in Hamburg railway station last month. It's quite simple as it's got 'learn to embroider with us' on the front, but the designs are mostly very pretty.

I also bought the other two in the Elizabethan Embroidery books series and these are they <-. There is another on the alphabet, but I'm not so into monograms, for all I bought the Country Bumpkin book on it recently etc.

The new teacher has been organised for next term and I'm to meet her next week to show her what we've been doing thus far in class. I also want to tell her what I had planned, what I'd 'promised' the students and also a few tips on making it easier for them. She's Chinese and will have all the 'instinctive ability' that I lack, not being a native Mandarin speaker, but she'll never have learned Chinese as a foreign language and her recent training in English language teaching will only have limited relevance for this post. Only 3 more weeks of teaching left - 6 classes, about 12 hours. I'm looking forward to putting it behind me immensely, but part of it, oddly enough, will be a tremendous wrench. There's n'owt so queer as folk, as we say here in Yorkshire. (Leeds, Sandra)