Some Stitching is Happening

No posts lately but some stitching has been happening. I recently found two little kits that I have been slowly stitching in amongst doing all the other things that eat into crafting time.

Both the kits are from Hatched and Patched's Simple Stitchings range. The first one is called Ladybug Romp and I have finished stitching it. It is going to become part of a set of bean bags for a little niece.



The second one is called Bear In There and it is still a work in progress. I am not sure what it might end up as yet.



The little pink hoop was a new find too. It is a spring hoop that has a metal spring section that fits inside the flat pink plastic section. It is much narrower that wooden embroidery hoops and I like the feel of it lots.

The list - in my head - of things I would like to make is growing proportionately longer as the time I have to craft is growing proportionately smaller!! I have bags I want to make, fabric buckets, bean bags, bibs, a baby calendar for a new niece, more discovery bags and then there are the Christmas cards that probably should be at the top of the list.

I have made a start on some of the Christmas presents but cannot talk much about them - you never know who might drop by and read this little blog. We went digital with a few things that have previously been much more hand produced. More about that after Christmas.

Many thanks to those lovely blog visitors who have dropped by and left comments. I am thinking of creating an applique pattern for the little owl from the felt book. I am not sure quite how I will tackle it yet. The final version would be a PDF file but I am still thinking about the best way to get a good end product. I have scanned drawings before but they do not look very clear sometimes. I am wondering how others may have done this.

Lots and Lots of Cross stitch

Since I haven't been doing much crafting lately, here's the result of my holiday cross-stitching. Sorry but this will be a picture heavy post.

From Blog Photos

This one took me a little while to stitch as it's one of the bigger ones I've ever stitched. I usually keep my stitching to quick little charts. I'm really glad I got this one, it was $10 at Spotlight and a very enjoyable stitch. I love the design, it's based on the Suzy's Zoo characters and who could resist it? Also I can proudly say this design is the one I learnt to do French knots properly and they actually worked. Before I would try and try and give up. I'd either sew on a bead or ask Crafty Things to give me a hand. So I'm very proud of this one.

From Blog Photos

This was a kit given to me for Christmas with excellent timing as I was looking to try a sampler. This being so small was easy and quick, a great first sampler for me to try.

From Blog Photos

Crafty Things has a large collection of kits from the front of magazines. I've slowly been working my way through them. This card was stitched incredibly quickly in front of the TV.

From Blog Photos

This is my current WIP only waiting for its back stitch. It's another card kit from the stash of magazine kits. I started it around Valentines day but then all cross stitch got put away for a while so it's only just being finished.

From Blog Photos

This one was completed a while ago but I was back at Spotlight, dangerous place that, and found two more in the set - Autumn and Spring. At $10 I bought them. A friend of mine mentioned that she has the Winter one so I'll photocopy her chart and then I can stitch the whole set and make a quilt perhaps.

From Blog Photos

There they are with 3 other kits now on my to-do list. Crafty Things and I went through her stash of kits she's bought and never started and I picked out these three to do myself. A half finished one almost found its way here too but the stitches were going the opposite side to me (Crafty Things is left handed and I'm right handed - it causes some problems) so it went back into the box. Anyway, top left is a gorgeous Snugglepot and Cuddlepie bookmark. Crafty Things is halfway through another of these but this one has much less back stitch which is what has slowed her down. Top right is a large 'Underwater' kit, much much bigger than anything I've ever stitched before. The design is so pretty though and it's about time I challenged myself with something bigger. Crafty Things got close to starting so all the threads are already sorted and the aida had been rolled up and tucked away so there's no nasty creases. With luck I'll get it finished in the next 2 years. Bottom middle is a cute little teddy bear (a recurring theme maybe??) with the text "days to remember". Two in the same series have been stitched for my brother and I and they look good all stitched up. It's fairly simple with blocks of solid colour unlike the 'Underwater' one.

Made it to the end? Well done.
With that lovely inspiration I think cross stitching will be my focus for a while =)

By the way, this is our 99th post. Next is the 100th post, wow I can't believe it!! How time flies!

A bit of cross-stitch and my to-do list

We haven't been blogging for a little while but we're still being crafty.
I've gone on another cross-stitch craze and have been doing nothing else! I have stitched up a pair of little owls, one is sheltering from rain under a daisy and the other is a saluting sailor owl. The designs were in an old issue of Cross Stitch Crazy. We have so many old magazines stashed away downstairs and all of them have great designs to be stitched. It would take several years to stitch all the designs in them by which time we would have bought MORE magazines! So I'm not even going to try to do that.
I've started stitched a little kit of two birds and the words "Forever Friends" on it. The kit includes a tiny hanger and instructions on how to hang it. It's for a friend of mine who's changing schools. I've done a couple of this brand of kit before but I cant remember which brand it is now! They use unusual threads in them and are all of small cute designs.
I also have some stitched things to be turned into somethings, one a card, one a bag and a few others too.
And of course I have a line of other designs to get started on as soon as I finish this one.

I recieved a knitting book too, full of quick designs which I love. I've picked out about 5 projects to do from there too. It looks like I'm going to be busy!

Crafty Things whipped up a couple of amigurumi ladybirds over the weekend which soon became missiles in the hands of my over-exuberant brother!

School holidays, hooray! More time for crafting!

Busy cross-stitcher

While Crafty Things has been taking a break from crafting, I've been busy cross-stitching. I have finally completed the butterflies, yay! Two more projects have followed. The first, a buzzy bee card, has all the stitching done and I just have to turn it into the card. The second is a daisy that is being done on gingham fabric with waste canvas. For those of you who don't know, waste canvas is a type of fabric that gets tacked onto other fabric and is a guide to help you place your stitches. Once you have completed the stitching the waste canvas gets pulled out thread by thread and you are left with your stitched design on a fabric you couldn't normally use for cross-stitch. Waste canvas is ideal for putting stitchings onto clothes, baby bibs etc. The daisy currently has 3 and a half petals out of 6. Hopefully it will be done soon. I don't know what it will be put on yet but it's looking like being a bag of some sort.
Pictures will come soon, promise!

A Lull In Crafting

There has not been a great deal of crafting happening of late. The more mundane tasks of life have been more in the foreground this week - cleaning, washing, cooking, washing, cleaning, teenage taxi service, gardening etc. I have a few cards that need creating so hopefully there will be some time this weekend.

Luckily for me there are all those creative blogs out there with ideas and inspiration to keep me sane. I loved Rose Red's , light hearted, two part tutorial on zip lock bags - ever increasing stashes must be stored somehow. You can't have too much wool or fabric.

I have fitted in a little knitting at night but that is all. The knitting was only little and practical, using up some cotton to create some small bags to put the leftover pieces of soap in.

On the to do list is finish an octopus from this pattern, start knitting a bag to be put away for a Christmas present, sew a few notebook covers from this pattern and crochet some more amigurumi.

Holidays and a to-do list

I feel rather guilty. No crafting has been done for ages.

That should change now though because . . . it's the school holidays. YAY! Two weeks to do as much crafting as I like, not to mention some sleeping in!
On the to-do list is: finish my brown knitted bag, block and sew up a phone sock for my mum, do some cross-stitch and stock up on my card supplies. Wow, that list is much shorter than it usually is, that means I'll be able to start something new!