Ooh look

Posted in Smalls SAL, stitching patterns by

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Blah. I’d love to share my second finish for 2015 but just remembered it’s my Smalls finish too. Hope you can wait a fortnight! M says if I had green thread and brown beads this could be a Christmas tree…

 

Do please share my Travelling Bunny post. I’d love to see a few more entries! Thanks!

EDIT: It would possibly help if I posted the Travelling Bunny link again, right?

https://sewscrapmuse.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/travelling-bunny-a-finish-a-giveaway/

 

Travel Recap + WIP Wednesday

Posted in books, family, Mirabilia, stitching patterns, travel by

Just for Chiara! Here’s a small sampling of our photos from the long weekend.

This is a boutique hotel in Cambridge. I’m thinking it could be the perfect spot for a stitching retreat – altho it would be a pricy one!

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This is B – if you’re on my FB, sorry, as you would have seen this already. From our stop in Taupo. Plus the sundial that is in the Rose Garden next to the play park, on State Highway one as you drive through town.

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Junk shops – we probably stopped at about 50% of those we saw, so Z can look for vintage Commando comics. One of my bosses collects old gramophones – this was in an ugly shop in Havelock North.

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Also in Havelock – Duart House. As soon as I saw it I recognized the resemblance to the family home in Scotland. http://duarthouse.org.nz/ sadly it was shut when we discovered it, so it’s on the diary for the next time we visit Hawkes Bay.

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Day two was in Wellington. We went to Te Papa, the museum where Z started his Lord of the Rings/Hobbit costume search. This is the Elven Lieutenant – love the detail.

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M as a pilot! He’s got his “oh grow up Dad!” face on.

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B designed a plan in the AirNZ exhibit.

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We had drinks then walked around with one of my brothers. We don’t spend much time together and I’m so sorry R – B & M combined can make anyone’s ears bleed! R helped Z find more costumes. Here’s Gloin – one of the dwarves. His costume was sumptuous yet sturdy. Those boots! Huge.

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Day 3 was more Wellington then the drive to New Plymouth. This is one of the houses along the Wellington ocean coast. I have a thing for lighthouses!

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Hawera – the water tower. Again, closed – but had we been 30 minutes earlier we could have climbed to the top. Apparently only takes 10 minutes! Yeah, right. Chiara, I’m sitting on the ground about 300m away from the base to take this. Any further away and I would have been on the road! The oaks surrounding it are planted to commemorate Armistice Day in 1918 by the local dignitaries and a VC winner.

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And the War Memorial in Hawera.

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We didn’t take many photos from New Plymouth to home. Unfortunately we’d done too much in too few hours and everyone was grumpy and ready for their own beds. It was fantastic to get home.

I did get quite a bit of Stargazer done, given that most of this was in the car on the long straights (don’t try to stich thru the Manawatu Gorge. It’s too windy and too beautiful to miss). All that dark yellow was the trip & I’ve pretty much made up my mind to rip the face/hands and re-do it with 2 over 1 tent, to give more detail. One more week of work then I’ll rotate to a small plus some finishing.

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Reading – Monica Ferris’ Needlecraft Mysteries. Gentle (Betsy’s no Miss Marple) & I like the stitching references. I also like the way the author is experimenting with the genre. Luckily there’s a few books so far in the series! Next will be a re-read of Unbroken before I see the movie (it’s been a few years since I read an advanced copy).

 

We’re home!

Posted in family, Mirabilia, travel by

And the unpacking begins. I have a load in the washing machine already, the dead fish has been farewelled (not the baby sitters fault I must add) and my treasures are being stashed.

I picked up a Mirabilia for a song as someone lost the photo (fairie treasures) & a New Zealand Centennial jug. The Jug has a couple of chips so again it wasn’t much; but it’s only 15 years to our bi-centenary and for something that probably got a lot of use it’s looking good.

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Z has about ten more Commando comics to file away; B has some Marvels and my little M didn’t want much. He’s so sweet right now. I bet he becomes a little rotter when school goes back!

Windy as in Wellington

Posted in family, travel by

Actually, it’s not. I only had to use one hand to hold everything down!

We went to the AirNZ exhibition at Te Papa; funny how many of the little bits and pieces we have at home! I’ll have to add photos when we get home as the mobile app isn’t uploading photos.

Also we caught up with my brother, who helped Z find a few more of the costumes he was missing. I didn’t realize Orlando Bloom was so short, he can’t be much taller than me! 
Today is more exploring Wellington; I think we’re heading out to Miramar and hoping Weta is open, then a bit more in town, then up to New Plymouth via Wanganui. Bye!

Hawkes Bay

Posted in travel by

This is our third time coming to Napier in about 18 months;  looking ahead we think we will retire here. Only 35 years to go!
The climate is warm,  the views are beautiful and I love the history. Napier and a lot of the surrounding areas are Art Deco, due to a devastating earthquake in 1931.
We’ve done a lot of driving and a lot of walking today – my feet hurt! – but memories are being made.

Today we’re en route to Wellington. Can’t wait to see my bro!

Stitching Tips I Love

Posted in embroidery, stitching patterns by

Not that I actually follow this tip much anymore, but it’s invaluable for the new stitcher, or the first few times you move from aida to evenweaves or linen. If I think that my fabric might not be big enough for the design I plan to stitch, I do grid, just for safety. There is nothing more frustrating than getting near to the end of a project and realising that you haven’t left enough room for framing  – cushions perhaps? – and the start point/centre points can be super critical.

This is from Liz the StitchSmith’s site. She ran the embroidery course I went to last year (that feels odd to write that, last year!) and she’s fantastic. http://www.thestitchsmith.co.nz/

Grid marking:

I find it helpful to mark a grid on your fabric so it’s easy to keep track of where you are. You can do this on white Aida with a water soluble marker pen – just draw your grid on and then once you’ve stitched the design, it washes right out.

With black Aida though you will need to stitch your grid. This is easy to do and worth taking a few minutes extra time. Just take a single thread of your stranded cotton and make large stitches over a 10 block square as shown in the photo. Download pdf to see a bigger image.

Once you’ve done one row it’s easy to do the next rows – do make sure your first row is correct!

When you are stitching try not to pierce your grid thread as this makes it just a bit harder to pull out when you’ve finished. It also leaves behind a bit of fluff. If you do find this happens, just wrap some sellotape around your fingers and dab away the fluff. Easy peasy.

On your chart, you will find it helpful to rule the 10 block squares in a highlighter. These squares will match the gird on your fabric. Mark off the rows as you go so you don’t keep having to double check where you are.