Quaker Ball

I know!

Here I am again.

A feast or a famine - that's me.

Anyway, whilst I have been away from you, I have been stitching, so I have a bit to show.

I thought I would start here with Amaryllis Artworks Quaker Ball.

There was a lot of debate about how big the finished article might be, with arguments about whether the given measurement was the circumference or the diameter. It clearly states Circumference, but this did not satisfy everyone!

I chose to stitch the middle size, fearing that the smaller one might be a bit tricky to manipulate for finishing.

And I liked the colours!

It was charted for 32 count linen, but I had a nice piece of 34 (or 35?) so I used that. I began by using two strands of the recommended WDW but didn't much like the effect so stitched over two with one strand.

Also, it had a border of chain stitch and I began this stitching with a confident toss of the head - after all I could chain stitch when I was five years old.

Mmm - I pulled it out because it was so wobbly it was untrue, even following the running stitch guide and resorted to my usual back stitch.

I am halfway through joining now. The finishing is easy, just a bit tedious. The instructions and diagrams ate excellent.

The ball overall will be bigger than expected ( see above ) but the joining squares are less than an inch when the edges are turned in.

Pictures??

Let's see.


These are the pieces of the second half of the ball, just starting to join them.




And this is the first half completely joined, still with some tacking stitches showing.

Interesting eh?

Love Irene xxx

PS. I am still experimenting with BlogPress and have changed the picture size. The results can't be seen until the post is published. If they are far too big, or just silly, I apologise in advance.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A test posting using Blogpress

After having so much trouble combining text and pictures using Blogger, I am trying out Blogpress.

I use my iPad for just about everything now; it is so much quicker than my laptop or netbook.

Let me see if I can add a picture - any picture will do!




Well.......that seems to have worked.

This, by the way, is a photo I took in a very wet Ireland a couple of years ago.
Ireland is green and beautiful.....and very wet!!!

Now I need to publish and see what happens.

If you are reading this, sorry it's so boring, but if it works, I will definitely blog more often and it will hopefully be about stitching too!

(I found a video online which demonstrated how to use Blogpress. Sophie, whose video it was, sounded about eight years old - Heyho!)

Love Irene xxx

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Chaos. Oh - and a bit of stitching.

In the olden days, those golden days I now refer to as the BB Days, my life was easy.

I would flutter a duster around, walk my obedient and obliging setter, Meghan, in the morning, then after partaking of a little light lunch, she would sleep and I would stitch with her by my side in companionable silence.

In those balmy, hazy, long-forgotten BB Days.

But now I have Bronte.

Here she is at 6 months.

In a rare moment, when she is actually still.

Glorious.

And here we are after she has brought in a plant pot full of soil and scattered it over a white(!!!) rug.

 

Note the now-perfected innocent 'Wasn't me' look.
 

I was going to show the toy this stuffing once belonged in, but really - it was just too awful.

Note the small log retrieved from the garden. 

 

The white cafe-style lace curtain from the kitchen door.

This looks bad, but if you could see the brass rod it hung from............

 Mmmmm.


And now the really serious stuff.

A barely recognisable chart, not even stitched.

Oh - and the little red scrap??

Wall paper.

So, in the midst of all this chaos, I did manage a little stitching.

I needed something which was repetitive, easy and achievable and these
Prairie Schooler Christmas Strawberries were the perfect choice.

I could pick one up, stitch a little and then put it by without too much trouble.

I found a finishing site which gave excellent instructions and I will add it later.

The valves on this computer took an age to warm up this morning and I daren't leave this page even for a moment to check the website address.

 

I made a little collage of the individual strawberries
because......
the side you can see in each one is the seam.

I know!

I'm getting the hang of this sewing thing.

There is some old saying I think, which suggests that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade?

Well....

 I cut out some of the lace motifs from the ruined curtain and may well use them

as backing on some small ornaments.

 

I am not going to be beaten by a six month old dog!!!!

Thank you for calling back after my long absence.

I have to sat that Bronte is not the only reason for me being missing for so long.

My mum was in hospital for 3 weeks and is making only a very slow recovery and Meghan, my sweet and lovely dog, has been diagnosed with diabetes and although she is doing well, she has a couple of major operations to face yet.

Lots of love  Irene xxx

PS. I have been away for such a long time that Bronte is now nine months old. I have had such problems with Blogger that I tried to publish this post three months ago but could never, after hours and days of trying, achieve text and pictures together.

So I gave up.

To spite Blogger!!

Ha ha. That showed you, didn't it Blogger?