Friday, 14 April 2017

What kind of fool .... ?

What kind of fool am I? 

I will show you later!

The problem with this blog-writing thing I have found is this.

I write my blog - I am fired with enthusiasm, I am proud of myself for actually doing it. I want to write another one, but it is too soon, only hours. So I will wait, just a day or two, well maybe a week. And then ..... before you know it, weeks have passed. 

So I have a couple of things to share with you. 

I will do it through the medium of tiny, tiny pictures that you will need to click to see anything at all. I am so sorry, I don't know how to do any better.

                                 


This is La-D-Da's Basket Weave Needle case which was launched at Nashville market last year, I think. It has been stitched for ages but recently finished. It's an effective design isn't it?     

( Now - can I say at this point that I manipulated these pictures to sit side by side. Let's see what happens when I post.)       


                                  

                         
    
This little needle case was also stitched a long time ago but remained unfinished. I think it was a freebie, but I am happy to be corrected. It looks fine, but actually it doesn't have a page inside yet for needles as I didn't have anything suitable. I made a little circle of beads to hide where I joined the ribbon to the spine ( I forgot to slip it inside the seam when I was stitching it together!) but - it looks like a tiny buckle - so now it's a design feature! 

I know, you are all thinking this girl is no fool, with her design features and all, what can the blog title possibly mean?

It means this. 

                                         
    

I sent this picture of my spring ornament to several friends who all admired it - it is their duty so to do - but they missed the mistake which even I couldn't fudge. Can you see it?

Here is where I am with my Quaker book SAL. I finished the first page and have just started on the second. I am liking it and I think the colour will be OK. Thank you for your reassurance.

                                              
     
I have a few other things to share, but they can wait til my next blog in a few hours, or days, or weeks.

Thank you for reading, and for your comments after my long absence, I really appreciate it.

Just this last picture, then if you insist. This is my entrance dressed for Easter.

                                    
   

Have a lovely Easter doing just what pleases you and your loved ones. 

Just eat the chocolate, for goodness sake!

Irene xxx



Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Really? That long?

So ...... I have been gone a while. 

Granted. 

But you know, it was nothing you did. 

Honestly, you were nothing but supportive.

It was me, I needed space.

Space to - well - just follow my whims, blow with the wind, to bob about on the tides of life.

But I've done all that now  - so here I am. 

Actually, out of the blue I got a comment on my blog about a piece I had completed which sent me scurrying back there to have a look. I read through some previous postings and I was reminded of all kinds of trivial happenings and pictures of my dogs and some stitching that I had completely forgotten about. 

It was a pleasant experience. 

So I decided to have another try to document my stitching in particular but maybe a little of my life too. 

I thought I might include some pieces I have completed in the interim and show progress (ha!) on work currently in the work basket. 

Actually I use a plastic box with a lid to store my work, baskets are pretty and homely and rustic but do not withstand the hurricane of incoming large wet dogs.

Do you remember Bronte and Cassie? My two Irish setters? Well Cassie is all grown up now and is the most loving dog you could hope to meet. After the trials and tribulations of puppyhood, she and Bronte love each other. 

They do. 

They greet each other every morning, look out for each other throughout the day, sleep together and cry if they are accidentally separated. They are amazing creatures. 

Here they are mid-adventure, Cassie at the front, Bronte behind her, obviously they didn't know you would be around so they are not perfectly groomed. They are NEVER perfectly groomed.
                                                  


But back to stitching.

So, for this first-after-a-long-time post I thought I would show .......

                                    

                           

                           

......... this Quaker box designed by Manni de Donna. It was fun to stitch and I did it as a SAL with my friend Anne who stitches here with me on a Thursday night. If I remember correctly, the thread winder and the tag for lifting the lid were available separately. The colours are not good ( I know, nothing changes), it looks quite grey here, but it is definitely a variegated blue. We changed the little pin pillow slightly by making it a mattress finish rather than the flatter charted design. 

Anne and I are so into Quaker at the moment. Our current SAL is A Quaker Pattern Book by With My Needle. If you don't know it, it is a small concertina book with five double sided pages of traditional Quaker patterns.

I am stitching mine with a Threadworx colour and I am just not sure. I think it might be too modern a choice for this design, but I tried others and I was not happy with any that I had in sufficient quantity. So, I will keep going.

                                           

It is charted for Crescent Colours 'Milady's Teal' and mine is quite teal, she said convincingly.

So there you go. First post in ages finished. 
Thank you if you remembered who I was and came back to have a look.

Just don't ask me about Milkmaid. No - don't!

Oh now you've asked, I suppose I need to tell you. 

Next time.

Bye for now
Irene xxx
PS This post was easy to write, but a nightmare to publish. I am sorry the photos are tiny, I have forgotten so much since I last posted, but I will try to do better next time.