Next installment of Galaxy

Hi everyone,

Galaxy is now past the halfway mark and it has changed again. More shades have been added and the mixing of the colours have altered the overall design.

The postman arrives soon with my next "colour of the month" club threads. I find this is good way to increase my collection of threads to play with. A few stores in USA and Australia offer this service. USA: Stitchers Workshop, Needle Delights Originals, Homestead Needlearts, Fireside Stitchery.  For a reasonable cost you can receive a selection of threads suitable for canvaswork/needlepoint each month based around a particular colour. It is always a lovely surprise and because you don't know what is being sent you will receive threads and colours you may never choose yourself (you can exclude colours you can't live with if you choose) and this extends and pushes you to try other colour schemes and different stitches using different textured threads. It is like having a birthday present every month. I will post photos when the next package arrives.

Here is Galaxy as at 1st September

Happy stitching, bye for now,Carol

The bird has flown

Hi everyone,

You guessed it, the dove has flown, to where I do not know. No more cooing in the early hours sleep glorious sleep.Yipee..............

Here is the latest on Galaxy, the big star is finished and 2 more smaller sections are nearly completed. Like the way the small stars (in the photo-top right) colour has stitched up.





The girls stitching From Molehill to Mountain as a chapter project have promised to post photos of their progress soon, looking forward to seeing these. There are also lots of photos of the seminar happenings in San Antonio on the ANG yahoo group board. Some fanastic new projects to see and add to your wishlist.

I have added Ro Pace's blogspot to my bloglist. Great to see her designs and to hear about the designing processes and some day to day interesting information. Welcome Ro.

Below is my next design to be released soon, Nile Jewels. The first is the original colourway and can be stitched with 3 squares or as below with 5. The 2 colourways are listed in the chart.







Hope you like these. Thank you to my test stitchers, Anne, Karen and Lis for their great work and friendship.

Bye for now, Carol

I love nature but give me a break

Hi everyone,

This picture of Baxter says it all. At the moment it is bird nesting time.(by the by Baxter is way tooooo much of a gentleman to bother with birds). Now I love nature's small and cuddly creatures, but........ a native dove coo-cooing outside my bedroom window every morning at 5.00am is the limit. We have trying shooing it to another tree but it comes back and brings friends. We have left bread and seed in the back garden to encourage its relocation but that didn't work. So it looks like ear plugs are my only hope if sleeping till after 5.00am is to become an reality.

Friends, my stitching is suffering, this is just not good. A bleary eyed stitcher is not a good one. Even with all the needlework gadgets and tricks in the world wide open eyes are a must.

Now to what has been happening on the stitching front.

I received a parcel in the post on Wednesday, inside was a wonderful design called From Molehill to Mountain by Pamela Gardner. WOW.... having charted and writen many instructions I can appreciate the work that has gone into producing this design and notes. I have only been an ANG member for just over 2 years so I don't know a lot about how chapters work. Sara from Scarlet Thread is a member of the chapter group that is stitching this piece as a year long project. I do hope some of you will post your progress. This one is on my wish list to start very soon.

A little progress on Galaxy but not enough worthy of a photo, but very soon.

To anyone attending the San Antonio seminar, have a great time and post lots of photos when you come home,  sorry I couldn't make it this year I had intended to do Micheal Boren's class "Frankie". Not happy that I had to miss it but the 2012 seminar is highlighted on my calendar already in a very bright highlighter pen.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

A little more of Galaxy and some Mystique

Hi everyone,

This week is a slow stitching week, with other bits of life getting in the way. Here is a little more of Galaxy. This star has taken longer than all the others but the result is stunning. Although it is quite large when the other patterns are around the sides it sits very happily and quietly within the design. Very clever Kathy.

The other  piece I have been stitching/fixing is Mystique, by Jean Hilton. This is another at the 2/3rd stage and when I picked it up I remembered why this one had come to a halt. The ecru pattern on the outer edge is done with 2 strands of perle 12 and they just did not sit well. So out it all came and this time I restitched it using 1 strand and doing the stitch twice and making sure they lay side by side. Now I am much happier with the result. I know just call me obsessive but it stood out like a sore thumb that it wouldn't lay right, so now it is restitched I can live with the end result. Surely I am not alone when I say this, right?  Many sleepless nights are caused by fixing these problems in your sleep and not fixing these problems for real. Here is the photo of the result, so far.

Hope all your stitching problems are little ones. Bye for now, Carol

A big hand for the sometimes serial non finisher

Hi everyone,

The needle has been flying. I just woke up and decided it was WIP time again. Some progress has been made on Galaxy, but just at the moment my head is in a different space. I have a photo with some more of the octagon rhodes area completed. This will get more attention very soon,now some other pieces are out of my head.

Back some time ago I posted about Dowagiac, by Jean Hilton, this was 2/3rd's completed (the old stumbling block) and it needed finishing. Well it is just about near finished and would be if I hadn't miss counted on the border green lines. So here is a photo as it is before I undo part of the border to fix my boo-boo. The black/gold metallic (around the outer edge and in the corners of the middle diamond) is a thread called Butterfly(Papillion) thread which comes from Greece, it is my favourite metallic and stitches beautifully. Not sure if it is available in USA or England but The Thread Studio in Western Australia keeps the full range if you would like to take a look at their website.

I am so heartened to hear our band of hunter/gatherers struck a cord with so many of you. Stitching people may live in many countries of the world but the stitching world is a cosy and happy little corner of that world. The happiest place for me when the world gets crazy is curled up in my stitching corner with the latest catalogue, magazine or a few charts deciding what to stitch next. Pure bliss.............

Hope you get to finish one of your WIPs soon.
Bye for now, Carol

Are you a stitching hunter/gatherer too

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was my last x-ray. The shoulder bone has now mended and all that is left to do is increase my exercises to get more movement back. Yippeee......

Therefore not much stitching on Galaxy, but by next post I will have something to show.

I met with friends for afternoon tea and we sat and chatted about lots of things, which always includes needlework stash. We all have supplies well beyond life expectancy and we have decided we fall into the catagory of 'hunter/gatherers'. The fact that we could never stitch everything that we collect that catches our eye doesn't matter but the time spent collecting and planning the next project is just as exciting as starting a new project. Do you belong to this every expanding group of stitchers or are you well controlled and finish one piece before buying the next project? If you fall into the second group, I am very impressed, to me it is a bit like opening a box of chocolates and stopping at one. For me and the rest of my hunter/gatherer group it just isn't going to happen. We are a happy group and I tell myself that I and other h/g are keeping the stitching economy going, (well thats my little justification).

I have promised myself to complete most of my WIP's,  lots are at the 2/3rd stage of completion. This seems to be my stumbling block time and I find leaving a project for a while and then going back to it gives me a renewed interest in carrying on to finish. The latest WIP is Dowagiac by Jean  Hilton and it is one of the most colourful projects I have seen designed by Jean.

Some of my stitching friends aka Hunter/Gatherers
that's me in black,second row, left

Will post photos of Galaxy and Dowagiac soon.
Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

More of Galaxy and another WIP

Hi everyone,

Just finished another WIP, Morganite by Debbie Rowley, DeBees Designs. This is the first time I have used Silk Lame Braid and there is obviously a trick to using this thread. Wasnt sure if laying it or twisting it would tame this tricky little thread. It has a lovely sheen and is soft as butter but it splits apart when you stitch with it.
There is also quite a bit of Neon Rays which has a mine of its own. And yes laying it straight on the back as well as the front does take away some of its bad habits, but trying to stitch a narrow herringbone stitch row with Neon Rays does not make for a harmonious couple of hours. But I survived and learned. Here is the photo.
It is a very pale design with lots of satiny shine and sparkle.

Morganite- DeBees Designs



Also stitched a little more of Galaxy, this added more of the Eggplant watercolours and is a very bold pattern. I love the triangles with two colours around the octagons (only 2 completed so far).

Galaxy- Needle Delights Originals

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Another WIP finished

Hi everyone,

Below is the design I was stitching back in April the day I had my accident. There was only about 2 hours stitching left to complete this one, so I took a break from Galaxy and finished it. Danielle loves purple, so I hope this one appeals.

Jim Wurth- Old Country

The picture looks a little blue, but it is definately purple in the Walneto stitches.
There is lots of metalics in this piece so it shines like christmas lights under my daylight lamp.

Next WIP is Morganite by Debbie Rowley, that too is purple but this time more of a lilac and pastel blue.

More of Galaxy soon.  Happy stitching,bye for now, Carol

Next installment of Galaxy

Hi everyone,

A little bit more of Galaxy. I have photographed this post on the side, it fitted into the camera view better that way. One thing I have learned while blogging is that a photographer I am not. The camera I have is only a 4 megapixel and when I bought it not that long ago it was just the "ants pants" in latest technology. Now they are up to 14 megapixels and have movie recording ability. When will this technology nightmare slow down. My head is starting to spin. Thank goodness needlepoint calms down my spin-dryed brain and lets me catch my breath. When I get to wound up with computers and such and make funny noises at the screens my cat "Baxter" just looks up and I am sure he sighs and says "what's all the fuss about, mum", then goes back to his nap in the chair alongside by computer desk. Oh to be that relaxed.

The Perle cotton colours I have used in Galaxy were chosen by Kathy Rees at Needle Delights Originals. If you would like the same shades please email her and I am sure she will be happy to help. They will be offered as a colourway on her website soon. So in the interest of supporting our needlework shops and designers I don't feel I could post the actual colours for this design on my blog, but thank you for your request.

Bye for now, Carol

Bye for now, happy stitching Carol