Stitching For a Cure Ornies

OK here we have, as promised, the post that proves this is still a stitching-related blog. LOL

Way back in around October or November 2008 I came across the Stitching For a Cure blog that had been set up by Donna, who wanted to decorate a Christmas Tree with hand stitched ornies and raffle it all to raise money for cancer research in the USA. One amazing woman who is not only busy organising this but has also stitched a lot of beautiful ornies for the tree herself.

This really touched a nerve, as 2007 had been a very bad year for my family: we'd lost DH's DSis to bone cancer (breast cancer secondaries) shortly after her 40th birthday....... followed a short time later by my Dad, to Oesophageal cancer that had spread to his stomach. And they weren't the first: we've lost other family members and friends to this bloody awful disease over the years. So helping someone in their endeavours to raise money to fund vital research into finding a cure for cancers was a given, as it's a cause dear to my heart.

The call went out last week for all ornies to be sent in, so it was time to extract my digit and get those ornies finished so they could be wrapped, packaged, addressed and sent on their way. So here's the first one, prior to going in the wrapping:

Design: Snowflakes for Cancer - Cure

Designer: Virginia Knutson of Vee and Co

Fabric: Count On Me 28ct evenweave, Aster

Threads: Carrie's Creations Boysenberry; Coats Reflecta #3031 + Mill Hill beads

Finish: Pinkeep style Christmas ornie

That's in the general cancer colour, stitched in memory of my Dad. And the second one:

Design: Snowflakes for Cancer - Hope

Designer: Virginia Knutson of Vee and Co

Fabric: Count On Me 28ct evenweave, Aster

Threads: Carrie's Creations Sassy; Coats Reflecta #3031 + Mill Hill beads

Finish: Pinkeep style Christmas ornie

Pink for breast cancer and this is in memory of Helen. They sparkle way more IRL. I've also included another ornie I stitched way, way back for the JA/S&S Monthly Challenge during Breast Cancer Awareness Week. That had originally been with Helen in mind but it is now for Aunty Doreen, who was my Mum's friend and neighbour for many years, who was also lost to breast cancer.

All three ornies are now in the post and will soon be winging their way across the pond, so they should hopefully be in Donna's hands early next week (says she, with fingers and everything else crossed!).

So looking forward to seeing pics of the tree. I hope you raise your target and then some Donna - will certainly be sending out lots of best wishes and Good Luck vibes your way. :0)

Last of the Old and First of the New

Meaning the last of 2008's received items and makes and the first finishes of 2009. Yes, it's back to the crafts at long last. LOL

I had to share a pic of the lovely decoupage card my PenPal Maggie sent to me:

Unfortunately my pic just doesn't do this any justice at all, as it's much more layered and dimensional than you can tell from the pic. So pretty. :0)

Another card, this time one I made for my friend Alex's birthday on the 23rd December:

As you can see I've still not tamed that flippin' scanner and it's left the card looking very "flat", so I shall be taking all pics with the digicam from now on. The image and wording were stamped then heat embossed with carbon and silver embossing powder - it and the darker backing layers glitter much more IRL. I do like the romantic look of this and was fairly pleased with how it turned out.

The next card I made for Karen:

The roses and butterfly are decoupage, so are 3-D. Karen's card was the last make of the old year and was a pleasure to do - I love those cards that just flow nicely and come together just as they've been pictured in my mind. :0)

So....... drum roll, please...... now we have the first finish of 2009:

Kit AY10 - Rose & Ribbon

Mini Motif range - Graphworks International

14ct cream aida

DMC threads

Charity stitch for Treetops Hospice, Derbyshire

Aperture card kindly donated by Claire

OK, so maybe a drum roll is a bit OTT for such a small finish but getting this done was a bit of an achievement with my mojo going missing during the festive season...... I actually started it back on the 23rd December but didn't pick it up again until a few days ago, when it finally got finished. Weirdly enough the renewed interest in stitching seemed to coincide with the day that the festive decorations got taken down and packed away. Go figure! LOL

To keep the renewed interest going I started another small card the same day and finished it up on the 6th:

Kit - The Medieval Knight

Medieval Miniatures range - The Textile Heritage Collection

Designed by Ann Orr

16ct? Royal Blue Aida

Possibly DMC threads

This one will probably be for my DS. Both kits I rediscovered after rootling around in my stash boxes, so that's two less guilt trips in there. Actually that was quite a useful voyage of discovery, as there are quite a few small festive kits in there that will do nicely for the JA/S&S Monthly Ornie SAL that Karen is running (thanks Karen!). Yes, I signed up for that because: 1) although I may not always manage to join in every month, at least it'll give me the incentive to stitch some ornies through the year; 2) it's a good way of getting through some of the stuff in my stash boxes; 3) my special tree still looked awfully bare again this year, despite a couple of nice additions to it - I'd love to get enough done to fill it this year. :0)

Another new year restart is the JA/S&S Monthly Challenge. This month we can choose any of the Papillon Creations freebies we want to stitch and then finish however we like. I like quite a few on there so the decision is a hard one to make - I've managed to whittle it down to three that I've printed out ready, so I shall have to make the final decision soon, pick out my fabric and threads and make a start. No sharing of that until after Reveal Day though.

Also restarting after the holiday break is Tuesday UFO Night and Thursday Sea Stars SAL Night. Unfortunately I got carried away with finishing the Knight card and totally forgot this Tuesday...... despite spotting the reminder on the Forum earlier in the day. A decidedly Doh! moment. Sorry Julie and Mr Stick - I promise to do better next week and dig Night Watchman out of the pile. Reckon he'll be glad of the outing, don't you? LOL

I think all that little lot will keep me busy and out of mischief so I'm not making any goals as such. I just want to keep up with the Monthly Challenge plus the Ornie and Sea Stars SAL's as much as possible and take part in UFO Night to get those UFO's completed. Oh, and keep up with the new dietary regime so I can get my health on an even keel and be a bit less fat. LOL

Whilst the mojo was intermittent then missing I did get a bit of reading done and finished a few books. You can see which ones in my side bar, if you're curious, and there's more info on The Reading Corner blog. I've also added another post to my Moonglow blog too. The blog reading/commenting is going well too, though I've still to make it to a few more yet - please bear with me.

And because it's a new year - and because I felt like a change - it's been out with the old look and in with a new one on my blogs. Not sure I'm totally satisfied with this one yet, so may still have another play with colours and things. Hope you approve. :0) BTW, can anyone tell me how I put a banner in my side bar, to show it's an Izzy Grace background, please? Tried several times with various "Add so & so" bits and it just won't have it. Ta very muchly. :0)

Many thanks for taking the time to visit. Hope you're all managing to stay warm and toastie during this cold winter weather. :0)

Stitching - Yay!

You will all probably be relieved that this blog will now be getting back to the more relevant and serious things in life once again: stitching! LOL

Another JA/S&S Tuesday UFO Night has been and gone and Guen was glad to receive some attention after two weeks of neglect (got a queenly strop on about not coming away on holiday with us LOL). This time around I managed to complete all of the outlining of the dress and the folds:

That called for stem stitch - not whip stitch as I kept thinking (in brain fart mode again!). Good job I checked the instructions before starting or I would have been spitting - and frogging! I managed to find a bookmarked link to a site that has short video clips for various embroidery stitches, so I watched it a couple or three times before starting: glad to say it helped and I felt more like I knew what I was doing and made a much better job of the stitch this time around. :0)

Next Tuesday there's a chain stitch collar to do in metallic thread and some background, which I think is also in metallic. A HD is so close now I can almost taste it! LOL

I haven't, as yet, started the JA/S&S Monthly Challenge piece for August due to technical problems: my printer quit just before our holiday and it looks like it'll be having a one way trip to the great printer graveyard........... more commonly known as the electrical goods skip at the local amenities site. :0( DH is dithering over whether to network my PC to DS's printer or give in and buy an upgraded model that scans and does a few other things and sounds like it's only just short of having a built in coffee maker. ;0) Hope he decides soon because a printer is desperately needed now for a backlog of chart printing that's fast beginning to resemble a full-on log jam.

Wednesday got off to a good start with a pinkie from Jayne. Inside was:

On the left is this month's COM fabric called Gladioli, which is much more vibrant IRL (the digicam flash has washed the colours out a little). The goodies on the right are the fabric (Chocolate Crush - yum!) and threads for Jayne's new SAL piece called Friends Count that's due to start shortly. Can't wait to receive the pdf and start it, as it's a beautiful piece and sentiment......... and that's another reason for the urgent need of a printer!

Inside the pinkie was a sample swatch for another of Jayne's beautiful hand dyed fabrics that she kindly sent to see if it was what I was looking for for Sea Stars. It's perfect: just the right colour mix, shade and mottling (to suggest a moving sea) that I wanted. In fact it's so spot on I'm beginning to wonder if Jayne is psychic, as it isn't the first time she's been able to come up with the perfect fabric for me just when it was needed.......... it's getting spooky now. LOL I'm going to be a tease and not share a pic though - will wait until all the threads are chosen and it's been started. Well, a girl has to have some secrets. LOL

Thanks for all the kind comments re: my knee etc. The knee is now down to a dull ache (so long as I don't kneel on it or crouch down) and I only occasionally feel the need to take pain killers. I can even tackle the stairs without too much hassle - good job really, with the amount of laundry/ironing I've had to ferry up and down them this week! Oh for the convenience of a separate ground level utility room - a girl can dream! LOL

Angela: Fortunately our 'van wasn't as scarily propped on bricks as some were. Mind, if I'd known the site was like that I wouldn't have booked it (despite DH and DS). Would go back to the Valley again (out of season) but doubt we'll stay at the site again. BTW, you're already doing what Book Crossers do. :0) Registering and adding books doesn't take that long, plus you can even get an explanatory bit to print out and stick in the front of the books before you launch them into the wild. So hope someone picks Labyrinth up soon.

Thanks for all the kind comments - hope you've enjoyed your visits. :0)

Not So Manic Monday

As promised, here's the pic of the small piece I stitched over the weekend between mouse hunts and cleaning bouts. It's a Bucilla kit, designed by Bonnie Smith Disotell, and came complete with the wood frame. I used some self-adhesive backing board to mount the piece and it slotted nicely into it. I'll be sending it, along with some other items, to my MIL to sell at her fundraising event for Treetops Hospice in Derbyshire - it's something that's dear to all our hearts as they gave a lot of help and support to my SIL Helen. As I mentioned it yesterday (and Blogger is playing today) I thought I'd post a pic of the Carol Tinson Love Is You design. If I remember rightly, this was a Limited Edition piece available just before St Valentine's Day. It's stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct Zweigart Lambswool Linen with Kaalund Silk Poinsettia and V. Clayton Heart Wood:It fell by the wayside when my eyes struggled with the fine stitching, then life got in the way, but I picked it up again last week. I'd forgotten how nicely this stitched up and just how lush those silk threads are, so more progress should be made soon. :0)

Though I'm continuing with the laundry and have done another three loads (where did all that bedding and all those towels come from?!) today hasn't been quite as manic as the last few days, I'm glad to say. Most of the cleaning is sorted and it's been another mouse free day - yippee! For Karen: you don't have to especially go and buy a jar of Nutella (not unless you really want to ;0) ) - raisins, a little peanut butter or a small piece of choccie are also effective trap bait (don't bother with cheese, they really don't fancy that). Hope you get the little beggar. >:0)

For those that were wondering: the son and heir has had a bit of a headache today (sinus pressure he tells me) otherwise he's fine. Helen: as soon as he mentioned "bug" I got the whiff of a particular farmyard odour in the air. ;0) Luckily nights like that rarely happen, but I do live in hope that he grows out of the boozy Saturday nights out stage before there's any permanent damage done to his liver.

I've been a bit achey today and am not sure if that's down to all the bending, carrying and furniture moving over the past few days or if I've OD'd on the fumes from all those cleaning products >roll eyes<. I had a lovely phone call with Jayne from Jayne's Attic mid-morning - it's always a pleasure to chat. If you're reading this: thanks for the laughs Jayne........ and for the excuse for a sit down. ;0)

If Royal Mail are on form some new goodies should be with me tomorrow and, as I'll be as excited as a three year old at their own birthday party, will more than likely post a pic so you can all share. :0)