Siberian Gold End of Year Progress

Wow, only a few days now to the new year. I'm feeling really hopeful and hugely positive, with new plans and dreams in my head for 2011. I'm sure I'll tell you more about them later but for now it's time for the last Siberian Gold update of the year. You might remember that my original goal was to have this one done by the end of the year, but I ended up taking a break and working on the Autumn Queen for my sister instead.So as always the above is a reminder of where I was at the end of November. Thanks to a few days of illness where I've done nothing but curl up on the sofa under a pile of blankets and work on this, a great deal of progress was made during December. Tiger 2 now has his chin and a lot more of the background around him has been fleshed out. It's still going to be a good few months before this is finished I think but even though these guys have been with me for so long I still really love the picture and can't wait to see them framed and on my wall.

Doves, but no peace

I needed to start another project like I need a hole in the head but last Friday night I could not sleep for love nor money so I needed something simple to work on at 3am while watching The Ashes.

So I pulled out this cute little banner kit that came free with a magazine that I'd bought recently. It's just 4 little felt doves with some simple motifs to choose from to add to their cute little tums. The first motif got stitched up in no time (sorry for the dark photo, it was about 4am when this was taken). But then I hit a wall....... .... even though I used the fabric provided in the kit and stitched out the motif exactly as laid out, the thing is too big for the pre-cut circle in the dove. How annoying is that?!

I know it's not a major obstacle to over come, I'll just recut the hole so it's a bit bigger. My annoyance is at the fact that what started out as a (hopefully) quick start and finish in an evening project is now something that I actually have to think about and spend time making adjustments to. Grrrrr.

Winter Sun

I really like this quick snap taken out of the window last week, while the front lawn was carpeted in white. We didn't see much sun but boy when it showed itself it really made the snow gleam.For me there is something very special about the feel of the light cast by the winter sun. I love the rich tones that it gives to anything with colour, like on this close up of some of the stitching on Siberian Gold.

Siberian Gold - November Progress

With the lack of anything else creative to share this week (the quilt is under the machine and what little free time I have is being spent on that at the moment) I thought I'd share my November progress on the tigers. The above picture is where I picked it up from a few weeks ago and this is the now. Not a vast amount of progress, but actually looking at the two pictures side by side I've managed to get more done than I thought. As soon as the quilt is done I will go back to this one in earnest but for now every needle full of thread helps.

Bring on the season

The little Christmas banner I have been stitching is finally finished. For such a small project it's taken it's time to get done. All the of individual elements were pretty quick, it's just been finding the time to get them done and put together. Have no idea where this is going to go when the time to decorate comes, for now I just stuck it up against the wall to get a couple of quick snaps for the blog. Temporarily it has found itself living in the sewing room in amongst a whole clutter of other things that I love. I really enjoy getting cosy in this room, which has also been adopted by Hector and Hugo and their space in the house. It's the one place in the house that I've made truly mine, just wish there were more hours in the day for me to sit and enjoy playing with fabri, enjoying my things, playing with the cats, and ... well just being.

Whatever you find yourself doing today, I hope you find a few minutes to just be you. X

Step by Step

The noel banner is still slowly taking shape. There is so much going on at Angelcat Manor at the moment and work is ultra busy too it's all I can do to feed myself before falling asleep some evenings, so not too much energy for stitching.

But the hearts have been shaped ........ and some simple decorative stitching has been addedThe only thing left really is to get some ribbon and string them altogether. I'm so nearly there.

Ready to fly

The budgies pillow is finished, and in plenty of time too - you might remember that this is a christmas present for my Aunt, so I'm feeling pretty pleased. I love how the border turned out, it's amazing what you can make out of even those tiny scraps of fabric that you save. The back turned out really well too, made from an old shirt that I picked up at a local charity shop. I wasn't sure about the shirt at first, particularly as it had a pocket, but I figured I make a little feature of it, so now it houses my hand stitched label. If you've been visiting my blog for a while you might remember that the budgies was one of my Mum's cross stitch UFO's that I finished off. The label reads 'Handmade with love by Susan and Angela Hart, finished 2010' I hope my Mum would be pleased with how I finished off her project.

Waiting...

After whizzing through the stitching on the letters for the Noel banner, things slowed down on this project a bit. Have picked things up again though and have now made a start on making the letters in to little padded hearts. They are sat patiently waiting on the sewing table, hopefully they'll soon have their sides sewn up and ribbon attached.

Flying Away

The Bird pillow is almost done. The borders have now been added and so far I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out.The colours are loud and bright. It's been like working on a little piece of Spring in the middle of Autumn :) Just have the back to put on now. I'm going to use an old shirt that I bought for the purpose from a local charity shop. Just one little change to make though. At some point during its former life the shirt had a button replaced on it that is just giant compared to the rest.I'll have to make a padded insert too as the size isn't very conventional, but that shouldn't take long. Hopefully I'll have the finished pillow to show you soon.

The last letter

The final letter for my little Noel banner has been stitched. You'll have to tilt your head a bit though as I can't get the picture to upload in the right orientation :)I don't think it will take too long to get it made up in to a banner, just need a spare evening to get it done. Things are pretty hectic here though, am on the final stretch of getting the old house cleared out so evenings are being spent doing that at the moment, so might be another week or so before I find the time.

They're back

After finishing work on Autumn Queen (mention of which reminds me that I have to get that thing framed up), I figured that amongst all of the other things that I have on the go at the moment there is always room for one more project.

So I'm happy to announce the return of the Tigers which got put aside for Autumn Queen.This is where I left off, just about one quarter of the picture to go. I really love this image and after all of the long hours stitching that are going in to getting it done, this one I'm going to keep.

Another letter bites the dust

Three down now and just one more to go on the letters for the Noel Banner. I need to start thinking about digging out some fabric and ribbon to back these letters and get them strung together.

Spot the Birdie

So I've gone from doing not a lot on the stitching front to having lots of things on the go and not actually getting anything finished :)After a long hibernation the sewing machine is finally being dusted off as I attempt to make a start on the gift making for Christmas.But before I get ahead of myself and actually switch the sewing machine on, I've been raiding the boxes of scraps as I attempt to turn one of Mum's cross stitch patterns that I finished a while ago in to a cushion for my Aunt.It could be slow going though as every time I try and get going on the cutting mat Pip decides that the mat is the only comfortable place in the house for a snooze.

Making Progress

Still doesn't seem to be much time for stitching round here at the moment, but slowly things are making progress. Another letter is complete for the Noel banner. I've also started working om a couple of other things just as and when the mood takes me. I'll share those another time. It's nice to be working on bits and pieces as and when the mood takes me, no pressures, no deadlines, just me and the fabric and thread.

Something new

Have made a start on some stitching for Christmas, not a gift but something just for me. I really wanted to get away from Cross Stitch for a while as that is all I seem to have been doing the last few months but couldn't resist a pattern for a little Noel banner I saw in a recent magazine.Hopefully it will come together pretty quickly, and more cross stitch is better than no stitch :~)

Autumn Queen the Finale

The Autumn Queen has had her beads and is now finished.I am pretty happy with the way she has turned out. I would never have chosen to stitch this design myself, but all of the different thread types and the beading made it an interesting project to complete.The beading took a while as I suspected it would, definitely something to be done in the daylight and with the nights drawing in I don't see too mush daylight after I get home from work anymore.I now just have to get out and find the perfect frame for her and she's complete, and in plenty of time before my sisters birthday.

So it'll be back to the Tigers again soon, but I'm not sure they will get too much time over the coming weeks as I've been reminded that it's now less than 90 days before Christmas and there are a few gifts that I want to try and make this year so I'd best get started.

Monster Buttons

Some cross stitch that is not the Autumn Queen :)

I was looking for something quick and easy that I might be able to have a go at while I was babysitting the other weekend and found this really cute idea for some little buttons. They don't take long to stitch but I still only managed to make 2 while on babysitting duty.

Outlining the Autumn Queen

Outlining on the Autumn Queen has now been done, actually didn't take too long. Not really sure you can see a whole lot of difference on this zoomed out shot, maybe you can see that her hands are a bit more defined, but you can see the difference in the close up.Just the beading to go now, have a feeling that's going to take a while, but she should be done well before my sister's birthday in December.

Autumn Queen cross stitching done

All of the cross stitching is now complete on Autumn QueenShe is already looking quite regal, but there is still a way to go, we have the back stitching and then the beading to complete, so it will still be a while before she is done.I am planning on giving her to my sister for her birthday, which isn't until December so I still have plenty of time to try and get her done.

Introducing The Autumn Queen

I mentioned the other day that the tigers are going in to hibernation for a while, instead I will be working on one of Mum's other UFO's - The Autumn Queen. She is part of a set of 4, my sister has the three other pieces that Mum completed and wants the fourth so she can hang them up in her house.

This is as far as Mum got with her.

Mum has really already done the bulk of the work, Autumn really isn't too far off being finished. This kit has lots of beads and some strange fluffy white thread that I've not seen before, so should be interesting to work on. There are also some quite large blocks of colour in the patterning so in comparison with all the colour changes in the tigers I'm hoping that she will come together reasonably quickly. To start with I have some unpicking to do. It seems that all of the work on the sleeve is wrong so before I go any further that will all have to come out. It feels quite sad to be unpicking stitches that Mum put in, but it's out by quite a way so I can't just work round it without things looking odd, so there is nothing else for it some unravelling has to be done.