An Open Heart

Here's my progress to date. Despite the grief the drawn threadwork band was causing me, it has turned out rather nicely. I really only have two major areas to stitch and then it is on to the borders. Dare I jinx myself by saying this could quite possibly be my first major finish for 2007?!!



Thank you all for your really nice comments on AOH too - they helped me get through that reweaving!!!

Now to comment on a couple of comments :)

Alison, the beaded purse pin measures 2.54cm x 5.72cm (1" x 2.25"). It is probably not something I would wear but I could probably make myself very popular with my Bratz loving DD and her similarly minded friends by making a bunch of them without the pin. I'm sure their fashion loving Bratz would love them :) Good luck with An Open Heart - you will probably breeze through the reweaving :)

Tannia, all I can say about your recollection of soylent green cereal from the old film is eeewwwww! LOL! Actually, your comment made me curious so I went searching and found this - again, at the risk of sounding like my 9yo female child - eewww!

Rightio, on that note, I'm off to make a dent in the next band of AOH before the kids come home :)

Blog quiz ...

Mel -- [noun]: A brand of soylent green breakfast cereal 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Mmmm, oookaaayy?!

Let's try my full name ...

Melissa -- [noun]: A hermit living in the big city 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Ha, that's more like it - lol!!

Courtesy of WhizGidget :)

A beady post, with a little bit of stitching too :)

I made this a few weeks ago and have only just now remembered to take a photo of it! The pic isn't great, sorry, but this one was the best one of the lot :/

It is "La Heather Ice", a Mill Hill La Petite Purse Pin kit that I found whilst rummaging through my bead stash. I wasn't in a stitching mood so I went looking for inspiration :) It was my first experience with the Mill Hill Magnifica beads and I must say it was fun (so much so that I've ordered a couple more kits - lol) and it only took me an afternoon.

It also makes it my first finish for 2007!

Thank you for your lovely comments re Sea of Roses. Michelle, to answer you question, yes, I do find it easier to stitch one colour first then the next. I've tried parking and it just confuses me (I'm blonde - it doesn't take much - lol!). I must admit I do chop and change the way I stitch my HAEDs. Sometimes I'll work in 10 x 10 columns like Verdure (although you will notice from my last WIP pic that I've started going cross country on that) but mostly I'm a cross country stitcher within a page. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I've put her away for now and moved on to DT's An Open Heart which is causing me a little bit of grief at the moment. There is a band which requires you to cut and withdraw threads then reweave. The instructions are excellent and I don't have a problem with the actual process, it is the linen that I'm having trouble with. I am using the recommended linen (34ct Cafe au Lait Legacy Linen) and up to this point I've had no problems. However, though I'm taking this particular band slowly and with great care, the linen is weak and breaks very easily which is so not what I need when I have to reweave the threads! It is also fluffing and just being very difficult to handle.



You can see the section in question - with the green honeycomb hem stitch (please don't look too closely though - there is a slight boo-boo which I'll need to fix somehow). I've got a section of plain cross stitch and then another band of the drawn thread work. I'm expecting it will be a pain but I will soldier on :) As far as I can tell that's the only band with that technique so it should be smooth sailing from the next band on!

Sea of Roses

This is my progress on Sea of Roses which I started for the HAED BB Valentine's SAL. I started in the top left corner which is mostly background and part of her tail so there really isn't much to see yet. I've added a little more since this photo was taken but I may take her off the stand tomorrow and work on something else. It's Quick Stitch Wednesday tomorrow so I may just dig out Plum Gothic or perhaps even Snowflake (gasp!) or I may just even go non-HAED for a few days :)

Oh, and for those interested, Sea of Roses is being stitched on 25 count Light Rose lugana with DMC threads and Petite Treasure Braid for the sparklies :)

Not a happy little Vegemite!

Australian readers will understand my angst ... we ran out of Vegemite two days ago and, unusually, none of the usual places here I can get it from have it in stock!! As Captain Jack Sparrow would say - not good! After trying to sell me Promite (shudder!!) the other day, and being told very quickly that it does NOT taste the same, the head honcho at my local store has promised me he will have more Vegemite in stock "very soon, madam" :) He also probably thinks all of us Vegemite loving Australians are quite mad - lol!

I think I might get mum to send over a couple of tubes for emergencies, and DH can bring back a one kilo jar with him since he'll be in Oz next week :)

I've been stitching away on Sea of Roses as part of the HAED BB's Valentine's SAL and will try and upload a pic of my progress over the next day or two. It doesn't look like much at the moment though.

Okay, the dog is resting her head on my thigh and staring at me with those incredibly huge brown eyes of hers and I can ignore her no longer - it's walk time :)

HAED BB Challenge SAL

Remember, Linda Ravenscroft's Verdure? Long time readers may, newer ones won't :) It's been a while since this project has seen the light of day. Anyway, this weekend was February's SAL for the HAED BB's Challenge SAL - a year long SAL on a chart of your choosing. It can be an existing WIP or a new start and I decided to dig out my Verdure WIP. The chart cannot be changed during the year unless you finish one and start another (like that's gonna happen!!). We can stitch on our chosen charts any time we like, but at least 10 out of the 12 months we need to sign in and participate in the SAL weekend (the 2nd weekend of each month Fri thru to Mon).

What you see above is my progress. I managed just under 800 stitches but I only worked on it for one day (yesterday). A huge improvement from last month where I only managed about 100 stitches! I am hoping to see some significant progess on this by the year's end.

There is a Valentine's SAL starting up tomorrow on the HAED BB and I have been going through my charts/WIPs to see if I have anything remotely near the love/romance theme (I am not the romantic kind as you will see towards the end of this post!). The closest thing I have is Sea of Roses by Selina Fenech. I haven't had a new start this year and probably don't need another one but well, what can I say? I have no willpower and the joy for me is not so much in the finished product but the actual stitching of the piece :) I have had SOR kitted up for quite some time so today I printed off the chart, prepped the fabric, gridded the outline and organised bobbins. I am actually thinking of starting it this afternoon since I will be out all day tomorrow (the rescheduled field trip that was cancelled last week).

I have made progress on DT's An Open Heart - no progress pics yet as I want to finish the band I'm working on before taking it off the Q-snaps.

Thank you for the comments about the passing of my nan and the new look of my blog :) I'm so glad I found that photo - it really turned out well considering I took it from the car. I'm not sure if you can tell but the second camel rider along is actually waving to me :D.

Told you I wasn't romantic ... LOL!

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love. You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

New beginnings ...

As you can see, I'm playing around with my blog again. I briefly thought about moving my blog elsewhere but decided to stick with Blogger for now. However, I've managed to import a pic I took of a camel train quite some time ago into my header and I'm gradually changing the colours around to suit. It is not finished but given that it is now 1.30am I'm calling it a night and will continue playing tomorrow. Oh, and you will also notice I've changed the name of my blog (I was never happy with it!) as well. I love camels and although I don't stitch with the real living, breathing kind, I do have various forms of them about my house :)

Anyway, bed is calling!

Phew!

There are days when I really really dislike Blogger!!! It ate my post and I'd just hit the Publish button too! Mutter, mutter ....

Anyway, the gist of my eaten post was that An Open Heart has been found - thank goodness! Even though I had looked in behind the drawers of the robe in the guest room I decided to try again. I put my hands in to feel around as well as getting more up and close and personal with the drawers than before - lol - and sure enough there it was. It had slipped underneath the bottom drawer.

So it has been found and I am rewarding myself with an hour or so of stitching before starting on dinner!

Oh, and Cathy ... thank you :) I like your new blog "home" :) I have been a little anti-social lately and haven't been reading many blogs. I am in the process of rectifying that though :)

The Case of the Missing WIP

Sorry for not posting for a while - a few days after my last post I learnt that my nan had passed away. She was 94 years old and hadn't been well for the past few months so it was her time to go but still, it is sad.

I still haven't been able to settle with my stitching - managed a few stitches in Arabian Woman but then I wasn't really enjoying it, so I moved on to Night for a bit. Have put a few stitches in here and there but nothing worth taking a pic of.

I was scheduled to go on a field trip with DD's class today but it was cancelled at the last minute (probably due to the rain we had this morning) so I found myself with a free day. I had a strong desire to stitch on An Open Heart (Drawn Thread) and since it is the first time in ages that I actually wanted to stitch, I set about locating said WIP.

Well, do you think I can find it?! I have searched high and low and so far it is nowhere to be found! It has to be in this house somewhere (at least I hope it is!) but it is not where I thought it was. I have a box next to my stitching chair that contains four or five WIPs that I actively work on (when I'm stitching that is!) - that seems to be as many as I can handle at the one time. The rest of my my projects/stash are stored in a cupboard downstairs along with fabric and threads. I also have a couple of projects in the wardrobe (one of my "overflow" cupboards) in the guest bedroom and a couple in the bottom of the wardrobe in the master bedroom. I also have a suitcase full (mostly of yarn) on top of the wardrobe in the guest room. I have looked in all of these places and still no AOH. I've just gone through my box and the cupboards downstairs again, pulled everything out, looked in pattern folders, fabric boxes (discovered I have quite a bit of fabric!!!), the suitcase, even behind the robe and cupboard, still with no luck. As soon as I finish here I will head upstairs and go through my wardrobe again but I am at a loss as to where else it could be. It is a mystery, and a little disconcerting!

Hopefully I will be able to report in my next post that I've found it ... fingers (or toes) crossed!