SAL – Cappuccino #03

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve finished Cappuccino.

This is where I was up to last time.And this is the finished piece. That fabric looks a different colour every time I photograph it LOL

So, now I have all the coffee trio completed, I need to start looking for a suitable fabric to frame them with. I’ve got a vague idea of using something with a subtle coffee bean pattern to it. I just need to find it now 😉

I have a ‘delicious’ new project to start so hopefully there’ll be lots of progress on that in three weeks. I’ve already prepared the fabric. Having the squares marked out was so useful on Cappuccino that I thought I’d do it again.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan,
Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

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SAL – Cappuccino #02

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve made progress with Cappuccino.

This is where I was up to last time. And this is where it is now.
It’s not finished yet but it’s almost done. All the border is completed plus the cup, and I’ve made a good start on the lower section. Hopefully there’ll be a happy dance next time.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan,
Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

SAL – Cappuccino #01

This is the scheduled three-weekly post for the SAL that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs and I’ve started a new project. Apologies for the length of this post, Apparently I had a lot to say LOL.

I said at the start of the year that I wanted to complete five cross stitch projects this year, and I specified which ones they would be. So far I’m doing quite well. I made a spreadsheet to work out how many updates I’d need for each piece and I’m actually a bit ahead of schedule. So, instead of taking it easier, I thought I’d add another project to the list. Of course I did 🙄

You see one night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I had a brainwave. As I’m prone to forgetting things, especially night-time ideas, I made a quick sketch before going to sleep. The next day, I rummaged in my To Be Finished box to see if the idea was feasible.

Would you like to see my To Be Finished box? (Frodo did.)It has a lid, to keep all the stitched projects clean (in case anyone was worried), and it lives on the Cross Stitch bookshelf. It has inside it all the projects that are stitched but need to be framed or finished off in some way. As you can see, I’m much better at getting the stitching done than I am the framing.

The box has some lovely projects in it, such as these. And all of these. And these, which are what prompted my night-time sketching session. I’d remembered that I have one left to do in the Coffee Trio. They’re gorgeous little projects, that come complete with silk threads which are lovely to stitch with. They’re by one of my favourite designers, Little House Needleworks. They’re fairly small and after the success of framing Snowflake Serenade with that pretty fabric, it occurred to me that I could quite easily do these all in one frame, one below the other, which is what I sketched. *I may regret saying ‘easily’*

And, in order to do that, I need to stitch the third one – Cappuccino. (It is on the same fabric as the other two, but the lighting clearly wasn’t the same for both pics.) So, that’s why a sixth project was added to my To Do List and I’m hoping, really hoping that it doesn’t stop me from finishing the others as the last one is the largest one of the six.

The fabric is a lovely permin linen. It’s 32 count, so finer than my usual 28 count, and is quite slubby and uneven. I can cope with slubby and I can even still cope with 32 count (although it’s maybe best to use up all of my finer fabric before my eyes get any older), but 32 count AND slubby is a bit too likely to cause mistakes. So, I’ve used some stuff that’s a bit like fishing line and marked out the grid. The grid lines were checked for accuracy about a dozen times so now it’s much easier to make sure everything is stitched in the right place. It’s really speeded up my stitching actually so I’m thinking it was definitely worth the time it took.

This is how far I’ve got with it. That’s almost half way, so a bit more than I’d hoped for. The silks are lovely to use. Much nicer than the ones used on Aconites. They don’t snag or fray and just glide through the fabric. I love the overdyed effect too! Aren’t the purples pretty?! The only thing that I don’t love is working with one strand of thread. No loop starts, so more ends to sew in.

For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis, Claire, Gun, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Catherine,
Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

Do allow for people being in different time zones, so not posting all at the same time, but it’s well worth doing a bit of blog hopping to see all the lovely projects that are being worked on.

Miss Peepers – finished

It’s another finish. I’m on a roll, methinks 🙂

I love this one. It was so quick to do and a lovely stitch. I did have a slight mishap though. I’d finished it, or thought I had, and had it on the ironing board to give it a press. That’s when I noticed that she didn’t have any feet. I’d managed to miss them, so had to sort out the pattern and threads, which I’d already put away, and pop it back in the frame to stitch it.

Good job I noticed though 🙂

I also had an issue when trying to take a photo of it. I usually put things on my desk, right in front of the window as I think they photograph better in the natural light. Sammie likes that window. She can sit on the desk, or the sill and watch the birds and squirrels on the feeders that we’ve put just outside that window. She could see something while I was trying to get a photo of Miss Peepers and kept swiping her tail back and forth.

Most of the photos looked like this.

I had to wait until she’d finished before getting a decent shot without a tail in it.

Miss Peepers #2

I am loving this one. I haven’t had a great deal of stitchy time as I’ve been busy with other things, but I have got quite a bit of this done.

This is what it looks like now.

I should have it finished for the weekend and then I’ll start another new project pick up one of my WIPs for a while.

Miss Peepers

As I’ve had a couple of finishes recently, I thought I’d treat myself to a new start. It’s just a small project, and one that I’ve had in my stash for a while. It’s by Little House Needleworks, one of my favourite designers.

LHN always uses such pretty threads.

I’ve made a start on it and will probably keep stitching it until I’ve finished. Unless one of the other projects call too loudly, that is.

Frappuccino is finished

My first cross stitch finish of the year and I’m chuffed to bits with it.

Isn’t that border pretty? I love the colours in it.

So, now I’ve finished two of the coffee trio that I bought in Orlando a few years ago. I’m still thinking that I might frame them all together once the third one is done, but that may be with fabric now and not with an expensive wooden frame.

This is the two together. I just need to stitch Cappuccino to finish it off now.

I think Around the world in 80 stitches may be coming out tonight. I’ve sort of challenged Tree to a race to get caught up and I fear she may beat me if I don’t get a move on 🙂

Frappuccino – almost finished

I’ve finished all the picture part of this and just have the border to go now.

I’m itching to pick up the Around the World in 80 stitches project now but I will finish this first. Hopefully the border won’t take long as it’s a very simple pattern.

Frappuccino progress

I’ve done a bit more on my coffee-themed cross stitch and now it looks like this.

Not a great deal more than last time as the crochet bug seems to be biting hard at the moment, but there is some progress and hopefully I’ll get a bit more done this week.

If I can put the crochet down, that is.

Finally, some cross stitch

The last time I picked up any of my cross stitch projects was in October. Once I got back from my holiday I just wasn’t in the mood for stitching. I felt more like sewing and crocheting and although I did think about cross stitch occasionally, I never got beyond thinking and into doing.

I don’t want to stop cross stitching altogether, so I thought it might be an idea to tempt myself with a new start. My WIPs are all larger projects and although I did quite fancy doing a bit more on Around the World in 80 stitches, the size of it was putting me off.

So, I pulled out this one.

It’s been in my stash for a few years. I bought three at the same time and have already stitched Cafe Latte. It’s just a small project so I’m hoping that a finish will get me back in the swing of stitching again.

In hindsight, it may have been a mistake to pick something done with one strand on 32ct, but the silk that’s provided in the kit is gorgeous to work with so I’ve enjoyed my bit of stitching.

This is where I’ve got to so far.

I’m optimistic that I’ll be keen to crack on with Around the World and try to catch up with that, once I’ve finished this. After all the work I’ve done on it, I really don’t want to abandon it.