Friday 25 January 2013

IHSW, TAST, and more

I didn't get as much time as I'd hoped to stitch during the IHSW, nor did I have as much energy as I'd like - I'd seriously underestimated how long it takes to recover from pneumonia and how easily I tire still, which is also why this post is so late - I just have not had the energy left after dealing with everything else.

What I did manage to achieve was a start on a bookmark for a special someone, which I finished last night. The completed bookmark is 7" x 1 " / 17,5 x 2,5 cm. the little blue figure is a Lego minifig the recipient chose from their collection for me to use as the inspiration. He said that he thought the minifig looked dead because of the X eyes and the fact that he's lying down which he thought was extra fun - that's kids for you lol. The name is done with red variegated thread, the rest with standard DMC floss. Made on a scrap of 18 ct Aida.

I sewed one of the two Elements biscornu's together - the fire and water one, which I won't include now as it's not yet got the button on, looks exactly the same as the last one and I'll make a separate post with both of them once completed.

I also cut out 2 cloaks from fleece for the kids that I still need to sew together, and, as there isn't much to look at apart from a pile of fleece I won't be showing photo's of them yet either.


This year I'm joining in with the Take A Stitch Tuesday project where every Tuesday (or almost every Tuesday) a wonderful lady shows how different embroidery stitches are done. Since I want to expand my stitch knowledge this seems like a good thing for me to join in with and hopefully it will be fun to do. One of my many UFO's was a partially finished frame that I couldn't remember what I had started it for. I realised that this would make the perfect frame for me to try and do all the TAST stitches in, hopefully also creating a pretty picture in the process.
 I have already done this weeks stitches for this - not much as I don't want to run out of space prematurely and I can always add more later. I am also working on completing the frame of cross stitching.

8 comments:

  1. HOpe you feel better soon! Lol about the bookmark! Kids.. ;)

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  2. How nice to have another TAST member. Looking forward to seeing how your picture will grow.

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    1. Thanks :D I can't wait to see which stitches I need to try to include.

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  3. So let me ask you, how many projects do you have going at one time? I become overwhelmed when there are three, so how do you have a project for Tuesdays, one upstairs, one downstairs, one at the sewing machine and then baking in the kitchen? :D

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    1. umm..

      *eyes pile of stuff*

      Right now I'm in the middle of making 2 cloaks, a beanie hat, the TAST, the 12 months of Christmas project, the stuff I want to finish this year and umm.. yeah...

      I think I manage with all the stuff because I compartmentalise it.

      - The Tuesday thing can only be done on Tuesday after I have the new stitch so the rest of the week it goes aside and isn't a guilt thing because I *can't* work on it.
      - The upstairs project is something I can only work on upstairs as that's where I keep it. I chose to set it up like that because I'd always forget it and end up having to go up and down stairs just to get it, which isn't too good for my joints.
      - Then there is whatever my current project is (with the occasional side project, like the bookmark) I work at this when I'm watching shows mostly or when I'm chatting on skype.
      - Sewing machine stuff is done when I'm not at the computer, I have one main project I try to work on and occasionally one or more side projects (like the cloaks [2 seams each - one for the back of the hood, one to attach the hood to the cloak] and the beanie [oldest has grown out of his hat and in my state of health I can't go to town to get a new one so I'm making a new one])
      - Baking I do for fun when the mood strikes me or when I've run out of bread and need one fast, there is no time limit for that.

      Being home all the time probably helps too as I'm not allowed to work any more and need to fill my time with stuff to avoid total boredom. ;)

      Does that explain it a bit?

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  4. Really nice bookmark with the variegated threads. Sounds like he loves it!! Great idea learning new embroidery stitches. Some are difficult for sure, and having someone teach it is wonderful. Going by a books' description doesn't always work. :) Love to see your progression! :)

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    1. Thanks :D He does indeed! It probably helps that he chose the colour of the name himself :)

      I do like a challenge so learning new stitches will be fun, even if they are difficult- I'm definitively a visual learner so a single picture and a written description soon leave me lost.

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