Kitten Update!

I do wish kittens would stay kittens but they do tend to grow! They are nine months old now and still full of beans and jumping all over the place. Like most cats they like boxes and here they are trying to get into the same one. They have one each but one is always better than the other of course. They are still very affectionate with each other, which is nice.

Knitting!

Knitting is one of the reasons I haven't done too much stitching lately! I love to knit, and I especially like to do Aran type knitting. I have been working on a 5 panel Afghan for quite a while and I'm on the last panel.
Also, when I went to England in October I took all the materials to continue stitching on the Sampler of Stitches, everything that is except the actual piece! So, with no stitching to occupy my time I took myself off to the local knitting shop. I picked up some baby yarn and a pattern and knitted a baby jacket and blanket. I then picked up some more yarn when I was in London and I'm knitting myself a long cardigan, with cables of course!
I'll need to get my digital camera out to take pictures of those, can't be scanned like stitching!

Evening Star by Heritage

I've also worked quite a bit more on The Evening Star train for my husband (see earlier picture), although it's slow going! I'm working on the backstitching, and believe me it's work! Not only were there 1/2 height and 1/2 width cross stitches in the piece, it's also a challenge to get the backstitching in the right place. There is a separate backstitching chart (which helps) but it's still slow going placing the stitches. I can only do so much at a sitting before I have to switch to something else. I probably won't publish another picture until it's finished, I guess I'm over half way through with the b/s.

Sampler of Stitches update

Still moving along with the project, albeit a little slowly. Some of the stitches are a little tedious but on the whole I'm enjoying it. I've changed the thread, or number of strands, on a couple of the stitches. I'm working it on a finer count linen and sometimes the stated thread/strands was not working out well.

Gosh! Didn't realize it had been so long since I'd updated this blog. Things have been busy and haven't been doing too much stitching. However, I do have a couple of WIP's to share.
This is Evening Star by Heritage. All the cross stitching is finished and I'm working on the backstitching. I'm going to leave a few things off that Fred doesn't want on there, and I may even rip out the partial border and leave that off too.


This one is Sampler of Stitches by The Drawn Thread. I'm doing this as a Stitch Along on a Yahoo Group. The charts are sold separately and this is three of them. I just have one more stitch to do on Part 3.

Rainbow Bridge - Finished!

I put the last few stitches in this piece on Monday night. It's The Rainbow Bridge by Sue Hillis. It's dedicated to our three cats--Cindy, Smokey and Boots--who we've lost over the last two years.

More Kitten Pics!

I've put a few more kitten pictures into my Photobucket album. DH has taken about 250! No, I won't be uploading all 250 but I'll pick out the best. There are others here http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v105/UKMaggie/Kittens%202007/

Sampler of Stitches update

This is progress on Sampler of Stitches. I've put it on hold until I receive the special threads. The gaps are motifs that use those. Think I'll go back to Rainbow Bridge in the meantime

Needlework Finish

I actually managed to finish a UFO. It's "Home of a Needleworker" from Little House Needleworks. It's worked over 1 on 32 count linen using DMC threads. The design measures 6" x 3" finished. Now I can get back to stitching The Drawn Thread "Sampler of Stitches" if the new kittens will let me!

New Additions to the Family

We adopted two kittens last Wednesday, May 30th. They are litter mates, a boy and girl about 9 weeks old, and I got them from the animal shelter. They are so cute! They are as yet unnamed but we have plenty of suggestions going round in our heads.

Stitching Update

Got back from England on May 25th, had a great trip! Managed to start the Sampler of Stitches from The Drawn Thread and got quite a bit done. The gaps are where I didn't have the thread, I've just placed an order, so I'll go back and catch up with those bits later. This is a lovely project to stitch. The stitches are fun and easy to do, I love doing spot motif samplers.

Moved photo album to Photobucket

I'm in the process of moving all my stitching pictures to Photobucket. Unfortunately it would appear that Club Photo has gone under without any notice! I'm doing this a little at a time and so they are not all there yet, and I do need to do updated scans of my current WIPs. I've had the Photobucket album for quite a while now but just used it for posting pictures on message boards. So, all I have to do is expand that somewhat. Here's the URL http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v105/UKMaggie/ and I hope that link works. My member name is UKMaggie.
I'll keep you posted!

Links to Stitching Album

I have removed all the links to my stitching albums because there's a problem with my photo hosting site. Nothing seems to be working at the moment and I'm looking for a new hosting site. I may revive my Webshots album which I haven't used in a while.

I'll be going on a trip home to England May 2nd-25th and so I'm busy this week getting everything in order for that. I need to sort out what stitching projects I'm going to take.

All for now!

Long overdue post

I haven't been reporting to the blog lately, mainly because there hasn't been much to report! After I finished The Black Dahlia it was difficult to know where to start on the WIPs. So, I kind of dabbled around with a few different things. I worked on And They Sinned for a while and then had a yen for Hardanger! I pulled out the wallhanging I've been working on forever; completed one of the squares and I'm half way through another. There are five squares altogether and I'm on the 3rd.

I then jumped back to The Rainbow Bridge, it's coming along nicely and I'm almost to the rainbow at the bottom.

I've also been knitting the cable stitch afghan which has been on the go for eons! It's worked in five panels and I'm working on the 4th. It will be a full size (twin size) afghan when finished.

So, lots of different things done but no finishes. That is unless you count the small Hardanger project which took a couple of evenings to complete. I'm teaching this at my EGA meeting and had to stitch it first.

Lots of travel coming up in the next few months, we'll see how much stitching can be done!

The Black Dahlia

Here is a picture of The Black Dahlia. This design is by Vilma Becklin of Examplar Dames and will be available as a limited edition. It is stitched in Vikki Clayton silks, premium and regular.

Finished Model Stitching Project

On Thursday night I put the last stitches in the model stitching project I did for Examplar Dames. This took me 6 weeks from start to finish and it amazed me how quickly it stitched up. I'll post a picture when I get permission to do so. The name is The Black Dahlia and it's stitched in black and red Vikki Clayton silks.

Now to resume personal stitching....

I've suspended my personal stitching for a while. I have completed another section on the Rainbow Bridge which I've got to scan in. I've taken on a model stitching project for Examplar Dames which has a tight deadline and is quite large, so I'll be stitching on that until it's finished. It's stitched in Vikki Clayton silks and you can see discussion about it on her forum here http://tinyurl.com/2nyr8j

The Rainbow Bridge is coming along and is working up fairly quickly. I've been working on this pretty consistently, with a little bit of time out for some knitting. My intention is to finish this before I get back to one of my other WIPs.
Still missing little Boots and it's strange being cat-less. Hope to remedy that when the opportunity presents itself.