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Showing posts from September, 2005

Home in the Woods

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I couldn't resist. I don't have any punch projects going and the rabbit has been calling to me. This design is done with one strand bit which is definitely going to take a bit more time than the pearl cotton I used on the ornaments. This is 6 rows of punch with one strand of floss. A bit more time involved but I do like the more delicate look as I'm stitching along. The Rabbit is then done in 3 to make him stand out a bit against the background. 

Felting

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Here is my "Pink" Lady bag felted. This one took 2 cycles through the washer to get the felt done enough for me so the bag actually had the feeling it wouldn't tear if I put more than a pack of gum inside. The bag is a bit smaller than I was hoping for but I'm happy with the overall look of it. My felted Christmas bell. This one still needs a bit in the way of forming the bell as right now it looks more like a small hat. I think I have a bell shaped Christmas ornament I'm going to pull out and use to shape this one.

What I'm doing now ;)

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Glad to hear you like the mini punch projects. I had a blast making them. This was next on my list as I was literally a dozen stitches from having it done I just had to find the thread I used for the pin cushion to fill in a couple of places. I also have a small bell that I knitted with wool Saturday while watching my nephew play football that I am going to sew together this afternoon. It will probably wait until I either make another ornament or finish the Pink Lady bag as I don't want to waste the water for felting for such a small piece. Now I'm off to see what else I can accomplish today as my niece and nephew are still here with us and they are trying to throw me off my computer so they can play on yahooligans :)

4 Ornaments Finished

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All 4 done, now to put them together.  I hope to get to it this week as they're destined for a simple pillow or flat finish, will decide once I have them clipped to see which looks better with the raised stitching. Thank you for all your comments on the bunny and the strawberry. I am looking forward to both of those as they look like alot of fun and I love the detail they put in the bunny. Happy Stitching

New Punch Projects

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Ok I didn't mean to buy new stuff, but these were just too fun I had to have them. Add to that the fact that the ornaments are almost done and I needed to replenish that stash right? These should slow me down a bit, the ornaments were done with pearl cotton and a large punch needle. The strawberries are done with 3 strands of floss and the background on the rabbit is done with 1 and a very fine needle.

2 more ornaments

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Both almost done. I would have had Noel done but my hoop wasn't quite big enough to get the entire L done and I can't loop on the stitching so I need to get to the store for a bigger hoop.  Last one is a gingerbread that I haven't started yet, they're destined for the tree but depending on the time I have with guild holiday party one may go in to the ornament exchange.

Its Only September You Say?

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Oh ok fine. But my small Christmas tree is up anyway and its staying there. This is a miniature one I got as a place to put my stitched ornaments so they wouldn't get lost in the chaos on the big tree. Here are a few shots of it showing some of the ornaments. I've made all but 2 of them, those were received in an ornament exchange through my EGA chapter. Now I just need to figure out what I did with the tree top, perhaps I should stop procrastinating and STITCH one

Punchneedle Snowman

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This one has 4 small ornament projects about 4x4 square when finished, maybe a bit less. These are also done with Pearl Cotton size 5 instead of floss as most of them are which gives it a more chunky look that I like for this particular piece.  Honestly, a  mix might be the most ideal as it could really add some nice texture. Ooh the possibilities! For all of you who haven't tried this because it looks time consuming or complicated... this is what I did in the 1 1/2 hours I was at Peacock Alley stitching this evening. This is so incredibly simple I love it. I just have a bit to go on the hat and then to add in his eyes, nose and buttons and he's done! I did change the colors called for a bit here if you do pick up this patten. They called for the snowman to be done in ECRU! I do not want an ecru snowman so I got DMC B5200 so he was as white as he could be. Also the instructions failed to tell you what color the hat was supposed to be so I picked a random brown off th

Finished!

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Completed my punch needle pocket from Plumb Pudding Needle Art last night. Now just a simple seam around the edges and attach a handle and its done!  A lot of DMC went in to this one but I'm happy with the final piece. I may have overdone it a bit but I'd prefer overkill to bare spots with this technique.  I also finished the needlebook to go with my sewing basket, a straight pin is holding everything in place until the crease sets fully. There is another piece that goes with this set but after cutting it out I realized it does not fit the altoid tin it was intended to go on so I'm off on a hunt to see if I can find a tin it does fit on, rats. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Day at the Beach?

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Ok so not really. This was taken at Millenium Park here in town where I live. They had the brilliant idea to make a park that stretches from the zoo to the city line and they started in the middle. Unfortunately the surrounding area includes a gravel company, a strip mine and I'm not even sure what else. Flinx was up to visit for the day so we headed out this way after I showed him what real lake and beach was like at Lake Michigan. Just as the timer was set to go off for this picture some kid on the beach started screeching like a wounded animal in an attempt to scare some seagulls that were wandering on the beach.

This is too fun!

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This is absolutely too much fun! I saw it and just HAD to have it. The title is "A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting" There was also a first edition but this one was more fun I think, although I may wind up owning that one as well. Needle holders! And they're felted! Ok so I'm easily amused, that does happen alot lately. EKKKKK!!! That's all I can say about these. There's a version thats a bag and another thats a HAT! I can sooo see me in one of these. Ok enough about that hee hee

Ornaments!

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Finally, its Here!  I have been waiting impatiently for this to be available as there were some cute ornaments on the cover in the ad that I was really looking forward to stitching. Not to be left out I did find these cute little felted socks and mittens. I thought they would go well along with all the others I have. Nice shadow of my hand and the camera in the picture there, oh well.

Progress on Snowman

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My snowman is coming along quite fast actually considering I am only working on him on my lunch hours at work. He should be done by the end of the week and then I just have to decide what I am going to do WITH him once he's done. The cover on the stitch guide looks like he's made into a small bag or something similar. I haven't a clue what I would do with that. I'm thinking perhaps a knife edge pillow. Happy Stitching Everyone!

Hardanger

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Finally found this one! This was made to hang under my wedding flowers so the piece itself is about 3 ft long. The design actually had this stitched into a cone to hold the flowers but I was set on the style of bouquet I wanted and it was not going to work with the style in the book so instead it became a nice long runner that was pinned to the underside of the flowers to show under the flowers..

Progress on Noel

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Coming along pretty well now that I've gotten the hang of working this needle. I have found its small size makes my hands tired pretty fast, somewhere it was suggested to put a pencil grip around the barrel so I may give that a try if it continues.  The background you see done in Ecru is almost as far as one skein of floss has gotten me, I have one more piece to use that will get me into the E so I have to check my stash for ecru floss or I'll be off to the store for more and that never ends well for the growing stash pile. I do wish the instructions had been a bit more specific about that fact, this obviously uses much more floss than cross stitch but I never expected it to be this much more. The 4 small christmas ornaments I picked up in Chicago use pearl cotton. I will have to take a second look at those as well.

And Another :)

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Haven't I just been the productive one this evening. I just finished this one up. Its the pincushion that goes with the Strawberry Accessories. I'd continue on and work on the other pieces but its late and I don't want it to look like the dog was doing the stitching come tomorrow morning. :) This is part of the Sewing Basket from Hillside Samplings.

Angel Ornament

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Finally Finished! I still need a hanger on her but the biggest part is over.

Finished!

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This one has been hanging around since.. umm last Christmas. It got put aside since it wasn't done before the tree came down and was forgotten. This is from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue, design by Lizzy*Kate.

Progress on snowman

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Hopefully the stitching shows up a bit better on this shot. Alot of the piece has been done in Frosty Rays and Neon Rays which are *not* my favorite thing to work with but it is giving it a nice effect. I've also, over the course of cleaning, stumbled onto more completed pieces that I thought were lost that have been added to my completed works album :) Happy Stitching to all!

Punch Needles...

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I purchased a set of punch needles many years ago at a craft expo and never did anything much with them. The idea looked fun but at the time there was little in the way of designs for them.  Now I see fun new projects in most any needlework store I go into so I had to pick up a couple patterns and try it out. I started my first of them today, not bad once I got the hang of how much space to leave between thread. I think I'm filling in a bit thicker than was intended but I guess I'd rather have a bit too much than have it thin and have the fabric show through. Started with Noel, the snowman is a bit weird for me so I'm not sure that I will actually make that one. This was one evening of work so it shouldn't take very long to complete if I actually work on it instead of just thinking about working on it.

New Work in Progress

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This is one of my newest items to the stash but he was just too cute I had to start him. I got him at City Stitcher while we were in Chicago over the weekend. This picture was taken Monday evening but he's come along nicely since then.

The Princess and the Pea

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Peacock Alley is having a Trunk Show of Princess and Me designs and this one was calling my name the minute I walked in the door. There were a few others I liked as well but I resisted the urge to buy everything in site. I wish painted canvas wasn't so $$ they offer so many more possibilities for stitching them up but oh my this little design was crazy expensive.