Time for a catch-up

Sometimes when life throws you lemons you just have to make lovely lemonade.

I've had a 'bit' of a busy couple of months (and the next few will be more of the same, lol), but I have still been stitching away whenever possible.

Here is a catch-up on some of the things I have made since my last post here.

Freeform crochet scrumbles. Getting ready to make a headband or hat.

Wet felting. I attended another workshop and made these two flowers.

Stamen embellishments are yet to be added.

Crochet miniature tablecloth, 6 inches long.

Freeform Weaving Projects

My two Freeform Weaving projects almost completed. 

I'm just sewing in the loose ends and then they will be finished.

A Countryside Garden Scene

 

& this one is Loosely based on a 

Peacock Feather 

Fiberart Guild Presentation

The International Freeform Fiberart Guild has one of my fiberarts published in the 2017 book.

The theme this year was Pattern In Nature, and my piece is all about the pattern of life of a Leaf 

The Life Cycle of a Leaf

This is the book cover for 2017, and clicking on it will take you the book sale where you can also see all the other fiberarts too.

There is also an online gallery HERE if you prefer to view the fiberart on their website with larger pics.

__________________________________________________

I went to a wet-felting class last weekend, and here are the two flowers I made there.

The orange one is huge, and for The Great Opunake Yarn Bomb project later this year.

The black/purple flower is waiting for beads to be added and for another project.

Well, I think that's it for this week.

Be sure to check out the fiberart online show because you will not be disappointed with the eye-candy there. Some wonderfully talented people all over the world.

Christmas Trees - Hexies - Baby Blanket

Christmas Trees

I have added the beads decorations to my little Christmas trees on the woven felt hearts, and buttonhole stitched around the hearts.

Just have the hanging ribbons to add before I can call them finished.

Neapolitan Ice Cream Baby Blanket

It's Finished. 

Yay, I have a FO to add to my YOP page.

It's called Neapolitan Ice Cream because it is the Chocolate, Strawberry & Vanilla ice cream colours of the Neapolitan ice cream blocks that I used to buy when my kids were young.

The pattern for this will be in my Ravelry projects soon.

Hexie Quilt

A few bright greens have been added. 

A LOT more bright greens are yet to be added, lol.

And, a large, fiber related, street art project is in the planning stage for Oct/Nov.

I'm starting to gather the necessary 'bits & pieces' for it.

I hope Tony doesn't want to put the car away in our garage before Nov, lol.

Happy Stitching

Christmas Hearts

A Christmas Project WIP

In preparation for a Christmas in July group project. 

Everyone gets to make four of these Heart Christmas Tree decorations, and decorate them as they wish. 

I know there are only three here, but that is because my 1st one was used as the demonstration piece to show the group, and I no longer have it. Other members had difficulty putting the hearts together, so I made up most of the 50+ hearts for them to embellish.

These three will have a Blanket stitch edging and beads added to decorate the crocheted tree.

A plain and simple crocheted baby blanket WIP. Not finished yet, but just the border to do now.

Some brainless crochet to do while sitting in the garden enjoying a glass of wine and the last of the sunny days before winter is upon us.

My mothers bobbins sorted out nicely.

Happy Stitching

A few more projects

I have been busy on a few projects lately. Here is a quick run down of them.

An embroidery piece. Two of these made. The pink is crochet, and there will eventually be a bead or two stitched to the middle of it.

The following pic is the beginnings of what I hope will be a dandelion. It's a bit of an experiment.

Celebrating the number 5 for an anniversary in one of the groups on Ravelry. 

Just for fun.

1. 5 colours x 5 stitches wide x 5 rows.

2. 5 colours x 5 different stitches x 5 sides (pentagon).

3. 5 threads x 5 foundation ch. x 5 sc.

4. 5 colours x 5 puffs x 5 bead stitches.

5. Multiple of 5 foundation x increase every 5th st.

Sorting out my mothers bobbins. Three piles like this. This stack is now untangled and sorted into order. I'll show the sorted photo when I have done all of them.

My mini HEX quilt has progressed a little bit with the blue, black, green and purple rounds added.

The ANZAC day dawn service.

We walked to the town hall and followed the pipes and drums band to the cenotaph and monument.

What an emotional event that was.

When the bugle played and then the silence, apart from the crashing waves on the beach below us.

It really brought it all home.

That 'just-after-dawn' moment.

And a stroll along our Opunake beach yesterday.

Quite an eventful and productive couple of weeks.

Happy Stitching 

from

Cyra

Sampler Catch-up & Crochet Block

I've been busy on my genealogy work over the last couple of weeks, hence not much happening on the stitching side here. I have made a great headway on one particular small branch of my tree, and I always get a lump in my throat when certain discoveries pop up in my research. It is so interesting to discover new people in my tree.

But now I've actually got some stitching things done again I can show you what I've been up to.

The Embroidery Sampler has two small simple stitch bands added.

(sorry the photo seems blurred)

....and here is the full sampler so far.

__________________________________________________________________

BAMCAL 2017

The12" Block Seven for my Blues Blanket is That One Sister

Again, I have adapted the pattern to suit my personal preference (the freeformer in me always wants to take over, lol).

_______________________________________________________________

And....... tada!!!!

This is a sneak preview of a pattern that will be released soon.

___________________________________________________________

So the only 'finish' that I can add to my YOP (Year Of Projects) is the 12" crochet square.

_____________________________________________________________

Tony & I have been out for a couple of coastal walks, all close to our home.

The first photo is Opunake beach from the cliff top (looking north across to Middleton Bay), and the second photo is the walk past Opunake lake and heading south to the next bay.

Two very different coast views and an enjoyable couple of days adventures.

See you next week when I hope to have more of the sampler done, and another 12" square, 

plus whatever else takes my fancy.

A couple of stitchy crochet things

YOP & BAMCAL 2017

12" Block #6

Picture Frame by Lisa Naskrent

A seahorse finger puppet.

And the beginnings of a catghan nonogon.

It's late, I'm tired & I'm going to bed now. 

Sorry there will be no 'gossip' here today.

Enjoy your week.

Happy Stitching

Embroidery Catch-up

I've been playing catch-up on my Embroidery Sampler.

I've now completed Band 7 

The background looks rather 'washed-out' on these pics, it is a much better green in real life.

And the sampler so far.

And if you are counting only 6 bands... yes you are correct. I missed one out because I just didn't feel like doing it, lol.

_______________________________________________________________

And here is a Finish for my YOP.

The crochet scrumbles from last week turned into a pillbox hat (or is it 'pillar box' hat?).

And I have stitched a few more hexies together, but nothing worth showing that the moment. 

On the non-stitching side of my life - we have added these girls to our paddocks.

Eenee, Meenee, Mynee & Mo

That is the sort of lawn-mower that I like best, hahaha.

So that was my week.

Hope you have a great stitching week ahead.

p.s. if any of you saw my post on Facebook about my a$$ over t!t tumble, this is just to let you know that I survived without damage, and I'm still laughing at how funny it was. Poor Tony didn't know whether to laugh or panic when both my feet were level with his chest and my head was disappearing over the 'A' frame of the trailer.

A bit of this - A bit of that

'A Bit Of This and A Bit Of That' is a very good title for this weeks work.

A YOP post.

Here we have a bit of freeform crochet that started off as one scrumble, and quickly progressed into three more scrumbles trying to match the first. They are not exact replicas, but near enough for me and this project.

And then I got to stitch some hexies together, which turned out just fine, with 

6 of these:

and 6 of those:

Things will start to get more intense for me on the hexies soon as the numbers for each 'round' increase and it will look like I'm 'stuck' in one place as I work on, and build up the required numbers of a particular colourway.

_________________________________________________________________

Both of the above projects were done early in the week and nothing has 

been done since Thursday, because on Thursday morning I woke up as normal, 

but soon found that I was in severe pain if I moved.

My shoulder injury (from 8 years ago) had reappeared while I slept, probably because I did a fair bit of gardening on Wednesday.

I did not want to believe that my shoulder tendons had snapped again. It was the same extreme pain as the first time. So painful that it made me sick, but of course then I had to move. I just couldn't win.

Luckily for me the pain subsided a little bit through the day, and now, 4 days later, it's eased up enough for me to realize that the tendons are probably not fully snapped, but a bit damaged. 

Since my accident I have been getting recurring pain if the shoulders get any sort of a workout, 

but Thursdays pain was the worst since the original damage. 

Hopefully I will continue to improve, and I'll have to keep reminding myself that I do not have the same strength anymore and take into account my physical limitations.

Ah well, such is life.

And I'll end here with a laugh-out-loud (I must laugh or I'd cry).

Wooohoooo - lots of stitching

 Lots of projects got to spend some quality time with me during the week.

The 'Long on Colour' freeform challenge made an appearance. I think this is going to be a cowl.

Earthy and autumnal colours with a pop of black and white. 

And we had such a lovely day yesterday that I was stitching in the back garden in the shade with my kitty companion.

_________________________________________________________________

My BAMCAL 2017 Blues Blanket has two more 12" blocks made.

Block Four is Kaleidoscope Blossom Square by Chris Simon

Block Five is Marigold Mandala Square by Dorianna Rivelli with slight adjustments in the outer rounds as, once again, I 'do-my-own-thing'.

__________________________________________________________________

The Summer Brights Blanket has four more 6" blocks.

This is Window Box Granny by Lisa Mauser

___________________________________________________________________

The ¾" Hexagon Quilt

The darker blue has been added to the rosettes, and lots of yellows prepared ready for attaching.

____________________________________________________

Weaving Project- My Garden, panel 2.

This panel starts with a band of regular weaving at the bottom which is the same yarn as Panel 1, and then gradually incorporates freeform weaving as it progresses. 
Multiple weaving styles and texture will be added to this.

So that was my week. Very productive, and I even got to empty and clean out the fish pond (as the two last fish in there disappeared last weekend, probably to a kingfisher or new stray cat that I've seen hanging around).