2022 Welcome back to the Blog with a WIP Parade.

HI all,

Firstly – apologies because I dropped off the Blog circuit again in 2021

After discovering Floss-Tube, I then fell down the Instagram rabbit hole, and most of my work for the past few months has been recorded there…   I did however, try to link my Instagram pics to a banner at the top of this blog.

I will re-attempt a floss-tube again this year.  I did record one 30 minute video with the help of my partner Allan, but he was being a perfectionist (I’ll blame him) and it took too long to process the video and was no longer relevant.  I just never got around to recording another one

From August, as well as stitching and quilting, I took up journaling.   I started with one journal – a brain dump of words and thoughts then swiftly moved onto a dot journal and what I refer to as my art planner.  This is the one where stickers and washi tape and drawing come into play.  I hope to keep all their images on Instagram - #bronnyb_bujo as this is a craft I hope to keep somewhat separate to my cross-stitch.  Having said that, I do have a stitching journal – found it on Etsy (Chris from As the Yoo Flies makes great stitching accessories)

This is what I now refer to for my list of projects.

Chart	Started	Finished
English Floral Sampler	May 2006
Shores of Hawk Run Hollow	Feb 2012
Jeremiah Junction Panel	2020
Meteo de Moutons 2021	Jan 2021
How Doth the Bee	Jan 2021	Jan 2021
Mermaids of the Deep Blue	Feb 2021
Owlforest Kingfisher	April 2021
Robert Burns’ Halloween	April 2021
Dreaming Girl SAL	May 2021
12 Days of Christmas	May 2021
Delft House Row	May 2021
Histories de Moutons	July 2021
One Sheep Open Sleigh	August 2021	August 2021
Cherish Dream Live	August 2021	August 2021
Life’s a Stitch	August 2021	August 2021
Halloween? I can’t I’m Stitching	October 2021	October 2021
Nightmare before Coffee	October 2021	Nov 2021
Blackbirds on a Pumpkin	November 2021
Black Sampler November – Stitchers Hornbook	November 2021	Nov 2021
Dust Bunnies	November 2021	Nov 2021
Queen Bee	November 2021
Do What you Love	November 2021	December 2021
Halloween Cat	November 2021
Christmas Heirloom Tablecloth -2020	December 2021	December 2021
Trouvez l’intruz	December 2021	January 2022

25 Projects in the year with ELEVEN FINISHES

That means only 14 projects in current rotation.   Although I participated in WIPGO last year, I have chosen not to do that this year.  Right at the moment, I am thinking to stitch monogamously on one project at a time, in an attempt to get more finishes.  Straight after finishing Do What you Love – I’ve picked up Dreaming Girl SAL again.   I hope to get at least Part 2 finished if not completing the entire stitch before picking up the next WIP – some of these do not have much to go, but I put them down in order to keep my 2021 WIPGO up to date..

2021 Haul

Although a lot of my online purchases appear to have been relating to my Journals in the last half of 2021, there were a few pdf charts purchased.

Jardin Privè, Modern Folk Embroidery, Durene Jones, Barbara Ana Designs, Creative Poppy, Caroline Manning Designs, Galliana Designs and Owlforest

These are likely to be kitted up and started at some point in 2022.

I also went a bit berserk with floss – Cottage Garden Floss and Silks4U – and fabric from Etsy – Yarn Stories and Tom & Lily Designs.  Shipping from the US proved problematic from September, due to Covid so had to source alternate suppliers of fabric and charts.  I tried to buy from Australian sellers where possible and would often be found scrounging on Etsy late into the evening.

I bought 2 mystery subscription boxes late in the year.  Cascade Fabrics December Mystery Box and Sassy Devils Pouch also in December.  I was impressed with one more so than the other and will be buying more from them during 2022

Photos of my completed works in 2021 follow in no particular order. (included is my first finish of 2022 - Trouvez l'intrudez) Perhaps next weekend I may put together a montage of my 2022 WIP – and that might keep me honest…

 

SMILE AND POINT YOUR TOES

Let’s get 2022 underway !!

Legs in Paddocks, Delft House designs, Sheepies, SAL and more for February

Hello stitchy friends.

I am writing this from a steamy Frankston.  The weather the past few days have been hot and sunny and today a gentle change has swept across the state.  There has been a few gentle showers, but the house is now holding the heat from the past few days and has become so sultry inside.  What is there to do, but to settle down into a comfy chair and stitch.

I seen to have been flirting between so many charts this past fortnight – in no particular order, I made a start on Kingfisher, an Owlforest design part of WIPGO 21 February and #robynsowlforestsal

I did make a couple of starts on this one chart.

The first was on some lovely eucalyptus coloured linen, but the thread count is higher than 36, and I was having a LOT of trouble seeing the fabric properly and I also felt the overdyed floss was being washed out.  So diving into my stash bucket, I found some white 32count Belfast linen and this will make the design and the floss the feature, not the fabric.

 Pictured here is the start I made after a test patch using first one strand, then 2 strands of the floss to see what I liked better.   Pity that when I started this section, I had forgotten that my practice section was NOT in the right place.   I realised after taking the hoop off after the picture was taken.   I have subsequently stitched this again in the right place.   I also have replaced the dark green floss 3 times, finally settling on DMC 4505.  I might put this aside for a day or two, as I want to concentrate on Meteo de Moutons.

 

Here is where I am at the moment. – Legs in Paddocks.  

I really wanted to have all the legs stitched for the year in place before I start stitching the sheep.  The days of the week are represented by individual colours as you can see across the top of the paddocks.  Birthdays are represented by legs that correspond to the colour of the day.  I have selected the colours for each temperature but want to get January completed before I stitch the temperature index.

I have taken further steps into the design world.  I spent valentine’s day at the computer getting a small design completed, having been inspired by a picture of a collection of KLM Miniature Delft houses.  What I can show you now, is a thumbnail of the design, there is also a larger sampler in the works.  

I hope to be releasing designs onto the market from 1^st July 2021 as BronnyB Designs Most of my designs in the past have been samplers, band samplers, motif samplers, motto samplers.    What sort of things appeal to you?

I do have a FFO to share. 

I surreptitiously stitched this freebie from Pinker n Pumpkin on the Saturday.  Allan knew I was stitching sheep and it was fun to work with Whisper floss again – blending it with one strand of ecru.  I also used random skeins from the amazing tub of overdyes – floss acquired over the course of the past 15+ years.  I showed it to him after midnight as his birthday gift and was able to fashion it into a card to present it on Valentine’s Day.  I’ve attached a magnet to the back of the stitched piece and a magnet to the front of the card, so I should be able to use this to finish off a few smalls and display them.   This process of finishing an item will be investigated further.

I had a bit of a haul in the past couple of weeks.  My order of needles arrived from 123 stitch.  I really am having difficulty locating John James Petites size 26-28 in gold.   The Piecemakers Tapestry needles size 28 are reasonable substitutes, but I do like the really shorter length of the John James.  I have worn a really painful sharp edge to the needle on all my John James, so have purged all the damaged needles and will replace my collection bit by bit.    I have 2-3 pincushions, all with spare needles, at least 4 needlebooks, and a couple of small boxes holding cross stitch needles (keeping them separate from sharps)   What are your favourite needles?

I had placed an order with 123 for the kreinik thread needed for the Mirabilia mermaids, and of course, they would be lonely on the trip so as companions, I bought the needles and added a chart from my wish list.  A sheep chart to work on just as soon as I get a start on Histories de Moutons.  I am waiting until I feel I have a good start on my other WIP’s before I get going.  I can’t remember what chart it is, or where I put it and didn’t think to take a pic of my order before putting it all away safely. 

I took the day off work on my birthday with vague plans to get some work done in my sewing room.  Instead I fell into my local Spotlight and emerged an hour later with a bag full of goodies. 

The intention was to pick up a skein or two of the green needed for Kingfisher, but then thought I might as well pick up floss to stitch the model of Delft Houses,

then I thought to pick up some further DMC in a lilac colourway to stitch an alternate model.  I found a cute thermal lunch box/bag along with some extra lunch boxes to match,

some cardboard bobbins, to wrap my new DMC on (and to replace the plastic ones which inexplicably are all turning brittle and snapping). I found some A4 foam core boards and some polystyrene sheets for a couple of finishing ideas that are floating around in my head, then I found some fat ¼s and picked up a random selection of 10.  Mostly paid for by my Christmas Gift Vouchers, it was fun to shop randomly again.

What are my current WIP’s (in no particular order)

• ·         Meteo de Moutons 2021
• ·         Kingfisher
• ·         Shores of Hawk Run Hollow
• ·         English Floral Sampler
• ·         Robert Burns Halloween (model stitch of my design)
• ·         Mirabilia Mermaids of the Deep Blue’
• ·         Jeremiah Junction Stitching Panel

 My current wish list to start in 2021

• ·         12 days of Christmas – kitted but not started
• ·         Histories de Moutons – kitted but not started
• ·         Delft House Row – model stitch of my design
• ·         Raise your Glasses – model stitch of my design (which has not made it onto paper yet)

Have I missed any?   I’m not adding in any of the quilt projects that are waiting their turn in my churning creativity brain of goodness.  I have a baby quilt that is waiting for the fabrics chosen to inspire me.

Time for me to put needle to thread.

SMILE & POINT YOUR TOES

Until next time

Happy Stitching.

Bronny

 

 

A third of the way through January 2021 - my year to Plan to Plan

Hello Stitchy Friends

It is a warm Summer afternoon here in Frankston, spending the day as quietly as possible because it’s too warm to be overly active. 

The cricket is on the telly, I’ve got Floss-tubes running on the laptop, Stitching in hand and plans for an old fashioned cold meat and salad platter for dinner.

How are your plans for 2021?  Are you stitching one project or many?  How to you organise your rotations?  I stumbled onto a group, rather late in the day (thank you Jo) and found WIPGO 21.

This is a facebook group and rather simply, you make a BINGO board of 25 numbers and put in 24-25 goals for the year.  The middle square is a free space, or can be used for anything you like.  If you have many, many WIPS, this can be a way to ensure you work on 25 of them at least once in the year.  You can set your own monthly goals for each project – eg;  to finish a square or page of pattern, to stitch 100 stitches, stitch ONLY on that project for the month called.   I decided that with 10 or more WIP’s to stitch anywhere from 3-5 dedicated days per month on the project.  For the rest of the month, I can bring up ANY of my WIP’s to stitch on as long as they take my fancy.  For example, the Weather Sheep – I feel I should stitch at least one week a month on this, to keep the temperatures under control.

Here is my WIPGO 21 card. 

I did align my Boothy Threads 12 days of Christmas with Jo’s WIPGO board, but the rest were placed randomly.  I decided to call my ‘FREE’ square my ‘No Guilt Start’ month and to kit up and start something I had found in a recent clear up.

The numbers are called late in the previous month and if 13 is called, as it is a ‘FREE’ square for most, another number is called.   January Numbers were 6, 13 and 18 – As luck would have it, both number 6 and 18 are labelled a ‘Seasonal Start’ – with the intention of finding a series of Summer/Spring/Autumn/Winter charts.  I’ve not yet found just what I’m looking for, but I have until Jan 25 to ensure 3 days are stitched on each.    Have you any suggestions?

As number 13 was called, I have had NO GUILT to kit up and start Mirabilia's Mermaids of the Deep Blue - Pictured is my WIPGO finish for January - I have stitched 3 days on this and you can see I managed to complete the elbow of the mermaid on the left.  I'm stitching this on an off cut of hand dyed evenweave - from the same batch that I stitched on my original mermaid.

I do have a New Year start and finish for 2021 – the Year of the Sheepie Revisited.

I have had this chart in my stash for awhile and found some random Aida and stitched it up using DMC floss pulled at random – something that approximated the model stitch.  Fleece on Earth by Silver Creek Samplers. Those with a keen eye will see that I changed the last word from ‘Men’ to ‘Merino’ with a bit of fiddling about.  I’m really happy with the stitchy finish and plan to FFO it later in the year.

I have made a start too on the 2021 Weather Sheep – or Meteo de Moutons.  I’ve pulled one strand of DMC 3790 and started on the fences which will hold my sheep.  One of the paddocks have open gates and that will make more sense later in the year.  I still have not sorted out what colours will be used, but know that there will be one colour for each degree this year.  I hope to have 2020 Weather SAL finished this week.

I realised my 2020 TUSAL jar was full and with the bit of stitching I’ve done in the past 10 days, have a good start to 2021 TUSAL

  I do like this abstract picture of floss and might use it in other platforms.   Like other TUSAL orts, this will probably be used to stuff an ornament – might even use it on Fleece on Earth (note to self:  that is a fine idea!) 

September fades away and October beckons

 

 September not bound for finishes…

The day has dawned warm and windy here in Frankston, Victoria.  Meteorologists have warned about horizontal weather – so batten down the hatches.  When I get to stitching the past few days in the Meteo 2020 SAL I think it will show a dramatic change to temperatures.  And yes, that is on my cross stitch rotation for the coming week – to stitch September and see the changes.  I must also consider the extra motifs to fill in the blanks.  The end is in sight – it should be finished the first week of 2021 – and how quickly is that looming?  

Stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne has morphed into stage 3.4 with the prospect of easing to 3.2 in a week or so… I don’t know, it has become a bit too hard to follow as most of the restrictions do not affect me – apart from businesses closed, not travelling outside my 5km radius, with the exception of travel permit to head to work as an essential employee – (15 years’ experience has won out) – I don’t have school age children and pre-lockdown, I didn’t spend much time at cafés or shopping centres, but now I’m fanging to get to a restaurant to have a dinner out, to drive to the country to see my girlfriend or my sister – plan a weekend away.  I don’t like going to supermarket shopping anymore – I get anxious around groups of people now.  Not to mention that the Car Dealerships are closed down, but the benefit is that I am saving up a whopping deposit on my new car, ordered at the end of June.  When lockdown is eased and I CAN drive more than 5km, then I’ll have a new car to drive into the country to see my girlfriend and sister….. 

I always thought personalised numberplates for cars were a bit wanky and pretentious… but guess who has bought personalised plates??  Yep…and they arrived this week.  It’s not quite regulation to show numberplates on social media – but here is a snippet..  

 I must really pull my finger out and finish the hand embroidery on this quilt so I can get it sandwiched and quilted.  I’m still thinking of combination machine and hand quilting this one.

Reading back to my last post, I realised I missed last Saturday – I remember the weather was dreadfully chilly and I spent a lot of my time at the sewing machine – sewing for no real purpose, but trying a couple of techniques.   I had the idea that I needed to make a couple of mug-mats to go into my Stitchy Gift Bag of bits – so I had a go at a bit of Quilt-as-You-Go mug mats  - random stitching and these 2 are the result.  One has had the binding finished, but the other is waiting for the binding to be attached… which seems to be the running feature of my fortnight  - but I digress..

I then found a bit of patchwork that I had pieced and had the backing ready to go to be quilted…. (I have a pile of these that I walk past at least 8 times a day and it was on top of the pile) and of course that fell under my machine needle for a bit of distraction.  I’ve done all the quilting process now, and now I need to put some binding on and stitch it down.. I also need to darn in all the ends of the quilting, as I started in the middle of the project.  – So this is another project not quite finished.

Missouri Star Quilt Company Tutorial last week was a fun quilt of patches of Sewing Machines.  It caught my eye (as so many of their tutorials do)  Of course, I had to have a go… and an afternoon later, I have two more mug-mats quilted and ready to be finished off – the black one will probably end up with some felt applique – and once again, the binding is attached but is waiting to be finished down.

Halloween quilt is on hold for the moment.  I’m thinking how I want to quilt it – and because it is such a fussy pattern, I don’t want the quilting to distract from the pattern, particularly the bats.  I’m leaning onto just making some spiderwebs across the whole pattern…  Then, there will be binding to attach and stitch down…

Then of course I got side-tracked again..  and started another technique.. Storm at Sea is a really distinctive design and I spent a lot of last Sunday on quilt math… colouring in options for designs.. I didn’t want to make a whole quilt, just 4 patches together to get the idea of paper piecing…  I spent a few after-work evenings putting them together and neglecting my cross stitch, but hope to spend this afternoon pulling the paper sections off and putting the mini-quilt together.. Then I can sandwich it, quilt it, put the binding on and finish it – it can then also go into my gift pile.

I’ve ordered some Australiana fabric for a requested project, so when that arrives, will want to put that one together fairly quickly – until I have all the fabric together and see it, I do not have a direct pattern in mind, but inspiration will hit.

I have a new friend in my Sewing nook – Meet Jacky Lamby.   She has been gifted to me by a work colleague who is extremely modest about her crochet skills.  Jacky is a shelf sitter and is positioned to look over my shoulder and watch me at my sewing machine.  Jodie – thank you.  It is almost a backwards compliment to a hand-crafter to describe something as good as something you’d find in a shop…  but Jacky is so well made – I could imagine finding her in a baby-wares shop for an exorbitant price

Bit by bit, I’ve been finding little things to sort out the organisational aspects of my sewing nook.  I have a LOT of printed patterns, some freebies I printed around 2004-05 which I still want to stitch (someday), some magazine charts I’ve pulled out – rather than keeping an entire magazine.  I have sorted these into Stitchery/Cross-stitch/Patchwork.  I have them sorted into Christmas/Halloween, Sheep/Teapots, Samplers by Motif/Band/Alphabet and Blackwork.  I have been very good and have kept an excel spreadsheet to document what chart can be found in what book. 

Now those of you who have display folders (I may or may not have gone out and bought some 50 books to use), you will know that they are floppy, exasperating things to put on a shelf without some sort of restraining system.  I am using the Ikea Kallax unit and was finding the books just kept falling sideways and not sitting where I could put them clearly.  I went online to search for a solution and I think I found a simple one.  At K-Mart of all places, found a wire rack in the office solutions and this is the result.  Wonderful!  The books are staying upright and are divided into groups.  You can see the basket on the floor, with another lot of books, but I have to work out which of my cube squares I am going to abandon to put the books in…  I am using all the other squares, so this will be a difficult decision – but my room IS a work in progress

Nearly forgot a finish of sorts... My TOL 2020 SAL is nearing completion and of the 2 versions I stitched, I had to adjust the last couple of bands of the blue/yellow version because I miscounted the fabric I stitched it on.  So now it's finished and I've added the beads and sequins.  When life opens up again, this will be sent to the framer

I hope you have enjoyed my meandering today – I was listening to a new to me Floss-Tube – Jan Hicks Creates..   in this time of isolation, felt like I had a stitchy friend sitting next to me and telling me what was in her week…  I wonder if I should investigate floss-tube a bit more..   Do you have any channels you like to visit?  Please leave a comment and let me know.