Another Finish - not a sheep, but a Snowman!!!

Hot off the needle.. Not a sheepie, but one of my snowmen WIP's started on 31st December.

This Curtis Boehringer design will be made into a small bellpull.  I really like the hand-dyed aida that it's stitched on.  It comes really close to the edges, but will be fine when sewn up with some razzle-dazzle fabric.  

Not sure what Sheepie or WIP will be picked up next....

Dont forget to enter my giveaway - there will be multiple winners, the main winners will receive a stitched item from me!

Thankful - another Sheepie Finish

This was a quick stitch - I decided yesterday that I needed to start another sheep, and found this freebie amongst my flock of sheep charts.  It is a 2005 LHN freebie for Cresent Colours.  I used instead, thank you Nancy, from my Christmas gift of Victorian Motto Sampler floss.  Due to a counting error, I had an extra 3 stitches to the length of the tree, so was perfect to add a couple of Bee's to the finished item.   Therefore, I've not stitched my name, I figure they will do for my initials - BB

This brings to 10 the number of sheep finished for the year so far.  I'm thinking of finishing it off into a small pillow.  I'm also thinking that it may end up as part of my mystery giveaway - have you enterered yet?  I've not put a closing date, because I'm still adding stuff. There is likely to be more than one prize sent out too!

11-3-11 - Sheepie finish. Moom-Baa !!

I would love to start today's post with a more upbeat feel to it, but this afternoon, Japan was struck with a major earthquake, followed by even more devastating tsunami waters.

I do not feel that the full toll will be known, if ever, for weeks, and my heat goes out to the Japanese people and all those affected.  Currently tsunami warnings are current for the Pacific region.  I hope that loss of life and property are kept to a minimum.   

It seems almost frivolous to post my finish for today.

Moomba in my youth was a major celebration held on Labour Day, the 2nd Monday in March.  Labour Day is still a public holiday, to celebrate the granting of an 8hour work day - this siteWikki has a little bit more about Moomba.  This explains why I've tried to portray fireworks, I also picked the Anchor varigated floss 1375 to stitch the bright fun feeling.  But here is is - my stitching for 11.3.11 - Moom-Baa has a little more information.  . 

I did it!!!! A weekend Sheepie Finish!!!

There.... a finish for the weekend...  Thanks to CalamityJr for suggesting that I skip the french knots and just go ahead with the fluffy fibre.  I played with the mill hill beads I had in hand... sorry it's a bit wonky, but I just flung it on the grevillia outside to take the photo.  The fabric doesn't quite show it as green as it is.  -  Now to move onto something else...

Oh yes... sneak peak of one of the bits made for my giveaway....

Needs to be stitched up and finished-finished...but I'm half way there.....

Hmmm...could that be a sheep's eye looking at you???      lol

If you want to enter into the mystery giveawy...don't forget to leave a message on my previous post.....

TUSAL - March 2011. Sheep and Snowmen - perhaps a giveaway??

What a surprise.....  My TUSAL jar is full of mostly white floss.  But this time around, it's not all mine.....  My patchworky friend has been collecting her orts from her stitchity hexagon patchwork project (Insanity 2) for the past month, and surprised me when she added her clump of floss to the jar last week.  (I might fish it out and find her, her very own special TUSAL jar)  Of course, she had great delight explaining just what TUSAL was to a Kafe Fassett course she attended during the month..  The concept just might be spreading further than expected....

There are other colour floss in the jar, it's not all white and ecru DMC.  I was given a couple of charts for my birthday, another friend, Carolyn, found some sheepie charts for me.  Amongst them, was a Mill Hill band sampler chart.  The verse reads:  'A day in the country is worth a month in the town'.  The sheep at the bottom are supposed to be worked in french knots, but they've not worked for me so far - so at the moment, the sheep are languising in half cross stitches, until I feel up to attempting multiple colonial knot replacements.  There are a number of beads to place on the sampler too, there really is not a lot of work to do before it's finished - I really should pull my finger out and get it done.

Also sitting on my stitching table with the TUSAL jar is my current Snowman WIP - this is being stitched on a scrap of hand dyed aida and only just fits the fabric.  This is ok, as i'll be sewing it into a small wallhanging, rather than trying to frame it.  It is a Curtis Boerhringer Welcome Home Snowman - yet another gift received last year in a batch of snowmen charts from a blogging buddy.  I do have some babushka snowmen to show off too, but in the emergency rush cleanup on the night of the flood cleanup, they've been put somewhere 'safe' and have yet to make a reappearance.  (I will find them Chris, I will!!!)

You can also see a solitary sheep on a small scrap of aida.  This is adapted from the quickie sheep I've decided to stitch every 11th of the month, but this is destined as a gift for a Stitching sister.  I plan to make a few more of these for more giveaways.

Hmmm... speaking of giveaways.... I do believe I owe all my regular readers an overdue giveaway.  I do have a few bits and bobs stashed around - fully intending to fashion them into something worthwhile.  There's nothing flash - I don't have many new charts - most are second or third-hand to me, but I may have something interesting.  Some things are waiting to be fashioned into something useful to another stitcher - so it may be a little while before you receive a finished item.  I'll see what I can cobb together this weekend.  In the meantime, if you are interested in a mystery giveaway - please leave a message on this post

Thoughts on recent natural Disasters - QLD- NSW-VIC-WA and now NZ

So sad at the moment.  I feel so overwhelmed by this latest natural tragedy to have struck in the Southern Hemisphere.  We are dealing slowly with the extent of the QLD cyclone and floods, followed by the Victorian Floods, the WA bushfires, now, today, the news of the NZ earthquake.

I feel so much compassion for our Kiwi neighbours, feeling so helpless yet again at the events as they are unfolding.

I truly do not mean any offence at this remark, but "WHOEVER IT IS - WILL YOU STOP KICKING THAT CHINAMAN?????"

(part of me asks - "Do Chinamen ask who is kicking the Englishman?")

I am not religious, and cannot ask a deity for answers, but ask that everybody can contact their loved ones and friends affected by these shattering events and hug them.  I hope that they are safe and accounted for.

The enormity of the necessary recovery for these areas is staggering - I wish for strength for all those involved in the rescuing and recovery.

I give thanks for plastic tubs..............

Got home from work yesterday evening to discover that at some point during the day, the hose fitting at the washing machine spat the dummy - the water was coming out the front door.

There was a 2inch layer of water through the whole house.

Right now, we're using a borrowed wet/dry vac to get the worst of the water from the carpets.  All John's musical instruments are safe, although Martin's computer may not be so healthy - we will find out when it dries out, how much damage to the whole machine.  We are all guilty of floor-drobes, so I currently have a bathtub full of wet clothing to sort and wash.

One bit of damage, is that Martha was sitting in an inch of water.  The water has soaked through and some of the colour in the bottom border has bled into the fabric.  There is nothing I can do about it, I've not got the abiltity to professionally clean this at the moment, so I'll just add the damage as part of the history of the piece. 

Apart from all that - 95% of my stitching was sitting in plastic tubs and there are just a few charts and magazines that are now drying out.  All my sheepies are safe and dry.  One of my snowmen WIP is a wee bit damp, but not fatally.

I'll be back in a few days with some stitching updates.

Another Ewe-nique pink sheepie finish!!

Hot off the needles - 2 minutes before I'm due to start work (obsessed or what???)
Same freebie chart as the one finished 11.1.11 - and of course you realise now that I'll have to have one finished for 11.3.11.  I'm thinking of ewe-sing the same chart for each month and just adapt it slightly and at the end of the year - stitch it into a quilt.

What do you think?  That would be a EWE-nique way of finishing it all off - wouldn't it??

Ewe-phoria ! Another Sheepie Finish!!

Sisters & Best Friends Chart: Black Sheep Again!
Stitched on dusky pink aida using Wisper thread (White, Ecru and Chocolate) for the sheep and DMC for the legs, heads and lettering.  Mill Hill beads for the garland.  Not using the required colours for the chart because I don't have to.
I still need to wash it and fluff up the Wisper, but this one can go into the 'Done' pile.
I have no idea what the next sheepie chart will be - might take a dive into the WIP pile first. (I'll let you all know when I figure it out!)

T.U.S.A.L - lots of fluffy white bits

Hi all,

Sorry, have had a fit of the blah's since the most tremendous party in the history of the Baconverse.  It may have been the heat that seeped into the bones that meant I really did not feel up to stitching at all during the week.  Today, I had intended to sit and stitch and typically, fell asleep in the chair.  

Victoria was hit with a wall of water last night and our street flooded.  Our house was one of the lucky ones and we remained flood free, but there is damage to the road and I believe at the moment, Pakenham is cut off from the rest of the known world (ahhh - Facebook -where would we be without it????)

However, I do need to show off my TUSAL jar for February - it is mostly full of white and wisper fibres - hmmm do I suspect sheep stitching to be the cause of this???

I'm up to attaching beads to the latest sheepie project, may be able to stay awake long enough to complete it tomorrow... will post pictures then.

Until then, stay dry!