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