Mrs W

 Mrs W is a very old lady now who has been in charge of 'stitching' a tapestry, or embroidery for an impressive 68 years and maybe one more?

During this time, usually on a Wednesday (every week), there is a meeting of , in private,  with whoever happens to be the current 'Top' needle embroiderer person,  who for all appearances seems to be more in charge of 'stitching' the tapestry at the time?

There have been, I believe,  14 of these 'Top' embroidery individuals over the 68 years attending weekly private meetings with Mrs W,  who legally 'owns'  the MOST Aida squares of the total cloth available to anyone. 

The biggest 'cloth' holder and boss in the stitching world!! 

Impressively,  Mrs W also has so much gold thread to stitch with,  with owning ALL the gold thread which a country can produce. 

Owning enough forests  to produce more frames and hoops and wood frame comfortable seating than our local or internet shop could possibly dream of offering. 

Mrs W is quite the  'owner' of most of the entire stitching force who stitch the tapestry of life?

Mighty needles at work stitch furiously away, usually quietly,  to try to create a finished piece. 

Who perhaps produces the 'chart' for the stitching? 

Is it Mrs W ?  Or, is it the current 'Top' needle embroiderer  person? 

Maybe these private stitching meetings that occur weekly should be televised or put out on the internet, made more public,  so we all know how to thread up, even without gold thread to be able to know the chart we are stitching to!!  

Watch out for Mrs W as possibly this lady pulls more threads for Hardanger pieces in an embroiderd world than we give any thought to? 

FRANCE

Absolute Brave Superstars

💗 I LOVE YOU 💗 with huge respect for what you are doing 

Those looking here since my blog started already know I love anything French and my French friends met  on here through our love of needlework ( in my opinion nobody stitches quite in the style like a talented French woman :-) 

AND, they know when they we/are being stitched up ......

GO FRANCE you are reaching places and being heard , at least here in England , I hope worldwide !!!

 I am with you lots of love xxx

Faith

I have not quite finished the 'small' I have been doing this week as not a lot of stitching time. So, here is something I finished and framed back in 2009 that I never got round to showing on my blog.  It was an enjoyable little chart to do and I am always partial to anything with a ship/boat nautical theme.  I finished it with some lace and braid as the colours went so nicely together with the bronze matt finished frame. 

Designer: Shakespear Peddler

40 ct Linen 1/2

Threads: My own choice

Incase you have not seen these, below are two pictures of incredible cross stitching that I would like to share with you.

Above here is this amazing cross-stitched chair I saw on google images. Incredible isn't it !!

The other amazing image find on google images is this cross-stitched shoe.  I would love to own both of these :-)

Then last but not least is a hello from Marsha who was looking particularly cute posing in the rare winter sun for a picture.

Hopefully I will get the finishing done on my current project and be able to put it on here soon. Until then happy stitching and thanks for looking and passing by.

What I've been doing...

This week I have been making myself this little pretty ! 

She is from a lovely Christmas design named 'The Magic' by the talented French stitcher,  now designer,  Nataliejo - L'Atelier Perdu. The chart was one of my few purchases whilst I was not stitching and I have been longing to find time to do it. Having missed stitching it ready for Christmas, I have just used part of the design and re-jigged it about a little bit as I wanted to mostly stitch the girl,  who I have called Miss Mimi :-) I have given her a face as she did not have one, she needed her red lipstick on for when she meets up with her boyfriend. I also made her shoes into ice skates to go with my small winter display.
She is very tiny, smaller than these pictures,  so I wanted to do a tiny finish to suit her.  Hence the floss tag or whatever it could be called ? It is pretty anyway :-) I used silk ribbon to cover the little curtain ring and an antique crystal bead. It looks nice on this and sparkles like a frosty icicle.

For the back  ( picture above) I used the two cute rabbits sitting in the snow.  I was very good stitching a reverse side seen as I (or rather my eyes) had had enough doing the front. It was worth it though as I love the result. Being VERY out of stitching practice,  I found this a total challenge to use the 2 very pale colours 1/1 in artificial winter lighting as my eyes had ?  perhaps got out of the way of zooming in as well as they did! It must be that as I do not need glasses and have 20 - 20 vision. It could be I have changed my light fittings recently which now only have tiny fairy light looking bulbs, not 'proper' lightbulbs as my old ones had? Anyway whatever the reason I struggled with those 2 very pale shades.   The white was the most difficult!  I abandoned the listed white,  the stitches seemed to look thin and spindly and seemed to blend away to nothing on my linen as I was trying to find the stitch before.   I used WDW Icicle instead which was a 'little' better to use for me and my naked eye.  

Before I go,   I wanted to show you the lovely buttons my Mum 100% hand made and put on the card,  she did them for me as one of my surprise Christmas gifts. I just love the little label she used :-)

Here she 'Miss Mimi'  is again as I am proud of myself for sticking with it, I love 1/1, it looks so delicate.  I still may stitch the whole design sometime as it is so cute with the little presents and the tiny finish for it will be adorable.  Hopefully now I have got over the first hurdle I may be cracking away at my 1/1 and get a sampler I started years ago 1/1 on 40ct finished?  Then again I may leave that until the summer and light days :-)) 

Designer: L'Atelier Perdu

Design: The Magic 

 One over One 32 ct Lambswool linen 

Threads as listed apart from WDW Icicle and GAST Cranberry as I didn't have WDW Holly Berry.

 Link to designers blog to the left on my blog list 'Nataliejo' 

Thank-you for visiting, have a good week ! 

Boxes, Vanity and Happy Snowman

I really like boxes. 
Pretty boxes and cases. 
Love them!
I have a vintage Vanity Case which had been unused and decided it would make a pretty container for some of my ribbon collection. I prettied up the outside with some silk ribbons.

Here is a view of the inside

Previously I had them in here

Would you like a peek into another drawer?

I don't have lots of over dyed threads but they do live nicely in my shaker boxes :-)

The 'utensil' tool drawer 

This drawer WIP and charts / kits I really want to do

That though is how it was! I had decided with not stitching to have a change of furniture and sold my lovely big chest of drawers. I have now got new homes for everything……..well, everything that I have sorted through up to now. I still have lots to box up and put away - organised and prettily how I like it.  But,  at the moment it is stashed neatly in bags awaiting me having the time to make a mess again in order to be tidy!  I did VERY nearly decide to not have my stitching things anymore as I do not have much room to store things for my hobby, especially a hobby that was abandoned! However, my Mum made me see sense (thank goodness) and advised me not to be hasty as 'one day'... I would wish I hadn't and I would feel like stitching again. I hoped to find 'that' day.  Over the last four years I have bought myself the odd chart I have really fancied,  hoping that one of them would be the one to kick-start me.

Alas, mostly through lack of time etc, nothing quite did beyond me admiring it. THEN just the other night,  I was looking through my blog links and visited the Shepherd's Bush Blog to check if it was updated. I am pleased I did as the ladies have put a link to a complimentary chart to wish us Happy New Year. I loved the little snowman instantly.  I know I like stitching SB designs, I knew he wouldn't take me long and I knew I had some nice pins to use :-)) 

So here is my ' Happy Snowman' living in a nice pink world with a,  ahem , shall we say not my best ever finish (to my minds eye) as I had no cardboard to use. Instead I have used my thickest vilene (interfacing) between the layers to try to stiffen it a bit. I should perhaps have been more patient to get the said mount board but I was not :-) He would have only ended up in a box!  Despite that I think my finish has turned out OK all in all.  He is nice and neat even if his corners are not quite perfect but he is a snowman and not as fussy as me :-) I think moreover I  just gave myself a difficult job without the board.  I hand stitch all my finishes and do not use glue so there was nothing to tug against whilst lacing the back and it kept moving. Pins you say ? Ah well, WORKING pins,  they are tucked away in a yet to be sorted bag. I couldn't possibly use the 'posh' pins!

Anyway,  for a bit of a practice run,  for a very out of practice me,  I am quite delighted with him and even more delighted I have had so much fun stitching and finishing the whole thing.  Thank-you Shepherd's Bush ladies Tina and Teri :-))

HAPPY SNOWMAN 

WITH HIS LACY SNOW CLOUDS

THE REVERSE

Design By : Shepherd's Bush

Fabric: Silkweaver Still Waters Iced Pink 32ct

Threads I used: GAST S/S Brethren Blue, GAST S/S Parchment, GAST S/S Briar Rose, GAST Pink Azelea, Crescent Colours: Desert Mesquite, Rain Shower, WDW: Onyx, DMC: 839

Buttons : Snowflakes and Tiny heart JANBC

Backing Fabric: 'Snow Wonderland' in Grey by Whimsicals for Red Rooster fabrics.

 Bush Blog link to the top left on my Blogs To Visit list. 

Until next time, happy stitching and thank-you for visiting

Hello 2014

To you xx

A Little Bit More….. A Red Christmas...

Before the Season is Over

A Lovely Vintage Style Card I Was Given 

Sweet Little Green Gate Christmas Matchbox House

 Real Tree in My Sitting Room

  

Cutest Tree Ever 

Tiny Stocking I stitched & Finished 2008

Designer: Blackbird Designs. 

Closer Up to show French Lace and Ribbons

You can see it hanging on the Cutest Tree above.

Silver Ice Skates hanging from Mantelpiece

 Wall Hanging Stitched / Finished by my Mum

Designer: Shepherds Bush.

And the Stockings were hung.
Stitched / Finished by my Mum

Designer: Shepherds Bush.

Hello from Hamish

Hope you have enjoyed a glimpse into my Christmas this year !

Hello There

Merry Pink Christmas

Little Snow Tree with Fairy my Mum made for me

Shabby Heart
Fabric : Sophie Allport
Merry Christmas Ribbon: From my Collection

Alphabet Pinkeep 40ct Linen
Stitched and Finished by me.
Designer: Unknown (sorry)
Thread: Gloriana Silk 
Ribbon :Gloriana Silk
Backing Fabric: Silk from The Silk Route

Venetian Glass So Lovely with Pink Glass

Christmas Display Dining Room

Ice Skate Gift

TuTu

Drippy Candle Wax

                                                                             

                                                                       

Shabby Vintage Pink Rose

Nearly A New Year Blog Visit :-)

Hi to everyone who may still pass by here and my very best wishes for a very Happy New Year 2010!!

As you can tell it has been a while since I have blogged - however it has been very wintry here in the UK these past weeks and it reminded me of something I'd stitched and not yet shown on my blog. I made this for my friend Colette, I actually started the stitching late in 2007 , more in 2008 plus the finishing , therefore I changed the date... and I think I finally sent it in 2009 ! It was a very late Christmas present ;-)

I used Little House Needleworks - 'Woodland Sampling' for the front of what was to become a needlecase, stitched 1/1 on 32ct Lambswool linen. I used a mixture of stated threads and some of my own choice. I changed the little bird to a British Robin as we don't get the red one on the chart here.

For the inside - which I completely stitched by hand, I used a pretty silk along with flannel needle pages. The ribbon is made from linen. It was my first time of making a needlecase with a spine.

I used a small part of 'Forest Snowfall' by Country Cottage Needleworks for the back which I also personalised. I thought the two different designs went well together :-)

This last picture shows how the spine looked with the tiny buttons I added for decoration.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my pictures, I thoroughly enjoyed making this. I didn't stitch much last year but do have a couple of things to show you some other time when I call in again... until then take care and thank-you if you have visited :-))

From one 'H' to another...

After getting over Marsha's birthday celebrations and waiting for The Royal Mail to do their thing ;-) here I am with a little something to show.

Part of a design taken from the chart by Little House Needlework 'Home of a Needleworker (too)'

I stitched this for one of our blogging friends and by sheer luck it happened to arrive smack - bang on time, exactly on the day of........her birthday !! Whooo hooo - Now, if I had tried to get it there on time I would have failed miserably, so I am feeling very pleased with myself for this unknown punctuality :-))) I stitched this on 40ct using DMC threads that I matched up more or less to the cover photo........ apart from, I couldn't resist a Red front door on my house ;-) I always fancy my 'real' house, because of its bay windowed style, to be Black (guttering & down pipes ) White (windows) & Red (front door), next time it is painted outside I think I might go for this look!

I am still working on my Brenda Keyes sampler (I LOVE it but just do not stitch quick enough for my liking! I shall keep the stamina going, I shall keep the stamina going, I shall..... but SORRY (to myself) have to admit I have drifted off (go on, admit it you all knew I would ;-) actually this is the third time I have 'difted') and have nearly finished a BBD mini chart, of course LOL this is just a TEMPORARY hitch and I will be back to BK even before I can think of an excuse in my head not to be. Do you follow ?? Maybe not ?! On that note have a lovely Sunday and thanks for calling by, I am baking Fairy Cakes tomorrow if you fancy to stop for a chat and the kettle is always on ......

Take care , happy stitching


Ooops nearly forgot.   Edited to add : Did you know Ellen Chester the lovely designer behind 'With my Needle ' now has a blog ? You can find her here  :-))  Thanks Claudia for the original info :)