Merry Christmas 2012

Hi everyone,

WIP- Heaven and Earth, Santa

Have a safe and wonderful Christmas. 

Bye for now, Carol

It's Christmas time.....

 Hi everyone,

Thursday night was our Guild Christmas party and the time we exchange hand made christmas gifts. First we opened the gifts sent from England from our friends at "The Common Stitch".
Wow! Fantastic as always. Every package was a new surprise. Take a peek.

Gifts from England

Gifts from England

Gifts from England

See what I mean about the WOW factor. Thank you to all our special friends in the United Kingdom.

We all brought a platter of food goodies to share and then it was time to open the gifts from our group guild members.

Thursday night Guild group with
our Christmas exchange gifts

Guild christmas exchange

More Guild Christmas exchange gifts

More fantastic goodies. We all went home well fed and with some special memories of 2012.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

 

Bye for now, Carol

Graphic Expressions ANG class piece finish

Hi everyone,

The backorder threads arrived from Fireside Stitchery and I was able to complete the second of my seminar class pieces. I did alter the design a little and substituted a thread as one has been discontinued. I hope Sue approves. Anne agreed that I could show her red/green version, so here it is.
Ta Da

Graphic Expressions, Sue Reed ANG Class 2012\
Stitched by Anne

and here is my slightly altered version in the original lime/blue colourway

Graphic Expressions, Sue Reed ANG Class 2012
Stitched by Carol

This was fun to stitch and grew very quickly. The photo is a little pale but the true colours are a very vibrant lime and 3 shades of glue/green. Pretty.........

Well I am off to complete some stitch diagrams and finish off a small linen piece which is half way through the design stage.

Happy stitching , bye for now, Carol

Stitching in an Australian climate

Hi everyone,

I am in meltdown. Today's temperature is going to be 40deg Celsius and yesterday was 31deg Celsius, yuk......... The only good to come out of this is stitching in an airconditioned room with absolutely no guilt about household duties lapsing.

Firstly may I welcome my new followers and the lovely comments I have received. Special thank you to Genny who sent 2 lovely notes but as my Spanish is almost no existent I will have to find a friend to help me translate them. I am always amazed at how small the world is becoming and how easy it is to friend friends from all over our world.

Here is the latest on Atlantis Rising

Atlantis Rising, Ro Pace, ANG Class 2012

It now has a little more colour and shine added. There is a lot of metallic missing but I have decided to wait before adding the shine. Not sure what colour to use. My preference is for a purple/blue mix which I tried out in the right hand corner, but just not sure yet. The design has some purple highlights in a couple of the patterns yet to be stitched. Luckily I don't have to make this decision yet. Arrrr procrastination my middle name.

I am still waiting for the backorder threads to complete my other ANG class piece but I am hoping they will be here soon. Anne has almost finished Graphic Expressions in the red/green colourway and I have asked if she will allow me to post a photo of the finished piece. It will be good to see both of the colourways stitched.

Well I am off to finish a couple of teaching projects, another magazine article for Inspirations Magazine and an overdue promised new canvas chart. Guess my fingers will be very busy for a few more weeks.

Bye for now, Carol 

Inspirations Magazine Issue 76 it's out in Australia

Hi everyone,

Just received my copy of Inspirations Magazine and inside is my first article for them. It's called "Nero Fiore" and is a blackwork rectangular pincushion on linen.

Front cover, Issue 76

And my article

Nero Fiore, Blackwork Article November 2012

Hopefully there will be more articles in the future and maybe one day a canvas piece.

Atlantis is moving along nicely, I managed to almost finish the centre triangle with a hint of sparkle created with Sparkly Rays thread. I will post a photo soon as I finish a little more.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

More of Ro Pace's Atlantis Rising

Hi everyone,

I managed this week to get a move along with this project. The second diamond went much quicker after "trial stitching" the first one. I am really enjoying this design it has so much texture and the stitches are very cleverly mixed. So much to learn.

Here is how she looks so far.

Ro Pace, Atlantis Rising 

The outside border is now complete and the 2 diamonds are finished. Next on to the triangle in the centre. Sorry the picture is a bit wonky but I took it inside and I was trying to miss a shadow. 

Happy stitching, thanks for stopping by.

Bye for now, Carol

A great day out

Hi everyone,

Thursday was a great day. Anne, Lis and I visited the 2012 Quilt and Craft Show here in Adelaide. Although it is primarily quilts there are always some interesting things to find. It is amazing how quickly the colour and style of quilting fabrics change. This year there were lots of lovely taupes and faded reds with small delicate prints which were not there last year. I did bring home 2 pieces of fabric with an australian theme for lining on some ongoing projects. The quilt show was amazing and they allowed photographs but with the agreement that they are not shown on the web (sorry). Australia has some very talented quilters thats for sure.

I bought home some Redwork patterns to try. Anne has stitched many of these pretty designs and enjoyed them so I thought I'd give them a try. All are christmas themed and are fun pieces. Because there are very few stitches used and the pattern is pre-printed onto the fabric they will be a nice in between project to stitch at night.

There has been a little more progress on Atlantis but not enough for a photo. I will be working on it today so I will share a photo soon.

Australia has possums, Washington DC
has squirrels, isn't it cute?

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Connie has confirmed that stitchers are the best people

Hi everyone,

Connie of Spinster Stitcher fame has always entertained with her life stories. But her latest post was just a very kind and heartfelt joy to read. She has offered to help folks who's life has been interrupted by the east-coast USA storm called Sandy in a very special way. Aren't stitching folks the best?

I hope lives are starting to get easier our thoughts are with you.

In my quiet life I have been able to stitch some more of Atlantis. The diamond at the bottom and the diamond a the top have been added to.

Atlantis Rising by Ro Pace, ANG 2012

At seminar we were given a chart, piece of canvas and notes to stitch a design for auction at the next seminar in California. This is the photo of the chart and how it finished up, I changed the design a little ( hope they don't mind).

ANG design for auction at 2013 seminar
in Anaheim, California

And, while I was poking around in my stitchy stash I came across a little design that just begged to be stitched. It was so warm and uncomfortable that stitching is the only thing that happened in this house on Saturday. Ta da...

Indigo Rose, Bead Blanket Sampler copyright 2004

I did manage to clean some windows on Sunday, guess what happened on Monday, yep it rained. Oh well that's life. 

This week starting Thursday is the Quilt and Craft Show in Adelaide. We don't get very many of these shows in Adelaide so we are looking forward to this one. The quilts on show are amazing and we always manage to find something to bring home. I will share photos of what jumps into my bring home basket of goodies.

Happy stitching,Bye for now, Carol

A big warm hug

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick note to send all of my East Coast USA friends a big warm hug and hope that you are safe and sheltered from this terrible storm called Sandy. Anne and I have been watching the news footage of the places we were visiting only 2 months ago and are so shocked by what we have seen.

Take care, we are thinking of you here in Australia.

Bye for now, Carol

More ANG class stitching

Hi everyone,

This week I managed to unstitch and re-stitch Graphic Expressions. The rest will be stitched when the back-order threads arrive. Pretty isn't it? These colours are very different and they are not a combination I would have come up with. Congratulations Sue, great choice.

Sue Reed, Graphic Expressions, ANG 2012

In between this piece and teaching an Assisi class I have stitched a little more of Atlantis Rising but only more of the outlining smyrnas. Not very interesting to see so I will post a photo when more of the specialty stitches are completed.

If you love antique samplers you may like to look into purchasing the new Needleprint book, Feller Collection 2. I had the chance to see a copy at the Guild meeting on Thursday night. Wow. A great book with lots of beautiful photos and close ups of the samplers with lots of great information as well. Definitely worth adding to your christmas wish-list.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

PS: Great to see Nicola (stitching by a cornish seashore & Vonna of Twisted stitcher blog fame, back and posting.) Missed you both. Links to both on the right hand side.

Jobs and chores done so back to stitching

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since the last post. There has been lots of behind the scenes stitching. A border on a new chart project,one christmas ornament for family, one ornament for a friend and 3 small biscornu's (not in photo) for sale at our EG's Christmas Extravaganza fundraising sale in November.

House Ornament and Christmas Egg,from Just Cross Stitch Ornament Magazines,
New Chart Design with overdyed thread

Whew, now I know why my house chores didn't get done sooner. When I posted last time I mentioned I would show you the other class piece Anne and I took in Philadelphia. After looking at it many times and arguing with myself I have finally decided to change to colours to the original. Here is what I stitched in class using the alternative colours of red/green/gold. The more I looked the more the colours just didn't sing for me.

Sue Reed's Graphic Expressions - Class ANG 2012

The threads above are some of the original colours used, there are still a few more to come from my friendly needlework store so this piece will be unstitched and restitched using the lime green/blue/silver colourway when the backorder threads arrive. The piece is on 11 in stretcher bars so it is not a large piece like several others in the to-do basket. Yeah, how did that happen?

Talking about large projects, here is the latest on Atlantis Rising. There is a little progress on the diamond in the right hand corner. The large Sprats head stitch using Bijoux metallic thread is giving me a bit of grief in the counting department. It goes up to 100 so it needs peace and quiet to get it right. The effect of this stitch is really beautiful, well worth the effort. There is one more layer to go over the top to finish each of the sprats heads.

Ro Pace, Atlantis Rising, ANG 2012

We have been home nearly 4 weeks now and life is back to its routine. Shopping, cooking, cleaning and of course, stitching.

Bye for now, Carol.

Ps: Welcome to my new followers, we are now up to 50. Thank you so much for your support and ongoing friendship.

Beware empty canvas below

Hi everyone,

I have had a request (for you Nicki) for a photo of my class pieces from seminar. First I must warn you there is a lot of blank canvas. In classes I tend to stitch in my head and not so much on the canvas. Does this happen to you to? I spent a whole lot of time listening and chatting about what to do that I forgot to do. Lol..................The added bonus is that I will probably take out a fair bit of what is there and restitch. The piece survived 2 weeks in a very crowded suitcase but it is a little worn in some areas. But wow, did I learn a lot in those few days.

Here is Ro Pace's class Atlantis Rising as of now.

As you can see not a lot achieved for 4 days stitching but we were having so much fun I am so not going to feel guilty. To all of my fellow classmates I put out a challenge to finish at least half of this by Christmas and I will try to do the same. It is such a lovely design and deserves to be a finished piece.

Below are some photos of my classmates setting up for the first day of class. See all the smiles, they were a great group.

Now you can see why there is not much on the canvas. I highly recommend attending a seminar if you can. You will have lots of fun, make new friends and learn lots.

More about my 2nd class later, but now I am off to stitch woo hoo!!!

Bye for now, Carol

Home from ANG Seminar and Canadian/USA holiday

Hi everyone,

Firstly I must thank the committee of the ANG and all the volunteers who arranged such a wonderful event in Philadelphia. This was my first seminar and hopefully it will not be the only one that I am able to attend. Anne and I met lots of fellow stitchers who made us feel very welcome and we swapped stories and laughed lots and lots.

Anne and my first class was with Ro Pace, called Atlantis Rising. Ro was fantastic and I am sure everyone enjoyed the 4 days. Both of us came home with some of the motifs stitched and a bunch of new knowledge to lean on.  In fact one of our classmates completed over 2/3rds of the design, a very impressive result indeed.

Ro Pace and me waving to Jane at Chilly Hollow

We attended the auction, expo, cyberpointers meeting, both the welcome dinner and the awards dinner all of which are a story on there own. Oh boy, where do I start.  The auction was amazing and the prices bid for each piece even though they were in the several hundreds were real bargains for the buyers. Expo, oh oh, blew the budget badly and became a "stitching groupee" for the night. Having my picture taken with all the teachers and designers I could find and asking them to sign the charts I purchased from them. Totally unshameable, aren't I, and loved every minute. Cyberpointers meeting was a good way to catch up with the members and put faces to names. Big thank you to Anne Warner for her great welcome and great sense of humor. Hope to catch up with you all through Yahoo group. 

The second class we took was 2 days with Sue Reed, "Graphic Expressions". This class was full of helpful hints and lots of demonstration time given by Sue. We both came home with a far amount completed on the canvas. Met lots of great stitchers and learned lots.

The Marriott hotel was in a great location and was over the road to the Reading Market. Wow! you could eat at a different stall every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still not try everything. Personal favourite, roast turkey reuben sandwich on whole wheat and Amish apple pie. Yummmmm.

To all the people that made Seminar special. You know who you are. Thank you, thank you.
More news and photos later when I get over this bad case of jetlag.

Bye for now, Carol

Stitching lots and lots of smyrna crosses

Hi everyone,

Woo Hoo. Finished my class prework for Ro Pace's class in Philadelphia. Must admit we only had to do the right hand side of the outline consisting of lots and lots and lots of smyrna crosses. If I had read all (underline all) of the instructions I could have saved myself about 300 extra smyrna's. That's me all over, how many times have I read "read all instructions before stitching", sorry to say it looks like it hasn't sunk into the space between my ears. But guess what? Boy if you ever want smyrna's stitched I am your gal I was even stitching them in my dreams.

The countdown is ticking away. Busily adding to my packing list. Yep I make a list then tick things off as I pack. May I add even with the list of all lists I always forget something but as long as I remember all the important stitching stuff who cares hey? Rumour has it they have stores that sell things in USA lol...............

I have started a small cross stitch piece to do in the next few days so that I will not add to the large pieces of WIP's currently in my basket. There will be a photo when I have more to show you. It is stitched on a hand-dyed fabric and uses Gentle Arts Sampler threads. The colour is a mix of navy/grey and the main cross stitch is done in GAST- Freedom a darker shade of the linen colour so this one takes a bit of brain power to make sure you pick up the right amount of linen threads. Eventually it will be a sewing kit when completed.

Well thats it for now, I am off to stitch a welcome baby card for a friend,
Bye for now, Carol

Quaker ball finished, woo hoo

Hi everyone,
While I have been waiting for seminar I thought I would finish the Quaker ball. I just can't settle down to any project at the moment, just too plain excited about finally being able to be part of an ANG seminar, and the trip is only 3 weeks away.
Here is the photo of the very pretty quaker ball.

Amaryllis Artworks,Denise Harrington Pratt
Copyright 2011

Sorry about the photo being a bit blurred but you get the idea how great this project is. The instructions were very good and the construction part in the end was a breeze. Don't know why I stressed over it but there you are, it proves stress never solves anything.


Well I am off the start the pre-work for my Ro Pace class. Lots and lots of smyna's. Jean Hilton would be proud.


Bye for now, happy stitching, Carol

Busy week with a little stitching

Hi everyone,
This week has been quite busy but I have managed to stitch a little, mainly in the evenings while watching the Tour de France and because it doesn't finish sometimes until 1.00am in the morning on Australian TV bleary eyed next day syndrome has been the result. Here is the progress on Quaker Ball.

Quaker Ball, Amaryllis Artworks

The large octagons and medium hexagons are finished so I have only the small squares to finish before the construction starts. Then the fun will start, the girls at the Guild are very interested to see how I cope with this part. The instructions are very good with clear and simply laid out notes so it should go smoothly. Definitely not something to by started on a day when I have been watching the race till all hours.


Thursday night is Guild stitching, so I get to see what everyone is working on. Lots of variety at our Guild, even one member unknitting a beautiful pair of socks for her Mum that had turned out a little tight around the ankle. That is what is so great about group stitching. You can sit and chat and do the things that you put off at home, like unstitching and you don't even notice the time ticking away. Lis was stitching on a Jan Houtman sampler using Waterlillies in colours of Mulberry and purples, a very large piece on 36count ivory linen but a real stunner. It was very interesting to see my friend Anne stitching on the pre-class work for Ro Pace's Atlantis Rising. The 2 colours of perle 12 that arrived with the canvas were really pretty and really remind you of deep ocean blues. This will be a stunning piece to work on, so looking forward to working it. My only concern is that my kit has not arrived yet and I only have until 20th August before I leave for conference. You say,"that's enough time", well its takes mail 2 weeks from USA to reach me so you can see how I am a little worried. I have emailed Ro but I am sure she is very busy at the moment and emails may not be her priority. I will have to be patient, it will all work out in the end.


There is a little more progress on FMTM a colour tryout of the 4th block. This one is a little dark so far but I will persist and see if it lightens a little with the addition of more shades.

FMTM,cyberclass from Scarlett Thread
by Pam Gardner

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

A finish, a start and a lovely surprise in the post

Hi everyone,
The flu virus has hit Adelaide in a big way and to  keep up with the Joneses I decided to go along with everyone else and join the virus club. Yuk. I am definitely not a pretty site at the moment. Currently doing a very bad impersonation of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, but I think I have turned the corner as I am only using 1/2 a box of tissues a day instead of a whole box. Yippee.
On a much happier note.
First of all is finish of "Trees"

Mes Petits Arbres
Keslyns
Stitched with Victoria Sampler Shoppe thread on
handyed Britteny fabric by Sparklies UK one over one thread

Such a pretty piece and each individual motif would be nice to stitch as a gift.


Second is a start

Quaker Ball by Amaryllis Artworks
Copyright 2011
Stitched on 32 count white jobelan with DMC 3760

This is the first 6 octagons, next comes the hexagons and then some squares. I decided to use up a stash of this colour, so far it has taken 2 and half skeins to do this much. I would like to stitch this again later on 40count and use silks. This one is my trial to see how it goes. It is stitching up quite quickly and is good to stitch while watching TV at night.


And the best part, a nice surprise in the post.

Beautiful things from Jane at Chilly Hollow

A little while ago I wrote to Jane and asked if I may send her some 21st Century thread to try as a thank you for all of her help. Well, Jane being the lovely and generous person that she is decided we should do a thread exchange. So we each packaged up some threads and goodies and posted them to each other. Above is the lovely parcel I received with all sorts of "new" threads and a stunning sparkly candy cane magnet. I have been so spoilt. Thank you Jane from one threadaholic to another.


Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

My first teaching class for Country Bumpkin Australia

Hi everyone,
Saturday will be my debute teaching class for Country Bumpkin Needlework Store in South Australia. The class is a biscornu bag I created last year and is stitched with Valdani overdyed cotton and some pretty gold beads. This is going to be fun as the class is small so I will have lots of time to devote to each student.


Here is a photo of the project.

Biscornu Bag
Copyright Carol J Young Designs 2012

I have made a start on the Quaker Ball in the last post. The griding of the squares for each piece took a day and now I am able to fill in the patterns. I have decided to stitch it in blue on white evenweave, mainly because it was it my stash which is way out of control and I was determined not to buy anything else. (Saving up for holiday spending money). Took it to Guild stitching night on Thursday and got the girls approval. Photo to come later when I have stitched more.


Everything is on track for ANG Seminar in August, flights, accommodation etc have all been arranged. It is only about 6 weeks away. Yikes.... that time will go quickly. Exciting, isn't it?


Just received my next installment of FMTM so block 4 will be worked on soon.


Bye for now, Carol
PS: Welcome to my new followers, and a big thank you to all who have stuck with me since I dipped my big toe into the blogging world.

What do you do on a cold rainy day?

Hi everyone,
The answer is stitch with friends. I had a great day on Saturday stitching and chatting with friends, Anne, Karen, Lis and Nicki. Lots of laughs and generally putting the world to rights. Karen was stitching a lovely huge sampler by Long Dog, Lis was stitching a very beautiful Moroccan Sampler by the very much missed Kay Monteclare, Anne was stitching a very beautiful  reproduction Westtown quaker sampler (sorry Anne the name eludes me again) in a rich rich red. Nicki didnt stitch but was busy keeping up with her very lively son and daughter plus working her magic as a chiropractor to all of us. To top it all off, Anne made my all time favourite for lunch, Tuna Mornay, yummm.
What did I stitch do you ask? Well, I have to be honest not a thing, the stitching was in the basket and on my lap but the needle never got threaded, it was just fun watching others stitch and enjoy.
I do have a couple of finishes that were completed earlier in the week.

Ornament from Just Cross Stitch Orn. 2011
by Keslyns

This will be made up into an ornament with a hanger. Another pretty Keslyns design.


and

Turquoise Gold - my colours of green and blue
Keslyns

This one stitched up very quickly and was a real fun piece. These have been great to stitch between waiting for cyberclass monthly updates. I still have a couple more to waiting in the stash to be done soon, but I think I will be sidetracked by the new chart that I bought recently.

The Quaker Ball, Amaryllis Artworks

Aren't they just gorgeous. Hard to believe they are all the same pattern but on different count fabric from 28count to 32 count to 40 count. Construction is not my greatest strength so this will be good practice. Looking forward to starting this one.


Bye for now, I am off the find some socks, my feet are freezing, Carol

Back to block 3 of FMTM cyberclass

Hi everyone,
Yep I finally bit the bullet and undid block number three. It knew it would take as long to undo as it did to stitch so I had been procrastinating for quite a while. Funny though once undone the restitching wasn't as painful as I expected and it hummed along quite nicely. Here is the completed block 3.

Block 3 From Molehill to Mountain, Pam Gardner
Cyberclass thru Scarlet Thread

And this is how it looks so far.

Progress So Far - the paper is hiding
the next block try-out

The next block is lots of eyelets and stars with the background colour green. I have been surprised how the light purple I chose turns to a pink when combined with the other colours, but I am not going to change it now, I will just keep this in mind for later projects and add it to my must remember list. 


Happy stitching from a cold and rainy Australian day, bye for now Carol

In the mood for tiny stitching

Hi everyone,
Yes I have been quietly stitching and here is a little proof. I thought while I was in the teeny tiny mode I had better stitch up some pieces ready for our Christmas exchanges. The little biscornu is stitched on 28count lugana with sparkly bits added to the fabric, the tiny strawberries are stitched on 35count linen with one strand of overdyed Threadworx cotton and the Green and blue  piece is a Keslyns design Turquoise Gold stitched on 28count coloured lugana with overdyed cotton one over one. The little pincushion hiding behind the tiny strawberries is my latest release chart called Circles which comes with the instructions for a scissor keeper as well as the pincushion.

Pincushion- Copyright Carol J Young Designs 2012

Today was the final trip to the travel agent for details. We have had to book on a coach-tour to be able to fit in everything we wanted to see at a reasonable price that fitted our budget. So Philadelphia here we come. Woo Hoo. My to-do list is getting smaller so there may be some catch up canvas stitching coming up very soon.
Here are some lovely threads that came in the mail recently, my threads of the month club from Stitchers Workshop and a skein of Painters Thread from Dee in the UK.

Lots of goodies to play with for a confirmed Threadaholic.
Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

Fantastic exhibit from Westtown School during ANG Seminar time

Hi everyone,


Just a quick note.


While I was investigating Philadelphia I came across an exhibition of Quaker samplers, pinballs etc on display while the ANG Seminar is being held. The exhibition is call "In Stitches" and is being held at the West Chester Historical Society building in West Chester 25 miles from Philadelphia. Ellen from the Society let me know that they can be visited using public transport from 69th Street bus stop. The opening hours are Wednesday to Saturday 9.30 to 4.30pm until the 7th September 2012. For a sneek peak Ellen Chester of "With my Needle" fame has posted room photos of the pieces after gaining permission from the organisers. Click here to take a look. This is a once in a lifetime chance to see many of the Quaker samplers from the Westtown School all in one place. If you are attending the Seminar see if you can find the time and let others know of this delight.


Bye for now, Carol

Canvas or linen? Why not both

Hi everyone,
Do you have the same internal arguments with yourself about what you want to stitch. I find being torn between counted canvas and linen stitching quite exhausting sometimes. Well there is a solution.

Stitchers Web, Keslyns
28count hand dyed evenweave
Threads by Stef Francis

Thanks to Lynda Keske of Keslyn's here is a pattern using 'Hilton stitches' on 28 count hand coloured Lugana fabric. If you add a medium weight iron on interfacing to the back of the fabric and use a sharp needle to stitch the piece it helps the linen/evenweave stay unbuckled when removed from the hoop for framing etc. This design I stitched using a 6" bound embroidery hoop. The design size is 4.46" x 4.50" stitched with one strand of thread over one fabric thread. The whole piece only took 1 week to stitch and was great nighttime stitching. I enjoyed this one so much I have already started the next piece called Turquoise Gold by Keslyn's.


The weather in South Australia has turned really cold, nights are around 4degC and days about 12degC, so great weather for snuggling up in your stitching chair in a warm room with the cat/dog by your side for company,(without guilt).


My travel plans are still ongoing. The agent that was handling my file moved to another job so I have had to backtrack and work with another agent. So I hope to have some more news soon and a better idea of a timetable so I can pad it out more. The Australian dollar is taking a downward dip so I have decided to stop looking at the exchange rate as it adds more to the cost of everything we chose. Oh well, money is made to go around and if we worried too much about such things we would never do anything and miss out on so much. 


PS. I still haven't undone my third square of FMTM. Maybe tonight?


Bye for now, Happy stitching, Carol

Some new threads from England

Hi everyone,
Thank you so much for all the offers of help with my travel plans and it is lovely to hear from others that will be at the Seminar, I will contact you shortly with a few questions. At the moment I have given the travel agent a rough idea of where we would like to go and she is working on a plan at the moment, so soon as I have the basics we can start to add a little more substance to the trip. Here is how it is at the moment. Arrive LAX travel to Philadelphia a couple of days before the seminar, week at seminar then on to Boston, travel around neighbouring states then to Quebec, train to around Niagara Falls area, back to New York then LAX and back to Australia. If this doesn't work we may look at going South towards Virginia and Washington DC areas. There is just so much to see so something will have to be missed out I am sure.


I had a lovely parcel arrive from England this week from my friend Dee. Here is what was inside.

Overdyed threads from 21stCenturyyarns.com

The threads are from 21stcenturyyarns.com I bought a few of these threads about 8 years ago and was very impressed with the quality and colours. the 11 threads on the left are overdyed cotton which have 4 plys to each strand. The twist is tight and very even so when stitched it sits beautifully on the linen. The 4 threads on the right are 3 weights of overdyed perle cotton and 1 overdyed chenille. The colours range is fantastic with names like Kingfisher, Heather and Harvest. They also dye fabric, so take a peek at their website when you have a minute but please don't blame me if the exceed the budget. Enjoy. 


Had some good news this week. My submission for a project to be published in Inspirations magazine has been accepted and will be published in Issue 76 in October 2012.


Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol

A bit of this and that

Hi everyone,
Thank you so much to the girls who answered my query on travelling in the Mid Atlantic states. I am in a haze there is just so much to see. Having looked at Boston's accommodation rates this idea of staying in Boston any length of time needs a little rethink and replanning, so off to the travel agent today to try and work out something that will fit into our available timetable and budget.
Anne and I are waiting for the next part of the seminar experience to arrive. The kit for the pre-class work. I am not sure when it will arrive but we hope it will be soon. I have visions of still stitching the night before we leave for the flights to USA, hopefully I will be a little more organised than that, but you know how it goes sometimes (best intentions etc).
I have been stitching a little but these travel plans have stalled my progress so not much to show for the few hours available. So here is a photo of the beautiful rose in my back garden.

Rose Arbor, my garden on a beautiful day

Bye the bye Cindy your parcel is winging its way to you. It generally takes about 2 weeks for post from Australia to the USA enjoy.


Bye for now, Carol

A near finish

Hi everyone,
Wow I have been a busy little person this week. After booking the airfares and accommodation for the Philadelphia ANG Seminar and finalising some notes for a submission to a magazine I finally found some time to stitch a little on Tweensy Weensy, here is the progress so far. Its a near finish but I still have to add the Painters names to the squares to complete it.

Note to self: Do not get ahead in a cyberclass as this will create unstitching.


Ohhh Dear. Square 3 of my FMTM will have to be undone. If I had waited for the class notes which tell you to reduce the number of threads on the edge stitches of part of the pattern so that it does not encroach on the next block I could have saved myself this extra work. Well this is why we take classes isnt it? This will be a lesson well learned. There is not much more of my other cyberclass Moorish Splendor yet but it is planned that I work on that one later this week, so there should be some more photos soon.


A big thank you to Carol for her bear naming help. There will be a surprise package posted this week to your home. It was so nice to hear you have a clementine tree in your yard as Clementine is the name I decided suited my special bear the best.


Also it was great to hear from Nancy about attending the ANG Seminar, I hope to catch up and have coffee with as many people as I can while there. 


Does anyone have any ideas about travelling in the neighboring states around Boston? My DH and I love scenery and I think this area would be just right for us. Is it necessary to hire a car to get about the Mid Atlantic states? Any help would be appreciated.


Happy stitching, bye for now Carol

Little things and a big surprise

Hi everyone,
I received a lovely surprise on Monday when I met with friends for a stitching day. Margaret presented me with a large white box tied with a pretty red ribbon. Inside was a fabulous new LED light made by Horn Australia a company that is very well known for their sewing cabinets. We had admired them at the Country Bumpkin market-day and Margaret was very impressed with the idea that the light has a dimmer switch with several settings. There are 2 models, the other has an extension arm allowing it to move all over the place. I tried using it indoors during the day with a lower dimmer setting and again at night by using a higher setting and it was just great. Even DH has given it the seal of approval, being that he used the call my other light "Big Strobe" and headed for the sunglasses. So stitching in front of the TV with DH snoozing next door is no longer a problem, and the added bonus is it folds flat and weighs next to nothing. Thank you, thank you Margaret for such a wonderful gift.

I have made a tiny bit of progress on FMTM but I am up to date with this one so I have slowed down as to not get too far ahead. The colours are coming together ( I hope) and the dark purple is a silk/wool blend Gumnuts thread.

Because I have been out and about I started a new little project that packs up small for stitching days. Yep it is the Keslyn's Teensy Weensy chart. This one is stitched on 26 count evenweave with sparkles using one ply of Painters Threads overdye, stitched one over one thread. Aren't the colours of the threads lovely, such a variety with names like Renoir, Van Gogh and Klimt. My plan is to stitch the names of the threads into the border.

This is a bit of a long post but I do have some great extra news. Anne and I have been advised we were successful with our class choices for the ANG Seminar in Philadelphia. Woo Hoo. So the next few weeks will be busy choosing flights and making travel plans. Very exciting. Hope to see you there.


PS. Carol, thank you for posting a comment and a name suggestion for my new bear, although I decided to call her Clementine if I ever buy a male bear Hershey would be such a lovely name. Please would you email me with your snail mail address and I will send some goodies to you for posting your help.


Bye for now, Carol

Start of Moorish Splendor cyberclass

Hi everyone,
This week I finally started Moorish Splendor a cyberclass by Jane Zimmermann. This is a design using lots of metallic and lots of silk laided in all sorts of fancy ways. When I finished the centre star it just looked a little plain and you know how I love bling. So with my threads from Cathe at Needle in a Haystack in CA was a reel of a very pretty Kreinik cord with a holographic green/gold hint that I added as a star over the already laid lavender silk. Now I am happy it sparkles.

Moorish Splendor
Jane Zimmerman

As you can see there is still a lot more metallic to be added so it will shine a lot more when it is finished. I have 2 more sections to catch up and the next part is due out very soon so I will concentrate on the lower right hand corner and add the other corners little by little.

I have made some more progress on Trees which I usually stitch at night while watching the television. There is only 1 more row of 4 trees to complete and this has been fun to stitch, so much so that I have dug out another Keslyns "Teensy Weensy" to do next. 

Here is My Little Trees so far.

My Little Trees
Keslyns

On a different note I have been trying to name my new bear. Friends and family have given me a few names but none have really stuck. If you can think of a lovely name for my Milk Chocolate bear please post and let me know. If I chose your choice I will send you some Australian goodies as a thank you. Have fun and happy stitching.

Bye for now, Carol