Tuesday 30 July 2013

Goodies from the Craft Show

Hi everyone,

Our girls day out at the Stitching and Handcraft Show was fun. Not as much hand sewing items for sale as I would have liked but I did manage to snaffle some lovely evenweave and overdyed threads.
Overdyed 32count evenweave by Sewitall
Threads by Country Cottage Threads, Threadworx and Thread Studio
overdyed cotton fabric by EGSA

This year the Thread studio from Western Australia had a stall. This is where a bought most of this lovely thread. The Cottage Garden threads on the left come in a beautiful range of colours with very Australian sounding names. This little collection of blues are to complete a whole in my collection of their colours. Blue is not a colour I usually buy so now the space has been filled nicely.
This week the post delivered some little pincushion charts by Periwinkle Promises. I found out about these little treasures from Just Carol's blog (from my bloglist). As these are all older charts I tracked down the designer Barbara Rakosnik and asked if she still had them for sale. The answer was yes and as long as she has access to the materials all of her charts are still available. There are lots and lots of delicately patterned pieces to chose from. I challenge you to chose just one. 
Here is the two I have managed to stitch this week.
Periwinkle Promises charts by Barbara Rakosnik
stitched with enclosed silk
changed out fabric from 28count to 35/36 Count Linen
These two are Mexico and Italy from the Country Accents sets. I love the little tassels and the finished design size on 36 count (Italy) is about 3 x 3.5". Really nice pieces for gift giving.

Not much progress on the counted canvas pieces as I have injured my right hand thumb pulling the thread through the canvas for way too many hours. 
Note to self: I must learn moderation....quickly and pace my stitching time.

Bye for now, Enjoy your stitching time, Carol


Wednesday 17 July 2013

Where have I been?...............

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since we chatted. There is no hidden mystery to my absence, just that I needed a little break and time to catch up on some class pieces and a sampler for a Guild project. 
Here is my latest class piece, which will be in September 2013
Needlework Accessories Class coming up in Sept 2013
at EGSA, South Australia
Copyright Carol J Young Designs


It seems the stitching brain switched to canvas pieces for some light relief. You can only do so much one over one cross stitch before your eyes become permanently crossed and your fingers cramp into twisted stumps. So I pulled out a couple of pieces I bought last year in USA. One is Seasons by Amybear Needlepoints and the other is Rio by Needle Delights. Both of these are quite different colourwise and because there is a lot of satin stitch they have grown quite quickly.

Seasons by Amybear
18 Count eggshell canvas using
Watercolors threads, original colours
The colours on this piece are much brighter in person. The chart did offer several other colourways but as I was quickly shopping at the time I fronted up to the LNS and said please kit it up as is. So this is a really different palette which is always a good thing and got me  out of my colour rut of purple/green.

Now Rio is another story altogether. Bright, bright and bright. Beautiful clear shadow dyed Threadworx silks. Yummmm.

Rio by Needle Delights
18 count canvas, original colours



Rio is only a small piece so it has become my travelling project. It comes and goes to Guild meeting days. 

Tomorrow is Friday 19th here and there is a Stitching and Craft Show over this weekend. So the girls and I are off to see what treasures we can find to bring home. Hopefully I will have some stash to share next time we chat.

May I welcome my new followers and thankyou for all your kind words about my work. I love to share and always enjoy reading and seeing all of your own wonderful creations through your blogs.

Happy stitching, bye for now, Carol