Rose Garden Update

So it has been awhile since my last update.  I have been busy with work, family and stitching of course!  I've been enjoying stitching "Rose Garden" by Blackbird Designs immensely and can't believe that I am almost finished!  Here are two pictures of my progress.  Most likely I will finish it today, although I am still unsure as to whether I want to make a lavender filled pillow or a pinkeep for my mother.  I'm now leaning more towards a pinkeep because I found a gorgeous little iron picture holder in Prince George.  It has a little bird and some leaves on it and it would work perfectly for a pinkeep.

Here are the photos, although they are not the best photos because I took them with my cell phone.  

See how beautifully it is coming along! I added my mother's initials on the right and the year that I will be giving her the gift for Christmas.  Some of you may wonder why it says 2011, well that's because we celebrate Christmas on January 7th.  We are Orthodox Christians and use the old calendar for our feastdays.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Putting Things Together

Alright, so I finally took some photos of my linens and threads.  I am not the greatest photographer and my camera is kind of old so the photos will not look super professional.  I'm still learning how to work this blog but I don't have much time these days to fiddle around with the settings, so it is a work in progress.  I am trying to finish the ornament for my sister.  I just need to make the tassle and then put it all together.  Below are photos of the pieces that will be stitched together.

Well for some reason I can't upload the pictures even though I changed the size to really small.  I'll have to try another day.

Okay I figured it out! So here are the pictures!

Stash and Finishing

So it has been a week since I have posted anything.  I was quite sick for awhile and now I have a lovely, lingering cough.  On the bright side, I have finished the second side of the ornament and found the ribbon and piping I am going to use for trim.  Once it is completed I will post pictures of the ornament.  I have also been busy working on finishing a couple other projects, mainly back stitching, something I wish I could enjoy, but I just don't.  Perhaps it's because some of the charts I have are difficult to read and therefore difficult to figure out where to back stitch.  I try to do it free style and sort of see where the stitches should be.  I have a lot more success with the free style method than following all the crazy coloured lines all over the chart! 

I also have some exciting news, I received my stash from Traditional Stitches yesterday!! Once I organize the threads and linens, I will post some pictures online.  I am trying to figure out what design and linen to use to make my mom and mom-in-law's Christmas gifts.  I have an idea of what to do, but need to play around with the colours and linens.  I wish I had more! But alas, I must wait till after Christmas to purchase anything more.

Christmas Blackwork Ornament

All Change by Elizabeth Almond

                                                              Stitched on 14 count Aida

                                                                  DMC Black and 798

                                                                       Freebie link

Not the best picture but it's all I have at the moment.  I still need to stitch the same design for the back of the ornament. 

Spilled Juice!!

Nearly keeled over last night as I spilled juice on my computer last night.  Luckily I was fast acting and managed to get off the majority of the liquid, then turned my laptop over so the remaining drained off.  I was also fast enough to turn off the computer, one of the first things a person should do if they find themselves in the same position I was in last night.  Phewwwww!

So, I am trying to figure out how to add things onto this blog and cannot understand how to add the gidgets?gadgets? to my blog.  I've begun to add some of the blogs I visit but there are many more to come and right now I'm busy transferring over pictures, files and music mp3's to my external hard drive in the event that juice decides to take a trip into my laptop's hard drive.

Yesterday was not all bad. I managed to stitch up a beautiful little blackwork design for a Christmas ornament I'm making for my sister.  I still have the other square to stitch then I can put it together!  I had to find some aida cloth to work on instead of linen.  Still waiting on my order to come in a couple of weeks.

Until then,

toodles!

Annitha