Friday 14 July 2017

Frolic Finish for me!! It's an Owl.

Hello Frolic Friends!!  I am finally posting what I believe is my second or third Frolic.  So how are things in your part of the world?  Here it is going to be a very hot day for us in north Texas, we have had several days of hot temperatures this week.  Really I should not complain, it has been a decent summer.  Usually we are hitting 100 degrees in early May. I guess I am just worried because we had new sod put in the front yard and it looks fantastic, the 5-year drought really did in our yard.  Now our front yard is all green and lush.  Hope we don't see another extended drought for a long time.

Today, I have a cute little finish to share, at least for me a total finish since once the stitching was done I packed it up and sent it to Pennsylvania.  One more piece for the Quilts for Older Children and Adults group.  I love stitching for this group, it fulfills my love of cross stitching and it provides a someone with a gift of love created by many hands.  We are always in need of stitchers and quilters.  This group supports  people and similar stitching groups all over the world.  We have stitchers in Australia, UK, Brazil, France, and USA to mention a few.  You can get more information about the group here on Yahoo or here on Facebook.  This design is from the same designer, Anna Nolfina, as my post on 5 July, you can see her patterns here on Etsy.

Owl
14 Ct White Aida
DMC Floss

One last thing before I go, I am having a giveaway on my blog it is open until midnight Central Standard Time in the USA. It is open to anyone anywhere. Don't hesitate to check it out here.

Enjoy!!

CJ

Tuesday 11 July 2017

My Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Frolics for 2017...

Obviously, I DO need to be more organised each Saturday to post about my Friday Frolics!  Note to self: Do better.

Anyway, this post is a Fourfer - four weeks of Frolics in one!

Twenty-third Frolic: June 16th

I remember that I had a really productive day for my Twenty-third Frolic, I actually had nothing on that day (amazing in itself), so I spent most of the day pottering around in my Girl's Nest and catching up on my Masterchef watching. 

This is what I worked on:

I finished the stitching on "Accept this trifle from a friend" (which is a freebie from Plum Street Samplers) and then I searched through my fabric stash to find the perfect green fabric for the backing (it matches the bird exactly) - very happy to find it.









I also FFOed, Singin' in the Spring (CCN) - again with fabrics from my stash - this time I used bright 1930s fabrics.




I also did a bit on my Nutcracker Sampler


I also pulled out this Happy Halloween UFO but I put it away again as I couldn't find the relevant threads but maybe it will come out again soon for Friday Frolics.


(Psst! If you are wondering what the real reason is as to why I put it away again, it is the fact that the pumpkins are stitched using Smyrna Crosses and it was Soooo fiddly getting them right - and there are still two more to go - yikes!)


I also pulled out this UFO ...  Snowmates by Blue Ribbon Designs from the JCS Christmas Ornie Magazine 2015.



.... and worked on it a little more.



So, a very successful Twenty-Third Friday Frolic.


Twenty-fourth Frolic: June 23rd

For this Frolic, I picked up Afternoon in London by CCN, this is a gift for a friend's 60th and I really need to get a wriggle on as she is going to turn 61 at the end of July!  (Only a little late with this one, but it did take us a while to find the right design for her tastes.)



I managed to get quite a bit done on that Friday and over the rest of the weekend, as you can see.





Loving stitching this one, gorgeous muted palette and the fabric I am stitching on is a dream to work with. 


Twenty-fifth Frolic: June 30th

For this frolic, I thought that I should get a wriggle on with my Red Robin pouch.

So, I went from here....




... to this....


I am really happy with how the red Japanese beads make the design pop and give it that real Christmassy feel.


Twenty-sixth Frolic: July 7th

On July 7th, I picked up Afternoon in Paris by CCN again, as I do really need to get it finished very soon.

So, it went from this ....


.... to this...


Getting so close to a finish now!

So, that is four weeks of Frolicking for you, I am so looking forward to picking up another WIP this coming Friday - only two more sleeps!

hugs, Kaye



Saturday 8 July 2017

Sunday 2 July 2017

Barbara from The Flashing Scissors 2017 #4

Hello Friday Frolickers,

Gosh! It's been so long since I posted here, I'd completely forgotten what I'd worked on last time! Although, as you might guess, I haven't been working on the same things since .... Oh, except for the bee hive, which is finished now, but not FFO (fully finished off).

I thought that, rather than show you something you've seen before, I would dig out this little project that has been hidden in the Dreaded Cupboard for so many years! (Well I hope I haven't shown this before, but I can't be certain, you know what it's like ..... once it's typed I'm never quite sure whether I've written about a particular subject or merely considered writing about it!!!)

I must have started stitching this ..... oh no, I can't tell you it's so many years ago!

Well, it's s-o-o-o-o  nearly finished! All the cross stitch is done.

"What stopped me???? " I hear you say (or maybe not) ..... it was simply because I'd never made a tassel!

Truth be told I couldn't see the point in them, and this project calls for 3 tassels!

The instructions for the tassels are included with the pattern - although they weren't terribly clear, or maybe it was just me!

Elizabethan Nosegay
Pattern from The Textile Heritage Collection -
Elizabethan Nosegay, Designed by Anne Orr

Elizabethan Nosegay

Actually this has taken a few Friday nights to work on ..... one week I decided I needed to practice making a tassel before using the threads from this kit (don't want to run out of the right cottons) and so I found some nice pink thread, cut another piece of cardboard and started winding!

I read more about tassel making in The Magic of Crazy Quilting by J. Marsha Michler (and, as ever ..... I have no affiliation here, it just happens to be the first "Crazy Quilting" book I discovered at my local library..... quite a few years ago ..... and when I started blogging the library no longer had the book so I  bought a copy on line to help me with my stitching.) and my pink practice tassel worked out well 

Elizabethan Nosegay

So another Friday night I set to and made the 3 tassels, and the cord to hang the sachet from. Trouble is I'm not very good at reading instructions and I now have some extra cord to use elsewhere!

The sachet itself is not going so well. I machine stitched the sides together, but they didn't match very well, so the frog has visited, and now I need to stitch it together by hand. Maybe that is next Friday's job!

Anyway, I must dash now I want to FFO a couple of other projects tonight.

Hope everyone is keeping well and enjoying lots of stitching this weekend.



Hugs,
Barbara xxx