Elizabethan Nosegay

Hi there, it's me ..... Barbara (from The Flashing Scissors)

Long time no see! 

Look what happened to me this week! 

I was so determined to have some stitching to show ..... 

I'd been meaning to finish this little sachet for sooo long, (actually I mentioned it "here" in July last year) and this Friday I finally set to ..... and promptly wrecked the the whole thing!!

I thought I knew what I was doing, but I must have rushed at it!

The instructions say to stitch the front and back together one square out from the outer row of cross stitches. I machine stitched around the design, on each piece - the front and the back - one square out and then cut away the outer fabric, one square away from that machine stitched row! What was I thinking of! 

When I re-read the instructions I saw I should have left a 1 cm seam! Aaaargh!

So, now I am very carefully hand stitching around the edge ..... and hoping I can salvage the poor little sachet somehow!

You would not believe the number of times I have read these instructions in the past!

Hope you are having a better stitching time than me (or should that be "I")!  Doh!

Happy Stitching!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Barbara - The Flashing Scissors - (2018 - 3)

Hello my friends,

This Friday evening I thought I'd rake out a really old project and see if I could turn it into a FFO (Fully Finished Object)!

Starting with a piccy as it seems I have stitched more since my last post ..... filed here on "Kitten Stitching and the FF" .... surprisingly enough under "Tatty Teddy".

I've mostly been putting him off because of the backstitching, but as I now have a super-dooper magnifying glass I thought I'd be able to make better progress.

Tatty Teddy - Cross Stitcher

May 2004

Needless to say, I didn't get very far last night, as I wasn't sure which colour I'd previously used! Twice I had the needle threaded and then thought "No, it doesn't look right!" So I had to put it on hold until I'd checked the colours in daylight today.

Especially tricky as I had listed backstitching at least

a couple of times!

I've seen blogs where people have stitched TT, and I remember one lady in particular saying she was "winging it" with her backstitching of his fur, but I'm too scared to do that sure it would be a mess if I finished it that way. I can see he won't be finished any time soon!

One good thing though ..... I'll be stitching more later today as it just happens to be IHSW this weekend!

Do any of you have tips for easy backstitching?

Anyway, must go now, wishing you all a great weekend! I'm off to catch up on reading what everyone has been up to. See you soon! Although I might be tapping away on the 'puter again later as I have a Gifted Gorgeousness, and a TUSAL post to catch up with.

Happy Stitching Everyone!!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Barbara - The Flashing Scissors (2018 - 2)

Hello Dear Friends,

The last few Fridays I have been working on my oldest project again, and coincidentally I found I hadn't blogged about this one since this time last year.


It is quite hard to hold and stitch with this frame, and I need a magnifying glass a lot of the time. In fact, you can see the magnifying glass got in the way of my photo here:

I've been putting this off because I really wasn't looking forward to stitching all the framework, and even now I am not looking forward to going back and finishing it, as most of this is just half stitches.

I've found it a lot easier to work on since I bought a new magnifying glass and light which I can attach to the frame, although, of course, it does make the frame a bit heavier to hold!

To ensure the borders all met up I started again at the top left, but this time I'm crossing all the stitches!

It will be a long while before it's all finished, but by joining in with Friday Frolics I'm being more motivated to carry on! 

Not sure if I will stitch this tonight, you might well be tired of seeing it now, so I might go and search in the Dreaded Cupboard to see if I have some other old project that needs some TLC!

Happy Stitching All!!!!

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Barbara - The Flashing Scissors (2018 -1)

Hiya,

Long time no see!

I settled down, Friday evening in front of the TV, knowing our sweet little monsters (that's cats, in case you didn't guess) were fast asleep upstairs, and started work on this cute little kit:

Love & Roses

"Love & Roses" brooch

I've written more about "Love & Roses" HERE, I hope you'll come over to see.

The rest of the weekend I joined in with Joyszce's IH&SW which helped me move my "Stitch by Stitch" project along very nicely.

Were you stitching along?

Hugs,

Barbara xxx

Barbara from The Flashing Scissors 2017 #3

Hello Frolickers!

A couple of Fridays ago I was searching through my folders of cross stitch stuff, and rediscovered this teeny tiny pattern ....

"Honey Bee"

..... a freebie from Cross Stitcher, in 1998!

Back in '98 I had stitched the lower row only, and decided it was too fiddly as it is 16 hpi .... I usually stitch on 14 hpi. 

Anyway, that was w-a-a-a-y before I discovered our wonderful online cross stitching community, and, as so many of my cross stitch friends stitch on very high count fabrics I thought I ought to persevere with this particular teeny tiny16 count! It could also count towards Kerry's Theme-Tas-Stitch 2017 - "March Madness"! (If you haven't read about "March Madness" you can find out more in my post HERE)

While we were out travelling on the train on Friday I added the next couple of rows, but most of the hive was stitched on Saturday, at snatched minutes during the day and evening!

Bee Happy and my latest new start - "Stitch by Stitch"

Oh yes, last week ..... as it was still March, just!! .... I was also tempted to start another project, but this had to be stitched at home as it was rather complicated sorting all the threads .... and this was again due to Kerry's March Madness ..... (another possible reason for starting this one could well be the fact there are  scissors in the picture .... and my blog name is ????? "The Flashing Scissors" !!!)

"Stitch By Stitch"

and it could also count as part of "Gifted Gorgeousness" as it was part of the Giveaway I received from Jacquie Morris last year!

Today I've picked up an old project for April's Theme-Tas-Stitch ("stitch on something water related") and I intend to carry on with this for next Friday's Frolick, so hopefully I'll have photos to share again next week.

Happy Stitching everyone!!!

Hugs,
Barbara x

Barbara from The Flashing Scissors 2017 #2

Last Friday night I stitched a few projects!

I worked on a small Tote bag for me - for my knitting - which I am aiming to write about soon over at my place! I had wanted to finish the bag as a "Friday Finish", but when I realised I had totally missed the target I picked up this Rosebud pattern again. 

This was where I started again this year:

"Rosebud" - from Jane Greenoff's book -

 "55 Country Cross Stitch Charts"

Once again, I've been tempted by another gadget ..... which is now helping me to stitch a tiny bit quicker!

Previously I had been using a basic circular hoop, but I found gripping the frame, and turning it back and forth as I stitched, was making my hands and wrists hurt!

I'm really pleased with this new hoop (I expect most of you will have seen one before). It is attached to its own stand, and is the type you place on your seat, and sit upon ..... then hence have both hands free, which makes such a difference ..... the frame turns back and forth easily (but not too easily!) when needed, as one pushes the needle through the fabric!

Since my previous post I've finished the blue flowers, and started stitching the leaves around them, and made some progress on the leafy area above the rose! 

Are you joining in with Jo's "Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop"?

During the week I've been working on my project for the hop, which I can't share yet, of course ..... (for details about Jo's blog hop click HERE). I had meant to post this sooner, but Jo needed to receive our photos today, and I only just made it!!!!! so I didn't have time for blogging this week.

I'm looking forward to seeing who is joining in at the Blog Hop on Tuesday! See you there!

Happy Stitching everyone!

Hugs,

Barbara x

Flashin Scissors' (6)

Hello my friends!

A brief recap for anyone who hasn't seen my stitching of the Cocoa Sampler previously. The pattern, by Sue Cook, appeared in The World of Cross Stitching magazine in 2004. I eagerly started stitching as soon as I discovered it, but put it away some years ago as I never seemed to have the time for stitching at home and it was too big to stitch while travelling. I only started again when I discovered the cross stitch blogging community.

I've stitched lots of other smaller cross stitch patterns in between times, however, until now I didn't have the enthusiasm to continue, but with the encouragement I've received from  my bloggy friends, in their kind comments, I am now determined to finish as soon as I can, as its been hanging around far too long, and I'd like to enjoy seeing it displayed on one of our walls!

Last time

During the last week I worked on the heading, stitching more of the chequerboard, the framework and some of the centre, although last Friday I was only able to stitch the stepped grey squares in the centre of the heading. Then horror of horrors .....  I found I had run out of the grey I was using in the heading! Not only that, I think I might have used dark grey instead of light in the stepped arch. Arrgh!!!

Not to worry though ... DH suggested we took a trip to a local sewing store! Problem solved?????? No way!! Turns out I wasn't using the colours stipulated on the pattern, as I had originally substituted other threads from my stash rather than buying new ones, so, although this week I bought 2 skeins of the stipulated greys and one close colour ... just in case .... not one of them is right!! Darn it! So all stitching is on hold while I search my cupboards to see if I have any other greys hidden away with samplers that I'm not going to stitch!

Now you can see little lamby's face, stitched last week.

Afraid I didn't manage to stitch this week, as this Friday I was busy "with the frog" and those grey stitches!

LOL!

Thank you for visiting!

I'm sure if you are reading this you be visiting, if not joining in with,  Jo's "Tenuous Shoehorn blog party"! A week long party, starting Monday 8th August, where the theme is, .... My Summer Holiday ... and, guess what.... we link our Summer stitching posts! For more detail visit Jo's blog, Serendipitous Stitching.

I'm off to write mine now!!!!!!

Barbara xx

Flashin Scissors' (5)

Whoops! I hope you've not forgotten me, it's been so long since I joined in!

I have been stitching most Friday nights, just not Cross stitch.

Last week DH and I went shopping, and visited John Lewis in Oxford Street, London! They have one of my favourite haberdashery departments (see usual disclaimer here .... this is my opinion, etc.!)

How could I resist? I don't go to London everyday! I bought a new magnifying glass with lights, one that hangs round the neck, so I'm hoping to be stitching faster now! At least ... that's the idea! I bought a few other trinkets too, but I resisted the temptation to buy fabric.

Last week I picked up my Cocoa Sampler, and if you haven't seen this sampler before you can read more about it here on my blog The Flashing Scissors, and also see the whole sampler so far!

Cocoa Sampler

I thought I'd stitch the grey shading on the little lamb jumping over a fence - see picture below. As soon as I started I realised my fence was uneven, and, I have to admit, I bodged it, with no frogging! No one will ever know other than you and I; I can't see where it was, and I'm sure you can't  either ..... can you?

During the week I stitched the mauve and turquoise squares in the header, mainly to check I'd spaced the frame correctly, and added a few more stitches to the top gold coloured line. You might have wondered why I'd left so many uncrossed ... there are two reasons, firstly it helps me judge my spacing, and secondly to remember in which direction I am working.

Do you do anything to help you remember which way you are stitching? Or is it just me that has this trouble?

Last night I added some peachy coloured stitches for the little lambs face, although you won't see that today as I haven't taken any pictures yet .... and, if I delay to add any more photos I probably won't be able to post for another week.

It's been so hot here it's hard to find time to even look at the computer!

I hope you are keeping well. I'm off to try to catch up with some blog reading now!

Take care all!

Hugs,

Barbara xx

FlashinScissors' FF(4)

Hello everyone,

Late again, I'm forever trying to catch up on my blogging! How does that happen! And no, don't tell me, I do know really!

Not much progress to show, but if I hadn't started blogging, and hadn't joined "Friday Night Frolics", Tatty Teddy (TT) would probably still be languishing in the "dreaded cupboard"!

This is how he was last time you saw him:

 Week 3!

And here he is after last Friday's stitching:

Week 4

For some reason my camera wouldn't take a close up picture this week, but if you enlarge the picture you will be able to see I have continued the back stitch down his left side, and around his leg socket.

I found it very tricky following the pattern, and adding the stitches, but the board and magnets I mentioned last time have helped me to stitch quicker this week ...... it was just that time was against me!

Well, I'm hoping to try and finish TT tomorrow, what will you be stitching?

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has stitched this Friday! Have fun!

Hugs!

Barbara xx

FlashinScissors' Friday Frolics (3)

Hello everyone,

Barbara of The Flashing Scissors here again!

I remember a blogging friend recently asking how we mark our patterns to keep our place whilst stitching, but I'm sorry I can't remember who that was!

This reminded me that some years ago CrossStitcher magazine had a most useful giveaway of a few magnets and a magnetic board.

For anyone who hasn't seen this before, the idea is that you place the magnetic board behind the pattern and then surround the area you are stitching with magnets.

Maybe this is how most people keep their place?

I thought this might help me stitch more than previous weeks! It didn't happen like that though, as I suddenly started getting ideas for my Valentine's blog post, although I did at least finish stitching TT's head.

Last week.

This week!

I'm just hoping my board and magnets will help me stitch more next week!

Travel stitching: CrossStitcher free gift - vase of tulips.

I am still attempting to stitch the following from the kit's photograph, as I don't have the pattern.

We had another train journey this week and I managed to stitch some more.

Last week's stitching!

This week.

Starting to take shape!

Happy stitching tomorrow night folks!

Hugs!

Barbara xx

FlashinScissors' Friday Frolics (2)

Hello,

Barbara of The Flashing Scissors reporting in, a little late, but nevertheless here is my stitching from Friday night!

Thank you to all the lovely people who made me feel so welcome here last week. I think I've visited everyone, but, if not, I look forward to typing to each of you this week!

This is where I left Tatty Teddy (TT) last week:

 There wasn't much stitching last week! 

If you visited last time you might remember that I had to wash and carefully iron him before starting on the job I hate - back stitching! Last week's stitching started just above the top blue flower, ending around his right ear (as we look at him).

I am pleased with the progress I made this week, stitching from ear to ear, but back stitch it is such time consuming, fiddly stitching.....

And this is my latest progress on TT .

and, as I was aiming to start a new project on a train journey on Saturday, I also prepped this kit's fabric ready for stitching on said journey, by washing, ironing and putting some threads in place to mark the centre - maybe not the best place for them!

 My new project!

The only slight drawback is I'm trying to stitch this from the photo.  Dear Sister passed me a batch of cross stitch kits and a pile of magazines, but the magazine for this one wasn't there! The photograph is a bit small and doesn't show the tints of colours very well, but I hope I can do it justice!

Saturday's stitching!

Well, that was all I had time for on Friday night, and now I'm off to catch up on reading some of your blogs. 

I look forward to joining you here, at Friday Frolics, again next week.

Thank you for visiting, and have a great week everyone!

Hugs!

Barbara xx

Flashinscissors 1st Friday Frolics

Hello Friday Frolicers,

I'm Barbara from The Flashing Scissors.

Thank you for letting me join you for Friday Kitten Stitching Frolics!

On my own blog I have been talking about my Cocoa Sampler (and a few other cross stitch projects) which I started years ago, and, with the encouragement I received from some of our online friends, I was enthused to pick it up again and continue. And then I thought if I were able to join you ladies here on Friday Kitten Frolics perhaps I could speed up my finishing rate!

So on Friday I decided to delve into the dreaded cupboard for something different, and found "Tatty Teddy" which I had stitched, and put away without finishing him because I hate backstitch! Anyone who has ever stitched a "Tatty Teddy"(TT) will know .... there are an awful lot of backstitches!

I remember stitching TT quite quickly back in 2004, despite struggling to find the right cottons from my stash as the pattern called for Anchor threads and in those days I mostly had DMC.

The pattern appeared in the magazine Cross Stitcher, with a competition for the first reader to send a photo of themselves with their stitched TT to win a prize, which gave me the incentive to start stitching!

TT and his pattern as I found him
 in the dreaded cupboard.

When TT came out of the cupboard he was looking a little grubby (there was a horrid tea or coffee stain to his left!) so first of all he had a little bath!

Then, before I could start stitching, my embroidery frame needed binding!

I had started the fur backstitch in the wrong colour
 - it was much too light.

After which I found another reason he had been pushed to the back of the dreaded cupboard!  At that time I  didn't have the colour the pattern called for, for the backstitch.... but I searched through my stash of threads and lo and behold I have it now!

The backstitch is in red on the pattern.

Here's Tatty Teddy, clean, ironed and ready for stitching!

Ready to stitch.

And I had to make a little start on him at least!

You might just be able to see a few sticky out
stitches above the top blue flower and above Teddy's head!

That's all I was able to do last night!

Now that Tatty Teddy is ready to play I hope to be able to stitch a lot more next Friday night.

Thank you for visiting today, and I'm off to see what everyone else has stitched!

Hugs!

Barbara xx