The Treehouse

CCN January Cottage

I have just put the final stitches into the CCN January Cottage. I would have had it finished last night but stitching those snowflakes under electric light was proving a challenge - my eyes were stinging and I was having trouble getting my stitches in the right place! I decided that I was overdue for my bed and called it a night. They were much easier by daylight I have to say. 

I'm really pleased with it - I love the turquoise shades. I'm looking forward to starting the Feb Cottage on 1st Feb - Carole and I have decided to start each month's cottage on the first of the month.

I'm going back to some applique now - I've a little bit left to do on this month's SKOW blocks.

2 new starts and 2+1 WIPs

I started the year off with the intention of NOT starting anymore quilts! I'm determined to work on my WIPs - after all, I started them because I loved the design and I would dearly like to see some of them complete. I did commit myself to a couple of new cross stitching projects.

The first one is Outrageous Owls by Glendon Place. I spotted this last year and when I showed it to the girls at our Cropiday (crafting holiday) in November they were so taken with it that we decided to stitch along together on it. We're stitching an owl per month plus a bit of branch.

This is what the finished stitch will look like...

and here is my progress so far...

Sorry for the terrible photos today, it's a rather dark and dreary day. This was a real treat to stitch - there are quite a few colours in each owl, 6 possibly 7 so I'm glad that we split the threads between us!

My second cross stitch project for the new year is the new series of monthly cottages from Country Cottage Needleworks. These are so pretty that it was just impossible to resist them - Carole also had the same resistance problem so we are stitching along together again :D My only problem was deciding whether to stitch them separately or all on one piece. I liked the idea of individual cottages but then wondered how to display them - I didn't really see myself changing the picture in a frame each month. I had a little sort through my stash and found a rather large piece of the called for fabric in 32 count and that decided me - I'm stitching them all on one piece. I think it will turn out too big to frame but a wall hanging will be lovely. Here's my progress so far...

I would have been futher along but for the quandary over whether to stitch on one piece or many!

Last year I started stitching Leanne Beasley's Vignette mystery quilt. I don't think I've shown a picture of my progress on this at all. I fell way behind with it once my elbow started being a nuisance and then once it was better I was SO behind that I didn't feel inclinded to stitch on it at all - how silly. I was inspired by Sharon at Lilabelle Lane to get going on this beautiful project again. I had already completed the first part...

and made a good start on the second part...

The majority of the stitching on the blocks had already been completed but I hadn't started anything on the border. Last week I dug it out and made a start on that. I have most of the stems stitched now and am taking a little break from them by stitching the teal flowers at the moment - love those, they're in tiny chain stitch. It's my intention to sew the rest of the blocks together this month and mark out the stitchery designs so that I can just keep on stitching when I eventually get to the end of part two. My lovely DH called in at the copy shop on the way home from work last Friday and got the copying done for the centre so I have no excuse now - it's time to catch up! 

Here's a project that I am up to date with - Some Kind of Wonderful. I love this quilt and the fabric that I've chosen to make it in (Fig Tree Buttercup) and I'm really enjoying stitching the blocks. The schedule for this month is two blocks from the second column - the daisy and the chocolates. My daisy is almost complete now - just the leaves to stitch on and I have the chocolates prepared and ready to stitch down. I cut out all of the pieces for this quilt before starting any of the blocks so I decided that I would make up all the little patchwork blocks and stitch them to the top/bottom of the blocks. I worked on that last week and have just two left to complete. 

I think that will be a big time saver and I am thinking of stitching together the borders so that they're ready to stitch on when I get to the end of each column but that will be after I've done some more stitching for Vignette. 

Another project that I'm slowly plugging along on is Gail Pan's Berries and Bluebirds. I'm still on the first block - there are a lot of pieces to applique!

So worth the effort though, it's a gorgeous quilt and I have my eye on her new design once this one is completed.

I've seen a lot of lovely new projects around blogland this last week or so, they're all so tempting but I really want to make some progress on my WIPs. I have given in to purchasing the Full House pattern for A Year of Schnibbles as it's one that I've wanted to make for a while. Whether it gets completed this month or even started is another matter entirely! The pattern hasn't arrived yet so I don't have any distraction from my current plan just yet!

 

I've linked this post with Lynn at What a Hoot and her BOMs Away Monday.

Back online and with a finish...

Well August turned out to be a busy month - it was also the month that my monitor decided to go kaput! It didn't like the fact that I unplugged it during my decorating and carpet cleaning frenzy. I thought I was doing it a favour by getting it out of the way of the paint and the carpet cleaner but no! It wasn't happy at all and refused to co-operate once I plugged it back in.Once we got back from our holiday on the Isle of Wight I was heavily engaged by curtain hanging and back to school activities...once that was all sorted out my Dear One beetled off and came back with a bright and shiny new widescreen monitor - I like it, I like it a lot :D

Due to all the decorating activity that was taking place there wasn't a lot of stitching achieved during the month of August. Although I did take a bag full of goodies to play with on holiday I didn't lift a needle once so not a single stitch was made. The light was too poor at night in the lovely little cottage that we rented and during the daytime it was too windy on by the sea! I did a lot of reading instead so I'm not complaining at all. We had a lovely time and the weather behaved very well indeed.

I have managed a finish this week - Country Cottage Needleworks "Bee Joyful". This was a lovely stitch, the colours are gorgeous. I used recommended threads and fabric but my fabric was 32 count instead of the prescribed 28 count because I had that in my stash :)

 

I'm still working on a few other cross stitches - The Library (LHN) is still being built bit by bit; Snow Garden I've not touched since I last updated about that one and I have begun the new Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers project which is lovely - I'll be putting a few stitches into that one tonight and then tomorrow I'll be starting Coffee Menu by Little House Needleworks which I'm going to stitch along with Carole. I've had a nasty cold this week so a little cross stitching and hexagon stitching during the afternoon has been good medicine - next week I'm hoping to get back to some quilting and catch up with Henrietta Whiskers!

At last - pictures again!

I've been without a card reader for a little while and goodness me it has been a heck of a nuisance! I've scanned a few things but not everything will fit onto the scanner! Today I loaded the children into the car and we  set off on a mission to buy a new card reader and new swimming togs for Matthew  - we were successful on both counts and now I can show you pictures and Matthew can once again go swimming in a 'decent' fashion!

I accumulated quite a few things to photograph over the last little while - we'll go with cross stitch first - I've been happily stitching away on LHN The Library which I started a long time ago and abandoned. I'm enjoying stitching on it now - here's the progress so far...

Another project that I gave new life to last week is Blackbird Designs Snow Garden - again, I started this ages ago and struggled to stitch it under electric light as many of the threads are similar in colour. This is how far along I am...

It's difficult to see the stitching on this - I have only a tiny bit of border left to stitch now.

I replenished my cross stitch stash on a Saturday morning super spend with Carole the other week - we've got quite a few stitch a longs planned now. We have both kitted up for CCN April Showers, LHN Coffee Menu and LHN Sunflower House. I also kitted up for CCN Bee Joyful - alas, Carole is not a fan of the little creatures so I'll be stitching that one solo! We have plans for another super shop in the future once there are some stitches done, I think the new CCN Sunflower chart is in both of our futures!

Carole also directed me to some very pretty threads called Six Strand Sweets which are currently on sale at Sew and Sew and I had a small indulge and in fact I am already stitching away with one of them. They are lovely to stitch with, nice and smooth.

Recently, Jenny of Elefantz has begun publishing a monthly magazine. I, of course, signed up to receive it as I've enjoyed Jenny's lovely designs for some time. I was just putting together my fabrics for the new BOM that is in the magazine when along came one of Jenny's email newsletters. In the newsletter was a pattern for a sunflower wallhanging. It was a 'stop everything and make this' moment. Why? Well, I have a bit of a thing for all things sunflower (see above cross stitch chart) and on top of that there are little bumble bees (love those) and then - the sunflower is a Dresden plate! Now, several moons ago I purchased a fat eighth bundle of Charlevoix by Minick and Simpson with the intention of making Dresden plates with it. Clearly that hasn't yet happened or there would have been some pictures of them on the blog :blush: I decided that I could pinch a little bit of Charlevoix for this wallhanging and here is the progress so far...

It's not the best photo in the world I'm afraid, I had to stand on a chair to get all of the sunflower in the picture and there may have been some wobbling going on! If you squint a bit you might be able to see the bumble bees (stitched in Dreamy Caramel Cream Six Strand Sweet thread) It's an overdyed so there is a lovely subtle variation along the length of the thread and although it calls itself Cream it is in fact a delicate lemon that's just perfect for this project. There is a verse at the top to stitch yet and I'm quite tempted to put another bumble bee on there somewhere :)

I think I mentioned that I had signed up for the Fat Quarter Shop Designer BOM and I made the first block last month. Due to the problem with the card reader I wasn't able to show a picture but here it is now...

I had been debating on whether or not to purchase the finishing kit and when I saw it on Christine's blog I was sold on the idea (plus I was fretting that in 12 months time there wouldn't be a jot of Strawberry Fields fabric left on the planet!).

This month's block arrived this morning too - I'm having a sewing day on Sunday while everybody else kayaks so I'm looking forward to working on these. While I was ordering the finishing kit I also indulged in a kit for a quilt that I had seen in McCall's Quilting - bit naughty really but I cannot resist baskets and the fabric is beautiful!

Phew - thank you if you read to the end of that rather long posting. Hopefully the pretty eye candy made it worth the while :) I knew I would forget some photos - my Vignette progress and also astonishing progress on Catherine's giant pinwheel quilt (another long abandoned project) which has now made it to quilt top status although I'm stuck as to how to quilt it now - they can wait for another post :)

 

 

 

Cup of tea anyone?

I have plenty of sewing projects to be getting on with but I don't really like to use my sewing machine when the children are on holiday - I try and sneak in a few hours here and there on something more portable. Anyway, with Bunny Hop completed I contemplated getting some work done on the Vignette quilt but then I spotted these cups of tea in the Cross Stitch Collection magazine...

I've not bought a British cross stitch magazine in years but had spotted a lovely rose fairy on the cover of this one and wanted to investigate further! Inside I found this - isn't it a beautiful project? I just couldn't resist - my kitchen is in these colours and I love a cup of tea so I considered it the perfect project! This is how much I've stitched so far...

It's a really enjoyable stitch with enough stitch variety to keep it interesting without being overwhelming. I think you can't really tell from the pics themselves but there are about 5 or so different blues in it - I'm not big on that sort of confusion but I'm going with it because I love how they blend together.

I collected Bunny Hop from the framing shop on Saturday...

I'm really pleased with it :D

A few finishes...

Well I seem to have been absent from my blog for quite a while. It's been a busy time on the sporting front for the children and my Dad has been in and out of hospital so any spare time I've had I've spent stitching away. 

My last finish for March was the 3rd Henrietta Whiskers block - these blocks are all so sweet. 

I'm looking forward to this month's block which sees the return of Sophie the blackbird and friend. I need to spend some time with my sewing machine to give my hand a rest from all the hand sewing I've been doing...am suffering from a nasty dose of RSI and I'm hoping that a little time with the machine will give it sufficient rest.

I began my next finish while away with the girls for the first of this year's crafting weekends. I started it together with Karen and we have been stitching along together. I wanted mine completed in time for Easter though so I've zoomed ahead to finish off. I have my DH all lined to construct a frame for it, it's such an unusual size that I think I'm unlikely to find anything in the shops that will do the job.

This is Bunny Hop by Country Cottage Needleworks. It's stitched with recommended threads on the the recommended fabric. It was a lovely easy stitch, I really enjoyed it. Karen and I have all the ingredients for another CCN design called Sheep in the Meadow. I have my eye on a design called April Showers as well but that's way down the list, lol! I'm starting on a pattern from Jardin Prive next which is called Once Upon a Time...an Owl. I've admired these designs since Nathalie Cichon first started to adapt them from the paintings of Spanish artist Raquel Blasco and I could resist no longer. Will be stitching along with Cara on this one. After that I've a rather pretty teacup design lined up from this month's issue of Cross Stitch Collection.

My other finish this month was a candle mat with bunny rabbits on it. This year my friends and I decided to do a little Easter basket exchange. The gift had to include a small handmade item and some chocolate. I had a few things in mind to make but then couldn't resist this candle mat from Bareroots  for obvious reasons!

Photo is courtesy of Sue as I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it up to give to her! I was really pleased with how it turned out. I've not been using wool felt for very long - obtaining a supply of it was difficult but now Karen at Patchwork Chicks has a great selection available so I'm keen to try more projects with it. I have another couple of these candle mat patterns - one with strawberries on and another with one of my favourites on it...beehives, can't seem to get enough bee related things lately for some reason!

I have a great list of things to do before the end of this month. The new button club from Lynette Anderson arrived last week from Fobbles, I really enjoyed making the first one and this one looks to be just as much fun. I also picked up the next Vignette magazine at the beginning of the month and there is a lot of stitching to be done for In Stitches quilt although I've not quite finished the first lot yet! I also have some new Inklingo stitching on the go - a new collection was released called Sunflower and it proved irresistable. The problem is that much of this is hand stitching (which is my favourite) and my poor arm needs a break so I think I will probably take some time to catch up with Civil War blocks and Pennsylvania Dutch blocks on the machine before I get down to any of these other things :) oh to be amidextrous! I read some good books last month too...just need some time to write up my list of those!

Clamshell Report

My poor clamshells have been badly neglected over the summer. Even worse, when I looked at them last Friday - I decided I didn't like what I'd done so I started again! I'm not very far along, I had wanted to get the first 'square' of them finished but these are the last days of the childrens' summer holiday and the sun is shining so we've been out and about in the boat.

 

I'll make better progress for next month's report.

I stitched up the bottom on this cushion last night  -  I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The cross stitch in the centre is Geranium House by Country Cottage Needleworks which I finished a little while ago.

 

It's going to live in our bedroom.

 

 

Finishes and New Arrivals

  The postman has been pretty busy delivering to the Treehouse over the last week. As well as the kit for Lynette Anderson's Scandinavian Christmas (I forgot to photograph this), he also brought the next My Garden pattern/button and Electric Quilt 7. I am stitching along on Scandinavian Christmas with Simone  and we are just waiting for her first delivery to arrive so that we can set a date for completing the first block - they are quite large blocks but I'm looking forward to stitching them. 

As for the Electric Quilt - I am itching to start playing with that - I've not owned a copy other than the Dear Jane software before so I'm sure that there will be a learning curve involved...I'm just waiting for the 'technical department' to fix me up with an appropriate version of Windows so that I can get going - I only have an old version on my Mac which I use for Inklingo cds and cross stitch software and it won't do for EQ!

I've been in a finishing off mood this last week or so and have finally finished stitching Geranium House by CCN. It's such a pretty design and I'm pleased with how it turned out...just wish that the fabric had been a little lighter. Its destiny is to become a cushion. I also finished off the little scissor fob from the LHN Needle and Thread pattern - that is super cute, I really like it - I'm not sure that I will bother to make many more scissor fobs although it does look very sweet dangling from the halloween scissors

   

I've made a start on my list for the Everything Austen II challenge in fact, I keep on finding things that I want to add to the list. I've ordered up a 'few' more books from the library and I had a little party over at Amazon and The Book Depository last night. I can see that this is going to be an Austentatious summer! It is certainly the weather for staying indoors and reading and sewing - we have had steady downpours of rain, thunder and lightening and some flooding for just over a week now. Most bizarre weather indeed. 

I'm hoping and hoping that it's going to brighten up and at least remain dry for a while as this has been a very soggy beginning to the school summer holidays. We had planned to get in some bowling practice today which I certainly need as my defeat last night was almost total - I blame it on the wet conditions! I did manage to score 2 points before the end of the match so I wasn't completely embarrassed. Also, we've now booked a week's holiday. We were going to go to France with the tent again but given the precarious situation of my back we thought that would be unwise. We're now going to the Isle of Wight and have booked a lovely little thatched cottage to stay in...I'm really excited about that, I think we're taking the bicycles along as well so plenty of exercise to balance out the time sat reading and sewing :)

I know I've not posted about my Flower Garden for a few weeks - I have fallen behind with it somewhat but I do intend to make some flowers before the end of the month and post about them at the same time I post about my clamshell progress. A new Inklingo collection of 1/2 clamshells and edges has just been released and I will certainly be adding this to my Inklingo library very soon along with the 1" diamond collection which I need for my Flower Garden.

Hoping to have the stitching completed on a couple more Christmas story blocks this week...just a few more roses and leaves to go :)