Happy stitcher

Hope you are not getting fed up with all my cross stitch posts - I'm definitely addicted ... at the moment!  I have been blown away by all the lovely work I've seen on stitchers' sites and realised that I needed some new patterns.  (I did, honestly!)

Waited eagerly for the postie on Thursday (he doesn't usually arrive till about three hereabouts) and was not disappointed!  These lovelies arrived!  Got them from The Patchwork Rabbit website - a UK company based in Wiltshire, they have a great selection of patterns and other bits and pieces.  So far have only ordered patterns from them, but the service was great and I received my patterns promptly the next day.  Will certainly use them again - trying hard not to get a wish list going!!!!!!

Made a start on this cutie - Welcome Home by Country Cottage Needleworks.  Can't wait to finish it and make a start on the others!  Got a couple of Christmas patterns.  I know it is early, but sometimes I leave these things too late and don't finish in time.  Frosty looks sooooo cute!

Hope you are enjoying a crafty weekend!

Love, Liz

Raspberry Pink

While making dessert with some frozen raspberries I had a great idea!  (Doesn't happen very often!)  Why not try dyeing some fabric with some frozen rasps!

I put some fabric in a bowl, added a few frozen rasps and covered them with boiling water.  Then I stirred and stirred for a few minutes. 

Took the fabric out of the bowl and ran it under the cold tap.  Very important note to self -  if doing this again, put the rasps in some muslin so that all the little seeds don't get caught up in the fabric!!!!!!!

Ta da!  Got a lovely pale pink colour in my Aida fabric - all ready for my next cross stitch project.

Had any brilliant ideas recently?

Love, Liz

Going cross stitch crazy!

I think I'm a bit cross stitch crazy these days - it has taken over my life!

Another final finish of a piece I worked on in (oh dear, do I have to continue?!) ahem - December 2016!  How can it possibly be that long ago?!  I even blogged about it here!

It is from a Cath Kidston book "Make & Sew" and I loved the pattern.  Just added some gingham fabric and now have (another) little wall hanging.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend.  The sun is shone all weekend here in Greenock and we had a lovely Easter lunch with family. 

Love, Liz

Nautical cross stitching

Here's my latest fully finished cross stitch project - "I love Greenock".  Greenock is my hometown and a port, so I went for a nautical colour scheme and theme.  I'm quite happy with it!

I thought it would look good on a "driftwood" background, and fortunately Hubby found just the right bit of wood in his stash.  See, it's not just us girls who have stashes of things that "might come in handy!  I sponged the wood with some watered down white paint for effect.  Two eyelets at the top with some white cord through them finished the look.

I've been getting a bit muddled while trying to finish off some of my projects, but Lynn on her blog, Happiness is Cross Stitching had a fabulous tutorial on how to add fabric to stitched pieces.  She has lots of photographs to show how it is done and by following her instructions, I found it a lot easier to complete my sewing.  Lynn's blog is really beautiful and she has a few free cross stitch patterns too, so check it out here.

The sewn piece is attached to the wood with velcro, which means that I can change the cross stitch anytime.  I added my name to the back along with a little ribbon label.  The inspiration for the lettering came from a Lizzie Kate pattern I stitched recently.

Love, Liz

Oranges and lemons

Here's my latest knitted tea cosy - perhaps I should call it my St Clement's tea cosy after the rhyme.  

"Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement's."

I'm beginning to think that perhaps it would be more suited to Hallowe'en than spring!  I wanted to use up some of the dark grey yarn I had in my stash and thought I would brighten it up a bit with the bright orange and yellow.

Anyway, it is finished, so I can go out and get some nice new spring or summery coloured yarn for my next tea cosy.

Love, Liz

Tea and crafting

I've had a fabulous crafty day!  Was desperate to start a new cross stitch project, but only had a creamy coloured Aida fabric.  Much of the stitching in the new project is in very light colours, and they wouldn't show up on that.  So - after some thought I decided to tea dye some of my fabric and see how it turned out.

Finished tea dyed fabric beside original.

I kept my morning used tea bags (yes, I drink a lot of tea!) - and shoved some fabric in a pot with them and some boiling water.  I left the fabric to soak for just over an hour, stirring occasionally.  Then I took it out and rinsed it under the cold tap.

Looks really yucky, doesn't it!

My trendy (in the 70s) orange colander!

I patted it dry with a towel then ironed it to take some of the moisture out.  Then I left it on the windowsill for a while (not that it was particularly sunny here in Greenock), ironed again and it was dry.  Ta da!  A nice dark(er) piece of fabric without a trip to the shops! 

I have tea dyed paper and lace before, but not tried this type of fabric.  It seems to have worked quite well and the fabric was great to work with when I started my project.  Don't usually like these random shaded fabrics, sometimes I think they look a bit messy.  But for this new project it will be ideal!

Original colour Aida 16 count.

I have been following Pricilla's blog and I got the idea from there.  She has some great ideas for finishing off cross stitch pieces and has completed (and designed) some fabulous cross stitch patterns.  Go on over and have a look - here.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Love, Liz

Vintage floral plate for spring

I got this vintage plate in a charity shop a few years ago and always bring it out for biscuits and cakes at this time of year.  It is just perfect with its pattern of lovely spring flowers.

Hubby bought me this pretty bunny (instead of an Easter egg)! - I've called her Beatrice, isn't she cute?

These daffodil flower heads had broken off and were lying on the grass in the garden.  Getting a close look made me realise just how intricate they are.

Absolutely wonderful.

Isn't mother nature incredible!

Love, Liz

A final finish and a find

Finally got around to completely finishing off my latest cross stitch Christmas Is ... by Lizzie Kate.

Made a little wall hanging by attaching the cross stitch to some red tartan and adding a little wire hanger through some tartan ribbon.

Used a different tartan for the back.  Think I'll put it here beside the cooker when Christmas time comes around - that is if I remember where I've put it by then!

As for my find - got these two wooden candlesticks in a charity shop for just £1.  They will be sanded and painted white and I think they will look really good in my kitchen.  Yes, the flowers behind them are the ones I blogged about at the end of March - they have lasted really well!

Hope you are having a good day.

Love, Liz

Do you dunk?

Do you dunk your biscuits in your tea?

I only dunk rich tea fingers - don't know why.  Perhaps it's because they are just the right size for dunking!  Bought Nice biscuits at the weekend, but would never think of dunking them, much as I love them!

I've heard some people say that they dunk chocolate digestives in their tea - argh - not for me!  Does anyone dunk biscuits into coffee?  I only ever have the occasional cup of coffee, but wouldn't even think of it!

So, go on ... what kind of biscuits do you dunk?

Love, Liz

Cutting it fine!

Literally - I just made it!  Look at those margins!

I got this Lizzie Kate cross stitch pattern from a local craft shop shop.  I wanted to start right away, so when I got home a found a piece of fabric which looked like it might fit.  I found the centre, put it in a hoop and started.

This is how it turned out!  How on earth could I have so misjudged the centre?  Also cutting it fine with how much space there would be left on either side.  But at least I used up a piece of fabric from my stash.  Going to make a hanging, finish it on some red tartan - also from my stash!  Every Scottish crafter will have a bit of tartan somewhere - am I right, folks?

Love this little quilt shop stitching from Cross Country Stitching.  Changed the colours.  The little stand is one of those that come with a tiny canvas - I just painted it white.  Think it's great for showing off little stitchings.  Must finish it off with some fabric, though.

Not so sure about this one ...hmm!  Too pink, perhaps.  But at least I centered it properly!

It's been a busy stitching week!

Love, Liz

Back in time

I found some of my old cross stitch pictures which used to be on the spare room wall, but were taken down when we redecorated and not put back up again.

This one is dated 1994 - can you believe that!  All that time ago - my boys were just little at the time.

The pattern is from Cross Country Stitching magazine (as are most of my cross stitchings).

I must put some of my pictures back up now that I am "into" cross stitching again. 

The gerbera plant is for the garden, but it will have to wait till this cold snap is over!  We actually had hailstones on Tuesday!  Ah well, back to my stitching - nearly finished another little project.

Love, Liz