Tuesday 28 July 2015

July - where did it go?

July was a weird month for me. I was very busy with work for the first week, and then busy with holidays. Does that make sense?  Anyway, life is back to normal now with my boys back at school, and me working from home again.  Here's what I've been working on during July:

1.  Fandango Sky

This is a canvas work design by Laura J Perin. Laura's designs combine variegated threads of different textures, metallic threads and even tiny beads.  I love how she combines colours and textures.  I took this to Melbourne because I knew the lighting in hotels is never great, and if I don't do something in the evenings I just fall asleep in front of the TV! The canvas has big holes so it's great to stitch on in poor lighting.

So here's where I'm up to now:

Fandango Sky

I've made other designs by Laura J Perin in the past and they now hang on the wall in our bedroom:

Starry Nights

Jewel Box - I changed the colours on this one


2.  The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Have you heard of this company? They design very cute cross stitch patterns and seem to be taking the world by storm. A lot of young women are being drawn into cross stitch by their very cute patterns.  They sell the patterns online as a downloadable pdf to print at home, and they really are very cheap at about USD12 per design. They have a website and are on facebook. There's even a facebook group for those people stitching the designs.

I'm not finished Part 1 yet

I've just downloaded the first of four patterns in A Very Merry Christmas Town, which is their mystery Christmas design for 2015.   There will be one part of the pattern released each month for four months and I should be finished well before Christmas. Although it's a mystery, they do tell you the size of the design so you won't run out of linen!

I bought some sparkly linen when I was in Auckland, and fortunately had all the threads I needed in my stash! (with a few very minor substitutions)



This is my version of the 2014 Christmas mystery sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery:




3.  My Scrappy Bear Paw quilt

I've been trying to fit in a bit of hand quilting each week to keep this quilt moving along.  I've quilted 5 of the 9 stars so I'm past half way.  I haven't decided on the binding yet, but expect it will be some combination of black and white.



Here's a reminder of the whole quilt top.



4. Haunted House - last one I promise

I've started to assemble my Haunted House. It's on my Finish A Long list for Q3 and I know it will take weeks, so I made a start at the weekend. I'm determined that it will be neater than my Bakery last year, when I forgot that the building should be symmetrical, and cut each side independent of the other sides. I can't redo the Bakery, but I can learn from that and make future buildings more balanced.






Here are my other buildings, all designed by Thea Dueck from The Victoria Sampler in Canada and stitched by me over the last 3 years.



I know you're all thinking that there's nothing wrong with the Bakery, but I know the Haunted House is going to be even better.

That's all for now - I wonder what August will bring?

10 comments:

Marly said...

I love your scrappy bear paw; I might follow your lead for the Rainbow Challenge next year. The variegated threads in your canvas work make it wonderfully dynamic; really pretty.

Manuela said...

Wow, wonderful stitching projects.
The houses are so beautiful.
Greetings, Manuela

kack2 said...

I just love your needlework projects - I fell in love with the Haunted House project and would love to have done it myself. When I went looking for it again to actually buy it, I couldn't find it, which was probably a good thing. I have a tendency to collect projects to do but then never actually DO them! I can hardly wait to see your finished village. Or just progress on the village - even that would be a treat. Great job! (Kathy in Florida, USA)

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

love all your works! summer here is flying by - August soon and doesn't seem possibly

margaret said...

so many lovely things you have shared today, I do love canvas work and yours is especially beautiful. The quilt is looking super, see you quilt with a frame have not tried that maybe I will have a go. Christmas pieces and the haunted house are super too

Her Indoors said...

I squealed when I saw your gingerbread houses - gorgeous!

Her Indoors said...
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Wendy said...

the canvaswork piece is gorgeous! I so have to start one myself, I don't know what's stopping me! The quilting on Bear Paw is coming along nicely.

Gemini Jen NZ said...

Beautiful work Wendy! I love your gingerbread buildings and the bear paw quilt especially.

Carie @ Space for the Butterflies said...

Oh what a lovely mix of projects. I love all your work and especially the little buildings, they are quite amazing!