August Needleroll

August needleroll
by Victoria Sampler

My friend Christine was 60 on August 6th. I met Christine at my cross stitch club a few years ago, and we've been to lots of craft shows together. I know that if I really want to go to a show, Christine will be willing to come along, unless she's on one of her many holidays around the globe. (Hope you had a great time in Tunisia my friend). I am unable to find a photo of the finished needleroll, I think I forgot to take one. I'll have to borrow the roll back for a photo finish.

The ring pillow

This is the ring pillow I made for a freinds daughter. I agonised over this, I wanted it to be perfect.

The first attempt was abandoned, it was too white, if you're not a follower of my blog, you can see the first attempt here.

I purchased two lots of Swarovski crystals, before deciding on Silver Shadow. I also used Mill Hill beads (Ice), and then ran out of those! I purchased white satin fabric, which was off white, but was too bright, so I had to go back and buy the pale grey. I had to visit 3 shops to do this. The design is based on one found in a book, but I changed it slightly. I also added the back-stitched border because I felt the writing I put around the edge looked lost. I was really pleased with the final result, and delivered it the day before the wedding. Unfortunately they decided not to use it in the ceremony, and just have it as a keepsake. I just hope the bride actually liked it.

August is nearly over

Well I can't believe it will be September in a couple of days, can you? I've noticed in the last week that the nights are drawing in, and by 8pm I need to put a light on if I am going to stitch. And it's certainly getting cooler. As I look out the window now, it's dull and overcast, but it's only 6.40am, so it could change. I hope to be back shortly with lots to share.

I'm going to make a list here, and then hopefully I can remember to post about them all-these are not in any order.

Needleroll SAL
Birthday needleroll
By the sea exchange
Summer House exchange
Halloween finishes
Scissor fob mini NR
JN Summer Whimzi
Wedding pillow

MIA

Just a quickie, I hope to be back with you soon. The kitchen is nearly there, it has honestly been a nightmare. Things went wrong on day 1, when they found a leaking water pipe, and then many things went wrong after that. The kitchen should have taken two weeks in total, they started July 13th. DH had the first week off, and I had the second week off. I then had the week after that off to get everything back in, and the room decorated etc, however the kitchen was not finished. And is still not finished. I will eventually take some photo's, and I have still not uploaded the before pictures, to be honest by the end of week 1 I wanted to move. I had totally lost interest in the new kitchen, and still don't have much interest in it. On Saturday, they came and replaced all the drawer and door fronts (this was the 3rd time for a couple of them!) The replacements are not the same as the first ones they put on, slightly different colour and finish - not sure I like them. They had to be replaced as they had fitted the wrong sized handles on. One of the problems with the doors near the oven is that the coating has buckled a couple of times, and again within 4 minutes of the guy leaving on Saturday. I spent every day of my two weeks off waiting in for people, be it electricians, plumbers, tilers or kitchen fitters. I am not at my best if I cannot get out of the house, I'm a bit like a caged animal. If I can get out of the house, I can quite happily stay in all week, but remove my freedom and I don't like it. I have not done a lot of stitching, I've just not been in the mood. I did pick a couple of things up, and stitch little bits, I have done a couple of needlerolls, one was for a friend from my cross stitch club, who turned 60 last week. I will eventually get around to publishing photo's. Apologies to my HOE Summer House partner, who I have not posted to yet, and the deadline was 30 July. I really need to get my act together. I returned to work last week, to find changes at work, not ones I wanted, but I'll have to live with them (they start next week-17th). And I was so shattered when I came home from work each night last week, that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I currently have nearly 700 blog posts to read -I'll only be looking at pictures! And if you've made it to the end of this post - well done, and thanks for sticking with me.