Just a quick visit

I haven't been blogging for a few days - to be honest, I haven't been in the mood ... just been chatting to Mum after work, and getting a bit of stitching time in. I've managed to get over halfway on the And Many More needlecase by Just Nan. I'm loving stitching this one, but Mum reckons it should be her initial in the centre of the circle instead of mine ... hmmm looks like I might have lost my new needlecase already! The only thing that really annoyed me when I bought this kit, is that there are no finishing instructions whatsoever in it ... mutter mutter mutter. You have to buy the instructions and finishing kit from another source - considering I don't want to have prissy pink flowers on the inside of my needlecase (you may get the impression that I'm not overly keen on pink, and you'd be right LOL), I don't want to go to the expense of getting the kit just to find out how to finish it. I'm not worried about finishing the needlepages like the petals of a flower, so I'm hoping I've got it worked out OK - if anyone can make a better suggestion for finishing, I'd really love to hear your suggestions! I figure I'll finish it something like a bellpull, in that I'll place the lining fabric on it (right sides facing), stitch around the outsides up both long sides and around the 'point', and leave the bottom short edge partly open - then I'll turn it back the right way, finish off the bottom edge, then stitch oblong needle pages (made from wool flannel) along the edge where it will be folded ... does that make sense? That's my first attempt at working out how to do it.

I also forgot to post a piccie of another Lorri Birmingham needleroll I started in the last few days of December - I didn't get very far, but it'll go into the pile for finishing in 2006 (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

I also finally decided on my fabric and threads (well, most of them anyway) for my Apricot Elegance SAL on the StitchingSmalls Yahoo group - just for a change, I'm stitching mine in blues ... still have to do a test stitch to see which will work out better on the fabric for the main satin motifs, either the Caron Collection Watercolours (my preference) or Wildflowers, both in Blueberry. The contrast is an overdyed perle cotton #8 by The Dyepot in NZ - I'll either order a #12 skein from them for the weaving, or find a 'normal' thread in a turquoise to match (can't find a PC anywhere that is just a nice turquoise colour boohoo). You probably can't tell from the photo, but the perle cotton has a lovely mix of mauve, purple, turquoise etc - it's really pretty. Just have to do the gridline basting this week, before the stitching begins next week - looking forward to seeing this one stitched up :)

Am on the 'doggo' shifts after tomorrow so my routine will be out the window again - just love those shifts from 9pm-5am ... not. Oh well, if nothing else, it means I have a full day to myself on Friday to stitch my little heart out. Hopefully after this weekend I can get back to my blogging habits too :)