SBQ's and small finishes

Between Blogger and my stupid modem, it took me almost 5 hours to load up the Hong Kong photos and blog post yesterday ... hopefully this post will be a bit quicker!! (And as it turns out, Blogger won't upload piccies today, so I'm having to use Photobucket mutter mutter mutter ...)

Firstly, here's the little ornament I stitched while I was away - it's Teddy Bear Stocking by Lorri Birmingham ... just for a change there were errors on the chart, which drives me crazy, so a bit more frogging than normal while trying to fix it hmmm - but all-in-all, I think it's quite cute, and I enjoyed stitching it. Mum's decided she loves it so much she wants to stitch one for herself as well ... way to go, Mum, you're almost more addicted to stitching than I am now! :D

I also managed to finish one more ornament last night that I started while in HK ... this is the first in the Beyond Cross Stitch series of Hardanger designs by The Victoria Sampler, "White Christmas" - the photo doesn't do justice to all the sparkles of the metallic thread.

Now on to the backlog of SBQ's ...

20 July - Today's SBQ was suggested by Cathy and is:

"When you get a project professionally framed do you get glass inserted into the frame? Why or why not?"

I've always had my framing done professionally, and with glass - but to be honest, I prefer the look of embroidery without the glass. I left the glass off my "Waiting for Ships" mermaid to do more justice to the metallics and beads, and I'll probably do the same with future pieces as well. Seeing as I don't smoke, and hate smoking in the home, it's not as much of an issue to leave the glass off. It's also then less of an issue when moving house so things don't get broken ... I learnt that by personal experience very recently when my Wessex Sampler was sitting in the aircraft hold with fragile stickers all over it, and well packaged up ... hmmm.

26 July - Today's SBQ was suggested by Von and is:

"Many of us have a few pairs of embroidery scissors and some even have a "collection". How many pairs of scissors do you have? Feel free to share a photo of your favourite pair or pairs with us!"

I don't really have many scissors anymore (two pairs have mysteriously disappeared!!) - one pair is really half-dead, and I just use them for my metallic threads now (and an odd embroidery thread when I'm desperate to find another pair). My absolute favourites were my Gingher's, which I'd ordered from the USA about 7-8 years ago, but very stupidly left them in my carry-on bag last year when I flew home, and they got confiscated :( (I didn't realise I'd packed 2 pairs - very conscientiously popped my crappy pair into the suitcase, and left my good ones that were in hiding at the back of the needlework case boohoo). I bought a new pair about 6 months ago, but when Mum started stitching in May I gave them to her to start up her stitching kit. When I come to think about it, I really really need to get some more, as I only have one good sharp pair anymore - which is the one I've taken a piccie of :( The only other pair I have are more for ornamental purposes - they're too small for me to use comfortably, but I love the little hanging sheath for them - too cute! I keep thinking about ordering another pair of Gingher's from Nordic Needle (plus I really want some of the coloured scissors too), but their postage scares me too much haha. One day I'll get around to it again ... anyone know a good source for them that has reasonable postage?? ;)

3 August - Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

"Do you have a favourite needlework tool that you like to work with? What is it and why do you like using it?"

Only one??? Hmmm, that's a hard call ... personally I'll be hard pushed to decide between my floorstand and my Ott-lite - both of which are almost essential for me. I have difficulty holding a hoop/Q-snap in hand, and can't stitch in hand, as I get cramps, so anything that holds my scrollbars or Q-snaps is the most essential item for me (come to think about it, you'd better include those scrollbars as my favourites too!!). Coming up next are my Do-lolly for feeding in those tiny threads on the back (great for boo-boos when you don't have much thread left on the back to play with!), and
my Tacky Bob which is wonderful for beading (thanks to Carol, who sent it as a birthday gift - I love it!).

9 August - Today's SBQ was suggested by Ami and is:

"For those of you who use hand or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?"

I use Floss-away bags for my over-dyeds, with each type of thread (eg GAST, WDW, NN etc) on their own small metallic ring - then all the small rings are put onto a large ring so all my over-dyeds are grouped together ... I do that with all my types of threads, including metallics, rayons etc - then all the rings are stored together in plastic tubs.