Quick Update!

Just a quickie, I have made some progress on Night Queen, not as much as I'd like, but I hope for a page finish soon.

But I had to share, as you can finally see a peek of an eye! Here she is on my huge hoop.

Other Crafts :)

As I mentioned in the interview with Cathy, I do find it hard to work on such a big project at times and I do enjoy lots of other crafts, in addition to my drawing, I have started to experiment with knitting and crocheting toys and amigurumi.

These are a few of my recent knitted toys, as you can see I have become a little addicted to Alan Darts patterns

I've also had a few tries at designing my own amigurumi, the first one is The Worm, inspired by the Labyrinth film, I think he turned out pretty cute :) And the next one was a little knitted grim reaper, ready for halloween.

Featured In World Of Cross Stitching Magazine!!!

I was contacted a couple of months ago by Cathy Lewis, who had spotted my project on this blog, I answered a few questions and send a couple of pictures, then I must admit, I forgot about it lol.

I was so surprised to open up my sub issue 195 and see, there I am on pages 68 and 69 :) Woop!!

It is a really lovely write up and I am so grateful to Cathy for writing it. I have attached a picture below if you would like a peek, it also made my sons day to see his picture in one of my magazines.

Fame at last? lol

Could there be a better push to get me stitching again? I dont think so, lol, needles are being threaded as we speak :)  I am hoping to start working on one of the eyes soon and am really interested to see how they stitch up, I will share some more pictures of her as soon as I can.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and reply to my blog, I hope I can share more pictures with you very soon!

The Biggest Hoop I've Ever Seen!

Stitching on Night Queen is slow, but she is coming along, my newest purchase is really helping, I have to ask.........is this the biggest hoop you have ever seen! lol

It is a quilting hoop, 21 inches across and very sturdy, its made a big difference, I can keep her on the hoop all the time and I cover with a clean sheet to stop it getting mucky, but I can just pop in a stitch whenever I like.

Before it would take me a good half an hour to get it out, on the hoop, organise the threads etc, this is much easier :)  Plus the area inside the hoop will fit an entire page worth of stitching, so I dont have to keep moving it around all the time.

I purchased it from the always brilliant www.sewandso.co.uk

Thread Counting

This is just a quick post, for me mostly, I loose track of the threads I have used and purchased and want to keep a running total if I can.

Including the recent purchases, I've just done a count and a quick organisation of the thread box and bag before getting started on my next page and am up to 246 skeins of DMC=eek!

Stitching, Drawing and More stitching :)

I have had a lovely relaxing Jubilee Weekend, I hope you have too.  The weather wasnt great, but it was the perfect excuse to stay home and craft, whilst watching everyone getting wet on the telly.

I have finished lots of small pieces over the weekend, these cushions were made using charts from the latest issue of Crazy, I requested tropical fish for the Crazy For section and was really thrilled when they did them, they are really lovely charts.

I also found this Margaret Sherry cutie in my drawer, so popped it through the sewing machine:

And, lastly I finally finished my dog portrait drawing, it took so many hours, but i'm pleased with him, I know that there are areas that are a bit 'fudged' and he looks alot rougher than I would like, but for this point in my course, i'm thrilled, I hope you like him x

This afternoon I am knitting a little orange blob, otherwise known as Zingy from the EDF energy adverts, my daughter is obsessed with him, so I promised to see what I could do.

Tonight, Night Queen is going back on the hoop!

Taking A Break For Jubilee Stitching

Thank you for all of the lovely comments and emails on Night Queen, I am glad you are enjoying watching her progress, i'm managed a couple of hundred stitches and brought 10 more skeins of thread, but have popped her away for the day to have some fun with my drawing and some Jubilee stitching.

Here is a picture of my current drawing WIP, I think its a chocolate Lab, which is a required piece for my portrait course, its taking such a long time to get the detail into the fur, I think upwards of 20hours so far, but i'm really pleased with how he is coming along, he isnt perfect, and there are areas which are really bothering me, but thats why i'm taking this course, to help, so for now, i'm very happy :)

This morning, we had a mad time running around town looking for Jubilee bunting as requested by my four year old son, he was so disappointed when we couldnt find any flags, that I stitched him one, I think you can tell how pleased he was with it, try to ignore the fact that it is upside down :)

Tonight, i'm planning a little more Jubilee themed stitching, with a blackwork design from the latest Card Shop magazine, its a lovely design and stitching up pretty quickly, I might see if I can get two done and made up into pillows, but I think I may have left it a little late.