No self control

I just can't help myself. There is no excusing this type of behaviour. I simply have no self control.

Ever since last month's Cross Stitcher magazine, I have been on pins waiting for the new issue to come out. For one thing only. A cushion with a deer on it. A deer that is wearing a red bow. I have no defence against a design like this. So this happened...

(some threads and cushion pad not shown, because, in my excitement, I forgot them)

I cannot wait to stitch this. For some reason I was expecting it to be a large design, but the cushion pad is pretty small so hopefully it shouldn't take too long to stitch. I can't decide whether it needs a red pom-pom trim or not...

Whilst flicking through the magazine and advert caught my eye. It was for an online shop called Laa Laa Land. All I can say is, the lady who owns this shop certainly saw me coming *lol* Such pretty designs! I could stitch everything, no problem. I was going to buy a kit, but decided to buy just a chart and buy the materials separately. I actually ended up getting two charts, but this is the one I'm going to stitch first...

(naturally I had to buy a new tin to keep my wools in...)

The charts are sent to you by email as a pdf file that you can then print off or you can work directly from your computer/tablet. I'm so happy that I have a printer now (I've even bought some fancy paper especially for printing off charts)! It's not practical for me to work from my laptop so in the past I've had to give 'download only' charts a miss - now there are so many more things that I can stitch *yay*!

I also cannot wait to stitch this! I'm going to make this in to a cushion. I still need to decide on a backing fabric and to get some pom-pom trim and a cushion pad. 

I'll have to flip a coin to decide which one to start first!

♥

Two finishes (that aren't quite finished...)

So, I finally seem to be getting my stitchy-bug back little by little.

First up, I have finished the Jackalope from 'Storyland Cross Stitch' by What Delilah Did...

(please excuse my bed cover showing through!)

He was really fun to stitch - a nice easy shape and no colour changes. It was a little hard going at times using three strands of thread (sore fingers!) but it was worth it as it looks so dense.

He's not quite finished though... I have to finish finishing him ^^; I'm going to mount the stitching in a wooden hoop using the method stated in the book. I'm also going to bind the hoop using a black velvet ribbon to match the plushness of the stitching.

Next up, I have finished my tapestry cushion front 'Berlin Roses' by Anchor. It has taken me so long to complete this! I thought it would be a super-fast stitch but sometimes it felt like I'd been working away for hours and made hardly any progress :( This has actually been away for a few months and I only brought it out of hiding because I was going to need the frame for something new :D I decided that I may as well try and get a bit more done...and it was like I was on fire! Unbelievable hyper-speed stitching! I had stitched two leaves in one day. All of the bottom leaves were stitched last week. And it was so much fun! I think after using such a thin needle on the Jackalope, the massive needle I used for this was so easy.

It's not quite finished though... I need to make it up in to a cushion! I had previously decided to use an old bed cover for the backing fabric - a nice blue and red checked cotton - it would be perfect! I've never made a cushion with a tapestry front before so I was doing a little reading in books and the internets for some tips - and they all recommended using a heavy weight fabric...my planned fabric is soft and thin! So I'm going to find a new fabric (I'm thinking of a red and white gingham)

I had planned to do lots of 'making-up' last weekend but as I didn't have the fabric that I needed I'm going to save it all up and have a mammoth making session one weekend :)

♥

Oh poor neglected blog...

*ahem*

Yes, so I haven't updated in so long..sorry about that.

No TUSAL posts or anything :(

A few things happened.

I kind of lost my stitchy bug. I don't know whether it's having so many different projects on the go at once, darker and colder nights...I don't know, I just haven't felt like stitching at all :(

I was very poorly. Very poorly. I lost a week and a lot of weight. I slept a lot. At one point I thought Tar Valon witches were coming to get me...hallucinating is not fun.

A Very Important Book came out after a Seven Year Wait. It was ok.

Harry (my cat) has had to have an operation on one of his paws...so I have been very worried about that. He has gone back to the vets this morning to have his stitches out, so hopefully this will be the last visit for a long time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I have done a little bit of stitching ^^

I took part in the Halloween Blog Hop organised by Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching. I enjoy taking part in the blog hops. It's fun to have something to stitch for and I get to find a lot of new blogs to read :D And welcome to my new followers ^^ Sorry I've been an absent blogger ^^;

In an effort to motivate myself I decided to start a new project *bah*

I was going to stitch the Jackalope head from Storyland Cross Stitch with the free materials...but I knew that at some point I would want to stitch the full-bodied Jackalope...so I decided to just do the whole thing ^^

Here he is so far...

I am stitching him on 32count ivory linen (as recommended) from Permin using three strands of thread (as recommended)... it's quite hard going! The stitching does look nice and dense though...I think the gaps are only showing up on the photo due to the flash ^^; Trust me, it looks nice and plush in real life.

On the photo you can also see a fox brooch I made from a kit that came from Mollie Makes. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Foxes are the best :3

I'm going to try and do a bit more on the Jackalope today before I go and collect Harry.

♥