It's lamb season!

And we have 3 more, a single birth, then twins. That takes the tally to 11, as we sold an adult. The twins were tiny. My kids, being the creative beings they are, named the twins "tiny" and "quiet".  

Not to be left out, there's also a pic of Stamper, the rescued hand reared lamb. He's now 3 months old and accepted the fact he lives in the field. He still doesn't hang with the rest of the sheep, and will come running for a pat like a pet dog. 

Same day....another finish!

My needle is smokin'. This is the cross stitch design I thought I had enough thread for, but ended up having to order another skein. This is going to be another ornament, maybe for myself, maybe for Nise's project. I started this on July 1oth and finished on the 16th.

• Name of the design is "Ink Spot #4"
• Chart is a freebie from
• Fabric is a 28 count white opalescent from www.sewitall.com
• Thread is cotton, in "Enchantment" from the Aussie company www.stitchesandspice.com.au
• Stitch count is 35 x 35
• Completed in July 2009
  
  

I really need to learn to iron :-(

Finishes that is. I am in such a hurry to post my latest cross stitch pics that I forget they look less than impressive all wrinkled with hoops marks. This one looks like it's slightly lacking, so I might find some buttons or charms or something to add to the middle somewhere. This is going to be an ornament for Nise's bushfire survivors project. I started this on the 12th of July and finished on the 16th. (P.S It really helps if you remember to post the PIC!!)

I also got the skein of "enchantment" in the mail today, so can finish the design from the post below.

• Name of the design is "Christmas Ornament 29"
• Design is from a pack of cards with charts, titled "Coloured Strings - Designs by Amy"
• Fabric is a 28 count white opalescent from www.sewitall.com
• Thread is cotton, in "Peacock Fantasy" - I think, I lost the tag - from the Aussie company www.stitchesandspice.com.au
• Stitch count is 42 x 42
• Completed in July 2009.

More "Works In Progress"

Back to the topic of cross stitch again! I am right into monochrome designs at the moment, using specialty threads (silks, variegated cottons etc). I decided to use up some left over cotton from www.stitchesandspice.com.au (in "enchanted" colour) and chose a 35 x 35 stitch count freebie. I figured I'd have enough to finish it, but did I mention estimation IS NOT my strong point? Needless to say, I ran out! I ordered some more so hopefully it will get here soon and I can finish it off. The greenish coloured one is also from stitches and spice, but I'm not sure of the colour as I lost the tag. I'd better have enough to finish it off or I'll be in trouble! LOL

Another day, another stitching finish!

I started cross stitching this on July 8th and finished July 9th. I left the middle stitching out, as I want to find a funky button to go there instead. I also have a matching hot pink tassle for it, I'm going to turn it on the angle and make it a diamond shaped ornament, with the tassle hanging at the bottom. It was intended to be donated to Nise's bushfire survivors project, but I think I like it too much, LOL. Update: Hot pink funky buttons are hard to come by. Instead I bought a plain round button, but it is hot pink, and glittery too!

• Name of the design - It saved as " Rosace-mini-aurore"
  
• Freebie from - Frimousse's blog - translated to English: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leschroniquesdefrimousse.com%2F&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
  
• Fabric is a 28 count white opalescent from www.sewitall.com
  
• Thread is silk, in "Hibiscus" from Vikki Clayton - www.hand-dyedfibers.com.
  
• Stitch count is 66 x 66
• Completed in July 2009.

More stitching

Although I should be working on calisthenics costumes instead of cross stitching :-(




It's been in progress for a while, mainly because I haven't been doing much on it. I made a bit of a mistake when stitching it, and changed the feet so they were mirror images of each other, but apart from that it's stitched as the design calls for. This design was the subject for my cross stitch contest earlier on this blog, which Alex won. Here's the design details:

• Name of the design - Technically it doesn't have a name but I've called it "Red Santa".
  
• Leaflet is titled "Simply Red Ornaments" designed by Diane Arthurs for Imaginating Inc.
  
• Fabric is a 28 count white opalescent from www.sewitall.com
  
• Thread is a variegated DMC stranded cotton, number 115.
  
• Stitch count is 58 x 65
• Completed in July 2009.

You are a lamb, NOT a human!

Our lamb has been drinking us out of house and home. I never really stopped to think how much milk he was going to consume when we first got him, but let me tell you it's a LOT!! Thankfully he is old enough to be weaned, and our research (gotta love google) tells us that cold turkey is the way to go. Poor thing, not only is he an orphan, but he gets the milk ripped out from under him too. So far he has been coping OK though. We've made him a lovely grass cordial which we've been feeding him instead of the milk. Although he has access to water, we haven't seen him drink yet so want to make sure he keeps his fluids up. He seems to look forward to his feeds, regardless of what's in the bottle. He has taken to nibbling at various grass and weeds so we know he's not going to starve.

He will come and stand at the downstairs door and baa when it's time for a feed. If he see's me down there he pushes up against the glass door as if he can just force his way in. Once inside he'll have his bottle, then try his best to hide so he doesn't have to go out again. Just this morning he climbed the stairs and tried his best to be invisible. I coaxed him back down but it was an effort. Then he tried to play chasy around the room, until I grabbed him and basically forced him out. He reminds me of a cheeky toddler who doesn't want his nappy changed.

Yesterday when the other 8 sheep were up near the house, I took the lamb out for a walk in the paddocks. I took some old bread to feed to the sheep too.  We went right up to the grandpa of the flock and the lamb had a bit of a sniff at him. I walked down to the dam with all the sheep, but once the bread ran out, they stopped following. Of course, the obedient little lamb followed me though. I'd go left, he'd go left. I'd stop, he'd stop. The plan was to get him to feed on what little grass we have, and to join the flock and go live in the paddocks with them. He had other ideas! 

I left him in the paddock while I checked the letterbox, and heard him baaing to me. Once I  got back though, he'd gone and I dared to hope he'd gone off to find the other sheep. No such luck! I got back to the house and who was patiently waiting in the backyard for me? I'll give you one guess. Not sure how he found his way in, but he did! He's now got access to the front and back yards, and will not listen when I tell him he is a sheep and must go and live with his kind. I'm happy for him to live where he pleases, but he hasn't got enough food where he is, and no company. The cat is still scared of him and keeps his distance. 

Here's another few pics of the lamb, he's 3 weeks old here. He's actually getting to be a handful, he's a big boy now and isn't exactly gentle. I had a massive bruise on my thigh because he stood on me in his frenzy to be fed. He races up whenever it's feed time and nearly bowls me over. He also thinks he's an indoor pet, as I feed him downstairs. He is very reluctant to leave afterwards, I have to force him out the door. He remembers the old lounge chair he used to sleep on when he was a newborn and jumps up there and tries to settle in for a sleep. He's a pretty clean animal, if we could house train him, he could live downstairs! He's also adept at climbing up and down stairs too!

How I started stitching

I'm always interested in how others started their stitching journeys, so thought I'd share mine. I had always been somewhat creative and interested in crafts, but hadn't found my "thing". Anyway, I wound up hospitalised (for a total of 5 weeks!) when I was pregnant with DS #1 and the hospital had a trolley with various bits and pieces on it go around the wards. I bought a clown mobile kit to make from it and after I finished that my MIL brought me a teddy bear long stitch kit to do, which I completed in record time. Once DS was born and I was back in the real world, I bought a cheap and nasty stamped cross stitch kit. I can't even recall what the design was, just that you could not tell what colour went where as the lines were all over the place. In the end I tossed it.

From there I tried my hand at stitching a greeting card for my sister. I seem to recall the pattern came from a book, maybe from the library? It was an urn with flowers in it, and a small bird. Even back then I changed patterns to suit myself, as I decided to balance things up and add another bird on the other side, LOL. The rest, as they say, is history! Here's a pic of it, bottom row, middle card:

I can't really remember what the rest of the pictured designs are but I'll give it a shot. The top left one was another card for a baby in my mother's group. The design may have come from one of the UK magazines, Cross Stitch Crazy or Quick & Easy Cross Stitch maybe. The top middle design was for my step-grandmother and came from a book. The cat card (top right) was also for her, from a UK magazine again. The golfer one (bottom left) was for my dad, as was the bottom right seahorse design, both from a UK magazine.

We have a winner......

I'm surprised the "guess my cross stitch WIP" contest was won so quickly. Well done to Alex, who guessed my project was the Santa from the "Simply Red Ornaments" leaflet by Imaginating.  I'll email you shortly Alex.

I actually have 3 cross stitch projects on the go right now, very unlike me. I've started another EMS animal baby design for the bushfire fundraising quilt, I'm working on the Santa, and I've still got the welcome banner going, to go to the bushfire survivors.

My WIP Contest

OK, so I've decided to have a cross stitch contest. I'll post a pic of my current stitching project, and you need to guess the name of the cross stitch design/kit/leaflet/whatever. If you want to guess, please post your guess in the comment box, with your email address so I can contact you. Periodically, I'll either post an updated progress pic, or a clue about the design. The first to post the correct answer in the comment box will be declared the winner. The prize? $5 worth of stuff from my sale album. I'm hoping to add more stuff to the album soon. Sounds easy enough, right? Open to anyone, anywhere. Here's the first progress pic:

CLUE #1:

CLUE #2:

This design is from a leaflet, and it's available to buy from

www.123stitch.com.

On the sheep front, here's a pic of baa lamby at 2 weeks old. He has taken to nibbling at me and trying to climb up my legs.

The lamb.....a week old

Well "Stamper" (I call him baa lamby) is now over a week old and growing strong. He still comes racing up at feed times, wagging his tail. Someone should really tell him he's too big for my lap now though. We have 2 of our other sheep in the backyard with him, but they keep much to themselves. I did see the little one go up and sniff one of them, then try to feed from her!

As I mentioned, I've not been cross stitching much lately. I've been disciplined and sewing sequins for calisthenics. I'm onto number 5 of 9 leotards. They actually work up quickly, the fiddliest bit is lining up the hooks and eyes and sewing them on the back. These are going to be aesthetics dresses, with matching green nylon ankle length skirts. We are going to be turning to the back of the stage, unclipping the flower, and clipping it onto a matching wristband, then turning back around to the front. 

Just call me Mary...

Mary had a little lamb that is. On Tuesday 12/5/09 my DH spotted a newborn lamb on the side of the road. It wasn't fenced in and there were no houses or other sheep around. It was at most a few days old, but potentially born that day. We just had to rescue him! He's just like a baby, being bottle fed every few hours, and has even fallen asleep in my arms a few times. He's even started to frolic, if we run around like idiots, he jumps around too. He's like a little shadow, baaing everytime we leave him. We've introduced a couple of our other sheep to him, but he's still more interested in us, and they couldn't really care less about him. At the moment we have him sleeping downstairs, which was the cat's bedroom. Jazz is not impressed he has been relegated to the bathroom. He's a big scaredy cat, not sure what to make of another small white creature stealing the love of his humans. I think the lamb will go into the garage tonight so Jazz can have his room back and life can go somewhat back to normal!

On top of feeding and cleaning up after a newborn lamb, my DS woke up on 13/5/09 sick. Of course it just happened to be his 12th birthday too, poor kid! We had to postpone plans for dinner at Taco Bill's and a white chocolate and honeycomb mud cake, but he was up to opening his gifts. No surprises there, LOL! He got a lot better, but last night he went downhill again. Might have to take another trip to the doctor if he doesn't improve. The original diagnosis was gastro, but that should have cleared up after 4 days. He was well enough to sit an entrance exam on Saturday for our preferred secondary school for next year, so that was a bonus.


I have been somewhat busy, as you can tell, so there's been no cross stitching for me lately. I have been sequining costumes for calisthenics though, I'm onto number 4 of 9. The cross stitched piece I've been working on hasn't been doing much for me, so being disciplined and prioritising my time hasn't been hard. I also would like to start another EMS baby animal for the stitched quilt that Terry Louise is organising, but I still have a month to do that. Actually a month doesn't sound that long when you think about it :-)

Cross stitched items for sale!

Pics are thumbnails, click on them to enlarge in a new window.

Prices are in Australian dollars and do not include postage and packaging, which will be actual costs. From aussie buyers, I accept money orders, bank cheques, direct deposit, paypal (no credit cards) or a gift voucher to my choice of online store. From international buyers, I accept paypal (no credit cards) or a gift voucher to my choice of online store. If you have any questions, want better pics, or want to purchase something, please email me at jakt70 at gmail dot com (you know what to do!)

• Bambi framed piece - $10
• Celtic knot framed piece - $10
• Piglet framed piece - $10
• Monochrome green framed piece - $10
• Snow White framed piece - $10
• Monochrome heart framed piece - $10
• Pooh framed piece - $10

• Red & green Christmas stocking ornament - $4
• Variegated blue footprint ornament - $4
• Blue floral ornament - $4
• Variegated pink footprint ornament - $4
• Variegated blue handprint ornament - $4
• Variegated green ornament - $4
• Green/cream & gold ornament - $4
• Variegated red/orange/yellow ornament - $4
• Pink & silver sequined ornament - $4
• Red & gold diamond ornament - $4
• Red & green "blackwork" ornament - $4
• Red & gold floral ornament - $4

• Yellow framed fish - $6
• Pink hand towel with burgandy "blackwork" design - $15
• Blackwork bookmark - $5
• Cherry pie pot holder - $6 SOLD
• White floral hand towel - $15
• White and pink "blackwork" cushion - $15
• Ladybug bookmark - $4 (has a couple of very faint marks on it)
• Variegated purple bookmark - $5
• Blue framed helicopter - $6

• Variegated blue "Feed me!" bib - $10
• Aqua t-shirt size 0, featuring a dog holding 2 balloons - $10
• Green gingham cat bib - $10
• Royal blue t-shirt size 1, featuring a pale blue elephant - $10
• Apple green t-shirt size 1, featuring a "cheeky monkey" design - $10

• "Big boy boxers" framed piece - $10
• Breast cancer ribbon framed piece - $10
• "Nobody is perfect" framed piece - $10
• "Big girl panties" framed piece - $10
• "Viola" framed piece - $10

• "Eeyore" blank papercraft greeting card - $3
• Tulip blank greeting card - $3
• Cottage blank greeting card - $3
• Turtle blank greeting card - $3
• Floral blank greeting card - $3
• Clematis blank greeting card - $3
• Cow blank greeting card - $3

My WIP

Until recently I have been the type of stitcher who starts a project, works on said project, and finishes the project. I can't imagine working in rotation, or having a WIP list as long as my arm. (But never say never!) I've got 2 designs on the go at the moment because I started a small project for carting around with me. It's much easier to work on something simple and small in the car, or at karate, or wherever I might be.


Yellow Awareness Ribbon - I started this one last night, using a scrap of white evenweave and some discontinued variegated yellow thread. This is to be donated to the bushfire survivors closer to Christmas time, as a yellow ribbon has come to symbolise the tragic bushfires earlier this year.

Bunny Baby from Ellen Maurer-Stroh. It's a quilt square and the completed quilt is to be donated to a wildlife rescue organisation to raffle or sell for much needed funds. I started this a few weeks ago I think. It's truly not an evil bunny, it just looks that way without eyes, LOL.