Another cupcake for the collection

I have another white one to go, as well as a red one and two brown ones, then the collection will be complete and I can completely fill my stand. If I ever get around to turning them into cupcakes that is, instead of a collection of finishes in a box!

• Name of the design is "Laurie".  
• Chart is a freebie designed by Jeanne Dansby and it can be found on her blog.
• Fabric is a white 28 count evenweave.
• Thread is DMC cotton, #414.
• Stitch count is 27 x 27. 
• Completed and started on February 15th. It will be another cupcake for my stand.

A cross stitched quilt label finish

This is for Sarah I at Quilts 4 Kids, where quilts made up of cross stitched squares are created for kids with life threatening or long term health problems. Here's my label:

Sarah's favourite colours are pink, purple and pale green so I chose those to stitch the label in. The quilt theme is butterflies, and the due date for squares is March 2011. Here's the details:

• Name of the design - doesn't have a name.  I created the purple wording myself, the fancy "Sarah" came from a butterfly alphabet in an old issue of Cross Stitch Crazy magazine, as did the butterfly itself. Of course I don't have details of which issue of the magazine it was. :-(
• Chart is designed by myself and someone from XS Crazy!
• Fabric is white 14 count aida.
• Thread is DMC cotton. I used variegated purple (DMC 52) for the wording and a variegated green (perhaps sulky, or a "no-name" thread)  for "Sarah". The butterfly is assorted DMC cotton.
• Stitch count is 61 x 100. 
• Completed on February 13th, started on  February 5th.

A Pre-Christmas Finish

This is something I whipped up in December for a fellow stitcher in the USA. I couldn't post pics until I knew she had received it, so here it is now:

• Name of the design is "Sleepy Koala".  
• Chart is designed by Carrol Neilson.
• Fabric is a white 28 count evenweave.
• Thread is DMC cotton.
• Stitch count is 41 x 60. 
• Completed in December 2010. 

My 8th cross stitch finish of 2011!

Here's what I got up to while my kids and their friends played laser tag one day over the school holidays. I was in between projects and wanted something I could kit up quickly and would be good to stitch on the go. Here it is:

• Name of the design is "Blackwork de Noel Sapin numero 4".  
• Chart is a freebie from this blog.
• Fabric is a white 28 count monaco evenweave.
• Thread is a variegated red sewing thread, maybe sulky brand or a no-name brand from my local sewing shop or Spotlight. Obviously I don't keep good track of my purchases. I do recall having all three of the above mentioned threads though. :-(
• Stitch count was 65 x 63 before I added the trunk of the tree. The design was originally just the triangle shape. 
• Completed on February 4th. Started on February 3rd. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter!

You know, because there are Easter eggs and hot cross buns in the shops, and Easter stitching in my q-snaps! Someone forgot to check the calendar, it's barely February and Easter isn't until late April. Oh well, at this rate, I might even have my cross stitch framed and ready to display on time!
Here's the final design, don't mind my appalling scanning skills. I padded it out a bit on the top and bottom to fill the frame:

• Name of the design is "Happy Easter".  
• Chart is a members freebie from San Man Originals.
• Fabric is a hand dyed fabric called "Pot Pourri" from Polstitches Designs in the UK. It's 28 count Jobelan evenweave .
• Thread is DMC cotton.
• Stitch count was 58 x 68 before I added the extra bits top and bottom. 
• Completed on February 2nd. Started on January 12th, with a 6 day break to stitch a quilt square. 

Here's the 3 designs all together. Forgive the really wonky scanning:

Another finish for me!

I was asked if I could whip up a quilt square recently so I have put aside my Easter stitching to do so. This will become part of a quilt to be donated to the CFA (Country Fire Authority) to raise much needed funds. The idea came about after the devastating bush fires to hit Victoria in the summer of 2009. A fellow Aussie has been organising the project, from memory there are 4 quilts being made, two for Wildlife Victoria (one featuring Aussie birds, and the other Aussie animals) and two for the CFA (one featuring Ellen Maurer Stroh animal babies - too cute!, and the other featuring native florals). I seem to recall stitching an animal baby for the CFA quilt, and this time I stitched a floral design for the other CFA one.
Here's the one I just completed:

Here's the details:

Name of the design is Australian Orchids.

 Chart is designed by Margaret Morgan and appeared in "Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch Australia" publication #6.

 Fabric is a a cream off cut in 32 count evenweave.

 Thread is DMC cotton.

 Stitch count is originally 70 x 130, although I cut off the bottom dozen or so stitches so the design would fit the quilt requirements.

 Completed on January 25th 2011.  Started on January 20th.  This will be for the CFA fundraising quilt.

My Queensland flood auctions have ended

Don't forget that there are many others ending tonight, and even beyond so don't forget to check the master list.

After worrying that my items would get no bids, I'm pleased to say all 4 got a bid, and I (or should I say my bidders!) have raised $49 towards the flood appeal. Thanks so much for bidding and I hope all the auctions get bids, there's some very professional looking items up for grabs.

My Queensland Flood Auctions

As part of the "Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions", I'm auctioning off 4 cross stitched items made by myself. If you are interested in bidding for any home made/hand crafted items, click on the link to see a master list of all the auctions raising funds for this great cause.

My auctions will start at 9am (AEDT) Monday 17th of January 2010 and stay open until 9am on Monday 24th of January. I will post pics of the items here, with a link to an individual page for each item with more details and the option of bidding. Any questions? Email me!

Light blue t-shirt for baby

Royal blue t-shirt for baby

Pink/mauve monochrome heart

Teal monochrome design

Queensland Flooding

As you will probably know, huge parts of Queensland are flooding, including the downtown CBD of Brisbane. It's hard to comprehend the area affected, apparently it's the size of France and Germany combined. You will see just how bad the flooding is in the picture at the top of my blog. Some homes just have their roofs above ground, can you imagine?

The pink Queensland auction image above will take you to a blog where there will shortly be a list of auctions you can participate in, mainly for handcrafted items I believe. I have signed up to host an auction or two (haven't quite decided what yet). I believe the auctions will start no later than Monday the 17th of January and are open for a week. Don't quote me, but I think you will just nominate a dollar amount in the comments box of the blog post, along with an email address to be contacted on. If you are the winner at the end, the blog owner will contact you and organise payment. Check out Toni's blog for more info.

The flood water image will take you to the Queensland government website with all the info you need to donate money, if you feel you'd like to. There's also info on there for the international people who might want to help out.

5th finish for 2011

Yes, it appears I'm on a roll, LOL. Here's the latest Easter piece:

Here's both designs together:

• Name of the design is Easter Scramble
• Chart is an old members freebie from San Man Originals that I adapted slightly to fit.
• Fabric is a hand dyed 28 count Jobelan evenweave called "Pot Pourri" from Polstitches Designs in the UK.
• Thread is DMC cotton.
• Stitch count is 39 x 36.
• Completed on January 12th 2011.  Started on January 9th.  This will be a framed design for Easter.

An Easter finish - in January!

The first of my trio of Easter designs, started and finished in one day. I may have to add a few more small hearts along the top to fill the opening as I'm a little off centre, but I'll leave that until later. Here it is:

And here's how it fits into the rest of the design. Don't mind the ugly black griding lines, I just needed an idea of where each design has to go:

• Name of the design is Easter joy
• Chart is an old members freebie from San Man Originals that I adapted slightly to fit.
• Fabric is a hand dyed 28 count Jobelan evenweave called "Pot Pourri" from Polstitches Designs in the UK.
• Thread is DMC cotton.
• Stitch count is 38 x 37.
• Completed on January 8th 2011.  Started on January 8th too.  This will be a framed design for Easter.

A new non-cupcake project

So I've decided I like the house decorated for Christmas & thought I may have to decorate for Easter too. Yesterday, while going through my file of freebie cross stitch patterns, I came across these cute San Man Originals designs. I do love this style of pattern, although I've never done one. Not sure what that means, but anyway.... I printed them out & put them aside for later.

Fast forward a few hours and I was shopping. I came across 2 hot pink photo frames and had to buy them for "something". Wasn't quite sure what, but hey, they were cheap! And hot pink! Got home and started thinking about the Easter designs and how I was going to finish them. Thought about the frames and decided to see if they'd fit. What do you know? The one with 3 apertures will fit the designs, with a little bit of tweaking!

Then I recalled a pretty fabric I had, that I just hadn't found the right project for. I pulled it out and it will work nicely. It's a hand dyed fabric called "Pot Pourri" from Polstitches Designs in the UK. It's 28 count Jobelan evenweave and is *just* the right size.

Just because I'm a geek, I put together a mock-up of how the finished project may look, minus the fabric background. I hope it fits just right and doesn't become a logistical nightmare. Time will tell I guess!

I'm on a roll!

Yet another finish!

• Name of the design is Tiny Little Quaker.
• Chart is an old freebie from Papillon Creations that I changed a little. 
• Fabric is 32 count "Ruby Wine" lugana evenweave from123 stitch.
• Thread is a variegated DMC cotton, #107, but I cut the pinkish bits out.
• Stitch count is 41 x 41.
• Completed on January 6th 2011.  Started on January 5th.  This will be another cupcake.

I will probably have to put the cupcakes on hold until I can sort out my silicone holders. I will have to find them, sort out fabric and see which colours I'll make 3 of. The stand holds 23, and I mostly had 2 of each colour holder. So they will go on the back burner for a while, but I've found a cute project to work on in the mean time, details to come!

Yet another finish!

Two finishes for 2011 and it's only January 5th! I'm impressed :-). Yes, this is yet ANOTHER cupcake design. I seem to have been stuck on about 7 more to do for ages. Every time I do one, I seem to have 7 left. My counting skills obviously leave a lot to be desired. Anyway, here it is, with a few little additions from me:

• Name of the design is unknown, it saved as aunts_attic_0002
• Chart is a freebie from this website. 
• Fabric is 32 count "Ruby Wine" lugana evenweave from 123 stitch.
• Thread is a variegated DMC cotton, #107, but I cut the pinkish bits out.
• Stitch count is 33 x 33.
• Completed on January 5th 2011.  Started on January 4th.  This will be another cupcake.

First Finish For 2011!

And here it is:

• Name of the design is "Love".  
• Chart is a freebie from Debbie Draper Designs.
• Fabric is 28 count purple jazlyn from 123 stitch.
• Thread is "Sue Purple" silk by Hand Dyed Fibers.
• Stitch count is 36 x 36. I did adapt the pattern slightly by omitting the corners.
• Completed on January 3rd. Started on December 31st. This will be another cupcake for my stand.