Old biddies, trolleys and Mr X Stitch

At the weekend, I went to the Stitch and Craft Show at Olympia, and was amazed at how busy it was. There were women everywhere! I say women, there were some men there too but they were greatly outnumbered (my Hubby was one of them, bless him but we did go to the Dr Who exhibition afterwards to make up for it).

I was prepared for it to be busy and I was also prepared to queue for the 'good' stalls, but I was not prepared for the sheer desperation some of those women to be at the front of the queue. OMG, let me tell you there was some serious elbowing, shoving and pushing going on, and who were the worst culprits? The little old ladies. I tell you, never underestimate an old biddy. There were loads of women (young and old) with granny trolleys which really did not help the situation. One woman even had a wheelie suitcase big enough for a family of 4 to use for a month's holiday! What she was doing with it, I don't know but I lost count of the number of  times I got run over by said suitcase, I just could not get away from this woman...

The stalls were quite varied but I was disappointed in the lack of 'show discounts' which you usually get at these events. I was expecting mega cheap prices for supplies etc but was kinda disappointed. This meant that all I bought was a 6mm crochet hook, and a pair of fabulous bag handles. Yeah, I know 'last of the big spenders'!! The fabric stalls were fab but pricey and my local shop stocks the same at about £3 cheaper, and it's all about the price these days.

You can't really tell from the picture but they are clear plastic with silver glitter, and they are right up my street! I've no idea what I'm going to do with them but they were a bargainous price so just had to have them esp as they were the last pair!

I also met Mr X Stitch (he's The Man when it comes to cross stitch) and saw his gallery of cross stitch projects contributed to by his fellow stitchers. These were fabulous and a bit off the wall which is what's so fab about them. My fave was the one with a big seagull that said 'I like boobies'. Totally random! Check out the Mr X Stitch Facebook page for some great pics of these mini masterpieces.

Hubby commented on how manly Mr X Stitch's work is to which I replied 'a lot of men cross stitch and embroider you know' the response was a raised eyebrow and a 'hmphf'. Seeing the gallery of projects reminded me how little cross stitching I have done recently (none since finishing that nativity scene) and so I resolved to look out some charts and do something a bit more subversive with my next project. 

All in all, the Stitch and Craft Show was def worth going to but next year I will definitely remember to sharpen my elbows before I go. And I might take a granny trolley to use as a battering ram, as that seems to be the norm...

Finished WIP: Nativity Scene

I have been getting all my Works in Progress finished recently, and this is the latest one! Totally late for last Christmas but it is now ready in plenty of time for Christmas 2011!!

I'm quite pleased with how it eventually turned out but didn't particularly enjoy stitching it as it was so fiddly. I've never worked on plastic canvas before and found it a bit of a pain to be honest. Glad it's finished and it's now waiting to go up to the loft to live with all the other Christmas decorations!!

Hurrah!!

I FINALLY found a frame for my cross stitched 'Home Sweet Home'!!!

This has been a bit of a task - finding a NICE square frame that was the right size, colour and style. But, now I have found one, phew! It is all framed and ready to hang on the wall as soon as Hubby looks out the hammer and nails (I am not 'allowed' to hang pictured by myself, can't think why...)

So here it is, and I must say I'm rather pleased with it!!

 

I even put one of my labels on the back. And I know it sounds silly to put 'Handmade by Kerry' on the back of something that I made for myself but here are two very good reasons why I should:
1) They are pretty labels (at least I think so)
2) IF it lasts the test of time, my grandchildren will see it was stitched by Granny : )

The photos are a bit shoddy due to it being dark, but you get the picture (pardon the pun!). Once it is hung and in situ, I shall post another piccie. Can't tell you how glad I am to have this out of my Work In Progress box!!

My name in print...

... well almost!


Imagine my shock/amazement/surprise when reading my latest copy of Cross Stitcher magazine when I found this:

It's a small thing but it definately brought some excitement to my bedtime reading! I love the Cross Stitcher mag and def recommend it to anyone who is remotely interested in cross stitching, and they have just had a complete revamp so it's even more cool and modern that it was before! Check out their website to see what's on offer.

Cross Stitching

This has been a work in progress for nearly a year and I finally knuckled down and finished it off last week. It was not a difficult to do as I originally thought, and I was put off by the intricate corner detailing and the french knots but it was a lot more straightforward than it looks on the pattern! And I found some tiny pink beads to use instead of doing what was going to be 68 french knots. And the best bit is I'm keeping this for myself : )

The photos haven't turned out very well but it is on a white aida canvas with baby pink Anchor thread. I did have a frame ready wand waiting for this but alas it does not fit... The overall picture is a smidge longer than it is tall so it's not quite square but it's not really rectangle either so me thinks it will be a while til I track down a suitable frame for it! Ah well, I've waited this long.

I ordered a ton of DMC thread to start the cross stitch nativity which I never had time to do for Christmas last year, so when that comes in I'll be stitching again to add to my Christmas decorations.

In the meantime I thought I'd make a little coaster to keep me busy. I wanted to stitch 'make tea not war' but it was too big so it just ended up saying 'tea' which was just as nice. I decided to keep this even though it was supposed to be a pressie, but I like it too much and I never make things for myself (well except for the home sweet home one).

Got some more cross stitching ideas in the pipeline but have promised myself to get the Christmas stuff done first before getting distracted with anything else! And I also promised to make something for my hubby as he's been a bit left out on the cross stitched pressie front!

Anniversary cross stitch

Not blogged for a while but I've been on holiday so no time for sewing etc!

Before we went on holiday it was my in-laws' 30th wedding anniversary which brought me the chance make a few special things. These will most probably be a one off but they were worth it in the end! the easiest of the three projects was this:

A cross stitch to commemorate the anniversary. It is mainly stitched in gold thread and features two champagne flutes with 'congratulations' down the side. I also used tiny pink beads on the detailing.


I also decorated a photo album but have just realised I never took any photos of that! The piece de resistance was the remake of their wedding cake which I made for their party. We took loads of photos but the SD card mysteriously got damaged so we lost them all, but we have sent it to a data recovery company to try to retrieve them so watch this space.