31st May 03

I've been sewing some more on "Snatch". He's nearly finished now except that I've run out of DMC 3064 thread. I've just got a few stitches of this colour plus the backstitching to do now.

The material in the kit is 16 count aida, so the stitcher's rule is that 16 count is stitch with two threads, while 18 count is stitch with one thread. Apparently DMC were trying to cut corners with this one as it's only supposed to be stitched with one thread. I didn't realise until I started running out of thread. 712 (cream) and 841 (pale taupe) to be precise. 712 I had, but I had to go out yesterday and buy a skein of 841. Didn't realise then that 3064 would run out too.

My Australia friend, Ted Scribner has been looking through my stitching pages, apparently in Australia, "Snatch" is a slang word for a woman's vagina. I wonder if DMC know ;-)

Also this week I did a bit more on Paradise Island. Not very much that is true, but the flowers are turning out quite a bit more striking than they look in pattern. The colours look a bit dimmer in this shot as the flash was turned off on the camera.

The "flower" in the middle of the trees is my magnetic needle pal for holding the sewing needle.

26th May 03

I completed "Cantankerous" last night, he arrived in the mail on Friday 16th May, so all told I finished him in 9 days' worth of stitching. Not bad going, he seemed to sew up pretty fast, but I did not take a note of the hours involved.

Here he is in various WIP stages:

This was after about 5 hours worth of stitching. I got the shading for his mouth area wrong and had to frog! I also got sick the day after he arrived and had to put him down as at one point I was so fogged up with my cold that I couldn't tell the difference between 4 and 5 stitches, probably sometime around here was where the error occurred.	Cantankerous was about 2/3rd done by this stage, just a few more dark grey stitches, the orange background and of course, the backstitching to go!! I am finding the volumes of material the the RR difficult to work with so I've found a way of folding the material so it sits on a lap frame. The tention isn't what it should be so I'm also using a stitching hoop too!	Cantankerous cat finished. I didn't really enjoy sewing this cat until I started doing the backstitching, as always with these designs, the backstitching brings them to life. After I'd done his eyes and other facial features I put him down and took a step back: for there was my own cat Dyson, staring back at me saying "give me some chicken you b%%rd"! lol

I managed to get a frame to fit Purrpendicular, by cannabalising another cheapo Wilkingson picture - why oh why don't they just sell square frames as is?

Also, as mentioned previously I've started taking a small cover kit to work with me to work on during our break: here's the progress on Snatch.

I guess you could call this my "purse project", my friend was glad that I had my stitching in my bag when we went out on Friday. We went down into a pub's basement disco and there was a UV light tube down there, of course everything that was white shone up like the sun!!! Even my friends previously unseen label on her top, I don't know why but the UV light was even making the white label shine through the material of her top - so out came my trusty stitching scissors and - no more revealing label!!

17th May 03

After finished Purr-pendicular I was at something as a loss of what to stitch next. The next Cattitude was over a week late, so what could I do to fill up my stitching time?

Paradise Island has been calling to me recently with all the nice weather we've been having. I started off the Island last October, but what with Round Robins and Christmas Cards it got put away and was rapidly turning into a UFO. So this week, I got it out again and re-commenced stitching on it.

I'd forgotten how lovely the material is to stitch on - I'm not sure what it is, its a very silky 32 count linen that I spied as an offcut in Francis Isles in Rochester and I knew it would be perfect for the island, as bright blue linens are hard to come by. The design also has lovely bright vibrant colours. After a week's progress, I've managed to complete the palm fronds up in the top right hand corner of the design and stitch some sky, a bit of the flower, some sea and trees. Here is the design as it was the last time I touched it (November 02) so you can compare my progress:

Anyway, down with the island again as my next Cattitude arrived in yesterday's post. I think I will probably take the Island with me on holiday and find some inspiration in stitching it on the Beach or the pool.

I've also started taking a small cover around with me, a Snatch design. I can sew this at odd moments while waiting for things to happen. I mainly seem to be stitching this in my tea breaks at work!

10th May 03

I finished "Purr-pendicular" last night. I wasn't too sure that I liked this cat whilte I was stitching him. The design is a lot more complicated than the other Margaret Sherry Cattitudes designs in the Calendar. The chart was black and white to start with and this is always a little harder to follow, it also had a blended thread in the design, and fractional stitches, not just normal diagonal fractionals, but verticle and horizontal half stitches too. I've never come across either of these stitches before, and also staggered crosses, where you do a half stitch, i.e. half a horizontal, and then do a full cross stitch above this so that the full cross is staggered by half a stitch away from the rest of the work. The kit is available on 27 count Linda evenweave and 14 count Aida from Heritage Stitchcraft. I pity anyone who bought the kit on Aida, as those half vertical, horizontal and staggered stitches are going to be near impossible. I recommend anyone attempting this design to be at least an intermediate level stitcher.

As usual with the cattitudes though, when I'd finished the stitching and backstitching had commenced, the character of the cat came out and I am pleased with the finished design. The pants are the fun thing on it, though! I think timewise, Purr-pendicular didn't take quite as long as the last cattitude I stitched, maybe less than 20 hours tops, but then there is no background square design to stitch either.

5th May 03

I started stitching Purrpendicular the other day - one of the new Margaret Sherry kits from Heritage Stitchcraft. I haven't done much to him yet, just his white belly. The weather is nice at the moment and I look forward to stitching him in the sun on this Bank Holiday weekend. It seems to be going quite quickly, the shot on the right is at about 4 hours worth of stitching. The kit contained 27 count Linda evenweave. It feels a bit coarse, I guess I prefer Joblean which is really soft.

I also finished the Quick and Easy Cover Kit of Baloo the bear on Thursday night. This was easy going too. I took him with me to work and stitched him during my tea breaks! When I finished him, I wasted no time framing him up in the cover mount that the magazine provided. Then I started checking through my stitching emails and someone else on a group had just finished him too, but guess what - I'd forgotten to do the bloody french knots!!!! LOL

I don't think that I can be bothered to take him out of the frame just to stitch five french knots on his face, they look like warts, anyway, my Baloo is unique - he's just had a facial!

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