IHSW- A little bit of everything weekend

This is my first entry into IHSW and yes I feel like a Hermit, I've been so busy trying to finish items for Christmas and preparing new projects for the New Year, I realised I hadn't stepped foot outside the house all weekend.                                                                                                                                           Firstly I managed to complete the following Candlewick cushion top.  One of the many designs by Sandi Lush, there was only a small amount of quilting left to do, only the piping and back to sort out.  I really love working colonial knots  I find working them so relaxing.

 
My second project was to do more on the Town Mandala but only managed a few of the gold back stitches, I don''t think I will see this complete for a looooong time. I have so much rattling around my head I can't give it the concentration it needs.

 

I managed to complete the following Christmas tree decoration which is for my sisters tree.

 

 

I bought the Mountmellick embroidery book a few weeks ago, something I really want to learn, I didn't get time to start sewing but I did manage to prepare the fabric and trace the leaves which are practise leaves for some of the stitches.  Hope to make a start on this in the New Year.

 

 

And last but not least a little bit of leather tooling work.  This is a joint project which Mr C and myself completed today.  The belt is a Christmas gift and a new dog collar of Oscar our granddaughters puppy.

 

 

 

Well that only leaves the housework but that's another day

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Kathleen

 

Chatelaine Medieval Town WIP

At last I've made a start on the Medieval Town Mandala.

As this is my first Chatelaine design I decided to buy the Needlepoint Inc Silks rather than using the DMC equivalent and to be honest I found them disappointing, I would go as far as saying they are lack lustre compared to Pearsall's silks, other than that I love the design and the challenge of discovering and working new stitches, I did however break out in a rash when I discovered half stitches in the chart, I have a real aversion to the little blighters. 

Kathleen x

Chatelaine - Medieval Town Mandala

This is my first post on what I hope will be a journal of my sewing, which I've returned to after many years. 
My interest was rekindled after seeing the beautiful Chatelaine designs by Martina Weber, it was one of the those moments of 'must have' and today after much' humming and arrring' over which design to buy I decided to start with 'The Medieval Town Mandala chart which arrived this morning.

With a cup of tea, pencil and paper in hand I started my shopping list and decided to buy the threads etc to complete the centre design area, this took a bit of sorting out as the threads were being ordered from one company whilst the Swarvoski and Delica's were ordered from two other companies.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll have delivery tomorrow.  There was one thread which my supplier did not stock,  the Thread Gatherer Silken Pearl 30/3 so I had to order the DMC instead, I'm not sure how this will effect the final finish of the design, Thread Gatherer silk n Colours 055 Camouflage was also out of stock with no date given for restocking, so here again I had to resort to the DMC.

I'm feeling quite excited and can't wait to see the delicious threads and start sewing, it does help knowing I've had my eye test this week and my new glasses will be ready for pick up this week so cross fingers I'll be seeing things with more clarity. 

Kathleen x