MEET TABITHA TWITCHETT

 

“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet

"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh”

― A.A. Milne

 

Meet Tabitha Twitchett, she is a stray that has lived in our yard sleeping under the house or under the old church next door, I remember her being there when we still had our cat Tippy ( who died 4 years ago) Tabitha is a very timid cat who would take off and hide as soon as she saw you...... this photo was taken with the zoom on my camera so she did not know I was near. I stopped feeding the sparrows when I realized I had a hunter on the property and as we have had no mice around the place I give her the credit.

 Tabitha's story takes a change this year, December was very dry and by late January we had drought conditions, I was very surprised when gardening that Tabitha came quite close to me crying and I realized  as I had not been able to water the garden there were no puddles anywhere for her to drink. We have always not feed stray cats leaving them to live off the land but as you can guess a few days after putting a water bowl out for her I weakened and left a little food, for this I was rewarded with her company when ever I worked in the garden close, but not too close.

To jump my story forward, Tabitha is now living with me, slowly she has let herself become friendly, she must at sometime been someones pet as she is  clean and house trained  and a very loving cat. She knew what the cat door was... tapping on it to have it unlocked when she was brave enough to venture in. Now she is here all the time never far away from me, although still very timid with visitors....... and my camera.    The lovely photo below was taken as you see when she was asleep on the chair by the fire.  And I am enjoying having her company in the house.

More embroidery news next time.

 Happy Independence day to all my American blogging friends.

IHSW UPDATE

 

 

 

Here is the result of my weekend's stitching. I hope all other Hermits had a good weekends stitching too

IHSW

I have a special project to stitch this weekend. I am designing a small mat for Caitlin to stitch. she is currently working on a piece for next years Embroiderers Guilds  National Exhibition, National exhibitions are held every two years and on the in between years we have a Regional one. Caitlin first exhibited nationally at the age of 6 years, (she is now 15) and has had something in every exhibition since. quite a record I think.

 We have a stitching session together most Friday afternoons after school and she planned and started her next major piece early as she was aware there would be more time needed for study this year with major exams looming and possibly less time for stitching hence her planned early start. Now that her big piece is underway she is hoping to manage a small piece for the regional exhibition later this year. the theme for this exhibition is Colour of the Seasons. Having discussed what she wanted to stitch it is now over to me to come up with a design something achievable in the time given and still leave plenty of time for her major work.

 so I started the weekend with a blank piece of fabric. and my progress so far is

 

I am stitching it on 32 count Belfast linen and just in one colour , Caitlin will choose her own linen and colours to stitch  her piece so the final result will look quite different

 

I will log in at the end of the weekend.

 happy stitching to all hermits.

 

MY PAGE FOR JUNE

The colour of springtime is in the flowers

the colour of winter is in the imagination.

 

The fire is burning brightly and the room is warm so it does not matter what the weather is outside, shortly I will go and enjoy the fire and sit and stitch, but first I want to share with you my journal  page for June I used a piece of Turkish embroidery, which had been my planning piece for a piece I stitched later for an exhibition..............

 

.............a small example of Punto Antico Embroidery ( Italian) This is taken from one of  Bruna Gubbini's  books on Antico Punto  but I cannot remember which one. and this time a bronze beetle.

 

 And as the month is going by quite quickly I am off to plan my next page.

Happy stitching everyone.

BEETLEMANIA, BIRTHDAY BUNNY and other BITS

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,

for the touch of a friendly hand

and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
― Edith Sitwell

 

And I add- stitching by the fire.

Firstly thank you all for your comments on the beetles I wish I had made more... next time I stitch some I will remember some of those who missed out this time.

Here are the lucky draws for each beetle

1. is going to Annette of California Stitcher  next up

2 is Cucki of Cucki Stitching Cove.

3. Anne of Doll's Musings

 and 4 to Donna of Brynwood Needleworks.

Birthday Bunny chart came to me from Gracie a while back, with a lovely surprise parcel that I lost the photo of. just found filed by the Camera under Jan 2010!!!  but for some reason the computer will not up load it. very frustrating and a lot of time wasted trying. I have stitched the bunny and it is yet to be mounted but will go on a tape measure To make him fit I left off the balloon and will stitch a tiny dragonfly charm above his nose.

 Would anyone else like to stitch  this cute bunny .. please let me know as I am happy to send him on to be enjoyed.

 

Our Guild has a yearly challenge and this year it was to stitch this design in any technique you wished. It was judged by popular vote at the meeting at the end of May. Here are Caitlin and my entries she chose to do blackwork her favourite technique at present in shades of purple, and I did my piece in pulled thread work. we both used DMC memory thread for outlining. I had not seen it before till Annette of California Stitcher sent me some and to Caitlin's delight  there was a lovely lavender one that matched her chosen threads. And it matches to DMC floss for couching.

Tthe big thrill was that Caitlin won,  not bad at 15 beating your Grandmother!!! And because she won she gets to set the next years challenge. Now that could be fun I will let you know what she sets up as the challenge.
 And this is the lovely piece I received from Heather in the latest Stitching Friends challenge a perfectly stitch small white work cushion.

 

My plan for this month is to sort through all the embroidery books and charts collected over the years and list them so my family in the future will know what is here and what is a must to be kept for the younger generation on stitchers. There will however be a few charts to go so watch this space.

 

 

WHERE DID THE TIME GO ?

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.
Thomas Aquinas

 So much to catch up on, its almost a month since my last post. With the cooler days I must admit to spending more time by the fire than here at the computer, and that has meant more stitching!

 Ann and Colleen two very good friends, made the long trek down to here and spent four days with me, the weather was wet and cold but who cares when you can sit and chat and stitch with friends. Ann and I worked on a special project still in the designing stages... little mouse travels. and as Ann had been the tutor for a Latvian workshop I had attended two years ago and my piece was still unfinished I asked her for a refresher course and here is the results I stitch this small coaster as a practise piece. 

 

 I have used it on my May Journal page for the Needlework Masters Monthly challenge. On each page I am trying to use a piece from the past, a newly stitch piece and of course another beetle, this time my piece from the past, is the mushroom was from a workshop many years ago and for my beetle I have used cord not metal threads.

 

 Next finished piece has been  a small white work cushion filled with Lavender for Stitching friends Challenge, this design was copies from an old piece of Italian Embroidery, a set of table mats the original was stitched in blue.

 

 

 Lastly IHSW has just been and yes I have been stitching firstly finishing my challenge piece for tonight's Guild challenge not photographed yet so will have to share that later, and more beetles, these are fun to stitch and I thought it could be fun to share some too. One is earmarked for a friend but the rest are give a ways, so please comment on which one you like best you never know it might just find its way to your home.

 

need a closer look ???

 

 

Look forward to reading your comments.

IN SEARCH OF AUTUMN





“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.”
Lee Maynard     

Oh,  there is that Autumn feel here in Stratford, the days are cooler and I am enjoying a fire in the evening but as yet there is not much show of the richness of Autumn, however last week I went across to Napier to visit my sister Joan and Denis and we went in search of Autumn's lovely glow.

We left Napier and drove north to Gisborne, the first day was quite damp but on the way up we managed to dodge the showers and stop for a walk in Holts Forrest. I had not known that the forest was there and we had a delightful walk  through the tall trees.

By the time we reached Gisborne the showers had cleared and although it was late in the day I could not resist a photo of Captain Cook's statue,  the light was all wrong  (and I knew I would not get back again)  however he makes a great silhouette

 

The second day we were blessed with fine mild weather and most of the day was spent at Eastwood Hills the National Arboretum which was the reason for our trip-    to visit there in search of autumn colours. As we walked round the paths there was truly the feel of Autumn

 

And although everyone told us the colours would peak in about a week we found plenty to enjoy as these photos can testify .

and I really did enjoy finding the little cyclamen growing in the grass under the trees. I have two large groups of these in my garden, they hold special memories for me of visits to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens with my mother and finding them growing in the rock gardens there. A holiday in Christchurch always meant a visit together to this part of the gardens. They are such tiny blooms compared with the larger house cyclamen we had in the florist shop where I worked. At Home here they are still in bloom.

 

 

The sun is shining this morning and I am off to enjoy its warmth. Have a happy Day

 

 

BEETLES

I found a little beetle; so that Beetle was his name,
And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same.
I put him in a match-box, and I kept him all the day ...

 

from 'Forgiven' by A.A. Milne.

 

 

Thinking of beetles I remembered A.A. Milne had written a poem about a beetle it was fun looking for it and reading it again brought back many memories.   It is in the book  Now we are six Do you know it? It goes on to say that nanny let the beetle out! Well I am sure my beetles are not going to run away. And in answer to emails about stitching the beetles, they can be found in a book too, Jane Nicholas' book of Beetles. Jane is an Australian tutor who frequently teaches in New Zealand and I have been fortunate some years ago to do some workshops with her, here is a link to Jane's web site she sells kits  for the beetles but you need the book for the instructions. The book is still in print.






.

As you can see I love stitching beetles, they really do not take very long and I can come up with a variety depending on the metal threads I have on hand, The coloured metal thread I frequently use is Cadi thread check by Colour Streams, I hope  to add to my collection of threads when I go to Napier next week as J J's stock it in small  packs a short length for $3.00 which allows me to buy several colours at a time.

 

 

The beetle heads are leather, and the lovely raised look is because the bodies are padded with felt first. For silver beetle below, the elytra (covering for the wings)  I have used passing thread to outline, Annette has sent me some of the new DMC memory thread and I am looking forward to using it for this part of the beetle. here I have filled with bright check chips.
 

 

  This beetle has detached wings  the wings and head have been made with layer fabric. Wings like these are another place where I think in future I will be able to use the memory thread and yes it comes in silver and gold as well as a wide range of colours, and these each match a DMC floss which is great for couching.

 

 

,......... and here is my favourite beetle. 

 

APRIL IS HERE

Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way.  Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be.

Marsha Petrie Sue

Yes here we are at the start of a new month, and it too is a new beginning.  Here is my journal page for April. I have used the  Deerfield Embroidery piece which I had shown earlier on my blog when I completed it,  I had chosen to stitch it because it went with the colouring of the canvas work piece I wanted to use. The canvas work is a piece from the past. I am trying to use one piece from the collection of sample pieces I have and stitching a new piece to go with it and also a different coloured beetle each time.

 

 

 

 

This time it is a little silver beetle 

 

 

 

I am stitching the pages for my Journal for the Needlework Masters Monthly SAL Challenge

Having made a Journal cover each month the challenge is to add a page showing two different embroidery techniques. It is great seeing what everyone who is taking part has done each month.

 If you have missed seeing everyone's pages to date the link is here Then click on the month at the top to take you to the pages. Now to decide what I will do on the next page.

 

 

EASTER GREETINGS

May this Easter be for all, a time to enjoy family

 and to know God's Blessings.

Happy Easter everyone

 



EASTER EGG DELIGHTS

A smile takes but a moment,

but it's effects somehow last forever.

J E Smith

 

 



I want to share with you some embroidery inspired by Faberge Eggs, our stitching friends latest challenge was to stitch an Easter Egg pocket in any method of stitching we wished and with the suggestion that inspiration could the lovely designs of  Faberge Easter Eggs.

 

 This lovely Egg shown here was the inspiration for the piece I made,  my design was a little simpler, using some lovely scraps of deep blue sari silk  with gold braid, gold cord  and gold rose beads I stitched  pink bullion stitch roses  with small sequin leaves to complete the design. I lined the pocket with gold tissue fabric and the finished pocket was  about 12cm in size. It has now been received by Joan.

 And the pocket I received in the exchange was made by Ann,  What a thrill to open her parcel and see the beautiful pocket she had made. My photograph does not do justice to the lovely deep colour of the fabric she has used. Ann made her pocket quite stiff which has made it  perfect for my slightly larger pair of embroidery scissors. I will now need to make  a new fob to go on my scissors, maybe a gold pansy to match the ltlle gold charm on the egg pocket.

 

And our next challenge is ? well nobody knows yet, but it will be something quite different.

Happy Stitching everyone.