Hello!
I must say, I am VERY pleased that today so far is a break from the incessant rain we have had here in Sheffield for the past week, I hope it continues!
To celebrate, I am launching my tardis cross stitch keyring kit! In my previous post I talked about designing it, now I have completed one and the full kit (including full colour chart and instructions) is available for only £4.50 on my website.
What do you think of my effort? The photo isn't the best unfortunately, as the keyring reflects the light, but I think it's fairly true to the tardis, and hopefully you can make out the 'POLICE BOX' lettering also. It's now available on my Etsy Shop.
It's stitched onto 14 count Aida (for you non-stitchers that means 14 cross stitches per inch) using DMC embroidery threads. I then glued some backing paper to the reverse of the cross stitch using PVA glue so that the back of the keyring looks pretty too! I managed to find this in my stash, which I thought was very apt for this Dr. Who inspired keyring.
I hope you like it!
In other news, My work colleague Heather has given me Herman, a German friendship sour dough cake which you grow and add ingredients too, before splitting 4 ways, giving 3 to friends to grow on and baking the Fourth quarter for yourself! I'll take some photo's and let you know how he's growing later in the week!
I'm also busy stitch, stitch, stitching away as I have just received a bulk order, so no new items for a while. Luckily however, I made a few just before the bulk order was confirmed, so Photo's will be coming soon on my facebook page!
Anyway, I'd best get busy...
A friend of mine asked me ages ago to design a Tardis key ring for him. Ashamedly I must admit that I got side tracked by designing my cross stitch jewellery and forgot until we were in the Pub on Friday when he said something along the lines of
'Have you designed a Tardis key ring yet? More people like Dr Who than like Goldfish' (My most recent addition to my website was a Goldfish keyring Kit).
'No...' Came my slightly sheepish reply 'I forgot that I said I would...' (this is a hazard of conversations held over a few pints of ale, especially given my bad memory!)
So I spent the weekend getting busy digging and sowing (carrots, beetroot, lettuce and garlic) in the garden along with a couple of pubs and darts games (Chris beat me twice, but only on the doubling out - not bad given the unfair disadvantage I have of him being a foot taller and having arms as long-limbed as an Orang-utan), and thought nothing more about my promise.
The rain of this Monday morning has however, brought with it my promise, so in my lunch break at my day job (crafting has to fit around being a cell biologist) I goggled 'Dr Who Tardis' for a good picture to base my design on. what do you think?!
Not an exact copy, but hopefully close enough! What do you think? All that I need to do now is make sure I've got the right colours and stitch it to check that the chart is right! That part will have to wait until tomorrow night, as I'm going beer tasting at Shakespeares tonight for St Georges day. I'll let you know how it goes...
Happy Stitching
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It was my dad's birthday a few weeks ago, so I decided to have a go at designing and making a cross stitch card for him. The biggest thing I've designed previously were name bookmarks, I've mostly only designed small motifs for my cross stitch jewellery.
The first step was deciding what to design. I definitely wanted the words happy Birthday on the card, so I started there. Easy!
My dad loves gardening, he's always grown vegetables and flowers, and gardening is his job so it was the obvious choice of subject! My first idea was to do some garden tools, but unfortunately putting the picture in my head down onto a cross stitch chart is a lot harder than it seems, and I underestimated the space needed. Also, designing a spade complete with mud and space for other tools is harder than it seemed, and would look a bit boring. Time to come up with another design...
After a little pondering, I decided to do a flowerpot. It may not be the most manly of designs, but it is most definitely appropriate for my dad, so after a little bit of designing with the help of my Royal School Of Needlework software and my DMC thread colour chart, I came up with a basic design. I did a little tinkering, such as adding the butterfly and changing the flower colours from red and pink to blue and purple, before coming with the finished chart design. What do you think?!
I stitched the chart using cross stitch, back stitch and lazy daisy stitch for the petals and leaves. I used seed bead detail for the flower centres, and butterfly body. After a bit of fraying to give it a pretty edge, I glued the cross stitch to a green card using clear drying craft glue, and voila! The card was finished.
My dad liked it, so It was definitely a success! What do you think?
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Its only 12 days away!
12 days before St Paddys day everyone suddenly find that they're part Irish in order to celebrate with plenty of Stout. Pubs stock up on Guinness, and Guinness produces plenty of advertising paraphernalia, from crazy hats, to shirts, encouraging celebrators to clad themselves not only in the green of the emerald isle, but also black and white. Being slightly less organised (and a little more crafty) Chris, with a little help from yours truly, created his own St Patrick's Day top.
Despite all of the fuss and stout consumption of St Paddy's day, St Georges day on the 23rd April is almost forgotten about in comparison. Why do we English born and bred folk become Irish for a day to celebrate with lots of copious amounts of stout, but let St Georges day pass in a blissful unawareness of the celebration of George and the Dragon. Lets get on the bandwagon and show that we're proud to be English, by celebrating our Patron Saint. More and more people are starting to celebrate St Georges Day, with anything from Punch and Judy Shows to Morris dancing to Folk Music. You can even sign a petition here to make St Georges Day a bank holiday, if a 100, 000 signatures are obtained by August this year.
In honour of the occasion, I have produced these St Georges Flag jewellery, available on the promotions Page of my website. Earrings are only £7.00, a ring costs £5, or you could get both as a set for only £10!
If all of the English-ness hasn't got you excited yet, here are just a few more reasons to celebrate on 23rd April. (A more extensive list can be found on Wikipedia)
Anniversary of William Wordsworths death (1850)
King Charles II was crowned at Westminster Abbey (1661)
William Shakespeares birthday, and the day he died (1564 - 1616)
Talking of which, I will be celebrating this St Georges day by heading down to Shakepeares pub in Sheffield for a good old english ale tasting and pairing it with food! 6 1/3rds of different types of ale, such as pale ale, bitter, stout, IPA and Mild are included, along with some nibbles all for £10! The best bit, a free pint of your favourite at the end! Tickets should be bought in advance from Shakespeares, or email them at info@shakespeares-sheffield.co.uk
I for one am looking forward to celebrating St Georges day properly, by appreciating the Englishness of it all! I'll let you know how I get on...
