A finish, A Start and some shopping!

A Finish!

St Basil's Cathedral is finished.

To be honest, it doesn't look any different in this photo, to the one in my last post!

But I know there are changes. So I am happy.

It has now been added to the queue!

I have about a dozen cross stitch pieces all hanging in my cupboard, all awaiting framing, or some other finishing treatments.

I'll get to them.

A start.

There has been two starts in fact!

One is secret. It's for a gift and as the number of people who may or may not look at my blog may or may not be growing.....

No pictures sorry!

But it is a cross stitch.

The second start is also a finish! LOL

Claire, Debs and I had another shopping trip on Saturday. We went North this time. I purchased the beautiful blue yarn used to knit the scarf you see above. It only took me one evening. It's for a gift.

I don't think she reads my blog, but if she does, she knows what she is getting for Christmas, as it is 'her' shade of blue!

Also on our trip I bought this lovely collection of pretty florals. I already have a few, and plan to collect some more.

I finally found something I want to use them for. I have known for some time I wanted to do something floral and romantic, but could never find just the right thing...

Here it is.

The shopping!

Our trip was a little uninspiring this time with Debs and I purchasing yarns, my wee bundle of fat quarters and Claire purchased a bundle of blues then came all the way back to Timaru to find some black batting.

Never mind, we are off again in two weeks, we will be re visiting The Quilting Shed and hunting down two other shops that we haven't visited before which another shopper told us about. 

For those who like to know, we visited...

The Pin Tin.

The Yarn Barn.

Ashford Craft Shop

Annies Country Quilts.

We tried one other shop but Material time was closed!! 

What self respecting fabric shop is closed on a Saturday? And they have no website.

Great shop though, if you can get there when she is open.

I'm so happy that I also bought two pairs of slippers, as it was minus 5C here this morning when I climbed out of bed, and only just 2C degrees at 09.30 on a beautiful sunny day.  A good day to snuggle in my new slippers and sit in my armchair in the sun and cross stitch.

*

On a very exciting note!

Mr H has agreed that I can have my new sewing machine a whole month before my birthday, so next Saturday, after I finish work, we will be off to the shop to order/purchase it. Hopefully they will have the very one I want in stock and we will be able to walk away with it, on the day.

Excited!!

Time to go be domestic, then I get to stitch in the sunshine.

A new craft!!

A new craft, doesn't that sound exciting and intriguing? 

More about that soon. First my current and previously seen works.

St Basil's is drawing very close to being completed now. All of the cross stitches are done and now I'm working my way through six pages and seven shades of back stitch. For those who don't cross stitch, back stitch or BS!! is usually the final stage of a project when a single strand of thread is used to outline or highlight certain areas of the design to accentuate them and define the image. 

Hopefully, by the end of this week, I will be finished with this piece and ready to move on to the next one. I have three lined up ready to go now. Which one though? Decisions, decisions.

Meanwhile, as well as the cross stitch I've also been picking away at another crochet project.

Making up pretty pink squares here and there. Nothing fancy, just eight rounds of Granny.

One or two more squares, then I'll join them all together with the white, using a new technique I discovered on pinterest.  It joins them all in one go. No making rows and stopping and starting. Sounds and looks easy enough.

And finally, the new craft!

It's not mine, it's his!

Tony decided he wanted to have a go at making beer!

This big barrel sat in the corner of the sitting room for just over a week, while it blooped away to itself. Once the blooping stopped it was moved to my kitchen!! Where you see it in this photo.

Something was added and it sat for a week before going into bottles.

I now have thirty bottles of beer sitting in the corner of the sitting room.

I'm told they will be there for a few more days, before moving into the cold garage for a week. After that, there will be a grand opening and official tasting!!

I wonder if it will live up to his hopes and dreams?

Right, the domestics are done, time for a cuppa tea and a sit and sew.

What a difference a day makes!

And a week makes an even bigger difference.

St Basil's has grown considerably.

I took this first picture on Sunday, intending to write up a blog post, before I started stitching, but didn't get a chance. Instead I was called into work.

 So I didn't get to pick up my needle until Monday afternoon once I had completed some domestics and neglected a few others!. I spent the rest of the day and the evening stitching and made great progress.

I'm onto the very last page of this chart and although I am excited to be nearly finished, there is as I mentioned in a previous post, a huge amount of backstitch to do, which I am not looking forward to. It is spread over several pages, one for each colour/shade. I predict lots of scrolling up and down as I complete each colour. 

Incidentally, I pulled out my third needle on this design last night. One  became terribly bent, then the eye broke. Another became tarnished and tired, I'm sure it had been used previously on another project, maybe this third needle will last until I'm finished.

Right, time to get on with my day. Sadly, I can't spend all of it stitching.