Hello everyone, how are we all going?

I've been very quiet lately, recovering from the worst cold / flu I've had in over 20 years. It's been nearly a month since I felt well enough to stitch anything, but finally I'm feeling a little better. I've been surfing the net though when I felt up to it, keeping tabs on everyone on various groups and their personal blogs. Very glad to see Misa has finally posted to her blog, and with a very nice self-portrait photo too! Do I detect a hair cut? Sarah has been busy with beaded items, and Norma has been doing TAST and now Sharron B.'s Sumptuous Surfaces course, and I think I saw another of our Sisters mention it also. I haven't completed her Personal Library of Stitches yet, so thought I'd wait and see if she offers SS again in the future. I'm trying not to take on too many things at once (yeah, right, who am I kidding?)
I had to fit in some Eistedfodd sewing recently despite being off colour, and now I have a wedding outfit needed in 4 weeks! I finally did one sample for TAST and posted it on my personal blog and Flickr group. And I discovered a really neat locator map to put on my blog, it's really nice to see where the visitors are coming from, especially if they don't leave a comment. Well, that's all my news, still hoping for a parcel from overseas in the near future with some Counted Thread stitching in it. I'd love to see the RR continue if possible, it's my first RR and I've told everyone about it at my EG group and they are intrigued.
Hooroo for now,
Christine
http://www.missmuffettwo.blogspot.com/
http://ladyjaneswardrobe.blogspot.com/

A WISP finally finished

While waiting for the next portion of our counted thread band round robin, I pulled out this quilt to finish. It has only been in the making for 15 years, but at least it is finally finished. Can't hurry these things now can we? Third quilt I ever started, eighth one I have finished, first one I have tried FMQing on. I take my hat off to people who FMQ their quilts. It is hard yakka & my aching arms keep telling me! On to make quilt number nine now, which is bigger than this one, so will have to think about how it will be quilted before I go too far. Just while I wait for the next round of this Counted Thread Band RR to arrive.

Ktj's band.

This has just arrived in the USA and so I can now post the photos.

The Band here was started by Ktj, whose work you can see at the top. The second section was added by Margaret. My addition is the bottom section.

Ktj's graceful design has been beautifully complimented by the exquisite knot garden design added by Margaret. The details she has been able to incorporate are truly awe-inspiring. I knew I could not follow with a design as complex. Indeed, it took me some while to feel brave enough to feel I could add to it.

Luckily, the cherry trees in the gardens around my house had all started to come into flower. So my design took the form of a postbox shaped picture taken across a cherry tree's bark showing some blossom and opening leaves. The following picture shows my initial sketch.

Prepped and Ready...

Well, I'm a bit past this stage now, but I thought you'd like to see how I prepped Norma's piece. Everyone's work is just lovely, and that pumpkin color that Norma chose is just luscious! I'm so thrilled to be able to be a part of this group.


I basted using red thread because that's easiest for me to see on all colors of fabric. It's a five-count baste from top (underneath that beautiful beading) to bottom, because my design is oriented more vertically. As I work, I can clip the red thread and pull it from the areas I've worked, leaving it in place for the next segment of the Pattern. However (gives a cheeky little grin), I'm going to let Christine post pix of both Norma's and my samplers when she gets them...!

A Northern Queensland vacation

I returned to Sydney last night after 5 days/4 nights in tropical Palm Cove not far from Cairns. 6 of my husband's workmates and their partners joined us for a retreat to do a little work, socialize and plan the next 12 months. We ladies were pampered in the day spa, we ate delicious food every meal, and we cruised out to the Great Barrier Reef for a day of snorkeling and relaxation. The surroundings were very luxurious, and the lap pool in the photo was the view during alfresco lunches. Visit my personal blog at http://missmuffettwo.blogspot.com/
for more photos. I could have stayed on another week quite easily, it was a real wrench to have to leave such a lovely part of Australia.
Christine, aka Missmuffett and Lady Jane.

Needlework photos from England

Hi all, I'm home.
I just had to share these photos with somebody, but for copyright reasons, I prefer not to put them on my regular blog. But since I'm just sharing with a few special friends, here are some pieces from the Victoria &Albert Museum.

On the day we went the Textile collection was closed and I was very upset. The worst thing was, I thought I'd missed Martha Edlin's casket. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/video_casket/index.html

But then we started looking through the museum and in the English 1500-1760 section I found the casket and more.

This piece is only about 5x5 and wonderful, although my photo is a bit blurry.

This is maybe about 3x6 and they call it a pincushion.

The next two are small purses.

It was all wondeful. I'll write some more on my regular blog this week, but I had to share these photos with you.

Margaret

Margaret's Band RR.

This is Margaret's Band Robin. She stitched the gorgeous tulips you can see at the top of this piece. I have added the piece underneath.

The design is based on some wonderful Amaryllis I had flowering on my kitchen windowsill during December and January this year.


After putting in the outlines of the flowers and leaves, I have filled in the shapes with patterns based on blackwork designs. The whole piece is stitched in YLI silk thread. The close-up below shows details of the stitching and beading I have used. The colours on this photo are more yellow than in life. The colours are portrayed more accurately on the top photograph.