The Suddenly Kate Show

Like a lot of cross-stitchers, I end up giving most of my finished articles away - this is the first that I have done and photographed.

I recently completed a cross-stitch project that I started in May - all I managed to do of it was to make the chart for the design. It ended up that I didn't start stitching until 5 days before the deadline.  I did manage to finish it and make it into a cushion.

The design that I used as my inspiration was ....



I wanted to make it personal to my friend, so I changed the skin colour, the hair colour and the glove colour as well as the wording in the thought bubble. As it is pop-art I also decided to make it all block colour (no dots) and the end result was this... The final design came out at 9"x 10" and was awkward to find a frame for at such short notice. I made it into a throw cushion instead....
And she was very pleased with it, I am glad to say.

I have been trying to keep a blog for ages and hopefully this will be it :)

Welcome to my…

Here is my progress!

I started stitching yesterday and this is as far as I have got.

Morning!

Its a sleepy sunday here for me, but someone is coming over to collect some stuff at 8.30am - its 8.31am which makes them late!, I am a stickler for timekeeping :)

Anyway, yesterday when I woke up I realised I had been dreaming about my upcoming USA trip and how exactly that would work with not knowing anyone in the three cities I first go to, and then of course hobbling around on crutches and whatnot. So I had been thinking about possible tweaks that I could make and the feasibility of that, and one of those ideas involved having extra time for chilling out and stitching!  Thats when I panicked.

My left foot has been the problem for the past 8 weeks but about 5 days ago my right middle finger became swollen and stiff, and what if I couldnt stitch?

My good left hand...





My not so good right hand...

So I obviously had to stitch something to see, and I remembered that my magazine had a little kit in it with very small icons.  It is with great relief that I announce to you all t…

I thought I should say something, I have been lurking still and have loved seeing the lovely work that you have all been doing, but have not had the time or inclination myself.

I only managed this year to stitch one Gorjuss girl, finish off a crochet blanket and knit myself a new scarf.

I wish I had done more. So with that in mind, I am laying my cards on the table and announcing right here and right now that in 2014 I will stitch and knit something to be proud of.

I know I am not alone in neglecting my blog and so I am calling out to all those who want to make a new start in 2014. Lets do this!

Who's with me?

Happy New Year!

Love Kate xx

Hello,
It’s been too long since I posted here at the Island but today I am changing that. I still check in to see what everyone is up to and I love following you all, your crafts and lives are pretty great! (understatement)
But today is dedicated to so many things! It seems September is the day for raising money for charity, celebrating birthdays, retiring, going on maternity leave, and celebrating life in general with all its ups and downs.
>One person in particular, who this post is for is Cathey at The Pumpkin Patch, and to show that we all support and appreciate her and wish her a Happy Blogoversary here is my pumpkin! I stitched this one Halloween and never knew what to do with it, but now its found its destiny :D

It happened! It really did :) I went away for five days and decided I would by a cross stitch kit and see if I couldnt reignite some stitching mojo. I opted for a Bothy Threads gorjuss girl kit. I have seen a lot of these done and they look so adorable. I chose Poppy Wood. I should say that I havent bought a kit in a long time and was pleasantly surprised to see that there were two copies of the chart, one for the main stitch and one for backstitch and they were clear and on an A3 good quality paper. In addition, the amount of floss provided was enough to almost stitch the pattern twice. I am definitely impressed.

In hindsight, I think I chose this because at the time I felt like her, alone in the woods and no idea of where the trees are. Soul searching is so time consuming but I spent some time with Poppy and nearly finished her. This coming weekend is IHSW and I am going to attempt to finish her. I only made one change and that was I opted to not stitch the shadow by her feet. At lea…

Hello,

To all those in the know...last weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (it is every third weekend of the month) and although I didnt stitch with a needle, I hooked.

This weekemd I worked on my current crochet WIP. I originally began this thinking I would do small squares and then join them but then decided to do one enormous square. It takes time and wool and I am about a third of the way done with it...and so here it is...


not the neatest of piles and I have yet to take a laid out photo or measure it but next time I will...here is the wool type I am using...



...and I have a few to get through and will possibly need more...



...and here is a picture of the crochet stitch up close...I have gone with something simple (in this case a reversal giant granny stitch square) as I have only recently learnt how to do it.



I hope you were productive and I am looking forward to seeing your updates :)

Good Afternoon,

For you.

Inspiration StrikesDrifting into view unannounced and all consuming Swirling around amongst the debris of each day Bending with the will of the igniters direction Spiralling away from its beginnings until its almost a haze Circling back to meet the crest of bigger ideas, to be twisted and turned and toasted Rolling away as the uninspired are discarded Winding their roots to the base and clinging with hope to stay Swinging back up to meet those who first made claim and then Curving away to corners of a square mind to forcibly bring calm A still flat ripple free calm that’s full of anticipation as beneath its surface it lies barely dormant Waiting for the moment for life to spring Back into old ideas and into new as the cycle begins.

The Suddenly Kate Show: Last stop on the Pasty Tour!: Hello! Wow! Its the last stop on the Pasty Tour :( and I will be posting a roundup on Friday so be sure to come back to check that out :)...

The Suddenly Kate Show: The Pasty Tour lands in Bulgaria: Morning all! Its the first stop on the last leg of The Pasty Tour! Can you believe it has gone by so quickly? me neither. Well, you are ...

Hello!

At last a stitchy post :D Thats the good news! The bad news is that its not my stitching. Well one piece is but from about 25 years ago - its my first ever cross stitch adventure.

But first...I dont know how I havent posted this already and I think I simply deserve to tutted at, but I am about to post a picture of a Christmas exchange piece from Maursie at Maursie's cross stitch stuff. What makes it worse is that it is an absolutely stunning piece which I adore and arrived accompanied with a jealousy inducing postcard.

Best that I just show you!


The second and last thing is that I finally took a photograph of the very first cross stitch piece that I made about 25 years ago. It was in the days when I never knew all the crosses had to go the same way, and it was  on a printed tea towel that you just stitched over the crosses. I am surprised looking at it that I actually finished it as it is quite large for a first project.  I did have to choose all the colours myself as you bough…

Hello!

I have returned from my mini-adventure and am already thinking about the next one :D Suggestions anyone?

I took my sampler away with me and didn't get that much done. I added green stems to the letter A and at first I wasn't sure but it has grown on me and I think it looks very arts & crafty. What do you think? The smaller alphabets I stitched in other colours trying to choose a shade from the variegated thread. I like the green, the yellow and am unsure about the orange (top-right), what do you think?

So as a reminder, here is the A the last time we saw it...


and here it is now...


Apologies for the poor image...here is it with the other colours...


I would have done more but did not have the variegated thread with me...so this week I shall finish this page and move to page 2.

I hope you have all had a great week too! I see that you have as I have over a thousand blogs to read :D

Hello All!

Its Monday and thus its stitchy upate time...

I have been carrying on with the sampler that took my fancy a week ago and have managed to put in about 4 hours. It doenst look like I have by my progress but I am happy with it. I really do like the variegated thread and although time consuming the effect is far better than two separate colours. I am considering using some of the thread from the original kit as a second colour (it will make sense once I finish all this colour on this page) and a dark green shade for lines.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my progress...you may recall that I had the letters B, O, P & Q before and now I have almost finished the letter A. It is the largest letter.


and a close up of A....


Next up, is the catastrophe...although it wasnt that bad or at least I hope not, but my new kitten Muse managed to hurt her leg today, subsequently she is on painkillers for a few days to see if it improves or if she needs an x-ray. Some amongst you may even …

Hello!

You'll never guess! Whats that? Oh...well okay then, maybe you will.

After Sundays post about my lack of finding something I wanted to stitch I set about looking for a pattern. I opened exactly one drawer and was reminded of a kit I won back in September in a blog giveaway.


I received the pattern,, the black aida and the threads. When I saw it I decided straight away that I wanted to stitch it especially since I had seen a lot of samplers of late and was just jumping on the band wagon.

I did not read the instructions or look closely, I thought the thread was variegated and it turned out it was two shades, dark and light.  I decided to swap the thread as I had some variegated threads - you see I never realised my error until I had started! - and I had a choice of six colours. I believe that I have an orange soul and opted for a peachy orange/goldy yellow shade. DMC 4128.

As you may know with a variegated thread you need to do complete stitches before moving onto the next sti…

Morning!
I wrote a poem at the weekend that turned into a song...the thing is...its quite personal...and I just keep singing it in my head...maybe if I appeal once again, a nice musician will stop by and add some music?! Even if they don't I will work towards getting some music for it, even if it requires me learning an instrument of some sort...I hope you like it. I see it as very much a ballad/love song full of love, angst and hope. Comments welcome but please be gentle.
I used to wake up almost everyday thinking if there could be some other way that I could make you notice me standing by your side You made me think that it was me and wonder if you would ever see that I never really wanted to be invisible.
But it’s just one of those days, when whatever I say Is lost in the atmosphere, Never reaching to your ears Flying off to outer space being heard in some other place I might as well be talking to myself I might as well be talking to myself
Every day that passed Was just another strain …