Tintock Tap

Bluebird box again [Flickr]

tintocktap — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:06:23 PST

tintocktap posted a photo:

1. PB012126, 2. PB012130, 3. PB012125, 4. PB012131

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Quick hello

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Just popping in with a quick hello! Sorry I haven't been around much recently. I wasn't well a couple of weeks ago and have been feeling rough ever since. Hopefully things will get back to normal before too long.

For now, here's a pic of my Bluebird box.

I haven't made the bluebird for the top and I'm not sure that I will. For now, it stays as it is.

And perhaps the fact that I've felt like blogging today is a good sign!

Just Nan Bluebird Box (minus bluebird) [Flickr]

tintocktap — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:42:31 PST

tintocktap posted a photo:

Not entirely happy with the lacing, bit it'll do. I'm not going to make the bluebird for the top - I have other plans.

Prototype snowflake ornaments [Flickr]

tintocktap — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:38:00 PST

tintocktap posted a photo:

Unexpected

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:02:00 +0000

This week has taken on a slightly unexpected twist as I'm now having my second day at home with Iona. I'm loving having all the extra time with her, she's such fun to be with!

Anyway, I just popped in here to say that I've finished the stitching on my bluebird box.

I'm slowly getting round to the finishing. Slowly for 2 reasons, the first being that I want to stitch one or two sample ornaments for the after school club which will start a week today. My second reason for only getting round to the finishing slowly is that I think I'm going to have to do some blocking. I've never blocked anything in my life and it sounds way too scary! But at the moment, the stitched outline of the design does not quite match up with the outline of the card for the box (that was part of the finishing kit).

So I'll just have to block it into shape! Oh well, at least the box is stitched in DMCs and so it should at least be colour fast! But don't hold you breath if you're waiting to see the finished box. Maybe I'll just avoid the blocking issue completely for now and go and stitch the bluebird for the top!

Ups and downs

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Things have been a bit rough at work since I went back in January. It came to a head a couple of weeks ago and as a result of that I have a meeting on Thursday. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will change for the better.

Anyway, it's all got me rather jittery and depressed at the moment. I feel like I don't know where I'm going. I just focus on my two beautiful children and make the most of the time I have for my stitching.

So I've been having fun with my Bluebird box and am really surprised at how quickly I'm getting through it.

Progress has slowed this week as I really need to get organised for the after school club I'm going to be taking!

And I haven't shown you this.

A fifteen sided bircornu in felt - I just wanted to see how it worked out in felt.

And as you might have noticed, it's now settled that I'll be teaching an after school club at Alexander's school from the end of this month. We're going to make Christmas ornaments. I bought a book to put together some ideas.

A Cross Stitcher's Countdown to Christmas - I'm really glad I did get this book - there are so many designs in it I'd like to stitch!

There she goes!

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:38:00 +0000

Finally, over the weekend, Iona decided to walk on her own!

I'm so proud of my little girl! She was all ready to walk 6 weeks ago, but had a couple of little tumbles which knocked her confidence. But over the weekend, she's just taken off and it's really given her a confidence boost - she's becoming quite adventurous! And she's such a funny little sweetie!

My bluebird box is still coming on well, although it's almost strange to be concentrating so completely on cross stitch at the moment!

I really couldn't be bothered when I started those little buzzy bees - they're so small and fiddly to stitch! But after I'd finished them, I could see what a difference it made and am glad that I stitched them after all!

We had a wander around the allotment late yesterday afternoon - there are some really beautiful flowers on some of the plots! And as it was lovely and sunny, I took a few photos. (I had my camera as I'd been trying to get photos of Iona walking!)

12 stitches in September

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:42:00 +0000

In June and July, Gay Ann Rogers was challenging stitchers in her Shining Needle Society group to stitch 12 stitches a day on a project. Well, I may be a little late catching up with this one, but I started my 12 stitches a day at the beginning of September and I’m delighted with the progress I’ve been making.

The project I’ve resurrected for this is Medieval Town Mandala. Here’s where I started at the beginning of the month.

When Alexander goes to bed at night I have a little bit of time while he’s in the bathroom and getting changed when I’m rather just hanging around waiting for him. So, in this little time slot, I’m fitting in my 12 stitches.

I have changed the rules slightly, my goal is at least 12 stitches a day. 12 stitches minimum (Alexander permitting), but there have been days when I’ve been able to at least double the 12. And if I have a day when I’m just looking for a project to work on just to fill some time, the MTM gets a bit of attention then too.

I’m aiming to get this corner finished by the end of October – that’ll see me half way through part 5.

My weekend - the best bits

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:37:00 +0000

Alexander's golf lesson on Saturday (and a spot of putting practice for me)

Alexander's kayak taster session on Sunday

Some nice

(for a change)

(And the chance for me to sit in the sunshine in the park for some stitching!)

Iona turning the bathroom bin into a drum as we chattered away and I cleaned the bath!

And in between all the hanging around waiting for other people, some extra time for this.

Lovely!

Felt overdose and a new start

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:52:00 +0000

I’ve been playing around a lot recently with my felt stash, working on what became 3, largely unplanned, projects of my own design. At present, they look like this –

But all of a suddenly I’ve had enough of them! Blah! At this point in time, they’re just not as nice as I want them to be. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they’ll never meet my imagined idea of them, but it’s time to give them a break. And wait for some nice buttons to arrive. Somehow, I seem to have had a nightmare finding nice buttons – big ones with some kind of pattern. Maybe when the buttons arrive, they’ll fill me with inspiration.

One side effect of all the felt is that my jug for the Totally Useless SAL has been filling up rather quickly!

Then, I had a fantastic evening on Wednesday, kitting up a new project! Shock horror – I now have a new cross stitch start! For too long I’ve been playing around with my own ideas/designs, now I’m ready for a little relaxation following someone else’s instructions!

It's really very exciting! I don’t remember when I bought this, round about the time it was released, I think. I had the chart and the finishing kit but not the linen or silk floss. As I’m not feeling very wealthy at the moment, I’ve done a DMC conversion and am stitching this entirely using fabric and floss from my stash! It’s even quite liberating to be making constructive use of my stash!

You can't really see it in the photo, but I've finished backstitching the outline and am ready to get crossing this evening.

I seem to have a thing about boxes again this week and have dug out another box kit I had in my stash - this time I'm partly designing it, based on something I saw somewhere else.

And as usual these days, these boxes have sparked off a few other ideas - how do you like the sound of a Baby Bluebird biscornu or a Wild Mountain Thyme Keepsake Box?

Oh dear, and now I've discovered (via the Drawn Thread) Un Chat dans l'Aiguille - can you see me drooling?

Colour clash?

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Early in the summer, I crocheted a blanket for Iona.

When there was just the pink and white and yellow, I wasn't sure about the colour. I knew the yellow was too bright, but I had it in my stash and didn't want to go and buy. I also wanted to make the blanket look a bit like a large flower, so a fairly bright yellow in the middle seemed appropriate.

I was amazed when the green was added how it just seemed to lift the whole thing.

Anyway, as I was crocheting this, I was thinking about colour and how I don't feel very confident about choosing colour combinations for projects. I'm quite happy to go with a designer's choice, but I find it really difficult if I want to change things or if I need to choose colours from scratch. This was a bit the case with the blanket, but wanting to use only soft baby yarn, that limited my choice. It was also the case with Gay Ann Rogers's Mystery in a Corner which I ended in adding another colour to half way through.

I do find this particularly frustrating when, quite often, it can be the colour that attracts me to a design. It's so frustrating to make small changes to a design or to design my own piece and find that the colours just don't work the way I want them to.

And when I walk into a shop and look at yarn or floss or fabric, I never seem to be able to find the colours I really want, it always seems to be a compromise. Is it just me and are the shops around here particularly useless? Or is it at least partly the way I look at the colours and the possible combinations?

So I did a little bit of online research, using Ravelry as a starting point, and thought I'd share what I found.

Random stripe generator (for knitters) - www.kissyourshadow.com/stripe_maker.php

COLOURlovers :: Color Trends + Palettes - http://www.colourlovers.com/

kuler - kuler.adobe.com/

Color Wheel - www.quiltopia.com/colorwheel.html

Color Theory Tutorial by Worqx - www.worqx.com/color/index.htm

Color Wizard - Color Scheme Generator - www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp

They all look really useful, and will hopefully help me feel that I do know what I'm doing!

Here are some of the gorgeously colourful pics by other talented people I've found recently on Flickr.

Tag - I'm it!

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:11:00 +0000

Chrissie tagged me at the end of last week with the Kreativ Blogger award! Thanks Chrissie!

I've to list 7 interesting facts about myself and then pass the award on to 7 other bloggers!

She's now anxiously waiting for me to post 7 wierd and wonderful facts about myself. I've been racking my poor cold-befuddled brains all morning to think of 7 things and I have to confess that I've struggled - I'll blame the cold for that one! But I did, finally, come up with some vaguely interesting things.

I am an expert in catching colds – you can just about guarantee that for every cold that comes along, I’ll catch it!
I have two sisters and one brother, and despite the fact that my mother knits, I am the only crafty person in the family.
I once took part in a preliminary study into the relationship between asthma and pre-eclampsia.
I love Iain (M) Banks novels.
One of my ambitions is to climb all 283 Munros. Fifteen years ago, I climbed 8 of them - Sgorr Dhearg and Sgorr Dhonuill (Beinn a' Bheithir), Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin, Beinn Ime and Beinn Narnain. And sometimes I get a bit geeky about them. And I'm jealous of my youngest sister who has climbed about 50.
My all time favourite food is apple crumble! I made some yesterday and it was scrummy!
Most of the time I hate cooking - too much like hard work, unless I'm making something I like for a little bit of fun!

So there you go!

I'm now supposed to tag 7 other poeple. How to choose just 7? For a bit of variety, I've decided to pick the blogs of 7 of my Flickr contacts.

I also want to mention that Mary at M DESIGNS: Stitching With a View is having a giveaway on her blog which will include this year's JCS Christmas ornie issue! Pop along and have a look!

Rejiggling

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Please excuse the techie talk in this post, I’ve been having a bit of geeky fun here and am rather chuffed with the end result! However, I’ll put the geeky bit at the end, so that you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to!

You’ll see I’ve been tweaking my blog again and now have a navigation bar which appears just under the blog header – this is the techie bit I’m rather pleased with! I’ve put links on there for my designs and tutorials and those pages then link to the relevant blog posts. Once I get it sorted, I’ll also be adding links to PDF versions too.

And to celebrate, I’ve got some new snowflakes too! If you remember, I was posting the designs of the snowflakes I used in my Snowflakes in the Snow biscornu. I’d posted 8 and still needed 3 more, but didn’t like the designs I’d used enough to chart them and post them.

So here are 3 new snowflakes. Note that I haven’t stitched them myself yet, but I’d be interested to see how they work out!

Now for the techie bit!

I was looking for a way to make it easier to highlight and show links to my designs and the tutorials I’ve written, particularly as I’m hoping to add to them going forwards.

I decided I wanted to have separate pages to my blog which could be accessed via tabs just under the header or some kind of navigation bar. I even, briefly, considered moving to Wordpress or Typepad, but I like a lot of the bits I’ve set up here and didn’t fancy having to start from scratch elsewhere.

So I decided to search for any blogger tips or hacks which would let me do something similar here. Now, I’m quite happy fiddling around and making minor changes to my template, but I’d prefer not to have to get into the guts of XML or anything like that, so I wanted a relatively simple solution.

As usual with the internet, one link led to another and I found myself on this page, looking for a post which would supposedly tell me all I wanted to know. Instead I found a link to Add Page Element to Blogger Header and Blog Posts in the header-wrapper and main-wrapper. Using this would mean that I could add widgets above mt blog header, or below the header and immediately above the posts.

And I found another component in my XML template which I changed to allow me to add widgets immediately below my header – the crosscol-wrapper. Once I’d found that I knew how to create a simple navigation bar for the pages I wanted.

I haven’t seen this written up anywhere, and it’s the simplest way of adding a navigation bar I can think of! Once I added widgets to the crosscol-wrapper, I could add a HTML/JavaScript widget there and in that write some simple HTML for a table, with a matching background, and a cell for each page I wanted to link to on the navbar!

The links on the navbar just link to blog posts I’ve created for 01.01.2001, completely separate from my normal blogging.

How simple is that?

Here and now

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:32:00 +0000

Thanks very much for all your kind comments on my last post. After I came back from holiday, I was in two minds whether or not to continue blogging. (A hangover from my earlier apathy.) Your comments have reminded me what it is that I love about blogging – the sense of community and sharing. I can be really bad, when I feel down, at withdrawing into myself and cutting myself off from other people. I need to really push myself to get back out again and connect with the people around me. So thank you all for reminding me about our wonderful blogging community!

Over the weekend, I finally finished my August biscornu for the SAL.

It’s a design by Sue Hawkins in the Aug/Sept issue of Stitch magazine, using Polstitches varigated floss in Fireworks and Wizard on 18ct mono canvas.

After reading your lovely comments last week, I had an idea for a blog to show off the best of our stitching, where only a very limited number of pieces by each person would be featured and most of the pieces would be ‘voted in’ by readers of the blog. I think sometimes that the best of what we do can get lost under the sheer volume of ‘stuff’ that gets posted, whether on blogs, in forums, or in photo sharing. I still kind of like the idea and being more selective, but I’m not entirely sure whether it might not just be a bit too much like reinventing the wheel……

I’ve also decided that I’m going to ask at Alexander’s school about teaching an after-school club once a week after October half term – Cross Stitch for Christmas! Maybe teach a small number of the kids to cross stitch and help them make their stitching into ornaments. I was thinking about this over the spring when I was probably struggling a bit with the work/life balance, but I’m definitely going to do it this time!

And, typically when I only have limited time available, my mind is now buzzing with ideas for new designs, new things to make, new projects to try .....

Who knew that tribal tattoo designs could be such an inspiration?

Normality

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:41:00 +0000

Everything returns to ‘normal’ in our house today as Alexander goes back to school. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but I know he’ll be fine.

So where have the last 7 weeks gone? Goodness knows – time just flies past as usual! I’ve been back at work for a week now since our holiday, and it feels like I’d never been away. We had rather a wet holiday in Scotland – it just seems to be one of those years when if it’s going to rain it will and it does. So we had a wet week in Oban which didn’t suit my photography ambitions at all, but was quite good for crafting.

Before we went off on holiday, I was playing around with beads, attempting to make some beaded beads when I remembered I had a couple of Mill Hill kits I really wanted to make.

I’m so glad I remembered about this! I love the end result and I thoroughly enjoyed making it! It really got me out of my slump! Now if only I could find the other one of these kits that I’m sure I have …..

Next on my holiday to do list was this felt candle mat.

After I saw and commented on Theresa’s mat, I had to make one myself and Theresa very kindly sent me a copy of the pattern. It’s the first time I’ve made something like it, and I love it too! Thank you Theresa! I now have (yet more) plans for lots more of this kind of thing.

Next on the list was my August biscornu, but I ran out of steam with it mid way, started something else, and then ran out of floss. The extra floss I ordered arrived yesterday, so it’s on the go again and should be done by next week.

And then I made this too, it wasn’t planned, but I wanted to give it a go anyway. As a first go, it’s OK, but I have plans for a better version …..

One of the most frustrating parts of the holiday is the complete lack of interest in anything I made by my family. I know my DH isn’t interested and that doesn’t bother me – I share everything I’m working on with Alexander and will do the same with Iona when she’s bigger. It’s not that Alexander’s all that interested, but he likes to see what I’m working on and help me choose things.

However, my mother’s attitude made me cross. She’s always been of the attitude that she can appreciate looking at something nice I’ve made but she has no interest or knowledge or appreciation of anything that went into the making. Occasionally she’s made comments that I should show my creations in some kind of exhibition – what’s the point of making them if nobody ever sees them. I always explain that the things I’ve made aren’t generally original designs of my own, so I think the value in exhibiting them is limited. This time, she said more openly that unless I’m exhibiting or selling the things I make, then it’s just a waste of time. I’ve tried not to mind that she’s only ever had very limited interest in the things I make, but I do find it a bit hurtful to have her suggest that it’s a waste of time.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to make things for sale – there are far too many new and different things coming along all the time that I want to try, and I wouldn’t want to sell one-offs. If I design something myself, then I’m quite happy to share my design through this blog. I might even have a go at getting some of my designs published in magazines sometime, but I have to find the time to stitch them all myself first! Although if anyone has any better ideas, I’m open to suggestions.

Oh, and you might notice I’ve changed my template again too!

A few more odds and ends

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Well, I spoke too soon, last time I blogged. I’m still feeling rather apathetic, and struggling to find something interesting enough to do. As a result I don’t feel like I have much to say today, but I wanted to share the pics of some of the things I’ve done.

Ribbon Rhodes pincushion – this was my big idea that I was just getting going on last time – Rhodes hearts stitched with ribbon. I like the hearts, but somehow, I’m not sure I like the end result all that much.

Another complete change – a scissor fob stitched on plastic canvas using knitting yarn.

I also owe a big thank you to Deb for this lovely surprise which arrived last week.

And here’s my TUSAL contribution for July – some bits of felt, evenweave fabric and plenty of odd threads and bits of yarn.

Finally, as I’ll be away on holiday from the end of this week, I’m going to take the rest of this month off from blogging. Hopefully, I’ll be back with lots of news and photos to share at the start of September.

Time for a change

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:09:00 +0000

I've been suffering a bit from a crafting overload over the last few weeks - I seemed to work on 3 exchanges in fairly quick succession, gifts for Alexander's teachers and since then have been drifting, unable to find anything sufficiently interesting to work on. With the lack of inclination to craft came a similar disinclination to blog, so I've not been doing much and have had little to say about it.

I have, however, done a couple of things. The first is my July biscornu for the Basket of Biscornu. I'm really very pleased with it!

This was my first go at bargello and uses a coaster pattern from 'Bargello: A Fresh Approach to Florentine Embroidery' by Brenda Day. I really love the colours I've used for it too - a different combination for me - and I just don't know which side I like best!

After that, I continued the canvas theme by digging out Nova and stitching another 8 or 9 squares.

I had an idea yesterday for a stitchy project to try and had to rush home from work to dig out fabric and ribbons - it's all quite exciting and looks like the crafty overload is history! But I don't think I'll be attempting any more crochet for a little while - still feel a bit crocheted out!

As a result of my new project, I'm now lusting after a copy of Jean Hilton's Stimulating Stitches - isn't it amazing what different people think looks like fun?

More to show

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:44:00 +0000

The school holidays started here at the end of last week, so in the week up to them, my evenings were spent frantically stitching little gifts for various teachers. I ended up with these, and already have instructions from Alexander to make him an identical yellow one as that’s his favourite!

I think my next felty foray will have to be a candle mat – have you seen the gorgeous one that Theresa made?

Then on Monday, I arrived home to find that a large parcel had arrived for me from Gabriela in Chile for the amigurumi swap! Gabriela very kindly included a number of traditional Chilean goodies which were so exciting to open and examine and plan what to do with them.

This week, I’ve been stitching on (and loving) my first bargello project – I’ve done all the bargello bits, just the finishing left now!

Finally, something to share!

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:48:00 +0000

Despite the evidence of my blog, I have been making things over the last few weeks. Until this week, there was a lot of mad crocheting for two swaps. Now that the swap parcels arrived at their destinations, I can show you what I've been making.

First up is the Hippy ~~Chick~~ Monkey I sent to Amber in the June amigurumi swap on Flickr.

It's a hybrid of various amigurumi monkey patterns with longer limbs and my (not entirely successful) attempt at a pot belly! Not entirely successful as you wouldn't know it's supposed to have a pot belly, but it's cute anyway, so I don't mind!

After the monkey, it was on to this cushion I make for Alex in Mel's Cozy Crochet swap!

Both swaps were sent with a lot of other goodies which I managed not to take a photo of! You can see everything I sent to Alex on her blog, and Amber has posted a photo of her swap parcel here on Flickr.

And here's the wonderful array of goodies I received from Alex yesterday.

A gorgeous bag, hat, covered notebook, mug, coaster and hot choc, a pouch full of buttons, a bookmark, a pin cushion with a wonderful thistle on the side and a heart badge! All I can say is WOW! And the colours are all wonderful and really me and the yarns are beautiful and I'm completely gobsmacked! THANK YOU ALEX - what a wonderful swap!

On the plinth

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:04:00 +0000

I discovered One & Other this morning, via Flickr.

I love the idea!

To quote the One & Other website,

"This summer, sculptor Antony Gormley invites you to help create an astonishing living monument. He is asking the people of the UK to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, a space normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals. They will become an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity.

Every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will make the Plinth their own. If you're selected, you can use your time on the plinth as you like. One & Other is open to anyone and everyone from any corner of the UK. As long as you're 16 or over and are living or staying in the UK, you can apply to be part of this unforgettable artistic experiment.

You can play your part in making this idea a reality - either by volunteering yourself, by telling others about it, or by experiencing it online or in the square itself."

In fact, I love the idea so much, I've applied to do it! Although I would prefer not to have a slot in the middle of the night!

So, what crafty thing could I do if I get my hour?

The way we were ……

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:36:00 +0000

One of the things that’s been left for me to sort out since we sorted out the loft is my stereo. Despite the fact that it still works perfectly, I replaced it at the end of last year as I just don’t have the space for it any more.

The record player had been relegated to the loft several years ago, and the rest was initially put up in the loft as I didn’t know what else to do with it, but now the time has come to put it on ebay. There is also the added point that I found all the manuals when we cleared the loft!

So I brought it all out yesterday and set it up in the bedroom – record player and all, and, with Alexander’s help, tested that each component still works.

We has great fun with the records! Alexander had been listening to Michael Jackson at school, so I was able to dig out my copy of ‘Beat it’ – the 7” single. And after Michael Jackson, I took a trip down memory lane, through my singles collection with ‘Drive’ from the Cars, ‘If I Was’ (Midge Ure), ‘Stairway to Heaven’ (Far Corporation), ‘Solsbury Hill’ and ‘Sledgehammer’ (Peter Gabriel), 'Golden Brown' (the Stranglers), ‘Paperlate’ (Genesis).

It was a very atmospheric adventure! Somehow, the playing of a record feels so much more tactile than playing a sterile CD. The background interference of needle on vinyl just adds to it. And then of course, I remember the teenage excitement and anticipation of going up to Woolies on a Saturday morning, buying my single, and then walking home again, to sit on the floor in front of my parents’ stereo and play the precious vinyl. I remember being puzzled, until I got home, as to why it said ‘Clear Vinyl’ on the sleeve of Midge Ure’s ‘If I Was’. You can’t exactly get clear vinyl CDs!

And now my precious, 20 year old stereo is up for sale on ebay.

It’s the end of an era - I feel quite sad about the whole thing. In the mean time, I’m quite enjoying having it all set up in the bedroom – I just have to make sure I don’t kick it when I open the wardrobe!

The post without an interesting title

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:32:00 +0000

I’m thinking of starting a new SAL! Anyone like to join me? It even has a name – THE RESISTANCE! It’s a SAL for everyone out there who is managing to resist Mary Wigham on the Needleprint blog. I feel like I’m not getting very far with anything at the moment, so there’s no way I’m starting that one!

So, I thought I’d start my own SAL – the only rules are that you stitch on a large project (BAP) one day a week! That can’t be too hard now, can it?

Thanks for all your kind comments on A Patchwork of Stars - I’m glad everybody likes it! I hope some of you give it a go – I’d love to see what somebody else does with it.

I was rather surprised at the end of last week when my blog suddenly began to get a lot of traffic coming from Craftgossip. Following up on that, I was amazed to see A Patchwork of Stars featured in a blog entry there – WOW!

I’ve also been a bit puzzled by the amount of traffic I’ve been getting on Flickr, I think at least partly coming from the Cyber Stitchers EGA group on Yahoo – did somebody link to my photos from there? I’m just curious, but as I’m not a member of EGA,I probably won’t find out unless somebody reading this would like to share?

And it’s that time of the month again – so here’s my pic for the Totally Useless SAL! I was rather busy at the weekend (the imminent arrival of my parents requiring all the downstairs rooms of the house to be spring cleaned in 3 hours), so I didn’t get round to transferring things into my fancy crystal jug - you’ll just have to make to with my jam jar instead.

There’s nothing wrong with the scissors – I’ve just got into the habit of popping them in there when I’m not using them!

I’ve also been doing a fair bit of crochet since I finished A Patchwork of Stars, but as it’s for exchanges, I can’t share yet. So here’s a couple of things I put together in Flickr, just for a bit of fun!

A Patchwork of Stars

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:42:00 +0000

I didn’t manage to stitch a biscornu for the SAL in May, but I’m back on track again in June!

A Patchwork of Stars 15 sided biscornu
The design is entirely my own, inspired by the way I saw the backstitched squares being distorted as I stitched together my 15 sided Snowflakes biscornu in January. I wanted to make one where the outline squares were important, with something simple to decorate the centre of each square.

I also thought it would be fun and interesting to use different colours of fabric for the different squares, so I kept the floss colours very simple.

Here are the details of the design. All stitches are over two fabric threads unless specifically stated otherwise. Three squares of each design should be stitched.

My biscornu uses Polstitches fabric as I had the different colours in my stash already - all are documented below. I'd love to see the fabric/colour combinations others come up with.

1. Cross stitch

Floss: #12 white perle cotton, Kreinik #8 fine braid shade 032.
Fabric: 32 ct jobelan ‘Rumbles of Thunder’ from Polstitches
Embellishment: 1 silver star sequin and 1 Mill Hill seed bead.

Stitch 3 concentric backstitch squares then one squares of cross stitches as marked by the black squares in the diagram.

The red square marks the centre of the design. At this point, I attach a silver star sequin using a bead to hold it in place, the needle going up through the fabric and the sequin, through the bead and then back down through the hole in the sequin and the fabric.

2. Smyrna cross

Floss: #12 white perle cotton, Kreinik #8 fine braid shade 032.
Fabric: 32 ct jobelan ‘Neptune’ from Polstitches
Embellishment: 1 silver star sequin and 1 Mill Hill seed bead.

Stitch 3 concentric backstitch squares then one squares of Smyrna cross stitches as marked by the starred squares in the diagram.

The red square marks the centre of the design. At this point, attach a silver star sequin using a bead to hold it in place, the needle going up through the fabric and the sequin, through the bead and then back down through the hole in the sequin and the fabric.

3. Interlace

I was very pleased and surprised at how this square worked out – the interlaced running stitch is perfect for what I wanted and it’s so simple to stitch.

Floss: #12 white perle cotton, Kreinik #8 fine braid shade 032.
Fabric: 32 ct jobelan ‘Imagination’ from Polstitches
Embellishment: 1 silver star sequin and 1 Mill Hill seed bead.

Stitch 3 concentric backstitch squares as in the diagram.

Next stitch a square of running stitch mid way between the two inner backstitch squares using white #12 perle cotton. Note that the length of each running stitch is 1½ times the length of each backstitch, ie. each running stitch goes over 3 fabric threads.

The interlacing is done using Kreinik braid by weaving in and out of each running stitch. Work around the running stitch square twice, once following the red curves, once following the green curves.

More information on interlaced running stitch, with diagrams, can be found here.

Attach a sequin in the centre, as for the other squares.

4. Eyelets

I really like these elongated eyelets in the middle of each side!

Floss: #12 white perle cotton, Kreinik #8 fine braid shade 032.
Fabric: 32 ct jobelan from Polstitches (can’t remember the colour at the moment – need to check when I go home!)
Embellishment: 1 silver star sequin and 1 Mill Hill seed bead.

Stitch 3 concentric backstitch squares as in the diagram.

Using the Kreinik braid, stitch the square and elongated eyelets according to the diagram, the needle coming up through the fabric at the outer edge, and back down in the centre.

Attach a sequin in the centre, as for the other squares.

5. Double herringbone

Floss: #12 white perle cotton, Kreinik #8 fine braid shade 032.
Fabric: 32 ct jobelan ‘Mummies Curse’ from Polstitches
Embellishment: 1 silver star sequin and 1 Mill Hill seed bead.

Stitch the 3 concentric backstitch squares as in the diagram.

Between the two inner squares, stitch a square of double herringbone stitch following the diagram below. Stitch following the black line first using #12 perle cotton. Second, stitch the second, red line on top using the Kreinik braid.

Attach a sequin in the centre, as for the other squares.

Instructions for making up a 15 sided biscornu can be found here.

Alternatively, all 15 squares could be stitched using the same design, if you particularly like one of those above, or if you don't feel adventurous enough to try the different stitches. And of course, each of the small square designs could be used on their own to make a scissor-fob or mini-biscornu!

I hope all this makes sense! If any of it is unclear - please let me know!

And if you stitch any of these little designs, or the whole biscornu, then let me know and send me a photo! (Email address in my profile!)

Now, what sort of biscornu will I stitch for July? Hmmmm.......

Woohoo – passing on the good news!

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:34:00 +0000

I just read today on Claire’s blog that this is coming out on 31st August!

That, of course, sent me off and running to Isabelle Vautier’s blog - I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I first read there that it would be coming! And now we know when!

The details – volume 1 (presumably that means there are more coming? And her blog post mentions volume 2!) of Isabelle’s collection of calligraphic hearts containing a whopping 70 of her fantastic heart designs!

And I mustn't forget that I also promised I'd buy myself this at the same time .....

Never again!

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0000

For the latest exchange on the Tiny Treasures Exchange, I had to make a floss ring tag for my partner.

It was my first floss ring tag and, at this point in time, it feels like my last! Yes, I enjoyed stitching the little design I used, but the finishing of the tag itself was rather a nightmare!

Perhaps as it was my first I should perhaps have made a square one that I could have whip-stitched together, but I chose instead to make an oval one and had no end of problems trying to get the outlines of the two sides to match up, even though the were identical to begin with! All I can say is, thank goodness my glue didn’t dry too quickly as at one point I had to resort to taking it apart completely and starting again.

Even the simple job of making the hole and putting in the eyelets seemed fraught and the end result isn’t quite as neat as I would have liked.

But at least the final result doesn’t look too bad!

My partner in the exchange was Theresa who emailed at the start of the week to say she’d received the parcel.

The design I used for the tag is one I designed myself. It’s part of a range of designs I’ve been working on since the early this year. My biggest problem has been finding the time to stitch my designs. Here is the chart - click on the image and you should get a larger version.

I stitched my floss tag on 32 count jobelan from Polstitches, the colour’s called Neptune. I’d originally envisaged the design stitched on white or ecru but as Theresa likes the colour green, I decided to stitch it on green fabric – I rather like the end result.

The final item in my parcel for Theresa was this.

As she says on her blog, she likes giraffes, so I made her one. And he/she’s so gorgeous I’ll have to make more. I have to confess it’s that first time something I’ve made seems to have appealed to Iona so much – she would pick it up by the head and wander around with it, not letting go! It was a wrench to send it to Theresa!

Ooh - and while I remember, there have been a few changes here at work and at the moment I have very little time left online. I think I'm more or less keeping up with blog reading, but I'm struggling with commenting! I need to find a new sort of balance between everything.

Monkey business

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:18:00 +0000

I recently took part in Claire's Secret Monket Swap and these goodies arrived yesterday from Ruth.

You can see that Munk the rainbow monkey didn't take long to settle in and was soon making friends with the local monkeys (human and knitted) and was even persuaded to share his sweeties with Zero-X1.

For my part in the swap, I persuaded Daisy to go and live with Sam. I can see from Sam's blog that she is settling in well too, although I think the chocolate helps!

You can see on Sam's blog. a pic of all the goodies I sent - as usual, I completely forgot to take a photo of everything I sent myself!

I've been keeping the post busy this week as I've also sent off my floss tag for the Tiny Treasures Exchange - that parcel has slightly further to travel but also includes this little mystery.

I don't know whether this pic gives away it's identity or not!

A Use for the Totally Useless SAL

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:37:00 +0000

I had an idea!

I read a discussion somewhere, can't remember where, about how some people use the odd cut off ends of yarn for stuffing toys. And as I was chucking some odd threads into my jar for the Totally Useless SAL, I had the sudden thought to make something at the end of the year and stuff it with all the odds and ends from my jar.

What do you think? I have absolutely no idea what it will be yet, but it will me made specially for that purpose and to celebrate the 2009 TUSAL! Anyone like to join me?

Having just checked the TUSAL info, I think if you've got any old needles in among your SAL contribution, you might want to remove them before stuffing them into something! The same goes for floss labels and other harder or oddly shaped stuff. Although it might make for an interestingly shaped and textured object - LOL!

Here's my (better late than never) May contribution to the SAL.

And here's one with a better shot of the jug I use for the photographs.

I have to confess that this jug is a good glass one that I got from my Mum or Granny when somebody was having a clear out and it's far too nice to be used as an ort container. It lives in my display cupboard and only comes out on special occasions (like TUSAL photos).

My normal, unseen, ort jar is an empty Bonne Maman jam jar - I love empty Bonne Maman jam jars - I use them all over the place!

Return of the Jedi Stash

tintocktap@yahoo.co.uk (tintocktap) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:38:00 +0000

Remember this, back at the end of March?

Well, look at it now!!

We have our bedroom back AND I can get at my stash!

The loft has been insulated, and we've sorted through most of the boxes and bags that came down, put a lot of stuff back and got rid of a lot too. Now that everything has gone back, I can hardly believe how empty the loft is! But I'm so pleased to have reduced the 15 years worth of junk! There's even space to put more stuff up there - LOL!

While sorting through all the boxes, I was really pleased to rediscover some of my stash from the 1990s when I first started stitching. Things like these magazines -

I remember falling in love with the cover project but not knowing enought to know what to do about it or how to stitch it. That may be different now.

And this one - see that dragon in the corner? I knew enough to be able to do something about that one.

And whatever happened to Needlework magazine?

Of course, I also found cross stitch patterns and a lot of books which I no longer want. Once I sort them out and photograph them, I'll be putting a lot of it up for sale.

There were also one or two odd things in the loft that I was really pleased to find.

I remember occasionally being allowed to play with this tea set when I was a child. I think the pictures are mostly fairy tales, but I've no idea where the donkey comes from, or what it's doing!

And then there were these.

Memories of summer holidays spent collecting cowries on the beach at North Berwick.

Tintock Tap

Bluebird box again [Flickr]

Quick hello

Just Nan Bluebird Box (minus bluebird) [Flickr]

Prototype snowflake ornaments [Flickr]

Unexpected

Ups and downs

﻿There she goes!

12 stitches in September

My weekend - the best bits

Felt overdose and a new start

Colour clash?

Tag - I'm it!

Rejiggling

Here and now

Normality

A few more odds and ends

Time for a change

More to show

Finally, something to share!

On the plinth

The way we were ……

The post without an interesting title

A Patchwork of Stars

Woohoo – passing on the good news!

Never again!

Monkey business

A Use for the Totally Useless SAL

Return of the Jedi Stash

There she goes!