Translate

Saturday 22 November 2014

TUSAL of Finishing

It's TUSAL time again!  For those of you new to blogging, the TUSAL is a project run by Daffycat, click on the button on the right hand bar for more details.

This year I am intending to stitch The Little Stitcher's Twelve Days of Christmas as a monthly project.  Laura has designed twelve charts with a different theme for each one to represent the days of Christmas.  She has invented the different themes herself using her lovely imagination!

This week I have stitched The Day of Finishing.  Here it is as part of my TUSAL photo:


And here is the close-up: 

As most stitchers know there are two types of Finishing.  The first is the finished stitched piece, like the Eleventh Day shown above.  All the stitching is done and it can be added to my list of finished pieces, currently at 51 pieces for the year.  But what of the second type of finish?  Actually "finished- off", whether that be framed, mounted or ornamentified?  Sadly that number is much lower.  How many of us put our stitched pieces into a nice neat pile of "To Be Finished Properly Later"?

I have to be in the right mood to do actual sewing so the pile of things I want to make into ornies is growing tall!!

The new start you can see in the main TUSAL photo is Jack-A-Rachnid by Tempting Tangles from JCS Sep/Oct 2013.  This has been on my list since I got the magazine and I am so pleased to be able to make a start on it.  The fabric is a random 32 count linen from a Crafty Kitten grab-bag.  It's a pinky-orange colour.

I spent some time this week going through my JCS magazines especially the Christmas Ornie editions.  I make a list every year of which designs I like and then stitch about one of them!  Here is my Top Nine from this year's magazine:


Top row - Summer House Stitches; The Workbasket; Ink Circles
Middle Row: Victoria Sampler; Blue Ribbon Designs; Dragon Dreams
Bottom Row: SamSarah; Little House Needleworks; Dames of the Needle

These two tied for tenth place!
Tempting Tangles; New York Dreamer

The categories were interesting this year.  I either liked none or several in a category!  The red selection was interesting because I liked the whole page but when I came to choose I realised that there wasn't one which stood alone.  It was the effect of all the red I liked rather than the ornies themselves!

I also don't usually choose snowmen designs, but here they are - three of them!!  I love the snowbaby putting the star on the tree, it would make a lovely Baby's First Christmas ornie.

Finally, don't forget to read all about the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL and I now have enough people for the Advent Calendar Blog Hop!  Yay!


7 comments:

Kate said...

It would be some serious decision making to choose only one of those lovely designs to stitch. :)

Vickie said...

I just really like the Eleventh Day stitch.
I have NEVER been one to leave stitching for final finishing, UNTIL this year. :( Oh my!

Katie said...

Congrats on the adorable finish. Love the new start. I was disappointed with this year's magazine but most the time when I see someone's stitched up piece I like it a lot better than the magazine picture.

I have a bin full of finishes that I need to do something with.

Susan said...

I have a drawer where the only finished larger pieces are stored and a 12X12 box with all my ornaments and smaller pieces. I can do the basic pillow and flat finishes but am rubbish when it comes to embellishing them so they all sit (well and I"d need to win several lotteries to frame all the pieces that need framing).

Julie said...

I have a pile of 'will finish it another time' pieces.

Kaisievic said...

Some very lovely choices there, Jo (we have overlapped on some of our choices).

rosey175 said...

I think that 'one more stitch' is just adorable. That Summer House one is great too; so many different color schemes popped into my head when I saw it!

I try to finish-finish the smaller pieces right away because I know they'll sit forever and a day if I don't! I think I may have to break that rule this year just to add more to the finished stitching pile, bleh.