Holy Night Stocking - Finished!

Yay - it is done, completely! Yesterday was the ANZAC Day public holiday in Australia. On Monday, I contacted the craft store and asked if they would be open on Tuesday, expecting the owner to say No. She told me if I turned up, I could call and she would let me in to get my backing fabric! Yay. My husband and I went for a drive and came home with some amazing fabric that was perfect for the back of the stocking, meaning I could finish it completely and have it ready to pass on to the new owner earlier than expected. I said to the store owner, "I'm looking for something dark blue with gold flecks in it" and she went straight to the perfect fabric. I was in and out within about 5 mins! We spent longer afterwards talking and patting their beautiful Golden Retriever dogs out the back. Gosh, made me realise how much I miss our beautiful Clarence...😔

After finishing up the Holy Night Stocking, I also finished the second of my patchwork doona covers. I had been holding back on this as my sewing machine had started to play up - I think it was something with the tension and thread. When I changed the thread, it was fine and since I only had about 40cm to sew to finish it, I did it before it decided to stop working again. I will have to get it serviced once I finish my doona covers - it has been working overtime! Burgundy and beige doona covers now ready to use.

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #43

I can only stitch in short bursts at the moment while my shoulder is playing up - very frustrating! I made a start on the name banner...

 

When I was looking at it, I thought I'd ask and see if anyone can guess what the name will be, but looking at it in the photo, I think it is pretty obvious...(but then I know what it is supposed to be).

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #42

 

Yay - I've done all the back-stitching and made a start on the name banner across the top. My shoulder is continuing to play up so I can't sit and stitch like I used to - very frustrating! I'm going to see an Osteopath on the weekend as I haven't had any success with my physio. Hopefully they can figure out what the cause of the pain is and fix it - fingers crossed!

I use Thread Heaven to stitch the gold metallic threads across the top border. It helps to make them slide through and not get as caught up as they would without it. Maybe by the end of the week, it will be done and I'll have to go to the fabric store to get some beautiful backing fabric to sew it up. The felt supplied with the kit just doesn't cut it for something that has taken so much work to stitch - you want it to be usable and beautiful. Picking out the right fabric should be a bit of fun.

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #41

 

Why can't every weekend be a 4 day weekend? How good would that be! I had a successful weekend on the stitching front - all cross-stitches done and almost all the back-stitching done too. Just some around the lamb and kitten and in the hay then it is on to the name block across the top.
I hope you all had productive Easter weekends as well!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night stocking #40

The cat (and toe of the stocking) is all done - now on to the manger and baby Jesus... I'll do the back-stitching of the bottom half once I've filled in all the stitches.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #39

The cat should be finished in the next couple of days... then the manger, the baby Jesus and the name banner... The end is in sight!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #38

The cat is making more of an appearance now. Won't be long before the toe is filled in. 
I also completely finished the first doona cover by putting little plastic snaps in place to hold the doona inside. So excited to start using it this weekend when we go to Aireys fo Easter. I'm almost done with the second one as well, but my machine stuffed itself up - I was happily sewing zig-zag along the ages, when mid-stitch, it decided it didn't want to do that anymore. It took me ages to pull it apart and clean the machine (there was quite a bit of fluff in the bobbin case) but it still isn't working quite right. It appears the tension is not correct, but I've tried both increasing and decreasing the tension and it still looks the same. Next I'm going to try a new cotton and see if maybe, just maybe, that is why it's not happy. It is so frustrating when things don't work how they're supposed to... oh well.

I hope you had productive weekends too!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #37

Last night I stitched, unpicked and re-stitched the black bit out the side for the third time, finally getting it right... you can just make out the top of the second cat. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #36

I did get a lot more done than it looks, but then I realised I'd made a mistake and most of it came out again. I decided that meant it was time for bed!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #35 & Wheat Bag

 

Filled in some more blanks last night, overall happy with my progress. I didn't think I'd get anything done as I developed a bad headache after my physio session - but took some medication and after a little while, it cleared and I felt normal again.

And here is the wheat bag I made over the weekend. It's not perfect and I'd do things a little differently if I made another one, but it works and is comfortable so that's all I care about. The strap across the middle has velcro so it undoes and allows you to position the wheat bag where you need it. That is what I liked about it when I borrowed my friend's to copy.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #33

I'm starting to get excited about visiting the fabric shop to get the backing fabric - that won't be too far away now. I'm slowly filling in the holes in the straw, there are a lot of them! I hope to have a productive weekend stitching-wise. We have a 10th birthday party on Saturday night for my nephew so that will be fun! Hope you all have a great weekend too...
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #32

I didn't get a lot done last night as I was reading a short book for work: The Secret Lecturer: an insider's guide to working in a modern university. It was a fun read and one I'll recommend to the staff at my workplace to have a look at as well.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #31

 

I saw the physio last night again for my shoulder which has been playing up for the last few months. I think we've found the spot causing the problems, as after an intensive session, I managed to sleep a whole 5 hours without waking up - first time in 2 months I haven't woken up every 2 hours from the pain in my shoulder! I'm going to do a few more intense sessions and then regular maintenance and hopefully that will keep the pain at bay in the future. It is so nice to wake up and almost feel refreshed rather than more tired than you were when you went to bed! A friend lent me a great wheat bag which I have been using on my shoulder. I'm going to try and make one on the weekend as it is shaped unlike others I have seen in the shops. It is long and drapes around the shoulder but is wider in the middle and narrower at the ends; and it has a long velcro strip to secure it in place. Just means I'll have to go to the material shop and find a nice fabric to use! Well, if I must, I must ;-)
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #29

I filled in the gaps in the heel last night so I can confidently move on sure that I haven't missed anything. The little kitten is now done as well.
I do have my next project lined up, in fact, the next two projects! I have a companion stocking to go with this one that I'm hoping to finish by June as that is when the people it is for will be heading to England to live. I can always post it to them if I don't finish it in time (and I doubt I will) but it would be nice to give it to them in person before they go. And then another stocking for a girl at work who is having her first baby in about August. There's not such a tight deadline on that one though as I have until about Nov to get it done so they can use it at Christmas time.
I'm hoping for a more productive stitching weekend this weekend than last weekend. It is the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix and my husband will be at that all day Sat and Sun so I'll have the house to myself. I plan to do the boring housework stuff this afternoon and then stitch all weekend... we'll see how that goes.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #28

 

The little lamb is done. The colours used are a grey, pale pink and a light yellow - who would have thought those colours go together to make a lamb look like that! 
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #27

You can make out the little lamb sitting by the manger now. All that definition from just 2 colours!
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #26

Well, the weekend was a bit of a waste of time - stitching wise! We made it down to Aireys Inlet, only to find in my rush to pack stuff and get away early, that I forgot the pattern sheet for the stocking. Then, I came down with a heavy cold and we came home on Saturday and I spent the next 20+ hours in bed! On Monday night, I got a little bit of stitching done after I got home late from a work meeting in the city... so there's not much to show for this weekend.

 

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #25

The heel is taking shape which is pleasing.

 

When I got home from work yesterday, there was this beautiful flower box on the doorstep - from Clarence's Vet which was a lovely gesture.

I don't know what the big green thing is in the middle. I've never seen anything like that before...

We're off the Aireys this weekend so I'm hoping a lot more stitching will get completed (and that we don't forget the veggies in the fridge crisper again!)
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #24

Thank you for your kind words about Clarence - he will be deeply missed, always loved and fondly remembered. My husband and I have even started to say 'remember when...' without blubbering too much.

Last night I made some more good progress on the Holy Night Stocking:

 

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Holy Night Stocking #23 and Goodbye Clarence...

I didn't get as much as I could have done on the Holy Night Stocking this long weekend as we had a terrible time on Saturday - we had to put our beautiful Clarence to sleep forever. He was struggling to walk & had a number of other issues. He had lost the quality of life he had enjoyed for so long, so it was time. Knowing it was the right thing to do for him, doesn't make it any easier though.

We will miss him very much but take comfort knowing he isn't suffering any more. He brought us so much joy.

Clarence

2001 - 2017

15.5 years of age (9.5 years with us)

After that, it was a little difficult to concentrate on anything else, but eventually I got going with the stocking and am very happy with the progress I made.

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie