Brummie Blogger

The Great Escape - part six

There were just two stitches in this part and just one row of each to do. It still took a while though as the Oyster stitch was very umm, interesting to do. With all of the other stitches, once I've done one or two of them, I can do them without looking at the instructions. Not this one. I just couldn't get the hang of it. I could do it ok, but I had to follow the diagram every step of the way. For all ten reps. The first stitch looks a little loose in the photo but I've fixed that now. It does look very effective and I'm very pleased with it but I just could not get the steps to stick in my head.

The other stitch, Breton, was much easier but I had difficulty in getting the stitches to look even. They just wouldn't cooperate in twisting the same way each time. Grrr.

I managed something I could live with in the end though and this is what the addition looks like.

Hmm, still not sure about that Breton stitch.

This is how it's all looking now.

I think the next part is the owl's wings. I may use a slightly darker shade for his wings and feet. I have one all ready which should look good. For now - back to Wildflower.

Wildflower has leaves

Four leaves to be precise. I've enjoyed stitching these even though they didn't come out quite as I'd expected. Looking at the picture the centre of the leaves looks a very definite blue. Maybe a blue/grey, but definitely more blue than anything else. I've bought the correct shade of thread but it's not blue. It's grey and if I had to say what shade of grey, I'd have to say it was a grey/green. The design isn't a new one though, so I'm assuming that this thread may have been one colour when it first came out, but it's evolved into something rather different over the years.

Having said all of that, after stitching the first leaf with the pink around it, I decided that I liked it enough not to want to go searching for 'just the right shade of blue' to substitute for it, so it can stay. After all the faffing around with the Peapod Green for Tree of Stitches, I'm feeling less inclined to fuss over this. It's a nice enough grey. It looks pretty with the pink. It looks good against the pale grey fabric. Most importantly it's stitched and it's staying stitched.

So, leaves...

Isn't that pink gorgeous? I'm loving that yellow too. This is what the whole thing looks like now.

I might do the spiral bit next as that looks like fun. Maybe I'll just do the next part of The Great Escape first though. Decisions...

The Great Escape - part five

This has taken me ages. I did the feathery bit above his beak first, as it says in the instructions but when I went to do the first eye, I realised that I was one thread out and it just wasn't going to work. I was too disheartened to frog straight away so I put it away until the next day.

Then I came down with a cold which I've still got, and have felt too rotten to stitch. I really need to concentrate on this, especially considering that miscount, so having a fuzzy head just wasn't going to help. I felt slightly better today but mostly I just really wanted to crack on with my owl. He needed some eyes. Also, part six was released yesterday and I don't want to get too far behind.

So, this is what he looks like now.

There are three new stitches in there. The one above his beak is Sprats Head stitch and is the one that gave me trouble. The outside of the eyes is Jessica stitch and was easy enough. I just had to count carefully and I used a laying tool to get the threads to sit nice and straight. The centre of his eyes is worked in Diamond Eyelets. Once I'd got the placement worked out, that was simple enough. It was just a case of getting the tension the same on both eyes.

Out of the three, I liked Jessica stitch best. It was quite satisfying to do and I love the effect.

I'll probably do a bit more on Wildflower before carrying on with this as it's calling to me.

The wildflower takes shape

Usually I like to start a new project at the top left or in the centre but I was a bit undecided with this one. In the end I thought it might be fun to do all of the stem first and then work around that. I did a bit of gridding to help with the count, so please ignore the thin black lines of thread.

I'm loving this design already, and now that the green is pretty much all done I can start on the lovely bright colours. This thread is very variegated and it shows up beautifully in the green that I've done. I can't wait to see what it looks like in the other shades.

I may do part five of The Great Escape next as I have that printed off, but this is calling to me so maybe I'll add just a bit of colour to it first.

 

The Great Escape - part four

Oh my, this part was daunting. I saw the chart for this and was rather worried that I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Ok, so it's only straight stitch, but it's still quite complex in the way it's laid out. Also, some is in one strand, some in two and some in three. It gives it some lovely texture but also makes it more 'interesting' to stitch. I'm proud to say that I didn't let it defeat me though. I took a couple of deep breaths, and made a start.

I was very, very careful to count carefully before making any stitches as I didn't want to get all the way around only to find that I was one thread out. I also used a spare needle as a laying tool to get all the threads nice and parallel so it looks as neat as possible. I took my time with it and did it in two sessions. It took much longer than any of the other parts but I'm really pleased with the result.

My owl now has a beak and the outline of his head.

I wonder what's coming up for part five...

And another one

Time for another SAL with Tree. This is one of the ones that we bought from The Patchwork Rabbit on our little spending spree a while back. I hadn't seen this particular chart anywhere else and when I spotted it on their website while I was looking for LHN Sunflowers, I was instantly smitten. Luckily Tree liked it too so we're stitching it together.

I've posted a picture before, but here's a little reminder of what it looks like. Isn't it just gorgeous?

I got the threads from The Patchwork Rabbit when I ordered the chart as they're so cheap for Gentle Art threads, which is what this uses. Later on I got the buttons from them as well as they have the packs specially for this chart. I dithered for a while over the fabric. I wanted to use something that I already had as I'm starting to build up a bit of a stash but the only one that I thought was suitable in colour was a 32 count. Tree checked the sizing for me and we decided that it would be ok with the buttons. I'd been concerned that the buttons would be too large on the wrong count as this should be on 28 count.

In the end though I've gone with a 28 count, mainly to spare my eyes as I've been so headachy lately and I don't want to push my luck. I've got a similar colour and I've got another project in mind, a smaller one, for the 32 count. If I can find the chart that is. It seems to have gone missing. Sigh.

The fabric I'm going to use is a Britney in Pearl Grey and looks lovely with the thread colours and the buttons.

The fabric is hemmed and pressed and everything is collected together so I'm all ready to go. I'm really looking forward to starting this one and may just put a few stitches in tonight. Update coming soon, I expect.

And yes, I do know that I now have a quite unreasonable amount of Works In Progress. Do I care? I do not. It's all good fun, eh?

Says it all

Sometimes you see a chart and you have to have it. I saw this and it just spoke to me. I loved the colours, and the wee buttons on the corners, but most of all I loved what it said. It's just me really, don't you think?

 

The chart is called Lost it! and is by My Big Toe Designs. I stitched it on 28 ct Cashel linen in light mocha. It only uses three colours of Weeks Dye Works thread, which was lovely to use. The border is in Dutch Iris and Meadow, both of which had a lot of variegation, and the words are in Merlin, which looked as if was variegated but it didn't show much once stitched. I still like it though. The buttons are JABC.

I started it last weekend. I haven't done any stitching during the week as I've been headachy again but I managed to get it finished last night. I just need to think about how I want to display it now. It's not going to go in a frame with glass because of  the buttons so maybe I'll do something different with it.

I'm about to start another Stitch-a-long with Tree and it's a beauty. Can't wait to get cracking on it.

The Dark Side

I said I'd never do it but today I finally gave in to the inevitable and bought a Kindle. I had a huge wodge of Tesco vouchers so I've treated myself for my birthday.

I've said over and over again that digital books aren't 'real' books and I've turned my nose up at all the various e-readers. I tried reading on my DS and didn't particularly get on with it. No, I was convinced that nothing could replace paper. I love the smell of it, the feel of it and the look of it. I love having walls lined with bookcases. An e-reader just wasn't going to do it.

But here I am with a shiny new Kindle. I've been thinking about it for a while. I've seen a friend's Kindle, and talked to other friends about theirs. It'll be an awful lot easier going on holiday if I don't have to take fourteen books with me. I can access all those lovely free books, and there are short stories only available in digital form. It's light to hold and much easier to read than some of the chunky bricks I've been reading lately. Especially when you consider that I tend to read one-handed when I'm eating.

It had to be done. I've finally gone over to the Dark Side.

I've been playing with it all afternoon and now have quite a few books on it. All free ones apart from one. I've taken the advice of one of my friends (thanks Tree) and have bought myself a gift voucher to buy books with. Well, actually, I sent it to myself from Stephen with the message "Happy Birthday" on it. I thought he'd like to do that for me.

I had a bit of a 'mare getting it do the wireless thing as the router is locked down tight, but I got them to talk to each other in the end.

It won't replace real books, of course. It's just a supplement to my ever increasing library. But it's a fun supplement and I'm going to enjoy playing with it.

Books read in October

 Only eleven books read again this month. I'm definitely slowing down a bit this year with all the headaches. Pesky things. I have read three fairly chunky books this month though and I've read a great mixture again with some real winners in there.

Hunt the moon - Karen Chance
This was the next book in the excellent Cassie Palmer series and I'd been looking forward to it for a while. The books are great fun and are a smashing twist on the usual vampire fare. I loved this installment. Lots of action and adventure with plenty of humour too.

Crime and punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
This was an easier read than I'd expected and was quite enjoyable, although I did want to give a couple of the characters a good shake.

The Watchtower - Lee Carroll
This is the sequel to the excellent Black Swan Rising, which was one of the books sent to me by the Transworld Book Club. I gave it a review to itself which is here.

The poisonwood bible - Barbara Kingsolver
I read this for The Big Read challenge. It's quite a thick book and I've been ignoring it in favour of other books for quite some time as I wasn't sure if I wanted to read yet another book set in Africa. Once I started it though, I realised that this one was quite different to the others that I'd read and it really was enthralling. I can see why it got its place on the list. It follows the lives of a family who go to live in a small village when their father goes to do missionary work and then you see what happens to the family as they gradually go their separate ways over the years. It's told from the viewpoints of the four sisters and the mother in different chapters. It was an excellent read and I'd definitely recommend it.

The Bomber - Liza Marklund
Reviewed for the Transworld Bookclub here

A fine balance - Rohinton Mistry
This is a lovely chunky book and another one that I've read for The Big Read challenge. It's set in India around the mid-seventies and is quite bleak in parts. It centres around the relationship between four people whose lives come together because of the troubled times. I really enjoyed reading it, despite the sad and sometimes horrific nature of the story.

Plum lucky - Janet Evanovich
I still don't like the 'between the numbers' books as much as I like the numbered books in the series, but this one was funny. I think the best bits were with the horse, and of course Grandma Mazur. The image of Lula as a supermodel was pretty amusing too, I have to admit. A quick, fun read.

Fearless fourteen - Janet Evanovich
I knew that getting just Plum lucky out of the library would leave me wanting more, so I gave in to the inevitable and got this one at the same time. And then I read them back-to-back. This was priceless. Maybe not quite as funny as some of the others that I've read but it had some great moments in it. I loved Zook and what he did to Stephanie's car. The increasingly funny appearances of Brenda were excellent and some of the character's names were inspired. Then there was Lula and Tank. And of course, Grandma Mazur stole the show. I'd love her for my Grandma.

Exposed - Liza Marklund
As I'd enjoyed The Bomber so much I wanted to dive straight in and read another of this author's books and this seemed to be the best one to read next. The author says that you don't need to read them in order, and she didn't even write them in order. The Bomber was her first book, and is actually the fourth one in the series, I believe. This one was the first in the series but it made no difference that I'd read the other one first, so I guess the author was right.
Exposed was absolutely brilliant. Once again there was such a great feel for how it is to live and work in Stockholm. In this book Annika is a temp at the newspaper and isn't sure what her future holds. There has been a murder and she gets the initial tip off so has been looking into it to write it up for the paper. All the way through there are mysterious diary entries at the start of the chapters. You don't know whose they are but they're quite chilling and you wonder how they're connected to the murder.
The conclusion to the Annika's involvement with the investigation is excellent, but the part where you find out the significance of the diary entries took my breath away. I really did not see that coming.
A cracking read. I think she may be a new favourite author.

Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
I found this a bit hard to read at first because of the way it's written. It's all in slang, and Scottish slang at that. After a while though it started to make a bit more sense without me having to sound out every word and about halfway through the book I was almost comfortable with it. It was similar to reading Clockwork Orange in that respect.
I've never seen the film so I didn't know what the book was going to be about but I had a vague idea it was about drugs and stuff. That was fairly accurate but obviously there was a lot more to it. There was sex and violence too. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed by it but it was an ok read and it's another one ticked off The Big Read list.

The Enchantment Emporium - Tanya Huff
I spotted this on Amazon and bought it for two reasons. The main reason was that I've read two of the author's series before and liked them both so assumed that this book would be quite good too. The other reason is that like the others, it's set in Canada. Unlike the others, this one is set in Calgary and I was about to visit there. Ok, so I was only going to be there for a couple of hours as we were just flying home from there, but it was enough of a connection to make me want the book.
I'd hoped to read it before we went but it arrived only a couple of days before we flew out so it's been sitting on my TBR pile until a couple of days ago when it decided to wave at me as I was looking for my next read. As far as the location went, the part set in Calgary, which was most of it, meant very little but the main character took a day trip to Banff and I really enjoyed that part of the book as I did love Banff. It was great to read some fiction set there.
The rest of the book was rather good too. I thought the magic and mythology took a while to be explained and for a while I was a bit confused, but once I got my head around what it meant to be a Gale, I loved it. It looks like there's going to be a sequel so I'm really hoping it'll develop into a series as there's a lot of potential there.