Completed in 2003

View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook

I'm a member of the following Yahoo Cross Stitching Groups - why not join them too?

I own and moderate this group myself:

Visitors:

Name Notes Image

Ragdoll Angel Cat
My last finish for 2003. This is Vermillion Stitchery free chart, which you can download from here. I am stitching this on Silkweaver's 28 count Reflections Wildberry Sparkle.

I may stitch some of the other freebie angel cats as well.

Xmas Cards
Assorted Christmas Cards all from Mouseloft kits sent to other stitchers around the world:

Sent to my Mother

Sent to my Aunt

Sent to Karen

Sent to Piwi

Sent to Petra

X3 Sent to fellow Cattituders

X3 Sent to fellow Cattituders

Whew! I'm glad I started back at the beginning of November, there's still many more cards that I wanted to send out to my friends from the various stitching groups and other's I've met online during my internet career. However, so many friends, only one little pair of hands....

Bambi Cover Kit This was given away with an edition of Cross Stitch Crazy some time ago now.

MSAL Teddy Bear

"After Dinner"

This project started off as a Mystery Stitch Along in June this year on the old UKXSF group. 3-4 pattern squares were released every week or so until someone managed to guess what it was that we were stitching. In the end the pattern was guessed after week 6, by Sue Walker. After that..... ermmm it became a UFO until I finally got around to finishing it off.

This pattern is free from DMC's Website.

Cats in Hats
These four cats are free designs by Pamela Kellogg and can be downloaded from her website.

This RR has a little history to it. Originially I started it earlier this year as the Easter RR project that I was going to do with my mother, Jean and Karen. After stitching "Wishbone" I passed the project to my mother who was to stitch the next cat and past it on to my Aunty Jean. But Jean really didn't want to stitch on evenweave material, so my mother asked me if she could stitch Jean's cat too. I said yes, thinking that she would send me back the material so that I could do the last cat myself. The next thing I knew, she was halfway through the third cat too! Mothers..... I ask you. Anyway, I can't really complain as I've got a really nice pice of stitching out of it.

After my mother returned the material to me (without the cat's whiskers, because she hates backstitching) I sort of put it to oneside for a long time. But I recently dug it out again and finished off the floral border and gave the cats their whiskers.

The pattern called for Mill Hill Charms and Treasures to be attached to the cat's collars, but some of these are really expensive, so I found some heart-shaped gems and a bag of garden charms in my local needlework shop to use instead.

I finally framed it on 11th Feb, 2004.

Comical Cat - Cattitudes RR I've finally finished Comical Cat. The background did take a lot longer than I thought it would and it did get a bit laborious towards the end. But now he's done and he's going to be on his way to Katt in Canada shortly.

Dumbo Cover Kit This was a free cover kit from an old edition of Cross Stitch Crazy which I won on Ebay. I completed this on Thursday 23rd, and have been hunting around for a few days to find the mount that came with it before I can frame it properly. I'm sure it will turn up.

Mount Fuji This is a Sheila Hudson design appearing in September 2003's Cross Stitch Collection Magazine. I really liked this design - and bought the magazine just for this chart - to go on my "to be stitched" list. But my Aunt started stitching this in the middle of August, and I couldn't resist doing it as well as a stitch-a-long. We even got my mother doing it too!
I've now framed and mounted the Mount Fuji design.

I bought some blue mount board from Hobby Craft and my cousin cut it out for me, as I was not very confident about getting the curve right myself he also cut out some mounts for my aunt and my mother.

As there are going to be more of these horseshoe-shaped designs in future editions of Cross Stitch Collection, and I have plenty of mount board left over, I bought a duplicate frame so that the next one I stitch will match too.

Snow White This was a free cover kit from Quick and Easy Magazine. I'd done about an hour of this sitting, waiting in a friends kitchen, all the rest I've done this very hot week at "work". I use the term loosely as if we weren't sitting, chatting and drinking gallons of water this week I'd have never got her done!

Contented Cat - Cattitudes RR "Contented" is a re-sew for me. Unfortunately a member of the RR dropped out after the first round and Kim's piece of material went to NeverNever Land. This piece of 16 Count Aida replaced the missing one and I volunteered to re-stitched "Contented" on it when it came to me. I love this little cat!

Cultured Cat - Cattitudes RR
"Cultured" cat is the fourth cat I've stitched for the Cattitdues Round Robin. This cat is stitched on 16 count cream aida, and is a replacement piece of material for Kim after her piece was lost after a member dropped out after the first round.

As the first piece of material went missing, I volunteered to stitch Contented Cat again on it so that the material will have all four cats on it and be at the same state as the others again for round five.

Newton's Law
This was a freebie cover kit from Quick and Easy Magazine.

As is becoming the norm with these free kits, I ran out of thread yet again, this time the pale blue surrounding background colour - but the good folks at UKXSF helped out and I was able to match this anchor thread to my DMC collection.

I must say that I really didn't like the backstitching in this kit - it was all over the place!

Oliver Otter
Oliver Otter came from the DMC Oliver Otter and Friends Chart book.

I stitched Oliver for my friend Piwi's birthday as she has a thing for otters.

Tempest in a Teacup
This is a Teresa Wentzler free design which I stitched for the last leg of the ANN Fantasy 4 Round Robin. I omitted Tempest's border in favour of the Legends of the Dragons border which Piwi supplied in her patterns.

There were four members of this fantasy-themed Round Robin. Piwi in Holland, Katt in Canada, Jennifer in San Fransisco and Myself.

This round robin did get a bit out of sinc though, as my elf village has been returned to me while Piwi's Dragons and Jennifer's Moongate designs are still in circulation.

Piwi's material, which was the last leg of this RR for me has just been finished. As I've learned, this material can be a bit of a nightmare to sew with. It is very beautiful with metallic specks running throughout the weave - perfect for a fantasy design - or so we all thought - until you try stitching it under a light. The sparkles catch the light and it is like a lightbulb shining back in a mirror at you. The effect can be quite dazzling.

I've learned that the best way to work on this is to use only natural lighting - and stick to sewing in the daytime.

The design I'm sewing is Teresa Wentzler's "Tempest in a Teacup". This dragon is salmon pink and purple and seems to contrast quite well with the others previously stitched:

"Lady" of Lady and the Tramp
This Cover Kit was given away as a freebie by Quick and Easy Cross Stitch. Designer Stitches produced the kit and didn't put enough Beige thread in, but way too much peach. lol.

Other people doing the kit on the stitching groups matched it to DMC 951.

Tom Mouse This Tom Mouse Country Companions Cover Kit This was given away as a freebie with the World of Cross Stitching Magazine.
I have been taking this around in my purse with me as he is quite small and I have been able to catch time for a few stitches here and there in my breaks at work.

He's now all finished and framed. He was quite a pleasure to do.

Snatch
Snatch was a free cover kit from Cross Stitcher Magazine that I got last year. The doghouse is a mount that came with the kit, which really sets of the stitching but I only acutally stitched the dog itself.

Apparently, according to a friend of mine in south-western Australia, "Snatch" is slang for a woman's vagina. I wonder if we should tell DMC? LOL

Cantankerous - Cattitudes RR
"Cantankerous" is the third cat I've stitched for the Cattitudes Round Robin. I finished him on 25th May. This cat is stitched on Urszula's 14 count cream aida. Below is a picture of how the Cattitudes are starting to build up into a series one by one on the material.

Purr-pendicular
A Margaret Sherry Design from Heritage Stitchcraft Stitched on 27 count Linda evenweave, this design is from the same lady who designed all the Cattitudes in the Calendar which we are stitching for the Round Robin. Here is the finished piece, framed.

Baloo the Bear from Jungle Book This was a free cover kit from Quick and Easy Magazine.

See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil Three impossibly cute kittens in the classic poses. I bought this kit at Stitch 2003. I don't usually go for kits, but these were so cute I couldn't resist. Stitched on 14 count Aida, this took me less than 20 hours and is the easiest thing I've stitched in ages. Completed on 27th April. Here is what it looks like framed.

Clever - Cattitudes RR "Clever" is the second round of the Cattitudes Round Robin. I finished him on 25th March. This piece of fabric belongs to Vikki from the UK and was 16 count Cream Aida.

Cat in a Hat - Wishbone This is the first cat completed for the RR which I am starting off, to exchange with family members. This cat has been quite tricky to sew, especially the shading around his face. I skipped up to his had and then sailed through that, finishing off his face and neck at the end.

All Our Yesterdays - Sitting on a Wall This was a freebie cover kit from Cross Stitcher Magazine. I've been waiting to get this done for months and when I finally started it, it took no time at all. Completed on 11/2/03. I cannabalised a cheap "Winnie the Pooh" frame from Wilkingson's I think it really sets it off.

"Nutwood"
ANN Fantasy 4 Round Robin This is the completed material for the ANN Fantasy 4 Round Robin which came back from it's round the world trip via, Holland, USA, Canada and finally back to the UK on the 10th February.

"Phoenix"
ANN Fantasy 4 Round Robin Finished in early February, this is a Phoenix which I stitched on Jennifer's 18 count piece of cream aida for the ANN Fantasy 4 Round Robin. The phoenix was supposed to be yellow and red, but as there was something already stitched (Jennifer's Gryphon) on the material in this colour scheme, I decided to try something different, and used green and red instead. It seemed to work out well. I used red and green metallic threads that I had left over unused from my Christmas stitching.

"Contented" - Cattitudes RR

Completed in January is the first Cattitude for the RR I'm involved with. Contented reminds me of my own cat, Jade, who is a very laid-back blue persian.

This material has now been sent on to Katt, in Canada who will in turn pass it onto the next stitcher, I won't see my "Contented" cat again for another two years as the material makes its way around the world and through the hands of twelve other cross stitchers.

1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003| 2004 | 2005 | 2006