A Successful Year at the Show

This si going to be a photo-heavy blog - just a warning!

This week was the local agricultural show for our region, which is a chance for the young amongst us to make themselves sick on junk food and show rides, and all that.  It's also a chance for people to show off their skills and talents - whether it's show dogs, cattle, horse riding, cooking, flower arranging, or hand crafts.  

This year was the first year my parents entered anything in the show - Dad in the woodworking section, and Mum in the patchwork.  They both took home prizes in their novice sections, which was very exciting.

 Mum's quilts received a few awards, including the Debbie Bell Memorial Award.  Dad's "Retired" clock received a first in its section, and the Tardis cupboard he made me received second in the furniture section.

I entered some of my cross stitch in a few different sections, and some of my photographs, and was very excited/happy/thrilled to win several prizes of my own.

My Once Upon A Time design took out first place!!

Most exciting of all was that my own design won first prize in the cross stitch section!  In fact, I took out 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Highly Commended!  There may not have been anyone else in the section, but that doesn't matter - I still kicked butt!

 Scarlett by John Clayton took second, and another of my designs, Geeky ABC took third.  Woodland Fairie by Mirabilla received a Highly Commended.  Go me!

I managed to get my pieces entered into a few different sections too to spread the love (and chances of winning!).  I entered this cushion in the "A piece for the Lounge Room".  I can't remember who the designer was - I stitched it back in 2005, however it was only this year that I asked Mum to turn it into a cushion for me.  

 Oh, and my biscornu took first in the pincushion section.

Oh, and the wall hanging that mum and I made took out third in the special challenge Anzac-themed category.

I don't have a better photo as Mum took the wall hanging
home to her place

This is the first year I entered my photos in the photography section of the show.  Of the 10 photos I entered, I received a first, two seconds, and three highly commendeds!  These were much more competitive sections (quite a large number of photos in each of the categories) so I was really really chuffed!

A closer view of my pics:

Well that's it for another year.  Time to start stitching for next year!

Happy Stitching

It's a Finish! Once Upon A Time Sampler

I've finally had a finish for March!  Hurray!

The Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet cross stitch is done and dusted.

This is the only project I have worked on all month (apart from designing custom pieces) and it went down to the wire to get it done by the end of March - 10pm Sunday night I finally put it away.

I really enjoyed stitching this pattern and watching the characters come alive.  I backstitched them all, and I think that added a whole new dimension to the pattern, unlike some of the other pixel-style people where I've only used backstitch for added detail. I think in future all the pixel-style ones will have backstitch - it defines the characters so much more and makes them 'pop' as one of my American friends would say.  The other difference in this one is the use of a  lot more half-stitches to give a more curved look to the face and clothing.  I think this has also worked really well - the characters don't look as harsh, and have a more 'real' quality to them while still looking cartoon-ish.

The fabric was hand-dyed opalesence evenweave from www.sewitall.com.au.  The threads were all DMC.

This was my entry for A Lovely Year of Finishes as well as being my only finish for OPAM for March.  I'm just glad it's done!  You can read about my start to the project here, and there's an update photo with a close up of a lot of the letters here.

Now I just have to find a frame for it.

WIP Wednesday

Back at the beginning of March, I identified my Once Upon A Time cross stitch as the project I was going to get finished this month - for both the One Project A Month and A Lovely Year of Finishes (see links over on the right)

I've stitched a couple more since I took this photo

It is slowly coming together, and I think I am on track to getting it finished.  However, it has meant that I haven't worked on any other projects this month, and I desperately need to get started on my swap stitches!

On the plus side I've only got 5 letters/sets of characters to go :)

 

 Happy Stitching!

Preparation for the A to Z Challenge

I've signed up to participate in the A to Z blogging challenge this year.

Basically, for the month of April, you set yourself a theme and blog once a day for each letter of the alphabet (excluding Sundays).  The A to Z blog people explain it best on their webpage:

"Can you post every day except Sundays during this month?  And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?  Using this premise, you would start beginning April First with a topic themed on something with the letter A, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.  It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day."

I'm still trying to decide on my theme.  It is going to be cross-stitch related (of course!) but the problem is, what theme after that?  Keebles (who first mentioned the A to Z challenge to me) got me thinking about my character alphabets, after she requested the Once Upon A Time pattern as a possibility for her theme.

Not that I'm short of options!  Themed alphabets have become my "thing" of late and there are more than a few now available from the Fangirl Stitches website.  This might be a good excuse to stitch one or two of them. :)

Happy Stitching!

The Christmas Alphabet, Discworld Alphabet and Geeky Alphabet

The Veronica Mars Alphabet, Pokemon Alphabet, Whedon Alphabet

Harry Potter Character Alphabet, Doctor Who Alphabet of characters, Mario Brothers Character Alphabet

The Doctor Who Quotes Alphabet, Christmas Carol Alphabet and
Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet

A Lovely Year of Finishes - March

I'm joining in with the A Lovely Year of Finishes, run by Fibre of All Sorts and Sew Bittersweet Designs.

The idea is that you select one project to finish each month - you post about it in the first week of the month, and then post your successful finish at the end of the month.

For March I want to finish the Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet.

I designed the pattern back in late January/early February.  I started it a few weeks ago and want to get it finished as soon as possible so I can make sure the pattern (available here) is accurate!

I've finished D, E, F, G, J, K, and Q so far.  Only 19 letters of the alphabet to go...

Happy Stitching!

Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet - it's a new pattern!

Today's new pattern was suggested as a comment on one of my blog posts - Kellie asked if I was going to do a Once Upon A Time character alphabet, as she wanted to stitch one for the April A to Z blog challenge.  My first thought was "what's the A to Z challenge?" (which I've also now signed up for); my second thought was "That's such a cool idea!".  So, after a OUAT marathon to remind myself of the characters (and to catch up on season 3) I now give to you

The Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet!

I couldn't choose between the Enchanted Forest and the Storybrook versions of the characters, so instead I used both.  And it looks so much better that way, in my opinion. :)

A is Princess Aurora
B is Belle and Belle French
C is Cora the Queen of Hearts
D is Prince Charming and David Nolan
E is Emma Swan
F is the Blue Fairy and Mother Superior
G is Rumplestiltskin and Mr Gold
H is Robin Hood
I is Ingrid the Snow Queen and Sarah Fisher
J is The Mad Hatter and Jefferson
K is Captain Hook, originally Killian Jones
L is Grumpy and Leroy
M is Henry Mills
N is Baelfire and Neal Cassidy
O is Pinocchio and August Booth
P is Peter Pan, originally Malcolm
Q is the Evil Queen and Regina Mills
R is Red Riding Hood and Ruby
S is The Genie/Magic Mirror and Sidney Glass
T is Tinkerbell
U is Ursula the Sea Witch
V is Victor Frankenstein and Dr Walsh
W is Snow White and Mary Margaret Blanchard
X is Felix the lost boy
Y is Jiminy Cricket and Archie
Z is The Wicked Witch and Zelda

Happy Stitching