Monday, April 27, 2009

a couple of Blackbird finis :-)

Peacock Pinkeep - design by Blackbird Designs
Recommended 28 count Gingham Linen Weeks Dye Works
Gentle Arts Overdyed floss

This baby is big. :-) Somehow six inches round didn't seem so big when I read the instructions but in real life it's the largest pinkeep I own. :-) I finished it up yesterday afternoon. Very easy to finish but lots of hand work so it took longer than I first thought it would. Love it though!

I also had time to finish up the needlecase. I like this technique a lot and I'll be using it again.
Peacock Needlecase - design by Blackbird Designs
Recommended 28 count Gingham Linen Weeks Dye Works
Recommended overdyed floss
This was a much quicker finish - maybe an hour or so. I'm also very happy with how it looks. I'm wondering if all the sewing smalls this year will match. I guess I'll find out next month or so when the new Loose Feather chart comes out. Of course I can't wait.
I had a piece of dark green hand dyed wool for the inside.

The weather was so freaky all weekend. On Friday it was 75 and sunny. Beautiful! I left work early so I could enjoy some of it. Saturday morning started out the same and I had time to get the grass cut for the first time this year but by noon it had started to storm and the temps dropped until it was in the low 40's by the end of the day. Hence hardly any outside time and a ton of stitching time. :-)

Weather was the same on Sunday until much later in the day when the temps rebounded a bit but by that time I was fully into stitching mode. I've almost finished up the the Blackbird Designs first ever contest! Barb and Alma are in France and they say they have picked up some goodies for the winner. The rules are very simple, stitch the piece, include a bird, add your name and email a photo to Alma by April 27th (those were the rules as I understood them last week but I don't see that bit on the blog anymore). That's today. It's not a design contest - they are going to draw a name from the finished photos they receive.
You can see I added an entire bird family! I have just my name to finish and I have to figure out what I want to put in those two empty spaces. I'm thinking a heart in the upper one and maybe USA in the bigger of the two. I'll just make the deadline as I'll be finishing this on the way home from work and emailing the photo around 7:00pm tonight after I iron it. :-)

Have a great week!

15 comments:

Kathy said...

Fantastic finishes Margie! Absolutely perfect finishing.

Edgar said...

As always - your finishes are to die for!!!! I love the Petit Blue Sampler with the Mama and three little birds!!

Jan said...

Margie, I love your bird family! Also your beautiful finishes, they are amazing.

Margaret said...

Lovely finishes, and great freebie finish too! Love the bird family!

Leah said...

Congratulations, Margie, your pincushion & needlecase are so beautiful!! Love your BBD sampler, too!

Deb said...

Congratulations on your pincushion and needlecase. I can't believe you finished up both so quickly! Beautiful stitching and finishing. And I like your rendition of the BBD piece!

Anna van Schurman said...

Your pinkeep is fabulous, even if it is "huge". It is just so pretty.

Siobhán said...

ACK! Gorgeous. All of it. Everything. Your smalls are wonderful, and I just LOVE the fiber & fabric and bird family on your BBD sampler. Lovely work!

valerie said...

Wow, fantastic finishes...how'd you do them all up so fast?! They look great...

Paula C. said...

Beautiful work! I really want to stitch mine up now. I may even try to do the finishing on my own. Yours turned out so nice!

Theresa said...

Goegeous finishes!!!!!! I love how everything turned out~~~~~

Karol said...

Beautiful finishing!

Michelle said...

Gorgeous! Both pieces are lovely. I like the color changes you made as well. I'm stitching along on the top of the pinkeep...it's a fun stitch!

Françoise said...

lovely finishes!!!
regards
françoise

Sweet Sue said...

Hi Margie, these are just so very beautiful! Very nice finishing, drool~drool:)

Sue, Rochester, NY