About Me

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I have been stitching since the late 80's I used to knit till it went out of fashion in the 80's,I enjoy many forms of stitching hardanger,blackwork, any counted stitches, cross-stitch, Quilting,stumpwork,beading and of course my first passion which was knitting.I love the colour purple, I like to stitch samplers I love alphabets, will design my own for special occasions.I like following designer lizzie kate, brent creek,prarie schooler, shepherds bush, little house needlework, Country Cottage Needle work and many more.

Monday 3 May 2010

Geoff the Giraffe

It has been a sad time these pass few weeks, my Father died on the 24/4/10 he had prostate cancer which had spread, he spent his last 2 weeks of life in a hospice with his family around him he received superb care and died peacefully. He had wanted to go to his grandsons christening which was yesterday but it was not to be.
I have found my cross-stitch a great help as I took it to the hospice and sat by his bedside and stitched for many hours.
I had already mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to knit a soft toy to go with the Birth Sampler I made for my Nephew Christening here he is Geoff the Giraffe he was taken from Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen, I may have to knit a couple more of them as he was very popular once people saw him.

Here is the Birth sampler framed it was not easy choosing a mount to go with the stitching, I am very pleased by the end result.

I went to a workshop at Robinhoods Bay last week which was a welcome distraction, It had been arranged by Jenny we had requested a workshop on finishing Techniques so she had invited Julie from Spellbound Beads who worked us hard all day. She showed us how to make loops with wire and wrapped loops, how to open jumprings, Calotte crimps and beading threads, Alternative endings for multi-stranded designs, use of stranded beading wire and crimps how you hide the thread in beads and the use of lace ends.


When we arrived all the equipment needed had been provided for our use and she had brought loads of beads for us to uses, we had all been given a bag of findings we would need to use. We all came away with many finished items earrings, necklaces and bracelets, usually I came away with a bit of beadwork about 2-3 inches long and certainly not finished.
Jayne

6 comments:

Lynn Bourke said...

So sorry to hear about your father...My thoughts are with you.

Love the giraffe you made to go with the sampler!

stitchersanon said...

I am very sorry for your loss. The sampler looks lovely, perfect. I am glad you have something positive to show for such an awful time. I am sure your father would very much approve of such a lovely finish and its purpose.

Melanie said...

So sorry for your loss. :(

Neabear said...

I am so sorry to hear about your father. I am glad it was a peaceful death. The sampler looks great. Congrats on finishing it. Cute giraffe too!

Brigitte said...

So sorry to hear about your father.
The birth sampler is wonderfully framed, it's a pleasure to look at it.

Cindy's Stitching said...

I am sorry to see you had a close family member pass away. I received the christmas ornament exchange from you Jayne and I just adore it. You have quite talented from what on see on your blog. What did you stuff the ornament with. I like how it feels tight? Thank you so much for a great exchange. Cindy