UFO

I've hardly had time to stitch at all recently, and it's amazing how quickly you just get out of the habit. But luckily, Crossstitchforum has come to the rescue. We've started a new UFO week, for the first week of every month and as I have just found a project that's at least 12 years old, I decided it was high time I joined in!!

It's called Skipping Together and is an old All Our Yesterdays kit. Here's how it started out

and after an enjoyable weekend stitching, here's where I am now:

My Latest Stitch Club Project

We're now working on a 'Pocket' - no I haven't a clue what that means either - but I'm sure it will look just like one when it's finished!!

I've really enjoyed this stitching project so far. I've discovered that I love working with perle floss and Satin Stitch. The fabric is blue 28 count evenweave (I think it's Jobelan, but I'm not sure) and we're using Chameleon perle and Chameleon cotton floss. Lovely to work with, although the yellow is a bit of a sickly colour :-( The pattern is once again from Thimble Cottage designs, so is actually designed by our stitch class teacher, Tanya.

Here's what I managed to do in class last time (I was stitching non-stop for three hours - how could it take three hours to finish just this much??)

I've now finished all I can before going back to class on Tuesday. Here's how it's looking:

And a close up to show off the little Rice Stitches and the Satin Stitch that I have been so much enjoying:

And finally the finished piece so far. There is a bit more I should have done - there should be a line of cable stitch underneath the backstitched daisy stems. But unfortunately I ran out of the perle floss so I just hope I'll be able to get more on Tuesday.

Stitch Club Update

I've done loads of work on my stitch club projects - although got nothing actually finished, though :-(

First is a Scissor Keeper. The design is by Tanya of Thimble Cottage Designs and it's worked on 28 count white linen using perle cotton and beautiful Gloriana silk. I love this floss - it's now my favourite silk. I would start collecting it, but at £4.40 a skein I don't think the collection would get very big!!!

So here are my updates on this project:

Front finished:

A close up of some of the design features. The little Rhodes hearts are cute, aren't they?




And here's where I've got to on this - front and back finished, but no instructions on how to complete the project :-(

I was a bit disappointed when I got to Stitch Club last week to find that we're just meant to finish it off ourselves - somehow. Anyway, I've found some fabric to line it with, so piccies soon on how it turns out.

Summer Garden Completed

Oh goodness, where have the last two weeks gone - I'm sure it wasn't that long ago that I last posted???

Anyway, I'm celebrating today. Not only is it the first day of spring (and the sun is actually shining too), but I've finished my Summer Garden project as well. It was really enjoyable and I'm sure now that it will be the first of many drawn thread projects now. (And someday I might even work up to a Judy Dixon piece - okay, maybe not for quite a while yet!!)

Cheeky Penguin

I completed this cheeky little penguin for a charity card project on CrossStitchForum today. At the end of March, one of our members will be taking them all to LOROS, a hospice in Leicestershire, to help with their fundraising. If you think you might be interested in joining in too, just come on over to CSF and we'll be delighted to have you take part too.

More of Summer Garden

I've been getting on really well with this over the past week. And actually, it's really not that difficult to do (fatal to say that - I bet it goes wrong now). You do need to count and count again, before any cutting, but the actual stitching is not difficult and really very enjoyable.

Here are some updates on this week's progress:

And now for the scarey cutting bit:



That's me reached over half way with this project now :-)

Summer Garden Drawn Thread Project

This week I started a (yet another!) new project. This one's a bit different as it's my first try at drawn thread work, which is downright scary to do at times!!!

I'm working on a SAL with Serinde from Cross Stitch Forum (although she hasn't started yet and I'm feeling very lonely - come on girl, get stitching!!!). We're working on the Summer Garden Garden project from Patricia Bage's beautiful book "Beginner's Guide to Drawn Thread Embroidery".

So here are my updates so far:

The fabric is 28 count linen and floss is DMC stranded and perle, and Caron Waterlillies, Rose Quartz. I started with some satin stitches

and added some satin blocks to 'hold' the cut areas

Then the moment of truth!! I snipped the fabric and drew out the threads. Not really difficult, but knowing that if you get it wrong, the whole thing is ruined is quite terrifying! I was going cross-eyed trying to count threads to make sure I was cutting in the right place.

Once cut, there are some lovely decorative stitches in this project

And here's where I've got to. The beads are Mill Hill and were quite lovely (and surprisingly easy) to add into the design.

More updates on this soon.

A Stitch A Week Garden SAL

It's time to introduce you to one of my many WIPs ( there are lots more but I thought I'd break them in gently!) This is Friendly Stitchers group SAL, with a new chart to complete every week. And yes, this one started at the beginning of the year and so far I've finished two of the charts. Every time I think I'm catching up another chart gets released and I'm even further behind again. But hey, I'm enjoying it.

The project is being stitched on 28 count Antique White Brittney. Most of the stitching will be using Chinese silk I got from eBay. The borders though are stitched using the lovely Caron Waterlilies variegated silk.


So here we have week 1, Robin:

And week 3 Snowdrops (no I haven't finished week 2 yet, but I liked this one so much it just had to be next):

Week 5 is nearly finished, so that will be next - but I'm not telling you what it is!!

Stitch Club

I joined a stitch club on Tuesday. I didn't realise how daunting it would be having people actually watch me stitch! But it looks like it's going to be fun.

On Tuesday we just worked on a little introductory project. It's a fancy initial, stitched on 28 count Brittney using Threadworx variegated floss. (Not sure if I like this thread - it seemed to knot very easily).

Finishes from 2008

Early last year I picked up my cross stitch after having ignored it for several years - and I haven't stopped stitching since! Mostly to blame is Cross Stitch Forum - a wonderful place full of enthusiastic and friendly stitchers who will gladly introduce you to the real meaning of Stash :-)

Anyway, today I just want to show everything I managed to complete last year. There's not a huge amount, but I love them all.

Here's my first finish of last year (this only took me 12 years to complete!!!!)

And here are all the others:

A charity card for Cross Stitch Forum

Orchid Panel:

Poppy Card

Anemones - this was my holiday project and will always remind me of a wonderful holiday in Cyprus last summer. It's stitched on 28 count linen, using DMC linen threads, and finished with turquoise blue beads. I love the look of the finished project, but have to admit I didn't enjoy working with the linen floss.

My Christmas 2008 ornament (I'd like to start doing one or two of these every year now)

It doesn't look much really when you see them all together - but I've got several more I've been working on, but have not actually finished yet. I'll post an update on these soon.

A Start And A Finish

I've been meaning to start a stitchy blog for ages, so what better time to start one than with a finish!

My Mum gave me the beautiful Rennie Mackintosh design 'Rose Boudoir' for Christmas 08 and I've completed it in (for me!) record time. Just for the record, it's from a kit by Rose Swalwell from Derwentwater Designs, is stitched on 16 count cream Aida and uses mostly Anchor floss, with a couple of DMC threads and some silver metallics (which sadly don't show up well in the photos as they really bring the piece to life).

So here's how it came together:

and finally the completed project:

The original stained glass piece by Charles Rennie mackintosh is on view to the public at The Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow University. I'd love to go and see it someday now!

Here's what it looks like: