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: