Happy Dance! - Dormouse

Design: Dormouse

Designer: Gillian Bowater. From Needlecraft November 1991

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 14 count aida, white

This little mouse rather reminds me of my guinea pigs, and their fondness for snuggling under blankets and duvets. I'm sure Jasper and Rowan would love beds of their own with patchwork quilts and lots of pillows...

This stitched up pretty quickly once I'd frogged the mistake (a couple of stitches) which had caused it to be abandoned in the first place!

See what I mean about snoozing in comfort?

Happy Dance! - Blue Tit

Design: Blue Tit

Designer: from a chart in Cross Stitcher

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 14 count aida, pale blue

When I pulled this out of my stash, I thought it was actually finished, and I was about to make it into a birthday card for my dad. It was only when I caught sight of the chart that I realised the poor little bird had nothing to perch on.

It took me longer to pull the two shades of floss and thread my needles than to actually complete the stitching ... and now it is definitely ready for making up into a card!

Fortunately, my parents are not as superstitious as my gran's old neighbour. Mrs Parsons would not allow ornaments or even pictures of perching birds inside the house (so no robins on Christmas cards!) - she claimed they were unlucky. Is that a common superstition? I thought it was quite amusing, given that Mrs P kept a budgie for many years ...

Happy Dance! - Liberty Print Miniature

Design: Liberty Print Miniature

Designer: Liberty of London

Threads: Unknown

Fabric: 18 count aida, antique white

Again, please excuse the grubbiness of this finish - it's now washed and looks fine - but you would be grubby if you'd been hanging around, unloved and incomplete since 1991.

I think this is one of my oldest UFOs and I'm so pleased to have finally finished it. It took hardly any time at all as it was nearly there but - again - I needed to match up the colours as I had lost the threads, the chart had no colour key and no clue as to the brand of threads.

I started this at a difficult time in my life, and in my early days as a stitcher. I'm not going to show you the back, because it's shocking! And if I was going to start this now, I would use one strand for cross stitch on 18 count, not two, as it is a bit chunky looking, probably because my stitches aren't as even as I can make them these days - but I guess that's what practice does! :o) It was put aside because of counting errors - and then I lost the threads. Twenty years later, I had the confidence to sub a thread and to fudge and make allowances for the errors. So, actually, I think this little piece is a symbol of my journey as a stitcher, in a funny sort of way.

I think I will make this into a pincushion, I have some fabric which - although not a Liberty print - is very similar in style and colouring to this.

Happy Dance! - The White House

Design: The White House

Designer: Rowandean Embroidery

Threads: DMC (I think, no credit given in kit)

Excuse the grubby mark on this, I was so excited to have it finished I didn't wash it before I took the photo. The mark did come out, by the way...

I bought this little kit in the mid 1990s, and worked on a bit of it - I don't have a huge tolerance for French/colonial knots. Then it was put away, I worked on it some more when I moved North, and then lost the thread organiser with the threads on it. And Rowandean, although they produce fantastic quality kits, don't identify their threads by brand/colour number. And being basically lazy, I never got round to matching the work I'd done with my DMC collection, until recently. Once I'd done that, it took less than an hour to get this finished, despite even more French/colonial knots ...

As this looks a little like the house on my Spirit of Scotland piece, I will probably frame this and hang it adjacent to it. I'll get a biggish frame and get my framers to cut a suitable mount to show it off - the stitched area is only 3.25" x 2.25"

Although I like this - and Rowandean designs in general - I find the freestyle nature and lack of order hard to deal with sometimes. I must be more of a neat freak than my home would suggest!

Happy Dance! Holly Berry Sampler

 

 Design: Holly Berry Sampler

Designer: Bent Creek

Threads: DMC conversion

Fabric: 28 count evenweave, Silkweaver Solo, unknown colour

Embellishments: Dress-It-Up buttons (Keepsake Christmas)

This is the third and final piece in a series that - once upon a time - was going to be a Round Robin. The group collapsed, but I was fortunate enough to get this piece back, and I've worked on it sporadically ever since. 

This was just waiting for buttons, but it took a while for me to find the "right" red - the charted Poindexter buttons were £0.75 EACH and that just wasn't going to happen ...

You can see all three samplers below - my dilemma is - do I frame them separately, or all as one piece, and have a Christmas tree on display all year round? What do you think, stitching friends?

Happy Dance! Country Cottage - Jolly Red

 

Design: Country Cottage

Designer: Jolly Red

Threads: Anchor as charted (mainly)

Fabric: 14 count aida, white

This was one of the "Finish or fling" projects from earler this year, and really stitched up in not very much time at all once I got going. The reason it had been abandoned was wha I thought were counting errors on my part, but having spent some cool, calm and collected time with it, I am declaring that it wasn't all my fault! The chart and stitched model differed quite a lot - one complete row missing on the cover photo, and there were some colour difference too. I hate that - I thought the whole point of model stitching was to catch flaws?

Apart from that little gripe, the kit was good quality - Anchor threads were included, and lots of them - probably enough to stitch the design again and the design itself is very cute. I will ask The Tot if she would like it for her bedroom, as the colours are similar to her new room decor!

Happy Dance! - Happy Happy Bunny Day

 

Design: Happy Happy Bunny Day

Designer: The Trilogy

Threads: Various - DMC, GAST, House of Embroidery

Fabric: 14 count aida, tea dyed by me

It feels a bit of a con calling this a happy dance, as to be honest, it only needed the buttons sewing on - but hey, it was in my UFO pile, so I'm counting it!

I loved this design, but I made a few alterations to make it my own, including changing some of the coloured letters in the alphabet to highlight my initials. The buttons came from my stash and although they don't quite match the pink enough for my obsessive little self, they'll do!

Finish or Fling? - Christmas Patchwork

This is probably another project from my time on the South Coast - I was unhappy and I think it showed in my lack of stick-to-it-ness with projects. I had plans for a lap quilt size project from a selection of scraps, but like the Advent Calendar, the fabrics I've used already are a mix of cotton and polycotton, and there is one block finished and one block cut out.

Pros:

• Cheerful
• Uses fabric scraps

Cons:

• Bad fabric choices
• Lot of work if I stick to my original plan
• The Hermit hates Christmas, and another big project hanging around could tip him over the edge!

So - finish or fling?

Verdict: finish, but only these two squares. I might make them into something small, like potholders or a couple of scissor pouches.

Finish or Fling? - Country Companions Wedding Sampler

This is another UFO inherited from my mum's friend. I've never touched it as I have even fewer friends getting married than having babies! I think the last wedding I went to was my sister's, five - or is it six? no, seven. OMG - years ago.

Pros:

• Not a lot to do
• Would make a nice gift

Cons:

• No one to give it to
• Lot of backstitch to do
• On aida
• I don't really do cute
• No idea where the chart is
  

Finish or fling?

Verdict: if anyone would like this as a wedding sampler for a couple they know, I will finish it for them - providing I can find the chart! Otherwise, it will be flung!

Alphabet Sampler - Long Pillow Finish

This little piece of stitching came from a free cover kit from Needlecraft magazine, sometime in the late 1990s. I think - as was almost ubiquitious with these kits - it was made up into a card. I stitched it and gave it to my gran one birthday. As with everything I stitched for her, she kept it, and when she died five years ago, all these little pieces came back to me. Unfortunately, the card had been damaged, so I carefully took it off the mount - the margins were teeny tiny, as you can see - and kept it in my finishing box.

I didn't really know what to do with it - it wouldn't have made a pinkeep, for example - and the usual "four borders of fabric" pincushion seemed a little, well dull. And then, I remembered all those long pinpillows I'd seen on other people's blogs, and I knew that it would be a perfect finish for this! So off to my fabric stash I went...

I am not exaggerating when I say it probably took me as long to choose a fabric as it did to make the pillow - and I stitch everything by hand! Part of the problem is that rusts, purples and plums are my favourite colours. So I have a lot of fabric in those particular shades. And I really did want to use something from my stash - the reason why I was making this up was because I was snowed in, and couldn't get to the quilt shop which is normally only a 20 minute walk or 5 minute bus ride away down the hill. The hill being the problem...

In the end, I settled on this slightly distressed looking check, which reminded me a lot of a pinafore dress I used to have as a child.

The ribbon also came from my stash, and was originally a charity shop find. Again, it took a while to go through my box of trims to find something I was really happy with. Fortunately, when I showed it to The Hermit, his first comment was about how the ribbon sets it all off nicely so it's probably okay ;o)

This was the first of the finishing I need to do for The Year of the UFO, but I will have to stop for a few days as I have a heap of Uni work to do!

Finish or Fling? - Christmas Ornaments (Felt)

This is a set of eight ornaments from a Bucilla Kit. I've completed two, and they've been displayed each Christmas for years now. Because I bought this kit in (blimey) 1997 when I worked in a small South Coast town called Havant for a while. It wasn't totally a happy time and I ended up back 'up North' with my parents. So it wasn't all bad in the end...

Anyway, I don't think I'm harbouring unhappy associations with this - I had to look on Google maps to remember the name of the town! - so:

 Pros:

• Different technique to my normal stuff
• Very cute
• Can work on one ornament at a time
• Have others completed

Cons:

• Very fiddly to do, lots of beads and sequins
• The Hermit hates Christmas stuff

So, finish or fling?



Verdict: finish.

Finish or Fling? - Christmas Ornament

I know I started this when I was working in my last full time, permanent job. So 2004 or 2005, and I've done the odd little bit since. Although I like the colours, I don't like working with the metallic floss - and I'm not totally happy with how the French knots look.

Pros:

• Not a lot of work to do
• Would look great in the basket in my bathroom

Cons:

• Working with metallic floss - and aida
• There's a ring mark which I'm not sure will come out, which will limit finishing options

So, finish or fling? This is going to be a close run thing...



Verdict: finish

Finish or Fling? - Chatsworth

This UFO isn't even one of mine - I think my mum was given it by a friend, and somehow I've ended up with it. In my defence, it is only a recent acquisition. So, do I adopt it and finish it? Or should I pass it on again?

Pros:

• The local connection - Chatsworth is only about 10 miles away and as a family we often used to go and picnic or walk in the grounds
• Would go with my Derbyshire map project
  

Cons:

• No personal connection to the project
• Stitched on aida
• Lot of work to do
  
• No picture of the finished design (and I can't find one online)

This is a picture of Chatsworth House. It is thought that Chatsworth was the basis for Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice, and indeed, was featured in the Keira Knightley film version.

So - do I Finish or Fling?


I think, on balance, I will fling this, but keep the chart in case I feel a burning need to do it at some point in the future.

Finish or Fling? - Christmas Cards

There are two designs in this kit, and I've only started one of them. And barely done that - just traced the design onto the fabric and made a few stitches.

The kit finishes these designs as card, but I think they would make cute pillows.

Pros:

• Not cross stitch, so something different
• Not huge designs
• Like the designs
  

Cons:

• I don't find freehand embroidery as relaxing as cross stitch
• Orange? for holly? Yuk.
  

So, finish or fling?



Verdict: I think I will fling these, certainly the one I have already started, and use the buttons etc for other projects.

Finish or Fling? - Bless The Baby

I started this in 2000 for a colleague's baby. And then gave the proud parents something else. This pattern was repeated for all the babies that have happened since,which hasn't been many. In fact, there have been six in nine years - I don't seem to have the sort of friends who want families!

So, on a twist on the 'Finish or Fling' theme I'm going to do both. If you - or someone you know - has had or is soon to have a baby, I will finish this design, with the baby's name and birthdate, and will add a charm too before finishing this as a bellpull, pinkeep or small pillow (your choice).

Leave a comment below, and if there are several comments, I will make a draw on the 27th January, which is my parent's 42nd wedding anniversary.

Finish or Fling? - Beehive Windchimes

This is a little kit by Dimensions. I started this kit one January three years ago - and then in the February, got the finished article in a birthday exchange!

So, I abandoned my own effort. So - do I finish it or not?

Pros:

• I really like the design
• I can take one to the office or give it as a gift

Cons:

• Do I really want two of the same design?

Finish or fling?

I can't decide - I can either finish this and give it away, or I can give it away as a UFO. Can you help me decide? What would you prefer? Would you like to finish this?

Finish or Fling? - Bee Merry, Bee Joyful

I stitched these after a spell of not stitching for a very long time. And then didn't add the charms! These are part of a set of six designs by Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler, and the other four designs are all finished and mounted in the cute cards that came with the kit.

Pros:

• Only need the charms adding
• Have  four others in the set completed

Cons:

• Can't think of any - even the frames should be fairly cheap as they are a standard size.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Finish

Finish or Fling? - Alba

This was an early attempt at design, done using tracing paper, graph paper and a pencil - no computer then - I don't think I even owned one at the time (gasp!)

The country is of course Scotland, and the verse that was left unfinished is in Gaelic, and is the Runrig song, Alba.

In full, this would have read:

Air sgiath a' seoladh nan neoil
'S an domhain liath
Mar dhealbh a' tighinn beo tro na sgothan
'S mi a' tilleadh gu tir

Alba nam beanntan ard
Nan acraichean lom
Thairis air na lochan mointich
Nan coilltean 's nan gleann

Ach 'se sealladh leointe is gann
Tha an seo aig ceann thall an linn
Talamh alainn nan daoine
Fhathast an lamhan duine no dithis

Cuibhlean stolda mu dheas
Na fasaichean a tuath
An taigh-mor falamh an Dun-Eideann
Gun chumhachd gun ghuth

Sibhse chuir achadh ri achadh
Taigh ri taigh
Gus nach bi ait anns an tir
An gabh sibh comhnaidh air leth

Ach 's math dhomh bhith seo an drasd
A cur failt air a' bhlas
'San tir a tha cho ur dhomh an diugh
Is a bha i nuair bha mi 'nam phaisd


Which is probably why I finished after the first line of the third verse. I'm not a Gaelic speaker and so backstitching all this text didn't come naturally to me. It's a lovely song, and I like the sentiment (an English translation is at the bottom of the post) but the project? Let's weigh up the pros and cons:

Pros:

• One of my one designs
• I like the song

Cons:

• It's on aida, not my favourite fabric when there's large blank areas
  
• It's all backstitch. And in a foreign language
• I don't like the colours (what was I thinking?)
• The balance of the design is wrong, and the lettering is going to get tangled in the design.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Fling

Translation:






This flight is sailing through the clouds
And the blue heavens
The homeland appears like a developing photograph
Through the mists as I return to land

I see Scotland of the high mountains
And the empty acres
Flying low across the moorland lochs
The forests and the glens

But it's a wounding and a hollow sight
Here as we reach the end of the century
The beautiful soil of the people
Still in the hands of the few

I see the wheels of industry at a standstill
And the northern lands wasted
And the empty house in Edinburgh
Without authority or voice

You that have laid field upon field
House upon house
Till there be nowhere for you to be placed alone
In the midst of all the earth

But it is good for me to be here now
As I welcome the warmth
In this land that's as exciting for me today
As it was the day I was born

Finish or Fling? - Advent Calendar Wall Hanging

I started this - oh, 1992? 1993? Sometimes around then. So this makes this project one of my oldest UFOs. It came from a magazine - now defunct - called Needlecraft. I used all sorts of oddments for this, so it is a mix of cotton and polycotton fabrics - a mistake I wouldn't make now, but as I'm unlikely to ever want to wash this, I don't suppose it will really make much difference. It's quite big - about half the width of my double bed here.

When I unwrapped this, I noticed some of the pins holding the felt hair on had rusted - but there's no rhyme or reason to which ones had gone. I think I'm going to have to cut some more shapes out - I don't think I have the templates, but I can draw round the other shapes.

Every single stitch is this is hand sewn - the blocks are pieced over paper. The appliqued faces, hair and quilts are all hand stitched, not fused on. And all those stockings are oversewn by hand. When I took them out of their bag, I was amazed at how fine and regular my stitches were, and how much work in general has gone into this.

Pros:

• I've done a lot of work already
• It will look amazing
• It would free up a lot of space in my stitching box

Cons:

• There's a lot of hand sewing to do
• There's a lot of quilting to do
• The Hermit hates Christmas so won't appreciate this
  

Finish or fling? Oh, definitely finish - I want to display this next Christmas!

Finish or Fling? - Advice

This is a sampler design by Jo Verso, from Cross Stitch Cards and Keepsakes. This is another project from the early 1990s, and possibly one of my earliest projects on evenweave.

Pros:

• Love the motto
• Not a lot of work needed

Cons:

• Half and three quarter stitches, which are then back stitched. Yuk.
• Can't remember if I stitched it in Anchor or DMC
• Fabric seems to have been stained by fruit juice or similar
• Damaged fabric where it was frogged - one or two threads severed vertically and horizontally

I'm not at all sure whether I like this enough to want to rescue it.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Fling!