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!

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.

Birthday Cards

July and August are always manic months for birthdays in my family. First of all, there's my sister, then my brother in law, then my mum, then my partner's sister and finally, my partner.

I've already posted a picture of my sister's card which I made using ribbon embroidery, but here are the others:


It's really hard to find cards for men that aren't a bit of a cliche - cars, football, fishing or sailing seem to be about the limits! This was a card from a kit to which I added peel off lettering. I can't say I recommend stitching with raffia, it's a bit of a struggle :o)

Stitching with silk organza is much more pleasant and it grows so quickly! I do get a bit tangled up with the sticky tape on the reverse, but fortunately, no one needs to see that! Again, this was a card from a kit, and I embellished it with additional lettering, which not only makes it more personal, but I think it balances the design better. I'm all for blank space in designs, but there can be too much of a good thing! The needleroll was an earlier finish which I also gave to my mum. It's all her fault I stitch anyhow LOL


This is another card from a kit - I bought the kit locally on sale, but I think the designer/maker is a Dutch company. It wasn't the best stitching experience ever. First of all, I had to prick every single hole - they weren't pre-punched, unlike the ribbon embroidery card. And then, to get the effect pictured (and which had been on the picture on the packet) I had to fudge how I folded the whole thing and incorporated the liner. I wonder if everyone else had to do that, and thta's why they were so cheap? :o) I'm pleased with the effect though, and it was nice to make something for The Hermit in his favourite colours, as I rarely stitch anything blue - it really is a colour I dislike!

Crewel Vase - DMC

Design: Crewel Vase
Designer: DMC
Threads: DMC Crewel Yarn
Fabric: Pre-printed linen

This was a kit I acquired off eBay, and I quite liked it when I started it. Then I went off it, and finished it through gritted teeth and now that I've made it into a mini pillow, I quite like it again - I think!

I used slightly different stitches and fewer strands than the design called for and overall I think it's okay. My trouble with freestyle embroidery with wool is that it can look scruffy (that might just be me) and I like the regularly of cross stitch and counted thread work. When I'm normally not the world's tidiest person, it soothes me that my stitching can be very neat :o)