Sow Dry, Set Wet - Prairie Schooler

Design: Sow Dry, Set Wet 

Designer: Prairie Schooler (freebie)

Threads: DMc as charted

Fabric: 25 count natural linen

Finish: Thread fob, beaded edges and loop

I stitched this for my partner Patti on the Year Round Prairie Schooler Exchange. I wasn't sure if she celebrated Christmas, so I played it safe and stitched one of my favourite freebies for her.

I used some large count linen from my stash and stitched the design over one.

To make it a little more interesting, I personalised the back on another piece of this linen and then whipstitched and beaded the edges. I didn't want to puncture the fabric and use an eyelet for the thread ring, so I made a beaded loop inside - I think I may use that again in future, it was easier and looked neater, too.

Autumn Leaves Fob - Heart in Hand

Design: Autumn Leaves Fob from Fall Fobs chart

Designer: Heart in Hand

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric:14 count plastic canvas, brown

You got a sneak peek of this in my previous post - I stitched this as a little 'extra' for the exchange as I was running late with it. It was very simple to do - I used plastic canvas, and backed it with matching paper before adding a floss ring. It would have looked more finished had I been able to put in an eyelet, but I didn't have one that was deep enough.

Floss Tag Exchange - What I Sent

This is the exchange I made for Ina (no blog) over on the Hooked on Exchanges blog.

The first floss tag is made with motifs from a Brenda Keyes book in my own choice of floss colours. I chose a tulip because Ina lives in Holland :o)

The second tag was also from an alphabet in a Brenda Keyes book, but much more modern in style, and trimmed with buttons.

The goodies included some stitching band, floss bobbins and rings, threads, a homemade card, and some scissors made in Sheffield, my home city. Sheffield is world famous for steel, but these days it is mainly specialist engineering steels that are made here, and very little in the way of cutlery and other blades.

Edited to add: for some reason, Blogger is cutting photos at odd places when I upload them from photobucket. I'm not sure how to fix it!

Floss Tag Exchange Received

I had another nice mail day yesterday - which I needed, I've got laryngitis and I was feeling sorry for myself!

Laurence sent me this super exchange, which she themed on her local area - Alsace - using colours which reflect her surroundings - a really interesting idea!

As you can see, Laurence stitched a very pretty floss tag, and it's personalised on the back too. I think the design is from The Prairie Schooler. She also included some Waterlilies silk floss in a gorgeous mix of colours, and a ceramic plaque - the folk style will look great with my decor! - and packed everything in a sweet little bag, which I can use for carrying small projecst around.




And here is a closer look at Laurence's delicate stitching.

Thank you Laurence, I love it!

Quaker Hedgehog - The Workbasket

Design: Quaker Hedgehog
Designer: The Workbasket (freebie available here)
Threads: DMC 4130 Color Variations
Fabric: 28 linen, cream

I stitched this little chappie for a private exchange with Karen and it was hard to part with him, but he went to a good home! He is stitched over one, as I wasn't sure how big a floss tag should be - I think it would have been okay over two, and I might do that when I stitch him for myself.

And this is the back ... You can just see I whipstitched the edges, which gives a decorative effect and means no struggling with turning a piece through a tiny opening!

Thread Fob from Karen

This lovely floss tag was stitched for me by Karen in a private exchange - isn't it beautiful? The design is from a LHN freebie, and I love it - I have several designs with blackbirds on.

Karen has done a fantastic job on the finishing - if you look closely, you can see the red eyelet is in exactly the right position for the flower - isn't that cool?

Thank you Karen for such a lovely gift, I'm sorry I'm so late in posting about it!

Prairie Schooler Exchange

Design: From the Pins and Needles Chart, Book 115
Designer: Prairie Schooler
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

I've just heard that Ulla has received my HoE Prairie Schooler Exchange. I really loved stitching this - just looking at it brings back memories of the Olympics - which is perhaps why I didn't stop at just one item, I was so immersed in listening to the Games!

All the designs come from Book 115, Pins and Needles. I modified the construction of the scissor keep - it is lined with red felt and backed with the fabric you can see in the photo. It was a bit of 'suck it and see' finish and I nearly didn't send it. The pinkeep is also backed with the printed fabric. The thread fob uses an element from the design and I added Ulla's name to it - the reverse has another fob and my initials and the year. To complete the exchange, I added a PS chart - Welcome Home.

Hardanger Motifs

Design: Hardanger Motifs
Threads: DMC Perle Cotton, Six Strand Sweets Perle Cotton
Fabric: 25 count linen

And here are some more floss tags, made up from some experimental hardanger stuff I did, playing with colour. These have been backed with some print fabric, and I did use interfacing this time! I played around with shapes too, but I think that would have been more successful with a back stitch outline and linen reverse.

Sampler Bird - Brenda Keyes

Design: Sampler Bird
Designer: Brenda Keyes
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

This was my second attempt at a floss tag, and showed my first was beginner's luck - I didn't use interfacing to stiffen it, and my sewing was a little skew-wiff. However, I like the motif, so I will use it :o)

Ginger Cat - CSC

Design: Ginger Cat
Designer: from Cross Stitch Collection magazine
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count linen

This was my first attempt at a thread fob, following encouragement from other bloggers - notably Karen, who now has this little fob as part of a private thread fob exchange we did. I need to post a picture of the other fob I made, but I'm working through the backlog so if you want to have a sneaky peek (and to see what she stitched for me) pop on over to her blog - it's worth it for her other stitching stuff too :o)

The design had hung around in my finishing pile for ages - although it's done over one, it was too big for to fit into a pre-made key fob, too small (not enough spare fabric) for a scissor fob - but just right for a thread fob! It felt a little odd at first using a hammer as a needle work tool (to get the eyelet closed) but I'm hooked now...