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!

Thistle Stitching Accessories - Free Cross Stitch Charts!

Happy St Andrew's Day to all you Scots (and persons of Scottish descent!) out there :o)

To help celebrate, I've come up with these little designs for stitching accessories, incorporating the 'national flower' of Scotland, the thistle. The word Alba is Scots Gaelic for ... you've guessed - Scotland! I was only intending designing a biscornu, but I got a little carried away ... er, inspired!

The Biscornu, Needlebook and Pincushion charts are all interchangeable, so you can 'mix and match' the fronts and backs - my designs are only suggestions, after all!

If you would like copies of the charts, please comment below with your email address and I'll get them sent out to you - I'm working on a little more professional presentation this time round :o) I'm so pleased to get pattern requests - thank you for liking what I do!

Thistle Scissor Fob

Thistle Biscornu Front

 Thistle Biscornu Back

Thistle Needlebook Front

Thistle Needlebook and Pincushion Back

Thistle Pincushion Front

Thistle Scissor Pouch Front

Thistle Scissor Pouch Back

If you do stitch this set of charts, I'd love to see a picture - and there will be a prize for the first one I get!

Edited to add: If you feel so inclined, a donation to the MS Trust for this chart would be appreciated. Pennies will do - and you can make payment via the link in my sidebar or by clicking here.

This pattern is offered for personal, non-commercial use only. Items made from this pattern may be sold on a small scale basis such as on Etsy or at craft sales. Sales for charity are positively encouraged! This pattern and the text and photos contained within, may not be copied or reproduced for any purpose other than personal use. Please direct people to this blog rather than forwarding the pattern, thank you! Copyright 2009 N M Wray

E is for Embroidery - Prairie Schooler

Design: Part of E is for Embroidery 

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Chart: D*E*F (Book 99)

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

Backing fabric: A's, Bees and Dandelion Seeds fabric from Red Rooster.

I stitched this for Jayne over on the Year Round Prairie Schooler Exchange blog whilst listening to the cricket back in September. I jokingly said it really should be called 'A is for Ashes' because England managed to win whilst I completed this!

I stitched it pretty much as charted, apart from not filling in behind the 'E' - I think it looks too heavy on little pieces.

The backing fabric is one of my favourites. I see that there are quilt patterns specially for this range - I may have to invest...

Winter Quaker Exchange

Designs: Quaker Needlework Accessories
Designer: With My Needle (Ellen Chester)
Source: Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issues
Threads: House of Embroidery, Touch of Grey (27A and 27C)
Fabric: 28 count jobelan, antique white

I stitched these for Laurie for the Hooked on Exchanges Winter Quaker Exchange. I thought using the designs from the Christmas Ornament issues would be appropriate, but I wanted to make the designs wintery, and not Christmassy, and the House of Embroidery threads seemed to talk to me of grey and icy winter days! House of Embroidery threads are lovely to work with and the colours are gorgeous!

I finished the swan as a pincushion (I think the original called for a needlebook) and beaded the edge with one of my last purchases from my now-closed LNS.

The reverse has mine and Laurie's initials stitched over one in a fairly random placement, using the alphabet from another design in the series. I like to think of the flowers as snowdrops, carrying on the winter theme.

The scissor fob was tiny - just over an inch square - and manipulating the fabric to bead the edges was tricky! I think it was worth it, though!

This time, I just put Laurie's initials on the reverse.

One day, I will stitch the entire series for myself ...

And I'm so pleased my new camera takes decent pictures :o)

Rescued Stitching - Pincushions

I was rootling through the picture frames in a local charity shop, and found one that was the perfect size, finish and shape for one of my projects. Aha! So I pulled it out of the box, and saw that it already had stitching in it. Which made me a little sad, that someone could give away stitching, but the stitching and frame cost me only £1 and I knew both were going to a good home...

The multi aperature mount for the stitching was pretty poor - badly cut out and faded - so I took the whole thing apart, and - as planned - used the frame for something else. The stitching had been attached to the mount with double sided tape, and on looking closer at it, the stitching itself was uneven, with crosses going in both directions, and some stitches hadn't been completed either, and left half finished. The pieces were all on different sizes of fabric too. I wondered at the story behind them, and wondered what I could do with them...

A trip to my fabric stash found the perfect oddment of fabric with a garden theme, and I made them up into pincushions. This wasn't as easy as it seemed, as the borders on each piece weren't even, and on some I only had 2 or 2 aida blocks as a seam allowance...

But I do now have a trio of pincushions, and the colours match my living room decor! (as you can see - the photo was taken on my living room carpet)

Freebie Exchange

Design: Bloom freebie available here

Designer: Lizzie*Kate

Threads: DMC

Fabric: 28 count evenweave (quaker cloth)

My freebie exchange for a recent Hooked on Exchanges exchange went to Laurie in the USA.



I so enjoyed this freebie that I stitched it twice - once over two as a pin cushion, and once as petit point over one to make the scissor fob.



Each is trimmed with a butterfly charm from my stash. I used the DMC conversions and some evenweave I had in my stash. The tassel on the scissor fob is made with threads pulled from the left over fabric.

You can see the rest of the exchange over on the HoE blog

The White Cat - Bent Creek

I'm not sure why I like this, but I do :o) I'm really one of the least cat loving personI know, although my partner is fond of them, and would love for us to have one!

I think it's the expression on the cat's face that I love. This mouldered for a while in my finishing pile, but I got the motivation to finish it up when I got my wonderful packet of mini buttons which I've often mentioned before! I wanted a simple finish, so I just made it into a mini pillow/pin cushion. The back is a very small beige country floral print, which echoes the flowers on the front.

Christmas Ornament - Brightneedle

This cute little pincushion is a Brightneedle ornament, stitched in petit point over one. the design is from the 2002 JCS Ornament Issue, I think. This would have been stitched about four years ago, and it was only this Christmas that I made it into a finished article!

Tartan Thistles - Textile Heritage

When I finished this, I was unsure about making it into the needlebook sugessted by the kit manufacturers. In the end, I opted for the much simpler pincushion, and I'm pleased with the result.

Crewelwork Strawberries Pincushion - Historic Needlework Guild

I finished this piece as a pincushion because I wanted something simple and classic to set off the design. The backing is a piece of very old Laura Ashley cotton print, and the cording is your standard purchased cord. As an experiment, I stitched the cord on before I stuffed the pincushion, and it worked well - it was easier to manipulate, and I could hide the ends in the final piece of the seam after stuffing.