Drawn Thread Exchange

I'm a member of a small group of people who are very talented and love to exchange some wonderful pieces - I feel very privileged to have been invited to join them. This is the piece I received from Marie - I had to use her photo to show the whole exchange as the package arrived when my camera was out of commission. Marie stitched a portion of the Brown Ranch sampler and mounted it on a photo album - which was just so perfectly co-ordinated, and the finishing and stitching is just perfect. You can see a bigger picture below - now I have a functioning camera!


I will use this album for treasured family snaps - most likely of my niece - and one day, I hope a very long time in the future, I will pass this on to her as an heirloom. She already loves crafts so would treasure this as much as I do already.

This is one of the pictures that I will print and add to the album - The Tot on her third birthday. She adores cake - especially chocolate cake - but isn't allowed it very often. I love the look of concentration on her face - she's very expressive!

The Drawn Thread Exchange

Design: Spring Keeper
Designer: The Drawn Thread (freebie available here)
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count jobelan, antique white

I stitched these for Marie for an exchange on the Friends Through Threads exchange board (where there are better pictures, Marie is a better photographer than I!) I did most of the stitching on a lovely spring weekend I spent in York.

I made one into a scissor fob, and then using the same method, made the other into a floss ring.

Marie was also my sender, and she took my breath away with this piece - it has been beautifully mounted onto a photo album which co-ordinates perfectly! The design is taken from Brown Ranch Sampler chart. Marie also kindly included a Prairie Schooler chart, thread, fabric, buttons, tassels ... lots of goodies in my favourite colours - there's a good photo on her blog of everything, and a better photo of the album!

This was a fun exchange - thank you Marie!

Heart Throb - The Drawn Thread

Design: Heart Throb - freebie available here
Designer: The Drawn Thread
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

I love The Drawn Thread designs, and whilst I was looking through my charts for ideas for the HoE Valentine's Exchange, couldn't resist stitching this up for myself!

Despite all the speciality stitches - and I even did the dreaded Queen Stitches! - it's a reasonably quick stitch, and the result is so pretty :o) Because Cathy gave me a wonderful Valentine fob (see previous post) this is now hanging from a drawer knob :o)

Works in Progress

This is my current focus stitching piece - Summer into Autumn by The Drawn Thread. I'm really enjoying it, but because the linen is 32 count, I need good light to stitch by, and a steady hand, so I'm mainly working on it at weekends, which is slowing the progress. No matter though, as it will make the joy last longer :o)

I am going to finish this as a bellpull I think, and display it with Winter into Spring - which I have yet to stitch!

This is my second pair of socks - one is already finished, and I've just turned the heel on this pair. I'm making them for my closest friend (who doesn't read my blogs) for Christmas, so I should have them completed in plenty of time. The yarn is Italian and lovely to work with, but knitting black has some of the same issues as stitching on black, especially counting! I work on these mostly on the bus, it's quite surprising how much I can get done - it works out at a sock a week.

And because I saw the yarn on Saturday, I just had to start a third pair ... these are for me. I love how the stripes are working out.

Knitting has been very soothing - Colin the guinea pig, star of the recent post, has been rather ill with a respiratory infection so has needed nursing, vet attention and some hand/syringe feeding - and knitting helps dispel the worry somewhat. He has another checkup with the vet today, but appears to be recovering - fingers crossed!

My Favorite Things - The Drawn Thread

Design: My Favorite Things
Designer: The Drawn Thread (Cynthia Zittel)
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count raw Cashel linen

Sorry about the fuzzy picture! Because it's quite long, it's hard to get a good picture of the whole thing, especially as I'm not a good photographer! This is the first 'full size' DT that I've stitched, and it's what got me hooked. I love the design, although that didn't stop me making a few alterations of my own...


A few Queen Stitches got the chop - I subbed in Smyrna crosses and eyelets instead, and after the alphabet, you can see that a bee appeared - also from a DT chart, to keep the style consistent, although I had to stitch it over one to fit the space. If a design is going to be called 'My Favorite Things' how can it not have a bee in it?


I like bunnies (which were on the original design) but I like sheep better! These were from DT's 'Generosity' design, and fitted in very well, although they are closer together than I would have really liked - but that's just me being very very picky! The vertical band on the left had its Queen Stitches subbed too. They are definitely not one of my favourite things! The initials belong to my partner and to my dearest friend.



The completed piece has been made into a bell pull and it is hanging in my hallway - which is too dark and small for me to get a decent picture. Just take my word for it, it looks really nice :o)

Stitching Update

I've been working on Random Thoughts lately - and loving every stitch of it! Even the over-one sections are working well and I'm doing them as full crosses - unusually for me!

The colours are muted and work well together - and they are working on the fabric I chose, which was a piece of vintage Belfast from Zweigart - I think the colour has been discontinued, which is a shame.

I've had to call a temporary halt though - yesterday the silk kept snagging on my fingers, which I think are a little rough from housework *sigh* - so it was on with the handcream, and onto a 'new'project. Well, I say new, it was actually an old WIP I had forgotten about - I traded a chart years ago, and when it arrived, it came with a piece partially finished. So yesterday, I finished it! And I also started the other project on the chart, so hopefully by the end of today, I will have two pinkeep sized finishes :o)

After that, I'm going to work on one of my quilt blocks and I'm also going to make a pot of soup. What are your plans for today?

Getting up to date!

Well, I've finally finished posting about my 2007 finishes ... there's still a way to go until I get totally up to date though - I've been stitching up a storm, plus there's a host of exchanges to admire too :o)

I've decided though that I'm going to chat about my stitching even if I have no pictures to share, as the process is part of the fun. And also, I might move some of my more personal stuff, which I blog about on Livejournal over here too, as I'm not happy with some of the changes on Livejournal.

So, this blog could see action on a more regular basis :o)

I started a new major project over the long Easter weekend - Drawn Thread's Random Thoughts. I think I bought the chartpack from Sally several years ago, when she was rationalising her stash (thank you Sally!), and having recently stitched My Favorite Things, wanted to stitch something else by the same designer, as it was so enjoyable! I've chosen a DMC vintage linen from my stash to stitch it on, and the combination of stitching on linen with silk feels quite decadent - my daily travel projects are all on aida with cotton! Already I have done several of the spot motifs - it's very addictive, I keep saying "just one more ..." I'm looking forward to getting back to it this evening, I didn't really want to come to work!

Goals, reviews and future plans...

Where has February gone? Even with an extra day, it's just zipped by!

Fortunately, I achieved my goals for the month, so I'm a happy bunny :o) (white rabbit! by the way)

I'm still very behind on posting pictures to my blog, or even writing much to this one, but I'm getting there - at least photographs have been taken of everything I stitched in 2007, plus exchanges that have arrived here, and some of the things I've made this year ... I'm in awe of the people whose blogs I read, who manage to write something entertaining regularly, and post regular updates!

I don't know if I've mentioned, but my new job is part time, flexible hours (and it's bliss...) - so Thursday and Friday I had the flat to myself, so I hauled out the charts from my stash, the boxes of fabby from my stash, and tried to kit as much as I could up! And yup, it took a day and a half ... obviously, some of the fabric that the charts called for I had, and some I didn't, so often it was judgement calls - and have you noticed how inaccurate the cover photos on charts can be when it comes to fabric colour? I used to specify a lot of print in previous roles, and would never have accepted some of the repro I've seen... Anyway, I have nearly *blushes* 150 projects ready to go with fabby, and I've divided them up into little groups of 8 or 10, and my goal is to work my way through a bag in six months... the upside of this is that I've really looked at my stash, and some charts on my pile I just didn't feel like giving up my precious hoard of fabric to use, so they will probably get passed on.

As a result of this exercise, I have a new start - one of the many Drawn Thread charts in my stash, none of which I have stitched. It's called My Favorite Things, and can be seen here.

I'm not actually stitching it on the specified fabric, but the floss toss worked for me, and I'm enjoying it so far. It's a little more challenging that a lot of the things I've been working on lately, but that's a good thing - and the instructions are incredibly clear.


The picture is a little dark, but it shows my progress after one evening - I've nearly completed four sections, just the backstich tree trunks to do but I can't find my floss in that colour. There's something like 32 sections in total LOL so there's a way to go yet. I have a craft shop within five minutes walk of the apartment, so the lack of floss will shortly be rectified :o) Unfortunately, the shop has become less of a needlework shop in the time I've lived here, and more a papercraft shop, but that seems to be a general trend. At least I'm okay if I run out of DMC :o)