Happy Dance! - House Mouse

Design: House Mouse

Designer: Gillian Bowater, from Needlecraft magazine, November 1991

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 14 count aida, white

This is the final design in the set of four, and again was another quick stitch.

I'm not sure how I'm going to finish these. I do have a friend who keeps a couple of mice - Boris and Vasili - perhaps I could make something for her? She's one of the founders of the knitting group I go to (and writes a column in the magazine Let's Knit) so perhaps I could make a knitting bag with them? Then again, she is the step-mum to a little boy, so perhaps something for him? Decisions, decisions...

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.

February Biscornu - Linden Bee Designs

 

 

Design: February Biscornu - freebie design available here

Designer: Linden Bee Designs (i.e. me!)

Threads: DMC in three shades

Fabric: 14 count aida, white

The pictures are not of the best, because although it isn't raining or snowing here, the day is very grey and foggy! In your mental picture viewer, brighten the design until the aida is white and you'll get a better idea!

I've stuffed this quite lightly - what's your preferred way? I like a little body, but equally, I want to be able to sew through the middle easily to make the dimple...

This is another of my freebies, and I'm hoping to raise money for the MS Trust through donations. This month has been a little slow - only £4.00 so far, although every little helps and I'm amazingly grateful that people like my patterns enough to make donations! However, I'd love to see that amount increase ;o)

February Scissor Fob - Linden Bee Designs

 

 

 

Design: February Scissor Fob - freebie design available here

Designer: Linden Bee Designs (i.e. me!)

Threads: DMC in three shades

Fabric: 14 count aida

 

 

February brings the rain,

Thaws the frozen lake again.

The second in my monthly series. To be honest, I associate February more with snow, as it's my birthday this month, and it always snows on or around my birthday - which is Saturday, for people in the UK who want to be prepared! I was even born in a bad snow storm. Ma had gone into the hospital on the morning of the 19th and the midwives thought it was a false alarm, but because the weather had closed in even more after rounds had been done and ma was technically discharged, they kept her in overnight - which was a good job, as I arrived in time for breakfast! Of course, dads were not encouraged to stay and he'd been sent home earlier, which meant he'd to walk back in. Sixteen inches fell on the 19-20 February, and my parents lived ten miles from the hospital. Dad still says it was worth it! Love you too, dad! (Hmm, never asked my ma if she thought it was worth it... LOL!)

Anyway, to get back to my stitching - this design came out of my Valentine's design, and I wanted something less pink and which reflected the month as a whole. It stitched up pretty quickly, and looked a lot less grey than the colour scheme on the charting software seemed to make it - the blue is actually blue!

January Biscornu - Linden Bee Designs

Design: January Biscornu - freebie design available here

Designer: Linden Bee Designs (i.e. me!)

Threads: DMC in three shades of blue

Fabric: 14 count aida

"January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow..."

I've adapted my own design here too - firstly by stitching it on white, and secondly by removing the inner border on the reverse. I just can't leave things alone, can I? But that's what I like about stitching - designs are only suggestions! 

This was quite simply finished with a whipstitch in the medium blue shade, and 4mm white "pearl" beads in the centre, as the design is quite busy as it stands.

If anyone would like a copy of the chart, follow the link above and leave a comment!

January Scissor Fob - Linden Bee Designs

 

 

Design: January Scissor Fob - freebie design available here

Designer: Linden Bee Designs (i.e. me!)

Threads: DMC in three shades of blue

Fabric: 14 count aida

"January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow..."

This design comes from the first of my series of biscornu with matching fobs for 2010 - now there's an ambitious statement - and despite it not being in my favourite colours, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially as it was originally charted for dark blue fabric - as I've previous discussed!

I was thinking of finishing it with a beaded edge, but I didn't have anything suitable in my stash (the horror!) and so it has a basic whipstitched finish. I did find a snowflake charm in my stash though, and used that in place of a tassel.

I love the charms - they come in a set of six, three different designs, and are heavyweight. And cheap! £0.99 from the remaindered bookshop or the 99p store. There's lots of different styles of design too, so I've stocked up, because you never know with 99p stores when things are going to go out of stock...- that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

If you would like a copy of the chart, leave a comment on the link page.

Finish or Fling? - Mouse About the House

These cute little designs came from another very old issue of Needlecraft magazine - at one point, it was about the only source of designs available to me, apart from the books of Jo Verso and Brenda Keyes. I'm not sure why I chose to start them, as at the time, I didn't know any small people, and they are really a design for children.

There are a set of four designs in total, and I've stitched two and a bit.

Pros:

• Simple to stitch
• Not a huge amount of stitching to do
• Very cute

Cons:

• How would I finish them?
• On aida.
• Don't know who to give them to.
  

So - Finish or Fling?

Verdict: Finish, and then I'll give away the finished blocks. Does anyone know a charity that will accept small blocks like these? I think they are only 6 inches square max, and probably smaller.

New Year Biscornu

 

 

Design: New Year Biscornu - free chart available here 
Designer: Linden Bee Designs - i.e. me!
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 14 count aida, white
Finish: Biscornu
Trims: 2 green star shape buttons

This biscornu (and the fob) are based on my Thistle Stitching Accessories set, but with a twist to make them New Year designs. I found out that I'd not got the thistles just how I wanted them, so made an amendment and then had to email new charts out to those people who had kindly requested them. I'm sometimes a bit of a perfectionist... ;o)

The aida oddments I used made the counting for the border nice and easy, and aida helps the structure of the biscornu too, I feel, even if it is not quite as attractive a fabric as linen. It's good to use stash though, and I do like the finished effect.

New Year Scissor Fob

 

 

Design: New Year Fob - free chart available here 

Designer: Linden Bee Designs - i.e. me!

Threads: DMC

Fabric: 14 count aida, white

Finish: scissor fob

I decided to stitch this set from my own designs as my first project for 2010. I'm glad I did, because I noticed a couple of changes I wanted to make, and so it meant I could amend the chart and get the corrections out to other people, as well as making myself something I'm pretty pleased with.

I used aida as I basically had some small pieces in my stash, so starting the year frugally!

Purple Penguin - Casey Buonaugurio

Design: Purple Penguin

Designer: Casey Buonaugurio, from the 2009 JCS Ornament Issue

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 14 count aida, pink

Finished: Flat ornament, beaded edging and hanger

I've started a tradition where I always make my niece, The Tot, a Christmas ornament. And it's always cross stitched. This year, Tot is besotted by pink, with purple a close second. My sister even bought Tot a pink Christmas tree of her very own - as Sis is quite strict that her Christmas tree is red, gold and green :o)

So, when I saw this cute little purple penguin, it was a must stitch! I had some pink aida lurking in my stash (I'd been given it by my cousin, I hadn't bought it!) so I thought I'd go for the full girly effect!

I personalised the back of the ornament with my niece's name and a little charm, before outlining in backstitch as I was going to whipstitch and bead the ornament closed.

The lilac beads and ribbon were also in my stash - I love having stash, it makes me feel very blessed and it also means when I'm on a roll, I don't need to break off and go shopping!

The beaded edge is simple, but time consuming. However, I think it was worth it, it really adds something to the finished piece.

Valentine's Flip It - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Valentine's Flip It
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC and various overdyes
Fabric: 14 count aida, tea dyed by me

This little cute and cheery design needs the charm attaching, but I thought I would share it anyway.

As far as I can remember, I used the charted DMC conversions and also some of the new DMC varicoloured threads. I really ought to keep notes ...

The fabric was part of a batch tea dyed with my own fair hands, and I have a couple of other pieces to stitch others in this series with.

The series will be framed in simple pine frames from Ikea, to go with the original monthly Flip Its I stitched.

Fredde's Bookmark

Design: from an alphabet in Alphabets and Borders
Designer: not given, book publisher is Better Homes and Gardens
Threads: DMC 310
Fabric: 14 count aida banding from Textile Heritage

This bookmark was stitched for a cute little boy who was one this month. No, he's not a precocious reader ... yet! His parents were putting together a 'time capsule' for Fredde to open on his tenth birthday, and I thought a personalised bookmark would be a nice timeless gift. The Spot book was for now though :o)

Wooly Zipper - Bent Creek

Design: Wooly Zipper
Designer: Bent Creek
Threads: DMC and Six Strand Sweets Perle 5
Fabric: mystery Tula-type fabric

Years ago, I traded for this chart and now finally, it's been stitched! The picture was taken under artificial light so it's a little 'yellow'. I used threads I already had in my stash as I'm really trying not to buy new stuff so my sheep and flowers look rather different to the designers:

But isn't that the fun of needlework, making your own personal work of art?

The Littles: Bunny - Bent Creek

Design: The Littles: Bunny
Designer: Bent Creek
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 14 count damask aida, cream

This is another of my spring finishes that I'd forgotten to post about. I feel rather sorry for this little bunny, he looks a little forlorn. Do you think he will cheer up if I make him into a scissor fob?

Follow Your Heart - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Follow Your Heart
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: GAST
Fabric: 14 count aida, tea dyed by me

Another use for my tea dyed aida, this was a very quick stitch and will be a present for The Hermit, given that his heart led him over the Atlantic Ocean :o) I will finish this as a wall hanging, I have some fabric which co-ordinates nicely.

I changed the main colour from the charted blue to purple as I'm really not a 'blue' person at all! This disappoints The Hermit as it's his favourite colour, but it just doesn't appeal to me!

Happy Bunny Bunny Day - The Trilogy

Design: Happy Bunny Bunny Day
Designer: The Trilogy
Threads: GAST and DMC (own choices)
Fabric: 14 count aida, tea dyed by me

Ooops, I've just noticed I've still not stitched on the pink buttons for 'flowers' ...

This happy little bunny had some modifications made in terms of colours, and I picked out my initials in pink to personalise it - I was pleased with how that looked and I'll probably do something similar with Trilogy/Heart in Hand/Bent Creek charts with alphabets in future :o) The fabric is a 'one off' too - some boring cream aida in my stash got the tea treatment. Unlike others, I don't bake mine in the oven, but I 'set' the colour with a hot iron, and hope that the piece doesn't need washing!

I still haven't decided how to finish this (which is probably part of why the buttons haven't been added!) but I'm leaning towards a pillow, it's a little large for a pin keep :o)

Another Bloom - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Bloom - freebie available here
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 14 count aida, tea dyed

This was my first version of Bloom and I made it into a little softie for a softie exchange. The front and back are made from felt - just the ordinary store bought stuff, not felt I've made myself! - the back is a peachy colour to match the tulip. The buttons came from my stash - the ladybug is hiding a little wrinkle where I stitched the flower closed after stuffing :o)

I was pretty taken with this finish, it was hard to part with it!

Crazy Exchange to Edda

I've heard from Edda that the Crazy Exchange Isent has arrived, so I can now show you pictures.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you might recognise the design - it's a small sampler by Brenda Keyes, which I've stitched before, but this time, I've stitched it in my favourite DMC varigated red (DMC 115). I've also personalised it by adding mine and Edda's initial and the year, before making it up into a pinkeep. The fabric I chose for the backing can be seen in the middle picture.