Easter Cracker Sampler - Bent Creek

Design: Easter Cracker Sampler

Designer: Bent Creek

Threads: GAST and WDW included in kit

Fabric: 28 count evenweave from kit

Frame: picked up from local charity shop

I framed this in the summer, and won't be displaying it until the spring - isn't that a shame? I actually bought the frame with another piece in mind, but both The Hermit and I thought this was a better combination!

I have framed it straighter than this picture suggests, too, but I think in future I will ask my local framers to mount my work - they only charge £2-£5 for it, it's more expensive than that to buy the acid free self adhesive mount board in laces like Hobbycraft!

Bird in Tree - Historic Needlework Guild

Design: Bird In Tree

Designer: Historic Needlework Guild

Threads: unknown, came with kit

Fabric: 28 count linen, antique white

Another 2007 finish. I thought that this would make a nice pinkeep and although it might sound like blowing my own trumpet, I was right :o) I think cording is good on these, it lies nicely in the groove between the mounted pieces.

Alphabet Ribbon Sampler - Historic Needlework Guild

Design: Alphabet Ribbon Sampler

Designer: Historic Needlework Guild

Threads: Unknown - from kit

Fabric: 28 count linen, antique white

I finished this piece back in August 2007 but made this piece up in August this year. I gifted it to Tammie for her birthday as she was my partner on the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club.

Honeycomb Sampler - Meinick Designs

Design: Honeycomb Sampler
Designer: Meinick Designs
Threads: DMC 310 and 113
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

This project that I've finally finished was originally a round robin which came back to me incomplete. It's been mouldering in my UFO pile for about three years...

Originally designed for metallic gold highlights in amongst the blackwork, I changed the colour to a varigated gold stranded cotton as I wanted a more subtle effect - and also I'm not keen on working with metallic threads and didn't want to inflict that on other people too!


I changed the lettering on the verse (although not the verse) because to be honest, the initial lettering look rather amateurish and blocky - and I felt it really spoiled the quality of the whole design. I've noticed that on a number of charts - there's great care taken over the design, and no thought seems to be given to the lettering, especially back stitch lettering. The one I chose was the general one Victoria Sampler uses - it was the right size and the style seemed to fit. (Picture is a bit yellow, it was taken under artificial light)


This will - eventually - get framed and the decision to whether to hang it on my 'wall of bees' or 'wall of blackwork' will have to be taken :o)

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)

Morning Song - Just Nan

Design: Morning Song

Designer: Just Nan

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 28 count Cashel linen, flax

Here it is, finally finished! I've been stitching Morning Song as a SAL with Sally, and I completed it at the weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I've made a few amendments to the charted design, namely the fabric, stitching the over one section as petit point, and omitting the butterflies from the rooster band - I have an aversion to butterflies in stitching, don't ask me why! I've just noticed I haven't stitched the sheep charm on yet, either - and actually, looking at this, I might not.

Thank you Sally, for your company and your encouragement!

WIPs

This is how far I got, Sally, with Morning Song - it looks a little forlorn, doesn't it? :o) I've tacked the outline for the sampler, too - I forget how small Just Nan's can be, the chart always looks so big! I guess that's good though, as they are nice and clear.


This is one of my other WIPs at the moment - Sow Kind Seeds by Bent Creek. I traded for the chart years ago, and the sender included her left over perle cotton, which I've used, as well as some from my stash. At that point, I was waiting on my order for more of the border colour - ordered it Sunday afternoon, it arrived yesterday lunchtime, you can't fault Sew and So's service! I stocked up on some other DMC that I was running low on, and also the ones that I lost on the bus, so I'm ready for anything now - I think! I'm going to stitch the missing motif (a hand, as in heart in hand) in mauve, or gold as I don't have enough of the charted blue - blue isn't a colour I'm fond of anyway. I'm not sure now, looking at the picture, that the mauve I have will be dark enough to balance the composition ... hmmm, it might be a case of trial and error!

Love - Birds of a Feather

Design: Love

Designer: Birds of a Feather

Threads: Gentle Arts Sampler Threads

Fabric: 28 count linen, flax.

This was the sampler I stitched for The Hermit for Valentines. It should have been quick to stitch, but the frogs came to visit, and I had to unpick several motifs - especially annoying as on one of them I was only one thread out!

I altered the colours slightly from the original chart, but tried to keep within the same family that the designers used. The major alteration was changing the man to look more like my beloved - hence the beard!

The frame was a cheap ready made one from Wilkinsons - it isn't real wood, although you wouldn't guess from the photo - the wood effect is a photo on paper, which has then been glued to an MDF backing (by the manufacturer, not by me, I hasten to add. Glue and I don't really mix...)

Wedding Sampler - Angela Davison

Design: Wedding Sampler
Designer: Angela Davison - own colour scheme
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, antique white

My sister asked me to stitch a sampler for her sister-in-law's wedding, as Suzi really is "the woman who has everything". The colour scheme chosen for the wedding was pink and ivory, so that's what I chose to use in the sampler. Although I hadn't seen the bridemaid's dresses when I had to start this, I did a pretty good job at guessing the colours :o) The original colour scheme for the sampler was blue and lemon, and it took some adjustments as I stitched to make sure the colour balance was okay. At first, it looked horribly pink (and so the WIP got called The Pink Peril)but I think in the end the design looks fine. My sister was really pleased with it, and so was the recipient.

This sampler design is one I've stitched before - in fact, the first time I stitched it, I stitched it for my sister, and I chose lilacs and silver-blues. She eloped to get married, and I didn't see the dress until she emailed photos from Oz - and guess what, her dress was a silvery lavender colour ...

This design comes from a book by Angela Davison, published by Merehurst. The charting isn't great, and there are several errors in it. Fortunately, having stitched it once, I was on the look out for them, but I find it really irritating when patterns are obviously not thoroughly proofed.

My niece was a bridesmaid at the wedding, so I thought I'd post a picture of her, too :o) The lady carrying her is my sister.

And this is the cheeky side of M:

December Sampler Accent - Periwinkle Promises

I think I will scan this and replace the picture, but this will give you an idea of how one of my last 2007 finishes looks!

It's another little sampler accent kit from Periwinkle Promises, and doesn't it look all serene, with the little angels on it ... those angels caused rather a lot of swearing and frogging, as the spacing isn't consistent across the row, something I failed to recognise, until my angels didn't line up under their haloes ...


I'm still to be convinced that silk is somehow "better" than cotton for stitching with too.


This shall be finished as a mini-pillow, hopefully before this December!


Design details:
To be added

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)