Gather The Flowers - Helen Philipps

Design: Gather The Flowers

Designer: Helen Philipps, from the book The New Cross Stitch Sampler Book

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 28 count linen offcut, cream

Embellishments: Mill Hill seed beads

I have heard from Ronel that she has received this piece I stitched for a Friends Through Threads exchange, so I can now share it with you all!

I've always wanted to stitch this little piece, as I thought it was very sweet, and when I read Ronel's likes and dislikes included pansies, I went straight to the book and started pulling the threads! The chart in the book is a colour chart, and looked a bit more restrained than this - I did wonder at first what on earth I was doing, but the palette does work. I did change the lettering from black to the dark green/gray colour though, and cream stitches were replaced by beads (the model had been stitched on darker fabric). I also left off the other backstitch.

The finished piece had to be a pinkeep, so I used some nice bright fabric to back it, and to keep the contemporary feel going.

I really enjoyed working on this, and I'm so pleased Ronel likes it!

March Biscornu and Fob - Free Cross Stitch Chart!

March brings breezes loud and shrill,

Stirs the dancing daffodil.

We're having a nice bright March here, but because of the snow earlier this year, our daffodils will be later than usual - it's looking like it will almost be April before we get a show! I love daffodils, they are so bright and cheery. The Hermit gets them confused with dandelions ...no, don't ask me how! He just has no interest in flowers, bless!

Another "D" who deserves celebrating is my gran, Donaldina Mitchell McLeod. It would have been her 87th birthday today. She loved flowers and was a super gardener - her soft fruits and fresh vegetables were high spots in our summer holidays! Her son, my Uncle Rod, shares her birthday (although not her green thumb) and he is 60 today! I can't believe that my cool, trendy Uncle Roddie would be eligible for his bus pass if he was still in the UK ...

Anyway, enough family stuff! The chart uses only three shades of DMC- I've chosen quite muted shades, but I think this would look good in a bright colourway too!

There's a matching fob with this design too, included in the chart pack!

If you would like a copy of the chart, please comment below and leave an email address unless yours is visible in your blog profile. Some people ask for charts but I have no way of getting them to them :o( Charts are sent in PDF format.

If you do stitch this design, I'd love to see the finished article - and there will be a prize for any I show on my blog!

Although there is no charge for this chart, a donation to the MS Trust for this chart would be appreciated. Pennies will do - and you can make a donation by clicking here

There is no obligation to make a donation - you will be sent the chart whether or not you choose to make a donation, as I appreciate that some people are not in a financial position to do so.

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 2010 N M Wray

Bloom Where You Are Planted - The Victoria Sampler

Design: Bloom Where You Are Planted (freebie available here)
Designer: Thea Dueck, The Victoria Sampler
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

My partner in the HoE Biscornu Exchange was Gabi, and having looked at her blog, I thought that she might like a design from The Victoria Sampler, so I chose one of the freebies and set to work.

I also liked Just Nan's way of using two different fabric colours for a biscornu. Isn't it amazing though just how different a design can look on a different background?

I used DMC threads through out, and I personalised the back with our locations and the blog name - our names were a bit too small to fill the space :o) I used beads to fill in the corners.

This was taken with my old camera, so it's not a very good picture of the top - the flash has washed out a lot of the detail, but the none-flash photos were too blurry to use!

Here is a close up of the back. For some reason, this photo came out fine!

And this is the full package I sent to Gabi - I went for nice flowery things to complement the stitched piece.

I do enjoy making biscornu, and receiving them too - my next post will show the one I received!

Mother's Day Card - DMC

Title: Honeysuckle Mother's Day Card
Designer: DMC (kit)
Fabric: 14 count aida, antique white
Threads: DMC

I don't often stitch from kits, but I saw this on one of my charity shop trawls and had to buy it. My parent's house had - until recently - the most amazing honeysuckle growing over one wall. Last year, it got pruned back rather drastically, as it was in danger of bringing down the guttering and phone line, and it's a shadow of it's former self. So this was a little reminder.

The card was part of the kit, as you can tell by the way that the motif echoes the stitching. My mum really liked it - UK Mother's Day is always before Easter, so she's had it already.

Potted Flowers - The Bold Sheep

This was last month's travel prject - stuffed into handbags, worked on in waiting rooms, on buses, trains and trams... I'm quite relieved it only came out with one small mark on it!

The kit was quite straightforward to stitch (although there is an error in there, but I've worked round it!) and there was a generous amount of fabric and thread included, so I was happy!

The finished piece is about 4 inches square, so I will ikely make this into a cushion centre.

It anyone would like the chart, please say so in the comments!

Design Details

Fabric: 14 count aida, white
Threads: Anchor stranded cotton
Designer: Louise Ellwood- The Bold Sheep
Kit Details: Potted Flowers CSPOT - The Bold Sheep (c) 2004
Stitch Count: 57H x 57V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch
Threads Used: Anchor 31, 185, 246, 295, 387, 109, 187, 265, 376. Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: None
Modifications Made: None. Although there is an extra column of stitches on the left hand side.

Sweetheart Needleroll - The Sweetheart Tree

This delicate sampler/needleroll was (mostly) enjoyable to work, and fairly straightforward but the very delicacy of the stitching made it seem more complex than it was! A little frogging on some of the back stitch was needed, but overall it was fine!

The colours work well together, and the piece has more impact made up into a needleroll than flat.

This is definitely as pink and girly as I get. It's not really "me" although I admit it's very pretty! My favourite thing about this are the specialty stitches - a needleroll is big enough to get the hang of them, but small enough for boredom not to set in!



Finishing was a little different to usual, but looked very effective. I've taken to making all my needlerolls with a French seam - it's more time consuming, especially as I construct them by hand, not machine - but in my opinion, it's the neatest way.

Design Details

Fabric: 32 count Belfast linen, antique white
Threads: DMC stranded cotton, #12 perle, Needle Necessities overdyed floss
Designer: Sandra Cox Vanosdall
Chart Details: Sweetheart Needleroll - The Sweetheart Tree (c) 1995
Stitch Count: 60H x 72V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Diamond Eyelet Stitch, Satin Stitch, Back Stitch, Oblique Herringbone Stitch, Mosaic Stitch, Horizontal Knit Stitch, Herringbone Stitch, Tent Stitch
Threads Used: DMC ecru, 224, 225, 503, DMc #12 Perle in ecru, NN #158 Cluny Rose. Cross stitch in two strands, back stitch in one.
Embellishments: Mill Hill Petite Seed Beads #40123, Rose Quartz Heart Bead.
Modifications Made: None.

Wild Roses - Needleworks by Sue Hawkins

This was one of my target UFOs for this month.

Originally, I started it in December 2004 after the death of my gran, to fill time on a very long car journey to her funeral (she lived 400 miles away) and to fill in what I thought might be awkward times in the packing up of her estate. But strangely, although it was a very sad time, there were some good memories made. My uncle and aunt had come over from the USA, my parents were there, my sister and her husband were there, and there was a lot of laughter and remininscence. So not a huge amount of stitching got done!

When left as a UFO, I had actually done nearly all of the sampler, apart from the top flowers in the border, and the green leaves. I think I thought the border might be complex, but when broken down, after the initial swirl, the pattern repeats and is very simple, so finishing the sampler only took a couple of sessions.

The quilt effect blocks are areas of specialty stitches - in this case bargello and Rhodes stitch - which make the sampler a little more interesting to work, and add texture nicely. The linen is so crisp, it was a little awkward to work in a hoop without catching, but the effect is so nice!

My gran loved flowers, and was a very skilled gardener - gardens were her passion, much as stitching is mine. She was always very proud of anything I stitched for her - the walls and shelves of her home had many small framed pieces which had originally been cards - I think she'd saved everything I'd ever sent :o) Roses remind me of her, because she had a number of old fashioned rambling roses on the high stone walls of her garden. There are another three samplers in this series, and each has some significance to me, and a memory of my gran:

Strawberry - my gran's garden produced the most luscious strawberries (and raspberries) - gran jealously guarded these against the birds and snails, and our summer trips are full of delicious bowls of berries - for breakfast, lunch and dinner, if we wanted! She also grew many of her own vegetables, and there really is nothing to beat newly dug potatoes and freshly picked peas lightly cooked and served with fish landed at market that morning! I'm hoping to finish this sampler this month.

Iris - irises were a favourite flower of my gran, and a favourite of my mum's, too. Gran's funeral flowers were in her favourite colour, blue, and included some gorgeous irises. My goal is to stitch this and Heartsease before the anniversary of my gran's death (Christmas Day).

Heartsease - I love the happy smiling faces of heartsease and pansies - I love the old fashioned name, and their apparent delicacy - when really they are tough and will flower in almost any season. They are one of my favourite flowers. They also symbolise "thoughts" - and I have so many good memories of my gran.

Design Details

Fabric: 28 count linen, natural
Threads: DMC stranded cotton
Designer: Sue Hawkins
Chart Details: Wild Rose (The Language of Flowers Series) - Needleworks by Sue Hawkins
Stitch Count: 86H x 86V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Four Sided Stitch, Back Stitch, Rhodes Stitch, Bargello
Threads Used: DMC stranded cottons (no numbers given) in four shades of pink, two of green, two of mauve, two of blue, two of yellow, plus brown and navy. Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: None.
Modifications Made: None.