Happy Dance! Country Cottage - Jolly Red

 

Design: Country Cottage

Designer: Jolly Red

Threads: Anchor as charted (mainly)

Fabric: 14 count aida, white

This was one of the "Finish or fling" projects from earler this year, and really stitched up in not very much time at all once I got going. The reason it had been abandoned was wha I thought were counting errors on my part, but having spent some cool, calm and collected time with it, I am declaring that it wasn't all my fault! The chart and stitched model differed quite a lot - one complete row missing on the cover photo, and there were some colour difference too. I hate that - I thought the whole point of model stitching was to catch flaws?

Apart from that little gripe, the kit was good quality - Anchor threads were included, and lots of them - probably enough to stitch the design again and the design itself is very cute. I will ask The Tot if she would like it for her bedroom, as the colours are similar to her new room decor!

Happy Dance! - E is for Embroidery

Design: E is for Embroidery

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Threads: DMC

Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

Stitches: Half cross stitch, backstitch

 

Oops, I'm a little bit behind on posting my finishes. I enjoyed this, even though I was a bit worried about the seemingly complex design on the "frame". There are a couple of small charting errors on that section, but it all came together well in the end.

I got rid of the Embroiderer's cat - they aren't my cup of tea - and I added the date instead of a sprig of flowers.

This is how the five letters I've stitched so far:

 

I'm so looking forward to finishing the first nine and getting it framed.

Happy Dance! - Happy Happy Bunny Day

 

Design: Happy Happy Bunny Day

Designer: The Trilogy

Threads: Various - DMC, GAST, House of Embroidery

Fabric: 14 count aida, tea dyed by me

It feels a bit of a con calling this a happy dance, as to be honest, it only needed the buttons sewing on - but hey, it was in my UFO pile, so I'm counting it!

I loved this design, but I made a few alterations to make it my own, including changing some of the coloured letters in the alphabet to highlight my initials. The buttons came from my stash and although they don't quite match the pink enough for my obsessive little self, they'll do!

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:

Sunday Stitching

Well, we had more bad weather, but fortunately, none of the snow settled. It's bizarre - we're officially in British SUMMER Time. Oh, and the cricket season starts today ... Mind you, I'm old enough to remember a match at Buxton having to be called off because of snow - in July! That year we had a drought later in the summer ... and that was before anyone knew about global warming!

Both The Hermit and I stayed in, nice and warm. I finished stitching Shepherd's Bush "June" - which made me feel a little more summery. I think mine is a little less pastel than the model, because of the overdyes I chose to use, but I like it. This will probably be framed.

After the finish, I did think about going back to The Sludge Monster, but by that time, the light was really dull, so I picked up another new start - bad girl! Anyway, this one is Tall Trees by Brightneedle. This is proving to be a quick stitch, despite the number of colours (fifteen! in a piece 61 stitches by 39). I also have the freebie chart for the matching scissor fob, so that will be my travel project this week. I think I will finish Tall Trees as a pinkeep, and I might try that type of finish for the fob.

And good news! I found Morning Song (it was filed with some of my stitching magazines) so I can start the SAL with Sally when she receives the chart. I think I'm going to stitch mine on Flax Cashel, I just need to do a "floss toss" to check that there's no clashes or invisibility.

I hope everyone has a good week, thanks for dropping by!

Saturday Stitching

Yesterday, the weather here was awful - we had rain, hail, snow, sunshine, so what's a girl to do? Curl up and stitch, that's what!

Actually, first of all I had a trip to the framers to make - the nice lady in the quilt shop had told me that this particular framers sells off-cuts of mount board cheaply, so I went to get some, for my own framing and also for making pinkeeps. She'd made a curious comment "make sure they are your last stop, and not the first" - and when I went, I saw why! I have a huge bag full of pieces, I could make dozens of pinkeeps and still have some left over - and it only cost me £5 ($10). You must think I'm a real cheapskate, but I do love a bargain! Anyway, I came back cold and wet from this trip, so The Hermit and I went out for brunch to get warm. We came back, I started some laundry, and then sat down to stitch :o)

I've finished another motif on Neat Country Stuff (aka The Sludge Monster) and finished Land That I Love. So, as a reward, I made a new start - June, by Shepherd's Bush. It seems ages since I stitched a golden beehive ...

I also sorted and tidied all my stash on the shelves, so it's looking a lot better. I still need to go through the freebies and charts taken from magazines again - with each pass, the pile gets smaller, so I'm making progress. I've got a lot of othe charts I don't think I'm going to stitch, either, so I need to get myself sorted and list them here. I wish there was a group like Chartswappers about - does anyone know a good place to trade charts? I don't really want to get back into selling on eBay, it was a lot of work and took over the flat at one point as I kept acquiring things to sell on, in addition to my own stuff...

Sally and I are going to be stitching Morning Song by Just Nan as a SAL. Of course, despite my newly organised stash, my chart has gone AWOL, so sometime today I'm going to be looking for it ... hopefully the sheep will return to the fold, and we can get going next weekend! I haven't stitched a Just Nan in a while.

Pictures of my finishes will appear on Monday, when I get back to the office. Happy Stitching Sunday, everyone!