E is for Embroidery - Prairie Schooler

Even though I have UFOs to get cracking with, I couldn't resist starting the next block of my Prairie Schooler ABC, and this was after the first couple of sessions.

I've left out the cat - I don't really like cats, and there are two large ones in this project to come - I'll probably replace it with another spool of thread.

I've also changed the design the lady is stitching to incorporate the year.

I'm not sure about the design to go in the frame, whether to stitch the dark background or not ...

Happy Dance! - A is for Anchor

Design: A is for Anchor (from A*B*C) 

Designer: Prairie Schooler 

Threads: DMC as charted  

Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream 

Stitches: Half cross stitch

I started this on the 28th of December, and finished it on the 5th of  January, as I wanted to stitch my New Year's Day pieces too. Again, this was mostly worked whilst listening to the coverage of the cricket in South Africa - cross stitch and cricket go very well together!

This is how it grew:

 

And this is how the first row completed looks:

Apologies for the dark pictures - we have grey skies because of all the snow we're getting.

I didn't make any changes to this. Although I may go back and work two of the letters in the compass rose in a different colour, as N and W are my initials :o)

D is for Drum is taking slightly longer to work, as I'm doing a bit of a re-design - the flag and shield motif are being changed to designs more appropriate for someone who is not American, and the eagle is changing species too!

Happy Dance! - B is for Blackbird

Design: B is for Blackbird (from A*B*C)

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Threads: DMC as charted, modification noted below.

Fabric: 28 count evenweave, cream

Stitches: Half cross stitch

This is my final stitching happy dance for 2009. I finished it on the 28th, and I'd hoped to have had "A is for Anchor" done too, but work commitments have got in the way... sigh. It's not very flat, as I laid it out on my fluffy duvet...

I loved working on this, despite a visit from the frog. I only made one modification from the design as it was charted, and that was to turn the red eyes of the blackbirds into one of the gold colours, as blackbirds over here have yellow rims to their eyes. It was nice working on this to think of the nesting pair of blackbirds my parents' garden hosted - they used to make their nest in an old honeysuckle bush.

And is is how it looks with the first letter I did.

I'm so enjoying this, I'm not sure I'm going to want to knuckle down to my Year of the UFO project, but I must...

Prairie Schooler SAL

Day 1

Day 2(under artificial light)

Day 3

The combination of a peaceful Christmas with no travelling and Test Match Special on the radio, with live coverage of England's cricketers taking on South Africa has given me plenty of stitching time until I start work again tomorrow (boo, hiss!).

So my Prairie Schooler SAL is growing apace ... of course, when talking about over one, 'growing' is a relative term ... but hopefully, I will finish it later today. I've had a visit from the frog, I miscounted the vine border and was one stitch out by the time I got to the top ... I've reworked the horizontal row at the top, but the leaves and berries I've left alone, it can be our little secret :o)

Sow Dry, Set Wet - Prairie Schooler

Design: Sow Dry, Set Wet 

Designer: Prairie Schooler (freebie)

Threads: DMc as charted

Fabric: 25 count natural linen

Finish: Thread fob, beaded edges and loop

I stitched this for my partner Patti on the Year Round Prairie Schooler Exchange. I wasn't sure if she celebrated Christmas, so I played it safe and stitched one of my favourite freebies for her.

I used some large count linen from my stash and stitched the design over one.

To make it a little more interesting, I personalised the back on another piece of this linen and then whipstitched and beaded the edges. I didn't want to puncture the fabric and use an eyelet for the thread ring, so I made a beaded loop inside - I think I may use that again in future, it was easier and looked neater, too.

C is for Cow - Prairie Schooler

Design: C is for Cow (from Booklet A*B*C)

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 28 count evenweave, antique white

Stitched in petit point over one thread, with two strands of floss

Thank you for all your kind comments on this so far - you've really been an incentive to keep stitching, and now my cow is finished! I've been lucky in that all my Christmas preparations were completed early and so I've had time to stitch :o)

I can't promise I'll keep this speed up in future, but here's to starting B is for Blackbird later today!

I've stitched this as charted - the only modification I made was not filling in the block around the letter C.

Freebie Exchange

Design: Bloom freebie available here

Designer: Lizzie*Kate

Threads: DMC

Fabric: 28 count evenweave (quaker cloth)

My freebie exchange for a recent Hooked on Exchanges exchange went to Laurie in the USA.



I so enjoyed this freebie that I stitched it twice - once over two as a pin cushion, and once as petit point over one to make the scissor fob.



Each is trimmed with a butterfly charm from my stash. I used the DMC conversions and some evenweave I had in my stash. The tassel on the scissor fob is made with threads pulled from the left over fabric.

You can see the rest of the exchange over on the HoE blog