Home is Best - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Home is Best

Designer: Lizzie*Kate (a very old freebie)

Threads: DMC Color Variations and DMC

Fabric: 28 count evenweave

I stitched this for Lucy on the Hooked on Exchanges blog - the theme was 'Summer House' and as at the time Lucy's blog was all decked out for the Fourth of July, I thought she might like a piece with the Stars and Stripes - it turned out she did :o)

I backed the pinkeep in blue fabric with little cream hearts in it, and the pins pick up the colours of the threads I used.

Summer House - Little House Needleworks

Design: Summer House (freebie)
Designer: Little House Needleworks
Threads: DMC Colour Variations and Six Strand Sweets
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, colour unknown

This is the Little House Needleworks exchange I did for the Hooked on Exchanges group. My partner was Annette, and as she is in the USA I thought that Summer House seemed appropriate. Carol S. had very kindly sent me a whole bunch of freebies so I could participate - and now I have another favourite designer to add to the list! This was a joy to stitch - the colours blend beautifully - even though they were my pick, and not the charted colours... - the frog stayed away, and the whole design seemed to 'hang' just right.

The picture above is the whole package I sent to Annette, and below is a picture before I added the trim to the pin keep - you wouldn't think something so simple as a piece of braid and some pins would make such a difference, would you?

I love doing the exchanges on HoE, I have three more lined up over the coming months and I'm looking forward to each and every one of them!

I think I might restitch this design for myself, and make the flag either a maple leaf or a Union Jack.

Plum Berry Sampler - Bent Creek

I think I said pretty much what I wanted to in the last post :o)

I did wonder if the purple was a bit too bright, and thought about frogging all the specialty stitches and re-stitching in a more mulberry sort of colour, but then reality and common sense took over!

Design Details

Fabric: 28 count linen from Silkweaver - Lichen Moss
Threads: DMC stranded cotton
Designer: Bent Creek (Marsha Worley & Elizabeth Newlin)
Chart Details: The Plum Berry Sampler BC418 - Bent Creek (c) 2000
Stitch Count: 40H x 101V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Rhodes Stitch, Smyrna Cross Stitch, Algerian Eyelet Stitch
Threads Used: DMC 3835, 3023, 3787, 3021, 311, 869. Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: Seven assorted buttons.
Modifications Made: Used DMC conversion, substituted recommended buttons