I'd rather be stitchin': Atelier Soed idee

10 Aug 2025

‘Simone’s Double Pincushion’ - Simone de Jong-van Wissen - Atelier Soed idee

My final project for Cross Stitch Camp 2025 is done and dusted, and just like every other year, it been fun pushing ourselves to stitch and try something new.

I have gone with a new designer to me and that is Simone de Jong-van Wissen from Atelier Soed idee .

As I was kitting it up I decided to make the project a bit of a stash buster by using Roxy Floss Co threads that were left over from the 2022 Christmas Countdown from Evertote and some of the linen used for the ‘Quintessential Friesian Smalls’ sal that is currently underway.

As soon as I saw her book ‘Simone’s Smalls’, I wanted to stitch everything in it and will do just that sometime in the future

but for now I’ve decided to stitch ‘Simone’s Double Pincushion’, which is also a shape new to me too.

You will notice that I’ve changed mine a little from the original, by adding some Blue thread.

I’m already looking forward to Camp 2026 and want to send a big thank you to Sheri, Colorado Cross Stitcher for organizing everything again for us, and to everyone who was kind enough to donate the prizes each month.

Here’s one last peek at the projects that I stitched over the last three months.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

Simone’s Double Pincushion

Designer - Simone de Jong-van Wissen - Atelier Soed idee

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Porcelain – Roxy Floss Co

Threads – Roxy Floss Co - Poinsettia & Blue Christmas (from 2022 Christmas Countdown)

3 Aug 2025

Peacock Pin Keep - Quintessential Frisian Smalls

The long awaited collaboration by Jacob from Modern Folk Embroidery, Roxy Floss Co and Evertote, is here at last and the main aim is to teach us some finishing techniques, while making five different smalls.

The plan is to stitch and finish one each month, with a break in December, (to accommodate stitching the Christmas Countdown) finishing the final piece in January 2026.

To prepare, I wanted a special project bag to keep everything together, so I asked Pauline from Sew Be Bags to make me a custom one.

As always it’s beautiful, thank you Pauline.

Part 1 is a small pin pillow.

The technique for this month was to finish the pillow by whip stitching the edges together and I had no problem, but what did throw me was adding my initials on the back.

I remembered that there was no ‘J’ in the Friesian alphabets, which is my middle initial, and without giving much thought to it I decided to put an Algerian eye in the centre, leaving a five stitch gap between the other letters, as seen here.

Then I read the chart some more, where Jacob explained that the ‘I’ was often used in place of the ‘J’, so I frogged the Algerian eye and stitched the ‘I’ in its place. Luckily the spacing between the letters was still even, leaving three stitches each side and with that changed, I fully finished the pin pillow.

That was when I noticed my biggest blunder……..can you see what it is?

Originally I had positioned the Algerian eye at the very centre of the pillow, meaning the ‘I’ also ended up centred, but I hadn’t taken into account was that the ‘S’ and the ‘H’ weren’t the same number of stitches wide and the whole thing is off centre.

Well, it can stay like that because I’m not going to change it now, but it's definitely something to remember for the future.

Still in a 'Red' mood, I sorted out my project for August Cross Stitch Camp and this months challenge is to stitch something new to us.

I decided to go with a new designer to me, Simone de Jong-van Wissen from Atelier Soed idee.

I purchased 'Simone's Smalls' some time ago but have never got around to stitching any of the charts, so what better time to take the plunge.

I've decided to work on ‘Simone’s Double Pincushion’

and because I love the combination of Blue and Red thread on one of the other designs, I’m going to add a touch of the Blue to this too!