Chatelaine - Butterfly Lace Mandala

 She’s back from the framers and she’s a bit of a big beast!

I knew she was going to be large, but I hadn’t taken into account the extra width of the three mats, which I don’t usually bother having. 

She just a smidge under 29 inches square! 

On this occasion they really add something to the piece and also keep the art glass from resting on the crystals.

Just in case you missed the stats before, here they are again.

Started 9th September 2021
Finish 31st August 2024
Total of stitching days = 109
Total beads & crystals = 3414
Total cost (unframed) £253.47

The framing was done by my usual framers,  Frames of London and cost wise, let’s just say it cost significantly more for framing than the project cost, and leave it at that, but worth every penny I might add.

You can go back and see the  previous pictures  here.

I plan to start Humming Bird Mandala on New Years Day

Designer - Martina Rosenberg - Chatelaine
Fabric – 28ct Jobelan Evenweave – Antique White
Threads – Called for Silks, DMC and Petite Treasure Braid
Beads – Swarovski Crystals and Delica Beads

Happy Stitching!
Sue
x

Oh Holy Night, Nativity – Stony Creek – Framing

Once again my local framers have done a wonderful job finishing this for me.

When I took it in to them, we debated for some time on the lighter and darker version of this frame, finally settling for the latter, and I’m so pleased I did because it seems to bring out the gold and darker shades of the piece so well.

Details of the piece

Chart – Oh Holly Night, Nativity

Designer – Stony Creek

Fabric – 36ct Zweigart, Belfast Linen

Dyer – Nicholas Flamel Designs

Shade – Sky – Custom Dyed

Threads – Anchor – Standard Cotton Thread,  Glissen Gloss Rainbow Blending Thread

Beads – Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads

Framing – Frames of London (Loughton, Essex)

Starter Stitching – 24^th December 2021

Finished Stitching – 19^th June 2023

Number of Days worked on – 61 days

 

 

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

The Wait Is Over!

 I finally had the call yesterday and was able to go and collect my three latest projects from ‘Frames of London’, this morning.

The large one is 'Three Butterflies' by Rosewood Manor.

The other two for from Cottage Garden Samplings ‘The Song Birds Garden’ series;

Merry & Bright

A Heart Full Of Gratitude

Because I'm stitching the whole series of these, I had them make the frames so that I can interchange the stitched pieces and once again ‘Frames of London have done a fabulous job!

Before coming away I also left ‘Little Sheep Virtues in their capable hands and I’m told it should be ready before Christmas.

  I'm off to some more FFO'ing now, so..........

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Frames of London

 I can’t say enough, how lucky I am to have a fantastic framers right on my doorstep, here in Loughton.

 The first thing they framed for me was ‘Tree of Life’ from Dimensions, in 1986.

Back then I took all my finishes to a local Needlework shop for framing.  That was before I realised that the framers were actually in Loughton, where I live.

They have done some wonderful frames for me in the past, from simple frames like the one above, to an oval for my ‘Home Sweet Home’  

and the triple mounted frame they did for ‘Celtic Christmas’  to name but a few.

Yesterday, I collected my latest two from them.

First is ‘Eliza, M Stone 1881’ from Whilst Iris Naps.

I wouldn’t usually go for such a dark and ornate frame because it’s so far away from my comfort zone, but I have to say, I’m so happy with it, it’s just perfect!

The second one is much more subtle.  A very ‘safe’ White frame, edged in Silver, which again I think is prefect for ‘ Dreaming of Daisies.

While I was there collecting these, I left three more projects with them, which should be ready for collection in around  six weeks, so I need to save a few more pennies!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x 

The Girls Are Back In Town!

The final two Celtic Sisters (Celtic Summer and Celtic Winter) are back from the framers and as always   Frames of London  have done a wonderful job.

The previous two I had done in the same style frames, one Silver, one Gold and I had intended to do the same with this pair, but much to my disappointment they have stopped doing the Silver version, so I went with the Gold for them and had the Silver one changed to Gold, so they all match.

Now I have the whole collection – The four Seasons and Celtic Christmas.

Can you spot my mistake?

Somehow I managed to stitch Celtic Autumn on 36ct instead of 32ct, making her smaller than her sisters.

Just as well I’m not planning to hang them all together, but will the Virgo in take over and make me stitch her again……….

Only time will tell!

There was also a little hitch with my Mirabila ‘Crystal Christmas’, which went in to be framed at the same time as the others. 

I had a phone call to say all four of my projects were ready to be collected, but the night before I realized I had miss off a very important thing……...the Crystal Star on the top of the tree. 

My plan now would be to carefully take it out of the frame when I got it home, stitch it on from the front, so as to not have to undo all the stretching threads and then re-seal it into the frame.   

I did mention the fact that I blundered when I got the call, not expecting them to do anything about it, but the lady I spoke to very kindly said to fetch the star and thread with me and they would take it out of the frame for me so I could stitch it on in the shop.

To my amazement, when I got there they had taken it out, and undone all the stretching, making it much easier to stitch the star on.

I collected it a week later, after it had been stretched again and re-framed. 

I can’t praise them enough because they didn’t charge me for their extra work, so please keep them in mind if you are ever looking for someone to frame your precious work, I can recommend them. 
They have been doing mine since 1996 and I can’t fault them.

Frames of London

Happy Crafting!

(Whatever you passion may be)

Sue

X

Please feel free to leave a comment if you stop by.  

Framing

I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that the finishing of a project is almost as important as stitching itself.   Pick the wrong frame and it can completely ruin the look, but I’m very lucky in that I have a framers in our High Road,  Frames of London.   

They have been looking after my finished pieces for many  years now and I can honestly say that I’ve never been disappointed with the finished results. 

When I’m about to take something in to be framed I usually have the discussion with myself about the pros and cons of non-reflective glass, but I’m not a fan of the mat finish it has and always go with standard glass.

Alas, it’s not good if you’re trying to photograph your work though, as you will see in my pictures.

So, here are the latest two projects they have framed for me.

Celtic Autumn.

I already knew the frame I wanted for this one.  It’s the same as the one I have on Celtic Spring but in the Gold option as opposed to the Silver.  

 The photo doesn’t really do it justice because it looks so opulent and I love it!

The second one is the Wedding Sampler, United in Love.

Now, when I took this in I had in my mind that I wanted a White ornate frame but when I was laying them against the project it really wasn’t working.
 
 With the help of staff in the shop we finally settle for a Greyish/Pink plain frame, which picks up the colour of the fabric perfectly.

 I just hope that Lee and Manna like it as much as I do! 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

The Spirit of Christmas (Lavender and Lace)

December 2007

Lavender and Lace are definitely becoming a firm favourite of mine when it comes to cross stitch charts.

They are usually largish projects that you can really get your teeth into and always have the most wonderful detail in them as well as Gold threads and beading which is why I choose The Spirit of Christmas as my next project and I  just managed to get it finished and framed in time to hang it on my wall for the festive season.

I think this Santa, holding the Christmas Star and surrounded by a wreath bedecked with Deep Red ribbons and candles, reflects the magical spirit of the Christmas season.

Stitched on

32 count Belfast Natural Linen from Zweigart (2 over 2)

Stitch count

162 x 166

Design area

10" x 10 3/8" (32 count)

DMC floss

321                        355                        356

469                       470                       498

677                       712                        754

814                        822                        934

937                       938                        3022

3023                      3024                     3046

3328                      3371                     3750

3778                     3779                     3787

814 + 3371          white

Specialty Items

• Balger threads from Kreinik Manufacturing.
• 002HL
• 205C

Celtic Summer

September 2007


Well here I am, a year after finishing the Charity Lap Quilt project  and I’ve just finished another of the Celtic Sisters……..Three down, Two to go……and I already have the chart for Celtic Autumn.

This one is Celtic Summer, as design by my favourite designer (as if you didn’t know by now) Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum, for Lavender and Lace  and as you can see she’s stitched in beautiful dusky shades of lavender and Green and finished with the same detailed beaded borders that the other two were. 

The company suggest stitching her on Khaki Cashel Linen but I decided to do mine on Ecru 28 count Evenweave instead.  I just feel lifts the design somewhat, but it’s a personal taste.


Her Auburn hair has sun kissed highlights and is adorned with tiny beaded flowers which also flow from the basket she is carrying. 
Gold metallic beads decorate the hem of her dress and continue up the folds of the dress to the sleeves.

At the moment I’ve still not decided on the type of frame I’m going to put her in but I’m leaning towards the same frame as Celtic Spring or may be  if I can find the same one in Gold or Bronze, I’ll have to see.

Stitch count

157W x 238H

Design area

11 1/4" x 17"

DMC floss

356             783             948

420             869              3371

731              898              3820

754             934             3822

758             936              3823

780              938              3828

781

Needlepaints

2001            2002            2003

2004           2005            2006 

2101            2102            2103

Specialty Items

Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braids PB03

Mill Hill Beads

00561                    02053                    03039

03062                   62042

Celtic Spring - Lavender and Lace

July 2004              

The second design in the Celtic Sisters collection from Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum, for Lavender and Lace, Celtic Spring is every bit as opulent as the first of the sisters.

Apparently Celtic Christmas was originally intended to be a one off design but Marilyn was bombarded with requests for this kit after mentioned the possibility of doing one on a stitching news group.  There’s actually five in the series now, one for each of the seasons and the Christmas one, so it gives you some idea of how popular these beautiful beaded designs actually are.

The word ‘Spring’ dominates the top of the piece, with matching beaded sections down either side, as with the Christmas design.

The Celtic lady wears a long flowing gown of regal Lavender and Twilight Blue, highlighted with delicate threads of gold and beads around the bottom and on the train.   
She carries a bouquet of Yellow roses and a coronet of tiny yellow flowers adorns her beautifully shaded blond hair.

The chart suggests stitching on 32 count Cream evenweave fabric but I decided to stitch mine on the same muted Green that I stitched Celtic Christmas on as I thought it complemented the shade of Lavender.

This was another project that took months to stitch and despite having a long time to think about it I really agonised a bit when it came to the framing. 
I had seen some beautiful Silver mouldings that I really loved but I wasn’t sure it was going to work with the gold in her dress
In the end I decided to go for it and it looked beautiful.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look beautiful at the moment though. 
You’ll may have noticed that there’s a big crack across the glass…………….silly me let it slip when I had it down to clean and it  fell against the corner of my dressing table,  so now it’s waiting to be re-glazed.

Catch The Wind

April  2003

Sometimes you see a cross stitch charts and you know straight away that you want to stitch it but for some reason you feel that the colours the project is stitched in just aren’t right for where you plan to hang the finished piece.

That’s exactly what happened when I first saw a picture of ‘Catch The Wind’  in a magazine. 
It’s a Marilyn Leavitt Imblum counted cross stitch design from her Butternut Road line.

I really loved the picture but the colours were just too dark for the walls of my craft room where I wanted to hang it, so I set to and had a go at changing the thread colours to fit my décor.

In the end I decided to stitch on Pale Blue evenweave fabric and stitched the little girls dresses in pastel shades of Yellow, Green and Blue. 

When it was finished I had it framed in a Blue frame with a Yellow mount which complemented the stitching and matched my Lemon walls.

Cross Stitch Magazine - World of Cross Stitching

November 2002           

I was so excited back in 1997 when a brand new magazine was launched that was dedicated to cross stitch, the aptly named World of Cross Stitching!

I brought the very first issue and have been buying it ever since because as well as being packed with beautiful projects to stitch as you would expect, it also has a wealth of helpful hits and tips and the most inspiring stories written by readers and designers alike.

Now jump to the start of 2002 when there was an article in the magazine about using computers to scan photographs and make them into cross stitch charts.  This is done all the time now but back then it was something completely new in stitching.

Because it was going to be ‘the next big thing’, another craft magazine was giving away a free CD Rom of Jean Greenoff’s program Cross Stitch Creator  so I decided to give it a go and stitch a picture of my cat Emily that I had a the time.

Emily was the first cat I’d ever had because when I was a child I got a severe allergic reaction if I even walked into a room where a cat had been previously.

Despite  this  I had always loved cats and as soon as I got my own place I decided it was time to see if I could possibly live with a puddy cat of my own.
I went to a nearby rescue centre to see what I could find and came home with Emily, a three year old Tabby who I had for seven very short years before she became ill.

She was cutest and most affectionate cat I had ever known and when I would sit stitching in the evenings she would sit on my lap, not making it easy if I’m honest but I couldn’t throw her off, bless!
Anyway as I said, I decided that she would be my first subject using this new technique  and I got my brother to take a digital photo of her for me because  didn’t have a digital camera at the time.

I scanned the photo and imported it into the Jane Greenoff program and hey presto, I had a fantastic chart with amazing detail and even a shopping list of threads by my chosen maker which translated to 27 shades of Brown’s and Beige’s and more than fifty thousand stitches……..daunting or what?

As always, Emily sat on my lap as I stitched…..it was almost as if she wanted to make sure I was doing her justice, Lol, and by the end of September I was ready to get it framed.

Now up until this point I had never really been one to show of my work and say…hey, look what I’ve made, but I decided that I had a little story of my own to tell and thought I would write to The World of Cross Stitch and share the story of Emily and how she would sit and watch me stitch. 

I'd have been over the moon if they had added the picture to their stitcher's gallery but when I didn’t hear anything for them I gave up hope that that would happen...........then out of the blue, I received a letter from them.

Apparently I had been chosen as their ‘Stitcher of the Month and my story and picture would be in the March 2003 issue of the magazine.

My fifteen minutes of fame!

As ‘Stitcher of the Month’  I won a fab prize too………this beautiful Siberian Tiger kit, which I’m ashamed to say is not even only half done and joins the part finished sampler in my footstall.