O Tannenbaum! – Brenda Gervais

 This is a project that has been almost 10 months in the making because I started all five pieces as part of my 12 x 12 stitch on New Years Eve last year and I’m happy to report that it’s now all stitched and fully finished.

A few of the panels I finished stitching earlier in the year but I still had a couple to finish, and this week was the week.

Santa was here, the last time you saw him

and the panel with the bigger house was here.

Here they are completed and ready for finishing.

At first I was contemplating finishing them as pillows instead of the little flat finishes that the chart states, mainly because I wasn’t sure I would be able to get the box over here.  Luckily I found one, although the configuration is a little different, so I eventually finished them as suggested.

I’m not a fan of gluing this type of thing together, so they were all hand stitched using this cute fabric I found in a fat quarter stack in HobbyCraft.

While I had my finishing bits and bobs out, I also FFO’d ‘Joy’, my 12 in 24 Christmas Ornament.

Again, this was hand stitched together and edged with some Red Chenille wool that I also picked up while in HobbyCraft.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 

Project Details

Chart - 0 Tannenbaum!

Designer  – Brenda Gervais

Fabric – 36ct Heartland – Picture This Plus

Threads – Called for – Weeks Dye Works, Classic Colorworks and Gentle Arts Sampler Threads

Chart – Joy

Designer – Misty Pursel – Luminous Fiber Arts

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Mill Stone – Legacy Fiber Artz

Threads – ‘On Holiday’ Roxy Floss Co – 2022 Holiday Countdown Box

Joy - Luminous Fibre Arts

 As we head into October, the weather is getting wetter and colder, although up to now I’ve resisted turning on the heating.  That to me says we're getting into the darker and what seems like longer months of the year and I’m not ready for that just yet!

 Mind you I shouldn’t complain, when I think about all the poor people in the states who are having to cope with the terrible destruction caused by hurricane Helene .  I can’t begin to imagine how you face and cope with something like that and I know it’s no consolation, but material things can be replaced in time, you can’t replace you, so stay safe and well.  I’ve already seen on social media, groups offering to help replace ‘stitchy things’ for those that may have lost everything, proving once again that our on-line community have big hearts and are willing to help in any way they can…….angels, every one of them!

September was a good month for me stitching wise, as I had three new starts and 4 finishes, one of which got me ahead of the game because it was Christmas ornament for Octobers 12 in 24 challenge with Carol from Stitching Dream Blogspot

(sorry I've not ironed anything this morning)

This was first time I’ve stitched one of Misty’s designs from  Luminous Fiber Arts  and it was the cute freebie she gave us at the Jingle Ball last year, called 'Joy'. 

I stitch it on a scrap piece of 36ct ‘Mill Stone’  linen from Legacy Fiber Artz and used left over thread from my 2022 Holiday Countdown from Evertote in the colour ‘On Holiday’.

I'm adding in a little update here because I FFO'd this on 12/10/24.

I also made some great progress on my birthday start, the ‘Newcastle Bouquet Biscornu’ from Teresa Kogut.  This is where it was the last time you saw it.

I finished the top panel and have made a start to bottom.

Of course, now we are into a new month I had to have a new start for October and decided to go with ‘When I Think of Autumn’ from Puntini Puntini.

I’ve had the chart, buttons and pins tucked away for some time, so yesterday I got it out and made a good start on it, although I’ve just noticed that my ‘M’ is one row short, so I’ll have to do a little bit of frogging the next time I pick it up.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Project Details

Chart – Joy

Designer – Misty Pursel – Luminous Fiber Arts

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Mill Stone – Legacy Fiber Artz

Threads – ‘On Holiday’ Roxy Floss Co – 2022 Holiday Countdown Box

Chart – Newcastle Bouquet Biscornu

Designer – Teresa Kogut - Creative Whims

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Baby Sheep – X JuDesigns

Threads – Called For – Classic Color Works, Weeks Dye Works & DMC

Chart – When I Think of Autumn

Designer – Puntini Puntini

Fabric – 14ct – Mystery Aida

Threads – Some called for DMC and various other threads from stash

Prairie Schooler Santa 1991

 Just a quick post today.

As I mentioned in my update yesterday, I only had a small amount of stitching left to do on my latest Prairie Schooler Santa, for the 12 in 24 Christmas Ornament SAL hosted by Carol over at Stitching Dream Blogspot 

Last night I pulled it out and finished it.

Project Details

Chart -  Santa’s Revisited – 1991 Santa

Designer -  Prairie Schooler

Fabric – 18ct Aida – Tea/Coffee Dyed by myself

Threads – Called for DMC’s

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Mrs Parkman’s Needlework Academy – A B C Sampler

 It’s been another fun week of stitching and I have another finish to share.

This time it’s the piece I was working on for Sampler September and that was the 'ABC Sampler' from Nicola Parkman of Hands Across the Sea Samplers

It was a lot of fun following the free on-line tutorial.

Some stitches, like French Knots, Smyrna Cross and Satin Stitch I have worked many times and there were others like Feather & Double Feather Stitch, Berlin Lace Work and Turkey Knot Stitch I had never encountered before, so it was interesting learning some new stitches.

I already have an idea for fully finishing, which I hope to get done in the coming week, along with a couple of other bits that need doing, so I’ll be pulling out the sewing machine.

Chart -  ABC Sampler – Hands Across the Sea

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Dunes at Dust – Legacy Fiber Artz

Threads – Gloriana Silk.

 

I also worked on my birthday start, and have made good

progress on the top square of the Newcastle Bouquet Biscornu from Teresa Kogut.

Teresa’s choice of threads on this are simply beautiful.

Chart -  Newcastle Bouquet Biscornu

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Baby Sheep – X JuDesigns

Threads – Called For – Classic Colorworks, Weeks Dye Works & DMC

 Finally, I received 4 new to me Blackbird charts that I’ve re-homed from the talented Lainey Main  on Instagram.

The one that first caught my eye was ‘Flowers For You’ because it reminds me of sweet peas and they were my mums favourite flowers. Needless to say, I’ll be stitching this one in her honour.

Then there was the ‘Home for the Holidays’ Book and two more Christmas charts, so lots for get working on!

So that’s it for my update this week. 

I’m still working on my September ornament, which will be finished this evening and then it’s back to my Biscornu, so until next time………

Happy Stitching!

Sue

xx

 

Prairie Schooler Santa 2023

As you already know from my last post, the last month was spent just stitching on my Chatelaine, in an effort to get it finished, and that in turn had an impact on all the other wips and sals that I wanted to stitch on.

Now I've completed my  Chatelaine, it was time to play catch up and the first thing I picked up was my August Christmas ornament for the #12in24ornamentstitchalong with Carol from Stitching Dream Blogspot

No surprises here, because I’m working my way through the Prairie Schooler Santa’s this year,  and the one for August is from 2023.

With that finished I went right on and made a start on the one from 1991, for my September ornament and this is where I am with it.

This afternoon I’m going to be putting the first stitches into my 68^th birthday start.

I had hoped I would be starting my new Chatelaine but unfortunately that hasn’t happened because although I have most of the threads, my linen still hasn’t arrived.

Instead I pulled out a Terese Kogut chart that I’ve had kitted up for some time and that’s the Newcastle Bouquet Biscornu.

This will be my first attempt at a biscornu, so I keeping everything crossed that I can manage the finishing of it.

At some point I would like to stitch the Newcastle Bouquet Sampler too, which was one of Teresa's first sampler designs but that’s something for the future.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 

Sampler September - ABC Sampler – Nicola Parkman

We are five days into September and although I don’t consider myself a sample stitcher, it’s ‘Sampler September’ and I suppose it would be rude not to work on one this month.

I’m not starting anything new for this though, instead I decided to work on the ABC Sampler from Nicolas Parkman’s Academy of Needlework on-line tutorials.

I had previously completed the first two lessons, which were all about Cross Stitch and Running Stitch.

Over the last few days I picked it up again and completed the next four lessons.

Lesson 3 was about the Herringbone Stitch and all it’s variations, including Closed Herringbone, Double Back Stitched Herringbone, Double herringbone, alternating Double Back Stitch, Chevron Stitch, Greek Stitch and Long Arm Cross Stitch.

In lesson 4 we looked at the very simple ‘Sewing Stitch, as well as Goblin Stitch and Tent Stitch. (also known as Petite Point or Continental Stitch)

Lesson 5 was a I stitch I remember working as a child, Blanket Stitch, and how this is also used for Buttonhole Stitch, Open Buttonhole Stitch, Crossed Buttonhole Stitch, Tailor’s Buttonhole Stitch and Detached Buttonhole Stitch.

And lastly I caught up with lesson 6 and that was Chain Stitch, another stitch from my childhood.

There are three rows worked on the sampler.

The first row was worked the way I had been taught to do it, by bringing the needle up through the previous loop and going back down in the same place.  Well, I don’t know if it was because the silk thread I was stitching with was too thick, but my stitches, worked over two threads didn’t look very neat at all.

For the second row I tried Nicola’s preferred way of working them, and that is by bring the needle up two threads away from the previous loop and then threading it under the loop and back down in the hole the needle came out of.  I think that looked much better. 

For the third row I worked the stitch in the same way but over three threads, which I think I was perfect.

 

So that’s it for now. 

My plan for the rest of this month is to finish this sampler and then work on catching up with my 12 in 24 Christmas ornaments because I still have to finish the August one and find another for this month.

The other thing I am in the process of doing is kitting up Humming Bird Lace Mandala…………….Yes, I going to stitch another Chatelaine!

I hope you have a great month ahead and wish you

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

Butterfly Lace Mandala – Chatelaine Designs

 I’m doing a happy dance this morning and celebrating ahead of time because impatience got the better of me.

What am I talking about I hear you ask?

Well I’m talking about finishing my Butterfly Lace Mandala, nine days before the goal I set myself of finishing it on my 68^th birthday.

I stitched on it every day throughout August, leaving all the beading until the last and for a split second, I did consider leaving the large flower crystal that goes in the centre until the 9th, but I couldn’t bring myself to wait, Lol!

So, it was started on 9^th September 2021 as my 65^th birthday start. (It had to be something special for that milestone, right) and I have gone from this little lot

to this over the last three years,

but it really only equates to picking it up and stitching on it for 109 days in all.

I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of a challenge because of all the speciality stitches, most of which I had never encountered before and  although I’ve beaded many times, on things like my Celtic Ladies from Lavender and Lace and Mill Hill Kits, this was by far a much bigger task. 

There were  3414 Delica beads and Swarovski  crystals on this baby!

 There was also more 1 over one stitching in this project alone, than I have ever done in the whole of my cross stitch journey.

As anyone who partakes in this beautiful hobby of ours, we all know it’s not for the faint hearted when it comes to cost, especially over the last few years, as prices have risen.

Also added to that, we in the UK often find ourselves having to purchase many of our supplies for overseas , especially as we find ourselves bewitched by all the new goodies from across the pond that we see on floss tube…….talk about get enabled, Lol!

I have no guilt about what I spend on my hobby. 

My money is my own, I don’t drink or smoke and I get hours of enjoyment from the process, love what I achieve and especially love to share my  passion.

Having said that, I did keep a note of what this ‘not so little’  project cost me and it’s not for the faint of heart. But please note, I’m not complaining here, it’s just info.

The chart was the most expensive pdf I have ever brought, coming in at a whopping £25.60.

The specialist threads, and beads came from the European Cross Stitch in the US. and the fabric was from 123 stitch also in the US.

My DMC threads were purchased from Hobby Craft, here in the UK but they are way more expensive over here for some reason, so that bumped up the total.

The overall total for this project was a whopping £253-47  and that’s without the framing, which I know is going to be eye watering too I expect, but in my opinion this project was worth every penny and every second that I spent working on it, because it’s beautiful, even if I do say so myself.

This was my first Chatelaine and I’m sure it won’t be my last, in fact I’m already eyeing up the supplies for Hummingbird Lace Mandala, so watch this space.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 

Butterfly Lace Mandala

Started 9^th September 2021

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