Bluebird of Happiness – Cottage Garden Samplings

 When I first discovered Patchwork Rabbit  back in 2018 after a friend sent me a gift voucher, the first thing I did was to sign up for a monthly subscription for ‘The Songbirds Garden’ series from Cottage Garden Samplings.

Over the years I have completed and framed seven of them

and I’ve now pulled out my eighth,  ‘Bluebird of Happiness’ because all those cherry blossom are crying out spring to me.

I’ve only made a small start, but did complete the first of the two birds.

The model on the chart was stitched on darker pink linen but I’ve decided to stitch mine on ‘36ct ‘Powder Puff’, which was one of the colours from the Roxy Floss Co  / Evertote, linen club.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

Chart – Bluebird of Happiness – Songbird’s Garden

Designer – Cottage Garden Samplings

Fabric – 36ct Powder Puff –Roxy Floss Co  / Evertote,

Threads -  Weeks Dye Works

Quick Quaker Stitch-a-Long

So here we are, into April and already a quarter of the way through the year! 

Not only that, we have a 4 day long weekend, so before I go any further I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter.

We had a fun sal start on the 1^st of the month, because Jacob from Modern Folk Embroidery is marking  15 years since he started designing with Evertote,  and he has designed the ‘Quick Quaker’ so we can stitch-a-long too and celebrate with him.

I decided to go with a blue/grey theme, so I pulled a piece of 32ct ‘Dune’ hand dyed linen from Chromatic Alchemy from my stash and some Roxy Floss Co threads  that were left over from various holiday countdowns.   Thin Air, Mountain Range, Yonder, & Blue Moon from 2023 and  How Do You Blue from 2024.

Jacob is also doing daily floss tubes, showing his daily stitching and other fun stuff.

My plan is to just keep stitching until it’s done as opposed to just doing the daily amount of stitches, and this is where I am at the moment.

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

Quick Quaker

Designed – Modern Folk Embroidery

Fabric – 32ct Dune Linen from Chromatic Alchemy

Threads – Roxy Floss Co

Christmas Monthly Stitching.

The final wips I worked on during March were the regular Christmas stitching I do on the 25^th & 26^th of each month, but from last month I decided to extend it and continue on until the end of the month.

This does not include ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ from Bothy Threads, which I usually stitch at the start of the month and finish the whole panel, so at the moment I have two other Christmas wips on the go.

‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ from Historische Stickmuster  was originally a free, time restricted sal chart, but it’s now available to purchase on the web site.  I downloaded the chart and then ordered the silk and fabric pack for mine.

This is where I left it at the end of February.

When I picked it up in March, I completed the church, the final house and the snow on the ground,

added more snowflakes and made a small start on Santa’s sleigh.

Not bad progress for 4 days of stitching!

For the final 3 days of the month I pulled out ‘Coffee Shoppe’, the Dimensions kit that I’ve made no secret of the fact it’s not my favourite to stitch on.

This is where it was when I last put it down.

And this is where it is now.

I just have to keep reminding myself that it all worth the effort in the end, because these kits look amazing once all the back stitching is done and they are in their frame.

So as we wave goodbye to March and look forward to brighter and warmer spring days, I wish you all

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Designed – Historische Stickmuster

Fabric – 32ct unbleached Linen

Threads – Soie d’Alge silks

 

Coffee Shoppe

Designed – Dimensions - Kit

Fabric – 14ct Zweigart Aida - White

Threads – Standard Cotton

Francis 1863 – La-D-Da - ‘Some you Win, Some you Lose’!

Having stitched 'Sampler Hare' from La-D-Da, back in April 2024, I decided it was time to stitch the other two charts that were in my collection.

Sampler Hare was stitched on 32ct evenweave, so she was small and quite fiddly to finish, especially as she was to be my first stand-up.  So taking that into consideration, I decided that  I would used 28ct evenweave for the next two, so they would be a little bit bigger and hopefully a little easier to finish.

First up was  ‘Sweet Pea’, stitched on Antique White evenweave, with the called for threads and a substitute for dmc 844, which I was missing. 

 ‘Francis 1863’, came next, again using the same fabric and the called for threads.

It was all going well until I decided to fully finish them and that was things went awry.

I tackled Sweet Pea first and didn’t think she turned out too bad…..or at least that was what I thought at the time.

But sadly, when I got to 'Francis' and turned her the right way out after sewing, I realised I had trimmed the edges too close, the Evenweave had badly frayed in several places and she was beyond saving.

That made me go back to take a closer look at Sweet Pea and sure enough there were also one or two threads that were pulling apart. 

I'm not sure there's anything I can do to rescue her either, so I'm thinking the only thing I can do now is to re-stitch them both and may be use Linen or Aida this time instead of Evenweave.

Oh well, it's so frustrating, but I'll have to put it down to a steep learning curve and next time remember not to trim so close to the stitching!

My next new start was this darling kit 'Patterned Pretties #4 from Jeanette Douglas. 

This was a Christmas gift from my stitchy friend Stasi, over at   Bee-Mused and Bee-Stitching, who knew that Jeanette is my favourite designer, so thanks so much Stasi.

Jeanette loves her specialist stitches and this piece is all done in Bargello with beautiful silk threads.

You've gotta love this colour combination too!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Three French Hens – Bothy Threads – 12 Days of Christmas

 On the third day of Christmas my truelove gave to me……..

Three French Hens

While stitching this square, I was reminded me of something I read a while back.

It was letters from Emily to Edward, thanking him for her Christmas gifts.

I will share the first three here and then will add her following letters  after completing the stitching each month and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.

 

So here are Emily’s first three letters…..

Dec 25 (1^st day of Christmas)

My dearest darling Edward,
What a wonderful surprise has just greeted me! That sweet partridge, in that lovely little pear-tree; what an enchanting, romantic, poetic present! Bless you, and thank you.
Your deeply loving
Emily.

 

Dec 26 (2^nd day of Christmas)

Beloved Edward,
The two turtle-doves arrived this morning, and are cooing away in the pear-tree as I write. I'm so touched and grateful!

With undying love, as always,
Emily.

 

Dec 27  3^rd day of Christmas)

My darling Edward,
You do think of the most original presents! Who ever thought of sending anybody three French hens? Do they really come all the way from France? It's a pity we have no chicken coops, but I expect we'll find some. Anyway, thank you so much; they're lovely.
Your devoted Emily.

*********************

Another project I have stitched on recently was  ‘Mary Allcorn 1764’ from Hobby House Press

This was a 2024 New Year’s Day start  and it’s the first time I’ve pulled it out this year.

I have completed the alphabet stitched with Algerian Eyes over four linen threads,

and also the double row of tiny Algerian Eyes, stitched over two threads.. 

 I’m not great at planning project in advance but here I am contradicting myself.

I already have two more  new starts lined up, that I’m hoping to work on and finish and  of course there’s my Christmas stitching on the 25^th and 26^th, so there’s still lots of stitching to come before the end of the month.  I also have some summer stitching ready to go, because this little lot arrived from Megan at Coffee Crafts  this morning.

  

Happy  Stitching!

Sue

x

 12 Days of Christmas

Designed – Bothy Threads - Kit

Fabric – 14ct Zweigart Aida - White

Threads – Standard Cotton, Pearl Cotton and Gold Thread

Mary Allcorn 1764

Designer – Hobby House Press

Fabric – 36ct

Threads –Gloriana Silks and Classic Color Works Belle Soie Silks

 

Sweet Pea – La-D-Da

 When it comes to spring stitching, what better way to kick things off than with one of the cute bunnies from La-D-Da.

I have three of the bunny charts and stitched ‘Sampler Bunny’ back in June 2024. 

 That was my first attempt at making a stand-up and I learned a few things along the way.

Now, I feel a bit more confident about my finishing this time round because I’ve stitched ‘Sweet Pea’ on a smaller count

Jobelan, making it slightly larger and plan to sew it on my machine instead of hand sewing it, as I did last time.

I’m still trying to stitch from stash and had all the called for threads except for one brown dmc, but I managed to find a suitable one to replace it.

Updated to show finishing - 29th March 2026

I’ve also given my Chatelaine some love in the last couple of weeks, because I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t touched since September last year.

This is where I left it.

I have worked some more on the top right-hand corner, adding more to the lace and the three small flowers.

I also filled in some of the Jessica and Rhodes stitched on the inner and outer borders and made a start on the small flowers around the outside.

I had one last new start to share, and that is the ‘Three French Hens’ panel from ‘The 12 Days of Christmas, from Bothy Threads.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

X

Sweet Pea - La-D-Da
Fabric   28ct Jobelan – Antique White

Threads –Called for DMC, Classic Colorworks  & Weeks Dye Works and 1 substitute DMC

Hummingbird Lace Mandala - Chatelaine

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

12 Days of Christmas - 3 French Hens

Designed – Bothy Threads - Kit

Fabric – 14ct Zweigart Aida - White

Threads – Standard Cotton, Pearl Cotton and Gold Thread

A Hinderloopen Pin Cube?

Well, the five parts of the 'Quintessential Frisian Smalls' Sal has now just become six parts in  my case, because I’ve finished what I’m calling a Hinderloopen Pin Cube and it was put together using the bonus charts included in the project.

I think it fits in with the collection perfectly!

I’ve still some fabric and thread left, so I wonder what I can come up with next!

Incidentally, the Black display tray was a bargain find in B & M and cost a massive £5!

 

Thanks again to Caroline from Evertote, Kerri from Roxy Floss Co  and Jacob from  Modern Folk Embroidery, for such a fun project.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal

Designed – Hindeloopen Strawberry’

Fabric – 36ct Linen -   Porcelain – Roxy Floss Co/Evertote

Threads – Roxy Floss Co – Falu Red (hand-overdyed cotton)