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

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

When I Dream of Autumn – Puntini Puntini

The last couple of days here in the UK have been beautiful and I’ve been making the most of them in my garden, because it’s unusual to have temperatures of 22 degrees this late in October.

And speaking of Autumn, it was a good time to finish and fully finish ‘When I Dream of Autumn’ from  Puntini Puntini, 

I love Paola’s designs for this set of seasons and how they come with two buttons for finishing and a matching set of pins to purchase that go with each of them.

I finished the edge of my little pillow with a crocheted picot edge, that I made using a skein of DMC cotton pearl.

While I had my sewing machine out I decided to get a couple other bits FFO’d that have been sitting around waiting to be done.

The first was stitched in November last year, but because Halloween had already been and gone, it was put in the unfinished box of doom.

This is ‘Smell My Feet’ from La-D-Da.

The other thing I pulled out was ‘Black Sampler 2021, from Whilst Iris Naps.

Originally I had planned to put this on a spool but because I didn’t have one, I decided to make a little bolster pillow instead and pinned the sampler along the top.

Then it was time for a new start, and I pulled out Log Cabin Christmas from Little House Needleworks.

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 Project Details

Chart – When I Dream of Autumn

Designer – Puntini Puntini

Fabric – 14ct – Mystery Aida

Threads – Some called for DMC and various threads from stash

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

Chart – Smell My Feet

Designer – La-D-Da

Fabric – 36ct One of a kind linen – Roxy Floss Co

Threads – Silky (Black) & DMC’s

 *************

Chart – Black Sampler 2021

Designer – Whilst Iris Naps

Fabric – 36ct Millstone Linen  - Lagacy Fiber Artz

Threads – Silky (Black)  Roxy Floss Co, The Gentle Art & Classic Colorworks

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

Chart – Log Cabin Bunnies (part 2 of Log Cabin Christmas)

Designer – Little House Needleworks

Fabric – 32ct ‘Raw’ Belfast Linen

Threads – Classic ColorWorks

Gingerbread House Globe Charmed Ornament – Mill Hill (MH16-1932) and some much needed finishing!

 Stitching has been a little sparse this week but I did manage a little finish.

We are exactly half way through the 12 in 24 Christmas Ornament Sal, hosted by Carol, over at Stitching Dream Blogspot and my JUne ornament is the cute Gingerbread House Globe, Charmed Ornament from MIll Hill.

For once I was a good girl and FFO’d it straight away, but that’s not surprising when you consider it was just a case of adding some sticky backed velvet to the reverse. Then I made a small start on the next one, for July, 'Angel Globe'

Still in the mood for finishing,  I pulled out a couple of things from my ‘Finishing Box of Doom’.  There are several things in there, one of which is the Time & Season sampler from Bothy Threads,

that I finished in 2013   (imagine embarrassed face here)

The first thing I pulled out hasn’t been languishing in there for that long, only since April this year and it’s the ‘Sampler Bunny’ from La-D-Da.

It’s my first ever attempt at a stand-up and I decided it might be easier to hand sew it, especially as it’s quite small.

Next, I had a couple of pieces to frame.

The first was the Golden Wedding Anniversary piece I stitched for my friend’s Dad and Stepmum. 

  The frame came from Picture Frames Express where I get most of my custom frames.

The second piece was the ‘With Love’ sampler from Modern Folk Embroidery, that I stitched and framed back in February.  I didn’t make a very good job of it then, so decided to take it out of its frame and have another go. 

I’m much happier with it second time around.

The final thing I pulled out was ‘Hello Winter’, from Plum Street.

I couldn’t decide how to finish this one but in the end I decided to make a flat fold.

So, that ‘s  4 new FFO’s to add to my tally of  18 for the  #ffochallenge2024 with @jenquilter and @pennysdaughtershares

 over on Instagram.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

Sampler Hare – La-D-Da

Well April is here and our clocks have gone forward, giving us lighter evenings, so it really feels like Spring has arrived at last.

The garden is looking a bit of a mess at the moment because I’m going to have the lawn re-laid in the next few weeks and the gardeners have put down weed killer before the new turf goes down.   There are signs of new growth though and my Perris is the star of the show for the time being, until I can get some bedding plants in.

On Easter Sunday,  I  managed to get in one last new start for the month of March and I’m feeling pretty proud of myself because it’s my 40^th start for the challenge   #celebrate50startalong    This is the challenge that Michelle from Pennys Daughter Shares  started on Instagram to celebrate her 50^th birthday back at the end of September, with the aim to start 50 new projects before the end of September this year.       

The good news…….I have just 10 more to go……yah!

(see the tab above for a list of the projects I’ve started so far)

So, on to project 40.

I’ve had ‘Sampler Hare from La-D-Da sitting here for some time,

I've just never got around to starting it, so Easter weekend seemed the perfect time to get me needle into my fabric.

I’m still trying to stash bust, so I pulled out a piece of 32ct Soft Cream Evenweave and the  threads are a mixture of the called for DMC’s that I had, and then I substituted the ones I didn’t for other DMC and Anchor threads.

Once the outline was stitched, the rest as really fast and I finished it on the 1^st April.

I loved working on this so much, I think I’m going to track down some of the others in the series.

 Updated to show FFO - 30/6/24

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

Samper Hare

Designer - La-D-Da – Lori Markovic  

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart  Murano Evenweave – Soft Cream

Threads – DMC 612 & 3799 (called for)

Substituted DMC 3768 &3864

Anchor 856 & 1007

 

Smell My Feet – La-D-Da

 Since my brother moved to West Mersea, near Colchester a couple of years back, I don’t get to see him as often as I used to but this past weekend we were able to get together.  

My cousin Jane and I drove up to the island for a family party to celebrate the 40^th birthday of a second cousin.

It was wonderful seeing everyone but there was no time to get any stitching in, although I did manage to get some in during the week.

I finished  ‘Smell My Feet’ from La-D-Da.

The only change I made was to give mine Mauve and Green stripy stockings.

Chart – Smell My Feet

Designer – La-D-Da

Fabric – 36ct Ooak – Roxy  Floss Co

Threads – Silky (Black)  & DMC

Stitched – 1 floss thread over 2 linen threads.

That was the extent of my stitching, but the good news is that my hand held out.  It’s feeling much better now, despite still getting some twinges in it, so resting it had definitely helped.

I’m undecided what to stitch next.

Part of me still wants to stitch Autumn, but I’m also itching to get started on my Christmas stitching and have a pile of charts kitted and ready to go.

19th October 2024 - Finishing Update

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

x