Project: Beside the Sea
Started: 16.08.09
Finished: 19.08.09
Design: Freebie kit on Cross Stitcher Magazine (October 2009 issue)
Materials: White 14-count Aida; Anchor flosses; seaside charms

I just couldn't resist stitching this lovely little freebie kit for my baby son's room. I added his name to the side of the boat, just to make it a little bit more personalised. The seaside charms are so cute and the colours so soft that they'll look perfect in Xander's nursery. I can hardly wait to find the perfect frame for it!

Birthday Card

This a birthday card I stitched for a special friend; I used 14 ct white aida and Anchor floss.

Blackwork Cherry Blossoms

Project: Blackwork Cherry Blossoms
Started: 08/08/09
Finished: 11.08.09

Design: Blackwork Cherry Blossom by Maria Diaz (from Cross Stitcher Magazine)
Materials: 14-count Charles Craft Soft Touch Aida in Dusty Rose; freebie flosses from Cross Stitcher Magazine; Venus 2611

This was an incredibly quick stitch and very enjoyable as the subtle shades give a very pretty and delicate effect. This design will become one side of a small decorative cushion for my Grom’s Christmas gift.

It's stitched on Charles Craft “Soft Touch” Dusty Rose 14-count Aida with the main 5 colours being the freebie flosses from the latest Cross Stitcher magazine plus another floss I just happened to have on hand. I only used two strands of floss, however, as I thought it looked a bit lumpy using the suggested three and I wanted a finer finish than that.

I’m planning to stitch a different design on the other side of the cushion (possibly the four butterflies freebie design from My Aunt’s Attic) in similar colours, so that it’s reversible.

EMS Geranium Faerie Finish!

Hello Everyone!

I know it has been a while since I have posted a finish, and I do apologize for that. Sadly, my mother in law passed away at the end of July, and we have been very busy with family since then. I have finally finished the EMS Geranium Faerie for a round robin piece. I think she has come out nicely. I scanned a picture of her so that ya'll could see her close up. I also took a picture with my camera to better show the sparkle that I added with blending filament in the pink areas and also her wings.

So here she is!





Tonight I am starting an SAL of an HAED pattern called Pale Rose. A friend of mine and I are both starting it. And we are both stitching the piece for our daughters. We are going to stitch one month on and one month off. That way it gives us a break once in a while and also gives us time to work on other things. If you'd like feel free to visit my regular blog, It's All About Cross Stitch. I will often post progress pics on there, as well as my finishes.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of my finish and are having a really great week!

Happy Stitching!

Until Next Time,
♥ Margie ♥

Wedding Favours

Project: Micro-biscornu Wedding Favours
Materials: 16-count Antique White Aida; Anchor 101 (purple) floss; purple ribbon from John Lewis
Design: Original design by Kell Smurthwaite ©

These tiny biscornu-style favours are for my best friend's wedding in September. Each face measures 1" square, so they were really fiddly to put together and I could only do a maximum of three or four each night before my fingers seized up! As I had 25 of them to make, it was time for stiff fingers all week long! Still, I think the end result is worth it.

I designed the logos of a motif of hearts and included the initials of the bride and groom, and the date of the wedding. The purple colour of the stitching matches the bridesmaid dresses and the fabric is antique white to compliment the bride's gown.

Anniversary Card

Project: Anniversary Card
Started: 28.07.09
Finished: 30.07.09

Design: Heartwork Pattern Assissi Style by Cheryl Smith
Materials: 32 count Dragon Hand Dyed Jobelan in Heavens Above; Six Strand Sweets in Watermelon (2 over 2)

It's my 6th wedding anniversary today, so I stitched this little card for my hubby.

Christmas Cards

It might seem strange to be thinking of Christmas in July, but when I decided that I would stitch some of my cards for this year’s festive season, I knew I’d better get cracking and do a few every few weeks if possible. Here are the first six designs mounted into their cards. I plan to add a few embellishments eventually (such as text on the fronts of the cards), but at the moment, they just have the cross stitched designs in them. All the designs were freebies downloaded from the internet.

Design 1: Heart Tree by Alexandrina
Materials: Stitched in Trebla 14 variegated on hand dyed fabric from a Polstitches grab bag (suspect it’s 28-count sampler linen in Fields of Green) and mounted in a cream oval aperture card from John Lewis.

Design 2: Sapin de Noel from Gazette94
Materials: Stitched in Trebla 14 variegated on hand dyed fabric from a Polstitches grab bag (suspect it’s 28-count sampler linen in Fields of Green) and mounted in a cream oval aperture card from John Lewis.

Designs 3, 4, 5 and 6: Snowflake by Studiowit
Materials: Stitched in Six Strand Sweets Grape Slushy on hand dyed fabric from a Polstitches grab bag (suspect it’s 28-count sampler linen in Elizabethan) and mounted in a white round aperture card from John Lewis.

Micro Biscornu

A tiny biscornu stitched on 14 ct grasshopper aida using DMC thread. It is a blackwork freebie I have used before. Quick to stitch up and only taking a couple of hours.

Teresa Wentzler's "The Castle"

Stitched on 18ct white aida.
I started this in November 21,2008 and worked on this
along with other pieces so it's hard to tell how long it took.
I even neglected it for awhile. *shame*




Free Signature Generator

Assissi Autumn Bookmark

Project: Assissi Autumn Bookmark

Started: 08.07.09

Finished: 14.07.09

Design: Assissi Autumn by Rhuann Designs

Materials: DMC 301, 433, 680, 898 and Polstitches hand dyed fabric from a grab bag (I suspect it's 28-count sampler linen in Chestnut)

The design is a freebie from Rhuann Designs (one of four - one for each season) and although the example shown on the website appears to have been stitched in variegated floss, I thought I'd try using solid colours in autumnal tones and I think the completed project looks very effective. The tassle is my first attempt at making my own and uses the same colours of floss as the stitching.

This is a gift for an online friend who very kindly loaned me a book, but I'm considering doing all four seasons as a small sampler for myself at some point in the near future, as I think they'd look lovely all together in a frame.

White Peonies

This was a free kit from Cross Stitcher, UK, from June-2007. Design by Sheila Hudson . All full cross stitches, was a delight to stitch, although the quality of the floss that came with the kit was less than good.

Biscornu Borsc

Stitched on 14 ct lt green aida with Threadworx overdyed floss. Along with a biscornu scissor fob and a zigouigoui. The borsc is lined inside. The pattern was a freebie. I stiffened the borsc using fusable web.

Subversive Sampler

Project: Subversive Sampler
Started: 28.06.09
Finished: 30.06.09

Design: Short and Sweet by Maria Diaz (from Cross Stitcher Magazine April 2009)
Materials: 28-count Jobelan in grey, various DMC flosses, Gutermann seed beads in cream

As a fan of samplers anyway, I couldn’t resist this modern twist on a traditional design – the subversive sampler! I changed the colour scheme slightly from the magazine recommendations, using flosses that I had to hand and that complemented each other and the fabric well, and added a few cream seed beads in the border. The idea was to make it look pretty and delicate till you realise the lettering spells “Bothered”, which makes it a little punchier. I think this one might go on my desk at work as my colleagues have a sense of humour and I return to work after ten months of maternity leave in another two weeks!

Snips and Snails Sampler

Project: Snips and Snails Sampler
Started: 26.06.09
Finished: 27.06.09

I happened upon this tiny birth sampler whilst browsing the Sew and So website and couldn't resist it. The design is by Carolyn Meacham and the kit comes complete with plenty of flosses to complete the project (although it doesn't specify, I believe the threads to be DMC). The framed size is just 6.5 inches by 7 inches, but I think this simple sampler is just so charming! It's an incredibly quick stitch and would be a lovely gift for anyone who has a friend with a baby boy - it could even be stitched last minute and given to the proud parents very soon afterwards!

Blog Award!

We won a blog award thanks to
[Amy Perrotti]

It was difficult to choose only 15. Here are 15 I think are lovely. If they accept the nomination for the One Lovely Blog Award they can each then choose 15 blogs to give the award to and share the love further. Congratulations to all the nominees!

(due to this being a blog with many authors, and I don't want to choose all 15 so not sure how to do this..lol)

Stitching Friends Stitch-Along Exchange

Design: From Le Blog de Lisette
Materials: Polstitches linen in Fallen Leaves / Venus 2482 floss / Cream Gutermann Seed Beads

This is my first ever stitch-along exchange and I’ve loved the idea of using the same basic design but playing around with the different materials to make something unique.

I settled on some linen I received in a grab bag from Polstitches – I think it’s the colour they call Fallen Leaves – and a deep turquoise floss (Venus 2484) , which complemented it well, to stitch the entire design. I replaced some of the stitches of the border with cream seed beads and added a couple of real buttons I picked up from John Lewis (they’re very pretty blue sparkly ones that I thought went well with the overall colour scheme) and a tiny gold scissors charm in place of the three stitched buttons. On the reverse, I thought it would be nice to commemorate the exchange by including the details (title, date and my own involvement in stitching it) and make it into a small cushion.

I know some other members of the forum have translated the motto into English or another language, but I decided to leave mine in the original French – it reads, “Stitched gifts, gifts of friendship” which I think is a lovely sentiment.

I’m very pleased with how it turned out and am looking forward to sending it to its new home at the beginning of September!

A 3 sided Christmas ornament for a friend. Done on 14 ct aida and DMC threads. Another great freebie. Linda

Dragon Silhouette

Original design by Kell Smurthwaite ©

This is an entry for an art competition on the theme of Myths and Legends over at the Crafts and Creatures forum. I liked the idea of creating something that would potentially be quite simple (due to the short time limit for competition entry) and hit on the idea of only using a few bold colours and a silhouette for a striking effect. After thinking about it for just a little while, I figured a dragon would be the most instantly recognisable in silhouette and set about sketching a rough draft and then transferring it onto graph paper. There are a tonne of fractionals, which made stitching it a bit of a bother on Aida (I sometimes wished I’d gone for an evenweave instead), but I think it turned out quite well in the end.

It’s stitched on off-white 18-count Aida in DMC 444 (yellow border), 606 (red background) and 310 (black silhouette).

Another great freebie. Done on 14 ct aida and lots of cobalt blue beads.

Linda

My blackwork biscornu. Done on 14 ct light blue aida on top and white on the bottom. Stitch with DMC threads. Another great freebie. Linda