Two ATCs

“Koi” and “Illuminated C”

These are the two ATCs I stitched for the May exchange at the Cross Stitch ATC Facebook group.

The first theme is “The Letter C” – the plan is that all 26 letters will be covered, but not in alphabetical order (just to keep us on our toes!). I chose my design from Illuminated Letters by Lesley Teare – the alphabet featured in an issue of The World of Cross Stitching (I don’t know which issue – I swapped a chart with a member on a forum to get these), and I plan to use these designs for my whole alphabet series. It’s stitched on white 14-count aida in various DMC threads and only just fits on the card, so next time I’ll be using a higher count of fabric!

The second theme is “Oriental”. I found this gorgeous little koi design which is free to download from Cross Stitch Happy and just knew it was the one for me! I didn’t use the suggested colours, but instead picked colours out of my existing stash. I also replaced the eyes and most of the little buds on the plants with beads, just for a little extra dimension. Finally, I added the Japanese character for “koi” in the upper right-hand corner. The koi represents love and friendship, so this beautiful fish was the perfect choice for an exchange. I like him so much I almost wished I could have kept him for myself, so I think there’s a distinct possibility I’ll stitch him again for a card or some such thing. This version is stitched on pale blue 14-count aida in various DMC threads and beads I had to hand.

ATCs

I’ve recently become part of a Facebook group that exchanges ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)* and have also been taking part in an exchange on The Cross Stitch Forum, so I thought I’d display them here.

The Easter Bunny and Smile designs were both for the Facebook group for the April exchange (I’ll post the pictures of the May exchange ATCs when they’ve arrived at their destinations – the posting date is the 20th of the month).

For the Easter-themed ATC, I thought there could be nothing more associated with that holiday (well, for me, anyway) than the Easter Bunny, so I adapted a sweet little design I found online for free (click HERE).

The “Stitch a Smile” theme had me thinking – what would I choose? Wile searching for something suitable, I came across a beautiful freebie daffodils design. FOr me, the first sign of daffodils is the first sign that Spring is here and it always makes me smile. Again, I adapted the design slightly. Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me, remember where I got the chart, so if you spot it anywhere, please let me know, so I can give credit to the designer!

The final ATC is on a Summer theme and is for the Cross Stitch Forum exchange. I designed this one myself and it was fun, yet simple, to stitch. You can download the chart for free at my Kincavel Krosses design blog.

* ATCs always measure 2.5″ x 3.5″. They are exclusively swapped, rather than being sold, and can be done in any medium on any theme.

Project: Love and Luck Wedding Sampler
Started: 29.04.09
Finished: 01.09.09

Design: Love and Luck Wedding Sampler by The Historical Sampler Company (from Cross Stitcher Magazine May 2009)
Materials: Pale lilac 16-count Aida; Anchor flosses; cream pearl seed beads

This project has taken me quite a while to complete as I kept going off the design and then it grew on me again later on and I'd come back to it. This time, as a result of resolving to finish it during UFO week, I really put the pressure on and added the final seed bead tonight (just as well, really, as the wedding is this weekend!). It won't be framed in time for the wedding, but it most certainly will be by the time the happy couple return from their honeymoon.

I changed the original design a tiny bit by replacing the top and bottom edges of the horse shoe border with a quote from the Apache Wedding Prayer, which I will be reading at the wedding, just to make it a little more personal. It reads "Now you are two people with only one life before you."

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!