New Start Saturday!

It’s Saturday and I’ve started a new project this week, so here’s how it’s going so far.

Seeing as how my little’un is getting way more mobile, I thought it best to make a start on making door swags (padded attachments to hang from the door handles on either side so the doors can’t get shut on tiny fingers). I got the idea from one of the cross stitch magazines I had a few months ago, but I wasn’t keen on the floral design on the one in the mag, so I decided to have ago at putting together something of my own. This one is using motifs from various places, but I’m planning on designing at least one from scratch.

For the living room door swag, I’m using motifs and lettering from various sources. I’ve never made anything like these before, so I’ll be interested myself to see how they turn out!

I’ve sketched out and charted a design for the living room one incorporating a McIntosh Rose style motif which will be stitched in greens and peachy shades to complement the natural tones in the livingroom.

As you can see, I’ve now completed the cross and back stitching on the lettering, the two leaves and the rose on either side of the lettering (with the leaves around them). I now just have the main rose at bottom centre and the smaller roses diagonally upwards and outwards from there to stitch and the design will be complete! After that it’s figuring out how to assemble the things!

Bold Blooms by Angela Poole (also UFO Week Update)

Project: Bold Blooms freebie kit (Cross Stitcher magazine June 2009)
Designer: Angela Poole
Materials: 14-count white aida; Anchor floss; pink and cream seed beads

I started this project some time ago but other more pressing projects got in the way of me finishing it, so I picked it up again this week as my second UFO week project, as there was actually very little left to do in order to complete it. As I’m not really all that good at French knots as yet (I’ll have to work on that!), I used pink and cream seed beads in their place, which I think is very pretty.

I’ve not quite decided how this will be used or displayed yet, but I think it might work well as a card, as there is room enough for a small greeting to be stitched at the right-hand side of the picture, under the third flower. I think it would make a lovely birthday, good luck or get well soon card.

UFO Week: 1st September-7th September pt. II

Seeing as how I very quickly managed to finish my original UFO week piece (the Love and Luck Wedding Sampler for my best friend’s wedding next weekend), I now have time to move onto another UFO.

The Bold Blooms kit was a freebie on the June 2009 issue of Cross Stitcher magazine. I started it, but got sidetracked by other projects and never got it finished, so this is it – I WILL finish this lovely little Angela Poole design this week!

This is where I left off:

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.

New-Start Saturday: Japanese Cherry Blossom by Maria Diaz

Design: Japanese 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; DMC 818

As a special treat to myself, I’ve started work on this project to make into a small biscornu-style cushion for my Grom’s Xmas. I’m stitching it 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 two other flosses I just happen to have on hand. Above is a photograph of the work I did tonight – I think I’m off to a pretty good start!

So far I’m finding it a very enjoyable stitch, even though I haven’t actually done much of it! I’m only using 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.

WiP Updates

I have a whole bunch of works in progress at the moment, so I thought I’d update them all at once:

Wedding Sampler:
I haven’t got much further with this, but as the deadline is at the start of  September, I know I have plenty of time to complete it.

Bold Blooms:
This little freebie kit is a lot of fun to stitch. There aren’t many different colours in it and the effect of depth and perspective is created by using only one strand for distance and two strands for close up. I think it will look very pretty when completed.

Stitching Friends SAL Exchange:
This is a sitch-along exchange I’m doing with my new friends at The Cross Stitch Forum. The deadline is 1st September, so again, I have plenty of time to complete this one.

Rainbow Cats Bookmark:
This is a gift I’m working on for a friend who is always very kind to everyone and deserves a little treat. She loves books and cats, so I thought I’d combine her two loves on this bookmark which is a design by Carla-Jane of Raevyn Designs.

Dragon Silhouette:
I’ve designed this piece myself for an arts and crafts competition on the Crafts and Creatures forum. The deadline is the end of the month, so this is the one I’m doing most work on at the moment!

Three WiPs and a Forthcoming Project

Left to right: Wedding sampler, cube, Bold Blooms and Tudor Queen Mottoes overview

The three main projects I have on the go at the moment are a wedding sampler, a stuffed cube toy and a free magazine kit.

The wedding sampler is for my friends, Kerry and Stu, who are getting married in September this year. I’m Chief Bridesmaid and will be reading at the wedding, so the inner border will be different from the horseshoe border on the chart – I’ll be replacing them with a few lines from the reading instead, just to make it extra personal. I’m quite pleased with my progress on this project and I think it will look lovely when it’s finished.

The stuffed cube toy is for my baby son who is almost eight months old now. Each face of the cube will feature a letter from his name (quite fortunately, their are six letters in his first name – Xander!) and I’ll put a few bells inside with the stuffing.

The freebie kit, called Bold Blooms, is from Cross Stitcher magazine. I’ve only just started this one, so I haven’t done very much of it yet, which is why I’ve popped the picture card next to my work in the photo, so you can see what it will look like when it’s finished.

The forthcoming project (which I’ll be starting after I’ve finished the cube and Bold Blooms kit) is a sampler of four Tudor Queens’ Mottoes, which I’m stitching as a mock-up for the designer through The Corss Stitch Forum, Carla-Jane of Raevyn Designs. I’ll be experimenting with metallic thread for the first time on this project, so I’m quite excited about it!

Assisi Handbag

Project: Assisi kowhai design on handbag
Started: 13.04.09
Finished: 17.04.09

Original design by CraftCo Limited

I’m so pleased with how this turned out! I’ve never tried Assisi work before, but I think it works particularly well with the black background and the variegated floss. The bag itself was purchased from E-Bay and is completely made of black 14-count aida, so I could actually have covered the whole thing in a cross stitch design, but chose this smaller, square one which was a freebie. It’s stitched in Trebla 31 (turquoise variegated) and the outlining is done in Trebla 36 (pink variegated). I then added pale pink seed beads on the ends of the stamen of the flowers and filled the blank square between the design and the border with alternating pale pink and clear seed beads to add more texture and lustre to the bag.

This will be part of my sister’s birthday present along with the hand mirror I previously completed. I hope she likes it!

Progress…

I’ve managed to get a little more stitching done, so I thought I’d post a couple of progress pictures to show how I’m getting on with two of my current works in progress:

15-sided biscornu stitch-along:

I’m stitching this on white 18-count aida in two variegated threads – Trebla 13 for the outer squares (that’s the pink bits) and Trebla 41 for the designs (the purple). I’ve completed ten of the faces and intend to add pale pink seed beads and finish it with a decorative silver button on either side. It will be stuffed with regular stuffing and lavender to make a pomander. There are a few people on The Book Club Forum who are working on this project as a stitch-along as was done on the Stitch Creations blog (click on the link in the title to see some gorgeous finished products!).

Textile Heritage Victorian Lavender Bookmark:

I have largely neglected this one in favour of other projects lately, but once the biscornu is finished, I will try to find a little more time to devote to this one and get it finished. It will be backed with lilac felt when it’s done. The kit is lovely and the finished product will be very pretty, so I really should get back to it!

Textile Heritage Poppy Bookmark

Project: Textile Heritage Poppy Bookmark
Started: 17.02.09
Finished: 02.03.09

Kit by Textile Heritage.

I’m rather pleased with how this turned out – especially for this being my first project on my return to cross stitching! It was nice to work with different thicknesses of thread (some is in 3-thread, some in 2-thread and some in 1-thread) for the different effects. It’s backed with red felt that matches the poppies on front. The finished bookmark is quite pretty and I’m chuffed to bits!

I gave the finished bookmark to a colleague as a leaving present – she’s an avid reader and crafter, like me, and seemed really pleased with it.