I finished my Dictionary Stitches. I particularly like the back-stitched word Sampler.
Now I am going to try to finish my Gingerbread House and my Cinnamon Stars cross stitch before my kit from the Royal School of Needlecraft arrives.
Stitch Dictionary
Filed under Embroidery, Inspiration
2022 – A Review
I worked on some big projects this year; Miss P’s blanket and the Cinnamon Stars cross stitch.
I finished
- Halloween Cat – I am thinking about making it into a cushion
- Shorty socks – my sock knitting really fell off because I have been working on Miss P’s blanket
- Project Bag – for all of those socks I am planning on knitting!
- Drawstring Christmas bags – for my friends’ christmas presents
So next year I would like to finish my
- Cinnamon Stars cross stitch
- My covid knitting project (it’s the doll second from the left in the bottom row)
- Miss P’s blanket
- Gingerbread Cross stitch house
- Dictionary of Stitches Sampler
- Miss A’s quilt (not shown)
And then I would like to start my
- Scout shawl – I have a kit
- Knit some socks!
- Start my embroidery keepsake book thing (I have been collecting supplies and special things)
- Royal School of Needlework Jacobean Course – my kit should arrive soon.
I think that’s enough projects planned.
Filed under Cross Stitch, Cross Stitch, Embroidery, Machine Embroidery, Sewing, Sock Knitting
Samplers of Seduction – A Brief Dictionary of Stitches
My box from Rebecca Devaney of Textile Tours of Paris has arrived – it came very quickly. Unlike my kit from the Royal School of Needlework, which still hasn’t arrived.
I also have the online course, A Brief Dictionary of Stitches,
This is a beautiful kit, with silk threads, linen, hoop, scissors and needles all from European manufacturers.
Rebecca’s teaching style is fabulous. I thought I knew how to hoop my fabric, but no and now (as you can see in the above image), I can get my hoop drum tight.
Filed under Embroidery
New Project Bag
I made a drawstring bag for my sock projects. The design is from Urban Threads. I stabilised it with calico, but I should have used something more sturdy as there is a bit of puckering.
I used instructions from Martha Stewart to make the bag.
Filed under Embroidery, Machine Embroidery, Sock Knitting
Drawstring Bags – Machine Embroidery
I thought I was been cunning by making drawstring bags on my embroidery machine, but it wasn’t as smooth as I expected.
I used a design from Pixie Willow Patterns. The instructions were fabulous – very well written with lots of detail and images. And the design stitched out perfectly. I struggled to get the drawstrings through all of the layers, I did exactly as written in the instructions, but it was still tricky and time consuming. I will make them the old-fashioned way next time, but it was worth a go.
Filed under Embroidery, Machine Embroidery
Gingerbread House Cross Stitch
I was sorting through my embroidery box and I came across this unfinished project. I started it in late 2017.
I am unlikely to get if finished this year, but we will see how I go.
Filed under Christmas Decorations, Cross Stitch
Book Binding
At my slow stitching course (it’s here), I have been learning how to bind books. It is part of my grand plan to make my fabric book.
The one on the top has two signatures and I have used cross stitch on the binding. The bottom one has 8 signatures and I have used french link binding. So far this is my preferred method. I like how the covers are separate from the spine.
Filed under Book Binding
Cinnamon Stars Progress
So a tiny amount of progress has happened.
I have bought a new hoop stand, this one (the Sonata seat frame)
So far it’s working well, I can attach my clip-on magnifier to my hoop, and everything is solid (not wobbly).
Filed under Cross Stitch
Blanket Progress
I have been working on the blanket – the struggle is real. In the photo above I am adding stitches to start the penultimate rectangle, and then it’s borders. I have given myself a six month extension, which means I have nine months to get it finished.
The pattern is the Modern Daily Knitting Log Cabin Moderne, but I went off piste shall we say and now I am just making it up as I go along (to quote Strictly Ballroom, I am dancing my own steps at the pan pacs).
My slow stitching class starts again on Friday and like a naughty (or slack) school student I haven’t done any work on my piece, there’s still a couple of days, but I am unlikely to get much done.
Filed under Cross Stitch, Knitting
Cross Stitch – Cinnamon Stars
I have returned to my stitching class; every friday I join some lovely ladies and stitch for three hours. It’s the only time in the week that I get to sit for any length of time.
I have plans to make a cloth, memory book; a page for everything that is special to me. I shall attach all my special trims and fabrics. I have bought a lovely hemp/silk fabric to use as the base.
However, that project is still in the planning and collecting resources stage, so I am working on my Cinnamon Stars cross stitch. I find the process very relaxing, almost meditative (I have to concentrate a bit too much for it to be meditative – all that counting).
Filed under Cross Stitch, Cross Stitch, Embroidery