My first evenweave project (cross stitch)

This is the first pattern that I bought for myself.  The colours appealed to me and the relaxed feeling.  I started in the middle an worked my way up to the right at first.  That meant the full pink sleeves were under-way before the figures head.  I don't know how many of you will recall the sit com 'Allo 'Allo! or the story line with the indelicately named portrait ?

I have previously mentioned that something other than the planned design can be seen during sewing, in this case the large round pink sleeves were interpreted by more than one person as being the indelicate area of anatomy in that portrait.  I never saw it myself.

Nantucket Rose

I made some  intentional small changes to the original design to both make it mine and to suit my own preference.  The edge of the lace on the original where it went over the skirt and the background has missed stitches to let the material colour show through however, I added in the colour of the area they were crossing instead.  Oh and there was some back stitching on the cottage that I left off.

You will note I said I made some intentional deviations from the pattern.  Well I also made some unintentional ones as well, fortunately from me they were small and not so  noticeable so that I could live with them. 

This design contains lots of lessons learned, some indirectly. Whilst I was doing this my friends wife was also doing a design with a flowing draped skirt. She started at the top of a drape and followed the one colour all the way down to the bottom then went back to the top for the next section of the drape only to find part way down she had a miss count at the top of the first section and it all had to come back out. 

She shared her story of dismay with me before I was seduced by the one colour bug in the same way on the skirt here.  So I moved the skirt down four or five rows in any shade then brought the next section down so I could make sure they matched and the count was right.

Visiting a cross stitch shop with the same friend and her mother I spotted a finished Nantucket Rose on display.  I examined it closely, spotted a mistake or two (only because they were in an area I was working at that time and knew it very well), I was delighted to do so.  I am not sure that my companions understood my glee, perhaps they thought I was being a bit picky or mean.  That was not the reason, I was having an epiphany, the item on display looked great, not perfect but great, I did not have to follow the pattern perfectly to have something of worth.  Small deviations were not just OK they made it personal, they made it unique.

I originally framed it myself , in a very simple frame echoing the framing on the pattern.  Later my framing friend re-stapled the back as that kept popping off.

It takes turns on the wall with the first kit I finished CLICK HERE to see that project which was started before this and finished after and a much later finish made for my mother. CLICK HERE to see that one.  Rose tends to make her appearance in summer and comes down in the Autumn.  

I am updating posts by adding internal links and where I find a song that feels like a good fit, for whatever reason, title, lyrics or just because I am a Forestella fan and think it would be nice for others to discover them and share hopefully in the joy, they started in 2017 and I did not find them till 2024.

The link is to You Tube.

This one is from the original taken competition they participated in and won.

Thanks for visiting, if you can please leave a comment, they are always appreciated.

My first ever kit (cross stitch)

This was a gift from my brother's then girlfriend .  She is a knitter not a cross stitcher and bought the kit because she knew I liked dragons.  The year before she bought me a pattern book with dragon, prince, castle, unicorn/ pegasus  ext, but the black red and blue symbols made my eyes spin and I did nothing with it.

Perhaps she thought with a kit I might be more inclined to get started on it.  She was right, however a Teresa Wenzler design noted as being for the experienced stitcher may not have been the ideal starting point for the reasonably novice stitcher I was then.

I set to and met the delights of fractional stitches, blended threads and confetti placement that is the hallmark of a T.W design.  I plodded away at it, got fed up with it bundled it away, started other projects, finished other projects and intermittently came back to it.

I used the wrong colour on a section, stared hard at that and decided it made it unique and left it be.  I think frogging would have been such a backward step it might have taken even longer than it did.

I got lost in the mountains below the castle, working from the left to the right.  Although I knew I had gone off by a couple of stitches I could not figure out where.  Another pause and another design variation decision, working from the right side I kept following the pattern till it bumped into the incorrect bit and stuck in a bit more green to fudge in the off pattern section.

At last only the backstitching left to do, ha! T.W does not let you rest there either, the instructions for that were huge with many a shade here and there.  I read it all carefully and then did what I liked with the backstitching as I just could not be bothered at that point. I am sure I have mentioned I do not delight in backstitching although I can appreciate the difference it makes.

From start to finish it took seven years.  You will have gathered by now that it is not unusual for things for me to take that long but still it was a long time in the making.

So to the framing, I had a very fixed idea in my head, I wanted the frame to be green in a shade that picked up the dragon and I wanted it to have a corrugated effect.  I looked and I looked and there was nothing.  Then a new addition to the congregation at church mentioned his occupation, a picture framer, joy.  He kindly brought me his trade catalogues to look at and there it was the edging from my mind made manifest.  He ordered the edging and made up the frame cut the mounts and everything . Actually he insisted, more than insisted,  on doing it all.  He asked for the finished item to be sure the measurements for the frame and mount would be correct and kidnapped it and returned it finished (and not for a Kings ransom either, he ever so kindly did it for cost). Previously I had bought a frame and perhaps a mount but then framed the item myself.  At the same time he did the T.W he also did framing on a wedding sampler I had completed (click her to see that one) and re-pinned an item I had framed myself (Nantucket Rose) both of which were started after the T.W and finished before.  Later I had him do the Disney cross stitch already mentioned on "be careful what you wish for" my posts are not particularly chronological as you may have noticed.

And there it was finished at last.  And here it is, I am sure you will have seen many versions of T.W's The Castle, this is mine, unique bits and all.

You will see later that it has been inspiring.

Inspired by item.

And yes I found a Forestella song to link here as well.

  

Blog hop 2019

If you visited this post before 2 November 2019 then you will have had a different experience to those visiting after that date.  Why, well because of a mix up by my internet provider I had no internet access at home in the run up to Halloween.

Whilst I had my stitching all ready, I had no idea what letter I was to share or access to my blog to share it.

A code and password for temporary wifi access was sadly no help until today as the signal did not reach my home. Not sure what made it work today!

So having tried various options and with a promised fix after the blog date it was off to the library, firstly to read my e-mail from Jo and get the letter and then to get into blogger to write a very basic picture less post that would at least ensure the letter would be available on time for those raring to start hopping as soon as 31^st got underway.

So I am updating now to add the picture that should have made its appearance sooner.

This is based on a free patten from Durene Jones she shared on Facebook this year, she has an etsy  page under Durene J Cross Stitch.  I played around with the size, the thread and left some elements off.  The pattern is delightful in the way it allows for that.

The original design is sewn using two strands on 14 count 27 stitches by 106 giving a finished design size of 1.9 by 7.6 inches and using 5 shades of DMC thread.

Mine is sewn using one thread over one on grey linen.  Actually, on some of the off cuts from framing Nantucket Rose. Resulting in a finished size just over 1 inch by just a shade over 3 inches.

I used random threads form my collection of non-branded thread and 6 shades in total plus a little extra something for the details on the face. 

I think she is rather cute…now some of you who have been popping in for a visit for a while will figure out quite easily what the little extra something for the back stitch is, and for any one else here is a little clue  (it was popular with the Victorians.

So the letter is U...I know nothing fancy but at least it is there I will see if I can pretty it up later if I get the chance.

The next page is http://alchymyst.blogspot.com/

and I hope you have fun with the hop

Just in case you want a little Halloween from my blog try these links to previous years.

bat

bear

pumpkin

witch

Oh and if you did not arrive here from the hop home page just head on over to serendipitous stitching (there is a link on the right of this blog) and join in the fun.

Big owl (cross-stitch)

Some years after completing the little owls,(small-owls.) having collected several larger patterns of owls but not sewn them (although one did inspire my pumpkin carving)  I bought a DMC kit Barn Owl-La Chouette as the combination of image and colours appealed to me.

I noted there was silver metallic thread and could not make out what that bit was on the picture and looked forward to finding out where it would go.

Always intended for my mother as a gift I worked on it in secret and it grew quite slowly. This is the owl in who's feathers bears and horses appeared and then were absorbed.patternicity

Barn Owl

The silver thread, not sure if you can see it here but it is spider web.

The owl now takes its turn with Nantucket Rose, The Castle and my Christmas embroideries on the wall in the living room.

No time for a portrait ?

how about a dragon?

A visiting missionary got his eye on Nantucket Rose and thinking it a painting asked, pointing at the cross stitch, if he sat still would I do one of him.

After some explaining (which was made difficult as the gentleman in question speaks a limited amount of English and I speak no Marshallese) that  a cross stitch portrait was definitely not possible I asked what he might otherwise like.  He said a dragon, that was a surprise, then again maybe the various dragons displayed in the room may have given him the idea.  Then he noted that I had two weeks to do it as he expected to be moving on soon.

This is what I made, just a small dragon with the Missionaries initial (surname) and hopefully it will eventually go home with him to the Marshal Islands.

Little dragon

I tried to find something I could write in the card in Marshallese.  That was more difficult than I had anticipated. I found some single words however, word combinations appear to alter meanings.

I was rather wary of using something without confirmation it was going to say what I meant it to say.

I took the risk and used what I hope were the words for hello/goodbye and friend.

yokwe and motta.

I may never know if I got it right .

Joanne P 's question below noted I forgot to say where this design came from, it is from the same book as the witch I made for 2015's  Halloween Blog Hop.  the designer is Barbara Sesock.

He was right about his moving on I understand Halifax will be aiding him with his endeavours to speak English.