Not only finished – but framed too. I amaze myself sometimes 😉
I used another one of my bargain charity shop frames. That one cost the grand sum of 50p. It’s framed using the same method as the last one.
I need more frames now. I have several, but none are the right size or shape for the projects that need to go in them. I have now made a note of all the project sizes, and will take that with me next time I go trawling for bargains.
Oh yes, it is indeed finished. I am so very happy. The shame of having such a tiny update to post three weeks ago, spurred me on to get it done. And to be honest, it didn’t take that long once I settled down to it.
Stitching the pages to the inside cover was the most fiddly bit. There are seven pages squeezed in there. I started with the middle one and worked my way out and found the first few easy enough. The last two were tricky as it was hard to see where I was stitching into. I got there though and the book is now nice and fat.
A couple more photos, this time showing the book open. In the Hemstitch Square page, you can see that there’s fabric inside the page so it shows through the holes.
I’ve posted photos of each page as I’ve gone along, over the past couple of years, but I thought it’d be good to have them all together. There are quite a lot of them so I’ve made them into a gallery. Click on one to see them all full size.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the SAL next. I think it’ll probably be another old WIP out of the box of abandoned projects. I’ve got a few to choose from 😉
For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Gun at Rutigt
Alison at Minerva’s meanderings
Jule at From the boudoir
Elizabeth at Garden 4 therapy
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice
Lucy at Lucyannluna
Do pop over and have a look at their beautiful creations.
It’s finished! Hooray. And it didn’t take long at all.
I’m really pleased with it, although I did find that the invisible thread used for the beading was like trying to stitch with candy floss.
A few close-ups. Click on one for the gallery.
One of the new charity shop frames could do nicely for this so it might even get put up on the wall soon.
I had a trawl through a load of charity shops with my friend Jackie a few days ago. I was looking mainly for picture frames and managed to find five that would do. It only cost me £3.49 for the lot. Bargain.
I’ve used one already so I now have one of the finished pieces of embroidery on the wall. Result!
First I stripped the frame down, getting rid of the glass and metal tabs.
I used the existing backing to measure out a new piece of mount board and cut some grip-strip to size.
Once the grip-strip was on, I stretched the fabric round it. It’s a bit fiddly, but isn’t difficult and only took about ten minutes to get it exactly how I wanted.
Next I got out my trusty tab gun and fastened the embroidery into the frame.
All that was left to do then was pop some kraft paper on the back, and seal it with picture-framing tape. Then screw in a couple of eyelets to fasten the wire to.
A couple of minutes later, it was on the wall.
From start to finish that took about 30 minutes and it looks great. It took me so long to do that particular piece of embroidery and it’s just been sitting in a drawer until now. Hopefully I’ll get some more of the stitched pieces out of the box now that I’ve made a start.
I’ve managed to get some more done to this, although I’m still not getting much stitching time as Sammie seems to have decided that nap-time is for wimps. Sigh.
She did let me have a couple of hours last night though so I managed to get a few more rows done.
The stitches in this part are Rice stitch, Nipped crosses, Quarter eyelets and Eyelets. Plus cross stitch and back stitch, of course. I think this bit will look great once I’ve got the beads in there.
This is what it looks like now.
I’m hoping to get that corner section finished off this week and then try to do the beading when Sammie and Stephen go for their naps.
I’ve got a bit more done on this one and have now completed all the stitching on the top half.
The straight section had some interesting bands. Band 8 consists of two rows of backstitch that are then laced with contrasting colours. Band 9 is Satin stitch diamonds and band 10 is eyelets.
The angled section was fun to stitch. there’s cross stitch, upright cross stitch, cross stitch with straight stitch, backstitch to make an arrow design, more backstitch, Cretan stitch, cross stitch with backstitch, and finally in the corner is a quarter eyelet. I love the different effects you can get with just the basic stitches.
I’ve even started to add some of the beads, but I have to do that when Sammie is having a nap upstairs, as there’s just too much potential for disaster there 😉
There are quite a few beads to be added so I need to get cracking with those, but I don’t think it’ll take long to finish the stitching. I’m keen to get this one done now so I can start something else. I’m in the process of completely rearranging and decluttering my craft room at the moment, and I keep finding charts and kits that I want to stitch. I seriously don’t need to buy any more stash for quite a while.
I love this project! I’ve got a few more of the bands done and I love the way it’s looking.
Band 4 is three rows of back-stitch. There will be beads in that row when I get around to adding them.
Band 5 is cross stitch with half diamond eyelets. That will also be beaded.
Band 6 is quarter eyelets.
Band 7 is a variation on cross stitch and again will have beads.
I shall put this down for a few days now as I’m ready to restart Precious Memories and I really must do some more to the Flower Sampler Book as it’s not long till I need to post an update for the SAL.
I’m loving stitching this. I’ve now completed bands 2 and 3. Band 2 is the backstitch bows and band 3 is the rows of Half Rhodes stitch.
You’ll see that the band 3s do not go all the way across. That’s where the diagonal bands start. The instructions say to do the first diagonal band next so it’s a guide to where the horizontal bands start. Makes sense, so that’s what I’ll be doing.
A close up to see the pretty Half Rhodes stitches.
I’ve got some invisible thread now so I can bead it, so it might look a bit more blingy for the next update.
This is the scheduled post for the Stitch-a-long that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs.
I have not got a lot done. I have done some stitching, but on a simpler, less important piece, because Sammie is still mesmerised by the threads and fabric. I’ve started waiting until she goes to sleep (proper sleep, not a cat-nap) and then very quietly sneaking my stitching paraphernalia out and getting in an hour or two before she wakes up again. I don’t mind this as I love having a cat around again, and if she needs a lot of attention, even better. She is gorgeous.
So, I should also mention that I’ve skipped ahead to part seven of the sampler book and have started the pulled thread section instead of the pattern darning. The reason for this is that for a large chunk of part six, you’re instructed to use whatever colours of thread that you like. As it’s a kit with a limited supply of threads, I’m not sure which ones I’ll have enough of, so I’m going to do the other parts first and then go back to it knowing which threads are spare.
This is it so far.
I’ve started on the right-hand side and have managed the frame for the cut thread work plus about one-third of the cross stitch and back stitch. At this rate it will take me several months to finish it, but it’s not a race so it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s some progress, I’m happy.
For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Gun at Rutigt
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Eleanor at Sun and cake
Alison at Minerva’s meanderings
Jule at From the boudoir
Elizabeth at Garden 4 therapy
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice
Do pop over and have a look at their beautiful creations.
This is the scheduled post for the Stitch-a-long that I’m doing with several other crafty blogs. I’ve struggled a bit to get this piece finished in time as it’s quite hard to sew with a lively kitten on your lap. She was fascinated by the thread going in and out and I had to watch her closely so I could move the fabric before she pounced. I didn’t have the heart to move her as I seem to be her favourite place to snuggle up.
I did get it finished eventually though. I’m not completely happy with it as it proved to be quite a bit trickier to do Hardanger on 28ct linen than it is on Hardanger fabric which is usually 22ct. The cutting went fine though. Phew.
There aren’t many stitches but some of them weren’t as easy when I’ve done them before. The trickiest bit was tucking the points in after doing the cutting. I can usually get it quite tidy with Hardanger fabric but as fast as I stroked them behind the Kloster blocks, they popped back out again so it is a bit untidy in places.
You can just see them in the close up. I’m quite happy with the dove’s eyes and corner needleweaves, but the corner spokes weren’t easy and don’t look very neat.
The dove’s eyes in this side are a bit messier as I was struggling with them where they needed to go round Kloster blocks. The ones surrounded by needleweave were much easier.
I think it looks ok, given the problems that I had so I’m reasonably pleased. I think it’s pattern darning next, so that should be fun, especially if Sammie wants to help.
For the stitch-a-long I’m linking up to these lovely blogs:
Avis at Sewing beside the sea
Claire at Claire93
Gun at Rutigt
Kate at Tall tales from Chiconia
Eleanor at Sun and cake
Alison at Minerva’s meanderings
Jule at From the boudoir
Elizabeth at Garden 4 therapy
Wendy at The crafter’s apprentice
Do pop over and have a look at their beautiful creations.
A slight obsession with books 