Friday was the start of a new SAL; a Mystery Blackwork SAL following Avis, on her blog Oh Sew Tempting and stitching a chart Avis designed herself.
My stage 1 is already stitched
Now I have to wait (im)patiently for next Friday to find out what we stitch for part 2.
This week Mr Owl has a wing ^^
This is “Au coeur de la nuit” an Isabelle Haccourt-Vautier design I am stitching as a SAL following Corinne.
Next stage on 1st June.
Lovely Lionel has been dropping a few bills in my letter box recently, but I’ll forgive him because he’s also been bringing me some more surprise mail.
Some bookmarks from Chantal
and some bookmarks from Marie-Thé
with some more from her recent trip to Turkey
and, a lovely bag of lavender, beautifully embroidered with lily of the valley. It’s the tradition, in France, to give bunches of lily of the valley as a symbol of good luck on 1st May and I am lucky enough to have this gorgeous lavender bag that will not wilt and die ^^
I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve these lovely gifts, but thank you Chantal and Marie-Thé ^^.
I’ve been busy making more progress on my “Indian Brave” and the end is in sight. Last photo I showed looked like this
and today he looks like this
I just need to stitch hair, feathers, face and do backstitch . . . and I’ll soon have a happy dance ^^
This post will be updated regularly with our “Square Magic of Colors” progress. If you don’t have my email address to send me your photo then just leave a comm and I’ll get back to you.
I am so thrilled because this design really seems to be bringing out the creative streak in everyone, with some beautiful colour combinations.
We’ve now come to end of our SAL with this design, by Banu Demirel – so gallery will be a mix of stages but some finishes have already arrived.
My finish, which you saw earlier
Carmen
Masha
Michèle
Nanette
Mimipupuce
Florence
Jeanna
yvonne
I’ve been busy these past few days with a blog-move . . . have moved my French blog, after 6 years, from overblog to wordpress. Because of the work-load involved, I haven’t moved my entire blog, just some important posts and a few high-lights. Sometimes it’s good to turn a page and start afresh. However, while doing the move, it was a little like moving house, because I ended up opening olds posts and reading stuff I’d written in my early blogging days. Rediscovering photos of cross stitch projects that I didn’t even remember having stitched lol. Which then led me to go searching for my FIRST cross stitch project.
Now, as a child, I did do embroidery at school – Avis will know where I’m coming from lol – but I have only vague memories of those projects and certainly no photos. For me, my first cross stitch project (as in THE project that catapulted me into the wonderful hobby of xstitch) was a small fieldmouse kit that my sister sent me to stitch.
I think it was in 1994 or 1995 . . . and I most definitely remember that I didn’t bother to read instructions first, but jumped in with both feet, stitching with all six strands . . . and wondering why everything was clumpy and messy and why on earth my needle wouldn’t go through the holes . . . and why was I running out of thread so quickly?
Phone call to my sister who explained I was supposed to be stitching in 2 strands and “didn’t you read the instructions first?” . . . first experience of frogging . . . and many hours later, I was hooked lol.
I then remember jumping in the car and driving to my nearest needlecraft shop not really having much of a clue of what I needed to buy or what I wanted to stitch next . . . just knowing that this was like chocolate and that I needed more right away! The rest, as they say, is history ^^
A second photo to show you of the little fieldmouse stitched a second time. But not by me! While I had been making my first steps, and stubbornly trying to thread my needle with 6 strands . . . second son, aged about 5 at the time, had been watching and taking it all in. So, when I came home with my first lot of supplies, he asked if he could have a go. Which he did . . . just to show me that it was child’s play really lol.
I’ve come a long way since that first little mouse and although second son didn’t become an addicted cross stitcher, I am pleased to say that my daughter did.
Anyway – I just thought it would be fun to share these photos with you . . . and would be interested to hear about your first time.
Hello folks – week 6 in our SAL which means it’s time to unveil the last part . . . not very difficult to guess what to do this week . . . it’s the blackwork stars on our chequered background. I actually have TWO versions to show you this week ^^ yep, I stitched once on a 16 count aida (which is the one I’ve been showing you) but also stitched on a 14 count white. So here are my two squares
Now, the idea behind stitching small designs, is to then finish them off (and not just add the pile of unfinished projects in the drawer) . . . so I immediately set to my finishings . . .
Aida trimmed and then laced to cardboard with wadding and two more squares with wadding and a backing fabric
Then some whip-stitching, ribbons and pins . . . and I have pinkeeps to add to my pressie drawer.
I am now looking forward to seeing how fellow SALers finish off their stitching. Everyone always seems to have such wonderful ideas, and it’ll be interesting to see the variety.
If you’ve never made a pinkeep and you want to try, I did a tutorial a few years ago which you can find here PINKEEP TUTORIAL
