Winter in Counted Cross-Stitch
December 29, 2007 at 6:15 pm | In Embroidery | Leave a CommentTags: cross-stitch
During the last years I made it a bit of a tradition to give my nieces something hand-crafted for Christmas. You can see previous years’ presents here and here (there’s another pillow cover to go with this one, but obviously I never posted a picture of it). So, this year I was short on time and ideas and Christmas was approaching scaringly fast, so exactly 7 days before Christmas eve I went into the needlework department of the biggest department store around and tried to figure something out. Those cute pictures from RICO Design followed me home: 
Everything, including the nice wooden frames, was included in the kit, which was also heavily reduced. The stitching went quite fast, so I was able to finish with a few hours to spare. I really liked the patterns, which use relatively few colours to great effect. In addition to the outline in black, coloured backstitches are used for the stripes on the sweater in the first and the fringe of the scarf on the second motif. The outline of the snow in gold rather than black gives a nice sparkle to the whole picture.
Lace Card Exchange
December 20, 2007 at 10:12 am | In Lace | 2 CommentsTags: Bobbin Lace, Tatting
I promised to post a picture of my card once it has reached its recipient, so here goes:
First I made the bobbin lace motif, then I figured out what kind of card I’d like to mount it on. So the green tree on the card is exactly the right size because I made sure it would be beforehand. The background is machine-sewed, the fabric-postcard back attached by satin-stitching around the edges. Only when that was finished, I started to work on the embellishments. I attached the bobbin lace around the edges using a small gold-coloured glass bead at every stitch. I then filled in the tree with red spangles held in place by red beads. The stars on the night sky are randomly placed gold beads. The black fabric actually has a tone-in-tone star pattern on it, and I framed one of those stars with gold thread.
And here’s the card I got from the exchange:
I really like the tatted heart, and I think the card fits perfectly with it. Almost makes me want to go find my shuttles and figure out if I still know how to tat. I enjoyed taking part in that exchange very much, and am looking forward to next year.
More Framed Embroidery
December 16, 2007 at 2:54 pm | In Embroidery | Leave a CommentI just finished my framing activities, and here are the results:
I used exactly the same method as with the Dog Rose. I also finally framed the cross-stitch initial from the Book of Kells series:
I left the glass of the frame in in this case (hence the reflection in the picture), since the embroidery isn’t as three-dimensional as the Mountmellick one, and I just inserted the fabric without any further finishing into the frame. You can’t see the green of the frame very well against the black background, but since all my walls are white, I promise you a better picture when I have found the best place to hang it.
Framing Embroidery
December 9, 2007 at 8:01 pm | In Embroidery | Leave a CommentNot so long ago I worked some little samples in Mountmellick embroidery, like this Dog Rose. I didn’t have any idea what to do with those at that time though. I really like the white-on-white embroidery and quickly dismissed any ideas of using it in a multicoloured project. So, with the holiday season coming up, I thought those samples would make cute gifts just as they are, if presented properly. So, here’s what I did:
I bought some small white picture frames. I then made a fabric postcard the size of the frame from the embroidery:
The backing is the material sold for stiffening fabric postcards, no idea what it’s actually called, it’s a textile material that feels more like cardboard than fabric and is quite stable. I used batting in between to emphasize the three-dimensional effect of the embroidery. Cut all three layers the same size and use a dense zigzag-stitch to secure everything around the edges.
Then I took the glass out of the frame and inserted the picture:
The complete frame is just 9*13 cm in size, and I think the little flower fits nicely in there. The frame for the grapes is a bit bigger, and I’ll do it the same way as this one.
I’ve also finished my lacy Christmas postcard, but you’ll have to wait for this one a bit longer.
Progress Update
December 2, 2007 at 1:16 pm | In Lace, Patchwork, quilt | 1 CommentThere are fibery things going on around here, I just haven’t quite finished anything, though. So here’s a short progress report for the projects I’m working on:
Lace motif from the Encyclopedia of Needlework:
Although that dense filling is one of the easiest to work regarding to tension, you can see it is not so easy to fill out every space with the same density without leaving any unintentional holes. I guess only practice and experience will help to even that stuff out.
Handquilting project:
The finish line is in sight, just the area on the right side is left to fill. Although my stitches are not yet quite consistent, they have gotten considerably smaller and I start to have the feeling that I “got” it. Everything else is just practice (lots of it, I’m sure).
I won’t post pictures of the postcard I’m working on yet, but the bobbin lace motif for this is finished, so I only need to assemble it into a card together with some nice fabric. So, stash-diving is next on my agenda for today. 
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