Berries & Blooms Biscornu

 

 I first saw this kit at one of the Farnham Malting festivals.  I was really intrigued by it's odd shape and wanted to have a go, so added it to my birthday list.  But when I then received the kit for my birthday it got added to the pile and never got started.

 

However, going to Wales on holiday this year I thought it would be the perfect project to take with me, seeing as I knew there wouldn't be room in the car for my knitting!

I started it before we left so I'd just be able to pick it up and work on it at any point during the holiday and that worked quite well.

The side with the flowers on worked well and didn't take long to finish.  However the side with the berries on was a little more tricky.  I'd done a chunk before realising something was out of alignment and decided the best thing to do would be to unpick it and start again.

 

Annoying, but I think the best decision.  This time I created the boarder first then filled in the pattern.  I also worked with all three colours at once rather than one at a time, which helped me to get all my spacings right.

Lastly was sewing it all up.  It's quite simple when you know how, but looks very effective.  Adding the tiny seed beads is a lovely detail.

A lovely little project to work on.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy cross stitch.

Floral Finch Cushion

At the beginning of June this year I went to the Farnham Maltings festival of textiles - Thread.  So many lovely things to choose from, so along with some lovely buttons I bought myself a cross stitch kit to make a cushion.

I've used aida before, but never linen, so I was a little nervous, but I loved the look of it so had to have a go.  The kit was from bobostitch and had everything I could possibly want including a little booklet explaining all the stitches and how to read the pattern etc.
Once I got started it was really straight forward, so I've just been plugging away at it in between all the other things that have been going on.

While I loved the cross stitch I didn't enjoy the outlining so much.  However the finished cushion looks amazing and I'm so pleased with it.  It sits very nicely with my chicken cushion in the big arm chair.

It's a lovely way to finish the year, and I'm looking forward to deciding what project to start 2020 with.

Chicken Cushion

Last March I attended the Knitting and Stitching Show again.  Years ago I used to do cross stitch projects and so I was on the look out for a cross stitch cushion for the new house.  I didn't find one, but I did find this chicken tapestry from the Historical Sampler Company instead.  It is very similar to cross stitch, except you only do half of the cross.

I didn't start it as soon as I got home and I haven't been working on it exclusively, so its not taken a full 6 months to do, but it's felt like it at times! 

Once it was complete I got 'im outdoors to help me pin it to a sheet of MDF so I could steam it back into shape (my sweating hands and rolling it up to work on had made it more diamond than square).

Then using a fat quarter from our local sewing shop I made a really simple envelope-style back to the cushion.  It took me about 10 minutes, which felt a bit easy considering how long the front took to make.  But I am so chuffed with how its come out.  It looks stunning in our new armchair.  (Yes this is the one I found to go with the chest of drawers.  It was a lot closer than the drawers were and I didn't feel bad sending 'im outdoors to fetch it.  We both love it!)

A little taster of a big project

It's been a busy couple of months.  And while all that's been going on I've been working away on a big old project when I have the odd half an hour or so.  This is just a little taster because its not going to be finished any time soon!
On the other hand I am really enjoying my dusk walks with Milo.  We've seen deer, cows and bats among other things, and nothing beats seeing the last rays of sun stream through the trees at the end of the day.
So I'll keep plugging away and maybe it'll be done by Christmas!

The Rainbow Bag

Is 2002, before I had a blog (probably before I knew what a blog was) I saw someone somewhere with a rainbow bag and suddenly desired one for myself!

I can't remember quite why I decided to make it myself, but I was in the middle of my cross stitch phase and so this is what it was made from.  If I had mastered knitting at this point I probably would have knitted it.

I also can't remember how long it took me to make, but I do remember taking it to work with me and working on it in my lunch breaks. I believe this was also the end of my cross stitch phase!

My mum helped me to line it with nice thick material so that the light cross stitch material wouldn't get pulled out of shape.  My dad found an old seat belt to be used at the strap - nice and strong (I think it goes all the way round - making a strong bottom too).

Of course by the time it was done, my desire for such a bag had started to wain and I never really used it.  Maybe also because of all the work I had put into it, I didn't want to see it wrecked by too much use.

As we went through our stuff packing for the move I came across it again.  I'd pretty much forgotten the poor thing, but because it has sat in a cupboard for the last 10 years the colours are still as brilliant as when I created it.

 

14 years on, I've just started to think about cross stitch again (life is a wheel after all) so maybe it's appropriate that I found it again now.  Maybe I'll even start using it.  It is after all a lovely strong bag, and I do still like it, even after all this time.  

So now you know that massive projects are not something new for me.  If I had had the blog I would have blogged then, so it is only fair that I blog about it now.

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2017

Last year I attended the Knitting and Stitching Show which is where A mohair bear called Cyril and the Frida's Flower blanket came from.  They were my 2 favourite projects of the year, so you can imagine I was pretty excited to be going again this year.

Woven Star Galaxy by Isobel Currie

There was a good mix of things I saw last year and new things which meant I had a lovely day walking round and looking, but I didn't really see any new projects to excite me.

The Brit and the Great Bear by Paddy Killer

But as I went with a list of stuff I wanted (a must when there is that much stuff to look at - you just get totally overwhelmed) I still found lots of treasure for my massive list of project. Which means I think I'll manage to keep myself busy over the coming year.

There were some amazing prints

Cork material!

Love the detailing on this dress

Part of the Embroiderer's Guild Game of Thrones display