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Text of the page (random words):
a canny stitcher a canny stitcher monday 17 february 2014 it s been so long oh dear i had such good intentions but you know what they say about those this blog was supposed to be a way for me to keep track of my stitching but i fell by the wayside and i m struggling to remember what i stitched and when any road up i ll try again it would help if i could remember how to type it s taken ages to get this far last time i blogged i think i had finished stitching diligence but the poor thing lay around until just before christmas when a trip to the range resulted in the purchase of a frame for the princely sum of 8 99 a few ok a lot of swear words later diligence was ready to hang in all its glory linen 35ct from kit threads avas from kit now this is where things get a bit hazy i think the next thing i stitched was another scarlet letter sampler bird in bough the kit was beyond my means so i ordered the chart along with two others more on those later i had a piece of 36ct edinburgh linen in flax and a quick tea bath later i had my linen and i went with the dmc conversion it would be lovely to be able to stich with avas silks all the time but dmc suits my wallet there are two charts to choose from a straightforward cross stitch chart and one with the bough and leaves stitched in split stitch and stem stitch guess which one i chose yep always make things hard for myself once again the trip to the range secured a frame 3 99 and we were good to go now i know i ve stitched more stuff but this is all i can find on my camera it s a christmas ornament from i think the gift of stitching i stitched it twice so that i could make it into a biscornu the blue side is gast chalk on 32ct belfast blue spruce and the white side is dmc 931 i think on a scrap of 32ct belfast possibly antique white the air is turning blue here as my arthritic fingers keep hitting the wrong keys so i will finish this post and go hunt for some more stitching to photograph for another post regards anne posted by a canny stitcher at 12 07 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest wednesday 12 june 2013 long time no post with all the good weather we ve been having i ve spent more time outdoors and so less time stitching i do have a new start this is a kit that the lovely carmen gifted to irene and me carmen sent two kits with the instructions to fight it out decide between us who would stitch which does that make sense irene decided that she probably wouldn t stitch this one so generously gave it to me the golden garden sweet bag by forget me not in stitches here is my progress so far not much to show yet because i have two major problems i have lost the ability to count and although i can read the words i have lost the ability to understand what i m reading plus i think there is a whole family of frogs hiding in the golden garden the forget me not flowers and the butterfly have been stitched twice and that s not counting the many individual stitches that have been removed and done over and over it s the counting thing now i usually stitch one project at a time but this stitching was threatening my sanity so i have been catching up on marly s pears the christmas one was done a while ago and the other two i ve stitched in the past three weeks you may have noticed that they are as yet unfinished this has made me realise something about myself and my approach to stitching i like to stitch for the sake of stitching i m not so good at finishing my finishes if that makes sense exhibit a i was looking for something else which i didn t find when i came across this little lot guilty as charged my lord i should be ashamed of myself but they ll get done some day i hope a little story to illustrate the problems i face in everyday life i had been working in the garden when my son put in an appearance me you can really see the couch grass since i pulled out the em what ye mi callems son you mean the forget me nots no don t laugh my mother always told me it was rude to mock the afflicted regards anne posted by a canny stitcher at 01 49 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday 18 may 2013 i have a finish diligence is finished i started this sampler on 16th january 2013 and finished it on 15th may 2013 there may be a few mistakes personal touches and i added my initials and the date but it is otherwise as charted diligence the scarlet letter 35tc linen and avas silks from kit i think it will be a while before i take on such a big project again i tend to stick with one project at a time and although i really enjoyed stitching diligence i prefer smaller projects for a quicker finish such as the ones below i can t remember for sure but i think this is a collection of motifs from various sources i was playing about with this one and just stitched it as it came oh dear i can t find the charts for these two i know i ve got them somewhere safe why is it that when you put something in a safe place so that you don t lose it you can t find it again this happens to me all the time this is my first attempt at blackwork and making a pinkeep i think it was also my first time using evenweave this was a design my loaned to me by my friend irene at least 4 years ago i will finish today with a pic from my garden i stepped out the door to go to work and noticed the sun shining through the petals so i dashed back and grabbed the camera dicentra spectabilis regards anne ps how could i forget sorry irene there is a dragonfly in my garden my friend irene made this for my birthday yes she created this with her own fair hands its home is at my window but here it is on my cherry tree i would have had to clean the windows so it was easier to hang it on the tree for the photo irene is such a talented lady thank you friend anne read more posted by a canny stitcher at 12 31 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday 29 april 2013 diligence progress and my needlebooks i thought i d start with my progress on the diligence sampler that i m stitching as part of nicola s scarlett letter challenge i ve finally finished the gardening and have started on the last borders but i m not sure how much i ll get done this week because work will be busy for a change anyway here s my progress now on to the needlebooks i don t have many since i tend to make one as i need it let me show you this first one was stitched to fit my first project box so i measured the space and fiddled about with bit of motifs to create what i wanted this box is my everyday box for holding various needlecrafty things and the threads for my current project diligence here it is at home next up is the one i keep in my embroidery project box i am trying to teach myself freestyle embroidery but i get easily distracted by cross stitch so progress is slow and this is its home as you can see this one is much slimmer wish i could say the same about myself i can t remember where this design came from but i m sure it was from a french chart book that i borrowed from a friend some years ago the next one is a moss creek design from jcs christmas issue 2008 it holds needles that i only use occasionally and it lives in my crafty bag then there is the one with my beading needles not that i do much beading but some designs call for beads and sometimes i use a beaded edging on ornaments this is another cobble up of motifs home for this one is an old wash bag where i keep my meagre stash of beads last but not least we have the needlebook from a stitcher s journey by blackbird designs stitched because i liked it and that s as good a reason as any this one doesn t have a proper home so it sits in a dish with my other smalls well that s a bit more done in my catch up of stitching thank you to all who have left comments i really appreciate them regards anne posted by a canny stitcher at 12 22 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday 14 april 2013 the latest big project last year 2012 i treated myself to a few charts for my birthday one of the charts was an elizabethan purse by dames of the needle and i thought it was all cross stitch boy was i ever wrong i bought the chart because i wanted to try a new to me finish and i liked the idea of the purse with accessories what i got was what looked like a book with all the instructions for the many stitches as well as the finishing instructions the first set of pictures shows the actual purse the purse has quite a variety of stitches as well as cross stitch montenegrin tent palestrina knot linen stitch alycia lace alternating fly rice smyrna cross plus some others i can t remember the next photos show the pincushion the scissors fob the scissors case and the needle book i would show the inside of the needle book but i went a bit wonky with the lining and the pocket so it remains firmly closed the purse took some time to put together since it all stitched by hand and included gussets and a silk lining that s not to say it was difficult just slow going it hasn t put me off trying another purse in the future ok that s the big stuff recorded now i need some sunshine so that i can take photos of the small stuff until next time anne posted by a canny stitcher at 11 40 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday 8 april 2013 another challenge ok 2nd time lucky i don t know what i did but i just managed to lose a post i wish i did know so that i don t do it again anyway as i was saying i like to try something different to take me out of my stitchy comfort zone and keep the old brain cells ticking over my challenge for 2011 was the embroideress band sampler in stitch magazine issue 65 and 66 and 67 designed by jane greenoff it took a while to gather the supplies and even longer to gather my courage it was so worth it this is the whole sampler the top section has cross stitch and back stitch and then hem stitch followed by queen stitch it was quite scary cutting and withdrawing the threads it was even scarier cutting the threads for the square this was the first time i had tried something like this there is also detached buttonhole stitch and braided cross stitch and then more hem stitch and zigzag hem stitch this section was easier with queen rhodes and detached buttonhole but mostly cross stitch here s more cross followed by hem stitch half eyelets and somersault stitch this section was a real challenge you d think the hem stitch square would be the most difficult but i found the bullion knots the most trying the braid stitch had me baffled until i checked online and found a video what did we do before we had the internet here we have darning cushion stitch detached buttonhole backstitch and needleweaving this section was easier with backstitch and queen stitches then somersault stitch with beads the final section has satin stitch cross stitch queen stitch and eyelets this has to be my all time favourite project in terms of both visual appeal and stitching satisfaction there may have been times when i doubted my sanity but it was so worth it in the end right there s just my 2012 major project to document and then i need to start taking pics of the smalls until next time regards anne posted by a canny stitcher at 11 50 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday 2 april 2013 more oldies the next oldie is a design i saw in a little shop in ellon when i was visiting family probably in 2008 but i can t be sure although i was really taken with the design it soon became apparent that i did not have the necessary stitching skills to even attempt it fast forward to 2011 and i felt much more confident presenting blue sky sampler by elizabeth designs stitched in 32ct belfast linen using my own choice of kaalund silk threads if you have not heard of these threads before they are available from the sampler guild website this sampler uses a variety of stitches and was a bit of a challenge hmm the last picture doesn t want to turn anyroad up there are cross satin rhodes leaf herringbone and eyelet stitches in this i was really pleased with this when it was finished but unfortunately it remains unframed finished i can t make up my mind what to do with it next up is sarah hopwood a 1999 barrick samplers design stitched 1 2 on 40ct flax linen and finished in a frame that came from tesco or it could have been wilkinsons this next one is a favourite of mine my friend irene lent me a copy of her chart after i had been telling her about the blackbirds eating all the cherries from the tree in my garden it just seemed so appropriate i returned the chart so i m relying on my unreliable memory and i think this is a blackbird designs using dmc on 32ct antique white linen the frame is cherrywood and i bought it in the range well the sun is shining for a change so i think i ll head out into the wilderness garden and try to tidy up regards anne posted by a canny stitcher at 07 10 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest older posts home subscribe to posts atom blog archive 2014 1 02 16 02 23 1 it s been so long 2013 10 06 09 06 16 1 05 12 05 19 1 04 28 05 05 1 04 14 04 21 1 04 07 04 14 1 03 31 04 07 1 03 24 03 31 1 02 24 03 03 1 02 10 02 17 1 02 03 02 10 1 about me a canny stitcher i ve just turned 60 and live with my son a grumpy old cat who treats me like a slave i ve been stitching since i was 10 years old but only got back to cross stitch in 2008 i usually stitch smalls because they use less thread and fabric i don t call myself a canny stitcher for nothing view my complete profile watermark theme powered by blogger