Some British cross-stitch magazines

Himself spent a goodly amount of September in England on a business trip. Look what he brought back for me:)

Some Christmas editions of British cross-stitch magazines and a Digital Photographer magazine. I am a happy camper ..... nay make that ecstatic :) So many wonderful projects. It's going to be hard to decide on which one to start with. (At the moment it's a toss up between "Polar Antics" and "Furry Tales"). I better make up my mind soon because one of them will be for my parents and I want them to get it before Christmas.
I gave my youngest daughter the calendar and we are contemplating stitching up some of the patterns in it. She is interested in learning how to cross-stitch but I think she may have to start out with something a bit simpler.

My current project

I got permission from Susan Brubaker Knapp to adapt applique patterns from one of her designs "Applique Petal Party" into embroidery (personal use only). This is how part of it looks so far. I'm attaching some rick-rack round the inside of the center block and than I'm planning on going back into the embroidery and adding stitches to the leaves.

Giveaway - Mary Corbet

Mary is doing a fabulous giveaway at her blog IMHO :)

Jane Nichols new book "Stumpwork and Goldwork Embroidery"

http://www.needlenthread.com/2010/09/stumpwork-tiles-book-give-away.html

Happy Labor Day

http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/labor-day-history-tells-how-labor-day-came-into-legislation/889923

Changing a project

A few posts ago I shared my Spiral Rose project based on an applique quilt pattern. After it was finished I decided it was not what I wanted so I took it all apart and have redone the front. The back will be a different fabric.
This time I went with plain color thread as opposed to variegated, running back stitch and cotton batting with no fabric on the back. I reused the pale pink fabric for the front. I like it better and am contemplating adding some other embroidery stitches into it before attaching the back.

front - above, batting back - below

I now have computer/reading glasses. Makes a huge difference to what I can see :) Hopefully this will improve my sewing skills. Certainly helps with my needle threading ability !!!!!!

To cut or not to cut - that is the question?

This is one of the pieces from my collection that I am contemplating cutting up. It has a number of stains on it that won't come out. The individual sections are very pretty and I think they would look good as a small wall hanging.

Antique table topper

I think this is really interesting. The embroidery was done on sheer fabric and when you look at the back it reminds me of trapunto.

Antique chair back cover

This photograph does not do the piece justice. The colors are a lot brighter. I'm not an "embroidered basket with flowers type person" but I love this one.
In years gone by the chairs in the best parlor were used to display pieces like the above. Not only were they pretty but they were also practical. They could be washed thus preserving the integrity of the chair back from sweaty heads and oil plastered hair :)
I think this piece might have also been used as a table runner.

An experiment - Spiral Rose

I have a lot of applique quilt block designs in my folders and books. I was looking through them and thought it might be fun to try and embroider some of them instead.
Here's my first attempt using 3 strands of variegated DMC floss #48 and basic running stitch.
I like how the plain side is turning out but at the moment feel that the block side design is overpowering the stitching. I'm also having issues getting the stitches to stay even on both sides.

The design is called "Spiral Rose" and can be found in "Machine Applique A Sampler of Techniques" by Sue Nickels.

Current project

Just finished up the cross stitch part. The fabric will be on the back of the project.
The pattern can be found at (I'll add the link when I can get it to work).
Used 28 ct. evenweave, 2 over 2 of DMC 913 and 3716.