Completed Stitching 2009

This page brings together my completed cross stitched pieces for the year 2009. Unfortunately this year I was made redundant from a job I enjoyed very much. With the current economic climate, finding another job isn’t so easy, there fore I have spent quite a bit of this extra time catching up on my stitching.

May 24th: This is a Margaret Sherry design called ‘Coffee & Cuddles’ from issue #198 of the British Cross Stitcher magazine.
It is a series of four cute cats in coffee mugs; I decided to stitch this cat on 18 count aida, and do it up as a coaster to gift to a friend for her birthday.
I am reminded once again how much I hate stitching fractionals on aida; and this was 18 count aida too, which made it all the much worse. It had to be that small so I could get the design to fit into the coaster, whiskers n’ all… but gah! While I like how this turned out, there are just some things about the stitching I am not happy with.
Oh well, lessons learned.

May 29th: Design by Just Nan, ‘Winter Violets’ a Nashville 2009 show exclusive with the following colour changes -
Instead of B5200 I used 3837 (the B5200 blended too much into the fabric colour I used.)
To replace where the 3837 should have been I brought in 3804.
Instead of stitching the flower centres with the recommended colours, I added Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads 40123.
For the back, I designed the border and little flower motif, and stitched them out with 3804 and 3837.

After ironing on the fusible interface to both pieces, I went on to stitch it up into a scissor fob.
This is when things began to go awry.

I had stitched the design on aida, thinking it would make the stitching quicker; unfortunately I hadn’t taken into account how difficult it is to work with when trying to create a scissor fob. Whip stitching the edges together and then inverting the piece so that the right sides faced out caused the bottom corners to crunch in and become rounded, while the top two corners, which were stitched closed after I had inverted ended up and stuffed it were square, and a little frayed.

Stitched as a gift to fellow cross stitcher Mysti

June 20th: This was the Frozen January design from the Matrioshka blog. I enlarged the central square a bit, and then took elements from the design to create the back piece; and added Mill Hill beads to give it that final touch.
I wish I could tell you what the silk variegated thread is, but it was part of a kit I bought ages ago that The Embroiderer had made that I probably won’t ever stitch; and I thought it a huge waste to not use that silk! So pretty!

I made the tassle using one whole hank of DMC Ecru, and am pretty pleased with it. Once the stitching was all done, I added two gorgeous paua shell buttons I found at The Bead Hold, that I was going to use for the biscornu, and thought complimented the colours.

I had initially stitched this design with the idea to do it up as a biscornu, but alas I made some mistakes that, when doing it up as a biscornu, the sides were lopsided. Not wanting to throw away such pretty stitching (well I think it is!) I decided to make it into a simple ornament.

August 21st: This is a limited edition design by Teresa Wentzler called “You Were Hatched…“. Only 1000 copies of this chart were ever made and sold, and Teresa has confirmed that she will never be reprinting or reselling this design again.
I decided to stitch this design for a Fantasy Exchange I took part in.

I ended up finishing it off as a needlecase; and this design was a first for me in many ways…
- first time taking part in an exchange
- first time stitching a Teresa Wentzler deisgn
- first time making a needlecase
- first time doing blanket stitch

I am MOSTLY happy with how it turned out, there is one glaring issue that I just couldn’t fix, and didn’t have time to re-stitch and re-do it all, so I hope my exchange can forgive me for it. To read more about this piece and also see WIP photos, visit this blog entry.

September 17th: This is a design called ‘Jump For Joy’ by Just Nan. A complimentary design you got when you bought the White Hare Charm. I was really lucky to score this one, as it isn’t an easy design to find anymore.
This was quick and fun to stitch, and once I get a job and have a few debts paid off, I’ll be framing this and buying a wee easel to display it on.
Why did I decide to stitch it?
I needed something small and fun to get my stitching mojo back, and since it is Spring here in New Zealand, it was perfect. Also, I was hoping by stitching it, I’d bring some joy into my life.