When my niece was born I knocked up a simple little sampler to give to my brother and sister-in-law as one of Daisy’s Christmas presents. It was only basic, just had her name, date of birth and her birth weight on it and some little birds around it but my brother and sister-in-law loved it (one of the benefits of being pretty much the only crafty person in the family, everyone is in awe of everything you do) and asked if I would do one for my nephew as well. They offered to pay me but even I’m not that mercenary so said I would do it for his birthday at the end of March.
(Yes it's a weird middle name, it's a family thing from my Mum's side, all the men have it as their middle names.)
And seeing as I already had the graph paper out I made a start on my Christmas card for this month – I’ve turned away from my file of patterns and decided to knock something up myself. I’m trying to find a suitably grumpy person to give this to this year. And it’s quite a nice antidote to the nice, traditional, and dare I say it, twee, cards that I have produced already.
Finally I’m working on something that makes me grin from ear to ear whenever I look at it. Have you heard of Mr X Stitch? No? You. Are. mental. He’s amazeballs. He has a blog which features all things stitchy-related from a variety of contributors and he has a podcast called Stitching n Junk that he does with Beefranck. He’s very funny. And more than a teensy bit talented.
Anyway. He teamed up with Julie Jackson who is the lady behind Subversive Cross Stitch (also hilarious I might add) and they produced a free chart related to the upcoming Royal Wedding, and I think you all already know how excited I am about that.
You may notice one or two major differences.
Number 1: It’s being stitched on white aida, not blue. I know, I know, I’m terrible but I have no money to spend on new aida or dye to change the colour of the aida I’ve already got. But what I do have is lots of normal aida that some people out there in the blogosphere sent me so I’m using what I’ve got and stitching the lettering in the royal-est blue I could find in my thread box.
Number 2: It’s about 49 times bigger than it’s supposed to be because it’s supposed to stitched on 22-count aida but, like I said I’m using what I’ve got. So what should be a fairly modest sized piece is going to be freakin’ massive. I have no idea where I’m going to get a frame from.
But it causes great gushes of excitement (not in a gross way) every time I look at it. Plus I’m doing something for me and I’m always happiest when I’m at my most selfish.
And that is this month's stitchery round up. One word? Busy.
Do you want blue aida? We have hoardes of the bloody stuff; it keeps flinging itself at me when I walk in the little bedroom. I'm sure I can yank out some blue stuff without it being noticed.
ReplyDeleteHaha - quick, help Alex - she's under Aida attack!
ReplyDeleteLove the little birdies on the sampler :) and no I hadn't heard of Mr X-Stitch BUT I HAVE NOW! That's my week's skiving sorted - thanks!
Reckon Ikea might have a frame. I know, I know money but perhaps not too bad.
ReplyDeleteLovely stuff! You are the most talented cross stitcher I know! true story...xxx
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff - such an interesting assortment of projects.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me want to delve into my sewing box and create! x
Oh these are fab - wish I could have the patience to do them :(
ReplyDeleteLove it! I'm definitely gonna have to do this one myself too. I like your colour combo of blue on white. I like giving cross stitch gifts too, as people are always so chuffed to receive them.
ReplyDelete"I'm always happiest at my most selfish"
ReplyDeleteI nearly fell off my chair laughing at that! It's just the way you say them, seriously.
By the way girlie,your rippling looks v good. I meant to say so earlier. This is what I think when I ripple, it's what I repeat in my head:
Increase at the start (that's your chain 3 and a treble)
one - two - three - four (that's your normal trebles)
Decrease! Decrease! (that's your two decreases, you'll notice that in total they take up four stitches, but it becomes just two stitches)
one - two - three - four (normal trebles again)
Increase! Increase! (your two increases. They take up two stitches, but become four stitches for the next row. That balances out the decreases.)
one-two-three-four
then repeat that until the end, when you do your Decrease! Decrease! and a one-two-three-four AND THEN finish the row of with ONE increase (this balances out because you do an increase at the start, and then an increase at the end.)
then you turn your work, and start again! Chain three and one treble to make your first increase - I like to think of them as bookend increases cos you have one at each end.
dunno if that helps?
All aces.
ReplyDeleteI especially love those little birds where their bodies are full crosses and then the backstitch forms all the details. REALLY LIKE.
And I am also reminded of Red Adair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Adair