Jennie's Threads

It's been a while, but I don't have a lot to report by way of finished pieces. I've been working on some quite large projects recently, and that means that I've made progress on a few things, but I haven't actually finished anything. The quilt that I'm stitching by hand has had a bit of a revival. i was struggling with it because I couldn't get the seams to align. I've now started redrawing the stitch lines on each piece as I cometo it and it was remarkable how, despite using the same template to draw around, each piece was rather inaccurate. It also explains why the seams weren't aligning! I've now successfully complete two 12"blocks and made a start on a third and I'm really enjoying it - I can do it all from the sofa, rather than having to sit at the table with a sewing machine, which is really nice. Once I've completed a few more blocks, I;ll take some photographs and share the progress. Our local fabric shop, The Fat Quarter...

Another month is over and a few more projects have been completed. I haven't finished as much this month as some other months, but larger projects have been started and not yet finished, plus I spent a week working on a secret project for Debbie from Letters Tied With Blue.... more information will come, but not yet. The first thing to show you is a bit of a cheat, because I actually stitched it whilst on holiday in Sidmouth in August, but I only mounted and finished it off today: it's a small picture of swallow in a tattoo style that was originally a cover kit on cross stitcher. Instead of stitching it on the provided 14hpi fabric it stitched it on 22hpe hardanger fabric to minimise the pixalated effect. I've stitched it for Steph's birthday, so hopefully she doesn't look at this blog, cause she won't actually get the card till Tuesday! It was Natasja and Ruben's wedding last weekend (I stitched the hardanger ring pillow for them), so I...

I have now located a USB cable and here are the photos of the too-small mobile phone cases - despite size issues, they are very pretty. This is the front of Vicky's mobile phone case - it's plain dye purple fabric, then I used a rubber stamp to put on the daisies, then stitched over them in DMC 210 - there were an awful lot of French knots.... Here is the back of the phone case. I haven't actually done anything to it, but I just loved the fabric so much I had to share it - I bought it as a 20p scrap from the Mill in Barton (I still have some left over), and it was only when I came to use it that I realised we had bought the same design of fabric, but in red, to go in Mum's tablecloth. And this is the front of the second mobile phone case (ye to be checked for size). The fabrics are off-cuts from the cupcake quilt (picked by Steph). The flower design is stamped on the contrasting fabric (that I...

At the start of the month we (Linda, Aunty Judith and me) went down to Harrogate for the big quilt show. Despite an unnecessary diversion through Richmond on the way there we had a fantastic day. It was our first visit and was fantastic - I could have spent so much money on fabrics... so many pretty colours.... I came home with a fair few fat quarters (but didn't pay full proce for any of them) and stocked up on calico and wadding. I also found some fantastic pirate fabric - I don't quite know what I'm going to do with it, but it's perfect for James (aged 2 and a half) and Michael (aged 25 and a half)! Next year I am going to go with a specific project in mind and buy some of the gorgeous colours. I can't find the cable to dowload the photos from my camera (again), but I've also completed a coupl of mobile phone cases: one for Vicky (which doesn't actually fit the phone) and one for Steph (yet to be tested for size). I've made a start on a case for my ...

Firstly, apologies for the delay in the lastest post. I've been meaning to post some photos for a while, but I've ony just located a USB cable with which to download them. Having found the necessary cable, I can now provide an update. Towards the end of July I started stitching a small picture of Humphrey the elephant, from Humphrey's corner. This was a first birthday present for Alexander. Unforunately, it wasn't finished until mod August ( his birthday being the end of July), and he won't actually get it until mid September, but for everyone else, here is a sneaky look. I made it up into a small quilt with some green fabric I had bought because I like it a few months ago and turned out to be an excellent match, and some yellow fabric, that I bought for a project that never really happened. I didn't find it the most enjoyable thing to stitch - the backstitch was unnecessarily detailed and although the sketchy nature of it adds to the design, I felt there was...

And in between the larger projects I've shared below, I've done a few smaller cards: This was a graduation card for my brother Robin, who graduated from York in July. It's stitched on marbelled blue 28hpi cashel linen from DMC (Vintage Blue 5139) in Anchor threads (with some DMC threads!). It's a Margaret Sherry desing from Cross Stitcher Issue 189, p 30. This was the wedding card to go with the memory book for Jen and Geoff. The celtic knot border came from the World of Cross Stitching, Issue 162, p. 55 (no. 40), though I changed the colours slightly (blues: 158, 794, 3807; greens: 369, 368, 370; outline in dark purple 550). It was stitched in DMC threads on a hand-dyed lilac 28hpi evenweave from Kates Kloths. The charm in the centre was from a shop called Bead Lagoon in Sidmouth, Devon. And finally this patchwork owl from The World of Cross Stitching, Issue 167, p45 (Subscribers extra). It hasn't photgraphed bri...

So, in a previous post I promised Hardanger. Having tried a very small piece back in May I was encouraged to try something bigger, before risking the ring pillow I had promised my friend for her wedding. A couple of years back, Linda bought me a hardanger kit by Polstitches called Winter Snowflake. It's very luxurious: stitched in 28hpi Jobelan evenweave called Sky High (hand dyed) in White SA Perle no. 8 (also from Polstitches), DMC Perle no. 12, Polstitches Sky High Perle no. 8, 032 Kreinik very fine braid, Rajmahal art silk 201 and embellished with white pearl beads and Mill Hill Petite Glass beads no. 42010. So that was a success and I was ready to risk the ring pillow. The design is from Col's Creations. It's stitched in 28phi white quaker cloth in Perle threads nos 8 and 12 and DMC Stranded cotton, finished with Gutermann Pearl beads. The central hearts were sticthed round in Kloster Blocks and finished with woven bars. There were Kloster blocks between ea...