Cross Stitching Revival

[badly_knitted]

After more than 18 months, I'm finally cross stitching again, it's such a pleasure to make something! Thought I'd share the finished results here - it will be nice to have a permanent record of what I've stitched as these are all destined to become birthday and Christmas cards.

First up - these two quickies are for my aunt and uncle's birthdays this year - like to do them matching designs, but I didn't get anything done last year. They're both in their 80s, so I can't afford to miss another year.



These are the first three of a set of six that I call Tartan Santas. The designs are brilliant and I might do a second set using different colours.



Star Santa - I really love the shape!



Tentacle Santa - how very Torchwood!

I love the Tartan background on this one and already have plans to use it as a background for some other small designs.



Chubby Sorceror Santa. He just reminds me of a wizard! I made a lot of mistakes on this one. No one else would no to look at it, but I know they're there so I'm not really happy with this one.

The three Santas are all stitched on 18 count fabric using one strand of thread, while the poppies are stitched on 14 count with two strands. To be honest, I prefer stitching on the higher counts (18, 20 or even 22 count) as I stitch better with one strand. I get in a tangle when I use two!

 

Comments

[debmommy22]

Jean, these are really beautiful! I really like the first two with the flower designs for your Aunt and Uncle and the Santa's are so cute. You really do go work and what a wonderful way to give to others at Christmas and birthday's. I am not good at making things. The most I ever did was make cards on my computer and print them out on high gloss paper for birthdays.

I am glad you are having fun with your stitching again. :D

[badly_knitted]

Thanks =)

I really love stitching, and it's nice to send people a hand made card instead of shop bought sometimes. Trouble is, there are just so many designs I want to stitch and I don't have enough time!

[debmommy22]

Oh that just means you will always have something to stich and look forward to. :D

I really do like them.

[badly_knitted]

*hugs* I'm glad you like them, and you're right, I'll never be short of something to stitch - I subscribe to two stitching magazines, one monthly, one quarterly, so I keep seeing new patterns to add to my list of things to stitch. The magazines are full of charts for everything from designs small enough for gift labels to big pictures =)

[kul_breez]

Wonderful. I used to cross-stich as a teen, but haven't done so in decades. You do lovely work! Any you make them into cards? Will we get to see the finished effect????

[badly_knitted]

Thank you! I love stitching, but I'm definitely better with only one strand of thread!

I don't know! Possibly! I usually make them into cards when I decide who I'm sending them to, so you might get to see some of them done up as cards sometime near Christmas (or possibly after Christmas, if I don't manage to get the photos uploaded in the run up to the festive season. I'm usually way behind!) I might not use all of them this year though, in which case they won't get made into cards until a later date. They're easier to store as stitched pieces than as finished cards.

I've finished stitching the other three Tartan Santas, but I haven't got around to photographing them yet. Hopefully have the pics up sometime next week if I can find the time.