Harbour

Thanks to Eve, who sent me the hank of Anchor floss I needed, I have now finished another inherited cross stitch picture. The photo is a bit lopsided because I had it pinned to the curtain, but you get the idea. Eve didn't want anything in return as she said it was returning favours from the past, but I can't resist finding homes for my orphans, so I sent her this heart, stitched as a try-out for some space dyed threads.

There is too much tone difference in the pink, but I can soon add more colour to the pale sections of the hank so that the fuchsia doesn't stand out so much.


The next inherited UFO is already on the frame; it's a birth announcement picture of two mice and a pair of tulips, with half a mouse completed. This had been left in a hoop and was quite grubby, but it has washed well enough to be finished. The one mark that didn't wash out can be covered by an extra bee. This is a picture of the finished article that I found on line.

It's too hot...

...to do owt but estivate...

Friday Sketchers and Dare U2 Digistamp

Dare U2 Digi Stamps Friday Challenge this week is black, white and pink. I have combined it with Friday Sketchers Challenge to use this layout:



The B&W background paper is by Pink Petticoat, the cross strip is embossed with the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls folder, and the image is from Polly Craft's Cherry Kisses digi set, coloured with watercolour pencils. The little glass hearts were in a box of embellies given to me by my friend Dilys as a thank you for knitting some second sizers for her due-last-Tuesday-but-not-yet-arrived, great grandson.

It's too hot to do much of anything...

...but I have been doing a little light stitching. When my friend Dot died last September, I inherited a number of started stitcheries pushed into a bag with a tangle of threads. Then a couple of weeks ago another friend passed onto me a couple more she had been given by a very elderly neighbour who was in the process of clearing the decks before I die...again, in the bag, was an assortment of un-numbered threads; some wound around cards and others in a tangle.

I have been able to finish this one of hedgerow flowers, as luckily the packaging and charts were in the bag with the cloth. It took the best part of an afternoon to untangle the threads, sort them into colours, and with the help of an ancient Anchor colour chart (lots of the newer numbers are not on it) loop them through the appropriate hole in the cardboard strip that was provided. Why this had not been done originally I have no idea. I have been stitching away for weeks now, on and off. It was very grubby, and had rust marks down one edge where the needles had been left in. I soaked it overnight in warm water and washing up liquid, but it is still not what one would call pristine. I may have to apply a little gentle agitation in a second wash before I do anything else with it. The rust stains haven't washed out of course, but they won't show if I decide to have it framed with a mat. If it doesn't come out clean after the next wash, I shan't bother with the expense.

The next one is already on the slate frame; Harbour View it is called. The instructions call for a lot of half cross stitch with a single strand on sea and sky. The stitcher has ignored this and stitched full cross stitch with two strands over the sky with the result that there isn't enough thread left to stitch the sea. There are only two shops in town that sell embroidery threads, and they both only stock DMC, not Anchor, so I have had to substitute from my stash. Having done quite a bit of stitching last night, I can now see that the thread I chose is a shade too light and hardly shows at all against the white Aida, so it is snip not stitch tonight...

Two for the price of one...

This fulfils the conditions for Charmed Cards' Crafty Goings On blogcandy as it has a digital download image that has been coloured. Why not pop over there and check it out?

Secondly, this week's Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge is to use embossing on your card, either dry embossing or heated embossing. The background paper and the large circle are from a Funky Hand CD. I used the Cuttlebug to emboss a piece of dusty pink pearl card, the image is from Polly Craft's Cherry Kisses digital set and the sentiment is a Cuddly Buddly stamp. The image and sentiment have been coloured with watercolour pencils. I had problems matching the colours in the background paper, and the close-up shows that I need to learn to be a bit less wishy washy with my colour, but I'm getting there...slowly! The flower and braid are from my re-cycled stash...the braid was once on a dress, and the flower was originally in a bathroom vase.