One of the neatest things about going to a stitching retreat is guilt free, uninterrupted stitching time. I sometimes don't even stitch the actual project until I get home (unless it's a formal class with the designer). And I always take advantage of the 'stitch on your stuff' extra day if it's available.
Well this weekend, I took part in a virtual retreat - #24HoursOfCrossStitch on Facebook. It started for me Friday after work. At about 5, I picked up my 'guilty pleasure' stitching - the Sharon Cohen "Sampler Sweetbag" from Just Cross Stitch magazine, Aug 1996. I put in almost five hours on that on Friday night. And got to here
Then bright and early Saturday morning, I hopped back to my rotation, the Victoria Sampler "4 Elements: Fresh Air". There was only one band yet to do, so after a bit over three hours of work I have a finish to report!
The tiger's eye bead looks really dark in these pictures, it's really not much darker than the darker of the two silks.
I thought you might like to see all of the series together:
Not sure exactly how I will have them framed, but you can see in this picture why I did the conversion to yellow. Baby blue and pink just do not fit in this set! Yellow worked well, I think. I'll do a post on the switch out on the rotation sometime later today.
The rest of my Saturday and so far this morning have been on the back of the Sweetbag. Started out with a pretty blank canvas. The original design had a back of just calico; I knew from the start that I wanted linen, but this is as far as I'd gotten - the top band for construction purposes and a city/state to match the name on the front. Montenegrin Stitch for the horizontals (in contrast to the long arm cross plait on the front because I always have to make things more complicated!)
I had in the stash a freebie blackwork bookmark by the same designer - it was too long, of course, but I figured out a way to modify it to fit. And also designed a poly-chrome top band in more bargello (this stitch was often used in Tudor times for cushions and upholstery). So here's where the back is now.
Linking up with my other virtual stitch along, Slow Sunday Stitching.
Well this weekend, I took part in a virtual retreat - #24HoursOfCrossStitch on Facebook. It started for me Friday after work. At about 5, I picked up my 'guilty pleasure' stitching - the Sharon Cohen "Sampler Sweetbag" from Just Cross Stitch magazine, Aug 1996. I put in almost five hours on that on Friday night. And got to here
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| Front ready for detached button hole |
I thought you might like to see all of the series together:
The rest of my Saturday and so far this morning have been on the back of the Sweetbag. Started out with a pretty blank canvas. The original design had a back of just calico; I knew from the start that I wanted linen, but this is as far as I'd gotten - the top band for construction purposes and a city/state to match the name on the front. Montenegrin Stitch for the horizontals (in contrast to the long arm cross plait on the front because I always have to make things more complicated!)
Linking up with my other virtual stitch along, Slow Sunday Stitching.
very nice stitching! I like those pieces in the blue, green, red and yellow
ReplyDeleteGorgeous stitching. I love that first piece!
ReplyDeleteYour 4 Elements stitching is just beautiful! So many amazing details!
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful projects. I really love the idea of the elements stitching
ReplyDelete