Shades of Indigo

I'm busy finishing three new quilts for our Capital Quilters exhibition in May. Plus I want to enter at least one of the challenges.  So I'm quilting every day but I can't show you any of that just yet. 

However, in the evenings when I collapse into my chair I pick up my cross stitch and I've made good progress on Shades of Indigo by Nicole of Northern Expressions Needlework. 

There's just one more border to go now.

Of course mine isn't stitched with indigo threads.  I've chosen my favourite greens and blues.  The problem is that when you deviate from the pattern you have to make all the colour decisions yourself!

I started off with Caron Waterlillies, but I've morphed into Threadworx, Weeks Dye Works and Classic Colorworks Belle Soie.  I may have a lot of options but it's still trial and error because what looks good on the skein may not look so good on the fabric.  Last night I unpicked quite a bit of the next border because it just didn't look right.

The end is in sight now and it may even be finished in 2024.  I'm going to another cross stitch retreat in August and it would be embarrassing to bring out the same piece I worked on at retreats in 2022 and 2023.  

Shades of Indigo

I haven't managed to do any quilting since I've been back from my holiday, but I am making progress on my Shades of Indigo cross stitch. 

There's still one more wide border to go after I finish the one at the bottom of the photo above. 

Part of the problem for me is deciding which colour thread to use for each new border.  Once you deviate from the pattern you have to make all the decisions yourself!! And sometimes that requires stitching a bit to see how it's going to look on the fabric and against the previously stitched areas.  

in May 2023

Now you can see why I called my link party the Peacock Party - blues and greens are my favourite colours.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Dunedin Stitching Retreat

Three weeks ago I went to the Dunedin Stitching Retreat with some of my cross stitch friends.  

On arrival we were each given a goodie bag and included was a pattern and threads for the Retreat design which was this very cute wooden cottage on Baldwin Street, Dunedin - the steepest street in the world.

Examples stitched by the organisers

My version with a purple door

Baldwin St showing the exact cottage we stitched

It just so happens that I took a photo of that very same cottage when I climbed part of Baldwin St in January 2021 and here is my photo.  What a coincidence.  I'm not sure what I'll do with my piece yet, but I'll think of something.  

About 60 ladies from around New Zealand met up for a fun weekend of stitching and chatting.  We all took along our own projects to work on, but we also enjoyed seeing what everyone else was doing, and admiring the objects on the Finishing Objects table.  

It was the weekend of King Charles' coronation, so we had a bit of fun and wore crowns on the Saturday.

I worked on Shades of Indigo by Northern Expressions Needlework.  This one has been a work in progress for a few years now, and I knew the retreat would be a good time to decide on colours for the next border.  I got quite a bit done in my hotel room in the evenings - especially as I stayed up until 1am to watch the coronation!

The retreat was held in the Hanover Hall on Hanover Street, just a short walk from Otago's best quilting and stitching shop - Stitch Witches! 

My good friend Sue Lucas is one of the owners of Stitch Witches, and I must have visited the shop five times over the three days that I was in Dunedin.  I blew my budget on quilting fabrics so I didn't buy many embroidery supplies.  

On Sunday I went for a walk to the University of Otago.  I knew that the trees would be beautiful, and it was a lovely clear day. 

I really enjoyed my time at the Dunedin Stitching Retreat.  It was great to spend time with people with similar hobbies.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

2022 Christmas Countdown - Celtic Snow

Day 16 and it's my Celtic Snow cross stitch designed by Northern Expressions Needlework.

There's a few factors that make this piece sing:

- the gorgeous blue linen that's Midnight Tryst 28 count linen from Hand Dyed by Stephanie. It is beautiful and gives this piece a dark mysterious background. It's the shade Nicole used in her sample and the photo on the pattern.
- The beautiful soft (in colour and texture) Overdyed Silk threads from Dinky Dyes.
- All of the tiny beads that make it shine. They took an age to sew on, but they're so worth it.

Thank you everyone who's been following along and leaving lovely comments.  I really do appreciate your support thank you. 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Embroidery update

It's January, so that means long summer nights in New Zealand, and plenty of stitching.   

I'd normally be watching the Australian Open on TV right now, but the start date has been deferred to 8 February this year.   Instead I'm watching the fallout from some players having to endure 14 days in their hotel rooms (because someone on their flight tested positive for COVID once they reached Australia).  It's really going to impact on the tournament because some players can train for 5 hours a day, while others can't.  

Anyway, I've been working on three embroidery projects since Christmas.  

1. Pandemic Sampler by Long Dog Samplers.

I've finally finished page 11, so now I've done 7 out of 20 pages.  Consensus seems to be that pages 6 and 11 are the worst, and I've done both of them now, so it should be plain sailing from here.  ("Worst" as in densest stitching and most risk of error.)

2. Smoyg by Yvette Stanton

I promised to work on my Smoyg this year, and I have been. I completed the navy band in the photo below in just two nights.  Why didn't I do it earlier?

And then last night I started the large green block and I'm enjoying it. There are more colours to add to this block yet.  

So, it's looking good, but I do need to go back and complete some blocks yet. 

3. Shades of Indigo - by Northern Expressions Needlework

This wasn't on my to do list for 2021, but I've had the pattern since 2016, so surely it's OK to start one new thing.  In fact I started this piece on New Year's Day because it's a tradition among cross stitchers to start something new on 1 January.  It's a pity there's no tradition about finishing things!

This photo doesn't do it justice, but I'm using hand dyed fabric and Caron Waterlilies. 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week?  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Celtic Snow is framed

My Celtic Snow is back from the framers and hanging on the wall. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.  The frame looks like brushed stainless steel. It's very simple, but it lets the embroidery shine.

It was hard to get a good photo. That darker section in the bottom left hand corner is my reflection.

The beads look even better now that the linen has been stretched.

Although it's possibly a Christmas piece, I'm going to leave it on the wall for a few months now. We're going into our Southern Hemisphere winter, so it's not too out of place.

You can read all about this embroidery in my earlier post from a few weeks ago here.

Celtic Snow

On Tuesday night I finished my Celtic Snow embroidery. It's a wonderful design by Nicole of Northern Expressions Needlework.

my Celtic Snow by Norther Expressions Needlework

I've been working on this piece since July 2014. Although I have done other things in between, it's been a long journey with this one. It's the biggest cross stitch I've done in the last 10 years. It's 15" x 15".

with an A4 piece of paper for comparison

I always stitch with a hoop because it keeps the tension even. I did all the stitching before I started adding the beads because I knew the beads would prevent me from using the hoop. After I'd done all the beading in the centre with the hoop, I put the piece onto my roller bars so I could continue to add the beads. It wasn't easy working on the roller bars because the linen is quite a loose weave, but I got there in the end. there are 1,400 beads in this piece!

When I'm attaching beads I always go through each bead twice to make a X. That holds the bead straight. I also keep all the beads going in the same direction. That did result in some unpicking because sometimes I accidentally turned the piece 90 degrees. There's no obvious top or bottom, the design is symmetrical. In these cases I tie a piece of coloured cotton at the top, but I must have ignored that at times.

I really felt thrilled when I woke up the next morning and took it off the roller bars. I gave it a light press, took some photos and dashed off to the framers. I took along a piece of dark fabric because I knew their padding was white, and I didn't want white behind the linen, I wanted a dark colour.

The framers will be finished in about 3 weeks and I'll be excited to see how it looks.

For the embroiderers out there:
- the fabric I used is Midnight Tryst 28 count linen from Hand Dyed by Stephanie. It is beautiful and gives this piece a dark mysterious background. It's the shade Nicole used in her sample and the photo on the pattern. Nicole used much finer linen, but I've given up on anything finer than 28 count. If I'd chosen 32, 36 or 40 count linen I don't know if I would have ever finished.
- I used the recommended Overdyed Silks from Dinky Dyes - lovely pastel shades.
- I couldn't get all the exact beads, so substituted to those available locally.
- I bought the pattern from 123Stitch.  It's really cheap - less than USD 20 - so I just don't understand people who rip off these designers by posting the pattern online.

This was the 4th and final item on my Finish Along list for Q1. It means I'm another step closer to getting back to my la passacaglia which I'm excited about. I'm now an administrator of the group on facebook (Millefiori/ la passacaglia English Paper Piecing) so I keep seeing everyone else's progress. I'm itching to get back to mine, but have one more long term project to finish first. Aren't I being good?