Continent of Europe

You can see from the bottom picture what this was like when I unearthed it in Oct 2010 (hoping more countries hadn't joined Europe since I started LOL)

Hubby had a look at it and bet it would take ages to get finished so why bother - I made a bet that I could get it done by the end of November.

I love a challenge - guess who won! :D

A Treasured Time

I first saw this design in 2005, at a craft show and loved it. I didn't know the name of it then so it took ages to find the kit at first.

I got about half done in 2005, then like so many other pieces, it got put aside to concentrate on other things.

I found it last year, got back into it and completed it in Oct 2010. It's one of the most complicated pieces I have done, with a lot of thread blending and as many as 4 strands of thread used in some areas

Close up:

Princess Cushion

Made this for my Daugher - she will be 4 next week.

I have liked this chart for a while, but could only ever find it as a kit...didn't want to pay £15+ for it when I have tons of fabric and threads doing nothing at home!

Finally found it on the designers own site (Faye Whittaker) and stitched it up in two days. It only took a couple of hours to sew the cushion together and stuff it.

Coasters for Teachers

There's always that end of year 'it's nearly the holidays, what can I get the teachers?' question. I don't bother with the nursery because there's so many teachers there, but I like to give a little something for the primary school teachers.

Came up with these, got the picture from a cross stitch mag and charted the letters. Got a box of Thorntons chocs to go with them, I thought it was nice to have a bit of a personal touch :)






Edited to add: I don't know why the bottom pic is sideways, it was the right way round in the file when I uploaded it :-s

Cross stitch cards

Just stitched loads of small designs over a week or so and these are some of the cards I put together from them.

Very much just a case of seeing what fitted which aperture, although I do really like the blue birthday card, dunno who would appreciate it bein sent to them though.

Cards

I love this card! It's an aperture one so when it's opened up the little zebra is on the inside. Simple black and white theme - the zebra was pack of a pack of animal stickers with springy heads that were in the madaboutcards sale (25p a pack) none of the other animals worked as well as the zebra.



My first attemt at a shaker card
I saw these in papercraft inspirations last year and really liked them. I have only made the one - they take ages!! There's a sweetie jar version as well which I plan to make for my sisters birthday.



Simple yet effective. Another aperture card (I will be buying more of those)

Fanciful Fairy

This was a christmas gift for a wonderful friend, she loves her angels and fairies :D

The chart was in a cross stitching magazine and I stitched it on a lovely sparkly aida.

Lion King

This is another of those designs that I just HAD to stitch.

I took a picture every evening of the progress and completed it in 16 days, which is pretty fast.

My plan is to get it framed with a cream mount and a light wood frame, but like so many other pieces it's currently in my completed projects box

These pics show the stages at Day 4, Day 8, Day 12 and Day 16....

Inspirational Sayings

A serioes of inspitational sayings I stitched, planning to get them framed as a set.

Seafarers Map

Found this half finished in a craft bag I was clearing out. I had started it in 2008 and forgotten all about it. It's one of those designs that I wasnt sure why I was stitchign or if I would have any use for it in the end....I just liked the muted tones and I quite like stitching mermaids :)

Cards

Got a pack of stepper cards, thought they were a bit of a change from the usual ones so gave them a go:



Loving 'Gorjuss' at the moment, these weren't cheap (Hobbycraft never is!) but I really like them



First birthday card for my little nephew Liam x



16th Birthday card for my Niece Amy - found a pack of 'Gorjuss' toppers (I spent a fortune in Hobbycraft that day - oops) No idea if she liked it or not, we don't hear from that side of the family often :(

The Swan Queen

Saw this picture in a magazine and wanted to stitch it but had a heck of a job finding the chart for it! Eventually found someone on ebay selling a completed picture of it for charity and emailed her and asked nicely if she still had the chart. She did, and offered to post it to me and in return I made a donation to the charity she stitched for, so everyone was happy :D

Gorjuss

Gorjuss - 'I love you little rabbit'

I stitched this for my sisters 30th birthday. It does seem a bit of a weird choice but for the previous year they had nothing but problems with her kids' pet rabbits escaping. After the first one was pregnant and had 4 bunnies. After another escape they had 17 new bunnies!!! I thought this design would be tongue in cheek as a little reminder what happened at the end of her 20's hehe







This was just a little Tink design my daughter Amber asked me to stitch.

Highland Living

Stitched this for my Gran's 80'th birthday back in March

She has always loved the Highlands and Islands ad would probably have chosen to live there if it wasn't for all her ties in the lowlands.

It wasn't the best piece to stitch if I'm honest, all that blue on blue made my eyes go fuzzy and I was so glad to get it finished!






Cost about £27 or so to get it framed.

Wedding Sampler

Rennie Mackintosh style wedding sampler which I stitched for my Brother/Sister-in-Laws wedding back in Feb.

Cost about £23 to get it properly framed. Framing is not something which I am much good at myself!

Coasters

Little gifts I made for friends, more of my keyrings and my first attempt at cross stitch coasters.

Coasters came from ebay, the prices are all much the same.

OOPS

Didn't realise it had been so long since I last put anything on here. I have been doing LOADS - got plenty cross stitch pics to upload and also been making loads of cards over the past few nights. I have over 120 cards in my stash now, I really should think about doing something with them all!