Solway Stitches

Stitching has been on the back burner with my son being home from the Royal Navy, he was suppose to be home for another week but got called back early. He got me some lovely roses before he left. I have managed to make a small amount of progress on Hannah Richards. The larger letters are meant to be eyelet stitch, after trying it once they are now Smyrna crosses. I just couldn’t get the eyelet stitches right. I have started and finished Pinker and Punkin freebie Spring Greens Saltbox. The Pinker and Punkin blog is great, she has given so many free charts and they are all lovely. Well worth checking out. I’m hoping to stitch the full set of the salt boxes.  Had some EBay haul as well, I’ve been getting some real bargain, I’m really pleased with my purchases. I’ve also had a new start, it’s not much of a start just a few stitches. I started Mina Johnson Cruickshanks 1861 by Northumberland Sampler House. This is a Scottish House sampler and I started it on what would have been my Nana...

 There’s quite a lot to update as I’m late posting. My son has returned from his deployment so my time has been spent with him. I have finished Shepherds Bush The Goblins and loved the speciality stitches.  My new start this week is also a finish, it was another Shepherds Bush EBay win, Sheep in a Garden. A quick and easy stitch, back stitch makes all the difference.  My lovely son bought me a fantastic gift for his homecoming, a DMC collectors box with all 500 colours. I had a lovely time sorting them all out. Here is the full set of DMC, don’t they look lush. My stash was another EBay bargain, Shepherds Bush, a Winters Tale. There are a lot of specialty stitches and I’m looking forward to starting. I have worked a little on Hannah Richards sampler, but not enough to make much of a difference. I will work on it some more this week and hopefully have some progress to show next time.  Happy Stitching :)

 The ducklings have had their first bath and looked so cute in the old tin bath. My Easter starts are nearly all finished, just 1 outstanding and they all still need FFO’d.w Shepherds Bush freebie ‘Ewe be well’ but I wrote Spring instead and sewed a JABCo bee button on. Whilst Iris Naps Spring freebie. Hands on Design Newsletter freebie, to be finished. I’m a bit concerned about how close my stitching is to the top of the fabric, it’s less than 1cm. My own fault for stitching all the designs on 1 piece of fabric then cutting after! I started Shepherds Bush The Goblins, and loved it. I had to be a picky stitcher with the thread as the two variegated in the coat had a similar purple so the harlequin effect was lost. Wasted a lot of thread but really pleased how it turned out. I had to stop as it’s speciality stitches next, which I’ve never done and I wanted to order a hoop to keep my tension right. I’ve never stitched with a hoop either, should be fun. I am looking forward to picking...

 It was the first time in years I had been off work for the full four days and I planned for it to be a very stitchy four days. As I turned out my hubby and I built a poly tunnel for all year round fresh fruit and veg and our ducklings decided to hatch!  Very cute and needed a lot of cuddles. My Easter stitching plans were to be a new start every day and then finishing off on Monday.  The only rule was the patterns had to be freebies or from my stash, and all threads and fabric were also from my stash. My Maundy Thursday was The Prairie Schooler ‘Peep’. It’s very old and I’m not sure if it’s still available.  My Good Friday start was Shepherds Bush freebie ‘Ewe Be Well’ a freebie from their website, still available. I’m going to write Spring instead.  My Easter Saturday is from Hands on Design, it was a freebie in her newsletter. I’ve changed the colours and I’m replacing the french wording with Spring. My Easter Sunday start was an Whilst Iris Naps freebie for ...

 Hello and welcome to my blog and my first post.  I enjoy a range of crafts including cross stitch, knitting, crochet and toy making. I hope this blog will help me focus on my crafts and encourage me to finish some of the WIPs and UFOs I have.   I’ll start with my finish this week, Blackbird Designs Home from Sea, I made a few changed. I added my sons Royal Navy number and the operation name. I removed the roses and added a compass.   Now a new start, this is an antique reproduction sampler called Hannah Richards by Brenda Keyes and it’s from issue 17 of Cross Stitch Gold. I’ve used called for threads and I tea dyed and then coffee splattered some white 28ct evenweave.  Not much to show as it was a Sunday evening start. On Saturday night I started and finished Eat your Carrots, this is an old one from The Sampler Girl, I’m not too sure if it’s still available.  I got some stash this week, the new PS Santa for 2021 and Needlework Press Jane Plenderleath...