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Friday 11 May 2012

A Plethora of Small Finishes

You may recall back in March I made several small starts as part of March Madness?  Well, I have now made several small finishes!

In no particular order here they are:


This is my own design of a Union flag in a heart shaped stitched especially for Sarah-Beth.  She won one of my Epiphany Giveaways and we decided to do a little "local" exchange.  I sent her some local-to-me things and she will do the same.  As well as the local items I sent some Jubilee goodies too and thought a card would be nice.  I didn't feel like rummaging through all my mags to find designs which weren't quite right so it was actually easier to jot this down on graph paper and stitch it up!

I only stitched the red and blue, the white is the fabric.  Purists will realise there should be white spaces between the diagonal red stripes and the horizontal/vertical stripes.

If you'd like to see what else I sent her, then pop over to Sarah-Beth's Cross Stitch Blog and see for yourselves.  I was particularly pleased to get her the woven badge she wanted.  The company that makes them went out of business some time ago and my local gift shop was selling off the old stock, this was the last one in the shop!

The next finish is the Spring Heart by Gazette 94 to go with the Autumn previously stitched:


This was a very cheap frame from QD, the hearts are printed on the glass, clever isn't it?

I've just started another Band Sampler Round Robin on the Yuku Board.  My theme is "Purple with an Accent".  I am asking each stitcher to use DMC 333 as their main colour plus one other.  They also have to stitch with a fake British accent.  Not really, but it would be fun!  Here's my band:



This is stitched on Sparklies' Purpleberry Spludge, a great name for a great colour.  Last year's band sampler was amazing and alot of the same stitchers are doing this year's so I'm really looking forward to it.

The final pictures are actually 2011 finishes but I couldn't show them until now.  Dawn from Crafty Kitten found out she was expecting a baby due in January.  As she would be on maternity leave in January I decided to order my fabric just before Christmas so she could dye it over the holiday period.  I got an email on Boxing Day from her hospital bed saying "Baby came early, don't worry about your fabric, hubby is getting it ready to send to you"  That is the sort of customer service you get from Crafty Kitten, beautiful fabrics come Hell, High Water and Newborn Babies!

Anway, Nic, Hannah and myself collaborated on a Round Robin afghan for baby Sam.  Here are my two blocks in close-up:


This cute little dragon comes from here - Free Cross Stitch Charts


And this is the Tralala cat I have stitched before, available free from Socreastitch

I changed the colour of the dragon to blue and simplified the colours used ALOT.  There were 26 different colours used originally which I reduced to about 10!

Here is the whole piece in all it's glory:


This was a lovely afghan from Sewandso,  reasonably priced and very soft.  It specified "18 count evenweave" on the website so my brain said "that mean 36count which is equivalent to 18count aida".  When it arrived it really was 18count evenweave and a very loose evenweave too.  So the choice was to stitch over 2 and get 9count equivalent or stitch over 1.  Which I did.  Moral - read and believe the website.

Dawn was thrilled to bits with the present which arrived this week.  She sent us a lovely photo of Sam with it, I forgot to ask permission to post it here, so I won't just yet.  But his expression is priceless - he's got his arms stretched out wide going "how big is my blanket?"!!

BTW, Hannah is taking a break from blogging as she has one of those job-things which takes up alot of time at the moment.  She's in touch via FB and email and is keeping well in case you were concerned!

The other 2012 finishes can't be shown yet as they are all gifts.  If Parcelforce had got a move on I could've shown Christine's but they haven't so you will have to be patient along with her!

Finally, only three more followers until my 250 Giveaway!

22 comments:

Rhona said...

My, you have been busy! lovely finishes.

Mouse said...

ooo well done on all your finishes :) love the wee afghan you helped make too :)
love mouse xxxx

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Great plethora:)
I like the hearts,pretty colours and your little dragon.

Stitchabilities said...

Fabulous, I love the dragon! Yes I recognise the tralala design!
i love the band sampler, I did a speciality stitches one a while ago and loved it.

Christine said...

Great finishes and the purple accent sampler is going to be wonderful.
Don't think ParcelFarce work on a Saturday, so it will be next week now. I'm trying to be patient ;D

Unknown said...

Wondeful work and very clever creating your own jubilee heart flag.

I love the cute dragon, just adore mystical creatures.

Miamina said...

Wow! I love your little finishes, they are beautiful.

Thank you for providing the links too as they are lovely designs.

Well done :)

Julie said...

Lots of lovelies in this post.the afghan is very special. Love the start on the band sampler, that's going to be so nice.

Shirlee said...

I feel like a lazy slug looking at all these things you have finished & are accomplishing! Everything looks great! I got a good laugh out of the "must stitch with a British accent" comment ... lol!

Shebafudge said...

Gosh what a busy bee you have been!

As always, lovely stitching. I can't wait to see what the RR turns out like.

I love the name Purpleberry Splurge. You just know what colour it will be before you even look.

Linda said...

Wow Jo. You have been busy. Congrats on all the finishes. They turned out great.

Linda

Susan said...

Love the finishes! The baby afgan is too cute. I'm looking forward to seeing the RR finished - great choice in colors.

Brigitte said...

Oh my gosh, what a busy stitcher you have been. Great projects indeed, and great finishes. These little hearts are so beautiful.

Karen said...

Great finishes, Jo! I love the little dragon on the afghan.

I have some time, but I'm dusting off my British accent for when I get my hands on your Purples. (Yea, Purple Posse!) Maybe I'll just use a British accent whenever I'm stitching. Could be fun.

♥ Nia said...

That little dragon is sooooooo cute =) adorable!
You've been a busy bee! Lovely stitching :)
Hugs&smiles to you

Thoeria said...

You have been busy! Lovely little projects! Love your band sampler :)
(I'm going to practise stitching with a british accent later :-D )

ricketyjo said...

Congrats on all your finishes, I LOVE that little baby dragon, so cute!!

Giovanna said...

They're all lovely finishes, but that baby dragon is absolutely adorable!

Jan Gartlan said...

So many great finishes. I adore the blanket. What lovely service you got from crafty kitten. I am now a follower!

Caitlin @ Naughts Cross Stitches said...

gorgeous stitching :)

Valentina said...

Nice finishes! The afghan is just great. Glad to hear Hannah is ok.

geeky Heather said...

Wow, everything looks great!! So no Winter heart?