Cross Stitch Cafe 2012

flowerofscotland

debtdalek wrote: »

Yes, I just took a look too and they are all stunning.
How many years have you been cross stitching to have completed so many beautiful pieces?
I have the watering can kit in my stash and a different Just Nan sampler pattern and beads too.
Do you frame them yourself or have them done at a store?
Years ago, I invested in a mount cutting mat set and thought I would send my oh on a framing course so that he will be able to frame them for me once I've done them.
I noticed in the stores in the US that they do three things differently to here with their finished pieces.
One is that they use multiple layers of mats - often with cut outs or other items included in them.
Secondly, they put wadding under the finished work so that it pads it out and brings it forward, often beyond the level of the mat.
Thirdly, they rarely put their finished work under glass - though that might be to do with the fact that they have padded it out?

Thank you for your kind words. I think the earliest pieces in my Flickr album are from 1991 which is when I started cross stitching again after a break of about 10 years. I have stitched or knitted or sewed all of my life. I don't have an enormous or even a big house - it's just that every available space is occupied plus the Christmas stitchings only come out in December and some of the items have been given away so aren't on my walls.

Almost all of my big pieces have been professionally framed by people who know how to frame needlework i.e. lacing not gluing. I love unusual mounts but not many places can cut them. The framer I use at the moment only does circles, ovals, rectangles, squares but does do multiple mounts - I usually have 2. I have framed some smaller pieces myself but always with pre cut mounts (or none) and I also enjoy making pieces up into other decorative items like box tops, biscornu, needlerolls, stockings etc. Generally speaking I prefer glass for the extra protection though my Mirabilia mermaids aren't behind glass (partly because the molding I wanted which is a metallic sea green wasn't suitable for the heavy beading plus glass.

I agree that wadding creates a lovely effect - my little Halloween Heart by The Sweetheart Tree has been padded (and doesn't have glass) whereas the other 2 Sweethear Tree Hearts (framed together in heart shaped mounts) are behind glass.

The watering can is one of my DH's favourites and when I was taking down the Christmas stitchings he asked me to move it to a more prominent position where he could see it better I'm sure you will enjoy stitching it. Just Nan is one of my all time favourite designers and I usually have one of her band samplers as a UFO which I can pick up and do a band or 2 in between other projects - Noah's Needle is the current one. Which one do you have and are you planning to start it soon? Her instructions for the other counted thread stitches she uses are excellent.

catwoman150

postingalwaysposting London is coming along, you have done some good progress on it.
sk00bie1 Durham Cathedral is loking good.
harley glad you had at the show
tellmeitsfriday cute little design
FOS thats lovely
humphrey10 thats quick work on your tapestry, well done on a finished project. :T

well we have had no snow here today we only got lots of freezing rain and its very cold. I dont expect any snow now I think its passing me now.

I havent stitched for a while, so going to carry on on white lightning for a while.

blue_eyed_girl

PaP - Good progress with London . We are decorating spare room atm and think we will have one wall with wallpaper showing London scenery. From what I remember I think it had red phone boxes instead of red buses.

Sk00bie - Durham Cathedral taking shape. Hope you have a great time at craft show. Silly me - you've probably already been in which case I hope you HAD a great time. Think I'm suffering from brain freeze. :rotfl::rotfl:

brednall - Love fuchias - look forward to seeing your piccies.

TMIF - putting temptation our way. Those snowmen are simply gorgeous.

humphrey10 - The colours in your tapesty are beautiful.

Tricksie Lovely to hear from you. Sounds as though you had a lovely day. Hope all goes well with your treatment. Is it only three weeks till your big day

Been out in the car tonight and it has been snowing and the roads are quite skatey :eek: So if you have to go out and about first thing in the morning - go careful.

Got some tulips done this afternoon and might do a little bit more tonight.

Take care everyone

b_e_g

tellmeitsfriday

blue_eyed_girl wrote: »

TMIF - putting temptation our way. Those snowmen are simply gorgeous.

At least they were free and I haven't cost you money

So, after all the horrible talk about the blue pens being a bit of a pain to wash out, I went through my box of stuff i'd done and popped it all in the washing machine.

To my utter horror, the Old McDonald's Farm I did last year is ruined. It was done on blue aida, and you can clearly see where the blue pen was. It's washed out fine, but it's taken the dye from the fabric with it. To say I am uset is an understatement.

On the positive side, it's washed out fine from all the white/cream aida, if that helps anyone.

I won't be using mine again. Very disappointed.

I have the blue pen with the gold writing from sewandso.

maria_and_the_imps

Tell me its Friday, I'm so sorry old McDonald's farm is ruined, its heartbreaking to spend that amount of time on something for it to be ruined x

tellmeitsfriday

I might be able to fix it by doing some sky all over the blank bits... bummer though

*Louise*

Sorry to hear about the pen problems people are having Mine isn't the blue one, it's whote with a blue top and hasn't caused me any bother

I have held off posting as I didn't want to depress everyone, but since you all know the background and I talk to you all everyday I woudl probably say at some point so why not now. I posted before about my parents both being ill, well my mum is doing really well, medication has shrunk the lump and she should be getting it removed in a few weeks. My Dad on the other hand, was diagnosed as terminal yesterday He made fantastic progress after his op in Oct but it has came back and there is nothing else they can remove. He has about 6-9 months maybe, he starts radiotherapy on Monday which 'could' give him a little longer, no one knows

He is taking it rather well actually - he turns 60 in March and will be getting a good sum for his pension so he and my mum are going to go and do everything he wants for as long as he is able. They are coming on holiday with us in April then plan to head to Las Vegas.

I'm glad he isn't in any pain through it, he is a lovely, quiet man and he knows we are all there for him.

Sorry for offloading, there's not many people I can talk to and my best 'listening' friend lives 400 miles away



Have made some progress on TBM, will prob put an update tomorrow.

Benny- I haven't forgotten about your ballerina, I just haven't been able to find the flipping thing yet, sorry:o

sk00bie1

So sorry to hear about your Dad Louise, am thinking of you. I'm sure your holiday will give you many memories to cherish.

I did end up going to the craft show today, Mum wanted to miss the snow and so glad that we did! It was quite small and had many of the same exhibitors as the one I went to last year at Olympia. Was still fun though and I got a few more stitchy kits/charts to add to my ever expanding collection. I should really stop going to these things, and stitching shops until I've caught up! The list of purchases includes, Blackwork cat kit for mum, blackwork owl kit, christmas cards 6 design chart and a booklet of christmas cards charts :eek: maybe I buy too many Christmassy things.......

I also managed to pick up a couple of bits for other crafty projects I'm planning to do which was a bonus. My mum even picked out a kit to do herself!!! I think she's caught my stitchy bug :rotfl:

I've decided to take a break from Durham for a bit and started Ickle Ted again, a I got from Louise a couple of years ago, will turn him into an Easter card for my Great Aunts.
I should finish tomorrow and then I'll do a new Christmas design from Santa's book, which shouldn't take as long as Santa did! My to do list looks like this at the moment;

1) Ickle ted
2) Dear Santa (from Santa's book)
3) Blackwork cat (for mum)
4) Be Jolly (Santa's book)
5) Christmas cards/decorations from today and some mum brought me from the US (too many to remember!).

Hopefully writing them all down will give me a kick and keep me focused :beer:

chickywiggle

<<hugs>> Louise, reallly hope the radiotherapy helps him.

tellmeitsfriday

Sorry to hear your news Louise... let's hope he's stays as well as possible for as long as he can xxx