Stitched Family Heirlooms

This lot was stuffed in an old cardboard chocolate box, handed down to me from my mother's side of the family. I think, based on the initials on the samplers, it's most likely these were stitched by my great aunt Jacoba. Born in 1902 she would have been in her early teens when she made those. The labels (for organising linens) were possibly made at a later date.

Perfect stitches, as you can see, but made in difficult times. This sampler is dated 1914, the year that the First World War started. Even though the Netherlands remained neutral during the First World War, there were lots of consequences for the Dutch. Refugees from Belgium, food scarcity etc. During the First World War, the family lived in the Rotterdam area (my hometown) where towards the end of the war, housewives plundered food stocks. In 1914 Jacoba already had lost two younger sisters (at the ages of 1 and 6 months old) and, in 1917, her oldest sister as well. I wonder how my family was handling it all... We often know so little about our ancestors, even if it's just a few generations back.

The Darning Sampler sadly has some water damage but it shows that Jacoba learned how to mend things as neatly as possible.

There are lots of labels like Nachtjaponnen (Night gowns) Handdoeken (Towels) Bedlakens (Sheets) and Kussensloopen (Pillow cases) I imagine these were pinned to shelves, to indicate where the linens should go. You can even see some rusty marks on the sides of these labels.

The satin stitching on the hanky looks great but what's more amazing: the backside is so neat you can hardly tell it apart from the stitching on the front!

Hope you enjoyed this peek into my stitched family heirlooms. They may not be valuable, but learning a bit more about where these labels and samplers came from, is definitely worth a lot to me.

Modern Cross Stitch by Hannah Sturrock

Normally I would start a post about a book with a photo of its cover, but my cat Milo photobombed this picture so elegantly, I chose this one. It is as if he's saying 'I really like this one, mum!'.
This cute project is from Hannah Sturrock's (of Bobo Stitch) new book 'Modern Cross Stitch'.*

'Modern Cross Stitch' has a wide variety of styles: some projects are slightly retro (like the banner), some are a bit folksy (like the snowflakes below) and some are inspired by popular culture like a 'Kapow' cartoon style mobile phone cover or Skull patches. There's also a few projects in the 'young ones' section that hint at traditional nursery themes (Alphabet, a teddy etc) but with a more modern approach.

I really like these Stitchy Bugs, especially the dragonfly! All patterns in the book have a colour key and are printed on a good scale, which makes them easy to follow (depending on your skill level, of course). Skill level (complexity of the pattern) and Material level (28 count linen is harder than 14 count aida for example) are also indicated, so you know what to expect!

The 'Cross Stitch Basics' chapter is really useful, especially if you're starting out with cross stitch.  It has easy to understand diagrams and as far as I can see, it answers any question aspiring cross stitchers may have. Check your local bookstore for a copy of 'Modern Cross Stitch' or find it in various online bookstores.


*The publisher sent this book to me a little while ago and I thought I'd share some of my favourite things about it here!

Secret Garden Embroidery

My stitchy friend Sophie (aka What Delilah Did) has released a new book called Secret Garden Embroidery and it's really lovely so I'm excited to share some of the wonderful projects with you today. The best thing about Sophie's books is that each book is a little different from the one before, but still has the same timeless, unique style that many of us love. Secret Garden Embroidery is no exception and with its 15 projects a fabulous resource for both beginning and more advanced stitchers.

One of three Lace Wing Butterfly patterns in the book

Sophie's first book, Storyland Cross Stitch had a lot of her signature style silhouette designs in mostly muted colours. Stitch the Halls, the Christmas book, featured more colour and lots of fun stitch ideas for Christmas decorations. Secret Garden Embroidery is all about botanical and garden themed projects, framed in stories about Miss Merriweather's Thistledown Farmhouse. The book is elegantly illustrated by Katt Frank and the beautiful photography is by Rachel Whiting.

Are you ready to join me for a short walk to Thistledown Farmhouse and have a look around? Be prepared for lots of delicate stitching and gorgeous muted colour palettes!
First, we visit the Vegetable Garden...

And look...here are some cute bugs (and a spider too)!

You cannot leave Thistledown Farmhouse without meeting Miss Millicent Hare...

The first chapter of Secret Garden Embroidery deals with stitches and supplies used for the book's projects. All of the projects are counted embroidery or cross stitch. The larger patterns are included in an envelope at the back of the book, the other patterns are printed in the book.

I think the real fun is in how to make the lovely designs work for you. If you are not into belts you can stitch the pattern on a bag. And colours are easily changed too. The bugs look fabulous on a magnet but would look great on a table cloth or on napkins as well.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into What Delilah Did's Secret Garden! Secret Garden Embroidery is published by Pavilion Books and available now. You can buy the book from Sophie's store (and have it signed too!) and many other bookstores.

Embroidery Books from the Past

I've added a few older, second hand embroidery books to my collection in the last couple of weeks. I bought some vintage craft magazines too, which I will share in a separate post.

The book on the bottom of the stack is Anchor's '100 Embroidery Stitches'. A small but really useful book with clear diagrams.

Anchor is the name under which Coats sold, and still sell, their embroidery and craft threads. Originally there were two separate companies (Coats and Clark), but later they merged into one company. A lot of Anchor Embroidery books (on various subjects such as canvaswork and Spanish Blackwork) were published over the years. The copy I bought is probably similar to other editions they brought out. You can regularly find them on Ebay for just a few quid.

The DMC books (or rather: booklets) are very different in content. The one with the red cover has a good number of cross stitch designs of animals mostly. When I purchased it online I had mistaken it for an older DMC booklet, with border motifs and such from around Europe. So when the booklet arrived I was surprised to come across patterns of geese, ducklings and forest animals.

The insect repeat patterns are quite groovy though and I like the slightly kitschy stag too.

The other DMC booklet has an interesting variety of evenweave border designs. Both booklets do not have much information about the stitches and colours. You'd have to work straight from the pattern and photographed examples and just guess which colours to use. Or just choose your own which I prefer in most cases anyway. :)

P.S. A few things that I haven't got round to: putting some of my embroideries on sale in the shop and preparing a second blog post about the X and Plus Quilt (including a small tutorial). At the moment all of my sewing stuff and embroideries are packed up due to the rebuilding of the bath room so bear with me for a little longer! The whole house is covered in dust (it's EVERYWHERE) so I'm kind of glad my sewing supplies are safely packed away!

Favourites: 5 Modern Cross Stitch Designers

If you have been following my blog for a bit you know that I love to do some cross stitching every now and then and I thought I'd share some of my favourite contemporary Cross Stitch Designers with you. I have mentioned quite a few of these designers on this blog in the past but it's nice to see them all together in one post! In no particular order:

1. Emily Peacock designs beautiful needlepoint patterns and kits and  I love the vintage/retro feel of her work! The Meeting Place is a cross stitch design, worked with crewel wool and is one of her easier designs. It's available as a kit. 

2. What Delilah Did. Stylish, dreamy patterns and fabulous kits like the Wise Owl kit pictured above which is a pattern from Sophie's enchanting book Storyland Cross stitch (read my review) Patterns and kits range from easy to stuff for the more determined. ;) 

3. Frosted Pumpkin Stitcheries A bunch of cute and Kawaii-style patterns. The Sampler pattern Subscriptions like this Fairy Tale themed one are especially irresistible, even though I can never keep up with them!

4. Satsuma Street It's no wonder that Jody's fun patterns have gained a lot of popularity in a relatively short time. I for one am a huge fan of her colourful, fresh retro designs. Currently I'm stitching the Pretty Little London pattern. It's not a difficult pattern but it does take a while to finish so I guess a determined beginner could work these patterns too. :) 

5. Wee Little Stitches, home of the Original Pixel People. Many of Jacqueline and Christopher's patterns are inspired by popular culture and if you grew up (or were a slightly geeky teen) in the 80's (I was!) you'll love the Labyrinth and Pretty in Pink Patterns. Generally the patterns are easy to stitch, so perfect for cross stitch novices. I interviewed Jacqueline in Fall 2012 about Wee Little Stitches.

If you would love to try one (are more likely all) of these designs but have never done any cross stitching then don't worry: it's very easy to learn. Sophie has some great information on her website to get you started.

Happy (cross) stitching everyone!

Books reviewed in 2013

Today I bring you an overview of the books (and the odd pattern) I reviewed or discussed on my blog in the past year. There's still time to add a book or two to your wish list, right? It's predominantly embroidery but there are some sewing pattern/book reviews too and in some books the two are combined. :)  The links will take you to the original blog posts were you'll find more details.


Doodle Stitching: Embroidery & Beyond by Aimee Ray

Blackwork by Beck Hogg

Staple Dress (PDF pattern) by April Rhodes

Stitched in Scandinavia by Karin Holmberg

Stuffed Animals by Abby Glassenberg

Storyland Cross Stitch by What Delilah Did

Stitched Blooms by Carina Envoldsen-Harris

Sew & Stitch Embroidery by Alyssa Thomas

Hoop-la by Kirsty Neale

Pretty Little London (PDF cross stitch pattern) by Jody Rice of Satsuma Street


I'm looking forward to bring you more reviews in 2014!

Cross Stitch Therapy

Sometimes life throws things at you that are not overly dramatic but need some time to sink in and digest. I had a not so great start of the weekend (I'm fine now) and found vigorously stitching this cross stitch pattern pictured above, quite therapeutic. As with all the cross stitching I attempt, I made a counting mistake somewhere along the way but I think I can hide it. :)

Cross stitching is something I often save for the holidays and I think this particular pattern will definitely keep me busy until the new year! The pattern is designed by Jody of Satsuma Street and it's called Pretty Little London. I bought it a while ago when she just had London and Paris patterns available. There are several more patterns of other major cities/countries added to her shop now, like Tokyo and Sydney, as well as other motifs. I particularly like this pattern of New York...

photo by Jody of Satsuma Street

The patterns come with a good, readable chart and DMC colour guide and are available as instant download which is always nice.

What is your craft 'therapy'? Cross Stitching or something else?

I do like to be beside the Seaside

This week I spent a several very relaxing days on the Dutch island of Texel. Unfortunately I forgot my proper camera so the photos are taken with my phone. And if you follow me on Instagram (I'm @followbunny) you will probably already have seen most. ;)

I love to be on the seaside. Not when it's very hot (and crowded) but at all other times of year it's probably my favourite place to be. So obviously we did some walks on the beach.

On a 30k + tour by bike (a great way to explore the island) we encountered lots of cows (and sheep as well).

And how about these adorable guys? They were rescued (not sure what happened) and once they are healthy again they will be reintroduced into their natural habitat.

For the moments I wasn't looking at adorable animals, I took a crafty project with me to keep my hands busy and let my mind wander... I bought this adorable Fanciful Flutterbies Cross Stitch Cushion Kit by What Delilah Did.  Pre-printed fabric + no counting + only two colours = perfect project on the go! I didn't get very far with the cross stitching but that's o.k. I think I will just save the Fanciful Flutterbies for a next trip. :)

On Smiling Teacups, a Love Story and Postage Stamps

I just returned from a few days away with the family. Everyone in the family, except me, had had some type of flu in the weeks before so the break was very welcome.  Just before we left I bought this cute 'Fancy a cuppa?' Frosted Pumpkin Pattern (see photo) and being a bit in a hurry I couldn't find all of the floss that the pattern description mentioned but managed to find most of it.  I stuffed some Aida (this was the only colour I could find) embroidery scissors and the printed pattern in a craft bag and took it as my project on the go. I always take some kind of crafty project with me on trips. I got most of the Teacup finished while I was away.

I also did a bit of reading and one of the books I read was Jojo Moyes 'Me before You'. Not the type of book I usually read so I had been 'avoiding' it for a while but I'm glad I finally read it. I thought it was a very well written, touching love story with heartwarming characters and dealing with some difficult issues as well.

Before I left I also started on another new scrappy quilt project: a low volume postage stamp quilt based on this tutorial. I'm in doubt whether this quilt won't become to boring with all these muted shades and very tempted to mix in some brighter strips or squares...

Meet the people behind the Pixel people: weelittlestitches Interview

Jacqueline & Christopher

Meet Jacqueline and Christopher, the husband and wife team behind weelittlestitches, a business that (in their own words) 'was born out of our love of needle and thread'. weelittlestitches makes contemporary cross stitch designs (both custom design and patterns) and is home of the famous Pixel people. Many of their (sometimes slightly geeky) patterns are inspired by film and tv personalities and pop culture from past and present. weelittlestitches are also the generous sponsor of a fabulous giveaway on this blog starting tomorrow! Woohoo!

Harry's friends (2)

Tell us a little bit about weelittlestitches

weelittlestitches is the cross-stitch design company/Etsy shop I started with my husband, Chris.  We've been open since 2010 and are lucky to have customers all over the world.  We're based in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada - only about twenty kilometers from the famous Niagara Falls.  This past January I was able to quit my "real" job as a fashion merchandiser/window dresser to concentrate on weelittlestitches full-time - it's been wonderful!  When Chris isn't working at his job as a zookeeper he's helping to design new patterns and stitch finished pieces for sale.

work space

Where does your passion for cross stitch come from?

My Mom taught me to cross-stitch when I was just a little girl - only five or six.  I think it was her way to get me to sit still for more than three minutes at a time. I grew up in an "artsy" household - my Mom knits, cross-stitches, and sews beautifully, and my father paints watercolours and is a DIY handyman with a passion for fixing up houses, so I was raised around an endless supply of fabric, floss, paint, wool, and tools.  My parents always encouraged me and my four siblings to be as creative as possible.  I did move away from cross-stitch for a good long while as I was growing up - I taught myself to knit and crochet, I dabbled with scrapbooking and embroidery - but I ended up coming back to cross-stitch again in my 30s - a real "full circle" moment for me.  Shortly thereafter my husband expressed an interest in learning cross-stitch too - so I taught him and we've been stitching together ever since.  I love that cross-stitch transcends language - I could walk in to any craft store anywhere in the world and purchase a chart and be able to immediately sit down and stitch it - there really aren't too many other crafts that can say the same thing!  I adore the process of creating something wonderful with my hands.  I love seeing the picture grow stitch-by-stitch.  I have a terrible time just sitting still without anything to keep my fingers busy (I guess I haven't really changed from that five year-old little girl!) and cross-stitch fulfills that need for me.  I find it meditative and relaxing. I was worried after I opened my shop that I would grow to hate doing so much stitching every day (anywhere from 4-10 hours a day) but my wonderful customers fuel my passion for it and through their enthusiasm I just love it more and more!  

Classic Movie Monsters

How did you come up with the Pixel people idea?

When I began cross-stitching again a few years ago it was partly because I was finding all these cool video game sprite inspired patterns online - those retro 8-bit characters that we grew up with and still love - characters like Super Mario and Pokemon -  and they were the perfect things to stitch up as gifts for my brothers, friends, and husband - all of whom are notoriously difficult to buy for!  Pixel People grew out of those old 8-bit video game characters - I wanted to stitch more modern characters in a similar simple pixelated style, but there weren't any patterns like that available.  So I sat down with a piece of graph paper and some pencil crayons and sketched one out - I wanted my designs to be simple, with the fewest possible stitches representing each character - not out of any particular design aesthetic, but because I hate big, complicated patterns.  I was always really great at starting new projects, but terrible at finishing them - so when I began to design I wanted my patterns to be as pared down and simplistic as possible.  The Pixel People represent that simplistic style to me - they're really very little more than basic stick people.

Initially when I began designing the Pixel People patterns I had no plans to sell them or base an entire business around them.  I was designing patterns for tv shows, comic books, and movies that I liked so that I could stitch them for my friends and family!  It was then that I began designing Pixel People patterns of my family and friends too, as gifts.  The decision to open a shop and offer those patterns to other stitchers actually came much later.

Describe your patterns/style in 5 words

Simple. Quirky. Easy. Fun. Wait... that's only 4.... um... Geeky!

What would you like to say to people who are afraid of trying cross stitch?

Don't be!  Compared to the supplies needed for most crafts (like knitting, quilting, or scrapbooking) cross-stitch supplies are cheap.  It takes a very small investment to get started and there are lots of simple patterns you can stitch (like ours) that don't require hundreds of hours of your time.  The beautiful thing about cross-stitch is that it's really just one stitch to learn!  There are thousands of really cool patterns out there and they are all based around one simple stitch.  My best advice to someone who is a little hesitant to learn is to ask around amongst your friends and family - I bet you know someone who knows how to cross-stitch and they can teach you in less than hour.  After all, if I could learn at five years old, anyone can.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you so much for this interview Jacqueline (& Christopher too)! Tomorrow I'll be hosting a giveaway in cooperation with WeeLittleStitches. Be sure to check back because we have put together an awesome set of three patterns for one lucky winner! 

Everlong...combining a few favourite things

I'm not going to bore you with how much I love the Foo Fighters' music but just in case you were wondering: Everlong is a song by the Foo Fighters that I have been listening to a lot lately. So this cross stitch started there.

I made the lettering in a cross stitch design program (a free trial version, I'm still in doubt whether to buy cross stitch design software) After stitching the first letter (the 'l', I started in the middle) I thought it would be fun to stitch each letter in a different favourite colour. When I finished stitching the colourful lettering I decided to add some cute elements. Bunnies and Ivy aren't very Rock and Roll I guess but they look all right in this design :)  I found the bunny in Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion and the Ivy/flowery thing is an adapted version from a design in A Rainbow of Stitches. I want to add a flying bird on the right side so if anyone has suggestions where I can find one, let me know!

Speaking of favourite things and cross stitch: I found this great Labyrinth pattern at Weelittlestitches.

Surely a must for every cross stitching Labyrinth fan! And because there was a 20% discount on buying two or more patterns (sale ends 8th of September) I also bought the Breakfast Club pattern. Weelittlestitches has a large selection of slightly geeky/nerdy patterns including LOTR, IT crowd, Star Trek etc The patterns were sent very quickly with detailed instructions.

Later this week I will be back with my finished cloud embroidery. Have you started yours already? Find the pattern and the tutorial here!

Said one dinosaur to the other...

This is the embroidery I made for the Phat Quarter Embroidery Swap on Flickr. The theme was 'It's not the end of the world' and I almost immediately thought of stitching these dinosaurs having a casual conversation. The idea (and conversation) is based on a Dutch magazine ad from about 20 years ago to promote milk. I couldn't find the original ad (I thought you could find about anything on internet but apparently not 20 year old milk advertisements...) so I created my own version. I traced the T rex from a kids book I found online and I made his munching pal up.

The stitching is far from perfect, although I'm quite pleased with the shading on both reptiles. My swap partner Freddy listed blue as her favourite colour so that gave me the idea to almost exclusively use blue shades, I used about 6 different shades for this embroidery. The meteorite has a little bit of glow-in-the-dark thread. Not the easiest thread to embroider with but I got reasonably ok results with the smaller stitches.

I also have received my swap piece from Kristen earlier this week:

I must admit that I was very thrilled when I found out that Kristen was going to make something for me. According to Kristen this is a quote from a Led Zeppelin song.  It's an awesome piece and I love it a lot. I have a soft spot for music related embroideries. Previously I received embroidered quotes from a Smiths song and bought a stitched portrait of Tom Waits and a quote from one of his songs... Next addition to my collection has to be something Foo Fighters related but I guess I will need to embroider it myself, unless there are any volunteers?!?

Take-away project

I'm going on a little trip soon (well not very soon but pretty soon) and I thought I'd take along something fun to stitch: a lovely design called 'Whistle while you work' from the September 2011 issue of Cross Stitcher Magazine.  I ordered a downloadable version of it as I only found out about this pattern months after it was released. This is how it looks half-finished, cute pattern right? I didn't want to think to much about it so I just ordered the floss colours that were mentioned in the pattern. Not a colour palette I usually work with but it looked nice in the example I saw. I also bought 25 count even weave fabric and the 14 count linen aida pictured above. The 25 count even weave intimidates me a tiny bit so I will probably go for the 14 count aida.

Just in case you missed it. I posted a fun 'how to' on the &Stitches blog about the Open Wave stitch yesterday. I'm experimenting with it even more today but it's at that stage that it could turn out rather fabulous or it could go horribly wrong. If it turns out ok I will show you of course... :)

Good times for a change

For the past couple of days I've been working (quite fanatically I must add) on this cross stitch piece. There was a reason why I started it and a reason why I chose this particular quote (from a song by the Smiths, only this particular line was appropriate the rest of the song -however lovely- not so much...). I will fill you in on the details in a couple of days time...  read more here.

The lettering was stitched with a lovely teal coloured floss that came from my untidy box with bargain Anchor flosses I bought on Ebay. For the birds and the line above the text I used DMC flosses, one is regular 6 stranded floss and the other is either a DMC colour variation or DMC variegated floss (I always forget which is which). I wanted to add something to the lettering that was traditional and chose the Danish Birds from a vintage cross stitch book. I didn't stick to the original red/blue colour scheme (the teal lettering was already stitched) and added a orange (with a lot of red) which I think works really well. Clearly it's not finished yet and because of some miscalculations regarding the size of Aida I needed I have lots of extra space to add stuff!

Perfect match

Nearly done with this cute Penelope Waits pattern and I'm so very happy with the colour I chose for the lettering! It's a hand dyed variegated floss and the colour is called 'cedar'. (Click on the photo to see the different colours) Very fitting for a Bear/Woodland themed embroidery, right? Because the Bear is stitched in only one colour, I thought the variegated floss would add a little more interest to the embroidery. I bought the floss in this Etsy shop a couple of years ago. I don't see this particular colourway there anymore but there are lots of other pretty variegated flosses to check out.

My kitchen window & a bit about an awesome book

This is (a little bit) of one of the windows in my kitchen. Now that cup looks familiar doesn't it? Anyway, my husband recently painted all the windowsills and the door frame that leads to the garden in the awesome grey shade you see in the photo. Now I need to think about how to 'dress' the windows. I don't like the idea of long curtains and I'm not a big fan of blinds. So last week I stumbled upon this picture in Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion.

The Scandinavian looking bird design and the gingham curtains would look great in my kitchen! At least that's what I think but I'm not sure my husband feels the same way about these curtains. This reminds me that I also have a book full of Scandinavian Cross Stitch Designs which I bought on Ebay a little while ago. More about that another time!
 
Embroidery Companion is a great book. The subtitle is 'Classic Designs for Modern Living' and that's exactly what it is. The book is thoughtfully made with information about the basics of embroidery  (for those just starting out) and many, many lovely projects and lots of pretty inspiring photos. I would say most of the projects featured are best suited to those with some experience in embroidery. And some require, relatively easy, sewing skills too (skirt, curtains etc) Besides 'regular' embroidery and cross stitch, there are also some crewel designs in the book. What I especially like about the book is that Alicia's love for embroidery speaks so clear from the text but also from the photos and the projects themselves. If you are attracted to Alicia Paulson's fresh and timeless style you will certainly be not disappointed in this book.
Wishing you all a wonderful crafty week(end)!