Monday, December 27, 2010

Cross Stitch I've done

 I'm new to blogging, so forgive the simplicity of my presentation.  I wanted a place to post some of my finished cross-stitch pieces.  I'm from the UK but have lived in Oregon for the last 3 decades. A lot of my pieces were chosen because I was feeling nostalgic for the old country.  It seems that architecture features strongly in my feelings of homesickness.  I am especially drawn to buildings with some history to them.

I started stitching pieces like this with a view to exorcising that strange sickness of the mind that pulls us back to times gone by and scenes filed away deep in the memory.  The Silhouettes series evokes those sepia postcards of everyday scenes from the early part of the 20th century.

The 'Mermaid' is a Tudor building in Rye, Sussex.  I've never been there but there is a pub in Sheffield (my old home-town) called the 'Old Queen's Head' of which it's reminiscent. 



I've completed a set of these cottages from 'Cross my heart'  This one is Swiss cottage and was the most difficult.



 This is another one in the same series



 This is a big design from a Cross my Heart booklet of several.  It was hard to do and took ages!  It's now on my footstool


This is one I'm currently working on.  It's a Kinetic kit called Mermaid Inn, Rye.  It's a monster and is approaching the half-way point



This is one of the Silhouettes by Heritage designs.  I've done loads of these.  This is a lock scene


Another Silhouettes design and my favorite.  It's called 'tram stop'

14 comments:

  1. Some lovely work there - well done

    Val (Friendly Stitchers)

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  2. Lovely stitching Kath - I have a nostalgia for cottages too and have several of the Derwentwater Designs series by Rosie Swalwell (only one of which I have managed to stitch so far!!) Welcome to the Land of Blog! Hugs, Ally xx

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  3. Glad to see your blog, Kath - know what you mean about being homesick! Now I am home, at least for a bit! You would love Rye (at least I did 20 years ago) hope it hasn't changed..! Do like the Silhouettes too.

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  4. Wow Kath! You have some stunning pieces there! I love the detail and the Silhouettes pieces are so subtle...very nice stitching. Welcome again to Friendly Stitchers and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. *Hugs*

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  5. great stitching. love the silhouettes, I've done a couple of them and they turn out fantastic.

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  6. Difficulties Posting:

    It's not user friendly. I've had trouble too. When you go to post a comment, you must choose one of the options from the 'Comment as' box. You can always choose 'Anonymous'. However, when you hit 'Post Comment' you must see the scrambled letters to know you succeeded. It's a good idea to copy it before you do that. If you don't see the scrambled letters, your comment is lost forever but it doesn't tell you, so you don't even know about it.

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  7. Lovely work. The Mermaid Inn is going to be spectacular when done. Keep plodding along and before you know it, you'll a wonderful finish!- Christina G

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  8. Hi Kath,

    Love your silhouettes. I am doing "guiding light" and "Early shift". As to the bits and bobs to do with the sewing machine, I have an idea that the different needles in the second picture are for either leather or denim/canvas as they have to be strong and thick to pierce the material and have a big enough eye to take the thicknes of thread or cord you would need to stitch with. Not sure about the other things yet.
    Hope it helps.

    Luv Frances

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  9. I love the Silhouettes series but haven't done any yet. Beautiful stitching!
    Love from France...

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  10. Kath thanks for letting me know of your blog. I really enjoyed looking at everything. I can no longer cross stitch and I miss it a lot. I have some (not readily apparent) "blind" spots from a stroke. Every time I tried to cross stitch after that I kept missing holes, even in 14, and I wearied of pulling things out only to make another mistake afterward. Sigh, Kate

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  11. These are absolutely beautiful. Did you ever finish the Mermaid Inn? It must be gorgeous. I use to cross stitch, crewel and embroider but my hands as too shaky and arthritic now so it is a joy to experience yours. Thank you for sharing.

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  12. I'm so sorry about the arthritis, does nothing help? I'm ashamed to say I never did finish up the Mermaid. Truth be told, it's almost finished... just maybe a few of the backstitches on the pavement never completed. I had cataract surgery last year and I've been scared to even look at it. I will have a go this winter and see if I can't frame it up...it's still in the frame lying on the sofa har har

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