Hiya, today I have something a little different for you in that what I’m going to show you is not in fact Papercraft! I know I have probably shown you most of these pictures on my other social media such as Facebook twitter Instagram et cetera however due to popular demand, As they say LOL! I have decided to put them all in one post for you. So today I have a selection of my tapestry cross stitch and embroidery work, I have not included any of my patchwork except for the recent piece that I made as a picture rather than a piece of quilting in the normal sense. So getting technical here is a selection of my mixed media stitching work :-
These two were my Christmas Presents for my parents this year – Poppies for my Mum and Tulip for my Dad – both having their favourite flowers 🙂
One of the few that I made just for myself, I usually make my stitching for other people but I just loved the colours and their cute faces. At the time I had a little Budgie called Bobby and he did look as blue as some of these, although he was blue all over 🙂
The top map was from a Heritage Kit of the county we lived in at the time – in fact I had lived in for all my childhood and right into my early 20s. This was actually the first cross stitch piece, as opposed to the long stitch I had been doing, that I had done. I certainly don’t like to start with something easy. Not only was it really detailed it wasn’t on Aida but on linen which is generally considered harder for beginners. I have to say I have never found it hard, instead of going into the next hole with your needle you skip a hole, sometimes due to the slub in the fabric threads the individual stitches might look bigger of smaller but just ignore that, it will work itself out. I actually prefer not working on Aida as when you need to do half and quarter stitches as you can see in the map, it is so much easier on the linen. The bottom map is one I completely designed myself on a piece of paper, by hand, with coloured pencils and a lot of patience. The thing was we were taking my dad as a present to the Monaco F1 Grand Prix so I thought this would be a fun and confusing way to let him know – we stuck the envelope with the tickets on the back and were going nuts inside as he admired the front! Eventually we gave in and made him turn it over lol! The tickets now are inside as a memento for posterity. I always stitch a little message that is hidden away in the frame. It will say that it is to my mum or dad, happy christmas or birthday and then the date. That then gets folded away inside the frame but maybe in a 100 years time someone will be looking at my work like we do at the work of the past now 🙂
This was taken from a book I had of Old masters etc that had been converted into tapestry. Some of them had charts so you could make your own version. This was taken from that famous poster for the Moulin Rouge, but when stitched there was the bit on the left side that was more skirts in the picture in yellow. But it just looked awful when stitched. So I did the unthinkable and messed with a copy of a Master and unpicked it all and re-stitched it, having spent a little time trying to work out what to stitch to make it look right. I think it turned out really good.
This is the wonderful Mr Men and was one of my first commissions. They are long stitch pictures and the photos were not taken by me so I have no close ups to show you that sadly.
These two I stitched for my Nan, and she left them back for me when she passed away.
A couple of commissions, sadly I can’t find the photos of all my commissions. I had a fab one of a family tree, that I had to design as well, It was massive about 3ft wide at least!
A starter Blackwork piece I did for my mum. I stitched her on 11ct Aida to really increase the size of the finished piece, and then framed her in the oval to give that real cameo feel to it.
In the old days as it were, when I was first starting cross stitch as a kid, my mum was only just starting her nails business but had been running her exclusive designed knitwear business for years, So I found this little house and again did my own alteration to add the ‘Wool Shop’ banner.
This is my famous ‘Voice of the Shepherd’ piece. It comes from the Told In A Garden cross stitch chart company, part of Lavender & Lace. I stitched this piece 3 times in all. The first one was the one below on the tan fabric and was a gift for a elderly friend of my mum. However when we finished it, it became apparent that it just wasnt going to work for this elderly ladies eyesight. It was too small and too dark – for her. Plus it was only my second piece after the map and I was rather attached lol. So I re-stitched it on the powder pink fabric, with a larger hole count which made it much bigger and lighter, and when the elderly lady got it she was delighted. Sadly she has now passed away but the picture has gone to her daughter which is lovely. And we have kept the original tan one. The third one I stitched was because someone we knew saw it and asked me to stitch it for her as a commission. So I did. Never again! lol!
These are both pictures I did for my mum. The top one is the Heritage Crafts Charlotte and the bottom one is a printed canvas of a girl with Hat, I can find similar pictures now but not the same. I have to say it was not my favourite way to stitch over a painted fabric, it felt like there was not creativity. That said I think she looks stunning finished. And Charlotte well that colour green is Mums fav so I don’t think I could have gone wrong there, elegant lady in her favourite colour.
Another one for my Dad, this was a cross stitch chart that was made for the centenary of Columbus Discovery of the New World
I haven’t been able to find it for sale widely so I added this photo of the chart so at least if you want it you know what to look for. This was an incredibly detailed piece and I loved stitching it and I have to say it looks fantastic up on the wall. So thats it the last one, Not the last one of all the ones I have stitched but the last of the photos I could find to share with you. I wished I had been more vigilant with photographing my stitching as I had my cards, but there we go. Anyway I hope you enjoyed taking a look at something a little different for a change and I would love as always to hear your comments. But for now hugs and have a great craft day,
Hi Amanda, These are Beautiful! You and I have the same taste. I have the exact pattern on the Singer Sewing Machine but I don’t have the ones of the Genteel Lady in the Hat. I am going to get it and get all my cross stitching out again.while I can still see that small…blessings Victoria