Friday 4 July 2008

HANDS ACROSS THE WORLD

I wanted to start with a Great Big 4th of July Greeting to all my friends on the other side of the pond. I hope you are all having a great day doing whatever you do to celebrate.
Next I want to show you my progress on Cottage Dreams. I could have carried on until this evening but I thought with each of the side motifs complete it was a good time to stop. I really have enjoyed every stitch on this. The central blocks are filled with a four sided stitch. The outer squares with a sort of pulled tent stitch.

I had all the correct threads for this but did make one change. The pale rose called for was a Pearsall silk. I had this and did the first inner flower with it but frogged it as I neither liked the way it looked or handled when using it. I felt as though it both looked and felt like a rayon thread. Although it is called silk I am wondering if it is one of the "Art Silk", like rajmahal. Don't get me wrong I have no objection to rayon threads and have used them several times in cross stitch projects to highlights in hair etc but if I am doing a project that uses silk then that is what I look forward to using. Anyway I replaced it with a Caron Waterlily that was almost identical in colour, though the Caron has a little shading in it and the Pearsall was a solid colour.

I have several things I am hoping to get finished over the weekend plus doing some UFO on Sunday and if I get time I would like to make a start on part 7 of EMS as that was released on Tuesday. Well I can dream lol but Ozzie is with us for the weekend, so it depends on him as to how much time I get for stitching. Oh I can't wait for my new lamp to arrive and then I can stitch the night away Lol.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend with lots of quality time.

xx

may your frogs stay in their pond

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cottage dreams looks gorgeous already, can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

Oh Helen that is a beautiful design!!
Have a great weekend!
Are you taking Ozzie to the Steam Rally ,I think it is this weekend at Elvaston Castle? If the weather is nice we might venture out there.

Sue said...

Beautiful piece ;)

Julie said...

Helen, this is stunning!!! i love it

Carla said...

looks so beautiful!!!

Sally said...

Oh wow, Helen, Cottage Dreams is stunning! I Love it!

Karen said...

Oh Helen Cottage Dreams looks stunning

Karan said...

CD is gorgeous Helen - can't wait to see more.
Have a great weekend with Ozzie. :0)

Anonymous said...

your stitching is gorgeous and so delicate.. i think its a work of art what are you making it into? looks lovley

Mylene said...

This design is looking great, Helen!

stitcherw said...

Wow, all the specialty stitches in this are awesome. What a gorgeous piece. Hope your new Ott light gets there soon, I know you'll love it. How perfect that you were also able to get it at such a good price. I don't know what I'd do without mine, it makes it so much easier to see to stitch.
Sue

Christine said...

I looks lovely Helen.

Veronica said...

Oh my, exquisite is the word that comes to mind when I saw Cottage Dreams. Absolutely stunning!

staci said...

WOW! I'm just speechless...never in my wildest dreams will I ever be able to stitch like that!!! It truly is stunning!

Clare-Aimetu said...

Helen that's stunning, what beautiful stitching.

Lainey said...

Stunning piece Helen, can;t wait to see more.

Hugs
Lainey

Andrea said...

Beautiful design. You have been stitching some great WIPs recently too.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Oooh that is so beautiful!

Concetta said...

Oh Helen, Cottage Dreams is absolutely stunning! I can't wait to see it finished!! (Thank you for the tip regarding the Caron Waterlilies - what a great idea!)

Von said...

CD is a gorgeous design and your stitching does great justice to it! :) I love love love pulled thread stitches!