Hello Stitching Friends❣
This weekend I made a start on a new project, all in accordance to Spring Into Summer New Start Binge hosted by TIFF and RACHEL. I had actually forgotten about this picture Tranquil Harbour by Lucie Heaton from Cross Stitch Collection Issue 224 which I ordered the material for back in the day.
When I went through my cross stitching stash recently I came across it again, and with my present longing for boats and the sea I thought it'd make a great new start. However, the blue aida provided was 16-count which I tend to avoid - just to fiddly for me in general - but I found a piece of light blue 14-count in my stash - which I had also forgotten about - which turned out perfect for this project, yay! It is a lighter shade of blue than the original, but it still works as a good background for this lovely motif.
Before I started stitching I stitched gridlines with matching sewing threads. Whenever I stitch a larger project I spend a couple of hours doing this; it makes the counting so much easier and saves me time from having to unpick mistakes later on. Whenever I stitch gridlines I am reminded of my grandma Mary (whom I have written more about in THIS POST) who always stitched gridlines on her stitching projects. She stitched amazing pictures and I have one of them on my wall...
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This stitched picture by grandma sits high up on the wall above a cupboard
so it's hard to get a good pic of it...
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Anyway, back to the start of Tranquil Harbour. I spent yesterday afternoon working on it and I started on the quay and stitched two houses.
Even though it doesn't look like much, I'm quite happy with the progress.
And I have another finish!
I'm not going to frame this sweet picture until I have stitched all three in the series. But I love it and can almost hear the sound of the water hitting the rocks and the sea gulls squawking...
Take Care and Stay Safeš❣
Annie
Congratulations on the finish! Tranquil Harbor will be beautiful when finished. What happens when you stitch over the gridlines--do they get caught in the cross stitches?
ReplyDeleteYou would think that, wouldn't you?! But because I use thin sewing thread (for sewing machines) I can almost always remove it without problems:) And IF it gets caught in any stitches it's normally not to difficult to sort out. Any problems I might have once in a while are definitely worth it when you consider the time I save during stitching bigger projects, since I always catch mistakes straight away and spend less time counting stitches:)
DeleteAnnie, what a gorgeous project to start for summer - you made great progress, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, well, it doesn't look like much when it's such a large project, but it's a good few hours work.
DeleteWhat a sweet little finish! They are going to be such a nice set when you get them all stitched! Love your new start! And your grandmother's stitching is incredible!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes the set will be very nice:)
DeleteLove your little finish and your new start. I've told you before my mom just loves ocean related things. I won't be showing her your blog haha. Or I'll have to stitch these pieces. The piece your Grandma did is beautiful. I love bird pieces too.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, the bird picture was quite a small project when it came to my grandma's stitching. How I wish I could have had the opportunity to sit down with her and chat about stitching…<3
DeleteIt's been a good number of years since I've done any cross stitching. But, I didn't know about grid marks. Do you remove them as you go? How do they not interfere with your work? I used to always start in the middle I think from memory. LOVE the boating scene and will be anxious to see it progress. It looks pretty tedious and time consuming. I too would prefer the 14 count over 16...easier on the eyes. Spotted you on a mutual friends blog and thought I'd pop in to say hi. It's always fun to meet new blog friends. Do swing by for a visit.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your visit, Sandy <3! No, the grid marks stay in place for as long as I need them, which normally means all the way to the end:) Because I stitch them with a very thin sewing machine thread, they very seldom interfere with the actual cross stitching. If they do it is always easy to amend at the end with the help of a good pair of sissors. It saves me soo much time and headache so it's definitely worth it:)
DeleteI'm hoping to get back to the boating scene this week so hopefully I show off some progress soon!
Great finish, and that's a gorgeous project she finished. You're so lucky to have some of her work, and good for you with gridding. Again, I'm so impatient, but it is worth it to save frogging.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tiff <3 My grandma was an amazing crafter and I do treasure her work much more now that I understand the enormous effort it took her to create huge cross stitch pictures and amazing knitted sweaters etc.
DeleteWhat a great project to start! And the fact you had a finish this week too doesn't add to your number of WIPs! :)
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