Spring into Summer New Start Binge: Autumn Window

Hello Stitching Friends❣

How are you all doing? Even though it's supposed to be the season of spring here in Sweden, the weather is still pretty crazy. For example, today it's just a few degrees above zero, and in the last hour it has rained and snowed (😱) and now the sun is shining😳. Needless to say, hats and gloves are still being used but I have actually managed to sow some basil seeds. However, the tiny little plants will stay indoors in the warmth for a few more weeks before they move out onto the balcony.

So, let's move onto my stitching😊! This weekend I started another project in accordance to the Spring into Summer New Start Binge hosted by RACHEL and TIFF. And this one is a special one for me. When I was an au pair in England in the 1990s I helped my mum (who's extremely crafty and does sewing, knitting, crochet, lacemaking and cross stitch to name a few crafts) to set up an subscription of the magazine Cross Stitcher, which means that she now has a nice stash of old cross stitching magazines. When I picked up cross stitching after returning home from my time in England  I was able to go through that stash and to take copies of patterns I liked.

Amongst all the patterns, I found a series of four seasonal windows that I liked and in fact I started the spring version straight away. However, it took me a few years to finish it but eventually I could frame it and put it on my living room wall.

Then, during my last cross stitching period I also managed to finish the summer window and framed it as well.

Now I have them both next to each other on my living room wall.

However, the plan has always been to stitch all four of them and display them together, and I actually began stitching the winter window before my mojo ran out 3 years ago. Now that I'm stitching again and have gone through my stash I also found the autumn window chart and really liked the look of it. I also found out that I had almost all the threads I needed for the autumn window design so this weekend I made a start on the fourth design in this series.

Sadly I only know the name of the design (Autumn Window) and the magazine it came from (Cross Stitcher) so if any of you have more details I'd be very happy to have them. I'd guess that the design is 25-30 years old!

I stitched on this project all weekend and made good progress. As you can see, I stitched the blackberries in the top left corner and some of the outline frame and the actual window frame.

You can really see how the cross stitch designs have progressed during the last few decades. This design feels quite simple and undimensional compared to some of today's designs which often play more with colours and shadings. However, I still like it and it is really fun to stitch which, of course, is extremely important. And now I feel very motivated to finish all four designs and get them up on the wall together!
In fact I'm going to carry on stitching on this one today, but I'm going to move over to some pink shades. All those brown, green and orange shades made me long for some luscious pink and purple colours, haha😜.

Happy Stitching❣

Annie