Hardanger #5

Ladies and gentlemen.... I have finished!

I have finished my second SAL project which is  Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL Hardanger sampler.  I started it in 2013, so it took a while, but the last couple of weeks I've been stitching like a demon to get it done.

There are 2 panels, each with 6 blocks.  This is January to June.

We have a wrong-way-round photo here... damn you photo!

And here is August to December, which is the one I've been stitching on for this SAL.

See, I finished that ribbon rose!  It doesn't match any of the blues, and it's 6mm rather than the 4mm called for, but finished is better than perfect!

I knew I wanted some sashing between the blocks, so I consulted my embroidery book library.  In The New Anchor Book of Hardanger I found this zig zag hem stitch which seemed perfect.  I really enjoyed doing it!

So here we go, both pieces together.  I have no idea why I started the second one so close to the edge and I'm kicking myself for it.  I couldn't put in an outer border and it will make it difficult to frame.  BUT, it's finished!

Tune in in 3-weeks time and I'll show you my next project.

I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Susan

Hardanger #4

Another 3 weeks have gone by and it's time for another update on the Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL Hardanger piece that I'm stitching.

3 weeks ago this is how far I'd got:

I finished November's block.  Each of the cutwork bars has been wrapped and the eyelet stitches put in some of them.  The black marks are from my Frixxon pen, trying to find the starting point, they will disappear when I iron them.

In the photo below you can see the wrapped bars more clearly.

I also started, and finished, December's block.  There was a lot of stitching on this one!

Whilst doing the cut work, I accidentally cut the wrong threads.  A lot of people have commented on my Hardanger posts, saying they'd be afraid to cut the wrong thread.  Well, here it is...  can you see the two loose ends hanging down?

And below you will see that it's all fixed.  I just wrapped them with the bars and noone is any the wiser.

The dragonflies are done in satin stitch with a row of couched beads for the body.  I had used the beads in August's block so it was lucky that I actually remembered what they were as they weren't with the rest of my kit.  They are the only navy beads I own so I knew they were size 11/0 Preciosa seed beads.

The beads are also used in three of the open squares - the ones where it looks like there are white fingers in the corners, that's what happens when you photograph navy beads on a black background!

So it looks like I'm finished, but I'm not.  I STILL haven't done the ribbon rose on October's block and I'm going to add sashing between the blocks on both this and the January-June sampler I've done.  Let's hope for just as much progress over the next 3 weeks!


I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina

Hardanger #3

I only woke up at 9am this morning and had a panic that I didn't have my SAL post up, so here I am, writing a post in my pjs, first coffee of the day beside me... it will be short and sweet!

I'm stitching on an old WIP from 2013 -  Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL

Here is where I was last week - the photo below is sideways, I was working on the fourth block of six.



And here is where I am today:

You'd think, that as I haven't been to work in the last couple of weeks, I might have finished this, but unfortunately, though creativity is good for depression, depression is not good for motivation.

I almost finished block four - I've done the rest of the needle weaving in the cut areas and added the spider's webs.  I just have to do the ribbon rose, but I STILL haven't got round to looking to see if I have a suitable colour of ribbon in my stash! 

In the meantime, I started on block five - November.  I've done quite a lot, all things considered.  I've done all the kloster blocks and started cutting the threads, I just have to do the horizontal ones.  The pointy bits are woven picots which I learnt to do on the Casalguidi workshop, so that was fun.  The small squares are double cross stitch.  

Next I'll finish cutting the threads and start on the needleweaving, there's a lot of it to do!

I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, DebbieRose

Hardanger #2

Happy Sunday everyone!  It's been three weeks since I introduced you to the latest WIP I'm tackling - Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL from 2013, so it's time for an update.  This is where I left off 3 years ago:



I've started working on "October".  I took it with me on a short holiday we took to Alnmouth in Northumberland (beautiful part of the world).  Usually our breaks there are all about walking for miles during the day, often along the coast, then stitching in the evenings. Unfortunately this time I was ill, more about that later, so I didn't get that much done.

The kloster blocks were all in round the edges, so all I've done is add the pistel stitches (dark blue), the woven roses, and cut the threads in the triangular sections.  I've also started weaving the threads, almost there!  The star shape in the middle is for a woven ribbon rose but I didn't have any ribbon on me.

Here it is in context, you can see now why the hoop isn't centred, I was trying to avoid crushing the other embroideries.

I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Cathy, Jess, Sue, Constanze

The illness I'm talking about is my depression.  I had a very sudden, very severe relapse which started the day before we went on holiday.  The day after we got back, I went to work, but very quickly realised I wasn't safe and contacted my Mental Health Crisis Team.  I also called my best friend who took control, called my husband to collect me and told my boss I was going home!  Luckily my boss was bloody brilliant and has given me his full support.  I've seen two psychiatrists at two different hospitals this week, I narrowly avoided being sectioned and I'm now at home for at least a week with instructions to rest.  Fingers crossed this is just a blip in the withdrawal process.

Hardanger #1, first update

I'm still sewing along with the 3-weekly SAL (ladies, I think we need a name for this SAL!), but having finished the Viennese Waltz, I'm picking up an old WIP.  Back in 2013/2014 I was stitching along with Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL. This was a SAL which I was doing as 2 pieces, each 2 x 3 blocks.  I completed January to June, then started on the next one, intending to go back and sash the first when I'd finished.  That never happened as I only got as far as September.  This is July - September.



I finished that in September 2014, you can see my last blog post here.  For the SAL I'm going to finish October to December, then I'm going to sash between the blocks with a Hardanger design from one of my books.  I'll pick up January-June as my next SAL project.

Wish me luck!

I'm sewing along as part of a SAL, you can go and see what the other participants have been up to here:

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Cathy, Jess, Sue, Constanze

hardanger

I'm a bit late this month talking about September's Needlequest challenge, but I am joining in this month! The theme for the month in "Autumn" and I immediately knew what I wanted to do.

A year ago I posted my last update on Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL which was a Hardanger sew along I was doing.  You can find links to the previous months at the bottom of the page if you want to look.  I'd got as far as August, keeping up each month, but then I got really ill and this was one of the things to be put by the wayside.

Here's my completed block for September, the first month of autumn.  It features couched borders, Rhodes hearts, eyelet blocks and some simple wrapped bars.  I had high hopes of also doing October and November to complete the Autumn months, but this frustrated me so much I didn't get it done.  When I was working on this last year, I loved it and enjoyed most of the stitches.  I don't know what went wrong this time but every stitch was frustrating.

Here's September with July and August, completed over a year ago.  I'm making two panels with a 2 x 3 layout and will be adding a Hardanger sashing when I've done.  If I don't throw it out the window before then!  Wish me luck in not abandoning it for another year...

Related posts

January and February

March 

April
May
June
July
August

Hardanger August

Ooops, it seems I completely forgot to post!  I thought I'd scheduled enough posts to get me through the week but apparently not.

First of all, massive apology to all the people who've left me comments or emailed me.  Besides the full inbox, I also discovered this morning that a lot of emails I'd sent hadn't actually left my outbox and I can't make them send now.  So sorry if you thought I was ignoring you.

This is August from Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL.  I actually got this finished in August, so was all caught up... but now it's September and I'm not caught up any more.

I really enjoyed this one, except for the picots.  You can see my attempt at picots in the middle cutwork square above.  Unfortunately, when I was stitching this I didn't have access to a computer, couldn't get to the SAL blog post to see the tutorial and couldn't get to my Hardanger reference books due to the building work.  I wung it.  I definitely got it wrong!

Here's July and August together, but upside down I now note!  I took these pictures on my phone as the camera is better than my normal camera which always gives white a blue tint.  I'll try to remember to do that for each month, or whenever I'm photographing something white.  No promises, my memory is appalling.  I actually wonder if I was born without a short-term memory at all, though that would make me forget that I was typing halfway through a

Related posts

January and February

March 

April
May
June
July

Hardanger July

Morning ladies, I've got the next installment in Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL for you today.  This is July's block.

I did most of it whilst on holiday and just finished the beading when I got home as I hadn't been organised enough to read the supplies list and take the beads with me!  All my threads for this project live in a little bag so I just took that.

I enjoyed this month, the horseshoe detatched buttonholes (the ones that look like horseshoes, funnily enough!) were pretty tricky at first, and it wasn't helping that my husband and my niece were making me watch Demolition Man whilst working on it... but I got it in the end.

The beads are navy Preciosas size 11, some that I bought for the knitted wedding bracelet I made, but were the wrong size. 

June's block saw me finish the first sampler as I'm making two both 2 columns x 3 rows, so this was the start of the new sampler.  I still haven't finished the first as I want to add borders.  Unfortunately, all my Hardanger books, along with most of my craft books, are trapped in a corner behind an oven, a table and a large TV, all covered in brick dust!  Some things are just going to have to wait until I have access to all of my house again. 

Related posts

January and February

March 

April
May
June

Hardanger SAL #5

Morning ladies, I've got the next installment in Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL for you today.  This is June's block.

Once again, I can't get the white to show as white - the background fabric is the same white as the stitches, no idea what's going on there.  I'm resigned to the fact I'll never get a decent picture of this project.

June marks the end of the 6 blocks I was putting together:

I'm not convinced I've got the border right on this, but it looks pretty enough.  Those split twists (inside the cutwork squares) were a bugger to do!

Here it is with May's block:

July's block is already out, so I should get on with stitching that, but I have a commission to do first!  Commissions are scary!

Related posts

January and February

March 

April
May

Hardanger SAL #4

I'm still keeping up with Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL, even if I'm miles behind with the Skill Builder BOM and I'm running out of May for May's block in the And Sew On BOM.

This is May.  I loved stitching this, there's something so soothing and relaxing about Kloster blocks and the cut work.  The needleweaving on the bars was the Uneven Weave, a new one for me but not hard.  The fan stitch (the dark blue in between the needlewoven bars) was also new for me and my first attempt wasn't tight enough, so out it came.

This was another octagon block, so I added the corner fans and klosters to make it square, as I did with February's block.

Here they all are together.  Just June to go and I'll be adding "sashing" between the blocks and turning it into a hanging.  I can't get any decent photos of this work at all, my camera sees white and turns it blue!

Related posts

January and February

March 

April

Hardanger #3

Time for another look at my Hardanger SAL.  I'm sewing along with Mabel Figworthy's Fancies Song of the Weather SAL and despite not getting started until a few week's ago, I'm now up to date!  Fancy a look at April's block?

I'd worked the Portuguese ladder stitch in the centre when I realised something was wrong...  yep, I'd not been reading the directions properly and had sewn it all in one colour.  I didn't think it looked right as the only light blue was the Greek Crosses in the corners. I ripped it out.

Much better.  Though it's a shame the same can't be said for my photography skills!

Once again, I really loved stitching this up.  Seriously, if you like cross stitch or embroidery, you should try Hardanger.  Those funny wiggly things in the middle are my first ever attempts at bullion stitches.  They're not very good, but they will do!

So I'm all up to date and here are the first four blocks.  Two more to go on this panel and I'll work some kind of sashing between them.  I'm enjoying this so much, I'm not sure I can wait until May, I feel another Hardanger project coming on!




Related posts

January and February
March