Berlinwork

I thought I would show you some of my stitched pieces of Berlinwork designs.  I love these beautiful designs from the Victorian age so much and hope you will enjoy looking at a few of them.

This is one of my very favorites, it comes from one of Raffaella Serena's wonderful books called Animal Embroideries and Patterns.  She has three books on this subject and I'm lucky enough to have all three of them.

A detail.  Can you imagine using such a fancy bowl outside to feed the pigeons?

Some of the roses.  I stitched this on 32 count Lugana with one strand of DMC over two threads of the fabric.  This is my preference for stitching detailed designs like this one, I think it has a nicer, neater look to it than it would have if stitching it over only one thread.   Here are some more designs from Raffaella's books.

A rosy cheeked girl holding a cat and a dog.

A beautiful swan with her little cygnet swimming beside her.  I love this one so much that I stitched it twice, I hardly ever do that!

A contented sheep among the flowers.

I love Victorian cat pictures.  I put this one on a large stitching bag and on the other side of the bag I put this kitty.

I'm currently stitching this kitty again, probably to put on another purse.

I'm pretty sure this one, called Floral Symphony can be found on Ellen Maurer-Stroh's website.  

This came from Victorian Cross Stitch a great source of Berlinwork patterns.  And speaking of Victorian cats, I want to show you my newest tattoo.

 Just a bad bathroom mirror arm selfie, sorry!  This was done by Erik who is always kind enough to tattoo whatever pictures I bring in to him.  He made this look precisely like the Victorian image that I had found online.  Now, I will end with a few pictures of some real kitties.

Cricket, posing on the stairs.

Sarah, helping me fold the sheets.

And Harley, as usual, up to no good!  Click on the picture if you want to see the toilet paper hanging from his guilty little kitty lips.  Isn't that expression the epitome of naughtiness caught in the act?  It's a good thing we love him so much!  

Thank you for visiting, I appreciate it so much!

Beidermeier Sampler Redo

I've always admired the design and motifs of this sampler, but never cared for the mostly dull colors that were charted for it.  I don't know if these were the original colors or if it was charted using the faded over time colors but I thought it could use a little brightening up.  So I decided to change not all, but a lot of the colors to ones that I think are a lot nicer. DMC threads were used.

It won't be done for a while, but I've gotten a good start on it.  

I left the bunny motif alone, but changed the flowers below it to a nice violet color.

How do you like my color changes?  Have you ever done this with an old sampler?  I will show you my progress as I continue to work on it.  

This is the old Burda magazine that the chart came from, I've collected many of these over the years from Ebay and I love them.  I think Permin may have sold this as a chart, also.

A lot has happened since I last posted, we were very sad last February to lose our sweet Maggie.

We had found her living in our shed several years ago, she had given birth to a littler of kittens which we found homes for and then had her spayed.  Eventually she came to live inside with us and the other kitties and she would always show her appreciation with lots of love.  She was such a joy to have with us and we miss her terribly.

On a happier note, here's a picture of Sarah and Tigger locked in a tight cuddle.

Thanks for visiting, I always appreciate it!

Some Embroideries and a Small Sampler

I've been finding some really nice vintage transfers on Ebay and Etsy and have been enjoying turning them into embroideries like this one.  I used traditional DMC vareigated colors on this embroidery and the next one, trying to keep with a vintage look.

But for the next one I decided to use a more modern color scheme and I used newer brands of threads;  Cosmos Seasons and DMC Color Variations.

Even though I love the vintage look, I do love the colors on this embroidery, too.  

I got what was supposed to be a kit for a stamped cross stitch sampler, but it looked like it was going to stamp onto the fabric in a wonky way.  So I decided to do it in a counted way, which was kind of a challenge because the chart that was included was meant just as a guide to the colors and was a bit wonky itself.  I also changed most of the colors to vareigated  DMC ones, I felt that they made it look more interesting and it was definitely more fun to stitch.

I will leave you with a picture of three of the kitties, Pepper, Tigger and Sarah relaxing on the couch.  Thank you so much for visiting!

Another Cottage and Sarah Loves Tigger

I sure love embroidering cottages!  This one was just as fun as the other ones I have done.  I used a wide assortment of threads as usual, including DMC, Cosmo Seasons and Valdani.  Every thread used is a variegated or over-dyed except the bright yellow one in the center of some of the flowers and the French knots over toward the right side, that is a DMC Craft Thread.  

I decided to cover the house with vines, I hadn't thought of that idea before, it reminds me of pictures of vine covered English cottages that I've seen.  

A couple of close ups of the flowers.  What cottage scene doesn't have a lot of flowers?  You can't have too many, I think!

Now, a couple of kitty pictures:

This is Sarah and Tigger.  In case you don't remember, Sarah is one of our newest kitties.  We adopted her and her baby, Pepper, last spring.  Well, Sarah has decided that she's in love with Tigger.  She wants to snuggle with him as much as possible and loves it when he gives her a bath.  She thinks he's just the best thing ever and I think maybe he loves her a little bit, too.

It's so sweet to see these two together, I think they are going to be Best Friends Forever!

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!

French Sampler and Farewell to Sweetpea

This wonderful sampler was a UFO that's been in my sewing room closet for a few years.  I've pulled it out more than once to work on it but for some reason I always got tired of it.  I think maybe because of the intricate border, it was a bit tedious!

Then, a few weeks ago, I made up my mind to get it done, and I'm glad I did!  The chart came from this great magazine that I bought several years ago, I don't know if it can still be found, but if you can find a copy it would be so worthwhile, it's full of lovely French sampler charts.

I bought it at Nordic Needle, but I'm pretty sure it isn't available there anymore.  Here's a few more pictures of the sampler.

The sampler was done on 25 count Lugana over two threads with the recommended DMC threads.

I started a Christmas break off from work on the 20th and I have to say that the way this vacation started out, it can only get better.  The first two days we had a power outage from the winter storm Draco, and when did they start naming winter storms?  We had never had an outage that lasted that long before and since we don't have a fireplace or a wood stove it got very cold!  

Harley and Tigger keeping warm during the power outage.

Then, after enjoying about half of a day with heat, lights and water, my husband, Tom, starting feeling very badly and I had to take him to the ER.  It turned out that he had a peptic ulcer, so he had to stay in the hospital for two days.  He was able to come home on Christmas day which was the best present I could have asked for!  His ulcer will be treated with medicine and he's feeling fine now.

Now, the sad part of this post.  Our Sweetpea, who was 19 years old, had not been enjoying her life very much for a while now,  so we decided it was time to send her on.  She was actually born here on our property in a shed when a sweet gray barn kitty from one of the local farms decided to have her litter here.  The mother, who we named Alice, eventually went back to her farm and we took most of the kittens to the farm, too.  But our daughter, Jessie, decided that she wanted the little tortoiseshell kitten, so we kept her and named her Sweetpea.  

Jessie, eventually got married and moved away and by then Sweetpea was really more my cat.  I was her favorite person and the only one who could hold her without getting a dose of her tortie attitude!

But we have 7 other cats to hold and hug and that helps enormously.  She had a long life and was very loved!

This was the last picture taken of her.

Sweetpea

April 7, 1993--November 16, 2012

Thank you for visiting once again!

Autumn Embroidery

This pattern is an adaptation of one that I found on Hoop Love Vintage Transfers.  I left out a tall sort of a bird house thing that would have been in the middle, and replaced the paving stones along the front with some plants.  I could never draw an embroidery pattern to save my life, but then I usually find myself making all sorts of changes to the ones I use.  I hope this one looks good as it is, I know I had fun stitching it.

The pattern for the chair originally had a nice lacy ironwork look to it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to make that work so I just filled it with random cross stitch.

 The fuzzy purple flowers are my first attempt at turkey work, it didn't seem too difficult.

I trimmed the edge of the wall hanging with a nice brown leaf ribbon and then added some autumn colored leaf pins.  I may take the pins back out, I'm thinking that maybe they look like a little bit too much.

It looks like a good place to sit and do some stitching, doesn't it?

Now I will show you a couple of cat pictures, the first two are of Pepper, our baby who was born in our shed last May and was the only one of the litter to survive an attack from an unknown wild animal.

She's getting to be a big girl, isn't she?

A pile of kitties!  Tigger was laying in the chair when Sarah decided to join him and then Pepper didn't want to be left out so she added herself to the pile.  She's nursing from her Mom here, we can't believe Sarah still allows this but she does.  Pepper is almost as big as her Mom!  

Thank you for checking in on my blog.  I haven't been commenting much on other blogs lately, there's been a lot of stress at work the last few weeks and I just haven't had the mental energy to say much.  My boss, who was much loved by all of us, was fired and since then we have lost seven other employees from our department who either quit or were fired.  It's been a struggle at times just to get through the day, I miss my co-workers a lot!  But I do have a job, at least so far, so things could certainly be worse!  Thanks for listening, I appreciate it!

Another Cottage Embroidery and Swan Lake Sampler

I just finished this embroidery using a pattern from the HoopLove Flickr group.  I used several different flosses as well as some pearl cottons.  It's kind of whimsical and not very realistic but I like how it turned out.  I know that this type of cottage is usually painted white but I just felt like making it pink!

If you noticed the little yellow flower button, it's there because I completely missed doing a flower in that spot and didn't notice it was missing until I was pressing the embroidery and at that point I didn't feel like putting it back in the hoop to add another flower.  So I will have to add one later or just sew the button on.

Those yellow flowers are done with a new stitch I recently learned, I don't remember what it's called but it's very easy to do.

I used rows of outline stitch to fill in the house and herringbone stitch for the roof.

Close up of the garden.  Now for those of you who might be tired of looking at my embroidery here is a cross stitch from a couple of years ago.

It's Swan Lake Sampler by Examplars from the Heart, one of my favorite designers.  It's done entirely in Vikki's Hand Dyed Silks which are such a pleasure to use.

I put in initials for my husband and me and the J's are for our daughter and son-in-law.

The satin stitch at the bottom was done with "Moon-called Sea" my favorite of Vikki's colors I think mostly because I love the name!

I wanted to tell you about a contest that I entered  the covered bridge embroidery in from my last post.  The Flickr group New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns.  I was very lucky to win prizes from two wonderful sponsors for the category it was in.  Emily at The Floss Box provided an excellent book with a lot of creative ideas as well as several of the patterns that she designed herself.  And Vicki at The Pattern Bee let me choose 3 sets of vintage patterns!  Here are just a few of them:

 

 The contest was lots of fun and I was so thrilled to win these prizes!  Thank you Emily and Vicki!

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by again, I appreciate it!  

We will be waiting patiently for your next visit!