Wedding Samplers

The pieces I'm currently working on are not at a stage to even write about. With this in mind, I want to continue to document my previous work.

This wedding sampler was completed in March 2007 for a co-worker. It was a quick and easy project to complete. It's from the U.K. magazine, The Cross Stitcher.

In progress...

Just finished...

Framed...

The other wedding sampler I did was at the beginning of this year for one of my nieces. This was either from Cross Stitch Crazy or Cross Stitcher magazines (I can't find the mag). It's from a series of four topiaries, one for each season. When I learned that her flowers were pink, I thought this would make a really pretty wedding sampler.

Since I've never been good at photography and to be honest, I've never really been interested, I only took pictures of my pieces as a record of them. Now that I have started this blog, I'm understanding the importance of taking good pictures. Hopefully, as time goes by, I'll get better at it!

A Son's Request...

My son has been watching me stitch since he was born, and recently he asked if I was working on anything for him. Here's what I ended up doing for him. I mounted this one myself in a white frame, it's about 3" x 5".

The other piece I did for him was one of his drawings. The original was done on legal-size paper and hangs in my office. I took the original and reduced it and then embroidered it on aida cloth using red floss. I did it freehand, I did not transfer the image onto the fabric. He tells me that it is a fire-breathing dragon and a man is standing in front of him with a torch.

And here it is framed. I have blocked his name on these pictures.

Hopefully when he grows up he will appreciate these (at least I hope his future wife does).

OC Fair Entry

This Friday is the due date to turn in projects for the Orange County Fair. The Fair runs from July 11 - August 3 in Costa Mesa, CA. I tried to submit two pieces this year hoping that since one was "scenic" and the other was "animals" they would let them both in. Unfortunately, they limit you to one piece only. When the Fair called to ask which piece I wanted to submit, I initially picked the giraffes.

I love this piece. Unless you know what you are looking at, it takes a minute to figure out that it's a mother and baby giraffe. It's based on the original artwork of Charley Harper. He was an incredible artist and I love all of his work. I've located more cross stitch patterns using his work that I hope to do in the future.

Anyway, when I got home and told the family that I could only pick one piece to enter at the Fair, they all like the lighthouses better.

So, the next day I had to call back and change my selection (since I was out-voted). This was a chart from a British magazine called Cross Stitch Crazy. It was quite fun to sew and went very quickly.

You will notice that I don't have pictures of the backs of these pieces. I'll be showing quite a few of my finished pieces without a backside picture. When I thought about showing the back, most of my work had already been framed. For any current and future work, I will definitely show the front and the back.

A Little History...

I learned how to cross stitch and embroider when I was 11 years old. I still have a couple of pieces that I did back then. I believe this is the oldest one and it's embroidery.

And here's the back of it...

It's pretty messy, but I think it's pretty good for an 11 year old!

This piece was sewn when I was 12 years old. I was taught how to cross stitch on gingham. Luckily I have kept this in a drawer and it's still in pretty decent shape.

And here's the back...

Quite an improvement on technique for a 12 year old. If you look closely you can see all the little knots that start and end my thread. I guess my teacher didn't know the techniques we all use today!

I hope you enjoy looking at these old pieces. I have fond memories of stitching them.