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Sunday 21 April 2013

When it's Spring again, I'll bring again...

Stitching from East Anglia!

We finally have some nice weather and I've been stitching some lovely Spring themed pieces, most of which I can't show you yet because they are giveaway prizes.

I can show you this one though:


This is a Lizzie*Kate design called Spring.  I received it in a giveaway from Sarah Crafty Moo.  I changed alot of the colours as the original is very dark for a Spring design.  I used the same threads as the San Man Easter design I recently stitched because they are on the same fabric and will be scrap booked together.

The little bunny charm comes from Ang's Attic, a great online store based only a few miles from where I live.  You can get a small bag of 6-10 charms for only £1 and there are loads of different designs.  They mainly sell beads for jewellery making and have a good FB page for their beading fans.  They also have a forum on the website for those of you that don't FB.

The piece is stitched over 1 on 28 count which I really enjoy.  I was not looking forward to all the green in the hill so guess what I did?  Have a closer look at this photo:


Yes, I coloured it in using a fabric pen!  I stitched the house first then had the idea.  I counted the number of threads needed for the hill and marked it on the fabric then just coloured it in.  Then I stitched the path, carrots and flowers on top.  Saved me hours of boring stitching.

The other piece I can show you is the fourth in the Dragon Dreams 12 Dragonlets of Christmas:


This one shows Four Calling Collie Birds.  A collie bird is the traditional name for a blackbird but over the years the word has changed to "calling".  Dragon Dreams have gone for both meanings ancient and modern; four blackbirds calling on the telephone!  The picture reminds me of the telephone cable leading to our house which always has a few pigeons and collared doves sitting on it.  Pre-fibre optic day our internet connection varied according to if there was a bird there or not!  That's how fragile it was.  Now we can actually stream Youtube much to the Small Boy's delight.  For those of you with young children I recommend Barefoot Books' video clips.  I also recommend the actual books themselves, alot of them feature soft sculpture and collage pictures, beautiful to look at and lovely to read aloud.

I'm so pleased that I'm keeping up with this SAL, one a month.  Here are all four dragons together:


Finally, via FB this week I discovered a fellow cross-stitch scrap-booker -  Inside Number Twenty.  Monique has been scrap booking much longer than me and has some lovely pages.  Very inspiring.


22 comments:

CalamityJr said...

Lovely finishes! I think the dragon series is absolutely adorable, but for the life of me I can't understand why! 12 Days designs don't usually interest me, and I would never say I'm a dragon fan, but something about these just makes me smile. Thanks for sharing and making me happy!

Unknown said...

I like how you colored in the grass it gives the parts you did stitch more dimension, very cute!

Unknown said...

great work,I love the idea of carrots in the grass, very clever!!!
As I am a big fan of Dragons great or small, I really love that piece your working on.

Hugs Yvon.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Your two finishes are vp great! You're so clever with the fabric pens!

Fiona said...

Two great finishes. I like your colouring in idea, great time saver.

Kathy Ellen said...

It looks like you are having a lot of stitching fun with all of your cute little pieces. Love the wonderful green grass all colored in with a fabric pen!

Blessings!

Heather said...

Lovely stitching! And thanks for the link to the videos. I'm going to see if the little man is interested in them.

Also, thanks for the info about the charm shop. I see some I want to have!

Barb said...

Nice pieces. I love that spring one. I think maybe just maybe spring is finally coming.

Linda said...

Congrats on the cute finishes Jo. I would have never guessed that the grass wasn't stitched.

Linda

Astrids dragon said...

I like the colouring of the grass and I have a drawer full of fabric pens from when I used to decorate tshirts - I can see I need to pull them out!

Your dragons are coming along nicely, I still haven't started mine.

Anne said...

Love your little dragonlets! Great idea with the painted hills! :)

Christine said...

Yes I sang the post title in my head!
Great finishes, I'm loving the little dragonlets

Julie said...

The dragonlets looks so cute, they always make me smile when i see a post with them in.

Great spring stitching, clever idea with the green pen!

Mii Stitch said...

Great finishes! I love the Spring one from LK, your choice of colours is great... It really feels like Spring just looking at it x

Claire said...

I love sping house it's so cute.x

Annie said...

Your spring design is so sweet! Love the bunny charm! I'm all about shortcuts so I think your coloring of the fabric is a brilliant idea and very effective.

Wish I had a great charm source like that so close. Shipping rates kill us this days!

Cute dragons too.

Shirlee said...

Lovely finishes, & I agree ... that grass looks stitched for sure!

Kate said...


Brilliant idea to colour the grass!

Sandie said...

How I wish I'd thought of colouring in on previous pieces where I had loads of boring stitching! Spring house looks nice. I've got the 12 days of dragonlets to stitch - if only there were more hours in every day eh?

Anonymous said...

Oooh- fabulous idea about the fabric pen! Will have to try that sometime :)

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Pretty finish Jo. Thanks for the link to Ang's Attic. I couldn't resist making a purchase!Will be posting a picture when I have recieved them:) and I will be going back.

Rachel said...

Fabulous finishes! Spring looks, well, spring like...LOL and those dragons are adorable!!