Pretty Mini London is a Satsuma Street design I have been stitching every Tuesday for the last seven weeks along with Linda and Kate. This design was one of three which featured in Cross Stitch Crazy magazine issue 202.
Here are my weekly stitching photos plus a big one of the finished piece:
stitched on 28 count black evenweave
And here are the real life landmarks just for comparison:
The Gherkin
The London Eye
A London Bus
The Houses of Parliament Clock Tower (Big Ben is the bell, not the clock!)
Tower Bridge
St. Paul's Cathedral
Some Trees.
The tree image bottom right is a fascinating one. I just googled "London Trees" and there it was. You may have spotted that while it appears to be a shot of some trees looking up, the sky actually forms the outline of the River Thames! It is the work of a photographer called Julian Wolkenstein. Check out his website, there are some interesting photos there.
Having finished Mini London I started on another project for school. Due to me making an assumption last year, I thought my son was staying with the same teacher for another year so I didn't stitch anything for her. Making that right this year!
Stitched on 28 count Robin's Egg opalescent evenweave by Silkweavers
And here is today's picture:
Colour is more vibrant because it's a scanned picture not a photograph.
And yes, there is a gap at the bottom of the loop! I miscounted and tried to fudge it but the loop just didn't look right so I'm reluctantly frogging and restitching.
So, here we are in the middle of the Summer heat and I'm reading through my Feedly Blog reader when I spot a post by Kaye, all about Christmas! She has decided to start a Christmas Ornie SAL Blog. There used to be one but the admin didn't continue with it so Kaye has picked up the baton (cracker?) and has started a new one. You can find it by clicking this festive picture:
Kaye has chosen some themes for the rest of this year:
August - Mr
and/or Mrs Santa
September - Christmas
Tree/ Presents
October - Angels/Nativity
November - Snowflakes/
Snowman/ Wintry scene
December - free
choice
So if you want to be involved just pop over and drop Kaye an email at the address provided.
Finally, back to this season and the Summer Postcard Blog Hop where the theme is Pets. So far it seems that stitchers love their cats! I do have some other animals too and it would be nice to have some more, there's still plenty of time to join in. The second postcard has been sent out to Katie AKA Jeremiah's Mom, so go and stalk her blog as it will be appearing there soon.
Jo I have posted my post for the Blog Hop! Thanks for hosting this fun hop. I just love seeing different blogs and hearing about pets is perfect. Congrats on your London finish. I love the real life pictures to compare. Very cool idea!! Hope looks beautiful. Good luck getting the loop fixed.
ReplyDeleteLove your finished piece, so colorful and on black it looks stunning. Great job on it. Nice pictures.
ReplyDeleteLondon is so pretty. I didn't realize how small it was. It was nice seeing the real version of each monument. I wish Satsuma Street would include that information with the pattern, so we'd know what we were stitching. Especially if we've never been to the city.
ReplyDeleteHappy dancing! What a lovely design, so colourful :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see the shape of the river with the trees! Amazing!
Oh what a very nice post Jo. Loved the pictures and your finished piece.
ReplyDeleteWent to Katie's blog. I enjoyed her post. ;)
Congrats on your London finish! Its cute, colourful and fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYour London stitching looks great - what wonderful vibrant colours! What a lovely piece for your son's teacher....even though you have to do some frogging! I've noticed a few people blogging about Christmas, so I guess I should start thinking about Christmas stitching too :)
ReplyDeleteLove the fabric for London :D Still sharing these with my step mom, and she screams with glee every single time!
ReplyDeleteYour London is beautiful !!!
ReplyDeleteLove the comparison with the real deal in London -- I admit to lol-ing at "some trees" which is precisely what I felt about it when I was there so many eons ago. I did not see a river at first; I saw a Chinese dragon outline!
ReplyDeleteI did consider joining in that SAL but it might be one of those random hop in/out deals as I'm too pokey to keep up all year haha.
Great finish! I've been to most of those places or at least saw them on my last trip.
ReplyDeleteHooray for the finish! Such a colourful piece. Boo hiss to the frog - stupid creature! But I'm sure the teacher will love her gift. looking forward to the Christmas ornie SAL - think it's been about a year since the last one was stitched.
ReplyDeleteMini London is simply gorgeous! Love the idea of the stitch-along but just can't be sure I could keep up right now - I'm working temporarily at the mission where we typically volunteer and it's not leaving me much time for stitching. :( blessings, marlene
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the great finish Jo. My stitching has sort of taken a back seat to my crocheting right now. I love the pictures of the real landmarks. Nice to know what I'm stitching. I have never been to any of these places but am enjoying stitching them. Great new start.
ReplyDeleteLinda
London is a beautiful project. It was great seeing the real London pictures. I have never stitched on black! Perfect for that project!
ReplyDeleteLondon is lovely - yours and the real one. I love the idea of the "real" comparison.
ReplyDeleteHope you are not melting in the heat wave. Shall I send you some Antarctic winter weather??
London looks beautiful. What a great idea to add real pictures for comparison...
ReplyDeleteMini London looks amazing! Love how vibrant it is. Congrats on the finish! :D
ReplyDeleteMini London is fabulous, and I love the tree photo, so clever, I shall be checking the photography site out later.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the morris dancing. We took Nim out for a meal at a local pub to celebrate when her exams ended, and by accident picked the night of the performance by the local morris troop. She was not impressed. She kept up this dry running commentary under her breath all the way through - "hoppy hoppy bell hop, hoppy hoppy hanky bell" I couldn't keep my face straight by the end of the dance
Congrats on the lovely finish !! :) nice idea of sharing the images of real landmarks. Your stitching on 'Hope' is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMini London looks great on black! I love the series you're stitching for the teachers, sorry about the frogs but it'll be worth it. I already signed up for Kaye's SAL - couldn't resist!
ReplyDeleteYipee, London is so pretty, love that splash of colors on the black. So great seeing the real deal too, esp. those trees. Hope looks great too:)
ReplyDeleteGreat finish, Jo and I love your collage of photos which reflect the design. Thanks for the kind words about my new blog. hugs, Kaye
ReplyDeleteMini London is amazing!
ReplyDeleteLovely new project!!
Hugs,
Lili
Love your Mini London! Great collage of photos below to show the iconic landmarks and that tree photo is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI will pop over and see what Kaye is doing re the Christmas SAL.... I am a nutter for SAL.... not sure why I keep joining but I just have to!!!
Also just been over and seen the latest postcard - pink poodle - now I wonder who sent that?? :o)
Hugs xx
That pretty little mini city is so cute, I love it :) Are you doing the other minis now, or continuing with the bigger one?
ReplyDeleteThis is a really special and beautiful finish - Mini London. It looks so good on the black fabric and the designer was doing a great job with all the landmarks that she presented. Thanks for showing the real life pictures of London, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd another SAL that is soooo tempting again. Since I read about it on Kaye's blog I have been thinking about it. And still not finished thinking about it. There was already the Alphabet Club where I couldn't resist and now this one ... and I'm still thinking about joining your Halloween one. Decisions, decisions.
Now on to Katie's blog to have a look at the next postcard.
Very nicely done, Jo! I've loved watching this one grow. Maybe someday I'll get to see these places in person. Fingers crossed. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteJo: London is beautiful, love the colors so vibrant.
ReplyDeleteHope is positively beautiful I am sure the teacher will love it.
A Christmas Stitch Along is a wonderful idea.
Blessings
Catherine
You work is lovely - and I just love that mini London. I like a lot of the Satsuma designs - and your piece just POPS on that dark fabric!
ReplyDeleteA gorgeous finish Jo! Those London trees are amazing you always find such interesting links!
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy a walk in London! Never try to stitch on black, never see a black fabric before anyway. Lovely design. xxx
ReplyDeleteoh so good to see you finished your Satsuma London! it's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteyou know I could recognise that Thames shape with my eyes closed? ;) got to love that city! as a matter of fact I will check on that back issue now, I like it too much! :D
sorry about the frogging, that's never happy business - thanks for introducing me to Kaye's new adventure! I'll be so happy to participate! :)
Mini London is spectacular!
ReplyDeleteWow your Mini London looks exactly like the real structures, espeically the trees! You crack me up stunner. I don't know how you keep up with all your hopping and SAL's. I can't even keep up with any of mine. Hope looks really pretty, love the bling bling fabby.
ReplyDeletexo Alicia
Mini London turned so neat! I just got that issue of Crazy, so I can't wait to stitch it myself. ;)
ReplyDeleteMini London looks amazing. I love the colours. And that tree photo is fabulous! XOX
ReplyDelete