The Ornament/Smalls SAL is celebrating it's 10th Anniversary this year! Started by Stitching Lotus back in 2013 and continued by our current hostess Mary's Thread in 2019 this is the SAL for the last Friday in each month where we show our ornaments or smaller stitches.
Because I am focusing on my BAPs again, I won't have so many smalls this year but I do have a couple of series with small components so I will share them this month.
The first is the Blackwork Tarot by Circle Cross. I loved her Art Nouveau style Tarot cards when I first saw them so when I saw she would be releasing the Zodiac Signs later this year AND there was a sale on, I jumped at the chance. My plan is to stitch the four Elements across the top of the fabric with the appropriate Zodiac Signs under each one. Earth is first, so Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn will go under her in due course:
stitched on 28 count sky blue evenweave from Silkweavers
The fabric is much prettier in real life, it comes out grey in photos. I love the stitching style of these cards, it's like drawing with thread. I usually do the Holbein Stitch for blackwork but experimented with backstitch for the outer border and discovered it does make a smoother line, so I'll be doing that for all the long straight lines in the rest of the cards.
My next collection of tiny items is the Potion Bottle Temperature SAL from Stitch It Picasso. Another one I fell in love with when I first saw it. I was up-to-date but then decided I didn't like the limited range of colours I was using. I had allocated one colour per every 6 degrees C and it simply didn't change enough. Plus days which were really cold were coming out the same colour as days which felt warmer. Blue covered days which "hovered at 2 degrees and peaked at 4 midday" and days which "were 7/8 degrees all day". However the extended colour range added more green and blue tones which meant the overall design would be skewed to those colours.
In the end, I decided to add one red for the very hottest days and a lime yellow/green in the middle. That way I can have a colour change every 4 degrees. And those cold days went lilac instead of blue. I felt this more accurately represented the weather we actually had last week.
stitched over 1 on 25 count tea-dyed evenweave
The three test-tube bottles on the right will stay blue but the two bottles in the gap will be lilac.
The next series is from Amanda Butler in Cross Stitcher magazine. She is designing a different house each month and here is Harrogate House in a style often seen in that town.
stitched on 28 pale grey evenweave
There's a lot of backstitch in these designs, there is a row of railings along the bottom! I decided not to stitch the names of the houses.
Finally, I will be running the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop on Valentine's Day.
Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop
It's really very simple, all you have to do is email me a picture of something you have stitched which is suitable for a stitching friend on Valentine's Day. It could be a heart, or a pair of cute creatures, or the word "love" or anything which warms your heart. Really anything you think a fellow stitcher would like to receive in her email Inbox. It can be something you've stitched in the past or something you've made especially for this year. It could also be quilted or sewn this year as I know some of my followers do other crafts too.
Send me the email by 10th February.
When I have all the emails I will randomise them and send one to each participant on 13th February. Then on 14th February you must post the picture you receive onto your blog under the heading
Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop
There will be a list on my blog of everyone joining in, so check out all the blogs and find out who got your picture and identify yourself in their comments as their
Secret Stitching Sweetheart
Does that make sense to everyone? I hope so!
If you'd like to be involved then leave a comment on this post or send me an email if you are "no-reply". I'll be putting little reminders up from time to time and will email on 9th February to make sure you send the pic in time.
Great 'smalls'! Seems strange not to see a 12 Days Of Christmas among them this year. Good luck with all three of these sets as the year goes on.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work on everything.
ReplyDeleteSweet smalls, the earth card turned out really nice!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to remember adding more colours whenever I stitch a temp chart.
The tiny house is so adorable, another series I need to look into!
I love the way your tarot card turned out.
ReplyDeleteGreat selection of smalls! For temperature stitches, getting the colour range right to your location is crucial for sure.
ReplyDeleteOn Earth, is that some cross stitch scattered under the linework, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?