Finally Fully Finishing Fun for April

   

Hosted by Rachel the Ten Hour Stitcher

This SAL is designed to motivate us all to do something with that box of Finished pieces instead of just storing them under the bed.  We will all be linking up on Rachel's blog on or after the 10th of each month (10 Hour Stitcher - 10th of the month).

I was quite organised this month and have two framed pieces to share with you.  One was finished this year and the other is a little bit older (2021),

I went through my frame box looking for a frame for the first piece and found two, a gold rectangle and a blue square.  Then I went through my finished pieces folder to see if there was anything that fitted into the square frame better,  There was, so I framed both pieces.

Here is the first one, the intended FFO for this month - September Strawflowers from The Sweetheart Tree:

Here's the second bonus FFO - Peacock Tapestry from Just Nan:

I didn't have the peacock charm for the centre but I did have this lovely sparkly rainbow star so I used that instead.

While I was doing the framing, I took some photos to show how I frame my pieces and get them centred and straight in the frame.

The first thing I do is measure the aperture of the frame and measure the width of the stitching.  Take one from the other and divide by two.

So the frame was 9cm and the stitching was 7cm which leaves 2cm to be divided by 2 so 1cm margin.

Do the same for the height. In this case, it's a square but always doublecheck!

Then I take the stitching and remove one thread 1cm from the edge of the stitching, as below:

Fold along those lines and fold the corners diagonally.  Take a piece of card ever so slightly smaller than the aperture of the frame, eg 8.9cm for this frame.  Lay the stitching face-down and centre the card onto it.

Put a small piece of double sided tape in each corner and fold the corners over diagonally.  You can use the removed thread lines to make sure they are straight.

Repeat for all four corners, then add double sided tape to the middle of each side:

Although I'm using tape, it never touches the back of the stitching so won't affect my threads over time.

Fold the edges over, looking at the front side to make sure the fold is exactly down the removed thread line.

Here's the back when all four sides are done.  You could stitch across the corners if the linen is very loose or springy but I don't usually bother.  If I was going to stick metal washers to the back and mount it with magnets then I probably would because it will keep the corners secure for longer.

Pop it in the frame and take a photo!  

Hope you found this useful for framing your small pieces.

Finally, thanks to everyone who took part in the Easter Treasure Hunt this year.  The Mystery Phrase was :

Hippity Hoppity

Just like this bunny that was sent to me by Beth in IL a few years ago.  I get him out every Easter for my display.