Framed Cross Stitch Italy by Franz Heigl

In 2008, before the blog, I was crazy about cross stitching. It was my main hobby and I stitched quite a number of pieces of needlework, including this cross stitch, which was designed, based on a painting by Franz Heigl. I like it a lot, but I had never even washed it after finishing it.

Lately I saw an identical cross stitch work, framed in a wooden frame from IKEA. I had the same frame, bought for a different project, but the frame turned out to be not suitable for the intended work. Serendipity - Italy by Heigl was to be finally framed and hanged on the wall.

 

I dug up a few photos of my process back in 2008.

I must have started the cross stitch in May 2008:

My progress in June 2008:

A month later in July 2008:

Almost finished in September 2008:

It stayed in this condition in my cross stitch box, with the light yellow lines still unwashed, for 17 years!

Proudly hanging on the wall, I am truly happy that it finally adorns the room.

WIP Charming Waterway Cross Stitch

After almost a year of hiatus from this Dimensions cross stitch I resumed my work on the project. Sometimes, when I put away a big project, I feel some resentment to returning to it. I think I got a bit fed up with knitting cotton cardigans and I wanted to do some cross stitching, but I couldn't feel the thrill which made me start Charming Waterway. So I picked another project - Heigl's Toscana and I almost started it, when I decided to give another chance to Venice. And I'm so glad I did, because once I started embroidering it my love for the picture returned and I've been working on it for two weeks now. I try to do some of the backstitching as I go along, because leaving it all for when the picture is finished would be a nightmare.
I won't probably finish it this summer, as there is still much to stitch and my eyes are beginning to feel tired, but I'll finish it some day.

Cross Stitch Greeting Cards

The three cross stitch greeting cards I managed to finish this season. The one with the two bells turned to be too big and complicated for a card, now I know that I should stick to simpler patterns and fewer colors when choosing a greeting card.

WIP - December 2014

Just a few words on what I've been working on:
My long-term project - a self-drafted cardigan for my husband. So far - pretty pleased with how this is coming, I'm keeping notes and if things turn out as nicely as planned I'll write down the pattern. I only wish I had more spare time for knitting, can't wait to see it finished. I had planned it as a Christmas present, but now I'm beginning to doubt I'll be ready in time for Christmas:

And another small Christmas project I try to stitch in the few spare minutes I can find during the light part of the day. This is going to be a Christmas card, but with the speed I'm stitching it ... probably for next Christmas :)))

Venetian Bistro

This past month I've been working almost religiously on the Venetian cross stitch project I started just at the end of last year. The theme is one of my favourites - Venetian canals and the artist - Viktor Shvaiko, is quite popular for his colorful romantic scenes of small cafes, old houses and shops.

As for knitting - I'm planning on Clear by Kim Hargreaves, using recycled yarn from a frogged crochet project, just waiting for my knitting mojo to come back.

Scotch Harebells Cross Stitch Panel

So here it is - the fourth and final of the wild flower panels, designed by John Clayton for Heritage. This was probably the easiest to stitch panel because of my stitch by colors method - I highly recommend the method for these panels!

The last three stages of the stitch by colors experiment - adding the two major background colors and the backstitch:

Pattern: Scotch Harebells by John Clayton
Canvas: white Aida 14
Floss: Rosace and DMC

In my first posting about this flower panel I mentioned that I'll try a new brand of floss - Rosace. Oh, how I regret it, I should have stuck to the well known and time-proven brand. At first glance the new floss looks the same as DMC, but obviously the thread lacks the color saturation and silky shine of DMC and the stitched picture looks bland, mat and lustreless. Never again!

I enjoyed playing with the four panels today, rearranging them and wondering how to frame them - together in one big frame or separately. Still thinking ...

Two Birthday Cards

When my major hobbies - knitting and cross stitching, are at a standstill, I seem to turn to miniatures - small crochet projects, beading and as of this year - cross stitch greeting cards. The stitching of a card usually takes two to three days, which in terms of time-consuming cross stitching translates into instant gratification. I think I'm hooked and all of my relatives and friends are "doomed" to receive a cross stitch greeting card from me :)))

Canvass: Aida 14
Floss: a mix of DMC, Ariadna and Rosace
Aperture cards: 8888bg.com

Mother's Day Greeting Card

A cross stitch greeting card I made for my mother for the widely celebrated in Bulgaria international women's day - the 8th of March. I couldn't find a suitable aperture card with big enough aperture for my cross stitch, so I cut the card from a big sheet of aquarelle cardboard.

Canvas: Aida 14
Floss: a mixture of DMC, Ariadna and Rosace

Happy Baba Marta Day!

I'm continuing my work on the Scotch Harebells and now I'm convinced that stitching it by colors is the easiest way of all - the daisies and especially the buttercups were so much more difficult to stitch with my usual consecutive method, while the harebells almost stitched by themselves. The collages show the next 9 stages of stitching. Although it looks only half finished, I have only two remaining background colors to fill in and the backstitch and I'll be ready with the fourth panel.

Scotch Harebells Cross Stitch Panel

No sooner said than done - I've started the fourth (and final) flower panel by John Clayton. When I saw the previous three flower panels together it dawn on me - each of them individually looked nice, but somehow unimpressive, but next to each other their colors worked together and combined into a beautiful picture, that only lacked purple-blue colors for completeness. So - here come the harebells.

I'm stitching them again on Aida 14, only I decided to try Rosace floss.

Similar to the poppies, I'm stitching the  harebells by colors. But while I stitched the poppies, dividing the colors into three groups - reds, greens and background and then stitching as I please within a group, now I had the whim to stitch strictly color by color and take a picture after completing a color - something like a dissection of the picture by colors. What's the point - none whatsoever, it's neither easier nor practical, I just want to see how this will come out. I've stitched enough cross stitch projects now, so I'm curious to try different approaches just for fun :)

So - here are the first five colors, that make the flower heads:

I couldn't find pictures of harebells within my photo archives (and I searched :), so I've illustrated the real flowers with pictures from the Internet. The only bell flowers I found were these cousins of the scotch harebells that grow in the Osogovo mountain: