Frappuccino & More WMHB

I have new WIP photo of Where My Heart Blooms. I'll say it again, this is so lovely to stitch!

I'm looking forward to seeing my fellow SALers progress!

I also finished up the second Little House Needleworks coffee square... Frappuccino...

Sorry, not a great photo, I know. :-( A scan of them both together:


I'm stitching this 2 over 2, not 1 over 2 as the chart suggests. I normally always use just one strand when I'm stitching with silk (even on 28-Count & 32-Count fabric), as I prefer the more delicate look, and I normally think 2 strands of silk looks a bit bulky on most fabric anyway, but I prefer the stitches on this particular design to look a bit "fatter". So as the chart states 1 over 2 (and it's a kit, so they only give you so much thread), I was panicking a wee bit that I may not have enough thread, but of the two I've stitched so far I've only run out of one colour: Teddy Bear on Frappuccino (though not by much really). I luckily had some extra of that colour in my stash, so all was well. :o)

Caffe Latte & Where My Heart Blooms

I had a wee finish the other day!


Caffe Latte by Little House Needleworks on Vintage Country Mocha Belfast Linen with Belle Soie silks.

I plan to do these on one piece of fabric; then the tea series on another piece of fabric, as a gift for my mum. I think they'd look perfect in her kitchen, so maybe she'll hang them in there.

Then I started a Blackbird Designs SAL over the weekend with Karen, Nicki & Sue... for Where My Heart Blooms...


Any time I start a Blackbird Designs piece I find it so hard to put it down, and this is no exception! It's at times like these that I'm glad I don't follow any rotations! Though I'm going to be strong ;-) and put it away for a couple of days now and concentrate on another coffee square, otherwise I'll end up having it finished by the end of the week! ;-P (though it does deceptively look like I've stitched more than I have - I still need to fill in the whole left side of that house which is going to take forever!)

I Thee Wed Finish & a lot of Jane Austen

Well, I didn't hang around when I got my fabric for I Thee Wed... a little over a week later and it's finished.


I LOVED stitching this - I couldn't put it down. I used NPI and Lakeside Linen Vintage Pear Newcastle linen.

I'll always refer to this as my Jane Austen project - I lost count of how many Jane Austen adaptations I watched while stitching this! Though I had to laugh... I only recently started watching the TV series Spooks (a.k.a. MI-5) on DVD, and I lost count of how many of the cast from this have been in Jane Austen adaptations. Off the top of my head I'm remembering Matthew Macfadyen (Darcy in the most recent Pride & Prejudice); Rupert Penry-Jones (Wentworth in the most recent Persuasion); Peter Firth (Henry Tilney in the 1980s Northanger Abbey), Gemma Jones (Mrs. Dashwood in the 1995 Sense & Sensibility, and she was also Bridget's mum in Bridget Jones's Diary - which is also an Austen connection, right?!); and of course Anna Chancellor (Caroline Bingley in the wonderful 1995 Pride & Prejudice) - who is also apparently related to Jane Austen (eight-times great aunt). I remember a scene in the 5th (?) season of Spooks where Adam Carter (Rupert Penry-Jones) was seeing a psychiatrist and he had a Jane Austen book with him and said he likes to read Austen because she's a very 'good observer'. :D Then don't get me started on the Elizabeth Gaskell links to Spooks... only to mention that Richard Armitage (North & South) is joining the cast of the latest series!

I finally completed another month of my Heart in Hand "Monthly Mania". This one has been slow going! It took me ages to find this linen band years ago for this project, but it's 27-Count and oh my goodness the stitching is HUGE compared to what I'm used to these days (lots of 40-count projects).

I'll stick to it, though. Even if it DOES take me years to finish!