Cooler or Hotter?

Stitching Forever

If I didn't post anything here last week it's because I was stitching.
I completed a red-work,cross- stitch sampler which goes for framing along with the winter sampler.

The cross-stitched statement - Stitching forever.... Housework whenever! and a spray of flowers found a place on My World.

Hope your week is all about doing what makes you come alive. Now back to my stitching. I'm going to start another sampler :)

Alphabet Sampler

 I have a weakness for alphabet samplers and this particular sampler took the longest time but its now complete.

 Worked on cotton fabric with a single strand of embroidery thread, there are 18 stitches per inch.

Sampler size: 13.75 inches x 4.75"
Must try embroidering some names. Could be cool.

Something I've been juggling

Here's one of the many project's I've been juggling and it got done last night.

This is in the midst of cooking up a storm and getting the house back to some semblance of what it was a month back so R will recognise it when he gets back tomorrow after a month of snow storms and freezing weather in NJ.

This is for my mother.
She has had the words of this little prayer for over twenty years now and wanted it to grace the entryway to the house.

I think the quilt motifs cross stitched on muslin adds to the whole homespun feel. The motifs are also so appropriate. There are a number of feral cats who live on the veranda of the house and my parents feed them. I hear there's a new litter somewhere in the neighbourhood. The basket motif is symbolic of my mum's green thumb and all the fruit which the garden produces.
Now I have to get it framed in time for my mum's birthday next month.

OK the kitchen beckons,extreme juggling on the culinary front will take another day to abate.

Happy juggling all that needs doing in the week ahead.

And the Winner is.......

The winner of the heart sampler I'm happy to announce is Chris Daly. R did the honours and picked the winner.

I'd like to thank all who left a comment and made this little giveaway a memorable one, its motivated me to have more givewaways. So there will be more opportunities to win and hopefully it will also be something you'll want to win!

Chris I'll be emailing you to get your mailing adress right after posting this on my blog so I can send the sampler across to you in Wisconsin.


Have a great week everyone.

Giveaway for my 125th post

This is my 125th post and I decided to have a little giveaway to celebrate.
The hundredth post or a blog anniversary is more traditional occasions for giveaways but I couldn't think of anything for a giveaway at those points.
My current obsession with hearts helped to create this little cross-stitched sampler of hearts
and what a happy coincidence that its also my 125th post.
So if you'd like to win the heart sampler which measures 13.5"x 8.5" and is embroidered with cross-stitch on unbleached cotton, please leave a comment and make sure there's some way I can contact you. You have until Friday 19th June 5pm IST which translates to7.30am EST,12.30pm GMT, 7.30 pm in Hong Kong ,to leave a comment.

Let me take the opportunity to thank all those who subscribe to and follow this blog, as well as all those who visit and leave positive comments which I appreciate and thrive on.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Heart sampler is now complete.

Ta-dah! the heart sampler I've been working on is complete.

Wondering whether it needs a border to tie it all up neatly. What do you think?

The net has thrown up so many heart motifs which I couldn't just leave as graphs so I've decided to make a second one. I'm sure there will motifs enough to make a hundred but I'll stop at two, besides I have limited wall space to display them on.

Update on the heart sampler

I've been working on the Heart sampler.

Sue , thank-you for the pages of hearts you scanned and sent me, a number of them now feature on my sampler. The little gingham heart and the heart outlined with flowers in the image above as well as the two plaid hearts in the images below are some which Sue sent me. I hadn't thought of leaving some stitches uncrossed in order to create the effect of the warp interlacing with the weft in the plaid and gingham hearts.

I've also discovered that a number of heart motifs feature birds. Its got me wondering about a number of things.

In which period were they created? Who created them, men or women.

Where did these type of hearts featuring birds originate?

What objects were ornamented with these hearts? and why birds?

I've heard of the use of the Sarus Cranes as a symbol of fidelity and loyalty because they pair for life but the birds I've seen don't resemble cranes so which bird is depicted?
What about the heart used primarily in text messages? It's in the heading of the post.(using the little symbol here is creating havoc with the html code which I don't have a clue how to fix and blogger is giving me a hard time today uploading pics etc ) Now back to the little heart symbol. I think whoever created it is so clever and I need to feature it on my sampler, after all its the evolution of the heart symbol.

That's the sampler to date. I'm on the look out for smaller hearts to populate the empty spaces, I'd like it to be chock full of hearts.

On a separate note - I've become an affilate of Amazon and Flipkart. You will see the banners on the side bar. Should you wish to shop online I would appreciate it if you could click on the Amazon or Flipkart banners/buttons and make your purchases.Amazon and Flipkart will pay me a small percentage of the value of your transaction without increasing the cost for you by even a cent. Thank you and happy shopping.

The Heart Sampler

In 2000 I started on an alphabet sampler and I wanted to include heart motifs in the sampler but I couldn't find more than two motifs. One a border and another a tiny one of two birds and a little heart.
Today almost ten years later with access to the internet and the wonders of search engines and blogs I've set out to make a sampler of heart motifs.I'm astounded by the variety, the simplicity as well as the complexity of the motifs I've come across thus far.

I'm working on cotton fabric with only red thread.
The motifs are being embroidered as I find them.
This motif is really spectacular, but then again I've been oohing and aahing over each and every little motif I've come across.

Initially I found small motifs and now I'm finding only large ones. Need to find some small ones to fill up the empty spaces.
That's progress on the sampler thus far. The heart with the cherubs is not crooked its the angle at which the photograph was taken.

The following blogs have been enormous repositories of cross-stitch heart motifs. Thank-you for sharing.

Bordano Freebies, Casa Cuori Colori and Gazette 94 .

If you know of sources which I can access for heart motifs I would appreciate it. Border patterns which incorporate hearts would be great too.
Tomorrow I'll show you the progress I've made with TAST while I was away visiting family.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. I love the simple image of a heart and I've decided to make a cross-stitch sampler of hearts. I've begun on the sampler and I hope to have it done by Valentine's next year.This is the first heart on the sampler.

X'mas tree Ornaments

Making some tree ornaments. I get to put up our Christmas tree every alternate year and this year is one of those years.
I'm making a couple of ornaments for the tree, I like to add one or two to my collection each year and I'm making a few to send to my sister in Hong Kong.
Other bloggers are busy making ornaments too, some have been making them through the year in stitch alongs and ornament swaps.
Here are some links to blogs which have freebie or complementary charts you can follow to make tree ornaments for your personal use.

http://gazette94.blogspot.com/

http://letempsdesxetautresbricolages.over-blog.com/

http://plumpuddingneedleart.com/Plumchart1.html

TAST - Cross stitch

Web Wanderings # 1 - Biscornu

This must be something everybody does - you read about something on a blog which catches your attention because its new unusual or just plain intriguing and then you meander through the web from one blog to the next, you google it and before you know it you've spent all day looking for visuals, techniques etc. I find it an enriching experience so I've decided to call such explorations Web Wanderings and post them on my blog.

The first Web Wandering is devoted to BISCORNU.

I discovered Biscornu mentioned in Mylene's blog who's participating in the Take it Further Challenge.
Then it was on to Google to check out what a Biscornu was. This was what I found
" the adjective "biscornu" originates in XVI century, composed by the prefix bis- which gives idea of plural, and "cornu" = "with horns"(literally it would be, "several horns") and means: having an irregular shape, bizarre, unnecessarily complicated."
Another more elaborate description was found at Pretty Impressive Stuff
"Biscornus are interesting little eight-sided pincushions that have become very popular in recent months. The word biscornu (sometimes written biscournu) is derived from a French adjective, meaning skewed, quirky, or irregular. My husband, ever the linguist, tells me that it literally means "two horned." Many English speakers, especially those from the Southern United States, think that biscornu is a cognate of the word biscuit. Well, it is similar in shape and size to a hand-pressed biscuit! Regardless, biscornu are basically made from two embroidered squares sewn together on point; the corner of one square meets the middle of the other as the two pieces are whip-stitched together and stuffed, creating the a quirky, skewed pillow. Additionally, many are finished off with a button in the center of the design top and bottom.
Most biscornu are worked in cross-stitch or Blackwork, because the even weave linen or AIDA (pronounced like the opera) fabric lends itself to counted techniques. While they can be made using traditional fabric, it is hard to get them the exact same size without the help of the counted fabric..."

The tutorial for making a biscornu at Own Two Hands is the one I'm going to be following to make a biscornu.
Finally for some biscornu eye candy check out Anita's Stitching.