Friday 27 October 2017

Sheryl from Sewing After Seven

We are off to another part of Europe for our Blogger of the Week this week.  She has been a great participant in a number of my Blog Hops now and Gifted Gorgeousness too.  She does a variety of crafts as well as cross stitch so there is always something beautiful to see on her blog.  I've added a link at the end to a recent post of a gorgeous book she made for her granddaughter.  Please welcome Sheryl from



1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

My name is Sheryl, born in Kent U.K. and now living in Gijon on the north coast of Spain. I have a son who lives nearby and a daughter and three grandchildren who live in Madrid. I retired from ESL teaching last year.


2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

I remember learning embroidery stitches and making a samper while still at Primary School and my mum taught me how to knit, crochet and sew. I must have been a super boring kid as I can remember taking my knitting to school and in the photo below I´m sporting my first Fair Isle sweater made when I was 15.



3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind your blog title?

I started my blog three years ago with the idea of just creating a permanent record of my needlework as other girlfriends were doing but I got caught up with the fun of meeting and chatting to other crafters about our shared hobby, seeing what they were making and enjoying the wonderful tutorials and SALs available. I pondered about my blog name for ages endevouring to conjure up something ingenious and memorable but everyone had got there before me and so I opted for `Sewing After Seven´ which is when I do most of my stitching.


4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT (one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?

Organised and eclectic. I jump from one technique to another as I´m interested in everything fashioned with a needle, whether hardanger, whitework, crochet, applique, knitting or patchwork. I always have two projects in the making, embroidery which I do in the evening and sewing at any other free moment during the day. I very rarely work on a pattern without knowing what I´m going to use it for and have a dangerous tendency to adulterate patterns and change them to add my own touch of beads, lace, applique, crochet or somesuch with the sometimes disastrous consequences that result from such deviations from the original and result in the entire project being abandoned and banished to the Dreaded Drawer aka UFO cemetery.






5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

No favourite designer. I love embroidery in general but Hardanger, whitework, reticella and schwalm embroidery always draw my attention, as with samplers including speciality stitches and crazy quilting stitches and stumpwork. Also I love fine crochet work.




6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

A quilt I made for a grandson and based on the illustrations by Petra Steinmeyer in the story book The Bremen Town Musicians. I felt very proud when Petra complimented me on my work and asked for more photos of the said quilt.



7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?

Not exactly mine but while attending patchwork classes years ago, I was making a cushion cover when the teacher said my little applique houses needed windows and doors but not to bother with embroidering the tiny details as they could be done with a permanent marker pen which she then procured from out of nowhere and proceeded to draw on my cushion making what I considered a horrible mess. Although the cushion is very old and faded you can still appreciate the disaster in the photo.



8. Which new technique would you like to try, either stitching, finishing or another craft?

Definitely whitework, reticella or schwalm embroidery which would make a nice challenge or bobbin lace making. I also need to learn free motion quilting.



9. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd? What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

The aformentioned Dreaded Drawer contains mainly completed patterns which for some reason or another lost favour during their execution and where a lot of the considered substandard experiments have ended up. Sometimes I look at that drawer and rescue something like the tiny design below which when stitched a couple of years ago I found annoyingly unsymmetric but which just this summer I made into a pincushion that I now really like. I don´t have a favourite way of finishing a project but prefer to make a design or pattern into something original or useful and not just framed.



10. Which of your projects most represents "you"?

Perhaps my little embroidered pouches. I love working with rich fabrics, velvets, silks and satins etc, and mixing applique with speciality stitches and a splash of beads, sequins etc. perfect.




11. Tell us a secret about yourself. Or a joke. About anything!

It taken me a week to think about this question and I still can´t think of anything intriguing. But rather curious, I suppose, both my children were born the same month, the same date and the same day of the week although born five years apart.


12. Anything you would like to add?

I have found that the stitching community is very friendly and if you are stuck with a particular project or technique, there is always someone to ask or a tutorial to follow. I´m grateful to Jo for including me as a Blogger of the Week and to those who visit my blog and take the time to leave a comment.



Jo recommends that you start with this post - Claudia's Book






Friday 20 October 2017

Brigitte at Brigitte's Place

This week's Blogger of the Week has been an online friend and follower for many years, since I was first stitching the Dark Alphabet project.  She's also been taking part in the Alphabet Club with some delicious German cakes as well as some lovely stitching.  She is one of our multi-lingual bloggers, blogging in English but commenting in both German and French.  Some people are so talented!  So please say Welcome, Willkommen and Bienvenue to Brigitte from


1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

My name is Brigitte and I live in the south of Germany in a very nice mountainous region.


2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

I started stitching back in the 1990s.  We had a Canadian exchange student living with us for several months and in the evenings she was sitting on the couch stitching on a cross s titch project.  Back then I didn’t know anything about counted cross stitch, the only thing I had seen before was stamped cross stitch.  And she stitched on a Mirabilia angel or fairy. Then she showed me how counted cross stitch works.  And after discovering a German company who sold books and patterns from US-designers I was hooked.

Gathering Place by Stoney Creek


3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind your blog title?

Some online stitching friends started blogging and I liked the idea to have a blog of my own.  And as you can see from my blog title there is no story behind it, lol.


4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT (one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?

Definitely a serial starter.  I’d love to be a rotator but whenever I compile a rotation it just works for a while and I feel great about it.  But then falls apart because I discover something in my stash that I have to start.  This urge can only be satisfied by starting it immediately.  So you could say that I’m the opposite of highly organized, lol. But hey, it’s a hobby and it’s supposed to be fun all over :)

Plymouth Sampler by Brenda Keyes


5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

My first love was the Prairie Schooler, and it still is.  Other than that I stitch what catches my eye, and that goes from traditional samplers to cute designs and everything
between.

Christmas Village by The Prairie Schooler


6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

That might be Good Neighbours by Paula Vaughan.  It was my very first big project and it uses 74 colours (if I remember right) and fractional stitches.  Back then I didn’t even know what fractional stitches are.  So it was a real adventure.

Good Neighbors by Paula Vaughan


7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?

I once had stitched and fully finished an ornament for an exchange.  But just before wrapping it up I spilled a cup of coffee over it.  I threw it away and stitched the ornament again.


8. Which new technique would you like to try, either stitching, finishing or another craft?

I’m just happy with cross stitch.


9. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd? What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

I have a box and a drawer with not-fully-finished projects.  I fully finish some of my smaller projects but the rest goes into the drawer or box.  For me the process of stitching is the most important.

Summer Arches by Bent Creek


10. Which of your projects most represents "you"?

I would say all of them.

Trousse Mimi Lapin by Les fées brodeuses


11. Tell us a secret about yourself. Or a joke. About anything!

Not really a secret: I love western movies, particularly the old ones.  My favourites are El Dorado and Rio Bravo, I can watch them over and over again..


12. Anything you would like to add?

I love this feature because I love to get to know new bloggers and learn more about the ones I already know.  I hope that you will still find a lot of bloggers who want to participate so that the Blogger of the Week can go on and on and on … :)



Thank you, Brigitte.  Everyone says how much they enjoy this feature.  If you have not been interviewed and would like to be, please email me.  If you know a brilliant blogger, then pass their details on to me so I can discover them too.



Friday 13 October 2017

Beth from Beth's Needlework Stash

This week's Blogger of the Week is another person I met through The Scarlet Letter Years blog.  She does some beautiful needlework as well as cross stitch.  One of my favourite projects is her 20/20 Challenge.  You must go read up on that after you've read the interview from Beth of



1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

I am Beth and I live in Illinois. I have one wonderful husband, 3 children - 2 boys in college and a daughter who is a senior in high school. Almost an empty nester! My daughter has a cat that loves me, although I only like it.


2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

I have been stitching since I was around 6 years old.  My mom purchased stamped scarves for my sister and I.  My sister took a few stitches, crumpled it up and threw it under the bed.  I made several and then taught myself crewel.  I still have a few of those pieces.  I stopped stitching in college but started again after graduation.  When I married, we moved to the Twin Cities in Minnesota and I discovered the Embroidery Guild of America.  A whole new world of stitching opened up for me! Group correspondence courses, workshops, national seminars!  I have never looked back. 

Beth's First Needlework


3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind your blog title?

I started blogging in May of 2010.  I wanted a way to journal my stitching and it seemed like a great way to start.  A lady who does not blog any more inspired me and helped me get started.


4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT (one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?


I like stitching whatever makes me happy.  I do pilot stitch for ANG and that forces me to have a deadline, but normally, I stitch what I feel like getting done. I always have at least 3 projects in the works: a large project that requires time and thought, a medium project that strikes my fancy and a small project to carry with me.  If I have too many projects started and around, I start panicking.  I do like having a canvas piece to stitch as that is one of my favorite mediums.  I do rotate through some of my larger projects as they get a little tedious.  


5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

I love Gay Ann Rogers designs.  She does canvas work and her instructions are wonderful.  Her pieces can be challenging or very straight forward.  I always learn something when I stitch her pieces. The other thing I love are geometric designs.  Whenever I start a new one, my boys tease me about it. "Haven't you done this one before? It looks the same as the last piece you stitched."


Malachite Heart by Gay Ann Rogers


6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

The piece I am most proud of is Elizabeth by Gay Ann Rogers. She was quite the challenge for me.

Elizabeth by Gay Ann Rogers


7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?


I have a hardanger angel in my basement that I counted wrong.  I was so angry I rumpled it up and threw it across the room.  It is close to being done but I am off and yet I can't bear to through it away.


8. Which new technique would you like to try, either stitching, finishing or another craft?


I think I am at the point where I want to get better at one of the many techniques I enjoy rather than trying a new one.  But you never know!


9. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd? What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

I have lots of projects that need to be finished.  I now know that I will always have projects that won't be finished.  I like learning the technique and stitching the piece, but I don't necessarily want to hang it on my wall.


10. Which of your projects most represents "you"?

I think the project that most represents me is the ANG Stitch of The Month that I taught to my guild. I stitched it 2 times and it has Hilton stitches that I love.


Flowers of Italy by Ro Pace

Blue (above)
and
Red, White & Blue (below)



11. Tell us a secret about yourself. Or a joke. About anything!

No secrets to tell. I tell most things on my blog :-)


12. Anything you would like to add?

I stitch to enjoy myself. It is to relax and make something beautiful.  My stitching is not perfect and I don't enter things to be judged.  One day I may, but nothing is good enough right now.  I try to stitch a little every day and make a little progress on my projects.  I think stitching should bring you joy, If it doesn't, it is time to start another hobby.






Friday 6 October 2017

Brenda from Time 2 Xstitch

I first met this week's Blogger of the Week through The Scarlet Letter Years blog for reproduction samplers and joined her in the 2014 Just Nan SAL.  Just Nan fans stick together!  In fact we are planning a Nan-a-long next year with a beautiful chart we both have.  As well as samplers our Blogger stitches some lovely smalls and always has nice finishes to show us.  So please welcome Brenda from



1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

My name is Brenda Wilson, and I currently living in Beavercreek, OH. I am a military wife and have been married to my husband Ted for 25yrs. We have 2 children.... Grace who is 22 and Daniel who is 17. We don’t have any pets at this time.


2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

I started cross stitching when I was 17 and I am self taught. My first job was in a fabric store that carried cross stitching charts, DMC floss, hoops, aida fabric and other necessities for cross stitching.



3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind your blog title?

I have been blogging since Feb 14, 2011. I because intrigued with having a blog while stationed in Germany with my family but I could not read enough German to figure out how to set up a blog on my computer. So I waited until we were restationed back in the USA.


4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT (one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?

My stitching style I guess would be described as a serial starter and rotater. I do have my stitching supplies organized as it just drives me nuts in my sewing room to NOT have things organized for the most part. For the designers that I have the most charts for, they are in plastic sleeves and filed in binders. Other designers that I may not have a lot of charts for, I have them filed in decorator gift bags.


5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

My favorite designers would be Just Nan and Shepherd’s Bush. I love designs with specialty stitches in them.

Just Nan Last Stitches

Shepherd's Bush Sail Away



6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

The piece I am probably the most proud of is Examplars From the Heart Resurrection. It is the LONGEST sized piece I have stitched.


Examplars From the Heart Resurrection



7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?

I don’t have anything that I have ever had that became a disaster. Perhaps the only disaster I can say would be that I had quite a few UFOs that I knew I would never finish, so I just boxed them up with any special overdyed threads and the chart and donated them to a needlework guild to be gifted out or sold to raise money. So the only disaster on that would be the money I spent in the chart, fabric and speciality fiber.


8. Which new technique would you like to try, either stitching, finishing or another craft?

I would LOVE to learn how to knit socks. I can knit very basic items, but I would love to learn how to knit socks to make fun socks for myself and my daughter.


9. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd? What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

Yes I do have a box of finished items. I hope to make a better effort of getting these finished but not fully finished items completely finished. That would make a great New Years goal. My smalls I like to make into ornaments, needlerolls, or pincushions.

Shepherd's Bush Tudor Needleroll


10. Which of your projects most represents "you"?
I would say that my Christmas ornaments that I have on my yearly Christmas tree represent me very well. I stitch ornaments for myself, family and friends every year.

Prairie Schooler Winter