I'd started this in January 2023 but then put it to one side to work on Outlander to complete for a friend.
Roll on to March 2025 and I've picked it back up to work alongside a project I'm stitching along with Essie.
Finishes, WIPs and wishes. When I'm not gardening, I'm stitching. I learned to cross stitch when I was 17 and I haven't looked back. A day without any x's is a wasted day.
I'd started this in January 2023 but then put it to one side to work on Outlander to complete for a friend.
Roll on to March 2025 and I've picked it back up to work alongside a project I'm stitching along with Essie.
I started cross stitching when I was 17. Before the Internet. Before Instagram. Before blogging. I'm that old hahaha.
Back then, everything was bought from real shops, and we had a beautiful little shop called The Spinning Jenny, filled with everything you could ever dream of for embroidery, cross stitch and tapestry. I would have loved to run a shop like that.
I started by only purchasing threads and aida that was required for certain projects but as time went on and my bobbins grew, I started buying the threads to complete the DMC range. It took many years but one of the best things I ever did. There have been the odd hiccup (certain dye changes in the greys come to mind) but on the whole, it has been a very good investment.
But nothing really changed, other than when I discovered evenweave, and when I dabbled in hardanger, and the advent of the daylight bulb.
I had grown a friendship group who all loved the hobby, and ideas and products were exchanged and gifted.
It wasn't until I started posting my updates on Instagram that I realised I'd been left behind in the improvements made in the hobby. New tools were available. Bright new ideas, and of course the availability of the new fandangle.
So at the end of 2024 and into 2025, I decided to update my set up.
This is Venus by Michele Sayetta. It was a free chart by Heaven and Earth Designs back in February 2024 but I didn't begin stitching it until 4th October 2024.
My Dutch friend, Essie, are both stitching the design at the same time. A stitch-along, if you will.
I've been skipping through these pages while convalescing after surgery to put pins in my foot. There's been little else to do, other than binge-watching various series on Netflix.
I'm going into my 8th and final week of planned sick leave so progress will slow down considerably.
Having taken December out to stitch on festive stitching, I'm back with Jamie and Claire. I've just finished page 5!
Happy New Year!
I've been learning how to crochet over the past couple of months and I now spend my Saturday crafting sessions with a crochet hook, a laminated US/UK conversion guide and various free charts from t'interweb practicing with a load of old wool.
Like my stitching, I'll be uploading my journey with the hooks.