The Land of Not-Quite-Finished-Projects Part 7: Celtic

So once upon a time in my early-ish 20's, I was involved in the SCA and enthralled with all things Celtic and vaguely medieval.   Got into costuming to some degree, went to a couple Pennsics, and generally had a good time.  

I had a bunch of totes and bags and such that I would do small pieces of embroidery like these and use them to decorate.  Most of those bags are long gone at this point - I've gone through stages where I had a good clearing out and they ended up on the hit list.

I think I got these all out of the same book, one of those Dover pattern books that just had black and white Celtic patterns.  Some I left monocromatic (obviously) and others I played around with the colors, like this one:

So I think that's about it for this series :-)   But never fear, there are tons of ongoing projects and old goodies to share in the future.

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished-Projects Part 6: Fairies

So these are the projects that I truly do not know what to do with them.     

When I started work on them, I had a misfire on a Mirabilia (it's just not a good idea to do your first Mirabilia as your first 32 count linen project LOL) and I think I was looking for something easier with the same feel to them.  Meh.  Not quite.  

I think the problem is that compared to the Miras, they're childish.  If there's any more nieces (or more likely, grand nieces) in the family, I could do something with them, or perhaps to a friends' child.   Anyway, they're just not my cup of tea anymore so I won't bother framing or the like.

Obviously, I put quite a bit of work into them once upon a time so I hate to get rid of them or give them away to someone who won't appreciate them.   No worries;  they've been packed away for a couple of years so there's no hurry to find them a new home.

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished-Projects Part 5: Samplers

Ahhh samplers...you just can't stitch without seeing patterns for samplers everywhere - every magazine, needlework shop, stitching group.  Any antique shop that you go into has at least a couple hanging on the walls.  Originally designed as a way to teach different needlework techniques and motifs to young girls as well as the alphabet and numbers, samplers have been around for hundreds of years.  It's no surprise they are still popular today.

I don't do a lot of samplers myself but I still find myself drawn to some of them.  For example, the Chatelaine Mandalas, like Knotgarden, are a type of sampler, and I'm looking forward to starting Long Dog Sampler's Scarlet Ribands.

It should be no surprise that there's a stack of samplers in my "Not Quite Finished" pile either.

This one is from 1996, when I was going through a Celtic design phase (there's more Celtic themed stitching but that will be in another post).  I know I found the design in a magazine, but am not sure which one - it's long gone at this point.   I still really like this design and might have a go at framing it myself sometime.

From 1997;  no idea where I found the pattern.  Not surprisingly we see a rose/floral theme here, which is consistent with my general tastes.

From 1998.  I seem to remember this being from a very popular designer but couldn't tell you who. It's a bit primitive for my tastes now, so I don't know that I'd do anything with it at this point.

And finally, four individual pieces that are a "set"  - not exactly a sampler per se but it's got the same feel.   No date on these but they're done on aida, so probably pre-1998 at least. 

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished Projects Part 4: Mill Hills

A couple of assorted Mill Hill kits that I've finished stitching.    At some point I'll probably make them into door pillows.   A "door pillow" is just a piece of cross stitch sewn into a small pillow with a ribbon hanger at the top, to hang over a doorknob for decoration.  It's a cute & simple project to do.

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished Projects Part 3: Rose Work

I really love roses, so it's no surprise they show up in my needlework fairly regularly. I believe these are all from "The Ultimate Book of Roses", one of those jumbo leaflet type things with lots of designs. Only one of these is dated - 1999 - but they're all from about the same time period. I originally had in mind to do a bunch of pillow tops for my bed; obviously they got stitched but never made into pillows LOL Such is life.

This "Welcome" is a bit small to frame for an entryway (but could in theory be put OVER a doorway); it was intended for a roll pillow. And another rose pillow top:

There are actually two of these spray of roses. I had two narrow windows in my bedroom of my one apartment and had hung lace panels up for curtains. These were intended to be sewn up as drawbacks for those lace curtains, which I still think would be very pretty. The design is just perfect for that use.

And this is the big rose: it's about 10 x 8 inches so it's quite a large, detailed piece.

I still really love this - probably not to frame but I'll use it for something at some point.

It's interesting how we evolve as stitchers. Not long after doing these, I discovered Silver Lining; although these are pretty, they really do not compare.

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished Projects Part 2: Vintage

These are a few Anne Powell designs that I did around 1999 or 2000. Unfortunately I don't think many, if any, of her designs are available anymore. I still have a couple patterns in stash that I haven't done.

As I previously mentioned, I'm a fan of all things Victorian, and these remind me of the simple but pretty mottos of that era. I generally prefer "Victorian elaborate" over "vintage simple" but I've always been fond of these designs. "Good Night and Pleasant Dreams" was intended as a top for a throw pillow to put in a guest bedroom. Obviously I was planning well ahead because when I stitched it, I had a one bedroom apartment LOL. It's a nice shape to do a roll pillow style. I love florals (as you may have guessed) so I really like the simple roses in this. It's stitched on 28 count lugana with 3 threads of floss over 2.

I think I might prefer to frame this rather than make it into a pillow now. I think this would be really pretty on linen stitched in hand dyed silks and using beads instead of the single stitches. Yes, it's crossed my mind to redo it in this way. I originally intended this piece to be framed, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it now. Again, the single stitches would really lend themselves to being replaced with beads.

If you know anywhere that Anne Powell designs might be available, I'd love to see if there are new ones available. Most if not all of her available designs are these simple but pretty vintage mottos; about 10 years ago, there were probably 15 or 20 available. Hoffman's only has one available, and her website appears to be gone.

The Land of Not-Quite-Finished Projects Part 1

Like most stitchers, I have a box full of not-quite-finished projects. We all have them - projects that we've finished stitching but haven't framed or made into anything.

With me, there's the pile that I will get framed at some point, like the Four Queens, Fairy Idyll, Edith Wolford. I just don't currently have the funds to do so, but I'll catch up at some point.

Then there's all the other pieces that I no doubt stitched with some purpose, but never did anything with them other than store for a later time. I thought I'd share some, so I'm starting a "Land of Not-Quite-Finished" series. Some of them I will perhaps do something with; others will never do anything but sit in the box until I give them away or toss them out.

I'll start with this lovely teacup:





This is the first piece that I ever completed on evenweave as opposed to Aida, circa 1995-ish. I'd tried a project on linen previously and has nothing but problems with it and gave it up. Some time after that I decided to do a small project and just muscle through it, hence this teacup. It was really what I needed to do; I've been stitching on evenweaves/linens ever since.