Hardanger Finish

After almost a year and a couple hundred hours of stitching, the Hardanger I have been working on is finished! These pieces will be used for the blouse of a Norwegian Bunad costume. (I’m not sewing the blouse, I only stitched the Hardanger inserts.)

In case you’re wondering what a Bunad is, here’s a picture of one. 

And here is my finished Hardanger. The cuffs for the blouse are on the left, the collar is on the right, and the placket in the middle is for the front of the blouse.

I’m feeling rather accomplished right now.

And tomorrow we return to cross stitch!

Zooming and Stitching

Busy weekend. 

About six weeks ago I saw a post on Facebook for a class with Isobel from the Primitive Hare. I had nothing planned and thought it was a good opportunity to experience something new. Isobel lives in the mountains of northern Italy on the border with Austria. The participants on the Zoom call were from the U.S., Italy and Finland and the class was conducted in English and Italian. Isn’t technology amazing? When the project is finished it will be a needlebook. The rose that will be attached was made and painted by hand. There’s quite a bit of stitching to this piece and it will take me awhile to finish it. I enjoyed it.

Recently, I’ve been working more on the Hardanger that I’ve been stitching for my cousin. I’ve been working on it on and off for about a year and I’ve decided that I just need to get it done. I finished the placket that goes on the front of the blouse.

I’ve never done the tooth edging before. This book from Yvette Stanton was a big help. If you do Hardanger, you may want to consider adding this book to your library of needlework books.

Hopefully, next time I post, I have all four pieces finished.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Fling

Kicked off the month of May by Zooming for Stitchville’s Spring Fling again this year. This year’s featured designer was Cathy Habermann. I’ve taken a few classes with Cathy H and learn something new every time.

During our class we went through the instructions for finishing her new teaching piece called Pieceful Spring. Cathy likes to collect ribbons and that’s what inspired her when she designed this project. The pillow is made up of five bands stitched on alternating colors of linen and then they are pieced together. The seams are embellished with some top stitching. I look forward to stitching and finishing this project!

Of course, I had to have a little fun with Cathy. We all know how much she loves flamingos!

During our Zoom call we could share our past finished from Hands on Designs. I pulled everything that was finished out of the vault (there are a few more stitched things that aren’t finished yet!)  here’s my lovely collection of Hands on Design finishes!

Have a good week and thanks for stopping by!

What Happened to April?

That went by fast. I didn’t stitch much. After finishing up the Merry Cox piece in early April, I was rather unsettled on the stitching front. I started a new sampler from La D Da and then set it aside. Then I started O Joyous Day from Blackbird Designs and set it aside. This past week I put a few more stitches in Snooty Parrots from Barbara Ana, but not enough significant progress to share. Sigh.

If you watch Flosstube you know that many stitchers are dedicating the weekend to stitching Blackbird Designs. It has been fun looking at all the pictures posted on Facebook and Instagram! We’ll see if I join in the fun before the weekend ends.

Today is also the first day of Maynia. I don’t partake, but I enjoy watching all the WIPs, new starts, and progress reports. Someday, I’d like to be totally crazy and start 31 new projects.

Also today, I will be Zooming for Stitchville’s Spring Fling. Sad that we have to Zoom again this year, happy that we are still getting together even if it is via Zoom! Cathy Habermann is this year’s designer/teacher. Love Cathy’s upbeat personality and always learn something from her.

No stitchy photos to share, so how about a picture of our very spoiled little girl!