Some more little finishes

Hello, everyone,

how was your Christmas? We decided not to celebrate really, just take it easy and relax, didn't even buy presents (only for the kids). Still, I managed to eat more and move less than what I intended.
I am having a bad backache again, and really need to lose weight to help my back. :( I started yesterday but not with much success so far :D


Anyway, I have been stitching and knitting a bit, here is the result. I finished another pattern on my Celtic afghan, this time it is a pattern from a library book, a Celtic Cross. It was originally designed to look like stone in different shades of grey, but I changed the colours so it matches the other patterns more.

And this is what the afghan looks like now. Sorry it is not ironed. I am planning to do four smaller pattern in the corners and then I will see if it needs more or not. Don't want it to bee too much - there are lots of colours in it already.

And I knitted a hat for myself so I have something to go with the scarf I received from my daughter.

I am also knitting a pullover for her in different shades of grey, and I have organised my embroidery threads, among them lots of vintage threads. Will have to take a photo of the boxes and bags tomorrow, when there is more light.
I might want to start some small cross stitch too, tonight. I was looking at pattern books and feel an urgent need to stitch LOL.

I will be soon back with more pictures.
Until then, have fun, friends.

New finishes and a Christmas freebie

Hi, everyone, how are you doing?

Have you started your Christmas stitching yet?

I have made a free Christmas pattern. Apart from the usual motifs I used some Swedish motifs that I really love. The deer is used widely in Sweden, although it is quite a universal pattern all over Europe. But the Julbok, the goat is typical Swedish, as is the crown. I hope you like it. You can use them together or one by one on gift tags or cards.

I have finished two pieces recently: one is Celtic Knot by Textile Heritage. I have stitched it on an afghan, I am collecting different Celtic patterns on it.

The other is my own Dove that I published in my last post. To be honest, I myself didn't think it will turn out this good, I am very happy with it. I used variegated threads, Anchor 1204 on the wing and DMC 4110 on the body. For the wing and the tail I stitched in rows, to have this stripey appearance, for the body I stitched in little block or circles so it became more blotchy. I made one little change: I backstitched a circle around the eye. I felt the eye was a bit too small.

What do you all think? What colours would you use?

Right after I wrote about my bargain finds last time, I happened to be in the Red Cross shop again. (Only by accident, you understand.) This is part of what I came away with (I bought lots of buttons and yarn to take to school, too).

One of these books is called "Embroidery, cutting, sewing", the other "Rare cross stitch".

Lots of embroidery fabric, a thread holder in wood and a tool to wrap yarn on (what is it called?), and some more yarn, and bags of different embroidery threads:wool, cotton, linen, perle.

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Free bookmarks week - 2. Celtic bookmark

This design was inspired by Celtic knots. I love the dark green and gold together, with a hint of red and black.

Hope you will enjoy stitching it.

Tomorrow I am coming back with some Swedish flowers. :)

New blackwork biscornu, free pattern, and a WIP

I made this little one yesterday and today:






It's on 16 cound Aida, stitched with white and pink satin thread. The button is actually pink, but the photo doesn't show it very well. On the other side I put a few small beads.

Here is the pattern. Remember, as this is not not a "pointed corner" biscornu, when you sew it together, match the green arrows with the green ones and the read arrows with the red ones. (They are not to be stitched.) Please, enjoy. :)




And now one of my WIPs. I am not a "big project" person, so even when I do something big, I choose it to be made of smaller parts. Right now I am working on an afghan. Instead of the original pink roses pattern I decided to stitch Celtic patterns on it. I have done two motifs so far:

the Celtic hound:



and the Celtic horse (this was finished a few days ago):



The whole afghan looks like this right now - actually, this is not the whole, just the middle of it, it is too big to fit in a picture :)



Next I am planning to do a Celtic knot.