Swedish biscornu - free pattern

Hej, jag har gjort en svensk biscornu korsstygnsmönster för er.

Well, I hope that above sentence is more or less correct. ;) I am very busy lazy learning Swedish.

Anyway, my newest cross stitch pattern for you is based on Swedish motifs. To be exact, motifs from Skåne, in the south of Sweden.

One characteristics of these patterns is that all the surface is covered with stitches. They have created huge pieces with this method. True, they often used low-count Aida and thick (sometimes wool) embroidery thread. Also, lot of embroidery was made with long-armed cross stitch (although I am not so sure if this is typical of Skåne or some other parts of the country) which gives a better coverage.

I love the colour combinations of these patterns, I tried to follow them as closely as I could.

First, here is a biscornu pattern. I hope you will like it. I have some more plans, so watch this place!

I have a lot of new photos to share with you: I have made some lovely felt-embroidery, I have my own space in a local craft shop, I have sewn a curtain for my balcony door and I have started a weaving experiment. I would like to show you all of these. Unfortunately I have no idea where my camera cable is... Cleaning in progress, so there is hope. As soon as I find it, I will be back. :)

Hope you all are having a lovely summer - not like us here in Sweden. :( Summer has been cancelled this year.

I am back - photos from Hungary

Hi, everyone!

I am back from my trip to Hungary. It was lovely, the weather was really hot, 37-39 degrees Celsius! Then I came back to Sweden and it is barely 20 - I wish there could be some compromise between the two. :(

I didn´t do much needlework lately, I crocheted a shrug and finished knitting two scarves for my daughter and my friend we stayed with in Hungary. Of course, I forgot to take photos. :( Will ask them to send me a photo if they can.


Right now I am having internet problems but I will try to come online once in a while at my boyfriend´s place. Please forgive me if I can´t answer comments right away.


Here are some photos from the trip. Thanks Stephen for letting me use them - he took all the pictures.

For some reasons he took lots of photos of me like this - do I need to take it as a hint??? ;)

With Nelli and Rita, two friends from my former school.

Yarn-bombing in Budapest :)

On Margaret Bridge in Budapest - on the left you can see the tip of Margaret Island.

With my best friend, Panni - we have been friends since primary school. We stayed at their place and went for a weekend trip together.

My beautiful daughter. Eszter and her boyfriend. Oh, how I miss her already!

I met some of my former class that graduated from high school in 2008. I am so proud of them all!

With Panni on the highest mountain (hill? 1014 m) of Hungary. Perhaps this is not the best angle to take a photo of me. Hm...

Hungarian bread. I think this might be an explanation for our weight problems.

Two "mer-ladies" on Tisza-lake.

Lovely Transsilvanian embroidery at a market in Pásztó.

One of the ladies selling things helped me try on an old fashioned skirt of the folk costume. :)

And finally, the only photo of the person who made all the other pictures: Stephen.
We had a lovely time together.

Going for a holiday

Hi, friends,

I am going away for a holiday, kind of. Going home to Hungary, so half of it will be all kinds of official appointments, but I hope to have some time to relax and meet friends and of course, my daughter.

That means I won't be blogging for about two weeks. I am not sure if I will have any internet time at all. Just so you don't get too impatient ;), here is a free pattern, you can stitch it by the time I am back. Looking forward to it.

Have a lovely summer, everyone, see you later. Hugs


Agi

Free cross stitch pattern - recipe book cover

I have designed this cross stitch pattern because I would like to make a recipe book at some point - when I have done all the other things on my to-do list :).
It is monochrome, so you can pick your own colour, or use a variegated thread.
It can also be used for a photo-album or a scrapbook.

I included an alphabet so you can customise it.

Have fun stitching it and please, send me a photo if you do.

Two cross stitch finishes

I have been stitching a lot recently. Here are the two things I have finished:

One is a freebie from this site:




The other is my own pattern, here is the "original" and the stitched version. This is the belltower in Rasbokil, the parish I live in Sweden. It is so beautiful, I have long wanted to make it into a cross stitch.

I am sewing clothes!!!

Yeah! I have done it! :D :D

I didn't know how to sew clothes. I have done a lot of adjustments, hemming and things like that, have made curtains and cushions but I have always wanted to learn how to make my own clothes.
So a few weeks ago I started. First I made myself a 3-layered skirt. It was really easy. I followed this tutorial with my own measurements, naturally.

The fabric was a thrifted sheet, the cover-type and it was so nice that it had coordinating fabric on the two sides, I didn't have to worry about whether they go well together or not :) . It is quite see-through though, so I added lining and I am really proud that it worked.





(Don't laugh at the funny way I am standing - it is because I cannot stand straight from the pain in my back. I had to hold on to the railing.)

Then I realised I needed trousers. Unfortunately my old trousers don't fit. Don't ask why, just look at the pictures. :( Making trousers pattern is not an easy thing but then I found this on the internet: how to take the pattern from an existing pair of trousers. So I went for it. Of course, I had to make the pattern a bit bigger than my existing trousers in a few places.

I have a piece of striped fabric I wanted to use but then I decided to start with a muslin and I used another thrifted sheet. It is good because when it was ready, I realised I need to modify the pattern a bit. It is a little too baggy in the front and after reading lots of descriptions, I understood that I have to make the front crotch a little shorter. So I have the pattern modified and ready, as soon as my back is better I will make my final version. But I think I can wear the muslins, too. If I wear a long t-shirt with them, you can't see the bagginess. What do you think? And I am so proud that I managed to make pockets, too!





The t-shirt is "new" as well. It was made from an existing one that was too short, and three others that were too small (two of them actually children size). It doesn't look very elegant but is so comfy. I love it.

Now the next step is to sew a blouse! I have some old patterns and I will try to find some nice fabric when I am at home in Hungary (much cheaper than here in Sweden). So watch this space!
Any advice from more experienced friends is more than welcome!

Midsummer in Rasbokil

Today it is raining again. But we were so lucky, we had lovely summer weather for midsummer yesterday. I celebrated with my boyfriend in the local parish that is called Rasbokil.

They raise a maypole or midsummer pole and dance around it. It was really lovely. I have been having some pain in my back lately but didn't want to stay at home and it was worth it. I even "danced" a few steps. :D
In the evening we had a dinner of potatoes cooked with dill, sil and sourcream souce, and then strawberries with whipped cream.


It was such a lovely day.