Knitting Needle Case / Biscornu

My current project is a knitting needle case for my sister. I am stitching on 32 Count Belfast Linen in "Woodland by Picture This Plus. The design is "Il Paese Delle Fate" by Alessandra Adelaide. I am stitching with Caron Waterlilies silk in "Celadon". Here is what the design will look like:

And here is my progress so far:

I also made a biscornu so that she would have something to open for her birthday, since I did not finish the needle case in time:

First Biscornu

Here is my first attempt at a biscornu. It is called "Cat Lover's Biscornu" and it is by The Sweetheart Tree. It is stitched on 32 count Opalescent Raw Linen, using threads by DMC and beads by Mill Hill. I absolutely love the way it turned out, and thought it would be much more difficult to stitch than it actually was!

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Wedding Sampler

One of my recent projects was a wedding sampler I made for my friends Mandy and Wyatt, who got married on July 4. The design is by The Sweetheart Tree: "To Have and To Hold". I stitched this over 2 on 32 count hand-dyed linen in Dark Tan by Silkweaver Fabrics. Threads were by DMC, Weeks Dye Works and Kreinik. I really enjoyed stitching this because it had a lot of specialty stitches I had never tried before. The pattern was great - very easy to follow with blown up stitch diagrams and very clear instructions for all of the specialty stitches. Some of the special stitches used were Rhodes Heart, Couching with Cable, Scotch Stitch, Oblique Herringbone stitch, Smyrna Cross stitch, Lattice Work with Tacking, Diamond Eye Stitch and Bargello stitch. Here is the finished & framed product:

Midwinter

My other current WIP is the design "Midwinter". The design is by monsterbubbles - one of my favorite cross stitch designers. This design area is 246w x 208h. It features a quote from a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti.

I am stitching this 1 thread over 1 on 32 count Lugana - the color is "Terra Cotta" and is hand-dyed by Enchanted Fabrics. The pattern calls for specialty threads by Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works, and Thread Gatherer Silk N' Colors. (Have I mentioned before that I LOVE working with hand-dyed materials???) I haven't gotten too much completed on this one yet, just a few wind swirls.

Dunnottar Castle Project

This project will be a gift for my mother. Dunnottar Castle is a ruined castle on the northeastern coast of Scotland. When I was growing up, my dad had the opportunity to move to Scotland for his work, so we lived there for 3 1/2 years. Dunnotar Castle was about 30 minutes away from where we lived, and we frequently visited it. Whenever any family or friends came to visit us we would take them there. It quickly became my mom's favorite spot. So I found a great picture of the castle, and sent it in to a website to have it turned into a cross stitch pattern. Here is the original photo:

The pattern is 308w x 196h (60,368 total stitches) and contains 150 colors. I chose to stitch this on 36 count Antique White linen, 2 threads over 2, and am using DMC threads. I used a water-soluable fabric pen to grid the fabric prior to stitching since this is such a large project. I started this in January 2010 - I have a feeling this one won't be done until next year for my mom's birthday :) So far I am about 18,000 stitches in, and here is my latest progress:

Stitching Blog

I am new to the world of blogging, but wanted to keep a record of my cross stitch and embroidery projects. I usually have at least a couple of projects going at any given time, and of course many, many other projects that I want to start! Currently I have 2 projects on the go, which I'll introduce in separate posts. If there are any other stitchers out there reading this, I'd love your feedback and / or links to your work as well!