Sunday, January 12, 2014

Celebration Sampler Progress and a SAL!

Hello dear blogging friends, I hope the first few days of 2014 have been treating you well!  I am so happy to have some stitching to share with you in my first post of the year.  I have made a little progress on the Celebration Sampler, which was featured in the Just Cross Stitch Magazine in 2013.  

Look at this lovely section of the sampler, I was even brave enough to stitch '2014' in the space for the year - I will definitely have to persevere with this piece :) 


Here is my progress so far, the words look a bit funny at the moment, but will make more sense once I put more stitches in it!


It is such a pleasure to stitch, I am really enjoying it - here is a close up of the Bargello section - always so much fun to stitch!


This year I decided to join a SAL for a beautiful Hardanger piece by Mamen, which is kindly being hosted by Ticoeur on her forum.  The piece is called 'Bambu' and I'm stitching it on 28ct antique white Quaker cloth in DMC perle thread.  Here you can see my first step and the threads that I'm using - I decided to break away from 'tone on tone' Hardanger stitching and I'm having great fun with the lovely pinks! 


I am also starting another SAL on the 1st of  February with my dear friend Michelle from the UK.  There is a lovely sampler in the Sampler and Antique Needlework Magazine (SANQ) that we both want to stitch - I'm really looking forward to our SAL!

In other needlework news, I have been working on a quilt!  My cousin in Oregon had the most precious baby boy last year and I am making a quilt for him - the quilt top is made and the basting is done, now I have to machine quilt it.  I will show photos in a few weeks (after they have received it), since they haven't seen any photos yet - only snippets of fabric!

Well, that's it for now!

Have a great week and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

18 comments:

Vickie said...

The sampler is wonderful! Lovely pinks is right! That is fabulous. Can't wait to see the quilt.

Erna said...

What a lovely starts Michelle, love your colours.
Hugs
Erna x

Palkó said...

Beautiful works! :)

Mylene said...

What beautiful starts...and i so love that sampler! Looking forward to see more updates!

Mii Stitch said...

Great starts, that sampler is so nice!

Emma/Itzy said...

Your stitching is beautiful!

Blu said...

Lovely stitching! I love the pink and white colour scheme for the hardanger.

Lonneke said...

Nice eyecandy! ;)
Love the pink hardanger. And your sampler is so lovely.

Manuela said...

Beautiful works.

Greetings, Manuela

Michelle said...

Oh Michelle its beautiful. I too am looking forward to our SAL very much xx

Dani - tkdchick said...

Wow, what beautiful and unusual pieces!

Brigitte said...

Oh great, you are stitching the lovely Celebration Sampler from the JCS magazine. It's gorgeous and you made a great start on it.

Juscelia said...

Michelle, aqui tudo é maravilhoso.
Apaixonada por tudo o que vi...muito diferente do que faço.
Felicidades!!

Juscelia

Carol said...

Looks like your year is off to a great start stitching-wise, Michelle! Both pieces are so pretty. I'm always in awe of those of you who tackle hardanger.

Sounds like you're getting more crafting time this year--hope it keeps up! I look forward to seeing the baby quilt :)

Quiltpassion.blogspot.com said...

What lovely works! The Bargello is super and the pinks are so lovely!
Have a nice weekend, Cisca

Unknown said...

Deine Stickereien sind so schön .
Auch dein ganzer Blog ist schön anzusehen .
Liebe Grüße Karo

Irmeli said...

The Celebration Sampler looks very pretty. Love this Bargello section, it's so beautiful. And your SAL with pinks is lovely too.

Grit said...

Michelle,
wonderful stitching !!!