My Stitching Journey - Gallery of Finishes, the Early Years!

Well, the ones I actually finished anyway ...

Contents

Introduction

I have been stitching since I was about 16. I don’t seem to have my very first cross-stitch piece anymore maybe my parents do, but it was one of those free gifts you get with cross-stitching magazines, a little kit of a duck and I don’t think I finished the back-stitching, starting as I meant to go on! This article will show some of my early cross-stitching and finishes from purchased kits, I’ve included details where I could but some a very old and I can’t remember the brands or names…

The Early Years !

So after starting with the little duck kit I jumped right in, went big and after a long time completed my first major piece - Yes I now realize clowns are creepy but I liked it at the time, this one now lives in my furnace room

Design Works - called Rainbow Ride

design works rainbow ride cross stitch

It is kind of simple blocks of color but it still was still a lot of work, the one change I remember making was that I stitched the white of the clouds to make them pop more as I think the pattern just left them unstitched.

Janlynn - Cherub Alphabet

(Excuse the creases - this one never made it to framing and now my kids are much too old to appreciate it so it lives in a bag in the cupboard !)

Janlynn cherub alphabet

Close up of detail

Janlynn cherub alphabet detail

There was a lot of back-stitching on this one but I still love it

Sampler for our first son

sampler for our first son

We have two sons and I started one for the second, but … well, I had two small children then and getting time to stitch was hard. I’ve made that excuse for 18+ years and he’s now left school and it’s still not finished. Oops. Maybe one day it can go to a grand-child !

Dimensions Ascents - Circle of Wolves

dimensions circle of wolves

Dimensions Gold - Hidden Spirits

dimensions gold hidden spirits

I’m not sure if I made a mistake on back stitching of the cougar on the bank I can’t decide whether he looks derpy just sassy but he has character !

Owls - I cannot remember the brand or name of this kit and have not been able to find it online either

owls in flight cross stitch

This one was a bit different the owl on the left is stitched with 3 strands of floss, the middle owl is 2 strands and the right hand one is 1 strand, so the picture gets gradually fainter

Transport

transport cross stitch

Old cars

MG cross stitch

ford popular cross stitch

I think this was one of my first attempts at stitching on evenweave. 2 over 2 - looks a bit bulky

Lanarte - Girl in Chair -35 count white linen, 1 over 2 coverage

Lanarte girl in chair

This is one I was very happy to finish but it took years It regularly got abandoned and then pulled out again but I do love this one

Dimensions - Achoo, 14 count aida

Dimensions Achoo cross stitch

I made a major mistake with the above piece and started stitching with the fabric in the wrong orientation, luckly I managed to fit all the picture in except for a couple of the spots on the floor - It’s one of those things once you make that mistake you won’t do it again !

Dimensions Gold Petites - Weekend in Paris, 18 count aida

dimensions weekend in paris

Dimensions Gold Petites - Travel Memories, 18 count aida

Dimensions gold petities travel memories cross stitch

Metallics -urgh nuff said

Vervaco - Tenderness - on 14 count aida, 2 over 1 coverage

vervaco tenderness cross stitch

As much as I still do love this piece, since we’ve worked on the design-process ourselves I notice the areas it can be improved with some anti-aliasing to smooth out the jaggies and a little dithering to make the graduations smoother

It’s been really interesting pulling out these images and seeing how my tastes have changed over time and (I hope) my skills have improved a little at least. I haven’t posted any recently completed pieces partly because I’ve started doing bigger pieces that take longer such as Heaven and Earth Designs Blue Dragon (HAED).

I have a number of old kits that I an determined to finish at some point - we all have them, admit it. Lets all resolve to pull out one of them at least and let it live …

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