Blogger's cross stitch display

Inspired by the unbelievable display of cross stitch samplers by Jean of Linen and Raspberry, Chookyblue has coordinated a blogger's cross stitch display, starting today. She has brought together at least 20 bloggers to display their stitcheries. Check out Chooky's blog for a full list of participants.

My cross stitch days were limited to a very narrow window of my life, stitched between finishing university and having children. The idea of having extended periods of uninterrupted time to concentrate on cross stitch is but a memory now! Oh, but I did enjoy it.

Today I will show you what remain my two favourite cross stitch projects.

This is my very first cross stitch, a wildflower sampler, stitched on Aida. I am afraid the details of the pattern are long gone. If anyone recognises it, I'd love to hear from you!

I do remember that it was supposed to be stitched in one strand of Danish Flower Thread. This thread was certainly not readily available in Australia at the time, so I substituted 2 strands of DMC equivalent threads.

My second project was a collection of four stitchery samplers, predominantly cross stitch, but with some drawn thread work thrown in.

 

I remember really enjoying doing these. I loved conquering the different types of stitches.

Of course, they are 'bloom' inspired, depicting bluebells, violets, amaranth and buttercups. My love for flowers is as old as I am!

Hmmm, it is stretching my memory for the details of these too. I remember buying the graphs at a craft show at Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney. It was probably 20 years ago!

'Shepherd's Bush' is ringing a bell?

It is such a relief that 20 years after these were stitched, I still love them. They took an inordinately long time to complete! They have pride of place in our living room.

I'll be back next Saturday to show you the other half of what constitutes my short and sweet cross stitch phase!