Cross-stitch 2010

Having returned to full-time teaching in 2006 I have not had as much time to craft, though that is improving as I MAKE more time and aim to do at least 30 minutes of me-time each evening, plus a couple of hours in the weekends.  Last year I completed these two pictures...

Romeo and Juliet - a pattern that came free with a magazine I bought in the 90s.

from a magazine also bought in the 90s

More cross-stitch catch-ups!

More from the 90s...plus a few from the 2000s - am gradually getting them onto digital!

1997? - we had cat called Tigger who spent a lot of time looking stressed out and we joked that he would just sleep if it all got too much for him - I adapted this from a pattern book, changing the colour of the brown cat into ginger to look like my cat.  I experimented with different stitching techniques to make the patchwork blanket.

Late 90s, this was from a pattern that my mum asked me to make for her.

This also was stitched for my mum from a kitset she had, to match the one done earlier of the cat under the blanket.

A trio set from 2008 - this is the view of the girl at the front...

...here is the side view of the "Girls on Bike" - was a kit set again...

...and the girl at the back!

I did this picture in the early 90s - Phoebe was our little Sydney Silkie dog;
I took a photo of her and sent it to a lady who turned it into a pattern for cross-stitch.
This was  a gift for my mum; she recently gave it back to me.

Early 2000s cross-stitch

Achoo! was done in 2005 from a"kitset.  It is a "Newton's Law"design by Rory Tyger.
I get hayfever a lot so it has personal meaning!

This Pooh and friends birth sampler (kitset) was done for my son in 2001 - I began it while sitting next to his incubator as he was delivered 12 weeks early (hence his low birthweight - was just a wee fart!)

I did this little Santa door hanger in 2002. It was a kitset also and is stitched on plastic canvas.

I finished this "Rose Arbour" by Nora Corbette in 2005 - it really suited the character of the old house we were living in at the time. This was also a kitset.  It is on Belfast linen, 32 count, and has metallic thread highlights and some beads too.

"Garden Charm" was completed in 2002 from a kitset - it has about 12 little charms attached.

Peek-a-Pooh was a 2005 project as well, for my son again.

Mickey Mouse cross-stitch

I stitched this kit-set of the world's most famous mouse back in May as a 5th birthday gift for our wee friend Gabrielle Shepherd - her birthday is in June but I couldn't find the right frame so she didn't actually receive the picture until late August - Gabby is a fan of Mickey Mouse so I hope she enjoys it!

Cushions

Two of our young friends both headed off to boarding school this year and I wanted to give them each something nice to have in their rooms.

For Caitlin, off to school in Dunedin, I used the peace angel pattern and made it into a small cushion.

 For Meg, heading for her first year as a boarder in Invercargill, I made a small cross-stitch into a cushion as well.

 

The 90's - needlework

Here are a few of my cross-stitches or tapestries from that decade - the ones that I've taken digital photos of.  I have many others but need to get their photos transferred to digital, so I will add more as I get them.

1993 - for my Swedish friend Anna

1993 - Granny chose this and asked me to do this one for her to give as a gift to my cousin Jan

1994 - for my mum Lorena (yes, all these pictures came from a cat pattern book that I'd bought)

1994 - for my friend Rachael

1997 - for my mum, from a kitset that she'd started and asked me to finish

1998 - for myself, from a kitset "Portrait of Elegance"

a tapestry - completed in 1999?

1998 - a kitset cross-stitch by either Bessie Pease Gutsman or Maud Tousey Fangel

1997 - Kitty Cats - adapted from a magazine pattern

1999 - a kitset

2000 - wedding present for my husband Brian