Pansies–Stage 8

Hello everyone!

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time.

Unfortunately, it’s been a case of one step forward and two steps back this time. I’m showing the complete design again so you can see what I’m going on about.

Something suddenly dawned on me. I was stitching the lilac pansy near the bottom. It was going very well.

But why is there a lilac pansy in this design? It sticks out like a sore thumb so how come I didn’t notice it before? To be fair, the package photo isn’t a good colour match for the real stitching but even so, why have an odd lilac pansy in there? Well, there isn’t any more. Not in my version. It’s gone! I had to frog it LOL. I’ve decided to replace it with a yellow one instead.

Also, do you remember the pink petals in the second group of flowers from the top? The last group is supposed to have the same pink.

I’ve frogged those as well Open-mouthed smile . If I couldn’t get used to seeing the lilac odd ball I knew I didn’t want to look at those pink petals either and, the bottom group of flowers which I haven’t stitched yet, is supposed to have the same pink which is brighter than Barbie pink. I don’t mind pink. It’s not my favourite colour but it’s OK. However, I’ve never seen pansies with 1960’s bubble gum pink petals before so they’re gone! That means I’ve now completed less than I showed in the last update but at least I’m happy with it. I’m wondering if I lost my motivation for stitching this design because of those pink petals. I’ve made good progress since I got rid of them.

As you can see, the lilac odd ball is now yellow.

The package photo shows this is a vertical design. I’ve been thinking of making it into a wall hanging when it’s finished but if you have any other suggestions I’m all ears.

Helen needs to take a break from the SAL for a while. Hopefully she’ll be back soon. In the meantime, please visit the other blogs that are taking part in this SAL. There are so many different projects to enjoy. The participants live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. We’re posting today at local time.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 28th April 2024.

About the SAL

Please note this SAL is not accepting any more new members until further notice but this is what it’s all about anyway. This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL.

17 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on April 7, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged Craft Collection, cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL, Sewing

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on April 7, 2024

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2024/04/07/pansies-stage-8/

Stage 7–Pansies

Hello everyone!

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time.

I finished the next two flowers. I really had to push myself to stitch this time but I’m pleased I did. This is how it looked before the back stitching.

And here it is after the back stitching has been added. I haven’t picked it up again since I took this photo a few days ago.

There’s one more large group of flowers left to stitch. I’m already looking forward to moving onto another project (don’t know which one yet) but I’ll definitely finish this one first.

Sadly, Heidi has decided to leave the SAL. Hopefully, she’ll continue to stitch behind the scenes Smile .

Please visit the other blogs that are taking part in this SAL. There are so many different projects to enjoy and the participants live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. We’re posting today at local time.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 7th April 2024.

About the SAL

20 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on March 17, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged embroidery, cross stitch, SAL, Pansies, Craft Collection

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on March 17, 2024

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2024/03/17/stage-7-pansies/

Pansies–Stage 6

Hello everyone!

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time.

I’ve now started the next flower group but didn’t get anywhere near as much done as I’d hoped.

I stitched some leaves and started a new flower. Looks like I’m having a temporary stitching mojo blip. I still like the project. I’ll give myself a shake and try to get on with it for next time. If I hadn’t been taking part in the SAL I probably wouldn’t have done any stitching this time so thanks to the SAL Smile .

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 17th March 2024.

About the SAL

23 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on February 25, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on February 25, 2024

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2024/02/25/pansies-stage-6/

Pansies–Stage 5

Hello everyone!

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time. I hadn’t completed the back stitching on the bottom group of flowers.

I finished that and then stitched the next group of two buds and one open flower as well as the leaves. The back stitching has also been done this time.

Just in case you’re wondering what the whole thing looks like so far, I temporarily removed the fabric from the frame at one side. The bottom of the bud on the right is at the halfway point. There’s still a long way to go but the evenings are slowly getting longer and lighter so that’ll help. The garden will be calling me soon so I’d better get on with some stitching in the meantime.

The next group of flowers is similar to the one at the top. I’ll try to get that stitched for our next update.

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 25th February 2024.

About the SAL

17 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on February 4, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL, The Craft Collection

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on February 4, 2024

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2024/02/04/pansies-stage-5/

Pansies–Stage 4

Happy New Year everyone! The last six weeks have flown by. I hope you enjoyed the holiday period if you celebrated. We had quiet family time and Santa was very generous on the crafting front Smile .

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time.

I didn’t get as much stitched as I wanted to so the latest group of pansies has no back stitching. That’s what I’ll be doing next.

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 4th February 2024.

About the SAL

20 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on January 14, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged Craft Collection, cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on January 14, 2024

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2024/01/14/pansies-stage-4/

Pansies–Stage 3

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time.

It was good to start a new group of flowers in a different colourway.

Poor daylight doesn’t give very good photos. Think bright! No backstitching on these ones yet.

Please visit the other blogs that are taking part in this SAL. There are so many different projects to enjoy and the participants live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. We’re posting today at local time. Welcome back Cindy Smile .
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret, Cindy

Our next updates will be posted on the 14th January 2024. We’re taking a short break. See you next year!

About the SAL

26 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on December 3, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on December 3, 2023

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2023/12/03/pansies-stage-3/

Pansies–Stage 2

It’s time to share progress on my latest SAL project. It’s called Pansies by The Craft Collection.

This is where I was up to last time.

I’ve now got the first group of flowers finished.

I ummed and aahed a bit about the back stitching. The charts show it following the edge of the petals and leaves etc. but I wasn’t sure if it would look better to use diagonals to smooth the edges. In the end I decided to go with the instructions and this is the result. It looks better from a distance.

There’s backstitching in several different colours and I’m happy with it. It took a lot longer than I’d expected so there doesn’t appear to be as much progress as I would’ve liked but the hours spent stitching were enough. I suppose diagonals would’ve been a lot quicker to do. Anyway, I’m pleased with how it looks so far.

The next group of flowers have pale pink petals and I’m not sure about the thread colour but I’m going to put my head down and go with it. Life is far too short to be umming and aahing more than twice in a project.

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret

Our next updates will be posted on the 3rd December 2023.

About the SAL

28 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on November 12, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on November 12, 2023

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2023/11/12/pansies-stage-2/

Pansies–Stage 1

It’s time to introduce my new SAL project. It’s not a Bothy Threads kit this time. I’m actually going a bit more traditional for a change. I bought this Craft Collection kit as “second hand but unopened” from Ebay several years ago. I bought it because there were no bids on the auction with only a few minutes left. I wasn’t mad on the design at that time but I recognised the brand of the kit which I believed to be a good quality one and thought the fabric and threads alone would be worth a bid.

Anyway, this is what I’ve chosen to stitch next.

As you can see, it’s a long and narrow design 6.5” x 26” so I’ll probably make a wall hanging for the hall when it’s finished.

On the package photo it looks as though the fabric should be white or maybe cream but this is what I found inside.

The charts are large and clear and the thread colours are lovely and bright so I couldn’t use that muddy shade of beige fabric for this project. It’s good quality but I’ve stashed it for later. I want the pansies to be bright and cheerful and the beige would’ve sucked all the light out of the design I think. I’ve swapped it for white which looks more like the photo on the packaging.

I’m finding it hard to put down so I worked on it for a week and then put it out of sight while I did some other crafting. I started at the top but there’s no back stitching done yet.

Please visit the other blogs that are taking part in this SAL. Sadly, Cindy has decided to leave the group. I’m really going to miss her HAED projects. Everyone else is doing a different project. We live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. We’re posting today at local time.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, MaryMargaret

Our next updates will be posted on the 12th November 2023.

About the SAL

25 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on October 22, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pansies

Tagged cross stitch, embroidery, Pansies, SAL, The Craft Collection

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on October 22, 2023

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2023/10/22/pansies-stage-1/

Allotment Fun–Happy Dance!

This is Allotment Fun, a cross stitch kit from Bothy Threads. The design was developed from an art work by Julia Rigby. It’s time for another progress update.

This is where I was up to last time.

I completed the back stitching and continued to work to the right of the greenhouse and then cross stitched the rest of the design.

Just a bit of back stitching to do….

…..and it was all finished Smile .

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching it. I’m Happy Dancing today!

I’ll show you my new project in the next update because I’ve got something else to share with you all today. You might remember the Pumpkin House from Bothy Threads that I stitched previously. I’d offered to stitch it for my friend Lin because her eyes were no longer up to it. Anyway, I sent the finished piece back to her and she decided to have it framed. It has taken longer than expected because her original framer had closed down and she needed to find another one. It’s all done and hanging in her house now, just in time for Hallowe’en Smile .

I love the frame she chose. Here it is in more detail. The coppery border is perfect I think. Didn’t she choose well?

Please visit the other blogs that are taking part in this SAL. Everyone is doing a different project. We live all over the world so you may need to allow for time differences. We’re posting today at local time.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan,

Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Cindy, MaryMargaret

Our next updates will be posted on the 22nd October 2023.

About the SAL

24 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on October 1, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Cross stitch, Pumpkin House

Tagged Allotment Fun, Bothy Threads, cross stitch, embroidery, SAL

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on October 1, 2023

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2023/10/01/allotment-fun-happy-dance/

Allotment Fun–Stage 3

This is Allotment Fun, a cross stitch kit from Bothy Threads. The design was developed from an art work by Julia Rigby. It’s time for another progress update.

This is where I was up to last time.

I continued to work to the right of the wheelbarrow but I didn’t manage to get the back stitching done so you’ll have to guess what everything is for now and then check to see if you were right next time. The fabric looks the right colour this time. It’s pale blue in real life and not dirty grey as in the photo above.

There isn’t much more to do so I expect to be happy dancing next time. For once, I have no idea which project will be next. I might have to number them all and choose one at random from a hat.