Sinister Craftiness

Last summer I decided to embroider several Hardanger table centerpieces as Christmas gifts.   Originally I planned to make four gifts, but by the beginning of December it was clear that there was no way I’d be able to complete more than three.  Each centerpiece took about two months to embroider, and while I managed to complete the much larger third project in two months as well, life would have been much easier if I had budgeted 3-4 months for it instead.

My grandmother received the first project:  a 20″ (approx. 51cm) square centerpiece based on a 1905 design from the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.  I stitched it on white Hardanger fabric (22 count) with variegated blue perle cotton from DMC.  The openwork took a lot longer than I thought it would; overall the centerpiece is much more “lacy” than I expected it would be.  (See what it looked like before I did any cutting, weaving, or picots.)  I was also learning each stitch along the way, so I believe if I made this centerpiece again it wouldn’t take as long to embroider the basic surface stitches.

The second centerpiece, Mindy, was given to my aunt.  A little smaller than the Vesterheim centerpiece (18″ or 45cm), I used light blue Hardanger fabric and white DMC perle cotton with dark blue perle cotton accents.  This centerpiece was the easiest and quickest of all the projects to stitch.  One aspect of Hardanger embroidery I enjoy is watching the progression of a project:  each set of simple stitches adds to the overall beauty and complexity of the design.  Here’s a look at Mindy in progress.

Third (and last), my mother chose the pattern “Oldemors Kaffeduk” (Great-grandmother’s coffee cloth) from Lillil Thuve’s book Hardanger Design (Orion Forlag, 2000).  The original design is white embroidery on white fabric, but I decided to use Caron Watercolours Rose Quartz for the surface stitches, and cream Hardanger fabric was a better match with those colors.  Further, I added a personal touch:  my mother’s dining room has a view of her bird feeders, to which chickadees are one of the most frequent visitors.  A Cross Stitcher’s Oriental Odyssey (by Joan Elliott) includes charts for a delightful pair of chickadees which fit perfectly in each corner of the tablecloth.

While the tablecloth design was simple, the size of the project (81cm  or 32″) meant there was a lot more work to do than on the previous centerpieces.  The additional cross-stitched motifs also took extra time to complete — a little under one week per chickadee.  The tablecloth was successfully completed in two months, but the pace was much more intense and many other tasks around the house were neglected to meet the Christmas deadline.

I’m pleased with how the chickadee tablecloth turned out.  The cream fabric and delicate blend of pink, cream, taupe and green in the Watercolours skein give the piece an antique look.  I used ecru perle cotton rather than Caron’s Wildflowers Rose Quartz to weave the bars so the openwork would stand out; I noticed that the variegated thread in the Vesterheim centerpiece makes it difficult to see the dove’s eyes and picots.

Even though the goal of homemade gifts ended up becoming very stressful at the end — and I was very happy to be finished! — I’m glad I made the effort.  It’s been a great learning experience and is a fun hobby (relaxing, too, when there’s no deadline to meet).  The only problem now is that I gave away all my Hardanger pieces and have none for my own table.  I still have all the materials to make the Anna table runner, so I may keep it or give it as a gift this year.  I’ll also take some time choosing another pattern for myself, and enjoy the slower pace as well as the eventual results.

Lately I’ve been selecting stitching projects from cross stitch magazines. The articles are useful for learning about different designers, offer a chance to try out new skills and include a variety of charts in size, level of expertise, and topic. I’ve been stitching several small projects; all taking one week or less to complete.

The first magazine project to catch my eye was a free kit by Margaret Sherry included in issue 196 of CrossStitcher magazine. It doesn’t get much cuter than this pair of cuddling kittens. The completed design measures 15 x 12 cm, stitched on 14 count white Aida fabric using 18 colors. I wish the magazine had listed the floss codes; I didn’t run out, but a few people wrote in to the magazine’s web site in need of more, and it would be helpful to have the codes if I wanted to make another one as a gift. I completed it in about two weeks: this was my first experience with fractional stitches, and the backstitching required a lot of careful attention, too. Both the fractionals and backstitching were very useful to create the charming, illustration-like appearance of the kittens. The most exciting part of this project was finally learning how to make French knots. As a lefty, most embroidery stitches have been beyond my capabilities. I found a great tutorial on the Primrose Design blog, reversed her photos as per her suggestion, and was making French knots in no time.

Next, a different magazine has been publishing a series of tropical fish charts; so far I’ve completed five out of the six designs. Look for a separate blog post describing these fun, colorful projects — they’re Thing Two’s favorites.

I haven’t finished off the fish series just yet because I wanted to try stitching a card for my newest nephew. Issue 136 of Cross Stitch Collection (CrossStitcher‘s sister publication) featured a delightful birth sampler from Faye Whittaker’s All Our Yesterdays collection. Any one of the children from this sampler would make a cute new baby or birthday card; I’m especially fond of this little boy and his teddy bear. It was stitched on 18 count white Aida fabric with 13 colors of DMC floss. One fun aspect of this project was that I was able to make the card using a leftover scrap of Aida and I had most of the floss already, too. Cross Stitch Collection focuses on more advanced projects than CrossStitcher, but still provides easy-to-follow general guides and advice for the beginner.

After finishing my nephew’s card, I was ready to make Mother’s Day cards for my mother and mother-in-law. I chose two beautiful designs from Joan Elliott’s book, A Cross Stitcher’s Oriental Odyssey. The orchids were the natural choice for my mom, the orchid collector. Both designs measured about 2½ x 3 inches and were stitched on 18 count oatmeal Aida with 12-15 colors of DMC floss. Again, I was able to stitch these cards with materials already on hand and each took just a few days to make (a good thing, as I had to scramble to get the morning glory card to the post office on time). The cardstock colors are much darker than they appear in the photos; the orchid card especially is a very dark red rather than fuschia.

Joan Elliott’s book is a lovely resource for cross-stitchers interested in Chinese and Japanese art and culture. Extensive notes describe the meaning behind each design and several suggestions are made for finishing the projects — cards, sachets, pillows, and more. The stitches used are whole and fractional cross stitches, back stitch, and French knots, so these designs are within the patient beginner’s abilities. I agree with the Amazon reviewer’s opinion that these designs could also be stitched on linen (rather than Rustico Aida) to great effect.