Daisy Band Sampler Pincushion

I've drawn up a pattern for the little pulled thread sampler I've been working on in the background and the pattern is now available in the Etsy shop. You can see more about it by clicking here.

The idea for the embroidery originally grew from trying out a piece of pulled thread embroidery without the benefit of an embroidery frame. You can read more about that in this blog post here. Although it was a novel experience and quite successful, I am more familiar with embroidering in a frame and since completing the sampler, I have reverted to using one. 

Originally, I wanted to see how different or difficult it was to work various stitches while holding the embroidery in my hand and I chose several popular pulled thread stitches for my test sampler. I also love doing a variety of different embroidery stitches. Any excuse to add another stitch! I can see why through the years samplers of all types have had an endless appeal to embroiderers. 

It's simply fun to use lots of different stitches and watch how each one turns out as you stitch it - without the distraction of a design. The stitches speak for themselves.

Once the stitching was done and it seemed like a nice little project to do, I started drawing up a pattern. But, there were quite a few delays. Besides Christmas and having family to stay, one was that the software I use suddenly had a glitch. That took quite a while to iron out. Another was that photos of the finished pincushion proved a challenge. The first few with my trusty point-and-shoot camera were disappointing, so Rod took some with his phone. 

They were much better than my first two attempts but the rich inky background turned out to be rather overwhelming. In the end, we had a bright day and I found a bright spot on the patio to take the photos. I settled on the white background I started out with and used those photos for the pattern.

The pattern has instructions and stitch diagrams for a collection of pulled thread stitches, worked in bands across the linen. There's also a pretty row of daisies in-between and the embroidery is finished off as a pincushion. It's a digital pattern and easy to download from the link that Etsy sends with your receipt.

Daisy Band Sampler

Visit my shop Lynlubell on Etsy to browse all the patterns, or go directly to have a look at the Daisy Band Sampler pincushion pattern by clicking here.

Till next time, happy stitching!

Turquoise and Red Canvas Work Pincushion

When working on a new pattern for my shop, Lynlubell on Etsy, it takes a few stitched samples to get to the final colours and the design of the pincushion that will be listed in the shop. This pincushion was designed by Beryl Saunders.

I had to embroider another one for photographing - the one lying flat on the table. I like to have a photograph of the stitched top included in the pattern and I had forgotten to take a photo before I attached the back.

Turquoise and Coral Triangles pincushion

Recently I came across the pincushion top while looking for something else and I thought to was time to make it up. It's not my favourite job. A pretty patchwork fabric toned in well with the colours of the embroidery and it motivated me to finish off the pincushion.

Beryl has an attractive basket in which she keeps her collection of pincushions. Mine are kept in a shoebox. We had to dispose of all our baskets when we moved to Australia so I used a glass bowl instead when I wanted to display them.  

Hahaha! Making the pincushions stay where you want them in a slippery glass bowl is almost impossible. It requires a delicate balancing act. 

I did enjoy seeing all the pincushions again, and holding them in my hand as I tried to arrange them. Embroidery is so tactile. 

I think I'll keep a lookout for something more suitable for displaying the pincushions next time. For now, all my samples are packed back in their shoebox, and one more UFO has been finished.

Till next time, happy stitching!

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*UFO - UnFinished Object

Chicken Scratch and Australian Cross Stitch - the Russian Connection

A sudden spike in the number of visitors to my blog had me trying to work out where they all came from. On finding that they were being referred by a Russian website I was even more curious.

It turns out that there is a very good compilation of information together with photos of Chicken Scratch on this Russian website here. If, like me, you don't read Russian, Google Translate will give you a good idea of how the text reads. (The translation is not perfect and you may notice somewhere in the article that the literal translation is "chicken embroidery dash"!)

My gingham pincushions appear at the end of the article as a comparison between Chicken Scratch and Australian Cross Stitch and there is a comprehensive list of resources at the end which includes a direct link to my blog. Many thanks to the author of the article whose name I unfortunately have been unable to confirm.

Australian Cross Stitch pincushions

The difference between Chicken Scratch and Australian Cross Stitch? Although both are stitched on gingham, and both are embroidered with crosses, Australian Cross Stitch never has double cross stitches or running stitch. You can clearly see the double crosses and running stitches so characteristic of Chicken Scratch in the photo below. Find out more in my previous blog post here.

Chicken Scratch 

On the home front, it's real winter here in Cape Town with cold, damp, dismal days. I have been indoors hibernating and getting my new PC up and running the way I want it to. The next step is downloading Windows 10. I will also be teaching an embroidery course on Dresden Lace and Pulled Work soon. A damaged software disk has meant that I can't download my embroidery software for drawing up stitch diagrams. It's going to be a busy week at the keyboard.