Post 177 Mostly stitching

My morning began at 8.05am with a phone call from Anthony asking if he could come and dry Fionn's football gear in my dryer. He did so, delivering the dry clothes to Fionn's school on his way to work. I'm very pleased to be part of the coping mechanisms of a family with 4 adolescent children playing multiple sports, singing in choirs, learning to drive and sitting exams through a pandemic.

I spent much of the morning getting my next stitching project together. The World Embroidery Study Group is looking at Icelandic Embroidery at our September meeting, based on an article in Piecework Magazine. That article has a project attached which a few members are going to try.

I thought I'd like to try it to. It is an Icelandic Endless Knot Design in  long-armed cross stitch.

The project is designed for  Cork linen - 20 count. I planned to use Aida, until I discovered I had a substantial piece of Cork linen - purchased at the Guild. So I cut a piece, zigzagged the edges and found appropriate Appleton's wools in my supplies.







The article also recommends using some form of frame rather than a hoop.  I'm not sure I agree but I'll try it their way.

I tacked the centre lines and marked off a square 60 treads by 60 threads.

At this point I grabbed some cheese and biscuits for lunch, checked what the Prime Minister had to say about the National Cabinet and dashed off to pick up Jennifer for our Sit'nStitch afternoon at our friend Susan's place at Grange.

We had a really pleasant afternoon. Susan had made cheese scones and a banana cake. We are all three being cautious in where we go at the moment.

Jennifer is adjusting to her medication and to the limits she needs to work with as a result of the Covid impact on her heart.

She has finished the embroidery she began on the Cruise and continued in quarantine in Perth. I took a photo to send to the Thread Studio, who drove some of these threads to Jennifer's quarantine hotel in Perth to enable her to keep stitching in isolation.

It looks really great.

I worked on my knitting, adding half a pattern sequence.


When I got home I realised that I had marked up the Cork linen without remembering that each stitch is over two threads, not one. I should, of course, have marked a square 60 stitches by 60 stitches. I therefore re-tacked it, ending up, of course, with a much better size square!















So this is where I am tonight. I haven't worked long-armed cross stitch before. I quite like it. It is, I realise, of the same stitch family as Breton stitch (or rather, Breton stitch comes from the same stitch family as long arm cross stitch).


It does require accurate counting - and is not as simple as I first thought.

It might take more than one day to finish this design!