Throwback Thursday - 2001 (Part 4)

It's #throwbackthursday once again. I had a busy time in the Spring of 2001. These are the stitching projects I made in at the end of April and in May.

Bunches of Bunnies Heart

This is one of the few band samplers that I really enjoyed stitching. I won this chart from The Sweetheart Tree as a door prize. The techniques include herringbone stith, couching (a narrow satin ribbon couched with silver cord), tent stitch, satin stitch, cross-stitch, and a little beading. I stitched it on 28 count Monaco with DMC floss. The finished size is approx 4"x 4".

I completed the finishing work over a year later in September 2002. This was fun and involved a lot of experimentation. I started with a cardboard heart-shaped box (approx 5.5" wide x 5" tall x 3" deep). The sides were embossed with roses.

I painted the box with a base coat of acrylic paint, then two shades of green and two shades of pink for the roses. I whitewashed the roses after painting them for a muted look. I used a sponge technique with the silver paint. Then I sealed the painted box with  a coat of clear sealer.

On a cardboard heart shape, the stitching is padded and held in place with a gathered straight/basting stitch instead of glue. A piece of felt was glued to the top of the box. Then the stitching was stitched, rather than glued, to the felt. This is a more archival way to finish the box than simply gluing the stitching to the box top.

To finish the top, I added a string of pearl beads to the edge of the stitchery using an overcast stitch.

The inside of the box is special, too. I embossed a heart onto a piece of velvet by pressing dampened velvet onto a rubber stamp. The steam heat crushes the velvet, leaving the imprint of the stamp. Cool technique!

I then lined the sides of the box with the velvet, gluing into place. I covered the bottom of the box with the embossed rose. The finishing touches included adding a length of rayon cording and a large pearl to the bottom inside edge of the box.

Perhaps I'll take some new photos of this box with close-up details. I love how this project came out! I often display it in our guest bedroom which is decorated in hearts.

Merry Chrismoose Ornament

This is my April Christmas project, made from a Lizzie*Kate's Tidy Tidings III design. It's another cross-stitch moose for my college friend. There are real bells hanging from the moose's antlers.

This was the first time I finished an ornament with this technique, and it's turned out to be a favorite. The stitching is padded, stretched over a cardboard form, and glued into place. A coordinating fabric covers another piece of cardboard for the back. The two piece of cardboard are glued back-to-back with hot glue. I made the twisted cord from floss, then glued it around the edge of the ornament.

Round Robin

This was a class piece from the stitching retreat I attended earlier in the year. It was a collaboration by three designers. Each designer taught the portion of the chart which they designed.

I stitched this design twice: once over two threads of linen ground cloth, and once in petit point over one thread of the linen ground cloth.

stitched over two threads

Most of the design is cross-stitch, but the hole in the birdhouse in an eyelet, and the bird's wing is satin stitch. It also has tiny button embellishments.

I did the finishing work on the petit point piece in March of 2014 (!!!) using a finishing form (much like a covered button). It's not that much bigger than a quarter coin! You can see some really nice photos on that blog post. (Hooray! My photography shows much improvement!)

petit point

Christmas Goose Ornament

Finally, here's my May Christmas ornament. 

At the time, I was working on a canvas design for EGA which was not going well. I was frustrated with it, so picked up this small ornament kit by Traditions in order to regain calm and meet my Christmas project goal for the month of May. The design area is 31 stitches by 33 stitches, so it's quite small. The kit came with the round frame. I'm pretty sure I still have this ornament.

That's it for April and May! In May, June, and July I was working on some big projects for EGA, so there are only three finishes to show in my next #throwbackthursday installment. But in August I finished a correspondence course and will have quite a lot of tassels to share.