Monday, May 29, 2017

The one that started it all

Well, it's been three weeks since I had anything I could share, but I am happy to say that the Rosewood Manor piece has been safely delivered to Karen (and another one already received!), and I have made good progress on the first of the two Nora Corbett models that are due in July. I was starting to get concerned that I might not make the deadline, but feel much better about it now--phew!

Last week I went through my Bin of Finishes to pull out some pieces to take to my framer. I decided on Mirabilia's Andromeda, Chatelaine's Mini Mandala Circle 2 and Nora's Alphabet; I also took Rosewood Manor's Bucklebury Sampler, which Karen had already framed, to have glass put in. I am very excited to get these back in two to three weeks!

Since I have no new stitching of my own that I can share, I thought I would take a few pictures of pieces from the past, including the one that started my obsession with this wonderful craft. Here is the pile on my crafting table:


I started stitching when I was at University of Illinois back in the late '80s; my mom had come down for Mom's Day Weekend and we were walking along Green Street shopping when we came across a cross stitch shop. Inside I found a kit of Chief Illiniwek, and fell in love! So my mom bought it for me, as well as a kit with two little unicorn ornaments that I could practice on before I started Chief, and my love of stitching was born.

I wish I could find the unicorns; I do remember the back of the first one had all these carried threads, and then the second one was better as I learned what worked and what didn't. But I still have Chief:


Later I found a leaflet from Puckerbrush that also contained the U of I logo and the Alma Mater:



I also have charts for Foellinger Auditorium, Altgeld Hall and Illini Union, which I still want to stitch someday...

I had to laugh at some of the old finishes I have; if I hadn't discovered Mirabilia Designs in the '90s, I'm not even sure I would still be stitching today!






I have a lot of finished Halloween pieces, though most of them were done after I started my blog; I did find this older Waxing Moon design (I think it's called Halloween Stack), which even has all of the buttons attached:


And what might have been my first Lizzie*Kate design, Pumpkin Fever:


For those in the US, I wish you a Happy Memorial Day spent with family and friends; and to everyone a great stitchy week!


8 comments:

  1. Great to see the pieces that started it all :) I still have my first piece as well.

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  2. My first piece was a small angel. I was introduced to cross stitch in a church class by an american lady (I am English) back in the 80s, and I loved it. At the time it was very hard to find any cross stitch charts or kits over here. Now they are readily available, as are magazines etc. I also introduced other friends to cross stitch myself. I am sure that lady has no idea how much joy it has brought me over the years. x

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  3. Oh I love seeing all of your earlier pieces Melanie. I should dig some of mine out.

    Linda

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  4. Great memories of your first stitches.
    The Chief is awesome.
    Marilyn

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  5. Very cool to see your old finished pieces. Crazy how much your stitching taste has changed. Good luck on the models.

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  6. Your Chief looks quite complicated for a first/third stitch! It's interesting to see how your tastes have changed over time, and fun to see some of your older finishes too.

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