Sunday Stitchalong Fun

Another Sunday and I've made it on time this week my friends! I hope you've been enjoying your stitchings and whatever else you've been busy with this week. 

Just a reminder before we go any further - if you haven't already put your name in for the little cardigan giveaway (my previous post), and you have a little girl in your life who would enjoy wearing this, then you have until next Sunday before the names go in the hat. Good luck!

And while we are on the subject of giveaways, you might like to check out Cheryl - you probably already know the lovely Cheryl anyway - and you'll find she is giving away two beautiful books at the end of the month. I wish you good luck here too, even though I kinda have my eye on the Hip Crochet publication!

Well as far as stitching goes, I have definitely kept things simple this week and started on the first of a few placemats that I've been planning to get to. Aimee Ray's 'Doodle Stitching Embroidery and Beyond' is where the inspiration and pattern came from for this, and I used cotton duck and three strands of DMC cotton floss. I might add at this point that no pressing or cleaning up has yet been done on this week's work, and you can tell! I'll show it again when it's all 'polished up'! 

(Gosh, doesn't the light affect the colour - these pics are all of the one mat and taken at the same time!)

Sashiko, just in case you're not familiar with it (which I wasn't, until I found this lovely book),  is an ancient form of stitching from Japan and was originally used to repair tears or worn parts on fabric. 

Nowadays it's often used for lovely designs which are sometimes complex and sometimes simple but usually geometric styled and stitched in white thread on indigo fabric - but hey, let's break a few rules and add a wee bit of colour!

 Sashiko designs are usually done with Running Stitch, using a longer needle so you can do several stitches at once, if preferred, and without a hoop so you can really get stuck into it. Although I have started this project with Aimee's pattern representing the movement of water on a pond, I am planning to go a bit more geometric with the next mat - experimentation should be fun!

Stitching with Running Stitch really took me back to school when I was around the age of ten or eleven - oh dear, that is a loooooong time ago - and I find my memory quite strong in that area. I really did enjoy sewing class and my lovely teacher, and those stitches had to be even and straight!

Also this week saw me doing a bit more RedWork - on snowflakes - now have you ever seen red snowflakes? Never mind, they are very effective I think, and this pattern also came from Aimee's book - same one:

With Christmas coming up this could become a little gift for someone, when I make a final decision about what it's going to be - I will show this at a later date! This design was also done on cotton duck using three strands of cotton floss. Stitches are: back; straight; satin; lazy daisy, and French knots.

And so my friends, that's my Stitchalong with Chrissie and friends for this week and I'm looking forward to seeing your lovely pieces. Till next time, do take care and I wish you all happy times!

❤Joy xo