iStitch Exchange

Carol from iStitchaholic recently hosted an exchange featuring her designs, and stitchers all over the world signed up to exchange finished pieces.   Carol has been posting the exchange pieces to the iStitch Designs facebook page, and will be posting a gallery to her blog once the exchange wraps up completely.

My piece arrived from Elisa of Old Ragged Threads back in July.  She stitched Sew French Blue and finished it as a pinkeep.  So pretty and delicate - I love the lace on the edges and need to keep that in mind for future finishes of my own.  (Why yes I do have a collection of finishing ideas I'd like to try!)

Elisa also crocheted me this sweet colorful mat.  It is so soft and pretty, and my 4 year old was eyeing it up as soon as I took it out of the package.  Once he felt how soft it was, it was a task to get it back from him!

My exchange partner was also located in the UK.  I stitched Sew Peacock for Michelle (Michelle's Stitchcraft Place).  Sew Peacock has long been one of my favorite designs and I chose a gorgeous turquoise blue silk (Belle Soie Aqua Velvet) to stitch over 1.  The fabric you see in the background is the taffeta I used for the back of the pinkeep.  In fact, I chose that fabric first, then went to my LNS in search of the thread.  I had at least half a dozen choices, and ended up going with my first choice silk.  Do you do that too?  I go through several different colors for something like this, and inevitably go back to my first choice.

I also finished mine as a pinkeep.  Since I used the little acrylic stand I bought for Elisa's pinkeep to stand the piece up for photographing, I decided to include it in the package to Michelle.  (I'll pick up a new stand for myself so I can put Sew French Blue back on display)

And you can see the Swarovski crystal pin I put together from my jewelry bits.  I believe that's the Blue Zircon color, which happens to be my birthstone as well.  I wanted to jazz up the lace trim I used around the edges, so I added soome blue satin ribbon.  I bought a spool without realizing I had used the exact same ribbon for another project, oddly enough another iStitch design!  So I used what I had and sent the new roll off to Michelle.

As I was looping the ribbon for the top, I realized that it looked a little bit like a peacock too!

 

So my piece arrived safely in the UK and I'm just thrilled with the piece from Elisa.  Thank you, Carol, for hosting such a great exchange!

Springtime Exchange with Robin

A few months ago when I started blogging again, a fellow stitcher named Robin (no blog... yet!) started commenting on my posts.  Through a series of emails, we started developing a friendship, and when I mentioned the Fair & Square exchange, she asked me a few quesitons about it, then suggested we do our own private exchange.

I thought that was a great idea, and we decided on a spring theme, following the F&S guidelines for size and a signature square.  These are Robin's squares - Mini Spring by The Sunflower Seed.

Aren't they just lovely?  Robin's stitching is so pretty and delicate!  Allergies be damned, I do love spring flowers and tulips are among my favorites.  I think these squares are going to make a wonderful no-sew cube, perhaps with a pretty spring colored plaid ribbon around the edges, depending on what I can find.

Robin also hit up my wish list and very generously included these two appropriately spring-y charts and some gorgeous silk threads from Dinky Dyes and Vicki Clayton.  Bent Creek's Shamrock Row will mean a trip to the LNS for a special cut of fabric, but Allesandra Adelaide's Little Blue will most likely be bumping some other pieces in the queue because I'm pretty sure there's a suitable piece of fabric in my stash.

Thank you, Robin, for your beautiful squares and generous gifts, but mostly for your friendship.  I so enjoy our emails!
 
And now on to what I stitched for Robin.  When she mentioned "springtime", I immediately thought of this one from Les Grilles des Liselotte, Amitie Brodee.  

Not only did the chart fit the springtime theme, but it expressed a sentiment that was especially appropriate.  Amitie brodee is French for "friendship embroidered" and I thought it was fitting to honor this new friendship that came about through a mutual love of stitching.

The original chart is done in purple, but I had a multicolor version of it saved in my stitching ideas file (I can't track down the original).  Since Robin prefers brighter colors to pastels, I chose a more vibrant palette, using WDW in Begonia, Sunset, Crepe Myrtle and Sally's Sunshine plus Carrie's Creations Purple for the flowers, WDW Meadow for the green, and WDW Heatherleigh for the butterflies.

I added a little bling with some copper color beads for the flower stamens, and hematite beads for the butterflies.

As I was stitching the piece, I kept second guessing myself and very nearly abandoned it in favor of another pattern, but I kept on with it, and it turned out exactly like I wanted.


I also hauled out my beading supplies and made this scissor fob featuring a butterfly charm and glass millefiori and iridescent beads.  I hadn't done any beading in a while, so it was fun to dig through my bead stash and play around with different colors and shapes.