X-Stitch: Big Cats

Friday 27, December

In the summer of 2004, Mui and I went on a photo safari in Botswana, Africa.

After spending time with this lioness and her cubs, Mui’s love affair with big cats was sealed.
(Our african safari predates the blog; click here for a post with links to my write up and photos.)

Hoping that we would see the big cats while on safari, I started stitching a gift for Mui before we even left on our trip.  I managed to finish it in time for his January birthday the following year.

As is the case with all of my other cross-stitch work, Big Cats is in storage at the moment … awaiting the time when we will get off the road, and buy a stix & brix home where it can once again decorate our walls.

P.S. Yes, we did see the big cats of Africa while in Botswana … lions, leopards, and cheetahs … and it was a thrill indeed to encounter them in close proximity in the wild.

X-Stitch: To Everything There is a Season

Thursday, 27 September

I’d love to live where there are two seasons year round — spring and fall.  These are my favorite seasons.  I don’t much care for summer; I don’t handle heat well — especially if it is humid.  I don’t like to be cold either, but if I had to pick between winter and summer, the cold season would win hands down.

With this cross-stitch project, I didn’t have to pick one season over another — the entire year was represented.  What I really liked about it was that the scene in the foreground changed, while the background remained fairly static with some seasonal variety to show the passage of time.

X-Stitch: Scenes from an English Garden

Tuesday, 4 September

Sharing another cross-stitch project … this is one of my all-time favorites.  It’s always hung in a prominent spot where I could enjoy it every day.

It has the tiniest stitches — I think I used either an 18-count or a 22-count aida cloth.  Ahh, yes; that was long before I started wearing eye glasses for close-up work :-(

X-Stitch: The Old Coffee Shop

Sunday, 12 August

I’ve been wanting to finish up the posts featuring my cross-stitch projects, so now I have an incentive.  Mui has started packing up things that are not essential to daily life.  That includes the few pieces of my embroidery that I opted to bring to the condo after we sold the townhome in May 2011.  It’s time for these pieces to join the ones that were packed at that time.

---

There’s something about this café scene that screams Paris to me.  But the sign on the shop says The Old Coffee Shop.  Perhaps when this piece is unpacked again someday I will see the setting in another country.

And a few close ups for detail …

X-Stitch: Iris … Faith, Cherished Friendship, and Much More

Monday, 27 February

In the language of flowers, the iris symbolizes faith, wisdom, cherished friendship, hope, and valor.  It is a showy flower that is named for the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods in Greek mythology.  With over 200 varieties and the vivid colors in which the iris comes, I think you would agree that it is aptly named.

Here is my cross stitch project featuring beautiful iris blooms ... the bird in the flower pot just adds to the charm.

X-Stitch: Gifts

Friday, 27 January

Back in the days when I was still doing cross-stitch, I didn’t just make things for our home.  I embroidered many gifts as well — tea towels for housewarmings, fingertip towels to decorate powder rooms for the holidays, throw pillows to add color to sofas, bibs for toddlers, birth and wedding announcements to celebrate momentous occasions.

At the time, I didn’t think to photograph most of my projects.  But while was I scanning old photos, I came across two that I did take pictures of — most likely to show mom my handiwork.

The first — a birth announcement.  What’s sad about this one is that I have no recollection for whom I made it.  Certainly there’s no one in my immediate circle who has a daughter named Peyton.  The date doesn’t ring a bell either.  So perhaps it was for a co-worker; or maybe as a gift for someone Mui worked with.

The next one I have no problem connecting with the recipient.  I embroidered this for my cousin Tom when he and Michele married in 1995.  I was feeling a bit poorly, and Mui and I did not make it up to Massachusetts for the wedding.  But, mom, Aylin, and Hakan were there to share in the joyous occasion.  Too bad I didn’t take some detail shots, but at least I have the end product after it was framed.

X-Stitch: Pull Up a Chair and Relax

Wednesday, 4 January

It’s cold here in Virginia today.  In fact, at 32F, it’s downright freezing.  But it is winter, and we’ve been lucky thus far with our temperatures, so we can’t really complain much.  That’s not to say that we can’t dream of a warm seaside location where a couple of Adirondack chairs invite us to sit down and relax.

Aaaah, yes … those chairs sure do look inviting.

Maybe I should go see if I can find an Internet special for a flight to somewhere warm :-)

(P.S.  For those who might have missed the earlier posts, this is a continuation of the series featuring my counted cross stitch art … most of which is now packed away in preparation for full-timing.)

X-Stitch: Swans a-Swimming

When I look at this cross stitch project, I almost always start singing the Twelve Days of Christmas …

On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

OK … OK, I know there are only two Swans a-Swimming in this piece, but what can I say — my mind has a mind of its own.

This was one of my earliest projects. It was also the one that took the longest to complete. Not because it was an overly difficult pattern, but because I got bored with the repetitive nature of the leaf trim. Finally, in 2009, I found the kit tucked into the corner of a drawer and decided to just get it over and done with. I buckled down and in less than a week I was taking the finished work to the local crafts store to get it framed.

The colors of this piece would actually work great in the kitchen/dining area of the condo, but alas there is no wall space big enough there. Since the rest of the walls are filled with other projects, this one has been wrapped and placed in storage for now.

Those little butterflies in the corner — they’re my addition to the pattern. Somehow a few small stains had developed on the fabric (probably from being stuck in a plastic bag with some colorful floss). It was either find a way to cover the spots, or toss out the completed project. I think they worked out nicely with the swans and lilies.

X-Stitch: Patchwork Pillow

Most of my cross stitch projects hang on the walls around the house. On occasion, however, I’ve made baby bibs, birth and wedding announcements, fingertip and kitchen towels, tablecloths, and even throw pillows. Most of those were gifts that I’ve long since given away and I don’t have pictures of them — except for this one pillow, which I kept.

The loveseat, currently in the master bedroom, is one of the items we’ll be selling as we downsize for retirement; I’ll have to find someplace else to put the pillow.

X-Stitch: Lale Zamanı (aka Tulip Time)

Ask anyone where tulips originated and the answer will likely be: Holland. Actually, commercial cultivation of the tulip (or lale) began in the Ottoman Empire. As a matter of fact, there was an entire era in Ottoman history known as the Lale Devri (Tulip Period). Lasting from 1718 to 1730, this was a relatively peaceful period during which the Ottoman Empire began to orient itself towards Europe.

According to Wikipedia:

… the word tulip, which earlier appeared in English in forms such as tulipa or tulipant, entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend (“muslin” or “gauze”), and is ultimately derived from Persian dulband (“turban”).

Stylized tulip images were used in Ottoman art and could be found in everything ranging from fine fabrics to tile-work. My rendition is more realistic — here is Lale Zamanı …

Tulips are one of the most popular and anticipated of the spring flowers. I’m hoping that posting this blog entry on the last day of February will hasten the arrival of spring. I’m ready to put winter behind me.

X-Stitch: Patchwork USA

This was one of the very first projects I stitched after we moved to the US in 1981. It came as a kit that included light-blue aida cloth as well as the floss.

I consider this project to be the genesis of our plans to someday explore the country in a motor home. Well, we bought the motor home in 2010. Now we just have to retire and get on the road to fulfill our dream.

Here’s Patchwork USA …

By the way, this one has not one single mistake or adjustment to the pattern. Nada ... zip ... zero.

X-Stitch: Biltmore House

In May 1994, we went on a 5-day trip that took us from Virginia to Tennessee and North Carolina.  We spent a day driving through Great Smoky Mountain National Park; continued onto visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC; hiked to the top of Chimney Rock, where scenes from Last of the Mohicans (starring Daniel Day-Lewis) was filmed; and returned to Virginia via the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was a whirlwind trip, and despite being dead-tired by the time we reached home, we had a great time.

Blast from the Past
at the Biltmore Estate — may 1994
[scanned from original photo]

Browsing through the gift shop after our tour of the estate, I found a cross stitch pattern for George Vanderbilt's 250-room French château.  Since I couldn’t afford to buy the house, I bought the pattern instead.

Here is the finished project for Biltmore House — the largest privately-owned house in the US; a prominent example of the Gilded Age.

Not a bad replica, is it?