International Art and Soul Challenge 9

This fortnight's challenge is Stitching. That can be real of faux, as you wish.

A while ago, I finally got a craft room. Previously, my crafty stash was in various rooms of the house, and I was finally able to get (almost) all of it into one room. (Yarn for knitting and crochet still seems to live in my wardrobe ...)

The upshot of that is a somewhat renewed interest in stitching. I've been doing a little cross stitch, some Hardanger, and recently was reminded about Blackwork.

As you can see, I haven't gone for the traditional black-on-white option. To be honest, that's a very unforgiving option. Mistakes that require unpicking tend to leave some debris and it always looks poor, in my experience. But, I've got loads of bits of Aida and Evenweave, and a complete set of DMC cotton and rayon threads, so I've got lots of options.

For this one, I've used some evenweave in a rather nice dark peachy colour, and two shades of brown rayon thread. The main squares are my own doodling design, although I adapted the outside border from a pattern I found online here.

I do love the scent of lavender, and I find stitching these quite theraputic. The don't take too long, and are just complex enough to give a sense of achievement, but simple enough to do while indulging in a marathon of whichever TV show I'm currently watching. (This was done to X-Files!)

I do hope you can join us this fortnight!