After my success with the Han Phoenix cross-stitch box lid, I decided to work a lid for another box I had stored, this one for my granddaughter who is interested in snakes, using a design from a book of Celtic Cross Stitch. The book has four designs based on intertwining snakes, and I chose one based on a figure 8 and four snakes.
My first challenge was to reduce the size of the finished work to the size of the box lid. The design was for 28 thread linen, and I calculated I needed to stitch it on 22 thread fabric to get the fit. A bit of searching led me to hardanger fabric, which is, I discovered, commonly 22 threads per inch. I found a sand coloured 22 thread hand-dyed linen at Stitches and Spice ordered a fat eighth for $15 and had it two days later.
Following my Han Phoenix success, I wanted to use silk threads for this, so I began the outlines with a really dark brown Madiera thread I already had, following the 2 thread instruction (designed, of course, for DMC!). I soon worried that I should have used a single thread - both for economy and because it seemed so heavy, but once into it I decided to keep going and dashed off to Country Bumpkin for more thread.
I ended up using a variety of silks to fill the snakes - Madiera, Gloriana and Gumnut Buds. The variegation of the hand-dyed ones worked well for the snakes.There were some tricky bits around the faces.
I also had some difficulty removing the grid threads in some places. Maybe next time I will be confident enough to work with only centre tacking lines.
The finished piece looked good - and just fitted the lid as I had hoped. I then used some gold thread to outline my grand-daughter's initials - BSDK- in the twists of the snakes.
It was very subtle - too subtle, I decided, for an eight year old, so I added initials in cross-stitch in the lower right-hand corner and mounted the embroidery into the box.
I lined the box with the same felt I had used for my phoenix box.
This has taken quite a while, but been a very satisfying project - again, it has the variation of tasks that I like.
6 comments:
Such a great project. I really like the design and the box is just beautiful.
Love it. It will be an heirloom. I really think you should find somewhere to sign and date it..perhaps on the inside lid, or on the lining. When i think how i treasure a mere sweet tin with sweetpeas on the lid, which my father wrote my name and the date on in 1953, your grand-daughter's beautiful box richly deserves a similar reminder.
You're right, Jill. I admit to thinking of it after putting the backing in the lid and not wanting to take the back off again. Maybe I will retrieve it and rectify.
Hi Jillian - after your Christmas letter I had a look at your blog and I really like your work, and your perseverance. I was given a hand-made apron for Christmas by a friend, and realised again how wonderful hand-made things can be! Thanks for making your work available for us all to see.
Thanks for visiting Elizabeth. I can't tell you how much pleasure both the stitching and the writing give me. I realize that not everyone is interested but it is lovely to find a few people who are and to communicate with them. I am also hoping it will become a record of interest to some women in my family one day.
oh wow Jillian, both the box and the embroidery are lovely. Your granddaughter will love it and treasure it I am sure for a long time to come.
I do agree about signing it somewhere; she will love having that on there in years to come.
BTW, thanks for your comment about my quilt; sadly the photos really don't do it justice but I am happy with it, and so is he which is the main thing I guess.
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