Numpty stick

Today the numpty stick came out and was put to work.  I was progressing quite nicely through this piece when I noticed that my whites were not matching.  It's difficult to see in the picture but the white used in the middle layer was a slightly creamy white rather than being a true white. 

Once I had noticed the difference I knew I would have to 'reverse stitch' it otherwise I would never be happy with the finished result.  This is such a beautiful cross stitch and I fell in love with as soon as I saw it.  So with a sigh...

...out it came.  Funny how something can completely change in shape and form

I've been off work sick today - I've got an infection requiring antibiotics and they are making me feel almost worse than the bug!  So all in all not a great day and so it felt appropriate to be doing something destructive rather than creative.

Next on my agenda is some  more unpicking - this time from the first cross stitch I showed you.  I spotted a mistake on the letter 'H' of my home stitching.  It's a busy day for the numpty stick. Thank goodness for chocolate digestives

Claire

On-going projects

I thought I'd share with you a couple of the other stitching projects I am working on.  My projects are all quite different which does help keep me interested - if I get bored with one I can move onto another, completely different style stitching piece.

This first one is by Bothy Threads and is one of the cut through designs - 'Haberdashers'.  This one was progressing quite nicely until a couple of weeks ago when I managed to drop my dinner and splash half of my threads with tomato sauce!

I purchased this one in the January sales - you can see the reduced sticker on the packaging.  I love browsing around needlework shops and can happily spend hours (and pounds) looking at all the fabrics, threads, patterns etc.

The other pattern I am working on is an Anchor one, Red Flower Series.  I've almost finished the first one in the series (poppies) and this is the second one, tulips.

I was stitching this over the Christmas holidays and yes you guessed it, I put it down when I brought the new Haberdashers one because I couldn't resist starting it but mainly because I made a mistake and need to do a little reverse stitching on the left hand side of the work.  Grr.

Maybe I'll get that done sometime soon :)

Until next time

Claire

Australian Open Final and a bit of stitching

Here is one of the projects I am currently working on.  It's a pattern by Emily Peacock from Cross Stitcher magazine called Circus ABC.  I have been thinking about doing this pattern for a long time but rather than as a traditional cross stitch using embroidery thread I wanted to use tapestry wools to make it big and chunky.

As you can see it is a bold and bright pattern which is quite different from my normal patterns but so far, I'm liking it.  The colours do not show up particularly true to life in the following photos, for instance the pink is a much more dusky shade.

I think you will agree they are colours suitable for a circus design!

And in case you were wondering the finished item will spell 'Home'.  That's the plan anyway - true to form I was so excited to start this and see what the colours looked like on the canvas that I started stitching the 'E' first rather than the 'H'.  My blog is called reversed stitching for a very good reason!  Luckily I had not stitched more than a few rows so there was not too much unpicking to do.

I'm not sure how much I will get done on this today as totally distracted by the tennis (C'mon Andy) and my stitching tends to get a bit wonky when engrossed in a tennis match.  Until next time,

Claire

Hello

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while and today have decided to take the plunge.  As this is a new venture for me please be patient as I find my way around the functions.

I'll start by explaining my site name.  It comes from my experience of stitching as I always seem to be unpicking something - cross stitch, knitting, sewing.  To make myself feel better about this thankless and frankly un-enjoyable task I tell myself I am simply 'reverse stitching'.  It generally does the trick and if not, whatever I am working on goes back in the basket and a new project comes out.

My main interest is cross stitching and so i will be sharing my progress (or non progress) on my current projects with you here.

Now to find out how to illustrate this thing.  And if you have stopped by - welcome and thank you.  Comments are not currently allowed but I will look to adding these in as I learn.