Wednesday 1 July 2015

Ten Years of Blogging - the sixth year 2010/11

Here we are at year 6 already and we began by visiting Japan in the July, me being dressed up in a kimono and having a look around Tokyo, Kyoto and Tsukuba.





I also finished up a couple of projects for friends in Taiwan, (of which this was one and the field mice and blackberries cross stitch shown in the Year 5 post was the other), and completed my hardanger needlecase.


We flew home via Korea





and my mother-in-law's in south west Germany.  The first picture is her house!





We then moved here to Sheffield as soon as things could be arranged and I rejoiced greatly in having my own little workroom/study for the first time!


The review of the stitching year 2010 saw me lamenting an all time low in projects completed - a mere three, the two hardangers and one cross stitch mentioned above, but I had started a few other projects and they progressed during the year to come.

In January and February, as well as posting WIP progress, I also ran a four-part Threadfest series having a look through my stash and wrote the first article that was later picked up and featured by Craft Gossip, Stumpwork and Ribbon Embroidery - Where Does One Start?  This still remains my most popular post so far and was the starting point for a marked expansion in blog readership from year 7 onwards.

Although I was working on a couple of projects, finishes were on the slow side coming, so I ran a three-part series of stitching projects created for men during the spring, showcasing hardanger cards, cross stitched cards, gifts and even a picture, and all the things I'd stitched for my hubby up to that point.

My second feature article, From UFO to Happy Dance - How? offering help on getting stalled projects re-started and finished was written in April 2011 (which may be where some readers remember the dog portrait from as I used it as an example complete with photos at various stages) and I worked on a goldwork viola, a cross stitched narrowboat (both finished during blogging year 7 - look out for those in later posts) and completed the stitching of this Helen M Stevens' design that I worked from a photograph in one of her books.  I had awful trouble with the fish, until I found some really helpful drawings in another of her books. Later on this piece was finished up into a scatter cushion cover as a belated wedding gift.


During the year's invigilating duties, I'd had some very low key assignments meaning that I finished up a number of the boring backgrounds on some childhood UFOs (un-finished objects) and worked on the creation of a number of embroidered smalls for cards and small gifts of which I'll leave you with a selection (although I did the first one entirely at home).




Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2015

6 comments:

Brenda M. Côté said...

I am so much enjoying your review of the last 10 years and especially like your hardanger pieces. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your review.

Brenda's Needlepoint Studio Blog
http://brendasneedlepointstudio.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I'm also very much enjoying this peek into your past. Thank you for the run through. Love that fish.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I look forward to your posts in this series - it's fun to see what you worked on over those years (plus I'm having a little game with myself trying to figure out when I first started following you - of course that could be a bit tricky, considering I don't have the best memory in the world!!).

crazyQstitcher said...

Love the photos and the wonderful fish.

Rachel said...

With all the travelling you'de been doing, I'm not at all surprised the number of finishes was at an all time low!

D1-D2 said...

Beautiful pieces. Sounds like you had wonderful adventures.

 
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