Coming up on Sew in Love this autumn!

Mary Corbet of Needle'n'Thread and Kathy Andrews of The Unbroken Thread both recently posted their 'coming up on' articles, which reminded me that I had been wanting to do my own for some weeks already.  So, without further delay, here it is!

As you might know, my friends and their kids have been keeping me very busy indeed stitch-wise this year with all the weddings and baby arrivals.  There's no end in sight just yet as there are two more weddings to go - one in just over 3 weeks and the other in mid-December.  So, most of my stitching time until the end of November will be taken up with wedding gifts etc.  Here are some of the projects you can expect to read about.

The first is rather overdue as the wedding took place in mid-July, but I wasn't able to get anything gift-wise done around that time.  As the bride loves purple, I'm making a lilac, purple and green version of this bellpull from Patricia Bage (of Patricia Ann's Designs)'s book 'Beginners Guide to Drawn Thread Embroidery'.

In tandem with that, another wedding souvenir pillow/cushion is under way.  The couple love woods and leaves, so this is their design:

The December wedding is taking place in Ghana where bare backs are a big 'no-no', so I was asked by the British bride to embroider a modesty panel to go in the back of her dress.  The whole of the bodice section and some of the skirt is encrusted with beaded embroidery, so she was hoping for something that would co-ordinate.  Here's the design for that so far.

This is one of the flowers from the dress itself.

Finding the right thread is a bit of a challenge and I may have to go and buy one tomorrow, but I think I can manage.  You'll understand the trepidation when I tell you all about that project in a few weeks' time....

In tandem with that one, I'll be working a slightly adapted version of the Victoria Sampler 'Renaissance Lace' bellpull design.

So, lots to do and some pretty tricky projects they are too.  Not one of them is simple and straightforward, all are either very challenging, or at least need adapting and altering.

After those are done, I plan to complete the things I started the year not having done - the needle painting of the violets, the small hardanger card pieces (which are actually done, just need mounting) and the Paradise Island cross stitch, which I am looking forward to relaxing with in December.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2016