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