After everything I said about social media recently, I came stumbled across another unexpected positive effect of all this tapping away at phones and tablets we seem to be engaged in. Scrolling through some old Instagram pictures, I came across the photo above. This was one of the very first cross stitch designs I worked on when I first came to Italy. It struck me that this pattern was the springboard for so many projects I have worked on since.
It definitely set the tone for the colour palette I have continued to work with. The fair isle pattern very quickly became the background for my cross stitch monograms.
This led to my ongoing love affair with fair isle patterns including my mini monogram set as well as a larger sampler pattern.
But that early project sparked off a lot of other ideas. The white lettering of the fair isle monogram got me interested in creating an image out of negative spaces. I have been so chuffed that a number of people tried something similar after I posted this tutorial.
I also realised that the project I completed this week was actually in a similar vein – multi-coloured background with a plain white image or lettering.
There have, of course, been many other projects that were less successful or I never completed. I sort of ran out of steam with this alphabet cross stitch. Maybe I will return to it one day.
There was also another fair isle sampler that was perfectly lovely but I just found the colours really…..meh! So I got bored with it.
However, I found it interesting to draw a metaphorical line from that first project to all of these other one. I’m also pretty sure that each new piece of work gave me the confidence to experiment and push myself creatively and technically. I think there are other experiments and ideas that I could possibly identify as the starting point for other creative directions I have taken in the last two years. When I have done a little more creating I will have to see.
That original cross stitch pattern was made for no purpose – it wasn’t intended to be a gift and I certainly had no great plan to make a pattern to sell. I was doing nothing more than just playing about. So often, people craft for a reason – a gift or a special event – and indeed I have done so (as the last two pictures demonstrate). I do think, however, creating something for no other reason than “just because” has it’s place also. It puts considerably less pressure on you and knows where it might lead.
I feel like I have just completed a sort of work appraisal! If you are still here, thank you for persevering.
Ambrosia Stitches 
I love seeing where people get their ideas from! Your scribble sampler turned out great, too 😀
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Thank you! I think a little trip down memory lane can be a good motivator to keep creating 😀
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Definitely! 😀 It’s amazing how much your own work changes over time… The Beasties have certainly evolved a lot since my first one!
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What a great sampling of your lovely work. Its all so joyful and inviting!
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Thank you, Cathe – that is kind.
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Very true about it being less pressurized stitching for the sake of it. Trouble with me is that, if there’s no pressure to do it, I usually don’t!!!
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Ah yes, there is that 😜
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Your work is beautiful, I really like the monogram letters created with ‘negative spaces’, the Mr & Mrs one is a particular favourite. I would love to see this post linked up to my ‘Crafting is my Therapy’ blog linky…you can find the link here. Really glad I found your lovely blog 🙂
http://www.meyouandmagoo.co.uk/2016/05/crafting-is-my-therapy-4-giveaway.html
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Hello, thank you for your lovely comments. Yes, I will be happy to add this post to your “Crafting is my Therapy” link. I think the concept of crafting just for ourselves can sometimes be lost so your link up chimes with a lot of what I’ve been thinking about recently. I would like to write a short blog post about what you are doing with links to you blogs, etc, and encourage some of my followers to play along. Would that be OK?
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That would be amazing, thank you so much for your support! I’d love to try & encourage people to take time to follow their Crafting passion every month, even if it’s just for a couple of hours. I started this project because I neglected my creativity, I didn’t make it a priority, yet it makes me happy & relaxed. I look forward to seeing your blog post 😁
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What a fantastic portfolio of work. I love your mini French knot initial 🙂
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Thank you! 😀
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These designs are all so cheerful 🙂 I love the fair Isle idea. It’s a great way to use up scraps of thread. Many thanks for the inspiration!
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What a nice thing to say! Thank you so much 💕💕
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