Sylvie's birthday gift!

As promised, here's a picture of the gift I stitched for Sylvie. I wanted to do something a little special because Sylvie was not only in my birthday exchange group, but she's my adopted stitcher too!

I knew Sylvie had the Tudor Knot Needlebook on her wishlist, so I stitched her the Tudor Knot Sweetbag by Nostalgic Needle (I sent the other chart as a gift with a few more bits and pieces). It's on 32ct Willow Green linen and uses Silk 'n Colors Summer Shadows (remember when I bought the thread a while ago?)

I didn't realise until I got the charts that the Tudor Knot pieces are stitched using chain stitch. It's probably a good thing because I might not have got them if I'd realised, but it was easy to do and stitched up fast (well, the black outlining took a while, but the chain stitch was quick). And the bag was easy to finish off too.

I left off the sequins and the beads, and I did all the knotwork in the silk instead of half in silver as instructed. I was going to follow the directions exactly but couldn't find all the bits and pieces. Then I decided the silk shading was so pretty I'd rather it was plainer anyway.

I was sorry to part with it! I wish you could see the colours of the silk properly - it really came out nicely.

The other big stitching news is that Petal Fairy is finished!!! Pic to come tomorrow when I've ironed her!

And sadder news of Steve Irwin. What a shock to hear of his death. He was a great wildlife and animal supporter. I'm so sorry for his wife and young kids.