Another Hobby

The fabric I ordered last week arrived in my mail yesterday, so I picked out the one I wanted to use for the binding on my next quilt and washed it and cut the strips. I haven't sewn the strips together yet, but I'll do that soon so I can get going on it in the mornings.

The other thing I do over morning coffee if I don't have a quilt to bind is counted canvaswork. I had never heard of it before last summer, but I wandered into a tiny crosstitch store one morning when I couldn't find the local quilt shop. I used to crosstitch years ago but lost the desire to do it after I started quilting.

I don't recall exactly why I went into the crosstitch store; but once in there, I noticed a small quilt on a table. Upon closer inspection I saw it was all stitched on canvas, the way a crosstitch piece would be; and it was done with beautiful lustrous threads--perle cottons and some different variegated threads.

I was infatuated, so I bought a kit and brought it home. I thought I might just start it that evening, just to get a feel for it and see what it looked like. At 3 a.m. I was still stitching away and actually had to force myself to put it down and go to bed.

The patterns for counted canvaswork that I have found so far are worked on an 18-count mono canvas, which is fairly stiff. Even so, the recommendation is to put the piece in a stretcher frame; and I have a beautiful oak frame with stretcher bars in several widths that I bought years ago. The stitches, which can include a great variety in counted canvaswork, are worked over multiple threads; so the designs work up pretty quickly. This particular pattern came with a handmade clay button, which will be sewn onto the brown center block after the stitching is complete. The design area for this pattern will be 9 inches square when completed.

This pattern is by From Nancy's Needle, and you can see all the lovely little patterns for stitched quilts on her website. I sought out other companies that offered patterns for counted canvaswork quilts on the internet, and the only other company I found that had what I wanted was Laura J. Perin Designs. Laura has more than four dozen designs for quilts done in counted canvaswork.