"Mother" Teacup

Author: Sandy Lynam Clough
Copyright, Dimensions

Started: March, 1998
Completed: August, 1999
Hours: 85
Materials: DMC floss, metallic cord on 16-ct. white Aida
Stitches: cross stitch, Algerian eyelets (216 of them!!!), twisted cord, couching

I started this project one night because we were down to one car. I worked near DH and had to pick him up at work. He didn't know how long he'd be, so I thought, "I'll just drive by Michael's and pick up something small to work on." I picked this Dimensions Gold Petite kit. Petite=small, right? Little did I know!!! Of course, when I arrived at his office, I barely got the needle threaded before he said, "I'm done. Let's go!" Isn't that always the way?

This is the piece that taught me to always use a hoop (or other frame) when doing pulled thread work. There are 216 Algerian eyelets in the border of this piece, and I did them all "in hand" (and mostly on airplanes--this piece has been to Orlando quite a few times, San Francisco and Salt Lake City!). It is supposed to be 6x6". When I finished, it was about 5x5"!!! It took a lot of stretching to get it square again. The most annoying thing (besides all those eyelets) was that this design had half-stitches and whole stitches in the same color, and I started over three times before I got the right stitch with the right symbol!

In addition to all those eyelets, it contains a lot of twisted cord that has been couched down. The lace "doily" under the teacup is all in gold metallic cord, and most of that was couched around the outlines. This is the first "real" framing job I've done.

And here it sits at my mom's--