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Yesterday I had a first go at the Hardanger kit from that Victoria Sampler series. A few initial remarks:

- It's a beautifully presented kit, with a clear colour photograph and as far as I can tell plenty of thread and beads, and two good needles including a bead embroidery one which I will hoard .

- A bit misleading is that on the outside it says the fabric is "Dublin -- German 100% linen" when actually it isn't, it is (which is actually said on the instructions inside) 25ct Lugana. Perhaps they used to pack the kits with linen and forgot to change the covers when they changed to Lugana.

- As usual with this sort of small kit, the fabric (while big enough for the project) is far too small to put in a hoop while working. But the kits are extremely cheap for what you get, and they do say you can work it in hand, so I don't count that against them at all. I simply exchanged a larger piece of 25ct evenweave from my own stash, and will use the smaller piece they provided for something else later.

- The instructions are clear and detailed, although they do assume familiarity with certain stitches which have already been explained earlier in the series -- fair enough, as they are meant to be taken in sequence, and no problem if you are moderately familiar with the technique used int he kit.

- A rather major drawback is that some of the letters and numbers indicating stitching sequence are missing from the diagram. The instructions say "follow the sequence indicated by uppercase letters" and later also lowercase ones, and they simply aren't there. I may write to them about this.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying stitching this, and hope to post some progress pictures soon!

edited:
Oh, one thing which surprised me -- they said you could use a hoop or frame or none, according to your preference (which is fine) but say very emphatically that you MUST NOT use a hoop or frame when cutting. Now I'ev only done one piece of Hardanger "in hand" and that's the little cross, but actually I prefer cutting while in a hoop -- the cutting is easier in hand, but I found the little ends poking out were longer. What do other hardanger stitchers find?

I finished the last three hardanger minis ! All 10 are now done. I'm seriously considering doing hardanger for all of next year's Christmas cards (though a bit bigger than these minis) and have been putting some possible designs together already.

Do you think starting to organise your 2011 Christmas cards in July 2010 is a cause for worry....?

Anyway, the minis. First one is rather elaborate as I decided to add some experimental beads, Mill Hill petite beads shade Ice. The thread is Anchor multicolour:



Noot sure what the purists would say about it ! The second is much simpler, no cutting at all. The same Anchor multicolour Pearl #5 & #8, and the central Algerian Eye is Petite Treasure Braid 23 Snow:



The last one uses Caron Watercolours and Wildflowers 051 Abalone:

All three look gorgeous, the bling on the beaded one is just understated enough so it keeps the design simple, but I think my favorite one has to be the no cutting one, that colour floss looks great on black.

More little beauties! I don't know how you stitched those stitch in hand. I've tried and failed several times. Perhaps, someone will show me how someday. I too do my cutting in the hoop after I've released the tension, but I still get the "five o' clock shadow" nubbies. What's your trick for getting so close?

No trick -- I have those sticky-out bits as well, but have found a way of easing them in with a #24 or #22 needle.

It has to be done on both the front and the back, as usually two of the cut ends naturally incline towards the front of the work, and two towards the back. I "brush" them backward, then insert the needle under the Klosterblock stitches and bend the cut ends double on themselves, hiding them under the satin stitches (hope that makes sense, it's a bit difficult to explain).

It's time consuming, but as you can see it works!

Your last three mini's are stunning!! I really love the crossed over stitches in the cut out areas in hardanger, but my brain can't work out how that's done!!

Mabel Figworthy wrote: Do you think starting to organise your 2011 Christmas cards in July 2010 is a cause for worry....?

As I normally start to think about Christmas a week before the actual day ..... yes!!

ali-cat wrote:I really love the crossed over stitches in the cut out areas in hardanger, but my brain can't work out how that's done!!

It's a sort of under-and-over movement -- if you get Mary Hickmott's second Hardanger book that has quite a good explanation (or any of the New Stitches issues with a hardanger piece that uses the stitch, as there will be a "stitch reminder")

They are lovely, Mabel! Well done

All 3 are amazing but the first one is my favorite. The colors look so good in that one!!!!!

Now that I've picked my jaw up off the desk I can say that I love it all, especially the cross. Wonderful work as always.

They are all so lovely!

DH is off today to pick up a car, and so I'm on phone duty, but as I'd done most of my other work already I actually have quite a lot of stitchy time today , well, apart from being interrupted by the telephone and people wanting advice or to order things .

Anyway, I managed to finish a squirrel that's going to go in a card for my Mum's birthday -- she loves squirrels and really enjoyed feeeding them unshelled peanuts in Hyde Park when we were in London some years ago (on one occasion she ran out of peanuts and one squirrel came up to the park bench where she was sitting and pulled her trouser leg, as if to say "hey, where's the nuts?!?" ).

Those were grey squirrels but here's an old-fashioned red one (I used treasure braid for his eye to make it more "alive"):



Incidentally, this was not originally a cross stitch chart -- like the parrot I did some time ago, it was based on a MiniSteck design, a toy which was around when I was little and which was a bit like those pixel art things, only the "tiles" came in various shapes, not just small squares. The small designs I used when I was a child have turned out to be great little cross stitch designs!

He is gorgeous!! He looks as if he's going to scamper off, at any moment!!

I love this thread...your Hardanger is wonderful Mabel

Oh he is adorable!!!!!

Lovely squirrel, so cute

Squirell is very cute

The squirrel is so cute!

I love the little squirrel!!

Love the squirrel! What more can be said? I really want to learn Hardanger one day! But I would rather have instruction from a person rather than a book. Oh well, I will return to my HAEDs now. Kudos to you.