Today’s photo challenge from Postcard from Gibraltar is a fairly easy one for me as the theme is stitch. I think choosing which stitch photo is probably more of a challenge, I’ve got a few to choose from…

This is the earliest piece of my stitches I have, I stitched it when I was about 6 years old, I remember entering it in the school handicrafts competition for three years on the trot – at that age you don’t see what the problem is with that! I have it hanging in my sewing room.

The Lyrebird is my oldest UFO! I started it just after I finished the cockerel, so I would have been about 7 years old. I stitched most of it, but it sat unfinished in my workbox for many years, and I mean many!! I eventually decided that I either finish it or throw it…it took me two evenings to finish it, I had prevaricated for 42 years for the sake of two evenings work!!!

This little basket was my first foray into silk ribbon embroidery. I was at a three day workshop at Denman College with Marilyn Pipe, she had me hooked straight away! After the course I went on to stitch the flower lattice.

These little embroideries on the Splendid Sampler quilt are really what persuaded me that actually I could do ‘proper’ embroidery. Up to then I’d mainly done cross-stitch when of course you get the chart to tell you where to stitch and even have the holes already in the fabric to keep it neat!

I love stitching presents for birthdays, Christmas, special occasions such as this wedding sampler or just to say I’m thinking of you…

…I love receiving handmade presents too, this gorgeous embroidery was stitched by my daughter for Mothers Day a couple of years ago.

Finally I couldn’t have a theme of stitch without my stitch sampler, it’s almost finished now, just got to finish the last sample page and sort out the front and back.

For more photos on stitch, please follow the link to Postcard from Gibraltar.