Every project I’m stitching at the moment seems to involve french knots, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy stitching french knots, but there are limits!!!

I’ve just finished July for the Anthea Calendar SAL by Faby Reilly. It’s beautiful, it’s got two bunches of lavender…with lots of french knots!

It’s based on Faby’s lavender design which I’ve stitched before – I made the scissor tag, card and lavender bag for my mum a few years ago, so I did know what to expect.

I enjoyed stitching this block – it was one of those satisfying ones where you could stitch the whole of one colour before moving on to the next. I love all the different stitches Faby uses – even the 200 plus french knots!

All I’ve got to do now is the monthly word play, but I haven’t even started thinking about that one yet.

The other knotty project is the cherry tree orchard in needlepoint. It’s a kit from Derwentwater Designs. Last time I showed you this project was at the beginning of July, I’d just finished the needlepoint in the centre and I was just starting the french knots…

By this point I was getting a bit fed up of french knots, so I drifted onto the border for a while before having a strong word with myself yesterday to just get on with them. I think I struggled because it wasn’t that easy to follow the chart to see where they were meant to go, especially once you started sewing a few. I realised I just had the mid pink ones left to do, so I ignored the chart and just filled the gaps in, much easier!

The border has some pretty cherry blossom flowers, it reminded me of a tapestry I did of sheep many years ago, it had a big paisley border with some strange colour combinations. I hated it until I started putting the background in and it all suddenly came together and I loved it. This border doesn’t look much until you get the soft green background with it. There’s a few more french knots to do on the flowers and a couple of stems too.

I love the way the designer has managed to get perspective into the embroidery, the gate really stands out in front of the trees.It’s only small is this design, about 11cm square altogether – there’s another two narrow satin stitch borders yet. Hopefully it won’t take me too long, then I just have to decide what to do with it.