My First Attempts at Blackwork

This Christmas Darling Husband bought me the blackwork book I've been drooling over.  This book is crammed full of beautiful examples and patterns of blackwork, and a some history about the craft as well!

 

So I dug out my scraps of Aida cloth and chose an easy pattern to start with.

 



I quickly found out three things. 
The first thing I learned is that you definitely need good lighting.  I moved my flexible lamp to the side table, and directed the bright light onto my cloth.  
The second thing I learned is that blackwork is addictive.  I had a really hard time putting it down.  "What's that honey?  You made lunch?  Okay, just a few more stitches dear." 
This is a type of stitching that requires a bit of attention.  There is counting and following of a pattern.  I like to work with the radio or TV in the background, but this is not the time to watch something new....or something complicated like the Mentalist, Hawaii Five-O where if you blink you miss something.  I threw some old episodes of Frasier I'd seen a thousand times and stitched away for 5 hours!

The little project above was my first attempt at a bookmark.  unfortunately, I found a mistake and couldn't seem to fix it.  It was good practice and taught me to double check whether or not my stitches and pattern line up properly.

One of the fun things I love about blackwork is that a person can use different elements and designs and create their own pattern!

Saturday evening I started a NEW project (much like the one above) and I will show you the outcome of that very soon!  So far....no mistakes! 

Until tomorrow, have a happy stitching day!