Counted Thread Band Round Robin progress at last!

It's been more than 2 years since an international group of 10 people signed up for a round robin project on a now closed Yahoo group. Eventually we were down to 7 people who stitched a counted thread technique on a band, no more than 2 inches wide, then sent it on to the next person on the list. The schedule of 6 months was soon abandoned with some of the group members suffering life's ups and downs including death of loved ones and marriage break ups, but the "stitching sisters" (as the new group was called) were always there to talk to and share the joy or heartbreak.

This week in Sydney has been hot and humid, way too hot to go outside or do too much strenuous activity. It seemed like the perfect time to sit quietly, put on the air con, and finish designing and stitching the 3 bands I've managed to stockpile here. They were certainly not forgotten, but prioritising my commitments had shifted them to the very bottom of the UFO piles. So Norma and Sarah can look forward to seeing their bands in the USA soon, and Margaret's is in the designing stage and will be started by the end of this week too.

Sarah's band with my work in green at the bottom
Sarah started her band at a very tumultuous time in her life. The journal cover she sent with her partly finished work was an oriental postcard and she asked us to stitch something that made us feel tranquil. I chose to stitch a traditional blackwork band taken from an old English book. It reminded me of clouds and seemed really peaceful, a little like the clouds on Wedgewood blue and white Willow pattern china? I used a lime green DMC pearl 8 from my stash so I hope she likes it.


Norma's band with my work in blue at the bottom
Norma sent a pumpkin coloured linen for us to stitch on, and I chose to echo the shape of the first row worked by Norma herself at the top. The design again was from an old English blackwork pattern and represents Pomegranates I believe. I used blue DMC Pearl 8 cotton thread for this blackwork band. I was nearly finished when I discovered I had made a counting mistake in the middle, so had to "reverse embroider" or "frog" 2 whole pomegranates. I hope Norma likes my work too.