Ross Originals – Feather Stitching

After I finished doing all that over-one stitching on my first HAED I decided to go back and dig out some very VERY old UFOs and make a dent in them … the first one I chose to do was one that I fell out of love with a long time ago. Initially started as a SAL with a fellow blogger, she fell off the face of the earth not far into the SAL. Truthfully when I started this one with her it wasn’t my first choice to stitch, so when she was no longer cheering me on I just lost interest – not to mention I wasn’t exactly enjoying the over-one stitching.

Anyway, I decided to just suck it up and get cracking … and lo and behind I soon had another finish once I put some serious effort into it. I must say I had no idea what to do with it when it was finished – I do love it now, but I’d never have it hanging on my wall. Next thing I know my flatmate has fallen in love with it and pretty much jumped on it when I said I didn’t know what to do with it. Eventually I’ll get it framed for her and it’ll go on the walls of her new house once it’s built 🙂

This is how it looked when I first picked it up again after not touching it since, um, ahem … 2007!

And here’s the stunning (if I do say so myself!) finished product – “Who’s a pretty boy, then?” 😉

“Blue and Yellow Macaw” by Ross Originals (Graeme Ross)
Started 17 January 2007 – Finished 31 July 2016
Stitched on 28ct Lugana, one-over-one
with recommended DMC threads

I may not have as many finishes as I used to do, but so far this year I’ve managed to tick off some pretty big ticket items as far as I’m concerned – it’s been wonderful to be able to put a few of my old UFOs into the finished pile.

I was sorry to hear of the death of the designer and artist Graeme Ross this weekend – he was the creator of Ross Originals designs, and had an incredible designing talent. If you want to read more about him and his life, feel free to wander over to the Ross Originals website for more information. I personally adore his bird and wildlife designs.

One of my all-time favourite stitched pieces was a Ross Originals piece – this is one of my very first ever XS projects, stitched on 14ct Aida back in the days when I didn’t know anything called linen was in existence. Here is my Ross Originals’ “Tiger” in all its magnificent glory. Actually it looks like I scanned the piccie years ago, as I notice the right-hand side in particular is a bit cropped off – oops!

I’ve always wanted to get this piece framed, and have never managed to get it done (in fact I’ve never managed to get much framed at all … I can probably count on one hand the number of XS pieces I’ve had framed) – but now I have a real urge to finally pull my finger out and get him finished. I want to learn how to do my own framing, and this one will definitely be added high to the top of the pile to be done. I’ve had a mat-cutter for years now, that I bought in the US at the Heart of XS shopping mall way back in 1999 – and I just bought the beginning kit for the staples and frame straps to start framing at our recent craft show in Sydney, but just need to buy some cut up pieces of frame ready to give it a go … I really do need to do this soon and start building up my confidence!

Of course, I still have two pieces in particular by Ross Originals that I still have to stitch – one that is currently sitting in UFO status, that I was stitching as a SAL with Carina (who has since disappeared off the face of the earth), and one that is very very high up the list of wanting to stitch. Both of these are being stitched over-one … probably why the Macaw is currently sitting in UFO status! Of the two pieces, my absolute favourite is the Rainbow Lorikeets piece – but I started the Macaw first, as that was the choice of Carina for us to stitch together. Perhaps now that I’m not doing a SAL any longer I should just ditch the Macaw and get the Lorikeets done first – life’s too short … and I can always return to the Macaw again afterwards 🙂

Here’s the Macaw chart, along with my current pitiful progress where I left it a couple of years ago:

And here’s the beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets chart – I just adore this one!

The world has lost an exceptionally talented designer and stitcher – but his name will continue in the finished works of those of us who adore his designs. RIP Graeme Ross!