In a previous home that I owned, my study had a blue color theme. I had found a design of Delft tiles in blue that I really liked. I decided to stitch them for that room.
Delft pottery was blue and white pottery originally made in and around Delft in the Netherlands. A white glaze was applied to the pieces and then decorated with metallic oxides. Delftware included plates, ornaments and tiles. The original Delftware was produced in the 17th century and it is still being produced 350 years later. I have a bit of Dutch in my ancestry and I also have a few pieces of Delftware so these designs were good choices for me.
I found some Delft tile designs adapted to cross stitch and I stitched 3 of them for the walls in my study. This was a relatively early project in my cross stitch legacy and was done in the early 1980’s. Unfortunately, in the process of many moves over the years, I lost some of my original cross stitch books, magazines and charts. The magazine containing these designs are among those that I lost so I cannot identify the source. The pieces were worked on 14 count aida fabric with DMC floss.
At some point over the years I had removed the needlework from the frames to clean it. The frames were then used for something else. To photograph the pieces I put them behind frames but they are not framed in final form so they may appear to be a little crooked.
The picture below is an old picture taken when I had first completed the project.
More cross stitch with a blue theme, just another thread of my life.
Good Woman 
Humm, this is enough to make me want to go through some of my old cross stitch publications. Yours are so beautiful.
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Thank you. I have a ton of magazines and charts from as far back as the ’80’s. Sometimes I just enjoy looking through those old charts to get in mind what my next project might be. There is never enough time!
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Very nice! 🙂
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Thank you!
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Helen, they look so original- how you managed to get the pattern down on cloth- is amazing.
Do you draw the patterns out on paper and then cross- stitch ?
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Susie, Although I have done my own charts at times, these are mostly charts that are done by other designers. There are many professional designers who do absolutely beautiful work and I believe in supporting them. Although in all honesty, I have such a huge collection of designs that I have saved over the years that I rarely am buying new charts now.
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Have you considered publishing or showing your designs off to others on a site or do you already have one ?
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I am only posting on this site. All of my cross stitch related posts are under the category “Cross Stitch”. I try to add a new post each week.
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Those are beautifully stitched, Helen! There’s something about the Delft design that I have always liked about. It’s so distinct and you can’t quite miss it! Shame that u lost the original books though…but I hope you’ll make more of those. 🙂
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Thank you. I was just sick when I realized that I was missing a lot of charts. I have searched and searched and finally accepted that they are gone forever. Of course, it was only a small part of the total number that came up missing. I guess I might be a hoarder when it comes to cross-stitch designs as I have a ton of cross-stitch magazines and charts from years back. (Of course, I think of myself as a collector and not a hoarder.) In my stash I do have some other Delft-like designs but I am not sure what my next project inspiration will be.
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And so you should! But I guess, at this day an age, it would be quite easy to find the designs online you reckon?
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It is true many designs can be found on line. But I have to say I don’t embrace all of technology. I still prefer reading a hard copy of a book rather than an e-book. And I still enjoy paging through my magazines and charts more than viewing on line.
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Oh yes! Nothing beats a physical book. When it comes to books, I’ll definitely go for a hard copy! Maybe there’s some real books on delft stitches you can find online..although not as authentic as the ones you lost. Hard to get those now. Man! Those could have been heirlooms for later! 😉
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Ann, I tried posting a comment on your blog today. After I hit “Submit” I got a message to go back to enter my password, but I couldn’t find a place to enter a password. I tried a couple of times but never was successful. Am I missing something?
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Hi Helen!
Thanks for letting me know. That’s really weird as the comment box does not require a password at all. I’ll get it check out and let you know if there’s something wrong with it.
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Ah! It should work now. It’s because of the offending “Spam Free WordPress” plugin. My site was hacked into recently so with isntalling some security functions, this was overlooked.
Do you mind trying again to see if it works now? Really appreciate it. 🙂
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It worked. Glad I could help.
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Yay! Thanks for letting me know. I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.You have NOO IDEA how much appreciate that. Muaaackkks! 🙂
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I love these!!!
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Thank you. They were some of my very early work but probably part of the path to getting completely hooked on counted cross stitch.
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