One thing I loved about living in the U.S. was visiting the libraries. Each county had a library and an amazing collection of books and magazines. I would spend hours sifting through books and magazines making notes, taking copies and yet it seemed to me that I did not to have enough.
The books on different crafts were also amazing finds for me. Earlier, in school, we used to do cross stitch with different colored threads. Then we used to frame if it was a big picture, if it was a small square we would stick it to a card and send it to someone… or sadly in some cases it will wilt and wither in people’s craft nooks.
So when I chanced upon this book on blackwork cross-stitch, I was struck by how beautiful a work could look even if you used only one color thread. I borrowed this book the maximum number of times (thankfully nobody seemed to want it and I didn’t want to photo copy the pattern)
I began the work in earnest on 14-count aida. Surprisingly, I completed the work within three months which is a record by my standards.
Not a great photo.
However, unlike my other projects, especially crochet which gets more attention, this project languished in my craft pile. One day when I was organizing my cupboard I came across this finished project and wondered why I hadn’t framed it earlier.
Anyway, for those of you interested in making a blackwork picture, there are tons of patterns in the internet. It is not necessary one has to work with black thread throughout like the name suggests. One can use any single color of their choice. You can even try stitching in white on a dark fabric.
