Not My WIP

My work in progress this week is not my own ...

I recently received in the post one of the pieces of the puzzle that is my MIL's quilt.

The story behind this block is that my MIL does a beautiful cross stitch pattern of her grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's names - something they can frame and keep forever.  It's a real labour of love and can take her months to do.  Her "signature" pattern are these little girl's within the letters.  She's had the pattern for yonks and I have my eye on a copy as I'm not sure that it's in print anymore.

Here's a little example for you:

I asked her to create a cross stitched "B" which is the first letter of her name.  Apparently it was quite a difficult task to cross stitch on cotton - my name is mud!

First she had to baste some soluble Aida canvas on top of the cotton, cross stitch the "B" on it then rinse under cold water to dissolve the Aida canvas.  As it was done in such little stitches she had trouble removing the Aida canvas and so damaged some of the stitches - nothing I can't fix though.

But I think the result was worth it ..

Just look at those cute little hair bows!

Linking up with Kristy who is hosting WIP this week at Freshly Pieced and hope to see you soon with some work of my own ... ahem.  

Sx