One of the things I am most proud of making is the cross-stitch I did for Gemma's 21st last summer. Gemma infamously loves tea, she also loves Mr. Scruff (who we saw together at the Arches in 2009, one of the many times she has gone to see him.) So what was more appropriate for her than a cross-stitched Mr. Scruff cartoon?
I started by getting a picture of the Mr. Scruff English breakfast tea...
Which I enlarged on good ol' Microsoft Paint, printed off and then carefully copied the design onto squared cross-stitch paper. Luckily my mum stitches so I managed to get the colours I needed as well as her advice.
And then the process started. Since I was trying to get the writing in the exact font as used here it was hard to get the stitches right, and it was largely a case of trial and error, picking and re-doing when I got it wrong. It was strangely exhausting work, and since I was working full time at the woolen mill my arms would get easily knackered just holding the fabric up! Anyway, I guess it took around 40 hours maybe. Possibly even more.
I knew I wanted to have it framed, and I love the idea of getting an antique looking gold frame for it would work perfectly. This would probably be something easily come by in Glasgow, but unfortunately I was in Elgin at the time. However, trusty TK Maxx (never let me down) had one which although wasn't exactly what I wanted it more than did the job and didn't break the bank either!
So here is the final product, I would love to have one myself but it was such a big undertaking. I hope that Mr. Scruff would like it and wouldn't be annoyed at me for ripping off his design...
