Stone Dog Design Studio I find cross stitch an almost ideal creative technique. It's like writing software or finally understanding Latin grammar: follow the instructions and you'll end up with a very acceptable result but there's always room for personal interpretation, flair and an elegant solution. You can create and embellish, pare down and develop - but you can also share it exactly with someone else. One of the attractions of cross stitch is working within the limits of the technique. In an infinite universe it's fun to accept some restrictions. For another take on this have a look at the poem Scorn not the Sonnet. Many of the designs I produce use only complete cross stitches, and are worked with the standard six-strand embroidery thread on 14 HPI Aida fabric - the most common and basic materials. The chart symbols are checked and chosen to be easy to tell apart and to give a monochrome suggestion of how the finished piece will look. Designs, charts and thread cards are produced using Easy Cross Enterprise. Why Stone Dog? The Stone Dog Design Studio is named for a family joke shared between my grandmother and myself. My grandparents had a garden ornament which doubled as a seat for one. The first time I saw it I was terrified of the stone dog which was crouching in the dusk of the garden - my grandmother walked me down to it slowly until I could see it didn't actually look like a stone dog at all. It is actually a small lump of Lincoln Cathedral, probably left over from a restoration project in the early 1900's. |
