Punto Antico Table/Tea Cloth

Good Morning!  I wanted to write a post yesterday, but I had a doctor's appointment.  Fortunately, now they don't take very long, but it is an hour drive there, and another hour back. . . and since my husband and I were out, we decided we might as well run errands as well.  It wasn't too bad of a day, but I prefer being home with a hot cup of coffee, under a blanket, with my needlework in my hand, especially in the colder weather.

I finished the Punto Antico piece a few days ago, and have taken photos of the completed (and washed and ironed) project.  I used Sotema Linen 20L ( 38 ct) in Ivory for the linen.  The threads used were DMC Coton a Broder sizes 25, 30 and 35 in white.  I also used some DMC Floche size 16 in white, for some of the counted thread work.  I used DMC cordonnet cotton size 70 for the hemstitch.  The pattern is in Giuliana Buonpadre's book Punto Antico in Veneto.  I have all of her Embroidery books and I have to say that I absolutely love them.  It is very difficult to find teaching and project books on Italian Needlework and Embroidery in English, and all of hers have been translated not only to English, but French as well.  If you are interested, you can order directly from her site here.  I believe some of them are also available in stores, but I found it easier to just order a few at a time directly from her site.  The shipping costs are very reasonable, though I will say it took at least a month to arrive. . . totally worth the wait though! 

I also found a wonderful Italian internet shop that delivers to the U.S.  They have a very good selection of Italian Linen in different counts, and the prices are fabulous.  Of course, linen can be ordered locally, but they also have threads and items that are not available here, such as Coton a Broder size 35.  I placed an order yesterday, and purchased some linen and threads that are not available here.  I will post photos of my goodies when they arrive.  If you are interested, you can browse the shop for yourself here.  They carry a HUGE selection of items and books for not just Embroidery, but many forms of lace making, including crochet and knitting.

So without further ado here are the photos of the finished piece.   It is approx. 60 cm by 60 cm in size.

Here are a couple more of the work in progress

I put it on my coffee table, and I have already received a lot of compliments on it.  I hope the piece I am working on currently turns out as well as this one did.

I hope you enjoyed this post and will come back next week as I will be sharing more crochet items.  Well, I have a cup of coffee and some embroidery waiting for me, until next time. . .

Happy Stitches!