Last day of 2023

2023 was a productive year for stitching! 

I stitched 16 different items in total this year. 

• 12 monthly flowers which I assembled into a wall hanging
• baby poem which I framed
• 3 Gingerbread mice - which still need to be assembled
• 2 snowman ornaments which I did assemble and gave as gifts for Christmas

Unfortunately I lost my stitching mojo sometime in August or September and still haven't really found it.

I did buy myself a new DMC colour chart with real thread. I'm hoping this will spark my stitching passion again in 2024.

December - FFG

 

Thank you Rachel at the Ten Hour Stitcher for hosting this SAL.

I stitched these 2 snowmen ornaments months ago. I fully finished them last month. The one on the left (pink & blue scarf) was mailed this week in a Christmas card to a video game friend in OHIO. I wanted an ornament that was flat to mail. The one on the right will go to my son Jordyn and daughter-in-law Sarah. I have given them an ornament every year since they met in 2014.

Lighthouse #1

 I started the first lighthouse on Saturday, August 25. It is called Home on the Point and was printed in the June 2001 issue of Just Cross Stitch. 

 

Here is my progress from the weekend.

Snowmen Christmas ornaments

 I was finally able to finish the Handprints - Woodland Animals project with baby info. Henry was born on August 17 (only 3 days late). Here is a photo to see how the fabric will look with it the wood frame.  I still need to frame it properly, this was just to check the colour. The love how the frame matches the colours of the raccoon.

In the meantime, I have stitched 2 snowman ornaments.  I have stitched this pattern in the past. I will mail one to a friend in OHIO (keep the 2nd one for a backup sometime), that is why I decided on this design because the ornament is flatter than most. You layer the 3 snowballs on top of each other. 

I’ll try and build them for next months FFG along with assembling 5 mice.

Here is the link to the last time I stitched this snowman.  https://colourfulcrossstitches.blogspot.com/2016/09/snowman-ornament-happy-dance.html

I have been going through some of my old cross stitch magazines looking for some new projects.  Here are 5 I have chosen. 2 lighthouses for our ensuite bathroom and 3 garden scenes will go somewhere else in our house.

Lighthouses - Just Cross Stitch June 2001. I will be using 28ct Jobelan Bablingbrook (leftover fabric from Snowman Wisdom shown below). 

Lighthouse - At Home on the Point (5x7)
Lighthouse - Rounding the Point (5x7)

In the Garden - Cross Stitch & Country Craft magazines (1988). I will use 28ct white evenweave for all 3 garden scenes.

Colonial Garden (7 1/2 x 5)

Victorian Garden (7 1/2 x 5)

Country Garden (7 1/2 x 5)

These should keep me busy for the rest of 2023 and early 2024.

Harry Potter - Stitch Your Own Adventure - Letters From Hogwarts

I just found out that the files for the Letters From Hogwarts will be removed from Cunning Cross Stitch on August 31, 2023. Incase anyone would like to still stitch this project.

Stewart will be releasing a new stitch your own adventure on September 1, 2023.  I'm excited to see what he has come up with this time.

Just Nan - 1 more mouse

 I finished stitching the gingerbread reindeer mouse this afternoon. 

I didn’t add whiskers to the reindeer mouse.  After showing my daughter-in-law Sarah, the Santa and Mrs. Santa mice, she noticed I used black instead of white floss for the whiskers. I always make black whiskers, I wasn’t thinking about Santa’s white beard would have white whiskers.

So, I removed the black whiskers for now. I will add white ones when I assemble the 3 of  them.

Just Nan - 2 more mice

 I thought 3 mice would be a fast stitch. I completed Gingerbread Santa Mouse last week, but too lazy to update my blog.

I just completed Gingerbread Mrs. Santa Mouse this afternoon.

Next I will start Gingerbread Reindeer Mouse.

Handprints - Woodland Animals - update #6

 Today I started and completed the chipmunk.  This is the last animal.

I need to find a new project to start. Tomorrow I will go through my stash. I’m thinking maybe one of my many Just nan kits, but we’ll see what else I find.

Handprints - Woodland Animals - update #5

Today I started and completed the fox. I have 1 more animal to stitch before the baby is born then I can get the information (name, birth date, and weight).

Here is the project so far.

Handprints - Woodland Animals - update #4

 Today I started and completed the rabbit and raccoon.

Handprints - Woodland Animals - update #3

 Today I started and completed the last 2 leaves and the deer.

Handprints - Woodland Animals - Update #2

 I started and completed the squirrel, and 2 of the 4 leaves.

Fully Finished Gallery - July 2023

 

Thanks to Rachel over at Ten Hour Stitcher for this monthly SAL. This is the first time I’m participating this year because it is my first big finish of the year. My husband Dave requested a wall hanging to replace the winter snowman one, so this is what he got.

I made it into a quilted wall hanging. It is bigger than I pictured in my mind but I had to use more butterfly fabric between each flower or you wouldn’t see much of the butterflies. I thought a metre of fabric was enough but that only did the front. I found some purple fabric in my sewing stash.

I watched a video on How To Make a Flanged Pillow by the Twisted Stitcher (Vonna Pfeiffer). She taught me how to make sure my evenweave fabric was cut straight. I used the pulling a thread method instead of the rotary cutter because my fabric was crooked. This way I knew I’d have the same amount of threads all around the square flowers. 

Handprints - Woodland Animals theme - update #1

 I started the project on July 6. It took me 4 days to stitch the 2 hands because I kept miscounting. I stitched the whole poem yesterday. Here is the poem and hands completed.

Today I will pull my threads for all the animals.

Handprints poem - 9th time

I’m very excited because my next cross stitch project has a due date, but that can be earlier or later depending on the baby. One of my sons’ close friends is expecting his first child August 14. I have known him since he was in high school, so I wanted to stitch something for him and his wife.  

I always stitch the handprints poem, but I also personalize it each time with the baby theme.  I think this is the 9th time I’m stitching this baby pattern. I originally bought and stitched it in 1998 for my oldest son’s kindergarten teacher. 

This time the baby theme is Woodland Animals. This is my design concept using animals found in my cross stitch books.

I hand dyed a piece of white 28ct evenweave using coffee, but that was too light, so I re-dyed it again with tea.  This is how it turned out.

I will be stitching the poem in DMC 988 because it is the closest colour to a peridot (August birthstone). 

December - poinsettia

 I just completed the last monthly flower.

Next week I will assemble the 12 monthly flowers into a wall hanging.

November - chrysanthemum - Happy Dance

 I just completed another monthly flower. I’m on vacation for the next 2 weeks, so I may not have time to start the last flower until I get home.

November - chrysanthemums

 I started the next flower on May 29th.

October - calendula (happy dance)

 I was able to finish the flower this evening.

October - calendula

 I made a start on the next flower.

I also completed a 1000pc puzzle of wild birds.

September - aster

 I finished this flower the middle of April but forgot to post a photo.

I only have 3 more to do. I really like how the flowers looked backstitched, so I am going to back stitch around the flowers I already completed before starting October. I did January this afternoon, and now I’m working on February. 

August - gladiolus

 I just finished another flower August - gladiolus.

July - Larkspur

 I finished the July Larkspur flower last night. 

I hope to start August - Gladiolus later today or tomorrow.

Monthly Flower borders

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Dave & I have both had head colds for over a week now.  We feel better, but can’t seem to get rid of the cough and stuffy nose. I haven’t stitched much this month, but did manage to measure and cut my fabric, then stitch the borders for the last 6 monthly flowers.

I am about to start the July - Larkspur (top left) flower today.

The other flowers are August (gladiolus), September (aster), October (calendula), November (chrysanthemum), and December (poinsettia). 

2023

 Happy (late) New Year!

I am still cross stitching, but just terrible at blogging.  I started a new project for my husband.  He asked me to stitch something to hang on the wall that isn’t winter themed because I already have a winter wall hanging (Snowman Wisdom) and he wants to replace it during the other seasons of the year.  So I looked through my computer files and thought flowers would be nice to look at throughout the other parts of the year.  You can find the free monthly flowers by Ellen Maurer-Stroh on her website.

This is what the flowers look like (I borrowed these images from her website. 

I plan on doing 2 columns of 6 flowers. This is the butterfly fabric I will be using in between each square. I couldn’t find one with brown, but I think it will be fine with the flowers.

The pattern calls for DMC 3864 for the square borders (outside and inside), but I used DMC 3862 (a bit darker) for the outside double border and the DMC 3864 for the inside square border instead.

January - Carnations (Nov 14-23, 2022)

May - Lily of the valley (Dec 2, 2022 - Jan 5, 2023)

February - Violets (Jan 5-13, 2023)

March - Daffodils (Jan 15-19, 2023).  This is the only pattern so far that has backstitching.

April - Sweet Peas (Jan 19-27, 2023)

June - Wild Rose (Jan 27 - Feb 1). I added the backstitching because I thought it needed it. Might go back and add to the other flowers, but not sure yet.

I am thinking of participating in the 2023 Botanical Blackwork SAL at The Steady Thread. I have joined their Facebook page and am watching everyone else to see if I want to commit to the project.  It is 47 weeks long.  There are 2 versions (square and hexagon) with different border options to make the project more personal for everyone.  I’m planning mine out first on my computer to see which border and extra items to add to it in case I want to join in.  It won’t take long to catch up on blackwork.