CROSS STITCH DIARY: February Successes!

I’m feeling pretty good about the last four weeks in relating to my cross stitch projects with four finishes, two new starts and another five new starts in the next seven days.

FINISH: January Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

Completed January Sampler of the Month is stitched on 16 ct beige aida with Classic Colorworks provided through the FQS Monthly Club

If you remember, I am a total snowman fanatic. The bottom snowmen’s french notes were with two threads wrapped twice and the top ones were with one wrap. I like the top better. The pattern called for one strand but I didn’t want one thread hanging out for me to keep track of. I really enjoyed stitching this simple but striking sampler.

FINISH: January Cottage of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

Finished January Cottage of the Month on 28 ct Lambswool Linen with called for threads which is a mix of DMC and Classic Colorwork threads.

It was thrilling to finish this wonderful teal house this week. Another snowman with snowflakes fanatical stitch. Love, Love, Love this cutie.

FINISH: January Snapshot by Pine Mountain Designs

Finished stitching the January Snapshot with the provided 10ct Oatmeal aida with a lot of different DMC threads curated by Fat Quarter Shop.

This ended up being a fairly easy stitch as well as a fun stitch. The items picked to represent January are fun and I loved how they worked in a snowflake in the body of the snowman. A few errors here or there but now I can’t remember where.

START & FINISH: February Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

Completed February Sampler of the Month on 16 ct beige aida with Classic Colorwork threads.

In an effort to try and catch up on this club, I only took this project with me on my Florida trip. I have been starting each of these in the middle because I think it is easier for this chart. I ended up redoing the house two and half times on the five hour flight. That was a little discouraging and I wasn’t sure if I would actually finish on the trip.

It was a busy business trip and I only had a little bit of time to stitch each day. What was easier was that housekeeping didn’t clean the rooms unless you asked them to, so I was able to leave everything out every day. At home, everything gets put away because of my cats liking to steal the thread, the magnets, or whatever else strikes them.

I was thrilled that I finished this sampler 30 minutes from landing on the way home. It felt incredible to finish in just one week.

Snow Village by Country Cottage Needleworks

Frozen Chocolate Shop in Progress on 14 ct Blue Snow Fabric Flair Aida with called for threads.

I love working on this larger project. I am sure I will set it down at some point but not yet. Last time I had finished the Peppermint Parlor and I have made pretty good progress on the Frozen Hot Chocolate Shop. I think I only got to stitch on it three times in the last four weeks so I feel pretty good about the progress.

Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore E Batticuore

Progress stitching on 16 ct whimsey aida with DMC thread for my Winter Calendar.

Each square isn’t necessarily hard, but they do take time. As you can see, December 2nd is done and December 1st is well on its way. I just need to add some accent to the square, finish the border, fill in the mitten, and add backstitch. It has been challenging deciding what color the backstitch is. I’m am going to quit worrying about that and use what makes sense to me. I adore this stitch out.

Prim Stitch Series by Lori Holt

Start of square 4 of the Prim Stitch Series on Prim 25 ct Laguana with Aurifil threads

While I do enjoy this stitchy project, it doesn’t get me excited like the last two. Because of that, I tend to skip it in deference to one of the other two especially with a line up that exceeds 7 projects. Almost done with #4 of the series and then I will need to do some more border work.

February Truckin Along by Stitching with the Housewives

Progress picture of February Truckin Along on 14 ct chalkboard black aida with Classic Colorworks thread

The day I worked on this one, I really thought I would get ahead. I had an eight hour window. Instead I spent almost the entire time stitching and unstitching the left post with its flowers. I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t seem to count right. I didn’t feel the pattern was that hard. It was a relief to finally get to the clothesline with the hearts and envelopes.

START (SOON): February Snapshot by Pine Mountain Designs

Up to start next week

With finishing the January Snapshot this week, I am looking forward to starting this one next week. I kitted and prepped everything this week so I am ready to hit the ground running.

START (SOON): February Cottage of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

Next up after finishing January this week

Pulled together over the past weeks the thread needed for the next Cottage of the Month. Everything arrived and got kitted and prepped this week in anticipation of a start next week.

START (SOON): Modern Folk Embroidery SAL 2021

British Sew Along

I was looking for a one color sampler to try but came across this one and found it very interesting. It started in January, but it has taken me a while to get my thread and fabric. I couldn’t decide initially whether to use white or black 16 count aida. My sister Dorothy noticed all those starts that looks like snowflakes and the tree int he middle and decided it would look better on white. I picked teal as my thread and plan on starting this project tonight after kitting and prepping earlier this week.

START (SOON): Serendipity SAL by Fat Quarter Shop

Charity Stitch Along

I’ve had the fabric and threads for months. I prepped the fabric and kitted this week as it was schedule to start originally March 1st but got delayed until March 10th. So now it has started but I wasn’t able to download the pattern until today. So I will be starting this one next week. A new pattern is released every two weeks seven times.

START (SOON): Mr. March, A Calendar Gnome by Charlie’s Needle

Mr. March

I’ve been anxiously waiting for my thread order to come in so I could start this one. As mentioned earlier I received my order this week so this is another one that I prepped the fabric and kitted up. I am starting this one tomorrow. I am very excited to start this one. Those daffodils are a nice touch and will go well with my March Sampler of the Month.

START: March Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks

Sampler of the Month is being stitched on 16 ct beige aida with Classic Colorworks

This was so fun to start last night. I adore this series. They are so fun. There will be cute little clouds and rainbows on each side of the house. So So fun!

PUT AWAY: Winter Camper by Bobbie G Designs

Progress of Winter Camper on 14ct white aida with DMC thread

I’ve started dreading working on this one mostly because I made an error and I was unable to fix it. It’s challenging for me to figure out how to make it all work with my errors. Since it is no longer fun and there are other projects I would rather do, I pulled this one from my active projects this week and moved it to the back room.

Wrap Up

Daffodils in my neighbor’s yard

I am not sure how it happened that I’ve got so many active projects. Several of my projects are long term and others are monthly series. I haven’t even started all the monthly series I meant to. I moved to the top of my “on hold” projects spring themes. In April, I hope to rotate some of them in.

Thanks again for taking the time to check in what I am doing. I hope you get some inspiration for your own projects.

Peggy