I had an unexpected turn this week on one of my 2020 Christmas projects. All will be revealed below. Meanwhile, I am enjoying all the stitchy fun of the holiday season. Fall and Winter are my favorite time to stitch!
Starts & Finishes
While I still have at least one new stitch to start for December, I found a new one more that will be released soon called Snowman Collector. If you don’t know me well, I have a thing for pumpkins, snowmen, cats, and hummingbirds. I find projects with these items hard to resist.
I have one more from the Barn Sweet Barn series to finish which will be an upcoming start. Overall I have felt extremely productive with my crafts this month. I had another finish. See below.
FINISH: Summer Baskets #1 by Hands on Design
I got so close to the end, I couldn’t resist wrapping this one up at long last. While I have the Autumn Baskets charts, I am going to wait for the Winter Basket Charts to come out before I continue. I just love this patriotic look and can’t wait to finish the other two this summer.
Final Finishes
No time to work on any Final Finishes this week although I have several in mind.
Weekly WIP Update
This week found me working on some of most beloved projects for the holiday system as well as some oldies but goodies.
Santa Baby by Fat Quarter Shop 2020 Stitch Quarterly
I keep plugging away with all those white stitches that are left. My goal is to stitch 2 full length strands per night. While I would like to say I did it for seven nights, it was only five nights, but progress was definitely made.
Christmas Calendar by Tiny Modernist
While I have suspected it for a while, which is why I probably stopped working on it during the year, the fabric I cut is too small for the design. It was one of my first times cutting down fabric and I think I cut the fabric by design dimensions without adding the space all around or something like that. I am very disappointed but I have been thinking, I might be able to salvage what I have already stitched into some kind of ornament or two. We shall see.
I haven’t decided if I am going to restart this in 2022, but I did go ahead and find a suitable fabric replacement from my stash with icelandic blue 28 ct linen which when I did the floss toss still looks pretty good. Previously I used Graceful Gray and the called for was Touch of Gray.
Snowballs For Sale by Lori Holt
I always forget how I like working with 25 ct lugana. It is such a fun easy fabric to work with. And the colors available! Unfortunately, I did not have as much free time the night I worked on this project. If I remember correctly, I just got 2 hours to work on this. I finished up the red and could start working on the outline of the snowballs. I look forward to the next time.
Shabby Winter Calendar by Cuore e Batticuore
I had set a goal for myself to work on Day 3 of this project, but after I fell short with the Christmas Calendar, I wanted to stitch the width and length of the border for this project. So this week was working on the border. I am now very confident, that all is well with this project. So next time will be back to Day 3.
June Sampler of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks
I get distracted with all of these cool projects. This week finding me pulling this one out a couple of times as I am close to finishing it up. All those watermelons and lemon slices are hard to resist. LOL! I managed to finish the bottom second border and half of the top second border. The last border is simple with no french knots or backstitching with the last border. So much fun! I’ve decided if I finish this one this next week, I will start on December right away. When I look back on this series, I got derailed in the summer when I started doing a lot of travel.
Upcoming
As normal, I have set myself goals for this next week. Generally speaking, I stay within the border of these goals. This week, they will be more guidelines versus etched in pencil.
My current plans are to work on:
- June Sampler of the Month with hopes of finishing
- Santa Baby with hopes of finishing
- Work on Christmas Tiny Town again
- Work on Snow Village Banner again
- Visiting Mr July Calendar Gnome
- Visiting May Calendar Crates main piece,
- And Start December Barn Sweet Barn.
We shall see if I meet my goals. I feel they are workable but I want to be flexible for any impulse starts – Maybe Dec Sampler of Month, Prairie Schooler Santa, Snowman Collector, or any other cool chart.
Nala and Simba have been well behaved this week. No stolen threaded needles or anything else. Nala has even encouraged me to sit and stitch. We’ve been out of the house so much for hockey, that I am having to record the World Cup games. We have no hockey after this weekend until after Christmas. I am anticipating some baking and stitching time coming my way.
Have a great weekend everyone. Hope one of these projects inspires you.
Peggy Stockwell
Looking good! I can see why you’re still stitching the watermelons…cute!
Love the patriotic one. So pretty. Sad for the mishap with the calendar, but hopefully you’ll find a way to use it.
Nala and Simba both good? Take that as a win!!
I know right?! Simba and Nala being good seems like an oxymoron. LOL! Thanks for the encouragement. I won’t let all that stitching go to waste. I will figure something out. I have put it aside for now. I debated on restarting, but I really do like the chart, so I will definitely restart. Hey if I only miscalculated once in the last 3 years, that is good. I am surprised it hasn’t been more. I have had some close calls with little room left, but none where I couldn’t actually finish the stitching until now. I consider that a win. See you soon!
I have also cut fabric too small. I have a Lori Holt autumn cross stitch I finished last year that doesn’t even have enough border to frame it, so it sits on a mounting board with frayed edges. So disappointing. But it still looks good, so I will keep using it. I love that purply Aida, and the Snowballs For Sale is adorable! I wish I could brag on my kitties – one in particular has been very mischievous, and my sweetest kitty Rosie has been trying to tear the batting off my design wall. 😉
My daughter who is new to cross stitch didn’t realize you are supposed to leave a border around your stitching. So her first one she ended up putting in a “floating” frame. It looks great! Plus it really does protect the edges. I would have been willing to do that but there was literally not enough space to finish the stitching at all. I know it was my first time cutting it down. So I think I just add 2″ instead of the 4″. I figure out a use for what I stitched. I used the piece that I cut, otherwise I would have figured out how to reattach what I cut off.
I love love the purple aida. I have done a number of pieces on it. Everything looks fabulous on it. Colors just pop as most people do not use purple floss in their designs.
I love hearing about your kitties. Cats are so entertaining and curious. Taking batting off the wall sounds about right.