Floss Friday #62

Hi Everyone! This weekend is 24 Hours of Cross Stitching marathon hosted by Instagram’s @quirksandstitches. She also has an etsy shop with digital cross stitch planners and notebooks with her 2024 version to be released soon. You can follow this weekend with #24hoursofcrossstitch or #24hocs (my personal favorite since it is nice and short!). Be sure to post your projects starting October 20th and ending on October 22nd. You don’t need to do 24 hours straight but you can. Let’s go stitchers!

Starts & Finishes

It’s been two weeks since my last post so I have lots to share!

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

I don’t always remember when you focus on this sampler you can get it done in 4 or 5 sittings. I was pleased to start and finish this WIPGO project in just two weeks!

I was a little annoyed last night that I had to undo an hours worth of stitching just because I started the border two spaces wrong. I have been using the new FQS unpicker (not official name) and it is a fabulous tool and way easier than using my needle. I am going to look for it on their website and see if I can insert a pic here for you. I just realized I already lost the cap. LOL!

My favorite part was stitching the leaves. I love the colors and the swirl of the branches. The books and apple borders were fun as well.

This sampler was stitched on 16 count beige aida with the called for Classic Colorwork flosses.

FINISH: June Stackables by It’s Sew Emma (FQS)

Coming into October, I did not have much to stitch for a finish – just the bucket and the shell. I always think the bucket is going to take a long time but stitching it is always easy. My favorite thing to stitch for this project was the flip flops.

This was stitched on Fabric Flair 14ct Marbled White Pine Board aida with the called for Classic Colorwork floss. I am so looking forward to starting the October Stackables this coming weekend!

FINISH: October Year of Celebration by Hands on Design

This was a fun little of finish. It was hard to pick my favorite thing to stitch but after much thought I really think it was the tree.

This was stitched on 16ct beige aida with the called for Weeks Dye Works, Classic Colorworks, Gentle Arts, and DMC flosses.

FINISH: Snowman Collectors: The Needleworker by Cottage Garden Samplings

When this pattern came out, I can not even tell you how excited I was to stitch this and immediately decided to do the whole series. There are three things that I obsess over – snowmen, pumpkins, and hummingbirds. An entire year of snowmen patterns?! Yes!

The pattern was a little more advance than my norm but I have been slowly upping my game and was able to handle it pretty good and love the results.

This series is stitched on 18 ct Vintage Country Mocha with the called for Weeks Dye Works and DMC floss. I can’t wait to start The Clown this coming weekend!

WIP Updates

I have spent most of my time finishes WIPS that were close to being done this past two weeks which has felt amazing. That has left me with only 11 previous month WIPS. WooHoo!

WIPGO Project: Prim Stitch by Bee in my Bonnet (Lori Holt)

For the two (out of five for the month) nights I worked on this project this past two weeks, I felt like I was just floating through the charts. I was able to finish chart 11 and start chart 12 and even cleaned up a lot of the borders. With 3 planned nights to stitch on this, I really feel like this finish is imminent. I started this project in 2020. I have considered framing it, but it is highly unlikely I will do that. Framing a piece this large is super expensive anyway as well as very heavy.

Let’s not get ahead of myself. I am focused on finishing this series this month as one of my WIPGO goals.

Oracle Quaker Halloween by OracleTales

LOL! When I pulled this one out to work on this month, I was pleased to be further along than I remembered. I had already finished the first 3 releases of this SAL from 2021. These past two weeks I finished release 4 and started release 5. When I started 5, I realized I made a mistake in my placement on 4. I refuse to unstitch so I am improvising on the placement. Not sure if you can tell where I screwed up. I am not sure if I didn’t know if I would know. Moving forward! It is fun to decide what color I am going to do what as I go along. When I pulled this out this year, I did decide that all the words would be in some shade of orange. I have also identified a few items that I think would benefit to be in a different shade of black besides DMC310, so when I get there. I am going to try it out.

This was a free pattern for a SAL with OracleTales who is on Facebook. I haven’t done any this year because I am still finishing up these ones I started with her before. I have on my docket to start another one that was a Christmas one a few years back.

Honey of a Tiny Town by Heart in Hand

After finishing up the sampler last night, I still had a little bit of time to stitch on my Tiny Town before heading off to bed. I just love the designers use of the blues, yellows, and browns.

Upcoming Plans & Thoughts

With this weekend being the stitching marathon, I have begun working on a plan for my 24 hours of stitching. I have done 24 different projects before which is fun. Last time, I made sure I touched on every project once during the 24 hours but doubled up on those projects that I was focused on.

So far this month, I plan on spending Friday starting new projects. Currently I have four lined up. Today I will decide if I want to have any other new starts to work on Friday or if I will start in on my WIPS. Saturday I will focus in on Halloween/Fall stitches for the day and Sunday will be everything else. Still working on my plan. I actually have fewer wips than normal right now. Who would have thought that would be a problem. LOL!

I will let you know next week how it all turns out! Have a great weekend.

Happy Stitching,

Peggy Stockwell