About a year ago…..

This was one of my first cross stitch pieces I stitched when I picked up cross stitch again, thanks to my ever enabler friend Judy – and I do mean thank you because I have enjoyed immensely everything I have stitched (well perhaps there have been moments of not so much enjoyment with the First Thanksgiving chart but I shall persevere) when Judy led me down that rabbit hole.

As I went to find a piece to work on framing today, since this one has been waiting the longest, I decided it was time to finish it up.   (It really is centered in the frame – I counted out those threads on either side but I had the camera at an angle.)  I don’t know why it took me so long to frame because it took no time at all.

As I was framing it I remembered this fabric well – and it was so stiff it might have actually driven me back away from cross stitching but I knew there were other, softer fabrics out there (even if they were a challenge to find at the time).   I just need to get a hanger put in the back — actually, none of the many things I’ve stitched to date are actually hanging on the walls yet and pretty much all need hangers added.  I plan to fix that in the new year.  I was planning to replace some furniture and then determine placement after that.  One of these days I will actually get a new piece of furniture but I’ve been waiting for 2 years now to do that.  I hate furniture shopping, and with the pandemic most definitely didn’t want to be wandering into a store.   I’ve decided what’s a few little holes in the wall – I can always move them if I need to at some future point, it’s time I started enjoying them.    There are some displayed on book shelves and ledges but those are mostly smaller, seasonal pieces.

Now to decide what I want to stitch on next – Up on the Housetop or something else.  I’ve got dinner in the oven and it’s smelling fantastic.  I didn’t have what I had planned for my Christmas dinner yesterday – I didn’t take it out of the freezer soon enough and got sidetracked with other things so today I will be having the pork roast with roasted potatoes, onions and carrots, some cranberry sauce, and may be some fresh green beans.  It’s starting to smell good already.

Sunday Stitches – 12-26-21

I stopped working on my NYS (New Year Sampler) after midnight last night and will now put it away for a little bit to work on some other things.

 

Here’s what my progress was from my Christmas Eve day start.

I got a few more motifs added yesterday.   My plan is to continue to work on this at random around other projects.  My goal would be to have it finished by next Christmas Eve.    Here’s my added progress from yesterday.

 

It doesn’t look like it in my photo – but I added a third shade of blue to the mix.    The alphabet letters are done in a lighter blue except for the initials that make up my name which are done in a bit darker blue, and the numbers (the 2 above) are done in a bit brighter blue.

So once again I stitched to the wee hours and was able to finish off one of the two Sunday stitches I had as WIPS.    O Tidings of Comfort & Joy by Modern Folk Embroidery is done.  It is such a wee little stitch.

I stitched it on PTP Mystic, 16 count, one strand floss from my Victorian Motto stash.  I wouldn’t like the coverage of one strand on all 16 count fabrics but PTP seems to be more dense – likely due to the dying process and shrinking – so that one strand works for me.    There are supposed to be a sprinkling of single stitches (snow) around the house scene but I decided I liked it without – sort of a resting place for the eyes among all the busy-ness.  The stitched area measures 3.75″ x 5.75″.   I haven’t decided yet how I will finish this. I thought it might fit on one of the little boards I had gotten, and it does but it would go right up to the edges and I prefer to have a little margin of the board showing around it. 

 I also think I have a 4×6 frame left over from when I was making these Christmas trees.  Remember when I was stitching those a couple years ago?  (I still have yet to make one of the larger ones for me.)  And actually – I know I still have charms leftover that I used as ornaments on those trees.  I may have to see if there are any I want to use when finishing some of my x-stitches into small pillows.  But that color wood might look good with the floss I used but again it might be just a little too tight a fit for my liking.  So for the time being it will go in the finished box to away final decisions on finishing.

My other Sunday Stitch is Up on the Housetop but after stitching on the dark blue fabric last night, I’m feeling like I want a change and Housetop is done on the same dark blue as Tidings of Joy used.  But I’m undecided what Sunday Stitch I would like to start next so will work on Housetop while contemplating my options.  I’ll do a separate blog post with some of the possibilities I have.

 

Stitching day

Today was a mostly stitching day for me. I’ve been working along on the Christmas Eve start – I’ll take a photo in daylight tomorrow. I will likely set it aside so I can work on some other projects I want to finish up before the end of the year. And since it’s now after midnight here, will pull out one of my Sunday Stitch projects. I may be able to get one more of those finished off quickly.

But let’s do a FCA for the Silent Night Sampler chart. It was one of my Sunday Stitch projects which I started October 10, 2021 and I finished in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve Day.. You know what to do, and if you don’t, read the FCA rules which can be found at the top of the blog.

FCA ended 1-1-22 12:05AM — Dottie Newkirk – congratulations!!