Turkey Love start

My start last night on Turkey Love.  I had some but not all of the DMC so had to substitute a few colors.   The fabric is 18 count Buckskin from To Dye For Fabrics.     As I was stitching this I was thinking about some of my upcoming planned starts and other projects I want to start on.

One of them I’d really like to start on (which is a chart I’ve recently ordered by haven’t received yet) is Grateful, Thankful and Blessed.   Depending on my fabric, I will be changing the color floss of the thread for the words – so many people I’ve seen stitching on that those letters are really ghosty and you know how I feel about stitching something you can’t really see.  I also think I may remove the word “Harvest” from the bottom and put my last name in there.  It has the same amount of letters and all the letters in Russart are already in the chart so just need to do a bit of math to figure out the spacing.   Anyone else stitching on this one?  Or want to start along with me?  I had chosen a different chart for my Thanksgiving start, but I plan to do this one instead.  I’m planning to just pull threads from my stash for this since I couldn’t find all of the called for at any one shop and I may change a few of them anyway.

The other thing I’ve had the charts for about two years now and really want to get started on is the series, Hometown Holiday from Little House Needleworks.  They can be stitched individually but I’ve posted before about Deb from County Stitchers and saw that she was stitching groups of them into a long row which I loved the moment I saw it.  You can find the link to the flosstube where she shows it on this prior blog post where I liked the flosstube episode and talked about the 10 x 34″ cuts of fabric I had gotten for it.    This will be a long-term project.  My plans (which you know are ever changing) is to get one group of buildings done a year from when I start it.   Deb calls hers “Phases” – and she has done them in three separate long sections (last I saw she was working on the third and final phase of her village.)

I think there are 22 separate charts in all – and there’s some other Little House Needleworks charts for ornaments or other “villages” that are of similar size so you could mix and match and make a whole darn city.  But I’m thinking of changing the chart I had planned to start on Christmas Eve Eve and getting this project started then with the church and creche.   In the meantime, I think I had made a list of all the floss colors somewhere (or I need to make one) and start pulling them to put on a ring.  This is a project I could easily substitute colors in (and like will some) but I want to put together a ring of all the colors that I actually do have as a starting point.  Or I may start it sooner depending on when I get everything gathered together, but I’ll save the floss gathering for some other weekend.

Last but not least (because I need to go mix up some bagel spread for my lunch and  and then mix up a meatloaf that will be for dinner and stop thinking up more projects I want to start), since this chart was passed on to me and I’m done with it, it is up for Flash Chart Adoption (read FCA rules at top of blog button if you don’t know how this works and want to play along).

Squirrel?????

The squirrels have been busy outside my door for weeks now – hiding the walnuts they find on the hill outside my apartment.  My neighbor’s patio chair, when he picked up the top cushion thinking it had fallen over, had walnuts stacked under it.  There’s a wooden shelf unit next to my patio with unused flower pots and stuff stored on it – so far one pot is filled.   I’ll leave them there – I think they belong to “Hop-A-Long,” a squirrel I see a lot that must have a bad foot/leg because he hops along not using that one and has been a regular visitor outside my door since last winter.  He is also a nosey squirrel and often if I have the bottom of the blind up on the door will come see what I am doing.

So those are the squirrels outside but any cross stitcher knows that announcing a “squirrel!!!” means they have gotten distracted from what they are working on and their attention is now on the next project they want to work on.    I did finish one section I had to fill in on Peppermint Bark but I got to thinking about some turkey charts I’ve been wanting to stitch, hence I now have to decide which of these I want to start and pick out the fabric and pull flosses to start on it later tonight.   So here are the two in contention for my attention:

Turkey Love  by Plumb Street Samplers

and the other is Thankful Quaker by Bent Creek.

I love them both and they are both about the same size but I think I’m in a mood to settle in with one I don’t have to be constantly changing colors on and Quaker motifs you need to pay a bit more attention to.  So, I think it will be Turkey Love that gets started first.

Are you doing and fall/ Thanksgiving themed stitching?

October 29, 2022 – another lovely fall day

I would be happy if we continued this kind of weather until oh, say, mid-December!   It’s a pretty fall day, although our leaves are not getting past peak and the colors are not as pretty as the leaves are definitely falling, but it’s at least mid-50s if not a little warmer at the moment and sunny.

Friend Judy had stitched this chart and I decided I wanted to stitch it for the friend who has one Christmas tree with all dog ornaments on it.  I’ve got two ornaments with dogs done, so this will be added to those.

So I started it

 

 

This was a piece of 20 count left over fabric, which is actually tighter than 20 count due to hand dying, and it just wasn’t fun to stitch on at night (which is when I do most of my stitching) and although it doesn’t look bad in this photo, the white was not really giving the coverage I wanted.

So I restarted it

The fabric color is not showing up correcting – it’s a brighter green and very pretty.  This is 18 count and one strand was not giving the right coverage and then I restarted it with two strands, and these stitches look too crowded and scrunchy and uneven.  So I restarted it again……

Again – fabric looking little washed out.   It’s 14 count PTP in the color Lupine using two strands of floss.  The floss I picked from the stash are two Victorian Mottos, Ribbons and Bows (red) and Traditional Wreath (Green) and then DMC B5200 for white.  the B5200 is a super bright white and shows up well and the coverage on this piece is excellent.  However, as I was putting in the lettering last night, I decided it’s really large on 14 ct for an ornament if I do the wording and the green along the bottom.  So I decided not to finish the lettering and my plan is to make this a stuffed ornament sort of following the shape of the dog and then adding a hanger loop to the middle of his back.  So the lettering will be cut off and I just need to fill in those two white sections on the body and the stitching on this one will be done.  

I also did a bit of stitching on The Huntsman border and should be able to get a finish on that this weekend – unless I get distracted by some other stitch (which you know is always a possibility).

Two More Ornament Finishes

I finished the border around the Santa this morning and decided to it and the other little stitch I had finished, both from the December chart by Prairie Schooler, fully finished.    I had two prefinished boards – the check fabric is two fabric covered layers back-to-back (so it looks the same on the back) and came complete with ribbon and hanger and the second prefinished piece is a fabric board attached to a wooden painted board and again that one came complete with ribbon and hanger too – so all I had to do was put my stitching on chipboard covered in batting and attach it to the prefinished pieces.  The stitched area of these is about 2″ x 3″. 

Stitching, Spoiler Alert and a Shot

First I’ll let you know that there will be a spoiler farther down this post so if you ordered the Halloween Surprise box from Kitten Stitcher and don’t want to see what’s in it, scroll carefully.  Once I show the little ornament stitch, the photos after that will be what was in the surprise box.

It is a beautiful fall day here; just after noon and nearly 70, sunny and a bit of a breeze.  A far cry from that 20-degree morning less than a week ago.  I know the warmup won’t last long but I’ll take every day of it I can get.  This morning I was headed out with a friend to (1) get the latest covid shot (2) and then off for breakfast.  As we drove to our destinations, I would say our area is at about peak colors for the trees and it was so pretty.

So here’s what I’ve been stitching on this week.   It’s another chart from KittenStitcher.com – an exclusive chart for her shop from Hands Across the Sea (so when its gone its gone and won’t be sold elsewhere so if you like it you might want to check it out on her site) and a SAL started October 19 for this chart.   I got the chart and the DMC pack and then found some fabric for it from my stash.  The fabric is Forbidden Fibers 18 Count in the color Spearmint.   It is the very palest pale blue and in most of my photos just looks whitish.  I put in a few stitches in it on Oct. 19 when the SAL started but not much.  Here’s where I am after three nights of stitching (although one of those nights I spent time winding all my floss for this and getting it on floss tags). There’s a surprising number of colors in this chart.

I started in center bottom and worked my way towards the right bottom corner.  Actually I started with the center bottom border and stitched about a dozen stitches.  I didn’t think the color of the border was going to show up as well as I wanted so I decided to leave the border till last – or at least until I was farther along with the other stitching – to see what I thought then and maybe change the color of the  border.  (The few border stitches I stitched is covered up by the floss ring I just noticed.)   I do plan to make some other changes as I stitch it as well.   I’m not in the  “must stitch a reproduction sampler exactly as charted” camp.  That’s fine for people who want to do that.  But, the name of the little girl who stitched it, the date she stitched it and her age is something I will be leaving off.   I loved this chart because of the flowers and vine design and the pictorial image of the little boy – so the words and the line of initials below that, some of which are really ghostly and don’t show up well, will be altered.  I realized after I stitched it, that the red viney thing is probably really a letter – I may or may not leave that there.  But you can see the start of the initials line – first two initials PD – and after that D is an M  (which is one of the ghosty letters).  I’m going to use that D and M  – my first and middle initials – and I’ll add an R and leave out the rest of the initials.  Looking forward to stitching that pictorial scene once I work my way up to it.  I also discovered the lightest blue shade I’m supposed to add to the blue flowers doesn’t show up on my fabric either so I’ll substitute a slightly darker shade and need to pull out my color chart to see what might be good.

This is my progress on the second wee little full coverage ornament taken from the December Prairie Schooler chart.  The face was stitched in a gold color, and I did that but no – that was too crazy looking so I ripped it out and will redo.  But I think it’s all just fill-in work now for his coat, snow for the ground below the trees and a dark might sky above the trees and of course the face.  There’s also a little backstitched bow that goes on the package sticking out of the pack on his back.

Now on to the Halloween Suprise box (last I looked there were still more available).  The item description told which designers/makers items were included in the box but not exactly what they had contributed.

So here’s the first photo from the Halloween Surprise box.

The Pumpkin House is a Liz Matthews design.  It’s stitched on two different fabrics – I love this design but would not stitch it on two fabrics – and am torn between stitching it as two separate items or stitching it all on one fabric.   That will definitely be a fall project for next year.  The Plum Street Samplers barn has pumpkins and vines and of course that cat.  The item that says Witch Village on it is from The Bee Company – I’ve used their wooden buttons on many things in the past (you might remember the year I embroidered Christmas trees and then decorated them with wooden buttons and beads, etc. – those buttons were from the same company).  Anyway, it includes two charts – 1 cross stitch and 1 embroidery for an outdoor scene (which I have mostly covered up) of bare tree and a bit of fence and tall grasses with the words stitched on it and the button houses get stitched along the bottom, and there’s also a little witch’s broom button to lean against the trunk and a witch’s hat button stuck up in the tree.  Also in the photo is a packet of Halloween-themed Kathy Barrick labels for the back of finished framed stitches with space to write who made, when, chart, and other info to include, and next to that a package of Dames of the Needles mini chenille for finishing in the color Cauldron’s Mist.

And the rest of the items in the box:

The wooden pumpkin guy statute stands up on his own as a cute decoration.  Witch Hazel is a cute La-De-Da chart with the crow holding sort of a moon/fall themed staff and obviously her finest fall hat.   And the Ghosts and Goblins chart by Scarlett House is so cute too.  The round item above that and the oval pumpkin head are both stickers.   So there you have it – a fun surprise box indeed.   I have been saving a little round metal tin – can’t remember what came in it – but it was a good size for keeping pins or other small things in and not long ago I thought I should stitch something to put on the top of it.  But I think that round label might be the exact size to fit on the tin lid.  If so, that may be my tin for keeping all my cross stitch needles in.

A Wee Little Full Coverage Stitch

This is the Prairie School chart called December.   I absolutely love that larger design and plan to stitch just the bottom of it, ending above the birds int he trees and maybe repeat that bottom border at the top but will save to start a bit later this year.  But I wanted to stitch some little ornaments to fit on some of the prefinished ornaments I had previously shown so the smaller on the right is great to split into individual ornaments.  I stitched on one for two nights and have it done.  It measures only about 3″ x 2.5″ and is stitched on a scrap of Eureka (which has a bit more yellow cast to it than is showing in my photo), 14ct from Fox and Rabbit with two strands.  These are super quick to stitch up.

The next one I started is the Santa in the lower left of the chart.

The Huntsman progress

All the stitching on this is done expect for the border.   Finished off the tree and birds next to the gentleman and added the date and my initials and brought the bottom border across the bottom a bit more during my stitching last night.  The border is very easy to stitch so I may leave this to one of the nights I don’t feel like having to look at a chart and can just stitch on the border and see what else I might stitch on later today.   I’ve got a couple of other Christmas ornaments I may want to make as gifts for a few co-workers so may have to peruse the charts to see what I might want to work on.

Otherwise, it’s laundry day and there’s some to fold and put away, loads to switch and some to hang up to dry, and I just turned the coffee pot on to de-lime it — yes, a very exciting Sunday around here! 🙂

Four More Fully Finishes

I seem to finish things in sets of four lately.  Last weekend I fully finished four fall things and this weekend, four more finishes.

First up is this freebie chart.  I think its Santa in his everyday wear – looks like he’s ready to hit the ski slopes.   The which tab below the first photo is the ribbon that holds the two sides of the finish together.  This is a prefinished easel so when you open it up that ribbon keeps it from opening too far and standing upright like in the photo on the right.  I have some charms I may or may not add across the top of it.

Next up is The LIttle Dog! on one of the prefinished boards I showed earlier today.   I didn’t add the little silver charm that came with the pattern that said I love dogs with a heart – similar  to the image on the dog’s bowl.  There jusst didn’t seem to be any to add it to this finish but I have some other dog finishes coming up so will add it to one of those.  This will be a Christmas gift for a friend who has all dog ornaments on her tree.  

If I remember right this was a bonus chart in The First Thanksgiving book.  He’s  on a prefinished piece that does have a hanger but it’s like a box about 1-1/2″ wide so could stand on it’s own too.  The fabric piece on the box is washing out a bit in the photo because the chenille was the perfect match to it.

And lastly – a Prairie Schooler finish on a little wooden hornbook type thing.  II may add some ribbon to the top yet but haven’t decided.   I didn’t use the called-for red, I wanted something a bit brighter, and the chenille was the perfect color match so I had to add that.

 

Oct.15.2022 – Stitching progress

It’s a lovely fall Saturday here.   This week the temps have definitely put a chill in the air.  I popped outside to take the photos in natural light and it’s mid 40s, a bit breezy but nice and sunny.  A perfect fall day.

So here’s what I’ve been stitching on this week.  Oh but first, the last Flash Chart Adoption (FCA) for The Little Dog posted last week has a new home to go do.  Kelly I have emailed you to get your mailing address.  Congratulations.

Okay – I pulled floss and fabric for Olga’s Tart Sunday night or maybe Monday , can’t remember which – and finished stitching it Thursday night.   I changed up the colors a bit and a little bit of the design.

The pumpkin was a brighter orange with greenish section lines.  I wanted more fallish rather than brighter halloween jack-o-lanter colors so had some Valdani floss out and used three shades of orange/rusty colors rather than just two colors as charted.  I also changed the moon color and left off a lighter area on the left side of the moon (which actually doesn’t even show up well in the chart image).  I think I actually did stitch it on the right count fabric so it will fit in the tart pan for finishing but I haven’t determined yet if I will use the tart pan or do some other finish.  Oh and I changed the whiskers – they were supposed to be longer with curlicues on the ends but I didn’t care for those.  Olga looks like she’s a sassy little cat.

So Thursday night and last night I picked up The Huntsman, my Sampler Camp project, and I’m nearly done with the main stitching on that.   I added the tree next to the peacock and then the section above that.   I just have that tree left to finish, and a couple of birds and that circular doodad next to the house to mirror the other side and then it will just be the border to finish.  I also changed the man’s suit to blue from some brown shade – love the shape of those breeches he’s wearing, he’s such a dapper-looking man.

And in between that I’ve been overstitching some of the white areas on my New Years Sampler to make those pop a bit more but I’ll wait to show that until it is completely finished.

Later today I may do a little bit of finishing.   I received some fabric prefinished items to mount my stitching on and would like to get the ones I have done as Christmas ornaments (gifts) done until they are needed for gifting.   Here’s what I received this week (and I have a few others I had previously ordered so just need to match up stitched pieces to finishing pieces).  The gingham one is a double-sided fabric chipboard piece (looks the same front and back except for the bow on the front) and the others are all fabric covered chipboard mounted to wooden backers.  I used that plaid fabric (except in an easel style) on a prior piece and just love that fabric so had to get more items with that fabric on it.

 

FOUR Fully Finishes for Fall

I spent some time this afternoon doing some fully finishing of some Fall/Halloween little stitches.

Here’s Waiting for the Harvest fully finished.  The stitched area is about 3″ x 4″.  I used black chenille around the edges, and it is mounted on a pre-finished, fabric-covered chip board.  What I found funny when I took the photo is how the little wooden easel I set it on looks like witches’ shoes sticking out underneath.

Next up is Halloween Delivery from the Brenda Gervais book, Jack O Lantern Jubilee.  I stitched this last fall one over one on 25 count lugana.   I had never stitched on lugana so I had a few issues with my tension on one over one but I finished it.   This project made me decide I likely won’t be stitching much on lugana in the future and what a pain to finish.   If it was something to be framed, it would have been fine, but I chose to finish it on the front of one of the little 3D pumpkins like I had done another finish on last year so that meant it would be oval shaped, hence needed to be laced and unless its round or oval I don’t lace anything.  Adding to the fun of lacing is the fact that until it was too late to turn back, I didn’t think about lugana being very bulky compared to hand dyed soft aida.  So where it gathers around the back of the piece, it doesn’t just smoosh down nice and flat.

Broom Hilda – JackOLanternJubilee-B. Gervais

The lugana is actually a very pale purple.  It turned out okay but after adding lots of glue to the back, I had to put a soup pot filled with canned goods on top of it to weight it down until it dried so that there wasn’t a huge gap between back side and edges due to the bulky gathers.   And the chenille hides whatever gap is left.  So Hilda can take her place on the bookshelf next to the other pumpkin-finished stitch.

Next up – another stitch from the Jack O Lantern Jubilee book – Special Delivery.

Halloween Delivery – Jack O Lantern Jubilee by B. Gervais

This one is attached to a pre-finished piece that had the fabric board attached to a little galvanized easel and the bow and button on it.    I put my stitched piece on a piece of foamboard with a piece of batting on top and then added chenille around the edges.

Lastly is Autumn Saltboxes (one of the two in the chart).  This one is again done on a prefinished piece – it’s a wooden block painted green about 1.5″ thick so it stands on its own, and it had a prefinished fabric-covered chipboard on both front and back, along with matching ribbon and button on one side.    I again put my stitching on a batting covered foam board.

Autumn Saltbox – Plum Street