Oh Stitching, Where Are You Stitching?

I'm in the midst of a mystery. I stitched an ornament, and I've lost it. I've looked everywhere and it's nowhere to be found. It's just a little unfinished ornament from the 2004 JCS Ornament issue, and I have no clue what I did with it. If I keep this up I'll have to attach little homing devices to my stitching, so I can keep track of it!

French Country Star
JBW Designs
2010 JCS Ornament Issue
Belgian 32 count linen/Crescent Colours Apple Fritter

Meanwhile, after the lost ornament I stitched this one from the current JCS Ornament issue. I love JBW's designs with the little motifs, and it was a quick and fun stitch. A word of warning - if you are going to stitch it, there is an error in the chart - the top right point of the star is one row off in two of the motifs. At least I think it's an error - the odd thing is that the model picture is stitched as it's charted, but it doesn't make sense since everything else is symmetrical.

So now I need to finish this, and that brings me to my Achilles heel - cording. I have never been able to figure out how to put cording around anything without it unraveling at the ends or the join showing. What is the secret to doing this? If you have any tips for me I would deeply appreciate them. Not knowing how to do this is really playing havoc with finishing what I've made, and I would love to be able to get past this.

Okay, back to looking for my little lost ornament...

Rub a Dub Dub

Wash Day
Carriage House Samplings
WDW 30 count parchment
DMC

I just finished working on this piece, my first CHS design. I saw it on someone's blog and fell in love with it, and was lucky to find it in the designer's Etsy shop. It was a quick and fun stitch. I'm now in between projects - I had to special order some linen from Picture This Plus for the dandelion project I plan to do, so in the meantime I've been looking through JCS ornament magazines for something to fill in the time. I have issues from 2006 on (plus 2004, which I bought on eBay so I could stitch the LHN Woodland Snowfall ornament), and in looking back through them, I noticed that it is only recently that they started giving DMC conversions for most of the charts. I love overdyed threads and prefer to stitch with them when possible, but it's nice to have the DMC information when you don't have the needed floss and don't have an LNS close by to pop into. I found an ornament to stitch from a couple of years ago - just an easy one - and while it uses threads I mostly don't have, I think I can do a conversion of my own with my little stash of overdyes. So that's what I'm off to do.

A Marvelous Night for a Moondance

By the Full Moon
Tracy Horner/Ink Circles
JCS September/October 2010

28 count Sand (I think) linen

CC Gingersnap and Fallen Leaves/WDW Raven

This is my first real Halloween project and it was such fun to stitch! But boy did I count carefully over and over so I'd make sure the trees and cats were symmetrical.

This fabric is cut on the bias so the pumpkins would be horizontal instead of diagonal. So don't look too close at the grain!

I loved this curvy trim. It was my first time making a bow like this. I really wanted two loops on each side but the trim was too thick for that.

Vonna's Harvest Fairy took pity on me and made a brief stop at my house. I think she was a little tired after all her hard work at Vonna's, so she didn't stay long, but she did fix up this little table for me.

In other stitching news, I've been working on LHN's Singing the Blues. I'm not that happy with it - the variagation in the blue silk floss isn't very pronounced like the stitched model is - I probably should have stopped and bought a new skein. My LNS is out of the Tulip silk I need to finish the piece, so it's kind of on hiatus. I hope it doesn't become a UFO. I always like stitching with silk, though, so hopefully I'll finish it up.

Lastly, here's Do It Well framed. My husband seemed pleased and he did acknowledge that the sentiment fits him to a T!

Doing It Well

Do It Well
Silver Creek Samplers
28 count light sand linen
DMC

My husband's birthday is coming up and I wanted to stitch something for him, but nothing was presenting itself until I stumbled upon this design. The verse reads:

Be the labor big or small
Do it well or not at all
When the task is once begun
Do not stop until it's done

The philosophy fits my husband to a T. Now me, I have a million projects in various states of completion, but he's a sequential kind of guy. Start it, finish it, move on to the next thing. It might take him awhile to notice that the grass is up to the rooftop, but once he does, he's on it, and he doesn't stop until the grass is cut to an inch of its life, and then he starts on the next part of the yard, and the next (we are lucky we live behind a stand of trees, though, since this diligence only happens now and then!)

I didn't stitch it exactly as charted - I left out a few extraneous stitches that seemed unnecessary and I didn't fill in the background behind the year, as I wanted a simpler look. The border was tricky - it didn't always repeat the same number of stitches, but I managed to avoid too many visits from the frogs. I liked stitching this so much I've ordered another chart by this designer, found here. My son is growing a dandelion in a pot, so guess what he is getting for his birthday? I'm hoping the chart arrives before we head to the Jersey shore for vacation next week. Right now I'm stitching LHN's Singing the Blues, but it's going more quickly than the vacation will. Oh is it nice to stitch with silk!

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

The Secret Garden
JBW Designs
28 count Irish linen
DMC Threads

The Secret Garden (book and movie) have always meant a lot to me. I read the book over and over as a child, and occasionally still pick it up - it never loses its magic. And my now husband and I saw the movie on our sixth date - after which we agreed not to see other people. So anything having to do with the words Secret Garden gets my attention. I bought this little design on eBay some time ago, and it was the perfect "in between projects" piece to stitch. It came with three charms (two flowers and a little bird) but I haven't been able to attach them. I tried French knots as the instructions said, but they just pulled through the linen. The other suggestion was to attach them with beads but I didn't have the right kind. So it is a charming but charmless design for now.

Oiseau (Bird) freebie found here
Gazette94
Belfast linen

DMC 221

I found this little bird on a wonderful French blog - there are lots of beautiful free charts there. The bird's eye is a Smyrna stitch - I do so dislike the dead looking eye a cross stitch makes. I was hoping to turn this into my first tin topper but it is just a tad too big for an Altoids tin, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for something suitable.

You all know how much I love The Snowman - well, I just hit the jackpot on Amazon.com. I'd been looking for this book for ages but used copies were selling for $100 or more. Then one day I idly checked on Amazon again, and lo and behold there was a new copy that, with shipping from England, cost less than $20! I snapped it up in a heartbeat and it came today. I don't know when I'll stitch another Snowman design, but I certainly have lots to choose from now.

Meanwhile I have a new project that I'm working on for my husband's birthday in September. He pays absolutely no attention my stitching so I can work away right in front of his eyes without his having a clue!

A Present for a Friend

Laura's House in the Woods
The Sampler Girl
WDW 30 count Parchment linen
DMC Threads

My friend Laura is a long-time fan of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (she's named after the author), and when I saw this pattern by The Sampler Girl I had to stitch it for her as a birthday present. As you can see, I finished it as a pillow. The verse Tanya included with the chart reads: "Remember, it is not the things you have that make you happy; it is the love and kindness and helping each other and just plain being good. " I love that sentiment!

If you are a fan of Disney and/or old movies, check out Laura's blog. She has encyclopedic knowledge of both, and her blog is always informative and fun!

Snow in June

I think I may have mentioned that I have had a soft spot in my heart for Raymond Briggs' The Snowman, ever since I saw the movie with my then toddler son. From time to time the British cross stitch magazines have a chart with a Snowman design, so I've collected a few of them, and when I came upon an advertisement for some Snowman kits made by DMC in the UK, I tracked them down (no mean feat, as they had been discontinued). The kit came with blue opalescent aida, which I decided to use despite not having stitched a thing on aida since I discovered that stitching on linen actually wasn't impossible. I must say I rather enjoyed it although I won't switch back by any means. This piece looks like it was very simple but I had to keep track of some color changes with the greens and the rust/browns, so it was good practice for when I finally take on something with major color changes, something I haven't had the nerve to do yet. It was also the first time that I had to backstitch features - his eyes and nose aren't exactly right but his expression is rather sweet, so I think it passes muster well enough. I learned one thing the hard way - when you stitch with white floss, don't hold the fabric in an area where you've used it. The Snowman's right arm (left side of the design) is not nearly as white as the rest of him. I always wash my hands before I stitch but clearly white calls for a higher standard of cleanliness. Oh well, live and learn. Here's the finished product:

The Snowman and James
DMC mini cross stitch kit
14 count opalescent aida and DMC threads

Since I finished this I've been working on a small JBW Designs piece, which is going rather slowly. It has lots of little flowers that only use a few stitches worth of color, and I'm spending most of my time threading and unthreading my needle. I'm determined to finish it but I'll be glad to move on to something else!