‘Toy Shopee’ - Dimensions Kit.

Last week, I said that I was determined to complete the Dimensions kit I started last year and that’s exactly what I did. 

I worked monogamously on ‘Toy Shopee’, and now is finished.

When I put it down last week, I only had across the top left to

stitch, and that didn’t really take too long to do, but what did take the time was all the back stitching and French Knots.

Mind you, it’s so worth the effort because it brings out all the detail. 

I’ve already ordered the custom frame, so I’m happy that this will be on display in time for Christmas.

Talking of frames, I had another delivery from Picture Frames Express last week, so, what four projects do you think I'm I planning to fully finish?

You'll have to wait until next week to find out!

The only other thing I stitch on this week, was to start the pre-stitching for the second of my Jingle Ball Classes and that is‘ 'Snow Globes' from Hello from Liz Mathews.

I want to try and get the stitching done for at least two globes because once we hit December I will also be working on two daily Sals and my December Ornament, so I don’t think I’ll have much spare time, but we will have to see.

I hope your plans for December stitching are well under way and you have some wonderful designs in the pipeline.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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12 in 25 - Merry Christmas – Christmas Blue Ornaments – Joan Elliott Designs

 Can you believe that we are already half way through November?

I’ve been busy stitching again this week and have just finished my latest ornament for the 12 in 25  ornament  stitch-a- long. 

Just one more to go for this year and I’m already thinking about what I want to do for next!

The plans that I mentioned last week have gone well for once and I managed to do everything I had hoped, so after finishing my ornament, I continued with the stitching on the Hindeloopen Pinwheel, from Modern Folk Embroidery, which I also managed to finish.

Now I just have to tackle the fully finishing!

Knitting wise, which I appreciate doesn’t look that interesting, I reached and cast off the stitches for the underarms and am about to cast on the first sleeve.

And the final thing I stitched on was my oldest wip.

I started  ‘Top Shoppe’, a Dimensions Gold Collection Petites kit in November last year and was hoping to get it finished in time for Christmas that year.  But I had forgotten that these kits can be a little complicated, due to the fact that the number of threads used and the type of stitch used varies a lot throughout the piece.

I did make great progress at the time, but realising I wasn’t going to get it done, I put it away, in favour of other stitching.

Yesterday, I pulled it out again and this time I AM going to finish it!

Here’s where I left it last night.

The other thing I was happy to get done, was to frame a couple of projects.

Firstly, the frame I ordered from Picture Frames Express for Log Cabin Christmas arrived and I’m so happy with the way this turned out.

The second one was an older project.

I was out shopping in the week and came upon a frame in the homeware store ‘Dunelm Mill’ which I thought would work well with the Blackbird Design ‘Flowers For You’ that I stitched to honour my mum.

The frame was a little big which meant that I was going to have a 2’’ border all the way around.   I was fine with that, but in the end I decided to put it on a  piece of mount board with a piece of scrapbook paper behind it.

This coming week I’m going to be stitching some more on the ‘The Toy Shoppe’, fully finish the Hindeloopen Pinwheel and possibly make a start on the pre-stitching for Liz Mathews  Jingle Ball ‘Snow Globe’ project, because the ball is just around the corner!

Are you going to the ball and if so what projects or classes will you be taking?

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Log Cabin Mr Snowman – Little House Needlework + Framing of Log Cabin Christmas

I started stitching the ‘Log Cabin Christmas’ series from Little House Needlework in October last year and at the time I completed the first three charts. 

Over the course of this year, I have been stitching the rest and have just completed the 9^th and final panel, which means I have a ‘ BIG FINISH!

The 9th panel is Log Cabin Mr. Snowman.

 

 I decided to stitch all 9 panels onto one large piece of fabric.

I love how it’s turned out and can’t wait to get it framed, in fact the frame is already ordered, so it will be on my wall for Christmas this year.

Updated

Here's the framing of  Log Cabin Christmas ( 15/11/25)

With that stitch finished, I decided it was time to make a start on the next project from the Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal.

This is the ‘ Hindleoopen Pinwheel.

I’ve only made a very small start on the band that goes around the sides.

The last thing I’ve picked up this week is my knitting and I've just realized I have a bit of a red theme going on here.

Nothing very much to see at the moment but I have added around 8 inches to the length.  I’ll soon be up to the split and ready to start on the sleeves!

So this it for this week.

My plans for next week are to carry on adding to my knitting, stitching on the pinwheel and make a start on my 12 in 12 Christmas ornament. 

If I have time, I would also like to pick up a wip from last year and add some stitches to my Dimensions ‘Toy Shoppe’, so with me luck.

Oh, one last thing before I go.   

I had some happy, happy, happy mail arrive this week.

My 2025 Christmas Countdown from Evertote, Yah!

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Chart- Log Cabin Christmas – 9 part series - Log Cabin Christmas

Designer – Little House Needleworks

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart Linen – Raw

Threads – Called for Classic Colorworks

 

Chart – Hindeloopen Pinwheel – Quintessential Frisian Smalls

Designer – Modern Folk Embroidery

Linen – 36ct Linen – Porcelain – Roxy Floss Co / Evertote

Thread – Falu Red (hand overdyed cotton) – Roxy Floss Co

  

Pattern – Dover Jumper

Designer – Margaret Holzmann

Yarn – Pure Wool Superwash Dk – Cygnet Yarns

Shade – Claret  (592)

 

‘Ginger’ Animal Cracker – Christmas Cookie Series– Stacy Nash

I started November with a little bit of pre stitching, getting ready for the ‘Jingle Ball’ next month.

This will be my first time actually taking classes at ‘the ball’ because for the last two years I’ve just lurked in the background enjoying the entertainment and shopping. 

This year I’m being braved and I’ve enrolled in three of the classes from Stacy Nash, Jeanette Douglas & Liz Mathews.

I’m not sure how the time difference is going to work, but hopefully I won’t be doing my classes in the early hours of the morning!

I believe that the classes are available for 30 day after, so if that does happen I can still look back on them, but it would be fun to join in as it happens.

Two of the three classes require some pre-stitching in readiness for the class, so I decided to tackle my first ‘Animal Cracker’ from Stacy Nash.

Meet ‘Ginger’ from the ‘Christmas Cookie’ series

Unfortunately we were unable to get the kitted projects over here, so I got the PDF and kitted it myself.

At the time, I couldn’t get the called for fabric either but Stacy suggested that Aztec Red,  from Weeks Dye Works would work well, so that’s what I went with.

I made a couple of other small changes to my stitching too.

The called for ‘Sanguine’ thread was perfectly fine in some places but my skein was more on the beige side than pink and when I got to the decorations on the gingerbread house, it didn’t really show up very well at all, so I swapped it for Red Pear.

The last change I made was to the decorations on wreath on her pocket. The wreath is stitched over one and the single stitches seemed to get lost, so I decided to use French knots instead.

Now I just have to be patient and wait for the class!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Chart –PDF  – Animal Cracker Christmas Cookie Series ‘Ginger’

Designer – Stacy Nash

Fabric – 36ct Weeks Dye Works –Aztec Red

Threads -   Called For – Weeks Dye Works (+Red Pear)

Seasons – Autumn – Lila’s Studio

 Time is rolling on but I’m still in the mood for Autumn stitching, so after finishing Harvest Tiny Town last week, I pulled out a few more charts to choose from with the aim of trying to use up some of my stash.

The first one I picked out was  from the Lila’s Studio collection ‘Seasons’ and I found a scrap of 32ct Weeks Dye Works ‘Parchment’ which was the perfect size.

But when I looked through my threads I didn’t have one single skein of the called for threads, so I ended up doing my own colour conversion. 

I think it looks ok!

I added a strip of burgundy wool along the bottom, topped with a cream braid and used the same burgundy wool for the back.

After that I decided to stitch ‘Pumpkin Faire’ from October House Fibre Arts.

I've already stitched a couple of the other designs from this series and just love the detail in the pumpkin on this one.

I  pulled out another scrap of the 32ct Parchment linen from Weeks Dye Works and the called for threads.

I was getting on really well, until I realised that one of the threads ‘Sweet Potato’,  should have been Classic Colorworks and not Weeks Dye Works as the rest of the threads were. 

How did I not notice that the pattern in the pumpkin wasn’t showing up?

I debated whether to carry on stitching or to scrap it and start again, but the pattern is the whole point of the piece, so I ended up making it into a small pin pillow, using another piece of wool on the back and ruffled ribbon around the sides.

At least it didn’t go to waste, 

Then I started again, this time on a scrap of 36ct  ‘Antique 'Sampler Collection' from Nicholas Flemel Designs, on Etsy

Lastly this week, I actually put my sewing needle down and picked up my knitting needles again.

I purchased the book ‘ The Art of Circular Yokes’  by Kerry Bogert, almost 3 years ago with the intention of knitting

 ‘The Dover’ pullover which has a yoke of traveling, twisted Bavarian stitches.

I ordered the wool, which is ‘Superwash Dk, Pure Wool’ in shade 592, Claret back in September and did the cast on, but then for some reason I didn’t knit any more than a few rows.

Well, this weekend I pulled it out and finished the twisted 1 x 1 rib and around 6’’ of the body.

That’s about it for now, so whatever you are working on at the moment.............

Happy Crafting!

Seasons - Autumn

Designer – Lila’s Studio

Fabric – 32ct Weeks Dye Works – Parchment

Threads -   My own colour conversion –

The Gentle Arts – Cranberry, Dried Thyme & Tarnished Gold. 

Weeks Dye Works – Kohl. 

Classic Colorworks – Ye Olde Gold, Onion Skin, Khaki Mocha, Weeping Willow &  Hickory Sticks.

Pumpkin Faire

Designer - October House Fiber Arts

Fabric - 36ct  Antique Sampler Collection - Nicholas Flemel Designs

Threads - Called For

Small Pumpkin Pin Pillow ( from Pumpkin Faire)

Designer - October House Fiber Arts

Fabric – 32ct Weeks Dye Works – Parchment

Threads - Called For  + 1 Weeks Dye Works

Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal – Biscornu

When Caroline from Evertote, Jacob from Modern Folk Embroidery, and Kerri from Roxy Floss Co  announced the ‘Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal, I was keen to stitch along, but I have to be honest, I had doubts if I would enjoy stitching in one colour for a length of time.

I don’t know why I was worried though, because the more I stitch on this little collection, the more I want to stitch and the 'Falu Red' thread is to die for!

The project for October was a cute little Biscornu, which looks incredibly difficult, but is in fact quite simple to make. 

It’s all in the finishing!

The stitching is just two squares, one for the top and another for the bottom.

While I was stitching mine, I decided to add  some evenly spaced threads, which were later removed,  to aid the placing of the panels at a 45 degree angle when finishing.

The shape is achieved by offsetting the corners, positioning a corner from the top square at the centre of  one of the sides of the bottom square and whip stitching through the back stitch around the squares.

Once the edges are stitch together and the Biscornu stuffed, a button or in my case  a bead is stitched through the centre and pulled tight to  give it it’s unusual shape. 

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

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