Part 2 - ‘Hindeloopen Strawberry – ‘Quintessential Frisian Smalls’ Sal

 The final part of the sal is FFO’d  and if I’m honest, I did find this piece a little challenging in the finishing of it.

I want to give a shout out to  Jacob, Caroline and Kerri, for this collaboration between Modern Folk Embroidery, Evertote,  and Roxy Floss Co, and say a big thank you for the five wonderful projects that we started stitching back in August last year.

Here’s a quick reminder.

In August we started with the Peacock Pin Pillow

September we stitched a Scissor Fob

In October we started the first of three items that were a little more tricky to finish, starting with a Biscornu.

November was the Hindeloopen Pinwheel

And finally, after a break in December for the Christmas Countdown, we stitched the Hindeloopen Strawberry in January, bringing the collection to an end.

I've also managed to sneek in one last new start before the end of the month and because I've decided to still stitch 'Winter' during February, I made a start on 'Frosty Tiny Town' from Heart in Hand.

I'm trying to stitch from stash as much as I can this year, so I found a piece of 36ct Grey mystery linen and pulled as many of the called for threads that had, but still had to make a few substitutions which are listed below.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal

Designed – Modern Folk Embroidery

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

Threads – Roxy Floss Co – Falu Red (hand-overdyed cotton)

Frosty Tiny Town

Designed - Heart in Hand

Fabric - 36ct Grey mystery linen

Threads - Called for Weeks Dye Works & Classic Colorworks

Substitutes - CCW - Classic Colorworks,   WDW - Weeks Dye Works, RFC - Roxy Floss Co.

CCW Chesapeake Bay to RFC Slate

CCW Eves Leaves to CCW Weeping Willow

CCW Thundercloud to CCW Barrel Cactus

WDW Hunter to WDW Blue Spruce

WDW Sun Dried to CCW Cherry Cobbler

‘Hindeloopen Strawberry

 This is the final piece of the  ‘Quintessential Frisian Smalls’ Sal, from Modern Folk Embroidery and I’ve just put in the final stitches.

Next up will be the finishing of this unusual shaped strawberry. 

I still have a few Christmas projects on the go but feel like I’m done with Christmas stitching despite wanting to have them finished this year.

My plans going forward already include stitching one of the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ panels each month, but as for the other projects I think the way forward is going to be stitching on them on the 25^th and 26^th  of each month as some stitchers' do, instead of being monogamous with them.

So with that in mind I spent the last two days stitching on ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ from Historische Stickmuster.  This is where I was.

I've  added the roof to the fourth house, part of the church,  most of the Christmas tree and started a couple of the snowflakes.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal – Biscornu

Designed – Hindeloopen Strawberry’

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

Threads – Roxy Floss Co – Falu Red (hand-overdyed cotton)

 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Designed – Historische Stickmuster

Fabric – 32ct unbleached Linen

Threads – Soie d’Alge silks

 

A Partridge in a Pear Tree – Bothy Threads – 12 Days of Christmas

Normally at this time of year I’d be finishing the first of my 12 in 26 Christmas ornaments, but this year I’ve decided to do something slightly different.

I’m stitching the 12 panel ’12 Days of Christmas’, from Bothy Threads, working one of the panels each month, instead of making an ornament.

So this was my first new start of the year and my first finished.

On the first day of Christmas my truelove gave to me………

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Each panel is full coverage with beautiful Gold threads that highlight the numbers and frame.  There also looks like it has lots of back stitch too, but in fact it couching, which gives a much smoother outline.

I’ve created the  hash tag    #12in2612daysofchristmassal  over on my Instagram (idratherbestitchin) if your also stitching a 12 days of Christmas, so pleased come and join me.  I'd love to see which ones you're all stitching on.   

Happy  Stitching!

Sue

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12 Days of Christmas

Designed – Bothy Threads - Kit

Fabric – 14ct Zweigart Aida - White

Threads – Standard Cotton, Pearl Cotton and Gold Thread

Happy New Year - Looking Forward to a New Year of Stitching!

 Are we all ready for a 2026 pack full with fabric, threads and lots and lots of new, exciting charts?

I know many stitchers' seem to have a detailed plan for the year ahead and most years I’m the same to a certain extent, but for some reason, this year I’ve no idea what I want to do.

I have one or two fully kitted projects ready to go and several that have either fabric or thread as well as quite a lot of charts waiting too, so I suppose I should concentrate on getting some of those done, rather than buying more.

I think that's the way I'll go but don't hold me to that because having said that, I’ll be poised over my lap top come February, ready to order this years’ Holiday Countdown from Evertote, but that just has to be done, doesn’t it!

I’ve started the New Year still stitching ‘Christmas’.

‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ from Historische Stickmuster was my Christmas Day new start.

I’ve made some good progress on it since then but it’s not been plain sailing. I don’t know if it’s the Aida fabric that I’ve already said I didn’t like stitching on, or the silk threads, but I had to frog on this so many times.

My first new start of the new year is still 'Christmas' and will be what I am stitching in place of the 12 in26 Christmas Ornament Sal for this year.

My 7 foot Christmas tree is already full and there’s no room in my small ground floor flat for another one, so I don't really have anywhere else to hang more ornaments.

I still wanted to take part in the sal in some way though, because I enjoyed stitching a small piece each month, so I decided that I would stitch Bothy Threads ’12 Days of Christmas’ instead.

 stitching one of the 12 panels each month.  

My hash tag will be 12 in 26 not a Christmas ornament sal, Lol! (#12in26notachristmasornamentsal ) Please feel free to join  me over on Instagram(idratherbestitchin) if you feel the urge.

So, on the first day of Christmas my truelove gave to me………

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

My final new start this month was definitely unplanned.

I unexpectedly had to go away for a few days and needed something I could take with me and be able to stitch on the 3hour train journey. 

As you know I usually prefer to stitch on linen but I’m not able to do that without my light and magnifier.

Fortunately I had the ‘Coffee Shoppe', kit from Dimensions, which is stitched on 14ct Aida.

As it turned out I stitched more in my hotel room than I did on the train, but I still made a good start

There’s just one other project that I’ve stitched on so far this month, and that is the ‘Hindeloopen Strawberry’ from the ‘Quintessential Frisian Smalls’ Sal, which is getting close to a finish.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Designed – Historische Stickmuster

Fabric – 32ct unbleached Linen

Threads – Soie d’Alge silks

 

12 Days of Christmas

Designed – Bothy Threads - Kit

Fabric – 14ct Zweigart Aida - White

Threads – Standard Cotton, Pearl Cotton and Gold Thread

Coffee Shoppe

Designed – Dimensions - Kit

Fabric – 14ct Zweigart Aida - White

Threads – Standard Cotton

Quintessential Frisian Smalls Sal – Biscornu

Designed – Hindeloopen Strawberry’

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

Threads – Roxy Floss Co – Falu Red (hand-overdyed cotton)

 

For Auld Lang Syne

With just 4 hours to go before we start a year, I thought it would be good to have a look at my stats for the current one.

I started the year carrying over 12 Wips, 4 of which just needed fully finishing and 1 was a knitting wip.

I had a total of 70 new starts, which also consisted of multiple starts that go together to complete bigger projects.

There were a total of 68 finishes

And finally I had a grand total of 58 fully finished projects, including the 4 that were carried over from previous years.

So not a bad tally, if I say so myself!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers, family, friends, and those who just accidently landed here, and who leave the most kind messages,  a very Happy and Healthy 2026.

And of course loads of time to sew until your hearts content.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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‘A Pretty Song’ - 2025 Holiday Countdown

 I always feel sad on Christmas Day, but not for the reasons you might think.

Yes, it’s a time to reflect on love ones lost and of course that leaves me with a heavy heart, but there’s nothing I do to change that and as the years pass you come to terms with that kind of sadness.

The sadness I’m referring to here, is the fact that the ‘2025 Holiday Countdown' has come to an end for another year and the final three days has given us more beautiful artwork from Jacob and three more beautiful Roxy Floss Co threads.

I’ve mentioned before that the artwork this year has been amazing as always and I know for a fact that the Robin from the 25^th December is going to get put in a frame at some point.

The consolation of finishing the Countdown, is that we have several bonus charts to occupy us in the coming weeks and a fabulous pallet of threads to use up.

And I feel safe in the knowledge there will be a new countdown next year.

The other project I’ve been working on this week was the re-start of ‘Santa Claws Is Coming To Town’ from Historische Stickmuster.

I originally started this on the linen that came in the kit but I didn’t like stitching on it because it was stiff and rough on my hands. 

After sorting through my stash I found something softer and lighter and started over but that too didn’t look right, so I ordered four more pieces linen to try. They arrived in due course but I didn’t like any of those either, and in the end I went back to original fabric.

I’ve made a good start, but don’t get me wrong, I know that hate is a strong word, but I really do still hate stitching this fabric.

This time I'll persevere though!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Project

‘A Pretty Song’ -  Holiday Countdown 2025

 A celebration with Evertote, Modern Folk Embroidery & Roxy Floss Co

Designer – Jacob de Graaf – Modern Folk Embroidery

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Vanilla Custard - Roxy Floss Co, and Evertote

Threads – Roxy Floss Co, and Evertote 

 

Santa Claws Is Coming To Town

Designer – Historische Stickmuster

Fabric –  32-count unbleached linen,

Threads – silk floss Soie d'Alger

 

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

As we head towards the end of the year, the ‘Jingle Ball’ at the start of December seems like a distant memory, but I suddenly realised that I didn’t share the results of my class with Stacy Nash.

She designs a series that she calls Animal Crackers, cute little animals made into stand-up’s, that are very popular among fellow stitchers.

I myself have never made one , but when I saw that Stacy was also doing a ‘Christmas Cookie’ series and designed ‘Ginger’ especially for the Jingle Ball, I just had to dive in.

The pre-stitching was completed,

and I eagerly awaited the class, so I could learn how to make the finished piece.

And her she is............she's so cute!

Now I can honestly say that I understand why so many of us love the Animal Crackers and ‘need’ to make every single one of them.

Don’t be surprised if you see more popping up here!

 

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)