This week I became a monogamous stitcher again!

 After working on every one of my Wips last month, I made the decision to become a monogamous stitcher for the past week, working on 'Sing For Joy' from Cottage Garden Samplings.

This was one of New Year's Eve starts in 2023, but after having a tiny start that evening, I didn't pick it up again until last month and this is where I left it.

I don't about you, but the more stitches I get into my fabric, I get excited for a finish and I learnt while stitching ???previous designs in this series, that they are quicker to finish than you might first think.

So, when I picked this up again at the start of last week, I made so great progress.

I did hit a bit of a problem though.

As I was stitching the leaf and the little house, down in the bottom left corner, I encountered a nasty slub in the fabric and it was in a place that was going to show when the piece is finished. 

Now, I know it's a bit of a risky thing to do, but I decided to pick out as much of fluff from the slub as I could, taking care not to break the threads underneath which was fine but the fabric was a hand dyed piece and the dye hadn't gone completely through, leaving a white thread.

It all turned out ok in the end, because with a tweak of the chart, I made the leaf slightly larger, covering most of white thread.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Chart – Sing For Joy

Designer – Cottage Garden Samplings

Fabric -  36ct Linen – Nicolas Flamel Designs ( Putty)

Threads – Weeks Dye Works

Christmas Blue Ornaments – Joan Elliott (12 in 25)

 When I started on this year’s ornaments for the 12 in 2025 sal, I mentioned that I had a plan.  

I’ve joined in with the sal for the last two years but haven’t stitched any ornaments that fit the colour scheme of my tree or room, so they usually go on a small tree in my sewing room.

This was last year’s tree.

This year I’ve decided that things are going to be different and planned to make a set that can go on my main tree for a change!

I always stitch Mill Hill ornaments for my Goddaughters children as part of the sal, which I will be doing again this year, but the other 9 are going to be from Joan Elliott’s chart, ‘Christmas Blue Ornaments chart.

OK, let’s straight off address the elephant in the room……..

My ornament is Gold/Yellow and not blue at all, Lol!

I changed the DMC‘s to 3852, 3854, 19, 3855, 3823 and light gold metallic.  I then added Antique Glass Beads (03021) from Mill Hill to replace the French knots.

For the finishing I used Lady Dot Creates ‘Daffodil’ Velveteen but it was I a little brighter than I wanted, so  I soaked it coffee for a while to dull the colour and edged it with some gold cording.

I used a fat quarter of fabric I had in my stash for the back.

All nine of the ornaments are going to be finished in the same way.

While I had my finishing bits and bobs out, I decided to FFO my January ornament too, which was the Christmas tree from Modern Folk Embroidery.

I kept the finishing on this very simple, just adding some Chenille around the edge and attached some tiny gems to the decorations.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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A Gathering of Quaker Samplers – Pages 5 & 6

With the finish of pages 5 & 6 of my 'Quaker Sampler Book', a kit from The Cross Stitch Guild, I've hit the half way mark of the project at last.

It was this time last year, when joining in with the 'Winter Cross Stitch Camp, that Sherrie, the Colorado Cross Stitcher hosts, that I chose this as my project for the month.  The brief had been to stitch something with an animal or bird on, hence the swan, but once I had finished the first two pages of the book, I continued on and stitched the next two pages as well.    

At that point I put it away and didn't pick it up again for the rest of the year, but it saw the light of day again thanks to my quest to work on every wip I have in January this year.

 As I stitched  on pages 5 & 6, which are now also finished,

I remembered how much I love the muted colours of the threads in this kit and it's spurred me on to get this little book finished over the next couple of months, with a little bit of luck.

 My Quaker Sampler Book Kit

Designer – The Cross Stitch Guild / Ackworth Collection

Fabric – 32ct Belfast Linen – Raw

Threads – 6 stranded cotton

Silk Lining fabric

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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All Year Round Stitch-a-Long – February & December

Because I started this sal late, I’m working my way both ways around this circle and trying to catch up with the panels that have gone in the months passed.

The last time you saw it I had finished the January segment and made a small start on December.

On thing I will say about this, is that if you don't like back stitching this isn't the project for you, Lol!

As soon as we hit February, I wanted to get that part done,

before going back to finish off December.

Although the chart for March has already been published in Cross Stitcher Magazine, I’m not going to start it until March but I do intend to make a start on November panel as soon as I can.

 

Project Details

All Year Round Sal – from Cross Stitcher Magazine

Designer – Amanda Butler

Fabric – 18ct Aida – White Zweigart

Threads – Anchor and DMC’s

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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In The Woods Bear – Log Cabin Christmas - Little House Needle Works

 I started ‘Log Cabin Christmas’, back in October 2024

and so far have stitched four of the nine squares that make up the bigger picture.

And here it is with the latest square, which is ‘In The Woods Bear.

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Chart- Log Cabin Christmas – Part 4- In The Woods Bear

Designer – Little House Needleworks

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart Linen – Raw

Threads – Called for Classic Colorworks

Hand Knitted Socks and a Wip Parade of sorts.

I started knitting this pair of socks using the ‘Seeing Stripes’ sock pattern from West Yorkshire Spinners and Rico, Supeba Fair Isle 4 ply, back in February last year and almost made it 

 down to the toe on the first sock.  But because I wasn’t particularly happy with my choice of yarn, I put it to one side and couldn't bring myself to pick it up again.  That feeling didn't go away and lasted for the rest of the year, so it wasn't until I set myself a challenge for January, that I went back and picked them up again.

So what was the big challenge?

I decided that I was going to work on every wip (work in progress) that I have during the month, something I’m able to achieve because I only had 7  brought forward from 2024 and the plan was to put at least one thread  in each of the six cross stitch projects and finally finish the part knitted socks.

I won’t lie, I had to force myself to pull them out, but once I did, I finished the first sock and completely knitted the second sock in just two days.

But can you spot the mistake?

Silly me started the first sock with a 1 x 1 rib and the second sock with a 2 x 2 rib, but fortunately they are for me and there’s no way I’m going to pull one out and re-knit it.

 Moving on to the cross stitch wip’s that I carried over; 

The first thing I pulled out was the ‘Bee Contained Stitching Box' by Betsy Morgan from the Inspirations ‘Helping Hands 2’ book.

I started this in August 2023 and didn’t pick it up at all last year.  I think the 1 over 1 stitching was putting me off but once I got back into it, I really enjoyed working on it and have nearly finished the largest piece of the stitching.

Next, I worked on Log Cabin Christmas from Little House Needleworks, which I started in April last year.  

This is a 9 part piece, so I had a mini new start for this and stitched on part 4 – In The Woods Bear.

The next project was another multi part piece and that was ‘ A Gathering of Samplers’ from the Ackworth Collection, which consists of 12 little Quaker Samplers that go together to make a book.

Again, it involved another new start and that was pages 5 & 6 of the book.  I came very close to a finish on this too.

Sing For Joy from Cottage Garden Samplings was next up

and I had not stitched on it since starting it as part of my 12 in12 New Years Eve starts in December 2023.

Project 6 was another Christmas stitch, ‘Toy Shopee’,  which is a Diamentions Kit.

I started it November 2024 and got to here,

but it’s hard going as anyone who has stitched one of these kits  knows, …….the changes of stitches and number of threads used for those stitches can be a bit confusing sometimes.

None the less, I made some good progress on it.

Last up was ‘My Stitching Box’, another multi part project from Jeanette Douglass.

Again, it involved another mini start for part 2, which was the lid of the box.

If I had to choose a favourite designer, I think hands down it would have to be  Jeanette.  I just love how delicate her designs look  and the subtle colours she uses.

So, it's not been a bad start to the year, but that wasn’t it for January.   I also had 3 other new starts, one of which was the year long stitch-a-long ‘ All Year Round Sal.

Then there was my 12 in 25 Christmas ornament

and my new Chatelaine

and last but not least I had one fully finish, which was the Country Charm Cushion.

I wonder if I can keep the pace up during February…..you’ll have to watch this space!

 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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