‘Simone’s Double Pincushion’ - Simone de Jong-van Wissen - Atelier Soed idee

My final project for Cross Stitch Camp 2025 is done and dusted, and just like every other year, it been fun pushing ourselves to stitch and try something new. 

I have gone with a new designer to me and that is Simone de Jong-van Wissen from  Atelier Soed idee .

As I was kitting it up I decided to make the project a bit of a stash buster by using Roxy Floss Co threads that were left over from the 2022 Christmas Countdown from Evertote and some of the linen used for the ‘Quintessential Friesian Smalls’ sal that is currently underway.

As soon as I saw her book ‘Simone’s Smalls’, I wanted to stitch everything in it and will do just that sometime in the future

 but for now I’ve decided to stitch ‘Simone’s Double Pincushion’, which is also a shape new to me too.

You will notice that I’ve changed mine a little from the original,  by adding some Blue thread.

I’m already looking forward to Camp 2026 and want to send a big thank you to Sheri, Colorado Cross Stitcher for organizing everything again for us,  and to everyone who was kind enough to donate the prizes each month.

Here’s one last peek at the  projects that I stitched over the last three months.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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 Simone’s Double Pincushion

Designer - Simone de Jong-van Wissen -  Atelier Soed idee

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Porcelain – Roxy Floss Co

Threads – Roxy Floss Co - Poinsettia & Blue Christmas (from 2022 Christmas Countdown) 

Peacock Pin Keep - Quintessential Frisian Smalls

The long awaited collaboration by Jacob from Modern Folk Embroidery,  Roxy Floss Co and Evertote, is here at last and the main aim is to teach us some finishing techniques, while making five different smalls.

The plan is to stitch and finish one each month, with a break in December, (to accommodate stitching the Christmas Countdown) finishing the final piece in January 2026.

To prepare, I wanted a special project bag to keep everything together, so I asked Pauline from Sew Be Bags to make me a custom one.

 

As always it’s beautiful, thank you Pauline.

Part 1 is a small pin pillow.

The technique for this month was to finish the pillow by whip stitching the edges together and I had no problem, but what did throw me was adding my initials on the back.

I remembered that there was no ‘J’ in the Friesian alphabets, which is my middle initial, and without giving much thought to it I decided to  put an Algerian eye in the centre, leaving a five stitch gap between the other letters, as seen here.

Then I read the chart some more, where Jacob explained that the ‘I’ was often used in place of the ‘J’, so I frogged the Algerian eye and stitched the ‘I’ in its place.  Luckily the spacing between the letters was still even, leaving three stitches each side and with that changed, I fully finished the pin pillow.

That was when I noticed my biggest blunder……..can you see what it is?

Originally I had positioned the Algerian eye at the very centre of the pillow, meaning the ‘I’ also ended up centred, but I hadn’t taken into account was that the ‘S’ and the ‘H’ weren’t the same number of stitches wide and the whole thing is off centre.

Well, it can stay like that because I’m not going to change it now, but it's definitely something to remember for the future.

Still in a 'Red' mood,  I sorted out my project for August Cross Stitch Camp and this months challenge is to stitch something new to us.

I decided to go with a new designer to me, Simone de Jong-van Wissen from Atelier Soed idee.

I purchased 'Simone's Smalls' some time ago but have never got around to stitching any of the charts, so what better time to take the plunge.

I've decided to work on  ‘Simone’s Double Pincushion’ 

and because I love the combination of Blue and Red thread on one of the other designs, I’m going to add a touch of the Blue to this too!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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 Simone’s Double Pincushion

Designer - Simone de Jong-van Wissen -  Atelier Soed idee

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Porcelain – Roxy Floss Co

Threads – Roxy Floss Co - Poinsettia & Blue Christmas (from 2022 Christmas Countdown)

 

Well, where did the month of May go!

 I don’t know if it’s only me, but this year seems to be flying by faster than ever, with the first day of meteorological summer being tomorrow.

For the first time in a long time I had days for one reason or another, when I didn’t pick up my stitching at all, which is really unusual for me, but I’m more than happy with what I did achieve during the month. 

I did manage to slip one last new start in for the month and that was ‘Flowers for You’ by Blackbird Designs.

When I first saw this chart, I immediately thought of my mum. 

Sweet Peas were her favourite flowers and although I know these aren’t actually Sweet Peas, they really reminded me of them.

It would have been her 99^th birthday on the 27^th, so this pretty chart seemed the perfect new start.

I’m stitching this on 36ct ‘Antique Sampler Collection’ linen from Nicholas Flamel (Etsy) using my own thread conversion.

So, how did my month pan out?

Well, apart from the 6 days I didn't touch any of my projects at all, I stitched for a total of 19 days and spent a further 6 days on Fully Finishing and here's the breakdown......

I had 4  new starts, 4 finishes and just 1 fully finish, but that's misleading because it was a book that consisted on 14 charts that needed to be constructed, which is why it took me 6 days to complete.

On to summer stitching and projects I'll be working on for the next seven months, including lots of new starts.

 June, July and August I’ll be participating in virtual ‘Cross Stitch Camp and then there five new starts for the Sal collaboration with Modern Folk Embroidery, Roxy Floss Co and Evertote , which will run August to January, with a break in December,  to make time for the Evertote Advent, which I am also taking part in again this year.

So that’s at least nine new starts to come, and I’m sure there will be more thrown in there somewhere too!

OK, I’m off to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having at the moment and sit and stitch on my patio.

Enjoy your weekend and ……….

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Flowers for You

Designer – Blackbird Designs

Fabric – 36ct ‘Antique Sampler Collection’ – Nicholas Flamel (Etsy)

Threads –Own Conversion

Weeks Dye Works ( Bright Leaf, Jay Bird, Oscar, Sandcastle & Tarragon,) Roxy Floss Co – from Advents 2022 – 24 (Birthstone, Chantilly Cool to Yule & Royalty Free

 

Christmas Tree – Modern Folk Embroidery (12 in 25)

I’m going to join in with the 12 in 25 ornament sal, which Carol from Stitching Dream Blogspot  is kindly hosting again this year.

For my first ornament and incidentally, my first finish of the year, I decided to stitch the little freebie chart that was given

to us by Jacob from Modern Folk Embroidery, as part of the Nordic Holiday Countdown last December.

It was stitched on a piece of 18ct white Aida from my scraps,  using Roxy Floss Co thread’ Take A Bough’ from the 2023 Holiday Countdown Box.

 

Talking of sals, I’ve also decided to join in with

the ‘All Year Round’ sal from Cross Stitcher Magazine which  actually started back in September. 

As I’ve only just joined in, I’ve started by stitching January

and then, other stitching permitting,  I’ll work backwards and catch up with the previous months, with the aim of finishing it on time in August.

This is my start of catching up on December.

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Project Details

Chart -  All Year Round Sal

Designer -  Amanda Butler - Cross Stitcher Magazine

Fabric – 18ct White Aida - Zweigart

Threads – DMC, Anchor and various threads from stash

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Chart -  Christmas Tree (Free Chart)

Designer -  Modern Folk Embroidery

Fabric – 18ct White Aida - Zweigart

Threads – Roxy Floss Co - from 2023 Holiday Countdown Box

The Nordic Holiday Countdown 2025 - Its a Finish!

As we rush headlong towards the end of another year, it’s almost time for my round-up for 2024, but before we get there, I was hoping for just a couple more finishes.

The first project was my Nordic Holiday Countdown, which I’m pleased to report I did manage to finish.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was missing my day 6 thread that was unfortunately absent from my countdown package, but I decided at the time to replace it with the DMC alternative.

My daily stitching was going well and then I hit another snag on day 17, when I found that I had a duplicate colour and not the one I should have had. This time I made the decision to leave this part of the stitching  and see if the replacement would arrive before I got to the end.  As yet it hasn’t, so I had a look at my previous two sets of countdown threads and picked out ‘Yule Be Pine’ from the 2023 countdown and used that in its place, in order to have it finished this year.

So, that was it for another year.

A big, big thank you to Caroline and all the crew at Evertote, for coordinating everything and for her daily floss tubes,

 Kerri from Roxy Floss Co for the stunning array of beautiful threads

and last but not least, Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery for another spectacular project, his wonderful music, art work and informative floss tube videos.

I’m sad that it’s come to an end but there was one last little gift for us, another of  Jacobs beautiful charts to keep us busy until the 2025 Holiday Countdown goes on sale in February.

The second project I’m hoping to have finished is 'Country Charm', designed by Fiona Baker, and it’s so close.

This is the piece I’m stitching as a 70th birthday pressie for my cousin, and I need to have it finished and FFO’d by the 6^th January. So wish me luck!

There's just a small amount of cross stitch left to do on the right hand side and then finish the back stitching, so I think I'm on track for a finish, as long as the finishing fabric that I've 

ordered from Etsy arrives in time.  I've had notification to say it's on it's way it’s on its way, so my fingers are crossed.

As yet I have no plans for stitching on New Years Ever, although I do have a few things that I could possibly start but New Years Day I will definitely be starting my new Chatelaine, Humming Bird Lace, so do check back to see all the glorious silk threads and beautiful crystals!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Christmas Countdown

 Here we go with parts 15 and 16 of the Nordic Christmas Countdown, the collaboration from Evertote,  Modern Folk Embroidery and Roxy Floss Co.

Day 15 we had the most beautiful deep, deep burgundy thread, called Pinot Noir. Sadly the colour doesn't show up well here, but believe me, it's lush!

And we had to stitch what looks like the start of the lower portion of the design.  I think this is my favourite thread so far.

I may have said that before, Lol!

We also learned about a ‘flammable’ tradition from Jacob, that is all about a burning goat  over on his You Tube channel.

Day 16 is another shade of thread that’s fighting for 1^st place in my favourites list, ‘Gilded’. 

The name says it all really, because it’s a rich golden yellow and is perfect for today stitching, which are some crowns among other things.

Right, I’m off now to listen to the beautiful piece of music that Jacob has for us today.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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 Chart – The Nordic Christmas Countdown 2024

Designer – Jacob de Graaf – Modern Folk Embroidery

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Glacier – Roxy Floss Co / Evertote

Threads – Roxy Floss Co

The Nordic Christmas Countdown 2024

 It’s been fun opening up my envelopes every morning and I’ve been good at keeping up with my daily stitching but I’ve not been so good at posting my progress.

Well, today’s the day and I’m catching up with days 8 to 14!

The threads this year are not as big a range of colours as in the previous two years, but instead the project has been designed with various tones of a more limited pallet.

We start with day 8 and a beautiful ‘Slate’  thread to add to our floss rings.

As you probably know the part of the chart we have to stitch each day is on the other side of these cards but once again Jacob has excelled with the art work on the fronts. He also treats as each day with a surprise on his You Tube channel.  

Today he greets us with a  Song.

On to day 9  and Jacob has researched why Santa chose to have Reindeer pull his sleigh. 

Our thread for the day was ‘Milk Chocolate’, a gorgeous brown thread that looks good enough to eat!

Day 10 thread has Red/Pink tones and is aptly called ‘The Cherry Best’.  

and jacob's little gem is about some of his  favourite games,,   including one game in particular, that even he couldn’t get his head around the rules. Lol!

On Day 11 we had a poem on the card, The Dish of Tea., by M.P. Gavaux, from around 1800.and inside our envelope we had a little extra surprise, so we could make ourselves a cup of Decaf Vanilla Chai. 

There’s also  an  Icelandic Christmas song for us to listen to.

The thread for the day was  ‘Coniferous’.

 According to  Icelandic tradition,  the 12th December is the day that the 13 Yule Lads arrive in Iceland to cause mayhem through the season and the last one doesn't leave until the 6th January.

Our thread today is ‘Ice Rink’

When I picked up my stitching, I realised that I had missed several leaves from the previous days stitching, so I had to play a little bit of catch-up before starting today’s section.

The 13^th of December is Saint Lucy’s Day and Jacob explains the story and sings a song that we have all heard before.

We had 243 stitches to do in today’s thread ‘Pink Peppermint'.

The final day of this update is the 14th and it's a special one because Jacob had something very special for us.  The clip today is a zoom he recorded with  Ruth from Crow’s Feet Stitching, where they were discussing Nordic Embroidery.

Our thread for the day was ' How Do You Blue' 

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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 Chart – The Nordic Christmas Countdown 2024

Designer – Jacob de Graaf – Modern Folk Embroidery

Fabric – 36ct Linen – Glacier – Roxy Floss Co / Evertote

Threads – Roxy Floss Co