‘Joy’ is the latest of my ‘12in25’ ornament for the stitch-a- long hosted by Carol from Stitching Dream Blogspot
Sue
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Chart – Blue Christmas Ornaments
Designer – Joan Elliott Designs
Fabric - 32ct Antique White EvenweaveThreads – DMC
Of course, a birthday necessitates
a new start right?
So, for my birthday this year I decided to try something a little different from my usual cross stitch and have a go at something new...........wool felt!
I purchased this needle case kit early last year, but it just sat in the cupboard in my craft room collecting dust until now.
The kit came with everything I needed to complete it, the only thing I added to it was a tiny bit of silk ribbon to make a tie.
I loosely followed the suggested decoration on the front and also added some stitching to the inside too.
Happy Stitching!
Sue
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Last year I decided to make a start on my second Chatelaine and began working on Hummingbird Lace Mandala as my birthday start on 9th September.
One year on and I’ve not made as much progress on it as I had originally hoped, but we all know there’s so much temptation out there, just waiting for us, so I guess that was inevitable when you’re not a monograms stitcher.
Anyway, tomorrow will be a year since I started it and with the help of the ‘Chatelaine Weekender’, an event hosted in a Facebook group each week, it’s encouraged me to keep going.
The last time you saw it, I had spent some time correcting my mistake with the beading, but the last two weekends, I’ve made some great progress.
The weekend of the 29th – 31st August, and although it wasn’t a holiday in the UK, I took advantage of it being Labour Day in the USA, giving me an extra day of stitching, my aim was to complete the second 1 over 1 hummingbird, which I finish.
I also managed to add some more to the boarder, some beading and a few of the specialty stitches in the corner motifs.
In the end, I decided to work on the top, right hand quadrant
Happy Stitching!
Sue
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Hummingbird Lace Mandala - Chatelaine
Designer - Martina Rosenberg
Fabric – 28ct Jobelan Evenweave – Antique White
Threads – Called for Silks, DMC and Petite Treasure Braid
Beads – Swarovski Crystals and Delica Beads
It’s back to the Joan Elliott charts for my 8th Christmas ornament and this month it’s ‘Peace’.
I’m not sure if there will be any more new starts or fully finishes before the end of August because I've decided to go back and work on my Chatelaine.
I’ve not picked up ‘Hummingbird Lace Mandala’ since making a major faux par around three months ago and currently have less to show now, than I had the last time you saw it.
The reason, I noticed, after deciding to bead as I go, that I had misread the chart and had been using the wrong colour beads, so I’ve had to frog all the ones I had already attached.
To say my heart was in my mouth as I snipped the threads is an understatement but I’m relieved to say I took my time and removed every single bead without too many problems, and I’m back to sewing them back on...........in the correct colours this time!
Happy Stitching!
Sue
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Project Details
Chart – Christmas Blue Ornaments
Designer – Joan
Elliott
Fabric - 32ct Antique White Evenweave
Threads – DMC
Hummingbird Lace Mandala - Chatelaine
Designer - Martina Rosenberg
Fabric – 28ct Jobelan Evenweave – Antique White
Threads – Called for Silks, DMC and Petite Treasure Braid
Beads – Swarovski Crystals and Delica Beads
So here I am, eight months into this 9 part cross stitch project and I’m already finding myself wondering what other part series, if any, I will stitch next year.
I think it's the thought of guaranteed little finishes throughout the year, that makes them such fun to stitch, and at the end of this project I'll have one bigger finish to frame, so it's win, win!
Here's the penultimate square of the 'Log Cabin Christmas' series and it's aptly named ‘Log Cabin Christmas’
Happy Stitching!
Sue
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Chart- Log Cabin Christmas – Part 8- ‘Log Cabin Christmas
Designer – Little
House Needleworks
Fabric – 32ct Zweigart
Linen – Raw
Threads – Called for
Classic Colorworks
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
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)