Recent Finishes

I dug out an old kit from Lizzie Kate, My Country and stitched that one in a day or three. I haven't added the buttons and charm yet.Of course there was an unintentional pattern adjustment ( re: a mistake). I am off by one half stitch somewhere in the lettering and I still haven't decided if I am going to frog and fix it or just let sleeping stitches lie.






I have been Stitching Meridel Abrams scissor charts over the past few days. I do have a few other finishes but I haven't taken pictures yet. I keep starting a new one of the series so that I don't have to overcast the fabric for Sea to Shining Sea.

Thrift Shop Stash Builder

I went to one of my favorite thrift shops yesterday.I found a mass of old buttons and even four charts.There was also a pile of eight of those gold tone plastic frames. Not a bad stash building experience for the day.




All together the total was $10 but it was wacky Wednesday.I got to pick a coupon out of a huge wicker laundry basket and for once I got a slip for more than 10% off, I got a whopping 70% off and the entire load of stuff was just $3.

I love all of the buttons and already have some biscornus picked out for some of them.

Buttons Still on cards











Charts.






And one bag of filthy buttons. When I sat down to clean them I thought " Oh, this will only take a few minutes." Almost two hours later they were clean. All of the metal buttons were unsalvageable. I am not sure if the leather ones will be usable, they are very fragile. I broke several of them while cleaning them.

Vintage Charts

I love vintage designs, sadly most of the things in my collection that are old enough to be called vintage are designs I purchased when they were first released. I started stitching in the early to mid 80s. Honestly, I don't recall when, I don't remember what my fist project was. I do remember I taught myself to stitch, no that it's very hard.

I have amassed a huge chart collection with the desire to stitch every one of them. It's easy for me to get distracted and lured to the new and shiny and ignore the old.
Last year I started keeping a notebook of all my purchased and downloaded charts for the year.The plan is to stitch one new design then stitch a design from the older stash.

These designs from Cedar Hill are from 1983, chances are I bought the chart that year.

I finally decided to start getting my stash organized.I found I had a mountain of aida.For years every time I went into on one the big box craft stores I would buy a piece of fabric or in more than a few cases would buy all the fabric that they had on clearance.I always thought I had just as much linen and even weaves as aida. I was very wrong. In an effort to reduce the aida stash I am working a lot of these older designs on aida.


I really like the way these strawberries came out. There are two different colorways, an Early American and Traditional. The single strawberries are stitched over one on a 22 count Hardanger with two strands of thread.

One Strawberry Stencil is on 14 count Ivory with two strands of DMC and the other is on 18 count Fiddler's cloth with two strands of DMC.

Normally when I finish stitching a design I pass the chart along to another stitcher. I like these strawberries so much I am considering stitching the single berries on some of the French linen towels.

Every Sunday?

I met up with a stitching friend this weekend and we discussed how and when we start new projects and how we tackle the UFO/WIP piles.

She has a very simple plan, she doesn't start a new project until she finishes the old one. Or at least that is the theory. It never seems to work out for her. She keeps starting tons of new projects and not finishing them. Her WIP pile is now in three extra large tote bags from LL Bean. She forced herself to make a list of them and there were over 25, she stopped counting then.

I start a new project almost every Sunday. I keep a basket next to my work chair with any WIP. I wish I could start Scarlett Letter and Carriage House charts every Sunday. I don't. It's all in the size of the basket and being realistic about how much stitching time I will have in a week.

The trick is to start more small projects than large projects.

I start on Sunday and work on only that project for the week. If I finish the design before the end of the week I pick up something from the basket and work on that. I might stitch on several WIP in the remainder of the week or just one, it all depends on my mood. If the basket is getting full to overflowing my Sunday start will be something very small that I can finish in a day or three. If the basket is looking kind of bare I chose something larger.

If a project has been languishing in the basket for ages it becomes what I call my one needle project. Every time I sit down for a stitching session I stitch one needle of thread on the design.Right now my one needle project is a kit from Joan Elliot ( damn AC Moore and their 40 % off coupons, it seemed like a great kit at 40 % off).

I'll post a picture of my basket later today :)

Second Finish of 2010

Under ideal conditions I would have at least four projects finished by this time.
This year I only have two.

Sweet Dessert is finished with about two weeks worth of stitching to get it finished. I did take a few days of from my stitching in that time.

I do believe I have gotten my stitching grove back. I will be starting LHN Sea to Shining Sea this week. I am still playing around with the color conversions until I find the combination that I like. I am going to stitch it over one on a 28 ct tea dyed Monaco from Charles Craft that has been in my stash for ages.

I am also going to be stitching some cubes with the squares from the Sweet Dessert design as well.

LHN Sea to Shining Sea

Sometimes the cross stitch Goddess smiles upon you.
The economy sucks and like most of us, my stitching budget has been cut.

I adored the Sea to Shining Sea kits from Little House Needleworks but could not justify the expense of the series. Don't misunderstand, I thought they were worth every penny of the asking price, great chart and beautiful silk. I did think they were a value for the money, I just couldn't justify to myself spending all that money for one design.

A stitching friend noticed I had listed the design on my wish list and has agreed to loan me her charts. I picked them up this morning with a sample of the silk threads and I will convert them to DMC later today.

Once the Soda Stitch design is finished I get to dig through my stash for some fabric and get stitching :)

Sweet Dessert WIP Photos

Just some updates. I had hoped to have this finished by today but life is not cooperating with me. Here's my progress so far.