Cross Stitch Projects

Midsummer sprigs by Posie gets Cozy,

and a completed Halloween sampler by The Prairie Schooler.

This is the first time that I washed my stitching after it was done. I like how it softened the fabric and the iron took care of the wrinkles. Now to get them both framed...

Spring Flowers

Finished in time for the spring and summer blossoms. Now to frame it...

And yes. It is another lovely design from Posie by Alicia Paulson.

A few more...

I was amazed to find a few more hours before the holidays to squeeze in a couple more presents.  Pure fun for me.

I finally got around to framing the cross stitch (above) that I completed for a special little baby boy and sent it out to him in the mail.  In case you can't tell, I am a big fan of Alicia Paulson's work.

The next gift was a second taggie blanket for special friends that just welcomed their second baby girl.  I made two for their first daughter (she needed a second one because she loved through the first!) and I really wanted to send out another for their new addition.  These owls are too cute and paired with a bumpy purple minky should be fun for the baby to explore.  I sent the blanket along with a crocheted turquoise crown - I called it the 'big sister crown' - made by a friend for the older daughter.

The last few presents came from a burst of sewing for my own three oldest daughters.  They all learned to knit in the week before Christmas so I sewed them each a knitting project bag and filled it with a skein of yarn and some needles.  They love then and I love seeing the bags and their knitting float around the house: the couch, the bed, the dining room table and their locker.  I first made the fox bag below to match the needle case for my niece.

Then I made three more.  I am really happy with the construction of these bags.  My serger makes such a professional finish and the satin cording for the drawstrings work perfectly.  I modeled these bags on the small della Q bag that I have for myself and they turned out great - perfectly sized and perfectly useful (I did skip the interior pocket this time around).

Just before Thanksgiving

On the day before our Thanksgiving the house is humming - the sound of the washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, the hot oven, kids laughing/arguing and dog barking.  I swear the house is vibrating in its foundation.

I have to humbly admit that these are the years that I have been yearning for - no more infants or diapers, just a few little kid tantrums and no teenage angst (just yet).  I can actually bake a pie from scratch without interruption.

This humming is the sound of what I am thankful for this day, and every day.

pumpkin waiting to be baked, pureed and turned into pie

I also realized that the winter holidays are just around the corner and I pulled out the unfinished ornament kits from Alicia Paulson that I stowed last year.  I surprised myself by re-discovering that I had cut out all the pattern pieces and felt last winter for the remaining ornaments - this fall I spent time assembling and detailing them.  Here is the next set of 5 that I finished.  You can see the first six here.  I just have to complete the snowflake and I will have completed all the kits that I have. (I admit, however, that I just ordered a pattern and one more kit...that will complete everything that she has available.)  I just adore her designs - they fit in our home really well.  All told I will have 18 ornaments when I finish.

I know that might seem intense or over-the-top - but I am practical.  With four daughters that will one day have their own homes and families it will mean that I will, eventually, only get to keep two or three anyway.

 

For a Baby...

For the baby-to-be...a sampler from Posie Gets Cozy.  This piece is amazing.  Finished photos soon.

Pretty Little Things from Posie Gets Cozy

I am in love with these ornaments.  They are currently hanging in a row under the mantle - they fill the blank space left from putting away our Christmas stockings beautifully.

I went on a bender after the holiday and ordered four kits from Alicia Paulson.  So far I have worked my way though 6 ornaments (6 more to go).  Each one is impeccably designed and detailed.  I have really been able to hone my embroidery skills as I put together each one.  The accompanying writing for each kit adds to the whimsy I feel whenever I pull out materials to work on one.

What I love about these is that while I have stayed really close to the original design I do feel that I can take a bit of liberty with each one depending on my skill level and available tools.  For example, I didn't have the right shears for the detail work on the apron for the gingerbread woman so just adapted with what I had on hand.  I think it still turned out beautifully.

I have completed the ornaments that my daughters coveted the most (hot cocoa! a cute chubby mouse!) and am now working on the others as time permits.  Next up to finish is the ice skate and then the dreaming child.

These ornaments will certainly be a special part of our winter season from this year forward.  I'll draft a follow-up post when the other six are complete!  (Husband hint: Alicia does have two other kits as well -- maybe they will make their way into my stocking next Christmas?!)

Handmade Holidays

I took a break from knitting again - I had started on a pair of socks that I thought might be a gift for the holidays but my wrist really started to act up and I was having trouble doing yoga and pilates so I thought I would pull back from knitting for awhile.

Instead I turned to some mittens from up cycled sweaters, a new quilt block pattern and some lingering cross stitch patterns to help craft up the holidays.

The mittens went to some special people that have been helping me out with a volunteer project over the past year.  I even used some felted handknit sock legs for the cuffs - they were dropped off by a sad neighbor that had felted her own socks and didn't want to look at them anymore.  I told her I had been there myself and gladly took them from her.  I am really happy that I was able to put them to good use in two new pair of mittens!  Each pair of mittens is lined with cashmere - a lovely addition that I discovered really makes the mittens enjoyable to wear.  I mean fleece liners are nice, but cashmere?  Wow.  I also got around to making cashmere liners for my tree mittens and have been wearing them most days this winter.  They are perfect.

I made these three coordinating tree wall quilts for myself, my Mom and my Mother-in-law for Christmas.  I was inspired by the patchwork forest tree tutorial by Diary of a Quilter and once I started making the blocks I couldn't stop!  I wound up with over 100 blocks after one weekend of sewing and from there it was just a matter of organizing the blocks into sets that were well coordinated.  I kept the one of the far right (next photo).

Each has a nice hanging pocket on the back and all were quilted with straight lines.















I also have never framed any of my small cross stitch patterns from over the years.  This Santa had been sitting in a box for a couple years and it was time to take it out and get it up on the wall.  I went to a big box store to get some custom mats cut that would fit off-the-shelf frames.  I then mounted the linen fabric on all natural cotton quilt batting (a recommendation from a local framing shop) and placed it in the frame for the wall.  Success!

I did the same with the Winterwoods ABC's from Alicia Paulson which finally got it's proper place in our hallway.

Next up for framing are the Peace on Earth cross stitch, our family pixel portrait and a recent color pencil drawing by my 7yo which she made during a recent trip to our local art museum.

And next up?  After gazing at my Winterwoods ABC's I logged back onto Alicia's blog/website to see what else she might have available...and the ornament kits are amazing.  Can I say that again?  They are a-maz-ing.  I just ordered Snow Day and can't wait to dive into making them after the craziness of the holidays subsides.

FO: Pixel Portrait - Family

 

Over Memorial Day weekend I went from idea to finished portrait.  Relying heavily on Martha Stewart's tutorial and clip art I came up with a rendition of our family on graph paper.  Check here for details. 















After sketching the first draft I went back and cut and taped edits all over.  Graph paper is awesome to work with for that very reason!

The final product shifted a bit still - no chickens, I changed up some of the accessories, and I still have to add our family name.

 

I was able to use many different colors, but tried to use the same color at least twice in the portrait to keep a sense of unity.  I also threaded a gold strand in the twins' hair to make it a bit different from Dad.  

I can't believe how darn cute this turned out...and check Etsy and Google Images for tons of other great ideas for how to customize it even more.  

ISO good sampler pattern

I don't know if it is the fall weather, nostalgia or what.  I am feeling drawn to older cross stitch sampler patterns lately.  But I am stuck and can't seem to find one that 'speaks' to me, my family or our experiences.  I've searched Etsy, Ebay and various websites, but am not coming up with anything.  In the meantime I have started work on "Peace on Earth" by Blackbird Designs.

Any suggestions from folks out there?

Holidays

It's beginning to feel a lot like the holidays around here.  The weather isn't cooperating - no snow and very mild temperatures - but the kids won't let me forget that Santa's visit is right around the corner.  The tree is trimmed, the decorations are out, cookies are baked (or exchanged) from time-to-time and the gifting has begun.

I had a burst of knitting over the past few months which means that I have a few handmade gifts to give on hand.  I am also making a few ornaments to give as hostess/neighbor gifts, relying heavily on the patterns in A Rainbow of Stitches.  The images are so whimsical and easy, with enough character to make really unique gifts.  I also picked up a copy of Little Stitches from the library this afternoon.  Maybe I'll give embroidery a try?

I haven't hit on a really great idea for handmade gifts for the girls yet.  DH is making four house-shaped shadow boxes for their rooms, which are fantastic (and sorely needed!) - maybe I'll jump in and paint them?  I also think I might take a short-cut this year and have some of their school artwork framed for display in their rooms.

There will be more to share on the gifting front in a few weeks I'm sure.  For now I'll enjoy the sweets and coffee that are in never-ending supply around here.

FO: 7th Anniversary Monogram

The traditional gift for the seventh wedding anniversary is linen or wool. I was thrilled to learn this, but quickly remembered our anniversary gifts are about the two of us: about togetherness and our union, not about each of us individuals. So I modified my dream of crates and crates of yarn to something more symbolic and attainable.

I temporarily entertained a couple of other fantasies: a fairly-traded, hand-woven, wool rug, or matching Aran sweaters (that I would knit myself), but quickly let both of these go too. The first one for cost, and the second one for time. Instead I settled on something for our home, something that incorporated our name, and something that wouldn't take me six months to complete.

Per the suggestion of a good friend, I modified the wedding monogram pattern from A Rainbow of Stitches to include just one initial, in this case an "O" for our shared last name. It is a counted cross-stitch design, stitched with white embroidery thread on natural, undyed linen. And I am so very happy with the end result.

I am not sure how I want to display this. The book showed the final piece unframed, but pulled over canvas stretchers. I may go with a traditional frame - with so many little people about I would worry too much about the spills and splatters that could happen, not to mention the, ahem, dust factor.

So far I have only located one other blogger that has completed this project. You can see her work here.

I can't let Christmas go this year

For whatever reason we are still celebrating the winter holidays here at home. A friend recently introduced me to this book and let me tell you I am smitten! And I have re-connected with the inner cross stitcher in me! Check here for a previous post about cross stitch.

This little Santa number is almost finished, but there are three reindeer in front of him and his sleigh. I haven't decided what I will do with the finished piece (frame vs. pillow-type decoration), but I am really liking the red/white contrast. And stitching on nice linen, while potentially expensive, makes a big difference in the look and feel of the final project.

The Rainbow of Stitches is an amazing book - tons of delicately modern and timeless motifs to work from. Many are charted cross-stitch patterns, but there are also a lot of basic embroidery designs that would be manageable even for the beginner. The project photos and ideas are elegant and inspiring. I decided to add this book to my personal library. Since its not a knitting book, that should give you an idea of how good I think this book is (smile).

Keep your eye out for a few more small projects from this book over the next year for the girls. I've had requests for an ice cream cone, a dog and a train. Maybe I will even tackle a sampler. The inner cross stitch maven has awaken indeed!

ps. I did a tremendous amount a cross-stitch as a child. Mostly on that really large-count cotton cross stitch cloth. My mom introduced me to the craft and I have made many a project over the years. I would be tempted to tell you that I swore off it in high school (how could cross-stitch possibly have made me cool?) but I recently uncovered this as-of-yet-unfinished beauty dated 1995. That was my senior year. Hah. With this lying around I find it difficult to deny that I knew (dated?) DMC as a teenager.

Loving Frank Lloyd Wright

Here is a close-up photo of the unfinished cross stitch that I am working on. The pattern, and kit, are from Heartland House Designs. I found it while surfing a long time ago and became an instant fan. I completed the Heath House Window 3.5 years ago and gave it to my sister-in-law as a thank you gift for her contributions to our wedding. She grew, cut and arranged all of the flowers for the entire event. She is a very talented grower. You can learn more about her and Sandhill Organics Farm here. The current piece, Tree of Life Window, is either for our family or my parents. I have another one in the works - Waterlilies- but at this point I am unsure which one will look best in our house. Whichever one that is, is the one that will stay. The other will go to my parents for their home.

Incidentially, Dan and I were married at a place called Hilltop. It is an old all-girls horseback riding camp located in Spring Green, WI - just across the street from Taliesin. It was designed by a man with the family name Fritz and is very much in the priaire tradition. From what I have learned, Herb Fritz was an apprentice to FLW.

On a realted note, I am currently finishing "Loving Frank." A great story, by Nancy Horan (an Oak Park, IL native) based on the life of FLW, his family, his lover and her family. It is a quick read and I highly recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning more about his work. It is also a love story - about a woman who loves FLW and a woman who is trying to find herself. I was enamored with Mamah from the first page.