I’m a little late on working on these and having them for my dough bowl…but I did it early in the week so I was at least able to enjoy them for a few days.
These are the two pieces I had stitched but needed to finish.
This one is a Lizzie Kate pattern. I stitched this a couple of years ago. I know that because the linen is likely 30 count and I stitched them two threads of floss over two threads of linen. I don’t do that anymore.
Many of the cross stitchers when they finish their small pieces into pillows, add trim or rickrack around the edge. I like the look but I get a little afraid of doing all of mine like that. It also adds expense to finishing but the biggest deterrent for me is I’m afraid it might “date” the pieces.
For this one I sewed on a narrow strip of fabric, then two wider ones on each side…then I dug into the button box and added some buttons. I’m super happy with this finish.
Simple but cute.
Last week I told you that I finished my cross stitch piece Anniveries of the Heart by Blackbird Designs. I’ve gotten LOTS of question about it so I thought I’d answer them all here.
I started this on January 1st of 2021. I first learned about the charts after watching Olivia at Pumpkin Hollow Quilts on Youtube. If you are interested in stitching this, I recommend going back and watching her videos from 2020 when she stitched hers.
It comes as 12 different charts…yes that makes it kind of expensive to stitch, but it’s an heirloom piece and I believe it was worth it.
The charts aren’t the easiest to find all in one place. I ordered from three different places to get all of the charts. Last year they were my birthday present to myself.
I stitched mine on Vintage Country Mocha 40 count. This is a linen I always gravitated towards. If you’re new to higher count linens, this is a perfect beginner linen. It is also fairly easy to find. I stitched mine on a fat quarter. The finished design was 19″ x 13″. That allowed for 3 spaces in between each of the charts.
YES..I said there were 12 charts but looking at the piece, you see more squares than that. TRUE. Chart #7 has the bonus block with the alphabet that is in the middle top. Chart #12 has the bonus last rectangle in it. I’ve seen people stitch the bonus last chart and a couple of other blocks rather than the whole thing. If you are planning on stitching this, I HIGHLY suggest going to THIS SITE. They were a wealth of information.
The charts follow the months of the year. Many people stitch them to record birthdays. Early on, I decided that we ignore birthdays and instead just dedicate blocks. I did them as follows
5-one for each of my kids
1-for my husband and I
2-for my grandparents
2-for my husband’s grandparents
1-husband’s parents
1-my parents
That happily makes 12 blocks. If you don’t have that many in your family…no problem. Add other important people to you. You can do whatever you want.
For the Geary’s site that I suggested earlier, I learned that quite a few people didn’t like the first block because the original design in very light. The borders were white. People felt it didn’t blend with the piece. I agreed and loosely used THIS CONVERSION.
When I first started these I splurged and bought a lot of the called for threads. The problem I ran into is that this chart was designed over 10 years ago and the dye companies have changed the colors. Many of the called for colors not look icky together. I quickly learned to use the DMC or to use it as a guide to help pick a overdyed floss that I thought was okay. I never used all of the called for colors…not once.
Check it out…this girl, yep me, I finished my Anniversaries of the Heart. I’m so thrilled. I am going to show you that last block that I finished up last night and show you a couple of other pictures but that’s all for now. Next week I’ll take pictures of each block and do a final look at the whole thing before I send it off to the framers.
Here it is all finished!! Ah…what a huge sigh of relief. I finished it!!
Here is a close up of the stitching on the last block.
After I stitched the letters, I had an open spot to the lower left of the works. I had already decided if there was enough room I was going to stitch a flying bird there.
Can you see the anchor with the vine twined in it? I’ve always said that Kramer, my husband, along with my family, have always been an anchor for me but that they have also given me wings to pursue and do what I want. I thought it so appropriate that with the anchor there…I also include a flying bird.
I went to my Ultimate Sampler Motif Source Book by Brenda Keyes and found a flying bird that would fit there. I think it’s perfect.
PERFECT!
Previously when Karl was looking at it, he pointed out that the heart in my block #2 was supposed to have some fill-in on the heart.
I hadn’t done that yet so I filled that in.
Before I called it completely finished, I went back and outlined the dog on Kayla’s block. The color of the dog was too light and didn’t show up.
The outlining was a great idea.
I’m calling it finished!! I had wanted to send it to Total Framing who did my other big pieces. But…I don’t think I’m going to. They have done an amazing job but I just don’t want to wait that long. I sent a piece to them back in June and I still don’t have it back. That’s just too long. So…on Saturday I think I’m going to take it to the Stitchery Nook in Osage. That’s my local (one-hour drive) cross stitch shop.
I read that they are about six weeks out on finishing. That’s more reasonable. I want someone who knows stitching to do it…and not Hobby Lobby or Micheals. I put too much work into it to risk it there.
I will do a complete overview of the piece next week. I’ve had so many questions about it. If you have questions about it ask in the comment section. I’ll answer all of the questions in that upcoming post.
I guess I’ve become a finisher. Well, I should go that far. I’d be more accurate to say, I wanted some stuff done and I got to it. I don’t know if I’ll ever classify myself as a finisher.
If you’ve been reading the blog for some time, you might notice that I let things go and go, and then suddenly, I do them all. I put my mind to something and it happens, but until I put my mind to it, NOT A THING HAPPENS!
You might remember this from when I worked to get my quilt tops all quilted last year. I worked and worked on it. I had a finished quilt to show every week for about six weeks. Then, no finishes for a while. That seems to be the way I operate.
I hadn’t finished anything for ages but I got it in my head that it was time to do something with that wall in the dining room…and watch out world, I was going to do it.
I finished the small cross stitch piece I told you about on Saturday…this one…
Then I finished the little set of ornaments I found at the thrift store…
