Cross Stitch Finish: Wisdom Berries

I got brave and finished my Wisdom Berries that we stitched as part of the stitch-along.

They were actually very easy to finish. They were just time-consuming. Plus, anything you do the first time takes so much longer because a person second guesses themselves…well, at least I do.

Thankfully a lot of second-guessing didn’t happen because I watched Vonna Pfieffer’s Youtube video to learn how to finish them. She does a great job with her videos. I’ll put it here in this post…

These are the Wisdom Berries from Erica Micheals. I stitched mine on 40-count linen using the called-for colors. I bought the finishing pack from the gals at The Stitchery Nook.

I started out by putting interfacing behind all of my pieces.

I didn’t have any plastic like Vonna suggested so I made a template like this. I could see the area and line it up properly but still had the outline I needed for sewing.

At the sewing machine I stitched the simple seam. I clipped and turned it right side out.

I completely followed her instructions for stuffing. It worked perfectly. I can never find the lizard litter locally so I buy mine HERE from Amazon.

I cut the wool piece from my wool kit. I did have to make the leaf a little smaller than the pattern that was provided in the pattern. I picked out some DMC floss that would match the wool.

I stitched the pieces together. I didn’t have the little black seed beads for finishing but I did have some beads that were larger so I used one in the middle of each flower.

I again followed Vonna’s instructions for putting the tops on using glue and did a bit of tacking stitches.

Now I needed to find a place to display these. You might remember that I bought the red table and the pie safe that goes on top of the pump organ. Well, I have been putting religious pieces in that area. I thought these might work there. I think all of these sayings, “Live Simply”, “Give More”, and “Expect Less” are biblical appropriate.

As I was setting it all up I saw that the clock I bought to put here was a little stark for me. So I added some Rub and Buff to the outside white.

Then I set it all up.

I love how the berries loom in my box. I got the little “Stitching is Sew Easy” booklet in a thrift store find box. I love it. The crochet piece was also an auction junk box find. I think it’s all kind of cute together.

Down the road, I hope to stitch something that would fit in the open lid of the box. For now, this it looking pretty good. I wish the center of the clock was cream vs white but, for now, it will do.

I want to do a HUGE shout-out to all of you blog readers. So often it’s you who keeps me accountable. I might have left the stitched pieces in a drawer and not finished them. I just know one of you will ask me about them if I leave them sitting too long…so you all (in a good way) make me finish my projects! HA!!

I will definitely be stitching more strawberries. They were fun to finish and they are so stinking cute.