I was pretty busy stitching this week. I didn’t have a chance to stitch Saturday evening but other than that, I was able to stitch every night. Some nights not too late…some nights, late.
A lot of my time went into stitching Leona’s Sewing Box from Blackbird Designs. Here is where I was…
I am stitching this on 40-count linen called Boston from Seraphim fabrics. I am using the called-for colors of overdyed floss. Here is where I am now…
The top is entirely finished. I finished the house the flowers and the birds. All that is left is stitching the name.
I was getting to the spot where I needed to chart the name I putting on it. That would be my mom’s. Her birthdate is November 16th and I’m stitching this for her. My hope is to finish it up this week.
The book had an upper and lower case alphabet available to help with personalization. I got Evalonne charted…I went to chart Johnson and there was one letter that could either be an “I” or a “J”. Pooh. I was frustrated. I ended up slightly modifying the letter that was there to make it more “J” looking. This is how I’ll stitch it. I am going to take off a few flourishes in the letters so I can squeeze them together a little more.
The date I really don’t have to modify much except change it to the 16th and have it be 1928, her birth year.
I’ve been tempted to go to the basement and see what I have for a box but I keep telling myself to finish the stitching first.
I wanted to make some progress on Christmas Garden by Blackbird Designs. I’m stitching this on 40-count Flannel Flower by Fox and Rabbit. I think I’m going to try to get a lot of stitching into this between now and the new year. I won’t be able to finish it but I want to make some good progress. My hope is to continue working on it during 2024 as my 25th-of-the-month stitch. We’ll see how that goes. I like to have plans but I like to break plans too.
This week I had a goal to try to get the outline of the border in place. I stitched on that two nights…one short and one long only to discover that it wasn’t matching up correctly. UGH. This happens way too often for me. I was trying to meet up at the lower right hand corner. I had an error. I found it in the upper right-hand corner so had to rip that whole side out. Thankfully this all happened on Wednesday night when I was stitching. I ended up ripping it out immediately and told myself I wasn’t going to bed until I had the border connected.
I did it!! YAHOO!! I am so pleased.
Now comes my favorite part…mindless repetitive border stitching. It’s my favorite kind of stitching. I can memorize the pattern and just stitch away. Except for the corners, this is all repetitive. A lot of stitchers talk about comfort stitching. For me, repetitive border stitching is my comfort stitching.
I am really looking forward to putting a lot of stitches into this piece. That’s so funny because it has sat here for over a year and now I’m finally really excited about it!! Let the stitching begin!!
I also started stitching our latest stitch-along piece, Deck the Halls by October House. If you missed the details about it, you can read about it in THIS BLOG POST. Liz and the crew at the Stitchery Nook are putting kits together. HERE is a link to the ordering page.
Some of you were curious as to how I started mine. It’s a little different when the piece will have the toweling border. Here’s what I did.
In the center along the left-hand side, I started the bottom “tail” of my “D” in the fourth square away from the red stripe of the toweling. I hope that makes sense. I tried to take a close-up picture so you could see.
I do want to warn you that for those of you who are stitching on the toweling, the “square” of your stitch is really more of a “rectangle”. The weave of the cloth isn’t even. For me, that adds to the “prim” look of the toweling.
I only stitched on this for about 25 minutes one night when I was really tired and had to work the next day. It’s stitching up very quickly.
I didn’t get to work on Pet All the Dogs by Teresa Kogut. I’m hoping to get a few stitches in this week…we’ll see.
My focus piece is the one for my mom…then Christmas Garden. I’d at least like to stitch on this one night though. I’m not ready to put it away. I keep hoping this piece will get to the point that I want to stitch on it full steam ahead but that hasn’t happened yet. As others of you had said, those trees are a bugger. Plus there are decisions that I need to make with this piece and until I make them, full steam ahead probably isn’t going to happen.
I’ve really been thinking about next year and what I want to stitch. You might remember that people have New Year starts, or Christmas Starts…or Birthday Starts. My birthday is December 14th so if I have a new start for all three days, that would really be a lot. HA! That wouldn’t bother some people but it would bother me to start so many things…so I’m thinking and contemplating. I do want something that I can finish without too much pressure, otherwise, I don’t enjoy it. So I’m thinking.
I have some ideas but nothing is a definite decision yet. I’m hoping after Thanksgiving I settle into something that feels comfortable and doable. I’ll let you know when I do.
I always enjoy seeing the progress you’ve made on your various cross stitch projects. I’m looking forward to seeing the Christmas Garden come together!
I am anxious for my Deck The Hall to arrive. I wanted to do the dish towel but since I am new to linen stitching I didn’t order it. I have a project I am stuck on so I am hoping when I start this it will spur my interest in finishing The Friendship Tree! I really like all the ones you are doing and I have some of them also. I have always been a “one project at a time” stitcher but want to start several to see if this works for me! Praying for you!
You certainly made a lot of progress and each piece looks great! It will be fun to see if you have the perfect box for your sewing box stitching.
I’m worried that you spelled your mother’s name as “Evalonne” in your post, but your chart has only one “n”! I hope the chart is correct! I love to see your cross-stitch projects; I used to do it years ago.
Good catch! No matter how it is spelled I just love that name! 1st time I’ve ever heard it.
Hi Dot…I only charted one “n” there but counted it twice in the calculations. Thanks for catching that!!
I came across this article and enjoyed reading it! I inherited the largest collection of embroidery floss four years ago from a dear lady who was a coworker and friend. Her name was Donna. Around the same time I had joined a Christmas Ornament Exchange Group of 12 ladies. So in honor of Donna I learned to cross stitch and I create Christmas Ornaments every year for our party. It is a lot of fun and I like seeing my creations hanging on our tree during the holidays. I think Donna would be pleased if she could see what I have been doing. Her floss will not go to waste! :0)
What Dot said about “Evalonne” vs “Evalone” being the correct spelling. It’s a pretty name with either spelling.
My mom is Evalonne
Jo, you are doing a great job on Leona’s Sewing Box. I love that piece. It will make a great tribute to your Mom.
I have a question on the toweling. Do you use two strands of floss over one thread? I haven’t stitched on toweling before, but I want to give it a try.
Pat, I was wondering the same thing regarding 1 thread or 2 on the toweling. Also Jo, is the stitching done over 2 threads or 1? You certainly found a box of treasures at the thrift store.
I used to stitch LOTS so thought the last piece on toweling would be a piece of cake. Not so much. My eyes are older now which makes the uneven threads difficult. Plus the threads are very uneven! I have struggled to finish the piece and finally gave up on perfection and just finishing was the goal. The pumpkin was stitched with one thread over one thread. This piece made me decide to give up on cross stitch completely and just to stick with quilting, which makes me unhappy. The toweling is cute but I found it very difficult to find the thread cross space for the needle as it wasn’t even. GOOD LUCK to all who try this.
Meylonie, have you seen Primrose Cottage’s YouTube where they show 7 count cross stitched pillows using the Prairie Schooler Santa’s patterns. They use #5 DMC Perle cotton. The holes are large for our old eyes and they look amazing! I’m going to try it!
I stitch over one square with one thread.
I am stitching over one square with one strand of floss.
I love your blog! I have gotten so many ideas for the next and next and next cross stitch project I want to do – and I have ordered them as I fall in love! I am ready to begin Deck the Halls on the red striped toweling and greatly appreciate your tip on today’s blog 11/10/23. Thank you! God Bless
PS. Linda Bowlby here again. Can I “subscribe” to your blog? Thanks