Cross Stitch Update

I didn’t get a lot of cross-stitch time this week.  With the kids all being home over the weekend, I was busy doing more important things…hanging out with the family.

There is a group that does a 24 hours of cross stitch over a weekend each quarter of the year.  I would love to participate sometime but it’s never worked out.  They had that the weekend of the 23rd and I missed it again…but someday, I’m going to do it!  How awesome would be to stitch for 24 hours over a three-day weekend?  Some people put fancy things on a bucket list…not me.  24 hours of cross stitch would be AWESOME!

Do you remember that I told you a friend gave me a gift certificate to 123Stitch the online cross stitch shop?

I ended up burning up my gift certificate and I purchased the rest of the “For the Birds” charts.  This is another series from Blackbird Designs.  There are only nine charts in this series and no bonus charts so it should be less intense but the blocks seem more densely filled.

I borrowed this photo from the website The Geary’s.  It’s an AWESOME site for all things from Blackbird Designs.  You can find it HERE.

Each of the squares is an individual chart.  You can stitch them singly or all in one piece.  I’ll be doing one piece like my Anniversaries of the Heart.

Olivia at Pumpkin Hollow Quilts announced that she was thinking of starting the For the Birds series in 2023.  I would like to stitch along with her but think I’d like to start a little sooner.  I don’t mind stitching a square once a month but it does get a little taxing and confining to commit to that.  Being it takes me about two weeks to stitch a block, it doesn’t leave a lot of room to stitch anything else.

With that in mind, I think I might start in 2022.  I’ll finish with A Changed World and Heaven and Nature, then stitch one block…then start something else, and leisurely stitch on another block with the full permission to stitch or not stitch a For the Birds block.  Then once 2022 comes around I’ll get more serious about For the Birds…but then hopefully I’ll have a couple of blocks stitched and the pressure to stitch one every month won’t be that much…that’s the current plan anyway.

I have to keep telling myself I can’t start yet…I can’t start yet.  These will all be stitched for my grandkids.  Right now I have nine, one for each block.  I better quick stitch this up before I have more grandkids.

If you’re interested in joining in, THIS is a good source of info on the charts, colors, and info on how to stitch the charts as one piece.  I’m going to slowly start working on finding the linen and the threads.  Getting everything collected can be quite a task.  So far, I’ve ordered from three different places just to get the complete set of nine charts.  In the process, I’ve noticed that many of the charts have been 20% off.  It makes me wonder if they are getting towards the end of their run.  I’m glad I got my charts.  Thanks a million for the gift certificate, Judy.  It was much appreciated.  I am going to have so many hours of enjoyment stitching these.

I got a great box from a blog reader, Shelly.  There was linen for me and a card with a gift of money.  Shelly said she knows I like to get my things professionally framed so she included some cash as a gift to make that happen.  I’m thrilled.  I’m coming up on completing my Anniversaries of the Heart and will need to send that off.  THANKS so much.  I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

Can you believe so many cross-stitch gifts all in one week?  I am blessed.

Now, what was I stitching on…
I had Georgia here overnight for two nights so when it was time to stitch, I pulled out Heaven and Nature.  I had fill-in stitching that needed to be done and that’s perfect to do when someone is around.  I really got very little done…

The roof of the addition of the house got finished and the boxes along the edge of the house and the addition that are the same color got done too.  I have a doctor’s appointment today so I’m taking this with me.  I don’t know if I’ll get much stitching time but traditionally, this is the piece I take with me to appointments.  I’m going to aim towards getting that bird stitched for next week.

On Sunday night after the dust cleared from the kids being home over the weekend, I should have sat down and written blog posts…but I didn’t.  I had a bigger stretch of time and decided I would sit down and stitch until I was done with the over one (one thread of floss over one thread of linen) it’s a harder stitch…and MUCH slower.

See the words and do-dads in the box and the name?  To stitch that took about 3 hours.  It’s slow stitching for sure.  There really is not a fast way to do it.

This block is for Kramer’s maternal grandparents, Rudolph Henke and Frieda Mutschmann.  Doesn’t that sound German…it is!   They got married in 1919 and had six children.  Pauline was Kramer’s mom.  She was the oldest.
Chris, Ruth, William (Bill), Harold (did in infancy), and John are the other children.  John is the only one still living.

I really wanted to stitch the other block instead but I knew if I didn’t do the over one stitching now, I would put it off.

I know a couple of stitchers who have stitched this entire piece and then waited to do the names until the end.  Their pieces now sit.  I could not do that.  I just know mine would sit too.

I ended up having a little extra time that night so I moved over and worked on the December block.  That’s the one I am doing for Buck and his family.  I continued to stitch one that all week hoping for a finish in October of that block.

I got part of the over one done on this one right away.  I hate saving it.  I’m guessing two more nights and I’ll have it finished.  YAHOO!!

I got far, but not far enough for a finish on the December block.  I am still ahead of schedule and that is all that matters.  My goal has been to finish the December block by the end of the month and I have a couple more days here so I’m going to make this happen…even if it means missing sewing time.

Here it is all laid out so far…

Then I’ll be off to finish the last block.  It’s a bonus block in chart #12.  It is a double block and is meant to commemorate the stitcher…that’s me in this case.  This is the block…

I pulled the thread for it one day this week over naptime.

I can’t believe that once the calendar rolls to November I have an excellent chance at finishing this one up!  YAHOO.

I’ve been debating about putting all other stitching behind and truly only stitching on this.  I’m so close to a finish.  I’m chopping at the bit for sure to see this as a finish.  People…I am going to finish this.  I am so excited!!

Today I am up at Mayo Clinic to find out the results of the PET scan I had done yesterday.  Between the rainy, cold weather yesterday and the PET scan, I decided to treat myself and took a trip to The Stitchery Nook in Osage Iowa.  It’s a cross-stitch shop and it’s great to go.  I figured it was just the thing to get my mind off things.  I took lots of pictures and will share them soon…then next week I’ll show you what I bought.  Stay tuned!!