Cross Stitch Update

I had an awesome week cross-stitching.  I gave myself permission to quit early all week long and push for a finish on my Anniversaries of the Heart.  I knew I wouldn’t get it completely finished but I was going to get as far as I could.

I worked really hard to finish the border and stitch the house.  That was my goal for the week.  But…I got even further.

The original chart has some bricks, a flower, and other do-dads in the lower right corner of the block.  When I followed along with Olivia at Pumpkin Hollow Quilts (find her on Youtube) last year when she was stitching this, she put her dog in her sampler.  I thought about it for a long time and decided I kind of liked that idea.

I ended up pulling out this book, Brenda Keyes Ultimate Sampler Motifs Source Book.  The book is jam-packed with motifs.  There is an entire page of dogs.

I ended up looking and looking through the dog motifs to find the right one in the right size.  I came up with one…see it below.  The only problem was that the entire dog was stitched as one color.  I thought about stitching it all one color and then I thought NO.  I’m known for having beagles.  I love beagles.  Make it a beagle.

So I pulled three colors, Bamboo, Bright Leaf, and Black Coffee, and went to work.  This is what I came up with…  I love it.  It looks like the dog is running which is what all of my dogs do the second they are outside not on a leash.

Around it I put the letters, “G”, “R”, and “R”.  That’s for Gracie, Ruby, and Rosie, the three beagles I’ve had.  I am so glad I got brave and went for it.  I also added in the lighter colored hearts and a do-dad on the right.

This is where the whole piece is at.

I am really hoping to be finished next week.  I have a big pot of flowers to stitch.  Last night I stayed up and got the pot stitched.  Tonight I am hoping to work on the flowers.  Then after that, I have to do the last lettering.  It’s quite a lot of over one stitching so that might take a couple of nights.  I’m getting so close.  Each night I tell myself just a few more stitches.

I love-love-love quilting…but, I think I love cross-stitching just as much if not more.  I wonder if it’s because cross stitching takes so much more time.  Who knows?  Whatever it is, I’m so thankful I went back to cross-stitching.

I’m stitching this on Vintage Country Mocha, 40 count, with a variety of flosses.  Sometimes it’s a called for.  Sometimes it’s a DMC and sometimes it’s just something else I have here.

The only other thing I worked on this week was this…It’s a free chart online.
HERE is a link to this freebie and others from The Stitcherhood.  There is a free chart for every season.

You might remember a bit ago I was stitching as I was sitting by a little guy here at childcare in an effort to keep him still and get him to fall asleep at naptime.  I had a simple chart I would put a few stitches in as I sat by him.  Typically it only took 5-10 minutes.  I didn’t get much stitching in but, it did add up and I finished a piece while doing it.

Well, that little guy finally figured out how to get to sleep on his own.  That ended my naptime stitching.  This week, a little guy here gave up his crib and is learning to sleep on a nap mat.  Well lucky me.  That means that I get to stitch at naptime again.  If I sit by him, he doesn’t try to get up and falls asleep.  If you look at the picture above.  It took two days and that’s all the stitching I got done.

The next day, two more pumpkins.

I’m not a big fan of the chunky bird so I think I’ll look in the Sampler Motif book and see if there is a bird I like better.

I am stitching this on the same 40 count Vintage County Mocha.  It’s leftover from something else I stitched.  The piece is super narrow and I prefer a hoop so I’m using this narrow oval hoop I got from Hobby Lobby.  It’s perfect for this.

I forgot to tell you what I bought at The Stitchery Nook.  I got this chart, Sarah Jackson from The Scarlett House.  I am not a fan of the verse…it’s okay but not my favorite.  Then I watched The Contented Stitcher on Flosstube.  She changed the verse to “Create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me”.  I love that verse.  So, my plan is to copy the Contented Stitcher.

At the shop they didn’t have the exact linen and the more I looked at it, I didn’t know.  I ended up getting this linen instead.

Well, then I got home and put it on this gray linen I have.  Hmm.  I just don’t know what I want to do.

I’m not ready to stitch it so I’m not going to worry about it yet.  I’d love opinions though. What do you all think?

I got the floss for the For the Birds series that I want to stitch.  Here are the flosses.

Here are the charts in case you forgot what that was…

I’m excited about this!

I also picked up this chart, Feliz Navidad.  I would love to stitch this.  Down the road, I’ll pass it on to Karl.  He’s a translator and I thought it might be fun for him to have it.  The chart is actually pretty small.  Something like 6″ x 10″.

I got this chart too.  This is one I’ve seen in the past and almost order more than once.  Then Judy at Patchwork Times listed it as one she was considering stitching.  Then Connie from Country Threads showed her finished one on Instagram.  That’s all I needed to push me over the edge.

If I have thread and linen and if I finish Anniversaries of the Heart, I thought about starting this.  I know I won’t finish it before Thanksgiving but I’d have a start so next fall I could pick it up and finish it.  We’ll see.  I don’t have any firm plans right now. I’m made myself a promise to stay as concentrated as I can on the Anniversaries of the Heart.

I picked up a couple of pieces of linen too.  These are small scrap-sized.

I’ll likely use these for other small pieces like the Autumn one I’ve been stitching.  We’ll see.  I mostly have fat quarters in my stash and I hate cutting into them to make a small piece.

That’s what is new with cross stitching…I’m having a ton of fun with it!!