Cross Stitch Update

I’m a slow cross stitcher.  Well, I don’t know if I’m slow…I just don’t have the time to stitch as much as I’d like.  If I didn’t quilt and garden I’d likely get more cross stitch done but I don’t want to give up either of those hobbies so I’m learning to be content with what I do get done.

One of the main pieces I am working on is Anniversaries of the Heart by Black Bird Designs.  I absolutely adore this piece.  There is a chart for each month of the year.  Some stitch them all in one large piece.  That is what I am doing.

When I last showed you back in April I was here…

I had the January, February, bonus block and March block finished.

I went on and completed April, May and June.  I started on July.

If you remember, this is the piece that I am stitching as a family history of sorts.
January was our son Karl’s block
February was my Dad’s family
March was Kelli and Jason’s block
April was my Mom’s family
May was Kramer’s Dad’s family
June was Kramer’s family

Right now I am working on the July block.  This block will be for Kramer and me.  Our anniversary is in July and it’s the middle block of the piece so I feel it is totally appropriate to have that block be “our block”.  I’m going to have to do some modifications to make it work.

Here is where I am at now with the whole piece…
I’m at about the half way point.  I’ve stayed committed to this and plan to continue to stay committed.

I’ll update you on where I am at.  Here is my April block.  This is in memory of my mom’s family.

This is how I stitched it to commemorate my grandparents on my mom’s side.

I’ve been putting the family name in upper case letters along the top.  So the family name was Huntington.  My grandfather’s name was Ignatius…my grandmother’s name you can see at the bottom is Evylon Casper.  They were married in 1924.  They had six living boys…their initials are first.  They had three children that passed away.  Their initials are in black.  My mom was Evalonne Revae and her initials are at the bottom left in red.

To stitch these I do a lot of futzing by taking off elements to accommodate room for the names.  Most stitchers only stitch a first name or initials in their sampler but I really wanted something that really was an obvious family history with full names when possible.  I often take one stitch out of a flower stem, eliminate small motifs of move motifs a stitch or two in a different direction so that I have room for the names.   After the names are put in I go around and put in a few little do-dads to fill it in and look better so there are no blank spots.

Here is the May block.  This is from Kramer’s Grandpa and Grandma Kramer.  This is the picture from the chart.

Here is my version.  It’s not the best picture.  You can see that I had to eliminate on of the birds to get the names in.  They only had two children, Kramer’s Dad George and his sister Ann.  Their initials are on the side of the house.
I had some trouble with thread color on this one.  The house color that was called for didn’t show up on my fabric.  This is a substitute color.  I was pleased with it.

Next is the June block.  I stitched this for Kramer’s family.  His parents were George and Pauline.  Kramer had five sisters and their initials are in pink on each side of the parents names.  Kramer’s first name is Roger so there is an “R” above the house.  On the side of the house you see 1941.  That is the year they got married.

This block also gave me a bit of a headache with the house color.  I don’t love what I ended up with but it’s okay and I’m leaving it.  I ripped a bunch out twice already trying to find a better color…

Here’s another look at it…I’m loving it.

This is the chart for the next block.  This will be for my parents.

I have been working on this piece “All Joys for Thine”.  It’s a smaller piece and I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it.  There is a Stitch Along that I am doing.  It’s called BlackBird Stitch Along or can be found with this hashtag #BBDweekendSal.  Participants are encouraged to stitch a Blackbird design piece the first weekend of the month.  I started this in May stitching only on that first weekend of the month.

This is how far I am…

I honestly am having trouble believing I’ve gotten this much done in only 9 sittings.

The designers of this are Barb and Alma.  They make up Blackbird Designs.  Sadly Barb passed away on July 4th.  I decided that I am going to spend the rest of the month stitching only Blackbird Designs as a way to honor her for her work on behalf of cross-stitchers and quilters.

The Anniversaries of the Heart piece and my All Joys for Thine are both Blackbird Design pieces so I can easily keep with these as a way to honor her.

I have made a little progress on my Heaven and Nature sampler.  This is a Teresa Kogut piece.  I started this at Thanksgiving time last year.  I’ve worked on it on and off…I’ve never completely put it away but haven’t worked full throttle on it for a long time.

When I last showed you this piece I was here…
I’ve really been building on the house.  I haven’t done much else except work on the house.  There is a lot of stitching on it…plus, I’ve only been working on it when I need something that I don’t need to count in order to stitch…so if the kids are home or I’m on the road, this is what I take.

Here is the whole piece.  The bottom picture is more of the true color of the piece.  It’s so hard to take pictures of cross stitch pieces.  I can never get the lighting right.

Those are the three pieces I am currently working on.

If you caught my blog last week, you might remember that I stitched this little pillow…

…and this little pillow.
I am TERRIBLE at finishing things so I’m pretty pleased with myself that I got these finished.  If you want to read more about them, you can find that HERE.

Last but not least…I am kitting this up.  I’m going to be starting this on August 1st.  Others are stitching along too.  I’m a little happy and a little sad about that.  I really want to finish my other pieces and know that if I start this, there will be less time for the others.  It’s kind of like being pregnant and ready to deliver.  You know you’ll have room in your heart for the next one…but it’s always a little bitter-sweet because you love things just as they are.  That’s how I’m feeling about this piece.

Technically I am stitching along with others…
Here is who is stitching along….

Judy at Patchwork Times
Denise at Just Quiltin

but I know I’ll be the last to finish.  I want to still keep working on my other pieces.  I only plan to stitch a day or two a week on this.  I am COMMITTED to finishing my Anniversaries of the heart this year.  I am committed to finishing All Joys for Thine too.  I’d love to finish Heaven and Nature for Christmas.  That’s A LOT of stitching…I’m going to do the best I can and be happy with whatever I accomplish.

Some of you told me that when I last left a link for this chart to The Stitchery Nook that the chart was out of stock  It’s in stock now and you can find it HERE.  Everyone is welcome to stitch along with us.

That’s all I have to share with you from my cross stitch world.