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Sunday, February 25, 2024

Christmas Banners Stitch-a-Long, part 1

Hi everyone! Last time I finished the stitching on my holly pillow and selected my new project: a vintage felt-and-sequin Christmas banner. Before I show my progress on the kit, I want to show off my finished pillow cover: 

apologies for the terrible photo!

I started on the first of the vintage Christmas kits this month. There's something I really love about building up the picture, layer upon layer, adding stitches and sequins and beads and layers of felt. Here's where I've gotten to so far: 


I've finished the central "ornament"; next up I will add the bow and start the holly and mistletoe wreath. There are a lot of tiny leaves to stitch and applique; this may take some time. Or maybe it will just move along!

The other stitchers in this stitch-a-long are always working on amazingly beautiful and diverse projects: Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, KathyMargaret, Heidi, JackieMegan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, LindaHelenMary Margaret, and Cindy.

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Halloween Ornaments Project, February 2024

I heard about a woman who celebrates a special holiday -- possibly called "My Bloody Valentine"?? -- halfway between Valentine's Day and Halloween.... but I can't find any info about it on t'Internet. Closest thing I discovered was a "Halfway to Halloween" idea that encourages you to eat Halloween candy. But me? I'm just making ornaments every month. 

In January I started work on a small cross-stitched ornament taken from a pattern in an old Cross Stitcher Halloween issue: 


I'm stitched it on some Aida I ice-dyed last summer, leaving the "white" area (behind the "Boo!") unstitched to take advantage of the pretty Aida. 


Forgive the terrible picture, but I feel I also didn't do a great job of finishing the piece. But I still like the stitching and I think it will look cute on my tree. 

For the next month, I'm going to work on a companion piece, from the same issue of Cross Stitcher Halloween:


I'll stitch it on the same ice-dyed Aida (which I'll use on the back). 

I'll be back on March 13 to share my finished ornament and my next project pick.


Sunday, February 4, 2024

Christmas Holly Stitch-a-Long, part 11

Hi everyone! Last time I had managed to get a lot of stitching done over the 6 weeks between check-ins. I always stitch more in winter because I tend to be home more. 

Here's where I was last time: 


Well, we had planned to be away for a long weekend ... but the blizzard warning and very cold temperatures (4 degrees Fahrenheit, -15 degrees Celsius) meant that we stayed home and indoors. So it's time for a happy dance!


I plan to edge this with some gold ribbon and surround that with black velvet and make a cover for my other pillows. I started doing this for my friend Rebecca several years back -- making her Christmas covers for her existing cushions so she didn't have to store whole pillows. I have some other sewing projects coming up and, well, I don't have a permanent place for my sewing machine so I'll wait and bundle it with those. 

So what's next? While we were on a trip to the eastern part of Washington last year, we stopped into a big thrift store and I found a TREASURE TROVE of vintage kits. I managed not to buy them all, but I did buy more than any sane person would. (FIVE of them. FIVE!) Long-time readers of the blog will be familiar with some of the other felt-and-sequin banner kits I completed; this is my next one:


I don't know that I'll spend the whole year working on Christmas things, but I do enjoy them and think they're fun to display. So we'll see. 

The other stitchers in this stitch-a-long are always working on amazingly beautiful and diverse projects: Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, KathyMargaret, Heidi, JackieMegan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, LindaHelenMary Margaret, and Cindy.