Baby It’s Cold Outside from the 6 Snow Belles series by Lizzie Kate. Stitched with DMC floss including Color Variations #4047 on Wichelt Imports hand dyed Jobelan in color “sand castle”. Finished off with a wooden snowflake button from Amazon and a Bent Creek snap.
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Carrie
How to grow a snowman in 3 easy steps:
You can’t forget the fuzzy earmuffs! This was such a fun project from Lizzie Kate, called Tis The Season from Tiny Tidings XI. Stitched on 28 count Touch of Blue linen with DMC floss and DMC Color Variations (for the heart). Red glittery pom poms add a cute touch!
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Carrie
This was a real fast stitch! Durene Jones snowman freebie, found on her Facebook page. Stitched with DMC floss on 14 count Confederate Gray Aida.
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Carrie
This was another project that I knew I had to stitch as soon as I saw it!
Lizzie Kate Ready For Snow. Stitched with DMC floss on 14 count Zweigart Vintage Country Mocha.
This will be a nice addition to my collection of snowman “smalls”.
Since I had the chart only, I used a plastic snowflake button from Hobby Lobby and cut the shank off and attached it with long stitches. I did alter the colors a bit; since I use regular DMC instread of the overdyed floss called for, I wasn’t too happy with the conversions. After stitching the words “ready” and “sn-w”, I didn’t care for the teal shade or the brighter red that was to come next. The two reds were almost identical, so I kept the word “ready” as it was but then chose two different red shades for the border and scarf. I also chose a much more bright teal instead of the dull light blue that was supposed to be used. This made it match the cover photo more, without having to use the more expensive overdyed floss.
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Carrie
Lizzie Kate Love Never Melts from Tiny Tidings VII. Stitched with DMC floss on 14 count light blue Aida.
Another fun and fast stitch, but so much white!
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Carrie
I had a fun New Year’s holiday spent stitching! This fuzzy snowman from Sisters & Best Friends was one of my favorite projects ever! It stitched up so quickly, in just a couple of days. And the embellishments are just adorable.
The chart pack contained the button nose and scarf, but not the threads or fabric. I used DMC from my stash and a piece of 7 count Klostern fabric from R&R Reproductions. My snowman doesn’t have the fuzzy feel to it like the stock photo, because I didn’t have the appropriate floss, but I think he is cute nonetheless.
Although I don’t mind doing french knots, they can be intimidating when you have a bunch of them together all in one spot, as sometimes they don’t all end up the same size. I think these turned out OK!
I can’t wait to get this little guy fully finished! I have a bunch more of these chart packs in my stash but I don’t really care for them, as they all have a theme, like summer or patriotic and I like my snowmen to be just “regular snow guys”. So I may try to unload the other charts off on a stash unloading page.
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Carrie
I’m so excited about this new chart I just purchased from Durene Jones’ Etsy store. Etsy had given me a coupon for $5.00 off my next purchase, because it had been a while since I had shopped there. I knew the coupon was a gimmick; the odds of finding something for exactly $5.00 are pretty slim, so it is a way for them to get you to come back and spend some money. Well, I am a huge fan of Durene’s and decided to peruse her store. Many of the patterns in her shop I already own, because I subscribe to the British magazines and they are featured there first. But when I saw this pattern I knew I had to stitch it, and it was not a pattern that had been released elsewhere before. The pattern cost $5.61 and so with my $5 discount code I got a real bargain! I am not going to start on this right away; I have decided in the new year to focus on some smalls to decorate my home during holidays throughout the year.
This will probably be a summertime pattern, especially since it features a lot of white on a khaki background, just like her gingerbread houses did.
I think the two projects will look wonderful by each other!
You can purchase the Merry Christmas chart through Durene’s Etsy shop here, and the gingerbread houses chart here.
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Carrie
Usually I stitch medium to large cross stitch projects that take quite a bit of time and concentration. Lately, however, I have been gravitating toward smaller, easier, and quicker projects. My stitching time is so limited and I want to be able to finish as many things as fast as possible. I’ve also gotten rid of a lot of projects in my WIP pile this year. The only two unfinished projects I have now are Peacock Tapestry and A Summer Ball. I would like to work on A Summer Ball sometime soon, but I don’t have plans on finishing that one for years. Instead, I would like to build up a large collection of smalls for each holiday. That is what I have decided 2022 is going to be – A Year Of Smalls. I am going to start working on Christmas and winter designs, and once I have a bunch of those done I will probably work on 4th of July and Halloween. Those are the 4 main themes I want to stitch for. If time allows I would also like to have a few designs each for St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Thanksgiving.
I also want to have a bunch of projects kitted up to have ready to go whenever the mood strikes. I don’t mind if I work on multiple projects at once. One of the projects I have just started is F128 HoHoHo Holiday JINGLES Flip-it by Lizzie Kate and it is adorable!
So far I only have Rudolph’s red blanket (saddle??) and part of his body stitched. But I will work on this one for quite a while before moving on.
I also plan on working on Happy Holidays by Bent Creek which I blogged about recently, although I have not yet decided on which color scheme I want to go with.
Another fun winter project is this adorable snowman, J.T. Fuzzy from Sisters and Best Friends. I have not kitted up this one yet, but assuming I have the correct 7 count Klostern fabric on hand, this one will be a really fast stitch because it is very small. I just love the carrot button nose and real scarf!
And last but not least, is a free cover kit that came with a recent issue of The World of Cross Stitching. It features robins (well, British robins!) and the words Merry Christmas, along with a wooden snowflake charm. Although it came with a card and envelope, I am going to finish it off as a small pillow or flat fold instead. I actually started this project in the waiting room at the hospital a couple of weeks ago while waiting for my husband to have a procedure done. I have not worked on it since but it will be going into the rotation.
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Carrie
It is a cold, snowy, miserable Saturday. Time to get going on finishing off two recent projects!
The Oregon Trail piece is going to be really simple – paint a hoop black and then display it in that. I want the neon green to jump out from the black and be the star of the show. For the hot chocolate drinking snowman, I want to frame it in a white hoop and add white pom pom trim to the edges to look like snowballs. None of this was actually my idea; it’s simply a copy of how the finished project appeared in the magazine (Just Cross Stitch December 2020). Although, they finished theirs off as a flat ornament, and did not use a hoop. They also used twisted cord or floss as the hanger and I plan to use a ribbon.
The first step was to use Posca pens to paint the hoops. They required about 3 coats each, but each coat only took a couple of minutes to be fully dry, unlike paint which would have taken a few hours total.
Then it was time to frame the pieces in the hoops. I cut off most of the excess fabric, then turned the fabric to the back and hot glued it in place inside the rim of the hoop. Then I cut a piece of felt the same size as the back of the hoop and glued it to the hoop, ensuring that everything was covered and the fabric that I had glued down didn’t peek through. I chose felt sheets the same shade as the cross stitch fabric so that when the hoops are hanging in a window the sunlight will not shine through. The pom pom trim was hot glued to the outside of the hoop and a hanger was attached using blue ribbon.
I absolutely love how these turned out! I don’t have a hanger added to the black piece yet, but I probably will go with something really basic that doesn’t take away from the overall design. I do like how the blue ribbon actually accents the snowman’s hat and scarf nicely.
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Carrie
Ooh, I love how he is coming along!
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Carrie
I took advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekend and decided to start a small new project. There was an adorable snowman pattern in the December 2020 issue of Just Cross Stitch that grabbed my attention. Although I HATE winter and snow (and unfortunately live in an area with 6+ months of it), this little guy was just too cute. It was one of the winners of the magazine’s annual Christmas Ornament Contest. The pattern was created by Caitlin Baerg and I have seen that lots of other people online are stitching this design.
I opted for a scrap of linen that was the same count and color as the model, but decided to swap out some of the threads. I only had one of the two Weeks Dye Works colors needed for the scarf, so I figured this project would be a great time to try out DMC’s Etoile threads. I didn’t have the other brand of floss at all, needed for the snowman’s body. So I decided to use DMC B5200 which is a brighter white than regular Blanc, and added a strand of Kreinik blending filament in 032 to make the snow really sparkle!
The Kreinik in the white floss shows up really well in person, but did not show up on the photo. I have only stitched the outline so far, because I was excited to get to work with the Etoile. I was not disappointed. I decided to use three strands instead of the two strands of regular DMC that I used for the other parts of the pattern. I just really wanted the snowman’s scarf to appear warm and thick. Not only did it turn out thick and fluffy, but the sparkle really shows. I did use Thread Heaven on the Etoile and Kreinik threads, and I think that helped a lot. After stitching one length with the Etoile, I decided to cut my lengths shorter. The three strands put together plus the roughness of the linen fabric really did a number on the floss as it was pulled through each hole. Towards the end of the length, it started to get frayed and worn out.
My stitching is still slow going. Compression gloves are helping a bit, and I think the act of stitching is helping my hands to not stiffen up as much. My neck still only allows me to stitch for a short period of time, but my goal is to get in about 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week right now. Unfortunately my neurologist has referred me to two neurosurgeons, one of which knew nothing and the other didn’t bother to take the referral. I found another doctor on my own just so he could look at my imaging, and he informed me that that second doctor was on his way out (retiring) and he would be very surprised if I got an appointment with him. The insurance company also refused to grant the MRI that my neurologist wanted. I am so glad we are into December and this year is almost over. I don’t make new year’s resolutions, but I am determined to have a happier, healthier 2021.
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Carrie
I have decided that I have way too many unfinished projects, and I am going to be strict and not allow myself to start anything new until most of these are completed. So I went through my stash and picked out a couple things to work on. This Santa and snowman banner is not actually one of my cross stitch pieces; I believe it was in with the inventory of a shop that I purchased. The chart was with it, and the only thing left to be done was the black beads on the snowman’s face, the snowflakes (made from seed and bugle beads) and the finishing. So I worked on this over the weekend and am pleased with how it turned out.
Sorry for the bad photo, I took it with my iPod and the quality is pretty low. I will take a better photo once I get it hung up, closer to Christmas. I am so glad I didn’t have to do the actual stitching on this; the blue fabric was really hard to work with. I had to keep holding it up to the lamp to see where the holes were to attach the beads.
And here is the “before” photo, which I had shown you several months ago on another post. You’ll notice that the jingle bell I used on Santa’s cap is bigger than in the photo that came with the chart – it was all I had on hand. And there were no charms for either side of the word “friends”, so I just left them off.
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Carrie