Merry Christmas Robins

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It has been months since I started this free cover kit from The World of Cross Stitching magazine October 2021. I believe I first started it in the waiting room at the hospital, last November. And then after that I put it away and just didn’t have any interest in it. I decided I need to get all my WIPs finished, so I dug it out again.

I have made a few changes from the kit. Instead of using the teeny tiny little piece of Aida they give you, I swapped it out for a piece of white 28 count Jobelan that I had in my stash. Because of my arthritis, I cannot stitch “in hand” any more, so I need to use a larger piece of fabric which I can fit into a hoop. I think the Jobelan makes it look much richer, too! I also did not include the wooden snowflake charm. I think I will save it for another project. I am also going to finish it off as a cushion instead of a card, so I will save the card and envelope for something else. But the card they gave with the kit was red with white polka dots and I happen to have calico fabric exactly like that! I recently used it on a reindeer design. So I think I will stick with that again for this finish.

XXX
Carrie


Christmas Stitching

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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.

XXX
Carrie