Christmas On Gingerbread Lane: Finished!

Hi friends!  As mentioned in my last quick post, I've had some big changes lately.  We are settling into our new home and absolutely love it!   So I need to catch up on a few things, namely my most recent finish!  I'm so thrilled to have finally finished "Christmas on Gingerbread Lane" by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

I've been working on this for a loooooooong time.  I started it when it first came out--like two years ago!  Then at the beginning of last year, I decided to take it to work and work on it on my lunch breaks.  I only get thirty minutes for lunch so the progress was very slow.  I worked on it all year on my lunch breaks.  By the end of the year I was sick of looking at it and couldn't believe it still wasn't done.  AH!  So I brought it back home and told myself I'm never working on a larger piece at work anymore, so this year I've been doing smalls and it's been great.  So anyway, I added this piece to my Cross Stitch Crazy list for this year but it wasn't until June that I picked it up again using it for my Whine and WIPs piece for the Stitch Maynia group on Facebook.  I whined and moaned and finished it!

It's a lovely pattern and I do still like it, even though it frustrated me while I was stitching it.  I'm still not terribly thrilled with the fabric I chose to stitch it on, but certainly will not be re-doing it!  :)
It's cute and bright and I will display it during the holidays.  I think I may just pop it into a frame if I can find something suitable.

Do you have projects that just drive you bananas sometimes?  How do you get through it?  I found that taking a break from it for a while really helped me with this particular project. 

So another finish off my challenge list!  I'm still SO thrilled with my finishes this year! I will come back with a WIP update and a couple of more finished smalls.

'Til then,  Happy stitching!

Vintage Reindeer finish!

I'm sorry to gave been absent for so long dear friends!  I was not happy having to use only my phone to do blog posts because I just couldn't get decent photos.  We finally got another laptop so I'm able to play catch up with all I've been doing!  Yay!  So I'm going to start with a really fun piece I finished a while back for a Gloria and Pat SAL in the Cross Stitch, It's Fun facebook group. I wanted to take part in a few SALs throughout the year so I dug through my stash to see what I may want to work on and I came across a booklet that I picked up at a thrift store and noticed that it was a Gloria and Pat booklet called "Christmas Counts". This wonderful vintage reindeer really caught my eye so I stitched him up!

Do you love him???  I adore his swirly antlers!  I stitched him using most of the recommended DMC floss, but substituted a couple to ones I had on hand since I didn't want to have to buy anything for this piece.  I also used some 14 count willow green aida I had in my stash. I like how it turned out using the green fabric.

Stitching this really makes me want to stitch more vintage designs.  This booklet is from 1977 and is just awesome.  There are a few more designs in the booklet I'd love to do.

He has a little gold for this bells. 

I just adore his little face.  I'm not quite sure how I want to finish this off, but hopefully I will think of something before Christmas.  So that's it for today.  Stay tuned for more finished and some WIP updates!

Small Finishes

As mentioned in a previous post, I decided I would stitch on small projects during my lunch breaks this year. I'm glad I decided to do this because I already have two finishes!  So I wanted to share those with you.


The first one is this super cute Lizzie Kate pattern from the 2014 Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue.  A simple but cute little pattern with a wee witch with her broom and the classic phrase, "double double toil and trouble".  It was an easy and fun stitch.  I used things I had on hand.

The fabric is a scrap of linen and I rubbed some coffee grounds into it to grub it up some.  I like the effect, it's subtle but effective.  The threads are a mix of DMC, GAST and Weeks Dye Works from my stash.  I'm so pleased with the result and again, such a fun piece.  I plan on finishing this into an ornament for my Halloween tree this year. I think once I get a handful of smalls finished, I will dedicate a Saturday to finishing them off into ornaments or small pillows.

The second is this adorable pattern from The Victoria Sampler, "Down Jinglepot Road" from the 2014 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue.  I've been wanting to stitch this so badly!  It is so darn cute.

Again, I just used things from my stash for this as well; a scrap piece of evenweave and a mix of DMC and Weeks Dye Works from my stash.  I can't get over how cute this design is--the red truck, the little chicken, the snow.  I love everything about it.

So that's it for today!  I'm working on another little witch now and need to pick out my next Christmas ornament so it will be ready to go.  I'm averaging about two weeks per small ornament which isn't bad at all considering I only have 30 minutes to work on them during my lunch break. It's also so nice to take that break from my computer and just sit and stitch for a few minutes.  It helps to break the monotony of the day.  Do you stitch on your lunch breaks?

12 Days of Christmas: finished

Hey friends I have a finish to share!!  My first finish of the year!! I had a marathon night of stitching determined to finish this piece. I only had a small bit of the border left.  So here is "12 Days of Christmas".

This is a Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery design.  I am thrilled to bits with this piece.  I enjoyed it so much and all the little birds and characters are too cute.  I stitched this on 14 count aida that I had on hand when I first started it.  Its a marbled green and I'm pretty sure it was DMC that I bought on clearance.  I think it looks great with the colors in the design.

The border is so fun.  It wasn't too tricky either and actually stitched up pretty easily.

I did end up backstitching some of the parts that were not showing up well and I'm glad I did because it makes the images pop.  I also reversed the colors for the outer and inner border.  The green I used on the outer border was intended for the inner lines but I thought the green would look good against the green fabric. 

I don't know which block is my favorite...maybe Ten Lords a'Leaping, but I like Three French Hens too. 

I'm so happy to have finally finished this piece.  I'm not sure what I will do with it.  I think it will great as a pillow so maybe I will do that.  I've got all year to decide to have it ready for next Christmas!

It feel nice to have a finish and hopefully it will be a trend for the year!! 

'Til next time...

Happy stitching!