A Place to Share a Craft I Love
Strawberry Urn is offered as a free chart by Needlework Press. I saw it and decided to stitch it on a piece of 18ct white aida I had already gridded for another project. I had a full and partial skein of Glorianna silk floss in a beautiful variegated red (Poinsettia) that I planned on using.
It is a quick stitch and only took a couple of days. I plan on finishing it as a small pin pillow.
The small strawberry charm came from the Summer Sweets pinkeep kit by Scattered Seed Samplers.
I Love Fall Most of All by Brenda Gervais was first released as a kit. I missed out on getting it but kept looking. Recently, someone in one of my Facebook groups posted that Country Sampler in Spring Green Wisconsin, had the charts available. I ordered one and it came quickly. While I LOVE the chart, it is printed in color which makes it difficult for me to distinguish the symbols.
The recommended fabric is 40ct Old Stationary linen by Seraphim. Even with my magnifying light, I cannot manage to stitch on 40ct so I selected a piece of 16ct aida by Mystic Fabrics called Everything Else. I will use the recommended floss for those colors I have. Otherwise, I will swap out for something in my stash.
Started Stitching: July 7, 2022
Finished Stitching: July 13, 2022
Now to make it into a small pin pillow.
Ode to the Ort Basket by With Thy Needle and Thread was a kit offered at the Nashville Needlework Market. I’m not sure if the chart is still available or not.
I stitched the piece using a piece of 32ct evenweave I had in my stash and floss I had in my stash:
Several years ago, I had purchased a couple of the Wood Playing Card Boxes from Hobby Lobby and it turned out this was the perfect size to use on finishing this project. The original idea came from Debra Burger with her Sewing Box finishes. I painted the box with Folk Art Uniform Blue inside and out.
I laced the stitched piece of a piece of matboard with matting and mounted it to the top of the box.
The inside of the box has four sections, so I cut four pieces of matboard and added a layer of batting, then covered two of them with a contrasting fabric. To one, I added a ribbon and some pretty pins. To another I added a wooden strawberry heart that I had in my stash. No idea where it came from.
I selected two of the small designs from the book Casting a Spell by Blackbird Designs and stitched them on 18ct aida with Mo’s Murky Blue silk floss. Lacing them onto the piece of matboard was very fiddly. I am happy with how the entire project turned out. I have two more of the boxes so will have to find some more designs to use on the top and inside.
Swan Lake by Blackbird Designs is #7 in the Anniversaries of the Heart series. I recently saw the bonus chart stitched and decided it was a small sampler that was calling my name.
I had recently purchased five spools of Anchor floss in various shades of purple from dark to light. I decided to use three of the shades for the letters and numbers in the sampler.
I chose two shades of green from my collection of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss. I thought I was stitching this on 16ct cream but it appears to be 14ct.
Now to see if I can find a 6″x8″ frame and the perfect fabric to use on the bottom.
I used a piece of Blackbird Design fabric with a bit of lace for the trim and framed it with a white frame that I may paint with cream paint at a later date.
Anniversary Happiness to you dear Friends is one of the four heart shaped designs included in the book A Heart Remembers. It is pictured in the upper left corner of the cover shown below.
The recommended fabric is 36ct Heartland by Picture This Plus. I chose to use 16ct aida but not sure if it is Heartland or Regency by Picture This Plus.
I used the recommended floss:
I personalized it with my husband’s and my initials and our birth years and the year we were married.
I will be sending this one off to Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher for finishing once I stitch the other two heart shaped ones.
I never got the other two stitched but decided to go ahead and send this one off for finishing. I love Vonna’s work.
Singing on Its Way is another project from the book The Bells on Christmas Day by Blackbird Designs. I stitched the big sampler, The Bells on Christmas Day when it was first released and just finished stitching The Unbroken Song twice. The 2nd time was for 2022 Summer Cross Stitch Camp.
Singing on Its Way is stitched on 16ct aida from my stash so not sure of the color, but I used Au ver a soie silks. I finished this one as a small pin pillow that I MAY display inside the larger box.
I found a cute red heart button that would look nice on it but should have attached it before finishing the pillow.
ColoradoCrossStitcher (Sheri Truax Berger) is sponsoring a virtual Cross Stitch Camp, and anyone can participate. It runs for three months (June, July, and August) with a different challenge each month.
The Challenges
You can find the rules and more details at 2022 Summer Cross Stitch Camp – Colorado Cross Stitcher.
For June’s Challenge, I decided to stitch The Unbroken Song from the book The Bells on Christmas Day by Blackbird Designs. I had stitched it once before but wanted it to fit a larger box that is pictured in the book. So, for this one I chose a piece of 14ct Opalescent white aida using Au ver a soie silks.
Now I need to paint the box (not an easy task) and lace the stitched piece to fit inside the box. I chose Heritage Brick as the color which is redder than shows in the photo.
For July’s Project, I chose the Round Red Samper by Heart in Hand that will be finished as the lid for the Heart Ware Red Bowl. I selected a piece of 18ct aida because I did not want me stitched to go edge to edge as pictured on the chart. I chose to use Gloriana silk floss Poinsettia which is delightful to stitch with.
This actually turned out to be a really quick stitch and only took two days to finish.
And here it is fully finished and mounted as the lid to the Heart Ware red bowl.
The Bluebird Sampler by Cecelia Turner of Heart in Hand Needleart is the 2nd one in this series.
I selected a piece of 16ct mystery aida I had in my stash that was a mottled tan and blue. I am stitching with Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Delft Blue floss. The stitch count is 118×40 with a finished size of 7.35″ x 2.5″. The beads were included with the chart.
Now I just need to get busy and fully finish this one. I had already stitched the Redbird Sampler back in 2019. And I have the Hummingbird Sampler on order.
I used the same backing fabric as used for the trim on the bottom.
Recently a friend sent me a bunch of Au Ver A Soie silk threads. I decided I wanted to stitch something special with at least some of them. When The Bells on Christmas Day by Blackbird Designs was released in 2019, one of the projects was a small sampler that fit inside a wood and glass box. It is the one pictured on the top center of the cover. I bought the box and selected a piece of 18ct ivory aida to stitch it on. Then I put it away.
Once I received the silks, I pulled the following colors to use in stitching this project.
My plan was to paint the box red as instructed and place the stitched piece inside. Unfortunately, I had forgotten there were two sizes of the box and the smaller one which I had already stained was the one meant to fit this piece when stitched on the higher count. So . . . . .
I may stitch this one again on 14/28ct so that it will fit in the bigger box painted red.
This beautiful design by Barb Adams of Blackbird Designs is copyright 2003 and is now Out of Print.
I selected a piece of pale pink 16ct aida and Victorian Motto Sampler floss to stitch this one. Colors used:
Finished Stitching: April 10, 2022
I chose a narrow cherry wood frame to finish this one off.