A Place to Share a Craft I Love
From Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs: This pattern was delivered to our printer today (October 7, 2020)! We renamed this drum to prevent confusion as we have another pattern titled Merry Christmas. It’s new title is “Early Christmas Morning.” We have included numerals in the pattern to make it current. It will be available for shops soon! (Around October 21st.) The pattern was first released as a Ladies Prim Society release and called Merry Christmas Drum.
I’m not sure how long I have had Tall Pines by Little House Needleworks in my stash, but I decided I needed to work on a small project so pulled this one out.
“Under tall pines and stars giving light, a cabin sits wrapped in the still of the night”. While the recommended fabric is 32 Ct. Summer Khaki Linen, I chose to use 16ct Chocolate Milk from Fabric by Stephanie. The recommended floss uses DMC, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works and Crescent Colors. I am using some of the recommended floss and switching some of it out for Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss (my very favorite.) The stitch count is 99 x 99 so in 16ct, the finished size will only be 6 1/4 x 6 1/4.
DMC 712 cream
WDW Straw/VMSS Golden Sand
CC Brandied Pears/VMSS Kansas Cone Flower
CC Caterpillar
CC English Ivy/VMSS Ripe Avocado
CC La Tierra/VMSS Woodland Trail
GA Mountain Mist/VMSS Prim Stitcher
I forgot to note when I started this one but it was a fairly quick stitch and I finished it on October 13, 2020. No to decide how to finish it.
August 28, 2022: I decided to use one of the boards I bought from Michaels to finish off this one. I laced the stitched piece on matboard, covered another piece of matboard with fabric and attached them both to the wooden board. Rustic and perfect for this one.
Forever & Ever a celebration of love by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread was released at the Nashville 2019 Needlework Market. I knew when I first saw it, I had to have it.
It is a fairly large piece measuring 336w x 113h. The recommended fabric is 40ct Sheep’s Straw by R & R Reproductions. Besides not liking to stitch on linen, I knew I could not see well enough to use 40ct. I selected 16ct Sand aida which would give me a design area of 21 x 7 1/8 inches. There was a small amount of stitching over one but I decided to improvise.
I started stitching on August 27, 2020.
Because I did not have all of the recommended floss colors, I am going to switch out as I go with Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe thread.
Recommended Floss/What I used
The photo above shows the stitched piece just sitting in the frame. I still need to measure, pin and lace it but wanted to see how it looked. Very happy with my frame selection.
Details on the frame I ordered:
| Textured Gray Wood Picture Frame SKU: WX586_pkg Frame: WX586( 21 3/4″ x 8 1/2″ ) Total Cost including tax and shipping was $50.93. |
The Last Ripe Berries is #9 in the Loose Feathers For the Birds series by Blackbird Designs and the 6th one I have stitched in this series.
As with the others I have stitched, I am using the called for fabric Wren by Picture This Plus but on 16ct aida. I am also using the recommended threads. I started stitching this in 2019 but did not finish until August 2020. I decided to leave the date as 2019. I think the reason it took me so long to get get back to it was the large number of lazy daisy stitches which I do not enjoy.
The finished size on this on is 5 3/4 by 5 3/4. It joins Hear the Crickets Sing, The Summer Beaming Forth, She Sights a Bird, The Light Upon the Lawn, and It’s Spring Fever.
Two more of the Out of Print charts by Blackbird Designs have been reprinted and can be ordered. Dear Daughter and Casting a Spell are both listed on the Hoffman’s Distributing site.
A Bit of Summer was first offered by De Handwerk Boetiek as part of their Pindrum club 2018-2019. It was included in the book Sewing Club released in 2020.
With a stitch count of only 113w x 60h it was a quick stitch. I selected a piece of 16ct aida from my stash and decided to use Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss for some of the colors.
Started Stitching: August 12, 2020
Finished Stitching: August 20, 2020
Not exactly sure I will finish it.
Recommended Floss/Floss I Used
And shown above is another drum to add to my growing collection.
My favorite designers, Alma Allen and Barb Adams together make up the company Blackbird Designs. Their designs are loved by many and much sought after. They recently reprinted the entire monthly stocking series which are now available from your favorite needlework shop.
Also reprinted and shipping to their distributor soon (August 2020) is the long OOP Flea Market Souvenir.
Evergreen by Blackbird Designs was released in 2005. Like many of their early charts, it is now OOP. I have had it on my To Do list for some time and after seeing a recent finish posted in the Fans of Blackbird Designs Facebook group, I decided it was time to move it up on the list.
I selected a beautiful piece of 18 Count White Opalescent Aida which had been gifted to me and sparkles so would be perfect for this piece. And rather than the called for threads, I decided to use Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe threads in brighter Christmas colors.
Nancy Turner who is Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe offers beautiful hand dyed floss and her various Christmas Collections of threads are some of my favorites.
Started Stitching: July 26 2020
Finished Stitching: August 3, 2020
The photo in no way does the fabric justice as it is a sparkly white not dull gray as this photo shows.
And here it is beautifully finished by Vonna.
I was recently introduced to a new designer, All Through the Night, and ordered three of her charts. Merry Christmas was one of them. I had recently been given a yard of 18 Count White Opalescent Aida and decided to use a piece of it to stitch this on. I liked the idea of adding some sparkle to this piece. I also had one skein of Gloriana Poinsettia silk that I had received as a gift so chose to use it rather than the called for Valdani Old Brick. I hoped one skein would be enough. The silk thread is lovely to stitch with.
Stitch Count: 77h x 76w
Design Size: 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 on 18ct
Unfortunately, my picture does not due the fabric justice. It’s sparkly white and looks like snow scattered through the fabric.
And here it is finished as a lovely Christmas ornament by Vonna Pfeiffer, The Twisted Stitcher.
I plan on stitching another one of these soon.
December 17, 2021 – Finished stitching a 2nd one on the same fabric using Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss Victorian Christmas and Kris Kringle Green.
My Home scissor box is another of the projects from the newest book by Blackbird Designs, Sewing Club. It is meant to be stitched on 28ct Veldt Lugana by Picture This Plus over 1. I knew that would be way beyond my eyesight so I selected 16ct Wren by Picture This Plus with the called for threads.
I started stitching on July 11, 2020 and finished on July 17, 2020. My plan is to put it on the top of the medium size matchbox by TeresasPrimTreasures. I ordered two of the medium size boxes to use in finishing both of the scissor boxes included in this book.
I painted each of the boxes with Americana acrylic paint and then waxed them with Briwax. The was a first for me and not as easy as one might think. Each of the boxes was then lined on the bottom with a piece of Blackbird design fabric I had in my stash. My son added the little knobs for me. I still have to glue the stitched pieces to the boxes but love the way they turned out.
The Ripe Pear piece is from the same Sewing Club book as My Home.
I finally glued the top stitched piece to each box and glued the trim in place. Thanks to a generous stitcher who shared her Lady Dot Creations Vintage chenille trim with me. Love these little beauties. Now what to put inside.