Birthday gifts and new seasonal designs

 Hello Stitching Friends!

It was my sister's birthday in the middle of April, and since she and my brother-in-law have become caravan lovers in the last few years I decided to stich her something with that theme. Instead of making a birthday card, I stitched a little hanging ornament for her which I decorated with matching beads. The words on it says something like 'Home is good but caravan is better'.

Sadly I have lost the chart details for this little caravan. I used threads from my stash.

My main gift was a stitched picture of a couple relaxing in front of their caravan and it wasn't difficult imagining it being my sister and brother-in-law.

This is a kit from the Danish company Permin.

To personalize it I decided to try to match the look of the caravan in the picture with their own caravan, so I changed the original green stipes on the caravan to reddish stripes. 

I think it turned out quite well. And thank goodness for that because it was a MUCH more challenging stitch than I thought. Lots and lots of colour changes and lots and lots of backstitch and areas with cross stitches in just one thread. I really had to push myself to get it finished...but I'm glad I did.

So, having struggled with that project for quite a while, I was so happy when it was finished that I just HAD to start some new fun projects! You understand, don't you?😉

Having access to an online magazine site, I found this cute little Christmas SAL in Cross Stitcher magazine.

A  three part Christmas SAL designed by Susan Penny.
 Published in Cross Stitcher magazine, issues October/November/December 2019.
 

The finishing details were really simple and I love Christmas projects so I thought 'why not?' 

And then I found a REALLY cute little calendar project in the Januari 2021 issue of Cross Stitcher magazine. The colourful but simple seasonal motives by Cheryl McKinnon are really cute, and I decided to put them all together and turn them into a big sampler. 

I'm taking my time with this one, enjoying the slow process, stitching a little here and there whenever I feel like it. I have yet to start the November and December months as you can see. I'm constantly amazed at how Cheryl McKinnon can create such cute little details with just a few stitches! Like the two little sheep in the top right corner; so simple but so perfect😍👌. 

I have also learnt a new stitch from Youtube; the clever pin stitch🙌. I tried it on a single black cross stitch as seen below...

...and it worked pretty well I must say. I need to invest in a better pair of scissors though, to be able to cut the thread REALLY close to the fabric. But I will definitely use the pin stitch again, that's for sure. 

But the project I have spent the most time on lately are these gorgeous four seasonal trees designed by Cheryl McKinnon. As you can tell, she's quickly becoming my favorite designer at this point in my life.

Seasonal Trees by Cheryl McKinnon.
Published in Cross Stitch Crazy issue 260

As soon as I saw these colourful seasonal trees I fell in love. All those seasonal motifs😍😍😍! But instead of having to get four different frames/hoops for them, I decided, once again, to put them all together. As usual I didn't have all the thread colours I needed when I started this project, but I used a small part of my tax return to order some more DMC threads.

In the beginning I had most of the spring colour threads so that is the tree that got the most attention. Now I have received the missing colurs too, but I really want to finish the spring tree.

I haven't decided how to finish this project yet. Turn it into a cushion? Or a hanging? Oh well, knowing me I'll have plenty of time to think about it before it's time to decide🙈😂.

Hope you are all well? My mum and dad have finally had their first covid vaccination which is a relief, and it looks like I might have my first one some time in the next couple of months.

Annie

Catching up with you all...:)

Hello Everyone !

How are you all doing ?
Here in Sweden there seems to be an cold virus epidemic going across the country ; just about
everyone I know have been coughing and sneezing and eventually the virus found me too last week .

I spent the week on my sofa doing nothing else but going for short walks with my dogs and watching films . There wasn't much energy for blogging or reading other blogs or anything else that required brain power . Luckily I managed to do some easy cross stitching at least , but most of it was on a secret Xmas gift which I can't show you yet . However, the last day of September I actually managed to finish my ornament for  Christmas Ornie SAL . . .

. . .which felt like quite an achievement at the time .

My stitched Iphone case is slowly coming together .

I just stitch a bit on it here and there in between other projects so it is going very slowly at the moment .

Today I've been working on these strawberries . . .

 

. . . which are proving to be a bit of a challenge for me since I hate to stitch the same thing over and over and over again ! However , I think the aida band will look great once it is sewn onto a towel , so now I am determined to get this finished ! I've stitched all the strawberries I need so now I just have to finish them off with the green bits and the grey and white backstitch . . ! I tell you , I am going to be so relieved  pleased when this project is finished !

If you are curious and wonder what the background is on the last photo , I can tell you that it is the back of my BEAUTIFUL christmas blanket that my sister made for me last year ! I just got it out today to be enjoyed all the way until Christmas: ) )
Do all you crafters want to see it ? ?
Of course you do . . !

Isn't it beautiful ? ? ?
Whilst I quite happily can spend hundreds of hours on a cross stitch project , I can't imagine ever making a quilt like this one ! I think my sister would say the opposite lol : ) Isn't it great that we can enjoy our different crafts together and exchange such beautiful gifts with each other ? ? ?

Happy stitching everyone , and stay healthy !

Annie

Swedish crafts and Santas:)

Hi Everyone !

 

First of all I want to thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post! All your advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated and and I am very pleased that you all took the time to comment ! ! I am going to do what you all suggested and try to add the facial backstitch to my Swedish Santa's face , although I haven't been brave enough yet to do it . . . As for the sky issue I will come back to it later in this post : )

 

Speaking of my Swedish Santa , it occured to me that it would be nice to share my old Swedish crafty leaflet with you since you all love crafts : )

 

So this crafty leaflet is from 2003 and was published in a Swedish Women's magazine . It is full of Christmas ideas and Christmas gifts . There are crochet patterns to make these Christmas pot holders . . .

 

 

. . . and I actually thinking of making some of these since I love to have various pot holders for each season . I also like to give away pot holders as gifts , but I have made so many for everyone in my family that I fear they are a bit sick of pot holders . . . ha ha !

 

There are also other Christmas cross stitching projects (except for my Santa) like these aida band charts :

 

 

Although they are sweet they are not my cup of tea - the charts feel too old-fashioned to me .

 

However , the leaflet also included these two cross stitched mini tapestries which I really like !

 

I love the red and white Christmas designs ; they feel very much like old-fashioned Swedish Christmas , but in a GOOD way : ) ) I also like the fact that you only stitch with one colour since colour changes takes a lot of time . There is a problem though , and that is that the charts are very small . . .

I've added my hand to the charts so that you can see the dimensions.

 . . .and yet again they have no clear gridlines . And to add gridlines myself would be difficult ; the squares are small and I would risk not seeing the symbols if I try to add further lines to the chart . ( In fact , the problem is the same with the chart for my Santa picture . )
Still , I wanted to stitch these - and maybe turn them into cushions? - so yesterday I found a suitable red thread colour (the leaflet only said 'red' thread) and made a start on one of the charts .

 

I really could have done with those gridlines though , since it did not take long before I had to start frogging . . . and frogging and frogging . . ! The progress I have made so far included at least three times of frogging which must be a record for me . Still , I am not giving up , and thankfully , the more I'll stitch on it the easier it'll be to keep track of where I am on the chart .

 

I also have to show you the progress on my Santa from this leaflet : ) To remind you - and myself - this is what this 10-year-old UFO looked like when I picked it up again a week ago :

 

And this is what it looks like now :

I love having this blog to record my own progress ; it is really inspiring to see your own progress like this ! I'm chugging along with the sky - one row up and one row down etc - and it is still slow-going but I am almost getting used to it now : ) And all those dark tree siluettes - that I found so difficult ten years ago - are now done ! Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my mojo will stay with this project so I can get it finished soon , at long last !

Oh , and I almost forgot to show you the ornament that I finished for the Christmas Ornie SAL ( and you can read more about it there too ) :

Nice to have a finish every now and then , isn't it ? !

Happy Stitching ,

Annie