A START and a FINISH!

Hello Stitchy Friends!

Today I wanted to share with you my first START and FINISH for 2018! My goal is to stitch more Christmas ornaments for our tree this year. I loved seeing quite a few stitchers posting their gorgeous trees with their cross stitched ornaments on facebook, flosstube and instagram this last Christmas and I want to have mine filled as well :) I didn't have any for my tree last year. I had some stitched just not FFO'd to put on there. So that is another goal this year also...FFO my finishes! Just need to learn to sew first - LOL!

Anyway...I joined the facebook group Little House and Country Crafts Stitching Group and they have a monthly SAL challenge to stitch an ornament. PERFECT! So I decided to pull out and stitch one that has been on my "to stitch someday" list for quite awhile. I went through my fabrics and found a piece that came in one of those ornament cut grab bags that I had purchased quite awhile ago from 123stitch that would look nice with it and got busy! I started this January 3rd and finished it January 6th and it was my first finish of the year so far.

Here is Gingerbread Tree by Little House Needleworks:

I found some cute gingerbread cutter style fabric on Etsy and will use that to FFO this once I learn how to use my sewing machine. Goal for this year! I was going to use beads for the eyes and buttons but decided to try and do french knots as the pattern called for. I am not very good at those yet but I never will be if I don't try them. Overall I am pretty happy how it turned out :)

This design was located in the Just Cross Stitch Magazine from July/August 2010.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stitching!
Laura

Design Details:
Name: Gingerbread Tree by Little House Needleworks
Fabric: unknown grab bag fabric - seemed like a 28 count Jobelan
Stitched: 2 over 2 Full Cross 
STARTED: January 3rd, 2018
FINISHED: January 6th, 2018 
Pattern can be found in the Just Cross Stitch Magazine issue July/August 2010

First FFOs for 2018!

Hi Stitchy Friends!

Hope this year has been good to you so far and you are getting loads of stitchy time! I decided to try and FFO my Mill Hill ornaments this morning that I stitched in honor of my Grandma and Grandpa who have both passed. My goal is to stitch an ornament in their memory every year for our tree. Last year I stitched these Jim Shore Mill Hill kits for each of them because I wanted something with a cardinal on it. These were my first time stitching Mill Hill kits and they were really a fun stitch to do.

I stitched the Festival Friends Santa for my Grandpa and the Angel With Cardinal for my Grandma. Here they are all finished:

I think they turned out pretty nice! I backed them with a thick felt and made hangers using leftover beads from the kit. I saw that idea about using the beads from one of the Schoolhouse Stitcher's flosstube videos.

I am excited to make more of these ornaments they turn out so pretty and are a fun stitch!

Have a great stitchy week and thanks for stopping by today!

Laura

Mill Hill Angel With Cardinal by Jim Shore

Good Morning Stitchy Friends -

I realized that I had not posted the Christmas Ornament that I made this year for my Grandma's remembrance ornament. I posted the one that I finished for my Grandpa a few days ago. If you missed that post you can see it here.

As I mentioned in that post I have been making a Christmas Ornament each year in honor of my Grandma and Grandpa since they have both passed. This is the second year that I have done this and this year I wanted both of their ornaments to feature a cardinal. For Grandma's ornament I chose to stitch the Angel With Cardinal Mill Hill Kit by Jim Shore.

I did make a small modification to this and changed the eye color to a hazel green like my Grandma's eyes were.

Here are a few progression pictures and then my finish:

I still need to fully finish this one as well so I will post a picture of that when I get that done. This was my very first time stitching a Mill Hill kit and I think it turned out beautifully! I will definately be stitching more of these!

Thanks for stopping by!
Laura

Design Details:
Name: Angel With Cardinal by Jim Shore - Mill Hill Kit 
Fabric: 14 count perforated paper
Stitched: As charted in the kit
STARTED: May 17th, 2017
FINISHED: June 19th, 2017
Needleminder - Gina's Unique Boutique

Start & a Finish - Mill Hill Festival Friends Santa by Jim Shore

Hi Stitchy Friends!

When I first found floss tube about two years ago I was watching one of Carolyn Mazzeo's amazing videos and she talked about how every year on her Dad's birthday she would stitch a Christmas Ornament in his memory for her tree. I had recently lost my Grandma when I saw that one and thought it was a beautiful way to honor your loved ones when they are no longer with you. So I decided that I would stitch an ornament for both my Grandma and Grandpa each year.

This year I decided to stitch a Mill Hill Kit for each of their ornaments and I wanted ones that had cardinals on them since they say that when you see a cardinal it is a loved one from heaven making a visit to you. I just finished my Grandpa's ornament a few days ago so I thought I would share that one with you. I stitched the Mill Hill Festival Friends Santa by Jim Shore for Grandpa's ornament. I started this one August 17th ad finished it on August 25th. It turned out beautiful and had about a million beads! I think there were more beads than cross stitches so it is super sparkly and pretty in person :)

The needleminder I chose for this project is from Nifty Needle Nannies on Facebook. When I saw this one I had to get it because this was Grandpa's favorite saying to us kids whenever we got impatient about something :)

Here are some progression pictures:

This was a fun stitch and turned out so pretty. I still need to fully finish it so I will post a picture of that once it is finished completely! 

I think that doing this every year is a wonderful way to let Grandma and Grandpa know that we still think of them everyday and around the holidays when we miss them even more, this is a way to still make them a part of our family get togethers.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy stitching! 

Laura

Design Details:
Name: Festival Friends Santa by Jim Shore - Mill Hill Kit 
Fabric: 14 count perforated paper
Stitched: As charted in the kit
STARTED: August 17th, 2017
FINISHED: August 25th, 2017
Needleminder - Nifty Needle Nannies