Sulk

For some reason I've become quite dissatisfied with my latest WIP and will have to put it aside for a while. I think perhaps it's the fabric I chose...I've decided that I don't like it after all. Hmmm…well, instead of sulking any further about it I've switched to doing a quick stitch project to lift my spirits. :-) With my favorite design of a little beehive, of course. ;-)

A Prairie Year

When I moved I found this very old project of mine in the closet rolled up in a tube and long forgotten! Judging by the date I'd stitched on it, I completed this 13 years ago (!), and just never got around to framing it. Time does fly, doesn't it? Maybe someday I'll figure out exactly what I want to do with it. Decisions, decisions. I just hope it doesn't take another 13 years for me to decide.

Prairie Schooler "A Prairie Year I" 1986 OOP

Love

Stitched this sampler for my nephew's wedding in March. I changed the pattern slightly by adding seed beads for the heart instead of using french knots, eliminating the border, and personalizing it, of course, for the happy couple.

Bent Creek "Love Sampler"

Found my missing cross-stitch stand!

Yay! This makes my life so much easier. :-) It was tucked away in the very BACK corner of my walk-in closet behind a large hanging canvas dress bag. This was the perfect hiding place for it as I haven't touched that bag since I moved in eight years ago! LOL

Two more ornaments

I didn't include these two in my last ornament post as I forgot to take photos before I mailed them out. The pieces I sent were finished as pillows, not as flat ornaments as shown, but you get the idea. Next time I make some I think I might try finishing them this way, it looks a heck of a lot easier than all that sewing and stuffing! LOL

The Prairie Schooler 2008 Freebie "Noel"
The Prairie Schooler Designer Series "Forget Me Nots" From My Garden

Earth laughs in flowers

I did this little chart at the same time as last year's Christmas ornaments, but haven't decided just what to do with it yet. That's the trouble with cross stitch, there are so many pretty patterns that I want to do, but not enough time to find uses for them all.

Prairie Schooler Designer Series "Forget Me Nots" Earth Laughs in Flowers
DMC on 14-count Potato Aida cloth

Quartet of Santas

Back when I used to collect Santa figures (which I don't anymore, as I have around 200 of them and that's more than enough!) I also used to collect the annual Prairie Schooler Santa charts. These four fellows made a nice grouping, I thought. :-) Click on the image for a larger view.

My sister and I both love craft shops and when I visited her we used to frequent The Primitive Sampler, a needlework store in Frederick, MD now long since closed. Sis still sends me patterns she picks up from time to time on her travels, the sweetie. I lost the pattern for the Sunflower Santa in my last move eight years ago though, which is sad as he's out of print now and I've always wanted to stitch another one of him.

Left to right:
1989 Prairie Schooler Santa - Lantern & Wreath Santa
1988 Prairie Schooler Santa - Toys & Gifts Santa
1994 Prairie Schooler Santa - Sunflower & Birdhouse Santa
1993 Prairie Schooler Santa - Poinsettia Gardener Santa

The kiss of the sun

This cheery sun and sunflower piece on 14-count white Aida cloth hangs in my kitchen. I did another one for my sister on 18-count, which I think turned out even more nicely on the smaller weave. I revised the saying slightly more to my liking around the border and removed the french knots (I hate french knots!) from the chart, so it differs from the chart. :-) This was stitched back in the early 1990s as well. (Sunflowers are another favorite motif of mine.)

American School of Needlework "Sun, Moon, Stars" by Linda Gillum
7.5" x 10" stitching / 11.5" x 14" frame

New project

Spent a good part of last evening perusing my charts box for ideas and finally prepared to start a new project – on linen this time. I am a lazy stitcher and usually prefer simple Aida and quick-to-stitch charts, but every once in a while I go old school and work a linen piece. A web grab of the pattern I've started is below: Little House Needleworks "Home of a Needleworker Too". I don't have the Crescent Colours floss shown, so I color-matched the colors by eye for conversion to my DMC floss collection. I have a stockpile of DMC and usually enough of most types of fabric to do any project if I am willing to substitute here and there. And I usually am!

Garden-themed samplers

These two samplers hang one above the other on a wall in my dining room. I stitched them in the early 1990's and they are my favorite of all the projects I have ever done! Clicking on the image gives a closer view.

Prairie Schooler Book No. 45 "Garden Samplers"
Birdhouse Sampler & Garden Gate Sampler

Box Tops

Years ago I stitched the quilt-style design on the right as an insert for the lid of the natural finish wooden box shown. I found the finished product charming so I've kept it in my living room ever since. But I goofed when I was preparing the one on the left! I had been planning to use the design for an ornament but for some reason I started it on 18-count Aida instead of 14-count, meaning it would be much too small when done. I finished it anyway and used it in the lid of another smaller box which I had received as a present. Bee motifs are a favorite of mine. :-)

Jeremiah Junction Classics "Patchwork Seasonal Squares"
Prairie Schooler Book No. 137 "Summer Breeze" Beehive

Ornaments 2008

For Christmas 2008 I stitched a variety of small Prairie Schooler patterns on pieces of 14-, 18-, and 22-count scrap Aida cloth and finished them as tree ornaments. All of pillow backs were cut from medium-weight dark green cotton cloth, and I used silky green cording for the hanging loops. I secured the reverse of the stitching and attached cotton batting cut to fit to stabilize the backs. After stitching the little pillows together on the sewing machine I turned and stuffed them with polyfill, ladder-stitching closed the small gap I used for stuffing.

Top, left to right:

Prairie Schooler Book No. 24 "Prairie Birds" Wren
Prairie Schooler Book No. 134 "Christmas Day" Snowman
Prairie Schooler Book No. 124 "Folk Art Christmas" Angel

Center, left to right:
Prairie Schooler Book No. 134 "Christmas Day" Farm Snowman
Prairie Schooler Promotional Minicard "A friend is a gift you give yourself"
Prairie Schooler Book No. 134 "Christmas Day" Santa & Tree

Bottom:
Prairie Schooler Book No. 24 "Prairie Birds" Junco

Welcome

This Prairie Schooler pattern started out as a gift for a friend, but I got delayed by carpal tunnel problems and missed completing it in time. So instead I inserted the finished work into a glass-topped serving tray until I can get or make a suitable frame in just the right size.

This was stitched on 18-count Aida cloth and the finished size was only 4.25" x 4.25", so I'm planning on making a 6" x 6" (insert size) frame. Prairie Schooler is my all-time favorite cross stitch designer.

The Prairie Schooler Book No. 92
"Welcome Home"
Bird's Nest