Category: cross stitch

I finished my wee little Flower Witch by Lori Brechlin. I love how she turned out. A little more practice and I’ll be ready to start stitching for Bayah.


As much as I’m enjoying learning a new craft, it feels good to get back to making those tiny little X’s. Strawberries and bunnies and a beautiful new needle minder given to me by a dear friend. Doesn’t that dragonfly just scream out warm summer days! And yet here we are, the middle of winter and we’re supposed to be getting quite the snowstorm today. They canceled school as of last night already. According to my phone we’re supposed to get 3 to 5 inches of snow with ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch, wind and near whiteout conditions. We’ll see what really happens. Mother Nature always does her own thing! I guess I’ll head to town to run errands this morning and then plan on staying home the rest of the weekend. I love a good snowstorm!

Old Dog

There’s that old saying, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Well, I’m an old dog and I’m trying to learn a new trick! I haven’t embroidered in years. And when I did embroider, it was very very basic stitches. Then I stitched up Drew’s drawing using a new stitch I’d never done before and I found it to be fun. So while scrolling through Pinterest the other day I stumbled upon some darling designs that I thought would be fun to make for my granddaughter’s bedroom. I showed them to my daughter and she agreed. So, I ordered hoops and thread (I have tubs of thread but I don’t have all those pretty little girl colors) and then realized I should probably practice a little bit before jumping in. So I found a couple of patterns that contained different stitches that I didn’t know and off I went.

I like how this one turned out, it’s called Helen’s Garden. I loved doing the Wagon Wheel Stitch and the Spider Wheel Rose Stitch although I wasn’t supposed to do the Wagon Wheel Stitch. I watched the wrong video and stitched it before I realized that mistake! And forget the Colonial Knots. I absolutely could not master them so I went back to French Knots, which I do not enjoy but I can do. As you can see, the piece is covered in pencil marks. But since it’s a practice piece and just for me, that’s okay.

Then there’s this piece. More my primitive style. It’s a Lori Brechlin with Notforgotten Farm design. I love her designs and have done many of her cross stitch pieces. I’m really enjoying learning a new craft and I’m looking forward to making a couple of pieces for my granddaughter’s bedroom. But, I’m ready to get some cross stitching in before I get started. It never fails, no matter what I do and no matter how much I enjoy it, I always go back to my cross stitching!

Stitching Keepsakes

Now, a few months ago my uncle gave us a vintage camper. A very very old, very very well used vintage camper. It has a whole story behind it. And it’s going to take lots and lots and lots of work to get it usable. Well, Drew absolutely loves it. He talks about it all the time, reads about vintage campers, asked for vintage camper books for Christmas, I think he dreams about vintage campers! So when I told him I wanted him to draw me a picture of course he drew one of the camper that he named Ruby.

Here’s Ruby, the little vintage camper. She’s been spiffed up with the power washer and Drew and Rambler decorated her for fall! Oh she needs soooo much work!

A friend of mine shared an article with me about taking a child’s drawing and turning it into a keepsake. I had seen this before and at the time I thought it was a good idea but then I totally forgot about it. Well, I’ve joined a group on Facebook that is more of an embroidery group versus cross stitch and I have been wanting to try my hand at this form of stitching. Specifically the split stitch that Lori Brechlin uses. (Lori is an absolutely brilliant designer of all things handiwork and primitive!) So all the stars were aligned and I jumped in! Here’s Drew’s drawing:

That’s Drew – relaxing in his hammock!

And here’s my progress so far:

This has been such a fun project. And Drew is loving it! He’s planning on hanging this in Ruby when we get her done! I think I’ll have to have the grandkids draw me pictures next so I can make keepsakes for Abby!

Taking the Day Off

Creativity and chaos go together in my world! This looks good today. Some days it’s sooo much worse! There will come a point where I can’t stand it any longer, I’ll put everything away, pull out only what I need for the project I’m working on and promise myself I’ll put each thread away as I go. And then before I know it – it’s right back to this. Creative chaos and a cup of coffee!

School is back in session today. Two full weeks is a long time off and Drew was so ready to go back and see his friends. Joe is gone until Wednesday. And I’m taking the day off. I’ve been to the grocery store, there’s laundry going, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is on the iPad and I’m stitching the day away. I still have a pillow to stuff, trim and post for sale, chicken feed to purchase after I pick up Drew from school, outside chores to do since Joe won’t be home tonight and supper to fix. I’m thinking Sweet and Sour Chicken since Joe won’t be here. I try to fix meals that I enjoy but he really doesn’t when he’s gone. Plus I’ll have leftovers for tomorrow night. That’s my day off. I’m not going to clean the bathroom or pick up the messes around the house or tackle the myriad other things that need my attention today. It will all wait until tomorrow. Do moms really ever get a day off when they’re home? I think not. But that’s okay. Having a bathroom to clean and supper to prepare, chicken feed to purchase and messes to pick up mean I’m needed. And that is a wonderful feeling – being needed!

Stitching Time

Sameul and Elizabeth by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm

I love how this one turned out. I thought about not posting it to sell but decided I should. I just have way too many cupboard tucks stuffed away in the nooks and crannies of this house – I sure don’t need another one. I love that Elizabeth is offering Sam a pie and look at those boobies – oh they remind me of my Great Grandma Houseal. She gave the best hugs! And isn’t Sam quite the dandy!

Hickety Pickety by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm.

I’ve been on a Notforgotten Farm kick lately when it comes to my stitching. I love love how this one is turning out. Remmeber the old nursery rhyme Hickety Pickety My Black Hen? I’m not sure but I just may have to frame this one and hang it in the kitchen along with all my other chicken stitches I have in there. We’ll see. And maybe I’ll stitch another one to sell after I finish the Notforgotton Farm pattern I started last night. Although these are such teeny tiny stitches on Lori’s 40 count linen – I’m really getting too old for such little stitches!

Stitching Time

I finally got some stitching time in for me. It took me forever to get these three done – Sheep Heap, Goat Load and Hen Pecked. I had to stitch two of the Goat Load for others before I could finish one for myself! I will admit they came out pretty darn cute when they were finished into cupboard keeps. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these three now. I’m thinking they would look cute framed but finding the right frame could be a challenge. They may end up in my HUGE pile of to be finished projects for now. We’ll see.

Then I started this one last night. I love bringing these little characters to life with my needle and thread. I swear that sometimes they talk to me as I’m stitching! To sit and stitch in the evening – there’s no better way to relax and unwind after a busy day. I know for sure I would simply fall asleep in my chair if I didn’t have something to do with my hands. A day without stitching doesn’t happen often for me and I usually have Drew snuggled up right beside me. Although those days are starting to be fewer and fewer. I’ll miss it when he decides he’s just too old to sit with him mom anymore.

Plodding Away

I’m plodding away on my pattern organization. I would like to be back in the front porch sorting through more stuff but today is an office day for Joe and since the front porch also serves as his office, I can’t be in there making a racket. That little teeny room serves as Joe’s office, my office, my craft room and storage so it really really needs to be organized. I am making headway which is great. After going through and pulling every pattern out of it’s plastic baggy it came in, unfolding it and stacking it along with all the patterns I’ve downloaded and printed off the computer I had some huge piles (and lots of duplicates) so I’ve been able to throw a lot of unneeded packaging away along with duplicates of patterns. And I’ve actually managed to make quite a dent in the stacks. Now I’m filling up binders like crazy and even though I stocked up on binders and sleeves on Friday it looks like I’m going to need more. But it feels so good to finally have my patterns organized and at my fingertips. Between that and all the thread I organized awhile back – stitching will soon be so much more enjoyable! Yeah!

Dad and Mom came over for the Super Bowl yesterday so I took a break from the front porch. We had potato soup and chili and fresh veggies to snack on during the game. And I got some stitching time in. I have an order for this sweet Christmas pillow so I worked on it. It’s hard for me to work on Christmas this time of the year so I have to make myself work on it but again, I’m plodding away! I made this into a Christmas ornament for Bayah this past year. It’s nice to work on something that isn’t prim once in awhile!

    Frost Quakes and Hoards

    Beaky, Ethel, Blackie, Ester and Matilda – Liz didn’t want her picture taken I guess!

    Frost Quakes – the official name for the sounds this old house has been making. I heard one last night right before I fell asleep – it sounded like someone rammed into the side of the house. You should have seen me jump! We had another cold night and it was cold out there this morning when I checked on the girls and gave them some fresh water. Right now it’s -7 with a wind chill of -26 and that’s nothing compared to what we had Tuesday night and yesterday! Tomorrow it’s supposed to get up to 20 and by Sunday 45. It will feel like a heatwave! No coats necessary! It always amazes me how by this time of the year we run around without coats in 30 degree weather and think nothing of it. Our bodies adjust. School was canceled again today and no mail delivery again. Two days in a row for that – I wonder if that has ever happened before? I’m thankful that the carriers don’t have to be outside in this weather. There’s no need.

    Just a small pile of patterns to get organized and in binders – a daunting task!

    So, today I’m back to sorting through endless piles of cross stitch supplies – threads, trims, linens, fabrics, needles, scissors I forgot I had, patterns. An endless amount of patterns. I could never stitch up all the patterns in my collection in my lifetime and yet I can easily find more I think I have to have . I’m pulling each and every one of them out of their plastic packaging and organizing them in three ring binders, some binders according to holiday, others according to designer. I’ve run out of binders and plastic sleeves so it looks like a Walmart run in the near future. (Weather permitting of course!) I cannot wait to have everything organized so that I can pick out exactly what I want and/or need at any time and get started on a project!

    Holiday Stitching

    I’m mixing up my holidays! I got these all sewed up and stained last night. Now today at some point they will get stuffed and closed up and will be ready to find new homes. The Christmas ones will hopefully find new homes. I’m thinking I will keep the two Halloween ones for myself. I just have to do that once in awhile and these two are calling out to me!

    Ready To Slow Down

    I am so ready for things to slow down around here. Working at the school for two weeks was both rewarding and draining. I enjoyed the young man I was with although he was also quite the challenge. The school has hired a young girl to be with him and I think that’s good – she might be better suited to keep up with him! I was scheduled to work on Tuesday and on Thursday this week. Tuesday was canceled and Thursday rescheduled which was fine with me. I can use a week at home!

    I had volunteered to help out at the school during their annual Color Run fundraiser but ended up working instead. Which worked out great as I was there all day and even though I was working I got to also spend time with Drew.

    The kids had a great time dancing. They bring in a local DJ and she plays all the songs the kids love. The weather was iffy all day but it cleared up just enough for everyone to have fun for a couple of hours!

    Drew’s teacher saw these boys taking a selfie and she just had to photobomb them. She’s such an involved teacher. She’s very update and fun!

    I did manage to tackle this daunting task over the last month. All my DMC was in baggies. Hard to find, numberous duplicates, just very frustrating to sort through. After soooo many years of stitching I have accumulated soooo many threads. So instead of stitching I organized. I still have threads in baggies but I also have every DMC color organized like this. It is so nice now to pull out the threads I need without having to spend time sorting through piles. I should have done this years ago!

    Braxton has been playing preschool soccer and we got to go to one of his games. He was lots of fun to watch. I get a kick out of these little ones – they have so much fun just running around out on the field. Little Bayah cuddled with me throughout the whole game which was fun too!

    We we out for lunch after the soccer game for Aaron’s birthday. He wanted to go to Applebee’s in Iowa City. Everyone made it except for Eric who had to work. Jeremy looks grumpy in this picture but he had actually just shown Braxton how to make spit balls and shoot them through a straw. Braxton had a blast shooting them at Uncle Aaron who was a good sport. Especially when Drew got into the action too! I’m sure Applebee’s was glad to see us leave!