Two New Finishes and Some Fall Decorating

Hello Everyone! I’m back today to share two of my fully finished cross stitch pieces and also share a few pictures of my fall decorating.

We’ll start with Welcome Autumn by the Drawn Thread. I’m pleased with the stitching on this, but now I’m not sure about the rick rack. I dunked it into some coffee, but then I gave it a quick rinse and it’s still a little brighter than I wanted it to be. I had a hard time deciding on the fabric I wanted to put behind it, too. It’s stitched on 32 ct Zwigert Platinum using my own color conversion. It’s charted for NPI silks and if I ever get around to it, I’ll post it on my Quilt and Cross Stitch Information page. The color of the linen was hard to work with, not cool and not warm. I thought it looked better with darker fabrics in the cooler color range and ended up using this purplish fabric. It’s the same fabric that’s in the border of the maple leaf quilt if you want to take a closer look further down in this post.

I added magnets to the back and mounted it on the same board that I used for Welcome Summer. I have a few more in this series to stitch and hopefully will do Welcome Winter next year.

I also finished Bittersweet September by Blackbird Designs. It’s stitched on 36 ct Soft Porcelain hand dyed by Misty of Luminous Fiber Arts. Her fabrics are so pretty, but hard to get now that she does an update announcement on the day she plans to release them. I substituted a few colors and stitched it 1 over 1.

I mounted it on a piece of mat board with interfacing and batting behind the stitched piece, then cut a piece of mat board 1/8″ larger on each side for the back board. I wanted to give it the appearance of cording without actually making the cording. I found the stand up piece at Hobby Lobby in August.

I have both pieces sitting on one of my favorite quilts from many years ago, a pattern in American Patchwork and Quilting sometime between 2008 and 2010. I made this before I kept my quilt journal or I would have the exact information.

If I didn’t have the openings in my dining area, I wouldn’t have many places to display things yet. I’m sure I’ll get better at filling this space in over time. We still need to hang a few pictures on the wall in the hallway, too. The other quilt is Atlantic Flyway by Deb Tucker and you can see a better picture of it here.

I finished Pumpkins 4 Sale by Little House Needleworks and November by Prairie Schooler last year. It was nice to get these out again.

I had to get my Publix Pilgrims out for Thanksgiving and display them with some my turkey salt and pepper shakers. I made this table runner several years ago in batiks. The pattern was from my local quilt shop. It’s nice and big to go on the big island in my kitchen.

And of course, I had to decorate the bench in the foyer with my pillows and the Mini Pumpkins quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew.

I still have a stack of fall quilts that didn’t get displayed anywhere this year, but I have a whole year to figure out where they will go. I’ve left my Christmas and winter quilts out so I can start putting those around after Thanksgiving. I hope I’ll find good places for those. I have many minis for Christmas.

This week, I want to start a new table runner for the bar in the kitchen and new pillow for my bed. I’m in the mood for Christmas stitching and sewing and I think I’m ready to pull my sewing machine out. Finally!!!

I hope you have a great beginning to your week and stay safe throughout this holiday season. Thanks for stopping by!