Let’s Have a Cross Stitch Finish Parade!

Hello Everyone and welcome to the parade! A cross stitch finish parade in fact. I have spent the last week and a half working on fully finishing my cross stitch pieces. So let’s get started and enjoy the parade!

Let’s start with the oldest finish first. It’s Red She Said by Hands On Design (HOD), hanging from the bottom of the shelf. I started these in May, 2022 and finished stitching them in August, 2022. I even had all the mat board cut and just never finished them. It took four afternoons to get them done. I think they look great, but were time consuming to finish. Cathy does have a very detailed tutorial for these banner pieces and it was easy to follow. They are stitched on 32 ct. Light Sand from Zweigart, 2 over 2, and used the called for Colour and Cotton floss. On the shelf above are Salute to Abigale and Sweet Land of Liberty by Blackbird Designs and Memorial Day by HOD. The banner will be permanent on the shelf, but I’ll move the others upstairs for the summer.

The next oldest is Wild Flower Guide (framed) by Blackbird Designs. It’s from the book “A Heart Remembers. I stitched it last February and have had the frame for over a year with the foam core cut and ready to go. I do like how it looks in that frame which I bought from Amazon. It’s stitched on 32 Star Sapphire from Wichelt, 2 over 2. I did substitute some of the floss and used what I had.

The small pin pillow is Looking for Spring by Blackbird Designs from the 2023 Nashville Needle Market Cookbook. It’s stitched on 36 ct Salted Caramel by Luminous Fiber Arts, 1 over 2. This is a new one, stitched in March.

Another one I stitched last spring is this little tulip pot from Crocette-a-gogo’s Spring Time. I have now stitched three motifs from that chart. It’s stitched on a 28 ct even weave, 2 over 2, and I chose my own DMC. It’s finished on a small cheese board from Hobby Lobby.

Another one that I started last spring is Float by Plum Street Samplers and Sting by Heartstring Samplery. I finished stitching Float (the top half) last July and started Sting. Over the winter I would pull it out and stitch a day or two on it, but finally last week, I pulled it out and worked on it until it was finished. These could be finished as two separate pieces or as one. I changed the center line that was charted and made a simi-hexi border and added a few extra small butterflies and bees. It’s stitched on 40 ct Vintage Country Mocha, 1 over 2, using the called for floss. At first I thought I would frame it, but I decided to make it into a small wall hanging that fits on my stand. This was a big phrase when I was in middle school because Mohammed Ali had one of his big fights during one of those years. Everyone (mostly the boys) went around saying it.

The following pieces were all stitched this winter and spring.

This is Seasons of the Heart – Spring by With Thy Needle and Thread. This is the last one I had to stitch from the booklet. It’s stitched on 40 ct Vintage Country Mocha, 1 over 2 with the called for floss. I use the same frame for each season and switch out the stitched piece.

This little pillow is the bottom border from Prairie Schooler’s Daffodils, the March seasonal piece. I was going to stitch the entire piece but decided I like June’s better. I love daffodils and it fits perfectly with my early spring decorating. I plan on changing my decor in the next few days to late spring, early summer. It’s stitched on 32 ct Antique White Lugana, 2 over 2.

And the last finish I have for this parade are three of the smalls from Keeper of the Pins by With Thy Needle and Thread. They are from left to right, The Sewing Bird, Needle and Thread, and Dames of the Needle. They are all stitched on 36 ct Vintage Country Mocha, 1 over 2.

The sewing box was my mother-in-laws and she has some vintage things in it, mostly threads. Her father was a VP at Coats and Clarks and I believe those small spools of threads must have been samples. The tomato pin cushion is just how she left it. The Pheasant tin was her button box, still full of buttons. The flower frog and milk glass bowl were my finds at a local antique shop. All of this is sitting on my mom’s Vintage Singer Sewing Machine from the early 1960’s. I’ll have to open it one day and show it to you.

I hope you enjoyed the parade. I was watching Country Stitcher’s latest video where Deb showed a few finishes. It was interesting, they were talking about having to be in the mood to fully finish their stitched pieces. I think I’m like that. Some stitcher’s fully finish their things as soon as it’s stitched or else have it framed, but I think there are lots of us that have a pile of finished stitched pieces. I didn’t get to a few things that I wanted to because Red She Said took so long, but I’m ready to move onto some quilting fun now. I do have The Vintage Hexies partly finished into a project bag so I will get that done and show you next week. But for now, I’ll wait until the mood strikes again or the pile just gets too large. Of course, I may get some of the smalls done in a timely manner.

Have a great rest of your week and thanks so much for stopping by.

Brenda