Saturday Stitching: Starts and the Return of an Old Friend

First off, I didn’t finish Changing Seasons, the 2022 Mystery Stitch A Long from Fox and Rabbit. I’m working on it but not a great deal. I am more focused on my projects for this year. I will eventually finish the MSAL. I am also NOT doing the 2023 MSAL. I had decided not to last year since I have so many projects I’d like to get done this year, and a huge monthly project will keep me from doing so. This brings me to an Old Friend:

The Land Baby

This project is based on the painting by the same name by John Collier back in 1895. I don’t know who charted it, but they did an amazing job! I have links to the chart in most of my previous posts about this project. I did one half of the chart last year:

This is being stitched on 18 ct white Aida using the called for DMC floss of which there is close to 100! I’ve gotten 400 stitches done on it so far this year, and I’m doing it 2 over 2.

I’m only stitching every other day so I have time for my other non stitching projects. I also have two starts:

Start #1: Girl With the Pearl Earring

This project is based on the painting by the same name done by artist Johannes Vermeer 1632-1675. The charter is unknown, but here is the link to the page I found the chart on

: http://www.free-cross-stitch-pattern.com/artistic4/thegirlwiththepearlearr.php

Here is what it’s supposed to look like:

Here is where I am now:

I am stitching this on 14 ct black Aida using the called for DMC floss. LOTS of color changes in this one! I’m doing 2 over 2 as well. I’ve done 354 stitches on it so far. It’s not nearly as big as Land Baby which is why I went with 14 count. I also chose the size because of the color of the fabric.

New Start #2: Peppermint Purple 2023 Stitch -A-Long

This project is year long, but it’s blackwork which is something I’ve been wanting to try. Now, I’m going to be doing a stitch a long, and I’ll have a whole bunch of people to ask questions of should the need arise. It’s a simple project with basic stitches and only a few colors. I’m working on the borders trying to get to the middle without making the huge counting mistake I made with the 2022 MSAL I was working on. Here is my progress so far:

It doesn’t look like a lot, but that’s 1, 828 stitches done on 25 ct white Natural Lugana even weave from Artiste/Zweigart

The first block for January has already been released. It’s done by weeks instead of months so, I’m already a bit behind. I’m okay with that because I know I can catch up once I get the proper parts of the frame done. I’m doing 1 over 1 for the lines and 2 over 1 for the cross stitches.

So, these are my current stitching projects. I think Girl will go much faster than I’d thought so I might get done with her much quicker. If so, I have some other projects already kitted and waiting for me.

One of these projects is Stitchinati by Morti of Mad Morti fame from YouTube. She designed and charted it up herself.

Isn’t this just so cool!! You can get it from her and David’s shop: Hare and Moon Crafts

If anyone else gets this, I’d love to do a stitch a long to share on Instagram and here on WordPress as well. Let me know!

That’s it for today. I’ll be showing my progress every Saturday on my projects, and I hope you will be there!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Saturday Stitching: MSAL – November Part 2

I’m trying to find time to work on this part, and I’m finding myself reluctant to do so. I’m always this way when a project this long in the making is finally coming to an end. Still, I’m looking forward to completing this and finding a way to make it a Fully Finished Object(FFO).

In my Project Parade, I showed you where I was at then:

It was almost half. There’s white stitching on top of the purple of the middle/main flower, and I’m still deciding what to do about it.

I just added the flowers and that’s it I’m afraid. I should have more work done by next week.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!

Saturday Stitching: MSAL – October Design Done!

It took me longer than I’d planned to get this last square done, but it’s finally finished. I can’t wait to see what November is going to look like – December too. If December is the MSAL name, Changing Seasons and the date, I’m going to find something else to fill in the space. I just don’t see myself doing that. I didn’t do it on last year’s MSAL either.

Anyway, here is what the block looks like:

Here’s what the overall piece looks like now:

I’m still not sure what colors I’m going to use. I guess it’s going to depend on what flowers and such are used. It won’t be much longer before the next one is released.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Saturday Stitching: MSAL – September

It took a while, but I finally got September’s design done. The center is a pumpkin, and the two outsides are pomegranates – to me at least. I think I did a pretty good job of getting the Autumn color scheme right.

I’m now working on October’s design which goes in the little square on the right. I’m thinking of using lavender for some line work. Does that say Winter to anyone?? I’m not from an area of the United States that gets snow normally so I could use some help choosing a color. Maybe, I should use black??

I hope to have October’s design done in the next few days so I can get some smalls done: David’s biscornu and a new start using blackwork which I haven’t started yet.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!

YouTube Tuesday: Stitch Man Darcy

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and I do apologize. I just don’t seem to have time to watch everyone on my list and still find new people to watch. I’ve actually had to cull a few from my list – ikr!

Stitch Man Darcy comes highly recommended from three of the people I watch on Flosstube videos featuring cross stitching and the people who love it so much so, I decided to give him a looksee.

He’s funny, he’s talented, and he doesn’t take himself very seriously. In fact, he tends to avoid being serious even when he’s showing off his beautiful work. He works primarily on full coverage projects with most being designs by Heaven and Earth Designs aka HAED, and he loves his 18ct Aida fabric. He’s also a big fan of Alice in Wonderland. That’s not to say he doesn’t work on other subjects – he’s doing a portrait of Jimmy Stewart right now.

I’m linking to his newest video below, but I do recommend watching his older videos as well -Princess with Himalayan Cat is incredible!

He does curse so fair warning!

If you like his channel, please let him know by Liking, and if you really like him, be sure to Subscribe! Let me know what you think about him in the comments below.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Saturday Stitching: An FO, a Small and the MSAL

I have one finished small project. I started it a week before my vacation started, while I was waiting for my car to be worked on. I finished it this past Thursday,

The above is what it’s supposed to look like. It’s a DMC Cross Stitch Starter Kit design. The kit came with 7 skeins of floss, each a different color, 2 pieces of 14 ct white Aida, a tapestry needle. a hoop and a book with 6 designs in it. The supplies were enough to make two of the designs.

Now me, I made some changes to the shoe. The pattern is simply named Shoe…

The original pattern was only stitched, nothing special on it. I added some bling to it. The red beads are upside down hearts. I didn’t like the hearts of the tongue of the shoe so, I left them off. I think my shoe looks more fun than the original.

I haven’t decided how I’m going to finish it completely yet. I’ll need something like a shadow box if I decide to frame it. I could give it away as is as well. I just made it because it was small, quick and fun.

What do you think?? Suggestions/comments welcome!

Then, there’s my other small which I shared with you all last month. It’s the Mill Hill beaded ornament I started.

This is what it looked like last time I talked about it. It’s being worked on 28 ct lavender even weave. I have never done so much frogging in my life!! It’s hard to see it unless I really focus, even with my magnifiers on.

I’ve discovered I don’t like working with beads this small. It’s time consuming, fiddly and annoying – to me. A friend of mine has graciously consented to take this project off my hands and finish it for herself.

I like working on even weave fabric, but I’m not a huge fan of beading something that small. I don’t see myself doing another one in the future though they are quite pretty.

I’m behind on the MSAL, but I’m working to catch up. I’ve done half of September’s design so far, and I’m trying to figure out what colors to use for October’s.

Pomegranates and pumpkins oh my! 🙂

I also wanted to show you two things I discovered on my visit to Fort Worth Texas on Thursday. We went to the Montgomery Street Antique Mall where we discovered a lovely little cafe called The Secret Garden Restaurant.

We both had the Secret Sampler and shared an order of Bread Pudding for desert.

Anyway, while in the antique store, I found these very interesting looking wall art pieces, and I took a picture of one of them:

I just noticed the price tag. OMG!!! I could make something like this for way less, even framed!

I bought a tapestry kit as well, but I don’t have a picture of it to show yet. Surprisingly, the kit is fully intact with plastic over the bottom of the box where the yarn it. It has gone into my To Do pile for next year.

That’s it for this week. I start work on Monday so, I’ll be back to having limited time for my projects. My main focus is going to be the MSAL, but I’ll also be working on some other small projects as I get the time. I haven’t forgotten the dollhouse either. I hope you like the progress I’ve made on it thus far. I’ll be writing about it soon.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!

Saturday Stitching: The Land Baby – a Finish!(Of Sorts)

The Land Baby by John Collier(1895) was turned into a cross stitch chart by someone (I have no idea who or when), and it was posted online as a series of images to be used for free. There are pdf versions others have created, and you have to pay for those. I’m using the free images. So, the painting was split into half – left and right. I’ve been working on the left.

Here is what she looked like last time I posted:

This is being worked on 16 count white Aida in the called for DMC colors. I forget how big she’s supposed to be, but on this count she’s not that big.

Here is what she looks like now:

The entire left side of the piece is now complete. I am going to be putting it away for the rest of 2022 and resume work on it at the beginning of 2023. I’ve been working on it almost from the beginning of 2022, and I need a break to get other projects done.

I have really enjoyed working on her, and I love how she’s turning out, The amount of detail in it without requiring back stitching is just amazing to me.

While I’m saying “see you later” to her, I still have plenty of other projects to show you including the ongoing Mystery Stitch-A-Long, Changing Seasons provided by Fox and Rabbit. I also have several smalls, and a new start which I’ll be showing you next week. 🙂

Until then, happy stitching!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

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Saturday Stitching: FFO and Small Update

FFO!!

This is the piece I designed and made for Mad Morti over on Flosstube. She’s a Goth, and I thought she’d like something like this mini biscornu to use for needles or whatnot. I found gridded clip art of both the skulls and the bats, and I adapted them to my needs. I think it turned out quite nice. 🙂

I’ll have to use something for scale next time as it’s not a very big piece. I plan to do one last mini biscornu – on for her husband, David, and it’s going to be my own design again.

Small Update

This is a Mill Hill beaded kit: Tiny Treasured Diamond Beaded Kit with Treasures – Royal Orchid(MH22-3305).

It’s worked on 28 count even weave 2 over 2. I think the color of the fabric is Orchid. The purple is Dark Lavender, and the green is Green. LOL

It’s 47 stitches wide by 47 stitches high which measure out to 3.36in w by 3.36in h. That’s not counting the hanger and tassel.

I’m doing the cross stitching first and then, I’ll do the beading. It’s meant to be sewn into an ornament so that should be fun. 🙂

Next week, you’ll finally get a look at where I am on Land Baby. I’ve been trying my best to get stitching done on her as well. I have about 4 more sections of 10 stitches by 40 stitches before the entire left side is done.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!

Saturday Stitching: MSAL – August

I had meant to post this back in August, but time got away from me.

This is the August design for Fox and Rabbit’s Mystery Stitch A Long called Changing Seasons. September’s design has already dropped, and I’m trying to figure out colors before I start stitching it.

There are gaps where stitching is supposed to go, but I found some bling I want to add to it instead. This piece is meant to be a wall hanging(that’s my intention at any rate) so adding bling won’t hurt it.

I kept to a three color theme like I’ve done with the other blocks, and I’m going to use at least one color in September’s design – like I’ve done with all the others.

I’m actually glad I decided to do this year’s MSAL from Fox and Rabbit instead of skipping as originally intended. It’s turning out to be quite beautiful. This said, I am going to skip the one for 2023 because I have too many other projects I want to get done. I’m behind on the Land Baby, and one reason is the MSAL. The other is my work schedule.

I need to have more time, not less of it, to work on my main full coverage projects so, this will be where I draw the line.

Next week, you get to see where I am on Land Baby now. The left side of the piece is nearing completion finally! 🙂

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Saturday Stitching: Haul!

Yesterday, I went to a thrift store I donate to and occasionally buy from. They support and end of life care facility so, I do what I can to help them out.

After I dropped my donations off, I went over to check out their craft supplies. Of late, there hasn’t been anything I’ve been interested in, but I still went to check, just in case,

I ended up buying about $37 of craft supplies that easily cost more in stores.

Everything was in very good condition and, many of the kits were still intact! I actually found 3 that had never been opened!

This haul is good not just for me, but for the group I’m in where we pass on charts and other cross stitching goodies to others in the group who want them. This helps in so many way! The things I don’t use, I’ll be sending to the group moderator to offer to the group.

I’ll be keeping the thread with no markings or numbers or anything, and I’ll use them in my little stitching projects. I have doubles of two of the kits so the extras will be donated whole and later, I’ll donate the charts.

I don’t mark on the original charts so everything is clean. I might even buy thread for the charts and pass them on too so the new owners will only have to get fabric of their own choosing.

I feel very good about this haul because it helps me, it helps the thrift store, and it will help others in the group.

This said, I’d be happy to pass things along to anyone here who is interested. Just let me know in the comments below. As I work on a project from this haul, I will be sharing it to you all.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!