2009 Stitching Clean-Up

It may seem like I’ve spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself since Phoebe’s death, but honestly, I have not allowed the grass to grow beneath my feet. Since I’ve been so remiss in keeping this blog updated, I have a lot of finishes to post to round out 2009. The 2010 finish will get posted later.

Without further adieu, let’s show some photos, shall we?

First up are my two entries into Anna’s stitching challenge, which ended in mid-September. The design is Bent Creek’s Swirlygig. I made two attempts – the first was a lovely pastel overdyed silk (I think it’s a Caron Waterlilies silk; I bought a big, unmarked lot on eBay several years ago) which didn’t show up nearly as nicely against the black fabric as I had hoped it would. If you look very carefully, you might actually see a little bit of the colors in the border. Bummer.

The second attempt went a little better and featured two Dinky Dyes’ silks:

After that, we have Hearts & Flowers by The Sweetheart Tree. This was stitched from a kit that I think I bought when I was model stitching for Sandie. I completed it on the drive back from Disney in late September. I think my original intention was to finish it into a biscornu, so I’ll see how much of the design I can and/or care to duplicate onto a piece for the bottom, provided I have a cut of matching count linen.

I then finished a previously stitched piece into its accompanying Whimzi frame. This is Just Nan’s Frost on the Pumpkin, which was first released as a limited edition Whimzi design. The version that she just released this past year is a little bit different and will also fit in a Whimzi frame, though she designed it for one of her fancier frames.

Next I stitched up Just Nan’s Winter Violets (a special for one of the TNNA shows in 2009, I think) and finished it into its coordinating Whimzi frame, as well. Clever me cut off the Whimzi embellishment when I cropped the photo…

After that, it was the mad rush to stitch up and finish a couple of Christmas presents. The first was a Dimensions Gold Nuggets kit that I bought and started years ago for my mother. It’s named Pansies on Toile and I actually managed to finish the stitching before we went to Florida at the beginning of December.

I finished it as directed and framed it a couple of days before Christmas. I do so love this frame!

The next Christmas gift was one that I had to stitch and finish before we left for Florida. Of course, I didn’t decide to stitch it until two to three weeks ahead of time. This was a limited edition kit from The Victoria Sampler called Forever and For Always. Thea has now released it as a chart. I stitched it for Terry’s dad and his (relatively) new wife as a momento of their wedding in 2007. So timely. 😉

I finished it as a bellpull, with wooden hardware that I stained myself days before we left, hoping it would cure in time. A lot of the stitching is done in cream against white fabric, so you can’t really see the details, but the effect was quite lovely, if I don’t say so myself.

Once I finished that, I decided to go for the gusto and stitch some more last minute Christmas gifts during the Florida trip. I did two versions of Cross of Christmas by My Big Toe Designs, as published in the 2009 ornament issue from Just Cross Stitch. The first one was in blues, for my dad in Florida. Of course, I didn’t see him while we were in the state and even if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it into an ornament in time, so it was mailed out 3 days before Christmas. I’m amazed that it reached him in time!

Of course, having not planned in advance, I didn’t have an appropriate color of pearl cotton to make the cording, so I had to work with what I had.

I also stitched a pink version for my friend Mary. Pink is her favorite color and she is fighting breast cancer, so I tend to do a lot of things in pink for her.

Once again, an appropriate color of pearl cotton was not to be found in my stash. This color didn’t quite work as well as the blue (nearly) did. I don’t think it looked as bad in person as it does in the scan.

And finally, one last ornament that I stitched during the trip to Florida. I did most of this in the car on the way down to Miami and I completed the stitching (except for the backstitched wording, which I didn’t realize I had missed until we got back) while staying in Miami for a couple of days. This design is called Plaid Greetings, by Ladybug Lane Designs, also from the 2009 JCS ornament issue. When I saw the little scottie dog, I just had to stitch it for my neighbor because it looks so much like her dog, Quincy. I didn’t have the recommended overdyed floss, so I tweeded two colors of DMC as an alternative. I think I also subbed both the red and green overdyeds.

It didn’t finish up perfectly, of course. I should have made the cording thicker. Oh well!

Well folks, that gets me caught up with stitching through the end of 2009. I know we’re now into the second week of 2010, but for those of you who celebrated it, I hope that you had a lovely Christmas and for those of you who don’t work off of the Chinese calendar, I hope you have a wonderful new year!