As you may know, a couple of months ago I started cross stitching again. It started quite innocently with a post by a fellow cross stitcher on Facebook. You see, although I wasn’t actively cross stitching at the time, I still enjoyed seeing what others were working on. One of the members of a cross stitch group decided to start a new group “Santa’s Little Stitchers” where the members only stitch Christmas ornaments and stockings. The moderator is very helpful too. She gives us prompts each month in case we can’t decide what to stitch next. This made so much sense to me as Christmas stitching is my favorite.
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Over the years, I have purchased so many books and charts of various designs and I’m sure that all of this became overwhelming at some point. Alas, (I never use this word) this new stitching group would give me focus. I could rid myself of all cross stitch things that were not Christmas related!
Yes! Focus! That’s what I need!
Rather than stitching kits, I have always preferred to stitch from a good cross stitch book and I have plenty. Most of the books were in storage and I went to get them. I sorted them out to set the Christmas related ones aside and I would decide what to do with the rest. It turns out that there are only a handful of books that I am willing (reluctantly) to part with. More about that later.
For now, I needed a good ornament to stitch up. I chose “Holiday Necklace” from the book “Christmas Ideas” by Mary Engelbreit, and I’ll finish it as an ornament or card.
I have stitched many Mary Engelbreit charts over the years and there are three of her books in my collection.
As a YouTube creator, I am also an avid YouTube fan. I watch a lot of videos! One day, I came across a Flosstuber who was doing a flip-through of “A Cross Stitch Christmas (2018) A Season of Giving“. I was delighted because I had no idea that “A Cross Stitch Christmas” was still being published! While sorting my collection of cross stitch books, I discovered that I had 3 books from the series. I didn’t even know there was a series! I investigated. What??!! I found that Craftways has been publishing these books since 1995! I am now on a mission to collect all 25 of the books. As of today, I have 11.
I immediately searched for and purchased the 2018 book and started stitching the trio of Peppermint Cookie ornaments. I am stitching these on clear perforated plastic. So far, I’ve finished the Snowman cookie and my latest finish is the Peppermint Candy cookie. The last one will be a Christmas tree which I will share once I’ve stitched it.
With all of this ornament stitching going on, I though it would be nice to add a focus piece that I could stitch on until Christmas. I chose “Snow Pals” by Mary Engelbreit from the same “Christmas Ideas” book I mention above. Here is photo of my progress so far.
Down the rabbit hole I went!
I currently have 5 Works In Progress and I vow that 5 is my maximum number of WIP’s allowed! This seems to be a manageable number. The additional cross stitch projects I’m working on are: “This House is a Mess” by Aliton Embroidery on Etsy, and “Krozwyrd” by Long Dog Samplers.
Here’s what they look like.
As you can see, I really enjoy stitching on black fabric! “This House” is being stitched on 14 ct. Aida and “Krozwyrd” is being stitched on 18 ct. Aida fabric.
The Fail
I learned about Stitchmaynia on YouTube. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is about stitching in the month of May. It started out as a challenge to start a new cross stitch project every day in the month of May, giving you 31 project starts. Since then, Stitchmaynia has morphed into whatever number you decide to start. Some stitchers have 15 starts, others have 1 start per week and still others sprinkle WIP’s throughout their stitching plans. It’s whatever you decide to do.
Since this would be my first Stitchmaynia, and I just had to have the “Feels Like Home” chart from Fat Quarter Shop, I decided I would make this chart my ONLY start in May. Unfortunately, a lot of life happened this month, most of it unpleasant. As of today, I have still not started “Feels Like Home“!
This Fat Quarter Shop exclusive chart is being released in 5 weekly parts. I received part 4 today. There was also a floss pack available, but it was out of stock at the time I ordered the chart. So, I placed an order with Everything Cross Stitch. Of course, the current pandemic caused a delay in shipping, but I am thrilled with their customer service. Let’s not get it twisted, though. I’ve had the floss for some time now.
There are still a few days left in May, so I still plan to start…in May. Wish me luck. I’ll keep you posted.
Black Ribbon Studio 