Source: Just Nan, CPS13Materials: Cashel linen (I forget the precise shade), silk floss
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Amazing, isn't it, what you can do with a bunch of x's? And when you add in other embroidery stitches, the possibilities are endless. If you get hooked on this, you can drop tons of money on more patterns than you'd ever have time to stitch, stock up on great colors of thread and cool fabrics, and cover your walls. A really nice shop used to be a long walk from my apartment; now it's a tad far to walk, but it's still on the bus route. Heh.
Source: Just Nan, CPS13
Materials: Cashel linen (I forget the precise shade), silk floss
Photo
I started this one in a class at my home away from home, Ginger's Needlearts and Framing. The other folks in the class were impressed by how far I got on it. "Yeah," I said, "that's because once I leave this room, it'll take me another year to finish it." An underestimation, alas. It's hard to get the impetus to work on silk thread embroidery when you've got a grubby small child around the house. But I finally started sitting down with this project regularly, and hurrah! it's done!
This is a 90th birthday present for my son's great-grandmother.
Started April 2000
Finished April 2005
Source: Thea Gouvernour kit
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This was a kit I'd bought in Belgium several years ago; I finally got around to making it.
Started August 2004
Finished November 2004
Source: my design/Lois McMaster Bujold quote
Materials: linen band, floss
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If this isn't the obvious thing to make as a wedding gift for two Bujold fans who are in the Army and will be shipped around a lot, I don't know what is.
Started and finished July 2004
Source: Marie Barber design, Just Cross-Stitch
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It's complicated, it uses lots of colors, it's detailed, and it's relatively small. The Teresa Wentzlers are staying in the USO pile until the boy is older, but this one was finishable.
Started June 1999
Finished May 2004
Source: Janilynn kit, I believe
Photo (on right)
This was a quick and easy project, except for one detail:
Why do needlework designers put bogus musical notation on pieces?
It's one thing to use random musical symbols in a stylized design that's clearly not supposed to be an actual piece of music. However, if you are designing a pattern to look like actual music, get a fricking musician to look at it and tell you if it's reasonable! The people who make these patterns are likely to give them to musicians, and musicians who read music will laugh their heads off at music prints that look like atonal music with wild metrical experimentation. (Assuming it doesn't have backwards notes, which anyone who reads music will spot immediately....)
This one's a prime example. The charted notes were gibberish, so I stitched it with the notes for Engleburg, an appropriate hymn tune for the theme. In retrospect, I should've checked the music first because I have the measures starting on a different beat than most arrangements have it, but at least you can tell what the piece is!
Started July 2003
Finished August 2003
Source: The Nutmeg Needle
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A very nice little piece. I finished the center backstitching in an evening and then took a year and a half to finish it. (Let's hear it for slow boring conventions! I got the bulk of this done during the numerous slow periods in the booth at a meeting I worked in November 2002.)
It's interesting how you can make associations between a needlework piece and what you're hearing as you stitch. I did much of the cutting while watching The Rookie on the bus on the way home, and for the next several weeks, handling this piece made me remember that movie. (Which would be okay if I'd liked the movie :-P.)
Started March 2001
Finished December 2002
Source: At River's End
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A great sampler for ham radio operators. This was a present for my dad
Started July 2001
Finished December 2002
Source: Crossed Wings (#22, Things that Go Hoot in the Night)
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A wonderful little owl. I did this on black linen, adjusting the pattern a bit to fit on the size piece I had -- mainly moving the moon down and omitting most of the stars.
Started January 1997
Finished January 1998
Source: Weekenders kit, can't remember the manufacturer
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A cute little pattern in a series called "Weekenders". You probably could finish this one in a weekend if you had no other responsibilities; it took me a little over a year.
Started September 1998
Finished September 1999
Source: Twisted Threads
I made this one for Theresa May, my former supervisor, when I switched departments. Theresa delights in chocolate, so this was appropriate.
Started and finished January 1999
Source: 101 Quickies leaflet
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A quick little piece for my then-husband.
Started and finished November 1998
I liked this pattern; I've got a couple more Just Nan projects to work on eventually. While a lot of people seem to recommend completing each row of a band sampler before starting the next one, I've found that I prefer jumping from row to row -- it makes the project that much more interesting.
Started October 1996
Finished February 1997
Source: Stoney Creek
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This was a project at the Spirit of Cross-Stitch Festival in Austin some years back. A nice way to end the weekend.
Started August 1996
Finished November 1996
Source: Teresa Wentzler
The big one. A dragon, and its castle, in a gazillion shades. Don't work this chart on Aida. But if like me you're crazy enough to do it, have a sewing needle on hand to pierce the center of the square so you can make those quarter stitches.
This was a birthday present for one of my friends. Someday I might make it again for myself....
Started April 1995
Finished November 1996
Source: my design
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My own design. (If I were redoing it, I'd adjust the chart so the M doesn't look so much like an N.) I did the doves in Kreinik glow-in-the-dark thread and floss. Should've used fewer strands, in retrospect, but it still looks good in the dark.
Started November 1995
Finished December 1995
Source: Emie Bishop
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This was a project that I did in a class at the local needlework shop. It has a lot of different techniques in a small space -- hardanger, pulled thread, beadwork. The letters work well with DMC flower thread. I've thought about doing another one some day on a black background with bright blue and purple colors, but we'll see.
Started November 1995
Finished December 1995
Source: Charland Designs
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I made this for my husband just before we got engaged. It was done on black linen, with two colors of Caron Collection's Wildflowers and silver thread.
Started and finished August 1996
Source: Needlecraft for Today, March/April 1985
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I've actually made this one twice. I first made it in 1985, and then I lost the piece a few years later. I finished the second copy in spite of one of my college roommates spilling cola on the fabric....
First one: June 1985-September 1985
Second one: August 1992-April 1995
Source: Linda Reeves patterns in Just Cross-Stitch
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These were designed as individual pieces, but I put them all together on one big piece of fabric with a border. I really like this designer's work; she uses a bunch of different stitches, and all her pieces are small enough that one doesn't get bored before the end.
I did actually do this in a "sampler of the month" fashion; in general, I managed to start and finish each month's sampler in the correct month.
Started January 1997
Finished February 1998
Source: The Woolford Stitcher WS005
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I made this for my dad, who has a great sense of humor about his weight. ("I won't say I'm heavy, but when I got into the elevator the other day, I looked at the weight limit, and they had my picture.")
Started March 1997
Finished April 1997
Source: kit -- don't remember the manufacturer
Photo
This kit was a gift Shannon Davies brought me from a visit to Hawai'i. Very quick to stitch -- it took me maybe two days.
Started and finished December 1996
Source: Linda Reeves design
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This was interesting to work, because of all the different stitches. I changed some of the threads from the original.
Started April 1996
Finished May 1996
Source: Linda Reeves design in Just Cross-Stitch
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A wonderful sentiment, and a fun piece. The original design is in purple and yellow Waterlilies and related threads, but I used blue and green shades instead instead.
I worked this one simultaneously with the Stargazer Sampler, on the same big piece of Jobelan.
Started April 1996
Finished May 1996
Source: Country Stitch
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This was a gift for my sister, the horse person. I took this with me on my first trip to Europe, and have very fond memories of working on this in the main square in Munich and overhearing some fellow American tourists nearby say, "Look, she must be doing a traditional local craft!" I was tickled. (Americans in Europe tend to take me for European, for some reason. Europeans, on the other hand, always know I'm American.)
Started January 1991
Finished March 1995
Source: Owls by Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath
A snowy owl in flight over a winter landscape. I made this as a farewell gift for Shannon Davies when she was planning to leave the Press. Then she decided to stay for another year, so it turned into a "glad you're staying" present....
Started April 1995
Finished June 1995
Source: some kit that I never want to see again
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Dear gods, what a nightmare project these were. I don't know why I found them so difficult, but they took frigging forever, and I got off a couple stitches in the violin and had to correct it on the fly, and then there were all those #$^&%@ French knots.... Teresa Wentzler's "Castle" was easier!!
I gave the lute to my friend Michael, if I recall correctly. I've still got the violin, but I may unload it to my officemate eventually....
Started March 1989
Finished April 1995
Source: Class I took at Ginger's, need to look up the designer
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The first class I ever took at Ginger's Needlearts. A simple sampler, with some silk threads and a number of decorative stitches. I didn't do the best job of finishing the thing, but hey....
Started September 1995
Finished October 1995
Source: class at Spirit of Cross-Stitch, don't remember the designer
Made this as a class kit -- a little linen band with bells stitched with Kreinik blending filament -- and gave it to some friends as a wedding present.
Started August 1995
Finished September 1995
Source: leaflet of Garfield patterns
The problem with some cross-stitch patterns is that you can outgrow your interest in the pattern before you finish the project. When I started this piece, I was in high school band and orchestra, and was still a huge Garfield fan. By the time I finished -- well, it wasn't something I especially wanted to hang up in my house. I think I gave it to my sister, and I have no idea what she did with it. Oh well, at least I finished it....
Started August 1986
Finished December 1994
Source: Mill Hill kit
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My 2006 ornament. These kits are nice and simple, and they work up pretty quickly when one actually works on them.
Started October 2006
Finished December 2006
Source: Witches Stitches
Materials: gold perforated paper and DMC floss
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My 2005 ornament. The pattern calls for white perforated paper, but I decided to use gold instead; I also left off the blending filament details. This is a companion to the below Winter Moon ornament.
Started and finished September 2005
Source: Willmaur Crafts kit
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My last completed project of 2004, a Santa sitting on a moon. I decided to leave the beard off, making the Santa more androgynous (half intentional weirdness, half being too lazy to glue a beard on).
Started November 2004
Finished December 2004
Source: Mill Hill kit MHTD29
Photo (right)
Another Mill Hill kit. This one was pretty quick; there really isn't that much stitching involved.
Started and finished February 2005
Source: Mill Hill kit MHTD13
Photo (left)
Yet Another Mill Hill Kit.
Started August 2003
Finished September 2003
Source: Witches Stitches
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A little Yule tree ornament. The pattern recommends white perforated paper, but I used silver instead; I had to watch what angle I held it at, as the reflection from the lamp could make stitching difficult, but the final effect is very nice.
Started & finished August 2002
Source: Mill Hill kit MHTD16
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Yet another Mill Hill ornament kit. I like these things, even if objectively I'm paying through the nose for the supplies -- they're quick, they're self-contained, and I'm not having as many problems with running out of beads. Sometime I'd like to get the Blue Snowflake ornament in this series....
Started September 2001
Finished October 2001
Source: Leisure Arts kit
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I picked this kit up cheap at my local Michael's. It was a bit of a pain -- a Teresa Wentzler-ish level of color detail, in something that I find frankly too small to be worth the trouble. But it looks good, I suppose.
Finished November 2000
Source: Patrick Inc. chart
Photo
I'm so glad I'm done with this one. I made it in a pre-made ornament, and it just barely fit. Stitching in the margins -- argh! And I got the bright idea to use the metallic floss I had rather than the rayon it called for; the pain in the rear factor is probably about equal.
Finished August 1999
Source: Permin of Copenhagen kit 14-0241
Photo (leftmost)
A very quick and simple ornament.
Started and finished April 1997
Source: Sweetheart Tree, SV-M127
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A heart with a silver oak leaf charm. (Yes, it was silver, at one point, before I hung it up near our stove and didn't touch it for a year and a half....)
Started and finished December 1996
Source: Mill Hill kits
Twilight Treasure Box, Emerald Teardrop,
I've done quite a few Mill Hill beaded ornaments. I like them because they're usually small and fast to work up; the only problem is that I occasionally run out of the beads called for and have to improvise.
Twilight Treasure Box, MHBJ10: July-August 1997
Emerald teardrop, MHTD5: December 1997
Teal/copper snowflake (in middle): December 1997
Ruby Engraved Heart, MHTD4, c. 1998
Blue crystal star, MHTD3: January 1998
Ruby Diamond, MHBJ8 (with needlepoint egg): December 1998
Crystal Snowflake, MHTD6 (upper left): November 2000
Source: kit, don't recall the manufacturer
Green square (upper left), red circle (second from right)
The gold thread was a pain, but overall these were kind of fun; they actually made a good bus project.
Probably made around 1994
Wreath, bell, Christmas cat, tree, cat with gift, trumpeter
Made at various times; more details to come.
Source: Jeanette Crews OmniBook of Florals, with a different text
Materials: an Aida bookmark and floss
Photo
"Books and Gardens thrive with Editing." This is a retirement present for the Press's managing editor.
Started June 2005
Finished August 2005
Source: my design, with letters from some alphabet collection that I have to relookup
Materials: bib, DMC 601, 603, 995, and 996
Photo
A bib for my nephew Evil Minion Zurl, who now goes by Joshua. Generic, so his future siblings can wear it too.
Started and finished March 2004
Source: Animal Magnetism by Cross My Heart Inc.
Materials: aida and floss
Photo (on left)
A present for my dad, who likes bald eagles.
Started October 2003
Finished November 2003
Source: Serendipity Designs kit
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Bluebonnets. (Well, lupines, but close enough for this Texan.) I picked up this kit at Ginger's for really cheap. I can see why -- I had the darndest time separating the colors. I swear that two of the shades of blue were identical flosses.
I finished this as a magnet and gave it to a coworker as thanks for caring for my cat.
Started May 2001
Finished January 2003
Source: Textile Heritage kit
Front view and back view
One of these little kits that's way pricey because it's imported from Scotland, but is so cool-looking that I couldn't resist it.
I was very annoyed, though, to find that when you trim the seam as narrowly as they suggest, the fabric frays to the point that the seam pulls out when you turn it rightside out. Grumble. So I went to the sewing machine and put a zigzagged edge around the whole thing; it looks less elegant, but it'll hold together! If I make this pattern again, I'll either leave a thicker seam or go over it with the sewing machine before turning.
Started December 2001
Finished July 2002
Source: Textile Heritage Collection kit
A present for my friend Michael, who's got some Welsh heritage.
Started and finished August 2001
Source: adapted from a Burda Patterns magazine of Hardanger designs
Photo
A present for my mother-in-law, designed to fit her table. The edging took longer to make than the Hardanger itself.
Started November 2000
Finished March 2001
Source: Mill Hill kit
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I hate silk ribbon embroidery. I hate silk ribbon embroidery even more on perforated paper. But this looks okay. I realized I'll never wear it as a pin, so I glued a magnet on the back instead and put it on the fridge; that way it's at least functional.
Started December 2000
Finished March 2001
Source: my design
Photo
I bought this scissors case with an Aida flap years ago, but only recently did I get around to putting something on it. Just my initial; nothing fancy.
Started and finished March 2001
Source: my designs, with patterns taken from an Imaginatings leaflet
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New Year's presents for my coworkers. Easy, fast, and looks cool.
Started and finished December 2000
Source: Stoney Creek
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This is one of those pieces that I could easily get done in a weekend -- back when I was single, childless, and didn't have a kitchen to paint. I gave it to my mom for her birthday; now I need to make another for myself sometime!
Started March 2000
Finished November 2000
Source: Muppet in Stitches: Playtime, Just Cross Stitch
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Yes, I did finish this in time for my son to use it!
Started October 1998 Finished February 2000
The perfect present for a new grandma. I didn't have time to make as fancy a one as I'd have liked, but hey, it's my own design, and the content is the important thing, right?
Started September 1999
Finished October 1999
A plain cardboardy box with a stitched and beaded top. Quite cute, quick to work, and unlike some Mill Hill kits I've used, this one had enough beads.
This was the first project I finished after my son was born.
Started May 1999
Finished June 1999
Source: Textile Heritage Collection kit
Photo
The original kit was intended as a keycase, but since I've never sewn in the keyring nor added the velcro to close it, I just use it as a needlecase.
Finished June 1999
Source: Embellishments, Emie Bishop Designs
Materials: Light blue evenweave scrap, purple and teal perle cotton, Tropic Seas Wildflowers thread
Photo
A simple scrap evenweave project, and further proof that buttonhole stitch edgings take longer than the hardanger they're surrounding.
Started and finished October 1996
Source: a Zweigart leaflet
Photo (towel on left)
Backstitched birds and a simple rainbow on a towel. First pattern that I made because my husband liked it.
Started and finshed October 1996
Source: Jeannette Crews, Winged Things
Blue and white hand towels with a backstitch horse pattern on the Aida band. A simple little present for my then-not-yet sister-in-law and her husband
Started and finished December 1996
Source: a Spirit of Cross-Stitch class
Photo
A simple bookmark, with nun's stitch edging and pulled triangular stitch fringe. I made this in a class on edge finishings.
Started August 1996
Finished September 1996
Source: pattern from Needle Treasures's "Legendary Locomotives" kit
Photo
This was my "relationship testing" bookmark. In the past, I'd noticed that whenever I made something for a boyfriend, the relationship tended to crumble a few months afterward. So when I learned that my sweetie of the time was a train fan and liked this one engine, I jokingly figured I'd find out for sure if he was The One.
Well, we're married and have a kid, so I guess it worked! (2002 Postscript: But now we're divorced, so maybe the lesson to me is never make anything for anyone I like again....)
Started November 1995
Finished December 1995
Source: Dover Books
Photo
Very simple -- dandelions in the four corners, and a single line of double running connecting them.
Finished around 1996
Source: Just Cross Stitch leaflet "Absorbing Nature"
Photo (towel on right)
A plain hand towel. One side has a bluebird and nest; the other has my initials.
Started 1987
Finished July 1995
Source: my design
Photo
I would call this pattern "Wheel of Time", except that the title's been taken.... Anyway, I picked colors that remind me of the seasons and the cross-quarters. The clock frame and hardware I picked up in a little kit at some craft store somewhere.
Started and finished April 1995
Source: Needlecraft for Today
One of these plastic mugs with plastic canvas inserts. The pattern was pretty easy, and I finished it surprisingly quickly for its size -- of course, carrying it with me to basketball games helped....
Started and finished November 1994
Last updated 21 March 2006
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