Author Archives: alisonshirley

About alisonshirley

My true love is cross stitch, but I also dabble in a few other needlearts and love to quilt and craft in general.

Ornament – A Wish

This is the second ornament for this year.  Again, it is out of a 2007 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.  It is called “A Wish For Hope and Peace” designed by Belinda Karls-Nace of Blue Ribbon Designs.  I remember stitching this a few years ago as a present for a family member.

I am substituting DMC thread (shocking, isn’t it) for the Weeks Dye Works used in the model.  I am stitching two threads over two on 32-count Mushroom Lugana.

I can’t find the magazine to get a picture of the finished project but here is my progress so far.  I think it should stitch up fairly quickly.

 1426468851609

 

Ornament – O Christmas Tree

I am in the mood for Christmas!  So, I dug out some old Just Cross Stitch magazines and pulled some Christmas ornaments to stitch!  I have several lined up, but this is the one I started with – O Christmas Tree by Follow The Leader Designs.

This appeared in a 2007 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.  The original design called for Gentle Art Sampler Threads, but, of course, I am sticking with my trusty DMC.  It also was designed to be a scissor fob with a finished size of 1.5″ x 1.75″ by stitching over one with one thread.  I wanted an ornament so I am stitching over two with two threads.

I am stitching this on 32-count Cream Belfast linen.  After I finish it, I may make another using some brownish/grey linen I found in my stash.

Here is the chart (of course I will change out the 2007 to be 2015):

1426386208166
Here is my progress after one afternoon of stitching:
1426386138981

I hope to complete it this weekend and then I am going to try to “finish” it into an actual Ornament!  Whoo Hoo!

Loose Feathers

This is one of the projects I wanted to start (and finish!) this year – Loose Feathers by Blackbird Designs.  It was originally released in 2011 in three separate pamphlets: Summer, Autumn, and Winter.   I picked up all three at Quilt Festival this past fall from The Silver Needle booth.  I just love visiting their booth every year during Quilt Festival and looking at all the goodies!

1421116529772   1421116563613

 

 

 

The chart calls for using Cresent Colors and Gentle Arts thread, but I chose to go with regular old DMC thread.  Only because I am lazy and it is easy for me to find and I have almost every color.  I went to my local needlework store and picked up a piece of 32-count Mushroom Lugana.

1421116916814

Here is my progress after a few days of stitching:

1426043889862

I have enjoyed stitching this chart so far.   I always begin stitching in the middle of a pattern so I am currently stitching the birds in the “Autumn” chart.