Christmas Banners Stitch-a-Long, part 1

Hi everyone! Last time I finished the stitching on my holly pillow and selected my new project: a vintage felt-and-sequin Christmas banner. Before I show my progress on the kit, I want to show off my finished pillow cover: 

apologies for the terrible photo!

I started on the first of the vintage Christmas kits this month. There's something I really love about building up the picture, layer upon layer, adding stitches and sequins and beads and layers of felt. Here's where I've gotten to so far: 

I've finished the central "ornament"; next up I will add the bow and start the holly and mistletoe wreath. There are a lot of tiny leaves to stitch and applique; this may take some time. Or maybe it will just move along!

The other stitchers in this stitch-a-long are always working on amazingly beautiful and diverse projects: Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Mary Margaret, and Cindy.

Halloween Ornaments Project, February 2024

I heard about a woman who celebrates a special holiday -- possibly called "My Bloody Valentine"?? -- halfway between Valentine's Day and Halloween.... but I can't find any info about it on t'Internet. Closest thing I discovered was a "Halfway to Halloween" idea that encourages you to eat Halloween candy. But me? I'm just making ornaments every month. 

In January I started work on a small cross-stitched ornament taken from a pattern in an old Cross Stitcher Halloween issue: 

I'm stitched it on some Aida I ice-dyed last summer, leaving the "white" area (behind the "Boo!") unstitched to take advantage of the pretty Aida. 

Forgive the terrible picture, but I feel I also didn't do a great job of finishing the piece. But I still like the stitching and I think it will look cute on my tree. 

For the next month, I'm going to work on a companion piece, from the same issue of Cross Stitcher Halloween:

I'll stitch it on the same ice-dyed Aida (which I'll use on the back). 

I'll be back on March 13 to share my finished ornament and my next project pick.

Christmas Holly Stitch-a-Long, part 11

Hi everyone! Last time I had managed to get a lot of stitching done over the 6 weeks between check-ins. I always stitch more in winter because I tend to be home more. 

Here's where I was last time: 

Well, we had planned to be away for a long weekend ... but the blizzard warning and very cold temperatures (4 degrees Fahrenheit, -15 degrees Celsius) meant that we stayed home and indoors. So it's time for a happy dance!

I plan to edge this with some gold ribbon and surround that with black velvet and make a cover for my other pillows. I started doing this for my friend Rebecca several years back -- making her Christmas covers for her existing cushions so she didn't have to store whole pillows. I have some other sewing projects coming up and, well, I don't have a permanent place for my sewing machine so I'll wait and bundle it with those. 

So what's next? While we were on a trip to the eastern part of Washington last year, we stopped into a big thrift store and I found a TREASURE TROVE of vintage kits. I managed not to buy them all, but I did buy more than any sane person would. (FIVE of them. FIVE!) Long-time readers of the blog will be familiar with some of the other felt-and-sequin banner kits I completed; this is my next one:

I don't know that I'll spend the whole year working on Christmas things, but I do enjoy them and think they're fun to display. So we'll see. 

The other stitchers in this stitch-a-long are always working on amazingly beautiful and diverse projects: Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Mary Margaret, and Cindy.