Almost forgot...

to post this little finish.  After finishing the stitching on "A Little Snow" I also stitched the bonus design included in the kit.

   Stitched with DMC on a scrap of amber linen as charted except I used the raspberry colored floss to stitch the little border at the bottom rather than the light pink.  I also gave my cardinal two tiny legs.

   As you can see, this little tag is tiny.  I always seem to forget how satisfying a little piece that only takes an hour (or less) to stitch can be.  

   I like to keep my floss stored on bobbins and like being able to 'kit' my colors together on a ring when I start a new project.  So I thought that this little piece would make a perfect floss tag.  Again, finishing things into something useful is so much better than leaving stitched pieces in a pile never to be seen again.  I used another one of the Twisted Stitcher's tutorials, this time for floss tags, and I am so glad I did.

  

An official finish

   I managed to actually do the finishing on my stitched "A Little Snow" piece.  I used the Twisted Stitcher's tutorial for creating a flat fold and although mine is certainly not perfect, I think it's pretty good for a first attempt.

Lizzie*Kate

A Little Snow

   Next time, I'll make sure to remove some of the bulk from the fabric at the corners before glueing everything together.

   I really loved this cute trim I found when out buying supplies.  I had to stop myself from buying it in every color!

   Wow, was this a lot of work to put together, but I think it is definitely worth the effort and much much better than letting stitched pieces languish in a pile indefinitely.

Excuse the dust

   I'm dusting off the blog after a hiatus that went on much longer than I expected. I guess that's what you can expect with the general chaos of the holidays on top of the general chaos of grad school.   Although I haven't been blogging much, that doesn't mean that I haven't been crafting. Knitting has taken over my (crafting) life which is no surprise. What has been surprising that I haven't been able to squeak in any time for other crafty endeavors. But let's change that.

   This weekend I stitched this little piece that I knew I had to have when I saw it pop up on the Lizzie*Kate blog recently. I used the recommended DMC colors and stitched 2 over 2 per the chart. Except for my freeform tree on the right (which means I miscounted and couldn't be bothered to fix it) I stitched as charted.

Lizzie*Kate 

A Little Snow

DMC as charted

    I think I want to try my hand at finishing this piece as a flat fold.  I've never done anything but frame a finished stitched piece (and poorly at that), but I'm looking to branch out.  This weekend I'll venture out to the craft store and pick up some supplies to get finishing!  I'm going to try the Twisted Stitcher's flat fold tutorial that can be found here.  I'll report back hopefully with a success!

a finish

Just in time for Halloween...

The Very Scary Mystery Sampler is framed and finished!

   I'm pretty amazed that I found an odd sized frame for cheap online that perfectly fit my piece.  My amateur framing job is far from perfect, but finished is finished.  This lovely is now hanging in my living room and will likely keep its place long after Halloween is gone.

it's nearly halloween time

   Last night I put the last few stitches into the Very Scary Mystery Sampler.  This last piece was my favorite of the sampler to stitch.  I mean... do you see that kitty?!

Pattern: Lizzy*Kate, Very Scary Mystery Sampler, Part 3

Fabric: stitched over 2 on 28 count Charles Craft Irish Linen - tea dyed

Floss: all DMC, using conversions provided by pattern

   I stitched the entire piece as charted using all DMC floss, colors as called for by the pattern.  I think I did pretty good considering this is my first cross stitch piece worked on linen and it's the first time I've worked a pattern that calls for a few special stitches.   

   Here's the whole piece.  Embellishments and beads are coming soon...

   My finished size comes to 6.25" by 18.25" after stitching over 2 on 28 count linen.  And amazingly, I found an 8" by 20" frame online which has been ordered.  So, I'll be experimenting with mounting and framing this piece.  It will be finished in time for Halloween!   

1/3 left to go

   Last night I finished up Part 2 of the Very Scary Mystery Sampler.

Pattern: Lizzy*Kate, Very Scary Mystery Sampler, Part 2

Fabric: stitched over 2 on 28 count Charles Craft Irish Linen - tea dyed

Floss: all DMC, using conversions provided by pattern

   This part of the sampler seemed to drag on forever, even though it only took a week (at most) to stitch.  I think it's because Part 3 is so great, I can't wait to get started on it!

   Not sure how I'm going to finish this once it's done.  It's a large piece especially since I stitched it on 28 count.  I'll probably need a custom frame.  I don't own a sewing machine, so my finishing options are pretty limited.  

   It will definitely be displayed somewhere for Halloween even if it includes my unfinished, masking taped edges.  Here's the entire piece so far:  

branching out

   I recently got the bug to branch out past cross stitch kits (mainly from Dimensions) and fell down the rabbit hole with the Lizzy*Kate Very Scary Mystery Sampler. Being new to working "kit-less" I stocked up on DMC floss and picked up some linen from my local big box craft store. I can safely say that I will never go back to working on aida. I'm not too happy with the linen used for this piece, but working with linen nonetheless has solved my cross stitch issues I encountered while using aida.  

   Here is my first installment, sans beads and embellishments.

Pattern: Lizzy*Kate, Very Scary Mystery Sampler, Part 1

Fabric: stitched over 2 on 28 count Charles Craft Irish Linen - tea dyed

Floss: all DMC using conversions provided by pattern

  I love this first piece of the sampler! Lots of variety and color changes to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, the linen is practically transparent. So, I've had to develop some interesting stitching techniques to keep threads on the backside from showing through. It's getting a bit more tricky on part 2 of the sampler.  

Look for an update soon!