Flosstube #38 was a BIG one. Huge. It had all of my 2017 finishes in it. How big? 62 finishes big. SIXTY TWO! Granted, quite a few of them were ATCs or parts of Round Robins, but if I started on it, finished at least my part of it, and sent it away, it's a finish. AmIRite?! So, without further ado....
January: Apparently I finished nothing in January.
February: -#crossstitchatcs February, Valentine's theme: Taken from
The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Complete Pen Pals Bundle. Stitched on random 18 count Aida.
-Round Robin Introductory round finish on a freebie quaker design. It wasn't in my Flosstube (oops!) and I have no idea what the design is or who the designer is or what the fabric was:
-
Glinda the Good by Petal Pusher, stitched on a 14 count black
pre-mounted canvas from Michael's.
March: -#crossstitchatcs in March was Paris themed. I stitched mine on perforated paper from a small magazine motif that I can no longer find:
-Celestial Dragon by Teresa Wentzler. A LOT of firsts here, first Kreinik, first beads, first blended threads, first over 1. Stitched on 28 count Antique White Monaco (I BELIEVE) with all of the called for:
April:-#crossstitchatcs April was an Easter theme of course. I once again went with
The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Complete Pen Pals Bundle and stitched it on perforated paper:
May:-#crossstitchatcs May was coffee theme (my idea!!), and I used a portion of Cathy Haberman of Hands On Design's
Go Your Own Way chart from her Cool Beans Series and stitched it on perforated paper:
-Modern Folk Embroidery's Earth Day chart, for which I can no longer find the link, stitched on 14 or 16 count natural Aida with overdyed threads and finished into a no-sew cube:
-
White House by Michael Powell, stitched on 14 count orange Aida and framed in a thrift store frame. This was a new release this year in Nashville and it ignited my burning love for Michael Powell:
June:
-#crossstitchatcs June, the theme was Man's Best Friend. I used a chart off of Pinterest (I know, bad me), stitched it up on perforated paper, and added some sass with my own words. Sent to Andrea in CO, it was PERFECTION:
-I participated in a Round Robin on the FB group Cross Stitching Friends, and for the next few months I'll have projects from the Modern Cross Stitch Designers group. This month's is
Live Simply from Stitchrovia. Whatever the fabric was, it was grey and mottled, and opalescent and gorgeous. The owner did change the called for colors:
-Lake Julia's Bees, this piece is from Just Cross Stitch Magazine, April 2005 and it's stitched on a random piece of thrift store linen; I think it was probably a bread cloth because it was REALLY soft. Framed in a thrift store frame:
-
Andromeda by Mirabilia, stitched on 16 count Aida in
Sunset Waters by Fabulous Fabrics:
-Ye Olde Coffee House by Little House Needleworks, stitched on 14 count brown Aida from the thrift store, mostly in the called for DMC. This chart was first in the June 2004 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine.
-
Hawaii Santa from Mill Hill, stitched with all of the called for (kit) flosses and beads on the kit perforated paper. Finished with a handmade cord and some felt on the back:
-Lakeside Needlecraft Tea & Cakes SAL. This was a freebie SAL hosted on the Lakeside Needlecraft Facebook page. I stitched it on an 18 count Aida solo dye from eBay and finished it in the most perfect trivet known to man:
July:
-#crossstitchatcs July theme was Christmas in July. I used a portion of
Prairie Schooler's 2015 Santa for this one, stitched on perforated paper:
-My contribution for a Mirabilia Round Robin 100x60 stitches was part of
South Seas Mermaid from Mirabilia. I did her in all of the called for floss and beads, and oh my goodness--there were a LOT of beads! Naturally I named her McKenna:
-Cutest finish of July goes to
Alice Matryoshka from Soda Stitch. I stitched her in the called for DMCs on a 6"x6" square of 14 count Aida that I bought in a lot on eBay:
-L'Amour by Durene Jones. This chart is from
Issue 134 of Cross Stitch Gold. I stitched it on 14 count natural Aida that I dyed in some delicious Pomegranate tea and finished it in a clearance frame from WalMart:
-Haunted House Freebie from Kreinik. This is stitched on 28 count dusty rose linen from the bargain bin in my LNS. I converted most of the Kreiniks to DMC and stitched the moon in glow in the dark DMC. This was my entry for the Introductory Round of my Round Robin group. In my Flosstube you can see this finished into a mounted flat fold a la Vonna:
August:
-#crossstitchatcs August was a Disney theme. I didn't get any clues from my partner's Instagram feed so I went with Mulan.
Chart is from Pinterest (not sorry) and it's stitched on 22 count Hardanger to maximize the amount of design I could get onto the ATC:
-August saw the end of
Steotchalong 5, by
Steotch. We had SO many amazing options that I had to take the Taco and run with it, as it were. This is stitched on that same 18 count solo dyed Aida from eBay that Tea & Cakes is on and finished in a thrift store Cherry Pie tray:
-My first Brooke's Books Witch was
Trixie. I stitched her with almost all of the called for flosses, luckily I had found three $5 bags of Kreinik on clearance this spring with 10-20 spools each!! on perforated paper. And I fell in love:
-My BIG finish for August was Witchy Washy from
Raise the Roof Designs. This was my first foray into Raise the Roof and it was everything. It was fun and charming and beautiful and a bit of a challenge but not TOO much of a challenge. I converted the called-for fancy floss to DMC, then back to the fancy flosses that I had in my stash. Instead of the JABCO buttons, I used a pack from Hobby Lobby. And the
incredible fabric is 32 count Lugana from
Ship's Manor in May Flowers, the April (I think?) FOTM:
-My second-to-least favourite finish of 2017:
Country Bath from Dimensions. This was an almost finished UFO that I picked up at St. Vinnie's because I wanted the stretcher bars. It was about 50 backstitches and 50 French knots away from being done, so I finished it up. It appears to be all done in the called for (kit) materials:
September:
-#crossstitchatcs theme for September was Blackwork. I used a freebie bookmark design and stitched mine on the blue thrift store linen that I found on the bolt and dyed with LOTS of Emerald Rit. I stitched my blackwork in DMC 3756:
-Modern Cross Stitch Round Robin in September had me stitching
Let Her Sleep by Peppermint Purple. I didn't love this design while I was stitching it, but I
loved the way that
Michelle Mich_Stitch stitched hers! My count and fabric are unknown as this isn't my project, but the DMC is the called-for:
-I can't quit The Frosted Pumpkin (not that you would want to!) but when I saw their
Black Hat Society chart I knew that I needed to do jut a few modifications and turn those three adorable witches into the Sanderson Sisters!! I stitched this on 22 count Hardanger that my friend Aimee helped me dye to the perfect color with all DMC and finished it with a Vonna Flat Fold + Danielle Scrapbook finish:
-Every year on Instagram, I participate in a Halloween ATC exchange. And every year, my ATCs feature some stitching (duh). This year, I used a tiny pumpkin from one of my (you guessed it) Frosted Pumpkin charts. Here they are:
-My next order of business in September was to finish my small for the smalls exchange for the Midwest Cross Stitchers' Retreat in MN. I stitched Sweeping the Garden by Barbara Ana Designs from the Autumn 2017 issue of
Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher (and if you don't already subscribe, just do it). I stitched this on a scrap of 28 count linen and finished into a little pillow:
-In September I was able to get going on operation #MakeFriendsUglyCry. And my first attempt was pretty solid. This is
Best Bee Friends by the Longaberger Compay. I stitched it on that same 28 count thrift store linen in all of the called for DMCs and finished it into a Vonna Flat Fold. Helga ugly cried:
October:
-#crossstitchatcs October theme was To Halloween or Not to Halloween. Are you joking? I Halloween'd. In fact, I restitched a part of a TinyModernist chart that I loved so much I couldn't stop stitching it: their
Halloween SAL. This time I stitched it on the 22ct Hardanger that I Halloween dyed and had previously used for the Black Hat Society. This is stitched in all of the called for DMC:
-Modern Cross Stitch Round Robin had me stitching on Satsuma Street's Arcadia. The owner sent the beautiful called-for teal fabric, but did a nursery pink and purple conversion that included Petite Treasure Braid. This was my first time using PTB and it was lovely:
-So, I finished the
TinyModernist Halloween SAL as an ATC, and I also finished the full piece. I stitched it in the called for DMC (mostly) on
PTP Cyprium in 32 count linen (it was gifted to me) and did a Vonna flat fold with a Priscilla-fy on top:
-I had a few finishes at the Minnesota Retreat, and the first one was a Lizzie Kate ornament called Joy. I found this on eBay and it was about half finished. Then when I was stitching it on the plane from Portland to Minnesota I realized that about 2/3 of the half was wrong. So I frogged and started again. this is stitched on the 28 count linen that came with it from eBay and the called for DMCs. I donated it to Becky the Obsessed Stitcher who donated it to her friend who lost everything in the Sonoma County, CA fires:
-My second retreat finish was a tad bit bigger:
The Town of Halloween by the Primitive Hare. Again, this was an eBay partially finished find. It's stitched on 30 count Old Salem Linen from the Primitive Hare with WDW Tarragon for the greens and WDW Mascara (which, if you haven't heard, is
not variegated). I made a change by stitching the witch's face in Tarragon instead of Mascara. I finished it in a perfectly-sized thrift store tray that I painted:
-Then at the Minnesota Retreat I started
You Say Witch... by MKissa Creations on Etsy. It was a fast, fun stitch with an easy to read chart. And she's my friend so go buy her pattern. This is stitched on 32 count linen in the Quiescence colorway from
Chromatic Alchemy (a gift from Lolly) with some DMC 310 and
Dinky Dyes Silks. This is still in the process of being finished. It's 3/4 of the way there:
November:
-#crossstitchatcs November theme was movies. My partner loves Labyrinth so I went with the
'Ello worm from SnarkyArtCompany on Etsy. And I stitched it on the same 16 count Aida that I used for a Barbara Ana that's coming up shortly:
-November was a CRAZY month for finishing. I think I finished something every single day for the first four or five days of the month. They were small though. One of them was my very first scissor fob. It was from a kit sent to me by Amy H. (@amylovestoads on Insta) called
Steppin Out by Praiseworthy Stitches. Everything but the batting was included and I think it came out great:
-Next I finished
First Moon Colony from Bent Creek. And I stitched this not once but twice. The second one was part of operation #MakeFriendsCry. I stitched them both identically on
30ct Weeks Dye Works Aztec Red Linen using all of the called for DMCs except the house, which was originally charted in red. Instead I subbed GAST Autumn. I finished them on matching thrift store trivets:
-Then I finished my next
Brooke's Books Witch: Polly the Pirate Witch. She's extra special because after hearing about my quest to stitch all of the Witches, Kara from
Kay's Cross Stitch offered to send me her UFO of Polly. She's stitched mostly in the called for on perforated paper with some bead and Kreinik substitutions to keep her a Stitch from Stash project:
-The beginning of my Barbara Ana obsession is the Autumn Splendor chart that Amy H sent me. This chart was in Cross Stitch & Needlework Magazine from November 2013. It's now known as Autumn Delight or
Autumn Tree. I'm not sure what the fabric is, as Amy had already started it, but the threads are mostly the called-for DMC:
-My next November finish was
Barbara Ana's The Witch, The Crow, and The Pumpkin. I picked this piece up as a finishing prize at the MN retreat in October. I stitched it on a really soft printed 16 count Aida that was gifted to me by Nancy, a Flosstube watcher. I made a lot of color substitutions to get some fancy floss in there and finished it on a perfect thrift store find:
-
Barbara Ana's Witch, Crow, and Pumpkin also came with a scissors fob/pinkeep chart. I stitched this twice, once 1/1 on 28 count linen and once 1/1 on 32 count linen. Then I finished them both into scissor fobs and sent them on to their new owners. Got
McKenna with operation #MakeFriendsCry and we'll see who gets the twin:
-For the #flosstubechristmasswap run by the
Weasleys, my partner was Siri (@siristitch on Instagram and half of
DueAmici Craft on Flosstube). I picked a cute little
bb8 snowman from Rainbowstitchcross on Etsy and stitched him on another one of the 6" x 6" 14 count Aida pieces from my eBay lot, then finished him into an ornament:
-My last November finish was my nemesis: a thrift store chart I'm calling Ho Ho Ho Santa. It was a $0.99 chart that came with Aida (not sure what the count was) and floss (it wasn't DMC). I had so many problems with this guy, but he came out looking okay after I stitched everything but the white and dipped him in coffee:
December:
-I had another double finish in December:
A. Bee. C. by Bent Creek. I stitched it once on the 16 count Aida that I've been using for everything and again on one of my 14 count 6" x 6" squares. I used the called for DMC for both where I could and complimentary colors where I couldn't so it was a true stitch from stash. I finished both of them as little pillows and one will go to one of my 2k giveaway winners:
-December 1 was the start of
#FancyOuthouseSAL, the brain child (if you can call it that) of Michelle Mich Stitch and I. We agreed that Michael Powell's Garden Shed from his
Twenty to Stitch book looked a whole lot like an outhouse. Luckily, MP's design elves were able to craft us a moon window and we stitched those little outhouses. Mine is in the called for DMC (converted from Anchor) on a piece of 14 count thrift store Aida that I dyed with Emerald Rit:
-For my other Flosstube 2k giveaway winner, I let Rose pick the chart. She chose Michael Powell's Bunch of Flowers from his Twenty to Stitch book. I stitched this on the same 14 count Aida as the #FancyOuthouseSAL with all of the DMC colors converted from Anchor and finished it in a thrift store frame:
-
#TinyChristmasSAL was a freebie from
ArmadaDesigns. She released one small bit of the design per day on December 1-24. It was designed to fit in a 6" embroidery hoop which is where I finished it. I stitched it on 18 count Floba (a first for me) with most of the called-for DMC colors:
And that's it. My last finish for 2017.... Probably. ;-)
