Prairie Schooler Santas

I've been doing a bit of cross stitch over the summer holidays. I've now completed 5 Prairie Schooler Santas.  The company releases a new Santa pattern every year and I bought about 30 of them when I decided to join this craze.  I keep them all in one project bag so it's easy to pick another one when I finish one. 

2021 Santa

1996 Santa

2003 Santa

2005 Santa

1984 Santa

I haven't turned them into FFO's yet (Finally Finished Objects) because I want to stitch more of them first and then finish them all in a similar manner - probably mini pillows but I'm not totally sure yet. 

I do like having something small and relatively easy to stitch.  The design all use a limited palette of colours so I keep a good supply of cottons and my chosen linen in the my project bag too.  

Christmas Stocking

Do you like the Christmas Stocking I made?

A few months ago a family member asked if I would make a Christmas stocking for her baby.  It's baby's first Christmas so of course she needed a stocking.  

I spotted this very cute fabric by Mia Charro for Free Spirit Fabrics so I bought it and proceeded to quilt it with my walking foot.  Then I cut out the stocking shapes and bound it using my Patterns byAnnie instructions. I do like the red striped binding - it finishes it off perfectly.  

After two long weeks the parcel has finally arrived in Australia and the baby has given it her seal of approval.  I hope she received lots of presents in it at Christmas.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:

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Cross Stitch

 I haven't done any quilting in January - instead I've been busy cross stitching.

The online Jingle Ball online event in December rekindled my interest in cross stitching, and seeing all the beautiful hand made Christmas decorations on Instagram definitely got me motivated to stitch more.  

Through the Jingle Ball I became aware of some different designers, so I've been stitching decorations designed by Hands On Design and Erica Michaels.  The one above is part of Christmas Countdown by Erica Michaels and it's going to be finished as a drum - something new for me!

These two below are by Hands On Design and were are exclusive for the Jingle Ball attendees, but will be released later in 2023. I'm still working on the third part - Noel.

  

And then, I finally figured out the finishing for the Twelve Days of Christmas by Hello from Liz Mathews, so I finished two of my trees, and started a third.  

Oh! And I've made two more Mill Hill beaded Santas since Christmas. Here's the first one.

And finally, I somehow got sucked in to the Peppermint Purple 2023 blackwork stitch a long. My justification for that was that it's free, and it's only one tiny square of black work each week.  Surely I can keep up with that.  I found some pretty variegated thread in my stash, but I did have to buy a special piece of hand dyed linen to complement the threads.   Unfortunately I can't show you any progress pictures or I'll be booted out of the programme!

So, my hands have been busy while I've watched the Australian Open tennis matches on TV.  I've even quite enjoyed a break from my sewing machine.  

Now it's time for the Peacock party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

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2022 Christmas Countdown - Mill Hill Santas

Day 17 of my 2022 Christmas Countdown and it's my Mill Hill Santas.  

I have five finished Santas now.  I do recall saying that I would continue making these Mill Hill Santas rather than joining the Prairie Schooler Santa train, but somehow I weakened and I've now made two Prairie Schooler Santas too! 

These kits are so well made and contain everything you need, except the felt to go on the back.  I've just kitted up my next two Mill Hill Santas to take on holiday with me because they're such a pleasure to stitch. 

Here's some closer up photos so you can see the details:

And the felt I glue on the back to finish them nicely.  

2022 Christmas Countdown - Beaded Angels

Day 15 of my 2022 Christmas Countdown and it's my Beaded Angels.

This ornament is very special to me because it was tricky to make. I went to classes at Nancy's Stitch Studio and learnt how to do beading.  The beads are threaded together with very fine Nymo thread which is extra strong nylon thread. The way they nest in to each other is called Peyote stitch - frequently used by North American Indians.  

To make this ornament we made the same angel six times, and then did some fancy magic stuff at the top to join them all together.  

Can you believe I was so happy when this was finished that I bought a second kit to make another set? It's sitting upstairs barely started and I don't know if I can remember how to do it now.  Maybe I'll dig it out in 2023 - my year of finishing things.  (Where's the laughing emoji when you need it.)

  

2022 Christmas Countdown - Mill Hill beaded ornaments (part 3)

Day 12 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my third and final post on my Mill Hill beaded ornaments.  

Aren't they cute! My favourite is the gingerbread house (of course) but they're all cute.  They're quite quick to stitch, and easily finished by gluing a piece of felt on the back and trimming them.  I like to make a beaded hanger from the left over beads.  

I've still got a few kits in my stash, so there may be more in future years, but this is it for Christmas 2022.  

2022 Christmas Countdown - Mill Hill beaded ornaments (part 2)

Day 8 of my Christmas Countdown.

Here's some more of my Mill Hill beaded ornaments.  I do enjoy making these little kits.  They're quite cheap to buy (approx USD10) and everything you need is included - even the needles!

the purple one on the right is Diamond Holiday

When it comes to finishing these ornaments I cut them out carefully being sure to cut one hole away from the stitching.  Then I glue a piece of felt on the back.  It hides all the threads nicely.

2022 Christmas Countdown - Holiday Ornaments

Day 6 of my Christmas Countdown.

These decorations are worked on canvas with thicker threads like Perle 5.  The designs are by Laura J Perin and they're called Holiday Ornaments Series #2.  (The page takes a while to load.)

What makes these decorations stand out is the Caron Watercolours 025 "Holiday" thread which definitely provides interest. And the gold metallic thread too.  

I tend to just place these ornaments on the tree - they don't have hangers.  

2022 Christmas Countdown - Victoria Sampler ornaments

Day 5 of my Christmas Countdown.  

These cute ornaments were designed by Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler.  I still remember downloading the patterns and then searching through mum's box of embroidery fabrics to find this perfect red fabric. I always get the urge to stitch something Christmassy on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.  

Finishing ornaments like this is always a challenge.  It's one thing to stitch the design, but another thing completely to finish them nicely.  I'm very happy with how these two turned out.  

They'll definitely be going on the tree when I get it out soon.  

(I don't think these designs are available anymore.)

2022 Christmas Countdown - Mill Hill beaded ornaments (part 1)

Day 4 and it's time for my first set of Mill Hill beaded ornaments.

I love stitching these little ornaments.  It's a tradition now for mum to give me a new kit for Christmas and for me to stitch it between Christmas and New Year while watching cricket on TV.  

The perforated paper can be a challenge at first, but once you get used to it, it's fine.  Just don't pull the thread too tightly and rip the paper!

I glue felt on the back to finish the ornaments nicely, and I like to make beaded strings to hand them from because there's always lots of beads left over.  

2022 Christmas Countdown - Gingerbread Stitching House

Yes, in case you missed Day 1 yesterday, I'm doing a Christmas Countdown and I'm going to show you a different handmade decoration each day of December until Christmas Day.  

Today it's my Gingerbread Stitching House.  

This was the first cottage that I made from the Gingerbread Village designed by Victoria Sampler.  I quickly became addicted to the Gingerbread Village and have now made almost all of the cottages.

I love the way that the stitches on the roof  look like icing.  It's almost good enough to eat. And the hardanger on the windows.

This stitching house was designed so the roof lifts off and you can store things inside. The area is very small though because the whole house is only 4" x 4". 

I like to record my name and the date on the base of my cottages, and this tells me I made this stitching house 10 years ago.  It seems fitting that I will finish the final house in the village series in December 2022.  

I'll be featuring other houses from my Gingerbread Village in my 2022 Christmas Countdown, but you can also read more about my Gingerbread Village in the tab at the top of my blog.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter