This project is so gorgeous.  It is from Badger Brook Farms.  I am just in love with it!!!!  It is vintage everything- lace, buttons, ticking fabric.  I love how it turned out.  I bought a hanger for it that is rusted with stars on it, and of course I can't find it!  I hope that by writing about the project here will be a call out to the universe to help me find it. LOL  When it's fully finished I'll post again. :) 

Another sampler by Lizzie Kate!  I didn't realize until I started writing up my blog posts all of the summer items I had by Lizzie Kate.  I hope that this isn't too boring, but I do really enjoy these types of projects and I hope that it inspires others to maybe start cross-stitching.  I keep my blog to document my projects on my own little teeny tiny part of the ginormous internet, and I enjoy it so much.  Anyways, back to the project!  Several years ago I belonged to a guild that would provide a display during the summer months at the library where the meetings were held.  The theme was strawberries, and someone who was very dear to me in the guild came up with the theme because she loved strawberries.  For this finish, I laced the finished piece as well as the background on to mat board.  Then I adhered the piece to the wooden plague.  I poked a nail into it to hang the strawberry pin cushion, which had been a gift from my friend.  The fabric for the background was in my stash, and loved how it matched the threads. 

Another Lizzie Kate finish!  As you can maybe see, I have an affinity for Lizzie Kate designs. :)  When I first started to stitch on linen, as I mentioned in another post Lizzie Kate designs were recommended to me as a entry design to begin on linen because they were said to not be too complicated.  I would definitely agree.  Also, I really like the aspect that the designs are seasonal and also several are in series.  So part of the fun is to collect all the charts and then work on each one little by little.  I love the idea of changing them around with the change of the seasons.  As a true New Englander, I thrive on the change of the seasons, and love to incorporate rotating my decor during the times of the seasons changing.  For this series of designs, I do have them all kitted, but take them out periodically with the seasons, so I don't finish them too quickly.  I really enjoy working through all the motifs one by one.  For the full finishing, I did something a little bit different where I laced it to a mat with some fusible fleece to make it puff out a little bit.  I also laced and used a pieced of fusible fleece on a piece of fabric for the background.  I couldn't resist using this fabric, and I wanted to be able to see it.  I then attached the two pieces together with little tacking stitches.  The frame is just from a big box craft store (I can't remember which one.).  

This is a beach bag by JBW Designs.  I loved this when I saw this long, long ago.  I believe that I stitched it around 12 or so years ago.  There was a local cross-stitch stop near me and they were selling the pattern as well as the finished bag.  The piece was cross-stitched directly on the bag, which wasn't too easy to do since I was new to stitching on linen.  I am really pleased with how it turned out, but admittedly, I don't want anything to happen to the bag or stitching, so I never use it as a bag! (LOL)  I like to decorate our kitchen area for the holidays, such as Easter and the fourth of July.  I use it as part of the fourth of July decor.  It is so cheery hanging up on the closet door.  :)

I finished this Lizzie Kate piece a long, long time ago, like the others I have posted about.  I actually think this series was one of the first that I ever stitched on linen.  I had started with the March piece, but for some reason stopped at August (I've completed January through August.).  I don't have enough linen for the rest, so am going to have to place an order! 

This was so enjoyable to make.  It love stitching and creating with wool.  This was a printed image that I bought at a booth at a quilt show.  At the time, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I decided when I found the purple wool to make a wall hanging.  Initially I was going to use this wool for a backing of another project, which would have been such a shame because of how pretty this wool is and no one would have seen it.  I used fusible to attach the image to the wool, and then used a feather stitch and a blanket stitch around the edges to add some texture and dimension.  Afterwards, I cut out a flower motif free hand because I felt that maybe it needed something in the corner of the piece, so I free hand cut out the flower and the flower pot using fabric and wool.  I added some French knots to the flower.  For myself, I don't like any edge to be unfinished.  This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with that, it is just my style preference.  I blanket stitched around all of the edges, and then slid it onto the dowel.  I love looking at this in my kitchen!

I have another monthly stitch from Lizzie Kate Designs.  I had this framed very, very simply with a plain wooden frame without glass.  I honestly forgot about this series I stitched from Lizzie Kate, and I actually didn't finish September-December.  I hope that I can do them over the next few months- they are really fun to do and also a really quick stitch. 

Oh my, how I love this pattern.  It is so beautiful- I saw it finished in a shop many, many years ago, and it was the first Reward of Merit Pincushion I became aware of that was designed by Blackbird Designs.  I loved the colorway and also the simple sentiment.  Even though I bought it quite a long time ago, it seemed to take a while for me to pull it out and stitch it.  One of my favorite people, my Auntie Janice passed away in 2019, and that is when I started to stitch it in memory of her.  I am starting to think that maybe I will stitch another item with her initials on it, as this one does not have a place for initials.  After finishing it, it sat in my finishing box for quite a while until this week.  The fabric I used for finishing I think matches really well, and adds a little bit of extra color.  I added a rusty pin with a few little bits.  

This was a freebie at a needlework event several years ago. The title is Pretty Little Maids by Summer House Stitche Workes. I really like the colors of it, so I thought I would stitch it up.  The fabric came with the kit, and was directed to be used for background fabric, but, I thought that it was way to pretty to hide on the back, so I pieced around the stitching.  The yellow velvet band was also included, as well as the buttons.  I used some of the left over teal color to attach the buttons.  I just love the way that it turned out.  The only difficulty I had was that the velvet started to completely unravel as I was finishing stitching it on.  I was afraid to reposition it in case it started to unravel more.  It is only on one side.  Maybe at another time, I'll try to reposition it if I'm feeling brave!

I'm so, so, so happy this stitch is finished!  I started this little project a very long time ago, so far back that I don't even remember when.  I think probably more than ten years.  It was a little kit from France titled Alphabets.  I can't even recall where I bought it, which is unusual for me not to remember.  It is extremely tiny, it is 16 threads per centimeter, so I think that it is maybe 60 count.  I tried to figure it out with the conversion, but I'm not sure.  I was just basing it on other projects I have done.  I started stitching it, and it seemed to be okay.  The kit came with only a few strands of a red silk thread, so I was trying so hard not to make a mistake because I had never stitched with silk before, and I didn't want to not have enough thread.  I did end up having trouble stitching this small one over one.  It is very challenging on the high count linen!  I did end up restarting it several times, and running out of the thread.  Someone I used to know gave me a skein of Gloriana Threads Tudor Silk in a color Schoolhouse Red.  It was a a really nice match, and I think it may have even been the same color that came in the kit.  I did okay on this until I had to stitch the second bird, then a mistake happened, and I just couldn't seem to stitch it correctly.   I also had the letter 'a' to do, and a little bit of the border on one end.  I'm not sure what made me pick it up a few nights ago, but I just decided to be finished.  It feels so good that it is done, and I'm going to make it into a mini pin cushion.  More soon!