All Cross-Stitch Post

I've made a little progress on my Joyful World Stitchalong project, and on my secret project.  A secret project just isn't an interesting topic for a blog, is it?  I can't show pictures, my followers don't know what the chart is, or even know why I'm stitching it.  I like to mention it because then all of you will know that there is some stitching going on besides what I show you.  And eventually you will see what the secret is all about.

Back to my Joyful World project.  I've done a little stitching on January.  I wish that there was more to show you, but you know how it is.  What I do have stitched I like a lot.

Look!  The fox is taking shape!  And a closer look:

I've decided that I like stitching on this fabric, despite the fabric fuzz that comes through the stitches.  You can see it more in the close up photo.  From a normal distance, it can't be seen that easily.  There is a lot of this fabric, 25 count Davos, in my stash, so I could stitch all twelve designs on it.  Or I could use other 25 count fabrics in different colors.  I'm leaning toward stitching them all on this fabric, but haven't made my final decision yet.  But this is coming out cute, right?  I am still liking the tininess of it and have adjusted to stitching over one.

My stitch group, The Sisters In Stitches, had our February stitch day a couple of weeks ago.  When it comes to new stitching products and helpful ideas, I think that Thea is our go-to person.  At stitch day, she brought in a new and useful product for us to see.  Thea had been reading The Twisted Stitcher blog and came across this new-to-us stitching item there.  They're small stretcher bars and a tack kit that would be perfect for stitching small charts, in particular Christmas ornaments. 

You can see the Twisted Stitcher's pictorial on how to use these stretcher bars HERE.  As an added bonus, I received this set in our stitch group's monthly gift exchange!  Two packs of the 5" and two of the 6" bars, along with the tack kit.  I'm looking forward to using these, and may have to add an ornament project to my current stitching! 

Now on to what I like to call "Other Peoples Creations".  I am always fascinated by other crafters' talents and like to showcase them here on my blog.  My fellow stitcher, Thea, gets two mentions in this post.  She brought her latest stitched completion to stitch day.

Amazing, isn't it?  It's beautifully detailed and quite a large project.  Kudos to Thea for this lovely completion.  Sorry, I don't know the name of the chart, but if anyone out there wants it, I'll find out.

I'm glad you could visit today!  Thank you for all of your wonderful comments, and thanks to all of my followers.  If you're not a follower yet, please consider becoming one.  Come on back to visit soon! 

Two New Cross Stitch Starts

That's right.  I started two new cross stitch projects in the last week or so.  One of these projects is top secret and I can't show any photos of it on my blog.  It's going to be a gift so eventually I will be posting photos.

The other new project is The Snowflower Diaries Joyful World.  It's described as a primitive cross stitch calendar.  You can find the link to this stitch along HERE.  This Facebook group now has almost 4,000 members enthusiastically stitching these adorable monthly patterns.  Did I mention that these patterns are free?  Maja of The Snowflower Diaries is offering each month's chart to you for free just for joining the group.  She has already posted charts for January, February, and March and each one is so cute and thoughtfully designed with beautiful color combinations.

As I'm a slow stitcher, and I have another priority project going on, I have just started January. 

I'm stitching this over one on 25 count Davos fabric.  This is a new fabric for me, and I am finding that it's very soft, thicker than most fabrics, and it tends to fuzz a little.  But I do like how tiny this design will be (right around 3" X 4"), and once I got going the "over one" got easier and easier.  Of course, I had to bring the magnifier back out. 

I plan to stitch these, get a frame, and then switch them out each month.  The same frame can be used because all of the designs are the same size.

Can you see the fabric fuzz coming through on the crow?  It's not so noticeable unless you look really close.

So I'll slowly stitch along, even though many members of the group seem to be long done with January and are on to February.  And it amazes me that some stitchers have already completed March! 

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A Crochet Pinterest Project For February

This novice crocheter chose a slightly more ambitious crochet project for the February Pinterest attempt.  That would be, more ambitious for me.  It was all done in double crochet, and was a technique I've never tried.  Not a big deal for the crochet expert, but it was all new territory for me.

You'll remember from a previous post that I received some gorgeous yarn from Stephanie for Christmas.  It's a beautiful, soft, wool in a deep red.  She bought it on a trip to Ireland, so this is some pretty special yarn to me.

There is a series of crochet videos on YouTube from Fiber Flux that are so easy to follow, even I can understand what's going on.  I always thought I had trouble learning different crochet stitches, but maybe it was because I was attempting to learn them from printed material.  So thank goodness for modern technology because good clear videos make crochet a breeze to learn!

I selected the Fiona Button Scarf because after viewing the video, I knew I could do it.  It's also more of a cowl and they give instructions for two different lengths.  Plus, it's just really pretty.  The instructions call for thicker yarn, but I wanted to use my Ireland yarn.  And it worked out well.

First I had to wind that yarn into a ball.

Surprise!  Not a pull skein!  I'm positive that there was a nice, neat, organized way to do this, but I chose the road less traveled.  Yeah, it was a mess, but I owned that mess and before long it was a legit yarn ball.

And the result:

Looks a little different from the video because I used a thinner yarn.  But I like it.

And finally, me in the scarf.

I pronounce my February Pinterest project a huge success!  I love the way this turned out.  It was easy and quick to make, and it inspired me to try out some different crochet stitches.  I've already pinned more projects to do.  And there's a lot more cold winter weather ahead that will make me glad that I have this soft, cozy cowl.  Do you want to try some new crochet projects?  Then just go to YouTube, and search for "Fiber Flux".  You won't now which one to choose first!

Now I'm on to stitching.  It looks like I have a free afternoon so I can make some progress on my "secret cross stitch project".