Final Stitches of 2021

Here are the last of the stitches from this year that I haven't yet posted. I can't remember who made this snowflake pattern. I stitched it up for my sister.

The next two I got from a Japanese cross stitch book that I got from Etsy.

So that's that! Happy New Year, and maybe I'll see you next year if I can manage to keep this blog up!

Vintage Ornaments

In the spirit of getting back into embroidery, I thought I would do a few ornaments for my mom, using the Sublime Stitching Vintage Ornaments patterns and adding my own embellishments! I kept some and gave some away. I love how they came out and metallic thread isn't so evil if you don't do a while ton of stitching and you use the Thread Magic stuff!

"We're all looking for tasty, big mushrooms!"

I am very tired. Covid is a BIIIIITCH getting over. But I did just finish this cute embroidery and I don't want it to go unposted, since I'm trying to keep this up better, so here is a mushroom pattern I completed.

I am obsessed with mushrooms, having grown up with them in the forest and having always been told that they are all poisonous. I'm sure my parents told me that to keep me from killing myself by eating random mushrooms in the forest, because that is exactly the kind of thing I would have done. But that made them all the more mysterious.

Getting back into embroidery

So, I really kind of stopped doing embroidery for a while and focused on cross stitching. I have missed embroidery, though, and thought I would revisit it this year. I wanted to start with a couple of pretty simple things, and so I got this cat planchette that Cate Anevski designed and I got back into it!

I like how it came out. I don't like how my stitches aren't as clean on this one as they used to be, but it's been over 4 years since I have embroidered so I guess that's to be expected. I also started on this one by either JagerAndYarn or Junebug and Darlin' on Etsy. I don't have the info in front of me. As I was stitching it up, my sister asked if I could do one for her, and since I hadn't gotten far, I told her I would give her this one. It's in her kitchen. My stitches look much better on this one.

Covid Stitches

Welp. I done went and got mahself The Covids. It's the sickest I think I have ever been. I have been doing some cross stitching to keep me occupied. I did these for Torvald. They are from a Subversive Cross Stitch pattern. Made myself $50!

ScamGoddess Podcast

I listen to podcasts a lot. I have about a half hour or more commute to and from work, and I listen to them at work as well. I recently discovered one called ScamGoddess. I love it. Lacy Mosley is the host, and she is HILARIOUS. I’ve listened to several episodes and have already planned a few pieces from her quotes. She always has a different co-host and, of course, talks about scams. Recently, I listened to one and she said “Rules are for OTHER people! Rules are for other people so I can do what I want.” LOL perfect. So I created a pattern and stitched this up for my husband’s aunt. I posted about it on FB and she was like “OMG can you please make me one?” It was a quick finish, I think it may have taken an hour. I just need to get it wrapped up good so it doesn’t break and get it in the mail to her. I’m very happy with how it came out and will likely be making another for myself.

Scranton's WNEP 16 News Backyard Train

There’s a funny story behind this one. 

I was watching This Week With John Oliver a few years back. If you have watched the show, you know that they end the show with "And Now..."- they usually feature something that’s sort of quirky or weird or somehow just ridiculous. On this specific episode, he featured a train that was part of a Scranton, PA weather report every evening on their local news. The train ran in the background, and people either loved it or hated it. People would call in and talk about how much they liked the train, or how stupid they thought it was. One guy called in and said the trolley was in the wrong place. Another guy called in, in response to that guy, that the engineer can put the trolley anywhere he wants to and “Shut up and go do your supper dishes!”. I laughed SO hard at that, for some reason, and of course… I had to make that into a cross stitch pattern. The trains are from Makoto’s Mini Cross Stitch book. It’s hanging in our kitchen (which is no longer green).

The trains are from another Makoto Oozu book.  
 

Here is a link if you want to watch a clip. It’s really funny. People are so weird.  The quote that I stitched happens around 58 seconds in, but the entire clip is worth watching.

https://youtu.be/nqVgNvIiPxI?si=Lc1twDBp3BiD1dsO

Rabbit Lady

I love rabbits so much. We often have several in our back yard, and they don't seem to be very afraid of us. They will come right up to the edge of the patio sometimes. They are ADORABLE. they also like to put their little babies in some of my larger plant pots. I love to watch them grow up. They do grow up fast and leave the nest after only a few weeks. They are the SWEETEST little things!! Tusk and Cardinal makes really cool cross stitch patterns, and I loved this one, so I stitched it up last month.

Tiiiiiny Stitches

Now and then, I like to drive myself crazy by stitching on 18ct Aida. I know a lot of stitchers use it, but it's hard for me personally to look at for long, because my eyes aren't great on up-close details, and it gives me a headache because of my football-shaped eyebawlz. Here's some madness I did in October of last year. They're super cute, yeah?

I made some wee needle minders out of a couple.

Mind The Needle

I am obsessed with needle minders. They are the cleverest daggone thing! When I realized I could make them out of covered buttons, I made a few! This tree is from Wild Olive. Rather than a face, I did french knots to make it look more like leaves.

This bomb is another Wild Olive design, and the F is my addition ;)

Not sure I quite like how this one turned out. Another Wild Olive one with the XO added by me.

Wild Olive coffee cup. I kept the face added dots and circles.

I drew this one. I tried the wagon wheel for the flowers with black Etoile thread. I like the sparkliness but I think using such dark thread doesn't really show the detail. Also, I didn't realize that I didn't cover my pen lines! I'll have to be more careful in the future.

Stab Craft

I am trying to start a little side business but as you saw from my last post, it is not going well. Oh well. It may or may not happen for me. Here is my logo that I stitched up.

SSDGM

I love the podcast My Favorite Murder. Karen and Georgia say the funniest things, and often, their quotes are made into cross stitch or embroidery designs by Murderinos. I did this small one a few years ago. I found this design on Pinterest with no credit and copied it, so if I find the artist in the meantime, I will come back and give them proper credit.

I have since collected a few designs but haven't gotten around to completing them. I did, however, complete this one by Jager and Yarn (Etsy) last year.

My sister is also a murderino, so I made her this ornament last year.

And I made this one for me.

One day, maybe I'll stitch up my other My Favorite Murder quotes... maybe.

The Time I Learned Needlework Isn't Just for Walls

There are so many cool things you can do with embroidery and cross stitch. One of my favorite things to do is making pins and necklaces. These are my first ones pins, and I am still trying to get the centering down. I recently came across them in a bin where I have a lot of my finished projects. This Domo-kun is one of the very first cross stitches I did about 10 years ago.

I stitched this pizza and word bubble up as well. These are Teeny Tinies from the Wild Olive Etsy store. Her patterns are SO CUTE! She usually puts little faces on everything, but I left them off and added the "XO" to the word bubble and some veggies to the pizza.

I did this one last year. Again, please ignore the crap centering...

I have a bunch of smaller cross stitches and embroideries to add to pins or pendant settings, I just need to get off my arse and do it!

Embroidered Pendants

Last year, I started doing these pendants.  I don't know what made me get them, because I always find very small and very detailed embroidery a bit daunting, but these are pretty easy to do.  I get to practice different stitches on them and they come together pretty fast.  These are from the kit patterns:

And these are from my own patterns.  I love making my own, it's really fun.  I'm working on several other designs as we speak!

Some of these are now in my Etsy Shop!  Or if by the time you see this and I don't have this shop anymore, email me at timelady1977@gmail.com and I'll get one out to you.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/StabCraft

Japanese embroidery patterns

I got this Japanese embroidery book FOREEEEEVERRRR ago. I have posted some of the stuff I have stitched up from the book on this blog. The designs are so cute. And since I'm trying to get back into embroidery, I thought I'd look at the book again. My problem is that I get overwhelmed. I want to start stitching, but I don't know what to stitch. I have so many patterns. So I tend to put it off until I'm no longer interested. That may happen this time too... we'll see. 

Anyway, I did this one from the Japanese embroidery book. The cool kids are no longer just doing outline embroidery but basically painting with the shit and I don't want to spend days on a project, so I won't be doing that. However, I have learned some really cool stitches and thought I'd try one of them out on this one. I forget the name of the stitch but I did it on the leaves. I already knew french knots which I know some people HATE but I love them, and satin stitch. I really love how it came out! This is not the final framing, it's just the hoop I used to stitch it, since these kind give me the tautness I crave. That sounded weird.

WIPS

I'm sitting here listening to a playlist of MTV's 120 Minutes from 1991.  That means all of these songs are at least 30 years old.  I used to watch 120 Minutes every week- it's how I discovered a lot of the music I still love today.  It's making me really sentimental...

Anyway, I have a few WIPs going. I usually only have one WIP, because I hate to start another project before finishing another. This is a rarity.

 

This Absolutely Fabulous piece may be for a friend but I may keep it (she often disappears from the face of the earth so I may not get it done before she disappears, and in that case, MINE!  It’s gone pretty quickly. Here's Pats (I need to redo some of the leg stitches), and now I just need to get started on Eddie. The pattern is from 8BitNorthStitch on Etsy.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/8bitnorthxstitch?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=920576695

This one is embarrassing because it’s been a WIP for like 3 years. It’s the first installment of the Chopping Mall SAL from The Witchy Stitcher. I don't want to do it all in one piece, so I thought I’d just do each “store” and frame it separately. This is the first one released in the SAL and I'm actually not super happy with how it's coming along so far, so I'm not sure if I'll scrap it and start over or what.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WitchyStitcher?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1009379392

The last one is another face embroidery from Cate Anevski. I have been a HUGE fan of her work for years.  I've done this one before but I wanted to do in another color. I need to redo some of the stitches, but really, I can finish this in no time, do I don't know why I just don't get on with it...

https://www.beeskneesindustries.com/

Keep Stitching Weird

I found an Etsy shop called OddAnaStitch. Her patterns are so interesting. I stitched these up last fall.  I remember doing the bat face one while I was visiting my family and my granny saying how weird it was, but that she kind of liked it.  The other one with the mushroom eyes, I think I started out at my parents' but finished when I came back home.

I just love odd and unsettling cross stitch patterns... don't you?