Snark is Good for the Soul

WillowburyOriginals

There is a cute little book by Rob Temple with this title. I created this pattern. I think...

I found this online but it wasn't available as a pattern, only as a finished piece and I wanted to do it myself, so I copied it like the asshole I am.

VanCityStitchCo

Favorite Bitch No More...

I had a BFF for a long time.  We met working in the mall in 1998 and were friends up until 2022.  I don't want to say anything negative, but we had a falling out and are at different places in life.  I wish no ill upon her, and I really do miss her, but the relationship became toxic and I can't invite that back into my peaceful life anymore.  

I made this for her.  I made quite a few cross stitches for her, actually and I always wonder what happened to them... 

She was my favorite bitch to bitch about bitches with... :(

Tattoo Perlers

When I was trying to decide what kind of perler bead thing to make my friend for her birthday celebration, I briefly thought about doing some tattoo flash and posting it on a canvas to look like they do in the tattoo shops.  Then I realized... she's not really a tattoo girl.  She has some but she's not super into them, so that wasn't the best idea.  However, I thought it may be fun to do for myself! I purchased a tattoo cross stitch patten from Stitchrovia on Etsy and I did these from the mini beads.  I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but these are fun to do, so who cares?? 

2024!!

It's Feb already! And I haven't posted all year! Well, to kick off 2024's sporadic blogging, here are some older cross stitches I've done! 

Pattern by VanCityStitchCo and I used the DMC Charles Craft printed aida in the orange color they make.

I made this pattern! It's a popular Scottish saying.

This one is by Beast or God.  I dyed the aida myself.  You can't really see the color differences in this one very well, because the grey came out a little lighter than I had hoped, but that's not really a bad thing. 

And this is from Crybaby Cross Stitch on Etsy.

She stole by broccoli. Casserole recipe. 8 years ago &. Claimed it wa hers.

My sister introduced me to Lubalin, who takes random internet drama and turns into songs and it's hysterical. I was THRILLED to happen upon this cross stitch from one of his songs... Check the song out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyOrbpGCpE&list=PL5kcMJeMq5L3cLvhALY22yR_ee67_Oj7e&index=2

 Pattern by CrossStitchWithArt.

2023 Remaining Stitches

I always stitch up a storm during the holidays, and here are the rest of the pieces I did this year. 

I purchased a Creepy Christmas Village Stitch Along by Lola Crow Cross Stitch on Etsy and... I ACTUALLY KEPT UP WITH IT! Here are the pieces I did.  All of these Creepy Christmas pieces are done on aida that I dyed myself.

Hallow-mas

I found out that my sister's BFF from high school, Becca, is coming for Christmas, so I wanted to have something to give to her. I love Becca, she's probably my favorite of my sister's friends. She is a huge Halloween fan, and I came across this cute pattern by StitchSprout on Etsy and thought it would be perfect. I can't wait to give it to her!  Aida was dyed by me.

Stitches of Christmas Past

Here are some of the things I stitched for the holiday last year. This is just a cute little chipmunk= Pattern by PearlShoreCat:

For Krisy

For Donna

For Heidi

For Leslie

For Anja- Pattern by PixieHillStudio

Chopping Mall Stitch Along

There is a movie that was made in the 80s called Chopping Mall. It was about rogue security robots going wild in a mall and killing people. The Witchy Stitcher created a horror-themed stitch along and named it after the movie. And as always, I have only done a few of the patterns. But that's okay. Here they are! Til Death- Bride of Chucky- I know I posted this before but it really belongs here.  I dyed the aida for all of these myself!

Costume Shop- Leatherface and Michael Myers

Sleep Store- Freddie

Older Ornaments- 2021

Kitty in Window- MissHeadStitchInCharge

More Past Stitches

I found this one on Pinterest and thought it was super cute. I made it to hang in the kitchen.

I found this pattern on Pinterest as well. I made it and I didn't have a Christmas tree for a long time, so I just had it. I gave it to my Mom. She loves it.

I may have posted this one. I thought I was really clever back in 2012. I had a cross stitch app on my phone and this is where I got the pattern for the people.

This one I made for Haylan and Eric, my campy friends in 2011, I think. And they are also camp-y. HA! See what I did there? I can't remember where I got this pattern but I'm impressed that I started cross stitching and pretty quickly decided to use black aida, and I actually did a pretty good job on black aida. It's notoriously a little tricky.

Random Stitches for a Kind of Chilly Day

Catching up on some more older pieces. Just a little witchy quote...

I found this one on Pinterest and thought it was really good. See how smart I was to choose a piece of aida that was too small? UGH. I gotta stop that.

Sometimes I want to stitch nice things, and sometimes, I wish we could all just be nice to each other. I found this one on Pinterest.

I created this one from the American Horror Story alphabet pattern.

I got this pattern from MENonWOOLx on Etsy (I promise I purchase more patterns than I have copied!). It kept me busy for a bit during lockdown. Lockdown... what a wild time to be alive.

Cross Stitch for Couples- Don't do it!

I was asked to make this cross stitch by a work colleague. I used the Stitch People pattern. Unfortunately, Kellee and Mason are no longer a couple, so I'm sure this is long gone, which makes me sad. But I get it. I have to stop making cross stitch patterns for couples!

Last of The New Embroideries (for Now)

I finished up a few embroidery patterns last week, all from Bees Knees Industries. This one is from the Facebroideries set.

Catch Yerself On!

We are big Derry Girls fans in this house. If you've not seen it, it's a comedy/drama from BBC that takes place in Derry, Ireland in the 1990s and follows 4 girls and a guy through their misadventures. It's super cute and very funny. Judging from the ages they are supposed to be, they were around the same age I was in the early-to-mid 90s, so it's also very nostalgic to me.  

One of the phrases they use a lot is "Catch Yerself On!", which means "Get a grip" or "Don't be silly", along that vein. I created this pattern and knocked it up watching Tourist Trap (the horror movie from 1979).  I'm quite proud of it!  

Baby, baby, babaaaay.

When I started embroidering, I had a lot of friends who were having babies, so I had an opportunity to outfit them in onesies with cute embroideries, and I was so pleased to see them wearing them from time to time! Here are some I made back in the day: This one is by Jim Goodring x Sublime Stitching

The Internet is Funny

The internet is full of such hilarity. Life is too short for bad coffee. This pattern is from cseneque on Etsy.

I made this for my pot head friend. Pattern by IvieStitches on Etsy.

Jesus ain't say that about a lot of things. Pattern by SnarkandStitchDesign on Etsy.

During the pandemic, there was a Japanese theme park that said while on their rides, to refrain from screaming and spreading Covid. They asked, instead, that you "Please scream inside your heart". I love the Japanese. Pattern by OctopusKnitting on Etsy.

Random Older Stitches

Feeling like posting some older stitches today. I just love these! The first one, I can't remember where I got it. I think I purchased the pattern, but it's on my other computer and I can't be arsed to go and find who did it.

Weekend Stitching

Just couple of weekend finishes! Our local stitch group, Austitch, had a meet-up yesterday, and I've never been to one, and since I found myself free, I went along. I chose a Facebroidery pattern from Bee's Knees Industries and some cute fabric I got from Spoonflower years ago to work on, since I am between projects and wanted something that wouldn't take concentration of counting in case I wanted to converse. It was at a brewery and we sat outside. True to Texas, it was like almost 90 degrees on a late October afternoon. So I was only able to stand about an hour of sitting in that heat, even with a beer and shade. So I had to leave. I finished my piece last night watching Suspiria (the OG one, which is... just a really weird movie and watching it again, I was a little disappointed in it). I love how this came out, and I'm happy with the colors and fabric I chose. I like to do a patterned fabric with these since a lot of them have a lot of blank space because I am not an embroidery painter- I am not spending 6 hours filling in large spaces with floss. And honestly, I think maybe doing these on patterned is sort of what the creator envisioned when she made these into embroidery patterns (not only because that's how I want to do them LOL but when she posted a picture of some she had completed, they were on patterned fabric as well).

Snarky Stitches

I feel like I hear this a lot from fellow stitchers- they spend a lot of time on a piece, and the recipient doesn't seem to appreciate it at all. I say, fuck those people. If they don't appreciate a hand-made gift, they're just garbage. Well, that may be a bit harsh. I have made my friends and family stitched gifts for a while now. They always say they love them, and I often find them hanging on walls of the recipients (Except for MY MOTHER WHO YOU WOULD THINK WOULD LOVE THAT SORT OF THING!), and if it seems they don't appreciate them, well, then lesson learned, and they won't get another. I love finding things I've made people years ago, especially when I had forgotten about them! And, to my mom's defense, she has hung every stitched ornament on her Christmas tree that I have made her. I love that the world of needlepoint is full of wonderfully snarky asshole designers, because I can make really cool stitched gifts for my friends, and can guarantee most will be hung up (except for my sister's because her husband, while he appreciates the humor, is all fancy and is like "Please don't hang the 'Have a Nice Dump' cross stich in our new fancy house". But hey, he takes GOOD care of my sister, so I can let that slide). Here are some good ones I've made in the past. 

I made this for my former high priestess, who has since passed away. It's a spin on The Wiccan Rede.  I would love to have it back, but I'm sure her family burned all her witchy stuff, sadly.

I found this one on Pinterest. I gave it to my ex's mother when they left to move to Canada (they couldn't sell so they had to come back but she still has it). I just wanted to give her something she'd appreciate and I screwed around and didn't get to make her something new, but she loved this one.

Another I found on Pinterest. Isn't this frame cool? I thrifted it.

I can't remember where I got this one... but for me, "it tracks", as the younguns say.

I did this one ages ago. If there is one thing I absolutely cannot do right (there are millions of things), it's doing a "mat" to frame my cross stitches. I only really do that when I can't find a frame the right size or I've fucked up and cut the fabric too small for a hoop or a decent frame. I have a Cricut now, though, so maybe I can figure out how to put that to use.

Alice in Wonderland by Cate Anevski of Bee's Knees Industries

Another Cate Anevski/Bee's Knees Industries post! I have a lot of her patterns soooo... I really love her take on the Alice in Wonderland Characters. I can't remember if she ever actually made any patterns out of these- she had a lot of cute illustrations that she didn't put into patterns, but that I downloaded so that I could stitch for myself, and I think these may be some of them.

Queen of Hearts:

2023 Ornaments So Far

Christmas is my favorite holiday. It's been hard for me the past few years, having lost both grandparents that I was very close to within a year of each other, and they were always so very excited about Christmas. I can't think too much about it, or I'll get sad and I don't want to be sad, so I'll just leave it at that. Christmas makes me miss them, but I really try not to let it get me down too much, because they wouldn't want me to be sad at that time.

I KNOW. It is TOO TOO EARLY to start thinking about Christmas, because we haven't even hit Halloween yet. And I'm honestly only thinking about it because I wanted to get a head start on my holiday stitching. So, I made quite a few ornaments. I usually make one for my sister, one for my mom, and one for all of my friends, and I end up keeping a few for myself.

I did this one from a few different snowflake patterns I have. The fabric is sparkly, but the picture didn't pick that up :(

Tinies

If you have read this blog, you know I love doing tiny cross stitching in between bigger projects. Here are some cuties I've worked on in the past. These are from Makoto Oozu, who is the master of tiny embroidery. 

Portlandia

I found this pattern on a site that I refer to as Iotacons. The artist makes pixel art of different people, and since I love Portlandia, I made it long ago, and then a friend of mine said she wanted me to make her one, so I just gave her this one. It's Fred and Carrie. I may have to make myself one now that I see this one!

Blast From the Past- Embroidery

Wild Olive Coffee Hanging