OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: by Lizzie Kate, 6 charts in all (double flips)
• Materials: 32 count raw linen by MCG textiles, some of the Weeks Dye Works threads as charted but I used DMC 712 and 500 for whitewash and holly, respectively, and added some charms
• Size: 24″ x 5″
• Time to stitch: 13 months (mostly as UFO)

I’m really happy to have another Christmas cross stitch finished, now I just need to frame this project before Christmas rolls around.  It will reside in Words to Live By‘s normal spot.  I am considering a white mat and dark green frame.

These charts are pretty quick stitches- each block only employs a few colors and each line is like a mini FO, which motivates me to continue.  As noted above, I subbed DMC for a few of the hand dyed threads, a concession to economy.  The fabric (purchased at Joann) was another concession to economy, one I majorly regretted in the end.

I enjoy the irregular nature of linen, but this piece was just too uneven- it was difficult to count and in places hard to pierce the fabric with my needle.  The worst of it, I did not realize until the end.  It seemed I was running out of space as I reached the bottom of the project, which didn’t make sense, because I had started at the center- and I had room at the top.  When I cut the fabric piece, I used the entire height of the fabric, which was just enough for a modest framing allowance, and cut off the necessary width.  Well, I came to realize that the original piece was not cut straight with the grain- it was biased.  My stitching seemed slightly diagonal, though of course it was straight on the grain, and I ran out of room at the bottom- I didn’t have enough fabric to stitch the last motif (the fireplace) with any leftover for framing.  But I did have plenty of leftover fabric.  So I cut a new piece of the approriate width, trimmed the top and bottom edges so they would be square to the grain, and carefully sewed it to the straight grain at the very bottom of my original fabric, trying to keep the seam straight along a single thread.  I had just enough fabric on the original piece- about 0.25″ inches on one side- to make a narrow seam allowance.

So, now I have a seam at the very bottom of the project, above my signature.  It shouldn’t be very obvious when the project is framed.  The other change I made, I swapped some of the buttons for charms.  I loved the charms on “Words to Live By” so much, that I wanted a similar treatment for this project.  A few charms were purchased at a LNS, but most are from Fancifuls Inc, where I found a wonderful selection, exactly what I wanted.