Two Cross Stitch Projects Fully Finished (FF)

Auditioning the frame

The two cross stitch projects that I began in London are FULLY FINISHED! When I packed the little kits, my plan was to fully finish them on my trip. While I did complete the cross stitch, I didn't have enough materials available to finish the items.

The first kit that I finished was the "Love one Another" kit. As I placed the plastic frame that came with the kit over the cross stitch work, I discovered the frame was too small! Hm m m. . .perhaps this was the reason that the kit was on sale for a dollar!

Lacing the edges

I paused. What to do? The kit was for a refrigerator magnet. I planned to add a hanger and turn it into an ornament or a piece of art for someone who loves blue. I thought about searching for a larger frame. I thought about making it into a pin cushion or a mug rug or a tiny wall hanging. 

Then I decided that what was most important was that I finish the work. So while I liked the hearts at the bottom of the piece, I allowed the frame to cover them. 

Finished view

I cut a piece of card stock and using some heavy thread from my grandmother's thread stash, I laced the edges together. I started in the middle on one of the sides and worked my way around the piece. 

It was a bit of a fiddly job. I needed to flip the piece over to ensure that I was keeping the design centered. Sometimes I was and sometimes, I needed to do a little correction. This was the first time that I tried this method for finishing cross stitch. I liked the results and will make this my go to method for finishing future pieces.

I also added a piece of ribbon as the hanger. Then I placed the work in the frame and slipped on the back. The back clipped snuggly under the edge of the frame. I like how it looks. It is a small piece. It measurers two inches x two and half inches.

Note on the back

Then I moved on to finish the second cross stitch piece which was the "All hearts come home for Christmas" piece. I followed the same format as I did with the first piece. Because I wasn't inserting this work into a frame, I used a second piece of the card stock that came in the kit to use to center the design.

Once I had the work secured to the piece of card stock, I added the lace. I hand basted a thread along the edge of the lace and used this thread to gather the lace until it fit the edge of the ornament. Then I hand stitched the lace in place. I added the hanger and the back. It measures about two and a half inches by four and a half inches.

This piece was also finished! I thought that it would take me much longer to finish these two pieces. I probably spent a couple hours total to get these projects finished. Because this truly was an ornament, I wrote the recipient's name, our grandparent names and the year. It's cute and it's special . . .just like the recipient!

Finished front

This was goal number seven on my third quarter list. It was goal number four on my August list. I am glad that I have written these goal lists, otherwise, these finished cross stitch pieces wouldn't have been fully finished!

Cross Stitched Duck--First Finish 3rd Quarter

Cross stitch kit

This cross stitch project has been on my to do list several times and for a number of quarters over the last few years. My friend, Martha, had two of these in her stash. I finished and posted about the first one, May 3, 2020! This is the third project from the little basket of projects that I have finished. I plan to work on embellishing the log cabin block with embroidery stitches next as I started that project last January!

I have a friend that I plan to gift the first project to in December. I have another friend that I plan to gift the second project to at the end of September. 

The kit contained plenty of threads to stitch the picture. This time, I worked to slant all my stitches to the left as that is what it looks like in the directions. I've made some needlepoint projects and those stitches were all supposed to slant to the right!

Finished cross stitch design

Over four days, I worked on this project. I haven't done much cross stitch; but, there has to be some hack/hint to track the stitches better. There were a number of times that I realized that I was off a stitch or two and so I got to unstitch and restitch the section. Consequently, the
unstitching and restitching add to the hours that it took to finish this project! Gertie, my inner squirrel, convinced me that I'd finish the project in a few hours. Her time was way under estimated!

I decided to make it into the refrigerator magnet. I'm happy to have finished it. I do like having small handwork projects for the evenings and to take with me when I travel. (After our coast trip, Gertie is ready to travel more. I, however, am not!) Our county fair was this week, I entered the finished magnet and won a third place ribbon! 

This was goal number four on my August list. I didn't mention this project on my third quarter goal list!

 

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide: 211M cases; 4.42M deaths

United States: 37.7M cases; 628K deaths

Oregon: 253K cases, 3,033 deaths

Finished as a refrigerator magnet

In Oregon, the governor is requiring all K-12 educators and staff as well as all healthcare workers to be vaccinated by October 18 or by six weeks after full FDA approval of the vaccine. Yes, there is an exemption allowed for religious or medical reasons which has to be approved. Workers not complying with the requirement will lose their jobs, the media reported on Thursday. 

Elective surgeries are again being postponed because there is no space/staff to provide care. Wednesday, 2,941 new cases of COVID were reported. This is the record number ever reported in a day. This number surpassed the previous high which was reported last November. Eighty-six percent of those cases are unvaccinated. The number of breakthrough cases is rising at 14 percent; but less than six percent of the those cases end up in the hospital. Likely, more than immunocompromised individuals will be encouraged to receive a booster shot.

 

Santa Ornaments--Post 2 and a finish

Four ornaments almost stitched

This has been a great evening project. I don't stitch every night and some nights, I don't stitch but a thread or two. Still, it doesn't take too much time to see progress.

In the first photo, three of the four Santas are finished. The fourth is ready to have the outline stitching added. 

I waited to cut each Santa apart until I had stitched all six ornaments. This is the first time that I have stitched on plastic canvas. I liked stitching on the plastic canvas. The canvas would be a great project for the granddaughters as the canvas is easier to count the stitches than it is on Aida cloth. Thread tension is easier to achieve on the plastic canvas!

I liked that the Santas are different. I also liked that the ornaments are small. Each one is about two inches! I imagine that I will be gifting these to someone who has a tiny Christmas tree during the holiday. These would look great on her tree next year.

Six ornaments stitched

As I stitched, I tried to keep the back neat. I thought about adding a piece of felt to cover the back which would protect the stitches; but, I couldn't come up with a method to attach the felt. I didn't want to add glue. Had I left the outline stitching to the last, I could have outlined stitched adhering the felt to the ornament. It would have been tricky to find the holes in the plastic canvas using that method. In the end, I decided to leave the back exposed.

Finished Santas

It surprised me how much the outline stitching brought out the facial features and details of each ornament. When I put this project on my Finish-A-Long list last August, I thought that I would easily finish it by the end of September. I finished the cross stitching at the beginning of November. Then, all that remained was to cut each ornament out. . . .which I did last night. I attached the hangers this morning and now I have a FINISH!

This is a project that I might do again. I would need to purchase a piece of 14 count plastic canvas about 7 and 1/4 inches wide by 4 and1/2  inches tall. The hanger was a gold string of elastic about 33 inches long that I cut into 5 and 1/2 inch segments.

This was goal number six on my first quarter finish list. It is my first finish of the quarter! If you want to visit post one about this project, click here.

Cross Stitched Mini--Fourth Finish 2nd Quarter FAL

This little kitchen magnet kit was in my friend Martha's stash. She had a number of these little miniature cross stitch kits. The original price on this kit was $1.99. The clearance price was .99 and the lowest price sticker was .50! For kicks, I googled the company, "The New Berlin Co.," to see if it was still in business.

I couldn't find any information on the company; but, I did see similar kits offered for sale on e-bay and etsy. The price was $15! From the packaging, I found a 1992 copyright date.

It is small. The dimensions are three inches high by two and half inches wide. The kit came with a needle, plenty of floss, the frame, an adhesive mounting board and directions. It did not come with a magnet!

Originally, I thought that this was a project that the granddaughters would like to do. Unfortunately, it was too complicated for a six year old! The white and cream floss were too close in value for me to see the difference. It was a challenge for me to read and follow the pattern! Finished, I do like the subtleness of the thread color changes.

Finished cross stitch

I took this project with me when we were in Hawaii this fall. I thought that I would enjoy working on it while we waited in the airport and when we were being leisurely on the trip. I stitched about eight rows on the duck. I didn't work on it after we returned home.

In late March, I started stitching on it again in the evenings. It was a bit of a challenge to determine where I should be stitching next in the pattern; but, over the course of about a month, I finished it! I didn't work on it every evening. When I noticed that I hadn't made progress in several days, I would load a length of thread on a needle and try to stitch that length of thread before I stopped for the night.

It is finished. I have a small basket of these little kits and perhaps, next quarter, I'll add another kit to the list. I might add a ribbon hanger to make it into a Christmas ornament. Or, I could add a magnet and gift it as a refrigerator decoration!

This was goal number 18 on my second quarter FAL (Finish A Long) list. Although, I used no fabric from stash in this project, I'm happy to have completed another finish! It is my fourth finish for the quarter! I have posted the finished photo on Instagram under #2020falq2finish

The Covid virus statistics:
Worldwide: 3.45M have it; 1.1M have recovered; 244K have died
United States: 1.16M have it; 152K have recovered; 67,076 have died
Oregon: 2,635 have it, 109 have died

The same food items are limited as last week. Meat, poultry and fish products are sometimes in limited supply. We are blessed that we have a freezer full of meat so we will be okay.

Many people are worried about surviving when they can't work. Unemployment benefits are still slow in coming for some and benefit amount likely won't cover the individual's essential expenses. Businesses are likely to remain closed when this is over because they couldn't afford staying closed for this amount of time.

Some of the states that have partially reopened are having an escalation of people contracting the virus. Oregon continues to be a locked down state. In a couple weeks, I will be teaching CPR skills sessions at the hospital incorporating the updated American Heart Association protocols as well as the governor's guidelines. It is going to be interesting. I will be wearing a N-95 mask and gloves the entire time I am working so I feel I am well prepared.

I learned that of the 11 full time people in my department, nine were laid off temporarily. My heart was sad when I learned of the layoffs. The hospital didn't have elective surgeries to make room for Covid patients. The patients didn't materialize. The hospital has operated at less than half of the patients it usually serves for the last six weeks. I am heartened that the plan is to hire all people back in 90 days.

Other than my daily walk with the dog, I have not left the house since March 19. When my youngest daughter learned I was headed back to work, she wanted to know if I had my last meals planned. Clearly, she isn't happy about my return to work decision!