Smalls SAL - December

One last finish for the year!

This was a freebie from Modern Folk Embroidery.  I stitched it on some 28-ct. natural evenweave, using a mystery variegated floss from the stash of a stitcher who passed on...my father got all her things very cheaply at an estate sale.  I love the way this looks, and I hope she is smiling on it, too.

I really love the Smalls SAL - although I missed one check-in, I had at least 12 small finishes this year as a result of my participation.  I had about 20 finishes in all, but none of them were terribly "large."  Smalls are fun, too!  They give me more creative finishing ideas than big things.  It seems to me that with all the time that goes into large finishes, they somehow "deserve" framing...

Drink Up - November Smalls SAL

Little House Needleworks' "Hot Cocoa"

stitched on 32-ct. natural linen with DMC floss

September Smalls SAL

In addition to my tea-dyed piece, I finished this:

"Keep Calm, Paddle On"
by White Lyon Needleart Designs

stitched on white evenweave with a mystery hand-dyed thread

And last night I finished the tea-dyed piece into a no-sew cube (or in this case, brick).

Here is another angle, which shows the fabric pattern a bit better.  I used the same fabric - found at the thrift store for $0.49! - as the backing as well.

Now I'm on to a Halloween pattern ("Zombie Wood" from the Floss Box), but soon enough it will be time to break out a Christmas design or 2...

August Smalls SAL

Ready to feel some fall in the air....this month I stitched a little pumpkin, from an old issue of Just Cross Stitch.  I used Carrie's Creations' "Chocolate" floss, on a peachy/orange Jazlyn I found in my stash.  I mounted it on some matboard and put it in an old coaster!

July Smalls SAL

"Lady Quaker Silhouette" by Homespun Elegance

stitched on 28-ct. linen, with Carrie's Creations "Blueberry Pie" and DMC white cotton floss

I'm thinking about using this as another box topper, like I did with my May small.  I found another one of the octagonal jewelry boxes at the thrift store - evidently they aren't so popular anymore in their original state!  But we'll see.

June Smalls SAL

At the half-way mark this year!  Here is "Winter Gathering," a limited edition kit from Cherished Stitches.  Backing and trim was included, but my interest in this one has kind of petered out at the moment.

May Smalls SAL

Another completely finished object this month!  This little design is called "Mahogany Flowers," and it is by Samplers and Such.  Another pattern I picked up in the exchange pile at Celebration of Needlework, and just HAD to stitch ASAP...  I used a nameless skein of Vikki Clayton's silk, and then made a serendipitous find at the thrift store - this old octagonal jewelry box!  It had a fake "stained glass" lid inset, held in with screws and brackets.  Easy enough to disassemble, and then use the glass as a pattern for my stitching.  I didn't get it centered quite right, but I like it all the same.

I glued some fabric to another insert to cover the laced back, and added some braid just because.

Smalls SAL - April

In addition to the pillows in the last post, this month I stitched up this little tin topper design from Samplers and Such.  Here is "Kokopelli Sunset," posing with the tin that it will eventually top.

I stitched it as charted with DMC, and the sun button was included with the chart.  I did use some generic turquoise beads from Michaels, rather than buying the Mill Hills that were listed.

Now, off to pack and plan for Celebration next week!!!

ETA: a few people have asked about 1) how to finish a tin and 2) what to do with it afterwards.  :)  Here is another post with one of my tin projects:
Stitching Lady Tin Topper
And one more, a Halloween exchange.
Hilda & Frankie
So it looks like I usually put small scissors in the tins.  You could also use them for needles, beads, buttons...or you could refill them with mints, I suppose!

The finishing itself is simple, but a bit fiddly.  I make a finishing form out of matboard, a bit smaller than the tin top.  Check this several times to make sure your stitched piece fits the way you want!  Then I add some batting, and lace the stitched piece to it.  Glue it to the tin with some adhesive (I've used everything from Aleene's to E6000 - it all depends on how much patience you have/how much fiddling you want to do before it sets!), and add some cording or ribbon for a finished edge.

March Smalls SAL Check-in

Hooray, another small!  In addition to the mermaid pocket watch that I posted earlier this month, I also stitched AND finished a little scissor fob.

I stitched and finished the little lady into a scissor pocket last year, and kept the pattern book out intending to make the flower basket portion of that pattern into a coordinating fob...but never got around to it.  Well, I finally decided to do something about that project this month!  I stitched the little basket over-one on some some of that cheap, not-quite-square evenweave, and filled it with crushed walnut shells.

February Smalls SAL

Ta-da!

This was one of three small literary-inspired designs by Emma Congdon, from the September 2016 issue of Cross Stitch Crazy.  (I bought a digital copy of the magazine on Zinnio - only a few dollars versus the $10+ that UK magazines usually cost here in the States, so I could justify stitching only one pattern from it.)  It is designed with a hot air balloon in the top right, but I found a charm that seemed appropriate and used that instead.  I was inspired by someone who posted this on Facebook....they had used a little dragon charm in place of the balloon.  My charm reads "Follow Your Arrow" and has a a sparkly arrow attached.  I tried a couple colored fabrics with this, but I like the clean lines and the way the colors pop on the white!

After seeing Honeybee's recent posts on changing colors in designs, I'm thinking about documenting/featuring some of the changes I've made over the years.  Stay tuned!

New Year, New Smalls SAL!

For my niece who loves orange:

"Tooth Fairy" from Oxmoor House's One-Hour Cross Stitch
colors changed!

This was just fun to stitch and put together.  The little fairy's tunic is a Six-Strand Sweet color - Pink Grapefruit, I think? - and the cord for hanging is a blend of pink and orange DMC.  The stitched piece is actually a pocket, and the orange border extends as the pocket lining (so little teeth won't get lost in thread ends/white fabric!).

I also have another surprise for the sweet girl who settled on orange as her favorite color after getting attached to the Staten Island Ferry as a toddler...I "rescued" these blocks from the thrift store and squared them up as best I could.  The top is currently at the longarm quilter's shop.

The blocks are a little wonky...there was no "fix" for the wavy seams (which are especially visible in the teal pieces)!  But I think it is kind of charming, all the same.  And I like imagining what its beginnings might have been.  It reminds me of those "easy quilt kits" the craft chains sell, and I can just see someone with few/no sewing skills thinking they could whip this together...and then getting increasingly frustrated as they realize those kits leave almost no room for error.  Finally the project ended up in the scrap pile, but they couldn't bring themselves to just throw it away.  Later - years, perhaps - they found it again, looked at it resignedly, and bundled it off to the thrift store.  And so my "Woodland Rescue" was born.