Jo's "The People Choose.....Finishing!" SAL

I haven't been terribly motivated to stitch lately - I blame the horrible heat.  We've finally caved and are seriously investigating having central AC installed!  But Jo's theme for this month was Finishing, and I DO love (or hate, depending on how well my skills match up with my mental picture) my finishing projects, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

My first finishes were standard frames - I also started out stitching larger projects, so the concept of a "small" was very foreign!  My framing adventures began in the early 2000s.

"Marsh Marigolds", from an old issue of Cross Stitch & Country Crafts, stitched on Aida and framed for my mom

"Woodland Sampler" by Something in Common, stitched on a gray hand-dyed evenweave

Then I started experimenting with sewing, and learned to make pillows.  Some of the first ones were a bit wonky, but I've gotten better over time!  Here are 2 of my favorites.

JBW Designs "To the Sea"

Little House Needleworks "Moon and Stars"

Ornaments grew naturally out of pillows (although it took me quite some time to figure out how to make laced ornaments in different shapes and such).  Finishing ornaments is actually quite fun for me, as long as I'm feeling inspired and have the right fabrics and trims on hand.  Which could explain all the craft stash.... LOL

one of my favorites, a Heart in Hand Santa that I stitched for my niece

I have tried to stitch an annual ornament for my daughter, but haven't quite kept up.  :(  I fell off about 2 or 3 years ago....but who knows, I might catch up eventually.

Once I found smalls and figured out ornament finishing, I really let the creative ideas run wild.  There are so many interesting ways to attach and display a flat-mounted piece!  I know there are a lot of bloggers and Flosstubers out there who show off amazing finishes, so I'll try to keep this short.  My favorites usually involve 3-D embellishments of some kind.

Tim Holtz assemblage clock with a teeny bear inside

Prairie Schooler design in a shadow box with trowel and embellished daisies

And of course, the mermaids.  I don't know what it is about mermaids that I love so much - maybe it is as simple as the colors?  But these projects always make me smile.

"The Little Mermaid" from a Danish kit, finished in a shadow box with minis

Shepherd's Bush mermaid sampler, finished in a lighthouse with a flamework glass mermaid I acquired while vacationing in Cape Cod

"Miranda", a pattern/kit from White Lyon Needleart

So there you have it, a taste of my finishing style.  I really don't mind finishing, it is just finding the time and inspiration to DO it that bogs me down sometimes.  If you want to see more of the things I've made, just click the "finishing" tag in the column on the right side of my blog!  I didn't even include any of my re-finished jewelry boxes in this post, but you can see them there.

People's Choice SAL - Freebies

When I saw this month's theme was freebies, I decided to jump on board Jo's "People's Choice" SAL.  Confession: I may be a hoarder of free patterns.  :/  LOL  I have a portable external hard drive loaded with them, over 1000 files!  I'm pretty sure many of them are no longer available online (freebies were taken down, websites moved, the designer is no longer in business....who knows), and they aren't taking up any real physical space, so I just can't bring myself to get rid of them.  I collected all the Dragon Dreams freebies before Jennifer took them down and moved to a Facebook group....I have things in French, Russian, and any number of other languages....it is really crazy.

I did a quick search of my blog by tag, and found 24 freebie finishes!The first one was Solaria Gallery's "Stitching the Standard."

(While Solaria's webpage is still out there, it doesn't look like the designer has released anything in about 3 years, and none of the links on the freebie page work.)

I often find that freebies are great for ornaments and baby gifts.  One that I haven't seen anyone else link to yet are Marnic Designs "Mother and Child" series - I did this one for a friend several years ago.

I added the baby's name and birthdate to the back.  This is a styrofoam cube finish - I believe these little designs fit the 3" cubes that you can find in most craft stores, so there is no styrofoam cutting or fiddling necessary.


 Although I often say that I don't like primitive designs, I've collected several "prim"-inspired free patterns!  One of my favorites is The Little Stitcher.  I've finished her "Tea Time" design, "Mother of the Harvest," and "Vintage Witch."

 

I did like what Jo said in her post, about not grabbing "free" patterns from Pinterest.  While I admit to searching Pinterest every now and then - sometimes because all the hits I get in a search are from there - I do try to find the designer's own site or blog to download a pattern.  Too many times I've found things that looked like they were free, but really weren't! 

Please feel free to click on my blog's "freebie" tag to see more of the free things I've stitched, and if you are looking for the patterns yourself, let me know.  If the site is still active, I'll happily pass it along.