Fall Sampler

Many years ago I picked up the book, Sample the Seasons Cross Stitch Designs, at Joanne's. It is pretty awesome; the designs are pretty but not overly difficult. There is some back stitching but it isn't complicated or involved-it mainly follows outlines or adds some simple details to things like leaves or faces. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to cross stitch and is looking for some easy and fast seasonal pieces to do and even to the beginner cross stitcher.


I have probably done three or four different samplers from the book and my latest pull from the lottery was to do  the fall inspired design entitled, "Let Us Give Thanks." Here it is completed:

My favorite part is the leaves!

I think it is very sweet.I did it on 14 count Oatmeal Aida and the finished design is only 9 1/4" x 4". Now comes the tricky part: yes I have completed the cross stitch portion but now I need to do something with it so it doesn't just sit in my unfinished pile (the whole point of this lottery!). My goal is to make it into a small wall hanging for my entryway.

 I spent a good portion of this weekend going through my fabric stash trying to find some coordinating fabric to make a couple of borders. I thought I might make some stars as one of the borders but trying to figure out the math of how big to make the stars vs the size of the piece just gave me a huge headache. Instead, I will keep it simple and make two borders. My goal is finish it by next week.  I also realized that trying to do something overly involved, getting frustrated and then setting it aside is ultimately what got me in this mess!

When I do finish it completely I will take some closer shots of the piece so you can see the details.

Again, if you are looking for some pretty seasonal samplers that move pretty fast, I highly recommend this little book.

Quick Valentine Wreath

This latest project wasn't part of the lottery. It just kind of happened on one of those days when nothing seems to be going right and I needed to say to myself I accomplished more than just laundry, changing diapers, feeding little mouths and cleaning up that feeding.The month of January was kind of tough for me and I am very glad that today dawns a new month!

I think I can count on two hands how many days this month more than 50% of my little family has been well. We have had lots of jammie days this month. While awesome to be so nice and cozy, it's driving me nuts. I hate January. We just spent the last four months looking forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Easter feels so far away. St Patrick's Day is ok but I don't get to partake of any sweet green cocktail (side note: I refuse to desecrate beer by turning it green. That is simply wrong).

"What about Valentine's Day?", you ask. Yeah, Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day kind of gets lost in my house. For one, it's sandwiched in between a birthday and our wedding anniversary. Seriously, all three days fall within less than a week of each other. So celebrating all three kind of becomes ridiculous. Plus, the husband and I kind of think Valentine's Day is...well....stupid. I said it. Valentine's Day is stupid.

Random fact: I didn't notice the tree etching in the door for at least a year after we moved into this house.

I wrote this big long rant about why I think Valentine's Day is stupid but I deleted it. Don't jump down my throat. I know lots of people who like Valentine's Day and think it's awesome. Let's just agree to disagree. :)

Despite my whole soapbox about Valentine's Day, I kind of need something to look forward to right now so I am going to embrace Valentine's Day and love and puppy dogs this year.  Plus a little color around the house is nice to look at after having the house  decorated for Christmas and it being all dark and gloomy outside (which is starting continuing to reflect in my attitude, I'm well aware!).

I'm not sure where I first got this idea for this little wreath. Who are we kidding? I'm sure I saw something like this on Pinterest. Now, this bad boy I made in about 30 minutes only because I had the strips of felt already cut out from an abandoned craft I started last year. The strips of felt are about an inch wide and six inches long. I used four different colors - white, red, light pink, and dark pink.   I took an old wire hanger and fashioned it into a circle using duct tape to keep the ends secure. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of the hanger before I started tying the strips of felt on because than you could see that it was not a perfect circle.

Once I had the wire hanger circle complete, I just started randomly choosing a strip and tying it on; easy peasy. After the circle was completely covered I started pushing the pieces all together to make room for more (I wanted it really fluffy and full) and tried to shove as many felt ties on there as possible. I didn't do a count, but I would say there are at least 100.  If you are going to attempt this project, it will take you a little longer if you don't have the fabric already cut; but cut the fabric one day and tie it on the next and it's still a nice, quick little crafty win! Quick note, if I had to do it again, I probably would have made the felt pieces only 1x4 or 1x5.

I've seen these done with all sorts of scrap fabrics and they look so cute. The wreaths made with red, white and blue scrap fabric would be really cute for summer.

What little craft do you have that could be done in a few hours or so that might cheer up your house?