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.