Some highlights...cross stitch edition...

In looking over my cross stitch accomplishments for 2015 I saw that my finishes were almost exclusively Blackbird Design pieces. That shouldn't surprise you or  me as they are my favorite designer at the moment. Years ago, when I hung out at Twisted Threads,  I was big into Ewe & Eye & Friends,  and I can count at least 17 of their samplers...with houses...that I stitched. Seems like BBD is my go to replacement for EEF as I count at least 13 I've stitched of theirs on my walls. I'm just happy that designers keep turning out wonderful projects that I can't wait to stitch.

So without further ado some highlights of 2015 in cross stitch... these aren't in any particular order as I had a hard time saying I liked this one better than that one... I LOVED them all. Here is a sampling of my samplers...

This was my first finish in 2015...Rosy Morning by Blackbird Designs. I really like samplers that have this long ways rectangular shape. They are in the minority when you look at samplers. I also LOVE the big mutant birds in this one. This piece is one of the 12 offerings from the Abcedarian series. I've stitched a couple but still have most of them in my stash... maybe in 2016!

Feast of Friendship...Blackbird Designs... this is  latest thing I've finished that I have a picture of...changed the phrase "Feast of Friendship in the cartouche to an alphabet to fulfill my OCD need for most of my pieces to be samplers with houses...yeah I"m crazy that way...

Sandwiched in the middle here is the May Day Sampler by Brenda Gervais. I did this one as part of a mystery SAL with a FB group. I hand dyed the linen and love the mottled look. I ended up stitching the birds on this piece twice. The first time I stitched them I did them as they were charted as bluebirds. Then I saw my friend Marcella's version where she had stitched them as robins...sooooooo much prettier. Luckily I had done a sort of redneck finishing on the piece so I could take it apart, and restitch them and I think it was well worth the effort. And I stitched every letter of the alphabet in a different overdyed floss...more OCD...LOL!!

This one was an project from Dyeing to Stitch's Ladies Prim Club and is by BBD entitled Bittersweet Lane. LOVE that border...I think it looks like a filigree bracelet.

And last but not least Early Morning Read by Blackbird Designs. This is in the booklet called Weekend. Love the style of these letters but didn't realizes till I got almost done that there is no Z on this piece. I don't think I've ever seen a sampler that left out the Z. The finishing touch on this one is the frame. I would have never thought of this frame till Bev, framer extraordinaire at Joann's suggested it... maybe the best frame EVER!

So there were a couple of other little pieces I worked on but they all need to be framed or finished in some way. And there are two larger pieces I worked on that need attention... and of course there is new stuff I want to stitch. Just like my quilting I'm going to try to try to finish up a UFO or two before starting something new and I want to make a list of projects to try to keep me on track... if possible.

Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day to do the things I love to do. I thank the Lord and my Grandma and my Mom and my friends for introducing me to the joys of needle and thread and fabric and yarn and other crafty stuff. What a wonderful life it is!

happy stitching -
carol fun