Christmas Cross Stitch Palooza-and Mis-Adventures in Painting on a Slow Sunday Stitching...

So did you have a productive week?  I actually did... unbelievable...LOL... I got all the Fall decorations put away and hauled out most of the Christmas stuff. I still have to do the tree, but this coming week will be soon enough.  I got my outside lights up on Tuesday but a significant amount of 4 letter words were used. Out of 8 strings of light with 150 bulbs each...none of which are more than 4 years old... 4 of them only partially lit up...gggrrrrrrrr!!!!  I problem solved by wadding up the ones that didn't light and shoving them back into the bushes... got a thorn in my thumb in the process that aggravated me for days.  Anyway they are up ... I'm thinking of getting one of  those projection things that puts sparkly lights all over your house...except that I need two of them as my house is on the corner and has 2 front yards... I'll think about it... maybe I can snag two after Christmas...we'll see.

As my title alludes I have gotten a bunch of Christmas cross stitched finished and #priscillafied ... I find so much inspiration on Priscilla's blog and her IG account.    Go take a minute to see all her wonderful Christmas stuff... I'm drooling over her cross stitch and her Fitz & Floyd stuff.

As for the Mis- Adventures in Painting...that's at the end of this post.

So here's my Christmas cross stitch ...

First, my Lizzie Kate Jingles...

I know it looks washed out here but IRL it is nice and bright... these pics are truer in color...

The wood on the back is a piece I picked up at Hobby Lobby... I liked that metal band at the top and the bottom. It was just a natural wood so I slapped some white craft paint on it as I wanted to keep a rustic look. The bow and the peppermints at the top are also from Hobby Lobby... I'm in LOVE with that curly ribbon bow... I got 3 of them in one package for $2... and you will see I used all 3 of them.  The back mat is a Basic Grey fabric,  I think from the Juniper collection. It had all the colors of the piece in it and I love a good plaid!  Now if you remember back when I was stitching this I was almost done when I realized I didn't have enough fabric to do all 12 of  the Jingles, so I left off the last two. I was unhappy then, but happy now as this piece of wood wouldn't have been large enough if I had done all 12... I'm a genius...NOT...LOL   This is hanging right by the front door.

And then there is this finish...my J'Arrive by Tournicoton...

That curly ribbon thing has turned up again this time paired with some "snowballs" which I picked up at Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby had a great selection of picks this year, but when I was there on Friday they were pretty picked over...oh I am punny... the fabric behind this piece is from Sandy Gervais' Merry collection from about a year ago. It was the right shade of aqua and I like the snowflakes.   This sits on a shelf display in the living room...

Next we have my 3 tier tray... appropriately Santa is photo-bombing this display. LOL!!  I stuck with a Santa theme here and Priscilla-fied another Lizzie Kate chart called Merry.

I mounted it on a fabric covered sticky board ... I think that holly fabric came from Joanns a year or so ago...

I painted the 32 count linen with very diluted  Scarlet and Aquamarine Rit dyes. And getting every last cent out of that $2 I spent on the curly ribbon bows, I've paired it this time with some red holly berries.  I love the little stand this is on. Aren't those crossed candy canes cute?  It was a photo stand I found at Micheals.

And last but not least, a Barbara Ana Santa...

He came from the sampler Christmas Joy which you can see here.   I want to do this sampler and have painted some fabric for it... don't know if I'll get it done for this Christmas but there is always next year. And next year I want to have a couple of larger Christmas pieces to display.  Here's another pic of Santa ... love the shoes!!!

I just finished this as a simple pillow and added the little bow and bell. I have been stuffing the top part of pieces like this with fiberfill and then adding crushed walnut shells to the bottom for weight. They stand up nicely that way. I have plans for a couple of Lizzie Kate elves that I'd like to stitch this year... probably doable...

But wait there is one Christmas piece that is totally calling my name...in fact it is a joyous little  refrain which I hear to the melody of Ode to Joy...stitch me...stitch me... (yes I am crazy but as my older son points out it isn't the kind of crazy they can commit you for...at least not YET...LOL)

Christmas ABC's by Lizzie Kate...

OMG I  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this one. I saw on on a Flosstube video with Priscilla & Chelsea "The Real Housewives of CrossStitch".... you can check it out here.  Their Flosstube videos are a blast... treat yourself  to watching them when you have some time. Anyway this only comes as a kit as far as I can find out and I got mine here at Stoney Creek... it included the chart and all the flosses. I am going to change out the blue for an aqua but that's the only change I plan.

So,here's where the mis-adventure occurred.  I wanted to paint some linen for this piece in pink/aqua/sage...which I did ... a 36 count ... and I loved the way it turned out until I sat down to stitch... I don't know how it happened and I certainly didn't do it on purpose... Honestly,  I don't think I could have done it on purpose if I tried, but the blotchy pink splotch smack in the middle of the linen looked like something...  you know how you see pictures in clouds...well I saw something... and then I asked my younger son if he saw anything ...and he did ...and what was it you ask? Well, somehow I had "painted" a large phallic member complete with jewels ...I am MORTIFIED!!!!   And once you saw it, it couldn't be unseen.... I tried to convince myself that once I stitched the whole piece you wouldn't see it...and maybe no one else would see it but I WOULD!!!  And my Catholic upbringing would have me turning as many shades of pink and red as were in the offending image.  Okay...it is pretty funny... I don't think I should show a picture of the linen... you'll have to trust me on this one. A friend stopped over today and I asked her if she saw anything in the linen and well...she saw it too.... we laughed and laughed. I know there is some subversive cross stitch out there but it isn't the look I'm going for... so I'll paint another piece of linen this week and I will watch very very very closely to be sure I don't end up with another pornographic piece of linen.. 

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today... so many lovely projects to view on that linkup. 

Well it is a lovely Sunday here in southwest Ohio.... the impending doom of cold weather and perhaps some flurries is projected to start on Wednesday... not looking forward to it, but know it is inevitable... it  is Ohio and it is winter. My neighbor across the street who plays golf every chance he gets said he looked at a long range forecast and after Wednesday there wasn't a day above 40 degrees till the end of February...boy he's a buzz kill...LOL

I did get my snowman inflatable straightened out and I just glanced out the kitchen window to see the boys are sunbathing this afternoon... I don't blame them.

Hope you have a great week!!

happy stitching-

carol fun