A Wintery Finish and a Garden Reminder

During 2015, that Reindeer and Snowman embroidery pictured below was the only one of the small embroideries that I started the year with that didn’t end up being finished into something by the end of the year.

The Merry Christmas Snowman became a zippered pouch stocking. The snowman carrying the Christmas tree was turned into a gift bag.

I made the lady with a mixing bowl into a gift tag for my Santa Sack Swap partner, Debbie.

Keep Calm Santa’s On the Way was used in the banner at the top of my Advent Calendar.

And the little white bird stitched on the blue square had whipped back stitch in silver satin floss added before being turned into a Christmas Ornament.

For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out what to do with Reindeer and his Snowman buddy. Then in the lead up to Christmas I started seeing cross-stitch designs that had been mounted on something called a flatfold. But all the ones I saw were for much smaller designs. In addition to which, I have more wall space than surface space for displaying items so I thought I’d experiment with just making the front part of the flatfold.

Because I had no idea if my experiment would work, I didn’t want to go the expense of buying the mat board most tutorials called for. Instead, I emptied the Corn Flakes out of their sturdy Costco sized box and used two sides of it for the mounting boards.

Some batting (<-affiliate link) some fabric, a bit of glue (okay… a lot of messy, sticky glue) followed by two hours of stitching the two fabric covered boards together and this is what I came up with:

This photo shows the stitching along the edge a bit better:

I embroidered Palestrina stitch using three strands of floss all the way around to hold the edges of the boards together.

I tried using 6 strands of floss but didn’t like how it looked. A word from the newly wise… Palestrina stitch cannot be unpicked. It has to be very carefully snipped one stitch at a time before it can be removed.

I have decided not to take part in 2016 Finish Along but it does feel good to be able to check this last small embroidery off my 2015 list.

And now on to other news…

Earlier this month, I mentioned that I am one of eleven designers who will be sharing blocks each month for the In Our Garden Blog Hop.

I just wanted to remind you that the hop starts this coming Monday, February 1st with Amy of Sew Incredibly Crazy sharing the two blocks she has designed.

I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at Amy’s applique block and let me tell you it is Sew Incredibly Cute! You are definitely going to want to stop over there on Monday.

Not only do you get two free In Our Garden blocks each month for the next 12 months but there are prizes for those who hop along with us.

Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a $25 gift certificate here on my blog in June when it will be my turn to share the blocks I’ve created.

Starting Monday, those who make one or both of Amy’s blocks and link up to the link party at the end of February will be entered for a chance to win this beautiful bundle of Riley Blake fabric.

Oh and before I forget… Amy is kicking everything off with a pre-blog hop giveaway of a bundle of Fairy Frost by Michael Miller plus a bit of Color Me Floral Fantasy.

Head on over to Sew Incredibly Crazy to enter for your chance to win. (The pre-blog hop giveaway closes midnight EST, January 31st.) This giveaway is now closed.

Have an awesome weekend with much Aloha!

If you happening to be visiting for the first time… Welcome!

I have so many fun things planned over the coming weeks and months. The above mentioned In Our Garden blog hop is just one of them. I have several tutorials in the works, quite a few quick tips, some recipes and there may even be a visit (or two) from the Hexie Turtles!

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