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Turtle in clear keychain.

Turtle & cat on linen

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I went to a local cross stitch store to get fabric for my next project (which turned into two) and came away with a sample of Jobelan and linen scraps to try out.

I think it was expected that I just make little x’s of nothingness, but I have so many patterns, I found a cute little turtle in a World of Cross Stitch magazine to blow up large enough to stitch. And mark off progress.

I decided to try the 40 count linen first as it came highly recommended (once you get used to it). Day one I put in 43 stitches and I’m not a fan.

Day two or three taking the project outside and using sunlight helped immensely. I could finally see the holes! Stitching went easier. Since I stitched using 1 thread, I finished up some backstitching when working on the eyes.

Turtle on brown linen minimal backstitching

Finishing, it paid off to stitch over 2. Which I decided to do because of the backstitching. It meant built in holes for all the backstitching landing in the middle of a square.

Part two of the sample pieces from the local cross stitch store. The cat is from the same issue of World of Cross Stitch magazine. Again, recharted in WinStitch. This time not only to make it bigger, but because the key is two pages away.

It paid off again to stitch over 2. There is backstitching in the middle of the square. This one I timed and it took 2.5 hours all in. I didn’t take a progress pic of the cat, it went from stitched to backstitched the same day to finish.

Stitching – Turtle

Started: August 8, 2025

Finished: August 12, 2025

Stitching time: didn’t track it

Turtle in clear keychain.

Stitching – Cat

Started: August 17, 2025

Finished: August 19, 2025

Stitching time: 2.5 hours

Light and dark grey spotted cat in clear keychain

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3 mini Christmas cards

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Christmas bird

The first pattern of three. After stitching this and working through the backstitching, I recommend finding 28 count fabric if you can and working it over 2 holes, effectively still stitching 14 count. I used what the kit came with, which included a lot of making new holes for quarter stitches and backstitching details.

Stitching

Started: June 10, 2025

Finished: June 15, 2025

Stitching time: 3.25 hours

Christmas tree

The second pattern of three. At this point I’m determined to get these done and get back to my full coverage pieces. This one wasn’t the most fun to finish, and the backstitching was a pain. But it’s done now and ready to be placed on the card.

Stitching

Started: June 15, 2025

Finished: June 16, 2025

Stitching time: 5 hours

Holly

The third pattern of three. This one was easier overall. Except I missed a lot of half stitches and had to go back and fill those in. The backstitching went much smoother with most stitches starting and ending in a hold that already existed.

Stitching

Started: June 16, 2025

Finished: June 21, 2025

Stitching time: 4.25 hours

These patterns did come as a kit with square cards and envelopes. Originally I was going to assemble these as intended, but since I intend to list them on my shop, the branding on the back wouldn’t work so well. I changed course, found a stamp with the same sentiment, got out all the Christmas paper I have and set to work making three new Christmas cards. I think they turned out well!

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Joy Bears

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I pulled out my last vintage Christmas card kit. This one features two teddy bears setting up an outdoor Christmas tree. They are stringing on the lights and the plug is out in the snow on the ground.

This cute scene reminded me of the Cherished Teddies my sister and I used to buy my mom for just about every holiday from Hallmark. There was usually some new figurine that my mom wanted and my sister would take me to the store nearby to pick it up. Several years ago I made her a large teddy bear cross stitch kit that also looked like the bears from the figurines.

This little cross stitch had its challenges with the white on white stitching. I managed with minimal mistakes. I’m also not used to paper patterns anymore. With Pattern Keeper for my full coverage projects, I’ve been pretty spoiled.

I managed to take a before backstitching photo of this one. The backstitching was needed to really bring out the character of the scene. This didn’t take too long to stitch and was finished with plenty of time before I delivered it to my mom for Christmas.

Stitching

Started: November 23, 2024

Finished: December 5, 2024

Stitching time: 11.75 hours

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There’s no planet B

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The company I work for has a big push for sustainability. When I received issue 337 of The World of Cross Stitch (WOXS) and saw this pattern, I just had to make it. We have a sustainability liaison between our company and the parent company, based in Australia. I think this stitch will be a great for her desk or at home.

The pattern is supposed to be stitched on 28 count, but I don’t have that on hand, so I used 14 count instead. The satin stitching is when I think 28 count would have been helpful.

The colors are inspired by the pattern. I used leftovers from other projects. From what I can tell I actually had 2 shades of green mixed on one bobbin. I also ran out of blue and transitioned to another blue I had on hand. Can you tell from the picture?

I was able to find a frame that fit the finished piece perfectly at a local thrift store. I painted it black using paints I already had on hand.

I even taped the leftovers to the back so there was no waste. This was a fun pattern and small break from the giant full coverage projects I have going.

Stitching

Started: November 17, 2023

Finished: January 8, 2024

Stitching time: 25 hours 45 minutes

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Travel theme keychains

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A request to write in a store bought card prompted this project. If you follow this page, you know I make a lot of cards. When I have to use a store bought card, it feels like cheating, even though I’m not the one who bought it.

I don’t know how official it is, but the company I work for celebrates customer service week the first week in October. The team I’m on was asked to write in some blank cards that will be distributed to the CSS team. While that’s nice, it’s not very personal. Even though what I’m doing is only personal in the sense that it’s handmade.

I knew I had several small travel themed patterns from World of Cross Stitch magazine. I went through all the copies I have and ended up picking 2 patterns that would fit the small keychain space.

To fit, the passports are stitched on 18 count and the globes on 16 count. I really struggled with placement and getting the patterns centered in the space. The fabric and thread are leftovers from previous projects. So the colors aren’t an exact match to the pattern, but it fits with the company’s drive for sustainability.

The backs are 4 parts of a photo I took while on vacation. There are 2 sets, I only took pictures of one because I finished so late.

I learned the keychains will be awards to CS reps who demonstrate over the top customer service.

Stitching

Started: September 19

Finished: October 1

Stitching time: 2.25 hours Passport (x4), 2 hours Globe (x4)

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Noel

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This card took a really long time. I started it and then life took a very different turn than expected. It drove my desire to do anything right out the window. After a few months I was finally willing to pick this back up again, to get it finished. It’s time to move onto something else.

This card is part of a set from the late 1980s. I still have about 5 of them left. This was the easiest pattern from the set. Even with the design being simple, if you start counting the rows of colors in the gradient, you’ll find they are not all correct. 🤫

Once I found the mistakes, I decided to run with it as is. Giving this piece a unique look since it no longer matches the pattern.

Assembly was straightforward. Some double sided tape and everything else was already provided with the kit. As with many of these “smaller” patterns, I am amazed how many hours it actually takes to finish.

Stitching

Started: October 16th

Finished: March 5th

Stitching time: 8.25 hours

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Make Your Own Kind of Music

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I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to finish this one before my friend turned the big 4-0, in November. Clearly I was on top of it with plenty of time to spare.

I’m writing this in late July and you will be seeing this in November. I don’t want to share it early even though I’ll be sending it in a few days.

My friend is not only an amazing photographer and writer, she also has a passion for music. I found this pattern on dailycrossstitch.com and just had to make it for her.

I did a little modification of the pattern. For the arrows I used variegated thread to add some dimension. I also added backstitching around the word music. It wasn’t standing out enough against the lines.

I used a purple sparkle paper for the frame and cut it out with my Cricut. The back of the cross stitch is stabilized with interfacing fabric.

Stitching

Started: March 30

Finished: April 10th

Stitching time: 11.25 hours

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Old Fashioned Santa

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This cross stitch pattern is from a 1988 kit that was supposed to be made into an ornament. The design is by Lois Winston.

The design and stitching were simple which was nice. A little backstitching was involved too.

I wasn’t sure how to finish this one. I have a set of Christmas paper that looks “antique.” I found a page with old world Santa’s that match the cross stitch. Well, with one major difference, they are walking the opposite direction of each other. Even so, I went forward with using it.

Since there are so many Santa’s on the paper I decided to make it the background. The cross stitch is stabilized with interfacing fabric and mounted with mounting tape.

Stitching

Started: May 24

Finished: May 31

Stitching time: 2.5 hours

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Little Mouse

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This card took a very long time in the making. I decided to stop assembling cards as I got things stitched. Little did I know this would take until the end of February to assemble and beginning of May to photograph for this blog!

In that time I did sign up on Instagram to show off cards this year. As I found a few people to follow I saw this cool thing of taking a baby food jar and storing thread scraps in it. I believe that person is keeping them all to put on display. For me it’s become the perfect portable trash can.

This is my tread scrap jar for the project.

To finish this card I used a page from one of those small books of scrapbook paper. I bought 2 Christmas themed ones and thought this page was a good fit. Since the mouse has a little Santa hat I thought the “HO HO HO” was good. I would have preferred it to be on the right, but this is how the paper comes. The words were in the far bottom left of the sheet. The mistletoe having the green to tie the two together in a second way.

The base of the card is white cardstock with the front being taped on with double sided tape. The cross stitch is adhered with a piece of foam tape. I didn’t get it cut out the greatest, but it works and looks ok.

Stitching

Started: October 31

Finished: November 6

Stitching time: 2 hours

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Joy cross stitch card

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If you look below you will see that I stitched this card a while back. It’s taken a while to get up the energy to assemble the card.

This pattern came from a 1988 kit I inherited from one of my mom’s friends. She has a ton of crafting things and cross stitch isn’t as easy for her any more so I have been able to take some of the kits and magazines to keep using them.

I’m usually not much for Christmas, but I’m still in the process of moving so my options are more limited with what projects I can work on. This project took a little bit of time as it’s small. The gold filament was also a challenge to work with. You don’t want sweaty hands with it that’s for sure!

This kit came with everything except the tape to hold the card together. Luckily I have double sided tape on hand from all my previous cards. The card has 3 panels, you put the cross stitch into the middle and fold a panel over to hide it. They also provide a card to go behind the cross stitch to help with stability.

Like usual I struggled with getting the pattern tight, you can see there it gaps from paper a bit. If I did this one again I would also cut down the fabric a little closer to the design. It was a bit close to the edges making the inside crinkle up a bit.

Overall a pretty easy project, just took a long time to put it together. Originally I was going to raffle off the card and send it to whoever won. Then I realized that it is a bit too early for Christmas. I can’t even claim Christmas in July yet!

Stitching

Started: March 19

Finished: April 20

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