Tag grey

Turtle in clear keychain.

Turtle & cat on linen

CraftyK Leave a comment

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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Class of 2024

CraftyK Leave a comment

My nephew is graduating high school this year. I designed this pattern based on the other two I made for his older siblings (Class of 2018, Class of 2021). This pattern is 1,118 stitches in total, no backstitching. I used his favorite color for the text and school colors for the triangles.

I did some correcting to the triangles. This time they are all the same pattern. Rotating the ones on the end was a challenge. I am not very adept at WinStitch. I thought it was supposed to be easy to use, but it was a lot harder than I thought to select, rotate, and place the triangles.

I’m working on a couple of full coverage pieces and using Pattern Keeper to track progress. I exported this pattern for Pattern Keeper since I am now used to being able to zoom way in on a pattern and have the current color selected throughout the project.

While the design was supposed to be 5×7, somewhere along the way it ended up narrower than that. Of course I was being lazy about trimming it up and ended up cutting too much off the left side and to even things out, cut the same amount on the right, leaving a small gap on each side.

My nephew loves Star Wars and I have been using a page at a time from a daily calendar I received several years ago and didn’t open. So on the edges, you can see just a little hint of that.

I also made my signature graduation card using adhesive foil and thread from the cross stitch project.

Stitching

Started: April 4, 2024

Finished: April 23, 2023

Stitching time: 9.25 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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Class of 2021

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It’s finally here! My second project finish of the year. This was a super fast project that I designed myself. The font did need to be tweaked after typing in the text to make it look right. If you would like to see the first graduation project I did for her sister a few years back, you can find that post here.

I somehow managed to make the triangles different on the pattern and had to fix as I went while stitching.

My niece is into grey and pink right now, but her school colors are dark blue and grey. I compromised with the triangles standing in for school colors and the text using a variegated pink thread. I didn’t plan for the 21 to be the darkest part, but I’m not mad that’s how it turned out.

To keep with the light and neutral theme I chose a white frame for finishing.

Stitching

Started: March 11

Finished: March 18

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With Heartfelt Sympathy

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When you have 9 funerals in 18 months, it changes your perspective on life. While I’ve had a really long break between funerals now, that streak having come to an end last year, I really feel for those who can’t come together right now when a family member dies.

I still can’t say the right things, and of course the cards I make are blank inside.

At work we were informed that a co-worker lost her husband over the weekend. We can’t sign a card as a company since we are all at home, so we were provided the address to send a card if we wanted.

Due to the aforementioned funerals I had actually purchased various sympathy stamps. But I still have a blank card to write something to and about someone I barely know. I can only hope that what I wrote is appropriate and what they need right now. I don’t try to be different, but I tend to be with the fact that I know reading yet another card that says I’m sorry for your loss is just another card. So I tried to say something, but not sure if it was right.

I used an embossing folder on a gradient grey cardstock and stamped in the blank area using a dark blue pigment ink. I then used clear embossing powder on the stamp. I attached the embossed and stamped part to folded white cardstock with double sided tape.

cards_0520_05

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bottom up angle view of tools card

Tools of the Trade

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What do you get when you cross a welder and a wood crafter? This card! Also you get the final card of the #cardproject2019. This has been an intense year of cross stitching for sure, but now it has come to a close. The final birthday today, December 31st.

I pulled a few tools out of a larger pattern called Grandpa’s Workshop from the May/June 1993 Cross Stitch & Country Crafts magazine. This way they would fit on a card and be relevant to his interest of wood crafting.

tools before backstitching

The saw blades were the hardest to stitch and outline. A bunch of quarter stitches all in a row is hard to do and keep consistent. I seem to have a hard time parting the fabric right in the middle to get a nice clean look. This might be something that is only noticeable to other stitchers too.

In my paper I didn’t find anything I liked much so went for my wallpaper stash. I found the paper I used first, then saw a foam wood paper that I considered for the frame. While wood seems to make more sense the tools seemed to get lost more with it, so I went with my initial thought of the silver.

Then it was deciding if I wanted to put the dark area in the middle or just the bottom. Putting it at the bottom won since it’s hard for me to line up the Cricut to cut exactly where I wanted. Getting a dark stripe right in the center would be too hard so I went with below and I think it works well.

front angle view of tools finished

The paper sample was smaller than most to begin with and my first try I didn’t measure the hole correctly. Luckily the pattern is banded so I flipped it around and tried again with more breathing room around the cross stitch. I used double sided tape to hold everything together.

Stitching

Started: November 16th
Finished: November 27th

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full front of tools card

top semi-angle view of bowling card

Knocking Down Pins

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I”m getting near the end of the birthday cards. This one is for a cousin who goes to Nationals with bowling every year. I am assuming he’s bowled a 300 at some point.  I don’t know this cousin all that well, so I needed some help from my mom for ideas. Bowling would fit several people in the family, and he’s going to be the lucky recipient.

bowling pins in progress

This pattern is from dailycrossstitch.com. It’s pretty simple once you get the first row done. Everything else can be based off of that one row for a while. Then once you need to go another direction (like the ball) you need to count another row and just keep going from there.

This one is sort of large, I stitched it on 18 count to fit on the smaller card size, so it takes a bit of time to stitch.

close up of bowling ball

For the card I wanted to mount the pattern. So glad I learned about interfacing fabric this year! Seriously the best thing ever! Anyway, due to the more “actiony” looking image I wanted it to stand off the page. I found a textured blue background to use for mounting the pattern to. The card base is just my regular white cardstock.

Stitching

Started: October 1st
Finished: October 6th

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full front of bowling card

top front of card standing

Simple Cross

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I’m not sure where to begin with this card. I made it for a second-cousin of mine. He’s been through a lot in his life and part of this cross stitch has a little extra meaning because of where the thread came from.

About 15 years ago my cousin and his family were in a terrible car accident. His wife died and one of his children was left with a brain injury. He’s recovered well beyond what was every expected for which we are all grateful.

It’s not easy to lose a parent. If I remember correctly he was about 6 years old. I know his mom loved cooking (which is why we have the family cookbook) and she cross stitched. At some point my mom ended up with her thread. It’s in a brown case, everything sorted out and each color braided onto the cards. To this day I cannot rebraid them if one becomes undone.

thread on cloth on pattern

For this cross stitch I picked two colors from her collection. I went with blue, hoping it’s a color he likes. Blue is a pretty universal color. These two stood out, so going with “there’s a higher power” they must be what it should be.

The pattern is something I found online. I didn’t want anything too crazy and trying to search “cross cross stitch” doesn’t go so well, the internet doesn’t understand that I did mean to write cross twice.

The pattern had a circle element to it that I decided to leave off. I wanted to keep it simple, I liked the clean lines.

angled view front

I used the Cricut to cut my frame.  It took a few different papers to come to the plain grey. Again for the simplicity of it. I didn’t want to add any text, embossing or stamping. Just simple, especially because the thread in this case has more meaning than anything else.

Stitching

Started: May 30th
Finished: May 31st

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front view full card

 

 

close up of stitching

Rhino in a Tux

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This card is for a cousin of mine who I hope likes rhinos. His company logo and business feature a rhino, and when I saw this pattern he was the first person who came to mind.

The Rhino in a Tux pattern cane be found at dailycrossstitch.com if you want to make it as well!

starting out Rhino in a Tux

This pattern has very few colors and was pretty easy to make. Counting the body takes a little bit of time, but once that first row is done you can base most everything off of that to eliminate long lines of counting.

The pattern calls for Anchor thread, I converted to DMC since that is what I have. CyberStitchers has a simple conversion chart in case you ever need it.

To get this pattern to fit on a smaller card I used 18 count Aida cloth. This time around I decided to also do it with only 1 thread for the x’s. It looks find in person, however I noticed in the photos the black looks a bit thin/see through.

front view standing

The whole thing was done with one thread, but for some reason black looks a little thinner than the rest. Probably the higher contrast between black and the white fabric. Either way, in person it doesn’t seem as thin.

standing side view

For mounting I used my mom’s really old interfacing fabric (I think). It didn’t make it stiff really, but seems to be holding up for all the trimming I did without any fraying. I used foam tape to mount the rhino to the front of the card.

Stitching

Started: May 15th
Finished: May 21st

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front view full card

close up of stitching

Gamer

CraftyK Leave a comment

Do you have a video gamer in your life? Maybe this pattern from dailycrossstitch.com is for you. I have a cousin who loves video games, and regular board games too. In his new house there is one bedroom that has bookshelves full of video games. Special chairs to sit in, big tv, and probably more than one console. I’m hoping one of those is an Xbox.

gamer colors

This pattern includes 4 different shades of grey plus black. unfortunately 2 of them are very close in hue. This makes it hard to see the knob things in real life, in the photos the color difference shows up better.

This pattern was easy and fun to work on. Once you get a few of the key pieces stitched it’s just filling in from there.

front of gamer card standing

I ended up cutting out the wallpaper background with a box cutter. To keep the edges of the fabric from fraying I used my new go to interfacing fabric on the back. A few cat hairs are now a permanent part of this card. I mounted the cross stitch using foam tape to stand off the card a bit.

This was a very straightforward uncomplicated card which was very nice.

Stitching

Started: April 7th
Finished: April 13th

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front of gamer card