Tag keychain

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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Nightmare before Christmas, well sort of…

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A family member who loves Nightmare Before Christmas unexpectedly came to town for Christmas. I was told two days in advance. The day before Christmas I decided to make her a keychain. I had patterns from a little Disney kit for Nightmare and a couple of them are small enough, if stitched on 25 count. My full coverage projects are coming in handy. Without those, I wouldn’t have 25 count fabric on hand.

Sound familiar? I did the same stitch count for my Secret Snowflake Pokémon keychain. It’s actually not that bad stitching so small. I do like the one strand of thread instead of two as well.

In addition to the two cross stitches I also made one of my first Christmas cards now that I have more stamps. Normally I don’t keep Christmas themed stamps when I get them, but I did save a few and they came in handy this year.

I used Winstitch to plot out the patterns from the itty bitty book. There was no way I could keep count from the original patterns. By doing that I was also able to put the stitching part into Pattern Keeper and I printed a huge copy for the backstitching. I think they turned out really nice.

I found a way to use my ho ho ho paper. It didn’t work so well with the cross stitch mouse, but for this card it worked out well. I’m pretty sure the Santa stamp is part of a retired Stampin’ Up collection. It was part of a large set of stamps donated to me in CD cases. I used my dotted embossing folder for the red paper on the right. I also added some glitter to Santa’s beard after I took the photo. This card is also larger than my usual at 5×7.

Stitching

Started: December 24, 2024

Finished: December 25, 2024

Stitching time: 2 hours Jack and Sally, 1 hour Zero

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Succulent keychain

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If you remember the travel keychains I made a while back, this project began by (a semi-joking) request from someone else at the office. We don’t know what happened to the original set so I asked some questions so I could find a more personalized pattern. Instead of adding a photo to the back, I found two fitting patterns to use.

The patterns also come from World of Cross Stitch magazine. Both patterns are from issue 335 design library. Aloe is stitched on 18 count and the cat + plant is on 22 count.

Aloe was a very quick stitch, about an hour including the back stitching. The cat + plant one took a but longer because there are a lot more stitches to begin with, plus more colors.

I used colors from my leftovers container for all except one. I wasn’t able to find a suitable replacement for one of the greens. On Aloe I replaced the pot color with a variegated purple I have in my leftovers. It added more dimension to the pot for sure.

Stitching

Started: February 11

Finished: February 12

Stitching time: 1 hour (Aloe), 3 hours cat + plant

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Husker keychain

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While visiting my mother-in-laws house, I noticed all the Husker stuff I’ve made over the years for her husband. Something else I noticed was now the coasters I made a few years ago are now out of date.

If you read my keychain project I did for people at work, I have several keychains left. This year I decided to make a Husker themed keychain, it may be little, but I think it will be appreciated and enjoyed.

Since it was so small, when the opportunity to make a glass Husker ‘N’ came up, I decided to make that too.

I also completely forgot to take photos before wrapping these. So the after present opening, I grabbed them to take a couple of photos.

Stitching

Started: November 11

Finished: November 12

Stitching time: 3 hours

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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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