Tag vintage kit

Winter Scene (Art. 126)

CraftyK Leave a comment

This cross stitch pattern is from a kit that was supposed to be made into an ornament. I’m not a Christmas tree person and personally have no need for ornaments and turned this into a card instead.

While the design is small and seems easy, it was more challenging than I expected. Not only is it tiny (and a tiny piece of fabric provided) it has quite a few colors. Along with backstitching to finish it off.

The card was a multi-step process. After picking the paper, I decided I wanted to make it a frame. Because the pattern is small and no words are stitched on it I also wanted to add some text.

I’ve acquired many stamps over the last few years, but I have avoided Christmas ones. With no stamp and not wanting to handwrite anything I chose to use the writing feature of my Cricut. Since I don’t pay for Access that means any font I use is outlined and not a single line.

I decided that wasn’t a problem because I recently bought alcohol markers and could color it in. In my head I just made my own stamp. The nice thing about that was more color options and testing colors before working on the final version. No cleaning a stamp between color tests!

For this card everything is heald together with double sided tape. Nothing too fancy there. I did use interfacing fabric to seal off the back of the cross stitch.

Stitching

Started: April 12

Finished: April 19

Stitching time: 4 hours

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Christmas Cardinal cross stitch card

CraftyK Leave a comment

This card is from a 1988 vintage kit. I inherited from one of my mom’s friends who no longer cross stitches. Something new I am trying with this cross stitch and future ones are to track how much time they take me.

I’m sure you know the adage “when you’re having fun it doesn’t feel like work.” For me that applies to cross stitch. It’s something I enjoy, probably the longest running thing I’ve ever done. I’ve never really looked at how long it’s taken me. Honestly I was quite surprised at how long it takes to do even a smaller pattern like this.

Maybe to some this doesn’t seem small. I have done some fairly large cross stitch projects that take months of steady work which skews my perception. This is the third Christmas cross stitch card I have made. These are the first cross stitch cards I have made with no intended recipient. The concept of potentially selling these cards has been presented to me and you might be reading this because you saw the card, liked it, and have come here to read more.

Cardinal cross stitch, no backstitching or French knots

This cross stitch was straightforward. Almost all of the stitches are whole stitches. Very little backstitching. Quite a few French knots (at least none in gold metallic thread).

I used the Thread Magic again, it works ok. I still had quite a bit of fraying going on. I also snagged a cool idea from Instagram with storing the leftover thread pieces in a little baby food jar. This actually comes in quite handy when working on the go. I have a built in trash receptacle with me all the time. When I’m at home sometimes I forget and start stretching super far to reach the trash can only to remember I have something much closer. Due to lack of good lighting or access to my normal camera I didn’t get a photo of my jar for this project. Hoping next time I will!

Completed card, standing up

This kit came complete with the trifold card with embossed frame and envelope. I was able to easily get the card assembled. This time I did not use any backing on the cross stitch.

Stitching

Started: July 16

Finished: August 31

Stitching time: 7 hours 45 minutes

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for current projects!

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Card only no background