Besides quilting I have always enjoyed doing counted cross-stitch. I love when the design comes to life on the blank Aida cloth and the repetitiveness of the stitches is very relaxing. Everyone in our family has a counted cross-stitch Christmas stocking that I look forward to hanging from our mantel every year - except, that is, for Tom because he has one made from felt. When I was teaching in Adams I made counted cross-stitch Christmas ornaments every year for my students in the sixth grade band. And through the years I have made various pictures that have decorated our walls.
Several months ago our neighbor’s daughter gave me two tubs full of fabric and projects that she had found when sorting through the items in her parent’s house. Among those treasures was a box of three sets of stamped cross-stitch quilt blocks. The first set was almost complete - only four blocks were unfinished. The second set had about half of the blocks either started or finished. And the third set was waiting to be started. Even though I have enjoyed doing counted cross-stitch much more than stamped cross-stitched I decided to give it a try and see if it was something I would like to do. If not then I had a quilting customer who loves to do stamped cross-stitch and I could just hand it all off to her. But - lo and behold - I found that I really enjoyed it! So my plan is to finish all of the blocks and then make three quilts - two of them will go to my neighbor’s two children since their mom had a hand in stitching some of the blocks. I may keep the third one for myself or donate it to my quilt guild’s charity.
I have already finished the first set of which only four blocks were left to complete. Not knowing exactly which colors of DMC floss were used I had to match them the best I could with what I had in my floss stash. These blocks were easy to do as they didn’t include any extra embroidery stitches.
I then figured the fabric measurements and colors that I would need for the sashing, border, and backing to put these blocks into a quilt. I opted for yellow sashing and a green border but was not happy with the border fabric that I purchased. It just looked too “John Deere” for my taste and that wasn’t exactly the look I was going for. So I headed to Quilt Stitches in Beatrice to find a more muted and fun color of green. And, I’m happy to say, I found just the right one.
The second set has been the most challenging because there was no pattern or floss color chart included in this more complicated project. About half of the blocks were either started or finished so I could at least figure out colors from there. But there were a lot of colors - four shades of pinks, purples, teals, and blues.
As I began stitching this set I realized that a pattern would be very helpful for the blues as they moved from one shade to another within the same design element. So I took one of the finished blocks to our printer and made a copy of it in black and white. Then I could see the value of the blues - lights vs darks - and could make a pattern.
At this point I have five of the six purples done as well as two of the five teals and three of the six pinks. Since that makes a total of seventeen blocks when they are all finished I will have to be creative with how I make the quilt. I will either make it with sixteen blocks or add three additional blocks using a coordinating fabric. Decisions! Decisions!
The third set came with directions on what colors of thread to use and also included the pattern so I actually started that project first. It features purple flowers surrounded by green leaves. Most of the pattern is cross-stitch but there are a couple of embroidery stitches as well - a stem stitch and a lazy daisy. So far I have completed three of the thirty blocks needed for this quilt.
These are good projects to work on in the evening or when we are traveling. I have not set a deadline as to when I would like to have these three quilts finished. I’ll just add them to my 2025 to-do list and hope to make at least some progress on each of them in the coming year.
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