Cross Stitch Bonanza

...or what I did over spring break.  ...or whatup smalls?

I've been really getting back into the groove of cross stitching these past few weeks.  I used to be a fanatic before Blockette was born.  Insane about cross stitch.

I made things like this:

Peacock Tapestry by TW Designworks. This bad boy is 22.5"x 14.5" not including the mat or frame.

And this:

Pattern from some book I found in the library back in the early 1990's.  Stitched over 1 on 25 count fabric.

I really don't have the patience or inclination to do massive projects like this anymore.  Which is probably a good thing as the house we live in now doesn't have a lot of wall space.

Anyhow...
Over spring break I stitched up a series of itty bitty cross stitches.  I felt like I accomplished something with every finish, even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of them.

The first one: Santa pirate.  Will probably be turned into a Christmas ornament.  It was a free design from Sue Hillis Cross Stitch that can be found here.  It was stitched on a tiny scrap of hand dyed 32 count turquoise linen.  The design measures 2.25"x 2.25".

This little design measures 2"x3".  I found the design on pinterest and it reminded me of Jane Austen.  The design is free and can be found here at a French blog called Aurelle.  The design was stitched over two threads on 28 count white-ish evenweave fabric.

This Grecian lady was another freebie found on the Dutch blog Steekjes and Kruisjes. She was stitched on an off white linen, and measures 2.75"x 2.75".

This key was stitched over two threads on a grayish-green linen fabric. The free chart can be found here on this French Blog.  The design measures 2"x3.75".

 

This sweet strawberry chart was a freebie from Cosmic Handmade. You can find it here.  I used a scrap of heathered 18 count aida from when I stitched up this cow for my mom two years ago.  The design measures about 3"x3".

You can't really tell from the photo but I used some hand over-dyed threads.  Over-dyed threads are the threads that are dyed multiple colors, often in the same shade, on the same skein of thread.  This is probably the only design that I stitched over spring break that I was less than thrilled about.  The colors are too muted for my liking.  I think perhaps the birds should have been a dusty blue.  I guess I just didn't care enough to rip it out.  Maybe I will later.

Then I decided to get all kinds of crazy.  And dye my own fabric. CRAZY!

I had a narrow strip of antique white evenweave fabric.  It was a bit too creamy for my liking.  I had some Roobios tea that I didn't particularly care for so I used that to stain the cloth. 

I'm quite pleased with the results.

So far I have stitched two tiny designs on my hand dyed fabric.  The first is this locks and keys from the Hungarian blog Sub Rosa.  The link for the free chart is here.  I stitched the design over one thread, so the whole design only measures 2" x 3.75".  There is a companion free chart to this design at Sub Rosa that I just discovered called Keys to the past that I plan on stitching up in the near future.

This cow was my last finish over spring break.  He measures in at a whopping 2"x1.25"! 

Ain't he a cutie.  I think I could handle a cow this size.  At least I could if he could be paper or litter trained!  You can purchase this design on Etsy from Sewingseed.

So that's all that I stitched last week. They're no Peacock Tapestry, but I sure had fun cranking them out!