Friday Finishes #39: Mothers Are Special (Take Two)

Mothers Are Special

Today’s Finish!

Today’s Friday Finish is my second time around with this particular mini kit. I bought the kit a second time to make as a Christmas present for my mom!

Name of Piece: #021-1389 Mothers Are Special

Designed by: Kooler Design Studio

Chart or Kit?: Mini Kit

Distributed as a kit by Janlynn under their “Designs For the Needle” series

Kit Contains: 18-count cotton Aida fabric, 6-strand cotton floss, frame, self-adhesive mounting board, needle, graph, instructions

Finished Size: 2.5 inches round

» Read more

Progress Report: Tractor By Janlynn, Start To Finish

Progress Report: Tractor By Janlynn

Today’s Progress Report is something different from my normal projects. I wanted to find a piece more masculine to be able to give my step father for Christmas. I went through my mini kits and found this piece by Janlynn of a tractor I thought he would like. And it turned out to be a fast, simple stitch. It turned out great!

» Read more

Friday Finishes #38: Owl By Janlynn

Owl By Janlynn

Today’s Finish!

Today’s Friday Finish is a mini kit I stitched for my sister for Christmas. This one has the unique honor of being the first to have the colors bleed on me in a very long time!

Name of Piece: #021-1484 Owl

Designed by: No designer listed!

Chart or Kit?: Mini Kit

Distributed as a kit by Janlynn under their “Counted Cross Stitch” series.

Kit Contains: 18-ct cotton Aida fabric, 6-strand cotton floss, frame, self-adhesive mounting board, needle, graph, instructions

Finished Size: 2.5 inches round

» Read more

Progress Report: Mothers Are Special (Take Two) – Start to Finish

Progress Report: Mothers Are Special (Take Two!)

Today’s Progress Report is one of my first repeats! I originally did this mini kit a few years ago for my mother-in-law. You can read it here: Friday Finishes #18: Mothers Are Special

Well, I wanted to do this kit for my own mother too. I bought the kit again and decided to stitch it as a Christmas gift for my mother a few years ago! And this time, I actually took pictures while I stitched!

» Read more

Progress Report: Owl By Janlynn, Start to Finish

Progress Report: Owl By Janlynn

Today’s Progress Report is a very popular Owl By Janlynn motif Janlynn puts out a lot. This little owl has several different kits based on variants of its design, including pillowcases, a 5×7 size kit, and a mini kit, just to name a few! The mini kit version is what our Progress Report today is about.

I picked up this mini kit to make for my sister, who is a big fan of owls. Because it was a nice quick stitch, I made it up as a Christmas present for her. I tried to stitch presents for everyone that year, so I don’t think it took me long at all. Maybe two weeks max of an hour or two of stitching at a time!

» Read more

Friday Finishes #33: Little Princess

Today’s Finish!

Today’s Friday Finish is a cute Little Princess piece that I stitched up because I wanted to work on a mini kit. I think I wanted to give it to one of my younger cousins and decided to keep it for myself… I’m a princess too, after all!

Name of Piece: #021-1389 Little Princess

Designed by: There is no designer listed for this piece.

Chart Or Kit?: Mini Kit

Distributed as a kit by Janlynn Corporation under their “Designs for the Needle” series.

Kit Contains: 18 ct cotton aida fabric, 6-strand cotton floss, metallic thread,frame, self-adhesive mounting board, needle, graph, and instructions

Finished Size: 2.75 inches x 2.75 inches oval (5.7 x 7 cm)

» Read more

Friday Finishes #31: Sweet Baby

Friday Finishes 31: Sweet Baby

Today’s Finish!

Today’s Friday Finish is actually a Christmas gift from last year! It’s been a long time coming. Sweet Baby was a fun piece to stitch and is a great, quick stitch for any baby gift, if you can find the chart!

Name of Piece: #021-1389 Sweet Baby

Designed by: As usual, the kit does not list a designer.

Distributed as a kit by Janlynn Company under their “Designs For The Needle” series.

Kit Contains: 18 ct. Aida fabric, 6-strand cotton floss, frame, self-adhesive mounting board, needle, graph, instructions

Finished Size:  2.5 inches round (6.4 cm)

» Read more

Christmas 2015 – Projects Update!

Christmas 2015 Projects

It is December 13th, and we are now 12 days from Christmas! On November 2nd I posted an article called Planning For Christmas, where I went over the 14 Christmas projects I organized as gifts for this year. I started very late because I didn’t actually plan on making any Christmas gifts this year. My usual track record is to finish less than half the Christmas presents I start out making.

So! Now that we are 12 days from Christmas, where am I at on my progress?

This is what I started with:

My Christmas projects! Wish me luck!

My Christmas projects! Wish me luck!

  1. Owl By Janlynn
  2. Mothers Are Special by Janlynn
  3. Rock The ‘Stache by Bucilla
  4. Tractor by Janlynn
  5. Home Is Where Your Mom Is by Bucilla
  6. Owl Pillowcases by Janlynn
  7. Home Sweet Home Code by Happy Stitch
  8. HTML Welcome Sign By Happy Stitch
  9. Stop Hatin, Start Bakin by Daily Cross Stitch
  10. Baby Panda by Daily Cross Stitch
  11. Oh Deer by Daily Cross Stitch
  12. Deer Silhouette by Daily Cross Stitch
  13. Keep Calm And Game On by Daily Cross Stitch
  14. Stark Bookmark by Black Lupin (not pictured)

Wow, what a list! Considering last year I decided to stitch four projects and only finished two, this was quite an undertaking! Especially because I started so late. I fully expected that I wouldn’t finish half the list, so I planned two projects for each person I decided to make gifts for; if I could finish one for each, I would be happy.

Here is the list so far!

  1. Owl By Janlynn: Finished!
  2. Mothers Are Special by Janlynn: Finished!
  3. Rock The ‘Stache by Bucilla: Finished!
  4. Tractor by Janlynn: Finished!
  5. Home Is Where Your Mom Is by Bucilla: Started!
  6. Owl Pillowcases by Janlynn: Abandoned 🙁
  7. Home Sweet Home Code by Happy Stitch: Finished!
  8. – 14. Not Started

So I’ve finished 5 of the 14 projects as of today. I have #6 and #7 started – except I gave up on the pillowcases again this year. Stamped cross stitch just takes me too long, and I’ll run out of steam and not start any of the others unless I give it up and move on. I have projects #8 and #9 kitted up and ready to start, but I haven’t started them, nor any of the others on the list.

This is my finished pile, to be washed and framed:

This includes non-Christmas projects as well, I have a lot that need washed and frame!

This includes non-Christmas projects as well, I have a lot that need washed and framed!

Aaaand this is my pile of Christmas projects that I still need to finish:

It's a big pile...

It’s a big pile…

12 days to Christmas and I have 8 projects left to finish by December 20th, at the very latest. I doubt I can do it. But hey, I got a lot more done than I’ve gotten done in years past, so even if I don’t finish them all, I’m proud of myself! But wish me luck anyway, I’ll need it if I want to finish.

—————————————————————————————————–

“Random Corner” is a place for the articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall under the topics covered in the regular segments.

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more that don’t appear on the blog until much later, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!