Today’s Progress Report is a Christmas gift I started to stitch for my mom! I made a valiant effort to get this done before Christmas. I didn’t quite make it… but I made huge progress on it! Now it’ll be a gift for whenever I manage to get it done.
So I started this piece with the heart in the center:
Today’s Finish!
Today’s Friday Finish is a fun quick stitch I did as a gift for a guy. You don’t find many kits, mini or otherwise, that are good presents for men.
Name of Piece: HD45759 Mustache
Designed by: No designer listed!
Chart or Kit?: Mini Kit
Distributed as a kit by Plaid Bucilla.
Kit Contains: 3 in x 3 in frame, 100% cotton white Aida cloth, floss, needle, chart
Finished Size: 2 1/16 inches by 2 9/16 inches
Today’s Progress Report is a project based on CSS coding that I bought on Etsy! My boyfriend studied Computer Science in college. When I saw this chart I had to get it to stitch it for him. A cool variation of the usual Home Sweet Home saying written in code was right up our alley!
The chart is called Home Sweet Home in CSS by Happy Stitch Net. You can get the chart for yourself here: Home Sweet Home in CSS.
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
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!
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
Today’s Progress Report is yet another cross stitch piece I made for Christmas. It’s one of many mini kits from Bucilla I call Rock The ‘Stache, and the pattern is one I adore! I found it cute but also covered a gift idea for one of the men in my life. That can be a rare thing with cross stitch pieces for some reason! The fact it was a mini kit was an added bonus.
Today’s Progress Report is one very close to my heart: a Pokemon cross stitch! A romantic Pokemon cross stitch, at that! While I love Pokemon, this was only my second time stitching a Pokemon-related piece. You can read about the first piece here: Friday Finishes #9: Wooper Love. This piece was also stitched for my boyfriend. I started it as a birthday gift but ended up finishing just in time for Christmas!
The chart is I Luvdisc You designed by Birdie Stitching. (I made some alterations to the lettering to fit my piece.) You can get the chart yourself here: Pokemon – I Luvdisc You.
If you can, go and give Birdie Stitching some love; she is an awesome designer of video game and pixel art-related charts and all of her charts are FREE.
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!
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!
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 framed!
Aaaand this is my pile of Christmas projects that I still need to finish:
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.
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“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!
Halloween is two days gone, and every crafter knows what that means: you should be halfway finished with all your Christmas presents you’re making right now! Unless you’re me. Then you always wait until November 1st to start planning who will get what, and then have a small panic when you realize you are a terribly slow stitcher and will never get finished in time.
Every year is the same: I tell myself I want to get a head start on my projects for Christmas, then I wait until November to get started. Come December 20th I’m always scrambling to finish. I owe a lot of people IOUs from previous Christmases. (They usually become birthday presents instead.)
This year is no different! Actually, it is a little different… I wasn’t originally going to stitch my Christmas presents this year as I have in years past. I haven’t picked up my needle in months (if the lack of articles on the blog over the last few months is any indication), and I was generally feeling down about my craftiness and whether I even wanted to make the effort this year when I knew I wouldn’t get it done.
Then I told myself, “You can do this! Everyone loves your gifts. So what if it’s November and everyone knows you won’t finish in time? At least you do finish them and give them out in the end!”
So here I am, spending today sorting through my stash and picking out projects. I even bought new charts! I’ve been on a stash diet for months now until my stitching bug came back. It feels like today was the day to splurge. I can almost guarantee I don’t have any of the colors I need for any of these new charts, because I never have the colors I need when I need them, but that means a shopping trip and more goodies for me!
The past two years I’ve only managed to complete 2 of my projects on time… this year, I’ll have 14. Some of them are back ups in case I run out of time and need something quicker to stitch, but I’ve been careful to keep all the projects under 7 inches. And you’ll notice the mini kits in here:
My Christmas projects! Wish me luck!
Some of them I’ve already started. Some I have to kit up still. But after all my planning today I feel like my stitching bug is finally back. I’m ready to pick up the needle again. I’m ready for Christmas!
What are your plans for the holidays? Got projects you need to finish?
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“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!
