Cross stitch

Whiff

That Father Christmas reminds me of a similar ornament that I think we kids made for our grandmother years ago. It was a reindeer made from a jar. The head (more of a felt hat with antlers; the face was on the jar) lifted off and the jar could be used to hold sweets or whatever.

A number of years ago I made my mum a little set of Christmas owls out of felt. I think there were about four - Father Christmas, Mrs. Claus, an elf, and I think there was a reindeer. It was a kit I had bought.

agnurse it's lovely to have those memories and bet they where cherished and brought out every Christmas.

I think my knitting and crochet have kept me sane especially tha past few months. I get absorbed into it. I've made a few preemie hats for our latest edition to the clan. But I'm still happy making something for me for a change.

Socks I started cross stitch as I need something to relax me. At the time having a very stressful with my mom. When I am doing it that's all I think about. Especially the dragon I am doing it's all shades of green.

Your knitting sounds lovely hope you post a picture. Craft keeps your mind and hands active. I think things like sewing,knitting and crochet keep your fingers flexible. I know it's kept mine.

I agree Whiff. There are several of my friends who now can't concentrate long enough to knit so I'm very fortunate. And now they encourage people with arthritis to knit etc because it keep the fingers moving

Finished my dragon today. All I need to do is frame it. It's a 60th birthday present for my sister in law. She likes fantasy .

Merry Christmas and happy New year to all of you. ??

Happy Christmas to all you cross stitchers out there and lets hope for a much better 2022 xx

I love the dragon Whiff , I'm sure your sister in law will love it too.

Sar merry Christmas and thank you.

Dragon finally framed. What is everyone else working on ?

Mallin

I bought 3 cross stitch canvases from a closing down store. They were pictures drawn by matchstick painter Lowry.
Over 15 yrs I finished all 3 using oddments of wool left over from various places.
A friend framed them for me and even I couldn’t guess which one was washed in disinfectant after a gerbil threw up on it.
Many years later one of those superior type females no normal woman likes, tried to take over and lead a group of casual friends.
The conversation was about paintings and I happened to say I had 3 original Lowry’s.
“ I don’t think so dear “ she said in a sarcastic way. Oops. The other women had all seen my cross stitch Lowrys so she was left in no doubt that I did indeed own 3 original Lowrys. We never saw her again but didn’t want to anyway. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that we realised she hadn’t been told my original Lowrys were in fact cross stitch.

That's hilarious!
There used to be a man in CSF UK (Cross Stitch Friends in the UK - altho it'sspread worldwide now) who stitched Lowry pictures. But to make them unique to him he'd also find a spot to stitch in a Dalek, or the TARDIS, all Doctor Who characters or items, at just the right size to fit in with everything else. Just for his own amusement, and also to see who would actually look at his pics properly. I thought it was a marvellous idea!!

Fantastic dragon, Whiff!

Ali08 thank you and that's very funny. Would love to see if I could spot the Dalek etc.

I am always entering competitions in the 2 cross magazines I have and this week won 3 PDF patterns by Durene Jones they are Christmas ones so will make them for my tree once I have finished the 3 projects I have planned . Will have to get my daughter to download them as I haven't got the equipment needed.

Does anyone else enter competitions and do you ever win?

Have just found this cross stitch thread. Loved seeing all the brilliant projects.

I too do cross stitch to keep my arthritic fingers supple. However my work is very modest: I design book marks and give to friends.

Here in Italy I can find small needlecraft shops and buy aida by length and colour.

I did once use a blue aida to make a baby bag for my daughter and cross stitched two baby footprints onto the outside pocket.

giulia how lovely to know you get GN in Italy. I find cross stitching keeps my fingers nibble. I have tremors in my hands but don't tremor when stitching.

Some of the things I do are small. Like my coaters. I get square blanks from eBay and do a design and then use iron on heavy / medium weight facing on the back and cut to fit.

Would love to see your work.

giulia these are some of the coasters I did for myself. Done loads more be gave them away. The charts I used where out of cross stitch magazines.

Latest WIP

I know cross stitch is a slow craft. But it would be nice if others showed there work and WIP's might encourage others to take up the craft. I go to a mixed craft group every Thursday afternoon for 2 hours I am the only cross stitcher. But love to see what other in the group are doing. So any experts or beginning would be nice to hear from you. ?

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202203/medium-180338-img-20220316-170355800.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202203/medium-367089-img-20220316-170110932.jpg

Blowing my own trumpet again but just finished these for my grandson.

Hope other cross stitchers will post their work.

One of my largest projects. This was a Halloween stitch along I made for our daughter (Halloween is her favourite holiday). All of the images are characters or objects from literature and/or mythology. Bonus points if you can figure out which is which!

agnurse that's wonderful. Love Beetlejuice. ?

Here's one I made as a thank you to the landlady of a pub who did a beautiful spread for my FiLs funeral.
It's ordinary 14 count aida, plus 14 count plastic canvas. I stitched the cup onto the plastic to make it look 3d.

Here's one from 'Love Quilts UK'.
Lots of cross-stitchers stitch up the squares and donate them to LQ UK for very ill & terminally ill children up to 20 years of age.
This was made for my granddaughter who has Arnold Chiari Malformation and was off to hospital for an op to shorten her spine as it was protruding into her brain.
Isn't it gorgeous?