aka – cross stitch

A lovely family moved into our old neighborhood in 1984.  Janet and I bonded almost immediately.

Cross stitch Sampler Finished size 10×15 inches

She taught me all about counted cross stitch.  Every time I look at my projects or see any cross stitch, I think of her.  We still write once a year.  At Christmas.

My first project?  A huge wedding sampler (18×24) from a magazine for my brother and his wife. It was supposed to be for their first wedding anniversary in 1985 but I didn’t get it finished until that Christmas…just a few months late.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of it nor the magazine pattern.  It was quite an undertaking but Janet encouraged me constantly.

She and I would go to a small shop (that no longer exists) and look at patterns, linen and Aida cloth.

My second project was much smaller.  In fact most of the cross stitch I did was small.  The following one was done on 32-count linen.

I bought at least 20-25 greeting cards with the patterns on the back intending to copy the pattern and mail the card.  I still have them all.  The cards were 4×6 so you can see that the finished piece isn’t much larger. 

My daughter completed this watermelon when she was six years old using six-strands of floss on Monk’s cloth, which is large enough for a child to see and use.  The pattern was simple and used four colors of floss.  I got it framed for her and it hangs in her house.  Again, no photo.

My aunt did this Father Christmas and included it in a quilted 36-inch wall hanging that I hang in my house during Christmas.

I made this for my Mom and was going to make it into a Valentine’s Day card for her but never did.

I should do something with all these x’s.

Someday…