Summer Sweets is the 2nd release of The Early Bird Pinkeep Club by Scattered Seed Samplers. I do not belong to the club but someone on one of the Stash selling sites offered the kit at a good price, so I snapped it up. The kit comes with the chart, linen, floss and finishing supplies. Since this one was to be stitched on 36ct linen, I switched it out to a piece of 18ct aida I had in my stash. I normally prefer 16ct but I wanted to make sure I had enough of the finishing fabric so used 18ct. I also use two strands of floss when I stitch so will need to add some more but since it is DMC, I already have most of it. Missing two colors which I will pick up next time I go out.

Started Stitching July 30, 2022

Grandma’s Garden is a chartpak offered by Hands on Design. It’s dated 2014. It shows as Out of Stock right now. The chartpack includes two charts, buttons and trims. You supply the fabric and floss.

The pillow has a stitch count of 56 x 65. Recommended fabric was 32ct Weeks Dye Works Light Khaki. I chose to use a piece of 16ct aida I had in my stash and Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss Wild Coneflower. It was a really quick stitch. I still need to attach the buttons and decide if I am going to finish it as a small pillow OR frame it.

I’m thinking perhaps I will frame it in a cream-colored rustic frame.

I used a simple white 5×7 readymade frame for this.

Strawberry Urn is offered as a free chart by Needlework Press. I saw it and decided to stitch it on a piece of 18ct white aida I had already gridded for another project. I had a full and partial skein of Glorianna silk floss in a beautiful variegated red (Poinsettia) that I planned on using.

It is a quick stitch and only took a couple of days. I plan on finishing it as a small pin pillow.

The small strawberry charm came from the Summer Sweets pinkeep kit by Scattered Seed Samplers.

I Love Fall Most of All by Brenda Gervais was first released as a kit. I missed out on getting it but kept looking. Recently, someone in one of my Facebook groups posted that Country Sampler in Spring Green Wisconsin, had the charts available. I ordered one and it came quickly. While I LOVE the chart, it is printed in color which makes it difficult for me to distinguish the symbols.

The recommended fabric is 40ct Old Stationary linen by Seraphim. Even with my magnifying light, I cannot manage to stitch on 40ct so I selected a piece of 16ct aida by Mystic Fabrics called Everything Else. I will use the recommended floss for those colors I have. Otherwise, I will swap out for something in my stash.

• DMC 831
• WDW Putty
• WDW Oscar/DMC 3011
• GA Cornhusk/ DMC 834
• GA Pumpkin Patch/ VMSS Salmon Ice Dahlia
• GA Nutmeg/ DMC 435
• GA Fragrant Cloves/DMC 920
• GA Parchment
• GA Mountain Mist
• GA Wood Trail
• CC Hickory Stick
• CC Hazelnut

Started Stitching: July 7, 2022

Finished Stitching: July 13, 2022

Now to make it into a small pin pillow.

Anniversary Happiness to you dear Friends is one of the four heart shaped designs included in the book A Heart Remembers. It is pictured in the upper left corner of the cover shown below.

The recommended fabric is 36ct Heartland by Picture This Plus. I chose to use 16ct aida but not sure if it is Heartland or Regency by Picture This Plus.

I used the recommended floss:

• WDW Brick
• WDW Carolina Cecil
• WDW Oilcloth – I used DMC 610 as I did not have enough of oilcloth and did not want to wait.
• CC Pablano Pepper – I used Victorian Motto Dried Fern
• CC Stormy Nights
• GA Uniform Blue
• DMC 3778

I personalized it with my husband’s and my initials and our birth years and the year we were married.

I will be sending this one off to Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher for finishing once I stitch the other two heart shaped ones.

I never got the other two stitched but decided to go ahead and send this one off for finishing. I love Vonna’s work.

Singing on Its Way is another project from the book The Bells on Christmas Day by Blackbird Designs. I stitched the big sampler, The Bells on Christmas Day when it was first released and just finished stitching The Unbroken Song twice. The 2nd time was for 2022 Summer Cross Stitch Camp.

Singing on Its Way is stitched on 16ct aida from my stash so not sure of the color, but I used Au ver a soie silks. I finished this one as a small pin pillow that I MAY display inside the larger box.

I found a cute red heart button that would look nice on it but should have attached it before finishing the pillow.

ColoradoCrossStitcher (Sheri Truax Berger) is sponsoring a virtual Cross Stitch Camp, and anyone can participate. It runs for three months (June, July, and August) with a different challenge each month.

The Challenges

• June: Stitch something that celebrates a holiday. It can be any holiday you want.
• July: Stitch something that you can finish (later) into something other than a framed piece.
• August: Try something new to you. New designer, or new threads, or new fabric, or stitches.

You can find the rules and more details at 2022 Summer Cross Stitch Camp – Colorado Cross Stitcher.

June’s Challenge

For June’s Challenge, I decided to stitch The Unbroken Song from the book The Bells on Christmas Day by Blackbird Designs. I had stitched it once before but wanted it to fit a larger box that is pictured in the book. So, for this one I chose a piece of 14ct Opalescent white aida using Au ver a soie silks.

Now I need to paint the box (not an easy task) and lace the stitched piece to fit inside the box. I chose Heritage Brick as the color which is redder than shows in the photo.

July’s Challenge

For July’s Project, I chose the Round Red Samper by Heart in Hand that will be finished as the lid for the Heart Ware Red Bowl. I selected a piece of 18ct aida because I did not want me stitched to go edge to edge as pictured on the chart. I chose to use Gloriana silk floss Poinsettia which is delightful to stitch with.

This actually turned out to be a really quick stitch and only took two days to finish.

And here it is fully finished and mounted as the lid to the Heart Ware red bowl.

Recently a friend sent me a bunch of Au Ver A Soie silk threads. I decided I wanted to stitch something special with at least some of them. When The Bells on Christmas Day by Blackbird Designs was released in 2019, one of the projects was a small sampler that fit inside a wood and glass box. It is the one pictured on the top center of the cover. I bought the box and selected a piece of 18ct ivory aida to stitch it on. Then I put it away.

Once I received the silks, I pulled the following colors to use in stitching this project.

• #20 very dark green
• #209 brighter green
• #108 sage
• #109 dark cranberry red
• #307 medium rose
• #022 yellow green
• #303 dark gold

My plan was to paint the box red as instructed and place the stitched piece inside. Unfortunately, I had forgotten there were two sizes of the box and the smaller one which I had already stained was the one meant to fit this piece when stitched on the higher count. So . . . . .

I may stitch this one again on 14/28ct so that it will fit in the bigger box painted red.